#but also acknowledge that other characters have done the same or worse

[panicloser]

Yellowjackets has only increased how much I notice the sexism in fandoms

There are SO MANY male characters that are just as if not worse than Shauna and I never see them get nearly this much hate.

Now DISCLAIMER I'm NOT saying every Shauna hater is sexist or anything, if you just don't like characters like that that's fair enough, you're all good I'm not talking about you.

But statistically, I am sure that there is at least a portion of Shauna haters that have a male character that is just as bad as her or worse and they like that character.

For example, Joe Goldberg, he is objectively WAY worse of a person than Shauna, he is done wayyy more damage, he is fucked up many more people's lives, he repeats the same pattern over and over, he is an ADULT man and he doesn't even acknowledge that he's a bad person. Granted, there are people that hate him (me included) but from what I've seen that is about half of the people watching, the other half LOVES him, they even say he's charming.

Meanwhile over here, this character is a TEENAGE girl (yes there's adult Shauna too but ppl hate on Teen Shauna just as much), a bad person ofc but objectively not as bad as Joe and is in a situation where she can't get assistance. Adult Shauna, though less justified in her actions, is also still not as bad as Joe. And the majority HATE her. Comment sections flooded with hate for her. I look Shauna up on any site other than Tumblr and I see so much hate for her.

I don't see this amount with any other male character, so many people praise them and analyse and dissect and appreciate their complexities and then I see female characters like Shauna and they can get so fucking flattened.

I don't even want Shauna to be loved by the majority, I just want it to be fucking balanced.

Now you could say people like Joe more cuz he can come off less angry than Shauna (even tho technically he is just as angry), well you know who is even angrier than Shauna and is loved by millions, fucking BAKUGO. To be fair, a lot of his fans are quite young so maybe this isn't as applicable but because he has SO many fans I know not all of them are.

And there is way more examples: JD, Jax, Nate Jacobs, Walter white, etc

I'm not against any of these male characters getting loved, I love some of them myself, and I'm sure I would hate some female character like this, but my issue is just the lack of balance depending on what their gender is. EVERY one of these morally questionable characters deserve an equally positive and negative lense.

You could rule all of these examples not applicable if you want because they're different characters or the tones of the shows are different or whatever. Could be. You could say it's just because a lot of fandom culture is straight women, I've seen that argument. Sure could be.

But TELL ME, imagine another world where Shauna was a male character, can you tell me honestly that she wouldn't join these other male characters being loved, imagine it, can you confidently tell me that?

[bananaplayzz]

hot take guys People who hate Harumi for what she did to Lloyd do not deserve to be Morro fans and act like he did no wrong. another hot take for the other side Just cuz someone dislikes a specific character does not make them a bad person. You are allowed to dislike a character without holding a double standard. You are allowed to like characters who are antagonists or the bad guys.

[descendant-of-truth]

While I'm of the opinion that the Re:Coded movie that's in all the collections generally does a better job at giving you all the relevant cutscenes than the Days movie, after playing through the DS game myself, I still think it's a shame how much they left out. Notably, the Castle Oblivion section is... extremely nerfed in the movie.

See, when Roxas tells Sora that he can do whatever he wants when talking to the illusions from his past, he means it. You, the player, are presented with different tasks that come with multiple dialogue options, and there are three possible endings for every "world" you enter. You get a different Ending Card depending on how you act; a Normal Card, an Alternate Card, and an Extra Card.

In the movie, instead of providing you with any kind of choose-your-own-adventure routes that lead to different cutscenes, they just. vaguely animate everyone talking silently to each other, and then have the illusions fade away. Which I think loses a lot of the intrigue, but it also means that relatively few people in the fanbase have even seen any of these routes.

I won't go over every single one because that can easily be done by looking them up on YouTube, but I do want to bring up one route in specific because it's really stuck with me ever since - Wonderland's Extra Ending.

So, in Wonderland, you're presented with a series of dilemmas:

Alice can't remember her name

The White Rabbit drops his pocket watch

The Cheshire cat gives you a riddle that requires you to choose the correct box or else fight a Heartless waiting in the wrong ones

One card soldier asks you to deliver a potion to a second card soldier for him

A third card soldier is weakened and woozy

You get the Normal Ending by doing at least one of these tasks correctly, the Alternate Ending by doing all of them correctly, and the Extra Ending by doing everything wrong.

In order to get the Extra Ending, you must:

Tell Alice that she's the Queen of Hearts

Pick up the White Rabbit's watch (causing Sora to lose sight of him, unable to return it; you're supposed to just tell him where it is)

Give up on the Cheshire Cat's riddle

Give the potion to the third, weakened card soldier, instead of its intended recipient (it turns out he was just hungry, not injured, so you didn't help him. the second card soldier would have given you a sandwich)

No matter what you do, at the end of each route, the Queen of Hearts will grab your attention and accuse you of being the thief who stole her memory. She'll try to back it up with proof, and even when you've done everything right (which she acknowledges), she still concludes with an "off with your head!" which Sora implicitly runs away from, ending the world's story.

Except for in the Extra Ending.

After she recaps everything you've done wrong up to that point, she drops this dialogue that I haven't been able to stop thinking about:

Queen of Hearts: "Don't tell me you were trying to be NICE? Cheering that girl up by telling her she was important? Giving things away because you thought someone else needed them more? Trying to... to own up to your failures!? Bah! Go on! Off with you!" Data Sora: "Not 'off with my head'?" Queen of Hearts: The punishment must match the crime! See how YOU like having something NICE done to you!"

It's hard to describe what it was about this that's still so striking to me months later, but it's just... kind of off-putting, in a way?

Having the Queen of Hearts choose to spare you as a "more fitting punishment" is out of character enough already, but the fact that it's the consequence to you actually doing everything wrong makes it feel all the more pointed. This is somehow supposed to be worse than being beheaded, and it kind of works, because it feels so much more personal than her usual schtick.

And it exists in such an isolated incident, too. The level is completed immediately after this dialogue, and nothing else is changed by getting it, it's just. there.

At the same time, everything about it feels so deliberate that I can't help but feel like it either is or will be relevant elsewhere somehow. It could just be overanalyzing on my part, but the first thing that comes to mind is actually that the Queen's final line could parallel the consequence of Sora misusing the Power of Waking?

He did so for a good cause, after all, but it wasn't what he was supposed to do. He broke a taboo of nature in the process. But his punishment isn't a straightforward death; he's just put somewhere else, somewhere he can't see his friends. "Off with you," the universe says, "see how you like having something nice done to you!"

...but that doesn't really feel like it's getting to the heart of the matter, which is that Data Sora did not need to do any of this. He could have told Alice her real name, on account of it being the default dialogue option, and he could have tried to figure out what was wrong with that card soldier before giving away stuff that wasn't his. He could have tried a little harder at the riddle. These were all fairly low-stakes situations - in particular, he really didn't need to lie to Alice.

The original Sora didn't have much of a choice in what he did. It was either lose his powers and vanish, or leave Kairi shattered and functionally dead. You can't really say he made the wrong decision, or did something immoral for a superficial reason.

So then... will this line remain an isolated slap in the face to completionist DS players, or will there be more to it? Is there already more to it that I'm missing? Where's our parallel to Data Sora "cheering that girl up by telling her she was important"? What are we supposed to make of "see how you like having something nice done to you"?

What does it all mean???

(In conclusion: go check out the DS versions of these cutscenes, they're great)

[bigskydreaming]

Like I've never and will never be like "no you can't do that" when Bruce fans just flat out don't want to engage with abusive Bruce canon or have depictions of him as abusive inform their views on him as a character. I completely get and support being like "this doesn't spark joy and ruins my enjoyment of a character I love for a lot of other reasons so my views of this character exist independent of these aspects of canon."

