#but his fans viewing the situation from an outside perspective??

[kitkats-and-kittens]

I don’t read many Red Hood comics. Like obviously he’s there in some of the stuff I read, but I’m self aware enough to know that he isn’t going to be written the same way as he would be in a comic more central to his own story.

That being said. I genuinely do not understand why some fans make Bruce out to be the devil for not killing the joker??

Like I get it for Jason. He’s a kid. He’s hurt. He’s angry. He’s upset. He died. Like he’s probably not thinking very rationally here, but that’s something you can eventually learn to manage with time and therapy.

However Bruce not wanting to put aside his own already well established set of morals and kill a guy is like completely within reason???

I’ve seen a lot of Jason Todd stans make him seem like this horrible father for not placing Jason’s morals above his own and killing the Joker and I understand that it’s very complex issues, because the man’s son died, but if anything that should only cause a more nuanced viewpoint on the conflict.

Jason dying is horrible and you’re allowed to feel empathy for the guy. Of course you are, it sucked, but that doesn’t mean that Bruce is suddenly obligated to start killing people? Nor does it mean he should turn a blind eye to Jason killing people, just because he was hurt.

Bruce is allowed to be selfish. He’s allowed to look in the mirror and say “I don’t want to become a killer” and he’s allowed to go out into the world and do just that without being called an abusive father.

Maybe It’s me just not understanding the conflict completely. Again I really haven’t read many comics and most of this is through a very internet heavy viewpoint.

But I also feel like a lot of the nuance of the situation has been sucked out over the years and reduced to Jason whining about how his own father won’t sacrifice everything he stands for just to avenge him as though Jason is in a morally superior disposition to half the people he fights.

I’m not even that big of a Batman stan. I just genuinely don’t understand.

Also damn I’ve been posting a lot recently

[buckevantommy]

https://www.tumblr.com/buckevantommy/757878657756872704/btw-i-dont-think-we-need-to-worry-about-buck-and

Agree 100%. But, to further expand that, and going outside the world of the show.

From a GA perspective, or the audience full stop, how many partners are we willing to watch before we lose interest? By this I mean - if the writers are spending screen time / several episodes introducing a new character and a new relationship, usually we get invested. And when that person disappears, it can be frustrating, and the introduction of a new person (thus the start of the cycle again), can feel a bit tiring. Every time they need to find something that makes the audience go: okay, it’s worth for me to care about this character.

Buck’s case is a bit particular, because his relationships haven’t been all that well received (until now). Either it was an ‘okay’ situation, without much interest, or an okay reception but controversial at times (for me, Taylor - I do think the GA was okay with her, but ultimately the couple was not good). Tommy has been imo the first relationship that truly has brought in lots of positive and good reviews and a good investment of attention from fans and even GA. Tommy’s clips in any social media are usually the ones with most views, and in things like IG it goes to talk about the GA more than a focused fandom.

This to say - if Buck was to break up with Tommy, I think a lot of the audience would be frustrated or even grow bored of the constant change of partners. Even, they would be less receptive to a future new partner, because if Tommy (so well received) is gone, who would even stay?

Not to say this means Tommy is Buck’s endgame, because no one knows. But at some point the constant change of partners gets old, and we know Tim agrees when he expressed wanting to get Buck off the hamster wheel (something Oliver agreed on), and Tommy is a really strong character to have Buck settle with.

Long story short: not only from a SL perspective, but Bucktommy being long lasting makes sense for the overall image of the show.

You're absolutely right nonny.

bc if we think about bucktommy in terms of it being Buck's relationship aka. a main character's relationship, enough is enough on dragging him from illfit to illfit - that guy deserves to be settled, at ease in himself, as Bobby once told him, and we've already seen Tommy help make that happen for him.

and if we look back at Buck's relationship history: we're 7 years into poor matches for a guy who has always wanted to love and be loved - and Tommy can be that for him! he has been that for him so far and could so easily fit into the narrative as Buck's significant other moving forward indefinitely. Tommy already feels like the missing piece to Buck's story the same way Karen was for Hen and Maddie was for Chim and Athena was for Bobby - and he's a fleshed out character in his own right just as those partners are.

enough screwing around with Buck's relationships. sometimes it feels like just bc he started out as a fuckboy he somehow doesn't deserve a stable, healthy, loving relationship, like the narrative is going out of its way to ruin any chance he has at that for the sake of drama (but again: none of his previous partners were the right match for him).

i'm going to mention dear dean winchester again bc he has so much in common with Buck, and these kinds of characters (male, strong, macho, attractive, swagger, charming, sexually active, presumably bisexual) always cycle through relationships that never pan out - bc they're not the right fit, but moreover bc these partners seem written in just to be eventually written out, there to help the main character's plot along, aid in some personal growth and add drama, maybe attract more viewership for those interested in seeing more (temporary) female characters.

but it is.. *sigh* tiresome, indeed. let Buck have a stable partner - like Hen, and Chim, and Bobby do - and let their relationship be woven into the narrative to create a richer tapestry like those other pairings do. that is so much more satisfying in terms of storytelling and character growth, than trying to insert drama snags that threaten to unravel things. you can still have drama with committed pairings - every other committed pairing in the show is proof of that.

and if we take off the shipper googles: Tommy is good as Buck's partner, he makes sense, and he has great potential in the longrun both as Buck's boyfriend/husband and as his own character within the wider narrative of the show. he's a natural fit, but he's also entertaining and he has history with most of the main characters already.

i really do see Tommy as Buck's endgame btw, bc they work so well together as a pairing but also as independant characters. BUT i wouldn't be mad about them breaking up/taking a break (as i mentioned in that post: uncertainty about having kids; a potential permanent job position out of state) and then come back together stronger for it. we saw it happen with Henren (but i don't want to see cheating with our boys bc it doesn't fit who they are) so we know if they do breakup it doesn't have to be permanent - and i actually would love the mirror to Buck's first serious relationship where Abby leaves him - only Tommy comes back to him.

[aqours]

"Aqua has an Oedipus complex-" first of all beyond the fact the only way you could possibly think this is you never read or watched OnK at all and just read a synopsis and didn't bother to verify if it was accurate or not- this is actually the weakest way you could possibly interpret the nature of the feelings Goro/Aqua had regarding Ai. like, even ignoring the fact that Aqua has such an extreme lack of an Oedipus complex to the point he actively refused to breastfeed from Ai because it would have been creepy and inappropriate to him, everything about Aqua's feelings regarding Ai if anything read as parental quite frankly

Gorou Amamiya became Ai's fan because of Sarina. Because Sarina was somebody important to Gorou that he comforted in her last days, he became a huge fan of Ai in order to carry on Sarina's wishes and to keep supporting her and became a genuine diehard idol fan in the process. Then, he met Ai while pregnant: and had a heart-to-heart conversation with her. And came to the conclusion that Ai was somebody he wanted to support in any capacity. He could have been like Ryousuke and actually become possessive of her and feel like she betrayed him: he did not. He was a medical professional that put aside his own feelings as "a fan" to support her both as a doctor and as a fan in his own way by wishing for her sincere happiness as opposed to an image sold to fans.

He wanted to see her grow up happy and healthy. If Ryousuke had not killed him and there was no murder plot at all? The plot of this story probably would have been about him moving to Tokyo after talking to Ai's manager saying that someone needs to be their family doctor while keeping their secret and him taking the roll. The series would have been about Gorou as the Hoshino family doctor and how he supports them as a member of the sidelines who gives support in his own way.

Aqua never really refers to Ai as his mother much outside of situations when it'd be weirder if he didn't. It's very explicit he does not have a romantic or sexual attraction to Ai in this new life: he already didn't, but now it's like, Negatively So Actually. No longer able to support her as a doctor he even took an acting gig JUST to help further and bolster Ai's career. It's beaten into your face with the subtlety of a dozen hammers to your face his only desire is to watch Ai grow up safe and happily and succesful.

Aqua's/Gorou's relationship with Ai was someone who wanted to see her grow up to be happy. And after some waste of life incel murdered her? To want to make sure that was avenged. Because he was someone older than Ai who valued her and wanted her happiness above everything else in the world, and views the person who is responsible for that as someone who's life is forfeit. Because Ai was a good person who didn't deserve her fate and as someone who only ever wanted to support her, wants to make sure that her memory can rest in peace completely.

If anything, the feelings Aqua/Gorou had towards Ai are parental in nature. So much about his motivations read like a father who wants to avenge his daughter's murder, to kill the man that denied her the happiness the child deserved.

"OnK is soooooooo gross the mc has an Oedipus complex and is a p*do-" not only is this a reading you can only get from a five second sypnosis read and being determined to hate OnK for brownie points, it's not even the right fucked up dead dove way that you could describe their relationship.

EDIT: I feel the need to address this, as it's talked in reblogs and some notes! I never expected this to get notes, and I mostly wrote this in one go. Please understand I wrote this post from the perspective of purely writing Aqua's feelings for Ai purely from a familial perspective. The reality is that Aqua's feelings are complicated and can be read in many different ways: from familial, to that of a lover, to someone who puts Ai on a pedestal as the ultimate Idol and the ideal of what a "true" fan would be: someone who loves their Idol for who she is as opposed to a toxic image. I don't fully 100% agree with this post anymore, but if I had to chose only one familial way for Aqua to view Ai I would probably still default to "vengeful father who wants to avenge his daughter's death." BUT Aqua's feelings are ultra complicated and are on an entire spectrum ranging from "wholesome" to "outright disturbing," so please don't take my words as like a single sure-fire way to interpret him! ty all <3

[thistledropkick]

Last year, Kasai Jun was interviewed as part of the interview project DEATH, which interviews various people about death in order to find a better understanding of how to live and appreciate life.

