#god damn mary sues

[enemyoflactose]

Me: I'm going to become a better person 🤗

Also me when I see someone mischaracterize and then hate on my favorite character:

[aroacettorney]

love how ludger rejecting divinity means so fuckin little because even if he is not a "proper" god hes still the most op and successful character in the entire multiverse

[aq2003]

saccharina shooters it is so hard for us out here

[aromanticannibal]

read In Which Uraraka Ochako Decides to End The World NOW

[lith-myathar]

[character] x reader posts my beloathed

[lizzybeeee]

THE ENTIRE DRAGON AGE AMA IS A DUMPSTER FIRE

They avoided all the high-rated questions with genuine criticism (not blind hate!) and went for questions that were safer and allowed them more leeway. After that awful IGN article and that treatment of Davrin...God, just put it down. I have no faith that BioWare will be able to continue Dragon Age or Mass Effect with the respect it deserves.

Edit - They had an opportunity for genuine discussion with fans who were concerned/unhappy with the way Veilguard was -> people unhappy with the story, the marketing, the lack of 'RP' options in an RPG, etc... Instead they just doubled-down even more, avoiding those critical questions, with no real acknowledgement that fans have very reasonable problems with this game.

Some Highlights & My Initial Ramblings Below:

The Executors

"They attempt to manipulate events in the most subtle way they can manage."

So, very clear that they're not simply observers of what is happening in Thedas: they're manipulators...

"Magical Illuminati Confirmed! Lizard People Did 9:30 Dragon!!!!"

All that complexity of character -> his hatred of Orlais, his experience as a general, his relationship with Cailain, and the influence of Howe...all diminished. Any influence from a shadow cabal is too much influence - all the humanity of Loghain's choices/consequences...God, what a waste.

Not to mention what this does to other events/characters in the series -> they imply they've been intervening as far back as the magisters breaking into the golden city. I do not find this compelling! At all!

2. Solas and the Executors

Oh my god, he sounds like such a fucking Mary-Sue I'm so sick of Solas at this point -> "Actually, I know more about the Executors than anyone alive - not even the rest of the Gods know as much as me."

("I'm also, like, an Ancient Elven God, I'm responsible for the Blight and the Veil, and I kind of locked the Gods away cause they were evil - but, like, I'm really sad about it. Also the Herald of Andraste thinks I'm cute <3")

<- Previous comments: massive oversimplification, obviously

But I miss the days when not everything was about Solas. It removes so much interest and wonder in this world when the fucking egg is behind it all. I loved him as a character in DAI and now I just feel this bone deep tiredness when I see his stupid face.

Don't you dare threaten to bring Gareth David-Lloyd back -> keep him away from this mess!

3. The Fate of the Rest of the Evanuris

Yay. I'm so looking forwards to "The Return of the Elves: Electric Boogaloo 2" - it was done so well the first time!

"It was the elves all along!"

The only character with any potential to be interesting is Andruil*, but how they handled all this lore was done so shallowly and so poorly that I find it hard to give a damn anymore. Not to mention that the game literally mentions Ghilan'nain mourning Andruil - so is this a retcon/redirection/or have you confirmed that one of the most interesting members of the Evanuris' is dead?

*interesting in that she's established in lore to potentially have a tonne of really cool things attached to her (the void armour, the great weapon she has etc...). The rest of the evanuris are nowhere near as well established as she is.

4. Southern Thedas, Sociopolitical Issues, and Future Games

NOW YOU WANT TO INCORPORATE GEO-POLITCAL EXPLORATION?? You avoided any meaningful discussion like the plague in DATV but now you're acknowledging it?? OkaY. okAy.

They couldn't even give us the long-term ramifications of the mage/templar war how the hell am I supposed to believe that they will be able to pull off 'elven gods are real' etc...? For a game series that totes : your choices matter -> they have not proven that they have been able to show that in a meaningful way. They literally cleaned the slate with this game to avoid doing that.

So, what, does that mean that the Veil is never going to come down now? Or are you going to have the entirety of Thedas build themselves up again just to have the Veil fall and send things into chaos once more?

What a fatalistic, miserable outcome for Thedas -> why the fuck would anyone bother to live in Thedas if you're going to keep throwing meteorites at them? By all means, change/conflict has to happen for the series to move forwards...but this is just so miserable at this point.

