#even when it's not me giving my characters a bunch of trauma I keep making their life harder

[proffbon]

My Blue Hawke: *desperately tries to keep his friend group from fighting over random bullshit*

Me who keeps putting Fenris and Anders in the same party:

[johanna-swann]

I actually have sooo many issues with 911 lately that haven't even got much to do with any ships.

Like. They wrote out almost all of the side characters. Chris is gone, Linda and Sue are gone, Athena's kids are gone (even though Harry just moved in with her and Bobby again? Seriously, where is Harry?), Ravi is gone, Carla is gone. I know the GA maybe don't care that much, casual viewers might not even have noticed that this many characters have just vanished from the show, but in my opinion this is one of the things that give a show running as long as 911 life. Having a big cast is a good thing. Otherwise things are going to get very monotonous very soon.

Actually, that's my second point. They keep repeating storylines! Every season Hen and Karen have to fight a custody battle over one of their kids.

Every season Eddie ends up realising he has a lot of repressed trauma and issues which keep him from leading a healthy happy and free life.

Every season Bathena realise that they have communication issues and they fight about it, but then something traumatic happens and they forgive each other without ever really talking things out.

Every season we are reminded that Maddie's most prominent character trait is "traumatised", the writers just alternatingly bring up Doug again and sometimes the ppd arc.

Every season we see Buck being somewhat restless, looking and searching for something that will bring him true happiness and cycling through love interests that never stick around and each time when you think "oh, there it is, he's getting somewhere now" the writers go "BEEEP! WRONG!" and we start all over again. [This is not just about recent events aka Tommy, the break-up and Buck potentially going back to his 1.0 ways, this also happened in season 6 when he had his "it doesn't matter what other people see in me, I'm enough" revelation only to suddenly be like "omg, Natalia just sees me".]

And Chimney- he had his moment last season with the wedding episode, Kenneth Choi really ate that episode up, but his most prominent character trait is "Maddie's supportive husband". There's really not that much going on with him otherwise.

Another point I briefly touched upon above is consistency. Like Harry moving back in with Athena and Bobby and then just vanishing. Or Gerrard being more like a slightly unfriendly grandpa than an actual antagonist in season 8 when he was still spouting slurs in season 7.

And the timeline! We talked about this before ("last March", Mara's fostering to adoption timeline, Tommy tranferring to harbour "5 years ago"), but the newest "Tommy was actually Abby's Tommy" twist just adds to that. Tommy was with Abby for over 2 years. They were engaged. This was at a time when he was still at the 118. Tommy dated Abby presumably because he was in denial or maybe because he was hiding. In either case, wouldn't his team at least have heard about his fiancée, Abby the dispatcher? Wouldn't that have rung a bell when Buck eventually brought her around only a year or two later? Tommy did talk about his private life at least a little at work, even under Gerrard. It just doesn't make sense. (Not to mention this seems wildly out of character for Tommy who around the same time also said about himself "being single is easier".)

Then there's the pacing. This was a huge issue in season 7. They jumped from one personal soap opera drama to the next without taking any breathers, had almost no procedural in their drama the whole season, still somehow decided to spend one third of the entire season just on the opening disaster and also squeezed in a "Bobby begins for the third time now" episode. But okay, it was a shortened season, there were strikes, they switched networks, they were under a lot of pressure - I'll cut them some slack. At least they set up a bunch of interesting stuff for the following season.

But we're in season 8 now. The renewal was announced very early, they had a lot of time to plan this time. Also they have almost double the episodes they had last season, there's really no need to rush any of the major plots. I am done cutting them slack.

They wanna do a 3 part opening disaster again? Okay fine, you have the time now. I feel like they could've easily done it in 2 episodes (especially 8x02 felt a little "eh"), but okay. Better than the breakneck speed you were going at befo- Oh, what's that? 8x04 flying in with a steel chair. You resolved 70% percent of the plots you set up last season in one single episode with no build up, no emotional pay off and no lasting consequences? And you also squeezed in multiple unrelated calls at the same time? Damn, okay then. Good-bye potentially interesting storylines. Fuck me for being invested I guess. I thought there would at least maybe be some follow up in 8x05, but no.

Now that Halloween episode wasn't bad, it was actually the best episode of this season imo, but instead of following up on previously established conflicts and developments they just hit us with new Wilson family trauma and conflict that was also immediately fixed again. And now 8x06 has speedrun and dumped another storyline that had potential to go to deeper and interesting places. Not gonna talk too much about that though because this post is about the show as a whole, not ships.

And I am not yet convinced that there will be much more to come on the only thing that's left from last season: Eddie's deep dive into his trauma and repression. It's totally possible at this point that being told "you deserve nice things" by a random stranger actually solved all of his problems, it would be very in tone with 911's new style.

What are they even gonna do with the rest of this season? Revisiting the Hotshots set sounds fun, but ultimately inconsequential. You know what's great about a regular old procedural drama with ~20 episodes per season that comes on weekly? You have time. You can let the viewers sit with their emotions and thoughts for a week and keep them engaged by stretching things out a little.

But why should I bother getting emotionally invested in problems the characters are gonna solve within the same episode anyway? Or rather, even if I wanted to, how am I supposed to care if you don't give me the time to develop any feelings about anything that's happening? "Henren lost in court and are now completely forbidden from seeing Mara at all!" Damn, that must be so har- "JUST KIDDING! Ortiz is exposed and everything is perfect again now." Oh. Okay then, I guess.

Bottom line: The characters are all stuck in their own hamster wheels, they keep cutting side characters that could bring a breeze of fresh air (I'm honestly surprised they even kept Josh until now), they rush through all the storylines a such a ridiculous speed that I don't even have time to feel any sort of way about it, they don't even try to keep a consistency or sensible timeline going and they seem to strongly prioritise random funny bits that'll entertain the very casual viewers right now in this moment (tiger call, Billy Boils, Bee-nado, the 'Stache tm, "wait, it's the same Abby?", Gerrard being a fangirl at heart) instead of playing the long game and catering to people who actually pay a little attention to the show.

[On that last remark: I'm not talking about hardcore fans who analyse every single frame here, I mean casual fans who've watched the show on and off again for a while and who may not be involved in fandom but genuinely care about the show.]

I mean. What am I even still doing here? The show is treading water and I end up disappointed more often than not. I'm still holding out a little hope that they actually will do something interesting with Eddie and his sea-monkeys, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.

[prismalmelonman]

Touching on Gale, Wyll, and Halsin's traumas being a bit undermined in parts of the fandom

So one thing I notice on Twitter is how some people act about the bg3 characters whose abuses were perpetuated by women.

Gale specifically for this reason (but I will touch on others)bbecause I see him dismissed super often as "can't get over his ex".

But Gale's case obviously be has the line of Mystra being like "she was my muse, my teacher, and then my lover" and sure to some that's a red flag in itself (when it comes to adults I don't really give a fuck about teacher/student) but if you view it from not only Gale's own words "ive been connected with the weave for as long as i can remember"

And that doesn't distract from his genuine love of magic of course. And it also doesn't mean that he's actually been in connection with mystra for an amount of time.

However, if you ascend Gale, and he becomes a god, you get a bunch of new little things. Tara reminiscing of course, but you get a letter from Elminster, detailing that Mystra had Elminster scope out Gale when he was eight!

And sure is that pretty cool that he's a prodigy that got the attention of the goddess of magic at that age? Yes. Mystra is, however, known in forgotten Realms lore to seek young young boys who are in tune with magic to make into her chosen. And from context clues, her chosen can be anything from Elminster and Volo, dedicated wizards who try to keep things in check, etc etc. or they're somewhat of playthings to her.

Minsc also has a conversation where me mentions that weave-touched boys in his homeland were hidden away to hone their craft, then suspecting that it was because of Mystra, given Gale's case.

Gale always seems so proud that he got to bed a goddess, and on the surface, hell yeah, that's cool.

Gale continued to have her attention even as he went to Blackstaff Academy, and Mystra eventually did take him on as an apprentice directly to her, later making him her chosen, and sleeping with him.

The reason it bothers me that people dismiss all of Gale's stuff to just "he can't get over his ex" is because that's is like almost textbook grooming? She was in his life from a young age, shaping and moulding him up as he grew up to be her perfect chosen, rewarding him by sleeping with him, and so on. And then of course casting him away when he has his folly with the netherese orb (and to be fair, it very well could have looked like to her that he was trying to seize the power himself and yes the orb does siphon off weave. That is a problem for the mistress of the weave yes).

But she also tells gale to KILL HIMSELF for her forgiveness.

Gale is much more than "unable to be over his ex" this woman was in his life since he was a kid. She's almost all he has ever known. If course it's going to be difficult for him to 1. Say no to her. 2. Get over the fact that he's lost someone that he spent his literal entire life dedicated to. Honestly if asked, I don't even think Gale would acknowledge or really see that what he went through was, in fact, abuse until it was spelled out in front of him. (Which does happen somewhat with the player character pleading to him that killing himself for mystra's forgiveness is actually horrific and that he should in fact be angry for how he was treated)

Similarly, and this one has been discussed a lot, Wyll and Mizora. Wyll was 17 and actively trying to help his people. 17, in a vulnerable state, willing to do anything to help and prove himself. Mizora very clearly took advantage of him, and regards him as a "pet", refers to him being "leashed", and so on. Personally, I do dislike the sexualization of their relationship, because it very much is also grooming (although a different type. Rather than manipulating and shaping his life from the ground up, she takes advantage of a vulnerable and desperate state to manipulate and contract Wyll into doing her bidding. I won't go too deep I to this one because it has been discussed to hell and back. But I did wanna touch on Wyll's situation as well.

Also, Halsin as well, though that has also been discussed in many retrospectives by a very good friend of mine. Halsin's trauma often get dismissed due to his polyamory, open sexual nature, and his own somewhat diminishing/dismissal of it, which honestly I love the representation of, cause for a while I did that with my own trauma. Halsin was a sex slave to a house of Lolth-Sworn drow, a matriarchal society, where the men are generally used as fodder or for breeding, though male Lolth-Sworn drow can be wizards and rise in the ranks if wizardry, but are limited everywhere else. (Minthara mentions that the third male, and every subsequent male child after third are killed for being"useless"). Halsin often referred to them as "hosts" rather than being captors, (though he does touch on that if the Player Character threatens to sell him back into slavery). Again, everything I'd have to say here for Halsin has entirely been discussed top to bottom by a friend, their link is below!!

