#does that make persephone a boomer ???

[genericpuff]

while i frantically finish up what remains of Ep 67, have some essays that went in the drafts oven and never came out :'D

[zenosanalytic]

Woe(and NOT the fun kind |:T)

So I managed to push myself through the first episode of Wednesday, and then watched the next two eps, and my take on the series is: DEEPLY uneven.

Spoilers for the first 3 eps under the Cut, though I didn’t watch the whole series and probably wont

The first 20ish minutes of the first episode(effectively the Pilot) is REALLY BAD, cliched and over-done, with a meager handful of dark spots(the car ride, LURCH :>, the color allergy, “everyone will know I didn’t finish the job”) to make up for it. However, at the therapy scene the True Strength(one of three) of the series is finally allowed to shine in Jenna Ortega’s performance as Wednesday Addams. The Rose Lalonde energy here shatters the scale; her Cruel Wit, Knifely Cunning, and icy REFUSAL of sufferance and Compromise irradiated the scene and all around it; cutting through -Bright and Cancer-Green-  the fetid tissue it was buried within.

Unfortunately there simply is So MUCH of the latter, and it ultimately smothers that brilliance. There IS Charisma to be found here aside from Ortega(Riki Lindhome as the therapist of course giving what Ortega needs, Joy Sunday positively CHEWING her way through some of the WORST material here as Wednesday’s rival[the LOATHING, Dear Readers, the Loathing it BUUUURNS so PITCH and HOT >:> >:>], Christie of course is as solid as she always is with on-point delivery and an artisan’s command of her GENERATIONAL physicality, Victor Dorobantu is a positive JOY as Thing, Zeta-Jones and Guzman are a Delight, and Christina Ricci does so much with so little in a surprise supporting role), but with everyone BUT Wednesday and Thing, the material is simply too great a weight, and most of the cast simply does not have the chops or time to act through both the awful writing AND Burton’s banal influence as producer and director.

All Burton’s old failings are here to their worst display: an over-wrought “normies” and “outcasts” dividing of the world which is, simultaneously!, forced and not truly committed to; Weirdness, disemboweled of its Queerness and transgressiveness, then stretched crepe-thin over Convention(WEDNESDAY ADDAMS working with the COPS?!!?!); a desire for things TO be weird without any desire to truly UNDERSTAND Them OR their Weirdness in the first place(would it have killed these writers to actl READ SOMETHING about bees instead of just making shit up for lame dick-jokes?); characters too smart for their writers pummeled with the idiot-ball through lazily convenient plots; Goth aesthetics emptied UTTERLY of their ethos and cultural relevance(What. The Hell! Is even the POINT of an Addams that hears “You’re father’s a Murderer!” and doesn’t respond, with Pride and an unsettling smile?); attempts to write Teenaged and Current so dated, so clearly in the voice of a too-long too-comfortable Boomer who doesn’t understand the issues and hasn’t cared to try in near-on 30 years, that even rolling one’s eyes at them seems more than they deserve. Even Ortega’s Wednesday drags under this; how do you feed her a line like “what; are you a girl scout now?” and NOT have her answer with “Well, you ARE what you eat...”??? A story which sets Wednesday Addams to STOP a brutal cannibalistic monster; to PREVENT a moribund institution shattering under the Night-bourne reckoning of its ancient sins, consumed in Fire and Blood; A story which depicts WEDNESDAY FUCKING ADDAMS WORKING WITH THE FUCKING COPS TO CATCH AND PUNISH(?????) A MURDERER does NOT! Understand!! Wednesday Addams!!! Or the Addams family in general. Also the Addams snap doesn’t NEED a backstory! PERSEPHONE AVENGE ME!!!

This series and these characters are not NEARLY morbid enough. There is no Gothic Romance here; no Accursed Hero to Spit in the face of God and Shank the Devil. Much worse, Burton’s desire to be Society’s victim without, you know, knowing anything AT ALL about  the people our society ACTUALLY VICTIMIZES, or Caring to know them, or even SIDING with them, or having any history of personal or historical victimization, does the series real harm.

