#but more out of my own selfish reasons than actual hate for his arc

[haveihitanerve]

Steve doesn't go back in time and stay there with Peggy, but he does retire the shield. He is satisfied with the rumors that he lives on the moon, and moves to a farm house out in the country. Pepper invites him over every day for dinner, and he takes on the role Tony would have had with Morgan. Not her father, never her father, but hes there. A stable father-figure, a male in her life to show her what a real man is like. He helps Pepper cook and washes the dishes and sometimes they dance together, not romantically, but just because Steve likes dancing and Pepper misses her husband. He takes Morgan out when Pepper is feeling too depressed and doesn't want her daughter to see, and drops her off at school and picks her up every day. He and Pepper have mandatory therapy sessions with each other every Saturday and eat ice cream and watch happy or sad or funny movies on Sunday. He trains with Peter and helps him with his homework, and laughs when Bucky comes over for lunch, telling exuberating tales of how Sam is coming along with the shield. He grows old in the company of his friends and allies, and he and Rhodey meet for pool and drinks, the way they used to with Tony, and reminisce. He and Bruce and Clint and Thor still go on missions together occasionally, but Steve still leaves the shield with Sam, choosing instead a different, nanotechnology, advanced by Shuri type suit. Peter is allowed to be a kid and not have to deal with the weight of the Iron Man legacy over his head. Director Fury gets added to group chats and comes to friday brunch and Quinton Beck gets kicked to next week. Steve growing old with the team he helped build and helps to inspire and build the team his best friends died for, helps craft a world in their image. Give me that Steve Rogers marvel. pls

[maoam]

Naruto has a good heart

So many people misunderstand Naruto's character. Let's look at some of the absurd claims;

"Naruto only wanted his face on the mountain, he wants people to worship him, his goal is selfish"

When Naruto made this goal for himself, he was younger than 12. As an orphan child who is ostracized from society, this was his way of trying to become liked, so he could become part of the society. Aside from hermits, most humans desire connections with other humans. It's normal. And Naruto being a child sees that the Hokage is someone who people approve, and becoming Hokage would be a sure way to have such connections. It makes sense for a child to rationalize it this way. People completely forget the context, many other characters also desired connections such as Haku, Kimimaro, Gaara etc. It's a common theme in the manga. Kishimoto wrote neglected children very believably. So to write this off as "Naruto just wants people to worship him like he's God, what a narcissist" is dishonest and poor reading comprehension.

Not to mention, Naruto's mentality changed pretty fast, and he wanted to become someone who saves and protects people, someone people could rely on.

Already in the first arc he had that desire to help others. He's always been a good boy. Eventhough Naruto was pissed off at Inari's comments and wanted to tell him off, he realized there's a deeper reason for Inari's cynicism. So he decided to help him instead of starting a fight.

In Part 2, Naruto's responsibilities grow massively, especially after the Pain arc. In the end, everyone ends up putting all the burdens on Naruto's shoulders. Everyone expects Naruto to protect them and basically do all the impossible things.

His goal to become a Hokage started out as a need for acknowledgement, yes. But his transformed drive to become Hokage and bear all the responsibility in Part 2 came from his need to fulfill everyone's expectations for him and also him thinking he owes to the people who support him.

It's not that Naruto never had any resentment for how everyone treated him. He just repressed it.

And in the end, he put it all aside, in order to become the hero for everyone. No I don't think it's entirely healthy. But it's not selfish that's for sure.

"Naruto is shallow, selfish etc."

Naruto was always grateful for the connections he was able to make and treasured them heavily. His relationship with Gaara gives even more insight to that.

Naruto acknowledges Gaara was alone for longer than him. How can you call him a narcissist? Naruto is shown to be upset at the fact Gaara was viewed as an undesirable and a tool.

He always had genuine empathy and care for others. To claim otherwise is just bizarre. He blames himself too a lot of times. Then there's his relationship with Sasuke.

Unlike certain Naruto stans who hate Sasuke, Naruto himself has enough empathy and humility to consider he could have ended up the same as Sasuke, if some things would have been slightly different.

A lot of people also complain about the way Naruto behaved in Vote1, eventhough that was Kishimoto's plan, Naruto was supposed to not understand Sasuke fully at that point (and still his behavior was understandable, considering Orochimaru is a predator who wanted to wear Sasuke's skin). Naruto himself acknowledges he didn't. Naruto always tried to use his own experiences to understand the world and others better.

"Naruto just projects onto people because he wants to talk about himself"

Actually no. Pain and Obito both projected onto him first, and told him they were similar, which is also why Obito wanted to convince Naruto to join him. Naruto responding to them and trying to show he understands them to a degree is not a crime. It's basic empathy. I don't think I will even bother explaining it further than this.

My point is, Naruto is a good boy/man. There's no need to twist him into a narcissistic sociopath just because you don't personally like him.

[mla0]

i think with me, sometimes the reasons why some people hate a character are why i love them in the first place. i love character arcs and just characters with heavy flaws in general, including characters who genuinely do heinous things while still trying to do their best and having good* intentions. i just find that so compelling and realistic. i think vinny and shaun are both in that category for me, but it certainly doesn't only apply to them; i just think their personalities and plotlines were the most interesting for me.

i liked the plot twist with vinny. loved it, actually. made me like vinny as a character way more than i did when i thought he was just some.... well, everyman. it made me see everymanhybrid so much differently than before, it recontexualized huge moments that happened before that i initially didn't even care about, because we only just learned that those were actually huge character moments and we just didn't know it yet. it added a whole new, flawed layer to the series that i adore. vinny seemed to be such an average, good-guy character who sometimes did stupid shit. then you find out that much of it wasn't accidental at all, but instead a desperate attempt to save himself and whoever else he was capable of saving, at the cost of others, and his own dignity. the lengths he went were extreme and unjustifiable to many, but that's what i liked. it showed that vinny is a human, for better and for worse. what lengths would you go to in order to survive?

i like that shaun can be a huge dick sometimes- she can be intentionally blind to the bigger situation, in denial to protect herself from something terrifying even though it hurt her family, and you can see her struggle with that. doing something like that hurts and feels terrible, but is still something she chose because she was afraid. she sided with a close friend over her family because of the comfort of familiarity, of what "makes sense." it's coping with something that is fundamentally terrifying to come to terms with. it's fucked up in the viewers eyes, but to someone in that situation you can understand why it happened. you can hate it, but still see yourself in it. then you also see moments of kindness, including between the two siblings, and you get a more full picture of her as a whole. she's chalk full of conflicting messages and i adore that. she cut off michael in one of the last few videos, but then refused to give up his location even when facing death. she gets angry, she fucks up, but she's still unwilling to doom those she seemed to hate even when it could've saved her life, even when being lied to about all that happened. getting the mix of her flaws and virtues (along with the same for the other characters) was probably my favorite part of this series.

anyways, you see multiple facets of their characters, some loveable and some hateable, but even when they do horrible things, it only makes me find them more interesting. it's not quite like a villain in how they're "evil" or have bad intentions despite sometimes being complex themselves (HABIT, for example), because they're regular people, but you watch them fuck up over and over again while still understanding where they're coming from, and recognizing that many would fall into the same trap, because nobody is without their vices, their selfishness, and their blind-spots. so many people, including ones who think they'd be better in that situation, wouldn't be if put to the test. they'd fuck up, they'd do awful things either to save themselves or for their perception of the greater good, and i love that. i like to see how people can break down and degrade in such horrible situations, while their humanity and ultimate "goodness" still exists at the same time, creating a conflict between how they're still a good person at heart but willing to do bad things if they feel it's justified. it gives a glimpse into your average person's breaking point and general morality, which is rarely strictly good or justifiable, nor purely evil or irredeemable.

also, it opens the doors for me to write compelling redemption arcs, which i've also always loved. i love seeing bad people get better, and good people get worse. like i said before, what would you be willing to do to keep yourself alive?