Anyway, long story short, I dislike it a lot when Gale, Wyll, and Halsin's traumas and abuses get diminished, even if/when the character themself doesn't see or acknowledge the abuse in the same lens that we, the players, do.

[freuleinanna]

I'm still confused about Verna.. I thought she was a demon?? Because why would Death be going around making a bunch of deals with people? After Verna told Pym she decided to go "topside" I thought she was some kind of crossroads demon since it implies she came from below (hell)

Oh! I feel you, and I struggled with that a lot too. She does seem a lot like a demon. I'm not saying I'm 100% correct in my thinking either, but here's why I personally think she's Death. Kind of a long post, sorry. I hope I make myself clear, but feel free to follow up!

So, Verna. An anagram for Raven, that much is established. Ravens are wonderful - symmetrical even - creatures. Bringers of death in a wide understanding. Bringers of good luck in many cultures. The duality is amazing. To me, that also leans majorly into the theme of death being a concept of duality: an enemy for some, a friend for others. Each greets her differently. I'm not talking about the characters here, but people in general.

There's a proverb I came across a while ago that reads 'Death is a great leveller'. Meaning, everyone's equal before her. You have no leverage or buffer against death, and it doesn't matter if you're poor or blindly, feverishly, grotesquely rich (like our folks here). Everyone pays the last bill. For everyone, there's a day of reckoning. It's a major theme with the show, at least. Verna also says 'Buy now, pay the bill later' - although it can still read very demonic, I agree.

She's obviously ancient, and I was leaning toward the demon theory based on all of her talking. Yet - she also keeps ranting about Egypt and pyramids and Cleopatras and such. What's the one thing with Egyptians everyone knows of? They honored death. Death may have been a bigger part of their lives than life itself. The Usher Twins' obssession with all things Egyptian, antiquities, jewelry, swords and such, plays a nice parallel here too, because they're just collectors. They have no grain of honor for the real thing, for what these things are tied to. Kind of a nice thought, I guess.

Anyway, back to Verna. She says on multiple occasions how intrigued she is with us, 'adorable little things'. She saw the pyramids, the expeditions, and she wanted to see what else we do, she wanted to see what Roderick and Madeline will do (in her own words). It's all an experiment to her. She makes an offer just to see what we, people, do.

Here's where my beef with a demon theory comes in. No demonic creature I could think of, be it an actual demon, a trickster, or something else, is that sincerely intrigued. Something something death loving life something something.

Demons, in my understanding, are most interested in winning the deal. They come up with incredible challenges, they enjoy torture, emotional or physical, they never let anyone win. Verna has never once expressed this. Quite the opposite. She gives everyone a chance to step back. Even when the ink has dried and everything's decided, each Usher sibling is conditioned to make a choice: push forward, or step back. Neither of them steps back. Neither of them takes a long hard look at themselves (except Tamerlane, both literally haha and figuratively, as she's the only one to have realized how lost she was in her way - just at the end, when it didn't really matter anymore, but still). Verna is kind to those she takes (sincere pet names, regrets of having to do it this way, making sure they know it's not personal, etc). She grieves with them, just before. Grieving - 'The Raven' being about an expression of grief and trauma - ravens as synonyms for death... you get the gist. Oh! Except Freddie - cause Freddie struck a cord. Infuriated her. So he doesn't get an expressed choice. And he would've blown it like coke anyway, so meh.

And then Arthur Pym. Oh, Arthur Pym. I honestly couldn't imagine a demon kneeling and thanking someone who's refused them.

About Arthur Pym, by the way. It's the one story I hadn't reread, and I should have, it turns out! haha Anyway, a few notes about his travels:

In the story, Arthur Pym is expressedly afraid of white color (North Pole, yada yada, white being the absense of colors/life, and the absense of life is death).

Verna enumerates the moments she witnessed of his travels. Someone getting left in Sahara. Someone getting shot in the Arctic. Something bad that was done to an Inuit woman. Why would she follow Arthur so closely? She didn't know him, he wasn't her favorite. I think it's because she came to collect those deaths. If she is death, she would've been exactly there, where people died. She would have also seen Arthur not partaking.

Aaaaaaaand it makes her 'You saw me' line sound better, because he had sure seen death along his travels.

I think the part about a place of out-of-time, out-of-space creatures and hollow Earth was a bit unnecessary, BUT I can try and tie it in this way:

It showed us how Arthur might have coped with what he saw, and he 'saw a lot', even in his 70s it's difficult for him to recall, and it made him think of humanity as a virus, literally;

He might have thought up that ethereal realm simply because he was in an expedition? Exhaustive conditions for both body and spirit? Traumatic experiences? If he saw Death, he might have cloaked it in his mind to cope with it, thus came his stories;

Verna going 'topside' may just mean that she had to go take a look herself, actually be willingly present for the events - to see the brave little humans conquer the earth. 'Topside', as in, 'visible, present, participating'. If Death exists, I doubt it bothers with our boring human realm but lives downunder, among all threads that weave the world.

So that's that on Arthur Pym.

A few other references my mind is too exhausted to tie in nicely:

Death takes Lenore. THE Lenore from 'The Raven' (mostly) and 'Lenore' (secondary). That happened. Also, death talking to a child of life? Regretting having to take her? Not very demonic of dear ol' Verna, in my opinion.

Her mourning veil, her last toasts to the Ushers at the cemetery? Demons don't tend to grieve their players. Demons don't respect and love them enough, and 'what is grief, if not love persevering'?

Death is the last threshold. Before death, we look upon our legacy (major theme with the show), we remember our losses and loves (Annabel Lee!!!!! love the poem, brilliantly done), we get heavy with regrets. We face death as an enemy & fight, like Madeline did. As a friend, like Arthur did. We confess, like Roderick did. All that is too significant to me overall.

And the last thing. It's Edgar Allan Poe. The whole Death tribute is a giant, incredible, thought-through-to-the-bits hommage to his literature where Death, figuratively and literally, takes the throne.

I hope I managed to express myself alright there. Thanks if you read it through, and as I said before, feel free to follow up or elaborate on some ideas. There are oceans to discuss. <3

[ultimategenshintournament]

Ultimate Genshin Tournament: Round 5

Propaganda below cut

Venti:

calls the Traveler "his warrior" plus he's like our long-time friend??? He basically asked us out during the alchemy event???? You can choose to bring him up during the fight with Signora????? He's the best idc

He. Is. Amazing. So many layers, so interesting...So much trauma and potential...Not to mention look how AWESOME he is generally!!! He's kind and caring towards everybody, and also carefree and mischievous!!! How can you not love him??

he’s TOO GOOD for this world- he’s just a little guy!! Like he cares for his nation and the people of Mondstadt SO MUCH it hurts when people say he doesn’t. Like, my poor trauma-driven little mega-powerful war god who’s actually just a tiny little wind spirit honoring his dead friend!!!! I love him so much

his lore means he gets brought up almost every patch. he convinced a bunch of the most lethal women in Teyvat to have tea instead of screwing him up. he would always rather take the path of least resistance. he’s the three time best bard in Mond. he never seeks glory, only wishes to offer it to others. he was a better father to Diona than her real one five minutes into meeting her. he gives Glory whispers of what the world looks like so she can navigate. when a nun of his own church denied his identity he decided to run a heist to steal back an item that is only holy because it is his. he keeps his misery and loneliness trapped within, and does his best to bring joy to every person he meets. how can you not love him? 

He's Venti. How do you beat that? Answer: you don't. You can't. 

they say that an nation is most like their archon but is the anemo archon a god that took after the people's traits or did the people take their archons traits (the only correct answer is that venti took after old mond's people traits and it's so disgustingly sweet, he's a lil baby who cared so much that he kept old mond's wishes heard and their dream a reality — of freedom (without a god, as much as he could) where humanity leads trust. he left mondstadt because he trusted that humanity would do that right thing always but then he got betrayed by the Lawrence clan but he forgave them???! the anemo archon gave them no punishment , but mondstadt did . venti has me ugly crying

Kaeya:

He's cool, he's mysterious, he wears an eyepatch, he has a super tragic backstory, he's good with kids, he takes care of his friends, what's not to love!!!

despite all the hardships he’s suffered, he’s still such a kind person 

This is the character of the everyman. Everyone should love Kaeya because he's with you no matter what. He has the great mystery of his origins and his damage with his family and his brother, but he is with you til the end. That's what makes him so special to me

Furina:

girl deserves therapy and hugs and the best life in the WORLD because oh boy she went through a lot!!!! wouldn't pretending to be a god for 500 years with no support mess you up? and yet she still kept on going for her people!! she wanted to save her nation from a doomsday prophecy and she DID

After act 5 she deserves the world :(

“If all the people of Fontaine are on one side, and I am on the other…is it not obvious where the scales of suffering should tilt?” NO IT ISNT YOU’RE JUST ABNORMALLY SELFLESS AND INCREDIBLE AND PERSISTENT. Even the Archons praise Furina’s name and say she is a human with strength and capability worthy of an Archon. That’s not even to speak of Focalors. She snapped at Arlecchino only when the Harbinger implied that Furina had done nothing to preserve her people from the flood. Meanwhile every minute she was working to prevent the prophecy. A month after we took her to court and almost got her killed she agreed to help us direct a play, a favor for a favor

[jade-len]

bad svsss fanfic/au idea: random marriage/guidance counselor transmigrates into PIDW, sees the absolute mess of lord luo bingge and his harem, goes "jesus fucking christ", and makes bank.

and like. they're probably not even that good of a counselor. it's just that people lack any sense when it comes to bingge, and since he's the emperor, that means pretty much everyone. also because therapy doesn't exist. i'll give them some credit though, whatever they hell they're doing works.

now, while sqq and sqh are having a grand ol' time in SVSSS with their husbands, this random, average counselor has to deal with being in the care of lord luo bingge. no wife beam. no anything. all they have is some basic empathy and common sense people just tend to lack in here for some reason.

