#because A they're the actual truth of the show

[azaharinflames]

I still don´t get what they thought they would achieve with Brad but it seems to never have crossed their minds that people would actually NOT care for the character. It is wild how much screentime he got, in a mid-season finale no less, and this public ass kissing of cast and the official account after he left is so weird. Nobody piled hate on the character or the actor they just were not interested, so why the need for this outpouring of support all of the sudden?

When the next character making eyes at either Buck or Eddie comes around and this lot decides to stay silent again we will all have our answer without a shadow of a doubt. That they hang the LI out to dry because they are scared shitless of Buddie backlash, but will jump into action for the next bit part player who just wasn´t as popular as they thought he would be.

I really started to dislike them, not gonna lie. I like Tommy, I like bucktommy but I will cheer on who ever comes next for Buck or Eddie just out of spite now. Because whoever plays them will be treated like shit by the fandom and will get no help from the mean girls clique that is the 911 production

Hi, Nonnie! Thanks for the ask. I see what you're saying, and overall I have to agree.

Here is my take. I try to play devil's advocate and give grace as much as possible. But earlier today I went on Twitter, and I saw a hate tweet (disclaimer: I've blocked hundreds of BD accounts by now, and I have blocked many, many words to not find a new one, but a BT account I follow had quoted it, so I saw it). In it, they were essentially laughing and having a party at the goodbye comments Callum had received, because that 'confirms' for them that the cast hates Lou. That they knew before, but now it's confirmed.

And the thing is... I've said it before, Lou is not a defenseless little boy. He's a grown man that, in my opinion, has a great head on his shoulders and knows very well what he's doing. And he's a busy man. So I honestly don't think he gives two craps about some losers on Twitter claiming his co-workers hate him - he knows better (he knows what happened), and he's the one with a career in acting and loving fans, so. Does he deserve the harassment? Hell, no. But I don't think he cares if some loser claims the cast hates him.

However. This behavior is only enabling hate. Not addressing the hate the LIs go through and the harassment the actors receive isn't just 'ignoring the hate so it goes away'. Ignoring that behavior and then showing support for other guest stars tells the deranged fans that they are good to go. That their bullying and hate is allowed, justified.

Is that the truth? Well, no. But it is what has happened. Because all the people being this hateful and sending harassment or death threats fully believe the show has their backs because nothing has told them otherwise.

Is it the intention of the show? No.

Is it still what they're accomplishing by their lack of response? Yes.

I don't overall dislike the cast as people because I don't know them. But the representation of themselves they're giving right now,? Not exactly a fan of that.

Also, as for Brad... I just have to laugh. They fully thought the Facebook moms would fall deep in love with him, and didn't take into account their hearts were already taken by Tommy, and that they'd be heartbroken enough for Tommy to not care for a character that doesn't have nearly the same charisma or depth.

Anyway. Thanks for letting me rant, lmao.

My inbox is always open for venting, ranting, and to discuss any topics <3

Take care!

[cosmicjoke]

Parallels and Contrasts Between Levi's Forgiveness of Erwin and His Attempted Forgiveness of Zeke:

One thing I think is interesting to think about is how Levi's relationship with Erwin and the scenario as it plays out after the Uprising arc in a way mirror's and could have laid the groundwork for Levi's relationship with Zeke and how it might have gone had Zeke, specifically, shown some simple honesty.

Levi coming to terms with Erwin's faults and failings, and accepting and forgiving him for not being the altruistic hero that Levi had seen him as really encapsulates Levi's core characteristic, which is his compassion. It speaks to Levi's own heroism and great humanity that he's not only able to forgive Erwin for being less than what he'd seemed, but is also able to extend a hand to him in kindness and friendship, to offer aid and understanding instead of rejection and bitterness.

