#but also because it's totally in character for him to own one.

[officeobject]

Sorry if I didn't take enough platonic hormones off, but that came across as "whatever YOU'D like to call me, homie 😍🥰😏😉😇🤩😀😃🙃😁😄👍", you know?

Anyways, I actually just finished putting MORE links and labels upon my poor new "about me", and was searching for more neopronouns (I want MORE labels too though), and that's a very funny coincidence when you're so chill and don't know every detail about yourself, and you don't even seem worried, and you let people say what they wanna say, meanwhile, I wanna have MORE stuff, you know?

Anyways, so if you ever need help with pronouns, gender, or stuff that I don't even have/can relate to, then you can ask me - also, maybe some of my labels will apply to YOU, and I recommend doing research and getting some blogs about this and that, as long as they're related to what you're looking for, you know?

Do also consider making your own stuff.

And yeah, I KNOW you're young, and some labels change, and it's okay to temporarily have ones or question, etc, but like, I'm TOTALLY willing to make an entire pronoun list for you, full internet name with multiple middle-names, a fursona, a Picrew image, AND to choose gender labels for you, if you want me to! I mean I actually did it for Colby, basically, back when he was ambiguously "my character" then turns out he IS real 😐 ... but it's okay, because I didn't put TOO many labels upon him, and the ones I DID, were correct or accepted (as in, the name for example, was accepted)!

Oh and also, COLBY IS TRANS TOO?! How does that make you feel?! Like, isn't it cool?! He's a binary boy though.

ao3 turns 15 today

reblog if youre older than ao3

(there's a lot of people asking about this, but the legal age to use social media is 13, except in few countries. so yes, there are people here under 15)

[theoutcastrogue]

A point about Silco's politics.

Silco somehow did the "nationalist noble" thing by reversing cause and effect. Traditionally, the local nobility (or the bigshots in any case, elders, landowners, rich fucks, warrior aristocracy, whatever's handy) of a subjugated region will happily champion nationalism in order to get rid of the overlords and rule in their place, while convincing the lower classes (and themselves, if they're not very smart and/or cynical) that they're on the same side.

Silco became the bigshot (heartwarming rags-to-riches story!) in order to champion nationalism. Obsessed with achieving power by any means, he used shimmer (and Vander's elimination) to establish the Chembarons [*] as the closest thing Zaun has to a local ruling class, separate from their Piltie overlords. Of course, it was more a mafia than a government – not that these two function that differently.

However, by viewing power as the necessary stepping stone to Zaun's independence, Silco completely lost the ball. Shimmer could have been a weapon, to be tactically employed in the veins of people who actually wanted to fight Piltover. Still extremely shady tbh, but clear in purpose. But that would require getting people to want to fight Piltover, and Silco seems to have… neglected that. Instead, he flooded the streets of Zaun with shimmer, the very place he was supposed to liberate, causing a hideous addiction epidemic (fastest way to kill a social movement btw), and only cared to weaponise it to wrestle more power for himself from other Zaunites. NOT from Piltover.

So something went extremely wrong there, and Silco ended up "an industrialist". The local strongman, the little big man, The Man, the Boss, the one the lower classes dread. For Ekko (whose assessments matter VERY much), he's the No 1 enemy and biggest threat to the well-being of his people, not because he's more powerful than the Council, but because he's closer, getting his hands dirty every hour at every corner. Whereas Piltover's systemic exploitation works from afar and in the background, and is often experienced as neglect rather than assault.

And THEN, Silco got to negotiate on behalf of Zaun because the Council went to him, after Jinx caused mayhem on her own. Jayce came waving a white flag, because he was also acting unilaterally. In short, through NONE of Silco's doing, Zaun's independence fell on his lap. And ironically he couldn't take it, because the price was his daughter.

Fantastic character btw (the depth, the pathos, the total lack of qualms) but damn. Some nationalist. Some liberator.

[*] It's unclear to me why there are several Chembarons when shimmer was basically commissioned by Silco, and therefore could be controlled solely by him. Did the others reverse-engineer it? Did he share? Did he need their facilities after his lab blew up? No idea.

[doppel-doodles]

Why I think Ace Trappola is a great example for teenage immaturity!