**SERIOUSLY! SPOILERS!!**

Maybe the rest of the series somehow fixes this(I really don’t care to find out at this point) but, through his conceit of “normie” and “outcast” societies, Burton LITERALLY makes white people the REAL victims of native American genocide, in just three episodes no less!, and I honestly don’t see how you can walk that back. The “Corrupt” mayor of the town and owner of its local themepark(only a well-to-do who grew up in LA would think themeparks are something EVERYONE has a ‘local’ of) is black. The Head Bully of this town, his son, is black. The “Queen Bee” Mean Girl of the BOARDING SCHOOL the whole series takes place in, is black(tho again: Sunday does a gr8 job with this material, as exceedingly limited as it is. The kismestic-tension btwn her and Ortega in some of these scenes is *Chef’s Kiss* Delicious :3 :3 :3). For decades people have been complaining about Burton’s refusal to include black people in his work and this is his response: a series were MOST OF THE ANTAGONISTS are black?! At least BIANCA is allowed to be COMPETENT!

Anyway: I love Ortega, I love Sunday at her most Imperious and Manipulative and Bloodthirstily Competitive, and Moosa Mostafa’s immediate lovability as a bee-nerd is ruthlessly wasted by awful writing. Give me a full season of, In Treatment like, Ortega and Lindhome sparring through therapy sessions. Give me a full season of Christie’s meancing, barely-contained Violence and simmering languor. Give me a full season of Wednesday and Thing committing Shenanigans upon assholes who deserve gruesome death. But SPARE Me This.

[redladydeath]

Your OCs wouldn't celebrate Halloween, but let's pretend that they do or that they go to a costume party organized by a fellow dead monarch. What costumes do that wear? Are there couple costumes or group costumes? Does Mary S successfully convince William to go?

sdfghjkhgfdsdfgh george iv is the host

w&m roll up dressed like hades and persephone from hadestown bc maisey just discovered it and is into it and william made a promise to her and himself that he'll always go places with her if she asks from now on. he doesn't like parties, but it's making her happy so it's worth it.

lizzie scares people with whatever she shows up in. she's like one those cosplayers who create functioning robotics for their costumes, but with even less chill.

philip and guildford wouldn't go because "i'm not british thank god" and "i don't belong with these people"

victoria and albert would definitely do a couple's costume thing. vic chooses the theme of course (i'm picturing beetlejuice bc b&w stripes and small goth girl).

mary t shows up, but she's not in costume. if pushed, she'll say she's herself.

anne and george are there wandering around like boomers in their really basic costumes, but they're having a good time and everyone's glad they're there

jane picks a really obscure costume that requires five minutes of excited explanation. she has fun and mostly sticks with howard + some of the other young queens.

mattie's rocking the drag king aesthetic and is absolutely vibing

geoffrey went hard on the face paint, but he's mostly here to par-tay. probably needs to be escorted off the premises after a couple hours.

[aj-artjunkyard]

Gods=Generations

I kinda see the god’s attitudes as the human generations. (This comparison is extremely general - there are always exceptions. Please don’t be offended if my overview is different than your own. I’m also just stating the way I think of the immortals in my mind - it doesn’t have to be completely correct or loyal to the books/myths) The first generation Titians and their parents (Kronos, Gaea, Rhea ect) are the Baby Boomers, who are around 65 in humans right now. They’re mostly old fashioned and dislike the modern ways and the younger generations, though some side with the young and defend them. We know that Rhea shares the disliking modern ways view when she talked to Apollo in The Hidden Oracle: “Iris is a good soul. I dig her. But, you know, these younger goddesses, they weren’t around to fight the revolution. They don’t get what it was like when your old man was eating your children and you couldn’t get a real job and the Titan chauvinists just wanted you to stay home and cook and clean and have more Olympian babies.” Does that not sound exactly like something a boomer might say? But some (see: the ones who fought with the Olympians in the First Titan War, including Rhea) are most like the old folks who appreciate the excitement of the changing times for the youngsters and support them.

