#blorbo apologia

[stuckasmain]

Pity the man. Forgive him. In many ways Christian’s outburst at the final rehearsal is what finally brings the world crashing down around him. There has been many a ridicule to him for this moment, anger, grief, blame. They “could have had it all” if he had kept his mouth shut just a few minutes more. I used to think like this too, though now I think it’s a tad more complicated than it first appears.

How much would they really have if he had kept his mouth shut? Within two days of that Rehearsal Satine is dead. Two days of peace, is that enough? In the end satine dies with some sense of happiness regardless- they reconcile, his music is out there- he knows the truth. Two days full of hope, would be so much worse… the delusion that it could all stay balanced is cruel to keep up at that point for both of them.

Because she doesn’t love you! While immature and perhaps, emotions made larger by the pressure of the moment rather than reality, let’s not forget what has lead him to this point. The Christian in the musical is much better at handling the reality of the situation, he understands and is comfortable with being the affair. He knows their time is fleeting and not her priority- he knows her- their- world is at stake.

It is when the duke starts taking over her life that Christian begins to get upset. When he starts making unprompted suggestions to the show, starts speaking on satines behalf- when he begins to change her clothes, her hair, her posture- That is when Christian starts to break. He starts to get upset, starts mumbling to whoever will listen, starts pointing out the cruelty. He is quite at first as he knows his voice isn’t what matters here and what he risks by revealing just how much he cares. He keeps his mouth shut in public but the minute they’re alone he’s quite vocal about it.

It’s been months. He has to watch the woman he loves be micromanaged, controlled, talked to and about like she’s not even in the room. Like she’s a pet. He has to live with the fact that the duke could be doing anything to her while they’re alone- any bruise on her arm he’d be quick to assume where it came from. Jealousy has driven him mad, yes! But also fully knowing how the duke treats her in public there is a nasty image that fills his head about what happens in private!

Christian’s outburst is not excused but I would rather argue that it is completely understandable. He is right as well. He’s completely right to call out her mistreatment- and be so beside himself that everyone (including him) has been letting this happen despite all of their hands being tied. While it’s completely out of place for him to say who she does and doesn’t love, that particularly being his jealousy and a bit of a - oh it’s just- it’s this moment where for a second. For a very brief second he slips into similarities of the men she had known, men like the duke. Men who speak for her and of her heart as if they know. It’s a painful moment as Christian does know and has always known but in this moment of jealousy, love and upset- he becomes possessive! (No one else could possibly know her how I know her , love her how I love her etc) It is brief, but a good instance to show that even the greatest people can have moments

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

copying anon over here because i went to save the ask to my drafts and tumblr sent it directly to the shadow realm, welp:

I dug through your rambles about Hermes, so I'm looking forward to thoughts on Erich with the ancient world's everything lol ~

ahhhh thank you, i'm glad you've enjoyed my rambles so far!! i've been taking the second half of the pandaemonium arc more slowly, partly because i'm been Out of It the last few days and partly because the direction the plotline with erich and lahabrea has taken a turn for has been leaving a really bad taste in my mouth. i've been making my way through it, though, and percolating Deeply on the He and how he and pandaemonium as a whole fit into all this. spoiler alert i love him even more now

(on the one hand, it finally helped me articulate some points that imo make or break an 'abusive parent sees the error of their ways and apologizes up and down and swears to do better, and both that and the context in which the abuse happened leave their victim feeling conflicted about it' arc. so there's that! on the other hand it, uh. it did so by very much being the goofus here lmao, and erich deserved better.)

(the way the whole thing is played off is also just, deeply deeply misogynistic. athena is top-tier nastywoman and i love her for it, and 'mothers--in particular white women, especially to their children of color--can be shitty and predatory and abusive and are accountable for it full stop,' is great abuse rep but fucking WOWZERS)

(which like, i will say that the overtones are not at all lost on me that athena repeatedly goes out of her way to prey on, abuse, and violate not just men of color but black men; dehumanizes them and treats them and their bodies as her property; and is strongly implied to have sexually abused erich in particular. and how the one who gets the brunt of it is her biracial, very VERY not white-passing son, who she isolated from the black side of his family to do whatever she wanted with. it is insanely fucking refreshing to see that shit not cushioned at ALL, and it really sucks that that had to come bundled in with the abuse apologia and misogyny.)

(i am also realizing that this is one of the reasons erich whitewashing, and how common it is in the fandom as well as official art, bothers me so much beyond the obvious. while it's uncertain how much of it was intentional, his narrative evokes not just real-world racism but colorism, and a specific brand of it and how it intersects with abuse. even if just on a doylist level erich was abused for being as dark-skinned as he is, and erasing that is even shittier than your run-of-the-mill whitewashing.)

