#her reaction was to dismiss them as irrelevant

[lunamond]

Hot take, but neither Rhaenyra nor Aegon deserve to be queen/king.

Not, because they are incapable of ruling or because they are bad people, but because nobody is deserving of this much power.

Aegon obviously would just be a continuation of the status quo, but so would Rhaenyra. TG are all about working inside the rules of the established power system (i.e. sons over daughters inherit, bastards = bad, kings>nobility>everybody else, etc).

But Rhaenyra does not really have a problem with this hierachy itself. The only time we see her dispute the system as it is, is in ep2 when Rhaenys warns her that the lords of the realm would want Viserys' son to inherit. Rhaenys calls it this "the order of things", and Rhaenyra says that, she would create a new order. The only thing she objects to in the current order is that she as a woman isn't allowed to be ontop. It's not about changing the world for all women, to make it better for the people at the bottom of the hierarchy, this isn’t Dany’s break the wheel speech (which has it's own issues ofc). This is about Rhaenyra's right to power.

Every other moment, when Rhaenyra talks about her position as future queen, it's as a continuation of her father’s reign. And, that's why I can't get behind the idea that Rhaenyra would be some kind of wonderful ruler.

She just wouldn’t. Not because she is a bad person, but because nobody can be a good king/queen. The best they can do is be less worse than the rest.

She would continue to up hold the status quo same as Aegon. For the smallfolk the only thing that would change is the gender their oppressors are allowed to be. But a tyrant is a tyrant, no matter if they are a man or a woman.

The issue isn't WHO sits the Iron throne, but that SOMEBODY does in the first place. Any character who aspires to sit the throne will ultimately lead to more suffering no matter their intentions.

[legally-allowed-to-slime]

I think gem's just reacting to pearl the same way pearl reacts to scott/cleo. Pearl doesnt trust scott / cleo at all (for good reasons!) and brings up previous seasons around the same amount as they do to her. Gem, likewise, was betrayed by Pearl during SL from a very pivotal moment that has constantly haunted her since (the 2v1 constantly hangs around her lol) and now holds a bit of a grudge towards her. while pearl has only ever done this once to gem, it was also gem's Only season and also is probably her biggest betrayal. however, yes, pearl does not realize how far this grudge goes and to her, gem is still her ride or die. This unfortunately leads her to choose gem for the poison wall bit which only cements the idea in gem's head that she Cannot trust pearl (and also misunderstands pearl's "everyone else is my ally"). gem also does constantly say that people are antagonizing her, which i think is also a remnant from SL where she thinks people coming over to their base is equivalent to an attack (which it isnt, but she's just being paranoid). (also for the skin discussion, i think people's reactions to her skin being red is valid. to everyone else, the last time pearl did something like that it was just to mess with people and be a menace. so even to gem, seeing the red on her is a big warning sign that things might get dangerous around her. of course, to pearl, its just a transition and a really cool concept! ) as for why she's favoring scott, well he's scott and he's good at pandering to people. in session 1 he's the one that defended joel and gem and reinforced that they were not the ones to steal impulse's cows. because impulse kept pushing it, gem got even more frustrated and put impulse on her hit list. for session 2 he just happened to walk by as pearl left and simply nodded along to what gem was ranting about (i also dont think he said anything relevant here to poison the waters between them. if anything, he's Also a bit confused as to why gem's so mad at pearl because he knows theyre supposed to be close, and just took it in stride).

now for the twitter interactions, pearl is basically signaling that she's going to ally with impulse above all. being number 1 on gem's hit list (especially since he came back in session 2 to steal things), they're both now equally terrible in her eyes. anyway thats how ive been interpreting things at least!! its very interesting reading everyone's opinions on this. i think everyone's reacting in a pretty valid way if you're standing in their shoes and forget the little aspects that we know from watching multiple povs

oh wow it’s rare that i get an anon that i 100% agree with, but i think you said everything so much better than i could have (not a dig at other anons i love every single ask i get and in fact if i could just get one anon disagreeing with me on everything it would make my day)

let me be clear, i can entirely understand why gem did what she did. i don’t want it to seem like i’m hating on her excessively, especially when she’s in my top 2 (top 1 if pearl hasn’t uploaded in two weeks). i absolutely agree with the gem/pearl and pearl/scott+cleo parallels, with scott+cleo not taking double life seriously and pearl regarding SL as irrelevant when gem is hurt by it. something something her own feelings over betrayal are dismissed in her own alliance so she finds it fair to ignore gem’s

and you’re very right for the bit about gem not understanding pearl’s harmless intentions. she’s very paranoid for whatever reason, when everyone’s been nice to her except for impulse, who is having a terrible horrible no good very bad day. she tells joel they have a target on their backs but afaik no one has been nasty to them. BUT this also makes sense, because in SL she was explicitly targeted for being too powerful (eg grian’s TNT ambush), so her paranoia is understandable.

as for pearl, she is loyal to a fault, including to gem. in SL gem kills her twice and pearl barely minds, so there was the faulty assumption that this time, the cobblestone wall isn’t enough to make gem distrust her, because if gem had done the same to her she wouldn’t have cared. again, pearl having extraordinarily high tolerance for her allies but not realising that, obviously, it would not be reciprocated. unfortunate clash of girl with high standards (gem) and girl with no standards (pearl)

red skin thing is just your stereotypical misunderstanding. pearl literally gets cut off before she can explain to gem what it actually means, so gem thinks that pearl decided to go half-crazy unprovoked, when that’s not the truth. so. if they could just talk 1 on 1 and not get interrupted by three other people in the span of twenty seconds that would be great (for me. not for either of them probably seeing the train wreck they are now). but i did think the reason for the red skin thing was an unusually sensible decision for traffic!pearl, considering she throws on the red skin for lesser things. so. just really bad luck that scott started talking there, no one could possibly be at fault for that

as for scott. well. scott. i guess i misspoke there because i’ve gotten like three asks and five tags pinpointing that bit. ok, yeah, gem was already mad at pearl, but like i said, scott reinforcing this belief and making it into an objective fact and not personal grudges is pretty significant to me.

