#for the most tone-deaf character in this story

[the-quo-crow]

The Deltarune version of the Undertale characters are extremely frustrating and I find that interesting.

Asgore is such a tone deaf loser it's hard to feel bad for him sometimes. Sans is extremely mean to Kris at the end of Ch4 for no reason (he has to know how inappropriate he's being when the Teenager With Divorced Parents Is Trying To Sleep In The Next Room), Papyrus is absent so he can't be annoying, Undyne is ACAB, and my defenses for Alphys run out in Deltarune bc she's so annoying in it. Only MTT is interesting and he too does not show his face

I think partly it and other new characters just show this "the adults suck and don't care" side of the story that helps with the themes of feeling neglected and running to fantasy and having to solve problems themselves. It's not just the Undertale-mirrors that suck, it's most of the adults.

There's this pervasive anxiety that "No one cares and you will be forgotten". Kris feels neglected. Noelle feels neglected. Susie feels neglected. Ralsei feels neglected. All the secret bosses are neglected.

it's just trying to be realistic/forward the themes but I just have to say that the scene at the end of Ch4 at Kris' felt more wrong than the stuff with the Titans and Gerson's statue/corpse. And with everything we were doing to save Toriel too!

The ugly reality is more unpleasant than Dreamworld horror. No wonder these kids want to run away so bad.

Poor kid

[onaperduamedee]

I won't be engaging with the Wheel of Time show anymore. 

I needed to put in writing my feelings regarding the Wheel of Time episode 308 before going damnatio memoriae on this show.

The Wheel of Time just brutally killed Siuan Sanche, a black gay character who does not die at that point in the books, to provide gay angst for her white partner, who isn't her current lover in the books, before her arc actually starts.

Others have explained far better than me why this is profoundly tone-deaf, especially at the end of a season that started with the death of a black gay character for the sake of another white man's pain and continued with the deaths of other black characters. Repeating why this sucks won't change the mind of those who don't see the pattern: there will always be an intra- or extradiegetic explanation to justify the writers' choice. 

Beside the brutality and resonance of her death, this indicates changes in future plotlines that I also cannot follow: it affects Egwene's arc a great deal, it will have an impact on Nynaeve's arc and it completely rewrites what makes Moiraine's character so compelling to me. By saying that Siuan's arc post-coup isn't that interesting they tell us that a story centered on a character who lost everything but still found ways to fight for the light is not worth telling. 

What I hear is that Rand's arc, Egwene's, Mat's and certainly Moiraine's will be profoundly different from what they could have been. At this point and with the evidence they've shown I don't trust them anymore to deal seriously with the question of mental health for these characters.

That decision signals that the themes and characters that were dear to me have been declared not worthy of screentime. 

For that only I would have lost interest in the show, which isn't the end of the world as there are plenty of shows that don't hold my interest. The real stinger for me is that Rafe Judkins went on queer media like podcasts and magazines to profess his love for the relationship and still made that decision.

These characters weren't together during the main storyline which means the writers purposely made them the love of each other's life in order for Siuan's death (also not in the books there) to hurt more. It was planned from the start. 

This feels unnecessarily cruel and in complete contradiction with the kind of storytelling that I enjoy and stand for. I liked Wheel of Time because it was the Wheel of Time and not GoT. To an extent I feel like a fool for falling into the trap set by promotion: the show had never any intention of delivering the content they themselves were promoting. 

I remember a time when we had one glimpse of a kiss as the trailer for s2 came out and the Siuaraine fandom was so beautifully creative and hopeful. At the time, we were still thinking that we wouldn't get any Siuan and Moiraine this season. We didn't think they were important enough, as a couple, as individuals since Siuan's presence was not a guarantee. And we got that glimpse of happiness. The days, weeks following were some of the most joyful moments I experienced in fandom. I will always cherish the theorizing, the art, the gifs produced in that timeframe. 

It was also a time when some parts of the fandom were also goading us that they weren't main characters and we should enjoy them before they got killed. These fans had been doing that for a long time. 

But the show had our backs, right? They told us, right?

It seems we were right to think as we did after s1 that Siuan's story was never worthy of being told: Rafe confirmed that from the start the character was not meant to live. 

Now, if you only see Siuan as an extension of Moiraine then of course perhaps cutting her off here is logical. But if you see Siuan as she is in the books, the woman who lost everything and survived out of spite alone, the mentor to Egwene who was the perfect mirror to the Moiraine and Rand mentorship, the deft politician stripped of status who artfully manœuvred the Hall when she was less than dirt to them, the strongest woman that Egwene has met, then what the show did to Siuan's character is purely assassination before her story even started.  And that's not even touching on how much they changed her character to fit her into this tragic dead lesbian love story.

