#cw: grooming mention

[enneamage]

Did u see what niki did at the streamer awards?

I can see how this would be seen as targeted as a gut reaction, but also in a community where 'Minecraft Youtuber' has become so closely linked with abuse of power I understand this as a wider, if clumsy, attempt to call it out in passing. She's seen horrors, I can believe that 100%, and I think they go well beyond Dream's accusations, it's just an audience word association / concept association game at this point. 

I think it happened too quickly and with too little context for it to land 'right.' Like the problems people had with tweets (pre character limit) how saying something too fast or too briefly can make things come off wrong, she sounded like a vaguetweet. People have been trained through months of discourse to interpret lines like these with a lot of baggage attached, and because of the implicative nature of the jokes it was up to them to interpret her words. 

Apparently Smallant was the only guy that was different from last year so he was the one who got the most of the accidental shade, but they talked it out. 

The gaming/youtube space is "I have to laugh or else I'll cry" levels of corrupt in places. I know it's done permanent damage to my understanding of what people will try to get away with if they feel they can. The energy of angry helplessness that has built up in people over who knows how long from seeing the same thing happen over and over again, plus their own lived experiences, can't be measured, let alone dispelled. People want to take this energy out in the form of fights that they can actually win, and then we get situations like this, which manage to be both wildly sensitive discussions and fandom wars at the same time. I can tell why it didn’t land right for people, but knowing where it came from in terms of her own experience adds a lot of depth to that.

[soul-dwelling]

Do you think that there seems to be a disconnect between charachters introduced before and after the soul eater anime ended? Like everyone loves Giriko, but does anybody care about Gopher, or the moon clowns? Or even thee death scythes that were shoved in at the end?

(Spoilers for Soul Eater and Fire Force. Content warnings for mentions of rape and grooming.)

Me. I care about those characters! 

…Sort of.

Maybe.

...I care about those characters about as much as I do about any other characters. 

Except the Moon Whaler hunters. I appreciate what someone else (Soul Eater Post?) wrote about how that arc is to parallel the hunt for Crona and whether Maka has it in her to potentially have to kill them. But it is such a needless side adventure and so late in the story to start exploring just how different this world is than our own--and a side adventure that leaves a bad taste in my mouth not only given the controversies around whale hunting but also because it is one of the few things explained in Fire Force and once again makes the world building less interesting. 

And maybe I’m not that interested in Gen, or, rather, the version of Gen in the manga. Having a tech expert in the cast should be entertaining--but it's a little late to start doing the worldbuilding now about the tech in this world. It comes across like it is obligatory: the anime already had Buttataki in the same role, I guess the manga now needs its version, too.

And we include Gen just for a weird “H-beam is like 'ecchi'” pun is dull. The better option would have been for the H-beam to be his weapon partner (and a friend and I have already worked on such a character)--more unconventional weapons would have been a more entertaining bit of worldbuilding. But if the manga could not bother to lend more personality to the final Death Scythes we meet in the manga, what hope would this H-beam ever have? 

The first anime concluded on March 30, 2009. I don’t know which chapter came out right before that final episode, but by March 21, 2009, Volume 14 was published, collecting Chapters 53 to 57. I’m guessing by this point manga characters introduced before the anime ended and who didn’t appear in the first anime included Tezca and Enrique--who are probably the last characters ever in the manga who had any meaningful impact on the story, Tezca more so, not only because of his interactions with Justin in the manga but also because he has such a broad, loud, memorable personality and design. Compared to Gopher (who I will defend in a moment), the Moon Clowns (who I can’t really defend--more on that in a moment), and the remaining Death Scythes and their meisters (more on them in a moment), Tezca is just heads and shoulders above them (until Justin cut off his head). Maybe this is why Tezca was the only one to leave an impression in Soul Eater NOT, whether showing up to scare the main trio in the manga, or as a keychain in the anime. 

(There is also Noah in Volume 14, but we already saw his design in the Monotone Princess video game as Grimoire, so that is a technicality.) 

The problem I’m having is that I didn’t get into Soul Eater until the manga was in its final chapters and only when the anime started airing on Toonami, so as a late participant in the fandom, there wasn’t much of a reason for me to feel disconnected from characters introduced after the anime ended. I pretty much treated anyone who was in the main manga and NOT as a Soul Eater character, all with the potential to lead their own story. It's just that some characters are easier to write for than others, not for any reason except that some are given more personality to work from than others.