but anon you’re so correct for saying that scott knows how to pander to people. that’s the word for it. he constantly brags about how good he is at making friends, but well! if you’re making friends solely to have more strategic power then that’s not really sincere is it. but he’s good at putting on this inoffensive, just charismatic enough persona to slip under the radar and end up on the side of general approval. to say what people want to hear, basically

and i might be hallucinating but he also becomes much friendlier to gem after he realises that she isn’t weird about pearl anymore. remember, he views her and pearl’s alliance in SL as a near betrayal — so from his pov, gem has had character growth and become a Good Ally TM, and not “rogue” like jimmy or pearl. and it’s always about perspectives. scott is acting perfectly normally from his own pov, and since he wasn’t there for what actually happened. so if gem comes up to him and complains about pearl, an ally he already has tensions with, he’s going to think that pearl must have done something to deserve it. and is he wrong? no. any other person in his position would think that too

also omg the twitter thing makes perfect sense now. pearl aligns herself with impulse, and impulse is gem’s no. 1 enemy, so pearl is now gem’s no. 2 enemy. that sucks for pearl because at the rate impulse is going he’s going to be an outcast in 2 sessions, and with pearl’s already shaky reputation, allying with someone who would be rightfully ostracised, and doesn’t seem to have much morals at all (i fully support him for that btw), is not going to help her image, or her relationship with scott/cleo/gem/rest of the server. gritting my teeth like yes i do want her to be happy but she can’t even act unhinged because all of her exes will pounce on that. she hasn’t even acted unhinged and they’re already saying she is. like oh man just wait

uhh but yeah. toxic yuri for gempearl at least pearl’s kinda happy with impulse?? i guess?? i’m so embarrassed i didn’t even consider that gem would remember the SL betrayal but breakup in ep 2 goes hard. alexa play i love you i’m sorry

ETA: also not sure how to feel about pearl being a legitimate underdog this time. gem and joel are both a powerful and popular alliance, and i don’t think pearl realises that it’s really really bad if she allies with their enemy. but she doesn’t really care about placing high anyway so shrug emoji?

[zapreportsblog]

Can I please request a Volturi headcanon with a kind, selfless and sympathetic human reader that always keen on helping others and is willing to sacrifice her life to protect other people? Thanks a lot.

❝headcanons for how each of the Volturi members might react to being around a kind, selfless, and sympathetic human ❞

The Volturi are a powerful and ancient coven of vampires who enforce vampire laws and traditions. Their reactions to a kind, selfless, and sympathetic human who is willing to sacrifice her life to protect others would likely be complex and dependent on various factors:

1. Fascination : The Volturi are known to have an interest in exceptional humans, particularly those with unique abilities or qualities. A human who consistently displays kindness, selflessness, and sympathy might intrigue them.

2. Caution : The Volturi are also cautious and can be ruthless when it comes to maintaining the secrecy of the vampire world. They might view a selfless human as a potential threat if her actions draw too much attention to the vampire world.

3. Recruitment : In some cases, the Volturi have been known to recruit gifted humans to serve them, especially if they possess abilities that could be useful to the Volturi's objectives. Your described human's willingness to help and protect others might make her an attractive candidate.

4. Observation : The Volturi would likely keep a close eye on such a human to assess whether her actions align with their interests or pose a threat. If she were to become a vampire, they might consider her for membership in their coven.

Ultimately, the Volturi's reaction would depend on their perception of this exceptional human and how her actions impact the vampire world. It's important to remember that the Volturi can be unpredictable and often act in their own self-interest, so the outcome could vary in different scenarios.

Here are some headcanons for how each of the Volturi members might react to being around a kind, selfless, and sympathetic human:

1. Jane Volturi : Jane possesses a cruel and sadistic nature, often using her power to inflict pain on others. Initially, she might be intrigued by the human's kindness but would likely view it as a weakness. Over time, she could become envious and resentful of the human's altruistic qualities.

2. Alec Volturi : Alec, Jane's twin brother, is more reserved and less overtly cruel. He might appreciate the human's selflessness but could be wary of drawing too much attention to her and endangering her life due to their connection to the Volturi.

3. Marcus Volturi : Marcus is disinterested in the affairs of the Volturi and generally appears detached from the world. He might not pay much attention to the human's kindness and sacrifice, as he is preoccupied with his own emotional numbness.

4. Demetri Volturi : Demetri is the tracker of the Volturi and has a keen sense of observation. He might see the human's selflessness as a potential asset and appreciate her willingness to help others, especially if it aligns with the Volturi's interests.

5. Aro Volturi : Aro is highly intrigued by unique talents and abilities, and he might find the human's unwavering kindness and sacrifice fascinating. He could see her as a valuable addition to the Volturi, either as a human asset or, if she were to become a vampire, a long-term member.

6. Caius Volturi : Caius is known for his ruthlessness and desire for vampire purity. He might initially dismiss the human's kindness as irrelevant but could be swayed if her actions somehow served the Volturi's goals.

7. Felix Volturi : Felix is one of the Volturi's enforcers and values physical strength. He might respect the human's bravery and willingness to protect others but could be skeptical of her abilities to do so effectively in a vampire world.

✭ authors note : These headcanons are based on the personalities and traits of the Volturi members as portrayed in the Twilight series. Keep in mind that the Volturi's reactions would be influenced by their own motivations and the specific circumstances in which they encounter this exceptional human.