-> Ramblings from the perspective of an actual teen!

Something I haven't really seen discussed in the twst fandom in terms of it's writing is how well it handles maturity or the lack there of with it's cast, so allow me to start a discussion by throwing my own two cents in with the character I think embodies teenage immaturity the best: Ace Trappola!

The reason why I think he is a good example for this is because a lot of his character traits make him feel like a teenager without reducing his character to just be that, it's part of his characterisation sure but it's not EVERYTHING.

Like in the way he is actually kinda smart, I know we call him and Deuce the one braincell dou but he's got something other than air up there!

The problem lies with how much of a slacker he is, he doesn't apply himself academically if he did he probably wouldn't have had to make a deal with Azul just saying.

He feels like that one kid in class that somehow still passing without doing any work and barely being there.

And Ace also has some streetsmarts on him as well, he can pull tricks, mask his true intentions or really rile someone up but his tact isn't all that refined making it blow up in his face.

Which is great! Those are traits he uses to be an asshole so why reward that?

Speaking of which: ACE IS SUCH AN ASS!

Like sure we are friends now so obviously he is a lot nicer in-game but how much of a jerk he can be is still on full display, like with his brutal honesty that can be straight up insensitive.

To be honest that also feels like a teen thing because if you’re ever looking to get your ego shattered just ask a high schooler for their opinion.

And you are totally valid for disliking Ace for being like this, they are flaws and not exactly meant to be likeable aspects of his character but they are well written flaws!

I just really wanted to ramble about this because I am tired of characters in a school setting either just being romanticised, reduced to stereotypes or worse it’s obvious whoever wrote them is not a teen and is embarrassingly failing to write them or even wants to make fun of them.

It’s sooooo refreshing to see characters that feel and act their age! And I want to give them more appreciation!

Teenagers are still people and deserve to be three dimensional characters as much as any other character!

[eerna]

Ekko and Powder dancing together was so so cute !!! The song made it even more special, when I recognised it was in French sung by Stromae and Pomme (I'm a frenchie fan of those two) I was so emotional, I didn't expect it at all, and the lyrics killed me, what can I even say, I was tearing up... Such a beautiful scene, a moment full of light ! I really enjoyed the exploration of their dynamic and what could have been, even tho it was also really heartbreaking and bittersweet... Also Ekko is truly such a good character, I could talk about him for hours !

But can we talk about the fact that in the end he went and saved the world, what a King, but because of that he wasn't there with Vi, Jinx and Vander/Warwick, while he could have saved them just thank to his flying board or even his time loop watch if he still had it... BTW what did you think of Jinx's "death" ?

YEAH like that episode just established why Ekko is the greatest king and Heimerdinger sucks butt. Heimerdinger got stuck in a fairy tale universe where all is good and decided to become a bard. Ekko arrived and IMMEDIATELY decided he should return to his own horrible reality, and try to transform it into something closer to the happiness he was witnessing. He enjoyed his time with Powder, but she wasn't a replacement for the girl he knew, because that girl still needed his help. I don't speak French, but I just checked the lyrics to the song earlier, and oh wow it totally made me tear up :') It's the childhood friends to enemies to allies of it all :') I have to go rewatch that ep like right now fr. Ekko best boy

Jinx's "death" SUCKS!!!!!! I said it earlier, but I see no motivation for that. Jinx craves love and someone who will trust her and rely on her. She finally has all those things, but she decides to fake her death and run away???? And for what???? Because "no amount of good deeds can delete the bad deeds"????? It's the same thing that happened with Heimerdinger - they give them one grand gesture, and call it redemption. Bullcrap!!!!!!!

[poolseason]

brain dump on amane yugi after tbhk 120

i'm just launching out everything that came to mind.

