#but truly who's to say. women's wrongs and whatnot

[harrowharkwife]

thinking thoughts about how nona was so obsessed with crown, and crown specifically- not coronabeth. crown, with her boots and her cargo pants and her guns and her hair tied back, with all her charm and strength, all her rage and determination.

was that really just nona? or, walk with me here- is there a chance that that was actually alecto, too, bleeding through and rising to the surface?

alecto, seeing a kind of kinship in crown- in this big, tall, strong blonde with a sword strapped to her back, hot and lovely and kind and awful and powerful and perfect. this woman who refuses to give up- on her sister, on saving jody, on BOE's resistance. who's unafraid to throw one hell of a tantrum, if it means being listened to, for once. crown, who everyone thinks of as dumb, who everyone underestimates, who no one ever takes as seriously as they should, even though she's clearly capable of plenty of atrocities in her own right. this woman who's been described over and over again as someone who positively radiates life, and energy, and vitality, and strength. this woman who wanted nothing more than the chance to be herself, to be free, to serve as cavalier and guardian and protector, but was instead sentenced at birth to a life of being a princess and wearing dresses and looking pretty and loving less and staying out of the way and keeping her mouth shut and playing second fiddle to a necromancer obsessed with power and glory. familiar, no? this woman who was betrayed, left behind, left alone, and left utterly in the dark by the one person who's supposed to love her the most- only to then be told that being abandoned was in her best interest, really, for her own safety.

thinking about all the times we've seen ianthe insult crown's intelligence and praise her beauty in the same breath. you big dumb bimbo, what can you do? of all the times we've seen ianthe fussing over crown's appearance. thinking of the sister-lyctor makeover-montage ahead of dios apate minor, and how harrow hated every second of it, and how ianthe treated it like nostalgic second nature. thinking about the third house: fucked-up planet gossip-girl with all its betrayal and espionage and flesh magic and debauchery, three for the gleam of a jewel or a smile. thinking about the pressure that must have come with keeping up the double-necromancer ruse, about ianthe having successfully played the part of two necromancers from the age of six. exactly how much practice must that have taken? thinking about the casual, automatic, possessive, offhanded, violating nature of ianthe playing god and giving harrow a full head of fast-growing hair without asking, without even telling her, just to make harrow prettier, just to piss her off, just because she could. how she did it so easily, and without hesitation, almost as though she's maybe done that sort of thing before.

thinking about preservation. about a perfect body frozen in ice for a myriad, about ianthe spending all her downtime on the mithraeum figuring out how long she can keep an apple core in perfect stasis before the rot sets in.

thinking about corpse puppeting: a deceased world leader here, a trusted cavalier and friend you've known from the cradle there. about i picked you to change, and this is how you repay me? about she took babs. and who even cares about babs? babs! she could have taken me!

thinking about alecto, and hollywood hair barbie, and you have made me a hideousness.

thinking about crown, who's by her own admission boobs and hair and talk and a hell of a swordhand.

thinking about something as simple as stud earrings, and about how much grief ianthe gave her for daring to wear them.

nona loved crown.

something tells me that alecto might, too.

[randomnameless]

Do you think Edelgard perceives herself as a victim? I’ve been thinking and I can’t decide myself, on one hand she clearly hates the idea of people being victims or helpless, and constantly reframes the victims of the war as “necessary sacrifices” instead of, y’know, tragic causalities of a war she started. She plays up her sad backstory to try to get Byleth to join with her in WC, but then she does all these things to concentrate as much power as possible on herself. On the other (other) hand, she pushes the culpability of the war on everyone except herself, and has trouble taking accountability. She’s obsessed with controlling everything but she doesn’t want to be blamed for the problems she’s created. What do you think?

Oh!

(sorry for replying one literal month later lol)

I find Supreme Leader hard to write because of this, but in a way, I believe that yes, she does.

However, for all the flak Faerghus gets for "ToXiC mAsCuLiNiTy" and "Chivalry BaD", there's something very toxic with the way some Adrestian victims (often women... blame the writers I guess?) deal with their abuse.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on Doro because I already typed a lot about her, but while she still sees herself as a victim from what she endured and suffered in her childhood, she adopted the toxic mindset of "this suffering is a thing of the past and I grew from that/beyond that to become the person I am now" - which we can also see in Manu who suffered from, roughly, the same traumas.

Petra also follows this pattern, being a hostage and treated like shit, but she grow "beyond" her status of a victim to become the strong person she projects and believes she is - it's only out of House that she realises more accutely her status within the Empire, the reality of her situation and, in Houses, refuses vassalage to Adrestia to make her country independent without having to "ask the Emperor".

It's the same pattern : "I was a victim" but "I became strong" so "I am not a victim anymore, this is something of the past".

Applied to Supreme Leader...

Well, trying to ignore the Agarthans and her dad's own infuence on her character (which is kind of hard, since the games try their hardest to make Agarthans responsible for everything BaD and we're not clear on how much they had an influence on her), I think Supreme Leader believes she was a "victim" of abuse.

But - through further abuse and surviving said abuse - she became strong* enough to "not be a victim anymore".

Which is why her line of "if the weak remain weak it's their fault" feels like it echoes part of her mindset : she was a victim but became strong enough, maybe by hardening her own feelings to become "strong", so she is not the same helpless "victim" she once was.

If she managed to do that, then everyone can do the same.

As for the "necessary sacrifices", since early 2019 someone theorised that "the people" she pretends the fight for as seen as some general "concept", much like the "greater good". So if some people are sacrificed, it's for her ideals - the goal and aim of her newfound strength - , and it piles on her drive, she must realise them otherwise those people would have died (and she would have suffered) for nothing.

However, despite acknowledging her past self as a victim, and because she's now "strong", she's not above using her past trauma (but actually, still present! Remember the rat scene?) to reach her goals, because, at her core, Supreme Leader is soemone who is very determined. Maybe it's her only drive to grow beyond the trauma, or her own illusions, or a mix of everything, but AM made it clear, Supreme Leader is not above, well, using herself if it means seeing her goals come to fruition : unlike Lobotogard from AG, AM!Supreme Leader willingly transforms in Hegemongard.

This is the cost she's willing to pay, so while the memes about Lord Farqaad were on spot, I still think that Supreme Leader is ultimately willing to sacrifice** herself for her goal (but only when there's no other way to ensure her future will come to fruition, and in a way, I guess she thought she would survive the Hegemon transformation, jury's out on what she meant to do in AM's finale, but imo, she still tried, even beaten and battered as she was, to claim Dimi's head).

Ultimately I think everything's a bit muddled by the fact that, as @fantasyinvader pointed out, Supreme Leader is a liar and knows the importance of maintening good PR.

She lies and manipulates the truth to reach her goals (which again, is a red flag when CF claims to want to restore the "distorted history" of Fodlan!) and for all the flak I give them, the devs managed to scrap enough material to give us a peek in Adrestia's mindset (or at least its top nobles), they're not people who self reflect, they are salty because they aren't ruling the world anymore, and they feel like they are better than the rest of Fodlan.

Put everything in the mixer, and you indeed have Supreme Leader (but also her court, especially Ferdie in SB who dares to say, as he is invading and trouncing people who don't really like and accept the idea of being invaded, that the fear those people feel are only in their mind, or something like that? Like, dude, you're rolling over their people and country, of course they'll fear and hate you!) giving her weird rhetoric lines (why are people opposing me if they are going to die?), victim blaming (something Treehouse swallowed like honey, if their lolcalisation is anything to go by, remember, it's Rhea's fault for not offering her head on a platter that is the reason why the War continues in CF!) and so on.

IDK if the devs wanted to bank that much on the Dany parallel with her "if I look back i am lost", but again, I don't know if her drive to make a "better Fodlan" is motivated by her trauma, Adrestian revanchism, Ionius telling her dumb things or Agarthans agarthaning, but her goal and vision are everything to Supreme Leader.

So she will do anythign to see them realised, even if it means sacrificing her people, starting a war, tweaking "the truth" or using her own trauma to motivate and recruit powerful people who might assist her with her goals.

To reply to your question, IMO she sees herself as someone who had once been a victim, but won't let that stop her from reaching her goals, even if it means creating thousands of "hers" in the process, because, in her mind, reaching her goal is more important than anything else.

*I know, she refutes Dimitri's claim that she is "strong" or laughs at it, but imo, it was more in the sense of "I was weak and became strong" so everyone can "become" strong.

**I don't think she wanted to throw away her life, but more something in the lines of "putting my life on the line" or sacrificing her precious (and to see how precious it is, just play CF lol) humanity.

[starrynightarchive]

no seeeeeee. see the thing is right. it was never about genderbends. it was always about the way they're done.

there are so many problems around it. for one there is a baffling need to make them cis women. why can't they just be trans. but fine, let's not go there. if you want to see them as cis females, it's cool! i admit it's an interesting subject to explore- seeing how much/how little being brought up as a woman would change one's character. but sometimes people just want to see two girls kiss and so they make men into women and make them kiss which is pretty. er. complicated but it's fine! you can have fun however you want.

but the main problem lies here: why are people so hellbent on changing characters fully just because they become female? you're telling me fem!dazai would enjoy regularly wearing clothes that show off her skin which, for some reason, is almost devoid of bandages now? you're saying fem chuuya will be submissive and shy and sweet just because she's a woman? you're telling me just because they are woman they lose ALL their key characteristics- their trauma, their anger, all their ugly parts, all their snark and hell, even their dressing sense? not only are you creating an OC here, you are also endorsing the dangerous belief that is 'women are dainty flowers' or 'girl versions of male characters are more likable/tolerable'. if he's a cunt in canon, she'll be a cunt when she's a girl, too.

all this to say im not saying all genderbends are bad. I've seen some truly wonderful and fun ones and i love them. but there's nothing wrong in pointing out the fault of the vast majority, is there? freedom of speech and whatnot. all that being said, if you want to write/read/draw ooc or fetishized versions of your genderbends, go ahead. who am i to come to your house and tell you how to arrange your furniture, no matter how questionable your choices are?