(anyway. ANYWAY. anyway. all that is a post of its own and i haven't even gotten to the parts about ancient society yet. you see what i mean by having a lot of thoughts about him lmao)

i'm hoping to finish the last leg of the questline tonight so i can start fully putting my thoughts together because god there is SO MUCH, and i'm excited even if i foresee having to grit my teeth through the rest of the moments between him and lahabrea lmao

[fernsnouveau]

I miss the lovesquare, they were some of the blorbos in situations ever

[pochapal]

i'm sorry but there are still a million Weird Things going on with kanon's death that i'm not satisfied enough to write it off as "he was picked for the fifth twilight end of story"

[esteemed-excellency]

OC SMASH OR PASS

Rules: pretty self explanatory. include physical descriptions or pics, and propaganda. the “other” label can be used for “sexuality misalignment” (ie: oc is femme and you’re gay, vice versa or you aren’t into smashing but a specific thing you wanna do with them like perhaps hug or study them under a microscope idc).

I was tagged by @bardusgate (poll: x) thanks bestie! 💖💖

You all know my blorbo (last portrait by @letters-of-fire)

Name: Hiram Howell Hastings Hargrave

Age: 65 45

Gender: queer

Sexuality: pansexual

🌹 Propaganda for:

Good conversationalist, attentive and polite.

Engaging personality.

Good sense of humour, even if a bit morbid sometimes.

He's always courteous, and knows how to turn small gestures of courtesy into romantic displays.

He's a really good dancer.

Aways pays for everything on dates.

Will play music and read poetry to you.

Will spoil you with gifts.

Soft curls, very clean, loves flowery perfumes.

Throws amazing parties.

🚩 Propaganda against:

[Scandal is increasing...]

He's an incorrigible risk-seeker and he will enable all your destructive habits for fun.

He likes to create problems on purpose when he gets bored. And he gets bored pretty often.

Extensive criminal record.

Will keep offering you dubious beverages.

He can't shut up about The Horrors, he loves The Horrors (this is a good thing if you're A Horror, or a Horrors appreciator).

He can get too intense or too detached without warning.

You will get bad deja-vus if you look in his eyes for too long.

Mirrors bleed around him sometimes.

He's always plotting and scheming. Believe me, you don't want to know his secrets, and you don't want him knowing yours.

I'm tagging some mutuals and everyone else who wants to do this, it would be fun to see more oc polls in the fl fandom! @thunder-threnodies @that-giorgione @the-dye-stained-socialite @thedeafprophet @zeebreezin @viric-dreams @waterlogged-detective @velvetlinedbox @violant-apologia @capn-twitchery

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

at what point do you think valid criticisms of any work turn into forced arguments and cheap talking points? i've noticed this is becoming a pattern in many fandoms and irdk what's going on lol

oh I mean I think it’s pretty cut and dry. it’s when those talking points are clearly in service of some other agenda. and it often is pretty easy to sniff out that ulterior motive.

in grishaverse fandom the most fervent pearl clutching about how leigh bardugo hates minorities and women and probably kicks puppies for fun is easily connected back to darkling apologia circles. suddenly it’s a heinous moral crime to end a fantasy series with an intact monarchy (as opposed to… a democracy?) or with a world that is realistically still pretty awful!

there is a lot to reasonably critique in those books. they’re not good! but when the unspoken common thread of every single point of criticism someone has is that the entire book should affirm their blorbo… well it’s obvious they’re thinking blorbo first, and constructing arguments around that.

similarly, like a couple years ago I was rewatching inuyasha— which has some crazy ship wars lol— and joined a couple discord servers. in one where everyone shipped the protagonist and like a minor antagonist (sesskag) they were all talking about how creepy the more popular antagonist ship was (sessrin), which like. I actually agreed with! my tolerance for age gaps only goes so far 😭 but the conversation had the weirdest undertone because, again, there’s the same element of the separate critique just being used as an argument in support of their preferred ship. it’s like, “the sessrin age gap is creepy! (therefore sesskag are meant to be)”

if it sounds like people don’t actually care about the thing they’re critiquing, and they only want to score points for their blorbo, ship, whatever, that’s when I stop listening

[murfpersonalblog]

Amel is the CEO of Loustat Inc. He did NOT force Les to Beat/Drop Lou in 1x5. Stop it, y'all.

I was scrolling the main tag & saw the most desperate copium from anons in this braindead fandom.

Grown frikkin adults want SO dang bad for AMC to baby everyone by using premises from CHILDHOOD shows, and treat the fandom like we're too effing stupid & immature to handle the realities of toxic and abusive relationships explicitly shown on screen for 2 whole seasons; to instead put ALL of the onus of Lestat's pisspoor decisions & actions on an effing spiritual possession.

The same folk who were so gung-ho that the fight/drop never happened & that the Trial would revisit everything & prove Louis AND Claudia were evil liars are back at it again, hoping the Drop will be revisited AGAIN in S3; but that this time AMEL will be shown possessing/influencing Lestat during the Ep5 fight to explain why Les was an abusive a-hole who dropped Lou & broke all his bones.