As time goes on, I do prefer the anime more and more over the manga, so perhaps I have a bias towards characters who were in the anime but not in the manga--because I think, had the Studio BONES first anime had more time, more episodes, and diverged more wildly from the manga, we could have had those late additions to the manga get adapted in better or at least in surprising and expected ways that could have improved upon what didn’t work in the manga and could work better in adaptation. Imagine if we had Tezca as an actual character in the first anime: I think he could have been a second Excalibur, for good or bad. Imagine if the story was re-worked to give Pushkin some bigger relevance in the anime. What kind of fight could you stage if the Clowns had a larger role in the story, not as Asura's lackeys but as the actual leaders of some new threat for the next season?

This includes the later Death Scythes and their meisters, who have little to no personality and could have benefited from inclusion in the anime, just to make them into more fully realized characters. That’s an excellent opportunity for headcanon and fanfiction, but when the original manga doesn’t give you enough to work with, it also means that the portrayals of those new characters can go in infinite directions such that it is difficult to get to core details of those characters that are consistent across all iterations in fanworks.

In other words, we have numerous versions of Batman but which mostly have the same core details and principles (Adam West Batman is not Michael Keaton Batman is not Kevin Conroy Batman is not Diedrich Bader Batman--but they have more in common than different), whereas there is so little in the manga to understand Alexandre, Zubaidah, and others to make them feel like realized characters who can thrive in fan works.

And it is such a galling disappointment, not only because they are characters who add diversity and inclusion to the story, but because the manga and the anime had its chance to expand on those characters in Soul Eater NOT--and just didn’t. Djinn and Dinga appear in the NOT manga--only so they can stare down Shaula and not do anything while Tsugumi and the others take down the witch. They don’t even appear in the NOT anime. None of them got cameos at the end of Fire Force because Ohkubo was so desperate for attention that he substituted good storytelling with fanservice by way of “Soul Eater Babies” instead of making any meaningful connection between the world Shinra created and how we got to these adult characters who didn’t get much spotlight otherwise in the fandom. (Granted, I also can go on my rant again that Fire Force and Soul Eater being in the same timeline already doesn't make sense because Spirit Albarn shows up both in Fire Force's Japan and then 800+ years later in Soul Eater's Death City...It's almost as if the timeline fails on its own...)

As for Gopher: he has potential, and it was under-utilized. Not everything is going to be as memorable and impactful (albeit obviously problematic and unfortunately also badly done in other areas) like Chainsaw Man when it comes to imagery that seems evocative of grooming and cycles of abuse and rebirth. But Gopher did seem one-note, hence why his ending was also one-note, where he gets to leave with additional flavors of Noah…that opens up more questions than I want to address right now about how this basically reverses the power dynamic in which it is now Gopher possessing Noah for his own satisfaction rather than Noah using Gopher either as his lackey or his punching bag. 

The Moon Clowns? Memorable designs, just cannon fodder for fights. They are the equivalent of film-only characters like the villains in a My Hero Academia movie. Their designs are already outclassed by Compress in My Hero Academia. Kaguya has potential but seems more like a prototype for Tamaki in Fire Force in a different direction. Not to encourage fanservice-bait, but less you’re going to use Kaguya in a surprising way in terms of personality or commentary on sexual puritanism or bodily autonomy or just acknowledging that some people are flirts, the most I could imagine is having her face off against Blair--which would just be a repeat of Blair’s fights against Mizune and the Succubus. 

Finally, about Giriko: …Eh, I don’t love his last arc. 

Giriko’s final arc becomes an extended attempt to rape Maka, thereby prompting Soul to intervene to save her, inspired in part by the shoe-horned but not unwelcomed story beat of Maka’s self-doubts that have been with her since the first time she encountered the Clown but which does seem awkwardly forced into the story by introducing the “love letters” / meister invitations to Soul. It is not as if Maka’s arc was not always there, and it’s not as if waiting until this arc to finally address it is bad--but the seams of the narrative stitching are showing. And it all depends on the Mark Millar school of “you know the villain is bad because he wants to rape someone,” which is cliche and, worse than that, a gross failure to actually talk seriously about rape, living after rape, the fact that a rapist is just as likely someone who isn’t a mustache-twirling villain or a Giriko-level obviously bad guy but a toxic "nice guy." 