[cursedvibes]

Hello 👋 How are you? I love reading your posts, thanks so much for sharing them! Can I ask random things?

So, I just read a posts about how some male anime/manga characters that are loved will be hated if they were female. And it got me thinking. What do you think will happen if Gojo or Sukuna were female characters (with the same power and same personality), will they be hated? For me, yes they will be hated. But, the same can't be said for Yuuji. Like, for me, even if Yuuji's character were female, somehow, I think will be loved... But what do you think?

Hm, for Yuuji I don't think he would loved all that much. Well maybe in the sense that he's used even more as a shipping self-insert with any male jjk character that's considered hot. People already genderbend him a lot for that, so that would be very common together with the submissive wallflower sunshine boy/girl personality people like to give him. More people would call his and Megumi's relationship a romance then though, assuming Megumi remains a guy.

Aside from that, powerscalers and typical reddit fans would hate him. Like they already did until shortly before the end of the series when he got two new CTs, could heal and use BF and his domain. Before that "all he does is punch" was very common and dismissed him quite often, said he's irrelevant in his own story because Gojo or Yuuta are stronger than him. Count misogyny into that and she would be widely thought of as a loser and as useless as Sakura (no shade at Sakura, she's used commonly used as a punching bag). Not even the power-up would help much there, I think, he would just be called a Mary Sue or that it's out of nowhere. Basically what they already like to say about Maki.

Sukuna would definitely be hated. Just like Yuuji later on, he's a Mary Sue. "Fraudkuna" would already be prominent way before the fight against Gojo. Sukuna using an extremely powerful shikigami she defeated herself in a fight? That's cheating, can't even use her own technique, could only win by fraudulent behaviour 😤 "Save me, daddy Mahoraga" would be even more of a meme. And assuming Sukuna's OG form remains the same, more people would call her ugly and she wouldn't have as many people thirsting over her. Or maybe only if she's in Yuuji or Megumi's body. Maybe.

For Gojo, I'm not sure Gojo would be quite the same person if turned into a female character. She would have a much harder time staying ahead of the higher ups and leading her clan I think. From what we know, the Gojo aren't super feminist either and they still place a lot of worth on bloodlines. So there would be more pressure on Gojo to reproduce and give them strong offspring and also probably more of an effort to control her actions. Power is all well and good, but Gojo also doesn't want to rock the boat too much and stays pretty civil towards the higher-ups for the majority of the story, so I think they would take more advantage of that. The Zenin and Kamo would also show far less respect. At the very least, fem!Gojo would have to work much harder to get the recognition he has in canon.

As for the fandom reaction, I think Gojo would still be beloved, but by different people. Like, Gojo would still be insanely pretty and create a lot of shipping fuel and stans merely through that. Think like Robin from OP or Erza in Fairy Tail. So still popular and beloved, but by slightly different people.

[penultimate-step]

In Defense of Ruby Hoshino

Or: Yes, the Aqua/Ruby interactions from the last couple dozen chapters ARE necessary for characterization and thematic reasons, why do you ask?

The Oshi no Ko fandom has kind of frustrated me over the last few months. It feels like every chapter that comes out and any discussion of it now has people making over the top angry exclamations talking about how much they hate incest, calling it "bait" and irrelevant to the story. Now, while of course anybody is free to have their own preferences and things that bother them, I do think some of this is taken out of proportion, and perhaps blinding them to the actual narrative importance of Ruby's supposed feelings for Aqua. Which, I do think this is a critical, load bearing part of Ruby's character arc, and corresponding the themes of the story as a whole, so it bothers me when I see so many people dismissing it as "brocon fanservice" or shipping nonsense.

I think perhaps out of an instinctive disgust reaction, people have trouble engaging with it. The way people act seems to be that either this is a serious romance plot, and the series will end with them dating, or that it is merely for sexual titillation and shock value on the part of the author, with no greater meaning, but it's pretty clear that it is neither of those things - Aqua/Ruby is not a romance, they will not date, they do not have romantic feelings for each other. However, that doesn't mean that what's going on between them is pointless.

The issues that Ruby has, both in their relationship and just in general, hinge pretty explicitly on Ruby's assumptions about her own feelings in her past life. she cannot develop past those without first confronting them.

And this is not a new thing. The groundwork for how Ruby has been acting in the movie arc was laid down long before, and needs necessary followup. To simply not have her talk about potential feelings for Aqua, as some fans wish, would have meant leaving many threads hanging, and made for a worse story. Almost everything about how they've interacted was something that could have been predicted from chapter 77. In it, Ruby makes it clear that she believes her feelings for Gorou are romantic, and that she intends to try to initiate something in her new life. However, at the same time, the fact that it was never going to happen is also, I feel, fairly clear.

In the past, in the flashback scene, Sarina claimed she was in love with Gorou. He told her he would reciprocate when she turned 16. In my opinion, I do not think either of the feelings the characters expressed in this scene were meant to be believed by the audience at all. Sarina is 12 here, she might have a puppy crush on the doctor but I think true romantic interest was probably beyond her. Meanwhile, Gorou isn't actually a pedophile? His statement was made with both parties knowing that she would die long before then, a way to make his rejection hurt her less, and as a desperate attempt to motivate her to keep living as long as she could. Though it is clear that both are the most important people to one another, and that this is an expression of their real care, I very, very, much doubt there was any actual romance in this scene.

