#he's a great character but not a good person you dont need to justify his bad actions

[tategaminu]

It doesn't matter that Viren had his heart in the right place ASSAULT is not okay and Lissa had all the rights to leave. Viren and Callum have parallels but they are different in a lot of ways one being that he would never do something like that to Rayla and in a similar situation they would have talked about it. The narrative and Viren himself knows what he did wasn't okay you don't need to justify abuse. You can love a character and aknowledge they aren't a good person in canon.

[blasphemousclaw]

ok I think I’ve played enough of the dlc where I feel like I can talk about it now and lift my spoilers embargo… overall I had SO much fun!! there’s so much to love about it and only a few things I didn’t like! more detailed thoughts under the cut:

Gameplay-wise, I thought almost every single boss was fun and rewarding to fight… my faves were Divine Beast Dancing Lion (best ost in the entire game by miles), Rellana, and Messmer. I also really loved the exploration?? My favorite kind of games are the ones where you have to sniff out every corner of the map in order to find hidden paths forward… the fact that you have to really poke around to find huge areas of the map, and how the traversal is so layered and non-linear, was THRILLING to me!! so much more interesting than the base game!!

Story-wise, what spoke to me the most was everything about the Hornsent… Belurat was my first legacy dungeon, and I was so wowed by the gorgeous unique architecture and the sheer desolation of the place that it really stayed with me. Both the environment and the Hornsent NPCs do such a great job of conveying the pain and tragedy of what happened to them, while at the same time, not simplifying them into some kind of faultless utopia… their society was proud and harsh and cruel (not just to others, but to their own people), but it was also bursting with art and culture, and it was home to everyday people who made delicious stew for their loved ones:

“Scorpion simmered in a black soup. Traditional meal of the hornsent. Once made with love by a certain elderly woman for the family table. Having long gone cold, this soup gives off a rank, sour smell.”

Some of my very favorite NPCS were the Hornsent Grandam and Hornsent (the guy); I thought their quests told such poignant stories about loss and the meaning of justice and revenge (I especially think Hornsent’s quest complements Marika’s story so well!!). The way they portrayed this civilization’s downfall was so beautiful and tragic!

Also the fact that the NPCs talk during combat is SO GOOD??? At first I was kind of annoyed that I had to summon Hornsent for Messmer’s boss fight to do his quest, but in the end I was so glad I did because his dialogue during and after the fight is incredible!! plus the NPCs talking to EACH OTHER during the Leda invasions?? and need I mention IGON… this is the real best new addition they made to the game

Now for the one big fat thing I didn’t like….

so I had actually heard about the leaks before playing the game and was like ok. if this is true theyre gonna have to really justify this to me because my initial impression is uhhh. lol??? And now that I can confidently say that I’ve combed the game top to bottom for pieces of this story, I really dont think the game succeeds at justifying Radahn’s appearance?

What I mean by “justify” is that, in my opinion, if you’re gonna bring back a fan-favorite character who was previously dead, and not have it come off as cheap fanservice, it needs to feel like this character’s presence matters — that they have the necessary buildup, that their appearance has a significant weight to it, and that their screentime fleshes them out as a person in a meaningful way. I don’t think the dlc achieves this at all with Radahn. Yes, his appearance is directly foreshadowed if you do Freyja and Ansbach’s quests, but it isn’t enough to just state in advance that he’ll show up… my problem is that, even with these NPCs’ dialogue, Radahn feels like a total non-person. We hear almost nothing about what his thoughts or feelings about this situation might’ve been (just Freyja’s assertion that he would have approved of “endless war, to invigorate the soul”). We get plenty of insight into Miquella’s character because there’s so much material about him, but there just isn’t the same investment into Radahn’s character, which makes his triumphant return fall really flat for me.

I think for me what would’ve appropriately justified Radahn returning is if Freyja gave us more details about who Radahn was as a commander during the Shattering�� like, some jumping-off point to really get a sense of what his motivations might’ve been… OR, they could’ve even added another Redmane NPC with views on Radahn that conflict with Freyja’s (there is literally a minor boss, the Red Bear, who was stated to have been a Redmane!!!)… what’s still a mystery is why Malenia tried to kill Radahn, and why he resisted, and the DLC doesn’t give us any concrete information about Radahn’s actions or goals during the Shattering that would have caused this. They don’t have to spell it out for us!! I just needed SOME attempt to engage with Radahn’s character in the DLC material if they’re literally gonna bring him back from the dead!! Because as it stands, he shows up and fights us without a word or even an expression, like a glorified action figure!!! it’s LAME!!!!!

totally loved the DLC except for that part. anyway stan Elder Inquisitor Jori

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 1 - Side B

Propaganda below ⬇️

Matt

Matt's faith in the show is really important and well explored; one of the first scenes of the show is Matt going to confession (or, well, talking to his priest since he's not really confessing at that point). Matt struggles a lot with what he's supposed to do; everyone's telling him to kill the villain and he kinda wants to, but he literally says: "I know my soul is damned if I take his life". He struggles with his faith and goes with his doubts to his priest, and it's beautiful—also when he finally gets a costume for his vigilanteing he chooses to dress as the devil, lol. (His priest tells him that nothing makes people run to Church faster than the feeling of having the devil on their heels.)

a lot of the show is about how he justifies his vigilante actions with his faith, and whether he's doing the right thing in trying to help people or just using it as an outlet for his anger. the literal first scene of the show has him in a confession booth talking to his priest (who is a really interesting character too). this is not the scene I was talking about but it's such an excellent scene with matt talking to his priest: https://youtu.be/XHZ3NbEIDdw

canonically catholic but dresses like a demon to be quirky

honestly i dont wanna type too much but i feel that matt is a great example of someone who battles with his faith because he rarely loses his faith but rather fights with why he was made the way he was and put through what he was. He believes himself to have the devil inside him but believes that God put him there

ok in the comics barring the most current run matt has Mostly been a non-practicing Catholic that very rarely actually does any catholic Activities but ends up falling back into the Mindset and very occasionally dramatically taking confession (ex. in that one issue where he takes confession, basically tells the father that he is uniquely terrible and is thinking about violently murdering someone and when the father says "you can be forgiven" hes like "AUGFH-- NO!!!!!!!!!!" and runs out) when he's gone through some shit. and i love that its so relatable

hello its me cct organizer. i have to come clean, i made this tournament because i need matt to win something. i dont think hell win the sadboy and he lost the ginger tournament and >:( hes my favoritest guy ever. Also @ who said he has religious trauma is wrong and i will fight u about it (nicely) on my main @usaigi

This guy so catholic he spends an ungodly amount of time just chilling in the church. And goes there whenever there is a moral conundrum about killing people being Bad even though it would solve a lot of problems and stop said people from killing other people. This happens every other episode. Matt is the Catholic Guilt Guy. There's actually a lot of catholic stuff in the show as a whole. Just a compilation would be like three whole episodes long.

Hes great hes catholic enough to not outrught murder people but not catholic enough to not fuck before marriage hes a bisexual disaster at all times hes besties with a priest might i add hes great hes my special little guy

his catholicism is a huge piece of his characterisation he was raised by nuns in a catholic orphanage, the first scene we ever see him (as an adult and not a flashback) is him going to confession, he is good friend with his priest and has regular debates with him, etc also in s3 he has a huge crisis of faith after he lost A Lot where he stops believing for a while and it's linked to his identity crisis where he actually wants to kill another person (a hard line he previously chose never to cross) and wants to be only daredevil and not matt murdock, when he is both and needs both to exist also when he was a kid his grandmother used to say "watch out for the murdock boys, they've got the devil in them" and it created a surprising lot of his issues

So he's both catholic in the comics and the show but he's More Catholic in the show. Like, raised in a catholic orphanage by nuns (ONE OF WHICH IS HIS *MOTHER*), second scene in the show has him in a confession box kind. Matt Murdock goes out and gets the shit beaten out of him nightly and also beats the shit out of other people and purposefully leaned into devil iconography as his theme. When his nurse friend says, he takes a lot of punishment without one complaint he says "That part's the Catholicism." It is a Core Aspect of his character (at least in the show). He makes me insane. Also the same chemicals that blinded him created the teenage mutant ninja turtles and everyone should know that.

They went to confession to a priest who they had saved as their costumed counterpart and the guy recognized them by the voice, proving that it's possible and everyone else is just dumb

he takes "i wanna fight god" to new and incredibly violent levels, while also being a sweetheart and a goofball

Actually strictly WILL NOT kill criminals. Goes wayyy out of his way to avoid it. Fights with the Punisher about it. Goes to confession booth after nightly vigilante excursions. Feels so much guilt. "How have you been holding up?" "Like a good Caltholic boy" "that bad huh" - actual conversation with his priest

So Daredevil struggles with his mission as a crime fighter because killing criminals goes against his faith. He makes it a point to not kill criminals, believing that even bad people deserve a second chance. This philosophy puts him at odds against The Punisher, who is a relentless killer. As a Catholic myself, while I love the concept of a morally conflicted superhero, I think the worldbuilding around Daredevil is lacking. If he struggles with violence and killing, why doesn't he pray to warrior saints like Saint Michael, Saint Ignatius of Loyola (a former knight), or Saint Joan of Arc? Why isn't there a community of other Catholics he can turn to for guidance, considering New York City has a sizeable population of Catholics? And why are the churches he goes to always empty? Doesn't he know that the Catholic Church supports the just war theory? I think that would have made his burden more bearable.