People are still convinced that AMC's gonna retcon S1 AND S2--EFF agency/autonomy/ADULT accountability, EFF Lestat's abandonment issues stemming from his traumatic past laying at the heart of his paranoia & oppressive behavior in the present cuz cycles are cycling--all to say:

See!? It wasn't your sweet innocent blorbo's fault at all~! It was that naughty scamp AMEL, the spirit in Akasha that powers all vampires, that made this grown effing man Lestat so wildly insecure about the "fragility of their union" & his own child possibly taking his grown husband away from him; that it made him chokeslam his child and throw her across the room so he could go back to punching the living daylights out of Louis and bite all over his face/cheeks and crack the bridge of his nose and blind him in one eye and even though he's clearly LUCID when he asks Louis if he's leaving & trying to restrain HIMSELF he simply MUST be possessed to smash Lou through a wall and drag him out of the courtyard by his effing jaw and tell their terrified traumatized sobbing daughter to her face as he clutched Louis' battered bloody face IDGAF about YOU and fly into the effing Oort Cloud draining Louis dry to beg him to say "Lestat I'm never going to love you, it would help ME a great deal to hear it from your lips, your quivering hateful lips" and say "anything for you" when Louis demanded Les "let go of me!" to watch as Louis fell 2km from the effing sky and NOT dive down to catch him before he smashed back down to earth "LIKE AN EGG FROM AN AIRPLANE" in a broken effing heap as their daughter cried her eyes out and he floated gracefully down to watch with a YEAH I DID IT TRY ME AGAIN look of resolute coldness on his face before he effed off to Algiers for 6 effing years to bone his mistress.

And they KNOW they sound wild as all hell, cuz they put in the I'm not a p.o.s. I promise! disclaimer; anyone who doesn't agree just isn't Intelligent(TM):

Even though abuse apologia is EXACTLY what you're doing. It wasn't possession or protection or a "a mistake, an accident" or any other BS--it is what Lestat outright SAID it was:

And ofc they focus on the Drop being the moment Amel steps in, cuz it uses the exact same footage from Ep5, confirming that Louis was HONEST about his eye being busted (which the bedroom revisits don't show, meaning his eye got effed up by whatever else Les did after smashing Lou thru the wall, cuz it's already swollen when Lou's being dragged by the jaw). The Drop is the most horrific aspect of Ep5 & the culmination of everything that happened, that even made the sadistic AF audience at the Theatre gasp in shock while Santiago tried to DOWNPLAY the Drop & Lestat's fault in it--"teased until you toppled" my arse. As always, ANY excuse to absolve him. 🙄😒

WHO THE HELL IS #THEM!?! Too effing late!

See how people spread hatred, ignorance, & bigotry through shady AF microaggression? This Us vs Them jargon is so racially charged it's not even funny, cuz it's been about black!Louis & white!Lestat ever since Jacob's casting was announced, and ESPECIALLY ever since Ep5 put everything that was already sus about Lestat on the show AND in the books in 4K HD resolution and AMC STILL hasn't walked it back.

What Bipoc Louis fans/stans H A T E & get offended by is racist AF gaslighting that villainizes the Black MC (& his fanbase) into believing that Black voices can't be trusted or respected without some white person's confirmation (Daniel & Lestat); and that mistreatment & abuse & outright assault at the hands of white people can't happen without y'all bringing up an abuser's tragic backstory or concocting a whole effing paranormal entity to excuse the evil actions privileged people inflict against those with less power than they have.

Believe it or not, not ALL Louistans hate Lestans, or Lestat, or Loustat being together. Ofc I can't speak for anyone else, but I for one love Lestat, and Loustat's my IWTV 2022 OTP, and I have Lestan mutuals (who aren't racist p.o.s.).

Not ALL Louistans are offended by or even GAF about DM--who weren't even MENTIONED in this convo; why even bring that up or drag them into this????

Not ALL Louistans hate Ep5 & the implications of the fight & the nuance of toxic relationships. I for one effing LOVE how real it all is. And actually, it was mostly LESTANS who were crying about Ep5 not having trigger warnings, pissed AF about Ep5 making Lestat look like the abusive villain, spinning their tops tryna figure out a way to excuse/explain it all away for the past 2 years--case in point from this desperate anon's message!

But why am I even blaming the anon, when apparently it's Lestat's superfans like Nalyra who made these wack ideas in the first place!?

And yet people swear that we--#them--are LYING (like Louis & Claudia) when we talk about the insidious problems in this fandom being funneled through superfans who actively create this BS that their followers then spread like radioactive waste all over the fandom; then they wanna wring their hands as if they're not the problem & that #those people are bullying them!?

Sure, walk it back NOW that AMC's definitively confirmed that the Drop/fight/abuse really happened & that LESTAT was at fault for choking out Claudia first. But y'all are SO determined to make sure to victim blame & cast fault at Louis' feet for DEFENDING his child--

--as superfans fake neutrality while ignoring the FACT that Lestat attacked CLAUDIA & started the fight between them by attacking Louis' DAUGHTER; encouraging people to read ill intent in everything Louis does & wish ill upon him by every effing character--

This isn't fanfiction they're writing for the lolz, this is what they literally want to see AMC make canon to shut #them up about abuse. Like, it's not even BOOK canon that Amel would EVER feel that way about Louis! I wonder how much of the books Nonny even bothered to read to think AMC would even come up with this plotline, when not even RHOSHAMANDES was that evil & mean-spirited when he kidnapped Louis & Gabrielle & Marius.