It was never about the relationship. It was about telling Siuan's story, of which Moiraine was only a small part. Now we will never get Siuan's story about resilience and surviving out of sheer spite. We might get a tearful reunion in another life at the end of the story, after Moiraine also died, because the most exquisite a lesbian can be to a storyteller is dead. 

I often find that insurmountable an obstacle. Others don't even notice it. 

At the end of the day, yes, the heart of the cutting is only a question of prioritizing certain characters over others for writing space. For fans the red line in such a cutting was Loial's death, for others it was Agelmar. 

Adaptational choices. 

But they carry weight; they tip down the scales one way or the other, and the result is not something I'm comfortable supporting or merely enjoying anymore. 

So I won't be engaging with the show: I won't talk about it on socials, promote it and share content about it. I've found that it's the healthiest way to break up from a show that jumped the shark for me.

Siuan and her arc post-coup were incredibly important to me, and the manner in which that story was rejected broke something irreparably in my trust in the show. I won't enjoy it anymore like I used to.

If we chatted together on bsky, discord or Tumblr about the show, I'll be more than happy to continue there, but I cannot in good conscience show open support for the choices the show is making.

I will miss and cherish this community forever because they are a creative and extraordinary bunch, but then such is the life of fandom, especially of queer media. 

I don't wish the show any cancellation. I still believe the cast and crew are doing something special and I hope they can continue to delight those for whom the magic still makes sparks, but that will be without me. 

It isn't the show for me anymore. I don't plan on trashing the show on social media (the fury is reserved to dms and blogging) and in return I ask this one thing of the fandom: not to mock or belittle the reactions like mine or others'. If it annoys or angers you, mute or block the fans and curate your own space. 

The universe is fictional, the feelings of being used and betrayed are very real.

[cripplecharacters]

Howdy! I’m working on a story with a side character who has mild to moderate intellectual disability from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

The character really likes dinosaurs and I was considering having the character buy presents for his family members all with dinosaurs because that’s what makes him happy. But I was wondering if this would perpetuate harmful stereotypes? Any insight wanted thank you!

I was also wondering about writing his speech and how his family talk to him. I’m assuming they use simplified language? But I’m not sure what that looks like in general conversation.

Hey!

If it's not presented as child-like or "stupid" by the narrative, I have no problem with it - seems realistic to me. I know a person from who attended SPED with me who did basically the same thing (except not dinosaurs specifically and with more or less everyone rather than just family members). I also appreciate an intellectually disabled character that's shown to have some deeper characterization to them, so that's cool to see.

Speech/language/verbality is a more complicated thing. It's a really broad spectrum in the context of intellectual disability. Some people will have it essentially unaffected - either because their ID is mild, or they have a specific disorder, like Williams Syndrome, where language doesn't tend to be affected much - and some have it be very obvious. To my understanding FASD doesn't specifically affect language abilities more than 'regular' intellectual disability.

If your character has mild ID, there's a chance his linguistic skills won't affect the dialogue 90% of the time. You can have him ask another character for clarification on what they said, for example, or ask them to reword a run-on sentence because he got lost 2 clauses ago. He might have poorer intuition when it comes to pronouncing an ambiguous word for the first time (for example, not noticing the pattern that the word is built on and breaking the syllables up incorrectly). He could have a particular tone of voice (most commonly: monotone) that you could mention in the dialogue tags. But things like incorrect basic grammar or misunderstanding everyday words are not a feature of mild ID (on its own at least).

Many people with mild ID aren't "obviously ID" to most people, and that includes speech. Others can often tell something is different, but in my experience it's often chalked up to autism, [insert a random developmental condition that person happens to know], or even poor hearing (some people might talk very loudly, which is what HoH/deaf people are often stereotyped as) since the average person seems to assume that a person with intellectual disability wouldn't be able to talk at all, or they don't even consider the possibility that a person with ID could exist near them (as opposed to being in an institution).

As for how people talk to him, that's a completely separate thing. You could have a situation where a mildly ID character knows someone and they have completely normal dialogue, but then the other character learns about the other's ID, and they suddenly turn to babytalk. Is this appropriate; no, the disabled character could clearly hold the conversation previously, is this realistic; absolutely.

