#characters that give into their flaws >>>>

[antianakin]

No. That's NOT what I'm saying here, AT ALL. Move away from biology and nature being the end all and be all.

First, Leia is Leia. She is not just "Character A with some of Character B sprinkled in." She is her own person with her own motivations and flaws. I am comparing her to Padme because I think the narrative intentionally builds that parallel for us and I find it interesting to look at the ways in which Luke and Leia are deliberately set up to be the successes to their parents' failures. That does not mean that Leia IS "Padme" in any way.

Secondly, Leia would never in any way be fortified by any of Anakin's anything. Anakin is a piece of shit and part of the reason he's a piece of shit IS his self-righteousness. And it's not like Padme didn't have plenty of her own self-righteousness, too. Leia is fortified by BAIL AND BREHA ORGANA, but it's not "self-righteousness" she's fortified by. She's fortified by their passion, their discipline, their wisdom, their kindness, their bravery, their willingness to stand up for what's right without burning down everything around them in the process. She's fortified by their absolute will to remain who they are in a world that wants them to capitulate everything out of fear. Leia learns how to be a good leader because she's raised by two of them.

Thirdly, Leia learns how to be a good leader because she actively CHOOSES to be a good leader when given the options. Leia does not succumb to despair and selfishness the way both of her biological parents do. Leia does not let love cause her to give up something that would allow the rebellion to win the war. She loves Luke, but she lets him go to the Death Star as a self-sacrifice because she knows it's necessary if they're going to win this war and respects the choice he is making in this moment. Padme starts off as someone who chooses to be a good leader, and remains someone who makes that choice SOMETIMES but not all of the time. Padme CANNOT give up Anakin for the sake of the war or anything else. She chooses to exonerate him when he murders children, she chooses to cover his murders up, she chooses to trade Grievous for him despite what that will mean for the war effort and the people who died to capture Grievous in the first place, and she chooses to lie to Obi-Wan to protect Anakin even after she discovers that Anakin committed a genocide and helped destroy the Republic. Padme would never have made the choice Leia makes in ROTJ.

If you think "self-righteousness" is what allowed Leia to let Luke go in that moment, then you might need to go watch it again. It's not self-righteousness that saves Leia from Padme's mistakes. It's compassion, something Anakin barely had any of in his adult life and something Padme struggled with by the end. And by compassion, I mean the way the term is actually utilized in Star Wars, a selfless love towards everyone. It's the opposite of attachment, it's an ability to let go of biases in order to show kindness to everybody, no matter who or what they are.

And then of course there's Luke. Again, it is not anything from Padme that saves him. He's never met Padme and, unlike Leia, he doesn't seem to have any kind of latent memory of her nor do the Larses seem to have ever told him any stories about her (not that they'd have had that many to tell, but we know they told Luke that his dad was a smuggler of some kind, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that they could've come up with a lie about who his mother was, we just never hear about it). If Luke is a better Jedi than Anakin, it's not somehow Padme's influence that saves him.

It's the Larses. This is Owen and Beru's down to earth hardworking values coming in. Unlike the Organas, Owen and Beru aren't really represented as these brilliant paragons of virtue. Owen and Beru make mistakes, even in terms of how they choose to parent Luke. But what this does for Luke is it shows him how to LEARN and GROW from his mistakes, something he uses quite a lot during the original trilogy. Luke learns how to be dependable and resilient. When it matters, Luke can rise up and do what needs to be done. He DOES have some of Anakin's darkness in him, that's a major element of his character and his narrative, but it's not his biological mother's compassion that saves him. It's Owen and Beru Lars's values, and it's the Jedi philosophies he was taught by Obi-Wan and Yoda. THAT'S what keeps him from making the same mistakes Anakin did.

Leia is Bail Organa's righteous passion and willingness to enter a fight tempered by Breha Organa's discipline and wisdom.

Luke is Owen Lars's protective instincts towards those he loves and firmness of opinion tempered by Beru Lars's empathy towards everyone she meets and open-minded acceptance of change.

As interesting as it can be to look at how Luke and Leia parallel their biological parents, they will always be so much more a product of the Organas and the Larses than Anakin and Padme.

People are SLEEPING on the most interesting Leia & Padme comparisons because there's so much focus on Leia being "like Anakin" because she gets annoyed sometimes and Padme being this perfect moral beacon of truth and justice despite all of her very canonical lies and cover-ups and obstructing of justice.

If Luke is the Jedi that Anakin should've been, then Leia is the LEADER that Padme should've been.

Padme is a hypocrite, proclaiming that all people deserve basic decency and the right to safety, but at the same time allowing Anakin to get away with a mass murder with no consequences by covering it up.

Leia doesn't even let Han get away with being a little bit of an asshole, there's no way she'd let him get away with mass murder. She holds everyone around her to a higher standard, believing in the best of them but also but refusing to accept excuses for cowardice and selfishness.

Padme talks so much about wanting the war to end, but then allows one of the opposition's biggest generals go free just to get Anakin back because she cares about him, causing the war to continue to go on for even longer.

Leia lets Luke sacrifice himself because she knows it's possibly the only way they might have a victory and beat the Empire, even though she knows what he is to her and loves him. She knows what has to be done and respects the choice Luke is making and would never condemn their efforts just to keep him with her.

Padme's story parallels Anakin's, she devolves as the narrative goes on, until she's barely a shell of the person she used to be. That strength and moral clarity she showed as a Queen is entirely gone, leaving only a scared woman pleading with a murderer to come back to her.

Leia's story parallels Luke's, she gains more and more strength and clarity as the narrative moves forward. The bossy young woman we first met has become a confident rebel leader who knows she doesn't have to harden her heart to be strong.

[lacreatricefortune]

Surprised at the absolutely rancid takes I am seeing from some book fans about the show's portrayal of Dr. Mensah.

"The book is good representation because the black leader is strong and stoic and everyone respects her! Nobody respects the tv version of Dr. Mensah!"

Dr. Mensah is also strong in the show. All of the characters in the show respect her. None of them think she's weak.

