#he gets the worst takes from people outside the fandom too

[13eyond13]

hi!!! for the choose violence ask meme, could i ask: 17 and 25?

17. There should be more of this type of fic/art?

My highly personal opinion is that I wish there was much more fem!Lawlight out there as a long in-depth slowburn type thing that still has a lot of interesting worldbuilding/plot stuff going on in it as well. Something I should really get on making happen myself...

25. Common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing?

I get a bit sick of hearing complaints about Light's shittiness that just don't make sense to me personally sometimes. I feel he gets some of the worst takes and nonsense characterization from people. And it's not even that I think I have the "word of god" best takes about him of everybody myself, but it just gets a bit confusing and hard on the head... especially because I feel like he's actually one of the most precisely/meticulously characterized and the most fleshed out one in the series, so it's not like there are even a ton of blanks you have to fill in about him most times

[choose violence]

[massiveharmonytiger]

So I think Gabe's portrayal was really intelligently done in the show and I'm pretty dismayed at the negative reactions. I'd argue that TV needs more portrayals of abusers that seem harmless and victims that make efforts to advocate for their own agency because that is what abuse often looks like in the real world. Yes, sometimes abuse is as in your face as with Gabe's introduction in the book version (which the show was still pretty true to, I'll discuss that below) and the other portrayals we've seen on TV, abusers being explicitly threatening or violent, victims cowering and showing visible distress, all that usual, tropey stuff. However, I think more education is needed on all the ways abuse is subtle, because this misunderstanding and this view of abuse as this black and white thing is often the reason so few victims get help, so many abusers get away with it and so many of the people around the victim and abuser, at best, are surprised when the find out what's really been happening, and at worst, defend the abuser because they're so harmless, nice, upstanding, pick your adjective and there's no way they're capable of that.

Source: https://www.domesticshelters.org/articles/identifying-abuse/the-silent-ways-abusers-control

I feel like a lot of the fandom has already fallen into this trap somewhat. Gabe from the TV show is too nonthreatening, bumbling, pathetic, silly, idiotic, nowhere near scary enough to warrant getting petrified by Medusa's head. He doesn't look like an ABUSER. And yet we're confronted with so many markers of abuse in that scene.

Gabe is harmless…

And yet he's verbally abusive to outsiders. The guy that leaves as Percy is arriving has experienced an interaction with Gabe that warrants Percy apologizing for Gabe's actions only for him to apologize back because he gets to leave, Percy doesn't. He's concerned. Sure, Gabe is fat shaming and yelling about eating fruit at the moment. The absurdity of the topic doesn't make it any less inappropriate or abusive btw, because its about the abuser having any excuse to display their dominance and power over you even if the subject matter is batshit. Ever see cases where one person in the relationship (usually a man) will police the other's clothing (usually a woman) because it's too revealing, too tacky, too whatever. That's abuse.

Gabe is harmless…

And yet he's verbally abusive towards Percy. He sarcastically greets him with the cruel nickname "genius" and immediately picks a fight with him. Percy refuses to engage because he knows, from experience, what being goaded looks like. Wrap your head around that. Kids older than him are out there having catfights and making stupid "your mom" jokes, but this infant has so much experience facing conflict, he already knows what steps to take to steer away from that kind of drama and stay in safe territory. He only engages a bit when he hears about Gabe answering Sally's phone. Anyone who's answered a friend or partner's phone before will probably consider Percy's anger and indignation a little bratty and unwarranted. The issue here is that Gabe is someone who ignores boundaries. The issue isn't that he answered Sally's phone, the issue is that he very likely did it without permission. Based on Percy and Sally's reactions (Percy is angry, Sally is resigned), he's someone who's regularly done stuff like look through Sally's phone or purse without her permission. Percy makes it clear that this is not okay, and he gets dismissed. Gabe just answers "whatever's ringin'" and Percy is made to look like the one overreacting. This is what abusers do. They're never in the wrong. And then, the cherry on top of the blue icing, he blames the victim. "What're we doing Percy, every time." Gabe's the one who picked the fight, but by the end of it, Percy's the one being blamed. This is so commonplace and anyone who's been through this knows how maddening it can be. This is such a short interaction but they pack so much into it.

Gabe is harmless…

And yet we find Sally sitting outside in the rain on the balcony, as if she's trying to ground herself after a traumatic experience. As if she's trying to bring herself into the present and not dissociate because when Percy arrives she needs to be there for him. She can deal with the Gabe stuff AFTER Percy is safe. I'll get more into Sally's interaction with Gabe in Part 2 because a lot of people were confused by the fact that she was so firm with him. There's an explanation, I promise.

A lot of people also expressed concern that we wouldn't see Gabe's truly monstrous side before he gets petrified but from what I can see, the shows been making great use of flashbacks and exposition, so I'm pretty sure this will be addressed. Percy and Sally are the heroes. It would be counterintuitive for the show to establish that and then not give them a blatant cause for turning Gabe into stone.

[nyxi-pixie]

okayyyy ive been meaning to talk about this moment forever because i think the way i see it differs from a lot of general fandom opinion.

for context, this is from the dhc section of the dead apple manga. skk are talking about an executive who just died and dazai makes a joke about it, prompting chuuya to deck him in the face and say nobody could believe dazais human. (believe, very importantly. not that he Isnt, just that its unbelievable).

humanity is a key theme to all of bsd, but its Very explicitly central to the skk dynamic. chuuya is an intensely human character in the way that he acts and thinks, and yet! between his ability and ofc the history in the lab, it still gets called into question.

(its pretty solid that our chuuyas the real one, but thats not the point here. sb being an exploration of what it means to be human and whether Actually Being One is all that important to what you are and do, through a Distinctly human character- Thats the point. How you are being more important than what you are.)

then we have dazai on the other hand, where what he is doesnt come into question at all. Even his ability, despite its name, isnt dehumanising to an outside eye, compared to chuuyas corruption or atsushis tiger for example that can take away from their control of themselves. its the how he is, in contrast to chuuya, that comes into question with dazai. he very consistently holds himself outside of humanity both implicitly (through self isolation - shipping container being an extreme example) and explicitly (dead apple dazai talking about humanity as an Outside Observer. he is Not including himself as one of them).

When we are encouraged to doubt his humanity, its dazai Telling us to. he deliberately poses himself as inhuman because he FEELS it. and the dhc moment to me has always felt like chuuya seeing through it and calling his bullshit. Dazais making light of a death to be a dick, to push chuuyas buttons, but also because hes got this constant need to present the worst possible version of himself.

actually if you look at the panels of him when hes talking about the guy being dead, just before he gets dramatic ridiculous exaggerated dazai about it, he doesnt seem to think of it so lightly

(smthn smthn dazai imposter syndrome. the need to deny any of his more human qualities because he feels they dont Fit him. and the links w his questions to atsushi at the beginning and end, his bs 'do i really seem like the type of guy to do x thing'.)

chuuya says hes acting inhuman, that his humanity isnt something people will believe because of the way he ACTS. and then chuuya does an example of his own Chuuya Humanity Act, an act of service for the people he cares about in the form of going to solve the situation himself. AND. ultimately, dazai ends up planning around this later to lead chuuya straight to him so the two of them can deal with it together.

skk pretty consistently ground eo to humanity. dazai through nullification/corruption, but outside of their abilities too (its the thought of dazai - more specifically, not thinking like him - that stops chuuya from killing N in stormbringer and denying verlaines assertion that he shouldnt have been born). and on the flipside, chuuya is part of the reason dazai doesnt khs during or after fifteen. dazais protecting people thing really starts out with chuuya. and again, chuuya makes it his business to call dazai on his shit. (even right the way back in chapter 31 of the main manga, we have that interaction over Q, with dazai saying he spared them only for self serving logical reasons, and chuuya saying he doesnt buy it).

this to me has always felt like part of that. its not 'youre not human', its 'the way you act makes it unbelievable that you are'. its an invitation to prove he is by doing something Real, something worth more than sleeping there til he dies.

and dazai does.