He goes to church and confesses to punching people and says "imma do it again can i apologize in advance" and the father dude says "no you're meant to stop now" and Matt says "no" and they do this everyday. I'm not remembering it properly but this is a canon interaction i swear

HELLO HI YES I LOVE HIM AND WILL INFOR DUMP ok so. he is a vigalantty and he got named daredevil and he is an orphan and after the age of 12 was raised in an orphanage at a Catholic church and his therapist is his priest via confession abd. also his mother is a nun he has a whole mental breakdown over god and called Job a pussy because he liked god until he got better and liked god again he said "I'm dearedrvil and not even god can stop that now" and he's so cool

matt is a freakish little babygirl who was raised by nuns and definitely has religious trauma. i hate him so much (affectionately)

he’s literally fucking insane about it i don’t know what to say here. he thinks he’s chosen by god to go on some sort of holy quest to save hell’s kitchen. joan of arc ass.

i already know hes in by default j just wanted to give him a personal shout out i love this angsty catholic dweeb

how practicing he is depends on the run, but in my favorite he is quite literally confessing to a member of the last extant order millitant who happens to be a priest at a church in hells kitchen.

i love him for having the funniest version of a trope i usually hate (person gets into confession booth and asks forgiveness not for what they've done, but for what they're about to do). usually this trope just looks silly to me bc like. the priest would just say "i can't do that" and you would have to either awkwardly explain yourself or just Leave. it's funny when matt does it because fr. lantom is probably like "what are you gonna do???" and matt's like "lol. lmao. 😊 hehehe." anyway we love this angry catholic man who dresses up like the devil to beat people up in hell's kitchen

Harrowhark

I'm pretty sure you've already got plenty of submissions for her so I'll just say she was raised in what is basically a cult (technically a nunnery but let's be real) dedicated to keeping the body of the thing that will kill God behind the rock. One of their prayers is actually "I pray the rock is never rolled away". Harrow is extremely devout as penance for her earlier heretical actions in the tomb as a child (spoiler!) so the Catholic guilt really comes through

imagine being a catholic nun and you meet god, but it turns out he’s a twitch streamer from new zealand who became god because everything got a little bit out of hand. and just before you met him you gave yourself a diy grief-fuelled lobotomy with the help of your best frenemy. imagine how insane you’d be. now multiply that insanity by nine. that’s the fictional love of my life right there.

she meets god. she’s not inspired

she’s number one practitioner of space Catholicism. The locked tomb is chock full of Christian (catholic) imagery themes metaphors etc. just look at her she’s got a bone rosary

They're Catholicism with extra bones. Everyone is a nun. They have what is basically a rosary made from knuckle bones. They technically worship the same God as everyone else, but they're waaaay more focused on The Body in the Tomb (Mary) and we get a moment where we find out that while everyone else prays the equivilent of The Lords Prayer, they're doing the equivilent of Hail Mary. And they paint their faces with skulls.

She thinks leaving dry bread in a drawer is taking care of someone. She's in love with a 10,000 year old corpse (the same one they worship). She spent ALL NIGHT digging with her bare hands to make sure a field had bones every 5 feet so she could fight her girlfriend - I mean, greatest enemy. Spoiler territory: She's been puppeting her parents corpses since she was 8 years old. Instead of grieving her dead girlfriend, she gives herself a lobotomy. She makes soup with bone in it so she can use the bone IN THEIR STOMACH to try and kill them.

The author is/was Catholic and the entire series had heavy Catholic overtones. https://www.tor.com/2020/08/19/gideon-the-ninth-young-pope-and-the-new-pope-are-building-a-queer-catholic-speculative-fiction-canon/ A good breakdown of how it's Catholic

[deadtiredghost]

I feel like people misinterpret 03 Raph and Mikey like Raph isn’t just the angry dumb brute and Mikey isn’t just the clown.

oh yeah, 100%, and with 03 which has so many great character-centered episodes too!!!

It suprises me how many ppl reduce characters - especially when they dont reduce all characters equally but say reduce one to big the other up (does that make sense? Like i see a lot of people love Donnie so they gotta bash Raph or vice versa for some reason, not just with 03 but with all the itterations rlly)

I like how 03!Raph has clear flaws, sure, but he works hard on them, especially his anger issues where he kinda would be justified for blowing up and getting angry with how many of the issues they go through escalate to life-threatning situations, but he always does really well in keeping a cool head. Overall there are so many points where he is thoughtful, he's such a sweet person

doesnt 03!raph actively chose to flee rather than fight humans at some points? like he could have fought and won but he didn't want to hurt humans who are effectively defensless against him. Raph is also really good with kids and of course Mrs Morrison - who could forget - like there are several episodes centering on how gentle he is with the civillians he interacts with.

i love so much how 03!Mikey is so chaotic and sometime rlly mean, like he has a lot of lines that are just kinda mean despite how thoughtful he is sometimes, which just shows me his immaturety, which i love to see in a canonically teenage character, cause the 03 turtles are so mature most of the time sometimes u forget theyre 15.

He enjoys his pranks, which is a trademark for Mikeys rlly, and he likes to annoy his brothers like any sibling would, but also, I think from a writer's perspective, you kinda need a character like Mikey in the group to lighten up the show - without Mikey there to brighten the mood, the sense of humour isnt a sign of immatureyu but an essential part of balancing the relationships between the siblings - their tendencies to argue and be too serious. Mikey makes the bad days bareable for his brothers, and that along with his being rather astute at reading his siblings (like his comments about Leo working hard and being responsible so the rest of them dont have to be), i think that the brothers very much value Mikey's humour.

03!Mikey is also rlly forgiving and understanding of a lot of situations, for example in season 1 when Raph nearly hit him way too hard out of anger, Mikey is just worried for Raph not angry at all that he nearly got hurt - i like to attribute that a lot to the amount of trust Mikey has in his bros to not hurt him as well as how Mikey understands that everyone has their own perspective to things - like if someone shoves into u on the street while some people might be annoyed that the person didn't say sorry, Mikey would probs shrug it off as that person being in a rush or just having a bad day - which speaks miles to his emotional maturity.

Also insert here: one of Raph's happiest memories being shoving Mikey's head into his birthday cake (from that one brainwashing episode)

03 Splinter did so well raising all his kids - Raph and Mikey included, theyre all just such lovely ppl and so mature for their age.

if i were gonna describe mikey and raph in one word, it would be "passionate" for Raph and "carefree" for Mikey.

They are also goobers tho; this is the duality of turtle.

[bonefall]

How do you feel about "character joins bloodclan" aus? Im curious about ur thoughts since youre really in tune with the themes of the series but personally i just hate them bc its ALWAYS aimed at 'unfortunate' characters and always ALWAYS ignores the fact that bloodclan is a horrible place in-canon and that they're just reflavoring the abuse and trauma the characters qent through to be more emo or goth themed.

Ravenpaw is ALWAYS a prime target for this and its like. Great. You took the character being abused by their mentor figure and is being harmed from the violent culture the clan has generated... and giving them an EMO mentor figure who will inevitably abuse them and harm them as a result of the violent culture the emo clan has generated. Sasha is another one I've noticed- you've put the woman who lost her kit and is struggling to survive with the others while being controlled and abused by someone who sees her as an outsider (aka alone and easy to isolate), and are gonna put her in a faction who specifically separates kin from one another to easily control them and who have canonically tried murdering those who stick with their family. What was gained here.

Like i know bloodclan is revamped in ur au (thank god for it) but in canon bloodclan is HORRIBLE. People ignore that in favor of putting their favs into bloodclan bc bloodclan is cool and killed tigerstar that one time bc of revenge. Ravenpaw becomes Scourge AUS are SO SO SO much worse bc of this too- sure you manage to point out how scourge and raven has roughly similar stories in their youth but you could also do something interesting and make an au where raven and scourge are FOILS and do a firestar/scourge thing, while pointing this comparison out!! Instead you just went "Ravenpaw emo now and is sad about beating up Firestar his friend" and basically kept everything the same.

Sorry im basically venting here but i just dont like how people forget that scourge in canon does NOT look out for the 'little guy', he's a murderer and abuser who wants to keep his subjects afraid and separated so that he alone has power over them. Bloodclan is not the cool strong goth group, its the group where two cats slaughter eachother over a piece of twoleg scraps, only for the survivor to die bc the food was poisonous to cats and no one knew bc theres no cohesive group that can pass that knowledge around. its a fucking horrible place to live. Im not saying that you cant do interesting "character in bloodclan" aus (a Rusty who lives in bloodclan who STILL wants to do good but is shaped by the horrid reality of bloodclan would be fun imo) but its so often used with already traumatized characters as a 'solution' or 'fix-it with some emotional issues involved' that i just foam at the mouth and howl like a rabid animal on principle at this point.

Hmm... I think for me, it doesn't tend to read that way for me when the fandom makes AUs for it. I'm coming at BloodClan from a point of really deep critique and frustration.

BloodClan's not a REAL place, and what that means is, every speck of how horrible it was is a choice the writers made to justify its treatment. It was something they actively decided, because, BloodClan was a tool to suddenly invalidate the previous 5 books of TPB so that the series could comfortably conclude there was no need to upset the status quo.

If you haven't read it before, I recommend this post I made on how Darkest Hour Is A Personal Disappointment, but anyway;

We spend a whole series on how Fireheart challenges a broken society, because he is different. Their xenophobia, how isolationism and glory get people killed, the way that Tigerstar's greatest asset is how respected he is... these are bad things. They're things that Fireheart fights for several books.

But then, in the LAST book, in the 11th inning, they introduce BloodClan. They're just evil. They have no nuance. The narrative bends over backwards to stress that this group of evil foreigners LOVES murder, hates friendship, and doesn't believe in our good god.

Suddenly, the Clan cats have to be EXTRA xenophobic and glorious to kill these filthy, murderous foreign hordes. Clan cat belief in their good god makes them stronger than the bloodthirsty barbarians. Firestar kills Scourge and we can feel happy and triumphant about it, when Tigerstar was killed a few chapters ago and given a tragic sendoff.

So, I encourage you to step back from an emotional response to how Filthy and Murderous this group was portrayed, and look at it as a writing choice.

When Tigerstar, known cat-racist and murderer of mixed-race people, is killed by Scourge in self-defense, he is grieved by Firestar and commended for his "good qualities". (and then they retconned in that it was actually secretly revenge all along, not just self defense, so this killing is extra evil)

When Scourge is killed, Firestar just thinks about how it's cool he's not going to heaven, and how all of the previously ferocious BloodClan warriors look so inferior to the forest Clans.

And so, with all that said,

I'm 100% in favor of how the fandom widely looks at this, says, "fuck that" and just makes them the Cool Goth Group. I'd argue pretty strongly that the least nuanced idea of that is still infinitely better than canon.

There was nothing there. It was literally just Xenophobia-Is-JustifiedClan. They literally hated love and friendship and banned families so that Clan cats would look good in comparison. Banned families. You don't get this level of stupid evil from anything else but an 80s cartoon.

Maybe I just don't see the AUs you tend to see (I curate my Tumblr experience very well and generally hang out in more adult-oriented spaces, I can imagine a place like Amino being mostly kids who tend to be immature. Edgelord Angstpiddle is just a normal part of growing up), but every project I see that gives me a glimpse of BloodClan Ravenpaws and Sashas come with such tweaks already assumed.