True, the show version of her is not perfectly stoic, but nobody from Preservation is. The show went out of its way to portray Preservation as a culture that values emotional intelligence and empathy and honesty and vulnerability. This is a culture that views emotional repression as a character flaw, not a character strength.

Dr. Mensah has all of the qualities that her culture respects. She is not stoic because her culture does not value or respect stoicism.

"Giving her an panic attacks makes her look week and pathetic!How dare they make a black woman look weak and pathetic! It's racist!"

Oh. I get it. So when you said nobody respects her, you meant that you don't respect her. Because you're abelist.

Yes, she has panic attacks. And she faces her fears and makes hard decisions and does what needs to be done while having those panic attacks. That doesn't look weak and pathetic. That looks brave and admirable.

I have been watching youtube reaction videos of the tv series. Most of the people making those videos haven't read the books. And I'm not seeing people who are new to the fandom looking down on Dr. Mensah. They're not comparing her to the book version and they don't fine her lacking as she's presented.

In fact, they're talking about what a badass Dr. Mensah is for going in and rescuing MB by attacking that hostile secunit with a mining drill.

They think the fact that she overcame an anxiety order to do it makes her even more badass.

.

If you find it impossible to respect black female characters who have vulnerabilities and flaws and show emotion, then I think you're in no position to be calling other people racist.

The rest of the tv fandom doesn't seem to have your problem.

[maxdibert]

“The Snape fans are always excusing his crap and trying to paint him as a good person, when the whole point is that he wasn’t a good person, he was a bad person who did some good things.”

No, sorry, but that passive-aggressive take is rubbish. Snape wasn’t a bad person, he was a person with a terrible attitude and a difficult personality, and that’s very different from being bad. We, his fans, are fully aware that he was insufferable, and we like him for that. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to attribute to him a kind of cruelty or wickedness that simply isn’t there.

Because a bad person doesn’t spend their life trying to make up for their mistakes. A bad person doesn’t give up their own life to repay a debt. A bad person doesn’t risk everything to protect people who constantly scorn him, distrust him, judge him, and throw dirt on his name. A bad person doesn’t die to help bring down the villains. That’s not what bad people do.

What makes Severus such a complex character isn’t that he was a bad man who did some good, it’s that he was a good man, deeply flawed, often harsh, and far from pleasant or likeable. And that, precisely, is what makes him so compelling.

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

🧪 Character Arcs 101: what they are, what they aren’t, and how to make them hurt

by rin t. (resident chaos scribe of thewriteadviceforwriters)

Okay so here’s the thing. You can give me all the pretty pinterest moodboards and soft trauma playlists in the world, but if your character doesn’t change, I will send them back to the factory.

Let’s talk about character arcs. Not vibes. Not tragic backstory flavoring. Actual. Arcs. (It hurts but we’ll get through it together.)

─────── ✦ ───────

💡 what a character arc IS:

a transformational journey (keyword: transformation)

the internal response to external pressure (aka plot consequences)

a shift in worldview, behavior, belief, self-concept

the emotional architecture of your story

the reason we care

💥 what a character arc is NOT:

a sad monologue halfway through act 2

a single cool scene where they yell or cry

a moral they magically learn by the end

a “development” label slapped on a flatline

─────── ✦ ───────

✨ THE 3 BASIC FLAVORS OF ARC (and how to emotionally damage your characters accordingly):

Positive Arc They start with a flaw, false belief, or fear that limits them. Through the events of the story (and many Ls), they confront that internal lie, grow, and emerge changed. Hurt factor: Drag them through the mud. Make them fight to believe in themselves. Break their trust, make them doubt. Let them earn their ending.

Negative Arc They begin whole(ish) and devolve. They fail to overcome their flaw or false belief. This arc ends in ruin, corruption, or defeat. Hurt factor: Let them almost have a chance. Build hope. Then show how they sabotage it, or how the world takes it anyway. Twist the knife.

Flat/Static Arc They don’t change, but the world around them does. They hold onto a core truth, and it’s their constancy that drives change in others. Think: mentor, revolutionary, or truth-teller type. Hurt factor: Make the world push back. Make their values cost them something. The tension comes from holding steady in chaos.

─────── ✦ ───────

🎯 how to build an arc that actually HITS (no ✨soft lessons✨, just internal structure):

Lie they believe: What false thing do they think about themselves or the world? (“I’m unlovable.” “Power = safety.” “I’m only valuable if I’m useful.”)

Want vs. need: What do they think they want? What do they actually need to grow?

Wound/backstory scar: What made them like this? You don’t need a tragic past™ but you do need cause and effect.

Turning point: What moment forces them to question their worldview? What event cracks the surface?

Moment of choice: Do they change? Or not? What decision seals their arc?

🧪 Pro tip: this is not a worksheet. This is scaffolding. The arc lives in the story, not just your doc notes. The lie isn’t revealed in a monologue, it’s felt through consequences, relationships, mistakes.

─────── ✦ ───────

🛠️ things to actually do with this:

Write scenes where the character’s flaw messes things up. Like, they lose something. A person. A plan. Their cool. Make the flaw hurt.

Track their beliefs like a timeline. How do they start? What chips away at it? When does the shift stick?

Use relationships as arc mirrors. Who challenges them? Enables them? Forces reflection? Internal change is almost never solo.

Revisit the lie. Circle back to it at least three times in escalating intensity. Reminder > confrontation > transformation.

─────── ✦ ───────

🌊 bonus pain level: REVERSE THE ARC

Wanna make it really hurt? Set them up for one arc, and give them the opposite. They think they’re growing into a better person. But actually, they’re losing themselves. They think they’re spiraling. But they’re really healing. Let them be surprised. Let the reader be surprised.

─────── ✦ ───────

TL;DR: If your plot is a skeleton, your character arc is the nervous system.

The change is the thing. Don’t just dress it up in trauma. Don’t let your character learn nothing. Make them face themselves. And yeah. Make it hurt a little. (Or a lot. I won’t stop you.)

