#for the most tone-deaf character in this story

[genericpuff]

Are there any characters from LO that you actually like/don’t mind

I have a lot more appreciation for Minthe now with all the hindsight that Hades and Persephone are often way worse than she is. She still had a lot of issues on her own end that she didn't deal with well, and while I would have liked to see her actually develop properly beyond her struggles both internal and with Hades, I think the best thing we could have asked for was Minthe being written out of the story the way she was. At least then Rachel couldn't continue to use her as a punching bag (she just tagged in Leuce for that, sigh)

Helios is great, zero issue with him. This scene is a lot funnier and more relatable to read in hindsight:

like ofc Helios is gonna rat on her, he's the fucking sun who's been around for thousands of years, why would he put any more of his limited freedom on the line for macaroni art LMAO (and yes, Rachel herself confirmed that Persephone made macaroni art cards for Helios, it's like... yeah okay it's cute but Persephone and Demeter still hid a crime from Zeus, the sentimental value of the birthday cards have no bearing on that LOL)

Thanatos is also in the camp of "characters I appreciate more in hindsight and wish got better character development". Adding in the 'twist' that he was Hades' adoptive son after we just spent nearly two seasons watching Hades treat him like just a lowly employee who didn't deserve his respect was certainly... a choice. And I don't think I should have to explain why it was a very very BAD one LOL

Hephaestus is also great, I know he's an extremely minor character whose only real role was to delete the blackmail photos from Apollo's phone but, like. look at him???

amazing. precious. sweet boy. and it has absolutely nothing to do with my absent older brother issues why would you say that- (｡•́︿•̀｡) that said, there are still flaws in his design (his prosthetics especially because he's constantly wearing running blades for every occasion which I feel like Rachel only chose because they "looked cool" and were "easier to draw" but like. his poor hips and back, that's gotta be uncomfortable 😭) but even just his face on its own is ironically one of the most unique character designs across the entire cast, not for any sort of outstanding or creative reasons, you just can't possibly mistake or color swap him with anyone else LMAO and though I can't feasibly give credit to Rachel for writing a neurodivergent character - because I have no clue if that was her intention here, afaik she's never really talked about it - I can wholly relate to him being the introverted computer guy who just wants to be left alone with his work and his airpods, like that's literally just me LOL

And of course nothing Rachel could ever do would make me hate Demeter, I think it's so ironic and tone deaf that Rachel claimed she "didn't get" why Demeter was so hated by the fans and didn't "agree" with the comparisons to Mother Gothel, but like... Rachel literally wrote her that way. And while she did "resolve" it, it wasn't with any actual empathy towards Demeter's own side of things, it was just bandaids on top of bandaids and then going "yep! She's all better now! That's character development!" Out of all the characters who deserved better, she was the one who deserved the most 😔💓

[bloomeng]

One thing I will never understand is why most mdzs fans are so pressed about Jin Guangyao. I understand disliking him if you’re a huge fan of the canon characters he’s hurt, but so many of the people who hate him are only here for wangxian. And like wtf did he do to wangxian? To me, his biggest offense is killing Nie Mingjue who was literally already dying. But if you see any discussion online from people who don’t like him it’s only about how he married his sister. And it drives me insane.

Lemme spell it out (I say arguing with the wall)

1) When he is introduced to Qin Su he has no idea and accepts the engagement because it's expected of him to marry.

2) His father is a horrible abusive man.

3) Jin Guangyao sleeps with her once for the sake of propriety before he knows.

4) He finds out right before the wedding meaning that calling it off would be suspicious.

5) If he called out his father the best that would happen is him getting thrown out and losing everything he’s worked towards and the worst is his father killing him and Qin Su and even maybe her mother.

6) He never touches her again.

Whether MXTX meant it or not Meng Yao’s struggle is a foil to Wei Wuxian’s. This idea of severe classism controlling who gets to survive and prosper in this world is integral to the story. Wei Wuxian is lucky because he happened to be brought into a sect due to connections he had before his birth. Meng Yao isn’t so lucky. His mother being a sex worker is crucial to his whole story. Because of his mother Meng Yao suffers from this anti-sexwork rhetoric and I don’t say this lightly but a lot of his struggles in life are rooted in the misogyny towards his mother. So when people pick on him for marrying his sister— something he was forced into— and mock him for it… it feels tone-deaf. It’s similar to the way real-life misogyny effects the way people hate Madame Yu, but that’s a whole other can of worms.

To be clear it is not misogynistic to dislike Jin Guangyao that would be a crazy thing to say. It’s the way people go about it. When factors of his birth, his mother, and classism, in general, get mixed in, is when the conversation goes sour.

Jin Guangyao’s actions are not excused because his life was hard but neither are Wei Wuxian’s. People get so wrapped up in the POV of the novel they forget it’s biased. If the story were from Jin Guangyao’s POV I bet people would not loathe him to this extent. Which is so frustrating. Blah Blah Blah reading comprehension buzzword.

[oddyseye]

EPIC is an absolute banger. The music? Gorgeous. The emotion? Raw. Jorge’s talent? Undeniable. The way Calypso is written? Tone-deaf, frustrating, and honestly pretty gross.

In Homer’s Odyssey, Calypso is not some sad, lonely girl with a “childlike mind” who just loves too much. She’s a vindictive, manipulative immortal who traps a traumatized war veteran on her island for seven years and forces herself on him. That’s not a tragic romance — that’s abuse. She’s not some misunderstood girlboss crying about unrequited love; she’s a literal predator. The Gods had to order her to let Odysseus go. And even then? She didn’t make it easy. She handed him an axe and made him build a raft himself. As if this 40-something-year-old man who’s spent a decade at war and has lost everything needed one more chore. She wasn’t helping him. She was making him earn the privilege of escaping her.

There is no ambiguity to her actions and Homer himself never once tries to justify her.

But in EPIC, we’re suddenly supposed to feel sorry for her. “Love in Paradise” paints her obsession as some dreamy, lovesick devotion. And it is creepy.

The problem is, this version of Calypso erases the reality of what she did. Jorge turns her from a vindictive, manipulative abuser into a sad, lonely girl we’re supposed to sympathize with. That’s not fair to Odysseus, and it’s not fair to male survivors of abuse. Men’s trauma is rarely acknowledged as it is, and here was an opportunity to tell that story honestly — and it got romanticized instead.

Calypso apologizes for “coming on too strong,” as if her actions were an innocent misunderstanding. No. She didn’t just “push too hard” — she abused a broken man for her own selfish loneliness. The song treats her confession as tragic, culminating in her frustration: “Why in the world won’t you love me too?” But that frustration isn’t justified. It’s manipulative, as if Odysseus owes her love because she’s sad and lonely. It’s a narrative that too often gets applied to real-life victims of abuse: “Can’t you see how much I care about you? Can’t you just love me back?” Framing her desperation as sympathetic only romanticizes her cruelty. The issue? These words are carefully chosen to minimize her abuse. She reduces seven years of captivity to “coming on too strong,” as if her actions were an awkward overstep rather than a violent stripping of autonomy. The word “ambushed” is especially insidious — she uses it casually, almost like a joke, to hand-wave away the depth of her cruelty. The framing makes it sound as if Odysseus simply rejected her too harshly, as though her love was just “too much for him”.

