#her only desire is to know his rationale for doing it. which is love!

[2n2n]

Heyyy ! I just wonder, I’m quite disappointed/worried because possessiveness seems depicted as romantic in the manga, and it makes me uncomfortable. What do you think about it ?

Personally, I think you should stop reading this manga, for your own good. Its like the fundamental bones of this manga are against you.

It's not only Jibaku Shounen; AidaIro's catalogue is loaded with possessive or 'yandere' scenes, and they are explicitly romantic. Narisokonai Snow White even does it on both sides of its master/servant relationship! My Dear Living Dead is bittersweet, and possessive to the extreme. Amane made Tsukasa his shrine object. Amane makes Nene his kannagi. That's the sort of person Amane is... across AUs, it's common to have more overt master/servant relationships or degrading of another's personhood... or a covetousness that takes all it pleases, whenever it pleases. AidaIro like yandere stories... !! They like the romance of possessiveness!

As for me, this sort of thing is exactly what I love and what I live for; diving into AidaIro's catalogue has made me SO excited for the directions this manga could go... and the themes trickle down into every relationship, weaving together a vision of unbreakable attachment (whether you want it or not!) and needy, desperate hearts. The extremes of love pushing otherwise selfless, self-sacrificing people finally into selfishness... it's glorious, RUINOUSLY DECADENT I would say!! AidaIro have honed such an art form in mindbreaking a dutiful boy who keeps his head down, until he's finally forced to act possessively (Akane, Hakubo, Cult, Estelio, Rasphard...) ....

People who ask for nothing, not even their own happiness, and then take everything!!!!! I could watch such an arc happen 1 million times and never get sick of it!!!!!!!!

But I do think it's almost... egregious, that people recommending the manga don't really note this theme-- even though I see people sometimes outright mention hating the directions of all the recent romances, there's not a lot of warning about......

you know. the way it is.

The climaxes of many ships have and aaaalmost certainly will continue to be possessive language and actions ... if anything, Amane's problem is not being honest about his feelings. His feelings, oh his feelings!!!!!! HIS AMAZING FEELINGS!!!!!

I love Amane! I want to see him express everything he's trying to hold back... I want to see him submit to his deepest urges, I want to see him break and show us what he really wants, and what he's willing to do to get it, to keep it!! I want Amane to be honest, even if it's ugly, even if it's scary. Even Nene-chan likes his possessiveness! She only wishes he'd admit to it. Amane is worried, or scared, or something, of his own feelings, he tries to escape ever having to talk about any of it!!

I'M EXCITED FOR THE FUTURE, I'M EXCITED FOR IT ALL!!!! I'm sorry it's uncomfortable for you, but you're reading the wrong manga .... it is going to reward characters doing and saying crazy things. And, it's going,, to believe they are being sexy and alluring the entire time they are doing them

like its always been!

[teecupangel]

This is gonna be long, honey soooo… buckle up.

We have Desmond linked to the God of Wine, Dionysus / Bacchus with this fic (show some love and kudos this please, I adore this concept).

However, what if Desmond by chance ( Isu bullshit)  that he absorbed when he touched the Eye as he time travels back In the Renaissance before the Auditore family execution event, it manifested in him having demi-god traits but with two Gods I have in mind.

1. Aphrodite or Venus, goddess of love, beauty, pleasure and procreation. Accidentally becoming a matchmaker for people like Des incidentally shoved a man by mistake who the man then bumped into a woman, BOOM! the two madly fell in love at first sight and married with children or his charm increases, making people fall in love with Desmond. This adds angst if Desmond discovered this power,  He has low self-esteem and is severely traumatized (fuck you William for that). He would believe they really don’t love him especially the assassins and it’s just a illusion they do. Actually they do, the power only boosted his charisma but Desmond doesn’t know this shhhhh.

2. Eros or Cupid, god of carnal love. 16 year old Desmond with his newfound freedom after running away from the Farm. It’s no surprise he could be a sexually liberated man especially he’s a hot bartender to hook up in the back alley of Bad Weather. He might dabbled in BDSM, he’s a switch, but preferably doms. He also got a vasectomy to avoid impregnating a woman no Elijah in thishe believes that he shouldn’t have children, after having narcissistic father and possibly an emotionally neglectful mother can do that. An ability to sense lust or desires of a person in eagle vision could be possible.

With that being explained, regardless of which God, these abilities have pros & cons. Desmond when he is in the Renaissance, he’ll be low-key but he can’t stand out and without the currency to have a peaceful life, we needs a job. By some gift of the universe or it hates him. He ended up as a bodyguard of Rosa in Fiore by saving some courtesans from aggressive drunken men while in his clothes devolved in rags by the heat of the Eye when arrived, making him look like a beggar, good thing it was night time so his face wasn’t seen by the girls.

Its been weeks doing this job, Desmond have saved plenty coins but not enough to buy land far away and live his life maybe as a farmer or open a tavern. Lately, he been feeling unwell, no matter he drank to quench his thirst, his throat is dry as if he been in dessert with no water survive and started having hot flashes. It could just because of the clothes he donned, not a single silver lining of his skin is shown except the upper part of his face and hair but he was assumed it was if it were the fact he started having wet dreams, from memory of his many hook ups in New York or some constructed with people with no faces. He gets aroused, yes, but he has self-restraint but he also frustrated and losing his rationale.

“Dezmund~” Bianca, a courtesan who been attempting to lure him to bed. The other courtesans entertaining the patrons who had too much wine, too busy to notice the two, giving them a sense of privacy. “Bianca” he nodded with one brow raised at her. Bianca practically started to entice him with her usual flirting to him. You know what, fuck it, he thought, he proceeded to ———————

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Yeeeaaaahhhh…i won’t be too detailed so it won’t be overbearing. So giving you the mental picture is that Desmond used his knowledge of BDSM, blindfoled and tied Bianca and used her mouth to empty his frustration while he is still completely clothed. He gave her sweet aftercare and realizing his symptoms are gone and his mind is clear and —- oh fuccccckkkkkk he unintentionally created a chain reaction after this event involving himself more to the Brotherhood, the Auditore family and Leonardo

Anyway, thanks for reading this till the end, mwah <3

======================================

Additions by teecup:

… that sounds like Desmond has the curse of an Incubus, needing to ‘unload’ his pent up energy to another person.

And you know who would be fascinated by it?

Leonardo Da Vinci.

Perhaps it was during one of the times that Leonardo went to a brothel to find ‘inspiration’. Maybe it was because he had been nursing a crush on Desmond who was unattainable to his eyes, a simple bodyguard meant to keep everyone safe.

He would see the complicated expression on his face. The frustration in his eyes.

And the flushed cheeks.

Oh, Leonardo would be smitten but he’d try to act like a friend, as any attraction he might have pales in comparison to his worries concerning Desmond’s wellbeing.

Desmond sees him and finds himself being unable to lie to Leonardo.

He needed to tell someone about his problems and he trusted Leonardo.

So Leonardo listens and…

Things start to snowball from there.

At first, it was simply Leonardo trying to help Desmond while studying his ‘affliction’.

Then it became more for the thrill and pleasure they would receive from one another.

Desmond becomes Leonardo’s muse and sometimes his model…

Maria Auditore saw Leonardo’s potential and started commissioning him…

Federico comes in to get one of the finished commissions and… finds Leonardo and Desmond in a very compromising situation.

Instead of leaving… Federico decided to join in.

And Desmond knew that Federico was hiding something but it would be a while before he realized that during this time, two years before the fated day that the Auditores would be executed, Federico was already on his way to becoming a member of the Brotherhood…

…

Also… maybe Leonardo and Desmond have an open relationship which will give us more option for Desmond to ‘partner’ up with (like maybe… La Volpe??? XD)

[maya-matlin]

What are your thoughts on Anya and Jane? I'm bringing them up because they were in a whole bunch of episodes yet somehow I literally always forget they exist, which probably doesn't say much about how compelling I found their characters?! I remember loving Jane initially and then thinking the show had no idea what to do with her. And Anya just seemed like such a sheep with no personality or strong opinions of her own, but that seems somewhat intentional?!

That's interesting. I feel like Anya is very memorable, but I can see why she'd be less noticeable compared to other characters.

Anya is complicated. She was one of my top favorites for years. I loved watching her character develop. You're right that Anya was always a follower and allowed herself to be easily misled and sometimes went along with things she didn't actually want just because she didn't care enough to fight it. She was very aimless and seemed to desire romance over stability, even in cases where none of her romances stood a chance of being successful. Anyways, I'm feeling less positively about Anya because I'm struggling to get past the fact she lied about being on birth control when she slept with Sav, therefore raping him by deception? And the thing is, I don't think she ever fully understands that this behavior was wrong, and that she violated the person she claimed to love. All Anya knows is that she shared something special with Sav, and then he quickly broke off their relationship. Her passivity leads to a lot of lying and deceiving to get the outcome she wants. There was the fake pregnancy that she later used to renew her relationship with Sav before going on to lie about a miscarriage. Only to be upset with Sav for yet again lying to his parents about not dating in high school. All those two did was lie to each other. She later lies to an adult man about being a legal adult in order to pursue a romantic relationship. He doesn't get a ton of sympathy for me considering he later made plans to see her again the minute she turned eighteen, but had he been someone with morals that would have been a deal breaker and had some sort of effect on his future dating life. Then there was the Owen relationship. Even though Anya was in a vulnerable place and felt very down on herself, she willingly dated a guy who committed hate crimes against two of her good friends and who is extremely predatory towards any girl that gets too close - Anya included. She pointedly ignores gigantic red flags to get validation. But then, I also like her demeanor? As manipulative and immature as Anya can be, she has good moments and is clearly lost for most of her time on the show. She's not an entirely bad friend, but she also isn't above throwing away that loyalty when it suits her. I don't know. She has a lot of issues.

As for Jane, I agree. Jane bugs me at times because she comes across as very judgmental and is another "not like other girls" character. It almost felt like Jane had a different personality based on the season. I liked season 8 Jane the best. Season 9 Jane was pretty confusing. Suddenly, she was singing in Peter's band and sleeping with Declan. I didn't mind the rationale behind Jane's affair, but it wasn't given a lot of explanation or even much thought. Anyways, sorry. I wish I could give you a better answer about Jane.

[horizon-verizon]

Have you seen / played The Last of us II. If yes, what do you think? Personally, I don't like Abby, and especially her relationship with Yev, which is so forced that it's borderline absurd. I hope they will develop this part more in the adaptation. Because, it's fucking stupid that Abby suddenly decides that Yev becomes everything to her, in just two / three fucking days. Clearly, it was just a reminder of the Joel & Ellie relationship, but it just sucked.

I did see Part II, but I barely remember how she actually bonded with Yev. I'm planning on rewatching. Can't answer for that.

However, I remember liking the overall story while still missing Joel. I like how how it continues from Ellie's struggle to forgive Joel for essentially putting himself above the world and denying her wish while still loving him. Also how we lean more into the dark side or risk of love and it's loss: revenge.