it's even worse considering the fact that they've arrived after luo bingge completed his plan and became the hailed demon emperor. now, while they've never full on read the entire thing, they've heard enough from a close friend who has kept up with it to know the main character is the literal embodiment of the cycle of abuse and heavy unresolved issues. like, it got to the point where they started to unironically use luo bingge as an example of how to not deal with conflicts and trauma.

really, how could people like bingge? seriously, it's just another edge lord main character with way too many glamorized issues and abuse. red flag! (hey, who the hell is peerless cucumber and why does he keep defending binghe? lord, have mercy on these impressionable young men...)

so, after being kidnapped taken in by bingge and his wives after the bunch claimed that they were a "wise man" or whatever (all they did was offer some basic relationship advice to some poor woman, who turned out to be ning yingying, who told the other wives, and it just spiraled from there), they were deemed "special" and given their personal office and a room! hey, better than being on the streets in this god forsaken hentai-ish world, i guess.

quickly, a routine was established. one that, especially, consisted of luo bingge outright ignoring them. which, they weren't complaining about!

wake up, eat, meet with multiple of the wives, spend their hard earned money on delicious delicacies, meet with more wives, sleep, repeat. the most interaction they had with the demon emperor was him ordering them around, but even then, that was uncommon. it was, surprisingly, easy to fall into the rhythm of this undoubtedly odd life. you're upset that lord luo hasn't spent much time with you? maybe you can ask! the other wives are being annoying? remove yourself from the situation. you're upset that lord luo has so many other wives? oohhh... yeah. uhm.

luo binghe only tolerated them, they knew that. and they're sure that, if not for multiple of his wives insisting on keeping them, they'd be dead for even daring to be so "intimate" with them. a little bit of a shock, if they do say so themself. like, insecure much (something that they'll probably never get used to is the fact that bingge built an entire little village for his wives, though)?

but that's not the most shocking thing, oh, no.

it's this.

"i- i tried.. i tried to take the.. hiic-- other.. other shizun w-with me.." lord luo binghe, the powerful, almighty demon emperor, trembles and sobs. "b-but he! he wanted to-- s-stay with that.. stupid, inferior version of my- hic- self.."

despite the mountain of gold they're getting paid in, is it really enough to deal with this? probably not. will they get killed for witnessing luo binghe's vulnerability? perhaps. is he a dictator, the embodiment of the cycle of abuse, and a crazily vengeful bastard? definitely.

"it's-- s' not.." his voice breaks. something else inside of them probably does, too. "..n-not, hiic- fair."

should they feel bad? they shouldn't. he's hurt much too many people. isn't it a little late? can he even be redeemed? because, they are absolutely not here to try and "fix" him.

and yet.

"can you breathe, lord luo? deep breaths, don't focus on anything else but me, okay? i'll do it with you too. can you do that for me? there, there. you're doing a very good job, do you know that? here, when i'm upset, sometimes i like to do something called, '5-4-3-2-1'. i promise it'll help, binghe. would you like for me to do this one with you too?"

they can't help but think about a small, lonely boy on qing jing peak.

. . .

after that, bingbing slowly starts to come around and develop an actual bond! cool!! he just,,, can't believe only his wives were granted the "wisdom". how foolish was he?

"i know i'm only a mere human, but i can tell that lord luo is... masking things. you can put that away for now, okay? i promise, everything you say here will be confidential information, and it'll never leak... no no there's no enemy spies here-"

"i'm not even going to question this. you go back there right now and deal with it yourself if you cannot respect me or the other clients. aka, your wives."

"no, it's not stupid. this is how people help themself, and it's okay if you want to do it. as long as it doesn't hurt you or anybody. it helps, and that's all that matters."

"oh? one of your wife confronted to you about it? i'm glad to hear that, she's doing well, i see. i'm also happy that you're listening too, really."

"yes, and when something like that happens, you--- no- don't pull out xin mo now. what did we say about that? good job."

"here, can i touch your hands, binghe? there we go. when you're unsteady, you feel the need to pick at your skin, correct? well, let's try a few different things to keep those hands busy! it must be quite stressful being an emperor. how about we start with crocheting! it's quite popular back at my hometown."

"your mother sounds like a wonderful woman, lord luo. hey, how about you take a small break and visit her, okay? you want me to come with you? of course, it'd be an honor."

and thus, the story of the poor transmigrator counselor continues on with luo bingge added to their schedule!! this could be read as romantic or platonic lol. but i was thinking of this as luo bingge obtaining his first actual friend. it takes a long while due to bingge's... bingge-ness, but eventually it all works out lmao

[spro-o]

Hey, I adore your art so much!! But I never watched house. So is it like worth watching? What's it even about and where did all the hype come from? I'm thinking about watching it myself so yeah, I'm just asking and again, your art is gorgeous :]]]

hi hello!! naturally, as one could guess, I highly recommend watching it, and I’ll give an outline on the parts that drew me in and/or kept me watching!!

- it’s a medical show!! personally, I’m a huge nerd about medicine, and House is (in the realm of other medical dramas) somewhat realistic with its circumstances - that being that House is constantly handling “zebra” cases (those that are rare and aren’t figured out by other doctors), so there’s some more room to suspend your disbelief. Since it is a medical show, it does have its fair share of guts and blood and some icky stuff, so do keep that in mind in case it grosses you out!!

- some of the most well written characters ever: all of the main cast is extremely well written and very fleshed out, and each character gets their fair share of B-plots of episodes which focus on their past/issues/relationships/traumas/etc. the show uses them to tackle alllll kinds of topics, and does an especially wonderful job when it comes to addiction, disability, mental health struggles, complicated relationships, among others (as is the common consensus of myself and many others in the fandom sphere)

- wonderful balance of super interesting medical knowledge, very silly banter, and the most heart shattering emotions one could have evoked within them: it makes for a super engaging watch which keeps you intrigued throughout each episode, and in my opinion, throughout multiple rewatches as well. I find there is always something I missed on previous watches of episodes, and also all of the emotional beats hit you in all the places (ranging from absolute joy and happiness to sobbing about these damn doctors)

- wonderful fandom: my experience with the house md fandom on here has been terrific and there is always support and community contribution to art, fics, analysis, OCs, etc. it’s a real lovely bunch of people

I hope this wasn’t too long and that I’ve perchance convinced you to give the show a go!! and thank you for the ask :3

[ryuichirou]

I really love the lengthy analysis you wrote about Vil and Jamil in the past! Do you have anything similar to say about Riddle, if you haven't already? Or maybe about Riddle and Trey, if you're more comfortable with talking about relationships between characters.

Dear Anon, I am very happy you liked my analysis of these two! It’s been a while, I even forgot that I wrote it, so it’s insanely nice to hear that someone still reads these posts and enjoys them. As you might have already noticed (it seems to be my mission to keep repeating it to make sure no one ever forgets about it), I am not as speedy with my replies as I used to be, so this reply is long overdue. But I always have stuff to say about these boys, and Riddle very interesting and very dear to me as the boy who introduced us to how broken these boys are and how interestingly TWST plays with the theme of trauma.

We don’t post about him very often, but I like Riddle a lot. I think out of all of the housewardens he has the biggest vibe of a broken kid hidden behind his strong facade. I guess this is my way of saying that Riddle is the most childish out of all of them lol It shows not only in his tantrums (Ace compared him to a baby for a reason), but also in how obviously excited he gets when he sees anything that is fun; it’s like his inner kid reacts before Riddle composes himself and acts like he isn’t interested. We’ve seen a bunch of moments like this, I think. In a way, all of the overblot boys didn’t get to live through their childhood in a “normal” way, but Riddle expresses it in a very obvious way.

But it’s not only about cakes and games: Riddle is very immature emotionally too, and it’s hard to blame him for that, because let’s be honest: this is the first time Riddle deals with people. Isolation is a difficult thing to come back from, and if you shove a heavily sheltered boy into an high school/college and put him in a position of housewarden, of course he’s going to act like a little dictator: this is the only way to assert authority he’s ever seen. And since Riddle himself is a good kid (i.e. a kid who is terribly afraid of making his mother angry) and doesn’t misbehave, he is completely unequipped of dealing with a whole dorm of teenagers who aren’t very good or excited to live by the Queen’s Rules. Even those who don’t want to cause trouble can’t remember all of them, they’re basically written in a way that are meant to sabotage you, but Riddle would never acknowledge that: if he learned them, others must too, otherwise they just didn’t try enough. But they just won’t listen, and Riddle gets frustrated instantly: it’s them who are unreasonable, not him!

Of course it is a metaphor and an exaggeration, but I think Riddle portrays a very real thing that a lot of us have either seen or experienced. His standards for himself aren’t just high, they’re absolutely unreasonable, but this is his entire reality and he can’t even see that this isn’t how things are for the rest of the world. He’s like a little goldfish (lol) who lived in a tiny aquarium for its entire life and then got transferred into an ocean without any kind of adaptation or even a quarantine. Riddle is already a second year, but I think the shock of everything around him still hasn’t gone away completely, partially because Riddle spends a lot of time stubbornly ignoring the feeling that he is the one in the wrong. If he is wrong, than mother is also wrong, and that can’t be – this is the only thing he is sure of.

You know, there are some people who really enjoy having a system of rules in their head, or rather principles, and it gives them a very valuable and helpful structure (even if that system of rules/principles isn’t perfect and backfires sometimes). Vil is that kind of person, Sebek is that kind of person... Riddle isn’t. I genuinely think Riddle is the type of person who would enjoy living without a set of rules, but with basic logic to help him navigate the world; does that make sense? Anyways, unfortunately, Riddle can’t live without a manual: he never learned how to. We see it both in his book and in book 6, when he shocks Azul over and over again by just how rigid he is.

Speaking of which, I love that Riddle didn’t have a 180 degree turn after his book. Of course, it’s partially because we have to keep the status quo intact a little bit, and he wouldn’t be the personification of the Queen if he didn’t have his rules; but I also think this is very true to life. Just like the boys said at the end of the book 1, you don’t have to change everything at ones, taking baby steps is okay.