Her final plea in the song: “Why in the world won’t you love me too?” …is the most manipulative moment of all.

The focus shifts entirely onto her suffering, centering her loneliness as the true tragedy instead of Odysseus’ years of despair. Her pain becomes the emotional core of the scene, while Odysseus — whose trauma, grief, and loss should be front and center — fades into the background. Calypso’s selfish lament distracts from the reality: she was never a victim. She was a predator who exploited a broken man to soothe her isolation.

It’s even more frustrating when you think about how Calypso is treated versus other female characters in the musical. Penelope gets a whole invented storyline about threats of sexual violence from the suitors — something that wasn’t in Homer’s original text — while Calypso’s literal abuse of Odysseus gets downplayed into sad girl hours. Make that make sense.

Calypso didn’t need redemption, and she didn’t need a ballad. She needed to be called what she is: a captor who preyed on a broken man.

And before ANY of you BRAINDEAD defenders come at me with the “B-but Calypso didn’t force herself onto Odysseus! This is a retelling that removed that part!”—no. You’re wrong. The lyrics in "Love in Paradise" and "Not Sorry for Loving You" make it abundantly clear that Calypso’s actions are still coercive and controlling, even if the story doesn’t explicitly spell it out.

“Soon, into bed we’ll climb and spend our time”. What exactly do you think she means by that? Odysseus outright says no — “Hell no, I could kill you where you stand! I’m no pet, I’m a married man!” — and her response isn’t to respect his boundaries but to smirk at his helplessness. She laughs off his threat of violence because “last I checked, goddesses can’t die”. Calypso knows Odysseus can’t fight her, can’t escape her.

She doesn’t care about what Odysseus is going through. She only cares about keeping him there.

Odysseus says no — explicitly, violently — but it doesn’t matter. She’s already decided how this story goes.

“So if I pushed you, Or if I came on too strong, Or if I ambushed you, For that, I’ll say I was wrong.”

Let’s focus on “ambushed you.” She’s admitting it. She’s admitting she forced something onto Odysseus he didn’t consent to — she just downplays it. Instead of accountability, she turns herself into the victim with: “I’m not sorry for loving you.”

This isn’t remorse. It’s manipulative. She’s telling Odysseus that her feelings justify her actions, as if the way she loves him matters more than the pain she’s caused. And then she twists the knife further:

“Why in the world won’t you love me too?”

This is emotional guilt-tripping. Calypso has kept Odysseus trapped for seven years, ignoring his grief, his trauma, his screaming memories of war and loss. Yet when he rejects her, she makes him the cruel one for not returning her love.

I actually really liked Calypso in The Odyssey because it didn’t sugarcoat her actions. The Odyssey shows that women can be just as awful as men. Coercion, abuse, manipulation, it’s all there. And it’s important to acknowledge that men can be victims of these things too. That’s real, it’s gritty, and it doesn’t shy away from difficult truths. What I loved about it is that it made me think. It wasn’t all about idealizing characters, it was about understanding that people, both men and women, can be flawed and capable of harm.

But then Epic came along and ruined her. They took the edge off her character, made her into this sad, lovesick nymph who just wants to be loved by Odysseus, and completely erased the fact that she’s an abuser. And that’s what frustrates me. Epic fans seem to ignore that critical part of the story. It’s frustrating as hell to see so many people romanticize this version of Calypso without any awareness of the actual harm she caused. Sure, if you haven’t read The Odyssey, maybe you won’t get it, and I get that. But the rest of you? You’ve had the chance to see the truth and still choose to ignore it because it’s more comfortable. You’re not interested in critical thinking or nuance, so congrats for missing the whole point of the original myth.

If you’re going to turn Calypso into something she wasn’t, at least admit that you’re not trying to tell an honest story anymore. Just be honest about the fact that you don’t care about male victims, or your own intelligence for that matter.

[velvetvexations]

I’m. So baffled by that one dude saying that trans men being able to pretend to be women is a privilege, because in his tags he says that it’s a thing specific to transmascs. Does he mean pretending to be cis as a means of safety is a transmasc specific thing?? Because uh, I’m… pretty sure that’s something that can be done regardless of a trans person’s gender? There are transfems and nonbinary people who can also pretend to be cis [whatever their agab was], too?

Its also not a privilege. Having to hide what you are out of fear isn’t a fucking privilege lmao

strangely people understand that when it's about trans women

just saw a post on my dash saying "'infighting' is a dogwhistle which frames transfems as aggressors". i really hope the tide is turning like you said, bc this shit is getting exhausting and im still seeing it from random people i follow who otherwise gave no indication that they drank the koolaid.

they make me out to be the aggressor all the time!

Nazi imagery anon here

These are the pics I was referring to.

As you can see it’s posted on the verified border security account and you can see two different nazi symbols on him :(

yeah it looks like standards for what they allow soldiers to adorn themselves with are low and the person taking and posting the pics aren't paying good enough attention because that guy also straight up has a naked anime bitch on his knife sheath

as I said this is an individual thing and they need to start knocking their heads together like the Three Stooges and sending them into trenches first

You know who saying that th**fab is actually a storied term that trans fems have been using to identify transmisogonists is fucking insane like girl that's such obvious lie give us nothing

they aren't even trying

It’s crazy how almost every other day on this site I see a new post with like 50k notes talking about how absolutely NOBODY deserves to be harassed, sent death threats or be put on blast yet once again I’m seeing people trying to justify the harassment of another transmasc teenager. Honestly people should just start openly admitting Tumblr is becoming increasingly hostile towards trans masculine individuals, I don’t see clownery on this level on any other platform-

Tumblr...is really bad.

I think the reason why this whole headcanons discourse bothers me so much is that is really is just fuelled by petty spite. Like all these characters are cisgender in canon. We make headcanons because it’s FUN to expand on characters in ways that reflect our different life experiences in whatever form that may take. Intentionally going after transmascs, especially young transmascs, for doing this with characters like they like and accusing them of all these different things genuinely does just feel like bigotry. Who cares if a head canon may not make the most amount of sense? It’s a cisgender fictional character we’re playing around with! Why does it have to be some grand act of activism to say blorbo number 3 is transmasc? We have much bigger fish to fry here.

exactly it's such dedication to not letting anyone else have anything

So sick of people acting like trans men are the same as cis men under the patriarchy and moreso im really sick of the "you're privileged to not be surrounded by men". Like, for lack of better phrasing, saying that about a group of people that is generally perceived as "failure women" pre transition (and sometimes during and post) is a little tone deaf. All about acknowledging how women and people perceived as women are harmed by misogyny until the ones perceived are men. Gender essentialism is ugly and tasteless and nonsensical. Please feel free to delete this im just rambling without a point

rambling is okay anon <3

„wow ur so privileged to not fear men”

i fear the fucking everyone asshole, i just realized that isnt everyone elses fault so i should still treat them with respect !!!!!

that woman called me a "self-hating doll" and I hate the second part a lot more than the first

[explaintome]

Dear Mouthwashing fandom, explain to me, why next to the incredible fan art, I find a fuck ton of shipping content, especially between characters where this is highly problematic? SPOILERS FOR MOUTHWASHING AHEAD CN for talk about sexual abuse, death, suicide & violence

DISCLAIMER: I do not shame the general practice of shipping at all. I am a shipper myself and I think it makes up for a lot of interesting dynamics and narratives outside the canon. Shipping is an important pillar of fandom communities and I am unable to forbid you to do it. HOWEVER, in the case of Mouthwashing I want to talk about what, in my opinion, feels tone-deaf to the themes and the canon of the game. But let me start with a short summary of the game before I get into it.