1. The Red House's Possession

Amane's life, regardless of the timeline, is depressing as all hell. But the main thing is, Yugi-sensei lived only to his late 20s, and died somewhere in the Red House. It's safe to say he was still a teacher at Kamome when he died, and maybe.. he was still a teacher at Kamome after he died. Let me explain,

It's kind of hard to get a good grasp on his character and his awareness of the supernatural considering he's POSSESSED and all, but to try to work it out

Theory A: Amane's not aware of the supernatural. This could explain how he seems to be totally clueless after the Red House entity's possession, and gives a reason for the prescription Aoi finds in 119. Amane isn't actually naturally inclined towards the supernatural, and gets medicated (either by himself or his parents) to somehow deal with the lost time or the childhood paranoia

Theory B: Amane has always been aware of the supernatural, and knowingly taps into the Red House's power to try and bring his brother back through the rumours spread throughout the school

Personally I'm leaning towards option A,,, Remember Kou's circumstances? He was possessed in chapter 116, and then unwittingly lured himself and Mitsuba to the well, after being sent by a "teacher" which could have been Amane's spirit. And we see that Hole/Entity/Red House tends to jump from host to host, mb depending on who's most likely to effectively bring in a new sacrifice. It takes back Kou in it's attempt at eating Nene, after momentarily losing momentum with Amane, but it didn't go Hole Mode right away.

All this to say that the Yugi-sensei in the flashback, and even Nene's time-shifting scene from ch115 is at least in someway under the control of the Red House Entity. Outside of that, man is just one dopey ass confused mf.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2. break: what does Tsukasa have to do with all of this?

Tsu never returned from inside the Hole, but he's always had the power to in the original time

The Entity seems to be possessing him in the new timeline too. At least, it's holding a lot more influence on him. I don't think it's a stretch to assume that Tsukasa's always been bonded to it, since he was 3yo, just managed to hold more of his own sense of self in the old world because he left the pit and whatever the fuck happened to Amane in this world didn't happen in the other one.

Posessed Tsukasa has fully light eyes, while posessed Amane has fully darkened eyes (and also TENTACLES???? WHY?????). The reason why still stands to be contested, but maybe there's something involving the how the Entity is controlling them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3. Jump to the past

Amane is regaining his memory of the other world. That much is obvious from the fact that Amane AND Kou both snapped out of control. Tentacle!Amane even broke down the door, giving them an out, and didn't even follow. Is Hanako's memories going to come through in the future chapters?

Also important to note that Nene's Mermaid scale curse is active (again? was it ever off?)

Akane's new plan is to use the Big Clock to rewind time, which means in the coming chapters or the next arc, our heros might travel to a time period where Yugi Amane will actually be alive.

The Clockkeepers created a divergence in 1968, the year Amane was working on the Big Clock, however we know that the earliest change in the timeline happened on Amane's 4th birthday around he discovered Tsukasa was missing and was told that the future was changed by a mysterious figure (a Clockkeeper? a future version of himself?? even one of our protagonists???)

a few things that are worth considering, now that we've thought a little about Yugi-sensei's knowledge of the supernatural and his current possessed status:

In the old timeline, and the new timeline, when did Amane first learn about the supernatural? Was he able to see spirits before he died? In the original world, He clearly didn't have a clue when he was 8, but by 1968, likely did, just a year before his death. Which has me wondering, if he didn't then he doesn't have a sixth sense, he's just close to death. Similar to Nene.

Maybe Amane's posession isn't exclusive to this new world... Does it have anything to do with his seal, or even the twin's deaths?

There's a lot of water theming here: A wishing well, a tentacled beast, a mermaid curse, a bathroom ghost. All boundaries are partially submerged. The supernatural in Kamome are direcly linked to water. Why's this all tied?

[anonymousgayrobot]

bestie you're the only person i agree with about the finale of the penguin

everyone seems so surprised that os is a villain and im ????? did everyone miss that time he set a guy on fire in front of his mother??????? did everyone miss him leaving sofia for dead after she found out he was manipulating her????? he's been a monster all along, that doesn't make him any less of a layered character

i really wish vic hadn't died but his death didn't feel like a revelation of how evil oswald is to me. i think this episode was more about the lies that os tells himself to feel better about his life than it was about "he was evil all along and you too fell for his manipulation". why else would he say all that as he strangled him? vic was dying. if it was about getting rid of him because he didn't need him anymore, why would he bother saying anything?

also that last scene with os pretending to dance with his mom was fucked up but it also seems to me like another way of showing how he's choosing to live in a world of his own lies. he can't deal with the truth, so he doesn't. it's easier that way. and this doesn't make him any less of a monster; it just makes him a complex one.