I only get itchy when people are like abusive Bruce moments or stories flat out don't exist (or worse, try to downplay/mitigate/abuse apologism their way out of other people seeing those canon elements as THEIR reason for NOT liking Bruce).

You want to read and write Good Dad Bruce Wayne and personally shy away from canon depictions of him as abusive, more power to you, I say. Just don't hop on discourse about abusive Bruce elements/stories and try to argue that people are reading the stories wrong or just don't get Bruce or are engaging with canon and fandom incorrectly. Your own reasons for viewing Bruce the way you do and upholding or adhering to the parts of canon that you view as most essential to him are valid, but the same holds true for others as well.

Many of us don't examine abusive Bruce canon to be a hater, for instance as an abuse survivor, the idea of Bruce being abusive to children that I absolutely do believe he loves is important to me because I think it pushes back against the idea that abusers are inherently monsters, never truly loved their kids, etc. And I think its incredibly important to have stories about a character who IS a hero and does incredible things for other characters and who means a great deal to people both in-universe and out.....but also at the same time has done great harm to children he loves without ever truly being held accountable for that or acknowledging it even to them.

Me, seeing people argue for Good Dad Bruce Wayne as important to them: Fine. Acceptable. Extremely valid, even.

Me, seeing people argue for ONLY Good Dad Bruce Wayne because its important to them and decrying any contrary takes as Peak Haterism: Choke, mayhaps.

[impish-baby]

I love your writing so much!!!!!!! OMG you are so talented

Anyway, how would the twins react to the kidnapping ask for HIWTHI?

Also, which character in the Yan! Family is the most aware of their yandere behavior?

-🌙

Ahh, I'm glad you liked it!!

If Jack wasn't already suffering from intense older sibling guilt, he definitely is now. Doesn't matter how you were taken, under what circumstance, his mind is finding a way for it to be his fault. Especially if it happened because reader was wondering the street or something similar. He.. he should've done more. If you had felt comfortable enough to go to him and theo, this wouldn't have happened!

You don't think you've ever seen anyone cry so much, but the man is constantly weeping. He can barely bear to look at you, and it's even worse if you're hurt. Jack forces himself though, it's the least he can do because every scratch and bruise is his fault, he deserves to suffer with that fact.

Theo will not outwardly show it, but they're being eaten alive with the same guilt. You have a shadow that follows you everywhere now, a silent protector. They treat you like you're made of porcelain, tenderly bandaging any injuries and snapping at Jaiden if they think he's being too rough with you.

It's actually funny that you asked who was the most aware in this ask as well, because it's the twins!

Jack and Theo have been painfully aware for a while that neither of them have the healthiest mindset or behaviors. The twins are very dependent on each other already, being apart for work or school being the biggest struggle they've had to deal with. They acknowledge it isn't necessarily healthy, but neither of them are in a space where they're going to get help for their issues! So its not a shock when they start to have a growing obsession with reader, if anything they both might feed into it. (I.e. they are both trying to rationalize and excuse it)

You had been neglected for so long, don't you need all the care you can get? They're only doing what should have been done since the start, making up for past mistakes.

[yuikomorii]

Hi! I just wanted to say your account is very refreshing because of the way you speak about Yui so realistically! Of course she's pretty and kind and gone through a lot, so it's normal to support her. But you also don't treat Yui like she's this fragile little lamb that never had an impure thought in her life.

I was a little gagged about her SA'ing ayato because I never knew about that, and idk if anybody else would ever have brought that up (since she's Yui she could never do any wrong!) Usually I just see people treat Yui like this untouchable character who you cannot dare critique ANYTHING about because the "boys are worse", so whatever questionable thing SHE does or says is not that bad.

I do like Yui and support her, and this is not to put her on the same level as the boys, but I just like how in your posts you portray her as a normal human girl who is flawed and can be good and bad, you know what I mean? Hopefully that made sense! 💕

// No worries, I got what you mean. I’m glad you think so! 😌🩷

I see Yui the same way I see any other DL character. She’s been shown capable of doing crazy things just like the Diaboys, so why would I treat her like some kind of saint? To me, everyone’s both good and bad after all. It’s normal not to agree with everything your favorite character does, and there’s nothing wrong with criticizing their behavior when something they do frustrates you.

I’m not a fan of the “ Otome heroines suck!” mindset, but I also don’t agree with the “Otome heroines are precious angels who can do no wrong” perspective either. In every game I’ve played, there’s never been a main cast character who hasn’t acted unreasonably/badly from time to time. And honestly, that kind of extreme idealization tends to attract even more hate towards heroines, especially when someone bashes the love interests while putting the heroine on a pedestal, even though their actions often aren’t that different. It just feels hypocritical.

It’s totally fine to love and point out the good sides of your favorite character, since that’s part of what makes being a fan fun! However, I think it’s also important to be fair about it. If your favorite has done some questionable stuff, it doesn’t really make sense to hate on other characters for doing that kind of things too. It gets one-sided when people ignore their favorite’s flaws but tear others apart for them. Every character has their ups and downs, but acknowledging that doesn’t mean you like your best boy/girl any less~!

[war-in-time]

I know people keep asking you things and I’m sorry if it’s getting annoying obviously feel free to skip this question, you just always respond with such detail and maturity it’s refreshing honestly lol

I just saw a video of someone saying they don’t like the addition of the Covey in the prequels they thought that Lucy gray and Lenore dove felt like manic pixie dream girls and that the covey felt kind of just one note which I don’t necessarily disagree with, but all the comments were tearing this person apart and saying that it makes them a colonizer to say they dislike the covey because they’re indigenous coded and based on Romani people. What’s your take on the addition of the covey, and then this situation?

I don’t take extreme issue with the Covey I think there are other things about the prequels that are worse. I do wish Lucy Gray and Lenore Dove felt more developed and distinct from each other. For Lucy Gray you can make the excuse that we’re learning about her from snows perspective and he has idealized her and only thinks about her in terms of himself, but then Haymitch treats Lenore Dove almost exactly the same. I feel like you can acknowledge what a group or character is meant to represent and still acknowledge that maybe the execution wasn’t done very well especially when the author isn’t of the culture they’re representing? Idk to me it feels like this comes back to people acting like SC is above criticism.

Authors are not gods, they are in fact willingly sharing their work with the public and part of sharing a story is expecting people to analyze it. Be it good or bad, that’s the reason that universities focus on critical thinking when studying literature. Nobody is above or below being critical of any work.

I think the covey are far too simplified as a concept and the way they’re actually represented in the books. Sure you could say they’re Romani coded but if you’ve also studied Native American history they can fit into many different Indigenous groups that also tend to have nomadic lifestyles and are very family oriented. It takes a village to raise a child is something that every Native person I’ve ever meet shares a sentiment with and they have very close familial ties. I’d also like to note that I currently live around the Canadian Rockies and the university that I went to is built on Treaty 7 lands. I’ve had the privilege of being able to see a portion of their cultural practices and what they are still able to do in today’s world when they have been confined to a single plot of land.

All of that being said what we do know about the Covey does not properly line up with what we do know about both Romani and Native groups.

1) Romani people are known for being nomadic yes, but they also intermingle with people from the areas they travel through which is why they always look so diverse. Romani people are also most heavily associated with living in Europe so if we are to base the covey on them solely, then by extension they would have ancestors that came over from Europe to North America at some point and then started intermingling again. Most Roma groups are actually settled and do end up staying in communities that they like, meaning they don’t stay nomadic forever; but they’re not forced to stay in one spot, they choose to.

2) If the covey are based on Indigenous people why make Lucy Gray so adamant that her people aren’t a part of district 12 when everyone else in the seam is also by the books standards, Indigenously coded? Why add a second layer of segregation to a group of people that are already marginalized and make the split between them even further. There are also no cultural practices that the covey perform, even something as simple as smudging, that tie them directly to any Indigenous practices.