The first generation gods/second generation titans (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Leto ect) are Generation X, who are 40-54 years old right now in humans. They are tolerant of technology and modern times and brag about their childhoods being the best. Constantly saying things like “Back in my day-“. They can be over-expectant of their children and some have a need to stick to some old beliefs - “The first generation of gods could be a stuffy bunch (I’m looking at you, Hera, Hades, Dad)” - Apollo in The Hidden Oracle. But otherwise, they're ok. 

Here’s where things get more interesting. The second generation gods (Persephone, Apollo, Hermes, Aphrodite ect) act like the Millennials, who are around 20-37 years old in human terms, and they’re more chill and modern then the previous bunch. I imagine them using weirdly childish insults that catch everyone but each other off guard in an argument, and they think it’s hilarious (You’re not invited to my birthday party anymore / UgH I’m going to deSTROY YOUR MINECRAFT HOUSE). More (but not completely) emotion-driven, pushing for change and sometimes are suffocated under the stifling, commanding rule of Zeus. Gods like Athena are aware of problems, and more willing to try to fix things. Sometimes people expect too much of them.

The third generation gods (Asclepius, Eros ect) are like Generation Z in my mind, who are our youngest kids to late teens right now. They’re weirdly pessimistic but always seem to make fun out of it. They have less childish, more dark humour that throws everyone through a loop every time. (I’ve heard several kids yell insults such as “I’ll shred your toes” and “I’ll crankle your ankles” or “You’ve Yee’d your last Haw”)

So when I categorise the immortals like this, it leads to thinking of situations like this: Poseidon, a gen X: Perhaps you should take a few deep breaths before continuing

Athena, a millennial: Deep breaths??? In this economy????? There’s no fresh air anymore you absolute buffoon 

or

Apollo, a millennial: You’re not invited to my birthday party anymore

Asclepius, a gen Z, slamming his hands on table: How dare you I’ll steal your tee t  h

[redrikki]

Miscellaneous Fandom Fic Masterlist

The 100

Born to Float - Octavia became a criminal with her first breath. Some people are just born to float. (Octavia Blake, Bellamy Blake, Aurora Blake)

Post-Apocalyptic Ethics 101 - Collection of dribbles & short stories. (Bellamy Blake, Clarke Griffin, Marcus Kane, Jasper Jordan)

Coin Operated Boy - The things John Murphy does to survive. Tag to 3.10. Trigger Warning: RAPE. (John Murphy/Emori, Murphy/Ontari)

Battlestar Galactica 

Persephone on New Caprica - It’s winter on New Caprica and they’re all Persephone here. A collection of short stories. (Gaius Baltar/Caprica Six, Felix Gaeta/Eight, Kara Tharce/Leoben Conroy)

Four Loves (The Canoodling on New Caprica Remix) - Three loves which died on New Caprica and one which flourished. Remix of Canoodling & Conspiracies Oh My! by raktajino. (Maya & Isis, Diana Seelix & Jammer, Boomer & God, Laura Roslin/William Adama)

The Broken Earth series Seismic Shift - Schaffa tells himself he will stop if Eitz says no. This one will be allowed to say no. The boy says nothing at all. (Schaffa, Eitz) WARNING: Child Sexual Abuse

Dark Angel

Tricks & Treats - Joshua and Alec go to a party. Joshua eats little hot dogs and is diverting. (Joshua, Alec, Rita)

Another Day at the Office - Insert zombie apocalypse. (Alec, Original Cindy, Normal)

Pooka Boo - Maybe Ben’s hallucinations started out random and fluffy too. (Alec, Max, Logan, Original Cindy, Pooka)

Dollhouse

Ms. Lonelyhearts -  Adelle knew Victor was a lover at heart. (Adelle Dewitt/Victor, Sierra/Victor)

Downton Abbey

The Hedgehog’s Dilemma - “Mind my spikes.” Five warnings, four relationships and one revelation. Daemons AU. (Thomas Barrow/Duke, Thomas & Sara O'Brien, Thomas/Edward Courtney, Thomas/Jimmy Kent)

Bluestocking Girl - Four books which didn’t change Edith’s life and one letter to the editor which did. (Edith Crawley, Crawley family)