Like, these are examples I've seen,

They'll have Raven be involved with the formation of BloodClan

Scourge will actually be a character with some pity and mercy, like how he was in Rise of Scourge when his abusive siblings begged him for food, and he fed them before sending them away.

no ban on love and friendship. Lol. Lmao, even.

More of the social structure will be based around acquiring food for people in a 'harsh' environment, leading to that battle, instead of just Evil Foreign Greed (which canon!scourge only had after being almost killed by tigerstar, because he said "actually, in light of new information that you are a murderer, i need to reconsider our deal.")

BloodClan will be overhauled completely. I've seen this a few ways. Connecting them to SkyClan, or the Oakstar raids on Chelford, or even as a positive entity; a surprise ally. (VERY common with BloodClan Ravenpaw AUs I've seen).

Anyways... (Shrug), I dunno dude, it doesn't bother me that much.

[anonzentimes]

You're one of my favorite people on here, I love komaeda so much, oh my god

infodump about whatever you want about komaeda NOW!! (if you want, you dont actually have to)

RAGGG!!!!! you're so so sweet oh my gosh ❤️❤️ Sure i'll talk about komaeda! I'll just say what I've been thinking about specifically today.

I was thinking about the fact that Nagito can suppress sides of him today, when he needs to he's able to suppress some of his personality for people. I think the reason Nagito is "normal," before his freakout is not only for the plot twist but because he's trying to make a good impression for Hajime. And once he's even more interested in Hajime he wants his attention, He's always by his side at any chance he gets. I think Hajime just generally stood out to him because he felt a connection with him on a spiritual level and acted upon his curiosity. Why would he be the only one to stay behind and wake up Hajime otherwise? I think he had the gut instinct I do when I feel as if I need to talk to somebody who interests me.

His "facade," is sort of like how when you meet new people and you're not entirely showing your true self fully yet, I think he does that. He's able to suppress parts of himself for other people.

Nagito is always wanting Hajime's attention, he respects his personal space and beliefs but mostly wants to be around him. He's also VERY observant, even when he doesn't understand social cues sometimes his ability to observe others is a big factor about him. He observes Hajime a lot.

Which is honestly weird, isn't he afraid of getting close to people? He usually avoids his classmates, he thinks he isn't deserving of reciprocation, and yet he stayed by Hajime's side. He made an effort to talk normally enough that Hajime would like him. He even went swimming without any complaints, probably because he still doesn't want to lose his attention.

He continues this behavior throughout the game, even in Chapter 4 he uses the fact he has information to get Hajime's attention.

He doesn't think he's worth the ultimates time, and yet, he's always drawn to Hajime. He's always after Hajime's approval, it's so oddly fascinating to me. It's not an obsession thing, but he just really loves him for some reason. It feels more like an irrational emotion, it's not warped love, it's not about status, and It proceeds on even when he knows he's a despair.

I wonder if maybe, just maybe, if Nagito saw his suicide plan as freeing Hajime from Despair. Maybe that's how he justifies it with his emotions. And in an odd sense a horrible proclamation of love.

Sorry this kind of turned into Komahina more than anything lmao, but mostly I'm just thinking about how weird it is that he likes him, like why? What is it about him that Nagito is so infatuated with him? It goes against what he usually does, was he just really that special that he becomes irrational to his typical behaviors?

And in the free time events he's even more infatuated because he believes Hajime is amazing for tolerating him. He pushes him away so he doesn't get harmed by his luck cycle, but also to hopefully to get Hajime kill him. He wants him to escape, he wants him to create hope. Because he believes someone as great as Hajime can create amazing hope. And then his love confession???? AUGH his love confession like, it's so complicated. Did he bail out because he didn't want him to get hurt by his luck cycle? Did he bail out because he doesn't think he's worthy? LIKE??? He's so crazy.

Nagito's so interesting, his irrational infatuation with Hajime next to his warped beliefs, luck cycle, warped love, and intense obsession with hope to the point that he becomes morally grey over it makes him such a wonderful and entertaining character.

[scp-ao3-author]

Do you have a hot take for Clef?

This has been sitting in my inbox for a while but I've been stewing and I think I'm definitely going to say something.

If you want to write more takes that represent women well, having them abuse Clef is honestly not as good as a narrative push as you think it is, especially when you make it EVERY WOMAN ABUSING HIM

Given as fun as it is to make Mr. Ball Puncher get Punched In The Balls, the concept of representation and reflection of one's own behaviors vs "kick him in the nuts because he's a guy and guys suck" are two vastly different things, and many people do not want to learn the difference.

If you want to give Rights depth, turning her into someone who regularly hits/abuses/fucks Alto is just... awful. Same thing goes for Lights, Meri, Iris, Andrea Adams, etc. If you think that's the best way to show them off as characters, especially if it becomes the same story with different formats, then you aren't as right about the characters as you think you are.

Clef is an asshole, that much is incredibly true, yet in the eyes of the Foundation it's incredibly well known that he is clearly doing this As A Bit. Rights is someone Clef has an intense amount of respect for, if you want her to be well written, you can write her as someone who develops into someone Clef has respect for.. Or write her as someone who had respect from him the whole time. You don't need her beating the shit out of him, or being reduced to a mother, or even having her fuck him to get his respect. Rights is more than a lamp.

As uncomfortable as it sounds, You can write women well if you can write men comfortably without subjecting them to the same treatment women typically deal with in fandom.

example: challenge yourself to write women better by avoiding writing Clef as Only an Abuse Victim (something I have found myself doing. I have fixed this concept in my later fics that have yet to be uploaded, as well as my script)

challenge yourself to write women better by avoiding writing Clef exclusively as a Father Figure.

yes these things are great materials for adding to an entire subject of depth to a character, but it isn't the Only Thing. Clef is someone who broke out of his cycle and despite learning very late in his life- he still LEARNED. The entirety of good character writing is that characters can GROW. and CHANGE.

Light does overlook Meri's containment, yes, but she isn't just A Mother Figure to Meri ( I may argue she isn't a mother figure to Meri At All) Light loves Marine Biology, she is a fan of nerdy stuff, She's a SCIENTIST. She reset the bloom, she became an O5, she became JESUS. Light isn't just a sidearm to Troy Lament, she is her own person. Hell her mother instinct may very much be down the drain- maybe she is uncomfortable dealing with kids and would much rather pass them onto someone who is better at that kid stuff than her.

These women are all people Clef has reasonable respect for even if he is a dick to them most of the time. They probably grew to learn that when he's like that they can just shrug it off and laugh.

When people write stories about women staff which are entirely built around antagonizing/abusing him, especially because you just hate men, its fucking sick and its not as great as you think it is. I've seen multiple people who preach about how much they want to write Light, Rights, Meri, Iris, and Andrea but its always "They should hit Clef" "They should Fuck Clef (This one is with the exception of Meri. but those people unfortunately still exist)" or "They should kill Clef" Like. Yes these can be good mechanics if executed well, but to make it the ONLY thing you write is fucking absurd.

Clef may be an asshole in canon, but to justify reducing all of the women around him to be abusive, especially if he himself IS an abuse victim, over his gender no less, is not the fucking progressiveness you think it is. He relies on his behavior to push people away, so let them be pushed away, or push against and prove the very essence of who he is wrong.

Yes, Light did kill Clef, but she NEEDED to.

If you want to write a woman well, but aren't sure how, practice with Clef and transfer some of what you can break down and learn towards the women you write.

Dont define someone by their relationship to the opposite sex.

Avoid centering a character' motivations and storylines solely around relationships with characters of the opposite sex (The girlfriend, the wife, the mother) or (The boyfriend, the husband, the father)

Solution: Give people their own goals, motivations, and arcs.

example: Don't just write Clef as Meri's dad, don't just write Clef as 4231. Try writing him as a Site Director, Try writing his time in the GOC, write him as someone forward thinking, someone who struggles with his masculinity. Alto is someone who fought reality benders, GODS, and won. Alto is someone who is aged, probably tired from constantly fighting monsters and yet is confined to the Foundation. He constantly seeks the idea of freedom even if it isn't achievable. He WANTS to be better. Let him.

example 2: Rights could be someone who served in the GOC before the foundation. She could be a pretty strong individual, and one hell of a fighter. She's a nerd, she loves a good sci-fi film. She enjoys platonic love, she doesn't need romance but won't turn it away. Rights could be someone who gets easily attached, but has never had someone stick around for long, the weight of the GOC could be hard for her, having to lose people she's close to. She could unpack her OWN trauma with Ichabod. Rights could enjoy outer space and want to study it- she could be adoring of alien biology or absolutely disgusted yet fascinated by it. She could love Mech and engage in deep discussions about characters in media she likes. Right's could be an engineer, she could be in STEM, she could be an amazing mathematician. shes a researcher and an analyst, she could be into data entry, she could be into environmental science, the modelling of machine learning, an energy analyst, she could be for or against the utilization of anomalies. She could love computers, and be into Quantum Computing or have a special interest in Geospatial technology and urban planning in order to better help construct Foundation Sites to be more efficient.

avoid stereotypes.

avoid using basic tropes for your characters.

(damsel in distress, manic pixie dream girl, ice queen, femme fatale, trophy wife, token female, scorned woman, sexy action girl, mean girl.)