[stitcherofchaos]

I just realize something that made my blood boil.

You know how a lot of people in the fandom hate how Maglor had mercy on Elrond and Elrond and raised them as his own?

And how they try to twist and pervert that relationship into something abusive, selfish, and/or manipulative?

What if it was Maedhros?

And why do I feel like if it was him, everyone would be at his defense and write fan fictions, draw fanart, and love this family dynamic more than when it was Maglor?

Why does Maglor seem to have the most issues in the Silmarillion fandom, more than Maedhros?

Why do many people try to make Maglor into an even worse person than Maedhros despite what- albeit little- canon lore said about him?

Lastly, why did Tolkien make so many changes and switch so many things about those two in order make their characters consistent? Not to mention actually giving them character arcs…

You know, I’m staring to think that if Maedhros had found Elured and Elurín- and quite possibly raised them- the whole fandoms would’ve equally supported that dynamic.

I’m also guessing by the reason the fandom seems to like and defend Maedhros so much is because he is the ‘hot ginger’ out of the two brothers.

After all, you can project whatever you want out of a ‘blank page’, but you can’t touch the so-called ‘masterpiece’.

I’m not attacking anyone, I don’t want to attack anyone, heck maybe I’m wrong and all of Tolkien’s words are misleading from his true vision. I’m attempting to defend and respect the material that he worked so hard on, and sadly never finished.

Oh and just to be PERFECTLY clear, Maglor is not a good person, neither is Maedhros!

I just want the facts to be made clear. Maglor is a son of Feanor, a fierce killer, who committed 3 kinslayings! That is not the topic I’m discussing.

This is about the guilt, sorrow, and compassion he expressed for two orphaned boys at the end of the last kinsalying.

“For Maglor took pity upon Elrond and Elrond, and he cherished them, as little might be thought, but Maglor’s heart was sick and weary with the burden of the dreadful oath.”

- J R.R. Tolkien

[gx-gameon]

I’m in season 5 of Yugioh Duel Monsters and I just finished the KC Grand Prix arc. The one with Zigfried. 

(And oh boy you can tell where all the animation budget went for this season. Because I remember the memory arch looking crisp but the Grand Prix and the Capsule monster arcs look so bad it’s laughable. I’m not mad the memory arch should get all the good animation. It’s just a shock how different it looks from the rest of the season)

But that’s besides the point.

Zigfried

I was thinking about my Yugi raise Jaden au while I watched it and it got me thinking about some little adventures I could have with the Gx cast.

Cause Zigfried hates Kaiba and while his little brother is willing to move on from the rivalry with Kaiba Corp I can’t see Zigfried moving on.

And here’s the thing everyone knows Yugi has a son. And everyone knows Kaiba and Yugi got hitched, making that kid Kaiba’s son to. But Yugi is very serious about Jaden’s privacy and having as normal a childhood as he can and Seto protects his loved ones fiercely so no one knows that son is Jaden right.

But Zigfried is a smart man. Kaiba has a son. Kaiba opens Duel Academy. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that Kaiba’s son will probably attend Duel Academy (its a popular guessing game with the kids trying to guess which of their classmates is the duel prince)

Zigfried still wants to ruin Kaiba Corp and what better way than going after Kaiba’s kid. But he knows Kaiba is protective of his kid. So he needs a way to lure the kid out.

So he hosts his own tournament and invites the duel academies to send their best (there is no way the son of Yugi Mouto and Seto Kaiba is not one of the best) he’s using this to narrow down his search options and then plans to hack into the kid’s files.

Kaiba finds out about this and he can’t stop the academy’s from accepting without looking like he’s taking opportunities from students for “selfish petty reasons” but he can ban Jaden from participating. Jaden’s bumbed but he understands when Seto and Yugi tell him about what Zigfried did the last time.

He loves dueling but he’d like to keep his secret a bit longer, so he ops out. (Now if this is season 4 which is where I would put it it’s easy for him to play off, but anything earlier then that and his friends think he’s dying)

Crowler and Sheppard are freaking out because Jaden is one of the best chances they have for Duel Academy to win and Kaiba has sent out memos to all of his schools talking about giving money to whichever school the winner attends (he doesn’t want Jaden dueling but one of ‘his students’ are winning this tournament or all these schools are disgraces)

Jaden still tags along to watch. He’s just a student cheering on his friends, in actuality he is spying for his Oto-san to see if he can see anything funny going on.

The DM crew is there, Zigfried wants them there when he exposes the duel prince to the world. But they are trying hard to not be around Jaden so they don’t give away his identity.

Since this is post season three you can have Jesse, Jim, and Axel there to represent their schools. Jaden probably hangs out with Jesse. All of his friends are dueling but Jesse knows who he is he can tell Jesse the real reason he’s not dueling in the tournament.

This can lead to some fun shenanigans as Zigfried tries to figure out which duelist is Yugi/Seto’s son while not having any clue Jaden exists since he’s not dueling. You can have him accuse Jesse or Chazz of being the duel prince which has Seto laughing in his face.

This is a rough idea right now. I have to think more on it when I’m not so tired but I think it has potential.

[seaweedbraens]

11!!! vani you’re so close, only 80k words to go

what led you to choosing jason’s story? you obviously planned for him to die from the beginning but what was the process of figuring out how to make it happen and justifying it?

dont even joke abt 80k ill do it sgdjdkejehekken

re: jason - i knew i wanted to kill him because he dies in canon, and i actually dont hate that he dies in canon, i just hate that it was done in a series that wasnt his own. i actually quite like the whole idea of jason choosing to sacrifice himself over piper with her not even knowing shit about it - the books made it even more heartbreaking because theyre broken up, but i didnt want to do that, so i made him just hide it vehemently instead.

another reason he had to die was because in my fic, he is older than percy by about a month, and i really wanted to drive it home that all the children of the big three who were older than percy and died (jason, thalia, bianca) did so because they were IN THE WAY. theres no nice way to put it. percy was the child/hero of the prophecy, and them being alive just fucked shit up timeline-wise and confused everything. jason figures this out pretty quick, though. it's a slim comfort to him, knowing that even though he wont be around, percy will survive. that's why he entrusts him, out of everyone, to take care of piper.

my process in stretching this out just came from outlining this fic to hell and back. it made sense to have his nemesis be krios, since jason does kill him in canon. i knew he wouldnt make it to the final battle, and logically his death would serve has a good place to leave off ch4. that meant he had to leave by the end of ch3 and find out about his fate by ch1/2 (i chose 1). this would give him more than enough time to come up with a plan and come to terms with his fate.