Snakes & Lions - In Thomas, Jimmy finds that courage isn’t exclusive to Gryffindors. Now if only he could find some himself. Harry Potter fusion. Part one of Houses Alike In Dignity (Thomas Barrow/Jimmy Kent)

The House Elf and the Lioness - “Honestly Sybil, he’s practically a house elf,” Mary exclaimed when she caught them kissing in the stacks. Harry Potter fusion. Part two of Houses Alike In Dignity (Sybil Crawley/Tom Branson, Mary Crawley)

The Owl & the Son-of-a-Squib - Matthew Crawley is quite shocked when an owl swoops down and drops off a letter which changes his life. Harry Potter fusion. Part three of Houses Alike In Dignity (Matthew Crawley, Isobel Crawley, Violet Crawley)

The Dragon Prince

Dragon Scales - Collection of short tumblr prompts. (Rayla, Callum, Ezran, Amaya, Soren) You Fight Like You Practice - Callum’s never been good with a sword, but the right teacher can make all the difference. Two lessons, two teachers, and one real fight. (Callum, Soren, Rayla) The Talk - Rayla and Callum finally talk about what happened the night of the assassination. (Rayla, Callum, Ezran)

Firefly

Firefly, In Brief - Collection of short stories and dribbles. (Firefly crew)

Will to Be Well (The Psychosomatic Remix) - Studies on the efficacy of acupuncture are inconclusive but, if River believes hard enough, learning the art might make her better. Remix of If I Could Will You Whole by Spiralleds (River, Inara, Jayne)

Harry Potter

Have to Start Somewhere (The Words to Rebuild Remix) - This diary belongs to Ginevra Molly Weasley and no one else. Remix of Words to Build by Elennare. (Ginny Weasley)

Interstellar

Eureka Moment - The night she solved the equation, Murph had unprotected sex for the first time in her life. (Murph/Getty)

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Requiescat in pace - In which Jonathan Strange discovers that returning the dead to their natural state is more difficult than he would imagine. (Jonathan Strange, dead Neapolitans)

Miraculous Ladybug

Intrepid Reporter - Alya won’t let a little thing like danger stop her from reporting the truth. (Alya, Marinette, Nino) Better Than Ice Cream - Orange, mint, and raspberry could be a tasty combination. The solution to every love triangle should be polyamory, but sometimes it’s just not that simple. (Marinette, Adrien) St. Athanase Day - Adrien and Marinette’s beret the second time around. She forgets the card but still signs her work. (Adrien, Plagg) No Sleep Til Hawkmoth - An overly-caffeinated revelation helps narrow Alya’s search for Hawkmoth (Alya, Marinette, Adrien, Nino, Chloé)

Misfits

Good Housekeeping - It’s been months since his mum kicked him out, but at least Nathan hasn’t sunk to sleeping under the flyover. He’s got a good thing going at the community center and means to keep it. (Nathan Young)

The (Non)Haunting of Nathan Young -And to think he’d scoffed when Simon had tried to warn him. Everyone you love will die. What a laugh, right? Christ, he’s been such an idiot. (Nathan Young/Kelly Bailey)

Pushing Daisies

Li'l Gumshoe - Young Penny Cod was nine years, two hours, and forty-three minutes old when she found the book which changed her life. Like hundreds of other little black girls who would encounter Li’l Gumshoe, she felt as though it had been written just for her. The difference was, Penny Cod was right. (Penny Cod, Emerson Cod, Lila Robinson, Pie Hole gang)

Orphan Black

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl - There’s something magical about Uncle Felix’s flat. Maybe it’s all the art. (Kira, Felix, Cosima)

Devil’s Trap - Helena and Grace have a lot in common. (Helena, Grace)

Despite All My Rage - Rachel is still just a rat in a cage. So much for self-directed evolution. (Rachel, Aldous Leekie, Ethan Duncan)

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Shadow Over Mystacor - After Shadow Weaver’s attack on Mystacor, Adora just wants to relax, but that’s hard to do when it’s all her fault. (Adora, Glimmer, Bow)