[stupidrant]

RANT INCOMING!

I have to talk abt this as this has been in my mind for months and this i think is the only safe space to talk abt the fandom and their weird antics towards the characters/actors and overall games.Im not against criticism but theres a line between criticizing and going overboard with hating.

One thing i dont understand abt the god of war fandom is that they complain about alot of things not being “accurate” and thats doesnt make sense to me bc when has gow ever been accurate? I thought it was obvious from the beginning that SMS wasnt going for that and never truly will. Its always their own interpretation. They also have this weird hatred / ignorance towards atreus that i also dont understand? Yea he was a little annoying in the first game but thats understandable as hes… a kid. Ragnarok expanded his character pretty well imo and i feel like alot of these people for some reason cannot get past him in general? Maybe because they are afraid of him taking over the series and “forgetting” kratos (idk why thats in their minds LOL) or they just hate him just because. I feel like the fandom wants kratos to forever be this god who destroys things and whatnot and its all so weird. like they never gave him a chance. thankfully he has fans but majority hates him. Dont even get me started on how they treat angrboda. Its really so ridiculous to me that they can be so hateful for no true reason. they call her a bitch for yelling at atreus when all the women in the game get annoyed or disappointed in him atleast once. And they dont understand that she has only known this prophecy shit for her whole life and she couldnt do anything outside bc of the threat. ofc shes angry bro LOLL its also in her name like i dont understand 😭.  Atreus helps her get out of that mindset and assures her she can do whatever she wants now. Laya is so strong idk how she does it :( I also noticed they treat thrud as this “replacement” of angrboda bc they dont like her either cuz shes black or bc they hate her and everything related to atreus but as long as he has a character they can like thats not angrboda its fine. Its all so weird bc theres no competition between the two. There never was. I dont think they actually like thrud for her character they just want to be weirdos and i feel kinda bad for her and mina bc they really dont give a fuck. Im so shocked chris sunny and others even INTERACT with this bullshit of a fandom they are all really strong bc id say fuck all of you and go 😭 im not against criticism at all and i try not to take this shit seriously but its hard when you see a insane group of people take alot of this shit to the next level. this fandom is a bunch of whiny babies who hold onto their precious destroyer too much. The hate everyone has gotten recently is just so stupid and they often times try to make it their goal to hate. I see that SMS is trying to diverge their fandom to a broader audience and they are taking a bit more risks esp with atreus and i love that despite the backlash against him, they continued with his character regardless. I hope they do the same thing with the other characters as well and expand them no matter how much these people want to hate and act all high and mighty. I can understand certain critiques like the ending being too fast or maybe they couldve done blah blah better and whatnot but i think alot of people are overreacting and being ridiculously nitpicky with alot of things when it comes to ragnarok. 

Last thing and also kinda random thing SMS is very wrong for what they did to TC Carson and i acknowledge that completely and i hope they never do smth like that to any of the current cast either bc i would be fucking pissed if so LOL

[saturn-venusbaby]

On Hermit mode.

I've been loving staying in lately. I've been on 'Hermit' mode since August, and I’ve stopped going out on weekends—actually, I’ve stopped socializing altogether. The last time I went out, I realized it didn’t feel good anymore. For me, it felt like I was wasting my energy on people and activities that didn’t benefit me in the present and certainly won’t help with what I want for my future.

I’m turning 29 this year! In fact, it’s on the 28th of this month. Gosh, I feel like I’m getting so old, but in truth, I know I’m just getting started with my life. I keep telling myself I don’t want to make the wrong decisions when it comes to picking a partner, a career, a new place, or even an investment plan. I don’t know! It’s all so terrifying. I worry about getting it wrong; every other week, I find myself in an identity crisis. Hahaha! To be honest, I blame the misogynistic societal standards of yesterday for why I even question myself and my path—even when I’m sure I’m on the right one! Sigh… A positive note on this, it’s clear that the world IS evolving, and thank goodness for Gen Zs for being a woke generation and starting revolutions. Anyway, I apologize for straying from the point; I tend to ramble.

Yes, I’m currently in my Saturn Return, and goodness, my world is turning upside down, and weirdly, not in a bad way. It only looks bad because it’s starting to feel different. Truly, I can’t wait to emerge from the "Saturn Return" tunnel. In some ways, I feel good about the changes happening within me. I notice my mind becoming quieter, less obstinate, and more observant.

If you’re not familiar, the Saturn Return is an astrological transit that occurs when Saturn returns to the sign you were born under. Saturn is a slow-moving planet—imagine your grandmother walking with a cane (I’m picturing mine); yes, that slow. That’s why Saturn is the planet of karma, limitations, and discipline, with a transit lasting around 29 years. We usually learn our hard-earned lessons around this age. So yes, she’s coming back in Aquarius for me when I turn 29. What more lessons am I going to learn????????????? No idea. It's a big mystery. How beautiful. How horrifying. How mind-boggling.

You know, most women get married during their Saturn Return. It’s during this transit that big changes occur in a woman's life. It’s crazy how accurate astrology can be sometimes. My older sister got engaged during her Saturn Return in 2021, and my mom might get married during her second Saturn Return in her late 50s. But Saturn isn’t just about relationship transitions; it’s mostly about looking at life from a different perspective. It affects all aspects of life, depending on where your focus is. For me, I’ve been focusing solely on my career and self-worth. I’ve put up boundaries. I’ve been taking good care of myself lately; my physical and spiritual health are my top priorities. I want to think of this 'Hermit' mode as a time for recharging, recalibrating, and redirecting my energy aligning with Saturn’s upcoming rounds. It seems the Universe is supporting me in this, as I haven’t had any difficulty saying "no" to invites lately. Hihihi. At this point, I’m relying on my intuition and my body’s energy to guide my decisions.

To be honest, one reason I stopped going out is that I want to start spending my time, energy and attention wisely and that means I either spend time with myself, studying, meditating and whatnot or with people who matches my current evolution—my openness, my acceptance, my non-judgmental approach to life, my weirdness, and my ability to keep quiet about things that don't matter. I’m noticing that I’m becoming someone who doesn’t value my history with people as much anymore, I only value what their recent and current actions show me. I long for people I can trust—who are holding themselves responsible as well—evolving, who don’t think so highly of themselves—people who celebrate others' wins and don’t compare themselves to others. By stepping away from the wrong people, I feel like I’ve begun this beautiful journey toward finding my true tribe. Fingers crossed!

Now that I’m fully aware and present in my life, I choose to create my world. I’m making my choices wisely. I’ve got the power, after all. This is my life. And my choice today is being a damn hermit. For now. (Me, in my Saturn Return, ruthless.)

As I continue my long and peaceful life in solitude, I post this from the depths of my hermit crevices. To you, my sweet anonymous reader, whoever you are, may you find your solace within yourself before seeking it elsewhere. It’s incredible you’ve made it this far—there were a lot of words! Hahaha, now go enjoy your life!!!

[lesbianlenas]

i have to say i find the way ppl talk abt gaylors to be strange…..i’m not one myself but as a lesbian i don’t like the way ppl act like gaylors are evil somehow for calling tswift a lesbian like in reality who cares…….truly i think it’s bc they r the only mainstream group of women speculating on the sexuality of a celebrity woman to that degree of fame. bc tswift fans who r obsessed w her heterosexual dating life r not in any way subject to scrutiny by ppl in general no one cares. and as much as there has been general debates on the ethics of speculating the sexualities of celebrity men and making fun of ppl that do there is a vastly different tone abt it. like ppl make fun of them and say they shouldn’t do it and whatnot (although i would like to point out that similarly this is mostly done by woman & all of this very much takes on a look at these silly women tone) but like there is a tone of superiority around ppl who dunk on gaylors and very much a tone of like look at these delusional women who have convinced themselves that someone sooooo obvs heterosexual is a lesbian aren’t they crazy. there is smth in particular abt talking abt a woman possibly being a lesbian that really rubs ppl the wrong way perhaps bc it is the antithesis of a woman’s role & it makes ppl uncomfortable to think a celebrity woman who has been marketed to them as being an ideal woman could potentially defy her expected role……i personally don’t think she is a lesbian but like other ppl calling lesbians delusional for thinking she is bothers me……so i am coming out to you all as a gaylor ally i stand w gaylors

[adultswim2021]

Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job #41: “Comedy” | March 1, 2010 - 12:30AM | S05E01

The return of Awesome Show is a somewhat auspicious one. The previous three seasons were part of a 30-episode order, split up into three distinct “seasons” that were cranked out fairly quickly. Now we have an additional ten (plus a special) to keep us busy. Also: these puppies are in HD. Let’s hear it for the puppies.