Nevermind that Amel canonically COULDN'T compel strong vampires to do EFF ALL so long as he was trapped in Akasha's body while she was asleep & there were too many vamps sucking his core dry--hence Akasha's purges once she woke up.

Nevermind that it's only been AFTER Akasha died (in the 1980s) that Amel had gotten stronger, so by the 20teens he was able to commune with Lestat, the (chosen) one he'd wanted all along--not Rhoshamandes or Mekare.

Nevermind that when Amel DID start communicating/compelling vampires (AFTER Akasha was finally dead), he wasn't interested in making vampires kill each other over petty/toxic/jealous effing squabbles--he was busy making moves so someone could get rid of The Twins & give him (the Sacred Core) a better host, cuz he was TIRED of being TRAPPED as a prisoner in another vegetable. He was driving vampires crazy with bloodlust so that THOUSANDS of vamps around the world would die & he could be free; NOT because he hated them personally & thought "Dropping you was exquisite."

Nevermind that when Amel FINALLY got Lestat to accept him inside his body and be Amel's new host, Lestat AND Louis were skeeved out by how hard Amel SHIPPED Loustat! XD I explained this ages ago:

Amel never touched Louis during the vampire massacres. Heck, even Akasha knew that harming Lou & Gabs would be THE dealbreaker on Les ever working with her; which is why the most epic scene in QotD happens when Akasha used her Fire Gift to SAVE Gabs & Lou & Les while they're escaping the concert.

Istg y'all.

I'm convinced y'all read the books with both eyes closed.

That must be it, cuz this is too easy.

Amel felt a connection with Louis not only cuz he loved Lestat & Lestat loved Louis, but also (less importantly?) for the simple/vain fact that Louis has green eyes--and Ame also had green eyes back when he was living in Atlantis--and so did Mekare, his favorite back when she was a mortal witch who could still commune with him (& the Twins were green-eyed gingers like he was, too; he likes red hair).

The ONE aspect I can see AMC possibly changing is Louis' Fire Gift affecting his power levels, and the fact that Lou DIDN'T actually die/flatline when he tried killing himself in 2x5 a la Merrick; which permanently cut him off from Amel's neural link/silver cord/etc.

WHERE in any of the actual book canon written by Anne Rice herself is there any indication that Amel would hate Louis and actively WANT Lestat to hurt him?

Can I see AMC making Amel a bigger threat than he was in the books? Of course, since a lot of his nonsense happened off-screen anyway. But Rhoshamandes is the REAL problem in the PL Trilogy, not Amel. And during the QotD era, Amel's too weak to do much, and Akasha STILL decides to spare Louis cuz she knows what side her bread's buttered on. Once she's gone, the only compelling Amel gets Lestat to do is related to renovating the Chateau & winning Louis back so Loustat can get married & be happy together and Amel can stare at Louis & marvel at how pretty he is, cuz EVERYONE's a simp for Louis; suck on THOSE eggs! And in NOLA, Amel DEFINITELY couldn't compel Lestat to do a single bloody thing, cuz Akasha's not even awake yet. Anything book/AMC!Lestat did to Louis in NOLA was a decision HE made on. his. own.

[ladyimaginarium]

g-d as an antizionist native jew you literally cannot win.

on one hand you'll have uber hardcore zionists & also technically, kahanists (because it's important to keep in mind that not every zionist thinks the same way & there's different types of zionism & to listen to jewish voices about this topic bc i'm tired of goyim speaking over jews on a term that jewish people created, but for the unaware: kahanism is basically a type of far right zionism that straight up is like "the land of israel should be for jews Only & anyone who isn't jewish don't get the same rights as jewish people",) who will believe that you're. somehow a "traitor" or "not a real jew/self hating jew" for y'know not. wanting to have your jewishness be associated with medinat yisrael (the modern state of israel, there's a difference between am yisrael, the jewish people, eretz yisrael, the physical land & medinat israel, the modern state of israel), specifically the government's actions against not just palestinians but others too or by simply saying that "hey man regardless of how you feel about zionism, it's a nationalist ideology that, like many other nationalisms, has harmed people & zionism Has harmed palestinians & they have every right to talk about it, just like the mayans & those at sbrenica who were also affected by it" & i was blocked by a zionist for saying that or denying palestinian indigeneity alongside jewish indigeneity (because some straight up just think that only jews are indigenous there which. just isn't true, jews & palestinians are literally related & they both have a shared connection to that land), making excuses for the israeli government & the iof's actions, & misconstruing land back shit into a violent movement when it isn't & even be islamophobic & racist towards natives including native jews who naturally feel a sense of solidarity to the palestinian cause because we know what it's like to be displaced & killed by an occupying government.