This entire subplot as it unfolds isn't about Erwin at all, really, but about Levi and the way he fully embodies and demonstrates one of the main themes of AoT, which is the importance of retaining ones humanity in the face of an overwhelmingly cruel world. Rather than what some might suggest about Levi's decision being an instance of him "putting Erwin above humanity", or it demonstrating Levi's selfishness, it rather is meant to highlight how it was actually Levi, all along, who was the altruistic one between them, through his acceptance and kindness toward a seriously flawed man, and by demonstrating Levi's greatest strength, through his refusal to abandon his humanity for an ideology. Levi had, before this moment, placed Erwin on a pedestal, believing Erwin to be a greater man than himself for his ability to make the hard choices for the betterment of humanity, when in truth, it was always Levi who was the greater man. It's Levi's very humanity that makes him the greater man, and I think Erwin always knew that. It's why Erwin entrusts Levi with the serum, because he knows Levi is better than himself. He knows Levi is incorruptible. He knows, whatever may come, whatever pressures may bear down on him, Levi will make the choice he feels and believes in his heart is the right one, something Erwin could no longer trust himself to do. And it's that reliance and trust in Levi's humanity that ultimately saves Erwin.

How this relates to Levi's and Zeke's relationship, I think, is Levi was willing to do the same for Zeke, was willing to meet him half way and extend him understanding and compassion, if only Zeke had leveled with him the same way Erwin did. People often draw parallels between Erwin and Zeke, and there are definite similarities there, in their willingness to sacrifice others for their personal dream, and in how each of them in turn deludes themselves about their own motivations. Both Erwin and Zeke cope with the extremes they're willing to go to to achieve their selfish dream by telling themselves it's actually for the "greater good". By lying to themselves and others about the nature of their intentions.

But what nobody ever really talks about is how Levi's willingness to forgive Erwin was mirrored in his willingness to forgive Zeke. The reason Levi forgave Erwin so quickly and so easily is because Erwin at last dropped the facade and was real with him. Because he showed Levi his own humanity by expressing genuine remorse and guilt for what he had done, and in turn, expressing a desire to right his wrongs by embracing his role as Commander and giving up his dream for humanity. It was Erwin trusting Levi and asking him for his help because he knew he was too weak to do it on his own. Levi could and did respect that, to the point, again, of not only forgiving Erwin, but doing all he could to help him become the man he wanted to be.

And Levi extended the same offer of forgiveness and compassion to Zeke. Through his attempts to understand him during their month together in the forest, Levi was searching for the same humanity and remorse in Zeke as Erwin had shown him before his death. You'll even notice a parallel in the dynamic between Levi and Erwin and Levi and Zeke. Levi speaks to Zeke in much the same tone he spoke to Erwin following Erwin's admission about his true motivations. He's very brusque and irritated and threatening, obviously disgusted, but underneath it all is a hopeful belief in Erwin's goodness, a refusal to just give up on him like that, and a willingness to listen and understand and, ultimately, forgive. His repeated questioning of Zeke about what happened at Ragako village is Levi attempting to offer him the same chance he gave Erwin to be honest, to show him his humanity, his remorse, and to express a genuine desire to right his wrongs. If Zeke had only trusted in Levi, the way Erwin did, if Zeke had only been willing to be honest, to express any sort of sincere feeling, if only he had been willing to meet Levi half-way, the way Levi was willing to meet him, then Levi would have forgiven him. All Levi was looking for from Zeke was something real. What made it all fall apart was Zeke's refusal to do so. Even as Levi met him with honesty and a sincere attempt to understand him, Zeke continued to lie to and deceive him, and to dismiss and treat Levi's grief as frivolous and unimportant. The difference between Erwin and Zeke here and Levi's ability to forgive them was in Erwin's willingness to trust Levi and to be honest, both with Levi and with himself, and to acknowledge the hurt he'd caused to Levi and to others. Zeke failed to do any of these things, instead assuming Levi couldn't and wouldn't understand him and dismissing him and his grievances out of hand as a result.