i wanted to make jason's arc about the slow acceptance of death. i had an aunt who battled cancer for a long, long time, and i watched her cycle slowly through each worsening stage with a grim acceptance. in her last years, though, she told me she was choosing to live life and she was using her time to appreciate what she had. i visited her days before she passed and while she put on a brave face in front of me, she confessed to my mom that she was scared, and i wondered for a long time how long she spent hiding her pain from others just to save us from sharing hers.

jason's journey is largely inspired by my aunt. he knows death is looming over him, but he chooses to hide his own anxiety in favor of allowing his friends to be happy. the only time he shows his fear is as he dies in piper's arms, when he has nothing to lose by hiding it anymore.

piper was his greatest source of joy and he knows she has the capability to love again, but if she died, he knows he would never be able to. and yes! it's a selfish choice, as piper tells him, but one he believed was necessary.

through the course of wcwsthwas, jason learns he's lived a good life. he found his family and found love and true friendship. he wouldnt give them up for the world - so he chose to give himself up instead.

IDK IF I ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION I JUST RAMBLED AYSGSICYSIVYAGIV SORRY BUT TY FOR ANOTHER GOOD ONE!!!

[sarahshot1st]

"I hate you!" Raven screamed, hurling a bowling ball at the infuriating firebrand.

"Aw, you know you love me," Cinder cooed, easily dodging the projectile on jets of flame.

"I. Do. NOT!"

The Branwen chieftess punctuated the statement by slamming her fist into the rack, causing a half-dozen heavy ceramic balls to flick up into the air. A few quick strikes of her sword - drawn in the blink of an eye - left the spheres cloven in half, making them more susceptible to the gust of wind she summoned with her Maiden powers.

Cinder laughed, turning aside the attacks with bursts of superheated air. She danced around in the air, playful, inviting, and Raven rose to meet her.

"Next time I see your daughter, I'll tell her you're alive and well - just as much the selfish prick she remembers."

Raven felt an uncontrollable spike of anger flash through her. The power burning from her eyes flared to life as she growled:

"You stay away from Yang, you bitch."

"Oh but of course, that's how you raise a child, isn't it? By ignoring them?"

Raven screamed, an incoherent howl of rage. She dashed forward, swinging Omen in a brutal arc that could have easily decapitated three ordinary foes - but Cinder was no ordinary foe. Her own blade formed in her hands as she raised them to intercept the attack, and there was an explosion of sparks as the two weapons met.

What followed was a devastating series of blows, faster than the eye could track. Raven cycled through each of Omen's dust cartridges, attacking with Ice, Gravity, Lightning, and Hard-Light in an attempt to keep her opponent off-guard. Cinder, however, was familiar by now with the unique properties of Raven's blade, and adapted her own weapons each time to counter Raven's attacks. Eventually the chieftess settled on Fire, her blade burning with a wicked glow that matched Cinder's own. The exchange ended with their swords crossed, each struggling to overpower the other.

The pyromaniac grinned wickedly. "You can pretend you hate me all you want, Raven - but the portal you used to come here tells the truth. You can only bond them to people you have a strong emotional connection to - isn't that right?"

"I find hatred to be the strongest emotion of them all," Raven spat. "I keep one on Qrow so I can keep track of his bullshit."

"Well, if you ever decide to do something about that bothersome brother of yours, hit me up, will you? I've got a score to settle with that drunkard too."

Raven pulled back, huffing condescendingly. "You know what? Fine. That's actually the most reasonable suggestion you've made all night."

Cinder smirked. "We'll call it a date then."

Raven's face contorted into a snarl. "Fuck. YOU."

"Fuck me yourself."

"RAAAAAAAARRRGGHHHHHHHH-"

***

"So how'd the date go?" Vernal asked innocently.

Raven strolled out of the portal, not even sparing her lieutenant a second glance. "Shut it, Vernal."

"Yes ma'am." She didn't even try to hide her smile.

***

"You know, I don't know what you see in that woman," Watts said, voice laced with ridicule.

Cinder smiled. "I think she likes me."

"Oh please," the lanky man scoffed, not even bothering to turn from the ensemble of Scrolls he had laid out in front of him. "Every time the two of you meet, you inevitably end up holding swords to each other's throat. That is hardly what I'd call a romantic display of affection."

"And that just shows how little you know of romance. Swordplay has always been considered a suitable form of foreplay - or have you forgotten how our Mistress and her lover courted?"

Watts sniffed. "I'd hardly call theirs a model for a healthy relationship."

"And what would you know of relationships?" Cinder asked, waving a dismissive hand as she strolled through Evernight Castle. "You can't ever be bothered to become entangled with someone - always so busy with your toys. Face it, Watts." She paused, eyeing the back of Watts' always-impeccable suit. "You're a sigma."

"Just because I prioritize our Lady's goals over my own pursuits doesn't make me a 'sigma,' as you so crassly put it." The mustachioed man finally spun around in his chair to face Cinder directly. "My work is more important than any simple 'fling'."

"I see. Well then, I suppose there's no need to tell you I received an update from Tyrian this morning."

"What? Where is he? How is he doing? Is he all right?" The questions tumbled out of Watts' mouth faster than Cinder could answer, and he stood so quickly that his chair nearly toppled over.

Cinder smiled. "Deranged, psychotic, and nihilistic - in other words, Tyrian's doing just fine."

Cinder's tone was knowing, and Watts actually had the decency to blush. "Yes, well, that is very good. I worry about him when he's out on his own, given his penchant for self-inflicted pain. Do make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

"I'll be sure to tell him you asked after him."

[narutocharacterpolls]

Now that the semi-finals polls ended, would you like to share your opinion on Kakashi's character? :)

Pie splat deserved

I think it’s obvious that I take in the story broadly through a Sasuke lens and so the biggest reason I hate Kakashi is because of the way he treats Sasuke. There are other reason sprinkled throughout but that’s why I mainly dislike him.

However firstly, I think it’s obvious based on the group of characters I’ve made clear are some of my favourites, but I’m very anti-Konoha and don’t like bootlickers. So that immediately makes me criticize Kakashi and knocks some respect I could have for him off.

Anyways, Kakashi is incapable of treating team 7, most specifically Sasuke but it does affect all of them, normally because he cannot stop projecting team Minato onto his team, and that heavily affects the ways that he interacts and treats his team. He obviously projects himself onto Sasuke and as a result treats him really weirdly imo due to his own self loathing. He teaches Sasuke (a severely traumatized child) the chidori in an attempt to alleviate his own guilt from creating the jutsu that killed his best friend. I really don’t see much, if any, reason that Kakashi did this outside of his own selfishness and he most certainly didn’t think it through in the context of Sasuke. Again, because he views Sasuke as a reflection of himself rather than being his own unique person. He then goes on to literally tie Sasuke to a tree and scorn him for using the chidori (and may I add— while I’m aware Sasuke asked for the fight against Naruto, Sasuke only raised the chidori in defence when Naruto raised his rasengan) and seeking revenge against Itachi (y’know, the man that killed his entire clan, manipulated him, and tortured him by making him watch Itachi killing his family for 72 hours straight), then he LEFT HIM THERE TIED UP TO THE TREE. Not to mention he once again reflects himself onto Sasuke by saying he personally didn’t seek revenge and chose to move on. They are not in the same situation. At all. Sorry but that just rubs on me very unpleasantly.