Neither of those two groups line up with how the covey are actually presented in universe. The characteristics of the covey includ: musicians, naming their children after poetry and colours, and feeling superior to everyone else around them because their life style is better. A portion of that last one can be somewhat excused in bosas because it was all form Snow’s point of view and he was trying to convince himself that it was okay to fall for Lucy because “she’s not district, she’s special, she’s covey,” so from his perspective he’s very bias towards them to try and justify his own feelings.

Lenore Dove does not get the same grace because she is literally ‘not like other girls’ personified, only we know Haymitch isn’t a classist asshole from the capital so he isn’t making up excuses for why it’s okay to like Lenore like Snow did with Lucy. Lenore is ‘not like other girls’ because: she has geese that hate everyone and have apparently attacked people? (Normal geese aren’t inherently dangerous, and Canadian geese are more dangerous but only during mating season when when their eggs are hatching so Lenore’s geese are just assholes), she paints anti capital slogans in town but doesn’t tell Haymitch about it despite being ‘the love of her life’, she hates Maysilee because she has a pet canary and she doesn’t deserve her mockingjay pin because reasons. She’s we don’t actually see any of this, it’s all told to us, but it doesn’t make her sound likeable and that isn’t he kind of person I’d want representing any marginalized group.

Looking at the covey and saying they’re Romani because they’re musicians is also an outdated racist stereotype. The Hunger Games isn’t the Hunchback of Notre Dame that was published in 1831. While Romani people do have musicians and they do tend to play music where they settle, one of their defining features is their language, not their music. It’s complicated to place the covey because they really aren’t one concept of a group and I don’t think Collins should have ever boiled them down to a specific group like she tried to do.

All of the covey characters that we get introduced to are very similar to each other because I don’t think Collins was actually trying to convey them as people, rather as concepts and especially as ways to strip originality from her own books. Lucy Gray being the creator of the hanging tree song is the biggest offender to me; we couldn’t let something stand on its own and imagine that it was probably a war song during the first rebellion against the capital and that was why Katniss’ mom had such a quick and negative reaction to her child singing it at a young age. It could have been a song that insights rebellion (like it was shown to be in Mockinjay), instead of just a song that was performed once and only in front of peacekeepers.

Collins then tired to explain that away with Lenore singing forbidden songs in the town square, including hanging tree, in front of an audience of people. It’s a retcon of a retcon and that’s wild to me.

I dislike the covey, yes, because they’re poorly done and their existence is so shoehorned into the books to try and make them feel like the most important people in the whole series without having any real meaningful impact on the og novels and it’s just annoying. Not to mention they completely disappear by the 74th games so their existence doesn’t have any true impact on the story outside of: the songs Katniss sings aren’t forbidden rebellion anthems by the capital which was why they’d been powerful. Instead they’re just something that made Snow upset personally once, and Haymitch gets to be eternally enslaved to a dead child because all of his reasons for rebelling were actually Lenore’s and not his own hatred of the capital.

Anyone that wants to send me a question and get one of my mini essays in response you’re welcome to do so. I’m happy to share my opinions if people want to use me as a resource to bounce their own ideas off of.

[iminyourwallsbabe]

Arcane things that make me feral

Vi's guilt complex hurts my soul so bad you don't understand 😭😭😭 she takes so much responsibility for things that were never in her control or she couldn't have fixed in the first place and it's so real and yet so sad

Jayce's fatal flaw being how much he loves people. Everything he's ever done is for somebody he loved, especially the bad decisions. His love for them outweighs all the consequences for better or worse (mostly for worse)

Not a day goes by where I don't think of LoL Ekko saying "I had a crush... until you started talking to the gun" LIKE HELLO??? CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW DEVASTATING THAT IS? Just the concept of watching the love of your life get worse and worse, to the point where they need more help than you can even begin to give, AHSHDOCKWLFJGOALQLFQQHFKA

Caitlyn losing her shooting eye at the end of season two. Now she doesn't really have the choice to handle things violently, even if she wanted to, which by that point she didn't. Something something cycle of violence

Mel. Just Mel in general. I love that woman. Our glorious queen Mel. You know how people glaze LeBron? That's me about Mel. Also her relationship with her mother is so fucking sad, like I lose my marbles when I think about it

Speaking of which, AMBESSA'S HAIR IN THE SECOND SEASON??? FUCK YESSSSS!!! So many awesome character design choices are missed because creators only wanna draw killmonger cuts and circular afros (or just not draw black people) and the Arcane crew showed us exactly what happens when you acknowledge the full spectrum of black hair. It was so cool. Like that meant so much to me personally (side note, I know they gave Ekko the killmonger cut BUT compared to the monstrosity they had on his head in-game I think that was an improvement. I forgave them for that the second I saw that fuckass mohawk)(it's also funny that he doesn't have it in the good universe)

In game, Vi claims Vi is for Violence, which is even funnier considering her name is Violet. Like y'all ever seen that trend where they ask a bunch of people "hey what's your street name" and they give you something like "Mrs. Putaholeinyogrannyforsomebagelbites" and then they ask what their real name is and they say "Ashley 😔" or something? It has that same energy to me.

Jayvik with 4 kids in the woods or whatever they've been saying. YES.

The fact that Vi and Caitlyn are canonically soulmates and if one is dead in one universe the other is dead in that one too. AGGHHHHHHHHGHH

Meljayvik as a concept. They couldn't be together because the writers knew they'd be too powerful in that council room. Like let's be so fr, shit would've went so much smoother if they just kissed fr

On that same note, the ship names this fandom has???? Delicious. Top tier work. Eclipsemages??? Goldenforge??? TIMEBOMB??? (honorable mention that is not a ship name: Bookstreet), YOU PEOPLE ARE AMAZING

Alright that's it I'm out

[thranduel]

the writers have purposefully made so many parallels between will and el (as individual characters and their relationships with mike) that it would make no sense if nothing happens with byler

before i start, i need to make it very clear that pointing out the fact that el pretty much came out of nowhere and, in a way, unintentionally ruined a huge part of will's life, is NOT bashing el as a person or character. she was just a child when she opened the gate and it wasn’t done on purpose to hurt will. also, she did not intentionally "steal" mike away from will. she loves him so much and he loves her too, and she did not plan for any of the pain he’s suffered.

BUT, the writers did.

and this is something we need to acknowledge, because if they plan to keep mike and el together after EVERYTHING they've done to will, that is extremely cruel and horrible writing, and i'll explain why.

the writers wrote their story in a way that will was basically replaced by el since the beginning.

there were SO many other ways for them to introduce el as a character without hurting will and ruining his life, but they didn't. and to cause extra pain, they decided to:

- make him gay and in love with mike

- make him get kidnapped because of a mistake el made

- have him stuck in an alternate dimension cold and alone while mike and el develop a relationship and start a romance when he’s literally not there

- be forced to watch mike and el be all lovey dovey in front of him while they CONSTANTLY ignore him (this happened throughout BOTH season 3 and 4, there was NO growth from either of them whatsoever)

- and then had the audacity to use him as a plot device to force mike and el back together while he suffers all alone… AGAIN.

here are some more examples and details of how will has been "replaced" and why mike and el's entire relationship is a slap in the face to him:

season 1

will goes missing because of the gate el opened and disappears from mike's life. el comes along and appears in it, essentially "replacing" him in the party and filling the empty spot he left behind.

they also chose to make el show up in the woods, close to where will’s bike was last seen, and many people in town actually thought el was a boy and mistook her for will.

there are so many parallels between them, like they are two sides of the same coin, but the writers chose to ruin will's life and then have el practically "replace" him in his party AND get the boy he loved first (again, not her fault directly because she didn't plan to do that on purpose, but the WRITERS did).