Does this not seem very relevant for a series with the theme of people not understanding love? Back then, Gorou was Sarina's one true bond. Her parents had abandoned her and she had no friends to visit her. This was the one example of real mutual care she had, of course she would call it "love." (I mean, I'd also call it love, but not a romantic love. Familial, if anything, but friends works too - the actual name on it is unclear, what matters is that they cared for each other, but not like that.) Now, in her new life as Ruby, she has many more people who love her and who she loves in return, but having died both painfully young before, she hasn't had the opportunity to really grapple with all the old feelings about the doctor. It's pretty obvious to me whenever we see Ruby thinking of Aqua now. Just look at this page from 126:

In Ruby's own mind, he's drawn in a completely different style, like a manga romance hero. Her feelings about Aqua are fantasies, dreams, and projections, not substantial or tied to reality.

Much has been made of how Aqua, despite being Ai's son, still puts her on the pedestal of an idol, and can not see her flaws and interiority, even as he tries to avenge her death. Part of this movie arc is having characters like Ruby, Kana, and Akane start to see Ai from new angles, and relate to the human part of her. But for Aqua and Ruby to truly develop past their issues, this isn't the only pedestal they need to tackle. Ruby's regard for the doctor is a direct mirror to Aqua's feelings towards Ai. Even with the object of her affections right in front of her, she can't she past her own assumptions.

And of course, while Ruby is slowly coming to understand Ai and still failing to understand Aqua, there's one more person in the room who Ruby needs to come to an understanding about: herself, both as Sarina and now. Her refusal to see Aqua's flaws is tied up in her own feelings about the past - to acknowledge him as imperfect would mean understanding that part of the reason Sarina loved Gorou was tied up in her own desperation to love and be loved. Furthermore, while she has many more ties in her life as Ruby, I don't think its a stretch to say part of her is still stuck in that past state, holding people at arm's length.

While she has friends now, the bonds she thinks of as strongest are the ones from back then - her idolization of Ai, her love for Gorou. When Aqua reveal's Ai's secrets, in 106, Ruby says that despite being siblings, raised together for 17 years now, she didn't think of Aqua as family on his own terms - she felt a bond solely because they were linked through Ai, and does not hesitate to cut him off. She doubles down on this in 122, calling them "strangers who happened to be born in the same place." Similarly, while Ruby has been shown to be friendly with coworkers like Kana and Mem, as well as classmates like Frill, on some level she is keeping them at a distance. Beyond the simple fact that she can't talk to them about her previous life, she's been keeping plenty of emotions held in for a long time - pretty much every Ruby appearance from the Miyazaki Return arc to today has shown her not wanting to acknowledge her own struggles. Her pain from her life as Sarina is easy to keep buried. When nobody else knows Sarina exists, all she has to do is not think about it, not talk about it, not say anything, and it's almost like it never happened. Not til her breakdowns in chapters like 115 and 121 does she speak it aloud, but always either with plausible deniability or when she thinks she's alone.

I don't think her bonds as Ruby are fake - part of what she says to aqua, I think, is a defensive cope - but much like how she says she is in love with Gorou now, that is what Ruby believes. To her, all the friendships and bonds she's made in her new life are transient and fleeting things. She can never feel secure that they are based in real feelings, that they won't simply drop her when she becomes inconvenient, as everyone in her past life did. This perception contributes to her own willingness to reject others. Putting her friends at a distance during her revenge arc, cutting ties with Aqua over the Ai reveal, these are all things she does because she has no faith in the foundations of these bonds, and without understanding them she is willing to throw them away for Sarina's old memories - for the sake of the one person she believes will never let her down.

The only way Ruby is going to solve the story of Oshi no Ko is through coming to an understanding. Of Ai, of Aqua, and of Sarina. Ai didn't understand love until the day she died, and both of her children have in some ways followed in her footsteps, but Ruby has the chance to be the one to break this, to understand what was holding her back before and fully embrace loving her family and friends.(platonically. geez.) Reckoning with her feelings for Gorou (and by extension, Aqua,) was always going to be a key step forward for her. These dominoes have been laid down for 60-70 chapters now, at least, and I am excited to see where it goes.

[wishesofeternity]

okay I've seen posts like these going around for Yang and Blake but not for Weiss and it's bugging me a bit so I figured I'd make my own

Guys. Weiss is frustrated and impatient and she has every right to be. it's completely understandable. Remember when homegirl was the last member of her team standing and watched all three of her friends plummet to their presumed deaths? Remember when she's the only one of them who saw what happened to Penny? Remember when she lost not just her home, but a whole damn kingdom that LITERALLY WENT UP IN FLAMES? Atlas is literally another Beacon for her, the loss is incredibly personal and visceral. She's grieving. She lost her home that she desperately wanted to save. She's dealing with her own immense kingdom spanning guilt. "I am so tired of leaving places in ashes."

Not to mention the fact that Weiss was forcibly separated from her mother and brother who she only recently reconnected with (and who she clearly feels responsible for) and was forcibly wrenched away from her sister. Her losses are heart-wrenching, and it's important that the weight of it is acknowledged and brought up when discussing her. She's dealing with her own trauma as well, and she's clearly impatient with this new world and desperate to go back to Remnant.

She gets frustrated with Ruby one time about the grow-hurt (obviously, neither she nor any of the others knew why Ruby wasn't able to get it) and that's fine lol. It's normal. It happens to everyone, it's literally not a big deal whatsoever. It's bizarre that people are taking it to mean that she was inconsiderate of Ruby's feelings or too self-centered to even notice them, because the comment itself is literally nothing - what we're meant to see is Ruby's reaction, and how bad Ruby's own headspace is that such a small, irrelevant thing cements her own heartbreaking sense of inferiority and uselessness. It's just like Yang saying "you don't mean that" is taken as an invalidation of her trauma and Blake's attempts at reassurance are taken as dismissals of her trauma. Ruby's hurting so immensely that she doesn't understand how others can't see it - but how can they? It's impossible and unreasonable to expect them to magically understand and fix everything that she's going through, especially considering that so much of her trauma has been repressed even from herself since she was a child.