I thought it was a fascinating interview, so I decided to translate it.

Please go visit the original interview - the photography accompanying it is absolutely gorgeous.

Also, please don't repost this whole translation elsewhere. If you want to quote an excerpt of my translation for something, please make sure to also credit the original team behind this interview and link back to the original interview.

Deathmatch Fighter Kasai Jun - 4/27/2022

“It’s not a deathmatch until you return home alive” The reason this 47 year old Charisma Wrestler continues to shed blood in the ring

Within pro wrestling, there is a genre called “deathmatch.”

An extreme set of rules that allows deadly weapons and has no disqualifications. Brawls with fluorescent light tubes, and dives onto barbed wire boards. Without hesitation, wrestlers stab their opponents in the head with fistfuls of bamboo skewers. When wound-covered bodies violently collide, shards of glass and sprays of blood shower the ringside seats.

Upon first seeing it, surely everyone thinks “Why are these people hurting each other like this?” “What the hell am I looking at?”

This is the world of the man known as “Charisma,” professional Wrestler Kasai Jun of the independent promotion Pro Wrestling Freedoms.

In November of 2009, he had a “razorblade board plus alpha deathmatch” against Ito Ryuji in Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall. Kasai, 35 years old at the time, dove from the second floor balcony, a fall of 6 meters, onto a table, aiming for his opponent Ito.

Afterwards they continued to fight with various weapons, in a match that concluded 15 seconds before the 30 minute time limit. That year, this match was awarded the Best Bout award. And Kasai, the winner of that match, became a living legend overnight.

12 years have passed since then. Kasai is now 47 years old, and he continues to rule over the world of deathmatch wrestling. Under the weight of many literal life-or-death battles, Kasai’s body no longer moves the way it did when he was young. Even so, why does he continue to set foot in such a dangerous place?

We asked “Charisma of Deathmatch” - a man who makes the crowd go mad in the space between life and death - about his views on death and on life.

Desiring to truly feel alive

- Normally, people try to avoid pain and suffering. Kasai, why do you continue to shed blood in the ring?

Hahaha. From an outside perspective, you must really wonder “Why do you keep doing something so painful” huh? That’s a normal way to feel. But from the wrestler’s perspective, it’s completely different.

In your normal daily life, do you ever feel like “Ahh, it’s so glorious to be alive”? You’d almost never unconsciously blurt out something like that.

But in a life or death battle in a deathmatch ring, after you step down from that ring, that’s exactly what you feel. “Ahh, I’m alive. I’m so grateful to be alive.” Because of that, I can’t quit.

Mountain climbers and stuntmen probably feel like this too, don’t they. Stepping into a situation where their life could end, and returning home safely. I wonder if they’re searching for that feeling of being “truly alive.”

This feeling is passed on to the audience too. Fans often tell me “Watching Kasai Jun’s deathmatch gives me the strength to continue forward.”

They say things like, “I’m being bullied at school so I wasn’t going to go any more, but now I feel like I can keep going.” Or, “It’s exhausting to keep going to work, but after seeing Kasai persevere while shedding blood in the ring, I can persevere and keep going to work.”

Recently I can’t do this much because of covid, but in the past when I’d sell merch, fans would often say things like this to me.

Because of this, it seems to me that deathmatch wrestling is simultaneously a way for wrestlers to feel truly alive, and a way for those who watch it to feel more positively about living.

- Because of the sensational way “death” is shown in the ring?

Probably, yeah. Because it looks like we’re doing something really painful.

But don’t get me wrong. We aren’t in a particular hurry to die. And we aren’t wasting our lives either. What I always say is, “It’s not a deathmatch until you return alive.”

[Note from me - this phrase (生きて帰るまでがデスマッチ) is a play on a well-known Japanese phrase 家に帰るまでが遠足 “The field trip isn’t over until we return home.” This started as something a teacher would say to students in their care, and Kasai has altered it into his motto towards both himself and other deathmatch wrestlers.]

- It’s not a deathmatch until you return alive.

If you get in a ring where you might die or get seriously injured, and you do die, or you do get seriously injured, you’re no different than a rank amateur, right? But a guy who dives into a deadly dangerous situation and returns from that ring unharmed, he’s the absolute greatest and the absolute coolest.

Like a stuntman, right? If he returns home alive, people say “amazing,” but if he dies, he’s no longer a pro.

At 35 years old, his view on life did a complete 180 during a match

But, when I was young, I thought about it completely differently. I never thought “I’m grateful to be alive.” In the ring, I did dangerous stuff and defeated my opponents. I just thought of it as my job.

The more dangerous stuff I did, the more people said “Kasai is amazing!” That felt really great. Every time I stepped into the right I thought, if something goes wrong and I die I guess that’s how it goes. I thought “Deathmatches should be a memento mori.”

- What caused such a big change in your values?

That match against Ito Ryuji in Korakuen, in 2009. It changed my mental state by 180 degrees.

The truth is, I went into that match thinking “This is my last match before I retire.” Because it was my last match, I would do everything I wanted to do. Win or lose, I went into the ring thinking “I’ll retire.”

But during the match, my feelings completely changed. I thought “If I quit like this, I’ll be half-dead.” There’s nothing else I want to do, and I’ve never felt joy like this anywhere else. It was just too much fun.

So, after the match ended with 15 seconds remaining, I announced my decision to continue wrestling. “I was thinking of retiring but, I’m gonna keep going.” That’s what changed.

- Since your values have changed so significantly from when you thought it’d be good to die in the ring, what’s your “ideal death” now?

Spending the day with my family as I always do, watching tv with an after-dinner drink as I always do, getting comfy in my futon as I always do, and passing away. That’s the best death, isn’t it.

I’ve said it before but, people who say “It’s my ambition to die in the ring” are just trying to look cool. For a pro, it all comes down to returning home alive. And so, I believe that when the life of Kasai Jun the human being comes to an end, Kasai Jun the wrestler will die as well. I want to be a pro wrestler until I die. That’s how I feel now.

When I was young, I thought the best time for a wrestler to retire was when he could still move, when people would say “It’s a shame, because there’s still more he can do.” But if that’s true, I’ve already missed my best time to retire.

Since I’ve come this far, maybe it’s better to keep doing this until my death. Since around the time I turned 40, I started thinking this way.

Gaining years = leveling up. I’ll reach my peak just before death.

- Since you’ve been doing this for so long, it’s inevitable that your body has become weaker. Kasai, how have you dealt with aging?

The word “elderly” is a concept created by human beings, isn’t it? Since that’s the case, I believe it’s something we can absolutely overcome. I don’t think increasing in age is the same as becoming elderly.

Look, it’s true that my physical stamina has decreased and my muscles have gotten weaker than they were when I was younger. But my will and my spirit have continued to grow. Instead of just breaking even, I think I’ve leveled up. 47 years old is level 47. I now see growing older as a positive, like leveling up every year.

Because of that, my peak has yet to come. I’ll reach my peak just before I die. I’ll be at my strongest just before my death. That’s the ideal I envision for myself.

There was a time when I felt insecure about my age. When I hit my mid 30s, I hated that my body was becoming weaker.

But then, while drinking at home and watching a documentary on TV about (rock musician) Yazawa Eikichi, I realized something. “If you think about it, uncool young people are uncool, and cool guys are cool even if they’re old.” Since then, my way of thinking changed. I started calling getting older “leveling up” at around that time.

[Note from me: Suzuki Minoru also refers to getting one year older as “leveling up” in the exact same way. They are friends, so I assume Suzuki got it from Kasai.]

- I'm surprised that a pro athlete who uses his body as a weapon would think of aging in that way.

Pro wrestling and deathmatch are unique among sports. Unlike say, track and field, or swimming, it isn’t a competition where every second counts. I can’t move the way I could when I was young any more, but through my facial expressions, pauses during matches, and so on, I have many ways to express myself.

A guy can be handsome, macho, with great muscles, and completely suck as a wrestler. In contrast, a guy like me who’s ugly, short, and middle-aged, can get support from the fans. It’s a completely different genre, and that’s what makes pro wrestling so interesting.

- What about your emotional struggles? In your documentary film you said you were having some difficulty maintaining your motivation, which you described as “Deathmatch Erectile Dysfunction”

Yeah, well, that can definitely be a problem. When you’re young, you’ve just got piles of hopes and dreams and things you want to do. But as the years go on, and as you accomplish those things, you can kind of get lost.

What’s helped me increase my motivation has been the existence of people who make me think “I absolutely don’t wanna lose to this guy” or “I don’t want this guy to take all the best stuff for himself” In my case, for example, that’s been (fellow PW Freedoms deathmatch wrestler) Takeda Masashi. Or, although he’s from another organization, New Japan Pro Wrestling’s El Desperado.

That’s why for the past 3 or 4 years, I’ve been asking people to “stimulate me.” I want intimidating people to keep approaching me. Well, on the other hand, if they take the most delicious part for themselves, that’s a problem.

A fear of death led to a “selfish life”

- Incidentally, perhaps it’s too late at this point, but do you worry about being injured or dying?

I said it already but, “It’s not a deathmatch until you return alive.” Since I’m a pro, I have the skills required to do this without death or injury. 

But, it’d be a lie to say “I’m not afraid.” Even now, for several days before a match I get so stressed that I can’t sleep. Despite how I look, I get plenty scared. Much of my life has been driven by a strong fear of death.

- How do you mean?

It sounds silly, but when I was in grade school I believed in “The Prophecies of Nostradamus.” Have you ever heard of it? “In the year 1999, all of humanity will be destroyed.” Every night I shook with fear in my futon, thinking that my life would end at the age of 24.