anyway your analysis is on point and i can't believe they killed off vic to progress os's character

HI! YES i totally agree; please don’t mind my lengthy yapping— i have sooooo much to say about this show

one thing I noticed predominantly throughout the show is the level and intricacies of complexity the characters were given, which you typically don’t see in the average shows pumped out these days, where good and bad is black and white and behavior will always be ‘straightforward’ with the character, unlike in real life where a person’s true nature will more than often contradict their actions, whether that be in acts of denial, or repressing something. whether large or grand, we all do it—so I kind of disagree with people only seeing this finale at surface level.

I really do think Sofia kind of ‘cracked the egg’ with dismantling or at least shaking loose oz’s denials through aggravating the unhealed wound of his brothers and the unspoken wounds between him and his mother; i saw that scene as sofia trying to force out feelings of remorse from oz, which I believe he repressed x100 after his brothers’ deaths, as seeing his expression struggle to remain stoic and continuously denying the truth even if it cost his mother her finger (if he did lack any true guilt, he would’ve admitted it much sooner with indifference ; and if he didn’t feel guilt but never admitted the truth to solely benefit his mother, he would not have hesitated to admit the truth with that priority over his mother. But he doesnt) . But by ‘dismantling’ oz himself, she unleashes this newer version of himself—she showed an opportunist what happens when he slips up with his greed and pauses to care for someone other than himself/guard. before sal and sofia find his mother, sal angrily comments that oz has no one—no one they could weaponize. family is weaponry, a step above simpler loyalty. someone can have as many allies as they want, but it doesn’t mean anything if they’re expendable. oz has viewed all of his allies as expendable, like sal, sofia, and the rest of the gang leaders. victor was an ally initially expendable and a failsafe for alberto’s murder, but upon becoming his protégé, an emotional tie was thrown in.

So in order to fully prevent his guard from ever slipping up again (caring for his mother despite the endangerment), he cannot similarly care for anyone else again (caring about victor despite the endangerment). so vic has to be shut out completely now both for oz’s self-preservation and possibly vic’s ‘preservation’ in a more morbid sense, by knowing his life is now endangered by his own care for oz likewise. who knows what sofia could do to him and what she could wrench out to harm oz again. and when he ‘shuts’ vic out, he has to shut out any sympathies/empathies that follow.

when he steals the money from his wallet, I saw it more as a not-wasting-resources gesture (sewers blown up + crown point hideout raided) rather than genuinely-indifferent disrespect, which goes in hand with that ever-prevalent opportunistic characteristic. “it wasn’t for nothing.” throwing away his ID also appeared disrespectful, but with how his expression froze, it was clear he was shutting out unwanted feelings of regret, perhaps a rogue emotion (seeing as he expresses nearly no remorse for his actions and lies his way around it to avoid it altogether), and threw it away briskly. He needed that reminder gone before the feeling could settle in. (a lack of expression does not always mean a lack of feeling)

If anything, killing victor could also symbolize oz killing his former self—tragically fitting for a finale and change of occupation/direction. it was obvious that he saw himself through vic, or at least began to until it reached a point of no return. That idea could also be applied through vic finding strength in family—oz realizes that was his own undoing, family, and that vic was officially non-expendable. It’d already been basic knowledge that non-expendable people are lethal tools of manipulation (using taj to also kill nadia, and their deaths against sal, alberto against sofia even if it was pinned on the maronis anyways).