(brooding loner, musclehead, stoic hero, womanizer, nice guy, evil overlord, mentor that dies, comic relief, overprotective father, the Hero)

Solution: create multifaceted characters. Give them vulnerability, strength, intelligence, humor, and flaws.

example: Clef is and enigmatic and genre-savvy asshole. He pushes being an asshole to drive people away because he knows he is only going to get hurt- or worse- other people could get hurt. He's enigmatic because he wants his own privacy, but is used to people violating his own boundaries. Clef would sell you to satan for a corn chip, but if you're trapped in a breach he would pull you out in a heartbeat because at the end of the day your life still matters. He has a mysterious past and he keeps lying about it, but maybe he can't help it. Clef is someone who struggles with unpacking his gender and trauma, he could potentially be anxious, explosive to people who are close to him. He knows his way around weapons because he used to work with them, and it could be very entirely possible he's tired of it. He could be the kind of guy who just wants a break, yet fails to get it. his sense of humor is broken down because he's tired, yet when introduced to the next generation of scientists, he slowly begins to see and notice the ones who later become him, and he worries about that. He wants to stop it, because he doesn't think anyone should be like him.

example 2: Right's could be pragmatic and precise. She's punctual about time and prefers logic of sentimentality. She could struggle in moment of hesitation, or have conflicted feelings in regards to different anomalies she encounters- some could be useful in maintaining foundation life, others could be studied to see more about them and understand them better, as to help handle them in breaches, see if they could be used for breaches, or if they would better community as a whole. "Yes, this item does produce radiation, and THIS item turns radiation into clean energy. maybe we can use it to power part of the site?" but at the same time, her struggles with how to analyze- or even the possibility of neutralizing anomalies- could become a conflict to her. a part of Clef's past as Ukulele is out there, and if she's aware of it she could share sentiment in having someone who knows exactly what she's dealt with. Rights could struggle with coping mechanisms, or she could entirely have grown past what she dealt with, and very rarely have issues with this trauma hitting her, but at the same time she could probably see other ex-goc who struggle and can't quite reach the part she has. Maybe Right's cares immensely about the lives of others, but knows that they wouldn't be guaranteed in her own hands. Right's could be someone who prioritized efficient space in her office and home, she could express alot of her love of sci-fi through collections, figures, posters, and regularly have her dialogue and languaging be based around some of the media she consumes. She could use her knowledge of sci-fi to better process her real world issues as well. Rights can explore her issues, her disconnects with individuals, and how her past influences her present relationships and decisions. The anomalies she handled in her past could have taken a toll on her psyche, highlight moments where her perspective shifts, set the stage for her transitions as she grows to learn better. Show how others perceive her, but if they are unreliable and biased- show that too. is she alienated? is she empathetic, or clinical? is she in between? rights could have a nonsensical type of humor,

strength and physical appearances as being exclusive to a character is a flawed concept.

Relying on your characters entire personality to revolve around specific characters' appearances is not as great as you think it is. and I know some of you are going to hate hearing it.

(a woman's whole thing being strong/muscle/stoic/feminine. Or her entire existence in a story being boobs/body/thighs/arms/eyes/lips/etc)

(a man's entire thing being strong/muscle/stoic/feminine. his entire existence being jawline/beard/body/legs/abs/etc.)

Solution: You can have a character that has these traits, but they can not be the ONLY thing about that character.

I need to put here that like... the entire time I was writing this part my only thought was Luisa Madrigal from Encanto. She is a big strong woman, HOWEVER HOWEVER HOWEVER, that isn't the only thing. She worries that she isn't useful, she has concerns about not being enough for her family. She feels the burdening pressure around her about not being up to quo with whats going on. If she was strong just for the sake of being strong- but she isn't! she has her own depth!

example 1: There is a very very bad amount of people. I mean BAD amount of people, who obsess about the idea of Clef being super fit, having a six pack, etc. There are people I have seen who just... harass artists and obsess by an uncomfortable amount whenever they draw Alto Skinny. Yet at the same time, this is SCP, and you shouldn't BE shitting on people for their headcanons, (I have moral exceptions for this, such as people who ship clef/meri, there is no spot in heaven for you.) but to be angry about how people display the appearance of a charcter that has NO CANON APPEARANCE. its... no. Clef is not just some fit 6-pack guy. Given you can get away with making Ukulele or Francis skinnier, smaller, fit, etc. (Ukulele having worked in the GOC, requiring him to be fit and in good health... not having much body hair because his generation of suit requires shaving.) (Francis appearing small because he is a much younger variant of Clef, probably fails to take care of himself and often results in him not eating typically) yet above all else... Clef once again, changes. Ukulele COULD be fit, but Clef likely Isn't. His own weight gain can be a symbol of him healing from what he has been through. He can have scars, he could have mutations, he can have the effects of anomalies on his body. but above all else... he isn't ONLY that.

example 2: Iris. Iris worked on a strike team and likely has bodily scarring from injuries. Iris probably deals with the psychological damage of that too. I see a lot of discourse about whether or not Iris should be butch but honestly? same as before, you can't control what other people think, but if you yourself want to avoid reducing a character to their appearance, you can. Iris can be fit from having to work out in the Foundation. Just from being fit doesn't necessarily mean she's entirely butch though. She could have a sleeper build, there's multiple types of bodies she can have and all of them could very well outwardly represent her own depictions of her own gender. It doesn't necessarily make her masculine. In some story lines, she becomes staff and even a researcher. All of these could very well affect her and her outward appearance. Iris could absolutely be masculine, and honestly I really enjoy the concept, but it is just not advisable or worth your time to shit on people who think otherwise, nor is it advisable to shit on people for wanting butch Iris. But once again: reducing her exclusively to this, and even going as far as to beat down on others for saying otherwise, Is not good character writing. Iris has depression, this is something that can affect her appearance too.

If you decide to make a character trans, they do NOT owe you gender conformity, especially if the character in question was formerly masculine. I promise you a butch trans woman will not kill you.

Sexualizing a character.

I'm going to move on from Clef for a moment (But don't be fooled- some people sexualize him and are awful about it.) and instead move to Kondraki for this one. (I'll provide Clef as a second example later, since they both have differences that are both affected like this.)

It is.. obscenely normal for characters to be written for the sole purpose of Sex. And we have seen an example of this on the wiki with a character that No Longer Exists.

We have also seen this happen with Meri.

It is incredibly normal to see people depict Dr. Kondraki exclusively as someone to Fuck, made slightly worsened with Ship In a Bottle because of the fact a lot of that plot is centered around him struggling with hypersexuality to the point that he effectively takes what he can get to get off. Which is disappointing because

people tend to miss this.

Kondraki struggles with impulsivity and makes mistakes, and that hub is based around those mistakes.

Solution: If a character's sexuality is part of the story, give it at least a narrative guide and respect the character's actions in regards to their guided affect.

Example 1: Kondraki is bisexual, and typically considered sexually active. A way you can write Kondraki is someone who struggles with their gender or identity. I personally like the idea that Kondraki is Aromantic and Asexual, but has been pushed into a position as someone who was born a male, to NEED to be sexually active if he wants to be liked, but will later on, upon meeting Clef, begin to slowly adjust to accepting being AroAce and, upon unpacking this, eventually realize that they are a trans woman, specifically he/she/they. Once again, this is my own headcanon.

Example 2: Clef is also sexualized much in fandom. It is very much no secret that Clef is Asexual and a victim of SA in canon, which many can find distasteful. It makes sense, but once again, you cannot control other fandom members. Clef can be written to be sexually active even when he himself is Asexual, as he could be struggling with his own repulsion, he could be hyper-sexual and ace which results in him struggling with his identity as an asexual, he can submit himself to sexual experiences as a coping mechanism, he can have sex as a testament to punishing himself, or could even be demisexual, and just want someone he has a strong emotional bond with- but can't achieve that because of the fact he has been emotionally hurt by so many people he just... can't bond.

Additionally: There are plenty of people who are victims of SA and are ace. To state that there's something "wrong" about that is fucking insane. This includes people who say that Ace people shouldn't be allowed to have sex/make sex jokes. what the FUCK guys.

Since I have provided two examples of men, ill provide 2 of women.

Example 1: Rights. Much of the stuff I see in fandom about Rights comes from a very shallow angle. Which makes sense considering how she only has 53 stories in her tag as of this post, and the most popular one people come across is Psychological Evaluations, in which she is depicted as sexually active, and wielding a lamp as a weapon.

Give me a second I just had a moment of whiplash reading that back.

In my personal conversations with other authors, many approach the dismay of the fact that Rights was depicted as this, and I have also seen a fair amount of the fandom reducing her TO that. A fucking LAMP. (Something I found myself guilty of as well a little over a year ago)

If anything can be pulled from this it could be trouble regulating anger- but since this part is often about how characters are sexualized- often with no addition to plot. Rights could entirely be struggling with a failing marriage, which could also be what is pushing this reaction with Glass. She could be dealing with a burdensome load of work, or other things of the sort. If you are going to write her having sex, you could definitely move around the concept of her struggling with her relationship, getting help while others don't, and maybe even finding herself with questioning her own sexuality.

Example 2: Meri. I had to put a bit of thought into this, so I'll try what I can articulate and hope I articulate it well. This fandom has several splits, and I will be focusing on the main 2 that i need to. People who read the Series 1 articles, and people who read more than just Series 1. These two types of people have two very vast differences in characters and how they interact- and Meri is no exception.

For people who only read series 1, Meri is a teenager. And as far as I am concerned, Minors shouldn't be sexualized.

I can't control what fandom does but for FUCKS sake do not sexualize meri as a child.

For people who read the entirety of Clef's lore, or know a fair chunk about it, Meri is in her 40s. If you're... Honestly if you're going to write Meri like that at least write her like you would a 40 year old. Give her some depth, she's christian so she could be waiting for marriage, or advised against same-sex relationships. If you write her as a lesbian she can have extensive fears surrounding her emotions, maybe she doesn't even want sex or believes that her emotions with women are fine as long as she doesn't cross that line. and if she DOES, how would she handle everything she believed in her religion and upbringing? could she be brought to terms with it? would she hate herself? would she doubt everything she knew? these could all be a part of Meri if you're going to write her. If she is straight? would she struggle with finding someone? could she ultimately decide she doesn't want to BE with anyone?

I will put here while I am still on this subject that... This is where people may fail with Clef as well. He is Meri's father, yes, and he can definitely have his quarrels with her dating. but at the end of the day, in the main canon, Light is the one that overlooks her containment. He shouldn't, however, BE written as grossly overbearing. I have stated before that this is one dimensional and won't give him the depth that he as a character can have. If he IS overbearing, how would this be confronted, and how would it be resolved- Try to figure out how you can write around his overbearing, and how to handle him as a character without making it so he brings Meri down with him. If Clef ultimately DOES decide to play overbearing father, then elaborate on how badly this affects Meri, hell.. let it strain themselves as father and daughter. Let Clef experience realistic consequences for his actions, and maybe let him grow from that as well. At the end of the day, if you think about writing him in.. think specifically more about her instead.

5. misrepresenting experiences.

Try to avoid writing about topics without proper research. This can create inauthentic portrayals of characters.

Sexism, pregnancy, medical issues, misogyny, masculinity... all of these are issues people face in real life on a broad spectrum of experiences.

example 1: Clef is an SA victim, he experienced being a father, he's gone out in the heat of battle and has seen horrors that people don't typically come back from. he was put in charge of the lives of others. he was born in the 60's and probably dealt with alot of 70, 80, and 90's mentalities while also watching people expand into the 2000's and 2010's as the generations became more aware. He has knowledge of what it's like to be contained. It would make sense to look into how media portrayed people of all types during those time periods- how they changed, what kind of person he could be during those time periods, how his own personality changed as well. Researching and looking into how people can behave- especially apart from the normalcy of things, can also help affect this. Looking into realistic yet different approaches to details in headcanons count too. I have written a few of these, such as Ukulele taking Testosterone and Clef having abnormally high estrogen as a result, some of the lesser known side effects of men when it comes to pregnancy (sympathetic pregnancy) or how that dad instinct kind of makes you lock in and realize that the things you might be doing are actually a Bit Fucked Up. you can also research injuries- Clef has augments from the GOC, do they need maintained? would they hurt his body if they aren't? is clef injured from the water in cornwall? what are realistic burn scars? what are some medical consequences he would deal with?