(The Elder Scrolls, at least, gives people room to breathe between crisis' or sets them up in different areas of the world! Bethesda treats past installments/your decisions with greater respect than DATV does.)

Even, then, if the Veil remains up, that means that the spirits are just trapped in the Fade being miserable for the rest of existence. The entire series has been humanizing spirits, from Justice to Cole, and now they're just throwing in the towel? I guess they can stay in the fade now! Problem solved!

What do you mean the Evanuris are not a threat anymore? IN A PREVIOUS QUESTION YOU LITERALLY SAID SOME ARE STILL POTENTIALLY KICKING AROUND THE BLACK CITY?

Weakened, sure, but Solas was 'weak' in DAI. You're giving yourself an out if you decide to go back to the elves again. Please do, I'd love more content on how the elves alone fuck everything up!

5. More Southern Thedas, the Chantry, and Tevinter

Thanks for the confirmation that things in the South are so fucked up that they have to work alongside the 'Slave Capital' of the known world to rebuild!

Slavery was one of the biggest things that caused a rift between the north/south chantry system -> one of the reasons why there were exalted marches -> a uniting belief in the south is that slavery is fucked. They didn't address slavery in DATV - what hopes are there that they will do so effectively in a future game?

Don't tell me that Dorian fixes everything off screen either -> either he solves slavery off-screen or the south is being forced to work the slaver-capitol because their land is nuked and they have no ground to stand on.

I'm so thrilled.

6. Solas and the Idol / The Blight

I will never get over Solas fucking curing the Blight off-screen and no one asking questions/giving a shit. Hello?? The Hero of Ferelden would like a word with you???

So the Blight is calcified in Minrathous, at least, but everywhere further away is still fucked! Once more, the South is doomed to suffer from the long-term effects that regular blights have -> not to mention the red lyrium (which still exists according to the AMA) across the south.

I don't care; it's lame. It's a lame way to conclude the blight and I hate it. This game did not earn 'cure the blight from thedas' at all. You could have had us learn how to soothe a titan and see how that can diminish the blight but you did it this way.

Another 'magical ritual' because Solas has such a good track record with them lmao.

7. The Agents of Fen'Harel / The War with the Qun / The Crows

Turned him against the idea of being a leader???!!

Fen'harel's Call to the Elven People After the events at the Winter Palace, elves left the Inquisition under mysterious circumstances, as did elven servants across Thedas. None could say where they went, but those who believed the Inquisitor's story about Fen'Harel wondered just how large the Dread Wolf's forces were... and what the ancient elven rebel had planned. This is from the Trespasser Epilogue, Epler!

Your concept art for Joplin literally had him as a leader of a faction of elves. Just be honest that it's a retcon and you changed course - don't try to save face with this reasoning.

About the Antaam: "We needed some big mindless bad guys to fight and so we did this because we didn't want to address the Qunari War/Invasion we set up in Trespasser".

You had to canonize Sten as being alive and Arishok in order for this reasoning to work -> you didn't even come up with an alternative Arishok to take Sten's place.

Yeah, the exchange that set up the Crows we see in the game as "idealists" did not make the game. I can confirm that!

I'm sorry, "Caterina kept Illario in check?" as in, 'kept him an idealist and not the usual Crow'? The woman that beat him with a cane and starved him and his cousin to train them as Crows. Fuck off.

lmao -> tell me you're coming up with this on the spot without telling me that you're coming up with this on the spot.

8. World State Discrepancies - Isabela

Outright ignores the very real criticism about the marketing from this game and World States.

"there are absolutely places where we unintentionally suggested there was a hard canon (...that Isabela is always assumed to have joined Hawke's party.)"

Unintentional?

Excuse me, you have her talk about Merrill and the Kirkwall Crew as family - that was not unintentional in the slightest. Not to mention Sten, Blackwall, Sera, and Cole are canonized as being part of your world state no matter what.

You had a story you wanted to tell - one that only fit a few world states - and you went ahead with it and disregarded those choices. Don't try and lie about this all being a big misunderstanding.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edit - They could have taken the opportunity to address the very reasonable criticisms that people had with this game but they cherry-picked questions and avoided/minimized anything remotely critical.

They could have provided us some insight into the game development time but each time they approached the topic they settled for "we're happy with what we delivered and it was well optimized."