But taking baby steps also means that you will keep bumping into issues and conflicts, which is crucial for growth, but also could make Azul fucking Ashengrotto say that he will beat the shit out of you if you won’t shut up lol

Their entire dynamic in book 6 was very good. Both Azul and Riddle are horribly stubborn, obsessive freaks, but for entirely different reasons and in very different ways. And both of them have their guard up, but interestingly? I think Riddle is better at trusting people and being genuine about his feelings or thoughts about them than Azul. Maybe he’s made a better progress than Azul in that sense, maybe he’s always been better, but this is what I mean: Riddle doesn’t mind genuinely complimenting Azul for his achievements, and a lot of time he didn’t even mean to offend Azul with his remarks. To Azul, however, every compliment is given with a reason and every snarky comment is given to metaphorically push someone down the stairs. Both of them have a lot to learn though lol but it’s fun to see them working through this misunderstanding and actually working together.

You asked about Trey; and honestly, even though we kind of liked him from the beginning, we didn’t think much about him (mostly because we met the rest of the characters whom we were very excited about). But the more I think about Trey, the more I get amused by how much of a dark horse he is. I feel like Trey’s forced neutrality and desire to stay “hidden” from any kind of event or conflict or attention at all is interesting: it’s subtle, but it’s definitely there. He has this inoffensive image of a good and caring older brother type, and it’s true that he is caring and supportive, but it’s also isn’t entirely out of his desire to do good things. I’m not saying that he is an asshole, but he isn’t like Silver or Kalim, if that makes sense, he doesn’t have this hero-like desire for everyone to be happy or to protect the weak no matter what and to help out everyone: whether Trey wants to admit it or not, he has his priorities. And I feel like Trey doesn’t even want to necessarily be “the good guy”, he really just wants to be “the normal guy”, and sometimes “the normal guy people could rely on”.

What I wanted to say by that is that Riddle is Trey’s main priority no matter what. I’m stating the obvious, but this is why he didn’t protect Ace and Deuce (who were in Heartslabyul for less than a week) from him, this is why he kept asking everyone to just be patient with Riddle and to tolerate the way he treats everyone. Because it was more important for him to protect Riddle and to avoid him feeling like he does the wrong thing.

And while it’s partially due to Trey’s personality and his relationship with Riddle, I feel like Trey is also kind of traumatised by what happened back then. Not to the degree that Riddle is traumatised of course, but it’s probably tough for someone who’s always been a good kid to get yelled at by someone else’s mother for hours for doing something that you believe wasn’t even bad. I think Trey feels extremely guilty because he knows that whatever he felt, Riddle had it even worse. So it’s not surprising that he is terrified of hurting Riddle even more: every time he looks at the way he acts, he knows that it’s a result of him being abused. I’m stating the obvious here lol but I like that Trey is stuck in this “sorry, but I will keep hurting all of you because not hurting him is more important”.

We watched Ghost Marriage Event recently (haven’t seen the vignettes and voice lines yet) and I think it’s very interesting that it was kind of tied to the Trey/Riddle situation, which Ace even directly addressed. We even got Trey (and Cater too, to be fair) going yikes because he felt called out by what Ace was saying to Chubby about the way he treated Eliza. Even if you love someone, you can’t just let that person get away with hurting others. Even if you think it will keep them happy, it will never help them in a way you think it will. Riddle gets hurt by staying a tyrant that everyone despises, and Trey knows that he does, but doing that important step of stopping him and having a talk with him is too scary to even consider. This is why he needed that wakeup call from Ace of all people.

I guess that makes Ace more emotionally mature than Trey and Riddle both in a way lol

Anyways, I love their relationship a lot, and even though I’ve mostly been talking about the very basis of their relationship, I think there is a lot to explore with these two.

[misterbenzadrine]

sooo i'm cheating today, don't judge me, i couldn't choose

♡day 6: samantha larusso/tory nichols ♡

BELIEVE ME, THEY ABSOLUTELY DESERVE THEIR OWN DAYS AND SPOTS

but i love both of them and couldn't choose

so anyways, i'll make this short (too late)

best girls <3 like i love s1, I love miguel and robby, i obviously love hawk and demetri. but let's be fr their rivalry MADE cobra kai what it is today.

without tory, cobra kai was great but it was very alpha dudebro (and demetri, sam, and aisha were the only ones to balance that out but even then they were mostly used as plot devices for the main male characters) and admittedly having sam and tory fight over robby and miguel was so UGH and absolutely did not pass the bechdel test but it was really refreshing to give sam more of a character with a personality, hopes, motivations, fears, etc. and adding tory was quite possibly one of the best decisions bc she really rounded out the cobra kai roster and gave sam that character to play off of so they could both develop together.

also tory's friendship with aisha was EVERYTHING (i personally ship them) and having her and sam fight over aisha, i think, would've been far more interesting (which they kinda did but they wrote aisha out of the show after s2 so it really didn't go anywhere)

and in a show based on misunderstandings, their first meeting means everything to me. tory hearing about the infamous sam who dumped aisha to be rich and popular then meeting her at an actual country club like yeah, tory's gonna be a little passive aggressive but she lowkey didn't act THAT rude to sam (not blaming sam, again misunderstandings !!) and ofc sam thinks tory is a little troublemaker after she steals the vodka so YEAH she has a little bit of a problem with her hanging out with her childhood best friend. then aisha just sitting there like "oh sam this is tory ! hey tory, this is sam ! ^-^" (i love aisha)

SHES SO CUTIE IN THIS OUTFIT, this outfit is my roman empire

sam is great purely for the fact that she's grown so much and yet stayed the same throughout the show (a lot like demetri). the tiniest moments where she loses herself are more filled with self-doubt than trying to be someone she's not (i emphasize THROUGHOUT THE SHOW, obviously she had this arc before the show then came back to her true personality when she met miguel and started talking to aisha again)

like she stood up to miguel AND kyler when she felt they were doing something wrong. she defends demetri and shows so much care for robby (samrobby best friends !!). i love that we get to explore her trauma and how it affected her relationships and karate. (petition to explore more of the kids' trauma !!!) she seems to be the character that's the most in touch with her emotions and, maybe behind devon and amanda, she's the most mentally stable character of the bunch (all women, go figure) she is the character ever !! she understands the importance of balance !! she understands standing up for what's right and admitting your mistakes !! she is the true leader of miyagi-do and it's so incredibly fitting that she is the larusso legacy bc yeah ! there is quite literally no miyagi-do without her !

and one last thing, HER "WHO AM I" SCENE IN S5 IS PEAK, literally one of the best scenes in the show, okay that's all.

TORY, MY BELOVED, MY EVIL LITTLE PRINCESS. she's like so opposite sam in half of her seasons, she is the angry little villain for a bit, bless her heart.

so obviously VALID CRASHOUT. i just think a lot of her anger was obviously misdirected. like when she first met aisha, again ! sam kinda came off as one of those evil ex bffs, like someone you grew up with who suddenly thinks they're too cool for you. so since aisha was her first friend (and keep in mind how lonely and stressed tory was behind the scenes) of course she's gonna wanna defend her ! and, from tory's pov, sam was judging her for the vodka bottle but tory believed bad things are okay to do when people deserve it (like kind of implied) so stealing a bottle from a bunch of rich people who will never notice is very excusable. meanwhile sam believed bad things were never okay (then ofc after the school fight she changes her tune to get revenge on ck) but tory's a lot like that quote from Isle of Dogs, she's not a violent dog but she does bite. it's a coping mechanism. when she perceives something as a threat, she'll attack. and sam seemed to be the stereotypical snooty rich girl.

when she blames tory for her mom's lost wallet, it feels very much like a snooty rich girl assuming the worst of a poor person. like just bc she's not upper class, doesn't mean she's THAT much of a delinquent. THEN TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE, the guy she likes is still hung up on this sam girl. she's aisha's and miguel's replacement for sam, always second to sam. the only place she can prove herself is in karate. so she goes all into training, she's training herself to master her fighting, take out her aggressions, protect herself, etc.

BUT THE INFAMOUS KISS. and instead of taking it up with miguel for stringing her along (which i love miguel but FUCK HIM for the way he treated tory and still hasn't really made up with her) she takes it out on the main person that's been giving her problems since she entered this whole world. the person who haunted the narrative of her social circle, the person who hurt the people she cared about, the person who they used tory to replace, the person who seemed to have a problem with her from day one, the person who kissed her BOYFRIEND bc she's still hung up on him (obvi miguel was just as guilty but this is from tory's pov). so the school fight happens, she gets probation, amanda visits her at work which snowballs into her losing her job (which she desperately needs), miguel obviously never reached out to her and was still hung up on sam, aisha moved away, johnny ditched the dojo, YEAH I'D LOWKEY CRASH OUT TOO (and to tory it all always links back to sam) (oooooh lesbian allegories you are SO PRESENT in samtory's relationship arc)

so she has her little evil moment, and i love this for her ! and this is actually incredible on kreese's part (not in a good way). like i know he has a knack for sniffing out the most vulnerable kids to manipulate but WOW he really did a number on tory. she genuinely seemed to trust him from s2 all the way until halfway through s5 (personally i think it was a mix of devon and sensei kim that snapped her out of it, and she finally stepped away from the cobra kai mess)

but she's such a mess i love her. i support women's rights AND wrongs what wrongs? she didn't do anything wrong. i don't wanna overyap about her plot stuff (too late), but her relationships with robby, sam, devon, and kreese are actually so important to me.

i've kinda already talked about sam and devon but specifically robby and her being both (not to be mean but) kinda fucked mentally lmao. and spending their lives never being someone else's priority. they're both basically latchkey kids, they had to be adults from an extremely young age and no one was ever looking out for them, and they never really felt that stable parental support that miguel and sam did, which should make them the perfect foil (if the writers stopped shoving in love triangles and whacko storylines that always favor miguel and sam).

maybe unpopular opinion?? big fan of the s4 after-prom party fight. the way samguel left arguing with each other and angry while keenry had the night of their lives and found love in each other like it's so perfect ! bc i love samguel but like i said the plot ALWAYS favors them, and they usually get their way (of course they have hardships and losses, all the kids do, but in the long run the writers always give them the most screentime, best storylines, all the wins, etc.) but tory and robby can't seem to catch a break and are always so depressed or disappointed or angry and it was really refreshing to see them have that satisfying moment where they get to make their exes jealous, beat their enemies, look hot, and just get to be normal teenagers for the night and not have to worry about expenses or responsibilities, LOVE THEM BIG FAN

okay so sorry this was mostly tory, to be fair she was one of my first fav characters.