& THEN on the other hand you'll have many nonpalestinian goyische/nonjewish western leftist antizionists who think they somehow have a free pass to say whatever they want & think they somehow can't be antisemitic & racist just because they support the free palestine movement, some give a platform to well known bigots & antisemites who literally spout blood libel & antisemitic conspiracy theories & many don't even notice let alone care just because they agree with said people on other types of activism, supporting groups like jvp when it's basically the autism speaks for jews, engage in atrocity denial & terrorism apologia because nothing says resistance like cheering on violent antisemitism against jews (/sarcastic) you disagree with & thinking that groups like hamas, hezbollah, the houthis etc are based people when multiple palestinians from gaza & other people like iranians, syrians & yemeni have spoke up against them when hamas killed 1200 people, mostly civilians, but apparently that doesn't matter & throwing all their morals they claim to support down the drain & be antisemitic or islamophobic to innocent individuals who had nothing to do with the warcrimes being committed & excusing the inexcusable & justifying the unjustifiable, conflating jewish people with white european people, calling random ass jews "zionists" even when they say repeatedly that they aren't even for just calling out their antisemitism, literally using slurs used by the literal fucking kkk (i.e "zio" & any variants of the word), people waking up & graduating from the instagram-tiktok school of law thinking they know everything about this topic when they don't, people treating this very serious thing like a fandom with teams when people aren't your blorbos or celebrities, these are real people who are traumatized, grieving, suffering & dying, treat them like people, some people can't understand the very basic concept that you can fight for more than one cause & one community at the same time, they don't call out the virulent antisemitism in their own movement, deny jewish people Any type of connection & historical presence to the southern levant despite there being a fuckton of historical, cultural & archaeological evidence & straight up deny jewish history in the region, stay silent when there are jews literally being harassed, beat up, sexually assaulted, & murdered in the streets & mobs have already been targeting jewish neighborhoods & synagogues & almost nobody outside of jewish people are talking about any of this & almost none of these people are deconstructing their antisemitism & when that happens that just allows the far right to further advance itself & its agenda. because a lot of these people think they're immune to propaganda & antisemitism when they're really not because some people will straight up be parroting nazi shit & most people don't even blink an eye except for jewish people & most people from what i've seen don't do anything about this huge issue & these are coming from the same people who're like "punch all nazis!!".

& regardless of either side of the discourse even when we& say "hey uh. we& believe in ceasefire de-escalation humanitarianism accountability justice reparations & the hopes of saving as many lives as possible & we reject all forms of dehumanization, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, xenophobia, harassment of innocents, scapegoating & collective punishment, every human life is precious & no one should have to fear for their life, we hold human rights to be universal & nonnegotiable, a value we hold above every movement, ideology or cause just as we've been taught by our elders, our indigenous beliefs & jewish ethics, we want liberation, safety, dignity & self determination & a homeland for everyone & we haven't made an exception to this topic" some people would probably just assume that we're "both-sideism" or being "centrist" when like. no dude that's literally just a humane take on things, not a neutral one & it's. really fucking weird that that's somehow a hot controversial take to have.

like. you get antisemitism from literally every possible side of the spectrum regardless of their politics, its insidious & it's not fun At All.

[the-clay-quarters]

Woe, 1000 blorbo refs upon ye

I've been making these reference boards for all the ocs I've been drawing! Everyone I've shown them to so far thought they were neat, so I figured I'd share them here too :3 They're fun to make and also really useful for me personally, otherwise I'd just keep swapping between tumblr tabs </3

I put these together in pureref, which is made for stuff like this and works wonderfully imo! It does all the resizing and aligning easily, so the only "work" is grabbing the images and rearranging them. It also saves the actual files as vector images I think, so you can zoom in super close in the program and not lose any details. ..okay I'm done, # not sponsored

Anyway, if anyone's interested, I have both the pngs and the pureref files in a gdrive! I already have most of my pc backing up there, so I might as well share this folder :3 Since this is literally a live backup of my main folder, it'll also update whenever I change these or make new ones yippee

Pings for everyone under the cut again!

@thedeafprophet 's Aurora

@gmalaart 's Cavendish

@capn-twitchery 's Grace

@waterlogged-detective 's Doe

@viric-dreams 's Ockham

@house-of-mirrors 's Orsino

@violant-apologia 's Apologist

@the-masterless-press 's Mathilde

@anomaly-beans 's Merry

@msbeanfl 's Ms Bean

@lord-emerson 's Oswald

@pacmanthepeach 's Raz

@peliginspeaks 's Hallowrove

@cosmogone-spectacles 's Oversol

@zeebreezin 's Shaw

@neathyingenue 's Silvia

@dualclock 's Scrimshander

[tavina-writes]

SO! Since there's interest in LOCH/XAJH etc! @inappropriatewenning

I would say that my rec list (having seen every single LOCH tv show that's come out from 1983 onwards) and @autumnslantern can back me up on this bc we watched ALL OF THEM TOGETHER and apart this past fall/winter. (It was a REAL LOCH journey tbh) I would say that the best entry point to LOCH (and Jin Yong works as a whole) would be to try LOCH 2017 (which has eng subs on youtube and IQIYI with the IQIYI subs being better but youtube is free).