to make things even worse, will is traumatised and scarred for the rest of his life because of this gate being opened, but many people don't want to acknowledge that.

i constantly see comments like "will owes el his life! she helped save him!" and it's infuriating because he wouldn't have needed saving in the first place if she didn't open the gate?? like obviously it was kind of her to help save him and she risked her life which was a massive thing but it was also kind of what she owed him considering it was her fault he got taken in the first place! he was in danger BECAUSE of her mistakes. also, will's life didn't suddenly become good just because he was rescued. in fact, it got WORSE. he suffers with ptsd, anxiety and depression, and he already suffered with these things because of his childhood, but now it's even worse. he literally has a part of the mind flayer INSIDE of him even now and he also has to watch the boy he loves fall in love with someone else.

copying mike and will’s story + parallels

all the selfless and compassionate things mike did for will FIRST were essentially copied and pasted, and the writers made mike do the exact same things for el (but of course, because el is a girl, those gestures are automatically "romantic" now).

we haven’t seen mike do anything like this with dustin or lucas. this shows is that his relationships with will and el are different to his other relationships, but i just find it interesting how they had no creativity for mike and el. they just basically copied mike and will’s story, which makes it even more insulting to will.

when mike first met will, he:

- walked up to him and asked to be his friend

- saved him from being alone and ended up becoming will’s safe place

then in season 1, he:

- cried and hugged his mother after he saw his “body”

- looked through something that reminded of him (his drawings) in his basement when he thought he lost him

- tried to talk to him on the walkie talkie because he heard his voice

- never gave up on him and did whatever he could to find him

does that sound familiar? because they did the same thing with el.

- mike met her when she was alone and gave her a place to stay

- after she sacrificed herself, he cried and hugged his mother

- in his basement, he looked through something that reminded him of her (the star wars ship) on the couch in the SAME SPOT where he looked through will’s drawings first.

there are so many parallels between mike’s relationships with will and el. parallels can be beautiful and meaningful sometimes, and i love the similarities between will and el as individual characters especially because they've both been through so much and end up becoming closer when they become siblings, but i do NOT like that the gay character is the one that stays alone and has to suffer the entire show.

obviously if this is all leading up to byler being endgame, then it would make so much sense and these parallels would be extremely smart, especially if viewers go back and rewatch and pay close attention to every little detail.

but if they plan to keep mike and el together after making will suffer AND copying so much of mike and will’s relationship to use for mike and el, that’s absolutely horrible. there are too many parallels between them and the thing that people need to remember is that everything between mike and will happened FIRST. all the beautiful, meaningful, emotional things that make these relationships so special happened with mike and will long before it happened with mike and el. THAT is the difference here. mike met will and saved him from being alone. he lost him and then never gave up on finding him. he became protective of him once he returned. these are just a few things, but notice how mike and el’s story basically goes like that too?

the only difference between byler and m*leven is that they forced mike and el to be romantic because they’re a boy and a girl. people always try to use “but mike called el every day!” as proof of him being in love with her, but he did the same with will when he was missing. in fact, he did even MORE. he physically went out of his way to try and find him. he told everyone he was still alive. he wouldn’t listen to anyone that tried to stop him from finding will. even the cops warned them to stop, but he didn’t. he didn’t even do any of that with el and just kept everything to himself. i understand the situation with el had to be more secretive and was difficult for many reasons, but he didn’t even mention it to dustin and lucas who were also close to her. and yeah, he called her for a long time, because she was missing for a long time! they found will fairly quickly so of course he wasn’t searching for him as long as he was searching for el? but if will was still missing, of course he never would’ve given up on him either. he still went out every single day searching for will.

season 2 + season 3 + season 4

mike became extremely protective over will after he returned.

- he stayed by his side and made sure he was okay

- they had beautiful, meaningful scenes and heart-to-heart conversations where they would be there for each other

- he even got a bit defensive whenever someone else would come near him

- when will was possessed by the mindflayer, mike said a beautiful monologue where he told will about the day they first met

- he said he walked up to will and asked him to be his friend and that it was the best thing he’s ever done

again, does that sound familiar?

- the writers decided to make mike become protective over el after she returned at the end of season 2

- but in season 3, instead of beautiful, meaningful moments where they had heart-to-heart conversations and comforted each other like mike and will did, they just… made out and excluded all their friends. real nice

- anyways, in season 4 when el is being choked by vines, mike is basically pressured into a monologue where he tells el he loves her (because he knows that’s what she wants to hear since that was what their fight was about) and he talks about the first day they met

- he claims his life started the day he met her in the woods, which we know isn’t true, because he was a traumatised 12 year old searching for his missing best friend and he knew nothing about romantic love. he also doesn’t believe in love at first sight and didn’t fall in love with a stranger he barely knew. he was literally planning to send her to pennhurst the next morning

- anyways, it’s obvious they tried so hard to copy mike’s meaningful monologue to will but totally failed. most of the audience thought mike’s monologue to el was extremely forced and cheesy. it’s even more insulting because they chose to make will have to sit there and listen to it while being heartbroken.

more from season 4

in the airport scene, will is extremely excited to see mike (he looks even more excited than el). he has his painting in his hand and he’s ready to hug him, but mike doesn’t hug back because he’s clearly struggling with his own personal issues and feels like he needs to push will away. will doesn’t know why he’s acting so cold though, and this makes him feel insecure and upset. his mood changes from this point forward, and rightfully so (el notices all of this too).

now here’s where it gets so infuriating. mike and el cling to each other and el says “i want today to be about me and you”, right IN FRONT OF WILL WHEN HE IS STANDING RIGHT THERE. like are you actually kidding me?! mike was will’s best friend FIRST. he has known him much longer than el and he was just excited to see his best friend. why couldn’t el even TRY to include him? she saw he was upset. she saw he just wanted to spend time with mike too. “they’re dating and were just excited to see each other” is no excuse to treat will so horribly. you can date someone while still including your other friends. the way they had the audacity to hold hands without even looking at will in the roller rink was just immature and selfish. if mike has internalised homophobia then at least that KIND OF explains his behaviour and allows us to understand him more (it still sucks but still), but el has no reason to treat her brother like that. he was literally comforting her and asking if she was okay the previous day when she was alone and upset. but when will is alone and upset? absolute silence 😭

anyways, the only reason mike said “i love you” to el was BECAUSE OF WILL. yet another example of will being replaced, and this time, the writers made will do it to HIMSELF. the van scene was supposed to be a special moment between mike and will ONLY. that painting was something will worked so hard on for mike.

since the beginning, will’s artwork has always been very personal and special to both of them and no one else. mike collects his art and has it all over his basement walls. will saw that mike was feeling insecure and upset and decided to sacrifice his own feelings for him just to make him happy, because THAT is how much he loves him. he used el’s name as a disguise, replacing his own in the process, to help mike and el’s relationship even though he didn’t have to. this is what led to mike telling el what she wanted.

so in the end, will gets hurt and suffers alone, el gets told she’s loved, and mike is just… the same. literally the same. basically just reduced to el’s boyfriend and nothing more. it’s so frustrating.

anyways, the writers have basically “replaced” will with el in so many scenarios, and they’ve also copied so much of mike and will’s relationship and used it for mike and el. it’s even worse because they’re doing all of this to an abused and traumatised gay character who has suffered almost his entire life. i know almost every character has trauma in this show and i genuinely want them all to be happy too, but the deliberate things they’ve constantly done to will is actually ridiculous.

if they wanted mike and el to be a couple, they didn’t have to drag will into it and make him go through so much pain because of them.