Mouthwashing is basically a visual novel that takes place on the Tulpar, the last manned cargo ship of the company Pony Express. The crew, consisting of Caption Curly, Co-Captain Jimmy, Nurse Anya, Mechanic Swansea and his intern Daisuke, is confronted with a crash against an asteroid and the consequences following it. The story is told out of order to reveal the truth bit by bit. What caused the crash, what happened and how the crew deals with the time afterward being stuck on the ship. Revealing sexual abuse, tragic backstories, the horrible side effects of late state capitalism and the neglect of people in command towards the people they are responsible for.

To boil it down we have two men who, out of societal misogyny, hurt the only woman on their crew by assaulting her or not acting as they should have in their position of responsibility. All of this would not have happened if Jimmy didn't rape Anya and impregnate her, and if Curly had disciplined Jimmy in a capacity possible on the ship and in Jimmy's position as co-pilot. To be honest, with the amount of automatization the ship has, I don't think they need Jimmy if it is not a case of emergency, but I digress. Jimmy is the perpetrator of the story, but Curly is an accomplice in putting his aim of finding a solution and compromise over punishing his subordinate as he should have.

And now to my actual point: I am a big fan of the game, the narration style and the utter tragedy of 5 people losing their lives in the isolation of space, with their company not giving a shit about them. Otherwise, they might have been rescued much earlier or at all. Or had enough cryo pots in the first place. Or a nurse with experience. Or any amount of better equipment and not the most cheap shit that somehow made it through a resemblance of regulations. There are probably no regulations.

Being a fan I, of course, looked into the hashtags on several social media sites, and between the incredible art and analysis of the game, I quickly found shipping content, and I have no idea why. I have literally no idea how that narrative speaks to you in a way of shipping characters romantically/sexually. Especially three shippings really rub me the wrong way.

ANYA/JIMMY

Are you fucking kidding me? Literally, what is wrong with you shipping a victim with their abuser? There was not one interaction between them, that suggest that there was consent or affection, that Jimmy has any sympathy for Anya. He knows what is going on, he knows that Anya is pregnant and takes no responsibility. Even worse, his idea of FIXING this was to kill everyone, at least himself, to avoid responsibility! Same goes for AUs where she kept the baby and is somehow okay and happy? I get the urge to fix it, but that is not a good fix. There is no good fix if you are pregnant due to rape.

ANYA/CURLY

A lot of argument I hear for that is that "at least Curly is her friend and was nice to her" and if that is your whole foundation of argument, I want to ask what your standards for a relationship are. Please know that you deserve more than the bare minimum. Another question in that context: Is Curly really Anya's friend? His friend was abused and instead of protecting her, he tried to reason and help her abuser! That is not the behavior of a friend! There is no "but Jimmy is his friend too!". If your friend is an abuser and that does not make you stop being their friend....why?

JIMMY/CURLY

It feels like it is a law on the internet, that two men who look at least averagely handsome will be shipped, especially if they have the tiniest of connection to each other. I am not even sure if I would call them friends in the first place. It appears that Jimmy, whatever his bad life before that job was (thanks to the developers for not giving us a backstory), he is still absolutely unsatisfied with that he has. He is jealous of Curly and his position, seeing how quickly he takes on the Captain title after the crash and only realizes far too late how hard the position actually is. Curly on the other hand feels a bit like a people pleaser to me. He probably had pity for Jimmy, took him under his wing to help him? Fix him? Whatever it is, it made him ignore Jimmy's bad side to a fatal degree. I respect the toxic yaoi but are you sure?

TLDR; I am worried about how the practice of shipping developed, from a way to extend the canon, explore queerness in cis/straight dominated media, into a compulsion of where some people can't look at any form of media or constellation of characters without immediately smashing them together like dolls. If you do this, maybe step back for a minute and ask yourself if it is appropriate. On that note, same goes in case you defend Jimmy. Why?

[sokkastyles]

One of the traits of Katara's character that I love very much is her anger. I mean, not the anger and rage that corrodes the soul and you can't see anything behind it, but the righteous anger that is caused by the injustice of the world in which she lives. Her whole arch is that it's okay to be angry. No one has ever told me this before. Her anger is the engine. And anger can go hand in hand with love.

Katara is angry because her brother is a jerk who pisses her off, she is angry because some assholes started a war in the world and caused a lot of grief, she is angry because one asshole killed her mom and now she herself has to take her place, and she was deprived of a normal childhood, she He's angry because he can't keep up with the same wave of fun as all the other guys. And in her anger, she is so beautiful, I like that her emotions are expressed as openly as possible, many in the fandom call her hysterical (women who express their discontent out loud in the crowd are branded hysterical, even if they have all the arguments in the world to be dissatisfied), but for me this is the most It's amazing what she has, because with all that, she's so kind.

Yes, the world is terrible, but you still have to help people, so if you turn away from them, then who will help them? She has so much anger that she manages to use for good. Probably, the puppeteer is such a wonderful episode, because Hama is who Ktara could be if she let her anger go in the wrong direction, despite the fact that Katara is an incredible magician, she could do things much worse than Hama did, but she would never.

I do think that people tend to dichotomize Katara's anger as part of her "dark side" instead of recognizing that it is, like you said, what motivates her to do good. Righteous anger can be a force for good, it can be healing. Especially if you're told you shouldn't be angry. This is something that I think is present in both Katara and Zuko's stories, respectively and together, as both needed that closure and the ability to say "it's not wrong for me to be angry about what happened to me, it's not wrong that I don't forgive."

I think that's a bit part of The Southern Raiders and also why Aang's harping on forgiveness in that episode comes across as tone deaf. Aang himself carries a lot of anger which the show mentions but never really addresses, in favor of painting him as the kind magical poc who is endlessly forgiving and optimistic towards his oppressors. Which is both convenient and horrific because he is literally the last of his people. There is no one left to say "I do not forgive you," no one left to be angry, no one left to ask "where is the justice?" Instead we get some moralizing about how being angry makes you just as bad as your oppressors, which is why I've never bought that Aang's preaching about forgiveness is him "respecting his culture." It feels like colonial apologia written by and for Americans, which is what it is.

[my-mt-heart]

Dissecting Zabel's Inappropriate Comments

I shared my initial reaction to the Games Radar article, but now that the original SFX article is also out, I want to dive a little deeper into what David Zabel said. From one source to another, the meaning doesn't change.

Regarding Daryl's and Carol's relationship, he says...