In a dystopia (defined as "an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic" OR "a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding"), people will form strong bonds and find some sort of hope in each other, biologically connected or not. It is what makes them the same and safe. Revenge is maybe inevitable in a context like this, even for Ellie.

Ellie is an example of a person who also has bigger hopes of ending human suffering though partially because she lost so many people to the fungus and the former society's dissolution, while Joel's interests conflict with hers as he simply wishes to survive with those he loves around him. They see each other as parent-child, but she would have (and does) have so much resentment and rage because her hopes were dashed, her desire to fulfill what she thought was her purpose has now gone to the way side and she felt she would never have another opportunity like that again. And she feels that Joel betrayed her trust when she has trusted in him, him knowing that she would have wanted to risk herself for this cure that she knows could come to nothing whether due to human stupidity, miscalculation, or ineffectuveness.

To have her lose Joel before she could really come to terms with that and reconcile, Joel is taken from her. And perhaps she feels she has to make up for "abandoning" him, reconnect in a twisted way, as well as give herself a new purpose through revenge for his person who raised and protected her. But even in my words, it shows that it's both about Joel and not about Joel -- purpose.

And one scenario where that love for someone conflicting with the "love" for humanity ends up destroying the regard for oneself, blinding them into abandoning themselves and others in a perpetual cycle that can only be stopped by an active choice.

IDK, I liked the twists. I and thought that it was actually very natural for the story to go the way it did. Again, did I miss Joel? Of course! I believe that that is kinda the point of his early death in the game. He hangs over us and Ellie like a lead shadow, her memory and grief urging and pressing her to travel outside of the place where Joel took her to keep her safe and have her develop something like a "normal" life. She made the choice to leave that life, that safe haven to right a wrong, when she hadn't ever confronted the first wrong, which can never truly be confronted because Joel is dead! Crazy writing, loved it.

We at first root for her because we liked Joel and how he died was brutal...and then we come up against the fact that his death was also a revenge killing?! A woman avenging her father, using the rationale of how her father was more "important" than Ellie because he was getting a cure? Abby, with her own hypocrisies that mirror Ellie's and Joel's, when we all know the tri reason she killed Joel was for her father, as the show's Kathleen pursued Henry and Sam? What?!

[damoobiefeater]

The Little Mermaid (2023)

Awesome remake!!

Halle Bailey was SO PERFECT, she definitely looks like a mermaid, and she has such a naive and curious disposition and appearance to herself and her acting!!

The costumes were so creative and beautiful, I loved the different mermaid designs, especially the colors and details on Ariel’s costume, like the frills on her top, and I appreciate that they didn’t limit themselves to a direct translation of the animated version. I also loved triton’s armor that had the pattern and pearlescent or whatever effect to it

Speaking of king triton, I loved that he directly addressed his wrong but still needed some time to come to terms with the fact that Ariel coming home safe wasn’t the solution he thought it was, and that her desire to go above land wasn’t a silly, passing phase, definitely not purely a matter of infatuation with Eric. She had a passion for learning about land and the culture of humans just as marine biologists have for the sea and it’s creatures, hence her extensive collection of artifacts. Eric was only a vehicle for her to explore that interest, maybe a catalyst when her father learned of him and destroyed her grotto

The first time through I thought he came off as more lowkey abusive than the animated version, but I think that’s because they cut the scene where he’s looking on in pride and admiration at his other daughters’ concert before he realizes ariel isn’t there, and we didn’t get to see him being excited about her finding love and having the little flower etc- which all show more explicitly that he wants to be a good, supportive dad

It was an interesting choice to say that her mother was killed by humans and that was when the decision to stop going to the surface began. Even though I see the rationale behind it, it’s such a trope that I kind of prefer a separated ignorance of the human specifies (from what I remember of the original, but maybe I’m forgetting and this detail was cannon)

Some of the scenes looked STUNNING and magical and whimsical, just everything disney stands for to me, making me experience wonder again, especially the “under the sea” scene. But a few of the shots looked awkward or cheap which puzzles me a bit, as if they didn’t do well at evenly dispersing their budget- like the scene where Ursula gets giant is kinda bad to me. Also when it’s the iconic scene where Ariel comes out of the water onto the rocks, I don’t know what or why but her fingers moving over the rocks as she moves to the side to center on the rock looks really bad to me almost like she’s getting moved on a platform or something out of sight.

Halle Bailey has such a beautiful voice but I think it was definitely the best in Under the Sea, and I can only think of why because she gets to do her own little vocal riffs or whatever they’re called instead of directly matching the source material like “part of your world”

I loved the decision to make scuttle female, I think the personality grated on me less somehow, and I thought the scuttlebutt song was a cute addition, although when Sebastian started rapping it lost my appeal a bit- I genuinely love a lot of rap and think it has its place but this one in particular didn’t appeal to me as much as (for example) the one in encanto. It just reeked of a generic Lin Manuel Miranda haha- as much as I love him!

I did like the world building and the scene with the shopkeepers was pretty and warm! Very lively and showing ariel exactly what she felt she’d been missing such as her desire to dance! Eric’s room of collections was also a HUGE plus to this movie for me- because it showed how much they are kindred spirits. They are both explorers and dreamers who long to travel and learn whereas the original seemed like they just kinda happened to fall in love

I could be wrong about this but I appreciate that the deception by Ursula’s human form plus the wedding seemed more concise in this one- I hate lengthy sequences of misunderstandings

This is silly but I do wish that triton had made the rainbow across the sky, as it was one of my favorite memories/scenes of the original movie! But I think it’s nice that instead of getting married right away (but also not degrading it or denying the eventual possibility) they set off on an adventure together! Shows that a happily ever after can be chasing your passion and dreams and the love can come along with it!! In the original I get the vibes that the marriage is what finally settles ariel and Eric’s desires for something outside of their bubbles, but I think that’s boring and unrealistic!

Finally, it does bother me as always that it seems like media refuses to just let black characters have a black family/cast- it seems like they always have to be offset by either other marginalized races or white people- they’re often biracial with one white parent or it’s all blind casted or whatever, I just wish they’d let Ariel’s family be black! They do have a little explanation for it- the races coinciding with the oceans they belong to, and representation is good, so I’ll let it go, but it was something of note to me! Especially if we are to believe that ariel was supposed to inherit her father’s place in whatever ocean they’re in (I clearly haven’t done research and don’t even know if that’s a real assumption to be made- but in the original, their tails are the only ones that match, I think, and I get the vibe that although the older sisters have their responsibilities elsewhere, that ariel is expected to stay here which also gives explanation to her desire to explore and her sisters’ indifference to it, plus more motive for her dad to want her to learn to be happy where she is- but I’m glad they didn’t put that in explicitly because that’s very Moana haha

One random other thing is that I think it would have been cool if the merpeople had helped retrieve some of the things from Eric’s sunken ship at the end of the movie, but I guess it all would’ve probably been ruined by then anyways and the humans don’t have much to offer the merpeople if we’re trying for a symbiotic relationship. And really, now that I’m thinking of it, I think I’m okay with them not coming to that cliche conclusion- just because they might now have the right to go on land/to the surface if they please doesn’t mean that they have to all agree to merge cultures and forge connections with one another. And realistically, how much coexisting is really happening when one of the communities is at the bottom of the ocean haha

Over all 10/10!!

[shinraelectricpowercom]

So someone in the notes pointed out that it's a little? weird? for Idril to be a participant in the "asking Turgon not to execute Eöl" thing, and I agree that JRRT's rationale for it was probably just more of his "women as tempering influences and Kind, Merciful People" thing which, blah, boring.

That said! I do think there are some potential reasons for both Idril & Aredhel to be against the execution that actually reflect on or contribute to their characterization beyond "womanly and kind".

Aredhel: it's possible she still loves Eöl in some way and wants him not to die, period; it's possible she hates his guts & wants him punished, but not dead, because she doesn't think killing people is a good solution to problems (anymore); it's possible she wants him dead but doesn't want Maeglin to see his father die; it's possible she wants him dead but doesn't want Turgon to do it, because she wants to do it her damn self, or something else; it's also possible she's thinking about the politics.

Idril: as @foiazoli noted, it's possible she just wants Turgon to not kill someone, whether that's for Turgon's sake or anyone else's. She also is presumably aware of Aredhel's past disagreements with Turgon re: Aredhel leaving Gondolin, where Turgon basically went "I'm the King, you have to listen to me" and Aredhel had to set down an ultimatum to be allowed her own desires, and has decided that she's going to support Aredhel because if Turgon won't listen to his sister, maybe he'll listen to his sister and daughter. And then the politics.

[The Politics hidden under cut bc I love talking about politics & it got. long.]

THE POLITICS: In the relatively precarious situation of Beleriandic International Relations, Turgon executing Eöl is possibly VERY RISKY. Depending on your read of the text, it's possible that the only actual crime Eöl has committed at the point where Turgon says "I'm gonna kill him" and Aredhel says "do not kill him" is "attempted murder". I know Gondolin's entire thing was "planning to stay isolated forever", but to anyone who didn't think that would work out for the actual rest of time (eg, Idril), "the King of the Noldor's second son executed a visiting Sinda for injuring his sister" is potentially disastrous for the Noldor (& especially Fingolfin's followers) in terms of their credibility with other groups if it becomes widely known.

Even in the reading where Eöl did abduct & rape Aredhel, there's questions of process & authority: Eöl, who the Quenta makes very clear is a subject of Thingol, has committed a crime against Aredhel, a Princess of the Noldor; whose law do they follow? They're in Gondolin, where Turgon is King and makes/enforces the laws, but he's legally subordinate to Fingolfin; what do Fingolfin's laws say about this sort of situation? The crime was committed in Nan Elmoth, and Eöl explicitly rejects Turgon's (and Fingolfin's) legal authority over him, so should he be punished by Doriath's laws? Is Thingol in any way culpable for his subject's misbehavior? Should he be consulted about the punishment?

All of these questions are rendered moot in practice by Gondolin's isolationism of course, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't rapidly become VERY VERY RELEVANT if that isolationism ever ended and word of Eöl's summary execution got out, and Thingol was still a major player on the political field; which you would expect him to continue to be, as it's only the intervention of Literal Fate (in the form of Beren-meeting-Luthien) that leads to Thingol's death. So I personally would rather play it safe & cautious wrt Not Pissing Thingol Off if I were a politically-minded Fingolfinian in Beleriand.

I don’t even think it’s textually supported that Aredhel would have been happy with Turgon executing Eöl. If anything, the textual evidence we do have is that “Aredhel and Idril moved [Turgon] to mercy”, which is presumably to say they convinced Turgon not to decide to execute Eöl BEFORE Aredhel died, which means that at that point, even after he tried to kill their son, Aredhel still doesn’t want Eöl dead. (Or at least doesn’t want him executed.)

And then she dies, and Turgon immediately executes Eöl.

[cto10121]

R&J Clown Takes Round ♾ + Part 10

In which I got a truly deranged Instagram reel from the depths of the algorithm, ranting about how R&J are totes not a love story. Thus rampant clownage ensued. And so: Once more unto the breach, my good friends.