A lot of my distaste was actually from him in Shippuuden though because his treatment and attitude towards Sasuke just gets worse. When Sakura tries to go to kill Sasuke and he shows up he decides that getting Sakura and getting out isn’t the right thing to do, but decides it’s his turn to try to kill him….. Ehem….. Alright….. Claims that Sasuke has turned to some kind of dark side but claims Obito to still be a hero of Konoha later on….. What a man. Still on the topic of Sakura trying to kill Sasuke, he criticizes Sasuke not once, but twice (later on during a war…. There are bigger things to focus on here) about how crazy and messed up it was for Sasuke to attack Sakura…. When he didn’t just attack her, he acted in self defence after she tried to kill him. But does Kakashi critique Sakura outside of saying she knows she wouldn’t be able to beat Sasuke? No, he doesn’t.

With Sakura on the mind, literally during war arc (once again, more important things to focus on here) he tells Sasuke that Sakura suffers from loving him and that no one needs a reason to love someone, just to hate someone. This is such disgusting behaviour to me as he once again is discarding Sasukes feelings and what Sasuke has stated he wants. Sasuke had literally just told Kakashi how he feels but Kakashi does not care about what Sasuke desires. But it doesn’t matter to Kakashi because to him Sasuke is a reflection of himself and since Kakashi doesn’t view it that way Sasuke isn’t allowed to. It’s a really gross sentiment.

The whole thing of how Kakashi treated Tobi revealing the truth of the Uchiha genocide and the way he reacted to it is also incredibly upsetting. And that revelation still didn’t change the way Kakashi viewed Sasuke at all. He still felt it was right to try to immediately kill Sasuke rather than… Approach him in a similar way to Naruto. But whatever, I don’t feel like getting much into this whole thing though.

There’s other random things, he’s hypocritical within his view of Sasuke’s revenge, I find him overrated as a “powerful fighter”, I personally find him having the sharingan uncomfortable and undeserved, he did not show care for Sakura in the way he did to the other two in classic, bootlicker Hokage, ect., but I’m not going to delve into anything else because I don’t feel like it lol.

All in all I don’t care about people that do like Kakashi, but it annoys be that he’s so often portrayed as someone that he isn’t. I know there’s some good to Kakashi, I find his back story rather interesting as well, he has handled some things well, but the negatives heavily outweigh the positives for me. To Kakashi lovers that decided to read this, you are valid and it’s okay to like him. I just don’t.

[itspkuwu]

EEnE characters ranked (MY OPINION)

Let’s cut right to the chase, because I really wanna put this out there.

Lee Kanker is in last place. She gets lower than F tier. Where Marie and May had moments where they seemed to genuinely care about each other, Lee just sits there, manipulates, and spreads cruelty. And as for the times where Marie and May were fighting/being mean etc? Well, I have a theory. Remember in Big Picture Show where we see that Lee has a third eye? You know who else has a third eye for no good reason…?

DEMONS. LEE IS AN ACTUAL DEMONIC MENACE WHO BRAINWASHES HER SISTERS JUST TO MAKE OTHERS FEEL MISERABLE. AND EVEN THEN SHE MISTREATS HER “MINIONS” TOO.

And remember when Nazz kissed Double D and Eddy on the cheek? Compare that to how they react to the Kanker’s kisses. How big those lips are… that specific shade of red… the way the Ed boys become horrified every single time…

THE LIP STICK IS CREATED BY LEE AND HAS DARK MAGIC INSIDE OF IT. THATS MY THEORY. IM STICKING TO IT. SCREW YOU LEE.

(that was a joke lolol)

Everybody in the “lol why” tier it’s just an object that isn’t Plank or I haven’t seen those episodes yet. So I can’t really give my thoughts yet.

Rolf’s animals get their own tier. They have an amazing caretaker :3

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH DORK DORK DORK DORK ITS KEVIN DJDJUDUFHDBRJRIRID.

He’s just a jerk lol. AND NO I DO NOT SHIP HIM WITH ANYBODY. NOT NAZZ. NOT DOUBLE D. ESPECIALLY NOT DOUBLE D. NOBODY.

except his bike.

Eddy’s brother (whose name is apparently Tarry??) is also a jerk. But he makes a pretty cool antagonist. And he just makes me like Eddy even more.

also i feel like he would be a tumblr sexy man

Mildred blinks at you :D

Plank is an immortal God who will one day rule the world. This is my canon.

I REALLY wish we could have seen more of what happened to Jonny post Big Picture Show. Him being “The Gourd” and having a villain arc just sounds super fun. Other than that he’s just a weird kid. I like him.

Don’t let Jimmy fool y’all. He’s a lil maniac. He probably gets it from Sarah. And it’s always a shocker to me given how much he acts so innocent and harmless. He’s a pretty neat anti hero.

I KNOW I SHOULD HATE SARAH. But I feel like there’s more to her than meets the eye. I honestly think her parents taught her the hate her big brother. If they weren’t around, she probably wouldn’t been to mean to him. Making me feel extremely sympathetic for both of them. And at least she looks after Jimmy, giving her redeeming qualities.

To be honest this show needs a character like Nazz. Everything has to be balanced out with someone who isn’t constantly out to get something, being mean, or acting like a weirdo. But yes, she does have her moments, which are rightfully deserved. Plus, I just really like her chill and hippie way of going about.

Marie Kanker and May Kanker are being ranked together. The potential they have to be redeemed is through the roof. They deserve so much better. If Lee wasn’t around to mess with their heads, I think they would be truly happy. Marie could spend her days jamming out and living on the edge, while May is cute and ditzy and a voice of reason at times. Plus both of their hairstyles are really eye candy for me.

The Ed boys are also being ranked together. What else can I say that hasn’t been said already? The way these three bounce off of each other is extremely enjoyable and definitely gets good laughs out of me. I know they have their moments where they aren’t so friendly, but you don’t always have to get along with someone for you to still love them. And when the gentle giant goof, the soft hearted nerd, and the selfish man with a heart of gold do get along, it’s sweeter than jawbreakers :)

AND NOW WE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE TRUE GOD. THE LIGHT IN DARK TIMES. THE DIAMOND WITHIN THE DIRT. THE ONLY BOY ON THE SHOW WITH A GOOD HAIRCUT.

ROLF. THE SON OF A SHEPHERD.

Rolf is hands down one of if not the best side character in animation history. He’s a goober for one thing. But a goober that’s gets us to take him seriously. You do not mess with this man. His pride is enough to break you leg. And yet, he still manages to be one of the nicest characters in the show. He’s so friendly and upbeat! And when he isn’t… his dark side is also a fun time.

And another thing, he’s a fish out of water. Which also allows the viewer to feel sympathetic for him. Like in Wish You Were Ed. Seeing Rolf cry is something you’d never think you’d see, but when you do, it makes you feel a somber emotion you had no idea existed. It’s amazing.

yeah, Rolf is amazing.