However, yes, your character could need other people to alter how they speak to him, especially if his ID is more severe than just mild (and as always: it's not infantilization to have your needs met). Here you have some of the most common and realistic options of what happens (I'll use much simpler sentence examples than what would actually need to be simplified for the sake of clarity):

The bare minimum. This is what happens when someone is kinda trying, but not really. Maybe they don't have the patience, maybe they just didn't think about it too much. Either way, the disabled character doesn't get the full picture and is effectively left out of the conversation. E.g.: "Oh, yesterday Zainab and I went to the club and met up with her boyfriend and his annoying older brother, we wanted to grab some drinks there, but they were just so overpriced." = "I went out yesterday."

The "don't worry about it :)". Pretty much what it says. The other character decides that the disabled character doesn't actually need to hear that; they decide that it's irrelevant for them. E.g.: "Ever since her rent increased my mother has been doing nothing but worrying sick, and she won't even let me help her out." = "Don't worry about it."

The actual simplified version. The gold standard of simplifying something is actually making the person understand what you are talking about without leaving out information, or leaving out as little as possible. Depending on the actual text, it might not always be possible (you can only get so far in simplifying scientific subjects, for example), but in terms of regular conversation you can probably accurately simplify the vast majority of things being said. An example I like to use is English Wikipedia vs Simple English Wikipedia, some of the main features are shorter sentences, more commonly used words (when appropriate), and they use fewer pronouns in favor of repeating nouns. It's not perfect, but I think it illustrates what I mean by "simplification vs baby talk".

To figure out how his family speaks to him, you need to think about who they are as people and what's their relationship to him. An impatient person might just wave their hand and keep talking even if the character asks for clarification, while someone else might automatically switch how they speak when he enters the room to make him feel included. It's also a great way to show-don't-tell what the family dynamics are towards the disabled character.

Some of the posts about ID and language speech: 1, 2.

Hope this helps,

mod Sasza

[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 😔💓

[arkus-rhapsode]

What is up with Switch 2 Prices? (A discussion on the Switch 2)

Soooo Switch 2 Direct happened and I’ll say-I thought it was mostly good. Mario Kart World looked packed, NSO adding GameCube with many first titles promised, actually showing that after a decade they can run third party triple A titles, and the show stopper being an open world Donkey Kong game. But then the price came down.

Now… 499.99 for a console at the level of an Xbone or PS4 is certainly more than I think people were expecting. Especially considering the Japanese version is reportedly a hundred dollars cheaper. But hey, for a portable system as strong as this that’s gonna to likely be a one time purchase for most, I think this is manageable. Not the best, but not the worst.

However, what good is an expensive piece technology without a game to actually play on it? Well from what see of the first party/second party offerings, it’s pretty absurd to see these prices to say the least. Let’s start with things that I don’t believe are too bad and work our way up: Kirby And the Forgotten Land I actually think is the most justifiable. Because Nintendo games basically never go on sale, this previous gen game still goes for about 50-60 bones if you buy it new. So that means this version with the added campaign is essentially a definitive version with DLC bundled it. And because of backwards compatibility, you’d have the option to buy this Al la Carte. So while it may seem pretty prima facie exploitative, I think if you consider what new material you are getting, it’s lack of a price drop, and that there’s an option for those who already have the game, this seems fairly reasonable.

BOTW and TOTK being 10 dollars more despite already being high profile releases from a previous generation offering no new content though is a different story. While these are originally a 60/70 dollar games respectfully, the ten dollar increase in price is for more enhancements to the graphical resolution and frame rate of the original. Quite frankly that’s BS. I know these games weren’t originally made with the intent to be run on a more powerful machine than a switch, but the fact that these are enhancements that should just be automatic when put into new hardware is wild. They try to off-set this by saying it’s coming free with NSO, but that’s still payment.

And look, I’m not stupid. Like most people getting a switch 2 already had a switch, and likely own a copy of BOTW by now. So you already of the game. what’s wrong with paying 10 dollars then to make it play at it’s most enhanced state? It’s not like you’re being forced to buy just the switch 2 version. Well once again, I believe that personally that if all you are adding is basic graphical upgrades on a game as old as BOTW and TOTK, that’s not worth any money. At least if BOTW had the dlc bundled in I could maybe treat it like a delux edition, but it’s not. It’s just such a bad look in my opinion.

And now onto the new games. It’s pretty evident to me that Donkey Kong Bananza is going to be the Mario Odyssey of the Switch 2. Their big showpiece game on why you should buy this system associated with not only a member of the Mario-verse, but the first Nintendo video game character mascot. A character who for a time had his own consistent franchise through two generations of hardware. It does look great. So the idea of this being a 70 dollar purchase (potentially more with physical), is somewhat upsetting. Not that I didn’t believe this would be coming. When TOTK released, Nintendo pretty clearly stated they would consider 70 dollar games for select titles. And the tentpole for your launch line up of first party titles, it is understandable from a business stand point. So maybe MAYBE, if this was the only 70 dollar launch title most would grin and bare it.