BFFs With Shakespeare

Clown OP knows this because they have drinks every Sunday with Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Fletcher, and all of dem cats down at the Dolphin. It’s a great hub. Clown OP is the one who has to hold Jonson back when Shakespeare starts roasting him.

And true, Will is always bemoaning about teen girls chasing after boys constantly—that’s why he wrote so many happy romantic comedies about teen girls doing just that and getting their heart’s desire. He just hated it that much.

Clown OP 2 is also good friends with Will, and heard this straight from his lips. It was a typical evening at the Dolphin in 1594 and Shakespeare was in a rant about Arthur Brooke’s narrative poem about R&J and how his canon sucks and that actually, R&J are truly in love and their end was truly tragic and he WILL PROVE IT. Only Clown OP 2 misheard “tragic” for “basic” and thought Shakespeare was casting shade about his own adaptation. Clown OP 1 also didn’t hear it, as they were too busy trying to prevent Ben Jonson from dueling Fletcher.

Romeo the Death Eater

Romeo forced Tybalt to seek him out and try to duel him, he forced Mercutio duel Tybalt, and of course he forced Juliet to take her life from beyond the grave. Everything is Romeo’s fault because it certainly isn’t Tybalt’s. They’ve stopped teaching cause and effect relationships in school, haven’t they?

Creepy Italian Groomer is back! I was starting to miss thee. It’s been awhile. How’s it been? Still intellectually bankrupt, I see. No, I will not lend thee money.

Let me help you out, OP. “Shall I hear more or shall I speak of this?” “Shall I move forward when my heart is here?” “I am too bold; ‘tis not to me she speaks.” Textual evidence for his ADHD, clearly.

Juliet tells some equivocating half-truths and suddenly she is a criminal mastermind. As for the lost puppy, I dare you to tell Juliet that to her face. Homegirl compares Romeo to a very different and sexy animal altogether.

Cool fanfic, bruh. Really liked your prostitute OC. That scene where she breaks up with Romeo in the afternoon was heartbreaking.

Both Sides!1!!1!1

A lot of word vomit here. But okay, OP. I’ll bite and take you seriously.

Is Shakespeare trying to make a point about the stupidity of both sides, the youths and the older generations? Is the satire truly equal on both sides?

Well, no. While there is no character that is truly without flaws (because this is Shakespeare, after all) the youths definitely get a way more sympathetic edge from the narrative in a way that their parents don’t. R&J are the beating and living heart of this play, dynamic and intricately developed, Mercutio is downright luminous with the right actor, Benvolio is just straight up too good for this world, and even Tybalt gets some baller lines and fiery speeches—he’s so much fun to play, and plus, his death actually has weight in the narrative.

The parents…not so much. While the Friar and even the Nurse have moments of adult wisdom, the Capulets are pure dysfunction. The Montague parents are much nicer but just simply…there. When the Capulets mourn Juliet, it’s written as a cacophony, almost garishly insincere in its repetition. I don’t think that’s an adequate parallel with R&J’s moments of despair. Even there the lovers are eloquent, even rhetorical: Of course I’m upset because of X and Y!!! There is rationale even if their emotions are too much. I think it’s clear which side got the most satire.

And that’s why Shakespeare wrote R&J falling in love with each other when they don’t even know each other’s names and already be at 110% in their love (Juliet: “If he be marrièd / My grave is like to be my wedding bed”). To illustrate this exact point.

The Quiet Part

Shh, OP! You’re not supposed to say the quiet part aloud. Number one rule of clownery and you broke it.

[kingofthewilderwest]

DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms liveblog A Hole New World

The Hidden World comment is pandering but that’s actually sorta a funny / natural one to say.

Alex continues to be the best thing about this show. Also she’s cute. I want to squish her cheeks.

“Are you stalking me? That’s so sneaky.” “I’m sneaky? I think you have me mixed up with yourself.” WRITE BETTER DIALOGUE DUDES.

“He has this lightning thing...” [dragon gets scratched under chin and collapses to the ground] haha.

They honestly don’t have good rationale written into the story for why not to tell adults about the dragons. Like, it’s there, but it’s not. A few stray lines about “the corporation” and “too dangerous” does not a strong reason make. You gotta lean into it, especially because we’re talking about kids, whose reasonings are not going to be the same as adult reasonings. Alex is the only one who believably would make these arguments.

“June! June, it’s safe!” says the boy who’s almost fallen off a dragon or nearly plunged to his death every time he’s been in the air. Tommmm.

For all I know that TNR blatantly, repeatedly references and parallels HTTYD (have had multiple friends vent about that hahaha), I’m happy that June’s flight wasn’t spun like an Astrid romantic flight. The music stayed with the triumphant main theme, and while both June and Astrid were scared to be on a dragon, it’s for different reasons, and it’s different reactions. June loves dragons; she’s just not as bold as Tom. That’s rather different from courageous, dragon-fighting Astrid being yoinked into the sky against her desire. Tom has already convinced June to keep the dragon a secret. And Tom doesn’t need to get on better terms with June, who’s content to be with a childhood friend.

“I can’t believe how friendly they are,” June says as she hugs a Terrible Terror. In my hypothetical rewrite, the Terrible Terror lunges at her and tries to eat her nose.

I mean come on these are Terrible Terrors. They are the epitome of obnoxious. I wanna see obnoxiousness.

Of course, a calm dragon is easier to animate, and this show has more conservative and less swift movements a la budget constraints.

Okay but that’s a lovable and creative dragon design. THAT is the spirit of HTTYD dragon species creativity, borrowing from unique species in the real world, etc.

“I dunno, your destiny looks really angry.” pfffffft XD

One head eating the necklace and the other burping is a hysterical touch.

Seriously how can you not love these things?

Haven’t talked about it before but another area of clear limited budget is the environments. A few objects repeated, otherwise bare. But it’s not the most important thing to talk about. It doesn’t make or break a show.

Thunder’s tail having a triangle-esque webbing instead of Toothless’s duo webbing is a nice, small difference.

Being chased by the spiky dudes would be more realistic if you established they had poor vision or poor smell or some sense.

The amount of the dragons understanding language is going to bother me. Albeit I know the fandom does this lots too. I like seeing the animals from a more naturalistic, realistic sense, which means non-human animals don’t understand human gestures, don’t do human gestures, and don’t understand human speech in all but a few heavily repeated words.

ROTFLHHHHHH did you notice she abruptly switched heads on which dragon she was riding when they cut away? ANIMATION ERROR.

How fast they bond with the dragons is unrealistic, but it doesn’t annoy me because 1). the ROB/DOB/RTTE series sometimes fast-tracked that, too, and 2). TNR doesn’t have many episodes, so instead of making montages or something, they’re speeding up the trust process. Suspension of disbelief is what I’m gonna do, knowing it’s harder to pull off narratively given their time limit.

[yoonpobs]

bodyguard | kth | m

pairing: kim taehyung x oc

genre: enemies to lovers, Bodyguard!AU but oc is the bodyguard, fluff?

warnings: eventual smut, sexual tension, light choking, suggestive content bc oc is a minx and so is tae, i'll add as the story progresses, kim taehyung as a rich kid

words: 2, 138

summary: you protect taehyung from people but forget about the biggest threat. yourself.

“You’re who Namjoon hired?”

You’re used to having bewildered expressions when they find out that you out of all other possible candidates was what your agency decided to provide clients with rather than an objectively more stereotypical option—the big man.

But you were here for a specific reason and you knew that your duty lied in your responsibility to the man in front of you, even if his expression of doubt irritates you.

“Yes, Mr Kim. My name is ____.” You bow your head slightly, hands held together by your pelvis as you stand with your back straight.

The man in front of you glances over at his assistant, who only shoots him a firm nod as if to tell him that he was in fact stuck with you, despite all the uncertainties he may have.

Frankly, when Seokjin first recruited you into the agency, you were merely meant to be in charge of off-field duties and act as intel for field agents, but few of your previous mentors recognised your potential and physical agility when it came to mandatory training and pushed for you to be trained as an official agent rather than a tech lady.

You were lucky that a few of your colleagues had long ditched the misogynistic mindset that women were biologically weaker than men and would serve as a liability to the agency, but there were still a few higher-ups that were traditional in every sense that stuck their noses in your business when Seokjin would assign you to high profile clients.

Kim Taehyung was no different, but you were sure he fell into the latter of the traditional man. He did come from a lineage of old money.

“But you’re a … woman.” He says slowly, eyeing you up and down.

Even the outfit you were in was far off the usual appearance that most bodyguards would take on the first day of work. A long dress with a maxi slit by your leg, which left little to imagine what lies beneath. You bite your tongue to keep the snarky remark down and nod your head tightly to your new boss.

“I best fit the requirements you listed out to my agency.” Is your simple response.

His assistant steps between the two of you before your boss can say anything else, and based on your observations you note that he probably is the rationale behind Kim Taehyung’s mind; the reasonable and objective one.

“I’ll show ____ around headquarters just so she’s aware of the layout.” His assistant says hastily.

You don’t miss the last look your boss gives you, and all you do is bow your head before you turn on your heels, pulling out the gun in your garter and hold it behind your back—ready for duty.

“Jesus fucking Christ, _____.”

You’re used to hearing Taehyung sneer at you. It was something that you needed to get used to when you first were hired for the job because while he was known as an icon, a genius behind his father’s legacy—he was still wholly immature in every sense of a man child.

“Yes, Mr Kim?” You say blandly, flipping through the brochure that was laying idly on his coffee table; clearly ignoring the glare he was shooting you as he wraps the robe tighter around his frame.

Before he can open his mouth to yell at you again, you see the silhouette of the woman that was previously occupying his bed scurry past by the two of you, offering a meek bow of her head towards Taehyung before she’s out the door.

Your eyes follow her uninterestedly until you hear the click of the door, signalling that she was out and gone.

“What is your problem? Is my sex life something you need to protect too?” Taehyung spits.

You skim your eyes over his frame and spot a few marks littered along the expanse of his neck before your eyes rest on his tightened expression; your own one remaining impassive.

“My duty is to ensure you’re safe.” You remind him.

He scoffs, running a hand through his tangled hair—a clear testament to what he was engaging in before you had shamelessly kicked the woman out, mid-progression.

“Hyunbi is harmless.” He sneers at you.

You note that his erratic behaviour was likely a symptom of being cock-blocked, so you hold your tongue and just level him with an unimpressed stare.

“Hyunbi is the heir to the Im group. Need I remind you that her father’s company is the one that threatens your stockholders?”

Frankly, you try to engage with Taehyung on business matters as little as you could because all you were here for was to protect him and ensure that his head wouldn’t be served on the plate of an assassin that was out to get him.

You scoff to yourself because men were truly blinded by their desires and he would’ve risked his family’s fortune because he wanted to get laid.

“Okay, and? She was about to suck my dick not steal intel to the company.” He scoffs.

You don’t say anything but drop the files you found in her purse as you were doing your much-needed background checks on the woman that was visiting on such short notice, especially given the fact that she managed to bypass the system on being on the list before she was sent up.

The moment the beautiful women stepped foot into the apartment, you knew something was off about her. It was intuition from years of training under your belt, but also a womanly instinct. An intuitive sense that told you that she was going to wreak havoc if she could, and it was your duty to prevent that from happening.