There is almost something there with Giriko having nothing left to live for after Arachne is dead and confirmed gone forever. But there’s no moment of something haunting there. He is fighting against Soul; Soul has Arachne’s witch soul in him now. Unless I’m forgetting something, it’s not as if we get a scene of Giriko promising he will slice Soul in half and pull Arachne’s soul out of him. That would never bring Arachne back--but it would be symbolic and a quick shorthand to the audience about what Giriko is actually getting at, and it would be a hell of a lot more interesting than, “Giriko wants to get off on sex and power fantasies by raping Maka.” It would remind us that Arachne was a part of all of this. You could even have an excuse to give Giriko a scene, however unearned it is, of him dying and imagining a reunion with Arachne, to show how this toxic loyalty contributed to the bloodlust that ended his life. 

[lalas181]

Literally just found out about Oxrxon What's-His-Face of Txe Oxrxon Expxrixnce being a predator. I'm not even surprised when art people do heinous things anymore, tbh. At least with the dead ones 99% of the time you enjoying their work isn't giving them a platform to continue harm if they've Done Things since they're dead and by definition cannot continue jack nor shit. Still a bummer all around. Not going to stop me from listening to other currently-living music folks who- afkaik -haven't done things on THAT level, but like. Ugh. It's so easy not to cross those specific lines. They are ones you must deliberately choose to cross, like murder is. I'd say that this specific line? Specifically this one that I'm talking about? I'd guess it takes actual large amounts of continued effort to cross, probably!

[ansicred]

break the silence | friendship dynamic (angst edition)

Stuck in a depression hole (somewhat of his own doing), Azz calls Gray in a desperate bid for a distraction. setting: Azz's AWO housing flat, New Year's Eve 2014 characters involved: Azz & Gray Luna warnings: ptsd , death mention , grooming + rape mention , scar detailing , possibly more but i'm unsure

[dereksmcgrath]

This episode is a hard sit...

Before jumping into the audio commentary, I talk about Gogol's English actor casting, correct a mistake, then get into a hard-to-sit through episode.

Content warnings for discussions about depictions of war, torture, child abuse, suicide, and grooming.

I finally get into the audio commentary at around 8:15, which you can listen to while watching the episode on the Crunchyroll web site.

SPOILER WARNING for content up to Chapter 105.5 of the "Bungo Stray Dogs" manga, as well as for the endings of "Soul Eater" and "Fire Force."

How does Yosano's back story revise what you thought about her previous actions, such as how gleeful she seems when healing her teammates, or how vicious she was taking down Motojiro? Please share your responses in the comments section.

Thanks to Ko-fi and Patreon contributors Emily Lauer, Ellak Roach, and Alexis Duran!

A transcript is available at here.

You can listen and download an audio version at Substack or with the RSS link.

You can support my efforts on Ko-fi and Patreon.

[porcelaintoybox23]

One of the darkest aspects of atsv is how Gwen was groomed. When Jess and Miguel took her in, I got "vibes," so to speak. The trailers obviously didn't help, but those painted Miguel in a bad light, unlike Jess.

Gwen, a 15-16 year old, goes with these two in the heat of a tense moment. I don't think anyone had ill intentions, but that doesn't negate the results.

I was shocked when we learned that Gwen hadn't gone home in months. Jess and Miguel become her whole world and take on the roles of her parental figures. In this time, she has become emotionally dependent on them and their approval. Gwen is scared to disappoint them. She's threatened with being returned to her dimension with no support, a place where last anyone saw, her father was trying to arrest her for murder.

Jess uses Gwen's admiration and dependence to manipulate her. She knows Gwen fears letting her down. She goes from being smiley and supportive to blunt and cold.

Gwen is scared. Whether they intended to or not, Miguel and Jess essentially groomed and emotionally abused her. The second she justifiably makes a mistake or just acts like a normal teen who lacks interpersonal relationships, they send her home.

At any point did they try to help Gwen reconcile with her dad? What did they tell her so she'd be fine with her father dying?