Propelled by that fear, I concluded, “If the earth is gonna get destroyed anyway, I should quit studying. Instead I should use the rest of my remaining lifetime to do stuff that I like.” I completely quit studying, and instead spent all my time watching pro wrestling, which I loved.

Conversely, my fear of death also led me to become a pro wrestler. After graduating high school, I got a job in Tokyo as a security guard, but I gave into temptation and visited brothels daily. One day I happened to be reading a magazine with an HIV checklist inside, and almost every item applied to me.

At that time, I still thought “AIDS = death” so I thought “Oh, this is AIDS.” “Oh, this is how I’ll die.”

Luckily, when I got tested the result was negative, but after preparing myself for death, I thought “I really should do what I want” and knocked on the door of Big Japan Pro Wrestling. My life has always been influenced in this way.

- I get the impression that many wrestlers die at an early age. Since then, your fear must have increased.

Nah, that’s not really true. I’m surprisingly practical about the deaths of others. I just accept it, like “That’s the kind of life you lived.” I suspect my fear of death isn’t a fear of death itself, but a fear of becoming nothing.

- A fear of becoming nothing.

I’m no (actor and spiritualist) Tanba Tetsuro, but if after you die, you go to the spirit world, and cross the Sanzu river, that’s not all that scary is it? I wouldn’t go so far as to say “it’s fine if I die” but there’s some kind of hope or meaning. But if “After death, you become complete nothingness” “After death you feel no joy or sadness” I think that’s really scary.

But these days, I don’t experience that fear of death as much as I used to. If after this interview a dump truck hits me and I die, I wouldn’t have any regrets. I could say I did what I wanted to do.

Pro wrestling is a business where you depend on your popularity with an audience, but I’ve never tried to flatter the audience to get sales or support, or thought about how to increase my popularity. Ultimately, Kasai Jun puts himself first. I’m my own number one.

To die without regrets is to win at life

- But, if someone wanted to imitate your way of life, I think most people would be profoundly afraid of not getting by financially, or of being rejected by society. Why do you think you remain stoic in the face of such fears?

What’s there worth imitating about me? If you’re selfish like me and you can change it, you should want to!

But, this is probably related to that “fear of becoming nothing” I mentioned earlier. Ever since I was little, I’ve thought stuff like “This whole world isn’t real” and “Maybe all of this is just a dream.”

Nothing in this world is certain. Since that’s the case, all you have are your own body and your own feelings. In short, I don’t believe in anything but myself, so I put myself first.

- So in order to “feel truly alive” you throw yourself into the painful world of deathmatch wrestling, which leads us back to where we started.

That’s right. I guess you could say that pain is the only thing I believe.

But when I was young, I did understand the fear of not making enough money to survive. When I was around 30 and my son had just been born, I was seized by that fear.

Really, I was broke, and I couldn’t even pay into the National Pension Fund like I was supposed to, so I went to the ward office and said “I do intend to pay, so please wait a little.” I thought to myself, “Living is so expensive and so difficult.”

- A deathmatch fighter scary enough to quiet a crying child, with such an everyday problem.

Three years after my debut, when I was around 27, I was badly injured. I quit Big Japan, and after a year’s absence, I transferred to a different group called Zero-One.

Zero-One was founded by ex-New Japan Pro Wrestler Hashimoto Shinya, and the pay was good compared to Big Japan, and they held a lot of shows, so I could wrestle frequently. The environment there was very pleasant.

But, due to the policy of the organization, I couldn’t do the deathmatches that I love. During that time as a “salaryman wrestler,” I survived, but I think deathmatch fighter Kasai Jun, pro wrestler Kasai Jun, was completely dead.

“I really should do the pro wrestling I want to do,” I thought, and I quit Zero-One, and persisted with the pro wrestling that I love. Maybe that’s why I feel like I can now “die without regrets.”

Ultimately, if you live your own life as you wish, and think “I have no regrets” when you die, you win. Maybe people today have lost sight of the essence of what it means to live. It’s fine to work hard at your job, but if you’re spending every day miserably, is that kind of life really okay with you?

I’d rather live for 20 years and laugh every day than live for 100 years and never smile. If you’ve lived for 100 years and never laughed, that’s the same as being dead, isn’t it?

~

写真：本永創太 ~ Photographer: Motonaga Souta

執筆：鈴木陸夫 ~ Author: Suzuki Atsuo

編集：日向コイケ（Huuuu）~ Editor: Hinata Koike (Huuuu)

[our-happygirl500-fan]

Something that I find fun to think about is imagining Leosagi from Casey Junior’s perspective:

I like to imagine that Casey Junior used to sort of view Leosagi as kind of inventing romance, both from a sort of rose coloured lens of watching them during his childhood & from probably overly romanticised stories that Future Leo would tell about Future Yuichi after the rebellion lost him.

And when Casey Junior travels to the past/ present he sort of thinks that Yuichi & Leo probably won’t get together in this timeline because he doesn’t know how how this younger, more free spirited version of his sensei would be able to win over someone he remembers as a noble samurai, like that & then the Hamato clan actually meets Yuichi & Casey realises that teen Yuichi is just as goofy as teen Leo.

I just like imaging Casey Junior having no idea how a younger, sillier version of his sensei could win over ‘serious, noble samurai Yuichi Usagi’ like that or imagines them as a sort of ‘opposites attract’ kind of situation & then he meets teen Yuichi who writes fan-fiction about himself in his head & once got a grape stuck in his nose for a whole year & Casey realises exactly why Leo & Yuichi were drawn to each other in his original timeline.

Though outside of Leosagi, Casey Junior meeting teen Yuichi & realising that he’s just as much of a goofy teen as the teen versions of the Turtles & April probably would really hammer in how nearly everyone Casey Junior looked up to growing up, really were just kids when the Krang first invaded.

[wander-wren]

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Matthew

Time for the promised defense of our favorite asshole, with analysis of my favorite song from the show, “Are You There?”

Brief disclaimers: I haven’t seen a staging of the show in YEARS, so there may be some missing context, but I have done my best. I am also coming at it as a complete outsider, being both an agnostic raised “non-denominational” Christian and someone firmly removed from most of the drama in my own high school.

I want to make this post accessible to non-Bare fans, mostly so I can foist it on my unsuspecting friends, so I will begin with a synopsis and do my best to explain everything.

Bare: A Pop Opera is a coming of age story about two boys, Peter and Jason (secretly dating) at a Catholic boarding school. The central conflict is that Peter is tired of being closeted and wants to come out, but Jason is terrified and refuses. Orbiting them are their friend group, Nadia (Jason’s sister), Ivy, and Matthew, who each have their own set of problems that gets tangled with the boys.

“Are You There?” takes place at the point where all of the setup begins to coalesce into conflict. Our situation is thus: Jason and Peter have had multiple fights over whether or not to come out. Some of this was instigated by a rave they both went to, where they danced together and no one batted an eye; Peter uses this to argue that the world isn’t so harsh, while Jason thinks Peter is naive and a rave is very different from the whole world. We’ve also been introduced to Jason’s father (from Jason’s perspective, at least), who appears to be very hard on his kids and emotionally absent. Jason is also popular and has a reputation as a “ladies man,” whereas Peter seems more reserved, awkward, and unnoticed, which gives Jason more to lose socially by coming out.

In the background, we have Ivy, who has a reputation for sleeping around and seems to be generally regarded as a bit spoiled and vain. We’ve seen her and Nadia trade a lot of insults, but outside of that she seems to be grounded and sweet, and sings a song called “Portrait of a Girl” where she struggles with how people view her.

Nadia isn’t too relevant here, unfortunately, but she’s awesome so everyone say hi Nadia, we appreciate you.

Matt has yet to have too much characterization. He deals drugs to the student population and acts as the ringleader for the rave adventure, but otherwise doesn’t do much. He does have a song called “Wonderland” where he tells the group about some new drug he wants them to try. He also sees Jason and Peter dancing at the rave, but I’m not sure if we know this when “Are You There?” occurs; he reveals it later in another song, but without seeing the whole production I can’t say if we’re meant to know before that. We also know he has a huge crush on Ivy that she doesn’t reciprocate, but she hasn’t outright turned him down.

“Are You There?” takes place during Ivy’s birthday party, a week after the rave. Matt and Peter both escape the party separately; Matt because Ivy rebuffed him and went to dance with Jason, and Peter because Jason is dancing with Ivy. They pray about their issues, then discover they’re not alone outside and talk. Peter comes out to Matt and reveals he and Jason are dating, which Matt at the time accepts.

Later in the show, Matt will start a fistfight with Jason and call him a faggot, and a bit later out him and Peter to their entire class. Based on the fact that Matt only targets Jason, this is less out of homophobia and more out of petty jealousy that Ivy likes Jason instead of him. The outing, among other problems not relevant here (and institutional homophobia, which is relevant), leads Jason to suicide.

So, uh, Matt’s an asshole. But! I like him anyway, and we’re gonna talk about why. Rewind to Ivy’s party, this song, and this pivotal conversation between Peter and Matt.

Matt begins the song by asking God, “Do you know—well of course you do— / What it’s like to stand outside? / To watch the world and wish / you didn’t hurt so much you cried? / I know I’m not the only one / and I know I shouldn’t care / but I feel these things are real / I wish I felt you there / And if I did, I’d ask you / How come life is so unfair?”

I believe this is the one time in the show we see Matt’s real feelings. The rest of the song I think is also probably very genuine, but Matt is the type to put up a front even around his friends, so it’s hard to be sure.

So this gives us a lot of new information about Matthew right away: he feels alone and like an outsider, he’s depressed, he’s conditioned to dismiss his own feelings but doesn’t want to, and he’s struggling with his faith.