[dinodivider]

One thing I love about Stormlight Archive (and the cosmere in general, really) is how flawed all of my favorite characters are. I'm not gonna pick on Kaladin here because I feel like it's the most obvious and low-hanging fruit but let it be known that that's my babygirl. So moving on, I just love how every character that I love has moments where I strongly disagree with them. It's really easy to fall into the trap of reading from a character's perspective and seeing them do cool shit that saves the day and therefore seeing things from their perspective and forgetting they can be wrong. But the characters argue with each other. They disagree with each other often in ways that remind me that they're human and fallible and can make mistakes and them trying to be the best versions of themselves does not preclude them from making mistakes or doing wrong.

I love Jasnah. I love how cold and calculating she can be. It's fucking awesome to me that she understands both large groups of people and individuals so thoroughly that she can plan and outmaneuver people. I just read the RoW chapter where she and Wit bait Ruthar into a duel and she stabs him. There's a lot going on in that scene emotionally and it's fucking awesome. It's amazing how everything she does is seemingly a carefully calculated move to get the outcome she desires and she doesn't let other people push her around. She knows she's right and that's that. All of those things are also massive flaws that she has! She doesn't often listen to those close to her. She has terribly awkward (at best) relationships with the people that she loves most. Everyone on the planet thinks she is an emotionless machine that respects no one but herself.

I love Shallan. She has a bunch of aspects of personality that make her really interesting and she's good at some very specific but very unique things right from the beginning of book 1. Her developing her other personas is such an interesting thing to experience as the story goes along and it's awesome to see how human she gets to be. She gets a lot of shit done. The story would not be the same without her and the war would have quite possibly been lost before it ever began if she weren't present. The story also does not shy away from the fact that her personas, arguably one of her biggest strengths, is also a weakness. It can be both. Shallan has an intense weakness that prevents her from being fully happy with her life and trusting the people that love her. Even Veil and Radiant acknowledge this and actively attempt to get her to remember her past and accept those memories so that she can heal. She does so much cool shit and she always makes so many awful choices.

I love Dalinar. He is such a loveable old man from the beginning of the first fuckin book. He's fucking awesome. You see him trying to be a good man and trying to get others to be as good as he wants to be. He catches a chasmfiend's claw and acts as an unstoppable force on the battlefield. He's got the cool factor and he's (trying to be) pretty morally good. And he does a pretty good job, I think. But you also see that the only way he really knows to accomplish anything is by brute force. Sure, he gets better about it, but even then he finds it so upsetting whenever anyone disagrees with him. He wants to be everyone parent who is obeyed without question. Once Jasnah is queen, almost every conversation between those two is an argument. And despite Jasnah's stubbornness and refusal to hear him out, she's often right and he's just as stubborn. He just doesn't see it that way. Dalinar has awesome ambitions for how the world can be and there is a lot of good to see in him, but he is also the Blackthorn and that reputation is a part of who he is, for better or worse. I love him, but his son has a valid point when he ruminates on the negative aspects of their relationship.

I love Adolin. He's pretty enjoyable from the start but I think he doesn't really fully step into his role as his own loveable character until the jail scene in book 2. Adolin is awesome. He's the best duelist we've seen to date. He's shown to have good morals like his father, like when he protects that woman in Sadeas' camp book 1. He's trying so hard to be a good man while also not being his father. We see him argue with Dalinar a lot in the early days and Dalinar makes good points but Adolin does too. He is such a good friend to Kal and he tries so hard to support Shallan in their relationship. But he's also a huge fuckboy for a while before Shallan. He wants to not be his dad so badly that it's arguably a driving force for him; so much so that it can lead to him making bad decisions just so he's not doing what Dalinar would do.

I just really love all of these characters and I enjoy how they get to be people. It's awesome and really enhances the series for me to see them being great but also arguing with each other and making mistakes and stupid decisions. I love seeing them succeed and I also love seeing them fail. My little dolls that I'm playing with in my mind.

[antiquarianfics]

Making Waves

Bucky gives you a pep talk when life’s beating down on you a little too hard.

a/n: unedited as always. this is also just a comfort fic. just bucky making you feel better. this can be read romantic or platonic. whatever floats your boat.

warnings: sexist themes, profanity

note: I do not own the character Bucky Barnes or any other Marvel affiliated characters.

You do not have permission to copy, repost, or translate my work; however, feel free to like, comment, and/or reblog.

»»———-———-———-———-———-———-———-««

“I thought I might find you out here.”

You sigh as you tilt your head up in acknowledgment of your intrusion, unsure if it’s welcome or not. In fact, you’re not sure how you feel about much at the moment. Your mind is swimming in uncertainties and insecurities that you feel a personal obligation to figure out or overcome. Nevertheless, you don’t protest the welcome/unwelcome (pick one, dammit!) company as it sits down next to you, providing a little warmth against the night’s cold to your right.

Your company had found you sitting alone on the beach, right at the shore, knees pulled to your chest, arms wrapped around your legs and holding them close, fingers anxiously fiddling with a ring on your finger, and staring at the waves as they crashed against the shore over and over again. The sea, you’d found, is calming. The repetitive nature of the ocean crashing against the shore and retreating back into itself feels honest to you. You may lie to yourself, the world may lie to you, but the sea? The sea will always find a way to reveal to you a hidden treasure you never knew you were looking for.

“That predictable?” You finally ask, responding to your newfound company.

You turn your head and make eye contact with your friend who’d come searching for you. You’re met with concerned eyes the color you’re certain the sea would be if it weren’t dark—the only light coming from the moon reflecting upon the water.

Your friend gives you a look, raising an eyebrow and pursing his lips. He’d found out the beach had become your favorite spot to run off to early on in your friendship, but he also knew you only ran for the beach when something was troubling you.

“You seemed upset,” is all he says.

“Bucky, I…” You trail off, not really sure what you meant to even say to him. What do you even want to say to him? That you’re upset by some media rumors about you? That you got your feelings hurt because a stupid clickbait article claims you’re dating a man you hate? That you feel like a failure as an Avenger, or a hero, or whatever the fuck you’re supposed to be anymore if all your worth to the public is tied up in who they think you have in your bed? You don’t finish your thought and return your gaze to the ocean.

Bucky is silent for a long while, just sitting and watching the waves with you. He is absolutely no stranger to needing to sit and sift through feelings, and he is also no stranger to unwanted media attention messing with his sanity. So, he lets you sit for a minute, but he also knows the longer that anger and frustration cook up inside you, the worse off you’ll be. You taught him that.

“Doll, you’ve gotta talk about it or it’s gonna eat you alive. You know that,” Bucky says softly. Empathetically.

“Bucky,” you whine, tired and still unwilling to talk.

“Okay, don’t talk. I will,” he says, swallowing nervously. He’s obviously out of his comfort zone, and you can’t help but look at him.

You let your eyes rest on your friend once more, and you take in his worried demeanor. His stormy blue eyes are set on the ocean, watching the waves as he gathers his thoughts. You realize, then, that he isn’t comfortable with what he’s doing—he’d much rather be listening to you talk. He’d much rather offer a small piece of advice after you talk, or maybe give you a hug and hope that fixes you. But he cares about you, and he’s trying to do the same thing you’ve done for him countless times: voice your observations about what might be upsetting your friend so that the problem is out and a solution can be found.

“You’re upset,” Bucky starts hesitantly, “because of a gossip piece that’s circulating the internet right now.”

You don’t argue with him, and Bucky takes that as confirmation.

“The gossip piece claims that you’re dating John Walker and dubs you the new “it” couple even though you hate the guy and punched him the face the last time you saw him.”

You laugh humorlessly.

“Then, that video clip from Walker’s interview started circulations where he all but confirms the rumors.”

You clench your fist in annoyance.

“That about right?”

“Yeah, that’s about it,” you say.

“I’d be angry, too,” he says.