One such depiction is probably how people show Anxiety- the idea that it makes you a small person, infantilized and babied as someone who probably cries alot and is constantly babbling and stammering. but that isn't anxiety. Anxiety can be explosive- being so excited about something you tremble and scream- it can be yelling when you're scared and being quick to bring to a rage. It can be hesitance to grow or do better... It can be exaggerating outcomes and becoming irritated when people say that it's not possible only for you to have been right the whole time.

example 2: Iris. Iris is someone who (depending on your headcanon) had a partner who she was close too- a boyfriend. using her anomaly, she witnessed his murder, and tried to save him but failed. As a result, she was accused of the murder, and was picked up by the Foundation. Iris at this point is most likely traumatized, not just from witnessing murder but from losing someone close to her- yet it isn't really elaborated on in writing. She was put on a team with abel, someone who acts abusive towards her, and likely made her worse. She went through an ungodly amount of isolation. Iris probably had her fair share of firefights, would she have hearing problems from the guns?

If a woman in your writing falls pregnant, is there a proper gestation period? does something go wrong? what kind of things can go wrong? is this the kind of character who would hesitate to terminate? would she consider her options, or go through with it? if she does give birth and something happens to the kid, how would she handle it? research how hormones are impacted by these things, the stuff that can happen to one's body, the things that they deal with. research how abortions work just as the character might if they are trying to make a decision. bring acknowledgment to issues that many deal with like having to go through loophole after loophole for medical care. Acknowledge how women are brushed off in the medical industry, how they're treated in STEM.

6. Write diversity.

Don't write the same woman for every woman. Don't write your exact same blond white girl who has the same static traits. Write and do your research on different races, hair types, ethnicity, culture, sexuality, disabilities, classes. think about how different groups overlap.

example: Draven. Draven's father is Polish and Jewish, and his mother is (to the best of my knowledge) Mexican and Christian. Draven is a mixed man that embraces both of his parents and their traditions and cultures. He even goes above and beyond when Kondraki doesn't, and even Kondraki follows up and tries to match up to Draven so he can help embrace it with their son.

Example 2: Glass is, in many headcanons, African. You can very much write how he would take care of his hair, do research on differences in bodily quality. If you were an artist, understanding what certain injuries on black skin looks like would be an option, especially if you are a medical student- you can research what certain disorder diagnosis would look like on POC as opposed to someone who is white.

Example 3: Andrea Adams Is asian, you could write her own personal experiences dealing with a variety of issues as well as her own cultural experiences, maybe she's distant from her family but still wishes to embrace it. Same thing for Zyn Kiryu, Diogenes... If you don't know any staff you would want to write, make your own!

All in all, if you're going to write Clef, reducing him genuinely isn't going to benefit anyone, and is honestly kind of shit to do to him. You can write characters, and you can write them well without having Clef becoming beaten, treated like shit, stripped down, and dragged through mud just so you can push the idea that he deserves it for existing.

If you ARE going to write Clef going Through It, there are multiple ways you can do this without being disrespectful to him.

and above all, If you can write him, and you can give him depth, you can write women too.

and stop fucking shitting on people in fandom for their headcanons. You can't control them, but if you want to complain try avoiding public spaces to do it. You'll never know who will end up seeing what you say.

[davekat-sucks]

i want that anon to think about it this way: can you actually name five good non-forced canon heterosexual romances off the top of your head?

because i cant, and thats the problem, its forced *writing*. how can you expect people to write something theyve never lived through (assuming the writer is like hussie for example) when nobody seems to know how to write a story first and opts for masturbatory self insertion instead?

look at samurai jack, genndy is very creative and has great ideas, but that got ruined the moment he decided jack just NEEDED to have a love interest based on his real life dream girl. the results? a rehash of ttgl ending, but shittier.

or my life as a teenage robot, did you know jenny was supposed to end up with sheldon? her stalker who feitshized she was a robot? because the creator related way too much to him?

hell, not only western shows, remember how sasuke ended up with sakura despite never giving a shit about her the entire show and abusing her? or naruto with hinata? kishimoto said he was like naruto and his wife was like sakura multiple times, how do you think she felt when he tried to justify these endgame pairings saying hinata was his ideal woman?

its shit like that. as for me, this is my personal opinion, but why i would i want someone feel forced to give me "representation" when theyve never met someone like me and all i end up with is an offensive caricature? look at hsbc for forced cynical representation, was rosemary worth it when they are reduced to ntr fuel and character assassination? or davekat for the very same? what about johnroxy, dont you think that was forced as well? trans roxy so that now roxy can end up with dirk? isnt that forced?

i dont watch a story for representation or validation, i watch a story for entertainment, and i dont want writers to feel pressured or restricted to just tell their story at the detriment of their original ideas and setting. if i want to see something hyper specific to something i saw, then i do it myself, i dont need anybodys crumbs or disingenuous hand me dows because they see me as a checklist to get money. i want sincerity and effort. writers arent gods that need to acknowledge i exist, they are voices that tell a story, dont depend on them or put them on a pedestal, you or anybody else can become that too. tell your story because are passionate about it, and that way itll never be forced. thats just the way i see it.

True and wise words, Anon.

[papakhan]

i think you misunderstood me. i wasn't trying to say you were misinterpreting the character, just that you approach him somewhat differently than i do, in some significant ways, and maybe not even him per se, just "what comes next", so to speak.

i also wasn't saying that boone shouldn't feel remorse about what hes done, because, like, yeah, he really damn should. and unfortunately the bias against the great khans that permeate the games writing rears its ugly head again--i mean, some of the fan favorites call them dirty people who need to be chased out of the mojave, and while that in itself isnt bad writing (characters can be bigoted and biased), it feels like the player is given very little in terms of retaliating against those statements and the games assumed status quo that the ncr supposedly has more legitimacy in its presence than the khans do. i was more getting at where that remorse would take him, because as you said, his storyline is largely concerned with his own feelings while the game gives you no real way to make him snap the hell out of it, stop justifying the atrocities he was a part of as some inevitability he sadly has to bear, and overall stop making it about himself and open his tiny eyes to whats actually happening and what can be done. like, yeah, he could go from suicidal gestures to groveling, and again to be clear he should feel sorry, but i feel like thats still centering his emotional journey.

as for defending bitter springs, like. yes, the refugee camp at bitter springs is in itself an ugly truth of an image of the ncr, revealing it as a force that tramples over people and commits atrocities and then names itself protectors of whats left. terrible protectors too, seeing how poor and understaffed the refugee camp is. i wish that in itself couldve had some sort of impact on the man as well. still, in terms of material consequences, boone protected the refugees, and while once again that doesnt Repay for anything or Make Up for anything, i dont think it was necessarily the ultimate point of the quest. as you pointed out, it wasnt great khans he protected from the legion, it was refugees from arizona and the handful of ncr staff. theres not any kinda neat bow put on it, there's no coming full circle. being denied a selfish "heroic" death in favor of, like, protecting some people he doesnt know, i think its interesting and could serve as a way to pull him out of this spiral. maybe its wishful thinking on my part, but the difference between novac boone and post-independent boone IS that ncr has completely withdrawn from the area and boone took part in the actions that lead to that. but i could just be wishing things had been written differently. oh! and you brought up giving him up to the great khans to judge, its something ive thought about before, and i wish it was something you could do in the game.

anyway... im sorry if i came off as confrontational in my first anon, i saw that you were answering asks about it and i wanted to offer my own perspective. none of it was said to undermine yours.

well first of all I'd like to say I'm sorry for being hostile, it's difficult for me to interpret tone at the best of times and even worse over text so I appreciate you telling me that didnt mean to sound confrontational and i'm sorry for taking it that way

i think its just frustrating to me that like. idk the Joshua Graham dickriding has died down a bit recently because people have finally figured out that despite the game framing him as the good guy hes actually still a terrible person and the writers were wrong for what they did (the racism most of all) but then people still lick Boones/the NCR's boots

but your perspective is refreshing i think youre right yeah, Boone shouldn't really be the centre of the "victims of the bitter springs massacre" because. he's not a victim. he is a perpetrator. on that you have made me realise that yeah even if hes begging for forgiveness even then its still bad for it to centre him at all

And the Khans being one of the power houses of Vegas pre-NCR is woefully underexplored but tbh given how the rest of the Khans are handled I don't even think its a time constrains thing its just a writers thing. i've complained enough about how the Followers treat the Khans in game not really lining up with how they used to work together / can work together in the future but that's a whole other thing

i still think the fight for bitter springs is still the climax of the I Forgot to Remember to Forget questline, its supposed to be what snaps boone out of it and lets the player come to some kind of resolution with him. They're not exactly good or helpful resolutions, because as I have said before he still doesn't respect the Khans and as you have also said this is a problem with the game as a whole. and he's still protecting people he doesnt know for ultimately selfish reasons. It's a step. I guess. and yknow its a video game with only two conclusions for a quest, the rest of those steps are kind of up to interpretation.

its the beauty of fanworks and what have you. like I said my perspective is more one of frustration. Me liking the Khans so much and examining the game from their POV when the game kinda hates them and that feeds into the fanart/writing and looking at Boone is just. I'm just tired

[cloudcountry]

Okay but re: the Vil post

I agree but I get why he gets characterized like that

1. He clearly holds strong to some restrictive beauty standards (though to be fair we really only see them directed at himself. Not to get on my “Vil has an ED” soapbox but I mean. *gestures to his labwear vignette*)

2. We’ve seen him hold Epel to a bullshit standard (the fucking accent thing it pisses me off because that’s my dialect too and there’s nothing unprofessional about it! “There’s a time and place for hometown pride” he shouldn’t have to force an accent it’s totally bullshit and considering the stigma around southern accents is based in classism and racism it’s all kinds of fucked up. I know that it’s an en translation thing and in jp it’s mainly about his lack of manners/honorifics but most of these are coming from en only players and even when you do know better it’s hard to get over the feelings)