They had an opportunity to acknowledge that people were bothered by the handling of the lore/stories (to potentially mention they could course-correct/ rethink their plans) but instead they doubled down on everything that they did and even 'justified' some decisions. They doubled down on the Executors, Solas's changing motivations, the destruction of Southern Thedas, and the elves/Solas being at the heart of everything etc...

This AMA basically confirmed that the only reason they did what they did to the south was for a reset -> It's not a compelling or fulfilling narrative to have everything we've done reset back to ground zero off-screen. BioWare games differentiate themselves from other RPG's by their import system from previous games - it was compelling and exciting! With DATV they set the expectation that BioWare can outright throw out entire games worth of choices/build up, not solely retcon them.

Justifying your choice to water down the lore/world of your story by saying you'll address it in the 'next game' does not instill me with confidence, BioWare! It doesn't explain that lack of it in this game either!

They avoided every question that, rightfully so, pointed out the misleading comments made by devs in the pre-order period of the game:

the fact that there were only 3 imported choices from previous games was leaked by a reviewer -> BioWare was vague from the start about choices

that this game was the most 'romantic' in the series

that world states/ headcanons wouldn't be disrespected

that there are 'lore' reasons for bad darkspawn design

that there are lasting, impactful choices/consequences to be made in this game

that the lore/world was not watered or toned down

that companions are deep and you can disagree with them etc...

BioWare's behavior towards their customers in the lead up period to this games release was downright scummy. I absolutely felt misled after playing the game for myself and recalling what I read in interviews put out. While EA is undoubtedly poison, you can't hold them solely accountable for this.

I feel for the individual developers who worked on this in what was undoubtedly a toxic environment from EA - but I feel that it's pretty clear that BioWare itself has a lot of problems within and in their leadership/executives. Working for EA does not give them an excuse to mislead their customers.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I already had a very grim outlook on the franchise from the end of DATV but this literally look my interest out the back and sent it to God. What a disaster.

[childrenofcain-if]

Yeah, as accomplished and impressive as the mc is, the mc is far from a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. Literally, the scene with V where they try to cook? I cringed when I heard their plans for it (but trying new things is crucial to being good at them). Not to mention other scenes just showing the unbalanced lifestyle (I found Elias asking if the mc had their credit cards to be particularly hilarious) and things they lack. It's not like the mc reaches and touches an extracurricular, and whoops, Bam, Magnus Carlson!

They've also suffered not insignificantly (I can't possibly imagine losing a parent at that young of an age, let alone one you're close to.) And that nosebleed thing must've been a hell of a scare. Also - your reflection looking like that (as in non human or supernatural) would be terrifying. My life isn't notably bad, certainly not all sunshine and rainbows, but if I was offered to become mc and go through all that they will or even all that they have?

Yeah, I think I'll pass. I also think some of it might be people thinking the mc is completely effortless - which I have no idea where they got that - but it's evident while they aren't average in intelligence, they busted their ass off even if they try to play it laidback style. They got the best tutors in the world from a very young age - but that also meant they were using those resources constantly and studying. Not to mention, I think somewhere it's mentioned how mc's time was basically entirely split between studying, extracurriculars, and volunteering.

They're not a god. Just a mortal who had very fortunate resources who worked very, very hard with those resources. Hell, take a normal person with mid resources and have them use that schedule of studying, extracurriculars, and volunteering, and I'd bet they would turn out pretty damn accomplished/impressive too, even if they're not as good as the mc. It's what Richard Feymann said - you can get a normal person to understand quantum physics. They just have to study it well, hard, and for a while.

Yeah, the mc is rich and have quite the privilege, but that doesn't mean they didn't work hard for it and also lost some things in the trade off (mc might know how to cook if they weren't studying "all" the time and took the time to learn, for example)

Mc kind of reminds me of what's referred to as a glass cannon - exceptionally good at one or a few things, but at the severe (and probably unworthy) detriment of being very bad at others. Does mc even know what FAFSA is?

Also, the literal fatal flaw? An actual list? And mc can be as stupid (wisdom stat, not intelligence) and just party all the time.

If anons were going to pick on a character for being "too perfect" then M almost makes more sense. 10 languages, God knows how many instruments, in a good position in HoS, is probably crushing all of their classes, and is majoring in philosophy which can get wildly difficult now and again before toning back down (Nietzche, Kant, and Hegel, probably). Oh, they're also an RA. They to me seem more insane than mc does, even a mc who is designed to be crazy like vocal lessons, two sports, robotics, and debate club, with no burnout. And yet, they are perfectly flawed.