Her team loves her. They'll reach out to her, she'll reach out to them. There's no need to entirely blame one side, because there are no sides. It's a messy, heartbreaking, exhausting situation where nobody is wrong and everyone is sympathetic. It's good storytelling.

EDIT: sorry, I wasn't trying to compare their experiences and weigh them against each other, even tho I think that's how it might have come across. I just haven't seen lots of discussions on Weiss's state of mind (maybe it's just me and my dash lol) so I just wanted to emphasize that, though some stuff was wrongly worded. Sorry once again! I changed things slightly so if possible, reblog this version instead.

[rynnthefangirl]

I'm glad you understood a little better what some fans of Aegon III and Viserys II feel, basically in my point of view the fandom expects them to sacrifice and suffer the mistakes of others, and being called usurpers when all they would do is claim something that belongs to them, it is frustrating, I've never seen anyone, except maybe one person, say that the one who had to step aside was Jace, since truly the right was Aegon's and he knew it because he was perfectly aware that he was illegitimate hence his visceral reactions when he was told so. But the responsibility always falls on Aegon or Viserys, they are the bad brothers who have to be white cloaks or maesters, or be studs for some lady of Westeros like their father was when that is not their place for the sake of his half-brother . They are always destined to be the bad guys in this fandom, Rhaenyra can fight the usurper, but Aegon and Viserys do not have the same right, because yes, Rhaenyra, to cover up her mistake, was depriving her legitimate children with Daemon of what was theirs. George makes Rhaenyra look very bad with this, a gigantic hypocrisy. And they will tell me it is not Jace, Lucerys and Joffrey's fault for being bastards, well, it is not Aegon and Viserys's either 🤷🏼‍♀️ that is my point. Some will say that kings choose their heir and Rhaenyra chose Jace, wanting to make a parallel between Viserys and Rhaenyra, but Jace was not eligible as an heir, if he were a legitimized bastard he could have been one although it would also be highly frowned upon if he headed the line of succession, but that was not the case. In short, long live Aegon III, whose existence is the salvation of House Targaryen.

I mean that all makes sense, but I guess to me it still seems like an extreme response to what amounts to only a hypothetical. Like Jace very much didn’t take the throne from anyone because never sat it. And he didn’t sit it because he died for his baby brother before he got the chance. Aegon III becomes king, and Viserys II as well, and they never had to fight Jace for it. And from what we see of their characters, they never actually wanted it anyway, and would far prefer having their family back. So pitting then against Jace feels unnecessary and contradictory to what I see as a point of their characters and their most admirable qualities (being two kings who, after the destructive greed of the Dance, truly care for the good of the realm above all and wear the crown out of duty and not desire).

But that is from more a strictly source material perspective, and fandom does change things. For instance, I probably would rather like Aegon II as a character if left to my own devices, but then the fandom goes and treats him like a poor victim who had no choice but to steal the throne, and it just makes me despise him wholeheartedly. Compare to Aegon IV, who is as despicable as any Targ, but I love his character because I think he’s fun and interesting. Two Targs that are awful people but compelling characters, yet the fandom response make me appreciate one while having nothing but contempt for the other.

All that is to say, there isn’t any fandom behavior that I myself have experienced that would make me resent the Velaryon boys despite the lack of conflict between them and Aegon III in the narrative. But I can’t discount that others might have different experiences, and seeing them shunted aside or demonized for the sake of their half brothers would be very aggravating. Particularly given how their characters have effectively been erased from HOTD (which I am still fuming about, why are they still toddlers when the Gullet is mere moments away😤), so show-only fans would be more like to dismiss their characters as irrelevant (ugh, even writing that raises my hackles). Again, not really an issue I come across, but I think we all underestimate to what extent our personal fandom experiences are not universal.

[beatricebidelaire]

the whole thing was quite hushed up, and no one really knew the exact details of what had transpired, even if beatrice baudelaire claimed to. but even as everything was labeled top secret and forbidden to be discussed with irrelevant people, some rumors were bound to come out, occasionally ambiguous and hard to decode, occasionally blatant and wild and overly specific on certain details.

the gist of it, though, was that something almost went wrong at one of the missions. almost being the keyword, it was fixed and the situation was saved, although not without creating some inconveniences - and more than that, or so it sounded.

when a model volunteer like jacques snicket got caught up in the middle of this - everyone was suddenly interested. but maybe even the perfect agent makes mistakes sometimes and needed other loyal volunteers coming to the rescue. everyone wanted to find out the details, but no one really knew exactly what had happened, or how the situation was salvaged. even beatrice baudelaire, who claimed to have figured out everything but couldn’t talk about it.

although - what beatrice did know was this. jacques returned to the city a few days later, and visited hotel denouement. the hotel was fairly busy that week, and all three managers were handling all sorts of things. but then jacques pulled frank away into frank’s office for an “urgent meeting”. which lasted about 20 minutes.

according to most people - concierges who happened to be on the same floor after they walked out, one or two volunteer who couldn’t really tell the hotel managers apart but assumed that if one of them was with J then it’s most likely F - frank basically looked the same as ever, with a professional mask on, hard to decipher, impossible to tell apart from the other manager, etc. in short, just as usual.

but beatrice, who was helping out at the front desk along with bertrand when frank and jacques returned, had a different opinion.

“you know what F’s face said when he got back?” she said, with a mysterious smile at bertrand.

“i was there with you,” he reminded her.

“yes, but that doesn’t mean you know,” beatrice replied, very reasonably if she could say so herself.