Whereas with Daryl and Isabelle, he insists...

Zabel thinks he's shedding light on his male hero's two most prominent relationships [with women], when in actuality he exposes a lot more about himself and what kind of showrunner he is.

He has no interest in the flagship show nor its acclaim.

Had he actually watched TWD in its entirety, tracked the progression of Daryl's and Carol's relationship from S1 to S11, and researched their fanbase as well as their media coverage from over the years instead of just pretending to, he'd see that nothing about their relationship is "obvious" or "easy." Trauma and self-esteem issues hardly ever explored in TV couples—let alone TV couples in their 50’s—have always complicated things, creating obstacles for them to take their relationship beyond intense feelings and helping them grow closer together, feel safer, understood, and loved to a degree nobody else can measure. There are 12 years and 11 seasons of sexual tension, smoldering looks, vulnerable moments, meaningful conversations, and romantic subtext at Zabel's disposal. The natural thing for him to do, the only thing that furthers the narrative already being told is to confirm that they're "in love" and make them "a couple."

If he wants to talk about a "TV book of tricks," he should re-evaluate the tricks he uses to justify a romantic connection between a well-established, unconventional, fiercely loyal man with intimacy issues and a blonde nun who’s only been around for a few months (and 6 episodes from an audience POV). Zabel tries to project what draws Daryl to Carol—broken until the world ended—onto Isabelle. He forces Daryl and Isabelle into intimate situations straight out of fanfiction—bathtubs, bed-sharing, cleaning wounds in hard-to-reach places—and uses other supporting characters like Losang to tell Daryl and the audience that it's romantic. That's not "seeing what happens," that's repeatedly trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and expecting everybody to think he's a genius. On the contrary...

He's completely tone deaf.

If he's calling Daryl's and Isabelle's relationship "mature," then he clearly doesn't realize how deeply problematic it is for a character to gaslight and lie to another character with a history of childhood abuse in order to get something from him, whether it's to help her find their new home or father a boy he just met. It's also triggering for fans who have survived abuse in their own lives to watch their hero fall back into the cycle without it being acknowledged or resolved in a way that helps him (and the fans) heal from it.

A dynamic between Daryl and a nun definitely could've been an "intriguing" dynamic to explore since they're both supposed to be emotionally unavailable. We'd get to see that Daryl's heart belongs to Carol and Isabelle is "married" to God. We'd get to see them bond over the idea of loving someone and/or something so infinitely and unconditionally that it's frightening to feel disconnected from them, whether physically or spiritually, and we'd get to see them help each other keep their faith, whatever that means to them. That's interesting. That's fresh. A romance between Daryl and a nun, regardless of whether or not she dresses like one, is not interesting. Not intriguing. Not edgy. Not sexy. It's disrespectful on multiple levels.

He calls Daryl and Carol coming back together only to realize that they've "changed" the more interesting story to tell? I call it sad. Sad and out of character for Daryl to feel anything other than elated to realize that the woman who represented everything good to him for over a decade crossed a damn ocean to find him. Sad that after "everything she's done" to find him, she finds that he's replaced her and their family back home.

He views the female perspective as irrelevant.

Saying he "respects" Caryl shippers only to invalidate them and then pour salt on the wound shows an air of superiority that is very typical of white male showrunners and executives. Granted, plenty of men ship Daryl and Carol, but it is also true that the majority of their fanbase is female and because of that, Zabel thinks he can mansplain the relationship to us. He tells us that what we want is cute, but he’s the one with the skillset to write a "good" story for the characters. He either doesn't care about our viewership because other men like him are his "real" audience or he assumes we'll come to our senses because he's right and we're wrong.

It isn't about shipping or romance at all though. If it was, he wouldn't just kill Isabelle off after insisting on this wild chemistry nobody sees but him (and Greg Nicotero). It isn't that Carol can't be a love interest either. It's about catering to the male gaze. Carol can't be the love interest for the white male hero that Zabel wants the fanboys to identify with and glorify. She doesn't fit their biases. Not young enough, not blonde enough, so on and so forth. Ignorance like that is generations-long and it doesn't just go away the more time he spends with Daryl and Carol. It only gets worse. Caryl may go to Spain alone, but there's plenty of new shipbait over there for him to introduce.

In what Zabel is actually quoted as saying about romance, which is all that counts, he only vaguely brings up a conversation with Norman, one I suspect is a lot more nuanced than he wants us to believe, but that's beside the point. He doesn't say "Melissa and I talked about Caryl's relationship" or "Clemence and I talked about Daryl's and Isabelle's relationship." Why not? Would the former disapprove of being treated like a sexless intruder in her "friend's" nuclear family? Would the latter hate to feel like a plot device for the brooding hero's manpain? What do the women have to say about their side of this oh so "interesting" emotional arc, Zabel? It's a rhetorical question obviously because if I really wanted to ask, I'd ask the women directly. The only thing is, they aren’t allowed to talk about it so openly and honestly, are they, Zabel? And you took advantage of that, right?

He's vindictive.

He may treat us like a bug on his windshield, but he isn't unaware that Caryl/McReedus have an active fanbase. He isn't unaware that AMC's promo strategy has centered on Caryl/McReedus. He's competing with it. He's aggressive in these articles because he wants to tell a particular kind of story that AMC, plus all of us unhinged shippers, won't let him. Taking a firm stance is how he takes control again (or so he thinks). The way he positions Carol as an intruder in "Daryl's" story, despite a sorry attempt to put a band-aid on it later, also presents itself in the SDCC trailer where everything, including Carol, has to revolve around the main hook: Daryl making a new family in France. For Zabel, it's true to life because he had to fit unconventional Melissa into his outdated "interesting" formula when that wasn’t what he was hired to do. To paraphrase what Melissa said, she was the newcomer who had to be careful not to disrupt a system already put in place before she arrived. What, or who, made her feel that way when she had already been playing Carol for over a decade?

To watch or not to watch

That is not the question. You can choose not to give AMC your money for Zabel's bullshit or you can choose to help the ratings go up for Melissa/Carol. Both are the right choice. The real question is, how will AMC know to blame Zabel and not Melissa if the ratings drop? How will they know that Carylers still need canon and...wait for it...good storytelling if they watched just to remind them how valuable Melissa is to the franchise? I know I sound like a broken record here, but this is why it's so important to be vocal. Use whatever platform you have (and are comfortable with) to specify what's bothering you whether it's the shipbaiting or Daryl's suspenders. Say what you love (Melissa is the correct answer) and what you want more of or what you want to change in regards to performances, relationships, and storylines. For me, I wanted to see both Daryl and Carol make every effort to get back to each other. I wanted to get the payoff I've been waiting for after a god-awful S11 that kept them separated and angry at each other the whole time. I wanted the story to center on Daryl's and Carol's relationship while everything else revolved around them. "To find home is to find each other." Where did that story go? I want it back.

No matter what we say, egomaniacs like David Zabel, Greg Nicotero, and Scott Gimple will spit on us, punch us in the gut, and kick us while we're down (though I guess only the first one is stupid enough to be so literal). If Zabel understood the first thing about Carol or Caryl, then maybe he would've realized that their fans know how to push back.