And you’re right about him killing vic differently. In the beginning of the show, if he’d done what was expected and had shot vic while his back was turned—it’d be quick and easy, indifferent like everyone else. Same with the second time he nearly killed vic, Oz gives in and spares him, giving him yet another chance even when it didn’t benefit Oz at the moment. Oz centers those around him with how they benefit him, so choosing to spare victor despite the potential burden is an obvious sign of care. Although it makes it much more twisted, oz killing victor the way he did was the furthest thing from indifferent. He could’ve lifted his hand at any moment, but didn’t until the end, further exposing his need to snuff out his own weakness, his care for victor. its the ultimate and worst father-son moment— oz recognizing his care for victor as his protégé to be non-expendable, and the recognition that he couldn’t let himself genuinely care for another person again. i see a lot of people saying that there was no reason for oz to kill victor after everything he did for him—but that’s the exact reason why he needed to. Vic did all of that because he was just that close to Oz, not even taking that exit when given, his loyalty had become familial which could become just as dangerous as Oz’s love for his mother. I also think Oz’s care for vic was similar to the nature of his lies regarding his brothers—not it being a lie itself but rather getting caught up in the short term benefits and attention while blocking out the long term consequences waiting—perhaps distracted by becoming this fatherly figure as a fatherless son himself to a fatherless boy, and avoiding the inevitable pain at the end of the road (their criminal circumstances/predicament) until it’s too late and boils over from his mother’s incident. its also important to note the unique situation this is and how heavily survival and preservation is involved here. Oz can’t care about anyone, it’s dangerous and just as dangerous for everyone else involved in crime (alberto to sofia, nadia + taj to sal). its why he was untouchable when his mother was still hidden, he had nothing to lose—but after sofia, oz learned his lesson the hard way about exceptions, urging him to turn his attention towards vic for the last time.

It could also be similar to how he never returned his brothers despite having time and even staring out the window (slowly killing victor with time to change his mind). It could be that in the moment as a child he was accepting the situation for what it was, he’d killed his brothers and needed to assess what to do, but us the viewer have to keep in mind his opportunistic personality (hinted by oz’s admiration of rex despite his older brother’s moral aversion) and the possibility of shock feigning as indifference (i say this because of the severity of oz’s denial reminds me of a trauma response). as many children do, he sought the short term benefit—the short term benefit was keeping his mother’s affection over disrupting that current peace and causing long term harm. (i don’t really believe the real reason was to have it solely for himself, mostly because it was only from his mother’s bias/pov and then by sofia who was only out to hurt him—but i think he just wanted to sustain it). by seeking the short term benefit of saying nothing and sharing a nice moment with his mother, it also further highlights, as you said, his inability to deal with the truth and the lies he upholds to keep his own peace (something his mother also did by constantly lying to oz that she didn’t know what he’d done and actually loathed him for it instead)—a ticking time bomb which sofia uses and demolishes completely, or at least enough for the viewers to realize the severity of oz’s delusions, which as you said, had been prevalent since the beginning, but never quite the full depth or scope of.

[ropebunnykant]

after watching the first episode, there are a loooot of things that stand out to me in terms of characterization in parallel to taming and i think i’m coming to the conclusion that actually all of them are katherine

wild thing to say i know, and obviously fadel fits the storytelling role (character needing to be tied down in order for sibling to be able to have a partner) but weirdly enough, he is the least like katherine in personality

style actually mimics petruchio’s personality quite a lot - he’s loud and unabashed and stubborn. but those are also traits of katherine. part of the reason petruchio is able to “tame” katherine is because he matches her wits and isn’t afraid to stand toe to toe with her - they’re a lot alike at the end of the day.

and with bison, he is being portrayed to be the wildcard between him and fadel when katherine is meant to be the wildcard. she’s unpredictable and violent and is the cause of a lot of bianca’s grief and that’s exactly the case with bison for fadel. he gets drunk, shoots wildly at karaoke, and then they have to move and fadel is pissed about it! and like bison also has bianca traits as well, but their dynamic seems totally switched from the play

as for kant, his personality seems less like katherine’s, but he is also another instance of needing to be “tamed.” a reformed criminal trying to get his record scrubbed. not to mention he literally has katherine’s line tattooed on his back - “if i be waspish, best beware my sting,” which i find fascinating in its own right. especially because it’s written on a tattoo of what appear to be angel wings when he actually has a bee tattoo on his chest. and like the line itself makes sense out of context because it implies people need to be weary of him - ie bison needs to be weary of trusting him - but in context it’s even more interesting because petruchio’s response is “my remedy is then to pluck it out.” he will pluck out her stinger - he will tame her. bison will tame him!

and with fadel i’m honestly kind of fascinated by the fact that despite being the katherine, the shrew, the one that needs to be tamed - he is arguably the calmest among the bunch, with the most patience? like yes, he physically dragged style out of the restaurant, but that was after style was the worst customer ever and if this was a true katherine, he would have thrown him out immediately. i do wonder if it’s because jojo is leaning into the idea of katherine being misunderstood, which is a very popular idea. that for some reason everyone thinks of fadel as this wild card, this shrew, but he’s actually just kind of a guy that will flip if his patience is really tested. it’s a little early to really tell but it’s interesting either way!