Also I asked my sister if she wanted to dance to That’s My Horse at her wedding and she said no. What a loser right?

So uh, that’s my list. Hope you enjoyed.

Go hug a chicken.

[blues-valentine]

Just finished The Double and I haven’t been so immersed in a drama for so long.

Xue Fangfei, Xue Li, A’Li or Jiang Li was such a well written female protagonist because her motives were well written and I like how self aware she was about also working for her own selfish reasons like she never came across as an hypocrite. She was thirsty for revenge and I love that. She had her weaknesses but knew how to use them. She was very smart and it never felt out of place. She wasn’t working alone she had a lot of help from people with resources and I think that balance was well executed. Sometimes she didn’t even need to do the job because her own enemies would do it for her. She avenged both Jiang Li and herself in an iconic way. A Queen. She was excellent.

Xiao Heng was amazing and dramatic. We love a king with good wardrobe and epic entrances. I love how his dynamic with Li started as mostly them using each other to achieve their agendas until they were unable to play pretend with each other. They matched each other’s freaks. He thought he was using her first but she had him wrapped around her finger and she knew and took advantage of it pretty well. The tension, the flirting. I love how everything came down to Li’s consent and choices. Everything felt equal between them. I wish we could’ve gotten more romantic moments between them or actually seeing their wedding but I still like that they were immersed in their own sub plot.

The whole dynamic between Shen Yurong and Princess Wanning was so complex and one of the best written villains arc I’ve seen in a while. I like how Shen was a monster born out of her and he ended up being her downfall. But I also love how we get to slowly discover how he was an hypocrite with not morals. Wanning didn’t transform him into a monster. He was a coward with a self victim obsession, way too worried about his status. You low key finish the season sympathizing with Wanning and while nothing justifies her continuing the cycle of abuse and torture she was subjected to, you can’t help but like her at the end. She for sure had her ending coming and so did he but it was epic. The acting was brilliantly done by those two actors.

I loved the side kicks, Wen Ji (rip king), Lu Ji (rip king), Tong (rip queen), Jingrui, Jiuyue, Liu Xu, the Ye family, and even Shijie at times even thought him liking Jiang Li plot was annoying at times but in general he was a good guy with morals. I loved how she genuinely had good people on her side for the right reasons.

I hated Ji Shuran guts and I feel like I disliked her so much more than Wanning — nothing justifies killing your own sister to marry a man. Also, Yuanbai honey I’m sorry but you weren’t clueless about your own house, you just didn’t care enough but I did end up feeling really bad for him at the end, and kinda love how he takes on Li as his own daughter even at the end.

I feel like every character is well-written and you can see their motivations making sense. I understand where everyone comes from in their actions: good or bad. Like the character work was pretty solid for majority of the characters.

My only criticism is that I feel the end was rushed with the whole war plot that should’ve taken at least 2 episodes but it wasn't that bad and it didn’t ruin my experience with the whole series. I’ll give this drama a solid 9.5 out of 10. The female characters carried the show. The plot felt dragged out at times but knew how to keep you hooked. The performances and the visuals were so amazing. A must watch.

[onigiri-dorkk]

It's very interesting that it's 2023 and there are still people who say that Mikasa hates Levi/vice versa.

They based that on the few scenes in the first few episodes where Mikasa is angry at Levi beating up Eren in the courthouse.

One, Levi has never once hated Mikasa. He had many opportunities to be angry with her as a captain, but he has never done that. He could have punished her easily just for how she looked at him in the courthouse -- much more for her insubordination multiple times when she was a young soldier.

But then what happens?

When Levi gets injured due to Mikasa not trusting him, acting on her own and not listening to his orders during battle, and him having to save her life, the Scouts lose their captain and best soldier in a crucial time. Mikasa feels the huge weight of that on her shoulders -- she is very aware of how important Levi is to the Scouts and she makes a conscious decision in Season 2 to step up to fill his shoes, to make up for her mistake while he recovers. She now realizes that her selfish actions to protect/be with Eren come with consequences, and it takes her out of her tunnel vision for Eren. She's at this point where she realizes she should have trusted Levi more.

In the Uprising Arc is where we really see Mikasa's perspective to Levi/leadership really change, which also reflects her inward growth. She's placed in Levi Squad. When ordered to fight and kill Kenny and team, all the Levi Squad doubt Levi's orders and think he's cruel. Who's the first one who steps up and listens to Levi's orders immediately? Mikasa. She's the first one to say yes, and she doesn't even question it -- she goes in for the kill.

When they gather and reflect about their first kills, Jean, Sasha, Connie and even Armin are still apprehensive about what they were ordered to do. It is Mikasa who tells them that they need to make the choice to trust Captain Levi, and that they should trust him.

In the same arc, Levi is shown many times as being able to calm Mikasa down and stop her from acting impulsively, and she listens more. In battle, she is his literal right-hand soldier and enters the battlefield/crystal caverns with him first and by his side. Mikasa is to Levi what Caven is to Kenny. They are each others' most trusted and skilled and respected soldiers -- Levi can rely on Mikasa to live and carry out everything, and vice versa.

At this point, clearly they don't hate each other. If anything, they've gotten so much closer with a quiet respect and bond, and this happened in the absence of Eren.

Ackerbrawl sounds violent but they both held back from hurting each other -- even though they both had reasons to fight for that serum, they didn't actually. And it's easy to conclude it's because even just as comrades, they are important to each other. She served some time behind bars with Eren, but it was only because that was a formality -- Levi had mentioned when they were up on the walls that he was fine. Again, he had reason to be pissed at her, but he never took that route. He's very gracious with Mikasa.

Fast forward. Marley shit. That's four more years of Mikasa being Levi's right-hand. Do y'all REALLY think she would still hate him at this point? Really? Mikasa is now a high-ranking military soldier and has now been Levi's right-hand for more than five years. Then Eren disappears and leaves them. Mikasa never stopped being Levi's right-hand -- she must've been devastated when Eren disappeared, and in my opinion the only ones who can keep her in check while she deals with her emotions are Levi and Armin. 100% they got even closer.

They battle in Liberio together; Levi entrusts Mikasa to battle with Eren, and when things go awry with the Jaw, Levi swoops in and saves everything -- he was keeping watch on things. When they get back on the airship, Levi kicks Eren and reprimands him again -- Mikasa doesn't do anything because she trusts Levi more than she feels the need to protect Eren at that moment.

I don't even have to describe the rest. They go into battle of heaven and earth -- Levi and Mikasa are the final ones left. They save each other. They support each other. They aide each other. And they successfully killed Eren and saved what was left of the world together. Mikasa goes from distrusting Levi and his leadership, to trusting him the most. Levi goes from distrusting Mikasa's decisions, to trusting her to make the right decisions on her own now for him to support.

AND they survived together. AND they're shown to reunite again after war.

Now how in the flying fuck do people, in 2023, still say that Levi and Mikasa hate each other? Because I am not seeing it. The only reason people say that is to try to discredit shippers but the reality is there is sooooo much depth there.

Those are some fucking good crumbs, I gotta say!!