I’ve already made a post about the theory that Matt had a relative who died during the school year. You can read that, or, TLDR: A dead girl named Megan Lloyd is referenced in a throwaway line in a song that comes after “Are You There?” Since Matthew’s last name is also Lloyd, it seems like they are probably related, and this could contribute to his behavior/attitude, especially since her death is treated as a joke and never brought up again.

It’s possible that Megan’s death (and its dismissal) contributes to Matt feeling apart and to him wrestling with faith.

(An aside: I do love this song because of it’s opening verses. Something about the interjection of “of course you do” is very humanizing of God and very sweetly telling of the boys’ view/relationship to him. I also think “of course” is one of the best phrases in the English language, generally. Of course.)

Peter sings a verse with similar themes, and the boys sing together: “Are you there? Are you there? / Do you watch me when I cry? / And if it’s in your power / how can you sit idly by? / I try so hard to please you / but you never seem to see / Is it my fate to sit and wait? / Wonder what my struggle means? / I wish I knew that someone out there cared / Cared for me.”

I’ve italicized the lines that Matt sings alone (with Peter singing the lines following each one alone). Overall the chorus doesn’t do too much except nail home how lost and somewhat bitter both boys feel. Matt wishing that someone cared about him serves to highlight his loneliness, even though he has friends and seems popular.

At this point the boys briefly stop singing and just speak. Matt calls, “Who’s out there?” and when Peter responds, “Matt?” he says, “Yeah, are you alright?”

The way Matt says this line in the official cast recording, at least, has always stuck out to me. He sounds so gentle and genuine, and you remember that they’re friends. We see that Matt isn’t oblivious or self-centered, even though on the surface he just seems like he’s being dramatic that his crush doesn’t like him back.

Anyway, the boys sit together and Matt offers Peter some wine. They commiserate vaguely about the party and life, and then Peter admits, “It sucks to be ignored,” to which Matt says (beginning to sing properly again), “Ugh, I know! I always fight to do what’s right / and this is my reward.”

It’s very odd to me that Matt says this. It does make him seem kind of childish and entitled; which, he’s a seventeen year old boy, they can be that way. But I wonder if it’s a hint to some inner world that we’re never properly shown, some moral struggle Matt has. Or he’s just being dramatic. Who knows!

The boys sing together again: “Are you there? Are you there? / Can you make some time for me? / They tell me that you’re out there / And they tell me that you see / I try to find the meaning, God / You know how hard I’ve tried / But I don’t know where I’m going / and I don’t have any guide.”

This verse doesn’t really give us too much that’s new. Wanting more from God and feeling lost are very very common feelings.

Matt then sings, alone, “They said things would get better / but I guess they lied.” This line always makes me want to cry a little bit, this hint at Matt’s utter hopelessness and sort of resignation to it.

Peter then sings, “Are you there? / He needs to give me more,” and Matt agrees, “I’ll drink to that.”

Peter is referring both to God and to Jason, but Matt of course only thinks he’s talking about God. Probably. It is kind of funny to read it as Matt agreeing Jason owes Peter more. But what I’m more interested in is the fact that Peter’s line is diegetic, since Matt responds to it, but Matt’s line right before doesn’t get a response, at least not in this recording. Did Peter hear him say things won’t get better? What would he think about that? Peter seems a pretty hopeful person in spite of it all.

At any rate, Peter continues by saying, “Who cares what people think? / We’re fine, we’ve been through this before / One day he’ll wake up / and realize all he needs is me / Until then, God, I wish I knew / I need a guarantee.”

So here is where the relationship is confirmed to Matthew. Matthew says nothing to him, instead directing his next line back to God: “I need to know for sure that you’ll be there.”

Peter echoes that sentiment and the song proper ends, fading into a soft piano. At this point Matt and Peter begin to dance together, with Matt asking “Who’s leading?” and Peter answering, “I don’t know.” Matt asks “Who usually leads?” thereby acknowledging Peter and Jason’s relationship (and subtly asking who tops, lmao).

Peter whispers into Matt’s ear, which we can assume is him properly coming out, then says goodnight and leaves.

Now. It is absolutely possible to read Matt as deceiving in this song and a so-closeted-he’s-homophobic type of guy, between the dance and his treatment of Jason, but as I said before I don’t believe his behavior is rooted in homophobia. I also don’t believe he was lying about his feelings to earn Peter’s trust and gain information from him. There’s nothing to suggest that is Matt’s goal.

I think Matt is straight and starts the dance as a genuine show of support for Peter. Remember, this show was written and takes place in ~2000. Matt is touching Peter, doing an intimate activity with him, right after Peter has come out. It is extremely significant and sweet. Asking who leads is an even more overt gesture of acceptance; Matt wants to hear about them and what their relationship is like. This moment is unbelievably special and I believe that’s why Peter decides to come out rather than play damage control.

Okay, so, that’s all well and good, but what about the part where Matt’s a total dickhead later on? Well.

Matt fights Jason and calls him a faggot the very next day, but he does so during their rehearsal for the school play, where a fight is already scripted; he just takes it too far and adds the slur, whispered for only Jason. I think that this was a response to Jason dancing with Ivy and Matt wanted to let Jason know he held something over him; I believe that if Jason and Ivy had gone no further, Matt wouldn’t have either.

But instead, when Peter arrives and tries to convince Jason, again, to come out, Jason breaks up with him.

Shortly after (it’s unclear how long; possibly the same day), Ivy approaches Jason to apologize for being so forward at her party. Jason says it’s okay and pretends to reciprocate his feelings, clearly in an attempt to be “normal” and distance himself from his queerness/relationship to Peter. He and Ivy end up having sex, and then everyone splits for spring break.

When they return from break, Ivy asks to meet with Jason before a play rehearsal, where she reveals that she’s pregnant. Jason loses it and they begin to argue. Matt appears, as well as other students ready for rehearsal, and tells Ivy that Jason is gay and will never treat her the way she deserves (like he would, if she would date him).

Peter runs in and asks what’s going on. This is the only time Matt is even a bit mean to him, asking “Ivy’s pregnant and your boyfriend’s the dad / So what does that make you?” Peter tries to deny it, and Matt tells him not to play dumb.

Jason shouts at Matt to shut up and Matt taunts him about seeing them dance at the rave. Jason shouts at him some more, trying to salvage the situation, before Peter reveals that Matt does know what he’s talking about, because Peter told him.

Jason storms out, has a crisis, etc, and ultimately ends up getting drugs from Matt and overdosing on the night of the school play. It’s not clear whether this drug deal was already arranged or not, or why Matt lets an obviously unstable classmate have pills. We don’t get to see his thought process.

I think that Matt genuinely didn’t grasp the severity of what he was doing. He knew it would hurt Jason, but he didn’t expect it to destroy him. As Jason takes the pills, Matt even says, “You know we’re still cool, right?” in a sort of clumsy, teen-guy attempt to smooth things over. It seems to cross his mind what Jason could do with the drugs, but he’s too nervous to confront him about it directly. Maybe he assumes he’ll have more time, to talk to Jason again or warn someone closer to him.

Matt apologizes better to Peter later in the same scene, saying, “Peter, what I did…that was messed up. I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry.” (Peter only replies “It’s done,” for the curious.)

It is interesting how Matt responds differently to each of them, and implies he’s closer and more comfortable with Peter (makes sense, given his animosity/rivalry with Jason). I read this both as a real apology to Peter and an attempt to soothe his guilt over Jason; maybe he’s hoping Peter will put in a good word for him, though Peter and Jason are barely speaking at this point either.

The next we see Matt is in the final song, which takes place during the graduation ceremony. He begins his valedictorian speech, stammering, “I’d like to start with just a— / If we could take a moment— / If maybe we were silent / Or we had spoken / I tried to find the words to— / Just the right quotation / But I must confess I came up empty.”

Matt never seems unsure of himself before now. While metaphorically, yes, he sings a song about uncertainty, he doesn’t stumble over his words or have nothing to say. I would say Matt is acutely aware of his position, and that while he is referencing his speech when he talks about coming up empty, he’s also referring to that last moment of contact. That brief second where he could have said or done anything, could have made a difference, and only let Jason go.

That’s all we have of Matt. A conflicted, lonely, potentially-grieving kid who made a stupid, fucked-up choice in a fit of envy and has to deal with the consequences.

I’m unsure, at the end of all this, whether I have the dominant opinion. I’ve never really interacted with Bare’s fandom. I hope I have the dominant opinion. Matt’s pretty easy to hate and narratives are pretty easy to twist.

But I keep coming back to a dance outside a party. And I don’t believe Bare is a story in black and white.

[nutmeg-mayonnaise]

If Gregory, Mia and Mel are Phoenix and Maya's biological kids, does that mean Phoenix and Maya have Done the Deed, so to speak? Or were other methods involved?

Hello friend! I feel like if I gave the “quick” answer to this question, it’s going to be missing a lot of important context, and since I feel like the topic of family planning from a queerplatonic/aroace perspective is seldom talked about, I'm going to go more in-depth.

[ID: Edgeworth, Phoenix, and Maya holding or carrying children. Edgeworth is carrying the fan character Gregory Wright as a child on his back, with his eyes closed and a tense expression. Gregory has a happy face with closed eyes with his arms wrapped around Edgeworth’s shoulders. Phoenix has the fan character Mia Fey as a young child on his shoulders and head. Mia has her hands covering Phoenix’s eyes and has a determined expression. Phoenix is gripping Mia’s legs. Maya is holding Melusina Fey as an infant to her chest with a happy expression with her eyes closed.]

This is a little long and I know the subject matter isn’t for everyone, so the details along with a mini-comic are below the cut! (Nothing discussed is above the T rating!)