The mc just worked exceptionally hard, is clever, and had literally the best possible resources to get the most bang for their (or rather, Elias's) buck. I think about anyone would - at least - do very well in academia and extracirriculars if they had the best tutors in the world training them in those respective areas from a very young age.

this.

[anobsessedchocolatechip]

Okay Christine Daae is THE MOST UNJUSTIFIABLY OVERHATED CHARACTER IN MUSICAL HISTORY. THERE I SAID IT.

This VERY YOUNG WOMAN somewhere from 15-22 lost her father, the only person she ever had, at a young age and found her way of expressing grief through music. a MUCH OLDER MAN (we are not going to deny this fact please) saw her and decided to take advantage of that grief in order for her to fall in love with him (I know he had his reasons but it STILL HAPPENED) and after she found out how the man manipulated her she still understood why he did it, even after he KILLED PEOPLE she saw that he just wanted her love, and even after he threatened to KILL HER AND HER FIANCÉE for EXISTING (“now let it be war upon you both”) she was VERY smart and knew how to break the murderous trance that Erik was in, by showing him the one thing she knew he needed, compassion. She has the unique ability to see good in people when it’s not visible to anyone else, even after it seems like they’re past the point of ever being good again. That’s some LUKE SKYWALKER SHIT. She is literally a HEROINE who does not let anyone’s shit get to her, not raouls dumbass plan, not Erik’s anger. She wants to SING HER SONGS and she WILL, DAMN IT. Yes she’s naive sometimes but what did you want?? Her to be perfect?? Then you’d just call her a Mary Sue. Also she was a GRIEF STRICKEN YOUNG GIRL WITH FAITH IN THE WORLD OF COURSE SHE’D BELIEVE A NICE VOICE TEACHING HER TO SING AND BELIEVE IN HERSELF.

Christine Daae is a SMART, BRAVE, EMPATHETIC, ABSOLUTELY AMAZING CHARACTER AND IF I SEE ONE MORE PERSON BLAMING HER FOR *ANYTHING* THAT HAPPENED TO HER I AM GOING TO EXPLODE.

(Disclaimer: this is not an anti erik or anti raoul post, this is a PRO CHRISTINE DAAE POST) (GOD I LOVE HER)

Edit: Jesus some of you guys saw “this is not an anti Erik post” and said this sign can’t stop me because I can’t read 😇😍

Also if you hate Christine and feel the need to make that clear in the comments it will be deleted because this is a Christine positive blog and I will not allow mean people in my little corner of the internet where I share my little opinion with some cool little people who agree with it ❤️ shout out to all the people out there who disagree but didn’t feel the need to curse me out in the comments, I see you and appreciate you 😌

[olderthannetfic]

I feel like such a hypocrite reblogging all these posts about how people like male characters more than female ones even if they have similar personalities/roles/wtv, but I read about this stuff precisely because I relate to it. "People think everything men do is cool and everything women do is either weak or Mary Sue" -- yes, it's me, I'm people. It's not like I do it deliberately or I'm proud of it, but I can observe and acknowledge the empirical fact that female characters just produce a very different emotional reaction in me than male ones.

I guess I like the safe distance of projecting onto characters who 1. are more obviously not me and 2. are judged less harshly than me (bc everything men do is cool) and that's not my fault, it's the patriarchy's, but then I can't challenge it. I can't say "women can be just as cool and we shouldn't be judged more harshly", I can only say "yea women suck let me forget I am one" like I'm still in my 9gag nlog tween phase -- or well, I can *say* the former, but I keep *acting and feeling* like the latter. And btw I'm not just talking about consuming media, where all you can choose from is what's on offer; I'm also talking about creating my own fanfics, which are all about men.

--

The reason a lot of those posts are so obnoxious is that they're just people wallowing in guilt and projecting.

The fact is, lots of people do like female characters. There's plenty of fiction about women. There's plenty of fic about women. There is not, in fact, some grand, existential problem where nobody cares about the ladies. If you aren't seeing this fic or original media, that's different from it not existing.

Two, your own fanfics? FFS. If you consume media that is a sausagefest, then of fucking course, your fic will be about dudes.