This one has a fairly high-concept/mid-effort wraparound: Tim and Eric have rehabbed their image to be more likable, and conventionally cool. The comedy they perform in front of their studio audience is so easily digestible, that it feels borderline for children. When Tim makes a tasteless reference to having diarrhea, it segues into a very typical Tim & Eric sketch where diarrhea is the subject. Diarrhea is well trodden territory for Tim & Eric. The satire here is almost saying two different things: mainstream comedy is lame and spoon-feeds basic concepts to television audiences, but, also, Tim and Eric’s sensibilities are remarkably lowbrow, and really not THAT different. Hell, Jack "NBC Thursdays" McBrayer appears in this sketch.

The sketch is a pretty typical Cinco commercial for the “Diarrheaphram”, a device you can use to stop the raging torrent of diarrhea inside you by inserting a plug at the end of a chain. This is demonstrated during a wedding, when a groom’s white tux gets ruined by his inability to not have the runs. There is a second segment that plays later in the episode, which features a fun monologue by Ron Auster, who plays both the father AND mother of the bride. I like that part, the lines are good.

The next bit is Quall of Duty: San Diego Streets, which simply casts DLH and James Quall (and Danny “Mr. Birchum” Trejo) in a boilerplate cop show. Most of the humor is mined from their maladroit line delivery. This one sorta feels directionless, but it pulls off being reasonably funny. This firmly establishes this episode isn’t really a full-on Jim and Derrick rehash; the actual sketches are pretty typical Awesome Show stuff. This, more than any other sketch, feels like it’s directly for the Awesome Show audience.

My least favorite bit "Morning Meditations" is unfortunately back. This segment in particular actually features a woman being weird, so the idea of it being a morning show “for women” is dropped from the title screen, because I guess it's no longer ironic. This is technically an improvement, but the damage is done: Morning Meditations are unwelcome in my home. 

Corbin "LA Law" Bernsen appears in a sketch warning about the dangers of Diarrheabedis, a side effect of misusing the Diarrheaphram. Leaving it in too long causes the diarrhea to back up and exit through one’s pores. He’s actually offering his (amateur) legal services. I don’t really remember this one being very funny outside of the concept and the funny picture of his son, but at least this is short. Good for them for getting yet another celeb.

We also get a Brule’s Rules that is basically him scolding trans people for wanting to rip it off. I mean, the whole bit is that Brule is dumb and doesn’t understand things, so the idea that he feels the same way as your Boomer Uncle shouldn't be too offensive? I guess it comes off rough because it’s 2024, and even though 2010 doesn’t seem like it’s THAT long ago, there’s a huge fucking difference between the two years in terms trans visibility. This would not have rubbed me the wrong way in 2010 at ALL. But there’s something to be said that Brule doesn’t usually stand in for truly repugnant sociopolitical opinions. He’s not, nor has he ever been, an Archie Bunker figure. It comes off as a bit of a fumble now. There are much worse trans-related comedy bits to be upset about, and there aren't many of them found in Tim & Eric's work.

This one begins and ends like an episode of SNL, complete with stylized cards showing the guest star and whatnot. It’s actually a very close parody of the then-current SNL opening. They also have a goodnights bit where Jack McBrayer is flagrantly  green-screened in, very funny. Tim screams at Ben Hur, who is a nasty guy who deserves to be yelled at. Tim looks a lot like Guy Fierri in these segments. Eric is dressed exactly how he dresses now.

My final tidbit: they recycle a few seconds of crowd shots from Neil Hamburger’s The New Big Ball. It calls to mind the gag in Totally for Teens where they keep cutting to the one girl doing the little dance in the studio audience, except more subtle and, in my opinion, funnier. 

It’s basically a rite of passage for younger, more “alternative” comedy voices to mock the comedy establishment. Tim and Eric have roughly been doing it since their internet days. One of the earliest examples I could think of was an internet sketch they did called Billy Williams, a game show where contestants were shown a photo and they had to guess if it was Robin Williams or Billy Crystal. An early call to the Best Show on WFMU had them deadpan that they were trying to make Tom Goes to the Mayor have more mainstream appeal, and they cited the humor of comedians they deemed lame as inspiration. I remember them lumping Richard Lewis into that list of names. I don't think of Richard Lewis as a pandering comic at all, but he does have that cadence, and their read on him seemed a little shallow. I'm guessing they figured this out, because they actually cast him in one of their HBO shorts and it only comes off as a little ironic.

There was a time when mocking establishment comedy felt sorta important, but as time marches on it lost its potency. There are so many venues for comedy that the idea of establishment comedy feels virtually invisible, except for things like SNL which has a number of seasons you can observe getting larger and larger, with no sign of stopping. 20 years ago you had a limited number of channels, and 20 years before that you had way, way less. The idea of an alternative comedy program being canceled and replaced by something more marketable was enough to mobilize me into doing unthinkable things like sign an online petition or HANDWRITE A LETTER. In 2010 it was probably starting to feel a little stale. Now, in 2024, it feels less important than ever. It basically feels like loser shit. Huh!

But I didn’t hate this episode. I swear.

[lightlycareless]

Chapter 37 - thoughts.

Heya everyone!

Here are chapter 37's notes!! The long awaited continuation of the Naoya's sick saga hehe.

As required of me, I highly recommend reading the chapter first, unless you want out of context spoilers 😂 which you can read right over here!

Without further ado, spoilers underneath the cut, and happy reading!

Now chapter 37… let’s start with the things that were not supposed to happen.

Y/N and Naoya getting along hahahah

I intended his whole sickness to be nothing more than her just pushing through it, not talking to him, not even looking at him—nothing. Tend him and then NEXT.

But when I got down to writing the chapter, it happened. I couldn’t keep Y/N and Naoya apart. And I don’t think I wanted to honestly.

My main worry when writing their dynamics was making it appear as if Y/N moved on so quickly from all that occurred with him. Like, just one situation that she’s forced to be in and now she’s forgiven him and back to being buddies—but I’d like to think I managed, and if anything, we got to see her perspective of this marriage.

I plan to expand more on it in the future, but for now I think I can say is: Y/N wanted the marriage to work. She wanted to see Naoya treat her nicely for a change, desperately so, that you can briefly read in the chapter how she’s trying to excuse his behavior just because she doesn’t want to be proven wrong again.

The way she goes on saying things like “well, if he didn’t have it in him, then he wouldn’t, right?” just to hold onto the hope that she’s truly going to see her family soon (and a brighter future for their union), and not his words being just a side effect of his sickness 😭 that ending scene was really, really sad. But very satisfying from a writer’s pov lol I think I managed to convey what I wanted to write in the end.

The other thing I wanted to show is the contrast between the two, and how ironic it seems to be. Like, Naoya is the heir, right, he’s essentially the next leader of the clan and is bound to get all them goods in due time, but the moment he makes a mistake he’s quickly dethroned, stripped of all those commodities as a way of punishment.

While Y/N, who has destroyed her reputation with most, is treated way better than him. We’ve seen them, how they act and whatnot. They don’t have alliances, not even with themselves. All of this must be so crazy for Y/N lol considering how close her family were, but oh well, different upbringings.

In the end I suppose Y/N never thought she’d actually find some similarities with Naoya—or anything outside of him being an absolute monster. Seeing him act like an actual human was baffling to her, MORE SO WHEN HE SEEMED TO TAKE THEIR MARRIAGE SERIOUSLY? I mean, only on the ring part, which took her by storm because Y/N didn’t believe him to be actually loyal to her.

And let’s not even get into the loneliness factor. (more on that later) Y/N can’t wrap her head around the fact that Naoya, as revered as he is, is completely alone. Like, throughout the days she’s been there with him no one has bothered to visit him outside of the staff doing their job. Not even Ranta! (Although he’s working—I was planning on writing a scene with him but I decided it was too much and doesn’t really add to the story; but yeah, he’s still a good friend, probably visited when she’s not around)

Anyways, someone of my readers commented that they were shocked Naoya was loyal, and I’m going to be real with y’all: Naoya might cheat, it’s like, super likely, HOWEVER, I like to think that with his one and only that is out of the question.

Also, he grew up seeing his father actively cheating on his mother, and we all know he does NOT like Naobito. So, he might engage into multiple relationships, but never formalize them, or keep them like one-night stands…. Soooo technically he’s not cheating?

This part of him is really intricate. In the way that even when he already set his eyes on Y/N he was going out with other women? But they weren’t together so there’s that. It’s just his need for affection motivating him to do that, once he was married, everyone else ceased to exist.

Either way, these things really opened her heart to be sensitive to him.  She’s taking these changes as an omen for the best; the light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s pray he doesn’t break that trust again.

Also, I took this opportunity to briefly mention what happened in the honeymoon hahaha I felt like I skipped over that part so quickly, it’s like it almost didn’t happen. But yeah, Y/N remembers that alright, although I don’t think she wants to 😅 I’m still considering whether to write more of it or not… I shall decide on it later hehe.

From there, their scenes together omg the fluffy ones I mean, my favorite one has to be the hand holding one. It was so cute!!! Or feeding him, or dressing him up in general; I really, really want to see more domestic stuff between the two, and fortunately, there’s a bit more in the next chapter :> heheheh (also I wanted to give y’all something sweet after chapters of angst. I was over the moon when yall told me you liked it 🥺❤️)

P.S. I wanted to reveal this later, but when writing this chapter my playlist just kept on putting this song, coincidentally, the one that reminds me the most of Naoya and Y/N.