When you understand this, it puts into even greater perspective how fundamentally wrong it is to see Levi as some sort of revenge obsessed psycho who was unreasonably blinded by his desire to cut Zeke down. That's never been who Levi is. Levi is the least judgemental and most accepting character in the series. And that lack of judgement comes out of his great compassion and empathy. He understands people at the deepest level, understands and accepts their shortcomings and frailties, and that's reflected in his kindness and compassion toward them. He's willing to understand and forgive anyone so long as they're willing to be honest with him about themselves and show genuine remorse for and a desire to correct their mistakes.

[monsterblogging]

I think it's very interesting to compare and contrast Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII. These two installments have so much in common, storywise and thematically. (As I understand it, this might have something to do with FF7's production being pretty rushed.)

In the past these similarities kind of annoyed me - but now I think it's interesting to see how these two stories play these ideas out.

I know there's been some amount of debate over whether FF6's Kefka or FF7's Sephiroth is the "better" villain, and honestly? We should not be pitting these bad boys against each other. Each character embodies a different yet realistic response to the same type of traumatic origin.

Both of these characters are the result of an evil empire's attempt to create the perfect soldier. Both were infused with the essence of other beings to give them great power. In being engineered and groomed to be the perfect weapons, both were dehumanized and denied healthy and loving family relationships. And both of them are depressed as hell.

Kefka's ultimate reaction to this is utter nihilism. He has no vision of a better future, but instead lives for whatever cheap thrills his power can give him. But these acts of violence don't fix his depression, and so he seeks more and more power and ultimately escalates to trying to destroy the world.

I've seen people saying that Kefka isn't a tragic villain, but he 100% is. He didn't have any say in what Emperor Gestahl did to him as a child. He was literally just a little kid. Unfortunately, he ultimately makes himself such a massive problem that there is no choice but to take him down. (The characters actually do try to tell him that his nihilistic worldview is wrong, but he won't hear it. He's just too far gone.)

Sephiroth, on the other hand, is actually seeking a better future. He very much wants to live in a better world than the one created by the capitalist empire that created him. But he's effectively a reactionary who (like all reactionaries) fundamentally misunderstands the problem and disregards a lot of very important nuance. Sephiroth concludes that a better world is only possible if he destroys all of humanity, which he's concluded they collectively deserve for harming the being he believes is his mother.

Each character tries to address their problems in different ways, but both end up repeating the cruelty of the institutions that produced them because they're ultimately just doing what they know. As they become gods (not false gods, not godlike, but actual gods), they come to fully embody the essence of the empires that created them. Each one has different mentalities and motives, but together they show us a very simple truth: that the only endgame of boundless greed and powerlust is the annihilation of everyone.

[sunflowersandcherryblossoms]

Be ready for disagreement...

The Shinigami absolutely belonged in the finale of this Arc!

As with 100% of plot holes and missing lore, we have no information on why the Shinigami didn't visit Ichigo in their gigai.

At best with have fanon meta about a direct order from Central 46, forbidding them to contact Ichigo in order to flush out Ginjo (who wouldn't have approached him if during those 17 months he'd seen people like the Kuchiki Siblings, Renji et all dropping by for a visit.

As for the theme of the Lost Agent Arc, it is Bonds.

And we see that the humans have really weak bonds. Mostly from miscommunication, yes, but also because they weren't exactly close friends at the beginning of the series. They're people that had to come together for a common objective.

In this point of the story, one of the people I hate the most for keeping secrets from Ichigo is his supposed buddy, Chad...

Dude had been training with the Fullbringers and didn't remember to mention that? So much for friendship.

I expect nothing from Isshin, therefore I'm not surprised that the dude didn't come forward with the truth about his origins throughout that time.

Urahara also cut contact with Ichigo and yet everyone (almost everyone) praises him for coming up with the Reishi sword.

(There was still a law in place about transferring powers to a human. And I don't think Mayuri cared the least about Ichigo. And I don't like the dude...)