“What’s this?” He picks up the documents to skim over the contents.

You don’t say anything but keep your eyes focused on his expression when you see it morph from confusion to realisation and pure mortification.

“She was going to blackmail me?” He asks in a disbelieving tone.

You nod your head.

“And if I hadn’t intervened then she would have probably falsely claimed that she was carrying your child.”

Taehyung shoves the documents aside and rubs his hands across his face, releasing a grunt as he lays back into the expensive leather of his couch.

“I can’t even get laid.” He huffs.

You roll your eyes.

“Taehyung,” You call out to him sternly, and when he opens one eye to look at you, only then do you continue, “You need to be more careful with who you fraternise with. You’re the CEO of the biggest manufacturing company in Korea and that is bound to make you a target to competitors. I can’t be cross-checking every single person you come across because my job is to protect you from physical harm—not be your mother.”

He narrows his eyes at you, and you see the petulance skim the surface of his iris as he leans forward, ensuring that his gaze is kept on your blank expression.

“So, that’s it? I can’t fuck around with anyone? Just because of my position? That’s a load of bullshit ____.” He snaps.

You purse your lips and give him a pointed glare.

“Stop twisting my words. Fuck who you like but be smart about who you stick your dick into.” You tell him lowly.

“Then I might as well fuck you, right? You’re the only person I can trust.” He sneers, leaning closer to you.

Your eyes widen, and your stoic demeanour is interrupted with his blunt words.

While you couldn’t deny that your boss was undeniably attractive, and alluded major sex appeal—he was still your boss and you would never cross professional boundaries no matter how much your body betrayed you. Even the Taehyung’s banter got much more … explicit and flirty, you brushed it off as him being himself. But he’s never explicitly stated anything like that before.

When you realise you’re gaping at him, you quickly try to compose yourself but unfortunately for you, he immediately catches on your surprised expression and bathes in it.

He smirks at you, standing up to walk across to where you were sat and plops next to you, a bit too close for a boss to be to his bodyguard.

“I’m right, aren’t I? You said to be smart and fuck someone who won’t have anything against me.” He whispers into your ear and you try to stop the shivers that travel down your body.

Taehyung notices how tense you are and reaches an arm to trail down your neck, slowly and teasingly until it rests on your hipbone.

You curse yourself for wearing only a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, since it was meant to be your day off until you were made aware of Hyunbi’s visit.

“Watch your mouth, Kim Taehyung.” You grit.

He snorts but nuzzles his nose into the column of your neck, and you feel the hot breath fan across your skin.

“You’re not denying it. Does that mean you want me to fuck you? Nice and deep?” He whispers the words against your skin and you can’t help the involuntary clamp of your thighs.

Taehyung, even as dense as he is, picks up on your movement immediately and reaches his other hand to keep your thighs apart, large hand sprawled across your thigh and you marvel for a moment at how big his hands are.

“Bet I could fuck the uptightness out of you, sweets.”

“Did you forget that I know everything about you?” You hiss, attempting to sound threatening but that only causes Taehyung to grin wider.

“Ooo. I love it when you get bitchy with me.” He teases, rubbing a circle with his thumb on your inner thigh as you feel desire pool in your belly.

“You’re insufferable.” You huff and you hate the way you sound breathless.

“Did I ever tell you how much your bitchiness turns me on? Always dreamed of shutting you up with my cock.” He confesses against your cheek this time and your eyes widen comically, your own hand clamping over his one over your thigh.

As Taehyung momentarily gets distracted with mouthing at your ear, you come to your senses and realise that you’re becoming the pawn in his game.

You quickly flip him over, until he’s settled under you with your knees sprawled next to his thighs, pelvis’ nearly touching as he smirks at you.

“Listen, Kim,” You whisper, leaning down until your noses are touching and you can spot every freckle on his face. He leans up to chase your breath but you don’t allow him the satisfaction of caving in.

“You’d never be able to handle my pussy.” You grin at him.

His eyes darken, and you feel his hands rest tightly on your hip.

You straddle his thighs and lean in until you’re sure his cock feels your pussy against him through the barrier of his robe and your shorts.

“Try me.” He challenges, mirth dancing in his eyes.

“You know why?” You lean into his ear to whisper, and your hands trail down his chest slowly and seductively until they reach the opening of the robe where his pelvis is, touch teasing and suggestive, especially when his breath hitches.

“Why?” He attempts to grind up to you, blinded by his carnal desire.

“Because …” You bite his earlobe and hear the grunt he lets out, cock unmistakably hardening until your core.

“Once you fuck me, you’ll never be able to fuck any other pussy without wishing it was mine.” You say as you pepper kisses down his jaw, right up to his chin until your lips are hovering above his.

But as soon as he attempts to close the distance, you push yourself off of him and return to your stoic and professional stance.

“You have a meeting with your investors in twenty.”

Taehyung gapes at you, the outline of his cock clear against the thin material of his robe as he releases heavy breaths of want as he looks at you in disbelief.

“You can’t be serious.” He snaps.

You shrug your shoulders and cock your head to the clock behind him.

“Good luck getting ready, Kim.” You say with a final smirk, enjoying the fact that you had him frustrated and high.

“This isn’t the end, _____.” He says lowly.

“You better hurry up and hope you finish in less than twenty minutes.” You tease, and you see the tip of his ears burn.

“Maybe I’ll give it five.” You say, flipping your hair over your shoulder and making sure to add a little sway to your hips when you walk away.

You briefly hear a fuck being uttered when you open the door to leave, and you feel triumphant with what you left him with.

[siryouarebeingmocked]

and generally only attack if startled, protecting its cubs or protecting its food

"Protecting its cubs" can include "literally just being anywhere near the cub, even if you're not doing a single threatening thing". Like this guy.

Who got away, and then the bear came back to maul him some more.

Hence the phrase "mama bear".

Dude had bear spray and a gun, and he still got messed up.

Up until recently, the last person in America killed by a bear was literally just some guy sitting on his own property, drinking coffee. Other people ran up and tried to scare the bear off.

They had to shoot it.

It was already too late.

If you meet a male stranger alone in the woods, with nobody around and no consequences, your chances aren’t good - roughly as bad as your chances with a bear considering how many men are rapists.

In the interests of space, I'd like to point out that the genius up there went two longs posts claiming the evidence backed them up, but only provided actual links in the third.

And even then, it was just for bear attacks, not men.

I also like the smug "U MAD" bit, when they clearly showed up seething and passive-aggressive themselves.

Since your odds of being attacked are more or less equal it’s not illogical that many women are picking the bear, especially because in a forest with no witnesses a woman likely wont be believed if she accuses the man of rape whereas she will be if she sustains a bear injury.

You've offered two different rationales here, and I've seen plenty more from Team Bear.

Y'all are always so certain you have the explanation.

Also, you know sex crime police units and "rape kit" forensic examinations are things that exist, right?

Do you think those are mostly for male rape victims?

I have seen multiple people on Team Bear say they didn't care about the actual chance of being attacked, but being believed.

It is not sexism to want to protect yourself from rape. It’s deeply concerning that the only thing that concerns you is the reputation of men during this debate

Ah, yes, how dare someone be concerned when women say they're more afraid of half the human race than notoriously dangerous wild animals.

I love how you have to try and steelman open and explicit prejudice against men into just the desire "to protect yourself from rape".

Meanwhile, loads of people on Team Bear said that being killed by the bear is better than what the man might do to you. They had all these fantasies about men kidnapping and torturing women from the woods.

Which is, uh, pretty unlikely, considering most assailants, sexual or not, already know their victim.

Not why men rape women at such grossly disproportionate rates

Boy, that's a dramatic phrase that doesn't really say anything.

Say, did you know that it's physically impossible for a woman in the UK to commit "rape", by law (Sexual Offenses Act 2003), unless she uses her penis?

and why women are rarely believed.

Why do you think spouting feminist bromides about rape are going to be convincing to someone who clearly disagrees with that sort of thing?

Are you just incapable of understanding people who disagree with you?

I think you are.

PB >5) no, you specifically said "dangerous." A higher likelihood of being attacked due to encountering more of them does not equate to being more dangerous. Again, increase bear encounters to the same level as men encounters and bear attacks would skyrocket. XD they are only rare cuz we rarely encounter them.

Yeah, this one's also a classic. They consistently ignore how the hypothetical was about a single, random encounter, to hide behind stats they don't understand.

Roxy>I mean, I get why you didn't bother to look because randos sending links to defend idiotic arguments isn't to be respected, but that the yahoo you're arguing with also didn't bother to check makes it kinda funny because NONE of this works within the framework they want it to.

This strike you as someone with an abundance of critical thinking? They couldn't even pretend to be intellectual for long.

Why women choose the bear: https://www.whoismakingnews.com/

Don't care. Still irrational. Most men won't hurt you if you get too close. All bears will hurt you if you get too close.

They are territorial, wild animals.

Also, quite a lot of women are not team bear. XD Quite a lot of women understand how sexist and stupid that choice is.

[izloveshorses]

here’s a thought: anastasia was the embodiment of what it means for a story to be told from the female gaze and a lot of its criticisms were about those exact characteristics 

actually, u know what, i had a lot of cherry moscato and i talked about this for hours with leah the other night as i typed the above paragraph, and the more i think about it the more there is to say. so i’m gonna write this essay now instead of later when i think i’m more coherent. here’s a quick summary of my rationale and the expansion of my thoughts will be under the cut because i got a little wordy, as usual :)

listed below are characteristics that fall under the female gaze theory:

the main lead is one of the most complicated characters out there and yet her desire is so simple and therefore so universal: she wants love. she wants to belong. she wants to figure out who she is.

the main lead is looking for a matron, whether she’s aware of it or not, and the matron is looking for her.

the other women in the show are also complex and are allowed to have relationships with one another.

it’s implied that anya endured a lot of trauma, not just from the massacre but from her years on the streets, and yet we don’t need to see any of that stuff to understand and feel empathy for her.

the hottest man in the world wears a tank top and his sleeves rolled up and other slutty but not slutty looks. a win for all boytoys out there.

the love interest is also a three-dimensional character that exists for his own journey but he learns and tries to better himself because he knows it’s the right thing to do, not just to ‘impress’ the lead with a temporary fix.

the romance story, arguably the most important relationship of the show, isn’t about physical attraction or being good enough for the other, it’s about mutual respect and learning how to communicate.

her other traveling companion is a lovable father figure who supports her through their whole journey together.

the other man of the show exists to show why this breed of a man, the authoritative figure who uses political ideals and expectations of his patriarchal figure to justify violence and specifically violence against women, is... well, scary.

in the musical at least, anya’s appearance is never mentioned at all, and she’s never expected to change how she looks to “appear” like anastasia. the only time her appearance is sexualized is by the resident villain.

all of that being said, a lot of the critical reviews of the show stem from the above aspects, which says something about the demographic of theater audiences and who controls what gets higher remarks (which,,, does this affect ticket sales?). do with that what you will.