I know the dictionary definition is more of a nsfw nature, but I do believe it can occur in just a manipulative manner. They took in a vulnerable child, manipulated her, and threw her out.

Her whole arc reads like a kid disowned for coming out.

Note: I'm a black woman. It's not my job to make you guys feel comfortable with a clearly uncomfortable topic. Complain to the studio who wrote the film. I no longer argue with people who assume the worst of my posts or misinterpret what I painstakingly try to clarify. I don't care. It's my post, and I shall delete and block whoever I want. I'm not the government.

Like it or not, Jess and Miguel, grown adults, take a child with them. They are responsible for her. That is how that works. POC aren't free from criticism. POC can be evil to white women. This is a fictional movie, bitch to the studio who made them the obvious bad guys.

Thank you 😊

[messiahzzz]

i have been thinking a lot about mystra’s relationship with gale, how reducing her to “his ex” really is an understatement. she was and still is so much more than that. moreover, using the term “ex-girlfriend” in relation to her plainly feels wrong and diminishes the influence she has over him, as well as the role she played in his life since his childhood (and it also trivializes the abuse he suffered through her).

there are several instances where gale gets defensive when his companions mention or ask him abt mystra. he claims that their relationship was no less real even though most of their interactions were incorporeal.

we have already established that gale is an unreliable narrator in this particular case, still not having fully come to terms with the fact that he was groomed, manipulated and abused. he ping-pongs between bouts of realization (even in his romance), gaining clarity that he was merely used and eventually discarded and that mystra never truly cared for him, back to making light of his situation, idealizing her once again. realizing the extent of his trauma, that he is indeed a victim in this scenario, unlearning what he has been made to believe from a young age is a slow and painful journey. he is in the process of healing, but it takes time. time he deserves just like anyone else.

which makes me wonder what their relationship really looked like, once the lines between teacher, muse, and lover began to blur. i also feel like one of the reasons why part of the fandom still struggles to identify mystra as his abuser, is because she is a white woman who initially presents herself in a soft-spoken, benevolent manner… and well, the fact that gale himself is ambitious to a fault and a lil insane about the promise of power. he also briefly mentions "crossing mystra’s boundaries” when he confides in tav and tells them about his folly. (“i am, after all, the villain in this story.”) which led to a looooot of misinterpretations.

leaving the overall lore and mystra’s treatment of her other chosen aside — what we can discern from her interactions with gale in-game, is that mystra is civil as long as she remains in control and gale follows her demands, but as soon as there’s even a slight mention of challenging her power or defying her rule, she rather quickly changes her tone.

there is also one particular exchange between them that just won’t leave my head:

“you were many things to me, but never a threat. and never a savior."

even if we choose to blatantly ignore the fact that mystra is a deity, his goddess - there is no possible way that their relationship ever could have been equal by any mortal standards. the power imbalance that comes with her being his teacher and a symbol of his admiration, plus the sheer control she holds over him and his powers are simply too great. don’t even let me get started on how it is a common tactic of abusers to isolate their victims from any outside influences so they can exert full control over them. and how up to meeting tav and their merry band of misfits, every single soul he was close to was inevitably tied to mystra in one way or another. he briefly mentions his colleagues and then there’s elminster, also mystra’s chosen and former lover, and tara, who is a fine wizard in her own right. he spend so many years in service of her, dedicating his life to her, that now there is no one left he can truly call a friend. most of his little anecdotes and stories he tells are restricted to his childhood and university days, everything else was mystra.

evidently, ordering gale to detonate the orb is the most efficient course of action in her eyes. he is just as expendable as any other mortal, after all. maybe once significantly more useful given his status and the extent of his powers, but she doesn’t feel sorrow nor remorse for ordering him to end his life. his death is simply the most convenient means to an end.

another thing i would also like to briefly touch upon is the trigger/detonator itself. a dagger to the heart. it could have been literally anything else, a simple incantation. it is well within mystra’s power to stabilize the orb and also to remove it from his body entirely. but no, what she requires of gale is to stab himself. one might argue that it was simply a cinematic choice meant for a more dramatic effect, but it really leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. especially considering the fact that she is commonly known and referred to as a jealous goddess. it almost makes it seem like yet another form of punishment or mere pettiness. after his long period of isolation, gale is now surrounded by fellow humans. people he cares about, even perhaps people he might eventually consider good friends — which is enough of a reason for him to not want to die, to keep going and try to find another way, rather than to blindly follow mystra’s bidding. now there’s a group of people who support him and are genuinely invested in him staying alive. hmmm...