—rin t. // thewriteadviceforwriters // plotting pain professionally since forever

P.S. I made a free mini eBook about the 5 biggest mistakes writers make in the first 10 pages 👀 you can grab it here for FREE:

[astertimberwolf]

Yeah... Because people suck. Not everyone, mind you- but specifically those that always remember you for your mistakes and not as a living, breathing flawed person, who is literally just trying their best all the time.

(Anti-)Social media has created a bunch of narcissists and abusers- if said people weren't that rotten to begin with... It's made it possible for mass hysteria, judgement and paranoia to spread like a virus... uncontrolled, unbridled, only ever feeding an infinite cycle of negative emotions.

I will say it now and I will say it again if I have to: continuous and thoughtless judgment dismisses and strips away a person's dignity, as well as their value and right to exist as another sentient being, capable of experiencing the same, complex emotions, issues and challenges we all face in our daily lives.

In terms of Argumentation, it's the most damning and unforgiving form of shutting down someone's self-worth and right to self-expression: attacking someone's character. If a person is deemed "bad" or "untrustworthy", it doesn't matter how true or right they are about a subject or situation- nobody will (want to) listen to what they have to say if they are being perceived as a bad actor or unlikeable individual.

It's why the phenomenon of "cancelling" people on any given online platform is so inherently toxic. It incites online mobs, channeling hate and negativity towards an individual for making a mistake, however big or small, without looking at the circumstances- and, oftentimes, while also not letting the person—whose character is under fire—express themselves...

... and then people wonder why their mental health completely tanks when they're exposed to online spaces like Twitter / X, TikTok or Instagram. It's fairly simple: none of those platforms are designed while keeping in mind the user's wellbeing. They don't benefit the user. They pander and cater to the user on occasion to keep them hooked onto content- but they all answer to CEOs, whose end goal is lining their own pockets. NEVER forget that.

We need to push back against the damage they have caused. We need to reintroduce giving people the benefit or the doubt- or ignoring situations we know virtually nothing about... and leave the people involved be.

If a crime has occurred, there is a legal system to handle it. Mobbing someone or going on a White-knighting crucade- by leaving nasty DMs, comments, etc. isn't going to solve anything.

...

People judge others constantly because it's easy. Easier than trying to understand life in its complexity and the nuance behind situations and individuals... but also because it's quick and often makes them feel better about themselves, completely "absolving" them from personal responsibility when they themselves don't show any better behaviour. The truth is a hard pill to swallow: there are very few inherently good and inherently bad people. We all have a bad side. We can all become monsters and take part in a mob if we find a reason to hate someone enough... As well as easily dismiss how evil that looks from the outside if it so happens that the person we stoned alive turned out to be innocent after all.

Humans are some f*cked up creatures. I know that all-too-well due to lots of bad personal experiences, ranging from uncomfortable to traumatic, but also from my own human side being flawed (I refuse to be a hypocrite in that sense).

I would be lying if I said that I have never felt any rage, hate or resentment towards the people that hurt me and s*xually (or otherwise) abused me. A part of me wishes for karma to serve them back what they did to me tenfold- if only to make them understand the gravity / severity of the damage it can cause to someone and teach them an important life lesson... However, at the same time, I also don't agree with the constant suffering redistributed by the karmic system. I despise it because, at times, it tortures people across multiple lives in ways that are non-sensical and just plain cruel. I exist with this paradox within me... and I know it's the same for other people as well. I'm hated, after all... for the bad and hurt I have, more often than not, unintentionally inflicted upon people from my past... and when there was damage done with intention or purpose, I have later come to regret it or feel like sh*t for having been that way. Worst of all, what I regret the most remains all the futile attempts I have made with good intentions, trying to help other people but not knowing how to- and ending up damaging them instead. Those are the kinds of mistakes that live with you forever, because they make you feel like you're incapable of doing anything good even when you try your best and hardest.

...

Well, this post has gotten long enough as is. Autism + ADHD strike again.

To wrap things up / in essence... Don't be that shitty person on social media who just constantly judges and dismisses people as if they were dirt under your shoe. If you really want to call or see yourself as someone inherently good, you have to be perceptive rather than judgemental and empathize with people... See the kind of psychological and emotional damage dissing and judging someone for their mistakes can cause (spoiler alert: it's long-term damage and it takes years for a person to recover from that, if they ever recover at all).

As for my own past mistakes... I have since moved on... At least from the emotional and psychological elements that kept tormenting me. At the end of the day, my mistakes are my own to bear... the worst of them will forever live with me, for I cannot forget the hard lessons they have taught me, nor change the outcome or reverse the damage caused...

... I can only become a wiser and better version of myself as I keep getting older.

...That's what real maturity is all about.

“No one notices your tears, no one notices your sadness, no one notices your pain but they all notice your mistakes.”

— Unknown

[katerinaaqu]

Have you noticed the importance of narrators in the Odyssey?

If someone reads the Odyssey we notice there are many characters that narrate a story.

We firstly have Phemius, the self-taught singer who sings against his will for the suitors the tales of the heroes of the Trojan War especially their fate after the war

Second we have Nestor, Helen and Menelaus that focus on Odysseus in particular or the events that surrounded him

Then we have Demodocus the blind singer of the Phaeakes who sings the events of the Trojan War

Last but not least Odysseus himself who tells us his own story the infamous Odyssey

All the narrators or storytellers cause something to happen or emotions to their audience. For example Phemius causes Penelope to come down, for us to see and hear her. Helen Menelaus and Nestor introduce us to our hero. Demodocus is causing the reaction of Odysseus that reveals him to his audience and forces him to tell his story. However something differentiates Odysseus from the other narrators within the Odyssey

Odysseus tells his own story

And that shows to his narrative. Odysseus is not just aligning some facts or information he knows. He is telling his own story: traumatic events that happened to him, memories that scarred him, memories that seem pleasing to him...and that shows to "inconsistencies" to his narrative

He speaks positively or negatively in several places showing the ups and downs of his mood as he speaks

Some parts of his narrative he slides over (see for example Ismarus) as if he doesn't want to talk about it or elaborate and extends other parts (see Polyphemus)

Sometimes he speaks positively of himself or his men and at others he berates them depending on how the events of his narration go

Oftentimes he stops to breathe and the Phaeakes encourage him to go on and he does collecting his thoughts

At times he inserts some small information to the story while others he omits it

And the emotions show

He starts by speaking about his homeland. He is nostalgic, positive, dreamlike even

He becomes dryer as we get to the events of the trip

He sometimes needs to stop and collect himself

He is encouraged to speak which means he hesitates

He stops sometimes to possibly enjoy the praise he receives

He waits for people to stop talking or ask him questions and assist his narrative

Homer didn't just give us a flashback story of someone speaking in first person. HE GAVE US A LIVE NARRATION a narrator who appears to speak in real time with all the "flaws" of the conversations such as the fact not all events are given the same severity, the pauses and all.