In my AU, Phoenix, Maya, and Edgeworth are all on different places on the aromantic and/or asexual spectrum (cue "Ace" Attorney jokes). It’s also worth mentioning that they're in a queerplatonic relationship, so their orientations don't really matter that much with regards to the polycule. If any of them wanted to pursue a romantic relationship with someone besides each other, it doesn’t break the queerplatonic polycule. However, their orientations does matter with regards to the kids.

One of the fics I'm writing takes place after Spirit of Justice where Maya is starting to seriously think about the future of the Fey Clan lineage. This makes Phoenix anxious, as he's well aware of the history of disastrous marriages in Kurain Village, and hopes to whoever's listening that it doesn't happen to Maya, too. However, he's not attracted to her in that way, so he doesn't get involved outside of being there for moral support.

Extremely long story short, after Maya's disastrous dating life--where she discovers she does not like romantic attention--soul-searching, emotional turmoil, Phoenix and Maya ask themselves why they couldn't have a family together as friends--especially after Edgeworth lectures both of them on separate occasions that they were viewing the situation too romantically. Fey Clan lineage doesn't care about romance, you see.

Obviously how the kids came to be was a huge hang-up. When Maya lamented that she wasn't fond of romantic attention during her moment of self-discovery, Phoenix recommended she have a chat with Edgeworth, who suggested the very unromantic route of donors (and offered to help pay). On a different occasion, when Phoenix was hung up over the birds and the bees, so to speak, Edgeworth suggests that he (Phoenix, to be clear) could be a donor for Maya. That doesn't involve contact, Maya's kids would have a dad who loves them and their mom, it's a win-win.

Unfortunately, well after Phoenix and Maya were already emotionally invested in starting the family together, Maya learns that known donors require a lot more time and money than unknown donors, as well as mandatory therapy. Did I mention money? So, to put a finer point on it, since they felt very secure with their friendship and nothing has threatened it thus far in this situation, they didn't see why they couldn't give the "free" route a shot.

As you might have guessed, given the lack of attraction towards each other in that way... it did not go well. 

It was the straw that broke the camel's back and started to strain their relationship. So much so, that when they were working together in court after trying for a few months, Edgeworth noticed they were irritable towards each other and requested a recess to chat with them...

[ID: Two comic panels. The first panel has Edgeworth, Phoenix, and Maya in the Defendant Lobby. Edgeworth is standing before Phoenix with his arms crossed. Phoenix is sitting on one end of the couch hunched over in distress with his hand over his forehead. Maya is sitting on the other end of the couch, facing away, with her hands together on her lap and a red face. The narration says “After a long vent about Phoenix and Maya’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Time...”. The second panel has Edgeworth with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. He says “Why are you two not considering medical assistance?”]

[ID: Two more comic panels. The first panel has Phoenix in the same pose as before. He says, “We don’t have that kind of time or money. I know you offered to help with the expenses, but it’s still too much, and we can’t ask more from you...”. The second panel has Edgeworth adjusting his glasses with one arm still crossed. His grits his teeth as he says, “Are you aware they have............. they sell....”]

[ID: Two more panels. The first one has Edgeworth typing on his rose gold phone with the onomatopoeia “tap tap tap”, looking flustered. There is a speech bubble with several ellipses. In the next panel is Edgeworth showing his phone to Phoenix and Maya, with him saying “Here.” Very small text pointing to the phone says “At-home kits that allow kids to happen with no contact for about $100. :)”. Phoenix looks at the phone with his eyes wide and Maya leans in, also looking at the phone with wide eyes.]

[ID: The same illustration as the first image, with the narration “Seven years and three kids later...”. Phoenix says “Hey, thanks again for the recommendation, Miles!” Edgeworth’s speech bubble has “.....*grumble*........” written. Maya has a speech bubble with a pink heart.]

(And Edgeworth is still in disbelief that he did more research than they did..........but he got a son out of the whole ordeal so it’s okay. :) )

To sum it all up, while it was far from their first choice, they certainly did give Doing the Deed a shot for the sake of saving time and money, but they found it was too much for them so all three kids were conceived with those at-home kits. 

Thanks for the question!

[emulation-0]

im not about to be one of those people complaining about the animation of jjk s2 because its absolutely gorgeous??? i do have some thoughts though about certain executive decisions, namely geto and yuki's conversation and how it probably has a part in fan's reactions to yuki's character (im not denying its misogyny, just that it has a part to play)

so here are the manga panels:

the camera angle here shows both of them, from above, from in front, from the side. namely, it looks natural. they are on equal footing.

in the anime, the camera angle is looking up at the both of them from their feet. the music is dramatic in that it builds up, eventually leading to geto's epiphany. now this is perfectly fine in belying geto's inner dilemma, but denies the nature of the conversation which, considering both parties taking part in it, was entirely casual

people focus on how yuki seemed to jump in here to influence geto, except they underestimate a weird girl's excitement for philosophy 💀 shes literally a researcher. why wouldnt she be interested by nuance and different perspectives. as if she knew that geto would go off the rails

in the anime, she seems happy when she says "unfortunately, i'm not crazy enough to do that" because you cant see her face, but in the manga, you can see that shes not taking it very seriously when she says "unfortunately, i ain't that crazy". like. the subs make her dialogue seem weird too. shes literally just making up hypotheticals

i think if they kept this scene casual but gradually built the drama you would have a scene that doesnt manipulate the audience ("what?? ari what do you mean by manipulate the audience??" ill get there), that shows how geto came to his conclusion on his own, and that accurately represents yuki's character. it would only be a start if they had the camera angle in a place that puts them on equal footing. from where it was, it seems as if yuki has more power than she actually does. which she doesnt. in terms of jujutsu society and whatever

shes literally the special grade who "fucks around" overseas. she doesnt give two shits about jujutsu society. the power she has here is her special grade status and her salary and thats it. meanwhile geto is a man, a special grade, and works directly under jujutsu society. he has more influence than she does, realistically speaking, considering i doubt the higher ups would want to listen to her anyway if that kind of situation ever occurred. gojo and geto could command that attention. it wouldnt be so simple for yuki

"but this isn't about yuki's power in general, its about the power her words hold over geto" well i'm saying that she doesnt have any power over him. generally, people are able to manipulate other people because they have power over the other, generally, or because the other perceives this manipulator has power over them. the common argument is that yuki manipulated geto, but she didnt, because she does not have power over him, he knows she doesnt have power over him, and they are on equal footing.

so the decision to have light coming in from the window behind them, and having the camera look up at them is kind of flawed, because youre not accurately representing whats going on here. rather, youre illuminating the perspective of only one party, thus distorting the actual interaction, because what happened in the anime didnt really happen. thats a distorted memory. "omg ari wtf are you talking about youre just saying words now. of course thats what happened"

except theres a different lighting, different tone, different mood because the way this scene was thought out is entirely from geto's perspective. from his perspective it all seems true that yuki "made him" do what he did because of how shes portrayed, but from an outside, objective view, you can see that blame and reasoning gets shifted, as does happen in people's memories. on her end, this was an interesting debate and set of hypotheticals to think about. she didnt have the intent jjk fans think she does. but this part gets distorted when we have the memory of this conversation from geto's view, and how it affected him. i think the way it was executed in the manga, its a little clearer that geto simply took the wrong words to heart, rather than it being yuki having the wrong words to say.

[theantiherohunter]

As someone who knows Jensen, trust and believe when I say, the man is a loser. He’s a complete freak who does annoying little voices and backstabs anyone he can. In business esp.

Anon, I’m a bit skeptical about the claim of knowing him personally. From everything I’ve heard, and what friends have told me, Jensen comes across as a remarkably kind, genuine, and talented individual. His current slate of projects—including Tracker Season 2, The Boys prequel, Season 5 of The Boys, and his own show Countdown—demonstrates his relentless dedication and exceptional skills. These opportunities are a testament to his hard work and perseverance, and they’re well-deserved.

The fallout between Jensen and Jared over the Supernatural prequel indeed created a lot of buzz. Jensen didn’t inform Jared about the prequel, leading to Jared’s SM reaction and subsequent drama. It’s unfortunate when personal disagreements become public spectacles, but it’s crucial to understand such situations are often misunderstood from the outside. While the fallout was undeniably dramatic, it’s also important to remember that every public figure has their own complexities and struggles that don’t always align with our perceptions.

Jensen’s actions, like those of any human being, don’t necessarily define his entire character. Public figures are multifaceted and can have both good and bad days. Their decisions in moments of conflict or stress don’t always reflect their true selves. Despite any negative feedback or misunderstandings, Jensen continues to be a magnetic, beautiful (and I use that term not just for his looks but for his presence and impact), and talented actor.

I fully support Jensen and his career achievements, and I believe he has earned every bit of success he’s experiencing. I will never let any form of negativity overshadow my respect and admiration for him. It's essential to acknowledge that while opinions about public figures can vary, it’s the positive contributions and ongoing growth that should be celebrated. Every fan may have a different perspective, but the talent and dedication Jensen brings to his work are undeniable and commendable.

In the end, while everyone is entitled to their views, I choose to focus on the positive and continue to root for Jensen’s success. His career achievements are a result of his hard work and passion, and I stand by him wholeheartedly in celebrating those accomplishments.

[melishade]

This is more of a PSA announcement if anything. A warning of people you should DNI. Like at all! Because this situation is getting so fucking ridiculous the longer I learn about this shit.

There was this Youtuber that I followed: Lily Orchard. I used to follow her for years. I started following her...between the fourth and fifth season of My Little Pony Gen 4. So since I was in high school. I followed her for at least a decade. I looked up to her and her work for years and thought she was a good role model.

I was wrong.