However, this is coming with an announcement of games older than Bananza being priced at or higher than it, feels incredibly tone deaf. A brand new DK experience is valued that same as essentially a remaster the highest selling Zelda game that could run on a Wii U. I’m sorry but that just seems wrong. I think Nintendo thought that they could essentially make a sort of bespoke work around for cross gen titles, but, you do realize that some of these switch 1 games won’t be available forever. It’s not gonna be “just buy the cheaper option and don’t bother with the paid enhancement.” Well eventually all one might have is the switch 2 version. An enhanced version of a game that’s practically a decade old, right alongside your flagship new release? It takes what could’ve been at worst a rub down, and turns into some real salt in the wound.

And finally, Mario Kart World… yeah there’s no justification for this. I understand this is more ambitious than any other Mario kart. I saw the size of the world map, the costumes, the off road, the open world, the extra modes, etc. I don’t disagree that this is a premium title. But almost a hundred dollars for a video game is frankly wrong in my opinion. You could say that delux plus its dlc tracks would’ve equaled the same amount in the end, but once again, you had an option. You could always purchase the base package of delux for the same amount as every other triple A game on the shelf and receive countless hours of fun. With world however, it seems that it was impossible to make any concession with its scope, and rather than selling the software on a loss, Nintendo will do as Nintendo does. Now, believe me when I say ,y harsh words are because I think it lacks quality, but I struggle to believe in any game that is truly worth 80 dollars on launch.

Maybe some of this could be mitigated with a pack in title. Sadly post the Wii, getting pack in games on Nintendo systems isnt really a thing (at least on initial launch). A shame because while the PS5 had a rocky first few years, Astro’s playroom was at least a free tech demo game included on the system for those with no access to PS5 games. This is made even more egregious by the fact that this direct included the Tour of the Switch 2 game, that, while not as charming as a Wii sports, was a very basic interactive guide of the console with a few tech demo games throw in, that would be charged as a stand alone game. Like what?

I know I’m sounding very negative, maybe even jumping the gun in some instances, but these prices are genuinely frustrating. Especially seeing how the video game industry is going. Many speculate game publishers are looking to uniformly increase the prices of games at retail. With many news stories about how some have been waiting for GTA 6 to come out and be a hundred dollars. And the fact that Nintendo who is one of the bigger game companies that still shows it has a creative spark and has been praised for not following industry trends like turning franchises into games as a service and aggress expansion through acquisition of AA studios, has basically shot themselves in the foot with the most basic thing people will note when it comes to the exchange of goods and services, the price, is frustrating. It feels like I’ve gone back to the PS3’s first year, except I at least think the switch 2 new content looks much better.

I want to add, I don’t think anyone who buys these games at full price are bad. I’m not calling on people to boycott Nintendo or vote with their wallets, some people just want to play the next Mario kart and don’t care about the price to do so. For some people it’s normal to buy just one game as a big purchase and invest weeks even months into it before even buying another one. That’s fine. However, I do at least want people to be aware that we are drifting to state where games are becoming more and more expensive. It’s very easy to see this as the start to a slippery slope, and we ought to think about what that might mean for us, the consumers.

I’ll end it like this-I was overjoyed seeing that NSO is getting the GameCube emulated. Games like Luigi’s mansion, Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, Chibi Robo, F Zero GX etc. all games that go for hundreds of dollars second hand could now be accessed through a simple subscription service. And then I saw how much current gen games were gonna cost on the switch 2 and I thought “wait am I gonna be okay with spending 80 dollars at a GameStop, but not on eBay?”

[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

[tyorion10]

Weydosa Island

My father once said: "My dear child, you have to accept and be grateful for what life gives us, only then you will find a way to enjoy it." Those words have always been a mantra of reminder in every sorrow that comes my way, but now, when life gives me more than lemons.

How can I enjoy this disaster, father?

Am I ready for what will happen to me next?...

Weydosa Island Is a text-based interactive fantasy fiction, full of action, adventure, drama, and monsters! (with a LITTLE spice of romance).

🌷Synopsis

Weydosa is a cursed place that is most feared by all residents of Alberal, even the bravest people will turn pale when they hear the name of that place, a folk legend that every mother often tells to scare their children into obeying. Many people consider the island to be a manifestation of hell.