many think the female gaze is just the reverse of the male gaze, which means it’s just objectifying men (à la magic mike). which, honestly, could be true. but according to my whopping 3 minutes of wikipedia research, the female gaze is “the perspective a female filmmaker (screenwriter/director/producer) brings to a film that would be different from a male view of the subject... The films are meant to represent the desires of female protagonists and, therefore, are to represent the desires of the female movie-viewer.” Jill Soloway has a really neat talk about this subject and she says stories told with the female gaze are formatted with the heroine’s journey as a template, which is more about feelings and internal emotions and stuff inside bodies and what it feels like to be seen, than their outward actions. it’s about people’s impact on the world and on each other. this theory applies to three different viewpoints: the writer/creator, the character portrayed, and the spectator.

that was a really long-winded definition of something y’all probably know and it still doesn’t quite capture everything about the subject lol but now that we’re on the same page... how does this apply to anastasia?

other than like, idk the obvious stuff like the main character is a woman and she doesn’t exist as a visual or physical prop for the male costars, there’s so much more to it. anya was written for girls. but not just for girls, she was written for anyone trying to find themselves or seeking love of any kind. she is complicated and three-dimensional and messy and real. but, still, her desire and goal for the show is relatively simple. she’s looking for someone to belong with, and in turn thinks that will help her discover who she is. which, honestly, is pretty universal. it’s about the internal feelings! lead characters under the female gaze theory are about being relatable to the audience, not being an idealized, flawless caricature. 

not to mention, whether anya is aware of it or not, the home she is looking for is the matron of her family. so the core relationship of the show is about two women wanting to find each other again! how rad is that!

it’s also implied that anya endured a lot of trauma before the show starts. i mean of course there’s the trauma of surviving the massacre that killed her family, the emotional toll of being alone for so long, etc, but there’s still the implication that she had a lot of unpleasant encounters on the streets in the ten years between the murder and her entrance. even so, these implications are just that. implications. because we as an audience don’t need to witness her being assaulted or attacked in any way to feel empathy for her!

the three most influential male figures of the whole show represent simplified versions of the type of men women experience: vlad, the found father figure. dmitry, the love interest who grows on his own accord. and gleb, the man we are afraid of. 

yes, dmitry has sex appeal™ and linda cho put him in all these thirst outfits for us, which... thanks queen <3 (and even so, this is a period piece so his costumes are still period appropriate, and not unjustifiably revealing, which says something about the female gaze’s taste in what women want to see men wear vs the opposite, but i digress), but in this perspective, he as the love interest has a responsibility. he takes care of her, but maintains boundaries. he senses danger when they encounter the ruffians and doesn’t get offended when she says she doesn’t like them, he just tries his best to remove her from the situation entirely before it escalates. yeah, she proved she didn’t really need protection, but when we’re walking alone at night or something don’t we all wish we had someone there to use their privilege to protect us? and sure he was rude to her at first but he always sees her as an equal and as a partner in this dangerous task of escaping russia together. it’s mutual. they look out for each other and learn how the other communicates along the way. the more he learns to respect her the more vulnerable he becomes (aka the more he feels!). when he realizes he has feelings for anya he doesn’t put her on this unreachable pedestal and mope about it (we could argue he does brood, but in a handsome angsty way, not in a self-pitying way), he tries to better himself by making choices he’s learned are right and still prioritizes her happiness. and finally, he leaves it up to anya to pursue a relationship, because he doesn’t want to distract her from her individual goals, even if his own priorities and desires have changed. mmm. top tier man.

in all of gleb’s scenes with anya, he always has the higher ground, the higher authority, the upper hand. he infantilizes her in his solo songs (“she’s nothing but a child, a waif who needs protection”) and his infatuation is clearly one-sided. his whole motivation is about filling his father’s shoes, and more broadly, the shoes of patriarchal expectations. he makes his Politics™ and War™ his personality, blinding him to the nuances of individuals and how his Outward Actions affect the underprivileged lives. the confrontation moment is so alarming not because we’re afraid he’s actually gonna shoot her, it’s scary because it’s something out of a woman’s worst nightmare. like you’re left alone for One second and you turn to leave and a man who is obsessed/infatuated with you is waving a gun around and using his political ideals to justify his violence against you. and the show portrays this as bad. rightfully so! i mean it’s obviously not great, and they still take the time to make sure the audience understands his motivations with careful writing, but he’s ultimately portrayed as the villain. gleb’s violence against women, no matter how “unhappy” he is about it and no matter how dramatic his monologue is and no matter if he doesn’t follow through, is still a villainous action. that being said, he is still a complex character with many layers and motivations. not a top tier man at all but a well-written one for the most part. 

anya’s physical appearance is never mentioned in the musical. i think dmitry compliments her at some point, but other than that, it’s never a plot point that she’s “just as beautiful” as anastasia or has to alter how she looks to appear like anastasia, other than buy finer clothes and take a shower lol. when they get to paris she’s glammed up, but it’s not presented as a ~transformation~ where the girl takes off her glasses and suddenly she’s beautiful and worthy of the journey she’s on. her blue and red dresses are gorgeous and a little more revealing but they’re period appropriate and more about her getting to go on this exciting and emotional journey, not about what dmitry will think when he sees her or whatever. (while we’re here, i think it’s worth noting that none of the other characters are sexualized beyond what’s period appropriate. even the hussies aren’t sexualized!) but you know the only time her appearance is sexualized? it’s when she’s in front of gleb. he grabs her arm and then he grabs her chin and says “your eyes, a man can look right into them,” and he sings “she trembles like a flower” (ew aslhjkdf). his infatuation is clearly presented as one-sided and the narrative tells us this is more than uncomfortable. 

the romance between anya and dmitry isn’t about physical attraction. they’re both very attractive people but the root of their relationship is about learning to communicate. it’s about being vulnerable and letting someone else heal with you. it’s about seeing past the presuppositions of a person and choosing to find the other again. it’s about swallowing pride, a character flaw for both of them, for the sake of expressing feelings. it’s about mutual respect and seeing one another as an equal. all of this is internal growth, not external action. the ideal romance.

all that being said... how does this apply to my claim that the root of most of the show’s criticisms lies in criticizing the female gaze?

someone who knows more about the inner workings of broadway and how reviewing shows affects ticket sales and stuff can probably articulate this better than i can (and should, please consider this an invitation to drop stuff in the comments!), but i mean... when you read the negative reviews of a show whose whole heart beats with female influence, they follow a pattern. the majority of the audience is made up of women in their teens to around their thirties, but i imagine, like hollywood, the majority of producers and reviewers are older (white) rich men. the few reviews i read said stuff like, “it’s only good if you like fairytales,” “this show has no identity and turns from cinderella into the princess diaries to every other princess story,” “it’s too sentimental,” and other things that criticize what’s geared towards female audiences. songs like crossing a bridge, which expand on the heroine’s emotions, are slashed away because “it’s too boring and doesn’t push the plot forward.” all of these characteristics are what make the show fall under the female gaze theory, and all of which are what were criticized the most.

i’m not here to preach to y’all about feminist theory or whatever. but these are just some characteristics i noticed recently and the connections were too good to not discuss. thank you for reading this far <3

[buffysummerslay]

I have watched Lucifer series finale yesterday and I am still reeling from feelings, feelings I need to work through to be able to move on.

Unfortunately, I am late to the party and I have started watching Lucifer (despite the show being on my radar for a few years already) when season 6 came out, and this turned avoiding spoilers about the ending as well as the show itself into an extremely hard task. I have, of course, seen some reactions to the ending and it was obvious that the viewers were divided between "the ending was amazing, they really did the story and the characters justice" and "what the fuck was that". I always take these reactions, especially when they come instantly after the episode has ended, with a grain of salt because, realistically, I haven't been fully satisfied with the way a tv show has ended - any tv show - since, like, 2010. However, I also know that there is a difference between "okay, the ending was anticlimactic/disappointing/etc, however, it is the journey that matters and I am still pretty happy with the show" and HIMYM type of ending where you are like "I want this show wiped from my memory because the final hour has ruined the entire experience for me". So, I took some time to reflect on the events that took place, gather my thoughts, and make my peace with the ending. After doing that, I can comfortably say that I am not fully satisfied with the ending because of one very simple reason - I can make sense of the choices taken by the character at the very end of the show only if I use "Lucifer gave Rory his word" rationale, and not because I believe in the theory they provided or the choices they make. So here are some of my thoughts about the ending of this beloved show, including both the things I liked and disliked. Be warned, there are spoilers ahead so if you haven't seen the show, the final season or the series finale, please stop reading because you don't want to manifest spoilery energy into your life!

The main thing I have a problem with is the time loop. I will begin by saying that I really dislike time travel in general - I think that it is an overly used plot divice that more than often creates holes in the story instead of driving the narrative where it needs to go, unless the concept of time travel is integral to the show, like for example in Timeless and Fringe. However, in this case, I dislike that the major characters have made a major decision (a serious, impactful, life-altering decision) based on a flimsy theory. And since they have told us exactly what will happen in the end, we simply didn't know why and how, I have expected a more bulletproof reasoning instead of a rushed conversation wrapped up in five minutes and sealed by a promise. Lucifer leaves Chloe and Rory and goes back to hell, Rory grows up resenting him and she becomes so angry she travels through time to confront him only to end up being the reason for his departure, therefore creating an unbreakable time loop. She makes her parents give her their word that they won't change a thing in order to make sure that Lucifer discovers his true calling, which is helping souls in Hell break their hell loops and ascend to Heaven. And the reason I am so hesitant to accept this is because of two reasons:

1. Lucifer has made amazing progress through the show when it comes to his character development, finding his worth and making peace with his identity, and yet you are trying to tell me that this is the only way he would discover his true calling, especially now when he has a higher level of understanding himself than ever before? And especially since these thoughts and doubts have already been in his mind aka him postponing to become God long before Rory's arrival into their timeline!

2. The consequences of our actions are the results of the choices we make, not the other way around. And sometimes, different choices can lead to different outcomes and sometimes the array of choices we make lead to the same outcome. It is absolutely possible that if they broke the time loop and made different choices, that their actions would lead them to the same outcome aka Lucifer finding his calling while remaining in their lives. I think that it is fully possible for them to make a timeline B (the timeline that would have been created if they broke the time loop) based on the discoveries from the timeline A (their current timeline). There's no reason for me to believe otherwise.

Apart from the discovery of Lucifer's calling, the only thing that came out of the time loop was pain, suffering and probably a lot of loneliness. Even the good things that came out of the time loop (like Lucifer and Rory bonding) are a consequence of the pain that it caused. Of course, if they broke a time loop and created a completely new timeline, choices they would make there could theoretically end up having worse consequences on their lives. They could also be better, or they could be completely the same. The thing is, we don't know, we can only speculate and that is exactly what bothers me. The main characters made a major decision based on a speculation. I don't necessarily have a problem with the things that have happened, but rather with how they happened and how they were explained. Or better to say, how they weren't. I think that they should have completely dedicated the season to exploring this and reassuring us that this is the right choice to make and the right way to go.