Just the other day, I spotted a story I hadn't read by a fantastic fantasy novelist. I hadn't looked her up much beyond buying her trilogy, and what do you know: she actually says who she is in fandom openly!

I was entertained to find out that her big thing is kylux. You really wouldn't guess based on her pro work, which is about a harried female doctor taking care of supernatural patients. I remember those books being a refreshing change from my usual diet of nothing but slash fic. It's not just that there's a female lead but that they take a nuanced look at female characters.

Personally, as a writer, I wasn't ready to write much about women until I was better at writing overall, and my more self inserty characters aren't usually going to be women anyway unless they're like Julia from the Hilary Tamar series.

--

If you're uncomfortable with yourself, you can try to change, sure.

But fandom is full of this obnoxious plague where people think that it's the job of each person to make there be more female characters. This isn't necessary. Even if we want media or fic to be more balanced overall, it doesn't follow that each person needs to produce a balanced body of work.

Why should you in particular care about female characters?

--

But beyond all that, oh my fucking lord, I am so tired of that species of post that's like "Gosh, why is slash fandom, where people go to be horny over dudes and/or have self inserty feelings about them, not more full of stuff about ladies? It's so tragic how we all want to get rid of our boobs and wear men's clothing and be addressed as sir, just like all the other girls. What's up with that? It must be misogyny."

With a totally straight face.

Every god damn time.

[castielsparkle]

So fucking funny watching dean meet his maternal grandpa oh my fucking god. Hes like um. Im a hunter and i know this special yellow eyed demon and i know how to kill it with. yeah the colt yes its fucking real. This demon killed my fucking family it killed my mom. Also my dad could see into the future. I have to go now. And Samuel Campbell is like Jesus Fucking christ what a sparklewolf-esque mary sue this fairy is. Christ. What next hes gonna start saying he has some angel boyfriend from heaven. My goodness. Mary dont talk to this fucking guy his vibes are atrocious. whole time its his own damn grandson

[kyoukamybeloved]

« Chuuya-sama and Dazai-san stood side by side. Surprisingly enough, there was something similar to perfection about the two. »

« As if they are one soul in two different bodies. »

soukoku webweaves: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

rule of wolves - Leigh Bardugo// harrow the ninth - Tamsyn Muir// the sorrow festival - Erin Slaughter// the prisoner - Octavio Paz// the final empire - Brandon Sanderson// wuthering heights - Emily Brontë// 21 - Gracie Abrams// slow like honey - Fiona Apple// Sue Zhao// art by @/57and13 on twitter// the dead man - Georges Bataille// Art by @creantzy// Frankfurt song - Marina Tsevetaeva// Lazarus, L. Munir// call me what you like - lovejoy// Crush - Richard Siken// art by @/ossukii// confessions - Elle Emerson// I wish you would - Taylor Swift// motion sickness - Phoebe Bridgers// art by @/ossukii on instagram// bittersweet - Rumi// Stigmata; love of the wolf - Marina Tsevetaeva// art by @/Zrainmtast on twitter// west wind - Mary Oliver// step on me - the cardigans// good looking - Suki Waterhouse// Letters from Medea - Salma Deera// valentine - Laufey// art by @/1110yu_ku_si on twitter// Amirae Garcia// the grudge - Olivia Rodrigo// The epic of Gilgamesh - Danny P. Jackson// art by @/Yuyii_Ju on twitter// he shifts from east to west - Margaret Atwood// happiness - Taylor Swift// afterglow - Taylor Swift// These hands, if not gods - Natalie Diaz// manga panel by Sango Harukawa// 100 love sonnets - Pablo Neruda// tis the damn season - Taylor Swift// it’s all futile! It’s all pointless! - lovejoy// All about love - bell hooks// art by @/FloreSuika// Germaine de Staël// 

tagging moots and users who seemed to lose their minds at the other web weaves, since this is probably the last part, thank you so much for all the love :)))

@philzokman @amagami-hime @nnavia @dinosaur-mayonnaise @zamxii @the-gayest-sky-kid @vinylbiohazard @bunglegaydogs @lotus-reblogs @ricelover888 @pendragonstar @slug-behaviour @ghostsinacoat @miltseyx @homuncvlus

[theno1joelhater]