There’s one more chapter left for the Naoya’s sickness saga and then… that chapter I think idk I gotta see how the plot line goes lol but yeah, we’re very close to something I’ve been wanting to show for the longest 2.0 I swear all was pointing to that!!! Kfgvakjsgajkgsajkgasjgaj oof. I just hope I played all my moves correctly.

And that’s it for this chapter’s notes! I don’t really have much else to add, since I think most of it was in the chapter anyways, but if you want me to go deeper into something I’ll be more than happy to do so! ❤️

Thank you so much for coming back for another update!! This story is my absolute joy and I can’t wait to go through the rest!!! Majkgkagjka I hope everything is satisfactory ❤️

Once again, thank you for your support ❤️❤️❤️ Take care, and hope to see you next update!!

[shadowweaver06]

So, we're breaking up with our shul (and the reform movement).

Ultimately, there's a lot of reasons for it. While I find that the reform movement has a lot of good things about it (especially with regard to acceptance of queer Jews and full, egalitarian inclusion of both men and women in prayer and whatnot), reform spaces often are not especially good at encouraging observance of halacha, or at *educating* people in how to fully observe. You learn about it, sure, but the actual nuts and bolts are not really emphasized. As someone who thinks that observance is important, I'm looking for a community that encourages rather than handwaves observance. And I ultimately think we've just kinda outgrown the community we originally joined. (Don't get me wrong, I love our friends, and we're going to continue to see them, but in terms of what the religious life and observance there has to offer? Yeah, we're ready to move on. There's other reasons as well).

My wife and I are beginning to shul shop and look at the conservative shuls in the valley to see if they are a good fit. We also have an egalitarian, non-affiliated shul that we want to check out.

All of this is to say, we're growing in our observance and it's a good thing. This isn't an indictment of Reform Judaism by any means. (For a lot of people it truly meets them where they are). It's just no longer right-fitting for my family.

[sneezemonster15]

Writing Sakura and Hinata in character would make ppl think you hate them for being in the way of your yaoi ship. They gonna put you in the mysoginist box as Kishimoto because "How dare you give those innocents pretty girls any flaws?! They just want to love their men, they are doing nothing wrong!"

I'm tired of reading fics where Sakura is understanding as soon as she learns about SNS secret relationship. Tired of people showing Hinata being understanding and moving on fast and finding a new man (often Kiba) as if she wouldnt cry herself to death because Naruto-kun dont love her.

Wished fanfic writers explored more about Sakura's loneliness and her regret and frustration. On one side, she is happy to be "married" to Sasuke but on the other side, deep down, she is probably feeling fucking lonely and stupid because he is never home and ppl probably talks behind her back about her husband who is never home and who probably cheat on her, and how she looks so miserable.

Like, lets be realistic.

My headcanon is that Sasuke hopes that the distance he puts between them will finally makes Sakura snaps and "cheat" on him while he is absent. He realized he will never be free as long as she dont realize herself bc she is too selfish to notice her "husband"is unhappy by her side.

I find it very ironic when female fans fight for these two ladies. Like when they self insert into these women, what do they get out of it? It's so masochistic. Ss and Nh have no love to speak of. None. But the force of wish fulfilment is so strong with these fans, they would gladly ignore or dismiss everything canon. And while I understand people would do a lot to preserve something that gives them so much pleasure, including denying things left and right without an iota of introspection or soul searching, the fact that they deny something that actually is of worth (SNS), that is emblematic of selfless love and devotion, that is a result of one of the most heart rending, impactful and meaningful love stories ever written in the history of fiction, it just breaks my heart and inflames it with rage at the same time. I just get very emotional. It's cruel to my boys. It's fucking unfair. They don't deserve this. It's fucking disrespectful to them. And when antis just run their mouths without understanding their story or their characterization or what it means to people who do understand them, I feel like ripping them apart. But also, requesting them to be more....human? More emotionally generous? More honest? To search within their own hearts as to what it really means to be that lonely and to finally find love in the other that everyone else denied them, including their own families? Anything that works.

How can they be so cruel to my boys? It's their story at the end of the day. Like what did Kishi even miss? He went to hell and back, he left no stones unturned to tell their story. But fans would just....dismiss it and demean it and disrespect it and call shippers delusional and horny and whatnot...and for what? Hinata and Sakura? Those two, that in almost any other media, would definitely be condemned for their actions and general behaviour, not just towards the boys but others? But because they weren't here, for obvious reasons, they are being venerated as some female role models that they are actually the opposite of?

Mind boggles. It ain't done man. Not if I have a say in it. Not here.

I agree that Sakura feels lonely and bereft. But she still hasn't done anything to change things. Which shows that she doesn't want to, because having Sasuke as a trophy is way more important to her than being loved and respected. Or even liked. She married his status, and she would rather live with the glory that 'achievement' bestows on her than doing anything to actually make herself and her family truly happy.

Both Sakura and Hinata are too self absorbed to notice how unhappy their husbands are with them. And neither one cares. If they really loved them, they would have strived to actually know them, because neither Sasuke nor Naruto are dishonest people. Naruto almost always wears his emotions on his sleeve. Sasuke also lets it show when he is happy and fulfilled. We have seen both of them when they were happy and now, when they are sad and dejected. And we can tell the difference. And if these ladies had bothered to do that, they would have never gotten married to them. But they weren't written to be that way. Not in their characters. From the start. So now we have this mess of a situation and no one is happy. Well, Hinata is. Because she is just way too selfish and oblivious and dumb to understand anything that doesn't directly concern her.

[thesiriusmoon]

Harry Potter ships I truly hate

Disclaimer: I’m not telling you who to ship and whatnot, I’m just expressing how awful these ships are to me and then explaining why.

1. Harry X Draco

Now this is coming from a former drarry stan who before, hadn’t read the books. I thought Draco ‘had no choice’ and ‘just wanted love’ until I opened my eyes and saw the character for who he really was. That is a spoiled blood supremacist who hates muggleborns, and is loved by both of his parents. Draco bullied Harry. Although Harry fought back, it was because he was the victim and had to defend himself. Harry never went out of his way to hurt Draco, but Draco did it constantly. Draco and Harry would never work because Harry hated Draco just as much as Draco did him. You could ship Harry with so many others that wouldn’t be toxic such as, Ginny, Cho, maybe Hermoine (but I prefer Romoine), maybe even Ron if you want to. (I don’t ship Harry and Cedric because the ages are too weird). It’s so obvious throughout the entire book that Harry didn’t have romantic feelings for Draco, he only ever thought he was doing bad things, seeing as he was a bad person. Harry found love in Ginny in like the fifth book? Which is when the crush started, and no one else was in the picture for him once he began dating Ginny. In conclusion, Ginny is the one he married and had children with, not Draco, because he hated him and wanted nothing to do with him as he was nothing but a bully who hated muggles and muggleborns. Seeing as Harry is a half blood, and his mother was muggleborn, why do you think Harry would turn around and be like “oh he’s just broken I’ll fix him.” And ignore everything Draco ever said about his family???? That’s such a toxic thing to think... because believe it or not, in a relationship you’re supposed to be with someone you like as a person. Just because you may find Draco attractive, that doesn’t make him a good person!! Harry would never choose Draco over anyone for that matter. If it were between Ginny or Draco to be saved, you better bet on Harry saving Ginny.

2. Hermoine X Draco

I genuinely hate this ship with my entire being. It disgusts me. This isn’t an enemies to lovers, this is literally bully X victim. Hermoine didn’t fight back, meaning Draco was the full oppressor and she was the oppressed. Draco is a blood supremacist who called Hermoine a mudblood constantly and hated her, and the feeling was mutual from Hermoine because why would anyone like their bully? Falling in love with your bully is a book trope, that doesn’t happen in real life. When Hermoine was being tortured in Malfoy Manor, Draco stood and watched because he didn’t care, meanwhile Ron, the boy Hermoine was attracted to and loved, was screaming and crying begging for him to take her place so she would be protected. That’s true love, something Hermoine and Draco will never have. I really will never understand why so many people love shipping victims with their oppressors... like do you get a sick kick out of it by babying the oppressor? Saying things like “oh he’s just unloved” or “he can change!” When none of that is true. Draco chose to be who he is, which is a blood supremacist and was loved by his family, and Hermoine chose not to ever engage with him because of his personality and attitude. Draco hated her, and everyone else like her because of their status, and overall, Hermoine just isn’t attracted to him. Hermoine is attracted to Ron and he’s the only person I can see dating Hermoine because everyone else would be a bit strange. Dramoine is unbelievably toxic, and all it does is romanticise abuse. “Oh Draco only bullied her for 7 years because he was afraid to love her.” Stfu. You’d never hurt someone you love. Draco bullied her because he thought he was ABOVE her, and she was nothing but dirt on his shoe.