When Tsukishima unleashes Book Of The End, we see exactly how frail those bonds are.

Even his sister's, who undoubtedly loved him, but siblings are siblings... And there was a layer of mistrust towards him, again because of all the secret he himself kept... And they weren't like against, against him. They just wanted him to "stop being rude to cousin Tsukishima" (And let's be honest... Ichigo has a past of being a little shit. A punk. A rude person...)

Chad, — his supposed best friend — stands against him in battle to protect Tsukishima.

Inoue — the girl who thinks what she feels is love — heals his enemy and can't put Ichigo first.

Remember:

Tsukishima didn't ERASE Ichigo. He included himself in the memories. That's what he does.

In the "flashbacks" we see Ichigo too... It's just that Tsukishima is also there.

Which means all the actions he took were still in those two's memories. And yet they chose Tsukishima...

Now the Shinigami...

Of course they're not the Heroes of the series!

But they're also not the villains. They're in the grey area...

No one who followed the previous arcs with their full span of attention would believe for one second any of those people would so much harm one hair in Ichigo's head...

Either people want it or not, the one who represents the change in the Soul Society and their relationship to Ichigo, is Byakuya.

The one who had the most drastic change of heart. The one who threw the fight so he could keep his honour while allowing Ichigo to save Rukia.

The one who, after bringing Rukia and Renji back to Soul Society, ended up sending them to Hueco Mundo to fight alongside Ichigo.

The one who actually appeared to help Ichigo against Yammy, — with Kenpachi in tow!— and the one who pushed Ichigo to go to Karakura to protect his hometown and fight Aizen.

Now, in this Arc, he's the one who's tasked with fighting Ichigo's tormentor.

He fights Tsukishima in Ichigo's name!

He gets cut, and yet, Shinigami that he is, Head of the Kuchiki Clan that he is, Stoic that he shows to others he is, still goes against the fake memories of the mentor figure and takes him down.

For Ichigo. Because of Ichigo. In his stead.

And comes TYBW, the Karakura Team still can't communicate and still don't trust each other!

Uryu goes on a rogue mission that could have gone awfully wrong.

Inoue and Chad are left in Hueco Mundo, because Ichigo is worried first and foremost about the Shinigami.

Ichigo arrives there and the first actions he undertakes his getting Akon to safety, fly over Rukia and Renji to check if they're alive (doesn't stop apparently, but I digress...) and goes straight to Byakuya from whom he receives this banner of protecting the Soul Society. A tearful plea he goes above and beyond to fulfil.

There's also this weird moment of Chad and Inoue believing Ichigo would run away from the fight... Which... Excuse me?!?

Why would they say that?

Chad? The one who had been protected by Ichigo all that time ago?

Inoue? Who went along with Ulquiorra (that was the weirdest kidnapping ever, btw...), causing all of those people to go and try to save her? Ichigo at the head of the rescue team?

So no...

The Karakura Team aren't best friends and they learned nothing throughout the series.

And the Shinigami, — at least some of them — deserve better than being considered as the bad guys, since they have always fought for Ichigo since the Soul Society Arc.

You're such a fucking idiot, Uryu...

Yeah, you should have fucking told him from the get go! You're supposed to be a part of the Karakura Team! You know the supposed "real friends" group?

Oh, right... Sorry...

You're actually just acquaintances with a shared goal.

[thedisdainfullysilentvisitor]

Think some people don't understand the difference between actions in context.

For instance, this;

Is NOT toxic. Damon is keeping Elena out of a dangerous place she would definitely immediately be killed in. Katherine would kill her because Elena is the one Stefan wants and Katherine was written to only care about him. She says the 'doppelganger has to be protected' but with the inconsistency of this writing, she would just shrug and say 'we'll wait for the next one.'. Elena would not have hesitated to get trapped in that tomb in order to save Stefan. She probably would've offered up a vein if he ended up starved enough. Damon was saving her life.