Parting Strands - Looking out for each other had been their thing, but Adora’s starting to suspect that’s over. Her thoughts during that scene in “Promise.” (Adora, Catra)

The Good Soldier On the sliding scale between perfect soldier Adora and useless malcontent Catra, Lonnie was closer to the Adora end of the spectrum. How the hell had Catra made Force Captain before her? Catra was just going crash and burn and Lonnie? Lonnie would let her. (Lonnie, Catra, Team Horde)

She-Ra (Modesty) Shorts - Adora/Catra shorts written for the 3 Sentence Ficathon. (Adora/Catra)

A Song of Ice and Fire

The Return - Robb sends Theon home to Pyke. If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention. (Asha Greyjoy, Greyjoy family)

Stranger Things

Smurfete Principle - There can be more than one girl in the party. El and Max work things out at the Snow Ball. (Max, El)

Stranger Side of the Force - While watching Star Wars, El notices she and Vader have a lot in common. (El, Mike, Max, Lucas, Dustin, Will)

It Lingers - The Mind Flayer is gone, but El can still feel it clawing underneath her skin. (El, Joyce, Will, Jonathan) Date Night - Everyone and her mother seems to think they’re together and Robin’s getting pretty sick of it. (Robin, Steve, The Party)

Temeraire

Epistolary - Dear Lady Allendale….yours, etc., Emily Roland (Emily Roland)

Umbrella Academy

Heroes for Ghosts - Eudora waits for Diego and things at the hotel go very differently. (Klaus, Diego, Ben, Eudora, Hazel, Cha-Cha, Ghosts)

Peanut Butter and Marshmallows - Stuck in the apocalypse, Five reads about Vanya leaving him sandwiches. (Five, Delores)

Iconic - When Vanya learns Klaus is gay from an article in a teen magazine, she’s upset for more than a few reasons. (Vanya, Klaus) Feed Your Head - Three shitty things young Klaus did for drugs and one thing they did for him. (Klaus, Reginald, Grace) When Evil Rains - Umbrella Academy shorts (Klaus, Diego)

Voltron: Legendary Defender

Players Only Love You When They’re Playing - Coran kept staring at Romelle like she was walking miracle, but Allura couldn’t look at her without thinking of Lotor and his betrayal.

White Collar

Eyes on the Target (The Solid Ground Remix) - Peter asked her to keep an eye on Neal for him while he’s stuck in jail. It could be going better. Remix of Keep Your Feet on Solid Ground by frith_in_thorns. (Dianna Berrigan, Neal Caffrey, Peter Burke)

[the-king-andthe-lionheart]

@intheairwewilllookmonstrous​

I was just reading “Five Centuries of Sex, Adventure, Vice, Treachery, and Folly from Royal Britain” by Michael Farquhar, and I came across this passage:

Orphaned at a young age, she [Arbella Stuart] was left in the care of her maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury (popularily known as Bess of Hardwick), “a woman of masculine understanding,” as the antiquarian Edmund Lodge described her - “proud, furious, selfish and unfeeling.”  Perhaps she wasn’t quite that bad, but Bess was indeed formidable.

Here even specific traits are considered “masculine” even though human traits are not inherently “feminine” or “masculine”.  You can even see here how they are demonizing this ambitious and fierce woman as being “selfish” and “unfeeling” which is quite common when women step out of their perceived roles in history as being opinionated, willfull, and/or educated.

The fact that people still perpetuate these harmful gender stereotypes in order to demonize and demean someone or something is frankly not only gross but truly disturbing to me, and I wish GRRM never said that Arya was a “tomboy”, but I wish GRRM wouldn’t say a lot of things that he doesn’t understand considering his “boomer” status as a white man, despite him being fairly progressive for a “boomer”.  Such as he never seems to know what he’s talking about when it comes to abuse, bullying, consent, and mental disorders and illnesses.  Like may I remind everyone that GRRM doesn’t label Joffrey as a potential “psychopath” but a bully, but then called Arya a “psychopath”.  Like what?????  The Arya comment was most likely him misspeaking, but STILL.