[shesnake]

I wanted to know your thoughts on this but do you think it's fair to say either Louis or Armand are abusive in their relationship? Idek if this is a valid angle to view the characters from because I guess they're all monsters or whatever but a part of me thinks that it's kinda lukewarm to refuse to engage with the complicated themes of the show, which abuse is featured heavily and pretty clearly imo. This isn't aimed at you btw. Something I noticed is people tend to use some of Louis's less favorable moments to justify the violence he experiences. Like that post about Armand just matching Louis energy in ep 5, most of the notes are taking the stance that Louis is a cold, unempathic pimp who doesn't care about sa victims, that Armand genuinely is completely right when he says he is always cleaning up after Louis that he was only worried and tenderhearted and Louis escalated in the worst way and that after Louis said that he deserved everything that happened after. And I may be biased but to me that is so fucking crazy. To me it seems like fans, specially nonblack fans, have zero empathy for black abuse victims, actively enacting abuse culture even. But idk if that is a too reactive view. I don't want to say Louis isn't flawed because he is. But I mean we are watching the season about Armand getting Claudia killed on purpose and somehow people are still like Maybe Armand didn't do it, maybe it was all Louis, maybe Louis really asked for it. All of it. I think there's a problem there but idk I kinda feel a little crazy too. Btw disclaimer I fuckin hate Lestat this is not about comparing Loumand/Loustat lol

hi! and wow there is so much to discuss here...

I think it is fair to describe the actions of both Louis and Armand towards each other as abusive by definition but it's always important to remember that it is Armand in the position of greater power over him. Armand is older, stronger, owns dominion. He can walk in the sun, manipulate memories, and live without constant debilitating hunger for blood - all of which are things that impede Louis from being his own person outside of Armand.

Louis also faced this same predicament when he was with Lestat, but unlike Armand who uses his own innate powers against Louis, Lestat mostly used his social advantages of whiteness, wealth etc in addition to withholding key knowledge about vampirism to keep himself in control and Louis dependent on him.

and sure Louis can lash out all he wants! He can mock Armand's sexual trauma (trauma which Armand himself already gets them both to fetishise... but that's a whole different conversation...) he can hit back when Lestat hits him but when he's with either of those guys he is always going to be the victim. Nothing shitty he does to his partners, or to Claudia, or to Daniel, justifies what is being done to him by these men.

There absolutely has to be anti-blackness involved in any argument that says Louis deserves any of this. (Of course Armand as a brown South Asian man is not immune from fandom racism but his treatment is racialised in a different way that is also a different conversation). Any negative behaviour from a Black man is going to be seen by racists as exponentially more aggressive than it is, especially the cross-section with those you mentioned who aren't engaging with the complicated themes of this show exploring abuse.

They can see that Louis yelling at Armand is bad, but don't notice that Armand is being manipulative. They can see that Louis stabbing Lestat that one time during sex is bad (and still sexualise it), but don't notice that Louis is disassociating in every sex scene he has with Lestat afterwards (because they're too busy sexualising it). They can see that Louis making Daniel upset is bad, but don't notice that Daniel has been leveling dozens of racist and homophobic micro-aggressions at him since episode 1.

Armand got a few minutes to tell his tragic backstory in Louvre, Lestat had 2 or 3 different scenes in season 1 to recall his own. It's just been words. Meanwhile racists erase Louis' experiences with trauma because they never had enough fucking empathy for him to begin with to even register it happening to him! on screen! in real time! right in front of us!

And yeah Louis and Armand and Loumand are incredibly complex and compelling, and I do enjoy seeing Louis' moments of cruelty towards Armand! But he's never going to win against him in the game Armand built for him.

And in terms of Claudia, I do think that Louis failed her, as he has always failed her. And is responsible for her death in that regard. But that failure involved letting those other two fucking sharks eat her!!! I personally haven't seen anyone pushing the blame completely off Armand and onto Louis but I wouldn't be surprised. This week I've more pissed off about people levelling it all on Armand and think of Lestat as an unwilling participant.... this is of course the blonde white vampire show....

anyways sorry this is so long! thanks for the message this was really interesting to think about.

[yannaryartside]

the payoff for this love triangle shit better be good

a Sydcarmy vs Claircarmy rant

So, to ramble here, I am starting to wonder what place romance has in the overall plot of The Bear as a show and, by that, what function it will execute. I am going to write about some alternatives that I can predict.

The overall purpose of the show is to heal Carmy, or to put Carmy on a path when self-healing is the only option. He is a sinking ship that has been treating his holes with tape instead of acknowledging the "bear" trauma. At the present of the show, the bear is still in a cage.

So, what paths of healing romance could offer Carmy? Love and loving others is essential to learning to be better versions of ourselves and achieve happiness.

Option one: ClaireCarmy

Yeah, we are here again. Stick with me after the next paragraph so I can dispute what I am about to write.

I must admit, if I take the most superficial parts of the show's structure so far, Claircarmy seems to be the clear endgame. What we are seeing with them could be categorized in one of the most used tropes in romance: the "I am not good enough to receive love" trope, in which a character is afraid of being loved, so they push away the romantic interest until they heal their wound, they make a love confession, and they get back together. I know a movie/show came to mind. We have seen it a dozen times. Even what Claire told Tiff "If something good happens to him, he would blame me." We see Carmy thinking about her and missing the relationship they had. He even declares her as his peace. It would make sense that this is a story about a girl who wanted to love a boy and a boy who was too wounded to accept that love. It would make a clean ending for Carmy to go to therapy, learn to accept love, and reconcile with Claire, who has all the attributes of someone who would fall in love with a broken person.

The grenades are in the way.

NOW, the show has been planting grenades for option one to feel like "the right one" even if our protagonist seems to think it is the case. There are Claire's obvious red flags of course, behavior that looks naive but has some manipulative undertones. The fact that she is written like a woman with no personality, or at least no personality outside helping people in pain (Carmy included). She still talks about her patients as subjects, and there is a theory in the sydcarmy fandom that she may feel powerful or valued only in a position of taking care of people who cannot fend for themselves. There is also the fact that she is not a good doctor (she almost killed a patient over a very preventable mistake). Her comments of setting things on fire being cool while Carmy is afraid of setting himself on fire is still, for me, the biggest red flag.

My theory is that Storer just didn't want to show people with depression to accept love but to be wary of the love we accept while we are still stuck in our old ways of thinking. It is true that even at your worst, you may find yourself in relationships that keep you that way, but the relationships may feel good, so we have a hard time moving away from them. If that is the case, Storer, I promise to never commit blasphemy on your church.

The SydCarmy option.

I am not going to repeat myself. They read each other's minds. They can actually give each other real advice and support (While Carmy kissed Claire after she admitted malpractice). They make each other better, while Claire keeps Carmy as broken as he is (never apologize, you can pretend to be someone else at a party).

Sydney brings him actual peace and self-understanding. It is actually very important to me that they made Sydney say she has difficulty keeping with Carmy at his worst because she is not a mind reader. But at this point, there is no doubt in my mind that she has feelings for Carmy, or that she at least has felt the sparkles of what it would be love in the future.

The payoff.

I swear to god, the next season better provide clarity on all of this because, at this point, it is too much. There is no way you give so many clues in the background for one ship and pursue the other in the front.

My worst fear, which is actually really possible, is that the show wants to concentrate on the "being stuck in the past" narrative so that all the elements for the future are there, but we won't act on them until the end of it. So Carmy can kill all his bad habits, the self-isolation, aggressiveness, depression, self-harming tendencies (fire), and Claire, and THEN, he can open his heart to Sydney. It is obviously not what many of us want to see; maybe this was never a love story, but an "unstuck yourself from the mud" story.

I wish the progress of the love story you actually want to tell (Sydcarmy) would progress with the show's actual plot (Carmy's mental health) a little more. Otherwise, the payoff is never going to feel quite like one. You may have done too much of a good job misguiding your audience, and then it will feel like a change of direction, like a plot twist at the end of a mystery novel, but that rarely works in romance subplots.

I know the clues were there, but your narrative seems to ignore them so far, making it feel more like gaslighting.

Anyhow, thank you for hearing me ramble.

[god-i-hope-so]

"Tommy was homophobic and racist, and now he's Buck's love interest?!"

Yes. Life it not a perfectly smooth line. Real life is not a friends to lovers 200k words fanfic you pour your wholesome fantasies into. For many people, life sucks then sometimes, it gets better.