AAAAAAAAA JUSTIN CASE UPDATE??? WHAT THE FUCK WHY DID HE JUST POST RHE SPOILERS TO THE NEXT INSTALLEMENT OF THE STROY RIGHT THERE INSREA DOF BEING LIKE YEAH IM DOING IT IM KILLING CAM RN FUCK ME (ron intended)

anywayssssss

nathaniel is dead, not very skibidi sigma of him at all but i’m not too surprised, cam’s been trying to get rid of ol’ nathan for a WHILE (besides, look at his last name. it was inevitable)

cam added a mary sue self insert oc that’s basically a god into the cgcu who’s summoned by racism and sexual jokes. damn.

i get the ending and it’s alright, but also seems anticlimactic. like cam shows up and tells justin “dude you’re a fictional made up character on the internet you’re already immortal 💀” and justin’s like “oh fr then ig i’ll stop” which isn’t that satisfying at all. i don’t like that ending the discord’s ending (ask me for an invite link if ur interested in the server, we’re all very cool) is much better since yk. it has actual character development.

personally? i don’t like this ending much and i am unsatisfied. it might be better if he actually posts it but i still don’t like it much. if only…….i finished the goddamn animation……..ughhh

also……….max? whipping it out? right there? cam you better film this part or else /hj

[canonically47]

so... those boxers, huh?

(click for better image quality!)

oh my GOD you guys @burrotello's AU is SOOO good!!!!!! the TADC fandom just has the best artists, every AU i've seen is so creative and fun and this one is an exception because IT'S. EVEN. BETTER.

i cannot express how much i love her artstyle and how much expression she can convey through her art.. so i'll just link the boxer AU masterpost here and let you guys see for yourselves!

for now, let's talk about the elephant in the room: toby and diane! you already know toby if you know me and/or my involvement in the TADC fandom - my OC, very strongly based on agent 47. diane is a new face, though, because she was created with the intention of being toby's handler! (she's based off diana burnwood, obviously.)

the duo and a description of their relationship:

some design notes:

toby is 150 cm (which is his height in the TADC universe as well), while diane towers over him at 187 cm.

since toby is based off a rubber duck, which is meant to be a gag, i decided to incorporate that into his defense - it's meant to act as a way for the opponent to be unable to see him, since he's so small.

his homing briefcase is his ultimate attack. it's a good thing there's not any water in the boxing ring, or we'd be seeing players drop dead left and right!

also to bounce off toby's duck self, diane is a fox because, well, she's a sly fox! she's based off diana even more than toby is off agent 47, because, while i take a lot of liberties with toby (make him swear more than 47, make him act wayyy more caring and open than he does in hitman), diane is literally almost the same. her wits, sarcasm, beauty, everything is kept in this awesome fox lady. (it was also my first time drawing an anthropomorphic fox, which was sooo fun! i did some warm-up, messy sketches too. i swear the furries are gonna claim me soon, drawing anthros is sooo fun you guys.)

toby's fighter name is "agent T" because i didn't want it to be THAT obvious by naming him 47, but... his HP speaks for itself. i know his stats just SCREAM "mary sue", so SUE ME. he's a damn good fighter!... if only the fight club was fair, then he'd get the proper compensation.

there are a lot of references sprayed throughout their descriptions that i haven't even begun to cover, including lines of dialogue. can you find them? 👀

bonus transparent pngs (featuring injured toby):

[bitchdafuqyousay]

i cannot stand you hoes

you fuckers will really just find any reason n excuse at all to hate on female characters, huh. like damned if she does damned if she doesn’t. they cannot win with you bitches smh

she’s upfront n emotional? ugh she’s so annoying she’s always in hysterics she needs to calm down. she’s levelheaded n even faced? god that woman is such a cold hearted bitch she doesn’t care about anyone she’s practically a villain! she’s got a temper? she’s always angry she’s so mean. she’s jovial all the time? she’s so annoying whys she always so happy it’s not realistic!! she’s super smart? she’s such a know it all she thinks she’s so clever n better than everyone else. she’s not a super genius? oh lord she’s sooo stupid what a ditz. she’s open n trusting? how can she be so naive n forwards she’s such an idiot! she’s reserved n keeps things to her chest? she’s so dishonest n a total snake i bet she’s secretly a villain!!

she’s super strong? she’s way too op it’s all just plot armor n makes no sense she needs to be knocked down a peg! she’s not as strong as the other (male) characters? god she’s useless she’s a total drag an absolute burden on the other characters!! she’s conventionally attractive n sexy? the over-sexualization is terrible she’s just pointless eye candy it’s annoying. she doesn’t meet conventional beauty standards? that bitch is so ugly haha look at the size of her forehead n her flat chest!

let’s not even get fucking started on the way y’all scream “villain” at any female character who isn’t a saintess of pure n unrestrained morality, but then throw a bitch fit about “mary sues” when another one is. female characters cannot do anything right in y’all’s eyes n you’ll take any chance to hop on them n drag em through the dirt by their necks. you hate a woman for the same qualities that make you love a man it’s pathetic.