But what really makes me mad is when they are being hypocritical as well.  Remember that weirdo who claimed that horseriding was “masculine” thus Arya was “masculine”, yet plenty of other female characters loved horseriding as well.  Margaery loves horseriding and sailing and hawking/hunting and she mingles with the commons and serfs (we in fact do not know if she is genuine or not when doing this but she could be) and it’s clear she is ambitious to some extent like the rest of her family and is very well educated, yet she isn’t labeled as “masculine” simply because she can also conform to the ideal highborn “feminine” ways, or at least can deftly pretend to.  But apparently when you hand a girl a sword because she wants to learn swordfighting like her brothers, because she believes in equality of the genders, it means she’s “masculine” even though that is pretty much the only stereotypical “masculine” trait she has.  But people really love tacking on crap about Arya hating women and femininity and dresses, which is not true at all.  Arya hates being forced to do things that she is constantly compared to Sansa for.  Arya hates being punished for not being able to conform even though she’s still a child at the beginning of AGOT and she had a horrible abusive teacher who obviously didn’t personally work with Arya in a way Arya could respond to.  Arya loves and admires all kinds of women.  And Arya doesn’t hate dresses, she’s just practical, like stated above, hence why she doesn’t complain about wearing dresses in AGOT or in Braavos when she is secure in her relative safety at the HOBAW.  

Honestly I don’t understand how people completely miss all this in Arya’s story.  Like how do they miss all these “feminine”-coded things that Arya is naturally inclined to or does.  Arya is social and loves picking flowers, she loves playing with babies and children, she loved naming babies in the womb, she took care of a troublesome toddler with kindness in a wartorn countryside while she was a child herself.  She often cooks and cleans and caregives.  Her symbolism - the water, the moon, wolves, swans, etc. -  and motifs and parallels - Cinderella, Snow White, Red Riding Hood, Swan Lake, Persephone, etc. - are also very “feminine”-coded.  And even her sword and preferred fighting style are also “feminine”-coded as she is using a “Needle” and “Dancing”.  And of course Water Dancing is an amalgamation of BALLET and fencing.

i think my big problem with people using "tomboy" as a descriptor for arya is that there's nothing wrong with the term as it is, it's a word used to describe a girl or woman who likes to take part in traditionally "masculine" activities and in later years has phased out of use as we learn more about gender identity and gender expression and what "masculine" and "feminine" even mean. it's just a word and by itself it might even apply to her just going by definition alone.

but that's not the issue i have with it, my problem with people calling arya a "tomboy" is that they're using it to justify why she has to be ugly and can never be a lady or a queen, when that's utter bullshit. they use the fact that she wears trousers for riding, and practicing water dance (which is only practical, who the hell is exercising in silk dresses?), and while hiding to say she despises dresses and femininity when that's just not supported by the text.

the only times she's ever complained about having to wear a dress were when she refused to go with sansa to the queen's wheelhouse in AGoT, during her water dance lessons because that was just impractical and when she's made to wear dresses and comb her hair and mind her courtesies once people found out she was a lady back in the riverlands and started putting all these expectations on her they didn't have a couple days before; and she even got sad when she ruined the acorn dress so it's not like she did it out of spite. other than that she never minded any of the dresses she wore in braavos, even wore some of them out of her own volition.

arya never once refuses to take part in household activities even if she's mostly doing them as a servant and out of survival, and we know she doesn't think any less of the women who do such things because she enjoys being around the small folk and the servants and even prostitutes and talking to them. arya stark loves flowers and people and naming babies and playing with them. she takes care of a baby herself while she's nothing but a child because she refused to leave her behind. arya is a romantic and nurturing and insecure about her looks because she wants to be pretty too. i'm not saying these are all things that define womanhood, but these are the traits that define hers.

the term is outdated and sexist and used to put women down and devoid them of their womanhood for daring to live out of the norm and what's expected of them by implying that by rejecting certain aspects of their expected roles they're trying to be like boys, and it's used by people who can't accept that sansa's own femininity is flawed and rooted in classist and patriarchal ideals of what a woman should be, and that both arya and sansa can be beautiful and feminine in two different ways. they're trying so hard to seem woke and supportive of this arya that doesn't exist who hates women and everything associated with them that they've circled all the way back to misogyny.