Long live Rivamika, bitches

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

I really think people go too far and miss the point when they pretend that Renfield did nothing wrong the whole novel, and I think they make Renfield's character less interesting in the process. I do find him very sympathetic, and I do think the choices he makes in the novel are very much a product of the dehumanizing conditions he's in... but he still very much makes the choices. He very actively sought Dracula out- if anything he's the one that convinced Dracula to use him not the other way around. He was fully onboard with murdering people and drinking their blood to gain power, he had full knowledge of what Dracula was doing- what changed through the course of the his arc was that he realized human life, human souls had value and he didn't have the right to take that away. Taking him from Point A to Point B is what is interesting, and you can only explore that if you acknowledge his agency to make those choices of his own free will to begin with.

Also. Seward is abusive towards him- but what I also think some people don't understand is: Dr. John Seward is not the root cause of all Renfield's problems. In fact, the text would suggest that Seward's position at that asylum is probably not more than a few months old when the novel starts. Like Seward is simply the latest face of one of many doctors for Renfield. In my Renfield fic, Renfield writes to Seward and he says "You're not halfway to as bad as it gets" and I stand by this, because if I look at it from Renfield's perspective- Seward actions cannot be the worst he's ever endured in his decades of being institutionalized. Seward's interest in studying him affords Renfield far too much choice for that to be the case (bc no one on this site has reading comprehension I'm not saying that it's RIGHT that Seward sees him as an experiment, but I'm saying it allows Renfield to do what he wants to do far more than I imagine would be the case for other doctors).

There are some takes I've seen that were like "oh you can really see how much Seward hates Renfield after he dares to defy him by attacking him" and, like, respectfully, Renfield attacking Seward that one time was not a #girlboss moment for him, and also Seward getting some bad feelings and mistrust of Renfield from that experience is... realistic in my opinion. Even if you are the most altruistic doctor in the world wouldn't you be a little on guard after that experience? In that scene Renfield is attacking Seward with the intent to kill him and drink his blood. It's up for interpretation whether he knew he was being used as a distraction so that Lucy was unguarded, or whether Dracula just spurred him on (again I think giving Renfield the most knowledge is always the most interesting take) but his motives are not noble or sympathetic, he's trying to commit and aid and abet murder for his own selfish ends. The sympathetic thing to me about that scene is he thinks he's going to get so much benefit from these actions, both from drinking Seward's blood and from the rewards Dracula will give him, but all he gets is the padded room and the straight waistcoat, because Dracula is just using him and manipulating him.

Something else I want to say is Renfield DOES in fact manipulate Dr. Seward in this novel. He is manipulative, he is very manipulative. Now, again, he's manipulative because he has no power over his own life, so if he wants to get the things he wants then basically his only option is to convince the doctors to let him do the things he wants- but like. You can understand the reasons behind his actions, and be sympathetic to them, while still recognizing that he's trying to help out Dracula for a long spell of this novel. Renfield is not an innocent, but he's also not a monster. He is someone who has coped with decades of institutional abuse by becoming a manipulative, selfish person, who can be quite nasty. That's realistic, that is often what suffering does to people. Denying that aspect of Renfield is not actually doing his character any favors, and it just makes it less interesting when, despite everything, he grows as a human being and dies trying to save others from Dracula.

[angryteapott]

Okay, someone else posted so it got me thinking but one of the reasons I hate the reveal that li lianhua is ~secretly royalty~ and more importantly that shan gudao was a regular guy is because of happy's death. To sum up:

Happy is actually the reason i got so into the show, because without him the first few arcs would feel very flat. There's a bunch of little moments that show happy's interiority, and a bunch of little moments that show fang duobing blithely not getting it. My favorite of these moments is when fang duobing snatches a letter with happy's fathers handwriting as evidence. He'd intended to burn it at his mother's grave.

This is an interesting writing choice! It sets up our hyper privileged protagonist not really caring about non privileged people. It works nicely with Li Xiangyi's past being that he was a beggar. We also get a bit of that sort of backstory with di feisheng, but it doesn't really have a regular people vibe so it doesn't fit into this theme of this inherent conflict of who's important and who isn't.

And for the first few cases this is very important! Happy's death makes Fang Duobing seek vengeance for him, and he seeks justice for the guards as well while learning it was really the rich who vented their anger about their own selfish mistreatment of a loved one. Very much dual themes of who is justice for (fang duobing's arc) and people who were treated badly by the people who were supposed to love them. Yeah they got justice for the guards by... killing their enslaved colleagues... but fight scenes are a must I guess. This also is interesting in the context of Li Xiangyi founding Baichuan Court, a mechanism for justice (it's a cop show, I know, I know). This is the moment I think Li Lianhua first really notices Fang Duobing.

Then they never. Mention. Happy. Again.

Sputteringly, the themes are continued! Qiao Wanmian intentionally lets go of people related to the jinyuan alliance instead of assuming they're guilty by association. The lotus mansion arc's first victim is a redeemed courtesan with few choices and the girls of girl manor are treated sympathetically. Zijin is shown as evil both because he's jealous but also because he's shallow and obsessed with power instead of justice. There's a throwaway line that Sigu Sect should search for a merchant the same way as they do for Li Xiangyi. An important moment revealing that Fang Duobing sees Li Xiangyi as more than just his status is him understanding that the Sigu Sect should be about justice, combining neatly with Xiangyi's previous status as a beggar that people say he should be so embarrassed of he would kill Shan Gudao about it. But never is there a case with the same justice is for everyone thrust. The villains become determined by their ethnicity with a few one off 'greedy' characters. What is the point of the king of hell arc, other than to be background as LLH and FDB divorce? By the time we see Li-er again, Happy's erstwhile friend, the show is wrapped up enough in the main plot that it doesn't really notice that Fang Duobing tried to send Li-er for a blanket when the mansion is under attack in place of his mother when he says out loud he never thought his mother was in any real danger. The villains were people with birth defects mad about being treated as disposable who killed women to (reads notes) detoxify poison that actual emerald would work for that they never figured out how to identify from a local after ten years.

Then the main plot is revealed- Shan Gudao! Thematically, Shan Gudao is a villain because he was always jealous of Li Xiangyi, but he clings to shallow things like bloodline making him matter in the face of his trauma.

By this time in my least favorite way of upping the stakes not even Li Lianhua cares about the little people anymore, only about the "peace of the world" maintained by an emperor who was going to build an expensive pagoda for fertility issues, presumably at the expense of the people. Before we even get to the horrible no good reveal it's shown that Shan Gudao was treated as less than by his adults because his parents didn't have a relationship with them. He's evil because he was mad about it, not because his anger was misdirected. Then they reveal that all along good guy Li Xiangyi was the royal bloodline and the emperor and Shan Gudao are not.