Meanwhile this IS toxic.

Emma is trying to keep Regina was scurrying away and confronting her on the fact that the entire town is cursed and everyone was miserable, and that she was raised an orphan because of the selfish mayor and adopted abusive mother of her given up child. Regina had cared so little about her adopted son's actual feelings she had no problem trying to poison Emma. Unfortunately for her, Henry was too smart and ate the thing first, both to prove to his real mother that magic was real and Regina is evil. If Emma hadn't pinned Regina there, she would've kept gaslighting her about everything and tried to blame Emma for the fact Henry was in a sleeping curse.

The second picture is toxic as all hell. The first one is not. Again people, think for yourself.

[shannonsketches]

like why did they change where Vegeta was when Cell announced the cell games in the anime

why did they make this vegeta starting shit with yamcha instead of chillin in the lab with his family? why did they take Bulma out of the lab? Why'd they say she was Out while Dr Brief was repairing 16? Why did they change Bulma working on advanced robotics to running in late with her baby?

it's the same scene except: - Bulma's actively at work being a scientist - Vegeta's not being rude to her (or anyone else!) - Vegeta waits for Trunks instead of leaving the room - Cell interrupted the airwaves, which means Trunks and Vegeta were just hanging out with Bulma and Dr B while they were working

Those are all Great Character Details!! That the anime rails against!!

[tatsumi-rin]

Moral Orel doesn't seem 100% like a show I'd feel seen in if you don't know me but then I remember the episode with the special ed kids and underneath the usual satire on extremist bible belt religion it reminds me WAY too much of how actual special ed departments treated me and other kids growing up.

Like the writers must HAVE BEEN THERE IN LIFE, man. I'd kill to sit down with Dino Stamatopoulos and find out what the fuck inspired him and the other writing staff that day.

[alexjcrowley]

Guys do not fucking lie to me is Agatha All Along a good show or does it only have lesbians

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Gotta love how in Archie anti Jules and the biggest shit eating grin while poor baby scourge looked so lonely , puny and neglected.

Yeah poor little guy🥲

[katyspersonal]

[iftitah]

.

[cookinguptales]

I'm dying, I had another fandom breakup several years ago where I also poured my frustration into a deeply pornographic fic.

The main differences are:

different fandom, obviously

this was actually one of the last fics I ever wrote for that fandom, it really was a kiss off. the only fics I posted after it were just me finishing up some prior obligations.

I actually wrote it and posted it, as opposed to the pornographic vent fic I was writing for wwdits that I set aside for now.

I APPARENTLY POSTED IT TO TUMBLR FIRST?

I know this because someone just reblogged it (and said some really kind things, thank you ;;) and I had completely forgotten that I'd been so deep in my fit of pique that I was like "well this is vent fic that I wrote to cope with my frustration towards canon, not REAL fic, so I should post it to tumblr, not AO3."

At first I was just laughing over the sheer timing of it all, someone digging up this ancient post with like 25 notes from many years ago the exact same week that I'm having angst over the fandom I replaced the old one with, but then I actually clicked on the post in my notifications and was like.

wait.

did I.... post a sixteen-thousand-word fic to tumblr?

I DID. AND PEOPLE READ IT??? like that's the fucking wild part, that people were willing to sit down and read a fucking sixteen-thousand-word fic under a read more on tumblr. people were so strong back then.