[sc0moftheanimatiomindustry]

I am so immensely tired that people are STILL blaming Ang, one of Kyle's victims, and call her "just as bad" for coping with Invader Zim nsfw she kept on a PRIVATE account

now youtuber "saberspark" talked about the situation in an hour long video and did exactly that, he said "both of them are bad"

Kyle is a pedophile who was arrested for owning 600 child sexual abuse images. You CANT compare that to someone lewding Invader Zim characters, they don't exist!

But hey, apparently both Kyle and Saberspark were totally cool with posting this, yet Ang is the one who isn't a real victim and has to hide

He also defended an adult waiting to reciprocate a minor's crush until the minor "was at least 20"

[shizukateal]

I understand the buzz over the new chainsaw man chapter because yeah, it is a big moment, development, deliberately meant to be shocking, etc. But if your reaction is like, genuine upset or disgust, or to be more precise the idea that Fujimoto "shouldn't have gone there" or that he crossed some line or whatever... like, you lost me. What about showing jizz onscreen of all things is any more unfiltered than the rest of the story? Wasn't it obvious from day 1 that something like this was going to happen eventually???? When has Fujimoto ever shied away from the fact that sex is kinda gross and visceral? What about this handjob is any worse than the myriad of times Denji and other characters were being groomed????? Btw I'm asexual.

[pricegouge]

i'm still not fully comfortable writing realdad!price and will likely continue with the stepcest buffer if i ever write for that dynamic again, but here are some things i think work better with your actual father for... reasons

cw (besides the obv): implied grooming, noncon/dubcon voyeurism, tradwife training, piss kink, possessiveness, menstruation

when you're older and price is really starting to test the limits of what he can get you to do for him, how far he can train and mold you into that perfect little housewife roll he'd always hoped for you (greeting him by the door with a happy smile and kiss on the cheek, a roast finishing in the oven, timed perfectly to be ready when you're done removing his shoes for him and massaging the ache from his knee), he rewards you with your favorite pet name from when you were a kid dragging around your cute dollies, said now with a different kind of reverance. 'little mama,' he mutters, and revels in the way it makes you squirm, always happy to know you've been taking care of something just right. he watches as you keep squirming about it late into the night, doesn't even feel bad about it - you've known about the nanny cam in your room for years now, sweetheart. if you don't want him to see, you should save it for the shower

i know i'm a broken record atp, but piss kink 😵‍💫 just imagine how much he'd tease you the first time he makes you squirt. 'thought you were past this phase,' he laughs, balling up your soaked sheets

speaking of kink, i think he definitely treats it the same way loosey goosey parents treat underage drinking. he'd rather you try it at home where he can keep you safe, baby. you want to try something you saw on one of your big girl sites? don't be shy, come to papa. he'll take care of you, show you how to do it properly. make sure you have a good time. he just wants to be sure you're prepared (he has no intention of letting you use the what you've learned with anyone else)

period sex. period care in general, really. he'd be sooooo sweet about it i just know it. (by sweet I mean he'd be bullying your cervix every chance he got because it's right there, all swollen and descended, and it's a safe time of the month for that,right?) would also think his dicks a cure-all for cramps but he's probably right about that so we let it slide

[jesncin]

reading up on more Conner comics and I think it's sad that at the heart of it, his story is that of a boy forced to grow up too soon. Everything from "Don't call me Superboy" (because he wants to be SuperMAN) to the way he's constantly groomed and objectified by older characters and the narrative itself (which weirdly continues into the Young Justice cartoon), to the way he tries to emulate a sense of self from the idea he has of those around him (his performative machismo as a rock star superhero to wondering whether he's more like Superman or Lex Luthor).

Even when they give him stories where he goes to school and lives some kind of normal teen life-there's never a big enough acknowledgement that it's what he needs more than anything (or they fall into the trappings of still treating him like he's older than he is). This kid skipped out on his childhood and popped out as a confused teenager, but narratively he's treated like a younger hunky Superman.