Do you see. How far we've come. From a theme of you shouldn't ignore the lives of those of the lower class. Our fascinating justice seeking protagonist is secretly royalty, oooh. I guess it could be a play that these things are shallow and arbitrary, but it's a) actually important to the plot that he is for his literal actual blood and b) so far removed from the nuance of the first few cases it feels baffling to rewatch them. I hate it! I hate it so much! Instead of learning the explicitly stated lesson of the first few cases that things shouldn't be about shallow markers of power it should be about justice for everyone it turns into Fang Duobing learning Tianji Manor servants sure are useful as cannon fodder, no need to learn any of their names, oh my boyfriend is the most important interesting man on earth. Literally the end of the Fang Duobing Happy dichotomy is oh we forgot we did that. It's not even that they said the theme i liked was wrong it's that they said forget about that theme it's too complicated and low stakes really people just get too jealous of special people and the "world" is at risk ie the emperor and not anyone else. Which if they set that up as how things are or interrogate it and end up there I'll argue with it, but I won't call the writing just based on that. Here...

I really do love the characters and their relationships, but in terms of themes they dropped the ball so badly I'm having issues with the characterization

[mdhwrites]

what are your thoughts on the hunter/golden guard disparity? i have always hated his character, bc when he was introduced he was arrogant, selfish, and cruel, but the minute he was discarded by belos, all his actions are suddenly forgiven and he doesnt do anything else bad for the whole show. u probably heard this so many times but he feels like, and for all intents and purposes IS, an entirely different character

people compare him to zuko all the time, but the two are only alike on a surface level; hunter hasn't actually like, done anything to redeem himself? not that he necessarily has to in order to be an interesting character! but the show, and the fandom, treats him as 100% redeemed for no apparent reason, and that grates on me

So in terms of what it does to his character, what it means and the like and how the transition is, I actually did touch on it somewhat in one blog called "Does Hunter Have a Character Arc?"

Also, the disparity between his first major appearance and his second major appearance, alongside Amity's own version of this, is what made me coin the phrase "Your character arc appears a lot more drastic when you start out of character." It was something I'd said first meaning it as a joke but... *gestures at The Collector who is pulling the same shit* The show is really bad as far as handling the characters it wants to redeem because Amity is the closest of the three not to come off as entirely different in her first appearance and even then, she is about 100x more unhinged in her first appearance than she literally ever gets, despite Covention's stakes being so much higher and the failure more catastrophic.

And before I get to the twist on all of this I want to talk about, (I'll actually bold text where that is if you want to skip the anecdote) I want to point out the most bizarre thing that has happened between me and the fandom in regards to Hunter. Warning for Boscha fans because this will sound all too normal to all of you.

I have a story called The Blight's Ruff Secret (which was then converted into the original story Their Ruff Secrets). In it, Hunter shows up for like... One chapter and is named dropped in one or two more. He's not important but Belos running the biggest church in town is for Luz's arc in that story. After all, her being gender non-conforming and bi in a small, religious town doesn't exactly mean she's popular, let alone with the teenagers at church, not that she'll tell a Camila who is devout any of that.

Hunter in that story is a bigot and a bully and friends with Boscha. This combination led to a long comment of someone saying that they liked my story but that Hunter would NEVER be a bigot, bully and god forbid the very concept of him being friends with SOMEONE LIKE BOSCHA.

And this wasn't even post S3. This was between S2A and B. So... To say the fandom is a bit fucked up when it comes to understanding the fundamental elements of Hunter's backstory and who he started as character-wise is a bit of an understatement.

Admittedly, it's also the show's fault because it fails to incorporate elements of the world or the character's history into who they are or what they do. And this is kind of what I want to touch on more with The Golden Guard versus Hunter disparity: What is the Golden Guard? And how does it transform over the course of the show?

So let's start with the absolute first thing we're told and shown. After losing Lilith, the coven decides that it's best face to put out publicly is The Golden Guard. Realistically, you do this for one of two reasons. One is that they are the face that the most amount of people know or two: You believe he can be that because he is the best amongst your ranks. Lilith even pushes at least the second idea by saying that he's a child prodigy. These posters are also put EVERYWHERE in the episode we see them and enchanted in a way to stay in your face if you're annoyed with them, literally.

In that same episode, we're introduced to The Golden Guard, who at least has enough influence to get a LOT of gold and an expedition together, complete with boat, just for the sake of accomplishing the mission of killing the Selkidamus. I actually suspect that if Eda hadn't stolen the gold, Hunter wouldn't have had any reason to threaten Eda, Luz and King because, well... That wasn't his job or plan.

As such, the point of The Golden Guard is to be able to handle messier missions that might risk multiple guards otherwise but he can handle on his own. He is their special agent and appears to be given access to a lot of resources for this goal. Hunting Palisman even pushes this concept further by him being the one sent out alone to get the Palisman, complete with an airship.

As far as a compelling antagonist who at least can do as much as Lilith did in S1, it's not a bad setup actually. It's a bit too close to just making a new EC head but the twist of them having no reason to NOT kill Lilith and Luz is one that allows them to be much more dangerous and brutal in what they do. It's effectively swapping out Rita for Zed in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Buuuuut that's much more complicated for the sake of redeeming Hunter, isn't it? So even in Hunting Palisman, we get our first retcon about the Golden Guard: No one knows him. Literally fucking no one knows what the fuck he looks like, acts like or sounds like. Yes, he's without his cloak and mask but I imagine what he's wearing is still standard issue underneath that since it looks like body armor so maybe give him a little more credit than accusing him of being just some dumb teenager?

This also begs the question of why he was put on the posters? If he is so anonymous to the troops, they can't vouch for him if someone comes to them for more info on who is on the poster. Shouldn't the guards have literally any idea of who's leading them? Or representing them? Because... If Hunter isn't, who is? There's no EC coven head anymore. And never will be from the show's standpoint, even months later.

Eclipse Lake doubles down on this. Now, not only is The Golden Guard unknown without their mask but a disgraced Kikimora can command guards more than Hunter. If this isn't true, Eclipse Lake makes no sense. Admittedly, Hunter doesn't bring his mask or staff, neither of which makes any sense unless he needs to get them directly from Belos before any mission which... MAYBE the staff but absolutely not on the mask. That's just a part of his uniform.

So within three episodes, he has gone from the biggest deal and the most important member of the EC... To nothing. To an outcast amongst his peers without any power or respect. In THREE EPISODES. Without him himself doing anything and only failing one mission because as far as Belos knows, the Selkidamas IS dead.

And the fact that this does mirror Hunter's own character arc highlights how badly it's handled, if it even exists, let alone it being rational in any conceivable way. And this is all S2A which... Almost certainly wasn't affected by the shortening and sure as shit wasn't written with the shortening in mind if it was. After all, while the decision happened by the time the S1 finale came out... Animation takes a lot of time. They would have been knee deep in production for S2. Dana herself has proven that as before S2 came out, they started WRITING AND BOARDING SEASON THREE.

So... This is just what Hunter's arc was decided to be. What the Golden Guard meant. And it's just bad. And that's without getting into the ways it goes about assassinating what we knew about the Emperor's Coven in Sport in a Storm or the like.

So why did the fandom forgive him? Why is he so popular? I... Wish I knew. When push comes to shove, like in the blog I linked at the top, I can come up with more charitable readings on his character. Give him a real character instead of a puppet constantly being yanked around and changed by the Hand of the Author, but casually? Why the hell should I care about a character who I never can get a grasp on? Who's fundamental elements constantly contradict themselves.