“It’s just…” You trail off, closing your eyes tight trying to fight off tears. “It’s just that it doesn’t matter to them that I was an Avenger! It doesn’t matter that I helped defeat Loki, or Ultron, or Thanos. I’ve done so much for this city, and they don’t care. Not because they don’t care that New York was saved by the Avengers, but because the boy heroes are just better. I’m turned into an unwilling superhero eye candy, and, despite all my accomplishments, they can’t bring up my name without attaching it to a man’s. One of the articles doesn’t even mention my name! The article is really just titled ‘Mrs. Captain America?’ Like, really? I want to hit something.”

Bucky frowns, nodding as you rant and waiting patiently for you to finish. When you do, you’re breathing heavily, obviously worked up.

“You’re more than just ‘unwilling superhero eye candy,’” Bucky says, nose scrunching in disgust as he repeats your words. You can’t help it, but you laugh. The words sound so silly coming from his mouth. He smiles.

“You’re right. It’s really messed up that the public isn’t acknowledging all you’ve actually done to protect them, but you know that you’re more than that. That’s what matters. Because as long as you remember who you are, what you stand for, and what you do, then that person and her accomplishments are going to be noticed by the people who need to notice them. Do you know how many little girls probably saw you and Natasha fighting in all those fights and realized they could do that, too? When I was growing up, my sister didn’t have anyone like you to look up to. I wish she had.”

Bucky reaches up and wipes away the tears that are silently streaming down your cheeks. You reach up and haphazardly wipe away what he missed with the back of your hand. You hadn’t realized you were crying.

“Thank you, Buck,” you say. “I needed that.”

“I mean it, Doll.” He leans forward and presses a kiss to your forehead.

[coolestzed]

Alright, I’ve been holding this inside for years but I’m finally gonna say it.

Misako haters are actually fucking annoying at this point.

They always were to me, but now, they’re just OBJECTIVELY an annoyance. And they need to STOP.

They take literally ANY chance to slander her, even when it’s completely unwarranted. Like, I’d just look at a picture of her on Pinterest, and there’d be multiple comments going "the world’s worst mother". Or I’d see content about Koko and there’d always be comments comparing her and Misako and going like "Koko way better fuck Misako".

I’d even see a fucking meme and people would slander Misako. Like they couldn’t resist.

And that’s not even mentioning his people constantly make her seem way worse than she actually is. Im not gonna quote everything, but basically they act like she never does good things for Lloyd. That she doesn’t care about him at all! And it’s just- so WILDY out of character!! And it’s the same vice versa! I saw a funny Ninjago video the other day with a "your mom" joke and someone in the comments was like "jokes on you, Lloyd would never call Misako mom". I’m just?????? Yes he DOES????? ALL THE TIME???

People just act like their relationship is nonexistent! Like they don’t care about each other, or that Misako doesn’t care about Lloyd! Which is OBVIOUSLY not true!

People claim that she disappears every other season but the only seasons she was absent in are 12 and 13. Also, she has a job. She goes on expeditions. Obviously she’s not there 100% of the time. And she and Lloyd clearly spend time together off screen.

People don’t even acknowledge the reason why she left in the first place. They act like she dropped him off at a boarding school and dipped to take a vaycay. She was literally trying to stop her husband and son from having to fight to the death. You ever think about that? You ever think about how SHE felt in the situation? With her husband being consumed by evil and later being banished, and learning that he and their son would have to fight each other? She was HORRIFIED and GRIEVING! Ultimately she did it to save her family. It doesn’t make leaving Lloyd right but it’s understandable.

But apparently not to almost all of the fandom.

Most of y’all, completely ignore that, and everything else that came after season 2.

Misako constantly being worried about Lloyd in Tournament of Elements and Possession.

Both of them spending Day of the Departed together.

Her getting/building the Destiny’s Shadow as a birthday gift for Lloyd.

How she supported, fought beside, and risked her life for Lloyd in Hunted.

How she wanted to stay and fight with him during MoTO but only went inside because Lloyd urged her to protect the civilians.

Not to mention just their general interactions. THEY’RE ALWAYS HAPPY TO SEE EACH OTHER!!! Do you know how many times they hug?!

And this dialogue here:

"Aren’t you going to kiss your mother goodbye?"

"Mooom, we've-we've talked about this-"

WHAT MORE PROOF DO YOU NEED?!

Lloyd and Misako have a good, healthy and loving relationship. Misako has long since made up for her mistake and they’ve moved on.

Yet THE FANDOM REFUSES TO!!!

EVERYONE, TO THIS DAY, STILL TREATS HER LIKE THE FUCKING DEVIL!!!

I CAN’T EVEN COUNT THE NUMBER OF TIMES PEOPLE HAVE HAD OVERDRAMATIC TANTRUMS FROM HER JUST EXISTING.

IT MAKES ME SO UNREASONABLY ANGRY.

AND THE FACT THAT I’VE SOMEHOW BEEN SEEING EVEN MORE MISAKO HATE DURING AND AFTER MOTHERS DAY IS ACTUALLY APPALLING.

NOT EVEN FUCKING ENDEAVOR FROM MHA GETS THIS MUCH HATE AND HE’S DONE MUCH WORSE TO HIS FAMILY.

IT. HAS. BEEN. OVER. 16. SEASONS. AND. A. MOVIE.

GET. OVER. IT.

*deep breath*

Look, she’s not perfect. Obviously. She fucked up. But who in this series hasn’t? She came back, and she’s made sure to be a better mother to Lloyd. He forgave her, and they have a good relationship now. They’re close.

She wouldn’t be as hated if the writers didn’t do her dirty. Her introduction wasn’t handled the best, and having her and Lloyd have a more in depth discussion would’ve made the reunion and forgiveness feel less rushed and forced. That love triangle with Wu and Garmadon certainly didn’t do her any favors either. 😑

Regardless, her character’s gotten better over the seasons. Again, she and Lloyd and close and have a good relationship.

But hardly anyone acknowledges that, almost everyone in the fandom hyper fixates on that one mistake from years ago. They don’t pay attention to anything else. Like how she’s a better mother, or how she’s just a generally good person.

You aren’t supposed to judge characters or irl people solely on their past mistakes. Especially when they’ve already made up for them. Thats why the "Misako’s a horrible mother" statement is always bullshit to me.

Seriously, Misako’s been a part of Lloyd’s life longer than she’s been absent from it at this point.

The amount of passionate, unforgiving hate she gets is so undeserved and over the top. Too many people are projecting their own issues onto her. Or just being plain hateful. It’s not fair to define her entire character on a single mistake that she’s long made up for.

And it’s definitely not fair to people that actually like Misako. Often times on the few positive posts about her, there’d be Misako haters in the notes or reblogs complaining about her or insulting her, or just stating they hate her but love the content. And that is completely uncool and rude. It’s so unnecessary. You don’t do that, that’s so shitty. The again Misako haters have a habit of spouting unnecessary hate. Like it’s a terminal condition they have.

So, please, for the love of god, COOL IT. Stop and think, try to ACTUALLY look at her character without the veil of blind hatred.

If you still dislike or hate her, fine! But if you’re gonna detest her, at least hate her as she is and don’t make her worse than she actually is to justify hating her more.

And PLEASE stop bashing her at every turn, it’s annoying, upsetting, unwarranted, unnecessary, and just not good.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[delawaredetroit]

"It’s unfortunate that this realization didn’t come up again with Izuku though. It would have done wonders for Izuku’s character if he had acknowledged his parallels and capacity for evil with say Lady Nagant and especially Shigaraki."