[skin-slave]

**Spoilers, but only if you haven't seen The Magicians 3:5 or beyond, and anti-religious overtones, and assault discussion. Long post, but goddamnit I can't stop thinking about it.**

No offense to Julia but I would've murdered TF out of Reynard in front of his mom and defiled his corpse for days.

Fuck Persephone, ok? She doesn't get to sit back and watch him rape and torture and murder, and then swoop in and save him from the natural consequences of his actions on the unverifiable promise that she'll "take care of it." If she gave a damn about any of it, she would've stopped it long before then. She either didn't care or she enjoyed it and either way, she can fucking die and go to hell (pun intended but still I'm srs). She can't be trusted to do anything but unleash him again. She's exactly like some posh cunt who watches their kid drive drunk using their license, knows ppl are killed and maimed in the process, only gets off their ass when the police show up, convince them that "he'll be dealt with," and after they leave just goes back to berating the help.

Having power does not exempt her from basic morality, and if puny little ppl can see that it's immoral, buddy, it's really fucking immoral. "Vengeance is mine" and "mysterious ways" and all that shit is just an abuser's way of weaseling out of consequences. And "you're a survivor, you're still capable of mercy" is not an apology or a compliment and doesn't fucking cut it. Trauma is not a skill set and letting someone off scot-free is not mercy.

Fuck. That. Bitch. She does not deserve one iota of trust or respect. There is literally nothing she could do that will make up for this shitshow. There is no possible happy ending that will make it all worthwhile. There is no part of Julia's character that couldn't possibly have developed without it.

I mean, the writers really nailed what actual god would be like, so kudos to them. I love that their god-aware world isn't all churchy and trite. They're just trying to wrangle these gross, juiced-up fuckwads who are genuinely terrible ppl, and help their friends, and hopefully have a livable world in the end. There's no fealty or worship or unconditional anything. So good.

And obv I find the depiction of Julia's trauma, and especially her feelings about the pregnancy, very relatable. The loss of her shade, and her breakdown when it was returned, is really how it is, and I think it made it more relatable to ppl who haven't had the experience. It sucks that she gets zero justice and somehow it all becomes her responsibility to fix, but that's the norm, so it's appropriate. They really didn't gloss over it like a little plot point and I appreciate the representation.

And this is part of why I don't often watch/read things that are heavy on the drama. It's one thing to still be laughing over a comedy a week later. But still wanting to punch a fictional god (when I'm already quite god-punchy in the first place) a week later isn't the same. I mean, I'm not gonna stop watching bc they gotta get magic back and make a golem for Penny to inhabit bc he's awesome (and Alice gotta get laid, and the Fairy Queen gotta be like 'yeah we were just helping you fix everything and we just went about it like a bunch of shitstains bc we're actually shitstains,' and hopefully the boomer dragon gets another appearance, and idk what they're gonna do with Kady but it's probably gonna be stupid and sappy and I might as well find out, and omg Eliot and Idri gotta pick up where they left off bc 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥). I'm invested, ok??? Shut up.

And still Persephone should have to switch places with Prometheus and he should get to join the team.

[genericpuff]

ok listen right

please don't take the implication of what i'm about to say the completely wrong way, there's a point i have to make here

there's this gross thing that happens in LO that's been definitely talked about numerous times (by many people) where fashion is used to label a character's like, "alignment" between "good" "bad" "pure" "tainted" etc. this is something that comes up a lot when discussing Minthe and Persephone because there are a LOAD of double standards in how Minthe was treated and viewed for dressing like a "slut" but then Persephone wears the exact same fit and suddenly she's a queen-

(image courtesy of @anoldplace on Instagram, I'll be showing a couple of their posts in this because they show off a lot of the great - and frankly disturbing - parallels in LO, whether intended by Rachel or not)