!! headcanons !!

so uh i love samtory but i also love keenry and samguel so let's settle on ambiguously poly relationship (in which all three exist) (i'm sorry i don't ship kiaz, it feels a little too weird after they canonically became stepbros IM SORRY)

just two stepbros and their gfs who are dating each other... (just to make the vision clear, no one really knows who's dating who, none of them make it explicitly make it clear if they are or aren't dating and no one really asks out of fear of another karate war breaking out) (i'm making it weirder the more i explain huh? i'm gonna move on)

sam is unlabeled (possibly pan/queer) and tory is bisexual. also she/they queens !

SAM DEVON TORY TRIO MEANS EVERYTHING TO ME. a lot of their hangouts are with the girls (demetri, moon, yas) but they occasionally hang out just the three of them (basically the sleepover episode without johnny lmao)

speaking of the girls, sam and devon try so hard to teach tory demetri's name but she either never retains his name or has just gotten so used to calling him "the nerd" "the guy that follows hawk" "hawk's boyfriend" "the lanky one" that she doesn't feel comfortable calling him anything else (not that she interacts with him or talks about him enough for that to create a huge problem)

and on that same track, tory finds moon and yas to be a bit much (a lot), but like hawk, she doesn't talk enough for her exhaustion to be obvious, she just kinda follows the group and gets a little (secretly a lot) flustered when they compliment the way a shirt looks on her or really show her any love or attention

while tory obviously doesn't verbalize how much having friends and a support system means to her, sam and devon KNOW and are more than happy to keep providing that stability for her

(she'd never admit any of that aloud though, she'd die before willfully letting anyone know that)

amanda maintains a constant presence in tory's life to show her she's not leaving and not using her as a replacement for sam and anthony. she also shows a ton of support for her and her brother to ease the process of her mom's funeral, living arrangements, food, etc. (tory puts up a big fight in this until amanda phrases her connections as suggestions so tory feels like she did it herself and didn't need someone else to do it for her)

(we're gonna see this in pt 3 but i'm gonna hc just in case the writers decide to spite me again) amanda totally cheers on robby, sam, AND tory at the sekai taikai/all valley (queen amanda and her kids <3)

sam totally won her school's spelling bee in elementary/middle school, aisha was cheering her on the whole time

sam knew mr. miyagi just long enough to miss him when he passed and understand the affect it had on her dad. after she convinces anthony to push through miyagi-do teachings, she shares some stories and pictures with him hoping it'll show him there is a legacy in the dojo even if he never knew him (he's not as moved as she'd like but he does learn to be more sympathetic for her and daniel for yapping about the man so often)

under tory and miguel, sam's closest friends are robby and demetri, hands down. right under them is obvi moon and yas but also surprisingly hawk. anyone present for the karate wars definitely finds it odd that they get along so well but anyone who really knows both of them (namely miguel and demetri) knows they're incredibly similar

some things sam and hawk have in common: anger issues/panic attacks (though sam has a way better handle on hers than hawk), interest in chemistry, Doctor Who—specifically the tenth doctor (after demetri "forces" her to watch it), Star Wars (they both love padmé but also have a crush on han solo), and their music taste (specifically grunge rock and indie rock, sam is DEFINITELY a rock girlie). sam is so naturally nerdy, she gets along with demetri and hawk so well

sam gets TIRED a lot from ptsd episodes and having to be the kind of therapist friend (since her dad, her brother, her best friends, her boyfriend, etc. are all so unstable), so everyone sometimes tries to make her feel better in their own ways (bear with me)

demetri usually sits her down to watch something (harry potter, lord of the rings, star wars, doctor who, etc.). at the beginning of their friendship, this kind of exhausted her more, since he played stuff she wasn't familiar with and she didn't know why he thought watching a movie wouldn't count as a socially exhausting activity. but as time passed she realized that's how he used to make eli feel better after a bad day, and eli liked sitting in silence and escaping to a new world. now she's familiar with all the movies and does find comfort in just being physically close with demetri while he sits uncharacteristically quiet so she doesn't have to think too much.

robby will sit with her and try to do something low-effort (sitting by a campfire, making smores, practicing mindful breathing, sitting at a park, etc.) while making small talk/telling her stories

tory feels more than a little responsible for these moments but she tries to make sam feel better by coloring with her (she will deny it up and down) (it started when she noticed that the larussos seem to have an abundance of adult coloring books but now it feels like something that reminds her of her mom and sam)

miguel will sit with her and hug her, letting her talk about how she's feeling until she feels a little better.

moon/yas take different approaches (gentle vs tough love) but they both remind sam she needs to take time for herself before she reaches this breaking point. they sometimes offer her a joint (which she never really accepts) and close off with some in-n-out

hawk invites sam over to help build lego models. they never talk, just listen to music and build

at sam's graduation party (in which all the dojo kids are invited), aisha shows up and her and tory jump right back into their friendship

(the way all the yapping was for tory and all the hc's are for sam)

alright chat, i think that's about all i got (it's so long this is so upsetting) (i will be worse in the top 4)

final conclusion: sam and tory both deserve better, they're both so intelligent, pretty, kind, badass, and strong and they're both set up for failure. i can already feel it in my bones that i won't be satisfied with the results of the fight in pt 3 but someone has to win and i wouldn't be completely happy with either one bc they both deserve it. i also wish we'd gotten more content of them so they exist outside of their relationships with robby and miguel. LET WOMEN BE WOMEN, NOT MALE ACCESSORIES. but i will miss them dearly and i hope they're both happy in the end.

[antimony-medusa]

So Why Do I Keep Talking About Don't Like: Don't Read and Block And Move On?

So there are ships in my fandom that don't do it for me. There are characters who I do not like, there are tropes that make me grimace, there are relationship dynamics that I can't see any way that they could be delivered and still bring me any joy (in fact they actively make my day unpleasant). When I fill out my Do Not Want for exchanges, I have a BUNCH of stuff on that list. There's stuff in every fandom that I'm part of that makes me go "Oh boy that's a no from me". And my reaction to that is to ignore it. Block terms if necessary, unfollow people, just— leave it along. Don't like: don't read.

But why? Because that's not necessarily the fandom norm. This fandom definitely has a tendancy to actively go after stuff that it doesn't like. Especially on twitter, but I've seen it here too, especially when it comes to ships people don't like, or character takes they think are problematic, or creators they hate. Sending messages to warn people about other blogs, searching up the thing you don't like to hate on the people who post it, screenshotting the thing you hate or just talking about how bad it is so you can all be angry together. And man I just think that's a really bad idea.

The reason I think going after the thing you think is bad is a bad idea falls under two major headings. The first is what it does to you. Some of the things I don't like are just because they rub me the wrong way, or I think it's rude. But a good portion of the stuff I don't like is because it taps directly into some pretty serious stuff. If this is bringing up actual major trauma in my life, things I'm afraid of or bad things that happened, I do understand the desire to focus on it and the eraticate it. It's the same thing that makes you keep biting down on a painful tooth or poking at a painful eye. The thing hurts, so I give my attention to it. But oh boy, giving extra space in my head to the thing that is painful to me is not something that I should be doing lightly, and especially not in my recreational space. I see people being like "I hate this/this is bad because it's related to my trauma", but I can't overstate how bad of an idea it is to go "okay, this is terrible and related to my trauma, therefore I am going to search it up and focus on it and talk about it and share it with everyone I know. I'm going to make this traumatic thing a feature of my life".

You're just giving extra space in your head to the thing that hurts you. Don't give it that. Block the tags, ignore it, go full "I won't see it and I won't respond to it".

And even when it's just that I think something is rude, there's posting a careful post about the rudeness that you think some people might not have thought of and washing your hands of it (which is fine but like the amount of times I've started typing it and then gone "wait, everyone who follows me knows this, I don't have to post this, leave it along"), and then there's making it a feature of your blog to talk about how rude something is— why are you giving a slice of your precious life to the rudeness. Why are you giving them the spotlight? Why are you choosing to celebrate the worst things possible, and not the good things?

And then the other thing where I'm like— you're gonna see stuff you don't like, it is the internet, when you do so I'm begging you to just leave it be and walk away— is what it does to other people.

So I spent ten years on twitter. And in that time I have seen my fair share of hate mobs. Some of them are attacking legitimately horrible people. Some of them are completely misinformed and/or operating off of pure hatred. Some of them are attacking people over the most trivial things. But the thing is that with amost all of them, once they really started rolling, the impact they had was disproportionate to what anyone who was talking in good faith wanted. Someone would start a careful conversation about racism, and then people would go "oh, something I hate", and twelve hours later it's just several thousand people screaming over the original people who just wanted something to be fixed, and instead the person who fucked up is scared off the internet and being doxxed. Sometimes the original problem got fixed, but over half the times the person just closed down because they were being screamed at and learned nothing, and that's pulling from the situations where there was an actual problem to be fixed, and not misinformation or hatred or like, liking the wrong ship motivating things. And like, getting mobbed can really fuck someone up. People have had to check themselves into hospital and worse over this.

There's participating in someone saying "hey, this is fucked up", and that's something we should all do when it comes to matters of bigotry, but it's real important to be able to tell when a conversation is no longer being productive and is just about calling for someone's blood. Saying "hey, this trope plays into sexist stereotypes and you should be aware of it" is a great conversation to have. Attacking and mocking people who wrote the wrong trope does not actually increase the store of justice in the world.

And that's for things that you have a rational, principled reason for thinking is bad. A bunch of the time you just don't like a thing! And that's fine! You're allowed to not like things! But starting the ball of hatred rolling because you don't like things— oh in that case you do not have the moral high ground. You're just a bully.

Like at a certain point you have to start looking at matters of harm reduction, and going "I hate this ship, is calling everyone who likes it filthy degenerates actually going to make the world better, or is it going to make them feel bad and then double down, and nothing good happens". Or is it going to get even worse? Is it going to lead to a mob that causes in real world harm— people's housing or jobs impacted, or mental health, or worse! Sometimes it gets worse!