3. Hermoine X Pansy

When it comes to fanon, I still don’t understand why it gets shipped because in order to do that, you have to change Pany’s entire personality to the point where it’s not even Pansy anymore. It’s just some nice girl with the same name. Because the real Pansy bullied Hermoine and made it known how much she didn’t like her. Not only that, but Pansy was head over heels for Draco. This isn’t an enemies to lovers, this is shipping the bully with the victim for some weird reason... because Hermoine didn’t fight back just like Hermoine X Draco. If they were both at each other’s throats I could see your enemies to lovers, but that’s just not what this is. If you ship them because you’re looking for a wlw ship, why not take a look at Ginny X Luna, Lavender X Parvati, or even Tonks X Fleur, rather than picking the toxic ship that would never ever work and would only hurt Hermoine. Ron Weasley exists for a reason. Again, shipping someone with their oppressor is a very weird thing to do. For example, Ron is a pureblood, but Ron wasn’t prejudice towards muggles or muggleborns, because he’s a decent and normal person. Pansy and Draco aren’t decent people, and they bullied people. Really there isn’t much else to say as all canon stuff about Pansy is about her bullying people, and encouraging people to capture Harry because SHE’S A BLOOD SUPREMACIST THAT’S ALL SHE IS. Hermoine is a strong and independent woman and would NEVER date someone prejudice like that, she has standards.

4. Lily X Snape

We have to stop with this “she can fix him” mentality, because women don’t exist to fix men. Either Snape was a good person, or a bad person. He should be able to choose that himself. Which he was actually, and he was very clearly a bad person. You can’t force someone to be attracted to another. Attraction forms on its own, and it’s something Lily never had for Snape, they were only friends. To say that Lily owed Snape something because he liked her... is so wrong and disgusting. If she doesn’t like him, she doesn’t like him and Snape should fucking move on instead of obsessing over her. But, Snape overall was a creep so you can’t say “oh he made a mistake” when that man knew EXACTLY what he was doing. Ripping Lily’s happy photograph of her with her husband and baby, and taking the letter she wrote for Sirius who Snape could pretend she did that for him. Literally disgusting. Even the friendship was toxic. When reading I realised that Snape played the victims card a lot when talking about the marauders as if he wasn’t doing WORSE thing to them. Lily knew that Snape wanted to join Voldemort, as seen in the books. ‘You and your previous little death eater friends — you see, you don’t even deny it. You don’t even deny that’s what you’re aiming to be! You can’t wait to join you-know-who, can you?” Then she says “I can’t pretend anymore, you’ve chosen your way, and I’ve chosen mine.” Lily PRETENDED that Snape wasn’t going to be a death eater because she didn’t want to believe that her own friend would hate her kind so much. Though once reality hit her she was gone and was never coming back. To ship someone who was oppressed with the oppressor is so weird and wrong, and I genuinely think you’re strange if you do that 😐. Snape already didn’t like Lily having other friends... so what does that tell you about what kind of relationship they would have? A manipulative one and an emotionally abusive one. James Potter was a pureblood, and not once did he ever bully someone for their blood status. He did things to Snape because Snape was a prejudice piece of shit and deserved it quite frankly. I would have done the exact same thing. Remember, the Potter’s were ‘blood traitors’ and Snape was a blood supremacist, of course the two aren’t going to like one another. But the difference is, Snape bullied innocent people (laughing at the fact Mary MacDonald was subdued to dark magic) and James fought back for those without voices. Getting revenge for people who couldn’t do it themselves. That’s the difference between a bully and a hero tbh. There’s no way Lily would ever date a death eater, she’s a strong woman who can make up her mind for herself rather than having people on the internet say things like “she was brainwashed!” And things like that. She became attracted and fell in love with a respectful man who would never cause her any type of emotional or physical harm.

In conclusion, I will judge you if you think shipping abusers/oppressors with their victims is ok in any way.

If you made it this far, feel free to comment or reblog with your own opinion. Just know that my opinion on these ships will never change because they’re all extremely toxic whether you like it or not. That’s just common sense. It’s canon that Draco, Pansy, and Snape were horrible people who liked to make fun of others. Fanon doesn’t mean a single thing in this because fanon isn’t real. If you have to change the entire personality of someone so they aren’t abusive... what does that tell you about their character? A lot of people do this because they like how a character looks, which is so tone deaf. If you think a victim should date their oppressor because of looks... I’m judging you heavily. If a character is wrote to be abusive, I don’t understand people do fan art of them with the people they hurt in a romantic way.

You might say I’m being over dramatic, but really it’s not that hard to understand that you shouldn’t romanticise abuse or say that oppressor X victim would make the perfect couple just because of their looks.

Would you ever ship Neville with Draco? No you wouldn’t. And it’s not for the reasons you would think. I bet if Neville was conveniently attractive (in the books, I love Matthew.) people would have shipped him with Draco despite Draco mercilessly bullying Neville for 7 years. A lot of people would have made excuses like “Draco was broken!” In order to be able to ship two attractive men together. (Which also plays into fetishisation of lgbt+ couples I think...) This fandom is rather toxic when it comes to this, and they’d rather ship a very abusive relationship with two conventionally attractive people rather than a loving one with two people that aren’t.

[sparksinthenight]

I'm going to derail this, and I am sorry. First of all, I love the way social justice Christians see Christ in all the poor, the colonized, the people who died to make the world better, the people who are victims of the world's injustices. You guys give me infinite inspiration and wisdom and I am very grateful for you.

But I just want to say that this is such a Lokean way of looking at things as well. Any Lokean with half an ounce of spiritual connection knows that the gods literally are the poor, the colonized, the people who fight for justice, the oppressed, the children torn from their families and the families torn from their children, the stranger, the undocumented people, the lonely, the people who break society's rules, and the people who society's rules are meant to keep held down.

Loki is the rage yet also the survival. Loki is the collective and communal cleverness that gives the oppressed an upper hand against their oppressors. Loki is the mother and the father and the parent that guides and guards all the children who are hurting, who do not have parents of their own or are separated from their parents.

Sigyn is the healer, the solidarity that the poor have with each other, the longing we all have within us to have our loved one - ie all oppressed people - be safe and healthy and happy. Sigyn wants us to be okay, wants us to be loved, and she loves us.

Fenrir is the manifestation and the representation of all the people who do not have freedom, he's a manifestation and representation of the people who are forced into lives and jobs and whatnot that they do not truly want and their spirits are chained. He is also the manifestation of the wildness and the untamable spirit of both nature and humanity, and a manifestation of how one day eventually we will all be free.

Hel is the manifestation of death and rebirth. She represents the fact that all the poor and the oppressed will have a life after death, will have a rebirth after death, and the world itself will have a rebirth after the old world has died.

Modgud is a representation of the poor overcoming the lessons and fears that the rich have taught them, through the power of unity and community, she's a representation of people learning to love themselves when the world tells them not to.

Jormangandr is a representation of all the people who are tortured in order to keep the status quo alive, in order to keep the status quo from falling apart. They're also a representation of the fact that we only grow stronger and stronger and one day our labour and poverty and repression won't be keeping the status quo running, one day our power and fierceness and spirit will destroy the status quo.

Angrboda represents the collective knowledge that we can learn and teach each other, despite the fact that we are denied proper education, we can still use our mind to help each other.

Gerdr represents the women who are held down by the patriarchy, represents the colonized women who are sexualized and exoticized and dehumanized by the race and gender relations of the world, she represents the women who are forced by poverty and desperation into sex work, she represents the women who are trafficked and exploited. But she also represents solidarity between women, and she represents women taking back their power.

Thialfi and Roskava represent the children who are taken from their homes, and also child labourers, and also abused children, and also children who are outcasts, and children who have had their childhoods taken away for any reason. And they also represent the hope that these children have to make a future that is better. They represent sacred childhood, the need for protection and love and family that all children have. And they represent the hope that the worst of situations can end some day.

Baldr, Hodr, and Nonna represent the new generations of priviledged people, who are young enough to see that the system is wrong and deserves to be stopped, and who are willing to give up even their lives in order to fight the system, despite the fact that the system could give them so much if they fought to uphold it instead. They represent the spiritual and sometimes even physical martyrdom that is required to be a good ally.

Varthruthnir represents the secret wisdom and gnosis that the oppressed people have, that will always be more than the supposed wisdom that oppressors think they have.

Sleipnir represents the soldiers who were tricked into fighting wars that they did not truly believe in, like WW1 for example. He also represents all the people who are dehumanized, who are seen as less than human and are seen as weapons and things and tools and machines instead of being seen as human. Which basically represents the entire proletariat but basically all the gods represent at least some aspect of the proletariat in some way or another and can represent other oppressed people too.

Gullveig represents the spirit and will of the oppressed and how no matter what violence the status quo and those in power do to the oppressed, their spirits and wills will continue living, continue enduring, continue reviving for eternity. She represents that death is not death if you died with your head up high and your shoulders back.

And Yimir, of course, the great God, the God of gods, who is Mother and Father and Parent of all people, of all nature, of all gods, and of all good things in the world, why Yimir is nature and love itself, is the spirit and life and power of nature and the spirit and life and power of love.

And the list goes on I legit can't even list all the gods because there's so many but they're basically us. They. Are. Us. The gods are the people. More specifically, they're the oppressed people and their allies. They're the people who deserve better and the people who are fighting for better. And Yimir is our Parent who we all came from and who loves us and who will live again and rule the entire world once society stops hurting nature and stops hurting each other. Once the revolution happens, be it a fast and blazing revolution or a slow burning revolution that spans generations. And survival itself, and any act of rebellion against injustice and solidarity with the poor, is a form of revolution too .

And damn I wish Lokeanism was less underground because I want to be able to talk to people about all of this. But God is good no matter what name you have for Them and living a just and humble and respectful life is so much more important than talking about God any day so every day I can try to be a better person is a day in which I have the opportunity to serve my gods and I love that.