I know it's tempting to say that Tommy was an asshole before the writers decided to change his narrative, and it's an important discussion to have. Because at first he kinda was, for what we could see. Though they only showed the 118 back then with 2 probies, Chim and Hen, so we don't even know how it would have gone with a white cishet probie.

But if you're dead set on thinking Tommy didn't change, or just conveniently changed, you really need to meet more people outside of people your age, your social circle and your fandoms.

A scared closeted person, and especially a man, will not hesitate a single second to over perform as a "real dude" and use any kind of discrimination as a defense mechanism and to fit the mold. Tommy was evolving in a very white and macho environment. The 118 was a real white boys club. Survival is also about being able to hide in plain sight and sometimes it means acting like the worst to make sure people see the character and not what's under the mask.

I'd have to rewatch the episodes from season 2 to be 100% sure but I think at the time, we see Tommy look around when things get tense. I don't know if Lou was directed to do that or if he just chose to play Tommy like that but Tommy is looking at the others, especially to Gerrard, to see how they react, probably to match their reaction. Like when Hen makes her great speech about "seeing them", Tommy turns around to see how Gerrard is taking this. And I took that as him waiting to see how he's supposed to react based on how the leader will react. This is also what you do to hide in plain sight: you keep your enemies, or potential threats, closer. You laugh at their jokes, you shake the same hands, you reject the same things. When Chim tried to befriend Tommy, Tommy just stayed silent, but Chim really wanted to start a conversation so Tommy had to say something mean so Chim would leave him alone. You can't be seen befriending the outsider either.

Then Chim saves Tommy and the whole dynamic changes because bros will be bros (and for the sake of drama and a positive storytelling, etc, etc.). They also make Tommy openly admit to Chim that his favorite movie is Love Actually and this wasn't a random choice. Tommy probably started to feel safe around Chim without giving too much away.

Also the Twilight gay "joke"? I mean come on, Tommy played dumb to make it look like he was so not gay he didn't get it. And I'd love to know if the writers really wrote Tommy as possibly queer at the time, because this reaction in particular was way too obvious. It's almost on the same level as Buck panicking during his date with Tommy and saying they'll find hot chicks after that. Again, over performing to protect themselves.

So to me, going from Tommy at the 118 to Tommy being out and proud of being who he is absolutely makes sense and I love that for him. We do love a good character growth, and drawing this kind of parallels with real life also needs to be done. Because it definitely happens in real life.

Also, don't forget it's a TV show. They will write nonsense sometimes and contradict themselves, and make questionable choices for the sake of keeping the story on rails.

[lovelaurs]

my own silly mystreet characters headcanon list!

aphmau:

has the worst "hear me out" takes you'll ever hear. like seriously. she can very much point to a yield sign and say "would" to everyone's dismay.

knows every line in moulin rouge as she is OBSESSED with the film. she and laurance preform the elephant medley as dramaticly as possible whenever they watch it for movie night.

obsessed with pre-endgame marvel movies.

ao3 writer! she writes fics for the nichest of fandoms, so she doesn't get that many reads.

one of the few reliable booktok users you can TRUST will give you a good recommendation to read!

garroth:

obsessed with the movie megamind. like seriously. will talk to you for hours on and WILL defend the "sequel movie" and show because, in fact, they are NOT that bad.

can infodump about a topic he's interested in for hours on end.

actually really smart and kind, but ever since he found out he made zane insecure he tries to tone it down. he used to show off a lot but wants to make sure his brother shines as well.

carries stress balls on him so he doesn't use his strength unnecessarily.

always organizes group movie nights with all his friends.

laurance:

loves to listen to and read AITA (am i the asshole?) reddit posts when bored.

an amazing listener, will listen to someone for hours on end and provide insight when needed (perfect for having a conversation with garroth).

loves gossiping. he has really good hearing so he tends to hear others share secrets nearby. he's like the wine aunt you just KNOW has the most interesting stories to tell.

likes to go on vacations a lot, explaining why he is absent sometimes during big group events.

he sometimes returns home to his family farm to take care of it when his parents are out of town.

he often voluntarily babysits caleb to impress aphmau and garroth with his caretaker skills (he's a showoff).

katelyn:

she loves the show big time rush and watches it in her freetime.

OBSESSED with musical theatre and visits broadway shows often. if the friends she brought along even DARE to suggest skipping the stagedoor? they receive a glare that could kill thousands.

adores singing and often sings in her room when the others aren't home.

continues to play volleyball with her friends after a long day of work (she's a freelance writer).

her music taste can range from alternative music like waterparks to kpop groups like red velvet!

KC:

an ao3 writer as well! she and Aphmau gift eachother fics from time to time! she mostly writes x reader fics for tumblr sexyman.

has taken a liking to cooking outside of baking! she especially likes to grill! she even wears an apron that says "kiss the cook" as well as a hat that says "fish fear me women love me".

watches any and all trending animated shows like tangled the series, adventure time, avatar, etc.

has her own tumblr blog where she writes reviews on shows and posts art! her page is quite popular.

dresses in mainly lolita fashion! she has a flare for the beauty of style and loves to recommend people styles and outfits whenever they go out shopping!

travis:

calls katelyn, zane, and dante hot nonchalantly

has attempted.

dante:

loves to bake and nana teaches him all kinds of recipes to make. he supplies the snacks at movie night.

takes taekwondo lessons. "can never be too careful" he says while living in a pretty standard upper middle class neighborhood. why is he like this.

works at a pet shelter and takes care of the dogs and cats left behind. he adopts any that have been there for years, thus making his house full of many different pets.

the designated driver for whenever they go out to clubs. he doesn't like to drink so he usually takes everyone home by the end of the night.

travis (the actual headcanons):

actually respects others and doesn't harass them like he did early on (that was a weird trope and i HATED it). he's just a flirt and if someone he flirts with flirts back he gets all flustered.

the group gamer. spends hours grinding on all sorts of games just to brag about it on his steam profile. specifically a fan of the spider-man games on playstation.

loves to cosplay! he, aphmau, and nana go to lots of conventions together in group cosplay. their last one was the powerpuff girls! they dragged garroth along and made him mojo jojo.

can recite everything and anything about the ninjago lore. this man is obsessed with any lego product or franchise and has many sets built in his room.

practices talking to himself in the mirror every morning to give him confidence. he has very low self esteem.

aaron:

dream stan.

probably friends with dream.

uhhhh idk probably streams the song "mask" by dream.

minecraft streamer.

dream.

those are all my headcanons! i hope you enjoyed! (slandering mystreet aaron is a passion of mine i'm sorry)

[gffa]

This week’s Ahsoka episode unfortunately reignited those tiresome “Jedi child soldiers” accusations in the fandom and of course demonizes the Jedi. What are your thoughts?

Honestly, I thought it was fine. I get why a lot of us have had our nerves scraped raw by fandom constantly harassing us and trying to scream us into bad faith arguments on stuff like this, so I'm hardly going to wag my finger at anyone feeling further scraped raw by this, but genuinely didn't bother me because the show never blamed the Jedi for the position they were put in, hell, Anakin even basically defended it. I get it, it's Felony, we're used to often assuming the worst about him and who knows maybe it was meant as an indictment, but it genuinely didn't come across that way to me and, further, Filoni has proven himself to have drifted far enough from Lucas' core narratives on enough subjects that he now has to prove himself every time to me before I take his word of god commentary into consideration, so if he tries to say otherwise, no he didn't goodbye felony. And, yeah, fandom has been demonizing the Jedi with this, but there's nothing some people in the fandom won't use to demonize the Jedi with, so I'm not going to live my life anymore by what bad faith actors have to say, and instead focus on what's in the show. Where, in the show itself, Ahsoka is a child put into a war that the Jedi never wanted for her, but it was literally fight or die. Lucas even says that that's the quandary the Jedi are put into, that it goes against their morals to get into a war, but it was either compromise on that or everyone dies. When Ahsoka asks, "What if I wanna stop fighting?" the answer is, "Then you'll die." I saw that as a straight line from what Lucas said was the point of putting the Jedi into the war, that it's a shitty position for them to be in, it's against their principles, it's what led to their deaths, but it was that or everyone dies. What kind of choice is that? So, that's the context of Ahsoka being 14 here (as well as we have to remember that Star Wars is a story for children and having younger protagonists is to give their audience a character to latch onto, not everything is a "child soldier" just because a young kid is fighting, GENRE TROPES EXISTS OUTSIDE OF THE NARRATIVE), it's not "the Jedi didn't care about their children", it was "the Jedi were desperately trying to save lives and they weren't perfect about it because NOBODY CAN BE PERFECT and we shouldn't try to make people be perfect because that only leads to disaster, but it still hurt to watch". Ultimately, the point of the episode was that Ahsoka chose to keep fighting, chose to keep fighting to live, chose to accept Anakin's words about how death and destruction were part of her, but she was more than that, too. The show specifically says she's more than that through Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon. The show says that she's more than just a soldier through having everything of all those Jedi in her. For me, that's pretty Jedi-positive, to have Ahsoka come to her choice to live by having her Master say, yeah, Vader's part of us, but so are the rest of the Jedi, and that's what allows her to rise above everything she's been struggling with. Ahsoka was a soldier as a child, but her entire culture is part of her, and her entire culture was more than just soldiers, she was a Jedi, she had thousands of years of Jedi putting all of themselves into her, she has their philosophies, their art, their rites, their customs, their words, their history, their compassion, she literally has their thousand-year-old Padawan training droid with her. The whole point is that the Jedi were forced to be soldiers and that hurt like hell, it created a terrible scar that they'll always carry with them and their legacy, but that ultimately the Jedi Order is more than that one war. Anakin and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon and Dooku and Yoda are more than that. And Ahsoka is more than that, too, because she is all of them and more, just as any Padawan she may take will be all of them and more, too.