Sometimes a ship or trope you don't like can feel like a personal attack, but like, in the vast majority of cases, you're having an emotional reaction to something you don't like, you're not actually being harassed. You can feel like it's a good idea and even justified to strike back at this thing that is so bad, but like, in actuality it's just some words on a page someone wrote. Stabbing back at it is biting down on the injured tooth again, it's making things worse. Your best bet is to not give it power. Block terms, block users, ask the mods to not match you with certain people or ships, unfollow people— walk away. Don't spend time on it. Ignore it and focus on something good.

Engaging with things you hate is bad for you, and it's bad for the people around you, and way too much of the time it's disproportionately bad for the people who like the thing you hate. So I'm all in on Block And Move On, and Don't Like: Don't Read.

[an0thergl1tch]

Remus headcanons because I am bored :

*This dude either had a giant ring of skeleton keys or can pick any lock because you know damn well you can’t keep him out of anywhere

*Logan and Remus trade information for fanfiction purposes “hey where is the safest place to stab someone I wanna give my main character trauma” “any place could kill a person however aiming for fatty areas of the stomach and thigh decreases the risk you will hit a major organ or artery” “thanks”

*Remus has every notification noise set to the Grindr ping, Janus has to silence remus’s phone when they go out in public.

*Remus doesn’t wear headphones when listening to music or watching videos in public he just plays it at max volume (he’s that dick, he would be that one guy walking around with a boombox.) He is not allowed the aux cord because otherwise he will play the raunchiest shit at max volume with all the windows down.

*Chronic iPad kid. Easiest way to shut him up is to give him a phone with angry birds on it.

*Clingy as hell, wants to go under your skin, is a biter. Also he’s fucking obsessed with fangs if you have fangs he will ask you to bite him.

*His room isn’t even scary it’s just shelves upon shelves of trinkets. Definitely has a sex toy collection somewhere though. He calls his room the sex dungeon to keep people from snooping around. Probably has a workbench somewhere with a sewing machine on it because he definitely is the type of punk to make ALL of his clothes. Makes a bunch of shit: jewelry, weapons, dolls, and probably has a assortment of taxidermy projects.

*Definitely into witchcraft and paganism, has multiple alters, some serious, some to random male celebrities Thomas has a crush on. Probably has some voodoo dolls stashed somewhere, among his very large handmade doll collection that may or may not of been due to Coraline.

*Oh he definitely has a fur suit somewhere in his room, your telling me this fucker doesn’t have one of those neon wolf fursonas, probably made it himself.

*So. Many. Scars. Half of them from Remus being a dumbass, half of them from Remus testing the limits of his immortality. “hmmm I wonder If jumping off the roof will kill me” “nope”

*Cannot take a compliment. If you compliment him he will immediately assume your trying to get in his pants. If you say it’s a compliment, he will malfunction.

*Fucking loves animals, all animals. ALL animals. Will try to pick up a wild bobcat. Along with his brother he also has the “all animals love me” Disney princess genes. Probably has befriended a murder of crows.

*Very good at making cocktails however you will be hammered after a single glass because he is quite heavy handed.

[ember-owlet]

ohhh mr blue 🥺 such a sad but sweet song…do you have a favorite character or any agere headcanons for them? todd and mr peanutbutter would be great cgs (although maybe not together or their kiddo would get stuck on a flaming rollercoaster hahaha), hollyhock is a trauma regressor and i think todd would actually be a flip bcs he does have that childish side to him and would enjoy expressing it with someone who won’t be mean or judge him about it and i think sarah lynn isn’t a regressor necessarily but she never let go of her childhood dreams after everything she went through and when she had the time she would definitely like read space books or architecture books and stuff and imagine things differently…eep sorry for rambling hehe hope ur doing well

you never have to worry about rambling here firelight, when it comes to headcanons or interests i love to hear what you have to say! i know that its hard to find a space to share age regression headcanons for nicher fandoms/shows so i'd never want to dampen that enthusiasm. (and these are some AMAZING headcanons!! i especially love flip todd, i'm glad everyone agrees that he'd be a good cg but he is also the silliest guy. you are also 1000% correct, mr. peanutbutter and todd are a dangerously chaotic duo to keep a little one safe.) /gen

aa thank you for asking!! my favorite characters have always been princess carolyn, todd, diane, guy, and beatrice (for all the same reasons someone would like a "villain", she's a deplorable person and mother but a beautifully written and flawed character).

i realized i'd never fully put down my headcanons to notes before regarding the show, and if i wrote every single headcanon i had this post would be a novel so i made a chart/drabbles! have a wonderful day yourself and i hope you're staying safe.

personal headcanons/rambles under the cut, nothing formal but spoilers for the entirety of the show ahead:

i hope i got everyone, but these are the main ones!

caregivers:

guy

diane's cg, also a familial caretaker for sonny. just the best guy!!

judah

princess carolyn's cg! he is fully aware of how stubborn she can be when regressing to a teen and is just there to make sure she doesn't get hurt.

corbin

honestly one of the most stable cgs (/lh /pos),, in another universe he would've been beatrices' cg and supported her to get help for her trauma.

charlotte

mama cg all the way, she takes care of penny through her vent regression and truth be told her and herb used to be caregivers for bojack once upon a time.

biscuits braxby

a caregiver through and through, for some reason i used to daydream about her taking care of a regressor after the bojack interview and reassuring them that she would make sure they were safe.

ralph

personally, in terms of cgs i think ralph was princess carolyn's cg while they were together, and the role being taken over by judah once they get married as princess carolyn would be hesitant to regress around anyone else (vulnerability to her is scary!!)

vanessa

canonical mother for the win!! she just gives judgemental coworker that means well but would take care of someone if needed (but doesn't mean they're getting out of it without being teased a little)

kelsey

another canon mom!! she just seems really sweet and means well despite her firm demeanor when working.

flips (cg! lean): todd

beloved!! personally i don't see him as a parental caregiver, but definitely is one of the silliest and laid back caregivers out of the bunch. i could also see him regressing if the environment were relaxed enough but always in a middle headspace. herb

okay. hear me out. i just KNOW herb would've been a good caregiver for bojack along with charlotte, i've been thinking about this for a while now but i really think they'd have been such a healing dynamic for bojack as parental cgs. during that time in his life they were his favorite people even if charlotte knew about how awful he was.

rutabaga

i purely put him down for my friend who had talked about him being a caregiver,, i have no idea what she sees in him but to each their own. /nm /lh

flips

honey sugarman

ah yes one of the most tragic characters in the show. honey to me is a flip purely because i think she became an involuntary regressor after her lobotomy. i am purely going by headcanon than science but i assume losing so many of your functions as an adult would cause her to go to a more simpler state (either by choice or not) to forget the pain of losing crackerjack.

princess carolyn

my favorite flip (/j /lh) to me she already is a canonical caregiver when taking care of so many of the other characters in the show over herself (and being a mother to ruthie). but, if she truly trusts someone enough she'll regress a little to unwind and feel like she can take back her childhood after growing up WAY too fast with cutie and her siblings.

flips (regressor! lean) :

hollyhock

precious girl,, i can totally see her being a teen regressor or cool older sister as a caregiver, i almost was tempted to add her to the babysitter pile as well since her caregiving is a very relaxed style. she relies mainly on her dads for comfort (especially when having flashbacks from living with bojack) as well as having an accepting friend group to let her feel child-like around them.

paige sinclair

totally random and a hot take but i adored her character. she was just so passionate about her job and of course pushy but its the same reason we love princess carolyn. i think baxter would mainly be her caregiver but i think when she is caretaking her style is very whimsical.

pickles

my sweet girl,, totally a regressor with endless energy and interests to keep herself entertained. mr. peanutbutter would do his absolute best to calm her in most situations but after a while let her emotions run their course.

regressor:

bojack

i do not trust this man caregiving for anyone. (/hj)

i don't think he fully understands what regression actually is but tends to fall on habits of wanting someone to care for him and only truly regresses when in an emotional state that brings him back to childhood (aka vent regressing).

most of his long-term partners have seen a form of his regression and have taken on the role of a caretaker.

the only other person that has understood him in his regression without putting a name to it is diane. they're just naturally child-like at times and they don't mention it further than that.

diane

at first didn't understand the concept of regression and thought it was "weird" until researching "inner child healing" to help with her ivy tran novel series.

the only person she truly trusts to fully regress around is guy and he is more than willing to take care of her and make her feel loved and appreciated (she's his beautiful salad bowl /lh)

sarah lynn

my sweet girl pt. 2

even if she doesn't know what regression is i just want to give her a happy childhood,, she deserves to be an architect!!

the way she held herself in the that's too much man episode breaks my heart every time and therefore she is my child now!!

penny carson

my sweet baby girl pt. 3

charlotte is more than willing to be a caregiver/mama again, helps her work through the trauma and grief of what had happened between her and bojack but gives her the space she needs to feel in control of certain situations and then a gentle hand to hold her.

i also think penny wears her mom/dad's oversized sweatshirts to feel safe and comforted when having flashbacks.

beatrice

another character that deserved better!! and to have better coping mechanisms!!

loves to play with a very specific doll that she keeps close to her heart, as well as large elegant dresses that she loves to feel the fabric as she twirls and dances in

in an au that i have corbin and her got married, and though he can't heal her past he is a very stable figure in her life and assures her that she can in fact open her heart to loving again.

babysitters:

mr. peanutbutter

i believe he genuinely wants to help when others regress and becomes extremely enthusiastic about hearing that you can be tiny around him, but is nowhere near responsible enough to be an actual caregiver.

just as distracted as the little one, and just as easily persuaded to get them what they want

anna

will watch a regressor if they paid her (/hj).

was bojack's babysitter in-between takes of secretariat, but wasn't a lasting relationship.

keeps him in line when he becomes fussy or throws a tantrum, but ultimately forgets to also reassure him and that leads to further emotional outlashing.

crackerjack

beatrice's big brother babysitter!!

at least once in his life he's snuck her an ice pop/ice cream to let his little sister have a taste.

wanda

a positive and fun-loving babysitter, was possibly one of the kindest caregivers that bojack had when regressing (and also the one that let him get away with the most).