As for AMC, they don't care about the characters or the relationship or our feelings either, but they do care about their bottom line and these articles threaten that. Keep reminding them.

[trekacrosstheuniverse]

Saavik in Unification is a BAD TAKE

This is going to be a loooooong post because I have a lot of feelings and a lot to say.

To begin with, I loved the film. It was so poetic, thought-provoking, and visually stunning. The ending, in particular, was profoundly moving—I honestly found myself crying in silence as the credits rolled. The handhold. That being said, I hated how the film handled the character of Saavik.

Saavik’s Characterization and Potential Saavik is one of the most compelling characters in Star Trek. Originally conceived as part of the “new generation” of the franchise, she represented a bridge between the old crew and the new. Saavik was envisioned as a bright, ambitious young officer with her own aspirations, including a desire for captaincy. She wasn’t just a supporting character; she was meant to embody the future of Starfleet—someone with the intelligence, skill, and determination to carry the series into a new era.

The decision to canonize a romantic or sexual relationship between Saavik and Spock diminishes her potential. It reduces her to a plot device— showing that when the audience last saw her on Vulcan in The Voyage Home (1986), she never left. She stayed there to raise his baby and be his wife. This choice feels not only out of place but also deeply unfair to her character and to fans who have admired her complexity and promise.

Saavik Deserves Better! Saavik was written as more than a “young love interest.” She was a character with depth, goals, and the potential to take the franchise in exciting new directions. Reducing her to a way for Spock to have a son undermines everything she stood for. Fans who admired her for her strength and intelligence deserve more, and so does Saavik herself!

The Problematic Nature of the Relationship The dynamic between Saavik and Spock is troubling for several reasons. Spock, as a significantly older and more experienced figure, served as her mentor and even, in many interpretations, a parental figure. Their relationship in The Search for Spock (1984) was deliberately left ambiguous. The infamous “cave scene” was vague, and the decision to delete a scene confirming Saavik’s pregnancy reflected a conscious effort to avoid solidifying this controversial narrative. Modern audiences largely interpret their bond as professional or even paternal, as depicted in the Star Trek novel The Pandora Principle.

By canonizing a sexual relationship, the story introduces a significant power imbalance. When they met, Spock was a seasoned officer near the end of his career, while Saavik was a young cadet just beginning hers. Such a dynamic not only feels inappropriate but also undermines Spock’s established character. Throughout the franchise, Spock has consistently been portrayed as a figure of integrity and professionalism. A romantic or sexual involvement with a much younger subordinate would be completely out of character for him.

Modern Context In 2024, it feels particularly tone-deaf to cement a storyline like this. Audiences today are more attuned to issues of consent, power dynamics, and age disparities in relationships, especially those involving mentor-mentee roles. What might have been overlooked or excused in the 1980s is now widely recognized as problematic. Revisiting and reinforcing such a dynamic sends the wrong message, especially in Star Trek of all franchises.

The decision to confirm this relationship in Unification feels not only unnecessary but also extremely damaging. It detracts from both Saavik and Spock and should not have been canonized!

[chaifootsteps]

tbh one thing i liked about the instas that i dont think the series will bring back is him wearing casual clothes outside of work. the concept of a gay male sinner from the 1940s embracing modern day fashion from the current era because of how cute it is without anyone caring because its hell, (with the implication he mightve been doing this for decades beforehand before he came to the hotel,) is just really cool concept to me :3 it gave him a fashion identity outside of his sex work (something the show really doesnt do at all,) and it let him explore a more cutesty side to his character, but in a really natural way! i also just liked it because most of the sinners we saw tended to stick to dressing from their era, which made angel stand out more.

but this isnt present at all in the series, and even weirder, the one time he has a chance to put on pajamas in episode 2 like the girls have, where hes alone in his room with fat nuggets, he doesnt. maybe we wouldve had time for that if there wasn't a joke dedicated to showing how tone deaf and christian charlies morals are for the bisexual daughter of lucifer morningstar.

all the clothes he wears, there's more of a focus of his outfits from posion rather then anywhere else. i hardly see as much fanart of that stupid ugly ripped finale suit, as much as i see fanart of the latex suit angel wears while singing about being unable to help swallowing poison. either that, or the outfit he wears while dancing with val. love the fluffy spider butt, but cmon. we can get an angel dust design thats more spider in a natural way, but we can't see him wear casual clothes when he isnt working? or even see him in a full suit? (i really miss the purple suit from the instas, no stupid pink stripes, full suit for both arms, and his boobs were out w his tie instead of being hidden away like they are in the finale, which was perfect for his character </3)

him wearing clothes separate to his identity as a pornstar also helped him reclaim some of his freedom under his contract, obviously being unable to choose what val makes him wear on set. that's what angel dusts actions reflected in the instas and the comics too. (the "work shit" box comes to mind, i hate that borderline on screen rape is fine for an amazon funded show, but a box of dildos is too much,) even the addict mv shows this, with angel wearing just a pink sweater and some purple shorts when laying with cherri. or even just the casual, but cute outfit he wears when he blows up that club with her.

its just one of the few things that made him feel human, especially when fashion is bound to change in so many ways when youve been in hell for 77 years like he has. this part of his character being missing (along with the implication he even has a life outside of his work in the series; pilot ad was coping with work with hard drugs, being an teasing asshole as a defensive mechanism, getting into turf wars and murdering mafia goons. but still dresses cute and gets to be cute w his friends in his own time! series ad is coping by self destructing and letting people drug and fuck him so he'll be "broken" but then gets better by going out once after being waterboarded at work, only to not relax and be a mom to a joke character at a club called fucking consent,) is one of the reasons im still bitter about the instas being nuked. but not the only reason.

viv will always takes the credit for them anyway, no matter if she feels they do or not, because her fanbase isn't smart enough to realize someone else wrote these stories they still love. even if theyll be the first one to remind you they arent canon, because the creator said they arent. but my honest to god confession is that sometimes the instagrams feel more like the canon hazbin hotel to me, even months after s1 dropped, simply due to the nuance and detail it has compared to the actual series. it wasnt perfect, but you could tell there was passion there- passion that now, only the leads are allowed to put in hazbin so their favorite character can get more screentime and attention.

Thank you, Anon, for this absolutely beautiful writeup. It was true, seeing the difference between the outfits Val forced him into versus the outfits he chose to wear on his own time was one of the most interesting aspects of Instagram Angel Dust. It was a more safe-for-work extension of the "work shit" dildoes that didn't make it to Amazon Prime (while his graphic on-screen gang rape did) and it was powerful.

Of course, there are practical logistical reasons why cartoon characters wear the same outfit, but if only one character in HH was going to have a big wardrobe, it absolutely should have been Angel. But of course it wasn't, because as far as Viv and Raph were concerned, the only Angel outfits that mattered were the ones that fed into their shared fetish.

[thefallenangelsgang]

Fuck it, I'm throwing my hat on the ring about the Emil announcing Nate from Fallout 4 is the bystander Soldier in the Fallout 1 opener.