I believe this is a massive reason why the Odyssey is being retold and loved. Because imagine how lively it was in antiquity to have your narrator pause and speak and think instead of directly singing the whole thing like someone else telling it but instead we see Odysseus live being affected by the emotions of his own narration and adding or omitting details. We can almost imagine him tearing up or being angry or sad or happy or relieved as he speaks!

HOMER YOU WERE A FUCKING GENIUS!

Thank you @annoyedbreadstick for the inspiration for this!

[martinblackwoodhater]

A lot of people in tma fandom purposely exclude the female characters in favour of the (gay) men and this is obviously a bad thing. However that also means there are takes like "if you dislike georgie/melanie/basira youre misogynistic" and they are infuriating. No i actually think the surviving trio sucked ass.

Maybe melanie and basira were bearable cause while their awful behaviour is annoying i can see where theyre coming from. But i cannot bring myself to like georgie i dont know what yall see in her. Not even in that "georgie is jons horrible ex" way i really dgaf about their relationship. But why did she come to him afterwards just to talk about how great her relationship with melanie is while simultaneously rubbing it in his face about how unworthy of care he is. I dont think shes boundary queen i think she is a bit rude at times

adding onto this like it was so incredibly awful seeing jon coming out of a coma and having the worst time of his life ever and having every single character be incredibly unnecessarily rude to him omg. like i don't even think that jon's like the best person or incredible to be in any (platonic/romantic) relationship with but like there was just such an insane lack of empathy for him by any of the other characters that it was like just so depressing at times i swear. like obviously they're all going through their own stuff and they're all like flawed characters deliberately but that doesn't mean i have to like them and like someone give my guy jon a break for once in his life. everyone treated him so awfully like it's no wonder he just accepted the way martin acted towards him by the end. i completely understand jonelias shippers because like even if i don't like shipping personally and i don't like shipping jon with anyone like at least their dynamic is interesting and jonah at least has like some degree of (even kinda potentially fake) understanding or empathy for him. like if i was jon i'd be jumping at that chance so he's a stronger man than me ((shout out my jonelias mutuals/fans y'all are my biggest allies out here))

[somethingshortandsnappy]

It is a tricky question, since so many alien species are really introduced in order to give us a new planet of hats to embody a specific sociopolitical flaw, and that was especially true of TOS when "aliens who literally just look human" were the most common type. The easiest would be to pick a species that has as little baggage as possible, like the Atreans (their hat is "love and community", they're scientifically innovative, environmentally conscious, apparently not xenophobic, and their single non-human feature is their huge ears).

However, if we're dreaming of good writing, then the more I think about it the more I think Romulan could actually work well. Introduce the character as Muslim, get in a few episodes in which she has a role and ideally at least one focal subplot that isn't anything to do with her religion. Then do an episode that does talk about religion, for several characters and their cultures, in which it becomes relevant for her to discuss some of the history of Islam and islamophobia. Let her talk about the prejudices and assumptions that go along with people "discovering" that you're Muslim, and how those might still exist in the Federation nominal-utopia (thanks to the tendency for people to think of themselves as too enlightened for religion). Highlight the tactic of downplaying your identity because you don't want to deal with those prejudices more than you absolutely have to.

Then the emotional twist of revealing to the audience that she's Romulan, as a way of comparing/contrasting real and fictional prejudices, because the audience is 1) already aware that this character's personality and actions don't fit the fascist-Romulan mould 2) a lot of them (Trekkies especially) are perhaps more primed to examine their prejudice against Romulans than against Muslims.

This still could go wrong, obvs, but if it worked it might be really good?

We should get a hijabi character in Star Trek for lots of reasons, but one of those reasons is it would be funny to go several episodes with the audience just assuming she's human only to eventually cut to her in her quarters and show that she's Romulan

[abed-with-a-knife]

waugh i’m so happy that the way rick and morty treats it’s female characters has evolved from “i don’t take girls on missions… oh whatever have a pink spaceship” to actually fleshing them out and letting them be dynamic, flawed, and still likable. give us more intelligent and conniving summer! more empowered and confrontational beth! more self-sufficient but not asocial space beth! more violent and bloodthirsty birddaughter!

i will always be a sucker for the classic rick and morty dynamic, although i do prefer when it is less cruel and more friendly, but if the show is on the path of broadening its focus to the entire family, i’m really happy that that means they’re letting the women be awesome. we’ve seen summer grow for a while, but now she gets like whole episodes where she kicks ass. beth spent a while as someone who commented on action and stories’ plot lines but rarely intervened. now she has a lot more agency and personal motivation. they were the main two female characters from season one, but now we also have space beth and birddaughter to play with. instead of keeping them as brief mentions, they’re utilized to full potential for entertaining sci-fi plots. yippee yahoo!

[allpiesforourown]

Okay, I have some comments (agreement) on three of your posts, so I'll just put them in one ask, lol.