There's a lot of compelling story there! But I think since it's really popular in fandom to re-imagine Conner as POC, to be really careful about how all those themes get amplified and re-contextualized with racial identity. Being forced to grow up too soon is a common experience among POC and especially Black kids with how they get profiled through racism. Just all things to consider! I feel like when fanon just treats POC Conner as a re-skin of white Conner we're in danger of repeating a worse version of canon's problems.

[xanderisbraindead]

Ava kris tyson and cody ko being exposed around the same time is amazing evidence ab how when a neurotypical cishet christian white guy is a bad person its “this guy sucks” but with everyone else its like “wow all black people are robbers” “all muslims are terrorists” “all trans ppl are pedophiles” “all mentally ill ppl are unsafe to be around”

This isn’t a trans issue, its a pedophilia issue. It’s a consent issue. It’s a grooming issue. Anyone can be a sexual abuser, not just one demographic of people

LGBTQ+ youth are nearly four times as likely to experience child sexual abuse than their straight peers. LGBTQ+ adults are 2-3x more likely to experience sexual violence than straight adults. Source

There is no evidence to support the idea that LGBTQ people are more likely to be sex offenders. In fact, sex offenders are disproportionately likely to be heterosexual men- source

[rosebridal]

narrative foil antagonism at its best

[dereksmcgrath]

Nervous about Yosano’s upcoming back story, and comparing Fitz and Mori…

Before jumping into the audio commentary, I talk about material that requires content warnings about what we will get soon with Mori and Yosano’s backstories.

Content warnings for discussions about depictions of war, torture, child abuse, suicide, and grooming.

Then I discuss how this arc is setting up a contrast not between the Agency and the Mafia, but between the Mafia and the Guild.

I finally get into the audio commentary at around 24:30, which you can listen to while watching the episode on the Crunchyroll web site.

SPOILER WARNING for content up to Chapter 105.5 of the Bungo Stray Dogs manga.

Do you think I’m too hard on the Mafia? Seeing as I do spend part of the audio commentary discussing how Chuuya really should just be in his own spinoff, would he work as a new Mafia leader? Or do you think someone else should lead (other than Mori, of course)? Please share your responses in the comments section.

Thanks to Ko-fi and Patreon contributors Emily Lauer, Ellak Roach, and Alexis Duran!

You can also download this commentary as an audio file at Patreon (free starting after the YouTube premiere) and Substack (free after the YouTube premiere) and wherever you get your podcasts.

A transcript is here.

[lilybug-02]

Sorry to bring this up, but you used to draw with a guy under the name GameTheSoldier right? Have you seen what he recently posted?

Yes. For starters, I want to reiterate that anyone reading this post NEEDS TO BLOCK HIM. He is an online predator and emotional manipulator.

Trigger Warning Below: (Mentions of manipulation, predatory behavior, grooming, and pornography)

Me and 2 of my close tumblr friends would draw with him constantly on magma.io (all of 2022). He had strange tendencies of guilting us into drawing late into the night and emotionally breaking our characters. February of last year both of my friends came out and told me that he had been talking and drawing with them more privately. He had asked and guilted them into drawing pornography and extremely violent artworks of his and their characters. Both were underage.

I can tell you that what he has "admitted" in his most recent post is not even close to what he actually did.

Gamethesoldier, as a 22+ year old man, targeted MULTIPLE minors online, heavily MANIPULATED them, started long and serious relationships with them, and MANY more disgusting acts with pornography and gore. I went to the police last year, but was unable to get him arrested as he and his victims were in different countries and I myself was not one of his victims.

What he has done is unacceptable, despicable, and criminally illegal. One of my friends was heavily impacted by his actions and is still clearly shaken by what happened. They are at no fault for any of what he did.

For respect to my friends, I kept this quiet, deleting all of my art with him. But recently I saw he was with another magma.io group and... I could NOT let that stand. He does not deserve pity or empathy. He is a criminal and one who has manipulated minors to a horrifying degree.

I apologize for the extreme degree of this post. But I wanted to make it clear, he is not a good person.

[marshadellow]

A huge and important callout, because we are tired. Please share