Like he isn’t actually like that but I get the feeling of it

personally i dont understand why people characterize him like that. i think its a blatant misunderstanding because they think hes a bully (which he isnt.) but literally his beauty standards that are WAY too harsh are only for him which is because he strives for perfection. he just wants everyone else to do their absolute best and HATES it when they waste their potential.

ive also seen people call him fatphobic, classist, racist, ablelist, etc and im like ???? where the hell are you people getting this from??? did we read the same thing????? its like the fandom is throwing around words to justify hating him. its weird.

i know the accent thing is a touchy subject and honestly i hated him for a while because of that too, but i feel like we as a fandom need to hate the WRITERS for that and not vil. he literally just wanted epel to stop using crude language and the translation fucked that up. its the writer's fault, not vil's character. i do see where youre coming from though because at the end of day, no matter how stupid the translation was, vil being rude about epel's accent is part of eng server canon.

also i get that!! idia pushes every single one of my anger buttons and i hate him so much but a good chunk of my moots love him to death and thats great for them. someone has to (im JOKING IM JOKING)

[shima-draws]

Yeah my opinion on HW is very.. two sided. On the one hand YOU DONT BREAK UP A FOUND FAMILY HICCUP LOOKED AT TOOTHLESS AND SAW HIMSELF AND TOOTHLESS CHOSE TO FLY WITH HICCUP OR NOT AT ALL IM SHAKING YOU CLAWING AT THE WALLS CHEWING ON THE FURNITURE. On the other hand I watched a video that like,, kinda justified HW?? or like explained it at the very least as like staying together puts the dragons and vikings in continuous danger that theyd need to separate from each other to avoid 1/2 RAGE anon

[[Like there will always be Dragons and Hunters and HW Villain Whatshisface and there could thoretically always be Hiccups but how long would the cycle repeat until dragons are all dead or all safe?? like keeping the dragons on Berk isnt best for the dragons or the vikings and i get that!! but on the other hand arguing this would disregard all the implications of Found Family and dragons being more than just animals and HTTYD's Never Give Up On What You Believe message. 2/2 Rage anon

Surprise RAGE anon 3/2 BUT ALSO Ruff going from Badass Wonder Girl in RTTE to Lets Annoy This Man Into Letting Me Go (Great Idea!!) and Then LEAD HIM TO THE THINGS HE WANTS TO KILL (Bad Idea!!) was... uugh you were doing so well rtte came out before hw why didnt they add in her character development dreamworks whyyy. And dont even get me started on Tuff just suddenly not even caring about Ruff at all NOT IN MY FOUND AND IN THIS CASE BIRTH FAMILY BITCH]]

Honestly I never really agreed with that;; The big argument about HTTYD 3's ending is the whole "Well, all the dragons leaving is how the book ended" deal but like. It doesn't have to follow the book to the letter. It HASN'T been doing that, do you know how vastly different the film franchise is from the book series? If the first movie had started with "There were dragons when I was a boy" YEAH it would make sense if you had the trilogy end that way, because you'd already hinted at it. But they made no indication of that being the ending UNTIL the third film. And they could have chosen not to end it that way and people would probably have better opinions about the movie then.

If you spent two films building up the central theme that humans and dragons can and should coexist and have found true companions in each other, why would you suddenly decide to toss that out. If Hiccup spent two films protecting the dragons from harm why can't he continue to do that. Why did he give up. It's completely contradictory to his character, to the fundamentals of who Hiccup is as a person. Hiccup is stubborn. He's STUPIDLY stubborn and we've seen that over and over. And that stubbornness is usually what leads him to saving the day and coming up with some plan to keep everyone safe without having to run away. It's just frustrating 😔

And the concluding message of "We're going to wait until the world is safe and dragons can live among humans peacefully again" is really shallow bc how are you going to convince the world that dragons are good WITHOUT dragons. If they aren't there to set the example how are you going to sway people to the good side without any proof. Going off of that how is Hiccup going to change anybody's mind if he's sitting on an island in the middle of nowhere 'guarding the dragon's secret' or whatever bullshit lmao it's just so contradictory. Honestly that whole argument felt really rushed and not thought out well, like they needed some excuse and that was the best they could come up with. And honestly? The world is NEVER going to be completely safe, that's just not how the world works. There will always be danger and terrible awful people like Drago and Grimmel. But sitting on and island and hoping they might change their ways isn't going to do jack shit lmao you can't stop bad people from doing bad things by just twiddling your thumbs and praying for the world to be safe for dragons again. You gotta WORK for that, you need to put in the effort, and I just never got that impression from THW's ending. It really just felt like they were expecting all their problems to magically be fixed and I'm like BRO. You PROVED in the first two movies that you can do anything as long as you have your dragons. You can change the entire world view of an island, or a country, or the world if you put your mind to it. But I guess we're going to disregard all of that suddenly for no reason 🙃

And yeah YEAH I definitely agree with you on the whole found family thing. They seemed to forget all about that in THW too >:(

Don't get me started on how they ruined everyone's character development in 3 😭 They did Ruff dirty. AND Snotlout and Fishlegs and Tuff.

Anyway rant over LOL I'm glad that most people agree with me about THW! I know when it first came out people were getting angry defending it and I'm like no listen you gotta look past your nostalgia and love for the movies and criticize it properly. You cannot look me in the eyes and tell me that Toothless would choose a random female dragon over Hiccup. LIES and SLANDER

[objectingtotheobjects]

One Piece Episode 150

So they kidnap the birds to find the island and the birds hold contempt over this? The bird controls the bugs with its call. And pigs some how?

Spring spring just needs a kick into the sea

I feel like no one in this series is this over the top evil without some intense tragic backstory though. Everyone is justifiable in their own eyes at some point

The straw hats are on kill a man mode. Luffy can handle it in an hour and a bit

UPDATED WANTED POSTERS!! THE CREW FINALLY GET TO SEE EM!! (Or not maybe just the town)

Let's go 100, 000, 000 bounty boy

Episode 151

If looting is what pirates do, don't object when your ass is handed to you and you are looted

He's great at taking a hit, but he's even better at handing em out

Is this fight gonna be kinda funny and goofy? Please? Springy boy and rubber boy sounds so silly

Nope he's getting mad. This is about to be badass

Oh the hit

OH THE IMPRINT AND THE BLOOD DRIPS

10 minutes of some of the best art I've seen yet in this series. Love the simplicity of the fight, love the pure casual violence that really proves luffy is dominant when it comes to power in the area. Really gotta love the effective threat from the remaining blood on his had when he points to the sky, this is just such good main character energy from a character who let's me forget hes the main character in certain side character driven episodes

WELCOME BACK MIHAWK

I LOVE YOUR TINY SHIP

7 warlords, I should pay better attention here. Doflamingo intro!!

Bartholomew bear man!

Someone has strangling powers

White beard looks different than I'd pictured. A lil taller

Lafeet belongs to blackbeard pirates, is that who the familiar guy from before is?

Yes apparently

He's got a D too? Cool, I hope he's not a problem

Episode 152

Do they finally go up in this epsiode?? I feel like Larry in the silent film from VeggieTales (that's a mildly niche reference that maybe doesn't overlap here much, oops) I've been waiting so long

SHE GOT A MAKE-OVER (yay ship Dr appointment)

A chicken goat is my new favorite Mythical creature in one piece

LOVE the pile of stress cigarettes beside old man chestnut

Never stop believing!! No one has ever disproved it as much as no one has ever proved it

The Going Marry is so tiny compared to the new average of ships we see, so cute

The bird is tormented by its biological compulsions vs petty urges and rage I relate though I don't point south

RIDE A SEA KING UP BOYS, YOU DONT NEED THE STREAM. USE A MONSTERRR

(Jokes on the straw hats, this was a long con to destroy the boat so monkey bros can salvage it, they never had good intentions haha)

OH I LOVE HOW SCARED THEY ARE I LOVE HOW THAT DROPPED

Go chicken marry!

FLY!

Or not

Cockblocked

They finally know!! Yasssss!!

AND NOW WE FLY!!

Oh this feels good. I like this clima

THEY REALLY FLY

They left the jet stream! Oh this is hype!!

Episode 153

Everything takes so long to do but it also always feels like a big pay off

Blackbeard's pirates are good natured and evil and I love them for it

Did Usopp just do a suicide

Would the devil fruit water weakness activate in clouds? Or is that still submerged in water? The characters seem to think so but has it been tested?

👁 SHE CAN PUT HER EYES ON THE HANDS WOAH WHAT DOES HER DEVIL FRUIT ACTUALLY DO????

Monsters made of air to float in the sky ocean? Are they balloon monsters? Sky fish apparently

And they're tastey

It's hard to fight in thin air. Luffy should be able to expand his lungs. I like the soldier for hire

White sea, blue sea, white white sea

Got it.

So its pretty much "Yeah we rawdogged up the ancient way" most of them should have died??

I love sir sky knight and Pierre. Pierre is an abomination ♡♡

The scenery in this place is so pretty

That's a gate alright. YAY AFTERLIFE METAPHORS

"Can we say all of the above" got a solid cackle from me. They are truely there for an all round experience

Do they have to count chopper as a person? They could get a discount (also lucky they added those wing handles for Mr grabby hands the lobster)

I love this angel's voice ratting them out to make them go on evil rollercoaster to heaven

[catholic-character-tournament]

Quarter Finals - Catholic Character Tournament

Propaganda below ⬇️

Matt

Matt's faith in the show is really important and well explored; one of the first scenes of the show is Matt going to confession (or, well, talking to his priest since he's not really confessing at that point). Matt struggles a lot with what he's supposed to do; everyone's telling him to kill the villain and he kinda wants to, but he literally says: "I know my soul is damned if I take his life". He struggles with his faith and goes with his doubts to his priest, and it's beautiful—also when he finally gets a costume for his vigilanteing he chooses to dress as the devil, lol. (His priest tells him that nothing makes people run to Church faster than the feeling of having the devil on their heels.)

a lot of the show is about how he justifies his vigilante actions with his faith, and whether he's doing the right thing in trying to help people or just using it as an outlet for his anger. the literal first scene of the show has him in a confession booth talking to his priest (who is a really interesting character too). this is not the scene I was talking about but it's such an excellent scene with matt talking to his priest: https://youtu.be/XHZ3NbEIDdw

canonically catholic but dresses like a demon to be quirky

honestly i dont wanna type too much but i feel that matt is a great example of someone who battles with his faith because he rarely loses his faith but rather fights with why he was made the way he was and put through what he was. He believes himself to have the devil inside him but believes that God put him there

ok in the comics barring the most current run matt has Mostly been a non-practicing Catholic that very rarely actually does any catholic Activities but ends up falling back into the Mindset and very occasionally dramatically taking confession (ex. in that one issue where he takes confession, basically tells the father that he is uniquely terrible and is thinking about violently murdering someone and when the father says "you can be forgiven" hes like "AUGFH-- NO!!!!!!!!!!" and runs out) when he's gone through some shit. and i love that its so relatable

This guy so catholic he spends an ungodly amount of time just chilling in the church. And goes there whenever there is a moral conundrum about killing people being Bad even though it would solve a lot of problems and stop said people from killing other people. This happens every other episode. Matt is the Catholic Guilt Guy. There's actually a lot of catholic stuff in the show as a whole. Just a compilation would be like three whole episodes long.