“i assume it was ‘i hope beatrice hasn’t done anything too drastic while i was away’.” bertrand said dryly.

“it was,” frank confirmed.

“sure, that’s such a permanent state of you that it isn’t even worth mentioning,” beatrice waved a hand dismissively. “i was referring to his ‘that apology blowjob could have been an email’ face.”

frank just looked at her, decidedly unimpressed. he had long since learned that the best way of dealing with beatrice was to not give her any reactions she expected to get out of him. this was increasingly becoming a psychological warfare between them. she delighted in getting to see beneath his professional mask, and since they’re friends he didn’t mind letting her know the real him, partially anyway, but there was no way he’d rise to her bait so easily. not when she was definitely expecting him to. it was tempting to express some strong opinions to beatrice and tell her to stay out of his business and love life, but that would only give her ammunition to decipher what had happened from his reactions. he must not react, and let her wonder on instead.

“well,” bertrand nodded sagely, but frank could just hear the hint of teasing in his voice. “F does love emails.”

frank casually grabbed a nearby cushion and aimed it at bertrand, who caught it easily and grinned wryly at frank. frank rolled his eyes at him, posture relaxed.

behind frank, beatrice narrowed her eyes at bertrand.

[defira85]

For Kassie!!!

7. If your pre-lobotomy Durge could say anything to your post-labotomy Durge, what would it be?

8. What was Durges greatest nightmare?

11. What would past Durge think of their new companions? Would they like, love, dislike or despise them?

Ask meme here!

7. Answered here!

8. What was Durge's greatest nightmare?

Oooh. Oh that's a good question. Kass, hmm... I think it's something to do with irrelevance. Being unnecessary. Being unwanted. She worked so, so hard to try and work out how to bring Bhaal back to life, only for all of her hard work to be dismissed and unnecessary, and then she was discarded and treated as unimportant the moment he was resurrected. She watches Enver moving in high society and gets so possessive and miserable at the thought of him taking a spouse and having a family. Post-tadpole she watches miserably as Heron is so easily accepted into the Tadfools and how happy it makes him to change and grow and make friends and lovers, and it makes it a little easier for Sceleritas to slip under her guard and try to lure her back to Bhaal

She wants to be wanted. Standing alone at the end of the world was her greatest nightmare

11. What would past Durge think of their new companions? Would they like, love, dislike or despise them?

Kass struggled. Not for lack of trying on their or her parts, but Orin and Kressa scrambled her badly, a lot worse than Heron, and she had the Urge to contend with where Heron did not, which made her wildly more suspicious. And, let's face it, Carmela is not great at making friends either, and given that she made herself the moral compass of the group almost forcibly, it put Kass at odds with the lot of them from the start

But past Kass... I think past Kass would have common ground with Lae'zel, and would appreciate her bluntness and disinterest in being more sociable. I was going to say I don't think she'd like Gale but pre-tadpole Gale was a different beast, more ambitious and arrogant, so it's possible she'd find him fascinating. I don't think there's anyone she'd despise because it takes a lot to rouse that sort of reaction from her.

[kiwikarpart]

TPOT 14 Mini Review

So this episode was...fine. The best parts are on par with TPOT 13, but most of it reminded me of TPOT 12, the worst parts of TPOT 12.

Best part of the episode, the elimination scenes. Using the failed debuters for this part was great for a reason I'll get into later, but the emotional parts are what really made it shine. Pin getting emotional over Gaty's elimination, making you think that's the worst it could get, only for Two to show up and have a reaction that hits even harder, Pen getting emotional about his last friend in the game, while Eraser takes it in stride even though he was upset, it was all so good! (not the scene with Eraser and Bottle though. That dynamic was boring and didn't go anywhere)

Another thing I liked was how many characters they ultilized. Like the focus is still on the TPOT constestants, as it should be. But they also gave small moments to characters outside the game. Failed debuters with the elimination, the scene with some of the eliminated TPOT characters(shoutout to Foldy for finally getting some lines after being irrelevant for like two years!), and the scene with Match seeing Ruby and Bubble again was such a nice way to end the episode. No jokes, no words even, they just let the scene speak for itself. Also shoutout to Firey Jr. for taking residence in the most flammable house ever and NOT burning it down, only for the contestants to show up and ruin it anyway. Definitely the funniest part of this episode.

I haven't said this before, but I think the reason some people get really heated when their favorite character gets out is because after they leave, it's like they don't exist. That probably bothers them more than their fav not winning, because it means they'll be irrelevant for a long time. But between this and what BFDIA's been doing with the hosts, it seems like the writers are finding ways to give characters outside the game moments to shine. Which I really like because it allieviates the sting that comes from their elimination.

As for the worst part...it's the pacing. Not just with the challenge, but also with the arcs. TPOT 13 did a good job of setting up some character arcs/conflicts. We saw Pencil try and fail to reconnect with Book and Ice Cube, Golf Ball and Donut argue about what's best for their team, and Liy try to form a friendship with Pen. Now, I didn't expect all of these arcs to conclude in one episode, they need to take some time to feel genuine. But in TPOT 14, it felt like they didn't progress at ALL. Pencil just doubled down on her approach with Book and Icy, which obviously didn't work, while Book and Icy didn't have any strong scenes together. Golf Ball's dynamic with the rest of Cloudyay barely changed. They immediately dismiss her plan and she works on it by herself anyway. There's a bit of progression here because they eventually work with her, but then her and Donut argue and the plan fails and the dynamics reset and it's like they never worked together in the first place. And Liy's desire to be friends with Pen is shown once before never being relevant for the rest of the episode. The scene itself is great, but until they follow it up with something it doesn't do much for that relationship. The most "development" it gets here is Pen calling her his teammate in a throwaway line. It's good that these arcs weren't forgotten, but they shouldn't be paced THIS slowly.