And that's so Jedi, that's why teaching is so foundational to who they are (and I love that that's why Ahsoka gets so hurt by Anakin's joke about how teaching isn't all it's cracked up to be, it feels like a dig at her specifically, but it's also part of the theme of how over and over and over we see how much Jedi LOVE teaching as a fundamental of their entire culture), that you pass on what you've learned, that every Jedi who comes after you is everything you can give them and then more.

I love that so much!! And fandom acting in bad faith about it isn't going to take it away from me!! 😂

[deaneverafter]

Nope, this false image that's gaining traction due to people's "joking" insults, the idea that Jensen is incompetent and nothing more than a pretty face, that he's not responsible for his own career and that Danneel is the mastermind behind his success... it's getting out of hand.

I expect this from the loser extras, including but not limited to, Misha, Briana, Kim, Rich, Rob. They're desperate for fandom (heller) approval & they resent Jensen (& Jared), hate that J2 were integral to the show, unlike them. So the s*x*al harassment and digs are a two in one, get clout AND revenge. I didn't expect such behaviour from TW cast (if someone gives you your big break/starts your whole career, the least they should be able to expect is basic decency), mocking, belittling Jensen, so I was disappointed. But all things considered, seeing the behaviour that was someone was modeling for them, encouraging them into, I guess it shouldn't be surprising. I've even come to expect it from fandom people, heller and non heller alike, who are highly involved in the con circuit, since the resentment many people in this fandom have against Jensen for being everything they can't be, everything they can't have, is so blatant. Their snide "jokes" about "you're not my fave, your brother-in-law/Misha/JoJo are", "you're nothing to me, I love your wife [but I did spend thousands of dollars to be in *your* presence to tell you that]" are their bitterness manifesting, plus, the con handlers encourage it too.

But now, to see crew members from Supernatural, people who worked w/ Jensen for a decade & a half, people who had a job for 15 years because Jensen (and Jared) stayed, people who've seen his work ethic, his talent... for them to turn around and make fun of him, it's too much. And for what? To get clout by spreading this weird "joke" (frigging insult) that Danneel is the successful producer who is sustaining his career, and Jensen is just her loser husband, her puppet? Like, I'm sorry, but I'm failing to see the "humour" in such digs. I don't get it.

And what's perhaps worst of all, is that these people only get away with it because so called fans don't call it out, even defend & make such claims themselves. I get why hellers love it, no one hates Jensen more than the Misha / destiel cult. But what's everyone else's reason? You guys cry about the big, bad coven day in, day out, when such toxic environment towards Jensen, surely started by hellers, but sustained by the rest of the fandom, could do much more damage than the haters could ever even dream of doing. What happens when people outside the fandom start hearing and believing such things? Casual fans don't do a deep dig. They hear something, and they think, ah, must be true (and I don't blame them. You can't conduct a dissertation on every artist you like).

How can you call yourself a Jensen fan and then hear such pathetic insults, disguised as funny jokes, and laugh? How can you sit back and watch this disease spread like wildfire, this image of him that he's not responsible for his own career? That he's just a pretty face, a puppet Danneel is pulling by the strings, who only has a career because Danneel has her hand on the wheel? I'm not sure what people feel Jensen has done to deserve this, to have all his hard work, commitment, effort, be dismissed this way, smh, and by people who claim to be his fans, at that. Snakes in the grass, more like.

What's also interesting is that Danneel's fans never put her down to hype Jensen up. Her friends take it one step further than jokes. They seriously claim that she's the one behind Jensen's career & success, that she's the one making things happen behind the scenes. Danneel herself literally pushes this agenda that Jensen "only moves left and right, and does what it does, because I have my hands on it", because I guess it gives her an ego trip and makes her feel relevant, assuages her insecurities a bit, while all Jensen does is support her and her whims and hypes her up.

And I just-? This makes it even crazier to me that some "Jensen Ackles fans" are not only condoning these false claims being made, they're actually the ones hammering them in, trying to brainwash the rest of the fandom, bullying people into going with these stories? Let's get this clear. Jensen has a successful career, including a steady stream of excellent jobs since he was 18, coworkers (the genuine ones anyway) who only praise him, directors/writers who want to work with him again, because of HIS hard work, HIS talent, HIS work ethic. He also has Chaos Machine because he worked hard enough, gained enough trust, that higher ups were ready to take a chance on Jensen and his projects. Danneel has Chaos Machine, the Supernatural role and any other roles she might get through CM (so essentially the entirety of her career in recent history) because she's married to Jensen. Her own career independent of Jensen peaked at a recurring role as a high school mean girl, trampling on others to make herself feel special. Since then, all her relevance or "career" has been because of Jensen and Jensen's name. That's literally it. I know this is a touchy topic for some people, but if someone's responsible for the other's career and relevance, it sure as hell is not Danneel ☕ And stealing credit from Jensen and his work and slapping it next to her name isn't going to change that. If the goal is truly to hype her up, and not go put Jensen down, and one wants to prove she's a girlboss, surely she has her own accomplishments one can brag about? Credit stolen from his work shouldn't be required.

If you call yourself a Jensen fan, act like it. Protect him, instead of cackling with a-holes mocking and degrading him. Stop dismissing his work and success to prop others up. And if you can't, then drop the "Ackles fan" in your bio and start calling yourself a hater 🤷🏻‍♀️

[ostendird-oddie]

Hoffrig: the guide to an underutilized ship

Hoffrig has a wierd placement in the fandom. Despite the pair getting pretty much a whole movie dedicated to their relationship, the ship stays relatively obscure, so it is my task today to bring it to light:

*History and Prelude*

These two have known eachother for some time now, most likely since the beginning. Mark is shown to care about Daniel, moreso than most people. He is worried about Rigg getting hurt. Even if his concern is a little backhanded, he sticks up for Rigg more than once and even attempts to comfort him somewhat (poorly of course, it's still Hoffman we're talking about)

*Compatibility*

Rigg is a much better person than Hoffman, no doubt, but Rigg was chosen for his game for a reason. He has a strong saviour complex (which they share with Mark, tho Mark's saviour complex takes on a much more horrifying form). Rigg is not afraid of getting his hands dirty when he believes the other person was let off too lightly (wife beater, Ivan, when Eric is beating up John etc). Mark sees that in him and believes that they are alike, so he tries to radicalise Rigg the only way he knows how to

*The wife shaped elephant in the room (and Eric Matthews)*

Daniel wouldn't cheat on Tracy. That's out of the question. He loves his wife, tho she suffers from saw typical hysterical unreasonable lady disease, where she has a valid point but delivers it in the worst way possible. Rigg takes his job very seriously. He truly believes himself to be a good cop. A man that helps people. Therefore he's moreso married to his job, then his actual wife. And being a SWAT guy... He probably doesn't have much time to have relationships outside of his job, so when he looses all his friends one by one his job wins the tug-of-war and tracy can't stand this anymore. I think user fate-motif put it best "i tend not to rock with rigg cheating on his wife but i think something people rarely discuss is that he's totally neglecting her emotionally already and even though he loves her the man is dropping the ball on his relationship and hoffman is the perfect embodiment of that neglect (he is both the missing cop he has to rescue and he is jigsaw)"