Hes great hes catholic enough to not outrught murder people but not catholic enough to not fuck before marriage hes a bisexual disaster at all times hes besties with a priest might i add hes great hes my special little guy

his catholicism is a huge piece of his characterisation he was raised by nuns in a catholic orphanage, the first scene we ever see him (as an adult and not a flashback) is him going to confession, he is good friend with his priest and has regular debates with him, etc also in s3 he has a huge crisis of faith after he lost A Lot where he stops believing for a while and it's linked to his identity crisis where he actually wants to kill another person (a hard line he previously chose never to cross) and wants to be only daredevil and not matt murdock, when he is both and needs both to exist also when he was a kid his grandmother used to say "watch out for the murdock boys, they've got the devil in them" and it created a surprising lot of his issues

So he's both catholic in the comics and the show but he's More Catholic in the show. Like, raised in a catholic orphanage by nuns (ONE OF WHICH IS HIS *MOTHER*), second scene in the show has him in a confession box kind. Matt Murdock goes out and gets the shit beaten out of him nightly and also beats the shit out of other people and purposefully leaned into devil iconography as his theme. When his nurse friend says, he takes a lot of punishment without one complaint he says "That part's the Catholicism." It is a Core Aspect of his character (at least in the show). He makes me insane. Also the same chemicals that blinded him created the teenage mutant ninja turtles and everyone should know that.

They went to confession to a priest who they had saved as their costumed counterpart and the guy recognized them by the voice, proving that it's possible and everyone else is just dumb

he takes "i wanna fight god" to new and incredibly violent levels, while also being a sweetheart and a goofball

Actually strictly WILL NOT kill criminals. Goes wayyy out of his way to avoid it. Fights with the Punisher about it. Goes to confession booth after nightly vigilante excursions. Feels so much guilt. "How have you been holding up?" "Like a good Caltholic boy" "that bad huh" - actual conversation with his priest

So Daredevil struggles with his mission as a crime fighter because killing criminals goes against his faith. He makes it a point to not kill criminals, believing that even bad people deserve a second chance. This philosophy puts him at odds against The Punisher, who is a relentless killer. As a Catholic myself, while I love the concept of a morally conflicted superhero, I think the worldbuilding around Daredevil is lacking. If he struggles with violence and killing, why doesn't he pray to warrior saints like Saint Michael, Saint Ignatius of Loyola (a former knight), or Saint Joan of Arc? Why isn't there a community of other Catholics he can turn to for guidance, considering New York City has a sizeable population of Catholics? And why are the churches he goes to always empty? Doesn't he know that the Catholic Church supports the just war theory? I think that would have made his burden more bearable.

He goes to church and confesses to punching people and says "imma do it again can i apologize in advance" and the father dude says "no you're meant to stop now" and Matt says "no" and they do this everyday. I'm not remembering it properly but this is a canon interaction i swear

HELLO HI YES I LOVE HIM AND WILL INFOR DUMP ok so. he is a vigalantty and he got named daredevil and he is an orphan and after the age of 12 was raised in an orphanage at a Catholic church and his therapist is his priest via confession abd. also his mother is a nun he has a whole mental breakdown over god and called Job a pussy because he liked god until he got better and liked god again he said "I'm dearedrvil and not even god can stop that now" and he's so cool

matt is a freakish little babygirl who was raised by nuns and definitely has religious trauma. i hate him so much (affectionately)

he’s literally fucking insane about it i don’t know what to say here. he thinks he’s chosen by god to go on some sort of holy quest to save hell’s kitchen. joan of arc ass.

i already know hes in by default j just wanted to give him a personal shout out i love this angsty catholic dweeb

how practicing he is depends on the run, but in my favorite he is quite literally confessing to a member of the last extant order millitant who happens to be a priest at a church in hells kitchen.

i love him for having the funniest version of a trope i usually hate (person gets into confession booth and asks forgiveness not for what they've done, but for what they're about to do). usually this trope just looks silly to me bc like. the priest would just say "i can't do that" and you would have to either awkwardly explain yourself or just Leave. it's funny when matt does it because fr. lantom is probably like "what are you gonna do???" and matt's like "lol. lmao. 😊 hehehe." anyway we love this angry catholic man who dresses up like the devil to beat people up in hell's kitchen

I'm sure Harrow is lovely and I respect the space lesbians but listen to me. Listen.

Matt Murdock is the Catholic character of all time, and if you make him lose, I am blowing up this website and everyone in it.

He is Catholic. His mother is a nun. He grew up in a catholic orphanage. Half the episodes in the show include him going to confession. When he needs therapy, he talks to his priest. He dresses up as a devil partly because of the Catholicism.

One time he got godly powers on loan from Heimdall (see below), and he did a lot of good with it, and then the second it was over he just... well. Also see below!

This man's every coping mechanism is Catholicism.

Please vote for Matt in the @catholic-character-tournament because he's the best and most realistic representation of what it means to be Catholic. Someone who's been punched and bet and crushed by life but still gets up every day to try. No, he's not a nun like his competition but he's not less devoted because of that. Not everyone is called to service. In the day he works at a defense lawyer to help people. Not for the money but to help people not get screwed over by the law. And at night, he dons a mask and beats up assholes when the law fails them. Is he perfect? No, that's the point. Matt is a broken man who is just trying his best to do well and live like Jesus.

He fully embodies the Catholic doctrine of faith and good works. He has faith in what he's doing even if others challenge him. He believes in forgiveness and repenting even when going up against "the devil."

"The people you murder deserve another chance." ... "No, Frank. To try again, Frank. To try. And if you don't get that, there's something broken in you you can't fix, and you really are a nutjob." "You think God made you a one-man firing squad. But you're wrong. There is goodness in people, even in you. And you're gonna have to kill me, 'cause I'm never gonna stop coming for you, until I take you down."

Daredevil Season 2 Episode 3

He (tries) to love his enemy. He believes in Elektra and Frank and maybe Dex and their ability to change. To be good. And when he can't, Matt refuses to compromise on his morals. While not quite "turning his cheek" he never scoops to their level. Because they don't get to destroy who he is.

Daredevil Season 3 Episode 13

All he does is for the love he has to his neighbors, his community. He loves New York. Not for self-fulfilling needs or for the money or for the fame. He does it because he believes in justice. Because the law was created by humans and is inherently sinful.

"But his competition met God and was disappointed and blah blah"

Daredevil is more grounded (at least the show, maybe less the comics). So now, Matt doesn't met God. But he sure gets mad at him. All of season 3 he angry at God for all the trauma he expired.

"You see, that was me, Sister. I suffered willingly. I gave my, uh... sweat and blood and skin without complaint. Because I too believed I was God's soldier. ( chuckles ) Well, not anymore. I am what I do in the dark now. I bleed only for myself. ( scoffs )" ... "You might hate God right now, but the feeling is not mutual." "No, I don't hate him. I've just seen his true face, is all."

Season 3 episode 1

As a Catholic I don't really want to fight God in a parking lot. Well I do but not in the same way that I've understood (primarily Jewish people but probably other Abrahamic religions) want to fight God in a Denny's parking lot. I want to yell and scream and cry at God and for the feeling to not be mutual. For Him to never stop loving me. As long as I have faith, He will reach out his hand.

Homura

she is a catholic lesbian whose girlfriend became god. she has been through so much.

shes such a lesbian for amdoke

Catholic guilt literally turned her into a demon

she literally watches everyone she knows die over and over and over again just so she can save madoka, the one girl who showed kindness towards her. when madoka ends up basically becoming god in order to stop the cycle of death and violence, homura RIPS AWAY THE HUMAN PART OF HER SOUL so that she can create a world where she and Madoka and their friends can live happily, effectively becoming the devil to madoka’s god

She has so much religious symbolism when it comes to her relationship to Madoka. Madoka is God and Homura becomes Lucifer so that she can save Madoka and give her happiness. She literally rips God from heaven and rewrites reality though. The way she sees her self and shapes reality is through the lense of Catholicism.

most fucked up little catholic girl. we love that for her.

Okay homuras entire fuckin arc is stemmed from the fact she is Catholic. Look at her trying to save Madoka over and over again and suffering for it because she thinks if she suffers enough and works hard enough Madoka will stay. Normal people do not go into time loops willingly. Catholics will.

[itsdappleagain]

hell yeah baby backstory time

it is time for the boston tea party caper!!

notes under the cut assss always

this episode is a bit of a mix-up for me. i like it but not my favorite all things considered. i'm still excited though- some of the moments in this episode are GOLD

HQ!!!