First and foremost, it was a stupid thing to say. As he backtracks to later, the conceit of Fallout's protags is they are supposed to be anyone (and that issue is precisely why some people hate the extensive prewar character background given to you in Fallout 4). For the lead writer to pull a JK Rowling (why would you do that? None of those went over well) is such a major marketing misstep that it wouldn't surprise me if Emil gets reprimanded for it before we even get into the implication of what he said.

Emil your voice is as good as God when it comes to the canon. You can't just say shit like that and expect it to go well. Especially considering the implications.

Speaking of the implications, I'm not mad about Nate being a war criminal. It's a coloring I actually would welcome if the games discussed concepts like Capitalism, Racism, and War in any meaningful way anymore. And if Emil also didn't say this.

Fallout's canon is rooted in reality. That is part of its whole thing. It's fun to do goofy shit like becoming the Silver Shroud and having a make believe superhero fight with the Mechanist or write a woman obsessed with Nuka Cola so much she traverses two games to basically kidnap the CEO's cryogenically preserved head so she can talk to him for all eternity, but the setting is very much rooted in reality.

You aren't dealing with fictional countries, you aren't dealing with fictional races, you aren't dealing with fictional hypotheticals. That is The Elder Scrolls job. You are dealing with actual countries, actual racism, actual history, and actual fucking politics. You have to be mindful of what you are doing and saying. You can't just do things because it's an interesting plot device without first thinking about the implications.

Fallout's world is a heightened version of our own, a path we seem to stumble towards with ever passing year unless we do something about it. It fucking sucks. I'm sure writing it feels like prophesizing the future and eats your soul a bit. It would mine. But that doesn't mean Fallout can just take a sharp left in terms of story and reality and get away with it.

To have Nate be the bystander Soldier and then meet him when he has a very good thing going for him (an expensive house during an inflation crisis, a robot butler, he gets into a vault for free for fucks sake) very much speaks to life rewarding him for his crimes. There is no hatred in his words when he looks at the flag of the country that made him kill innocents. His speech is speaks of remorse for leaving his family and the cycle of war, it does not speak of the horrors. Of watching you comrades bleed out in the Anchorage snow. Of the scream of shells overhead. Of the fear in civilians eyes as your buddy puts a bullet between them.

You all have to see how it looks like the man is fine with what he had to do during the war, right?

Not interacting with these concepts enough paints a picture of apathy and acceptance. In this day and age where being keeping the government honest and responsible for their actions is so important, that isn't going to slide without it being EXTREMELY purposeful, which it is not. It's tone deaf and lazy.

I respect a lot of what Emil has done in the past, but I am not above keeping him culpable when he has something so delicate in his hands. I hope this situation is what he needed to get his head on straight, or is the light bulb moment where he realizes he needs to pass the torch onwards. There is no shame in subject matter becoming too much as time goes on. There is shame in letting a previously critical series become the very thing it was criticizing.

He is going to keep getting dragged until he realizes that or he manages to convince the fans to be complicit in the degradation of setting. In doing so he is going to lose Bethesda most of its biggest fans who well and truly love the series and what it stands for.

But that's just my take, and I'm just a kid who studies polisci and history and can't shield myself from the inherent horror of nuclear war no matter how much I try.

War really never changes

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

Helluva Boss's Handling Of Stella and Stolas's Relationship Is Equivalent Of Family Guy's "Screams of Silence: Story of Brenda Q"

I think one of the most criticized elements of Helluva Boss is how the series handles Stolas and Stella's relationship. We see in the Circus that it's been abusive since they have been married and Stolas has been covering up the more unpleasant parts from his daughter. It has been praised by fans for showing male domestic violence, but in my opinion it's very hamfisted. It doesn't feel like it's domestic violence to show how accurate and disturbing it is. More like it's being used as an excuse to justify why Stolas belongs with Blitzo and how he was right to cheat on her. Their relationship reminds me of another badly execution of how to address domestic abuse is Family Guy's "Screams Of Silence: Story Of Brenda Q".

It first came out in 2011 where it was met with divisive reviews mostly because of the fact that it was going to handle domestic abuse seriously rather than as a joke. However, critics of the episode felt it was tone deaf due to how it was going along with the shift especially the episode before that "Seashell Seahorse Party" was encouraged to stay in an abusive relationship for her own family's sake and Brenda and Jeff's first depiction was portrayed as dark comedy like other situations before. There was also the fact that Jeff and Brenda's written as so over the top that you can't take it seriously and that they are very flat characters. Also we never see why Brenda stays with him or drew him to him in the first place. Or maybe even say he's threatened to kill her or even is financially dependent on him since he's a unemployed bum. In other words, they just exist to sell a message and not actually be interesting on their own.

The same thing can be said of Stella and Stolas' relationship since "Circus" there is nothing to her character except Stolas's bitchy ex wife. She never interacts with her daughter and everything we hear about them is through second hand accounts but never anything about how they both feel about each other. In other words, Stella feels like a male Jeff who is just defined by the fact that she's an abusive asshole who lives to torment Stolas and she even admits it. She's not even smart as shown in "Western Energy" she's shown to be instructed by her older brother in order to think anything through. As a result, we see less of a hated tormentor and more like a poorly executed hate sink made with tons of badly written fanfiction tropes found in yaoi fanfiction.

Most of all is the shows' hypocrisy in depictions of abuse. Both state that abuse is not funny, but then in another episode treat another character physically abusing someone as comedy. Again Family Guy's constant abuse of Meg made the episode hypocritical when you keep in mind the narrative tries to depict it as right she goes back to being a punching bag. The same thing with Helluva Boss it tries to depict Stella as despicable for abusing Stolas but allows Loona to do the same thing to her father who saved her from being aged out of the system and thrown on the streets. Again when you are trying to do comedy with serious moments don't get things muddled when it comes to the latter moments because then things can get confused.

[genericpuff]

What is the thing you feel like Lore Olympus failed at or did the worst. The comic has a magnitude of problems but what is one problem that you have the most hatred for or just flat out makes you angry?

(Just curious)

There are so, so many things I could point to as "the worst" thing that the comic did, because it has a LOT of worsts, but I think ultimately the failing of the original myth's messaging has to take the cake because it's ultimately the root of all of LO's problems.

Rachel herself seems to have this disconnect between what's going on in her head vs. what she's actually writing. It's especially present in her Q&A's and interviews where she claims certain things about the comic / text that just aren't present in the slightest during the actual comic. One such example that ties into my answer is this response she gave to Girl Wonder Podcast:

"I feel like female characters in general, people will be a little harsher on them and sometimes way harsher on them, and I used to be like.. before I started writing the story and like making a story I was like yeah, sexism is not that bad, and [now] I was like oh it's bad. It's quite bad [laughs], so like, I don't know, I feel like the female characters in the story don't get so much of a pass. But this isn't consistent across the board, it's not all the time"

It's ironic at best and tone deaf at worst that she would claim that it's her audience being harsh on the female characters, when she's the one who wrote them into the characters they are that would get that reaction. Minthe had her BPD retconned so now she's just the abusive other girl. Hestia was turned into a cruel hypocrite when it was revealed she was a lesbian. Hera is racist to nymphs and cruel to the lower class and yet she's still rewarded in the end by getting to run off with a nymph girl who we've never seen her have any extended interaction with. And worst of all, Demeter was robbed of all of her agency all in favor of turning her into the evil Mother Gothel mom who's overbearing and cruel to poor Persephone. Some of these women deserve to be called out (Hera and Hestia), and others like Minthe and Demeter were simply used as props to do exactly what Rachel claims she doesn't like people doing and is labelling as sexism - to get harsh reactions and give the audience someone to hate on. Rachel desperately needs to learn to read her own work. Her audience is "sexist" towards these women because Rachel wrote them that way.