[pickypickypeak]

I’ve seen a bunch of posts defending Magnifico by going “Look how much he loves the wishes! Look how happy he is around the wishes!” and I’m still not sure how that’s supposed to be a point in his favor. The only reason he gets to enjoy playing around with the wishes is because he’s taken them from the people they should belong to. But I guess screw all the people who have to live without an important piece of themselves as long as the king’s having fun making light shows up in his tower.

I WILL say I’m not 100% fond of how magnifico was portrayed in the “at all costs” scene, that’s one of my few issues with wish (though I love the song lol). That song is the only moment the movie where his character feels off to me and the only reason I kinda get where (some) people are coming from when defending him.

Let me explain: in the movie we learn immediately that magnifico cares about the people, but because of his trauma, he’s grown to care about them in a literal “keep you safe at all costs” way, which is, giving them the illusion of happiness by depriving them of their most beautiful piece of themselves: their wishes.

Throughout the movie you get this feeling of toxic protectiveness from him (which is not a bad thing per se. In fact it feels consistent with his backstory and trauma), even before his descent into madness. Except for AAC. During those 3 minutes, he actually sounds like a loving and benevolent king (despite the subtle differences in the way he holds and looks at the wishes compared to asha) and I feel like he wasn’t supposed to. If it wasn’t for his portrayal in those 3 minutes, I swear his character wouldn’t break the fandom so much, because for the rest of the movie, he feels 100% consistent.

Is it me or is it usually footage from that song that people take out of context to prove he’s “the good guy”?

Btw, yeah, “him being happy around the wishes” being used to defend him is so so funny to me like. Imagine defending mother gothel because she looks so happy when she abuses rapunzel to stay young

[eris-rose]

Persona 5 vs. Milgram: How One Story Succeeded at Portraying Teenage Sexuality Where the Other Failed

tw: child abuse, child ra**, sexuality and sexualization, abortion, s**cide

(Note: I am not personally a victim of abuse or ra**, so if I say something stupid here, please let me know. I am always open to criticism and I don't want to be an asshole.)

rare moment of @lady-hestia-rose having original thoughts and not just reblogging everything

So this year I discovered both Persona 5 and Milgram, and I love both of them sososo much. I've infodumped about both of them for hours and overanalyzed the writing and symbolism both stories use to no end. Persona 5 Royal is probably my favorite piece of media I've ever seen. Milgram has brought me and my best friend closer together as we rant about our murderer blorbos and how well-written they all are together.

However, playing Persona, to me, is like the video game equivalent of watching a Shakespeare play. It's a masterclass narrative, very entertaining, and full of depth and symbolism to analyze, but it also has a bunch of misogyny that can really sour the mood sometimes. This seems to be a problem that the Persona series has had for a while judging from my experience playing P4 and what I've heard about other games, but in 5 it's like eating the most rich, satisfying cake you've ever had and then finding out some jackass poured pebbles into it. The way Persona 5 treats its female characters is by far my biggest problem with the game, with one problematic aspect in particular being its sexualization of the high school female cast, particularly Ann Takamaki.

Ann's storyline is mostly focused around her looks and how her appearance affects the way people treat her. At first, this plotline is taken in a promising direction. Because of her Caucasian ancestry, Ann faces slut-shaming and fetishization from most of her peers at school. In addition, Ann, along with many other girls in the school, is targeted by her abusive gym teacher, Kamoshida. It's not entirely clear how far his advances went with Ann specifically, but she is shown to face sexual harassment and coercion from Kamoshida onscreen, and Ann's best friend Shiho attempts suicide after being all but stated outright to have been raped by Kamoshida. So Ann is a victim of sexual abuse and a witness of her friend's abuse as well. There are plenty of interesting and thoughtful angles you could take with this story. You could show her reconnecting with Shiho and bonding over their shared trauma, with them going through the healing process together. You could show her being initially distrustful of the other Phantom Thieves until their bond grows stronger and she is able to feel safe around them. You could give her an arc about reclaiming her sexuality and taking back this part of herself that was used to hurt her.

What does the game do?

Barely fucking anything.

Ann gets little to no character development post-Kamoshida. Instead, her Confidant storyline is about her modeling career, with only one conversation where she sees Shiho again even acknowledging her past trauma. The game also continues to make her the Ms. Fanservice of the team, with constant gross jokes about her "hot bod" and the male characters being pervy around her. She keeps getting put in skimpy outfits and having to use her sex appeal to seduce enemies, as if the previous storyline never even happened.

For obvious reasons, I am very uncomfortable with any storyline that sexualizes minors, even if it's for a reason that serves the story. This is a general rule I apply to most media I consume. I'm considering completely skipping the Dancing in Starlight spinoff game because of the content I've heard it contains. And it's not just something I apply to Persona. I stopped listening to the song "Romeo and CInderella" by doriko despite really liking it musically because I was very uncomfortable with the story of the song. It's a problem I run into a lot when consuming Japanese media. However, I was thinking about this stuff a couple days ago, and I realized something. There is one specific piece of media I really like that shows a minor with sexual imagery that actually doesn't make me sick to my stomach. That is the song "Tear Drop" from DECO*27's music project Milgram.

(Note for Milgram fans: This part is based entirely off my interpretation of the offical English translation of the lyrics. I have not watched the voice dramas.)

"Tear Drop" is about a 17-year-old girl named Kashiki Yuno. The music video has several shots of her wearing lingerie, and the song approaches themes of innocence, sexuality, and relationships. Not only do I like the song, it's arguably my favorite song in the entirety of Milgram (although Backdraft also puts up a good fight for that title).

(Note from the future: I have been corrected. Yuno is actually 18.)

Why is it that I like "Tear Drop" despite depictions of sexualized teenagers usually making me uncomfortable? What sets apart Yuno's story from Ann's that makes it work?

(Note: I'm about to discuss a controversial aspect of Japanese culture as a mostly uninformed American. I may be about to say something stupid. If you're more knowledgeable about this subject than I am and you notice me saying something stupid, I am so sorry. Please tell me.)

In Yuno's first song, "Umbilical," it was heavily implied that she was involved in the Japanese enjo kōsai industry, which is often translated as "compensated dating." Taking the definition from Wikipedia (the most scholarly of sources), it is "the practice of older men giving money and/or luxury gifts to attractive young women for sexual favors." The song also implies that Yuno's "murder" (the premise of Milgram is that all of the prisoners the songs are about have killed someone) was an abortion.

So, Yuno was raped. I think that's quite clear. If you're a minor and you have sex with an adult, you were raped. No further clarification needed. Hopefully I don't need to argue that Yuno's abortion was justified either.

After the release of "Umbilical," Yuno was overwhelmingly voted innocent by Milgram's official poll. She garnered a huge amount of sympathy from everybody in the audience, and people expressed their sympathy for Yuno quite often. However, this rhetoric often took on quite a patronizing tone, like calling her "poor baby" or regretting that the circumstances of her life "forced" her into compensated dating to make ends meet (which, from what I understand, isn't quite how enjo kōsai works, but that's another discussion for someone who knows more about this stuff than me).

In Milgram, the prisoners canonically can hear what the audience is saying about them. And Yuno was not pleased.

"Tear Drop" seems to be almost entirely addressed towards the audience. In the image above, we see Yuno removing the metaphorical rose-colored lens from the audience to see the real her. The lyrics call out everyone who infantilized and looked down upon her, drawing similarities between the people she dated and the viewers. Here are some examples from the English translated lyrics: "'Poor naive little girl'? So off the mark, what's it to you? It's just absurd"

"Don't weigh me measure me against your morality Just shut it, will you? You know it all Feeling magnanimous? INNOCENT? I'm so not that Just shut it, will you? You know it all" "Caressing me with your 'Good girl' Who needs your self-righteous pardon?

I'm the one who chose, let you and you and you all in Happy or sad? Why decide? Where'd you get your half-baked sense of justice So nauseating...so creepy...will you please disappear"

Yuno is sick of everyone else making judgements about her and trampling over her own desires and wishes, and in this song she gives the middle finger to everyone who did so.

Generally, I am against portraying sexualized minors in media. However, I think it's important to realize that teenagers are not completely sexless beings. They have their own wants and desires, they want to be sexy, and it is important for them to have their own safe sexual exploration. And like it or not, sex has undoubtedly affected Yuno's life as a rape survivor. And unlike Persona with Ann, Milgram has the respect to not just pretend this part of Yuno's life never happened and allows her to be sexual on her own terms, instead of just pandering to the male gaze.

I grew up in the LDS Church. While I have not gone through anything on her level, I see parts of my own story in Yuno as someone whose sexuality was used to hurt me and who has coped with the trauma by redefining my sexuality as my own. I find "Tear Drop" incredibly inspiring, and I think that's what sets Milgram apart from Persona in its approach to teenage sexuality.

This is the second-to-final shot of Tear Drop. Her face is full of relief, with her clutching the jacket like a comforting blanket. Not everything she has faced is fixed now, and her teenage naivety is still clear in many of the lyrics. One song didn't melt all her trauma away. But she's getting there. She's making progress one step at a time. The final shot of the song is her pulling the jacket in, covering more of her body as she rests.

In Persona 5, Ann's sexuality is used to objectify her. In Milgram, Yuno's sexuality is used to empower her. That's what makes the difference.

[georg-prime]

On Agatha All Along eps 8-9

I'm feel about the same as @p-taryn-dactyl's answer and @ennn in this post.

But yeah I'm really disappointed that we didn't have a full Agatha backstory. Nothing about why her mother was so bent on thinking she was evil from birth, nor anything about her and Rio's beginnings. I do appreciate they took the time to show us her life with her son, to really show how desperate she was to keep him alive and how she just embraced the killings right after her double heartbreak (losing her son that way, Rio taking him while she was asleep etc). But then it took time from other things. So I hope there's still a possibility we learn more things about her while a chatty ghost but we'll, this was supposed to be her show first, next time we see her it probably won't be centered on her.