Do you wish to honor the Body of Christ? Do not ignore Him when He is naked. Do not pay Him homage in the Liturgy, only then to neglect him outside where He is cold and ill-clad. He who said: "This is my body" is the same person who said: "You saw me hungry and you gave me no food," and "whatever you did to the least of my brothers you did also to me..."

Saint John Chrysostom

[thetrashsean]

“Why wasn’t Life is Strange 2 as popular as the first game?”

A lot of people like myself have wondered what exactly made Life is Strange 2 go so relatively unnoticed compared its predecessor, Life is Strange 1. And when you think about it, you may come up with the few obvious generic answers, such as the lack of Max and Chloe and just the original cast in general. However, I think there was a lot more at play here that prevented Life is Strange 2 from reaching the amount of success/popularity the first game had. So I want to take the time and break down what exactly happened to Life is Strange 2 and the things that hurt the game’s ability to really connect with the audience of LiS1.

Disclaimer: We do NOT know how well Life is Strange 2 was for Dontnod and if it was a success or not. No sales numbers have been given out to the public so there’s no way of knowing for sure how well the game did. What we do know is that LiS2 did not receive the same amount of attention/popularity as the first game. That can’t be denied, it simply didn’t. However, based on the fact that Dontnod have recently announced they are working on six new games at the moment and are now expanding their studio, even if LiS2 was a “flop” it doesn’t seem to have had much of an effect on them (most likely due to the success of Vampyr). Dontnod is going to be fine either way. Another thing I want to mention is that this is not a anti-LiS2 post and that I am a fan of the game. I’d consider myself a pretty big fan actually. I have my problems with the game of course and don’t agree with a lot of the writing decisions but I enjoyed the game very much overall. But for the sake of this post I will try to be as unbiased as possible, giving out only what I’ve observed when it comes to reactions from the fandom on different websites and forums. So with that all being said, let’s dive in to this.

Here I will be listing the many different reasons as to why Life is Strange 2 failed to reach the same amount of popularity as LiS1 or even BtS managed to achieve. This list isn’t in any particular order but some reasons are bigger/more important than others.

For some background, there was a lot of hype going into Life is Strange 2. The teaser trailer for it with the cop car trended at #2 on YouTube, a huge feat for the series. It generated immense amount of views and comments in a short period in time, completely surpassing Before the Storm’s announcement trailer in just a few weeks. So what exactly happened to all that hype? Where did everybody go? Well, let’s break everything down.

1. The lack of Max and Chloe: Yes I said that this list wouldn’t be in any particular order in terms of importance but I think it’s obvious this one is one of, if not the biggest reason as to why LiS2 failed to match LiS1’s popularity. When the protagonists Sean and Daniel were first revealed, the reception was pretty divisive. Specifically, a very vocal part of the community were baffled and disappointed at the lack of Max and Chloe present within the trailer and subsequently the game itself. This instantly turned off a lot of people from the game, as they couldn’t connect with the new characters or simply didn’t want to. At that point in the franchise Max and Chloe as well as the original cast from the first game had been the face of the series for almost three years. It’s understandable why it was hard for people to just…move on. To this day people are still asking for Max and Chloe to return. The Life is Strange subreddit is still dominated with Max and Chloe fanart. Whenever the social media accounts for Life is Strange post anything Max and Chloe related it gets way more attention compared to a post about Sean and Daniel. Whenever a post online goes viral about Life is Strange you can bet it’s most likely about Max and Chloe. Hell the only reason why episode 5 of Life is Strange 2 trended on Tumblr was because of the fucking picture of Max and Chloe. On the releas day of episode 5 of LiS2 the top post on the subreddit was the Max and Chloe picture. It was almost as if that one photo of them completely overshadowed the entire episode. Point is, Life is Strange 2 lost a lot of momentum the moment it was revealed Max and Chloe would not be present. Case closed, let’s move on.

2. The release schedule: Words cannot describe how frustrating the release schedule was for LiS2 when it came to it’s episodes. For those reading this who didn’t follow LiS2 until the game was finished, each episode took around 3-4 months to be released. This was because Dontnod bit off a bit more than they could chew with the road trip story in having to create new locations and character models from scratch. The reason why this wasn’t a problem for LiS1 was because Max was for the most part always in the same locations around the same characters (I’m pretty sure you roam around Chloe’s house like 4 times throughout the season), which made development a lot easier since the devs could just reuse a lot of the assets. Unfortunately, this wasn’t possible for LiS2 due to the nature of it’s story. The wait times between each episode made a lot of people leave the fandom due to loosing interest or simply forgetting about the game altogether. This also impacted youtubers/streamers as many of them either stopped coming back to play the new episodes or they’d not be as connected as they were in the previous episode due to the amount of time that had passed. One of the reasons why LiS1 gained so much popularity was because of youtubers/streamers and how they would bring in their audience and would pretty much make them fans of the series. With quite a handful of youtubers/streamers quitting LiS2, the game was not able to draw in as much of an audience as previous games did. This is how detreminetal the release schedule was for LiS2.

3. The marketing (or lack thereof): Square Enix really fucked up on this aspect. Due to the ridiculous wait times you would think Square Enix would try and advertise the game heavily when a new episode was about to be released, right? Well they didn’t. Not at all actually. Throughout the games release schedule from September 2018 up to December 2019, I had not seen a single ad for the game. Nothing on YouTube, nothing on reddit or any other websites, it was like Square Enix had completely forgotten about the game’s existence. Now don’t get me wrong, SE did do a few things with LiS2 like starting up the community series on their YouTube channel and also the dev updates that came after episode 1 (that stopped after episode 2 for some reason) but these went relatively unnoticed to people outside of the fandom and did pretty much nothing. I believe SE was trying to wait until the game was fully complete with all of it’s episodes released before actually marketing the game (and they DID start advertising the game after episode 5 came out) but that’s just WAAAY too long to go without any type of advertisement. I understand marketing teams have budgets and what not, but you’re telling me there was no way for SE to market each episode in anyway as they were about to be released? Seems a bit ridiculous, don’t you think?

4. The road trip story: I completely understand why Dontnod wanted to branch out and do something different with the story of Life is Strange 2 and I respect them for stepping out of their comfort zones. However, it can’t be denied that the road trip story where characters are cycled in and out as Sean and Daniel make their way to Mexico was a very…questionable decision. Seeing as how LiS1 was loved for it’s world filled with a reoccurring cast of characters that developed as the story went on, it’s really easy to understand why LiS2 was so off-putting for a lot of fans. It was off-putting for me, even. It just…wasn’t fun having to leave these truly interesting characters behind because the plot demanded it. This left a lot of characters feeling underdeveloped to many people and by the time you meet new characters you already know they’re most likely gonna be gone soon anyways, so it made it even harder to connect with them. Couple this with the fact that LiS2 lacked any type of mystery unlike LiS1, speculation and discussion fizzled out a few weeks after each episode was released. LiS1 kept people speculating and wondering about what would happen next, while LiS2 left a lot of people struggling to care.

5. Politics: Yeeeeaaaaah I think I had to put this somewhere on the list. While many of the people who tease and mock how LiS2 handled its political topics were most likely not fans of the series anyway (the type of people who called LiS1 “Life is Tumblr” and hate Chloe), I do think it’s important to realize that some people just don’t want politics in their games, period. I’ve seen people online come out and say that while they agreed with what the writers were saying when it came to the political topics, it overall still came off very forced and one-sided to them, lacking any type of nuance or subtlety. I could write an entire essay discussing if the politics in LiS2 were handled well and whatnot but this is not that post so I’ll just leave it at that.

6: Lack of a prominent female cast/wlw: This is a bit more tricky to talk about (for the record the person writing this is a black gay guy) but I will try and write about this the best way I can. For many women, specifically queer women, Life is Strange was a series they could expect representation from. Max, Chloe, Rachel, and Steph are all popular characters amongst the fandom and even other wlw ships such as Marshfield, Chasefield, Chaseprice, etc are popular. So when LiS2 was revealed to be about two (hispanic) males, the queer women within the community were understandably upset. It felt like DN were simply throwing away the community that for the most part made up the entire fandom. At the time I simply found the situation ridiculous and overblown as many people were dismissing Sean and Daniel as “generic straight males” (even though it turned out Sean was bisexual in the end) before really getting to know them. However, looking back I totally get why people were upset. A lot of the fanart/fanfiction that was made for the LiS series was mostly created by queer women, so when the franchise pretty much stopped giving them representation, they left in search of other media (like She-Ra, which honestly has better wlw rep anyway). LiS2 is also mostly male dominated in terms of its cast, and features no queer women as well, which is really disappointing in my opinion.

7. Price: This one is pretty simple. When Life is Strange 2 was first released the full season costed $40. This was a pretty big jump in comparison to LiS1’s $20 price tag (original price was $25 however) and BtS’s $16. Obviously people would be more skeptical about buying a sequel that is pretty much double the price of its predecessor and has completely new characters. With the pretty mixed reception from gaming communities I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people saw the price and decided to either watch a playthrough or simply not check out the game at all. With the first episode now free the base price has been lowered to around $30-32 I believe so yeah.

8. Daniel Diaz: Some people just don’t like kids, and I wouldn’t be surprised if people grew easily frustrated with Daniel early on and once he got more irrational and bratty as the story progressed they just stopped playing altogether. Even if you do like kids, or at least don’t mind them like myself, Daniel can still be quite a pain.