THIS!!! The more I notice how everything was right there for Tenko to be saved/understood, the angrier I get. I always thought hori sort of wrote himself into a corner with the conflict of Izuku wanting to save Tenko. On one hand it makes absolute sense given Izuku's character and Tenko's life, but i never really saw how he would've been able to save Tenko in a satisfying way. One that didn't excuse him of his actions but also gave him a second chance. Needless to say, I think the ending failed, and not so much by killing Tomura, but by how Izuku is written the entire time. Izuku's lack of agency and reflection as a character was disappointing, especially when every other character seemed to be speaking for him (the bullying plot being a perfect example of this, with izuku as the victim, not being allowed to feel pain or anger about it, and the entire focus being on bakugos guilt and emotions as the agressor). Obviously, one can't compare Gentle to Tomura by their actions, but Izuku still saw (a possibility of) himself in Gentle. He recognized how he could've followed the same path, how Nagant was manipulated and used by others for a means end. However, the moment Izuku learns how Tenkos own existence and the rest of his life was manipulated by AFO, he distances himself and puts up this barrier. He doesn't say anything else, he doesn't reflect on what he just heard, he doesn't attempt to reach out his hand anymore, there's no conflict about the choice of killing Tenko, no hesitation, and even in their final words to each other Izuku feels distant. The boy that defied the vestiges by saying that All Might taught him how ofa was a power meant to save others, not kill them, seemed to have disappeared. Izuku feels more like a puppet that final fight arc, instead of the character with his own thoughts and ideals that we came to love.

Hmm, not sure I agree on the point that Tenko couldn't be saved in a way that didn't excuse his actions. Tenko would have been the most believable to save in spirit of the League (but would be the one who would have the most difficulty ever integrating into larger society). Tenko was shown to be highly empathetic and sensitive in injustice from a young age. Plus, unlike the others, he spent nearly his entire life being manipulated by a worse villain. It's easier to imagine a bigger heel face turn from a guy who was never allowed the opportunity to be anything other than a villain if someone reached out to him in good faith.

Giving Tenko more agency in his own saving, even if he still ended up dying in the end, would have been a more compelling narrative. There's a reason Togachako has blown up as a ship since that last fight between Toga and Ochako came out. Toga was given more agency in her own salvation. She chose to reveal her insecurities to Ochako. She chose to stop bringing down the knife. And she chose to give her life to someone else, using a power that until that point she believed could only be used selfishly.

I agree that the primary problem in the last fight between Shigaraki and Izuku was Izuku's lack of reflection or agency. How he behaved during that fight directly opposed how he decided to approach Shigaraki at the end of Act Two. It did feel like he was going through the motions and was resigned to the result.

Shigaraki started to have some of the same problems towards the end of the fight concerning the complete lack of reflection. What did he think about Shimura after what happened in the void? How does he view himself after learning All for One orchestrated his entire life to be his oc? What does he think of his father after realizing they were both manipulated by the same person? Nothing. Nada.

I don't know if this was always the intended result, or if Horikoshi was just burnt out and tired of writing Izuku's character. I lean towards the latter to be honest. And since Shigaraki was Izuku's foil, Shigaraki's writing also suffered as a result.

[kebriones]

Hey just letting you know that @/margaretkart is a racist and apparently some kind of modern greek supremacist. She plays the victim and acts as if Greek people are an oppressed minority in the world and refuses to acknowledge that race is a post colonial construct. Race as we know it did not exist during ancient times. She for some reason also is convinced that the worst thing in the world is having a person of color play a fictional Greek mythological character. God forbid the “purity” of Ancient Greek mythology becomes sullied by—gasp!—a Percy Jackson show. The Ancient Greek gods were the gods of all the people on earth like come on. That includes people of color.

1. What is the point of this ask. To inform me? It could've been done privately or out of anon. If you have issues with someone, block them or talk to them about it. Do not do this. Also why mention this person when there are many greek people on tumblr who hold very similar opinions? If you wanted to talk about the issue in general it would've been better to not mention one specific person. I haven't even seen this person mentioning this topic, but I have seen it before by other greek people here.

2. I've argued about this topic with fellow greek people publicly online here, in private talks and in real life. I am a firm believer that actors who play in movies as well as theater do not have to match anything from age to gender to appearance to origins of the character they're playing. Have I still complained that helen in the movie troy looks way too german? Yes. So do I understand where this sensitivity stems from? Yes. The systematic approach of ancient greek culture being a free for all for western countries while ignoring modern greek identity and how, for better or for worse, tied it is to the ancient culture, is an issue. I still think it's up to us to put ourselves in this narrative rather than complain that foreigners aren't catering to us.

3. I feel like describing someone as a racist and a "supremacist" over this is a little bit in bad faith. I have not had talks about this topic with this person, I don't care to have extensive talks about this topic in fucking general anymore because it's stupid and I know other people who feel that way and I'm not some morality police to go out of my way to go call them out. When the discussion reaches me, and when I'm talking for myself, I will say what I think. The way the discussion of race is online is so weird to me anyway. It's all way too saturated by current convoluted US ideas and I am not equipped to help detangle the mess for others.

4. Do I think that it's way more realistic for a movie about, say, classical era greece to have a character that looks to be of african origin than a character that looks Scandinavian? Absolutely. Did the actor that played Achilles in Troy:Fall of a city bother me? No, it's an actor playing a role, of an imaginary character no less. What bothered me was that he didn't have long hair, because hair was a very significant cultural element at the time, and his hair is used in the story. The same exact issue that I had with the actor that played hector in that series, who also didnt really look like a person from that area realistically, but who was otherwise very good at his role.

5. As for playing the victim and oppressed minorities: while i would not go so far as to use "oppressed minority" for the greeks of the diaspora, it's very real that modern greeks have been looked down at by westerners, historically. Do I think this justifies or has anything to do with being bothered about what actors who play ancient greek mythology characters look like or come from, in a foreign piece of art no less? No. But it's still a thing.

6. I am extremely stressed out and busy today but I still took time to answer this because i need to say again, please don't do this. If you want to help people to see things differently and maybe move away from biases, talk to Them. Just because I'm following someone or interacting with them online, it doesn't mean I'm endorsing or agreeing with or even KNOW everything they think and say and believe. I avoid reading posts from fellow greeks that are complaining about these things because i think it's an overreaction and I think we need to tackle deep and actual cultural problems that WE have ourselves and not care too much about what some Hollywood movie is doing. Whatever. Tired discussion.

7. Percy Jackson sucks and I do hate that it's based on anc greek mythology but I just don't interact with it. The fact that it is a generation's first taste of anc. gr mythology and thus has had an impact on their perception of it is true and important though. The same way it bothers me when all people know of the odyssey is epic the musical. But still, whatever. Some greek people might be more bothered by it all and need to talk about it online and I think that's perfectly okay and valid. I do my petty complaining now and then too.

8. "The ancient greek gods were the gods of all people one earth" you can say that of other mythologies that have an origin of the entire human race as part of their myths, that's how religions usually go. These gods were worshipped in specific areas in a specific time and the mythology was created by specific cultures of specific areas. This is a major complaint that greek people have, which I mentioned before, that this specific ancient culture's mythology is treated as a thing detached from the actual culture, the ancient one, and from its inheritors which happen to be the people that live here and/or have this specific cultural identity. I don't think this cultural identity has anything to do with the appearance of people, and we all know the greek identity has absolutely nothing to do with race and that's a very fundamental part of it.

9. I would try to make myself even clearer but I don't have time and I didn't want to leave this unanswered even though I also kinda wanted to because this type of anon ask does nothing good for anyone and I encourage you to engage with others in a way that is understanding and comes from a place of wanting everything to be better and kinder. And there's so so much you will disagree with, on fundamental levels, with other people online, if only because we all come from very different cultures with different values and upbringings, despite how it looks like we're all in a US-based melting pot. You have to make peace with that, and it can be difficult. I've had American friends that I deeply disagree with on important stuff, and I had to face the discomfort and take time to let myself understand that our cultures are different.