It fucking sucks and it's, ngl, extremely disrespectful to the messaging of the original myth that was written to comfort and empower the mothers who had lost their daughters to marriages back in the day. It wasn't some simple "aww the girl moved out and now she doesn't visit anymore!" girls who got married off were often literally never seen again and it wasn't by choice. Not only that, but in certain regions (such as in Athens) the women were isolated to their own section of the house upstairs (while the men lived downstairs) so that they wouldn't be seen by visiting guests or strangers.

It's why in some cultures the original H x P myth was considered a "golden standard" for marriages (at the time) because not only was Persephone given power over the domain alongside Hades, but she actually did get to see her mother - but it wasn't because Hades was just such a kind guy who would let her go willingly, it's because Demeter had to literally hold the world hostage and fight for her right to reunite with her child.

So for LO to not only twist Demeter's love and justifiable concern for her daughter into "helicopter parenting", but also rob her of her agency and power in fighting for her child, it fundamentally misses the entire point of the original myth and undoes itself as a retelling that's trying to be taken seriously in the discussion of Greek myth media. And for that, Rachel should be ashamed of herself.

[pruneunfair]

Navier has wasted potential too.

As much as I rant about Navier and how her recent writing is ass, I don't hate her.

in season 1 I thought she had a lot of potential, while she isn't a terrible person she always showed that she had clear flaws that made her human. she was tone deaf, she could be ignorant, and there were times when she just couldn't understand other peoples reasons for not liking her (which I personally believe was caused by everyone she knew telling her she was perfect all the time or in the case of Heinrey: threatening peoples jobs if they question her) that's what I loved about Navier, even if she was the "perfect empress" she still is capable of developing very human flaws and I hate that she gets shit for them alone. key word: alone

I don't know if remarried empress got new writers or if corporations got greedy and wanted to edit the story into a fantasy fulfillment as those are pretty popular or if it simply never was the authors intention to write a complex story, but regardless instead of the narrative going in a direction where Navier could learn that her own friends aren't great at being honest with her and realizing just how bad it is to live as a slave/poor person, season 2 and 3 just doubled down by pushing the message that Navier is always right, everyone just continues to lift her up so she can never see the harshness of what it's like to live on the ground. so as a result, Navier never develops, she just goes on living life as the most perfect woman to exist with a strong empire, a dangerously devoted husband, and two children who each get an empire when they grow up, left with a worldview where everyone loves her.

In a way, Navier has about as much lost potential as Rashta in terms of character.

[upinthecloudss]

random hc's - my candy love hsl boys

the brainrot developed further after reading the first 3 mangas these past few days (tysm @draconess-tania for sharing the link for the english translations to me!! my 13 year old self who could never find them online is healed)

kentin has always been very acne-prone, his mother helped him develop a pretty solid skincare routine and he finds it very relaxing to do in the evening - he hasn't admitted it to anyone in fear that he will get laughed at

gave tips to armin once when he had a particularly nasty pimple and became less self conscious when he saw how greatful his friend was

momma's boy through and through - he loves having sessions catching her up with all that is going on in his life with a cup of warm milk and cookies

after military school he became a bit more closed off and these catch up sessions became less common - he eventually opened up after a few months when he saw how sad she got at his new attitude

to his dismay, he is terrible at baking sweets

he's fine at other basic cooking skills but it's not his passion

kentin is a bi man but he didn't come out until his early 20s

[i'd like to write a one shot on him coming out to his family, or just more about him - there is sm potential with his character,,,,]

he comes from a very small family, he only has about 2 cousins since it's only his mother who has a sibling so he's used to being alone - evan was his first ever 'big brother' figure to him

has -6.5 impaired short sight vision (translation: blind asf)

has relatively short fingers, 'baby hands' candy calls them. he hates how cute they look

nathaniel's mother is not a natural blonde, but the twins are. people started believing she is naturally blonde because of nath and amber

nathaniel is tone deaf, he's fine with the drums and rythms but anything solfege is out of reach for him

bless him lys tried giving him voice lessons and he dropped them a few weeks in

if he were to ever get another cat in the future it would be a british shorthair - insited upon by amber

amber lived with nathaniel for the first few years of college

she insisted it was because she wanted to save up on money while she looked for stable modelling gigs but she honestly missed living in the same house as him

armin likes painting his nails in dark tones of purple, blue or black - he did it for the first time to let alexy practice but he liked it so much that he rarely doesn't have nailpolish on nowadays

the polish is super chipped at all times, no matter how recently he applied it

it helped him stop biting his nails

fnaf lore expert - loves markiplier + game theory and watched them growing up an unhealthy amount

he plays the videos as background noise every now and then

it's his comfort frfr

the twins love stealing their mother's makeup - she has gotten so used to it that she gets dupes for most of her products just in case

armin tighlined his eyes during a specially grungy era of his - he's a master of eyeliner

he is also pretty acne prone but only on the forehead area which he covers with bangs

alexy is always insisting on how bad that is for his skin but armin chooses to ignore his brother

bi armin with a slight female preference btw

alexy uses coloured contacts + colour corrector for some redness but isn't all that much into heavy makeup looks

armin owns way too many ripped jeans

alexy DESPISES them - considers them an atrocious fashion crime

the twins go on regular spa trips with their parents - it is the only time where you will see armin willingly leave his console at home

on that topic armin developed scoliosis due to genetic predisposition + constant hunchback while playing AND he usually has neck pain so he never says no to a massage

warning for an unpleasant story involving teeth-related injuries but this is something that happened to a friend of mine and it fits sm - alexy and armin were once playing catch in a playground with stairs and while alexy was trying to run upstairs he tripped and landed on his two front teeth - he had to wear a dental prothesis for years until his adult teeth came in

armin can only sleep if he has those dumb ass whale ambience sounds in the background, alexy can only sleep with silence

armin needs to have the room as cold as possible, alexy cannot stand having the window open at night

surprisingly, they actually manage to sleep well in a shared room because they feel more at ease around each other (and armin doesn't need the sounds to relax)

castiel cannot sleep if there is light in the room - he sleeps with those eye masks that cover your eyes

his mother buys him flower-patterned or cute animal themed masks PFFT she brings them back from trips abroad so they're sometimes themed with cute mascots from the country

he only wears them when his parents arent home - he'd never admit to his mother that he actually uses them

he has a collection of guitar picks related to memories, he has a scrapbook - esque thing where he puts them in pages with dates