Through various testimonies and stories from mouth to mouth, it is said that every unfortunate person who ends up in that place will never be able to escape when the island has gripped the souls they desire, very rarely anyone can escape, although there are, those who managed to escape only will end up losing their sanity, like shells without contents, undead in the daytime.

You are the unfortunate soul who was made a scapegoat for someone's rotten heart and cast into that cursed Lazaretto.

As if isolation alone is not enough, you must also race against time because the evil force has awakened from its slumber. It would be better to address this immediately if you still want to see tomorrow.

Damn may be an understatement to describe your situation, but this is where your adventure begins, a place where death and decay are ingrained, monsters and abominations are in every area of ​​the island, with misery and despair that surrounds this place, can you survive? or give in and let the island devour your sanity?

🌷Features

Play as a chef who is framed and banished to a cursed island

Customize your character including physique, and gender with five different race types: Human, Orc, Half-Elf, Beastling, and Tiadana.

Establish a relationship with one of your party. Or not at all.

Surviving alone is impossible, cause you need friends who can watch your back when you are at your limit if not, you will slowly go insane.

Fight, survive and thrive. Can you get off the island? Or conquer that damn island but at what cost?

🌷The Party:

With danger lurking in every corner of the island, you never know when a monster will ambush you, having a friend is certainly very necessary.

Berengar 🐻

He is massive, and he looks terrifying, with scars spread all over his body. If you need a walking guillotine or wall meat shield, he is your man. Rest assured that your safety will be guaranteed because his battle prowess was simply astonishing. However, His booming voice will make people who are not familiar with become temporarily deaf, his blunt honesty often rubs people the wrong way. But despite his brash exterior, Berengar is a loyal friend who would do anything for those he cares about.

Physical description: Orc, towering muscle bear body, light green skin with scars on back and black scales spread all over half left arm, round face shape with black eyes, slicked back brown hair and full beard, topless wearing only a leather kilt. Height 196 cm (6.4 ft)

Character illustration🖼️:

Nicole 🦎

You met N, greeted each other - chatted - then clicked! like key meeting lock, you became besties, they are cheerful, witty, resourceful, and reliable. If you can help each other, you will undoubtedly become an unstoppable duo. Their infectious laughter and cheerful demeanor stand out, making them a target of both admiration and ridicule. But beneath their sunny exterior lies a vulnerable soul, yearning for genuine connection. As the island's harsh realities begin to wear on them, they question their own resilience. Will you be a home for them amid this madness?

Physical description:

Male: Lizard Beastling, Toned body, olive skin, oval face shape with bright yellow slit eyes, goatee, short black wavy hair and dark blue scales, scar on upper left arm, height 175 cm (5.7 ft).

Female: Lizard Beastling, Toned body, olive skin, hearth face shape with bright yellow eyes, and golden leaf branch earrings, curly neck-length dark blue hair and scales, scar on upper left arm, 165 cm (5.4 ft).

Character illustration🖼️:

♂️Nicole (M)

♀️Nicole (F): [coming soon]

Sister Nurul 🕊️

Sister Nurul the oasis of Weydosa Island, received a call from God, Sister Nurul dared to go to that terrible place, Though often mocked and misunderstood, she remains steadfast in her mission. she soothes the troubled souls of those lost in despair, but sadly, her sincerity and strength are just like a torch in the dark of night. You must help and keep Sister Nurul's sacred fire from going out, or you both will be consumed by darkness and made corrupt.

Physical description: Human, athletic body, light beige skin, triangle face shape with cool gray eyes, braided crown light brown hair, wear shield pendant with a white rose symbol made of diamonds in the middle of the shield, height 165 cm (5.4 ft ).

Character illustration🖼️:

Orilen 🐅

Ori is a quiet and observer man, he will only talk if asked to talk, the rest he likes to keep quiet and pay attention, he isn't stoic just shy. If you are a chaotic gremlin, then congrats! he is the real deal for you. he's a good listener and a mother hen. Plus, he's good at cooking so he'll keep you stuffed! (It seems like you've found your new sous chef!). Just remember one thing! He is a bit of a mess when he is in a stressful situation, when he feels threatened and cornered, he will take drastic measures which are in stark contrast to his personality.