I would not recommend the official LOCH translation since it inconsistently translates character names (some characters get their names literally translated to English, others don't with no rhyme or reason lol) and from what I've heard from Jin Yong fandom friends, the official LOCH translation is also...okay so the readability of it is high, but it uhh iirc creates some scenes wholesale and changes others. It's a very inaccurate translation despite its prettiness and I would not suggest it.

I have fantranslation copies of most of the major Jin Yong novels (including LOCH and XAJH) and some Gu Long novels! If anyone is interested, feel free to hmu!

As I've also mentioned in the replies, I've been doing an editing pass of the LOCH fantranslation that I have for grammar, readability and consistency in translations of places/moves/etc since last autumn, though work on that has been kind of slow!

(XAJH is also my very favorite Jin Yong work it's such a very book.)

idk strictly if I can actually essay this in any way that makes entire sense but this bit of the recent mxtx interview sticks out to me bc I've been talking about how both cql (in many ways) and mdzs the book itself has in ways echoed Jin Yong novels (for me I primarily see the influences of XAJH and LOCH in MDZS) AND how the world of mdzs and its jianghu is so specifically and purposefully different than the typical jianghu you'd find in a wuxia (taking its primary influences from Jin Yong and Gu Long) that it has to be a purposeful departure against genre convention (I have a meta post about this somewhere in me that I have half written and I want to scream about it later when I have more braincells) and it's just!!!

it's so validating to know that THIS IS TRUE.

idk!!! idk!!! I'm just so excited!!!

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

So I am drinking for the first time in months because I have taken an accidental break from my evil medication and I'm taking advantage of that. But I'm here in the club pondering Lestat on this fine afternoon. Full disclosure I've been watching 2.07 and 2.08 in gifs, because the person who's link I have has not updated their Google drive. But I think most of the ramble I'm about to go oh about Lestat and race is contained within season 1.

So Lestat is an interesting case in terms of portraying a racist character because I think when you correct for the gothic horror shock value he's more true to what most racism actually looks like than like 97% of cases where it's depicted, but also there's a lot of people in the fandom who will insist that hes not racist, despite the fact that Claudia explicitly calls him out on it multiple times. And I think the reason for that is actually more complicated and interesting than standard issue Blorbo apologia or that they see a white person and are automatically more sympathetic to the white person, I'm not saying that both of those aren't part of it but I am saying that there's also a third genre of it.

So like, Lestat starts out as the nice white guy. He's not white he French, as Louis said. He thinks the way that Louis is treated by American white people is appalling. And then as they carry on, Lestat is horrifically racist in some places and kinda chill, never great, but on Louis' side, in others, and in other places he writes race off as a mortal affair and considers both his and Louis' race to be "vampire". And I actually think that's the closest we get to Lestat's actual beliefs on race. He thinks he's solved racism for Louis by giving him the dark gift, because now Louis can just eat people who are racist to him.

Lestat is very much a modern white person transplanted into the Jim Crow era in this way. He doesn't think he's racist. Racism isn't ideological for him the way it is for the other white people we meet in Louisiana who think that they are superior to Louis by virtue of their skin color. He doesn't see Louis as sub human (or sub-vampire). He even feels more affinity to Louis than to other white people by virtue of Louis being both a vampire and his partner.

However he is still racist. Because Lestat at his core is selfish. Louis is the superego and Lestat is the Id. Lestat is operating on a race blind mentality, but he will use other white people's racism to his advantage no matter how much it hurts Claudia and Louis, I would argue with only partial understanding of what he's doing at all.

That's not a defense of him. He knows he's hurting his family. He's doing it on purpose for the benefit of himself because that's who Lestat is. That's what makes him awful and abusive. He takes it to genre typical extremes, but I think sometimes the racial angle to whats going on completely escapes him, meanwhile Louis and Claudia remain hyper aware of it, because they have to be to navigate their lives in black bodies, undead or otherwise. This hurts Louis and Claudia just as much as it would hurt them if Lestat was a white hood wearing Klansman who thought he was superior to them. It doesn't matter in his impact that in his heart he is doing this because he cares about himself before anyone else, rather than because he thinks he's better because he's white. The impact is the same whether he's race blind or a Nazi. He is still weaponizing his whiteness against his loved ones. A person could argue it's worse than if he was a capital R racist because if he was Louis and Claudia would never have become loved ones in the first place

I think this is why a lot of people get incredibly defensive about Lestat being called racist. Because good liberal white people in America are raised to not see color. They're raised to think that MLK solved systemic racism and that treating someone different because of their skin color is appalling behavior. But they still use the systemic racism that exists around them to their advantage while maintaining this mindset, because like pavlovs dogs they know when certain behavior will benefit them but never stop to question why that behavior benefits them or wonder if it's hurting people around them. They will throw poc, even poc that they love and respect, under the bus without realizing that's what's happening.