9. Not having control of the powers: This one is honestly really disappointing and I know it was to a lot of other people as well. In LiS1 Max had the ability to rewind time and do certain scenarios and conversations over and that basically acted as the more interesting gameplay segments. In LiS2 Sean doesn’t have the power, his brother Daniel does. This leads to the gameplay feeling much more boring and mundane. There are also no interesting puzzles this time around, most likely because Dontnod didn’t know how to implement them without the rewind power so they just…didn’t even attempt to add any. The power itself, telekinesis, is also much less interesting compared to rewinding time, according to a lot of people.

SO YEAH that’s basically it for me. I know this probably came off a bit rambly/incoherent but I tried my best to be as clear as I possibly could. I don’t doubt there are other reasons at play as to why LiS2 failed to meet LiS1’s success (such as liscensed music not being quite as good as LiS1) but I think I hit the main points I believe were key reasons. And the thing is, there isn’t just one main reason why LiS2 didn’t do as well as LiS1. It’s overall very unfortunate so many things went wrong with it that ended up making people lose interest in it. I think the lack of Max and Chloe hurt the game the most right off the bat, but the other reasons just led it to do even worse. Oh well.

I hope any of the people who read this enjoyed it (it was a BITCH to write). I’ve been wanting to get my thoughts down about this for SO long but just never had the motivation/time but I finally did it!

Again, thanks for reading! If you have any disagreements or just thoughts in general don’t be afraid to reply or dm me about it and I’ll be sure to reply! Now back to reblogging Marco posts….

[pradadoie]

A full translation of the third victim’s post - Part 1

T/N; Hey guys. Due to Tumblr’s post limit, I will post the convo translations on the second part of the post. Keep in mind that the situation is still going on and we should stay neutral. This is also not a XX hate post, I am merely translating this as this is a matter heavy post. Do not send threats or hate messages to any party involved and read this post with a clear and neutral mind. If anybody (Especially those fluent in mandarin) wants to make corrections on my post, please do so - this is my first time translating something like this. Thank you. 

At first, I didn’t want to speak up about this issue. This is because everybody including myself thought that we’ve broken up on good terms. To be honest, this incident did not cause me harm in terms of mental wellness or any other form, which was why I initially decided to forget about it and move on with my life. 

However, after reading yesterday’s posts (containing the allegations + timeline), what I noticed was my experiences overlap with the other victims, and many girls have come out to relay their experiences with him. I also found out that he would talk behind a girl’s back in order to scam a different girl and started up rumors about her - this made me feel betrayed. I felt that this situation isn’t as simple as it seems, and I don’t know whether there will be more victims coming out. I just hope that people would get a wake up call after reading my post/experience, and see him for the person he truly is - I also hope that there will be no more victims.

Pic 1 - Contact with HXX: At first, I was just a fan of his and I really liked him - which was why I attended some of his events/schedules. Until one day, I received an airdrop with the name “luca’s iphone” attached, I used an ID with my name on it to send him a sticker/meme for fun. From then on, we started contacting each other and added each other on Wechat. At first, I felt like a main character/lucky female lead in a romance drama - turns out, I wasn’t the only main character/female lead in his life. 

Pic 2 - Spending the night with HXX: After learning that the location (where he had his schedule) was close to my place, he immediately suggested he come over and visit my house, as he wanted to go somewhere with nobody around. 

He was somebody of the opposite sex as well as somebody I really liked, therefore I started to overthink. I asked him if he had a girlfriend and he replied that he didn’t have one. If I knew he had a girlfriend during that time, I would have never invited him over to my house and cut all contact.  

On that day, I thought that there would be a romance blossoming between us. After his schedule, he went back to his hotel before coming over to my place. I even asked him: “Does your manager know about this? (For a more direct translation, she asked “Does your manager not care?”)” He mentioned that his manager was asleep in the other room and was not aware that he (HXX) went out to visit her. 

The first thing he did after stepping into my house was smoke, he even invited me to smoke with him. After that, both of us started drinking and chatting. He mentioned that his best friend (who has not debuted yet) during his trainee days was useless and good for nothing, ranting about how his teammates never put in any effort during practice and never listened, ranted about how a teammate of his stole his fashion related opportunities, and also ranted about how some members are untalented and only debuted due to their visuals. He also mentioned how he disliked Keep Running as he didn’t like how tiring it is and how his seniors give him a lot of pressure. He disliked how his fans gathered at the airport to take his photos etc. He also opened up about how his family wasn’t doing well financially, how his dad’s investments failed, expressed his wish to save money to buy a house and a car and whatnot, and then started ranting about how society is unfair. During that time, I thought he was just a genuine, hardworking boy. However, after seeing many victims expose him of his ways, he was just using this to gain sympathy from me and take advantage of me (translation here may be inaccurate, please correct me if I’m wrong.) 

Back then, although I was surprised, I thought that his image was far from his true self. He was always preaching about how much hard work he puts in and mentioned that Iwas the only person who understood how he felt. He gave me the impression that he was realistic and bright, and made me misunderstood that he was someone I could have a heart to heart talk with. After spending the night at my house, he left the next day for his upcoming schedules. 

Pic 3 - Demanding for presents

Before arriving at my house, he made excuses about how he didn’t bring enough clothes and asked if I could buy some clothes for him before he came over. He even pointed out the brands he preferred (He wanted Saint L*urent, B*lenciaga, and said he didn’t want B*rberry because he disliked the brand - ironic because he is a brand ambassador for that brand) 

Pic 4 - Follow up

Before his schedules, I would ask if he wanted me to go/follow him. He always responded saying it was a waste of time and said I should be prioritizing my studies (and many other excuses). At first, I thought he was being sincere and genuinely thought that he was concerned about my wellbeing. Turns out, he didn’t want me there because he was meeting other people. I was the fool in the end. (Direct translation: Turns out, I was the clown)

When I followed him to his schedules, he would repeatedly ask if I had a house, whether I was living alone, etc. After I told him I had a roommate, he disappeared and did not reply to my texts over the next few days. 

I couldn’t bear with the mixed signals and the confusing feelings. During December, I decided to confront him about his ways. However, he ignored my attempts to talk, using his schedules as an excuse to avoid talking to me. After somebody exposed his teammate (?), he kept on telling me that “we’re just friends” and warned me to not expose him. After that conversation, I saw his true colors and cut off all contact with him. I would also like to say that I am grateful for my upbringing and my assertiveness - if the victim was someone who was emotionally fragile or lacked a good support system (or love), would she develop psychological/mental problems (T/n: read between the lines - she’s hinting that somebody could have gotten insecurities/change in mindset that will lead them to do/develop something worse because of his actions) because of scum like him?

During our period of contact, I have repeatedly asked him if he had a girlfriend or whether he was in contact with other girls. All the replies he gave me were “No.” (Refer to Pic 5) He also mentioned that he never drank with other girls as well. I really believed his lies back then, thinking he was just somebody yearning for love. Today, I discovered that he used his idol persona and fans’ love to fulfill his own needs and scam/cheat others, flirting with other women despite having a girlfriend himself, went to different cities to meet different girls and treat them like a personal harem. He also talked behind every girls’ back, constantly speaking ill of them. His behavior made us (OP and the other victims) feel worthless. I acknowledge that issues like this will be forgotten easily as time goes by, and that people would nitpick on this issue and blame this incident on my behavior, for the way I threw myself into a fire of destruction. 

In the end, I hope that people like me - who blindly followed and believed him - will open their eyes and see his true side - I hope that you will know better and don’t get hurt the way I did and bear the pressure I faced. Lastly, I hope that all boys and girls alike will no longer suffer from people like him.

[zombiegurlmode]

Sad that Camren Shippers are to blame. But alas, scape goats are necessary for someone to thrive

I’m not done ranting apparently. Clearly, after all of my satirical nature has come to pass, truth of the matter is, for someone who spoke so openly and highly of valuing love and honesty and all that jazz. Your words cut deeper than any knife could. And for someone who openly “claims” of being a part of the LGBT+ community, (whereas the numbers are thriving so much that more letters are added and we’re almost about to fill in the entire alphabet) we have yet to receive such a backlash coming from “supposedly” one of us. Imagine the horror right? True, perhaps your words may have been misconstrued by the public at large or twisted in some form to suit everyone’s selfish needs. I mean after all, isn’t that what camren shippers are called for - delusional AF and toxic as hell. Well, we don’t deny it and couldn’t deny the fact that yes, there are plenty of us who are quite enthusiastic to a fault. Honestly, tell me in what space or bygone era have toxic people never appeared in. Truth of the matter is, it’s how you deal with things and toxicity that affect each and everyone of us. Happiness is only a matter of possessing the right attitude. And no one, not any one, can take that away from you. Not even hardships.