Physical description: Half elf, muscular body, cool beige skin, diamond face shape with brown eyes,neck-length dark brown hair, he has two pets; a mountain cur named Sawyer, and a raven named Beefcake. Height 170 cm (5.6 ft)

Character illustration🖼️:

Robin 🐕‍🦺

Raised in a world of black and white, Robbie had always strived to uphold the law. But as the warden of Weydosa Island, they were forced to confront the gray areas of morality. The stark contrast between their idealistic upbringing and the harsh realities of prison life challenged their very core. As they navigated this moral labyrinth, Robbie would have to decide whether to cling to their fading beliefs or embrace a new, will you be a beacon in the night when Robbie is confused and lost?

Physical description:

Male: Half elf, muscular body, fair skin, rectangle shape face with blue eyes, buzz cut dark blond hair, small tattoo of scales on the inside of the left wrist, height 186 cm (6.1 ft).

Female: Half elf, athletic body, fair skin, rectangle shape face with blue eyes, dark blond short bob, elvish circlet with a moonstone in the center small tattoo of scales on the inside of the left wrist, height 180 cm (5.9 ft).

Character illustration🖼️:

♂️Robin (M):

♀️ Robin (F): [coming soon]

Drog'thokin The Greedy Duke/Duchess 🐉

D is a walking natural disaster, whether you want to hate them or love them, you're up against wall, because your souls are connected so you are forced to stick together like glue, D is of course not happy with the situation. You remember the old saying that everyone has goodness in their heart, but well… they are demon, is that still included?.

Physical description:

Male: Demon, athletic body, red skin, oblong face shape with red eyes, crew cut black hair, a pair of onyx horns piercing from the forehead, tribal tattoo above the chest, black loincloth, Height 214 cm (7 ft).

Female: Demoness, athletic body, red skin, oblong face shape with golden eyes, framing shoulder cut black hair, a pair of onyx horns piercing from the forehead, tribal tattoo above the chest, a pair of black bra with a pair of gold horns and panty , Height 214 cm (7 ft).

Character illustration🖼️:

♂️ Drog'thokin (M):

♀️ Drog'thokin (F): [coming soon]

Ellyn 🦊

Ellyn, a vision of ethereal beauty, moves through the world with a haunting grace. Her smile, as sweet as honey, masks a heart that has long since turned to stone. A tragic event from her past has left her emotionally scarred, forever trapped in a state of melancholic detachment. Despite her allure, she remains elusive, a phantom slipping through the fingers of those who dare to reach out. Her beauty is a dangerous gift, a siren's song that promises both ecstasy and despair. for those who love her.

Physical description: Kitsune, curvy body, fair skin, oval face shape with bright blue eyes, shoulder-length straight red hair left loose (human form) – lower back lengths straight red hair (kitsune form), slightly pointed ears in human form, gold bracelets on both hands and feet, height 170 cm (5.6 ft).

Character illustration🖼️: (coming soon)

Nunu 🐺

meet Nunu… the native knight in sour armor. His friends often call him a sour dog, and his parents treat him like a house decoration, sourness and cynicism have covered him like barnacles on the piling dock.Beneath his gruff exterior, however, lies a heart that yearns for warmth and understanding. As he navigates the harsh realities of life, he struggles to let go of the past and embrace the possibility of a brighter future, Can you help this puppy?

Physical description: werewolf, well-padded body, light beige skin, round face shape with yellow eyes and short beard, short tousled wavy dark blond hair, topless with hairy torso and big tiddies, faded blue linen breeches that had been torn at the bottom so they came just above the knees, height: 183 cm (6 ft) human form – 240 cm (7.8 ft) werewolf form.

Character illustration🖼️:

⚠️Warning:

1). This story is intended for Adults

2). Use of words containing swear words, vulgarity, and depictions of violent activities

3). Description of several scenes containing horror and gore

4). Depiction of scenes that may involve sexuality, and various other dark topics.

🌷Demo: [Demo] 86,145 words (without codes)

[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?

[twst-hottest-takes]