Lestat holds a dark mirror up to those people. The writers show them a white man who is nice and colorblind and appalled by the treatment that Louis is receiving who still weaponizes the color of his skin against Louis. The first episode makes white people who care about POC want to like and relate to Lestat who is quickly developing a romance with Louis, and then it shows his horrible racist tendencies in subsequent episodes. Because of this white people who are allies and unfamiliar with the story will at first like Lestat but realize around episode three what's up with him and not defend him. But people in the more colorblind lane will defend him from the racism allegations to the death even if they acknowledge his other crimes because they don't want to admit that they themselves have done what Lestat is doing on a much smaller scale without the domestic abuse and vampire style violence.*

Consequently I think they had to make Lestat this type of racist because if they made him an ideological racist he couldn't have gone back to Louis with a satisfying ending the way we know he's going to and if he was actually not racist the way a good ally is (which is to say makes mistakes but owns up to them and corrects them) it would be wildly untrue to his characterization in the books. He must be selfish.

*I of course acknowledge that white people who are not ideologically racist fall along a gradient between ally and color blind and just because someone can recognize this behavior in others doesn't mean they don't occasionally ignore it in themselves but for my purposes I am making a binary. Nuance. You understand.

[atla-confessions]

Ah right so it's not zuko stans that create these bad takes, it's zuko stans that are zutara shippers, fire nation stans, mai haters, (etc) that create these bad takes.....I'm going to be very real with you when I say this but even if the bad takes about katara are definitely just from zk stans (which you so claim) it's not coming from the katara side of the shipping fanbase. For obvious reasons. It's coming from Zuko stans. There's a common denominator here that we're pretending not to acknowledge here so without farther ado.....I rest my case.

Someone hasn't read the fandom darling post.

First, Zukka shippers aren't having these takes, Maiko shippers aren't having these takes, fucking Jetko shippers aren't having these takes. It is literally coming from specifically Zutara shippers. Not Zuko's general fan base. They aren't saying shit.

Some people really like Katara and don't like some other characters and project that. Literally, why would you get so mad about Aang kissing Katara without her consent if you weren't a Katara stan? They call Aang a rapist because they are hardcore Katara stans. They have more of a motive to be mean to Sokka as hardcore Katara stans because he was misogynistic to her. Being overly defensive of slights against your fave (unless other character is also a fave) is stan behavior.

Fire Nation apologia is more prevalent in Azula fandom spaces (insistence that her taking over Ba Sing Se wasn't bad because she didn't kill anyone (Aang?)). And in Aang hating spaces. Neither of these are Zuko stans spaces but places a Zuko stan might be.

Downplaying Katara's abilities, that's Azula stans mad about the duel. Some Azula stans might happen to be Zuko stans but this definitely came from Azula because the ones who hate Zuko say it too.

Not all of these stans are going to be Zuko stans. Some will be because it is large fandom. But a lot of these people are stans of other things/characters but Zuko stans are just in the space. There are even Zuko stans in Kataang spaces. Going, 'there are Zuko stans in these spaces so it must be the Zuko stans coming up with all these takes' doesn't work when there are Zuko stans in most spaces. Ships that have 0 Zuko stans in their spaces is so fucking rare. Zuko stans are just everywhere. That doesn't mean they are responsible for every bad thing that happen in every sub-fandom.

Also, on the topic of them definitely being Zuko stans not Katara stans:

I was in Teen Wolf fandom back in the day. The biggest ship was probably St*rek. They were known for villainising the actual protagonist Scott often to make St*les the main character or D*rek the better leader. Now, they were mainly St*les fans. Shocking because Scott and St*les were best friends but it was still them. Obsessing over your blorbo and villainising like half the other characters is a common thing. It doesn't make them secretly be stanning someone else because the characters love each other in canon.

Just because Zuko is Ozai's scapegoat child doesn't mean you need embrace Zuko stans as your scapegoat fandom.

X

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

me: hermes is a painfully accurate example of how some ways of defending yourself against certain kinds of insidious emotional abuse, gaslighting, ableism, and therapy speak can warp you into a person whose learned helplessness and lack of perspective can result in doing really shitty things, and who passes that abuse along in different forms (hi meteion) + lashes out in disproportionate ways + can be deeply hypocritical.

me: as a disabled person in a society where our systemic mass murder via pressure into government-sanctioned suicide is on the rise, the ancients' society is beyond fucking upsetting to me. i have zero sympathy for anything to do with them pre-apocalypse except for the effects of living in that system.

me: that said, they are a good opportunity to remind oneself that there are children in that burning building; that a society being fucked does not mean they deserve to be wiped out; and that that does not mitigate the harm they do, nor mean that its victims are not allowed to be angry or resist it, including the victims inside it.

me, booboo the fool: oh, this youtube essay about hermes looks interesting--

[disquiet-dream]

I'm sorry but I can't take comparisons between "haha war crimes blorbo" and actual atrocity apologia seriously

like

the former can very often be tasteless or frustrating, but it's still a very different thing lmao

can't even really say it contributes to the latter when like. you'll notice people doing the latter don't try and paint the atrocities as quirky or whatever. they deny they're atrocities at all, if they even acknowledge them happening. at most they'll go "here's why it's Ok Actually".

almost like even the most annoying fandom blogger does in fact still understand that bad things are bad in real life!