There are several things I would like to personally address though. Camren shippers most likely than not have in some way or the other connected with you. We all something that we could relate to, From your internalized phobia, or from you getting to finally openly admit your own sexuality and fully embracing it wonderfully, or some other things that the others felt truly connected or as you love to so put it “resonate” with you. So don’t blame your fans if they are passionate in expressing themselves because all humans have escapism in them. And to some, perhaps, this is the only means they have some semblance of control to freely express themselves openly. No one is undermining your hardship when you were outed, or that fact that you were bullied for it, or pressured to act in a certain acceptable way so you may be deemed as socially normal “acceptable” human being, whereas all you truly deserve was love and compassion. But I would like to remind you of one very fine detail. When you were outed, camren shippers were there to support you. Because they (wasn’t here yet when it happened so I can’t include myself) understood well above and beyond that what you encountered was so horrendous. You were cheated and robbed of that one pleasure and right given to every LGBT+ member to pride on - the true nature of coming out. See the thing is, the homophobes corrupted the words coming out so much that even as LGBT+ members sometimes forget the true existence of it. it’s not about public declaration or waving the flag, or marching in rainbows, or stamping a giant sign across your forehead declaring that you’re a proud, frolicking, fun-loving, women-loving lesbian (or in any way the others identify themselves as). No! Coming out and its true nature is simply coming to terms with yourself on your own pace and leisure. So truly I am sorry that you have been cheated out of this privilege. But it wouldn’t be fair for you to lump it together with your emotions and throw it at your brethren (if you even consider us as such). Perhaps, that is not your intention. Just to be clear, I am not invaliding how you’ve felt or how you’re feeling now. No one has the power to do that to someone else - I’m referring to telling others how to feel. Yet the message we perceived is quite clear. That we, as a collective known as Camren Shippers, who “supposedly” belong to the LGBT+ community (ok, maybe not all of us. that’s too presumptive on my part) and pride on understanding your own volitions caused this very volitions to surface or in your words “manifest” in you. We are the hindrances that robbed you of your chance to have a decent flirtation towards the same sex. Ironically speaking, Camren Shippers were the ones also on the forefront of defending your honor when some boy belonging to a particular boy band along with his bandmates ridiculed and degraded your feminine existence simply because they thought they were joking around. I mean aren’t jokes like that - it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Jokes most often than not are made at the expense of others. Doesn’t make it any less right, but then again who are we to blame them for something they thought of as a joke. Let’s all face it people, we are all guilty of this act. And yet, the CS never did falter. Carrying their banners of delusions and brandishing their armors of grandeurs, all in the name sake of defending someone who is belittled for the sake of “fun and games”. Even after deliberately attacking the CS for their enthusiasm and calling it invasive, they were still there for you especially so when they saw how pressure started affecting you. They were always so attuned to you that they were the first to notice signs that you may possibly be queer or you may possibly be undergoing some form of inner conflict. They all wish you good health and as you put it in words “send their love to you” so you may never feel alone enduring all this pain. And now imagine the heartache that every shipper might or might not be going through right now. Because apparently, that same support that they have been sending you is perceived as pain and suffering from your end. How would you feel if the very thought that the love and adoration you have causes someone pain and insecurity? So far, all that you have discussed is the negativity that surrounds an apparent DEAD SHIP. Negativity? Sounds familiar right? You preach on it on numerous occasion. You even wrote a song 50FT. Maybe you should be the one to listen on your own attunement. You brought so much negativity on the topic whereas it was meant to be about your coming out. Again, sorry that you’re coming out seemed more like a burden than liberation for you. And again, I apologize that we are the reason behind it.

Just to clarify. We never undermined your suffering. We know all too well the pain that one undergoes in this journey called self discovery of one’s true sexuality. To be honest, those of us who fear coming out or being outed because of rejection, bullying, disowning, we are the lucky ones. There are some of us who undergo far more threats by simply accepting who they truly are. They fear for the safety of their family, they fear for their own safety, they fear the valid threats of rape and degradation and being treated as if you are worse than animals. There are those individuals where the very soil that they stood upon view homosexuality as ILLEGAL and violation of such law would yield severe punishments. So tell them, tell them that they don’t know the risks, the pains, the sufferings, the deteriorations of ones’ sanities, tell them that they don’t understand it because all they ever care about is Camren. Tell them that they’re only glimmer of hope on priding on someone that may have found what they yearn for is invalid. Tell them that living vicariously on your life brings so much distraught on your otherwise calm existence. Tell them that and they have been the first ones to apologize that you felt that way. Because I’ve read their posts and I’ve felt their pains. And we are sorry to cause you so much pain.

I will remind you. No one forced you to audition for xfactor in the pursuance of your dream. You even have the support of your family for your journey. And we are all grateful that you did. Otherwise, we may not even have bothered you so much. Otherwise, we may not even know that you existed. So let me remind you that the industry you belong to - spotlight is king. So don’t go complaining if your put under the it - that’s the point of the industry my dear, the limelight. I’m a purchaser, I can’t complain if my daily tasks comprise of purchasing goods. Otherwise, I have no business being a purchaser. I’m clearly in the wrong field if I felt that way. So it wouldn’t be fair to tell your fans (if you even consider us as such) to blame us for putting you under the spotlight. May I make a suggestion? Try holding a concert without the lights on next time. You do have sensitive eyes because of the lack of melanin in your eyes. We get that.

Also, you know Becky G never did mention about camren. You brought it up on your own. Just like you’ve given us “it’s camren yo!”. You did say and i quote (uh oh i’m sure going to butcher this. I failed in quoting people all the time) “i don’t really talk about it” and then preceded to have entire litany about camren and whatnot. Ok, I get it, it was part of your coming out process. Cool. Then you’ve touched upon how reading fanfics have ruined you. And made you feel like a predator. Firstly, camren fanfics are intended for shippers only. Like all mediums, they have their own specific intended audieces. For you to wander into uncharted terrains, you must have understood the risks it entails. I don’t know which ones you’ve read, but most fics from decent authors have disclaimer on them. Did you even bother reading the disclaimer? On the onset of something that made you feel awkward or uncomfortable or disturbing, you should’ve stopped on your own and never be bothered with it again. That’s the usual thing to do. If any human find something or someone repulsive, they would ceased to seek it. But it bothered you so much and made you feel like a predator then you’ve read the entirety of it (maybe i’m exaggerating, ok a good chuck of it, sounds better?) Well someone did tell me it could have been born out of curiosity. Yeah curiosity did kill the cat, you know? Unless of course you’re a masochist, then now I finally understand and I have nothing more to add.

So for my parting words, I would again extend my deepest, sincerest apology I could muster in my current sane state for being the cause and hindrance for your inner peace and wellbeing. I am not mocking you. This is just the nature I write. Troublesome, I know. But I’m being honest. If my being a fan of you, and shipping you in our own little niche, caused you so much pain and suffering then I respect your wishes. It would be foolish of me to continue pouring my support to you when all along I’m actually doing the opposite and harming you in the process. I mean what decent human being would like to inflict pain unto others. So in honor of my last words relating to your brand Lauren Jauregui or the very dead ship that apparently troubled you so much, I bid you the very best. May you flourish on your career and find inner peace and true happiness forever and always. I would not like to be a fan of any brand that I’m the apparent cause whether directly or indirectly impedes in attaining their endeavors. All the best in your album release and who knows maybe I’ll stumble upon your music again someday. 

[tinker-tanner]

I'm not mutuals with OP, but they have generously opened the floor to me, so I'm taking a swing anyway.

(As a preface, much of the analysis in this post will be vibes-based. So little actual research exists on transness and trans life outside the fields of HRT and gender-affirming surgeries that concrete evidence is hard to find without just spending lots of time in trans spaces, reading as much pertinent nonfiction as possible, and trying to learn what you can. I will do my best to remain objective and keep an analytical frame that everyone can learn from, but at the end of the day, I'm one specific trans woman writing based on her own perspective.)

In terms of specific possibilities anon pointed out, none of them seem like major factors:

I have no idea what the "IQ correlation" means here, so that will be set aside, and maybe anon can follow up later if they'd like.

The autism correlation is relevant but not transfem-specific. From my experience, trans people of all sorts are much likelier to experience autism (and other closely-related phenomena such as ADHD) than the general population, i.e. not just a girl thing.

The programmer stereotype is not exactly wrong, but tends to get overblown by environmental factors. Programming can be a relatively lucrative career that requires less direct social interaction than many others, and it's masculine-coded without the overt machismo of something like the military, meaning it's safe to pursue both pre- and post-transition, so a lot of transfems do pursue something of that nature. However, the people who spend time on OP's blog tend to be fairly online and rationalist-adjacent, both of which are positively correlated with being a programmer anyway. Many transfems (such as yours truly) are terrible at programming, but we just don't talk about it because it doesn't feature much in our lives.

In fact, elaborating on point 3, I'd say that being highly online is one of the major predictive factors for transfem clustering as commonly observed. Social media, unless it's something like Facebook, selects for people who share interests, hobbies, taste in memes, and whatnot. This results in a particular, rather insular Transfem Online Culture which extends into the offline world to variable degrees depending on where you live. Where I live, there are an awful lot of outdoorsy hippie transfems who mostly date men, which doesn't match up particularly well with the programmer socks archetype.

Another significant factor is safety concerns. Even if most people don't outright wish us harm, many do consider us kind of weird and disturbing to be around, which tends to nudge us away from places we suspect we aren't welcome (unless we consistently pass as women in those spaces, but that's its own can of worms). Safety in numbers makes it much easier to do things where there are already other transfems to back us up in case something goes wrong. Goodness knows I've done plenty of things I would've been too scared to try if another transfem hadn't invited me to join in.

That's about all I have to say on the topic. Please do feel free to ask questions or add commentary!

why do you think transfem people cluster the way they do? and how legitimate are eg the autism correlation, iq correlation, programmer stereotype, etc

i'm not touching this one but my mutuals are welcome to take a swing at it