Some smaller problems before I go: why was Cloudyay so stupid? TPOT 13 proved that they could work together efficiently while contributing in different ways...but in this episode they make a ton of avoidable mistakes while, at times, acting like the same character. I get that they wanted the other teams to have a chance at winning after Team 2 gets the Ice flag, but did they need to do it like this? If the writers weren't going to use that time to properly develop the team, they should've had a second team go after the Volcano flag at the start.

This episode wasn't that funny to me. Most of the newer episodes aren't, their style of humor is just too loud for my taste.

And finally, the action. I am no expert on what makes a good action scene, but the ones in this episode felt kinda slow and floaty? It's hard to explain but good action usually has some weight to it. It can be fast and snappy or slow and heavy, but what really makes it work is the impact each hit has. In TPOT 14 though, most of the hits in each fight felt so meaningless. I don't know if it's because everyone got recovered so quickly or something else, but the action here was just mid. Which wouldn't be a problem if there wasn't much of it, but that wasn't the case. I'll give them points for being creative with some of the objects though, that was nice.

In conclusion, this episode was...fine. I want to say it's good because of its best parts, but the content surrounding it is too lackluster for that rating. So I'll give it aaaaaah 6.5/10 no, a 6.8/10 because I'm very clever and funny.

[atla-confessions]

Second, I am not illiterate. I saw and heard that during this whole scene Aang has never ever mentioned Zuko, nor has he talked about Katara liking someone else. Jealousy means there are two people, with at least one of them being interested in the other, and a third party involved. Here there was no third party, only Katara and Aang all the way.

You should Google “context clues” bestie, I know it’s probably a bit too advanced for you given the reading comprehension level you’re operating at, but you might learn something. Aang was mad actress Katara called him a brother… because it was in the context of her dismissing him as a romantic option in favor of Zuko. That was… extremely obvious in the context of the episode. God, this fandom has some of the dumbest people I’ve ever seen.

It definitely does.

Aang starts getting upset about his portrayal way before the Zutara parody.

From the Transcript:

Aang: [Cut to wide shot of Team Avatar. Aang extends his arm toward the stage, angry with the actress' bad portrayal.] I don't do that! That's not what I'm like! And I'm not a woman! [Throws hands up in frustration.] Toph: [Laughs and turns to face Aang.] Oh, they nailed you, Twinkle Toes! [Continues to laugh.]

+ multiple other moments of Aang getting upset with his portrayal, all before the 'Zutara' stuff.

Below being Aang's repeated response in reaction to the play.

Aang: Ugh!

And in the intermission:

Aang: [Angry.] At least the Sokka actor kind of looks like you. [Sokka becomes furious over Aang's remark while Suki gleefully smiles.] That woman playing the Avatar doesn't resemble me at all! Toph: I don't know, you are more in touch with your feminine side than most guys. Aang: [Standing up, angrily.] Argh!

Wow, look at Aang already being angry. (Arguably he feels emasculated (this could be argued to be racist against Air Nomads in parallel to real world racism towards east Asians))

Here is the discussion between Aang and Katara:

Aang: Katara, did you really mean what you said in there? Katara: In where? What are you talking about? Aang: On stage, when you said I was just like a ... brother to you, and you didn't have feelings for me.

No mention of Zuko. It's exactly what they said. He's upset at the idea of her not liking him, not the idea of her liking Zuko.

Yes, he storms out after the 'romance' between actor Zuko and Katara (which invokes a negative reaction in both Zuko and Katara) but when we are told what about that scene upset him. It's the idea that Katara doesn't like him. He isn't established as being 'threatened' by Zuko romantically. Which makes sense because Katara is definitely characterized as liking Aang more than Zuko (even if you consider it platonic); willing to kill Zuko to protect Aang.

The 'in favor of Zuko' is irrelevant to him. He isn't shown to be threatened by or upset with Zuko at all. You are watching through a Zutara lens but that is not the 'correct' reading (you can have it but it definitely isn't the only true reading). In canon, Zuko and Katara have no romantic feelings for each other; so there is nothing for Aang to be threatened by. (This is shown in their reaction to the 'Zutara' scene)

X

[septembersghost]

Priscilla just said on Navarone’s IG live that the Priscilla movie is better than the 80’s Elvis and Me TV movie and that Sophia did a really nice job 🤔

on the one hand, what else is she going to say? she'd never denounce it outright, she's a producer (and i've heard nothing but horror stories about that movie from the 80s 😭 so i would imagine anything would be an improvement! and this will be very streamlined in comparison to that mess too). and on the other hand, if she's satisfied, it's her story, whether anyone wants to engage with that or not, so she has the right to her opinion and support of it.

my issue at the moment is there's absolutely no way to win in this because of the utter lack of nuance or comprehension happening in the conversation, this movie will be used as a weapon no matter what and that...is exhausting and saddening and disrespectful to everyone involved. idk.

that said, to my other anon who mentioned this and the dubious "docuseries" (lol, again, alanna n*sh, currie, and suzanne are all liars and trash, much like the wests and the stanleys and countless other hangers-on and questionable people, there is really no reason to give them air or brain space), people have been trying to tear him down and "cancel" him literally since he first came on the scene in the 50s. the puritanical, and frankly hysterical (and we could unpack the multiple motives for this from the press, from classism to repression to censorship even to latent racism and fear), damaging reactions to him have always swirled and been magnified way out of proportion, it shadowed his entire life, it bled across the edges of his death (where it also became shaming and ableism), it's persisted in chimeric forms in every decade, for whoever wanted to twist him, for whoever wanted to misuse him as a mirror for society's seeming erosion and perceived sins. it's a distortion. we can't change these malformed opinions, but why should we listen to them? they're so irrelevant to why he matters to us.