I've heard rumors about some of the accusations and chose to ignore it when I was younger, thinking it was slander. But it wasn't true. I had actually found out about all the shit she's done just a few months ago from @asunnycoffee and it is absolutely horrid. I mean there's:

Racism Sexism Homophobia Transphobia Brownfacing Lying Support of slavery through her written fanfics Grooming of her fans (BTW she's thirty) Stalking Harassment Hard Implications of Incest in her work Manipulations Gaslighting Emotional abuse Mental Abuse Complete and utter narcissism of this bitch. And so much more that I'm certain one of it could violate some international law.

She's like a fake liberal Catilyn Jenner. But as far as I know, Jenner didn't fucking molest her sister. Because that's exactly what Lily Orchard did to @pleasetiemyshoe AKA Courtney Orchard.

I can't believe I actually looked up to her I feel so fucking sick

Now because I am new to this and really just an outsider perspective learning about this, I'm going to botch any and all explanations of this in detail. Luckily there is a masterpost of all the shit that Lily Orchard has done in detail. https://www.tumblr.com/lily-orchard-gossip-blog/692978295298572288/a-quick-summary-of-lily-orchard?source=share

And there are a bunch of trigger warnings to this and it will be in the tags if you cannot handle it. That is fine to avoid.

But instead of Lily, ya know, owning up to her mistakes and possibly explaining her side of the story, she's done nothing but double down and accuse everyone that come out to expose her for her shit behavior as 'stalkers', 'TERFs', 'Racists' (even though she's fucking brownfacing. Which by the way, fuck her. I already deal with blackfacing enough as it is and she wants to appropriate a culture for views. GOD WHY DID I LOOK UP TO HER WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!) She will slander anyone that doesn't agree with her and do everything in her power to destroy them. And she will use her fanbase to do so. If the fans so much as harass, slander, misgender, and tell people to off themselves that have critiqued Lily in the past, she does nothing. She lets this shit happen. And usually when a creator or a person of power doesn't say anything to stop their fans from doing heinous actions, it's basically giving permission to the people to fucking do it. A perfect example of this is how Trump weaponized his own people to attack the US Capitol.

And it's not just Orchard. It's also her wife Mikaila Orchard, and a former ex now friend, Ginger. Both have followed Orchard's behavior, refused to call her out on anything and have also actively used their platforms to harass people that Orchard deems as an enemy.

And I wish I was fucking joking about any and all of this fucking nonsense, and if I'm wrong I would take it all back! But there are so many people who've come out against her and explained how much of a shit person she is including:

@as8bakwthesage (BTW check out their art it is lovely. And Sage I'm on a transformers forum if you want to join. We have fun.)

@britts-galaxy-brain

@asunnycoffee (A sweet delight. Who's 18, BTW! So Orchard is not above harassing fucking teenagers! And she's not above grooming them either!)

@opinated-user

@pleasetiemyshoe (Her sister. She also posts pictures about cats. But the stuff she talk about with her sister gets really fucking intense. Proceed with caution.)

@glyphosatesolarize

@thetimelordbatgirl

@lily-orchard-gossip-blog

Lizzy Orchard (Which in summary, was Orchard former girlfriend. Orchard claimed Lizzy abused her when really it was the other way around. Lizzy was harassed and bullied off of tumblr and Orchard took her last name which is weird because why the hell would you take the last name of your abuser.

Blake (Lily threatened violence on Blake's fiancee)

Josh Scorcher (An MLP fan. He and Lily used to be friends and there was a fallout)

Patch (IDK if Patch is on tumblr or not)

Poppy and Zena

And that's from what I can remember! That's over ten people that is ringing out warning signs to avoid Orchard at all costs. If it was one person, I'd be skeptical. But 10?! 10! That should be enough to avoid her at all costs! Another perfect example of this situation is when 30 women came out against Cosby and said he SA'd them. Again, when it is multiple people telling different stories that come to the same conclusion, then it's not something that you can deny.

Orchard is a terrible, human being, and you need to avoid her at all costs, and Mikaila and Ginger. These are the names of the channels you should avoid (because sometimes she'll use other people to spy on accounts that critique her and make alt accounts herself to spy on others and make herself look better:

lily-orchard mikaila-orchard lily-orchard-fanart sucky-boi (an alt account) lexyr-kryo (not an alt of Orchard, but the user misgendered Sage and I don't take kindly to that) ginger-snap-talkin-nonsense (Gringer has been known to harass Sunny, who is 18) So block those accounts and follow the others that I mentioned above. Please boost this post as much as you can to help other people avoid them. Although there will be some heavy stuff in some of those accounts, so please proceed with caution. also there's evidence that she wrote an incest story called Stockholm

[ripplestitchskein]

Brace yourselves Stolitz fans, I think it’s gonna get bumpy. We kind of already knew that but I think it might go longer than we hoped?

So last night I shared my Stolitz pic with my DnD group, I’m doing art for their characters and we have an art space in our game discord and a few of them watch Hazbin and HB. An IRL friend who is also an HB fan asked about the OC in the pic and I shared it was based on the rumor that Stolas is getting a new boyfriend, they could be a parrot potentially voiced by Harvey Guillen but that this was not confirmed or anything. He said “HMMMM that jives with what her assistant told us.”

I’m like “What! Tell me. “

I guess while waiting in line for her to sign for the person in front of them at Mega they were chatting with an assistant and said they loved Look My Way and were interested in where the Stolas and Blitzø story was going. The assistant said they had seen the rest of Season 2 and “You may not love the way it goes if you like the coupling”.

I spiraled immediately, like full on upset. Bitch I cried. I’ve spent hours analyzing this cartoon and that broke me a bit. I’m not necessarily concerned with my ships being ��endgame”, I’ve shipped lots of couples that rarely interact just for interesting dynamics. Or couples where one half is literally dead in canon, where they are mortal enemies and not in an enemies to lovers way etc. It just seemed so final and is contradictory to everything the show has setup so far and what I’ve been enjoying about the show and it really fucked me up if I’m honest. I also have a really bad brain though and I know this. I’m not equipped to rationally think about it.

I hesitated to even share what was said because I dislike bumming anyone out but as a speculation and spoiler goblin I’d also like people to share with me so I can prepare myself?

Ive had some time to sit and process and cope a bit “is that information really that different than what we have already?” And the short answer is no, not really. It’s also like their job to tease fans. It was also one sentence I didn’t even actually hear with my own ears lol. My brain just did what it does and took it to the worst place. I took it as “they are killing it completely” and are about to destroy the only reason I enjoy this show so much. Which maaaaay have been an over reaction but I can’t like, help that.

I just honestly cannot fathom how they could so sharply pivot at this point and have it make sense? I can’t fathom why they even would. I don’t even know what role Stolas could possibly have in that scenario. I think that was what upset me the most, Stolas is my favorite and his entire character within the world of the show is completely dependent on his ties to Blitzø to be part of the narrative because he has no ties to IMP outside of it. The idea of him being shelved, even temporarily, is upsetting to me. The show so far is not setup to view characters lives outside of Blitzø and IMP so I can’t see them having Stolas go off and do his own thing without removing him from the narrative completely.

I’m just sad about it and I think I’m putting too much thought into it. Maybe they just meant what we’ve thought all along and that we wouldn’t be happy because of the boyfriend character, and as I’ve said before the split up absolutely has to happen for them to reconcile and come back together. It is actually a good thing story wise for that to happen but the phrasing (though second hand) just depressed the fuck out of me so I wanted to vent a bit and maybe get some outside perspective from people who’s brains work better than mine. It’s possible this is a situation where i know a thing “Stolas is getting a new boyfriend” because I am terminally online and gobble up every like react and ambiguous emoji and assign meaning to it, and the assistant was just talking about that same information assuming my friend didn’t know that (he didn’t) but because I already knew it I’m assigning new meaning to it as if it’s additional different information. That’s a distinct possibility.

Even if it’s the worst case scenario, I’m not a hate watcher, if I don’t like the direction something is going I bitch a bit in mourning and then remove myself completely. So I’ll see how it plays out and see if it makes sense narratively. Maybe I’ll love the direction, who knows. If it what’s we originally speculated based on the narrative setup so far, the boyfriend character is a catalyst to help Blitzø reconcile his feelings and to let Stolas do his own healing and character development but it all that leads to the completion of the story they’ve been telling up to this point that’s perfect. If it leads to less Stolas and a completely different direction than what we’ve spent 1.5 seasons on so far, I don’t know how I would feel about that. I want it clear though I wouldn’t be mad at the creators, it’s their story they can do what they want, and I’m sure others will enjoy whatever they offer up but I personally would just quietly move on to something else.

I’m interested in how others view the response. Just a tease about the boyfriend, and thinking we’ll be unhappy because of that but ultimately it’s going how its been setup? Or should I break out my violin and start up “Nearer, my God, to thee”. I just really need some better brains to give me some perspective,

[alfgifu]

Fic analysis 16. In cahoots

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48946120

Word count: 6,025

Chapters: 1

First posted: 29th July 2023 

Summary: 

His tone was light on the offer itself, despite the sturdiness of his declaration of identity. She could refuse him with no embarrassment to either of them, turning this into a joke that they could laugh over with Basil later in the evening - but - but - those steady brown eyes were serious.

“A marriage of convenience?” she said, equally lightly, “how gallant, sirrah.”

How and why this came about

As it became clear that the prompt challenges were going to stick around for a bit I came up with a cunning plan, which was that I would use the quite specific prompt in this one to kick off an AU which I could then populate from different perspectives in following weeks.

The fake marriage prompts were themselves inspired by discord conversations about the timelines and feasibility of Kip meeting Jullanar when visiting Basil - and of course by Kip’s acknowledged childhood ambition to marry Jullanar of the Sea. Several people were working on the idea at the time and there are multiple cakes available on this one, all of them delicious. I’m a particular fan of mantrasong’s Caught Between a Spark and Lightning which started as a flash fic for this challenge but was later revisited and rewritten into a much longer fic.