The TWST writers treat Ruggie so unfairly. He literally almost dies from one of the people he trusts the most, and it's brushed aside. I wish Ruggie held more of a grudge, he deserves to. He literally has made it so far from his poverty stricken background, almost to be killed by the prince of his OWN COUNTRY. Like come on...nothing?? Also we need to REALLY discuss how mishandled Ruggie's book 7 dream was. I think Ruggie's backstory is one of the most tragic ones in the game, as he literally grew up in the slums and had no formal education before NRC. I REPEAT. HE HAD NO FORMAL EDUCATION BEFORE NRC. So when you factor that while looking into his dream, it's just SO SAD. He's at a school, just as prestigious as NRC, and he is finally well off. While people were out here dreaming about overthrowing governments he was dreaming about being economically stable and not having to go hungry again. And when they wake him up, he (RIGHTFULLY SO) gets on all fours and starts crying. And you know what the story does. They ridicule him. They play that like "funny chaos" music they have going on. Something angered me when I saw Jack just stand there and be like, "I've never seen Ruggie cry so much" and look so awkward about it. I also felt that was so out of character because Jack has shown how much respect he has for Ruggie. You didn't even attempt to comfort him? Like...nobody? And then after he's done crying for like 2 minutes, he just gets up and brushes it off. Ruggie isn't one really seen showing strong emotions often, so having him be vulnerable could've been such a great development for him! Not to mention, he doesn't really like depending on others or again, being vulnerable, so this could've been a moment for him to be like "it's okay to cry ruggie." I honestly feel like Jack should've said more about that if you ask me, for someone who respects him so much.

The Savanaclaw curse strikes again!

Even Ruggie (who I maintain is the developers' favorite Savanaclaw boy) is not immune to it. He's got the most thought put into his backstory and the game has enough brains to make a really tragic situation out of his dream. . .and then come up with an anti-climax to it because reasons. Twisted Wonderland is prone to having those Marvelisms--you know, the ones where heavy scenes aren't allowed to be heavy. I'm not one to favor Ruggie much, but it honestly is annoying that with all he's got going on as far as his past goes the game never uses it for those really emotional beats--only to justify his comical flaws, like penny pinching and pick pocketing. It's kind of tone deaf. Especially considering a lot of people feel like Ruggie has had a lot more reason to Overblot than someone like Leona (that's another conversation though).

I'm stepping up to bat for my boy Jack though. When you're in the dorm where you solve problems with your fists and get made fun of for believing in any kind of honor system, of course it's going to be awkward when your honorary vice-housewarden bawls in front of you. Ruggie's made fun of him for having any kind of moral compass, so trying to comfort him would almost certainly come back to bite Jack in the tail later. He was between a rock and a hard place there. Jack's not looking down on Ruggie for crying, he just didn't expect any of his dorm mates to show that kind of emotion in front of him. It's not out of character for him to not know what to do in that situation and he probably wouldn't know how to bring it up later either. NRC is not an environment conducive to these guys learning how to be emotionally intellegent.

Thank you for your take.

(The blog owner is most certainly not still holding a grudge over the fact that Ruggie got the special card.)

[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

[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.

[class1akids]

I think it comes off as rather tone-deaf and sickening to act like because Shouto has gotten some resemblance from his father(yes his abuser) as he has matured is him being possessed by his abuser! It's rather sickening you think that of Shouto and the adult design, because yes he's the son of an abuser and one of his victims and yes he's gained some of his features but that doesn't negate the fact that he is still his own person! he isn't possessed by his abuser, or anything like Enji just because of genetic appearance resemblance!

I still love Shouto no matter what, but I do hate the fact that Horikoshi did this to him on purpose.

He wrote an arc for Shouto about overcoming his DNA and becoming who he wants to be. Everyone is happy about Shouto being happy and smiley and thriving.

But if you going into the comments on him in fandom, 90% only talks about how he looks like Endeavor. They barely notice his smile or the Touya colored T on his chest, because Hori drastically changed the way he looks and he didn’t do this for a single other character from Class A.

He’s writing an ending where he says “hardly anyone calls him Endeavor’s son” but then dropped a drawing which made fandom talk about nothing else. It’s dissonant.

It makes me feel like Horikoshi intellectually knows Shouto’s story requires emancipation and freedom to become himself, but emotionally he’s too attached to Endeavor and is not treating Shouto as his own reference point. He doesn’t develop Shouto organically from his own younger design (like he does for every other character) but tries to force him into a design that looks now more like Endeavor using Endeavor’s younger design as a reference point.

And yes, kids resemble their parents. But there is nobody saying “oh Deku looks now even more than Inko” or “oh Bakugou has more Masaru looks now”. The resemblance is there like it always was but it didn’t lead to a sudden design change to the point of overwhelming their individual identity. They look like themselves.

While with Shouto, people look at him and their first reaction is “Endeavor”. I think that’s really sad because the narrative ending tells us that when you look at Shouto, your first reaction shouldn’t be “Endeavor” but rather “Oh, Shouto, 8 years from now, how lovely, amazing growth, he’s become such a smiling young man”.

And Hori’s one really strong point being character design, I know he did this Enji-fication on purpose and I don’t trust his intent and I don’t like that he doesn’t let Shouto be his own origo like he does for literally everyone else.