Anyways. I apologize in advance if anything i said makes no sense or is insensitive or condescending. I admit i was upset when I started my reply but if you want to discuss this further we can absolutely do that. I cannot reply privately to anon asks otherwise i would have. I hate call-out style stuff like this because they do nothing good.

[the-girl-lost-in-fandoms]

DEBUNK OF TIT FORESHADOWING

hello! i promised a recap and debrief of all the times dip and pip teased what happens in the terrible influence show, so here it goes, brace yourself 'cause it's gonna be a long one

GENERAL REMARKS

so i started with the videos posted during the summer, since they were rehearsing the show during that time. i might go further back if this post does well (they said they've been writing for six/seven months and they were already teasing during dan's birthday stream). anyway, there were some recurring hints that i'm gonna get out of the way now:

a LOT of emphasis on the fact that it's been nearly 15 years of dan and phil (cough cough, reminds me of phil's infamous inconsistant line about their anniversary coming up in octodecember, cough cough)

a lot of ancient lore being introduced by 'the year was 2009/2011/2015', which is generally reminiscent of the recap at the beginning of the show, and most are the actual years featured in that segment of the show

they acknowledged 'we are ph-', which they also use in the show i.e. the phouse, the phortgage, the pheal, the phitchen, etc.

they are SO aware of the moms/dads/straight boyfriends that we have forced dan and phil onto, they kept asking us to bring them and they acknowledge them several time in the show

DNP GOING AWAY Q&A (1st Sep.)

strong emphasis on the haitus (reminiscent of phil's dramatic haitus microphone moments)

say they might adress the japhan wedding conspiracy (which they do!)

the nude colored briefs (are for sister daniel)

at 2:45, phil says 'gay' and the rainbow light and sound effect happen just like in the show

dan mentions red flags (might be far fetched but reminded me of the green flags/red flags of lawyer!dan and doctor!phil)

phil says cunt (like in the show)

'no but seriously imagine it'

phil broke a rib during repetition of 'some kind of stunt event' (during the boxing/wrestling match)

they spent $300 on silicon for 'full body character transformation onesie' for 'a perfectly unsexual moment of the show' (read: phil wears fake abs while pretending not to have sex with dan on stage)

Dan: 'you're not a 365 party girl? terrible influence when you're bumping that?' (charli xcx is on the preshow playlist and it teases the terrible song)

reveal of the 'dan and phil made me gay' T-shirt, teasing of the sweatshirt and black tour T-shirt

DATE NIGHT WITH DNP (25th Aug.)

dan sings muder on the dancefloor (which is on the preshow playlist)

dan going 'ohmygod they SHARE CLOTHES' (one of the conspiracies addressed in the show)

WRITING PHAN FICTION ABOUT OURSELVES (19th Aug.)

it's a fill-in-the-blanks game, as they do multiples times in the show (okay, not really foreshadowing as they've done this in all of their shows, but i think it was a way to introduce this to the newer audience maybe)

MrBeast mention

DNP REACT TO TATINOF (16th Aug.)

phil: 'fall out boy! my chemical romance! the shipping had started!' (basically all the ingredients of the no seriously imagine it post)

'if we asked people to confess stuff now it would be so much worse' 'the tone might be different' & 'and if you come to our show, there might be a different tone' (so... confess your sins to sister daniel, need i say more)

#spon (which is now #ad in the terrible song)

'i went to see dan and phil and all i got was this lousy plate' (EXCUSE ME DAN??? he was basically spoiling the merch two weeks in advance) (this is the moment that inspired me this post btw)

dan 'professional hater' howell is now the one starting the song in tit

'imagine that but 2025. we're old. we're gay. phil can say fuck' (and indeed, he says fuck)

DNP PLAY DRESS TO IMPRESS (11th Aug.)

they wear the matching 'precious baby angel' t-shirts (same phrase used to describe phil in the show)

DNP DRESS EACH OTHER (14th July)

Phil: 'like two Kens playing with Kens' (i bet pj was crafting the little rooms and the little dolls at this point)

they both have mesh shirts as the main show outfits

'how booty are the shorts, dan?' 'i'm not gonna bend over in these things'.... except for the photocards that feature your ass in those shorts!

the two first look (emo!phil and beach!dan), the white cowboy hat, phil's blue and purple bomber jacket are all featured in the photocards sold at the show

DNP MASSIVE MUKBANG 2 (5th July)

'we've been doing this since 2009 and 2006 *excerpt from phil's first videoblog*' (that's literally the opening of the show)

'we reclaim what Dan and Phil is in 2024'

'we’re gonna look at what YouTube is like in 2024, how do we fit in, we’re gonna be taking shots at people'

'we’re gonna spill some things that would have sent you into cardiac arrest seven years ago' (2024-7=2017. so basically any of the conspiracies they adress from that time, like the tour bus, vegas, etc.)

'we’re gonna go full theater kids' (oooh teasing the musical number already)

'what do people want? Series mystery hunting, lifestyle cooking, real life, get a dog, domestic' (that's basically all the things they try on stage)

[theheirofthesharingan]

Besides being painful, I think Sasuke doesn't really know how to have relationships outside of Itachi.

Their parents really didn't socialize those two -- made no effort to make sure either boy was making friends, no effort to see they even interacted with children their own age or indeed anyone of any age outside of their own clan. After the massacre, things were made that much worse for Sasuke because he was left with literally no one for five years until he just happened to be stuck with another bratty orphan long enough to get traumatized all over again, together.

It doesn't help that Naruto will keep yelling to the heavens how Sasuke is still his best friend when they haven't really hung out in 20 years - not how you maintain relationships. And, even in his relationship with Itachi, he was still just a selfish child.

Sasuke and Itachi were always very codependent even before the massacre. They not only had no bonds outside of their clan, the only deep and genuine connection they felt with was each other.

In Itachi's case, he'd seen too much of violence and destruction that Sasuke was the only stability in his life that he witnessed and held on to.

And Sasuke grew up in Itachi's shadow. He lived in a patriarchal system where he might have received his mother's affection, but he wanted more of his father's acknowledgement. With Itachi in the picture, he didn't get it ever until Itachi was drifting away from his family.

In that scenario, Sasuke found that acknowledgement from Itachi and that motherly affection too. Itachi read him like an open book and cared about him. So, when Itachi left, murdering their parents, and showing him all he'd done, even telling him he'd never loved Sasuke, Sasuke was left devastated and confused.

Every single thing he did afterwards was driven by his feelings for Itachi.

He may have hated Itachi, but when he was dying in the Land of the Waves arc, his only thought was Itachi. When he discovered Itachi was in the village and after Naruto, Sasuke's thoughts were about Itachi, the day they'd separated, even if he was worried about Naruto. When he refused to kill Naruto, it was because he wanted to contradict Itachi, and tell himself, "See, I didn't do what you asked me to do." And when Obtio was telling him the truth, Sasuke still valued Itachi's words (his lies about Madara) over Obito's.

His whole life was defined by Itachi in love and in hate. And when he learned Itachi loved him and was taken away unfairly from him, he lost himself completely.

Itachi had the same life, driven by his love for Sasuke, but he doesn't get the opportunity to express it as much as Sasuke does.

Sasuke never really got to get over his loss. He needed Itachi to live with him after war. He needed Itachi to be with him because that's what was taken away from him. But instead he had to go by a marriage he didn't really want and also serving the very place that took away all of his family away.

Sasuke may have had other people in his life, but none of them loved him like Itachi did and he didn't love them like he loved Itachi.

It's like, everything else is bland compared to his feelings for his brother. The only one who manages to breach that barrier a little bit is Naruto. And again, I think a lot of that happens because he's the main character (and Itachi isn't, but that discussion is for another time).

I don't consider Sasuke to be selfish with Itachi. He was only a kid. And even if he was selfish, he was allowed to be so.