And Hunter isn't the only person like this. But hey, the Collector sure is going to be a fun, final boss fight, isn't he? *eye twitch*

[sebastianshaw]

Okay, a question I've wanted to ask the mun? What drew you to pick up Sebastian as a muse? Asking out of genuine curiosity because I absolutely love this colonialcore menace (the person who coined that term deserves a medal btw🥇)

THEY DOOOO I got into X-Men in middle school, when they were a hyper-obsession that I spent a LOT of time and money on, learning everything about every character there was at the time, whether I gave a shit about them or not. One of my faves back then had been E.mma F.rost, whom I was introduced to in New X-Men, which was coming out when I was in middle school. I liked her a lot because SHE was a very nasty breed of heroine, something I'd never encountered before. Shaw features in her backstory, and he came up a few times in New X-Men, though he didn't feature largely at all. I didn't pay really any attention to him at the time. Around 2013 or so, I started coming back to X-Men. I was in my early 20s then, a recent college graduate, and I wasn't really interested in what was currently going on in the comics. Instead, I returned to the 90s, which were the first comics I'd ever read. I encountered Shinobi S.haw, Shaw's son, and I just adored him. Through him, I found Fabian C.ortez, and I loved him even more. Namely, I loved him because he was JUST SO GODDAMN AWFUL. Around that time in my life, I had also started really like bad guys, in particular unsympathetic ones. It's not that I think nuanced, noble, or tragic villains are bad, but when you're in fandom long enough, you get exposed to so many people just falling over backwards to excuse everything a character has ever done if there's even a scrap of sadness or good reasoning to them. It's actually a lot less a problem now due to the backlash it's received (to the point that now you can actually get hate for it, which I don't think is right at all either) but me being a contrarian, it just pushed me in the opposite direction. I started gravitating to unabashedly NASTY baddies. And Fabian was my PEAK baddy for awhile. But in coming to like Shinobi, I also became reacquainted with Shaw Senior, and started finding him really interesting and really funny as well. That's a big thing for me, the bad guys I like also have to be amusing. No matter how serious a threat they are, I just can't get into them without SOME element of comedy there too. And Shaw was funny. Like, he was awful, he was irrefutably irredeemably awful, the literal FIRST thing I knew about him as a character was how terribly he abused Shinobi. I didn't go in with any illusions. But as I learned more about him, I found him really hilarious in his own right (THE CONSTANT SHIRT REMOVAL) as well as actually really interesting. I enjoyed how, in a sea of ideological mutant leaders (X.avier, M.agneto, Apocalypse, etc), Shaw was a pure profit man. He was utterly, purely, absolutely unabashedly selfish, and I really liked this about him, just as I'd liked it in Fabian and Shinobi. I also found myself really liking the Hellfire Club in general, I loved the idea of a bunch of fancy evil rich people who don't give a SHIT about the political conflict that's usually so plot-central. And as I read more and more of his stuff, I was like...shit, this guy is actually REALLY INTERESTING. He's actually got a lot more nuance than he seems, while still being an Utter Bastard. I even ordered The Legacy Quest Trilogy novels, which I reference a LOT on this blog as a big source of my Shaw characterization, because Shaw features heavily as a main character, complete with his own arc and chapters from his perspective. It was INCREDIBLE, it added so MUCH to him while also not relying on changing anything about him. It stayed true to the character while also expanding on his mindset at the same time, and he was a great villain in it too. It won me over COMPLETELY. So, here we are! Thank you for the question and your interest!! <33

[beevean]

How about a list of your favorite villains across media?

Wouldn't really know how to rank them but I can try :P

Eggman: funnily enough, it was Colors that made me realize "huh, he's actually a pretty good villain" lmao, so thanks Colors! Full of himself, iconic style, charismatic, he will destroy an ancient civilization site to take down his enemy and then build a circus in the same game (some of the games do a bang up job of displaying his personality without words!), proof that you can be both goofy and a serious threat.

Dahlia Hawthorne: absolutely my fave AA villain <3 she's petty and not even the final murderer, yet under her "cute girl who's secretly a bitch" façade lies an actual, scary demon, who doesn't even let death stop her from spreading her utter malice. Not even after Mia beautifully lays down how she's actually a miserable pathetic creature (which she is), does her creepy factor diminish.

Annie Wilkes: yeah an odd choice maybe, but Misery is one of my favorite books and Annie has so much presence and I was legit scared of her while reading. It's almost funny how she's essentially a parody of over-the-top entitled fans, and oh boy things did not get better since the '80s :)

Griffith: what can you say about this complex, tragic piece of shit? You can see him in many ways, you can blame him or forgive him depending on how much you believe in the effects of fate, he's mostly rememebered as "that asshole who raped Casca into insanity" but the arc he went through to get to that low point is only one of the many reasons the Golden Age arc is iconic. I like to see him as a stunted manchild who longed for human contact but his only way to get it was through control :)

Azula: nowadays I think she'd be treated more sympathetically due to her being a 14 yo girl raised by a monstruous dictator, but still, she starts off as a genuinely scary threat compared to the sympathetic Zuko, and her plan to take over the Earth Kingdom is actually clever ("don't flatter yourself, you were never even a player", fucking destroyed), but by the end of Book 3 you feel nothing but pity for the scared little girl with mommy issues she actually is.

Blue Diamond: she's always been my favorite of the Diamonds, and not just because she's beautiful :P she comes off as the "nice" Diamond, especially when juxtaposed to Yellow, and she has a soothing yet intimidating aura around her. But she's actually deeply selfish and callous, literally dragging everyone in her grief - her power immobilizes you with sheer sadness, it's almost scary - and she said she loved Pink a lot but she wasn't above abusing her. I find her fascinating. (I also like Yellow a lot for the opposite reasons: she has more redeeming qualities than one might think).

Beatrice Horseman: does she count? I'll count her. I hated her guts ever since S2E1, where she calls Bojack to outright tell him "you were born broken and there's nothing you can do about it", but then S4 comes around and man, does it recontexualize all the evil she did to Bojack. Not to the point of forgiving her (although Bojack's last moment of compassion gets me), but the entire situation, from her own childhood trauma to how she coped with it, is devastating, an excellent portrayal of the cycle of abuse.

Weil: at the cost of repeating myself, he's just a spiteful monster with zero redeeming qualities (dude manipulates two babies to do his evil bidding and it doesn't even scratch the surface), fully convinced that it's his own humanity who makes him such a monster, and you want him dead so badly

(shout out to Copy X, who is more minor than Weil but I like his concept a lot and I find him pathetic in a good way, super underrated and good thing he wasn't the real X turned evil)

Dracula: started off as a homage to horror movies, became a nearly Berserk-esque figure of a dark lord fated to die at the hands of his old friend's descendants and be brought back by humanity's darkest desires. You almost feel sorry for him and how he's nearly forced to be a monster... if it wasn't for his utter selfishness and petty spite against God that were there long before he became an avatar of Chaos.

Isaac: obviously :P minor villain that he is, he's an absolute delight, both an over the top petty asshole of a simp whose motivation is simply "make Hector suffer", and a tragic victim who did not deserve to see his whole life shatter in the span of a few minutes. Again, you'd feel very badly about him, and then you remember how he dangled Rosaly's head in front of Hector. Also Liam O'Brien <3