Rigg cares about Eric Matthews more than about Hoffman and arguably more than even about his wife. They are best friends so Hoffman kept him around as a sort of leverage over Dan. If he's not coming to save Hoffman, he's coming to save Matthews. And even before that Hoffman took up on the mission of filling the eric shaped hole in Daniels life to... Well. Mediocre success. Matthews for all his brooding and bad deeds is not an antisocial wierdo. He actually has friends and relationships outside of Rigg. There's a lot to explore in that dynamic but I won't be dipping into headcanons in this post (at least I'll try)

*Trial*

In order to become a jigsaw apprentice one must be tested. Amanda had the bear trap and arguably the uh... well we've all seen Saw 2 (the ammounts of anguish this poor gal had to go through) and Lawrence with his foot. Both were left in shambles and John put them back together haphazardly. But not Mark. Mark's trial was very milktoast. John basically let him go with a slap on the wrist. So he decided he could be more lenient towards Rigg. At least in terms of physical torment. There were no people who could put Rigg in any significant danger as a buff experienced SWAT guy. An argument could be made for the first woman but she was already bleeding out and in too much pain to think straight to think straight. Providing her with a knife was just to futher emphasize the point that she deserved what happened to her. Ivan is an obese bumbling coward. He didn't even try to fight back. I wont even explain the last pair because duh. Also a thing to note is that all of these games had something to do with sex or relationships in them. Very smooth Hoffman 😒

Ultimately Rigg not listening to Hoffman's earlier advise is what lead to his demise. And Mark put the gun in the hands of Matthews to absolve himself of the blame for Rigg's pain. Rigg wasn't indoctrinated and obedient at the end, so Mark left him to die. To be the fall guy. That leads me into my next bullet point-

*Peter Straham*

Ok im not a coffinshipper. At least not as of now and not a true one. I see hoffstraham as a logical continuation of hoffrig. Hoffman pulls almost the same tactics on Peter but instead of "reassurance" he uses intimidation and brute force. Straham is the manifestation of "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. Mark settles for him as plan B because everyone he cared about are dead now. I don't believe mark tried to pull Straham into his murder cult out of any sense of affection or admiration for the guy. It all comes down to control again, something he is constantly fighting for. He doesn't like Straham but if he can't kill the bastard he'll find another way to shut him up.

I believe the glass coffin was originally intended for Rigg, in case he survived his trial, but Hoffman reused it for Peter in a last ditch effort to flex on the guy.

So uh ... I don't know how to end this post other than PLEASE ASK ME ABOUT THEM OMG I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS THAT I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO FIT IN HERE 😭

[sapphic-agent]

Can you please get into how much the fandom demonizes Rei? Like, I’m not disagreeing that she wasn’t the best mother. But people really turn this woman (who is financially, socially, AND emotionally dependent on her husband and Clan!) into some abusive mother who WANTED to burn Shoto’s face! When it’s obvious that she was begging her mother to take her away from the house because she was too stressed out from Endeavor’s influence and Touya’s death!

I don’t know, I just think she’s not a perfect mother, but nobody can be a perfect mother. She clearly did her best with what she had, and who would’ve believed her if she said Endeavor was an abusive husband and father? The police? Other heroes? No! I bet Endeavor would’ve claimed that SHE was the terrible parent and that she was suffering from PPSD (which, she probably was, four kids, two of which were born when Endeavor started getting obsessed with overcoming All Might? She definitely had that) and she would’ve ended up in the hospital no matter what.

Let's talk about it😈

So I was actually skimming through the manga where Shoto mentions this. He says that his mother was pushed and pushed by Endeavor until she just broke. And I love this because Shoto understands that his mom was in a shitty situation and never intended to hurt him. Unlike this shitty fandom, he's aware enough to see who was the abuser and who was the one who made a mistake.

Let's go over Rei's past for a minute. She:

Grew up in an environment that was at the best neglectful and at the worst abusive

Was sold like an object (and yes this is canon, the Himura Clan canonically sells their children it was a forced marriage, not an arranged marriage)

Married Endeavor and had Touya at 18

Already, she was dealt a shitty hand. Endeavor is also four years older than her, so he was 22 while she was only barely an adult. Even outside her being bought by him, there's a huge power imbalance here. Even if he was polite and nice in the beginning, she was at a major disadvantage in their "relationship."

One of my gripes with Horikoshi and the later parts of the manga is the retcon of the Todoroki past. How Shoto tells the story and how it's portrayed later are very different.

In Shoto's version, Endeavor hit Rei for defending him from Endeavor. In the Touya flashback, she tripped. In Shoto's version, Endeavor only saw his children as means to an end. In the Touya flashback, he's portrayed as caring about them. In Shoto's version, there's a menacing and villainous aura surrounding Endeavor. In the Touya flashback he's portrayed normally.

And this is done to make Endeavor look more sympathetic. Which is bad not only because he was an abuser who doesn't deserve sympathy, it also antagonizes Touya and Rei in the process.

(People could argue that Shoto's love for his mother and young age make him an unreliable narrator. But to me this is dismissing the victim. Shoto might have been young, but he recalls enough to tell it in excruciating detail. It was a huge part of his life and writing it off like that does him a disservice)

So there are two instances specifically that people demonize Rei for.

1. Shoto's Burn

Now this is the one that is her responsibility. My thing is though... No one ever said it wasn't? Least of all Rei herself. Once she saw Shoto again, she immediately apologized. During the event itself, she realized what she did and broke down and tried to fix it. She also spent 10 years in asylum paying for what she did (which is more consequence than Endeavor faced btw).

The thing no one seems to acknowledge about this is that this didn't come from nowhere. She didn't do what she did out of cruelty or hatred towards her son. She did it because Endeavor had abused her to the point of insanity. To the point where even seeing them in her kids' faces caused her to have a complete mental breakdown. Which is understandable due to the physical, verbal, financial, and sexual abuse he was putting her through.

You know, there's an irl story like this. A woman was suffering from severe PPD and other mental issues after having four kids I think it was. Doctors and everyone repeatedly told her husband that she souldn't have more kids. He didn't listen (I'm not sure if SA was involved here but I'm inclined to believe it was) and they continued to have more. Eventually one day she snapped and killed her children.

PPD is seriously dangerous when it's left untreated, even worse when that isn't the only thing going on. Rei was no doubt suffering from the ramifications of that, but on top of everything else Endeavor out her through I can't believe she didn't break earlier.

2. Touya's Situation

It baffles that people find it in themselves to blame Rei but feel sympathy towards Endeavor over Touya.

Because on top of every instance of abuse I mentioned above, Rei was also taking care of four kids completely by herself. That would be hard even without her own and Touya's mental issues.

From the manga panel I provided, she was the only one between her and Endeavor taking Touya's mental well-being seriously. She knew how having more kids would affect him and she was right. She was the one who had to deal with Touya lashing out when Endeavor ignored him (which also contributed to her breaking down and burning Shoto due to Touya emulating Endeavor).

Rei is a character who's been judged so unfairly. Partly because Endeavor fanboys, partly because Dabi/Shoto fangirls, and completely because of the misogyny that runs rampant in this fandom. She deserved so much better.

I have a fic giving Rei the justice she deserves if anyone's interested. It features my OC who happens to be Rei's quirkless younger sister. Give it a read if you want

[ronearoundblindly]

Ooh ooh can we do D Y Z for Lloyd please? I absolutely love this game!

From this dirty ask game, but Z - Zones has already been answered here.

This game in general, but more specifically everything Lloyd, is MINORS DNI. Boi is nasty and rude and I hate to love himwe love to hate him.