Also not really happy about is how they really went there with Billy having created the Road. Not only I fear the fighting between fans now (I sure as hell wish one day I could be in a fandom were people wouldn't be aweful to each other or to actors/crew members etc, like wishing death on people wth!!? or even on beloved characters that's just mean), but also it means that they used this opportunity of introducing him by already kind of giving him the guilt and trauma from the Mother arc in Young Avengers 2. So that means they did this, taking it away from being a YA story, and either never having him do that again and so not really exploring the full "reality bending powers so huge they can alter the world and he isn't controlling them yet but his friends and love are here with him and he is the Demiurge" story, or they would make him do that again in some other story and I think that would be worse... Nobody would need such a plot a third time after this and Wandavision. I understand, "parallels" and all, but no 3rd.

Not much infos about Death too, I was hoping for at least some answers to my questions here. There will be other occasions (but I don't have much hope on this front, I fear other writers would more likely just make her a joke character, to just be there looking sexy and weird, flirting with some dude, without much depth 🤔).

Then Alice.

I can appreciate the bitter sweet realization that she did indeed fulfill her purpose at least once. But ugh, a white woman who already lived very very long, and it was a very long psychopathic life, got saved then while the Asian quite young for a witch and very kind person, who barely got her chance at a good life freed from her curse, dies protecting her? Not a good look for this show. I do enjoy seeing Agatha being the equivalent of a pirate, just enjoying life doing crimes, free in a patriarchal world, but not at this kind of cost and without real consequences (she'll get a chance at life back surely).

I'm just glad that at least Jen got a second chance. After having suffered for a whole century as a Black woman, so not exactly having much rights for a big part of it (they didn't think this through when they cast her I bet, it should have been at least mentioned), alone and with nothing to her name, because of said white woman - I was worried they also go there and it would be part of the 'haha it was Agatha all along " thing, but hoped they won't... anyway that also sting man.

I guess I'm also disappointed about the lack of answer to Billy's question if he is Billy or William, and no apparently recovering much memories, but I'm guessing they might tell that story an other time. Maybe.

Basically I did like this show, it had a lot of good things, awesome visuals and costumes, good directing & cinematography, great cast, interesting characters. But it is super disturbing to me how writers don't seem to understand they can't just kill a bunch of characters they made the viewers love, so easily/quickly/kind of cheaply. The only death here who is really acceptable imo was Lilia's, it was indeed the choice of a long lived person who saved several people in doing so and will have several long lasting effects (getting Agatha rid of the Salem Seven, giving advice and his book to Billy, having Jen trust and care for other witches again). Sharon being played for laughs is now in fact a serious guilty memory to Billy, even though it's an accident in this situation in his part and very much Agatha's fault (she brought the 'civilian' there, what was she going to do to her anyway after killing the other 3 like she was originally planning, just let her go? I somehow doubt it 😅), and while he already feels guilty about how he and Tommy are still alive, plus the whole Alice's case, that's kind of cruel frankly.

Anyway, I'm still going to hope that Secret Wars will bring us Alice from an alternate reality, that they don't screw up the Young Avengers too much, and that the lessons about optimizing a show/movie's budget with good practical effects and art and time, will be learned.Next generation of writers please be less homicidal with the characters. Keep the open mindedness of this generation when it comes to queer stories and the concept of intricate plots of the 2000-2010's dark area, add the low stakes fun adventures of the previous generations, and let's try and be more mindful of the racism, I see this gen is trying but they don't get it yet clearly.We'll get there 🤞

[lordadmiralfarsight]

Economy lesson : Money Velocity

Greetings my dear little Tumblrans, it is I, that guy that keeps making vaguely meme-y economy posts ! Today with horrible news : I have decided to teach outside of work hours ! On the plus side, unlike my IRL students, YOU can block me if you don't want the lesson.

And today's topic will be Money Velocity. What is money velocity ? It's not a bike city populated by sentient cash, despite what some might believe, no. It is the speed at which money moves inside an economy. What's that got to do with anything ? A fucklot ! Let me explain.

Money velocity is, like I said, the speed at which money moves in an economy between actors. Like consumers, banks, the State, companies, NGOs, etc. The faster that money moves, the better, because it means that money is being used for economic activity, powering various parts of the system and thus creating wealth.

Or, in the wise words of one of the few monarchs I am not physically incapable of tolerating, King Julian : we like to move it move it (it being money).

To illustrate, allow me to introduce a character : a random €100 bill. Yes, euro, not dollar, I'm European, you can't stop me. That €100 bill, which we will call Billy going forward, is used to buy a load of groceries at the market, let's say veggies for a restaurant. Billy is now in the hands of a farmer, who uses it to buy fertilizer to keep his farm going. The producer of the fertilizer then uses Billy to pay a worker, who then uses billy to pay for a new piece of furniture, and then Billy is used to buy more lumber, then to pay for repairs on a chainsaw, then to buy spare parts, then to ... You get the idea, Billy is on a grand journey through the economy, how delightfull.

When he's doing that, Billy is keeping the economic waterwheel going, round and round, and that economic waterwheel then powers society. A waterwheel that goes vroom means that the economy is healthy, which means you can safely invest in a house, new tools, a car, whatever, and it's likely that the investment will go at least OK-ish. It means banks can feel safer about lending, which is kind of a central part of our current economic model and one of our primary tools of wealth creation.

Now, if you've read my other two economic posts, you're probably thinking I'm going to explain how everything's fucked and how we're all doomed, which is a gross exaggeration and I...

Why everything's fucked

I could apologize for that easy joke, but I asked myself if I should just because I could, and my answer is no.

So, in short : money move fast, is good. So logically, if money move slow, is bad, right ? Exactly. So the question then is : what makes money go slow ? Well, a bunch of stuff can.

For instance, a low amount of existing money, AKA the money supply. People like hoarding what's rare and what has value, so valuable rare stuff is prime hoarding material. Keeping in mind that TOO MUCH money can also be bad due to hyperinflation, something that causes shudders of horror in prudish teenagers prowling DeviantArt (no, I will not change my joke) and in Germans in general (I use "cahs wheelbarrow" in attack mode to trigger generational trauma).

Another factor would be how easy it is to pay for stuff. For instance, if you have to go to the bank to take money out of your account each time you need to pay for something, unexpected/impulse buying is far less likely, if only because of the hassle. If you can pay with a credit card (and even more so if you can check your account in real time), you're more likely to feel confident buying things, which in turn means you'll buy stuff, which keeps the money moving.

Last big factor we'll see is economic actor behaviour. "Can I start blaming billionaires now?" Patience my dear, I'm giving you a reason. So, how economic actors behave has an impact on the economy, amazing discovery, next, scientists claim ocean is made of water. But more seriously, if you're putting money aside you're reducing money velocity by creating, I guess you could call it an economic drainage lake which you fill with your savings.

Now, that money isn't entirely out of the system, since you're most likely shoving it into a savings account which can then serve as a backing for banks to loan money (how did you think interests were accrued?) so it's still going through the system, even if far slower than if you spend it.

Those bank loans can still be given to consummers buying big things (like houses) and to companies looking to develop, and that still keeps the economy running, right ? Normally, yes.

"Is it time to blame Capitalism and billionaires yet?" you ask, and yes, yes it is.

So, why do we blame them now ? Easy : there's a second economic circuit that's going perfectly fine, the financial one. If we look at the entire system, there's plenty of movement of money on the stock markets, even without taking speculation into account which ... is a whole other subject I may have to look at later. The main issue is that this financial economic circuit is not as connected as the traditional one as it perhaps should be, which means the money injected into that circuit has a worrying tendency to STAY in that circuit. How ? Well ...

Investors put cash into a company, then they expect dividents. Those dividends are used to put more cash in the company or in other companies, and since monkey brain like number big, investors ask for MORE dividends, which means you need to cut costs somewhere, like for instance employees. That money is still pushing economic activity, it's still creating wealth, but that wealth is focused in a rather small group and is based on the inherently unstable stock markets, which means that it can evaporate whenever investors have a collective tantrum. There's also the fact that, despite the large sums of money involved, that particular mass of money moves far slower than the money used by consummers.

Second big issue : the drainage great lakes. You're not the only one to have savings, the 1% have savings too, except theirs are proportional to how much cash they have. Now, to be clear, most of their wealth is in assets, not in cash, but they still DO have cash, and as you are no doubt aware, they aren't too thrilled when asked to pay taxes. Taxation is theft and all that bullshit spewed by people opposed to snake BDSM.

Like I pointed out, savings aren't inherently bad, they slow down the flow of money a bit, but do not stop it, and in fact allow for crucial investments that produce new wealth. No, the main issue is where those savings are. Tax havens, a well known term for places where money is put to stay hidden and, sometimes, to be laundered. Well, these puppies form, in effect, giant financial retention dams, where rivers of cash are poured in and trickles come out.

Most of the money put in tax havens don't return to the economy they come from. And, to be perfectly honest, they don't go into the tax haven's economy either. It just ... sits there. Hoardingly.

Proportionally, the tax havens have less of an impact than the parallel financial circuit, but they are visible and, most importantly, symptomatic of a way of thinking, of acting, of hoarding wealth and value.

So yeah, that's money velocity, or how fast money goes in the economy. Put simply, our system is currently obsessed with the stock market due to a systemic gambling addiction and has forgotten that the basis of a consumption economy is the consummer, which uh ... is generally in a less than ideal situation right now.

Now, when this topic was suggested to me, "trickle down" economics was mentionned, with the suggestion that I show how it's a scam. Well, I think it's already done fairly well with the above, as the system set up to "trickle down" was what spawned the financial circuit and allowed wealth monopilzation that spawned the tax haven problem on its current scale.

But I feel I should go further.

Is trickle down economics doomed to fail in all cases ? No, it can work actually ! It's just like unregulated Capitalism or Real Communism(tm), it can work if you just do this one simple, cheap, easy thing : replace all humans with robots bound by a strict programming.

Like many other economic or political ideas, "trickle down economics", in its stated goal and ideal functionning, is predicated and dependant on being populated purely and entirely by good faith actors. Adding any degree of human interference leads to the idealized system collapsing in one way or another.

This leaves two options :

Reagan and co were unerringly naive and incapable of considering the possibility humans could act selfishly or in a way that didn't match their vision.

They knew and were counting on it, and only sold the ideal as a sugar coating for the bullshit.

I'll let you pick which one is more likely.