First of all, you are SO RIGHT about toxic yuri. Oh my God. I'm a bi woman and I'm usually more attracted to mlm works like danmei, and a lot of yuri just doesn't do it for me, so I'm just constantly wondering if I've got, like, internalized misogyny? What's the deal here? But then there's the occasional yuri like Madoka and I go absolutely fucking feral and make it my whole personality for months. Like, yes, give me all of the toxic yuri, all of the doomed yuri, all of the girls and women being obsessive and flawed. That's what I like about danmei, really, the obsession and the character flaws and the angsty yearning. But women are never allowed to go crazy or even be a little flawed like that, not even in fiction. Often, it's because creators and audiences alike judge female characters harsher (a reflection of real life, obviously) and so they have to make the female characters "perfect" or they won't be liked. But their being perfect is exactly what I dislike, because it's not realistic, and it's not interesting! So, yeah, absolutely, that's why toxic yuri is so much more appealing, especially compared to a lot of others.

Second of all, you're also so right about Yue Qingyuan. When I first started SVSSS, I thought, "Oh, so he kinda sucks," 'cause he clearly knew about Binghe's abuse but only gave mild advice to SQQ to maybe treat him a little less harshly. But then, he kinda does seem like a really good guy later, and especially with the realization of his tragic background, it's easy to forgive him. But so often the fandom reduces him to lovable idiot who's never done anything wrong and like. He was totally fine with Shen Jiu abusing a child. It's not like he was unaware of it, and while he's not malicious, he was willing to turn a blind eye to it. We obviously know the reason why later, but even so. I do love him, though, but I feel like sometimes the fandom whitewashes some of the characters too much. Like, Shen Jiu had a tragic backstory, but that only explains his actions, it doesn't excuse them. Of course you can love him anyway, but I think if you're whitewashing his character into something he's not, then you don't really love the character, or else you'd love him the way he actually is. And Shen Jiu's abuse of Binghe is very important to, like, everything, because the cycle of abuse is such a central theme. Shen Jiu and his own victim, Bingge, demonstrate how abuse can turn victims into abusers and continue the cycle. Shizun and Binghe (Bingmei) demonstrate how the cycle can be stopped.

Finally, that post you reblogged about social media, and your tags about how you open TikTok, block 50 people, and then leave is sooo true. The danmei fandom, especially artists, are, at least to my knowledge, a lot more active on Twitter than Tumblr, so I go on Twitter to check when I'm bored, and. I open it, I block 50 people while getting mad just the way they want me to, and then I close it. Then I open it again later! I guess I'm a glutton for punishment because seriously. I need to stop.

Anyway, thanks! Keep on fighting the good fight (shizunfucking)!

1. YEAH. Like so many yuri stories are just "they're cutely blushing before mustering up the courage to hold hands" and its just boring. Are they allowed to show any emotion other than uwu puppy love I'm a grown ass woman

2. Yue Qingyuan's cycle of abuse being ignored is so sad like yes he started out as a slave. But he is now the leader of one of the most powerful sects in the cultivation world, and he uses his authority to enable and protect abusers. Why erase such a big part of his story

3. TWITTER IS DEADDD its all blue checkmark engagement baiting with racism and even within the danmei community the people on Twitter will jump anyone who has an opinion they don't like it's so evil there

[dropthedemiurge]

Love for Love's Sake - Cha Joowan (Cha Yeowoon role) commentary

[Extra content from Bluray boxset]

If you take it to other platforms, please leave credit and original link. And don't share links to videos publicly as well, thank you ^^

[Translation by AmetistLex]

Q. What did you think when you received the script for "Love for Love's Sake"?

At first, I didn't think I would pass the audition. But then I suddenly received the script, so I was actually very worried. Yeowoon's character has a lot of specific traits that needed to be expressed, so I thought a lot whether I could really pull this character off.

Yeowoon was very quiet, calm, alone and he had no friends – and I'm the exact opposite, so at first I was quite nervous.

Q. Are there any memorable adlibs?

After the first kiss scene with Myungha, I say "I'm going home / I wanna go home". Myungha teases me, and then I pout and cutely say "I wanna go home..." That was actually an improvisation, I say this phrase a lot in real life. I added a few similar playful adlibs over the filming.

Q. Any story about post-recording?

This was only the second time I ever did dubbing. Since I play a track athlete, he has a lot of heavy-breathing running scenes. I almost fainted during re-recording because I got very dizzy. So I had a fascinating realization that you can actually pass out from breathing too hard. Also the director, CEO and other actors were outside of the recording booth so post-recording was fun.

Q. What was difficult during filming?

We did a lot of script readings so I thought I'd really show my best on set. But filming on the actual set isn't like acting on rehearsals. There are many unexpected situations. Sometimes I wasn't well-prepared before filming and got confused. So I started preparing for all possible situations.

When I first started acting, I'd prepare for a scene in only one way, thinking I will open the door like this (sliding door to the right) but the door actually had to be opened a different way (with a handle) – and so my brain just froze. So after my acting debut, when I filmed LFLS, I prepared for all possible situations – and even more – before arriving on set. So there weren't many difficult moments, actually.

Q. What was the most joyful thing about filming?

I play a track athlete, and the series had a lot of eating scenes. I was happy when I was eating. I was on a heavy diet so I didn't eat much off-camera. So filming eating scenes made me the happiest. I ate tteokbokki, pizza bread, milk, meat, curry – I ate many things. Meat was the most delicious.

Q. How much Yeowoon and Cha Joowan are in sync?

I think me and Yeowoon are similar for 50%. When we first meet him, he's complete opposite of me. But once he opens his heart, he becomes just like me. I personally don't like staying alone, I always wish for someone to be next to me. But when Yeowoon opens up and shows affection for the people around him, he's very similar to me. This is why I chose 50%.

Q. Outstanding Tae Myungha scene in your opinion?

There's a scene where Myungha experiences that world around him is disappearing, and it has many emotional stages. At first he opens the door and simply is confused, but when he opens next doors, he realizes the world breaks apart, and he goes through gradually increasing emotions. I was really moved by this scene when I watched Myungha express those changes.

At the very end, we meet each other in the classroom, and he has tears on his face. At that moment, I thought it was a really outstanding scene.

Q. What are Yeowoon's strengths and flaws in your opinion?

First of all, Yeowoon's strength is that he's athletic. Also when he loves someone, he doesn't give up or let go of this person. His flaw is that he lacks social skills. He only cares about the person he loves, it'd be better if he paid a little bit more care to other people around him.