D -Dominance

"More? You want more, you selfish bitch?" He grips your jaw harshly, fingertips digging into your cheeks. "I tell you what you need and when. I'll even give you a hint. Neither of us needs your fucking mouth right now. You'll take what I give you--" he leans so close his mustache tickles the rim of your ear "--and I will love it. Lloyd's hips snap forward, shoving you into the furniture so hard your thighs sting. "Understand?" You know he doesn't expect an answer, he told you your mouth was not required, and (whether it proves or disproves his point) he pushes two thick fingers against your tongue and holds them there until he's satisfied.

So, uh, yeah. Lloyd is a very mean dom. The type of dominant male that isn't actually a Dom because there is no safe word or system to protect you. This is not rocket science.

But...and that's a big 'but,' IF I could figure out a way to write him a repeat and consistent--the word 'lover' doesn't seem to apply here, hold up, eh, let's go with--fuck buddy, I think Lloyd would enjoy harsh pampering, someone super strict about his appearance, too, and someone brutal in their caring for him.

He would not see this as being dominated, and he would not allow it to go very far. It's not--well, I'm having trouble describing this--equal control, per se, but I think outside of sex he would appreciate someone as severe and indifferent as he is. Not a partner, bit like an appliance he finds useful, half-'sexy-butler-he-owns' and half-'a-showpiece-of-a-sextoy.' Right? That made sense. Totally articulate. For sure...

Bottomline, I hope you don't have any 'no's on your list; he'll make that his first priority of shit to do to you.

Y - Yes, Master

Lloyd.

It's not, like, a great name, is it?

Yeah, so he's good with all the power monikers--mister, master, sir, my king, my lord, whatever--and you get all the shaming ones--fatass, tubby, chubby, chubs, fuck toy, bitch, slut, whore...you get the picture.

The absolute truth is that he's...not really listening to you. He'll feed you lines of what he wants to hear, and even if you improvise things guaranteed to stroke his ego, Lloyd doesn't care. None of this is for you.

I should mention that 'daddy' is NOT on that list because it implies some sort of caring, or the requirement/expectation of care. This means something to Lloyd in the worst possible way. He hates the idea of owing you--or anyone else--anything.

If he refers to himself as 'Daddy,' if he asks you to call him 'Daddy,' FUCKING RUN.

He is in the mood to torture. He wants to feel responsible for the pain you are about to be in. For the love of all that is holy, degrading, or anywhere in between, get the fuck out of there and touch grass! You are not safe.

Thank you for asking!

[Main Masterlist; Dirty Asks Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

a/n: how has no one kicked me out of this fandom yet??? this damn game has made me flood the poor steve smut tag, and i probably got blocked by a bunch of people sick of my shit 😭😭😭 i'm sorry!

[ghastlyfilters]

TRAIL OF TEARS !

— “THE WORST IS OVER NOW. AND WE CAN BREATHE AGAIN. I WANT TO HOLD YOU HIGH, AND STEAL MY PAIN.. AWAY.”

pairing; randy meeks x gn!reader

summary; when randy turns up at your door appearing to be a tad bit down in the dumps, he tries not to make the reason behind it known. that is, until you can tell the poor love needs a little extra comfort.

author’s note: some randy content seeing as this fandom lacks in it!! also this is more platonic than romantic!

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

If I live to see, the seven wonders!

I’ll make a path to the rainbow's end..

You were slowly swaying to the soft beat of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Seven Wonders’ through your headphones. God, you loved Stevie Nicks.

I'll never live to match the beauty, again..

You’d only came down to the kitchen to get a snack, but why not take the voice of Stevie with you at the same time?

The music was only playing faintly in your ears, enough for you to hear a knock at the door. Multiple friends had gave you advice on not having your volume up too loud, ranting about how you wouldn’t be able to hear shit as you grew up.

You weren’t exactly one for caring, but whatever..

Removing the headphones, you quickly turned the song off, wondering why the hell someone was at your house at 11:30pm on a Saturday night.

Plus, you were home alone. So that really didn’t make the eerie feeling any better.

You opened the front door to see Randy shivering under your porch, soaked to the bone. His nose was bright red and his eyes looked rather watery.

“Jesus, Randy! Why aren’t you at home? It’s pissing down outside!” You scolded, ushering him into your house.

“Sorry,” He sniffled, following behind. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

You laughed. “Me? Being asleep by this time? Please. I’m an insomniac for god’s sake.”

“Right..”

You cocked your head to the side, squinting your eyes slightly. Something was off about him. Very off..

“Are you sick?” You asked.

“No.”

Somehow, Randy just wasn’t Randy tonight. He wasn’t as loud as usual. Not even that, you were still surprised he was here stood in front of you. Randy would never turn up to your house unexpected and uninvited. The thought of disrupting other people’s privacy made him awkwardly uncomfortable. Especially at this time of night.

“Cmon up to my room, it’s cosier in there.” You motioned for him to follow you upstairs. Yes, your snack and headphones were both being abandoned back in the kitchen, but curiosity was getting to the best of you on behalf of why Randy had showed up like this.

When the two of you finally reached your room, you took his drenched coat from him, hanging it up nearby.

“So, what’s up?” You said, flopping down onto your back. Randy just quietly sat down on the foot of your bed.

He just sort of shrugged his shoulders, anxiously not really knowing what to say.

Now you definitely knew something was up. It was one thing if he was slightly awkward, but Randy Meeks giving someone the silent treatment? Nah, shit was getting weird.

You watched as he fiddled around with his rings, his hands beginning to shake.

“Randy?”

He finally looked up at you, ready to break at any moment. Tears began to spill out of his crystal blue eyes. Your heart sank when you saw his little lip quiver. It was obvious the poor love was desperately trying to keep everything in, but it was no use.

“Oh, Randy.” You whispered, sitting up and pulling the distraught, younger boy into a deep hug.

His sobs were muffled as he cried into your shoulder, just hearing them made you want to burst into tears yourself. Randy was never one to cry, ever.

He was willing to listen to other people when it came to them being upset, but no one had ever wanted to give him the same sort of action back.

Your friend group always saw him as some geeky idiot, following you guys around during all this years for whatever reason. Though, you would never bring yourself to agree.

Randy was only a regular teen, trying to enjoy himself most times. Whether it be making his best attempt to get people to laugh, or blabbing on about all movie genres he loved, you liked having his presence nearby you.

No matter the joke, he sure as hell always managed to get a giggle out of you. You’d remember that.

Pulling away from you, Randy wiped at his eyes furiously. “God, fuck.. i’m so sorry Y/n. You shouldn’t have to put up with this shit. I better go-”

“Randy Meeks don’t you dare apologise for being a human in front of me, boy!”

He chuckled slightly, still rubbing away at his now tired eyes. You offered him a tissue from the box nearby, motioning for the flustered male to take some.

He took a couple and thanked you, dabbing them around his nose. Now was your chance to get to the bottom of why he was in this current state.

“Okay stinker, spill. What’s wrong with ya?” You blurted out in a goofy tone regularly used by your other friend, Stu, rather than yourself. It didn’t matter. If it was willing to make Randy happy again, you’d do it.

On cue, Randy let a small laugh escape his lips. “If I do tell you, you won’t say anything to them, right?”

By them, you knew he was referring to Billy, Stu and Tatum. Sidney would never judge, but you and Randy both knew better than to trust the others with keeping their mouths shut about drama. Especially when it involved tears.

“Course I won’t.” You smiled softly at him, placing your hand on top of his larger, yet shakier one.

Randy sighed, scratching his chin. “You uh- you know Leslie from Science class?”

You bit your lip as you already knew what was coming. “Yeah, your… um- girlfriend?”

“I guess that term didn’t age well..”

‘Man, this kid would be in a grave before anyone would allow him to settle down and be happy..’ You said to yourself, internally. You’d always pitied him. He never seemed to get a break.

“Eh, her loss. In two years time she’ll be flashing her shit all over town. You deserve better, Randy. Much better.”

He perked up a little at your words. “You mean that?”

You giggled. “Why wouldn’t I? You’re a good kid. Plus, I think Sid might have her eye on you.”

Randy raised both his eyebrows with surprise. Billy and Sidney were over one another and had broken up quite a while ago. The only couple still surviving in the gang was Tatum and Stu. But even at that, it was only really constant playfulness and flirting. Nothing the rest of you were sad that you had to miss out on.

“Hell, i’d never even thought of that.” He smirked.

“See!” You beamed. “There’s plenty of fish in the sea for you horror nerds.”