(thankfully, I was convinced to crosspost it to AO3 a few days later, which actually made the fucker readable.)

the sheer ridiculousness of my tantrum (and my weird internal classification for what fic "deserved" to be on AO3 vs. what should just quietly be forgotten on tumblr) has me laughing. which I think was actually kind of needed, haha. we all need to laugh at our own fandom angst sometimes.

if I do end up finishing and posting the wwdits ventfic, I promise I'll actually post it on AO3. lmao

[torgawl]

never thought i'd see people try to argue or analyse wriothesley's murder in regards to his personality. i think people are missing the point. the situation has nothing to do with him and has everything to do with an extremely traumatic environment that made a small boy think the only solution so save himself and the people he cared about was to take the life of his abusers. it's not supposed to be rational, it wasn't premeditated, it wasn't about getting away with it. if you read his description of the murder you can see how out of it he was. his goal was to protect himself and his siblings and that's what he did. that's why he admitted to the crime so easily and why he is keen to associate the fortress as a rebirth place. he was just young, lost and traumatised and that's about it when it comes to the extension of it all.

[coquelicoq]

okay, i give up. i'm calling it, time of death 11:02pm. i hereby officially unsubscribe from the l0tr newsletter. it's funny because whenever anyone asks me if i'm the type of person who always finishes a book even when i hate it, i'm like, "yes, except this one time i gave up on the fellowship otr after the first 50 pages when i was like 10." here we are decades later and i'm doing it again. and the best part is, i did actually successfully read this book and the other two in the series at some point in those intervening decades. i tried to read this book three times and only succeeded once. 33% hit rate, compared to my rate of 100% for every other book i have ever seriously tried to read. i really want to get it but i just don't. i'm giving myself permission to move on with my life. i'm not ashamed! i will say it since everyone else is too chicken apparently: some people find this seemingly universally beloved book series very boring and i am among their number!

[rapha-reads]

Gonna be totally honest, I don't get how anyone can feel actual dislike towards Thirteenth and series 11-12. Indifference, yes, hatred/dislike? Why?

Edit: aaaand this got long, like most of my DW rants. Settle in, grab a cup of tea, a... Handful of dirt.

I just rewatched Praxeus and Can You Hear Me (12x06-07) and they're so interesting? So refreshing?

Edit: I'm mostly talking about Praxeus here because that's the aspect I want to develop, but Can You Hear Me is also very interesting to discuss in regards to another aspect of the show, less meta and more narrative. We'll get back to this later. Maybe.

First, Segun Akinola's score is beautiful. I already talked about it in another one of my posts (that I'm not going to look up now otherwise I'll be up til dawn), but it's subtler than Murray Gold's, but still very present and atmospheric. It's melancholic, and metallic, and ethereal, very 2020s, which totally suits Thirteenth. She's very paradoxical, Thirteenth, she's both very present and very distant, exactly like the music that surrounds her. I feel like this gif below, from Praxeus, describes rather well the feelings Akinola's music incite. The sort of wonder and nostalgic anxiousness at the beauty, force and fragility of planet Earth.

Secondly, the storylines in general are so much more... I wanna say heavy, but not in a negative or literal way. Heavy, as in, they get you to places in your psyche that you hadn't considered before, or in a long time. Which is something that Doctor Who has always done, by the way. But the feeling I get from having watched 2 episodes of Eleventh, one of Twelfth and 2 of Thirteenth in 3 days, is that previous narratives don't want to be too explicit about what they're about.

I'll explain. Praxeus talks about pollution, of the planet and of our own health. Other DW episodes have talked about that theme (though I cant think of one right now), but always in a manner that lets the viewer be reassured/distracted by the scifi elements. Praxeus is direct, and real. And I know what the critics are, "it's so preachy, it's so paranoid, bla bla". But... It's not? It's the actual reality? And what is science-fiction if not putting in the light our reality? What is Doctor Who if not a show about humans and Earth, at its core? And yes, maybe it's much more direct than before, but I invite you to look around you, look at the 21st century, look at these first years of the 2020s. The time for subtlety and gentleness is long gone, direct action, direct call to what must be corrected is what's needed.

And that's the strength of Doctor Who, I think, its adaptability to its time.

[apostate-in-an-alcove]

It's always the mfers who know and understand the least about cults and religious indoctrination that vehemently defend those same cults and brush anything ex cult members have to say to the side.