[raelis1]

Smallvile for the show post

1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11 and 13.

Thank you!

What originally drew me to it

I saw a few episode reruns on TV and was drawn by Tom Welling's pretty smile. I decided to give it a shot because of a Clana scene (the one at the end of Rush), strangely enough. I was really in the mood for some high-school teenage drama because I felt I had missed out on a lot of teenage experiences and I wanted to make up for it in a way. Another reason was the 'weird' dynamic between Clark and Lex. I had no idea this was a Superman show, so I didn't know they were iconic characters destined to become mortal enemies. I just knew one was a rich city guy and the other was a farm boy high schooler, and I had a hankering for some class-difference fic. So I decided to look for recs and watch a few eps to familiriaze myself with the basics. The first fic I stumbled upon was Divergence from the Identical series, and after that I was gone.

What I like most and least about it

I love the cast. Everyone is very pretty and shippable, they all have chemistry with each other, the fic is (mostly) great. I hate the incosistent writing/poor continuity/shallow and contradictory characterization/terrible dialogue, and worst of all - the ableism and abuse apologia.

A character I want to carry around in a little jar and study like a bug

Lex, duh. I've been carrying him arround for almost 15 years. The blorbiest blorbo.

A character I couldn't care less about

Most of the later season regulars: Oliver, Jimmy (I do like him, but in small doses), Kara, Zod, Davis, also recurring characters like Bart, AC, Dinah, the Justice Society, etc. They're all boring. Tess would be here too, but she's played by Cassidy Freeman who has the rare ability to imbue even the weakest material with depth and nuance, so she's the only late season character I'm interested in.

A ship I would gladly go down with... and then become Davey Jones, so I can continue to captain said ship for eternity

The only ship that matters!

The non-canon pairing I find the most intriguing

see above!

A ship that makes me want to look into the camera like I'm on The Office

Clark/Oliver. It's not like i don't understand why people ship it (two hot guys fighting crime together, having tension over their different approaches and philosophies... I'm actually surprised it's not more popular). But it just seems like a watered-down clex or a watered-down super//bat to me. Take away the chemistry, the range, and the themes, and you get clo//llie. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[grassbreads]

I've been trying for a while to write a proper recommendation post for No Pollution, No Public Harm, and it's been oddly hard, but man. I do need some of y'all to read this novel.

It's no Tai Sui, but No Pollution, No Public Harm is absolutely my second favorite of the Priest novels I've read. It's probably in my top three web novels period. It's way too good to have the absolute lack of fandom that it does. Let me try to sell y'all on this story.

NPNPH is a wuxia novel set in modern urban China. It centers on a once-great, now withering community of martial artists and the question of what place their traditions have in the modern world. It's a story about progress, generational conflict, and regret. It's also a fairly brilliant love story.

The protagonist of NPNPH is Yu Lanchuan, an incredibly straight-laced white collar workaholic who unexpectedly finds himself named the leader of his local "Martial Arts Alliance" after his late great uncle leaves him the position. Much of the plot of the novel hinges on Yu Lanchuan being forced to mediate progressively more and more complicated problems within his new community, struggling to live up to his role as "leader."

However, the real star of the novel is Yu Lanchuan's love interest and deuteragonist: Gan Qing.

Gan Qing is one of the most blorbo-shaped fictional women I've ever seen. She's Yu Lanchuan's neighbor, a poor woman working as an "astrologer" (conwoman) that sells charms in a small accessories shop. She also, through her own past, has a deep connection to the martial arts community and the mysteries that Yu Lanchuan begins to uncover.

No Pollution, No Public Harm is a story about the question of how to cope with regret. It's about how to move forward in life weighed down by the feeling you may have done wrong. And Gan Qing is one of the characters most wrapped up in that central question. She's funny. She's tortured. She's violent and downright terrifying when she needs to be. She self-sabotages. She yearns for happiness. She is, as all Priest love interests must be, incredibly annoying (affectionate).

I know m/f romances can be a relatively hard sell in my corner of tumblr, and I know wuxia/martial art stories aren't the most popular genre. Frankly, I didn't expect to get nearly as into this novel as I did myself! But No Pollution, No Public Harm is just very good at doing what it does. Though I'm sure familiarity with wuxia would only add to the experience, I'm a testament to the fact that it's not necessary to enjoy the story.

This isn't a perfect novel. It suffers from some of the same casual ableism, fatphobia, and police apologia that is unfortunately endemic to priest's work. It's not a spectacularly grand, sweeping story like some of my other personal favorite web novels. But it is an achingly personal story. It's a sometimes-melancholy meditation on how both people and communities can struggle to move forward when they're wrapped up in the pain of the past. It's a goofy romp about a straight-laced salaryman struggling to balance martial arts duels with his busy schedule of overtime. It's a 380k word reflection on whether it's possible to do real good in the world, or if simply not doing any active harm is the best "good" people can hope for. It's the only novel in the world to feature my beloved girl Gan Qing.

It's available in English in full on the website of Chai Translations, and I highly recommend it to all of you.