Also, the concept of free will and making one's own choices has been pretty integral to the show. We have watched Lucifer struggle with the concept since the beginning of the show because he was convinced he is only a puppet in his father's grand plans. There were many events in the show reinforcing that belief, like Chloe being the gift from God. It took him seasons to accept that he chose to stay in her life, to be close to her, to be her partner in work as well as in life and in that acceptance he finally found the strength to tell her that he loves her. He chose her and she chose him. And while one can argue that leaving them and going back to hell was Lucifer's choice (since, technically, he could have chosen to break his word to his daughter and change things), it is one he didn't want to make. In the final episode he says that he desires to watch his daughter grow up and before he leaves for Hell he tells Chloe he doesn't want to leave her (she even responds that she doesn't want him to leave either, but that this is the choice that they are making for Rory's sake), making me feel like he is making this choice out of duty, out of fear and not because he wants to. He finally accepted that the choices he makes are his and his only, and the final choice in the show was made for him instead by him - I really don't think that the character deserved this. Lucifer gave Rory his word and we know he always goes by his word - they have turned one of the most essential qualities of his character into a plot device and an instrument that caused pain. Additionally, since Rory asked him not to change anything, it was implied that Lucifer can't come back to Earth in order not to risk changing anything even though it is completely possible for him to balance his work hours in Hell and his family time on Earth, like Amenadiel did. I also found this completely unfair and it felt like Lucifer was "banished" to Hell, not only missing out on being with Chloe and watching Rory grow up, but also staying away from his friends and the life he had built for himself. However, on the brighter side, Lucifer doing this - something he doesn't completely understand, something he doesn't want to do - is incredibly selfless of him and only shows how much he has grown. A character who has been described as selfish and self-serving from the very beginning does something so ultimately selfless, something that doesn't serve him in any way - quite the opposite, it pains him. As I said, I don't necessarily mind how things played out, I mind the lack of guarantee that they had to be this way. The only thing we don't know is if Lucifer and Chloe were in contact over the years since Chloe could have kept in touch with him behind Rory's back - maybe she sent him pictures of Rory, and maybe they exchanged letters. I am very doubtful because this would probably make the whole situation harder on them nor do I think that they would risk it because they wouldn't be able to know if their actions are breaking the time loop or if they are a part of the original timeline but hey, this is the stuff that fan fictions are made of!

And finally, I very much disliked the parallel between Lucifer and God - Lucifer abandoning his child for the sake of doing his job and that child growing up resenting him - if it was their intention to draw such a parallel. I think that God somewhat "redeemed" himself in Lucifer's eyes and that through accepting himself Lucifer also learned how to stop resenting his father for the things that transpired between them, and I don't necessarily believe that Lucifer had to walk in his father's shoes to understand him. So, in my opinion, this was completely unnecessary. Something I did like was Lucifer's calling - I think that it shows nicely the full circle he has made and that the souls he thought he is supposed to torture he is now helping heal. In a way, Hell is also the reflection of who Lucifer is - when he saw himself as broken, as evil, as unworthy and undeserving, Hell was also a place of torture - it was a reflection of him. And now that he accepted himself and that others have accepted him for who he is as well, it is a place of healing. In the end, Hell is his kingdom and he can choose to rule it the way he wants to. He broke his own hell loop and he truly became a lightbringer.

And, of course, Lucifer and Chloe (they are so soft and I am so soft for them). Taking into consideration my very bad OTP track reckord, I kinda expected a much, much worse ending for them - I mean, the Devil falling in love with a human, what could possibly go wrong, right? I knew from the very beginning that they aren't getting a pure, wholeseome, family-like ending. In order for that to happen, she would either have to become immortal (leaving Trixie, losing her detective identity), or he would have to become mortal - both of these scenarios feel cheap and I never would have wanted this for them or the show. Another option was to give them their happy life on Earth but then they would either have to leave a somewhat open ending or deal with the fact that ultimately, as a mortal, Chloe will die. And if they were given their happy ending on Earth, who knows if they would end up together in afterlife. Even if they did, it definitely wouldn't feel as emotional and as gratifying as it does now. The thing is, it is easy to give in to the pain of their separation when we measure it by the pivotal moments of happiness and loss that drive the lives of humans - him not being there when Rory was born or when she grew wings or when she started school - and it is even harder when you know how much she needed him and how much he wanted to be there for her. It is even more painful when you think about Chloe spending her entire lifetime without him, carrying all that pain inside of her, and him spending what had to be centuries alone in Hell. However, this is a fantasy show and many of our characters are immortal, celestial beings who have a different understanding of time, so maybe the idea of what a happy ending is and the rules for measuring happiness aren't the same as they would have been under other circumstances. Chloe became lieutenant and tried to make a difference, and she got to raise her daughters and see them grow up, and Lucifer helped so many souls heal, doing so much good. And now they get to spend the eternity together, solving crimes and kicking ass in the afterlife! Many of their friends and family are immortal, celestial beings too and (I am pretty sure) they can pay a visit to their human friends in Heaven... or see them in Hell, but let's hope not! In the end, what is one lifetime compared to eternity? Of course, none of this makes for the time they have lost, the momories they didn't get to make and the moments he wasn't there for, but now there are so many new memories they will get to make and so many moments to catch up on. It is bittersweet, but I think that's how it was supposed to be - in the end, pain is part of life.

I also have a few (dis)honourable mentions:

1. I am really sad and disappointed Lucifer didn't get to say goodbye to Trixie. She was gone for the majority of the season, but she was also a very important person in his life and he loved her. And we know how much she loved him.

2. I can't get over Rory travelling through time to kill her father because she is angry at him... sis, you kill him before he makes you, you wipe yourself out of existence.

3. I can't believe that they were surprised that Chloe got pregnant after having loads of superhuman sex (without any protection, apparently) after another human already got pregnant with an angel not that long ago.

4. Lucifer saying goodbye to Maze will forever remain one of the most beautiful scenes in the show.

5. The final major scene between Chloe and Lucifer, where they say goodbye before he leaves for hell, lives in my head rent free. I was choking on tears watching that scene, I literally had to pause and rewind three times. Such a beautiful(ly painful) scene. Also, when you have a ship and a person A says to the person B "close your eyes", pain is coming. I swear I travelled back to 1999 when Buffy said the same thing to Angel before sending him to a hell dimension.

6. When Chloe dies and goes to Heaven and Amenadiel greets her and asks her if she's ready to go home and then takes her to Lucifer was so pure. Her Heaven is being in Hell with Lucifer and there's something deeply poetic about that.

7. Hearing hello detective for the last time cleared my skin.

I have really and truly enjoyed the show, and the minor inconsistencies I see in its ending can't change that. I loved the show because it told stories about people and it allowed them to drive the narrative, and I can't say many shows these days do that.

[mollrat101]

I've re-watched season 2 and so now I would like to see how what we've learned in season 2 adds to the discussion about Deborah's sexuality.

3 major things happened giving us information about Deborah’s sexuality and her love life: the lesbian cruise, her sleeping with Casper (fandom name to the FedEx guy) and finding out that Deborah rejected Marty’s past marriage proposal. 

The Lesbian Cruise

*sighs* Where to begin? 

Okay, if I had to try to give a rationale for Deborah’s behavior, I guess I would say she’s desperately wanting validation for her attractiveness. She can’t seem to shut up about it in the set.

I sorta get where this is coming from. Marty has rejected her again during the FaceTime call. Although, now knowing she rejected his proposal, it looks more pathetic that Deborah even seeks his validation. Why do you want a man you rejected to want you? Or is it the fact that you know he wants you is the reason you tolerate his awful lovemaking? We know her love life has been pretty empty the past few years. She’s like all humans and wants to be considered sexually desirable.

It seems that Deborah takes what Ava said about confusing attention with attraction and instead of applying that to men, she applies it to women. Backed up by the fact that she jokingly asks Ava why she’s attracted to those women. She doesn’t want any particular women, she just wants to be wanted by these women. We see no genuine desire from Deborah.

Which kinda signals to me that Deborah didn’t understand.

Compulsory heterosexuality is about the intersection between misogyny and homophobia. Women are the most conditioned, by the patriarchy, to want to be attractive to men.

But wanting to be wanted by men is not the same thing as being attracted to men sexually and romantically.

It’s almost like Deborah went through a brief stint of “compulsory homosexuality” except that’s not a thing because it’s not based on structures of oppression.

They took this really interesting and beautiful conversation, but they had Deborah basically skewer any potential ramifications of it.

And they turned the very idea that Deborah might even be a little queer into a joke. The plot didn’t take the idea seriously at all.

Or at least that’s the way it appears to me.

If they bring up the idea that Deborah is queer and then, after some processing, decide she's not, that's okay. That's not what bothers me. It bothers me that the very idea of Deborah being queer is seen as laughable. Deborah, by most causal viewers, is considered the main character of Hacks. It's the Jean Smart show. It's Deborah Vance's show. By suggesting that the main character, arguably the most important, can't be be queer and the idea is laughable strikes me as homophobic. The other, lesser, characters are allowed to be but the sanctity of Deborah Vance must be preserved of such notions.

Not only does this episode feel like it's laughing at lesbians, but it also feels like it's laughing at people who like the idea that Deborah might be queer. Of which I freely admit, I was one of them. 

The episode doesn't offer any examination as to why Deborah feels such contempt for lesbians. It wants you to find it funny that she's horrified by being on the ship with these women and then just as easily taken in by the idea of being wanted by these women, but not bothering examining any of that.

Part of why I have mostly given up on the idea of them exploring Deborah as queer or Deborah and Ava as a romantic pairing is because of this episode. The writers seemed to look down on the very idea that Deborah might seriously be queer. She's not queer, you guys, she just likes attention. Well, gee, why didn't I think of that?

Part of why I liked the idea of her falling in love with Ava is that it’s a gentle way to challenge her notions of gender and sexuality, to gently deal with any repression she’s dealing with. Love can be a way to force us to confront our biases. Many queer people have had that experience of all but ignoring any thought that they’re queer, until they fell in love. This, to me, is the most acceptable way Deborah would be willing to walk down that road. Otherwise, her mind is too filled with misogyny and homophobia to do it. 

The lesbian cruise was the exact opposite of gentle. It seemed to want to torture Deborah which is not what I wanted (or she, at least, acted like it was torture). Yes, I wanted her biases challenged, but I didn’t want her to humiliate herself in the process. And again, Deborah still doesn’t learn anything after all that. 

If they introduced the idea of compulsory heterosexuality to create a longer thread about Deborah’s narrative, that’s wonderful. But already we’re starting off on a bad note because, even if Deborah explores the idea of women later, she’s clearly going to be put off by the writers giving her such a bad first experience. They don’t gently introduce the idea which could’ve happened anytime on the road. They introduced it and then threw her into a situation that was probably too overwhelming for Deborah.

If she has internalized misogyny and homophobia, you could explore that on a lesbian cruise but this didn’t offer a chance for meaningful change. It was just a way to watch Deborah being mean to lesbians.

So while there’s a chance they’re going to pick this thread back up, I don’t trust them to take it with any kind of seriousness or gentleness. So basically, I’ve pretty much have given up on them exploring the idea that Deborah is queer.