Q. Tae Myungha and Cha Yeowoon are still living well, right?

Not Lee Taevin & Cha Joowan but Tae Myungha & Cha Yeowoon? First of all, Taevin and me are doing well. As for Myungha and Yeowoon... I think Yeowoon is currently preparing for a competition, and Myungha prepares for the university. So they are physically away from each other, but Yeowoon just needs to do well. I think if Yeowoon takes a good care of their relationship, it'll become stronger. (To Yeowoon) Because Myungha is going to university now, don't just focus on your track training, take a good care of him too, you hear me? Good luck!

Q. How do you think the actor Cha Joowan will remember "Love for Love's Sake" after 10 years?

LFLS is a project that gave me immense experience in acting. I don't even want to imagine my life without it. Even 10 years from now on, I will still be thinking about it. Because it became an opportunity for me to meet my beloved fans for the first time, it was a project that made me realize that I can feel this kind of happiness too. In 10 years, I'll think of LFLS as my "First Happiness".

Q. From Cha Joowan to fans?

Fans, it's Joowan. Thanks to this amazing opportunity, I get to saw some words to you. You always say very kind and warm things to me, and I want to return that warmth but I'm not really good with words.

It's winter now as I'm filming this, so I hope you stay warm and eat well. Also I hope you'll think of me just once before going to sleep, because I think of my fans before sleeping as well. I love you all, my fans.

I'm still nervous in front of the camera but I'm filming diligently and sincerely after gathering all my courage. It'd be nice if you continued to give me love. I hope you'll remember out first meeting as you watch me act in the future. I love you. Please, keep supporting me.

// other Love Supremacy Zone extra content

[jessmalia]

(Originally wrote all this in the tags but I ran out so I'm writing it in the reblog, I hope I'm not being imposing)

Yeah, I mean, Walker was a really good and interesting secondary antagonist, but what the Thunderbolts* writers failed to realize, is that you can't make him into a sympathetic protagonist (I specify sympathetic because writing him in an actual anti-hero role would work) without doing some serious redemptive work first. That shot of him standing with the bloody Captain America shield is by many fucking miles the single best shot in the entire MCU — it is such a powerful image rich with symbolism that I was thinking about it for weeks after I first saw it — but it is totally undermined by what Thunderbolts* did with him. In TFATWS, Walker was clearly supposed to be a case study in what would happen if a "perfect soldier" was picked to be Captain America instead of a "good man", like Steve. And the conclusion to that case study was that it could only end badly. All that talk Zemo did about how the desire to take the super serum is inherently tied to supremacist ideals and that whoever takes it will inevitably be going down the road of radicalisation (with a clear few exceptions) and then showing Walker doing just that, only for him to become an official Avenger before Sam in Thunderbolts*, is not only insulting and racist, but just bad storytelling. It shows a terrible understanding of what role the character has played previously and what role the character is suited to play in the future. I mean, are we forgetting about his dismissal of of Karli's cause? His perpetuating of the military's propaganda? His micro-aggressions against the Dora Milaje?

I mean, just in comparing him to the other Thunderbolts, he stands out like a sore fucking thumb! Bucky, Yelena and Ava are all victims of human experimentation and were used as weapons against their will. Bucky and Yelena were both mind-controlled and Ava is a disabled woman of color who was neglected by her country. Bob is a depressed addict who grew up with abusive alcoholic parents. Alexei is the only other one who wasn't an exploited victim, but he had his redemption in Black Widow when he helped take down the Red Room (and no, Walker giving up on his revenge to help Sam and Bucky in the final episode of TFATWS does not work as redemption in the same way, both cause it's a way smaller act, and cause it does not address any of his key underlying flaws, like the ones listed at the end of the previous paragraph). And in Thunderbolts*, Alexei is actively taking a father role in Yelena's life while Walker lost his son because he neglected him.

It's exemplified in the scene where Walker brags about his high school football days and Yelena brings up her own failed football team (I'm European so don't tell me I'm calling the sport by the wrong name) and calls his story pointless. John Walker is a white and athletic American man who grew up with a perfect life as the popular star football player of his "back-to-back-to-back champions" high school football team. A stark contrast to Steve Rogers, who was a short and skinny son of Irish immigrants in 1940s Brooklyn who no girl ever gave the time of day. The boy who had asthma and a million other health problems, but still never backed down from a fight even though he lost every single one of them, simply because he didn't like bullies. The perfect moment to compare the difference between these two men is, in my opinion, this one:

Bucky: Just cause you carry that shield, it doesn't mean you're Captain America. Walker: Look, I've done the work, okay? Bucky: You ever jump on top of a grenade? Walker: Yeah. Actually, I have. Four times. It's a thing I do with a helmet. It's a reinforced helmet. It's a long story, but any–

John Walker jumped on top of a grenade because he knew how to stop it without getting hurt, shielding it with a reinforced helmet. Steve Rogers jumped on top of a grenade despite fully believing he would get hurt, shielding it with his own body. John Walker exercised military training and Steve Rogers didn't hesitate to sacrifice his own life so that others wouldn't be hurt. That is what makes Walker the perfect soldier and Steve a good man.

In Thunderbolts*, Walker is in the same situation as Ava and Yelena, but he did not get there in the same way as Ava and Yelena. As perviously stated, they are both victims, outsiders their whole lives because of who they are. John Walker is the epitome of privilege who lost his status because of his own actions, because of a murder that, let's be honest, would've 100% been covered up by the US government had it happened while stationed out in war, not out on the street where dozens of civilians recorded it. This is his worst action that, unlike the rest of the Thunderbolts, he was 100% responsible for. It was then his own ego and inability to let go of the past that lost him his wife and son. Bucky even said something along the lines of "You made your choices" when it's brought up. So you simply cannot put him in the same story and give him the same treatment as all these other characters whose circumstances are so incredibly different from his.