one of them is a pick that iris gave to him before their concert together - she knew of his collection to she wanted him to have it as a memory of it

it's purple with golden details on it

his first one was from his first time meeting lysander - he got him a pick to teach him some guitar but lys gave it back to him in case he wanted to play in the future and inevitably lost the pick

he doesn't play with picks tho - the manga kinda confirmed this but he developed the callouses to play

thought it was dumb at first but in his late teenage years he picked up spanish guitar - enjoys compositions by albeniz etcetc (Rumores de la Caleta is a piece that he enjoys playing - not because his mom loves it nooo who said that)

i just had a lightbulb moment

spanish castiel - on his mother's side

his mother dressed him up as a chulapo when he was younger - he HATED it (are we surprised)

nathaniel is terrified of flying - his parents forced him to suck it up growing up but he ever grew out of the anxiety during take off and landing

his favourite animals are meerkats - he loves that they stick and protect each other as a family

this is purely self indulgent but lysander's favourite classical composers are liszt and chopin - any romatic composers tbh

he likes singing ofc but he also wants to learn violin at some point

lysander always wanted to try classical dancing but never got the opportunity to do so

he'd be a natural at ballroom dancing methinks

nath is the token straight

cas is bi, lys is queer - but they never rlly came out

they j date whoever they like, if it turns out to be a man then eh whatever

[forests-fabled-stage]

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This blog contains content centered around the Smiling Critters: Forest Fables AU, such as story/lore, character references, and more!

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[saintsenara]

For sure and fair play, HP was a long project! But yeah, JKR fiercely defending her inconsistencies almost forces us to fiercely point them. Out of spite. I do get that many issues were out of Harry’s radar and understanding, but JKR trying to convince the audience through interviews that the wizarding world doesn’t have the same prejudices as the muggle world just makes me conclude that she must be herself incredibly unaware of the privileges herself and people in her circle possess. Plus the whole HIV parallel that just sounds so misguided and sours the text to me. Yet here I am! Love your blog xx

the lycanthropy-as-aids metaphor is extraordinary in how tone-deaf it is and it pisses me off...

especially because it doesn't make sense at any point in the story. the complete transformation of how house elves think of their enslavement between chamber of secrets [in which dobby mentions whisper-networks of politically-engaged elves decrying their treatment at the hands of wizards] and goblet of fire is really fucking irritating, but it has some slight defence in the narrative shift that the series undergoes after prisoner of azkaban from children's boarding-school literature to something approaching folkloric epic.

[that is, chamber of secrets needs to wrap up with dobby being freed, the malfoys getting their - comparatively benign - comeuppance, and everything being well, because children's stories always end with that everything back to normal vibe, and so the fact that harry has just learned that the wizarding world has institutionalised chattel slavery and been remarkably unbothered by that fact can be shelved by the genre conventions. after prisoner of azkaban, the books end more ambiguously and are more interlinked, as they start moving towards their big conclusion in deathly hallows, and are also darker in tone. and yet she decided to use this shift in tone... to make elves love being enslaved...]

which is to say, perhaps the lycanthropy-as-aids metaphor could be justified as a standalone plot device within prisoner of azkaban - since the reader does hear lupin explain not only the shame and stigma wizarding society's poor understanding of his condition causes, but also how the state's callous discrimination against werewolves impacts his ability to access healthcare, education, and employment - which then doesn't work after the series' narrative shift, when jkr wanted to introduce characters like fenrir greyback...

except it doesn't work even then! because at the end of prisoner of azkaban lupin turns into a rampaging monster who has a desperate, primal urge to eat children - and reveals his condition to be legitimately dangerous to an extent which entirely justifies why parents would feel uneasy about him being employed in a school.

[and - especially - being employed without dumbledore appearing to put any safeguards in place to keep both lupin and his students safe.]

one part of the tragedy of the aids crisis is baseless social stigma at an individual level, absolutely, and lupin - who is a nice [ish] man who doesn't meet the stereotypes wizards appear to have of untransformed werewolves - suffers from this.

but another is the way this stigma drove a state-sanctioned looking-the-other-way and refusing to act while the bodies piled up - something there is no parallel for in the series' worldbuilding around werewolves, not least because it tends to have a positive view of states and their institutions [state corruption is always located in individuals - fudge, umbridge - rather than in the structures which enable them, which are seen as fundamentally sound, for example] which i would imagine most people who know even a cursory amount about the official response to the aids crisis are unlikely to share...

and another is that - since hiv has a very, very long asymptomatic period - it was spreading without anyone knowing it existed for years, if not decades, before it burst into the public consciousness with death on wholesale scale. and then it continued to spread in terror and confusion - for years, you couldn't know if you had it until you started getting sick, and then, when you could access tests [if you could access tests], you were told it was a death sentence, and you would be unable to pinpoint when and by whom you'd been infected, and you would be unable to know how many people you might have infected in turn.

nothing about the series' presentation of lycanthropy corresponds to this.

but, with this said, i think there are two parallels between the conditions which could be interesting in the hands of someone who approached them with care.

the first is to see lupin's role as the series' one "good werewolf" as a mirror to the fact that public opinion became considerably more sympathetic to those living with and dying of hiv/aids when it began to emerge that people [white! "respectable"! heterosexual!] had been infected via blood transfusions and treatments for haemophilia. queer men and intravenous drug users could be dismissed as having brought their infections upon themselves... but not someone [white! "respectable"! heterosexual!] who went into hospital for a routine operation and came out slowly dying.

lupin - the son of a prominent civil servant [with all the class status that entails], bitten as a child through no fault of his own, hogwarts educated, connected to establishment figures like dumbledore - makes a great poster child for a milquetoast "werewolves aren't all bad" campaign which manages not to offend the state's sensibilities by asking it to stop demonising pretty much every other werewolf in history...

the second is to think about the generational divide.

in countries where access to appropriate medication is widespread [and that there are many countries where this isn't the case shouldn't be forgotten], hiv is easily treatable, easily manageable, easily rendered untransmissable, and easily preventable. the quality of life - and the life expectancy - of hiv positive people is now broadly equal to that of their hiv negative peers. the number of aids-related deaths worldwide annually has more than halved since 2010 and, in 2024, it is possible to say that virtually nobody who is newly diagnosed with hiv will go on to develop aids.

this is - sincerely - one of the single greatest achievements in the history of medicine. and it's completely changed how we think and talk about hiv, what it means to be diagnosed with it, what it means to live with it, and what it means to know [and to love, and to fuck] someone who has it.

if we imagine that there are similar advances in the treatment of lycanthropy - with the wolfsbane potion, which seems pretty bare-bones, replaced with something which made the impact of the werewolf's transformation even less severe [or which prevented it altogether] - then being a werewolf in the 2020s would mean something very different than it did in the 1980s.

and if - say - lupin is right, and teddy inherits his condition, thinking about how enormously different his experience being a werewolf might be from his father's [even at a very basic level - not having to turn down invitations based on the moon cycle, for example], and how he would come to understand himself and understand lupin through this different experience, would be a genuinely fascinating premise for a fic.

but not if jkr was writing it.