The loose end game I was working towards here was a Kip/Jullanar marriage of convenience that bloomed into a deep friendship (without sex) and a recognised Kip/Fitzroy fanoa relationship. The only plan I had beyond that was to explore different moments as they worked with the theme of the prompt challenges, and see where it took me.

What worked and what didn’t

As I was posting new stories much more frequently I was still finding tags, titles, and summaries felt like an unwelcome chore. Around this time I realised with a sigh of relief that I could use quotes from the fics themselves as summary text. That worked better in some cases than others, but here it’s fine.

‘Kip Thistlethwaite’ as a name is as fun to say as the scenario is to imagine, which was a definite plus.

The subject of Jullanar’s marriage is lightly touched on in the books but the small snapshots we get of it are ambiguously grim; she finds her husband physically attractive (but only to a point) and morally repulsive. She’s trapped into it by blackmail and makes the best of it but it is in many ways a parallel to Fitzroy’s situation - imprisoned by force and trapped in stifling conventional restrictions, unable to own herself by her true name, afraid of hurting those around her if she reveals too much of herself. It was deeply satisfying to find such a neat way of circumventing it presented by the structure of the narrative.

It was fun imagining young!Kip from an outside perspective and writing a group of friends bantering with one another. Also thinking through how Kip’s training as a tanà might make it easier for him to strike the right tone in this kind of conversation: listening without judgement, leaving space, making practical suggestions with a layer of humour and plausible deniability that offer Jullanar many different ways to back out. I wanted it to be believable that she might agree to the scheme having only just met him and I feel like that worked out well.

What I learned from writing it

One of the things I was experimenting with was writing more from different points of view. When I started Embers the only way I could feel comfortable writing Cliopher’s perspective was by adding a big chunk of backstory at the start so that I could follow the emotional thread driving him all the way through. Here the short format forced me to jump into the action with Jullanar; I didn’t manage to avoid some scene-setting entirely but I kept it minimal and was pleased with how that worked (I know on some level that people reading fanfic are for the most part unlikely to be unfamiliar with the characters, but it hasn’t really sunk in - I still feel the urge to explain context and personality and setting at the start of every story).

I worked hard at getting the emotional beats to land correctly, because I’d begun to see how much that would carry the reader into and through a scenario even when it was unfamiliar/unexpected.

I was also beginning to learn that I got better results when I followed my interest than when I planned in advance, and was adapting my strategy for that fact by making this a self-contained story that left the door open for more but didn’t require it. I’ve never quite managed to get on that footing with everything but it was a good discovery and I’ve used it several times since.

[it-is-i-zim]

A little bit of a rant but I really don't like it when non-Captain Boomerang try to portray Captain Boomerang as this like cold hearted, stone cold killer. I understand why it could possibly appear that way to someone who knows absolutely nothing about Captain Boomerang, outside of this one character in 2 different comics, but like as a fan of him, it's getting annoying to see people act like he goes around murdering people on purpose. Hero or not. Presumably he'd probably be more uncomfortable with killing children or teenagers.

"But what about Hack???" I hear no one yelling but just to cover all of my bases... HE CANONICALLY FELT LIKE SHIT AFTER THAT!!! He literally states "I can't believe I just did that" with a clear look of shock, and possibly horror, on his face. He literally cannot believe he killed someone. But he feels that he has to because he's "the bad guy." And bad guys kill people. That's what they do so he feels that in order to be a good criminal, he has to kill, even if he fuckin hates it. Even if he feels bad about it.

And not too much longer after this, Harley notices that it's eating away at him. She doesn't know what specific, but she knows he's distressed about something. So she asked if he was okay.

His response is very telling, "... I did a bad thing, Quinn." He looks so guilty about the whole thing. It's also clearly meant to sound like he genuinely feels bad about what he's done.

"What about Jack Drake" I hear probably no one asking still, but just in case, again, covering all my bases here. This is a bit more of a complicated thing. Especially considering the fact that the comics was written 15 years ago by this point but it's recently come to people's attention as a result of a new comic called Robin: Knight Terrors, where issue 5 of Identity Crisis is referenced in issue 1 of Knight Terrors: Robin.

I want to make something very clear. Knight Terrors isn't meant to be taken absolutely literally. It is simply exploring character's fears through the lense of a character's nightmares while at the same time trying to tie it to this new villain, Insomnia or whatever his name is.

These aren't meant to be taken as what literal canon events. These don't accurately portray what happened in the slightest. These are just Tim's perspective on the events, combined with the trauma that Tim Drake received because of his father being murdered.

First thing I'd like to point out, no words were said at all. Captain Boomerang literally didn't even see it coming until it was too late. He was only really there to break in, steal stuff, and leave. Still not necessarily something Captain Boomerang would do, he's more of a bank robber kind of guy. This is something well established but I don't want to waste everyone's time showing every single time he's robbed a bank or a jewelry store or convenience stor. Cuz that's what Captain Boomerang does. He steals from establishments, not individuals.

In Identity Crisis, Captain Boomerang is literally falling over after being shot 3 times in the chest as he's throwing the boomerang at Jack Drake. Jack Drake fired first. It was not Captain Boomerang's intention to kill anyone here. Cuz that's not what Captain Boomerang does. He doesn't kill unless he's trying to defend himself or he feels like he has to. He's not a killer.

To add to this, in issue 6 of Identity Crisis, Tim literally did not get there until after his father was dead for some time. He did not witness the events that took place at all. Knight Terrors: Robin is based on how Tim would view the situation though a nightmarish lense by having his father die essentially on loop.

In short, Captain Boomerang is a thief, not a killer. He doesn't kill unless he feels it's necessary for one reason or another. He's still a bad guy, I understand that, but he's not murdering people at random and I'm kinda tired of hearing people thinking that that's his thing. Cuz believe it or not, Hack and Jack Drake are literally the only 2 examples I have for Captain Boomerang that aren't specifically part of a Suicide Squad assassination mission. Which if you don't know anything about the Suicide Squad, they literally have to do so or their head gets blown off. I guess technically Hack was killed cuz Harcourt and Captain Boomerang are working for The People, an organization trying to be just like the Suicide Squad, so presumably, the brain bomb situation still applies here, but on the other hand it established that I guess he volunteered or something like that? But my point still stands. He's existed since at least December of 1960, the publication date of his first appearance.

If Captain Boomerang was an actual killer, you would have definitely heard about it by now.

And I haven't even gotten into the fact that, at least like... 10 years ago or whatever, that Flash Rogues kinda have a code against killing and doing drugs and such. And Captain Boomerang is a Flash Rogue. It's not really physically shown anymore, but he still is. I mean just look at Aquaman and The Flash: Voidsong, issue 1. Right there, he's back with the Rogues.

And even then, this isn't the best interpretation of the Rogues. Because contrary to popular belief, they don't kill Speedsters. This is yet another one of their established rules. They just don't kill. It's not at all what they do.

I feel like a broken record having to explain this time and time again. Because these guys are riddled with writers who just don't understand them. Writers often just use them as Bad Guy Numbers 1 through 15 or whatever, despite the fact that they are Flash's (at least Barry's anyway) main villains. And all they do is rob from banks mostly. Maybe a jewelry store. They don't go out of their way to murder people for no reason, even during a robbery. They don't go out of their way to kill heroes for no reason. I don't even think they've gone out of their way to even fight the Flash for any reason. He just shows up when the commit crimes. That's it. They aren't trying to kill him. They aren't trying to actually put people in danger. It's not what they do. And once again. Captain Boomerang is still one of them. Therefore he's not doing any of those things either.

This honestly wasn't necessary to explain, but I feel the need to share by perspective as a Captain Boomerang fan. There seems to be a Captain Boomerang Misconception™ that I've kinda witnessed within the Captain Boomerang tags alone with a bit of discussion involving Knight Terrors: Robin from Tim Drake fans in particular and Captain Boomerang isn't portrayed very will in comics about Tim Drake.

[cannibalisticdespair]

Late to the ask game but-

❤️‍🔥 Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul

It's sorta my new hyperfixation til the new series I wanna watch/read

Oh I fucking love them. But for hot takes? Frankly, I get people disliking Skyler. Because from an outside perspective, Walt is dying of cancer and goddamn was she shitty about it. That's gonna taint everything. I'm sorry, but your feelings get put on a backburner when the other person's situation is "dying of cancer". "My loved one is dying of cancer" does not supersede the loved one's "dying of cancer". People get an allowance to not be their best self when they've been handed a death clock, you know? Oh, is he unusually cold and distant? Yeah, but from the perspective of anyone who doesn't know what Walt is up to, like her, he's dying of cancer. That's to be expected. Oh, has he become more volatile? Dying. Of cancer. These are normal human reactions to dying of cancer. It's pretty hard to stare down the jaws of mortality and not become a bit of an ass about it. It's about as "staring into the void" as you can get.

The best way to explain this is like, forget your viewer-knowledge for a moment and view her behavior from her own perspective with only her limited subjective knowledge. For a comparison, imagine someone randomly stabbed a stranger to death for no reason other than the fun of it. But by pure chance, that stranger happened to be a serial killer. Was the random murder for fun suddenly more okay? No, because they didn't know that. That wasn't driving their behavior.

That's Skyler's dealing with Walt's changes in behavior and everything at first. She didn't know he had become a drug manufacturer and was involved in organized crime. All she knew is that he was dying of cancer. Also, just not a fan of "force someone to get medical treatment they don't want to undergo for your own desires", that's pretty shit.