-but can we talk about how the "bad ending" version of Persephone where she ends up with Apollo slaps WAY FUCKING HARDER than anything we've seen her dressed in since she got with Hades ??

fucking hello?? where's THAT fit ??

you're telling me this girl is queen of the underworld and the best she can do in the fashion department is looking like a color-swapped version of Hera ???

and I WANNA MAKE THIS PERFECTLY CLEAR, this isn't me trying to say "Persephone would have been way cooler if she got with Apollo", that is FAR from the point, more so just pointing out the pattern of Rachel aligning "bad" with "dresses with more flavor than an extremely out-of-touch conservative boomer". Even when she tries to draw Persephone in more "out there" clothing it just comes across as ... tacky? And only at her own detriment?

Like, how the fuck is this supposed to be Persephone being drawn through a literal male gaze (Apollo):

And THIS is supposed to be Persephone being drawn from a female gaze (her own because she dressed herself):

Like literally how? How does this happen? Especially when the latter is STILL being framed from a male perspective (the green guy behind her, "Jeffrey") but we're supposed to believe it's some "boss babe" moment for Persephone to just be walking down the street while getting oggled inappropriately by a male onlooker? How could these scenes be any more different and yet more alike? She's still being objectified for the characters around her and the audience, but we're supposed to believe the second is better than the first one because... she chose to wear that?

Sure, one could argue that at least she dressed herself and that definitely gives her agency, but it's really Rachel telling on herself where her priorities are in trying to write a "feminist comic" that she had Persephone dress herself and then STILL have its only purpose be for men on the sidelines to stare at and objectify her. When you just know this same outfit would have undoubtedly been used to slut shame characters like Minthe or Thetis or Leuce.

I don't even know, man. The intentions in LO's writing are so confused, contradictory, and ultimately pointless. It's trying so hard to be "feminist" and a "deconstruction of purity culture" but then it turns around and reinforces all that same shit it's claiming to be fighting against anyways. Persephone would be an evil slut if she was with Apollo, look at her outfit! But not here, not the banana purse dress being oggled by strangers on the sidewalk, not now that she settled down with her old rich husband who she only knew for a couple weeks before being separated for 10 years but their love was just so strong and the thirst for dick so real that she and him loyally waited for one another until she was old enough to make it "not be creepy" anymore for them to hook up, but only after marriage. She's definitely not a gold digger like Minthe or a vapid slut like Thetis or a homewrecker like Leuce, nah.

I just wish she'd dress herself, for the love of god. Let her dress herself with her own input and not the influence of the people around her or the tone of the comic's own internalized misogyny that demands "woman must always be objectified for better or for worse, that is The Rule!"

Of course she can't "dress herself" though. She's an extension of Rachel and Rachel herself writes like an out-of-touch boomer who will and has gladly gone about how men are just clamoring at the bit to stare at her and get to her... but then claims she "didn't realize sexism was all that bad" until she started working on LO.

Sorry, this post got very long and very mean, I initially just wanted to make the comparison in a very silly haha "wild how bad ending Persephone has way more visual personality than good ending Persephone" way, but then I thought about it too long and pissed myself off LMAO

And no, I don't want to go back to beating the dead horse of "banana dress bad" because honestly, I think in any other context or comic, sure, it would be very cute to see her walking around in an outfit she chose herself even if it's "objectively" not a great outfit, it shows agency and not caring what other people think which is VERY freeing. But we're not reading that comic, we're reading LO, where a woman's worth and value is only determined by how the men around her react to her and only Persephone is allowed to be empowered by wearing outfits that would otherwise be treated as "slutty" if worn by anyone else.

I don't want the message to be "Persephone looks like a dumbass bimbo" or, on the flipside, "Persephone looks boring and out-of-touch", I want the message to be "Persephone is valid for dressing how she wants, just like how the women around her are valid for dressing how they want regardless of whether or not they're protagonists or antagonists."

Quit using women's fashion as an alignment chart, quit using these "not so sly for a misogynist guy" dogwhistles as a way to "other" the women around the power fantasy main character. Women deserve to dress how they want without shame or objectification - all women, not just the women you like.