[shizunitis]

Since @crowlyne so kindly asked, I'll try to navigate 5th grade algebra with the confidence of a mathematically-challenged shizunfucker.

Important mention: Shen Yuan is not allowed to choose his own SPECIAL attributes. The System would assign him the values. Based on his answers to the psychological evaluation, which is conducted by Mu Qingfang, the skill values would change, but he can change the tags he assigns.

First, I chose which attributes would take a hit, which would remain neutral, and which would be given additional points, 40 total. Luck would get any points left over after dealing with the first 6, starting from a neutral 5. Their exact values are assigned by normal means (how much of an advantage it would give him while still fitting his character), after which I look at the names of each level and think which fits best, because I am not an entirely serious person.

Strength and Endurance take a small hit. Perception is fine as it is. Charisma and Intelligence will have a significant change, and Agility would get a slight raise. In order:

Strength: 4 "Lightweight"

Perception: 5 "Wary Trout"

Endurance: 4 "Handle With Care"

Charisma: 7 "Diplomat"

Intelligence: 8 "Know-It-All"

Agility: 6 "Catlike"

Luck: 6 "Stacked Deck"

The game's formula for calculating the skills tied to each attribute is 2 + (2 x Stat) + (Luck / 2) which gives us the following initial skill values:

(C) Barter: 19

(P) Energy Weapons: 15

(P) Explosives: 15

(A) Guns: 17

(P) Lockpick: 15

(I) Medicine: 21

(S) Melee Weapons: 13

(I) Repair: 21

(I) Science: 21

(A) Sneak: 17

(C) Speech: 19

(E) Survival: 13

(E) Unarmed: 13

Now, the psychological evaluation, or tagging which skills to add 15 points to:

Shen Yuan, genre savvy man that he is, would of course already know which stats he would want to tag in the early-game stage, but I think seeing what his stats actually are, he would be forced to augment some of his weaknesses. Out of three, one of the tags would be going to Guns, making that a 32. The other two would go to Speech and Lockpick for the sake of making it past the first few missions and having a way of gathering resources.

SO.

(C) Barter: 19

(P) Energy Weapons: 15

(P) Explosives: 15

(A) Guns: 32

(P) Lockpick: 30

(I) Medicine: 21

(S) Melee Weapons: 13

(I) Repair: 21

(I) Science: 21

(A) Sneak: 17

(C) Speech: 34

(E) Survival: 13

(E) Unarmed: 13

On a funnier and less out-of-my-depth note, I'm 100% convinced Shen Yuan would pick the "Confirmed Bachelor" perk because he thinks it's just a way to get along with NPCs and deal damage easier. He'd take the "Educated" and "Comprehension" perks, and eventually "Animal Friend" and "Ferocious Loyalty" because of course he would. "Fortune Finder" too maybe. He'd occasionally add to his SPECIAL values with "Intense Training", but only when he doesn't have any alternatives.

Probably missed something. Does it matter? He turns on god mode every single morning and goes on living his best life after threatening to smash his Pip Boy against the closest rock every time the System tries something. I can't allow him to suffer both the post-apocalyptic modern PIDW world and deal with the System. That would just be needlessly cruel.

Also: Binghe's SPECIAL attributes are higher than normal from the very start, I've decided. Because he is Shizun's specialest little guy.

Also, also: I think the most interesting build would be Airplane’s, and most predictable would be Liu Qingge’s.

played a lot of fallout during my break, which is to say that shen yuan in a fallout new vegas au has been keeping me up at night. of course he would be given access to the console commands, and thus, god mode. the system lives in the pip boy. luo binghe is supposed to be the protagonist and shen yuan cannot keep himself away, in spite of his better instincts. shen yuan with the debug 9mm, can you imagine?