But like, yeah, dying of cancer is in fact a legitimate reason to be cold and distant and be acting out of character. From her limited subjective position, she was not supportive or comforting of the dying person she claimed to love. Which is just shitty. You know the whole concept of giving a very sick dog that has to be euthanized one really amazing (to a dog) day? That's what you're supposed to do for someone dying of a terminal illness when you love them. Cherish the moments you have left and make them absolutely fucking incredible.

Oh, the dying man wants to smoke some fucking weed? Who gives a fuck? Dude's fucking dying. Oh, he's not hopeful and optimistic? And you're getting angry at him for that? Come on, it takes a particular type of person to maintain such outlooks while dying of a terminal illness. You just never get the sense that she views him as a terminally ill person who's about to die and deserves to have his last days be the best fucking days possible, which just is so fucked to me.

Now, this isn't as important later on, but first impressions matter a lot. And that initial impression really sours things. She acts more like a mother towards him than a partner (and not a good one), and it doesn't feel like that's something he desired, it feels like that's something she chose to do.

Also, there's the aspect of "you have a disabled kid and are living on a single high school teacher and car washer's salary because you don't want to fucking work". Which like... shit. Absolute shit. It's not like she can't work. It's not like Flynn needs her to be a stay at home mom. Walt certainly never asked her to do this. There's never any implication that it's the common situation of the man wanting her to be a housewife. She just decided "hey, I'm gonna quit my job and chase my dream of being a writer while selling shit on eBay". And you don't gotta fucking quit your job to chase your dream of being a writer. Most writers have traditional jobs until they hit it big, not make their partner get a second job to support the family while they scalp shit on eBay and fail at being a writer.

Like, I guess my point is, swap the sexes and see if anyone would defend the behavior. Walt and Skyler are both toxic, shitty people. Like attracts like and both of them fucking suck. Flynn is literally the only person in that family who isn't a piece of shit. Skyler, Walt, Hank, and Marie are all flavors of asshole. None of them are UwU innocent put upon blorbos. They're all trash people being trash to each other and everyone around them, making the world a worse place for existing in it. Hank's a racist cop, Marie is the embodiment of white lady privilege, Walt's a violent self-centered, egotistical drug lord, and Skyler has genuinely cared about exactly one human being in her life. They're all shitty people.

To be clear, people taking Walt's side over Skyler after seeing the whole show are idiots too, it's just that it's not "either you side with Walt or Skyler". It's "wow, you are all horrid trash people". Jesse and Jimmy/Saul are miles above any of them.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

https://www.tumblr.com/lokisasylum/728596853469413376/all-jokes-and-memes-aside-lemme-address

I’m a pjm myself but this post is literally so ridiculous 😭 This is some peak stage of twitter’s mind corruption and being out of touch with reality 😂 I can’t speak about the others but I was following you for more than a year and you wrote some of the most interesting posts about jimin’s art I’ve seen here. I may not share all of your views about jimin but to call you a jimin anti is just kinda insane

What should I do? Is it time to call my mom and tell her that I am finally infamous on tumblr.com? Should I pop the champagne?

I will not comment about this blogger's page and its discourse in general, nor about the other people mentioned in the post.

But I will say something first about one person. Peppertaemint is my friend, not my moot. I know, hard concept to understand. Our friendship does not rely on us being kpop moots because we're a lot cooler than that. We're also music fans, not multi stans, but I see that for someone chronically online, this is impossible to understand.

As to me being accused of being a Jimin "anti", I'm genuinely shocked. Because if there's one person that I'm singing praises too as if I'm getting paid (I'm not), it would be Jimin because I'm a weak bitch for the man. But I am not his stan, not his akgae, not his anti, I'm not Army, I'm not multi-stan, I'm not a jikooker, I'm not any other fandom-related label that it's being attached to me. I have my identity which is not related to kpop and I have other purposes in life that do not require for me to look for satisfaction within a fandom. I am merely a person with various interests, as I have been revealing more and more since I changed my blog's direction, who also happens to have one in kpop and some BTS members, with a particular emphasis on Jimin.

I have never "downplayed" his talent or made "shady" posts about him. On the contrary, I've always had to try and see things from a more objective perspective and sometimes I found that it was difficult because my bias towards him took over.

I am a supposed Jimin anti, but he's the only artist in kpop that I've written extensively about and trying to bring my own contribution by writing about his art. I am such a Jimin anti that I have spent weeks doing hours of research after finishing my work in order to be able to write something worth reading about his photofolio. I am such a Jimin anti that I almost cried out of anger when I couldn't access articles that I needed in order to understand some of his concepts. I had put myself voluntarily in a situation similar to my usual academic research at a point in which that type of work was detrimental to my mental health. But I pushed it because I loved that photofolio and it was one of those rare occasions in which I got reminded that there's still joy in doing that when the person I'm writing about is worth it and there's no outside pressure.

I always write about the projects he's involved with. During the time he was announced as Dior ambassador and went to Fashion Week, I have opened up the floor to those with more expertise so that we can take the discussion further and turn it into an interesting weekend debate.

Until I closed my blog on the day of Face's release for personal reasons, I wrote about his concept every single time when something was released. When idiots all over the internet were talking shit about SMFpt2, I had written extensively about the song and the music video. But I am a Jimin anti.

Fan engagement (not stan part of a fandom) can take many forms and we are allowed to do it in whatever way possible. I do not care what others are doing, if they think that their best way of having a contribution is by posting about streaming or reporting accounts. That is not me, it will never be me. The best I can do, and not based on some supposed stan duty, is to write about the artists I like in a way that makes sense for me.

I do not make posts for engagement, this tumblr blog is but one tiny bit in my life and I do not need that. I do not spend my time "dragging pjms" as if they're my personal target. Even when I voiced my complains, I then had talks with anons that brought their own perspective which I understood and made me see things differently. That happens because I am not completely out of touch with reality and I can behave as a normal person who can have talks with a variety of fans.

I'm not writing all this to justify myself for this blogger, but because I do not accept such a gross characterization and because I've put a lot of effort in so many posts I have written about Jimin and I find it completely unfair to be slapped with such ridiculous labels.

Anon, I understand why you brought this issue to me. But honestly, I'd rather not know what is out there. I have my own corner here, a sort of personal public diary. I like to share my thoughts about plenty of other stuff as well, make some jokes, hoping that some of the readers have a sense of humor as well and mind my business. I do not situate myself within any fandom and I refuse to be dragged into situations like these by people who cannot escape a toxic stan/kpop mentality.

[scoobydoodean]

I think I've determined one thing that bothers me about fandom's use of the word "autonomy", and it's that it's used in such a broad context, with an implication that any action to which the term can be applied automatically implies injustice, victimhood, and villainy. I can then build a framework where anything that is technically a violation of someone's autonomy victimizes them and makes every action taken against them unjust and villainous.

The Shtriga (Dr. Hydecker) in "Something Wicked" just wanted to eat. He got shot and killed while he was only trying to live his life, doing his own thing—the ultimate violation of autonomy.

Chuck's autonomy was violated when Sam, Dean, and Jack took away his powers. He was permanently injured, in fact.

Lucifer and Michael's autonomy was violated by sucking them into The Cage in season 5.

All of these things are technically violations of these characters autonomy. Yet their loss of autonomy doesn't imply injustice nor does it imply pure blameless victimhood, nor does it implicate Sam, Dean, Jack, Cas, or Bobby as villains.

Looking at another, very different set of examples,

It was a violation of Bobby's autonomy when Sam and Dean went into Bobby's head without permission in 3.10 to snap him out of a supernaturally-induced, eternal nightmare.

It was a violation of Dean's autonomy when Sam forcefully plucked one of Dean's hairs and refused to accept Dean's desire to go into his own dreams alone for his own privacy.

It was a violation of Dean's autonomy when Sam and Cas entered his head in season 14 and saw all of his trauma in the process.

It was a violation of Sam's autonomy when his soul was removed from The Cage and placed back inside his body.

None of these actions imply villainy. Sam and Dean's violation of Bobby's autonomy, for example, occurs in an effort to return Bobby's autonomy to him, in a situation where Bobby was physically incapable of advocating in his own interest (and the same for Dean with Michael!)

If I view Sam insisting on going into Dean's head in 3.10 in a vacuum, the conclusion I might come to is that Sam doesn't care about Dean's autonomy and feels entitled to violate Dean's privacy because he doesn't believe Dean deserves a right to the privacy of his own mind. Outside of that vacuum, I understand Sam's motivations are not to disrespect Dean's privacy or harm Dean, but are instead to assist Dean and help Dean defeat the person who does intend to harm Dean through the already present violation of Dean's autonomy.

In the situation with Sam's soul, Sam's essence (his soul) is very presently experiencing the repeated violation of his autonomy in The Cage, being tortured, and like Bobby was grateful to be helped out of the nightmare in 3.10, Sam, who was not able to advocate for himself from the perspective of his soul, was also grateful to have his soul returned to him so he could be saved from a nightmare where his soul was not capable of advocating for it's own interest—only his meatsuit for its interest.

What I'm saying is, the word "autonomy" is not the end all be all of everything, and saying something violated a character's autonomy does not automatically grant you The Most Morally Correct Award™️. This said completely separately from "who has their autonomy violated the most"—in fact, I'm not sure what the point of that contest is, beyond feeling it allows you to “win” something or your obsession with a certain aesthetic. While questions of free will and the right to your own choices are very important themes in Supernatural, I find some fans display a sort of desperation to greedily sweep everything under "autonomy" as an umbrella term because they erroneously believe it automatically grants them a Moral Superiority Award™️ and/or Most Victimized Blorbo Of All Time Award™️... and that is the beginning and end of their goal when talking about it, and it's why context is so often thrown aside while moral judgements are so abundant in that segment of spnblr.