JHSGHSD "hey red hows san diego" "not great" "im not talking about you girl"

"i thought he lived in the cloud"

player looks so unamused pls

PLEASE "though i am hearing voices again" HOW WAS THAT RELEVANT. WERE U HEARING VOICES BEFORE

shadowsan is the best character here he's so funny

THE "THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT"

if they vowed to use their "superpowers" for good and ivy hotwired that car later on i guess maybe they used to steal cars and then decided to go straight maybe

ivy is so cool

OH hey also by the way their younger designs. SO GOOD carmen should have gotten a dorky in between phase we were robbbbed

small

not trey and his butt chin

i like how the screen glitches when its paused on trey. new headcanon this is a powerpoint presentation they threw together right then and there

you dare knock LYDIA

"i got this" zack says with the confidence of a man who just ate taco bell learning they won't see another restroom for eight more hours on the road trip

the talking through the race kills me every time 😭you can't hear each other

man this racetrack has an overhead drone keeping exact pace with the leading car

zack had a chase devineaux phase too once

carmen sandiego: oh no no we're rated for seven year olds!! the boston tea party caper: the mafia boss who lent us money threatened to put a hit out on us if we didn't commit a robbery for him on a suspicious front for a money laundering operation for the mob

the main reason i dislike this episode and need for speed is because zack doesnt ever get to learn. he was impulsive and it was bad in duke of vermeer, he was impulsive and it was bad in boston tea (okay fine, it shows us his younger self! fine with that) BUT THEN HE IS IMPULSIVE AND ITS BAD AGAIN NEXT TIME. FOR THE SAME REASONS whyyy wouldn't they take duke of vermeer as an opportunity to show his growth instead of making him out to be some angry no control childish idiot who sacrifices untold amounts for a little payback. and drags ivy down with him EVERY TIME

there's something so cool and sinister about ivy smiling, reassuring him, and then slowly pulling down the ski mask to hide any emotion. ivy and zack seem like they could have been prime targets for VILE recruitment- they could have gone down a much darker path

shadowsan was so invested

carmen's puberty crammed in those few months between the boat and the boston holy shit

player accidently saved zack and ivy's asses by turning off those cameras jgjsgkd

the second perspective of zack crashing into the wall kills me every time pls

here goes carmen with "its for your own safety" who taught her that phrase

i love how z and i immediately think that this person couldnt possibly be...i dont know. an employee or a manager or someone who works at the donut place. she's gotta be another thief. i mean they are right but like why

the giant ass green vault behind the fridge door 😭

WE'RE FOLLOWIN THAT LADY FOLLOWIN THOSE BREADCRUMBS TO THE DOUGH

wait didn't they arrive in a truck parked on the other side of the building

carmen ALSO had a chase devineaux phase

???? isnt that truck she just stole the one they got there in???

i mean carmen. girl. you kicked them out of their own robbery and then stole their car did you expect them not to follow you

carmen's devineaux side coming out <3 also completely shameless carmen cant drive comic plug

there are so many car accidents literally everyone could have died in for these two (this and need for speed) episodes. credits roll as the paramedics show up to carmen who just CRASHED HER CAR INTO A FUCKING HOLE HEAD FIRST

they had to make sure to show us that carmen was literally the worst driver possible to justify zack being there

i love zack immediately getting super friendly with the random woman who just stole their car, crashed it, and then stole it again with them inside

carmen: haha suave quip zack and ivy, the two most neurodivergent bitches on the planet: IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

also carmen looks hilariously uncomfortable wedged behind this shipping crate. she's experiencing her first infodump

the loaning money joke is actually very funny

i kind of like how awkward carmen still is in some areas. she still talks like a VILE operative- she reports her every move to player, she simply responds with "understood." because thats the only way she knows how to relate

ANGY

ivy: oh no camera: zooms out to show the most outraged face the animators could draw

screenshots of all time

can you imagine your weirdgirl little 16 year old classmate dips and you see her a few months later and she's turned into this trenchcoat wearing 5'7" long haired adult woman whose only goal is to make your life a thousand times harder

not quite sure how this episode said "oh yeah. her classmates who knew her as a kid constantly call her by the wrong name and disrespect her despite constant corrections. and also her mother figure, seeing the new her, disowns her with the proclamation that this new person killed her child when she took this new name and betrayed her" and made it not transgender

le chevre was so cool about everything for like three minutes

HEY okay my favorite detail of the show is that when carmen runs in this episode she gets way out of breath because she isn't in shape yet i LOVE that detail

i have never heard more emotion from gina than when she went "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME"

THROW HER OVERBOARD

el topo is also cool about things for like three minutes

zack and ivy bounce constantly between dumb orange cat energy and golden retriever who would jump into the ocean for a guy who petted them once energy

legend has it carmen still manages to throw el topo and le chevre in the water every time they are within a mile of it

i love le chevre backing up and running away from her because he's like oh shit. wasn't she like the best in our class?? is she going to kill me or something?? why did she leave VILE what the fuck im booking it nah

YEAH I NEED THE ROPE CARMEN IS SO MEAN IN THIS EPISODE ITS SO FUCKING FUNNY

IVY RESPONDING TO THE ASK FOR "MUSCLES" WAS A UNIVERSAL LESBIAN WIN FOR EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THE PLANET GOD WHAT AN ICONIC SCENE. MILADY. ALL SHE HAD TO DO WAS KISS HER HAND GOD

its never brought up ever again that ivy's "shirt" is actually a blue undershirt and a black vest and that is criminal we needed a gay vest. something

the slomo kick is so hot

LE CHEVRE STEPPING ON HER HEAD

those plates must have hurt so fucking bad

okay well. you DO commit crimes

"the police have no idea they exist" okay. TELL THEM

SEE? VEST.

"got any room for us on your next job?" "you know what? sure! come along and help me take down this global criminal organization. uhhh what are your names again btw?"

yall i dont think eddie is going to want to see you for the money

A FLYING CAR he said yeah zack that was smart

i love how offended by literally everything the bostonians do shadowsan is

THEY MADE SHADOWSAN GET IN THE BACK BEHIND THE SEAT HAHAHAHHJHD

that hq wont be so wasted when you die of hypothermia! good luck carmen

alrighty, thats the beantown caper all done! only two more to catch up on before I'm on time again for my favorite episode this saturday >:)

[seefasters]

Oh, i dont mean to overstate potters cruelty or agency in this matter- he cant let charles or klinger go at all and its true that charles is a prick. But to me there always felt like there was a tension to me as a viewer where the show invites you to laugh at charles's and klinger's expense when they make attempts to leave that potter stops. Cus the show knows charles and especially klinger are very well justified in their desire to leave. To me it brings about this sort of intersting disonance, not in a bad way so much as a complex and interesting way that enriches the text. Potters the voice of reason and the authority figure the narrative defers to, especially in the later seasons, but his general feeling on these matters is resignation. "It is what it is" "it cant be helped." That resignation certainly isnt wrong or bad- hes being practical. But its hard to sympathize with it over hawkeye or klinger or even charles's rebellion.

As for going awol as an immoral act i suppose i was mostly thinking of various episodes in which people encourage a soldier to return to the front. I believe mulcahy encouraged a young man whod stolen a dead comrades identity in order to escape the army to return to the front. He also spent a whole episode trying to convincea kid who was trying to come home after his fiancee left him that he needed to return to the front. The show always shows characters being reluctant to do that sort of thing, but later on in the show i feel a real sense of resignation to that status quo. Idk if thats making sense but ive been thinking about it a lot. I feel like MASH's castwide emotjonal arc as a whole often concerns itself with the tension between rebellion (which runs the risk of being unrealistic or dangerous) and resigning yourself to reality (which runs the risk of being callous or despair inducing) i personally feel that the show tends to strike a really good balance, but theres something really interesting to me about the fact that, in my opinion, potter (who is loved by pretty much the whole staff and is generally considered the voiceof reason and wisdom) is also the most ardent voice of resignation if that makes sense? Hes wonderful and smart and more often than not hes right- rebellious acts are unrealistic theyre dangerous they cant be done without serious repercussions, the best way to do good is within the system and slyly- not because its the best way to do it but because it is the most effective way to do it without being destroyed by the powers that be. Him being smart or empathetic or reasonable doesnt make him any less oppositional to the spirit of spitfire rebellion that hawkeye embodies it. Potter dampens that. Perhaps thats by necessity for fear that hawkeye burns out, but to me that sort of effect feels more complicated than good or bad. Potter's mediating presence is an expression of care- he is a buffer between his unit and the cruel beurocratic military machine. But making the weight of the armys control easier to bear normalizes it- it puts a kind paternal face on the military authority they are all bring crushed by. The fact that he truly cares and is working within the system in the manner his is doesnt really lessen thar to me- which doesnt make potter villianous or wrongheaded so much as it complicates his approach at least to me. (Sorry a million billion words. Poter thesis to me- i love him i think hes great and his ideological position in the show is rlly interesting)

i don't think the narrative defers to potter as thee authority figure necessarily - he's the "good" army man and the show has to marry this with hawkeye's (and, in turn, the show's) anti army sentiments, which it does with various degrees of success

i do agree with everything else you said though! the mulcahy thing has always confused me a bit too, like sometimes they give him this black and white thinking and sometimes they give him complex moral problems (if i remember correctly, his opposition to the soldier who stole a dead man's identity was that the dead family won't ever learn that the man died, not that the soldier won't return to the front). and there's the episode where he tries to shelter a soldier who's AWOL simply because the soldier requested sanctuary

[siswritesyanderes]

i dont know how you can make characters such as phineas flynn and edmund pevensie appealing to read about but you done did. i have to wonder though, what made you suddenly up and think "yk who would make a great yandere? a ginger triangle from a disney cartoon who gets up to silly hijinks with his stepbrother. am i a great writer? yes. yes i am." (im not trying to make fun of you its just such a wild thought that you managed to make work so well and i also needed to make a phineas and ferb joke)

Lol, thank you!

Yeah, I am right there with you about how strange it is. I think part of it is that Phineas is a character I liked a lot when I was younger (Though not a cartoon crush, in the vein of Zuko...probably on account of him being a triangle. 😁 I just liked him a lot.), but also one I consider a little eerie. Like, he's almost unwaveringly cheerful and positive, he's pretty universally well-liked, and the universe he occupies actively contrives for things to work out for him. (I believe Milo Murphy's Law even made it canon that Phineas and Ferb have quantifiable good luck.)

The cheerfulness thing I find fascinating because it kind of plays with expectations for cheerful characters? In a way? Like, he has the vibe of a character who would be written as happy-stupid, but he's objectively brilliant, he's fully aware of other people's motivations (I remember that when I was younger there was a point where I thought Phineas just didn't know Candace was trying to bust him and Ferb, but he explicitly did know, and he just didn't mind or care), and his general happiness, to my recollection, isn't ever used as a means in which other characters walk all over him. The other characters admire and respect him. And then, of course, there's the occasions where he does get angry, which I'm not fully going into right now, but just the fact that he has a full range of emotions but overwhelmingly leans happy, positive, optimistic, confident, etc. suggests a complex inner world, to me.

And since I enjoy yandere characters, it was a short walk for me to go from "This character's behavior and his influence on the world around him intrigue me" to "So, if he were obsessed with somebody, how would that manifest?" Basically, almost any character I find suitably interesting, I've thought of as a yandere. I just don't always follow that train of thought all the way to writing about it, because the outcome isn't always interesting enough to justify the mortifying ordeal of being outwardly the kind of person who would make this character yandere, lol.