Casper

On a more positive note, we have her sexual experience with Casper. 

Season 1 gives us no positive mentions about sex with men from Deborah. Not one. Even Marty, the only partner we see her have, doesn’t please her. 

So it led me to a question: what does Deborah need to do differently in order to get the love life she wants? 

There doesn’t seem to be any physical problems that’s keeping Deb from enjoying sex. She’s perfectly healthy. We know she has trust and intimacy issues, so it could be related to that but it’s not clear. 

Casper seems to represent a couple of possible solutions for Deborah’s love life. 

1) He forces her to reconsider what would be considered an acceptable partner for her. To broaden her view. 

In 2.04, we were shown that Deborah’s ideas on sexuality are narrow but we get proof they’re even narrow than that. At first, she completely brushes off the idea of sleeping with him because he’s so much younger than her. 

So it seems that maybe Deborah has a specific idea of the type of man she “should be with”. 

Based on what we know, Deborah has been with Frank, Marty, she slept with Robert Mitchum and she’s dated some gay guys. 

This is, um, an interesting array of men. Well, Frank and Marty represent an ideal type of man, a high-value man. Successful, wealthy, handsome, self-centered, ambitious, and untrustworthy. Both of these relationships with Deborah were toxic. And, apparently, neither of these men pleased her in bed. 

The fact that she dated gay guys, to me, is about how gay men represent comfort and safety to her. But, of course, she runs into the same problem which is that they aren’t sexually interested in her. 

Casper is someone she didn’t expect would be a good partner, but when she did open up her mind to the possibility she was pleasantly surprised. 

He represents how, in order to have a good love life, Deborah is going to have to broaden her mind as to what’s possible for her. To not dismiss prospective partners because they don’t fit her preconceieved notions. 

2) He’s kind and cares about her pleasure and this is the type of partner she should look for. 

Her experience with Casper is possibly giving an answer as to what Deborah needs to do to make her love life better: she needs to start choosing better partners. 

Again, as stated, Deborah historically has not chosen partners who are good and kind towards her. Instead the shadow of Frank has seemingly infected who Deborah sees as an acceptable partner. She was in her early 20′s when she got together with Frank, so it’s hardly surprising that he provided a template for choosing partners in the future but, of course, this would be a damaged template. Giving her wrong ideas about what kind of partner she deserves. 

Casper shows her kindness, empathizing with her pain when she shares a bit of her past. He also cares about her pleasure and she seems slightly overwhelmed by this experience. As if receiving so much positive attention, especially from a partner she didn’t expect, is revelatory for her. 

In the 30 years they’ve been having an on-again/off-again affair, Marty hasn’t been able to please Deborah in the time in took Casper a few hours. This disconnect, especially considering Casper is nothing like Marty, has to be intentionally saying that Deborah’s path towards romantic and sexual fulfillment is rejecting partners like Marty in the future. 

Of course, further examination of this would need for Deborah to recognize why she’s chosen bad partners in the past. She would need to be incredibly self-honest about how her love life has ended up this way. 

And while sleeping with Casper is a good first step, it of course doesn’t solve her long-term problem of being single when she doesn’t want to be. 

Opening up to Casper for one night was already a lot for her, so it’s going to be a bigger challenge to find someone she can open up to permanently. But at least this step showed her there are people out there who find her attractive, are kind, and care about her pleasure. She just needs to open up her mind. 

Marty and Her Rejecting His Proposal

Learning that Deborah did have a chance to marry Marty and rejected it, really re-frames the view of her relationship with Marty. 

In season 1, we were given the impression that Marty wrongly rejects Deborah because she’s too old and this hurts her feelings. But in season 2, not only is this not a hard and fast rule for Marty but he already asked her to marry him and she said no. 

So, in a way, the narrative frames Deb as a less of a victim in this relationship. The ball was in her court if she wanted to reconsider, but she never did. 

She says she needed to focus on her business, but we know that actually Deborah was just scared. Scared to let someone in again after what happened with Frank. This is incredibly understandable, but Deborah’s excuses and her continued judgment of Marty’s partners shows that she doesn’t understand this about herself. She’s ignoring the truth about herself and how her life has ended up the way it has. 

Now, to be clear, I don’t think Deborah should’ve married Marty. I think she dodged a bullet. That marriage would’ve likely ended in another ugly divorce and Deborah would’ve given up on romance altogether. 

The point is that Deborah doesn’t say she rejected him because he wasn’t right for her and he’s not trustworthy (which he isn’t), but because she’s using her business and her work as a shield from emotional vulnerability and self-reflection. And so far, Deborah hasn’t been that willing to investigate her love life with any intense self-reflection and the longer she puts that off, the less she’ll able to get the love life she really wants. 

My hope is that the last conversation between Marty and Deborah means this is the end of their romantic/sexual association with each other. Marty seems done and is over Deborah. I would’ve liked to have seen more agency in that Deborah ended their relationship, but I’ll take what I can get at this point. 

Next season (if it’s renewed) would have to contend that Deborah can no longer use Marty as a crutch to avoid fixing her love life. She’d have to really stare down her choices and figure out what she wants.  

Conclusion

What we learned is a bit all over the place. Like much of the season and the other characters, Deborah spends a lot of time reacting to stuff instead of being proactive in her own arc and her love life isn’t any different. 

Maybe they intend for Deborah to be more proactive in the future in her investigation of her sexuality, but the self-reflection, at this point, has been minimal. 

Season 1 seemed to paint Deborah’s ideas of gender and sexuality as being a potential barrier to a satisfying love life but season 2 doesn’t really challenge her on this in any substantial way. Season 1 says that Deborah is accepting poor treatment from men like Marty, but season 2 doesn’t actively see her reject this. 

At this point, I’m becoming less and less convinced that the writers have some kind of master plan about what they’re intending to say about Deborah’s sexuality. They’re just writing what they think is funny and interesting at the time. And that’s absolutely within their right to do so. 

But we did learn some new things and I hope that Deborah carries over some of those lessons into a season 3. 

[bakasaiga]

Sesshomaru & Rin: InuYasha's Healthiest Dynamic

The Case for SessRin, Platonically & Romantically

Read the full article here: Sesshomaru & Rin: InuYasha's Healthiest Dynamic by bakasaiga

Art Credits: @bamb.bieun via Instagram

Why Sesshomaru and Rin have the healthiest dynamic in the InuYasha franchise. Covering content from the InuYasha manga, anime, films, drama CD "Asatte," and aspects of the sequel series, "Yashahime: Half-demon Princesses" (also known as "Hanyo no Yashahime").

Introduction

This article aims to explore the rationale for “Why Sesshomaru and Rin have the healthiest dynamic in the InuYasha Franchise” as I want to focus on their dynamic, and use this word over a "relationship." Because a relationship oftentimes has the connotations of romance, overlooking notions of the platonic nature of relationships. This analysis will focus on Sesshomaru and Rin throughout the InuYasha franchise (anime, manga, films, drama CD, and sequel), mainly analyzing the events depicted in the original series, where they are at the time, platonic.

The Significance of the First Encounter

Sesshomaru meets Rin in episode 35 of the anime/chapter 129 of the manga, following his unsuccessful battle with InuYasha’s wind scar. Tenseiga, knowing its owner’s life is threatened, sends Sesshomaru to a place that it knows is safe, peaceful, and conducive to his well-being. That place being the nearby forest of Rin’s (at-the-time) home. When Rin first meets Sesshomaru, she recognizes the pending danger of his presence — he’s not human, but he’s hurt. And to some degree, she likely resonates with that. Sesshomaru was all alone, hurt, mentally non-intact, and the most vulnerable we had seen him in the series (even compared to him losing his left arm as we hadn't seen the aftermath of that yet until episode 133-134). She’s a poor peasant girl who’s suffered immense trauma, suffering, and loneliness. Her initiative to help Sesshomaru came from her generosity; her empathy in seeing someone who reminded her of herself. She offers him food and water, to his dismay of course. But does not take no for an answer — this establishes a part of her personality that may be overlooked: her unwavering and kind-hearted stubbornness. She does not take no for an answer. Rin probably thinks to herself that her fish she gave him was not good enough because she’s been conditioned lately to believe that she’s not good enough. She returns to the village reserve and steals some fish, not for herself, for him. After receiving a beating, she does not flinch or show any signs of remorse but progresses on with her merry way. At this point, it’s observable that despite knowing her story, her scars, and her difficulties, humans do not even empathize, let alone sympathize with Rin. It is the feudal era, after all. She’s a young, disabled orphan and the villagers only see her for what she lacks: a voice, a family, and a place of belonging.

When she returns to Sesshomaru, without the fish, Rin is visibly shyer, feeling like she had failed her mission but she nonetheless returns out of her stubborn, kind-hearted and generous nature. Sesshomaru would never accept her attempts of rescue, but her dishevelled and pained appearance intrigues him. When he asks about her bruises, this is the first time anyone had ever afforded her a second glance.

The audience can see Sesshomaru calculate her body language, recognizing that she is mute. Instead of pressing her further or ignoring her outright, he attempts to comfort her (in his own way), making her feel that it is okay if she chooses not to answer him; that her desire to reply to him should only be a desire, not an obligation. I think, on one hand, that was the first moment of something that would resemble compassion that Sesshomaru had ever administered, trying to put himself in her shoes — if someone had asked him to do something that required, for example, his left arm, he probably would have appreciated them saying “you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to” so to provide him agency for something that he actually cannot do. And the same goes for Rin. He recognizes her disability, maybe even resonates with it and decides to empower her with a choice. Choice is important when it comes to the Sesshomaru/Rin dynamic and it’s a word that will come up often. This is the first of many choices that Sesshomaru allots Rin in dictating their soon-to-be long-lasting relationship, laying the foundation for their connection as the series progresses.

"The first time she was revived, the moment she opened her eyes, they exchanged a soul gaze, which harmonizes the energy between two people. They maintained deep eye contact for nearly half a minute. There were no words, Rin had no opportunity to say thank you, and Sesshomaru asked her no questions. They said all that was needed to be said through their silence."

-Lawless Lane, Sesshomaru and Rin: The Silent Soul Love

The next time Sesshomaru sees Rin, it is suggested that he actively sought her, whether it be by curiosity or concern for well-being. It's evident that Sesshomaru had never experienced an interaction like this before and if we just collect the facts we know about him, his reaction is quite logical. He had been born into aristocracy to political parents and was a lord the moment he left the womb. Everyone around him feared him or needed something from him. His chance of a genuine relationship (friendship, family dynamic, or even romance) would have been limited and/or superficial from the get-go. They see him in armour, finely dressed, and never vulnerable. But when Rin first meets him, she doesn’t treat him like her lord, king, or anybody special, she is immediately exposed to his vulnerability. She sees him at his worth. She treats him just as she would likely treat anyone else if they were in need. Rin’s authentic and warm smile plant the seed of compassion in his icy heart because he hadn’t come across this type of raw intention for well-being and to his deduction, he could have felt one of two things (maybe even both): (1) compelled to reward her with another shot at life selflessly, and/or (2) an inquisitive desire to seek that perplexing feeling that her smile gave him. When Rin wakes up, the first face she sees is his. When she died, the last face she saw was his, albeit imagined. Upon her revival, she pursues him without a single word from either party...