[olligane]

Hello Greed Nation. How we feeling today?

[nartml]

Saw a comment describe killugon as 'born to be brothers, forced to be best friends'.

And I just have to say that, out of all the things that have never happened, that has never happened the most.

[palaceoftears]

Magnificent Century Rewatch: One Picspam per Episode

Episode 17: The Double Joy

-My dear mother used to say "walk barefoot on earth and it shall take away all your troubles and sorrows, earth shall give you happiness and joy"

-Your mother spoke well, one can only find peace in earth. But I'm not sure if it is on earth or in it.

[kismetconstellations]

Just two things I want to add, because I'm otherwise in total agreement with you:

One; Shiro is a major proponent of agency and autonomy after having his own violated to such brutal extremes.

After hearing Hunk express that he missed his own family, and, "never signed up for a lifetime in space fighting aliens",

Shiro halts Keith's lashing out at Pidge, however partially justified it was, to remind him

(Everyone who thinks that Shiro is totally okay with the fact that he's been tasked with leading a group of child soldiers into an intergalactic war none of them asked to be a part of can go touch a cactus.)

Allura, whose stakes in this war are also deeply personal, doesn't try to stop Pidge leaving, either.

And, Two;

I thought the relationship between Hunk and Shay was genuinely sweet, especially with Shay being a not outwardly feminine or sexualized alien and her active role in the narrative galvanizing Hunk, inciting his character development and bringing out his heroic side. And, it makes so much more sense to me than the, in my opinion, bafflingly popular fandom pairing of Hunk and Romelle, which has no basis in canon whatsoever.

I want to talk, for just minute, about the amount of self-disparagement in Shiro's statement, here. He's grievously injured, ailing, and trapped in a tiny cave with creatures lurking outside, waiting for their next opportunity to attack him.

Despite this, he's been repeatedly assuring Keith that he's "all right", and inquiring after Keith's well-being whenever he hears Keith struggling over the comms. Then, Keith expresses his belief that Shiro's presence and influence changed his life, and Shiro agrees. On the grounds that he's actively made Keith's life worse.

Keith's response to this extremely concerning assertion?

Nothing. He hears Shiro cough, tells him, "Stay with me, Shiro," and that's it.

This is an example of exactly what I mean when I say that Shiro has no support system. His best and closest friend hears him say something seriously disconcerting while in a state of utmost vulnerability, placing all of the blame for Keith's current predicament on himself, which is objectively not true, and does nothing to refute him. No, "Hey. Stop beating yourself up. We're gonna be just fine". Or, "How could this possibly be on you? Did you purposely eject us from the Castle?". Or even, "When we get out of here, we need to talk about why you feel like you don't matter and something completely out of your control is your fault. It's not like you asked to be here, either."

Maybe I'm expecting too much from a young adult with his own trauma whose interpersonal skills have already been shown to be lacking. I know I expected too much from a team of showrunners who believed that dark content automatically equals mature content, and insisted on shoving as much disturbing subject matter and questionable to outright deplorable messaging as they could manage to get away with into a series aimed at children. Shiro was never meant to heal from his trauma. The intention was to kill him to pave the way for Keith to take his place as The Chosen One.

But, in this fandom's determination to woobify their favorites to the extreme based on said favorites' moments of insecurity, they seem to have forgotten that the most blatantly traumatized member of the cast is the most blatantly traumatized member of the cast. Self-loathing and passive suicidal ideation are every bit as much a part of that as Shiro's flashbacks and the fear-induced paralysis that seizes him when a repressed memory resurfaces from the dark corners of his mind to drag him under. And, he, too, deserved all of the sensitivity, care, and love that they believe their favorites do, which makes it all the more abhorrent that he was repeatedly denied it in this show's canon.