People whose faves didn’t get such drastic changes should stop criticising Shouto fans for being shocked and ask themselves how they would feel if the character they followed for a decade were redesigned out of the blue not with his own endings in mind but to be brutally and radically reshaped into the design of a character you hate.

Most Shouto fans hate Endeavor. So this was a move to alienate Shouto fans and gain no new fans for him. Of course, most Shouto fans will still love him, but some will leave because emotionally they can’t cope with this anymore (just one more way Horikoshi’s disregard for Shouto and his fans made apparent) and I guarantee you that zero new Shouto fans are added with this design.

This is not Shouto hate. This is utter distrust in Horikoshi and his motives when it comes to the Todofam.

[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.

[leohtttbriar]

i do get that part of the reason no one in this episode seems to be all that interested in voicing the obvious arguments for criminal justice is because this episode isn't really a story about how people are prosecuted and sentenced ( which seems wildly tyrannical in the mari world from our perspective, used, as we are, to things like juries and legal representation and trials. charging and sentencing seems to happen at once at the whims of single person who just has their opinion on what is most "likely", which is a qualification evidently also decided on a whim). this episode, i guess, is more about posing hypothetical questions about thought-policing in telepathic societies and the phenomenon of a "thought" if you're among people who have open access to everyone's.

but, unfortunately, this episode had the very logical character easily fall for the pretense of success for the thought-policing and thus a society free of violence and crime, forcing the viewer to consider the subject of violence and crime and its actual causes, possible considerations that the episode leaves largely ignored.

while ignoring that, the writing of this episode, maybe even accidentally, has portrayed a legal defense reality where an innocent party is utterly unprotected by the law for the thoughts they "instigated" in another--"gay panic" defense or a "stand your ground" defense, there are many iterations of some person of marginalized social position being left unprotected and unjustly treated because they ""inspired"" some feeling or thought in their attacker. which makes this whole story read as bluntly oblivious/ignorant or clumsily written/tone-deaf or malicious or some combination of all three.

i agree with the overall thesis of the episode which is basically: the state both cannot and should not control people's thoughts. they externalized the details of this civil-liberty argument by making the setting a society of telepaths. but unfortunately trying to tell a story about thought policing using crimes of actual physical violence with little attention paid to the structures of the criminal justice proceedings makes this whole episode infuriating. the mari security officer says "which he only did because he telepathically received that thought from b'elanna" and there's no interrogation really of the underlying argument of this point--that anyone can know for sure why anyone did anything. the narrative claim on how thoughts can be held as equal phenomena as actions almost necessarily invites people to wonder what any of this would look like, in someone's head, how thoughts are organized, how they actualize and to what degree they're automatically shared, where the responsibility to thoughts ends, if all emotional reactions can be categorized as burdens on the other, and, chiefly, how can you gather evidence and prove a criminal charge true when that evidence is: conscious thoughts? the fully formed feelings or the partial reactions or the analytical thought-response or the many other conscious or unconscious things happening in the brain? putting this story in direct contact with a story about criminal justice makes the telepathic question feel more high-stakes for the viewer and then makes the criminal justice element seem so out of touch it's offensive.

on a character level, making it b'elanna who is "guilty" of having a violent thought (whatever that is) and thus "instigating" actual violence is also offensive-as-fuck optics. it makes the fact of her half-klingon-ness fully allegorical where her "fiery mind" reads, to us, as a racialized biological reality instead of racist stereotyping. i've said before that i don't like when star trek or fans make the aliens fully allegorical, as representing some made-up human culture, instead of engaging with the alien as an actual idea of an alien intelligence. (like, the allegory is always there but it's also simple and limiting.) but this episode was a perfect storm of unthoughtful writing that it's hard to want to say that, in the universe of this story, b'elanna's biology is different from someone who is not half-klingon, because i want to defend the optics of b'elanna due to the messed up nature of this episode's profound ignorance.

but of course, regardless of how the question of b'elanna's biology is answered, from an ethics standpoint it doesn't matter. the truth is that no matter how violently b'elanna thought something (and again, whatever that means) thereby making someone else think something, there is no good-faith-engagement-with-the-telepathic-conceit argument that doesn't utterly show that b'elanna cannot be guilty of someone else's violence. the episode even lays it out explicitly: b'elanna had an emotional reaction and briefly wanted to retaliate but she didn't. she even said "i would never do that" because b'elanna seems to be the only character in this whole episode who knows what's just (seeing her fight so strongly against getting her memories and thoughts messed with was great) and also because: that's the point. the episode just managed to make that point in the most questionable possible fucking way.