Read the rest here:  Sesshomaru & Rin: InuYasha's Healthiest Dynamic by bakasaiga

[cool-island-songs]

The List for the episode ask game from amporella​!

★ Do I like this episode? Why or why not?

Uh, I love it??? The Pleases and Sparkles committee??? GIRLS????? More Wendy, Bebe, and the girls actually doin’ stuff, please.

I like SP eps that tackle self-image issues because even though the show is about boys and told from their perspective (which is particularly evident in the way the girls have some sort of political thriller going on in the background here), the way they discuss looks feels fairly universal imo. Bebe’s concerns in “Bebe’s Boobs Destroy Society” (S06E10) are pretty similar to the message Abraham Lincoln is trying to impart; she’s worried about being treated differently because of something beyond her control.

★ Favorite moment?

Abraham Lincoln’s right tbh. Plenty of people are ugly, Kyle! Get over yourself! I really do love how melodramatic Kyle is about the whole thing, calling himself a “deformed monstrosity”. It’s hard to have perspective about these things when you’re a kid and don’t have a good sense of how your peers view you.

★ Least favorite moment?

Honestly, it kinda sucks that we never see those ugly kids again, do we? I love how the message is basically ‘Looks don’t matter, but it turns out Kyle was reasonably attractive all along, and we’re putting these ugly kids in the dumpster when this episode is over.’ That’s chill.

★ Do I have an unpopular opinion about this episode? What is it?

I love the episode itself, but ever since fans worked out that Craig was number one on the “real” list, it’s been responsible for some of the worst excesses of hot Craig within the fandom. Just for ease of reference, the real list has been determined as follows: Craig, Token, Stan, Bradley, Kyle, Jason, Leroy, Kenny, Jimmy, Tweek, Kevin, Butters, Clyde, Timmy, Francis, Cartman. My interpretation of the list’s order is that the boys who topped it are seen as most attractive in a conventionally masculine way, but also behave in a way that’s considered traditionally masculine. Craig and Stan certainly fit that bill, even if they only behave thusly due to autism and an emotionally repressed conservative father, and bottled-up feelings in response to a parent with zero boundaries, respectively.

My reasoning is that we know Kenny is a lil cutie from the sketch of them in “Free Willzyx” (S09E13):

But he’s always wearing that hood over his face and he’s a weird little pervert who likes setting things on fire (according to Cartman in “Best Friends Forever”, S09E04), and I imagine there was similar rationale for putting kids like Tweek and Kevin and Jimmy so low (there better have been!). Anyway, they’re fourth grade girls, and they’re entitled to their wrong opinions. Remember “Something You Can Do With Your Finger” (S04E08) when they all have crushes on Matt Lauer?

It also seems significant to me, in light of the way Craig is often written as quite desirable to girls in fics, that the girls in charge of manipulating the list chose Craig to swap with Clyde. This suggests that they don’t care to date him, which checks out, because he’s an asshole who hates girls (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wneIRrvoDlg). Obviously, they’re all in 4th grade and girl/boy animosity is pretty standard and these things may well change, but I really do think Craig is just Like That.

★ Something I would change?

I tell ya hwhat, if it were up to me, Leroy wouldn’t be gatdamn number 6. This is Leroy Jenkins btw (aka Peter Mullen, the kid with the damn frog):

Poor man’s Scott Malkinson over here. Cuter than Kenny? The girls thought THIS was cuter than Kenny?

★ Rating out of 5?

5/5! Someone send me some trash ass eps plz, these are all pretty good lol

★ Anything else I want to say about this episode?

Poor Clyde, tbh. He’s actually considered uggy, but will still grow up to be a total douche because he thinks he’s hot. I’m gonna go fart on him in TFBW.

Anyway, in closing, please enjoy this IMDB review:

[everything-laito]

About the theory that maybe Laito doesn't like to be touched as much as he says he does.

This was submitted by @grs-wonder320! I did not edit anything in their response (or the title), I just added paragraph breaks so it's easier to read. I'll put my response below as well!

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I am not the one who asked this question, but I would like to take this opportunity to express my personal opinion on this question. As it turns out, I have a completely different opinion than Corn. That is to say, I believe that there is a good chance that Laito does not like to be touched.

Rationale: I believe that there is a psychology of "excessive pandering to those things that are disgusting or painful to you," and I think that this psychology makes us appear to be happy on the surface, even though we actually dislike them. There are many exceptions to this rule. You may be thinking, "No, no, there are many exceptions to this rule. It is true that this rule does not apply in all situations. It mainly works when he is playing a pervert. So, why does he dare to act perverted in the first place? Most of the time, it's because he wants to be smoked out by the people around him. Why do you want to be smoked? ↓ I don't want to attract them to myself. ↓ Even though he doesn't want to be around other people, he is very sociable (compared to the people around him, that is). So it's hard to imagine why he is annoyed by human relationships like Subaru. ↓ Then there is a good chance that they want to hide something or smoke you out because there is something they don't want you to know. ↓ There is often a pattern of people who want to hide the fact that they are actually perverts, so they pretend to be sane on the surface.

In other words, the Laito that is ostensibly acting as a pervert is _____? Yes, that's what I mean. (What do you mean?) It's almost impossible to play a pervert to hide a pervert, isn't it? Most of the time, people play a false image to hide the opposite nature. In Laito's case, considering what happened in the past, it can be seen as "I'm acting perverted because I want to hide the fact that I'm hurt, and I don't want to be aware that I'm hurt, so I'm acting perverted as a self-suggestion.

There are not many people who can be sincerely friendly to the events that hurt them. In the first place, being "hurt" proves that there was something disgusting about you, so we can conclude that Laito is likely to have an aversion to sexual things. I think this explains the psychology that exists in Laito. Back to the topic at hand, I think it's hard to believe that Laito likes to be touched.

In Corn's answer, he used the example of "Laito trying to get me to touch him", which I think can also be explained by the aforementioned psychology. I, too, have a desire to challenge things I dislike (although this is due to overcoming my weaknesses and seeing things that scare me, and is not the same as Laito's), so I think it is entirely possible for someone to "dare to do something they dislike. Also, there is a high possibility that Laito is not aware of his own aversion to sexual matters, and if that is the case, everything is "true" in his mind, so naturally he would not be aware that he is doing something he dislikes. It could be called an unconscious act of self-harm. In the real world, you can only be aware of it when someone points it out to you, or you break your body by going over the limit. I think Laito has that kind of thing too. (Especially Laito in MB). This concludes the explanation. Thank you very much for reading this far!

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First of all, I'm unsure what you mean by "smoking out," If you could provide clarification on that, that would be great! I think I know what you mean by it, I'm just a lil confused and hope I didn't misinterpret it!

I do agree with you on your psychology on the excessive pandering part! That's exactly what Laito does most of the time, it's what fuels his facade! As for touching, I do think that speculating it could go either way. I do think Laito is touch starved though. Sure people who are touch starved might not want to be touched. I have thought about it since I made that post and honestly, he might want to be touched just like he wants to have genuine love, but he's insecure about it almost.

However, if he was excessively pandering about being touched, he might have done that more often. The only time where he asks Yui to touch him throughout the entire HDB game is only in that supposed mutual masturbation scene, and his heaven scenario. He is known to have a masochistic streak regardless. The other times its Yui either pushing him or slapping him etc. (I'm planning on going over his masochism on a later date)

Laito excessively panders when he says absolutely wild shit that makes others uncomfortable, or gets Yui to be unnerved.

In my previous post, I did say that he could be playing it up! But the fact that he doesn't have Yui touch him until late game does say something. It shows that he's opening up and being more vulnerable. Sure this is HDB Laito and we don't really get much of his facade cracking in that game compared to MB+. Late game HDB Laito is able to let down his guard slightly, since he knows he has Yui wrapped around his finger. The thing is, his excessive pandering to him being a pervert is typically used for manipulation. Your psychology checks out in everything else about him, I do agree with that. But as for touching, that doesn't really "prove" to Yui that Laito's a pervert.

If Laito wanted to utilize touch as a facade of control, he would have done it earlier. Instead, he used other methods to give Yui a false sense of security at times, which he used to break her down further. Could he be doing it in order to show Yui he doesn't have a weakness? He could, but once again when it comes to topics or situations where he doesn't want to be involved with, he acts aloof and avoids it at all costs while changing the conversation. That's my rationale on that. The fact that he has such a different reaction being touched vs his other activities that could be considered as "excessive pandering" is a lil ~sus~ as they say. Or inversely, maybe Laito doen't address the fact that he likes being touched because he might consider genuine thrill as a weakness but maybe he gets desperate. He's desperate for legitimate compassion, the mans needs it.

As for challenging things you dislike, that also checks out in general. However, when it comes to Laito, he likes a sense of control and security. Instructing Yui to touch him gives that sense of control, but also lets him be slightly vulnerable. It's not even that vulnerable because if she does anything that could potentially harm Laito, he would be able to stop it in an instant.

He doesn't like challenging himself, and we all know this. His facade was created so he doesn't have to challenge himself to get over his past trauma. It's to avoid it and not challenge it instead.

I do think that Laito is incredibly self aware and self unaware at the same time. It's a little paradoxical but I feel like he knows he has a facade, but again, he tries to avoid the fact that he does have one and that his facade is true. We do know he's self aware through drama cds and what he says about himself in the games. They're vague, but once you know his character, you know what he's talking about. The fact that he projects onto Yui also says a lot about that.

Also, a little side note as well, in MB he does have consensual sex with Yui. Before that scene happened, he was being extremely vulnerable and a good chunk of his facade broke down. There's a certain tone when you know Laito's being serious and taking down his mask, and that's exactly what he did in that MB scene. Here's a quote from it:

Laito: For some reason, I feel strangely refreshed. Don’t you think that’s weird? I couldn’t get your blood out of my head for the longest time, but it finally calmed down. Right now, it isn’t your blood, but instead I want to hold your warm body close like this… And kiss you…I want to indulge in your body until I’m sick and tired of it. Nfu~

In this scene, Laito was happy crying, which was something he was not familiar with but also hasn't experienced before. It's an involuntary bodily function, yet he was confused by it. This just shows he is genuinely happy, and the fact that he says that he genuinely is admitting to what he wants for once, I don't think it's excessive pandering in this scene, it's him developing. You could argue that he got over his aversion to being touched in this scene. There's a couple asks in my ask box that's related to him and sex, which I will also get to sometimes this week. But that's a different post.

Again I think it could be argued either way, but that's my thought process behind this aside from what I previously said! There's just a lot to think about when it comes to this, and we won't know unless if something is said in canon! But Laito's incredibly complex and there's several factors that explains his behavior.

Hope that makes sense! And once again, thanks so much for submitting! I love hearing people's opinions and their own thoughts that either confirm or challenge my own, so thank you for that! This one definitely got me thinking more. That's the beauty in analysis! Each person takes something different from the text!

And who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind in the future!