All this said, it's not like I think Walker is evil. There's a reason I called him an antagonist and not a villain earlier. I think it's important to read his sentiment in the first gif as genuine. There was definitely a way to incorporate his character into further instalments and even redeem him if they wanted to. But I also believe that the MCU isn't capable of or allowed the kind of nuanced writing that would require.

THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER 1.02 - The Star Spangled Man, 1.04 - The Whole World is Watching, 1.05 - Truth

[phoenixglacier]

Do you actually think that like in the lore our sweet little bard would have voted to destroy a nation? I do see the evidence for that take it lines up. but it just seems so discordant with his character

Hi. Asking me a question just gives me permission to ramble even more. Apologies in advance.

I have no faith in my ability to predict anything canonically whatsoever. If Genshin wanted to give Venti the ability to shapeshift into a cat in the next update I'm sure we could find a goblet or something somewhere in the game that backs it up. So I don't really have a strong opinion on whether this is what the developers intended as canon.

However, in terms of whether I think it's compatible with his character, I don't think it's that much of a stretch. I kind of covered in my rambley little posts about this, but to sum up what I'm about to say here, I think the fact that it's so unlike him is exactly what makes this interesting.

In a way, Venti's the most godlike in how he helps his people. He performs "miracles" that others cannot, talking to dragons, summoning wind currents, and ferrying souls into the afterlife. He is invested in the emotional wellbeing of his people and spends the first part of his story quest trying to understand them. When he asks Flora about her imaginary friend, his voice turns gentle and serious compared to when he's speaking with Traveler. When Dvalin was attacking Mondstadt in the Prologue, Venti was adamant that he would not kill Dvalin. He firmly believed in his ability to resolve the entire situation peacefully, even when his people didn't necessarily agree.

The way he helps his people, allowing them to find their own way, never truly imposing his own opinions on them, and appearing to want to connect to them as humans, makes it feel unthinkable that he would take such active, drastic action. It feels like Venti is both unlikely to take drastic action and unlikely to be cruel. He has a reputation as a kind, gentle, benevolent god. As a character who is kind, loving, and larger than life, we expect Venti stands for all the right things that we personally have decided are right in our morals.

It would make Venti a flawed god to be kind only to his own people, to consider the citizens of Mondstadt to be more worthy of happiness than those outside its bounds, to choose to sacrifice others for the sake of his own. If he's this kind to his own children, one might expect him to be just as kind to others. It would be incongruent with Venti's image as a champion of freedom, opposer of tyranny, gentle wind of spring, if he was able to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. He is so so emotional when he sees his people struggling. Surely, surely, this applies to all of humanity, as it should?

There are at least three great stories in Mondstadt and Venti's history that involve felling a singular evil for the sake of Mondstadt. The first is Decarabian, the second is the Lawrence clan, and the third is Durin. Though the Church of Favonius often talk about Barbatos' forgiving nature, Venti is quick to villainise these actors in history and pin them as warnings to his people.

I think it would be easy for Venti to have made this terrible, cruel choice and regret it far, far too late. I think we are all faced with unclear choices everyday, with stakes that are merely not the same. I think to those alive in the time of the war, this would have been almost like the trolley problem - People are going to die. Is it our right to choose who that is? Maybe some gods thought that they could beat the Abyss in a fight, maybe some gods thought their nations were far enough away that they would survive, maybe some gods thought with a little more research they would stumble upon a yet-unknown but ideal solution. Maybe Venti was thinking logically when he made this choice, or maybe he was emotional and unusually bitter, or maybe it was both.

But I'd tell you that his sweet, kind nature is exactly why I like the idea that he has such a thing to be responsible for. A character like Venti who would be crushed under the weight of doing something that he realises is so antithetical to the person he wants to be is interesting. Doesn't it inform how we view his insistence that he stay out of his people's lives? His conviction that he is no better a ruler, that the lives of millions of people should never be decided by the cold-hearted or emotional whims of one person? He fears becoming just like Decarabian, the dictator he overthrew. He fears becoming like the aristocracy, who trampled upon others while performing the festivals that he designed, the dances that he made, the clothes that he wore too, the flamboyant culture he was so so proud of, now symbols of oppression. By his friend's side he killed the dragon that was terrorising his people, and then Dvalin awoke following in Durin's footsteps. A god who looks back on his three thousand year history and remembers all his failures first. A god who always thinks twice before he speaks, who never wants to give an order, who longs for the innocence of the wishes of children. A god whose decisions have resulted in terrible, long-lasting consequences. Who knows that even the decision to do nothing is still a choice. There is no such thing as sitting on the sidelines as the god of Mondstadt, and Venti knows that. But that line between being a kind god and a cruel one is so blurry.

Since its introduction, Khaenri'ah has been framed as a tragedy that Teyvat as a whole is responsible for, and the urge to file it under the workings of a big bad evil simply doesn't give it as much narrative weight as it has held for all this time up until now. Allowing the archons to continue taking responsibility for their part in it keeps Khaenri'ah a complex storyline even after the veil of mystery has been removed.

Faced with the simple fact that Khaenri'ah was destroyed, Traveler immediately knows it's wrong. It's wrong because all these human beings lost their lives, and that in itself is sad and cruel. But it's also wrong because the decision was not made in some picture-book sacrifice of themselves for the greater good, rather the gods of other nations whose personal interests lay in protecting their own people first made the decision. Elsewhere in Teyvat, sacrificing oneself for the greater good has been necessary and acceptable again and again. It must be said that the gods had no right to make that choice on behalf of Khaenri'ah, but it's not a leap to see how they may have come to this solution, simply on a larger scale. It is easy for them to be detached, harrowed by the war, aligned by the shared enemy, grieving, fearful, and then make what they coldly believed to be a last resort, a cruel but necessary choice. They see themselves as surgeons doing an amputation, doctors sending the worst to quarantine, oncologists fighting with aggressive chemo. And then the dust settles, and they see that these were people, and that what they did cannot be taken back. That they have blood on their hands, and it haunts them. And they must ask themselves, What other choice did I have? And not as a rhetorical question, but truly, When the Abyss comes again, what other choice do I have?