[specterthief]

The "just not the dub" in your tags, thanks 🙏. (I do think the dub has its place and it's got some stuff but it's not necessarily the same show. And the original is just superior when it comes to the emotional beats. The dub I think tried too hard to be "funny" and it kinda took away some of the characters' good qualities (esp Reki imo).)

tbh ironically reki is the one character who i think suffers least from the dub because when the script is good his performance is generally really good on a technical level and pretty fitting to the character's original tone, and he seems to have suffered from the least like... active material changes to his characterization, i guess because no one really had any problems with reki lol

but saying "when the script is good" is kind of fraught in the first place, because untangling the absolute mess of the general scriptwriting from the intentional character changes from the actors improvising with no oversight is such an overwhelming task i've tried to break it down and given up multiple times already, so even generally feeling like reki was the character who had the best transition to dub he's still held down by being in this dub

i do think it can have some entertainment value just to watch a bit here and there to hear the characters speaking english but the fact that they self-admittedly completely rewrote characters and altered the script to the point of changing the actual plot and themes of the show just kind of supersedes the few praiseworthy things it's got, because it's treated as an equal and equivalent way of enjoying the story and it's just... really functionally not the same story. and now the fandom is full of people going solely off the dub and thinking it's the same story and projecting that back on the original text or gleefully praising the dub's (again, admitted) efforts to "improve" the source material and "make it gayer" by adding fanservice while censoring the actual text. it doesn't even hold up for a theoretical accessibility use case, before you even get to the story changes, because important information in the visuals that's conveyed in characters' dialog and tone in japanese gets completely cut or lost in english.

i can't stop people from enjoying it obviously but i wish there could at least be an understanding that it's not the same show and shouldn't be discussed as if they're interchangeable, and i'm always going to put disclaimers like that on any kind of recommendation because the original story is what i'm recommending and the dub isn't that. i love the original show and i want people to experience that as nearly as they possibly can, not someone's smug fanfiction pasted over the original animation.

[13eyond13]

One of the main things I dislike about book 2 Lestat vs book 1 Lestat is it just takes away a lot of the interesting mystery about his character in the first book to have him definitively answer everything like: "oh actually I WAS hiding a bunch of secrets of the vampire universe and rules and hierarchy and history from you the entire time, and actually I WAS also filthy rich secretly the entire time due to a treasure left to me by my maker and didn't actually need you for your money at all, and also I wasn't a bit insecure about my lower class upbringing and poorer education and trying to compensate for that by being both showy and secretive about myself I was actually a noble, and also I CAN do a bunch of other vampire things that I never taught you to do or did in front of you even though we lived together in the same house as a family for like 70 years, and yes I DO hate following rules and doing what I'm told and keeping secrets but I did it because Marius said your fragile minds couldn't handle the truth if I DID tell you anything else, and also I DIDN'T want any revenge on Claudia or blame her for attempting to murder me or think I maybe should undo what I did by making her one bit, I was just being forced by the even EVILLER vampire to have her condemned to death, and also almost everything questionable or problematic or cruel that I did within the first book was either a lie told by Louis or secretly actually a kind and heroic thing I did because I cared about someone other than myself, IN FACT I SECRETLY THE ENTIRE TIME HAD A STRICT MORAL CODE I WAS FOLLOWING every time I casually killed an innocent npc in the first book, and whenever you watched on in horror at my cruelty and toying with my victims I was actually only killing scummy evildoers and Louis was just too dumb and romanticizing of humans to ever see it etc..." like FINE WHATEVER, I GUESS hahaha but I actually kind of liked you better when you were a bit meaner and a bit petty and a bit imperfect and a bit lame

[spicyicymeloncat]

Nightcord Kaito is actually my favourite virtual singer from project sekai. He’s so angry I love him. (I changed his hair to kinda resemble the character from the original Samsa mv)

[vir-bellanaris]

No, no.

You're totally right. Mythal IS a bad person. But she's also so much more than just that. There's so many layers to this character. Ones that I think most of us don't want to explore because it's an uncomfortable space, given we see the damage she did to Solas.

Also I think if we can move past all the absoluted FUCKED things Solas did (of his own will, no one forced him to stab Felassan in the back for example), we can move past what Mythal did. I don't believe what she did was out of malicious intent. Like Solas, Mythal believed herself to be Right with a capital R. Therefore, her actions were "beyond reproach".

And besides, she saved the Hero of Ferelden and Hawke. For ulterior motives, sure, but it still happened lol

She also apparently tried to convince Solas to stop, so that counts for something despite it being too little too late.

“we need more complex female characters” y’all could barely handle her