[brasideios]

Things People Say no. 1: Women

She’s too fat. We don’t sell dresses that size here. God why doesn’t she go on a diet. She’s too thin. I think she has an eating disorder. She’s mutton dressed as lamb. She looks like an alien. She’s so fake. She’s a MILF. Think she used a trowel to put on that make up. Damn she could really use a make over. Women with grey hair look so much older than they are. I dye my hair for myself because I think it looks good. God she’s so ugly. Why’s she always dress like a slut. Why doesn’t she try a little harder to dress nice. Why do women have to make all the effort. You aren’t empowered, you’re just gaining power by catering to the male gaze. Women can decide for themselves, thank you. You don’t even know what you want, you’re so oppressed. You don’t disagree, you’re just a misogynist. It’s the internalised misogyny. They still won’t love you, sweetie. I’m getting in touch with the divine feminine. It’s a sisterhood. Patriarchy allows no solidarity amongst women. I won’t play games that don’t have a female protagonist. Full bodily autonomy, and the power to decide for ourselves. My place in this world is on my knees in front of my husband. I’d never touch a man - gross. Your husband should be your best friend. Men and women can’t be friends. I always got along better with the boys. You’re one of those. I’m asking on the internet because I don’t know any men. She’s not like the other girls. Another Mary Sue.

[dangermousie]

W Two Worlds is a rare drama that is even better on rewatch because now you know where it's going, you catch so much additional stuff.

Knowing YJ is the original creator of Kang Chul doesn't just answer the question of how she can be transported into that world but turns the narrative, as I mentioned, into a fight between two creators (YJ and Dad) about the direction of the story.

And in a way, it has a lot to say about fandoms and creators' interactions with it and attitudes in general - it is not insignificant that it's the middle-aged man who wants this story to be all bleak existential despair and end in "there is no meaning" and it's coooool for there to be an unexpected ending even if said ending makes no narrative sense - he wants to go art house!!!! And it's a young woman who wants this to be a story about justice triumphant and love found and hope and happy ending.

It's very much reflecting reality where the latter is often looked down on as inferior (and resented for being more popular) and just "nonsense young women like" (think of the degree of vitriol at worst and contemptuous disdain at best genres and works and things hugely popular with women get.)

And how much do I love that it's the young woman's vision that ultimately triumphs? Heck, one can view YJ as a self-insert/Mary Sue character and the fact that she ends up with the protagonist she created is honestly such a delightful nod to so many fandom things - and also that is perhaps why she triumphs. Because she loves the character she created, not resents him the way Dad does, and an author who loves the character (and by that I mean enjoys that world, that story, the characters - not necessarily like YJ fancies them) will always win over one for whom the act of creation is a resentful chore with no joy. (Side note - by choosing to live on that bridge, KC actually did a good deed for the Dad too - Dad himself admits this gave him hope in a really dark time; maybe that is why W universe rebels when he tries to kill KC - because repaying that with death is unjust.)

Also, as @aysekira and I talked about, it's really a religious parable too - because Kang Chul's mortal sins, sins his creator thinks he should die for are disobedience (ever since that moment on the bridge, he goes his own way more than once) and self-awareness - think of the expulsion from Paradise in the Book of Genesis - the sins worthy of that weren't murder or maiming or anything in modern society viewed as horrible but disobedience and desire to know things. You don't listen to God is n1 sin in that world and so it is in the world of W. The God of Genesis would probably experience some degree of sympathy for the Dad and his decision.

Ultimately, how much do I love this drama? It's a take on creative process, death of the author, and relationships with media we consume. It's a religious parable about free will and a discussion of parental relationships. And it's also a damn good story with chases and make-outs. It's basically a perfect rebuke to Dad's belief that a story cannot be deep unless it's dreary. W has so many interesting things to say but it's also a mad amount of fun!