He rolled his eyes and snorted at your snarky joke, but he’d always feel comfortable knowing that when you added in little comments like that, they would always be nothing but a JOKE. Nothing more, nothing less.

You took a brief look at your watch. “Oft, it just hit midnight.”

“Shit!” He cried. “I gotta get back! I only told my Mom and Martha that i’d be home within an hour.”

“Relax, i’m home alone for the weekend, just crash here. We’ll order food from wherever the hell is open right now. You can call your mom from the house phone and explain. Perhaps we can have a late movie night?” You offered.

“I’d like that.” Randy smiled.

[transhawks]

as a fandom, I hope in 2023 my fellow villain stans (and those of us who identify as anarchists or socialists/communists and still try to find something ideologically worthy in this copaganda) realize that the League of Villains are not revolutionaries or antifa or any of the brave people standing up to fascism, and are incredibly traumatized people mostly on suicide missions led by a megalomaniacal man whose political views are best described as fascist. It's just not happening, y'all.

Spinner's embracing of Tomura led to his depersonalization and dehumanization. Twice's blood is being used in the worst way possible; his ultimate fear of being a clone while the original is dead is now realized and utilized. Dabi's grasping at anything to hurt his father while burning himself to death since he can't beat Shouto and because he's realized that people will use any excuse to not care about abuse victims, and he gave them the biggest one by trying to destroy society. Toga has given up on trying to make the world love her and discarded her need for it. Compress entrusted a society where the rich can't exploit the poor to Tomura, but actually managed to entrust it to a man whose plan involves tanking local economies so he can control them. They aligned with an ancapitalist-crypto-fascist army that preaches eugenics to achieve so much of their goals.

Tomura spent months trying to show he was his own person outside of All For One only to end up possessed. All For One wasn't kidding when he said it was all for him.

This is not a good end for them. This is not any shape or way or form of good. They're not going to come back from this sort of thing alive unless the heroes assigned to them save them.

Yeah, this is pessimistic, but someone really needs to wake y'all up. wake the fuck up. The League aren't happy. And they haven't managed to be happy. Tomura never wanted to be happy, either, even if he respected the wishes of his allies. He says it over and over because his trauma made him a depressed nihilist who justifies his lack of will to exist over and over again.

It's just so fucking frustrating, and I know I played a role in this for years, this beating of the drum of how much Hero Society is shit. it is shit, but the League aren't offering solutions. They're too hurt and traumatized to and some of you should really read upon on trauma-based politics and its short-comings.

Please, in 2023, get your head out your asses.

Boku no Hero Academia is a story with liberal values and ideals about reforming the status quo, not breaking it. You are not going to find far-left of center ideas actively pushed in this manga even if they are entertained, because in the end, the story will not have the League "win".

The ending to BNHA will not be revolutionary but reform, which means the saving of the villains will fall down to hero kids. You will not get amazing parables about how the villains should save themselves in this story because that's not what this story wants to tell. Please be realistic, for fuck's sake.

I'm so tired of reading takes that hinge on the idea that the League is a tight-knit family of antifascists and antistatists who love each other and will destroy the hegemonic systems around them. No, that's not what's happening. I'd fucking love if it did, but that's not Boku no Hero. Learn to read.

I love you all, but I truly think you would have happier times in fandoms if you started expecting less and less and realizing that the majority of the media produced in our zeitgeist is far from perfect and will also not cater to leftist ideals. Certainly not something published in Shounen Jump.

[goodluckclove]

I was really motivated to start my book but it actually made my mood worst... I feel like it's just never good enough and because it's ocs nobody will care.

I feel that way about ocs in general. I feel like the only one who create them without using them as self insert

I can't draw so I feel invisible when everyone's like "show me your ocs". As writers, we are never thought about when it come to this.

I have a lot to say about this. I'll try not to get too intense haha!

So first off I absolutely do not like the use of the term OC outside of a fandom setting. I understand why people use it, and it technically works, but at the same time it's also more than a little silly. Like imagine Homer talking like this about his "OC Odysseus". Like from what I know, OCs are called as such because they're additions to an existing fandom. It's Doctor Who's sexy uncle, or the third Winchester Brother who actually thinks ghosts are dumb and works at Best Buy. You don't want people reading the fic and wondering how they missed The Dentist, who Ubers instead of riding in a TARDIS, so you clarify he's an OC.

But if you're writing your own canon, all your characters are original. Your locations, your story, every single line of dialogue is your hands and your brain. That's a hefty load to carry! You don't need to clarify that they're original characters in your fully original work. They're just your characters, from your story. Be proud of that!

And onto something else that might be a little hard to hear: self-inserts aren't always a bad thing. In my own personal dictionary people use self-insert to describe a character that the reader could use as a power fantasy. Most of the protagonists of your average isekai anime are self-inserts. They're really strong and powerful and cool and awesome and everyone wants to kiss them on the mouth.

But if your character is a self-insert in the sense of a character being like the writer? That's fine. In a lot of cases that's actually really good and a great way to create someone you and the reader can relate to. All of my characters are self-inserts in some sense of the word and because I connect to them in an honest way other people can too.

Also you can just talk about your characters. Pretend everyone already knows about them! Im at the third act of the second book in my series and I've been happily dropping lore and facts and updates about characters maybe four people recognize. Do people hate it? I don't know! I think it's fun! I commit to the bit so hard and it's so nice when people want to come along but it does not stop me otherwise!

Long story short: be nicer to your characters. They're trying hard to exist and tell a story and you don't need to search for reasons to keep them in the shadows. Don't bother judging the types of characters other writers make because you're not writing their story and theyre not writing yours. If you work hard and you put your stuff out there you'll eventually find an audience to appreciate it!

Most of literature is "OCs"! You're contributing to literature! Take yourself more seriously! Tell us about your characters!

[in3rci4]

• A THOUGHT ABOUT THE BLAKE FAMILY •

Author's note : I'm slowly coming back to The Black Phone fandom , and here's a little theory of mine of the story behind the Blake's family , I'll gave the nickname of " Dahlia " the mother because of the flower , they never said her name so don't take it as the official name or the one I'm calling her , warning , this headcanons might be long and out of pocket . Probably there's spelling mistakes , and there's angst too so suicide , violence , mental , physical illness , etc would be also mentioned.

What's the backstory of the Blake kids parents ?

I believe Terrance had it tough on his youth , a housewife mother that came from the country side by his arranged and much older husband that yes , was hard working , but he was an asshole with his family . Terrance would be scolded by his mother for standing up for her when her husband used her as a punch bag , he would be sent regulary to detention for his smart mouth and would often get into fights for the same reason or to defend someone else when the fight was unfair on his eyes . Once his poor sick mother died and he had to stay alone with his dad , he spent more time on the streets as a rebellious teenager , drinking and having fun with his same out cast friends . Once he got his first job , he saved enough money to leave his house and have a new life , much calmer and stable life .

Dahlia was the daughter of a homeless woman that was often seeing near the local church asking for money or food , people said she was kind , but she was ... touched . If she wasn't asking anything , she was seen talking to the air , sometimes calmly , sometimes angry , in the worst cases scared , running away from the unknown , and those were the times people would avoid her to all costs . Nobody knows exactly who's the father of Dahlia , or if she was consented at all , but one day the woman started to have a pregnant bumb on her belly , and then after 9 months , she disappeared and left her baby on the church's door the exact hour they opened it . The nuns took her to the orphanage along with the other children , and a lot of times the couples that came looking for a child to take care of wanted to adopt her , but they never actually did it , not even once . Dahlia was a sensitive and quiet child , and the other kids loved to bother her , often ending in crying or silent regret for not being more vocal about her dislikes . Her friends ? Only imaginary.... Or well , that's what everyone thought . With time as she grew up the nuns called a doctor on her because she insisted a little way too much that she saw these invisible people , everyone believing a mental illness was starting to form in her . Pills , injections , holy water , praying , it didn't stop until her late teens when she just accepted not being adopt at all and her " friends " didn't exist , just focusing on her grades , so they disappeared , just like her dreams . Outside , the world showed her another way to live without feeling fear or shame for who she was , the 60's being her wild card to meet people that was all about magic , pacifism and freedom , feeling finally understood and free to live her life how she wanted .