We want to imagine that we are all good people, and that at the end of the story, good will defeat bad and rewards will be issued to the good, as is our ideal world order. But instead, people do things, with generous intentions, with selfish intentions, with all sorts of consequences that one can barely hope to comprehend. People screw up. People believe too much in their convictions and fail through them. People who want to be good have to work to be competent, informed, empathetic, generous, and forgiving. When a person in a position like Venti fails, the results are catastrophic, but there is no one to lay justice upon him. Only him and his own desperate desire to do better.

Isn't that so interesting?

Of course, headcanon anything you want about Venti. It's not any less canon than my opinions unless Hoyo shows it onscreen. :D

[chaifootsteps]

Maybe I’m missing context, but are all orphaned hellhounds in HB put in segregated adoption centers? And they’re the lowest class? Are we supposed to be rooting for the main character taking advantage of this system by adopting Loona only to make her work for his business? I have to be missing context because I’ve never seen anyone else bring this up. Does this not remind anybody of certain historical events? I guess it makes sense coming from a series that loves to make Hell look like America with a red overlay, but I doubt Vivzie actually knows about the early 1900s treatment of Native American children because it seems like she’s colorblind when it comes to anything that’s not #FFFFFF white.

I know Blitzø’s supposed to “love” her or whatever, but I don’t think you truly love a kid you deliberately adopted because they were lower class and easier to profit off. As much of a “bitch” Loona can be to Blitz, I can’t get mad at her knowing that context. She got forcibly adopted by someone in a higher caste just to be put to work, and her “big flaw” is that she’s not full on buddy-buddy assimilated with these higher class coworker/family members yet. They’re backtracking by giving her all these hellhound friends, but in the end the goal seems to still be “integrate her into the imp family.” Sorry if I’m being too direct and this comes off as an insensitive stretch, I really am, but I’ve waited years for someone else to point it out.

Heavy implications for the HH/HB universe that recall injustices in the real world, and bare some serious discussion? How dare you literally harass Viv and her fans by thinking? /s

[lesbomaticlove]

✨ character-song analysis #2 ✨

zosan - irresistible by fall out boy

based on what i know about my followers i doubt i have to explain any of this with these two, but fuck you cause im gonna. see my vision. heavy headcanons ahead.

"coming in unannounced, drag my nails on the tile / I'll just follow your scent, you can just follow my smile"

sanji very frequently is the one to have to go hunting for zoro when he gets lost and then leading him the proper way. insert joke about unhygenic zoro and charmer sanji or whatever

"all of your flaws are aligned with this mood of mine / cutting me to the bone nothing left to leave behind"

they love love love picking apart each other's mistakes, always taking their anger out on one another, starting that vicious cycle of tearing each other down and getting angry that, to some degree, it's working. not that either one would ever admit to that.

"you ought to keep me concealed just like i was a weapon / I didn't come for a fight but I will fight til the ending"

their roles as the wings of the pirate king go well with this. both were reluctant to join the crew, but itll be a cold day in hell before either of them let their captain down. sanji especially is underestimated by foes for the fact that he doesn't carry weapons but clearly, he matches up to zoro's fighting ability. also with a literal interpretation of the first line, sanji being a closeted bisexual wanting the relationship between them to remain concealed at all costs.

"this one might be a battle, might not turn out okay / you know you look so seattle, but you feel so la"

their arguments are fucking turbulent. the second part of the line suggests an appearance of one thing yet being another- zoro often gives the appearance of being removed and uncaring, when in reality his love for his crew encompasses everything. sanji gives the appearance of confidence and nonchalance, when he's lived his whole life feeling weak, insecure, and in constant need to prove himself.

"gonna get you to burst just like you were a bubble / frame me up on your wall just to keep me out of trouble / like a moth getting trapped in the light by fixation / truly free love, baby, I'm talking no inflation"

one of the things i love most about their dynamic is their aggressive protection over the other, and in this line I can't think of anything but thriller bark. zoro knocking sanji out, sanji trying to hold on because he thinks hes the one thats supposed to make this sacrifice, and once sanji wakes up his first thought is to find him? the anger that he felt in that moment falling away to fear of losing him? im insane.

"you know i give my love a f-f-four letter name"

'cook'. 'moss'. need i say more? but fr, the pun in the lyric is that 'four letter words' refer to profanity and these guys love to call each other all sorts of names. they never use the other's actual given name. except sanji in that one singular scene but it wasn't in the manga.

"you're second hand smoke / i breathe you in but honey i don't know / what you're doing to me, mon chéri / but the truth catches up with us eventually"

connection to sanji smoking and speaking french yada yada. but think of it this way: a passive cause to an eventual end. neither realizing they're in love until they're so deep in it that there's no possible way of going back or letting go.

"i'm no good, good at lip service / except when they're yours, mi amor"

just- just imagine zoro saying this line to sanji. lip service = words over action, and zoro is a very action over words kind of guy. he's not the type to say things just to make someone happy but he'll sure kiss him about it instead.

and after all of this, there is but one last thing to add; the chorus-

"i love the way you hurt me / its irresistible"

✨masochism✨

edit: decided to link the playlists im taking from in case anyone wants to see the madness of my mind or perhaps request a song explaination

zosan playlist - i came back from hell to kill you

[dreamweave01]

Okie, this is exactly why it's so hard for me to choose favorites, because yes, Leon's an annoying little butt, I think we can all agree on that, but his character growth and development from that point on in the movie is why I absolutely adore his character so much.

He sees that he's been an absolute idiot and the Kraang Invasion forces him to live up to being a leader and actually be responsible for once, and I LOVE THAT.

As an eldest sibling myself, I relate a ton with Raph (which is probably another reason why he's my favorite) but Leo's whole 'redemption style' arc really gets to me, because that's the kind of character growth I want to see in my own life, and if someone as obnoxiously arrogant as Leon can grow up, it gives me hope that I can change my own flaws and become a better person.

ur art is so good u draw raph so cute...

I know in the past I said I don't have a favorite turtle. . .

. . .But I think I lied.