One night without moon in a secluded bar the two met , in Terrance eyes , she was the most beautiful woman in the entire place , standing on a corner looking at some random painting hanging on the wall , he got close to her , and starting to have a small conversation that soon got bigger .

He never felt like this with someone before , or thought someone could be this beautiful .

Between laughs and smiles , they got separated in the morning and forgot to ask each other's names or phone numbers , but destiny had another surprise for them . They bumped into each other while walking on the street weeks later and started to talk and laugh once again , but they both made sure to stay in contact and meet a next time . They were different yet had a lot of things in common , and the things they didn't share to like , they would be open try them out if the had the opportunity to see the other smile .

1 year going steady was enough for the young couple and they got married with some other guests on their wedding , Terrance was already saving money to buy himself a house , and so he did to start living their own american dream .

Without warning , Terrance got fired from his job , and Dahlia's work as a cleaner wasn't enough to maintain the house , and he didn't want his wife to have that weight on her shoulders , so when a friend of his recommend him to go and try in the Rocky Flats nuclear plant , he didn't thought twice in signing in . It was a demanding job , but at least he had one instead of nothing . Terrance was lucky he would say , a lot of his co workers say they felt weakness in their bodies , see their skin become more reddish than normal , loose almost all the hair on their bodies or have random bleedings in their nose or mouth from time to time , in the worst cases a huge pain in muscles or eyes . He listened , but he wasn't scared , no , as long as you did everything carefully, the radiation won't catch you , right ?

Dahlia happily announced him that she was pregnant and he was ecstatic about it , it was like the energy boost that he needed to continue . Terrance didn't told Dahlia anything about it , how could he ? She was carrying a baby and dealing with all the stress and sickness that a pregnancy comes with , she didn't need to know the sudden deafening headaches that he suffered , he needed to be strong for her , for them , and if his pain had to be sucked up in silence , then so be it .

1965 , their baby boy Finney was born , he was the most well behaved baby in the mother - baby unit by the nurses words , they would compliment Dahlia for such adorable and healthy little gentleman and she would smile proud of doing such a good job with her kid . When Terrance was finally allowed to go inside the room , his eyes couldn't believe he was now the father of such fragile child , he was hesitant to carry him on his arms, afraid to hurt him accidentally, but his wife assured him that it was fine , and so she gently put Finn closer to his chest , and he swears that for one instant when he looked down and smiled with blurry eyes , his little baby boy smiled back to him .

A few years later , when Finney was a curious and talkative toddler , Dahlia got pregnant once again with their second child , his father happy to hear that they will have their second baby on the way , and their older brother Finney even more , totally ready to have little sibling to play with . Their little little Gwendolyn was the princess of the house , she would be spoiled with all her mother's kisses , her brother hugs and her dad's cuddling .

They were a happy family , a good , healthy and happy family .

But then Dahlia started to notice little Finney talking by himself ,and if she asked who he was talking to , he would always answer that with a friend , and at first , like once the nuns did , she dismissed it as imaginary friends , and that's it . When Gwenny got old enough speak , she would sometimes run towards her mom scared of nightmares that she had , and that's what they look like , only nightmares . They seemed weird , but not enough to panic .

The panic began when Gwenny had way too specific dreams about people in danger and Finney started to touch things or go to to places that he knew he shouldn't go , but he would do it anyway because " the voices told him to " . She took them to the doctor , but they didn't find any wrongness in the children . She started to have anxiety towards what this could possibly mean , or how could she make her stop , but Dahlia didn't even know how she got over it in the past in the first place .

This continue for a long time until it stopped , and when their mother would ask them about their dreams or " friends " they would answer confused that it was fine , as if they didn't remember what they been through before . Dahlia confused yet relieved she let it go , and never told Terrance anything about it .

Little by little , her own dreams and "imagination" started to come back to her , sometimes a whisper behind her neck , weird dreams that felt too real , an undistinguishable silhouette on the dark , a person that would speak or be seen by her and then all the sudden disappear like air or magic . She tried to ignore it , Dahlia tried hard to live her normal life and focus on her family and job .

But then the encounters got more and more frequent , people would ask her who she was talking to as they didn't saw anyone near her , she would find out that her dreams had something to do with people on television or the missing posters , and when spirits recognized her as a their only way to speak with the living world , they got more persistent and multiply as well .

When Dahlia couldn't ignore them anymore , she tried to help them in her own way , maybe telling them a direction , talk with a family member of theirs to give them a message , visit places that they used to go , take a special object for them , etc . And it worked at first .

She sometimes would apologize to those poor ghosts that would find out their lover got married once again , that their family moved to another town , that their loved pet died , that she couldn't just go and find their bodies , and some would forgive her ,

Some wouldn't .

The haunting dreams would make her wake up with guilt and regret , but all she needed is to watch her children faces in the morning and Dahlia would remember once again why's she's doing what she's doing . Terrance noticed his wife more anxious and nervous , but she would tell him it that she was fine , and she would come up with a simple excuse that would let her husband skeptical , but he had his own headaches to deal with , so he would let it slide .

One benevolent spirit told her to search protection for her and her kids , because their special gift might attract evil forces towards them . Dahlia tried to ask them for more information , but they disappeared . And she didn't know where to start searching that so called protection for her family .

She went to the church , but the holy water and prayers would only make her dreams go away , not the ghosts . She went to a gypsy woman that had spirtual knowledge , those rocks and incenses cleared all the ghosts from her sight , but her dreams would start to be more and more gruesome than before . Nothing was working , and she gave up .

And when she gave up , the evil spirits entered on the game .

These poltergeists would show her the crimes they committed in life , these poltergeists would scare her in her job , in her house and in Dahlia's dreams as well , the worst ones would be terrifyingly close to her kids or throw things at her when she ignore them or tried to go somewhere else .

Dahlia couldn't hide her fear anymore , her kids started to ask their mom if she was ok , her coworkers recommend her to take a break and try to get some sleep , but Terrance didn't believe Dahlia's excuses anymore , but it wasn't like she wanted to tell him what was going on .

He then decided to go to her orphanage and ask the nuns what they knew about her , and they told Terrance about her " mental illness / schizophrenia " when she was a child and teenager there in the orphanage , reason why the adults never wanted to adopt her .

He came back home late thanks to the long driving to that old creepy place , but Terrance could never imagined that when he came back home , he would find his wife , the love of his life , holding a knife against the air as she screams prayers like a maniac , while his kids were in a corner scared and crying from fear of the situation .

Terrance runs towards her and takes the knife out of her hands while he hugs to calm her down , in Dahlia's eyes , she sees how the evil phantom comes closer to her children , so in fear she takes back again her knife in her hands and runs towards her children . Confused they run away from her , as she tries to stab the soul of the one that's hunting her , but they dissolve like magic , and Dahlia realizes Terrance look of disappointment and her babies look of fear in their eyes .

Dahlia cries , cries and drops the knife , tired , frustrated , confused , scared , without a clue of what to do or how to stop all of this . Terrance tells the kids to go to bed as he gets closer to his wife to hug her back once again , she hugs him back tightly desperate from any comfort and warmth of her lover . The married couple goes to bed as they cuddle after so long without doing it, because the next morning , the physiatrists knocked at their door , so they could gently ask Mrs Dahlia Blake to start a treatment in their establishment .

The woman started to yell at his husband because how betrayed she felt , after he told her he believed what she says , after promising to stay by her side forever . This didn't stay unnoticed by the specialists as they tried to calm her down , but Dahlia couldn't go to mental hospital , she couldn't take pills and receive injections that she doesn't need to stay docile , not again , so she refuses , she expressed her anger by yelling at them to get out of her house . They went outside yes , but came back with syringes filled with haloperidol so they could take her away .

Her last words :

" No , please , stop ! Terrance please believe me ! Please don't let them hurt the kids ! Protect them fr- ...."

The drug that they gave her made her lost the little control she was trying so hard to keep , so when she goes to sleep , the evil in the night possesses her body to walk towards the 2d floor window , as they let her body falls she wakes up , only to die seconds later on the cold floor of the hospital's yard

Without the opportunity to do anything , without the opportunity to say goodbye or see one last time her family .

But if the other life exists , she will be always watching over them , waiting for her turn to be listened .

Ps : I would like to know if you share this idea or not guys , I want to see your opinions !