notice how none of that has ever stuck nor stopped people from loving him nor dimmed his light and voice. we could argue in circles forever about his flaws and mistakes, his temper, his misjudgments, but what is ultimately the POINT?! why do that? to him, to ourselves? what could possibly come of that that's worth anything? it's not a fulfilling use of time or energy, and he wouldn't even want us fighting those battles (he knew he wasn't perfect, but a lot of these things are topics he wouldn't have wanted fans endlessly arguing about at all). he doesn't get the opportunity to tell his story in his own words, so we've become keepers of that flame in many ways. the good he gave then and still gives us now is what lasts.

i know cilla's book is hotly debated, i know it's difficult, i know she's mentioned that some things she wishes she had stated differently or explained better, she's spent 38 years post-publication continuing to give talks about him and do legacy work, and while she's not perfect either and has made her own missteps (please remember these are complicated human beings!), i don't believe someone intent on ruining him (??? she always notes how dearly they loved each other), or on exploiting him only for money (even apart from graceland and the estate, she's been at the forefront of preserving and championing his music and his artistic gifts many times), would've kept her life wrapped up in this the way she has. that doesn't mean anyone is obligated to like her or to like this project, but the rancid hatred being directed from both sides is absurd (the E haters in this are truly unhinged and don't know what the hell they're talking about, and they are NOT priscilla fans! they're invalidating her own words and life! they're just transparent, uninformed losers brandishing pitchforks because they can). it's undermining to both of them and dismissive of the bond they continued to share even after their divorce. i don't always agree with her (i don't agree with him on everything! i could also talk extensively about a lot of underlying issues i feel were constantly going on with him, and he needed far better treatment and support than what he had, or what even existed at the time, but that's a separate conversation. both illness and trauma have adverse effects).

ultimately, the people who want to cast him as the devil will do so because they always have, because they've never listened to a damn thing about the person he actually was and the heart he actually had, his compassion, his generosity, his insights and kindnesses. but whatever anyone thinks of priscilla, i feel like it should be remembered she closed that book as follows:

[sam-keeper]

Part 2 of my series on fantasy classics is live on my Patreon!

Here's a free preview, about how every generation rediscovers WH Hodgson's The Night Land and goes "oh man, this is *almost perfect*, I bet if I just rewrote it a liiiittle bit it'd be GREAT"

Because I spend a lot of time alone and have spent a lot of my life alienated and isolated, I tend to think of archive diving and recovering the past in terms of individual enrichment. I almost forget sometimes that there might be an audience for this stuff, that anyone could possibly care. Sometimes though I connect another person to some aspect of their own relationships and history. Making some connection with a friend, and her family and history, and the history of this game that influenced so many of us, and so on, that's valuable insofar as our relationships with other people are valuable.

And sometimes it can be individually enriching in unexpected ways. Like, in reading over these articles again I made a very funny discovery: everyone has the same reaction I had to The Night Land, William Hope Hodgson's post-Eldritch Apocalypse epic. Specifically, a host of writers and editors down the ages have looked at this book and thought, "oh man this is [sucks teeth] this is almost so good, if I could just... tweak it a little bit...".

In fact, a lot of the article on The Night Land is devoted to a rather crabbish defense of Hodgson's weirder writing choices, choices leading to sentences like, "And some shall read and say this was not, and some shall dispute with them; but to them all I say naught, save "Read!" And having read that which I set down, then shall one and all have looked towards Eternity with me -- aye, unto its very portals. And so to my telling." Chewy stuff. Stuff that apparently even HP Lovecraft found a bit much, which seems to exasperate Rateliff to no end given Lovecraft's "own bizarre idiosyncratic vocabulary (including "eldritch," "squamous," and "rugose," to name only a few, occasionally with New England rural dialect and 18th century orthography thrown in)".

Moreover both Lovecraft and of all people CS Lewis criticize the story for its central narrative: a love story. The Night Land is the story of a couple of lovers (maybe from the Tudor era, Rateliff speculates), separated tragically by death, but granted the possibility of reunion in the protagonist's vision of a distant future. In that future, the sun has been snuffed and the land teams with all manner of horrors. It is, Rateliff succinctly suggests, a vision of the future only hinted at in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, one where the Elder Gods plunge the world into nightmare. The last remnants of humanity huddle in two great pyramid redoubts. Our protagonist is reincarnated into one pyramid... and his lover is reincarnated into the other. When the other pyramid is breached by the horrors of the night, he has to brave the dark and its terrors to reach her.

I think this hook is electrifyingly brilliant. CS Lewis dismisses it as a "sentimental and irrelevant erotic interest". Well, can't please 'em all. Or any of them in fact. Everyone seems to have some complaint about the Night Land, and apparently editor and writer Lin Carter even published a version that cuts about a tenth of the book--mostly, romantic elements. Hodgson himself put together an excerpted novella--The Story of X--that purported to be fragments discovered of a lost longer narrative, a sort of Night Land The Abridged Series. And then there's all the people since who've written their own versions of The Night Land or short stories set in The Night Land. Heck, when I was part of the large scale fan project The Magic Expanded Multiverse, one of the other writers on the project created an entire dying world based on The Night Land. People are just drawn to this book like, well, abhumans to the last redoubt of humanity, I guess.

Which is all intensely funny to me because a few years back I did the same exact thing. I started reading The Night Land and the further in I got, the more convinced I became that if you could just, if you could just make it so every single paragraph didn't start with "And", so every verb wasn't constructed like "I not to have slept" and "the hour did be full come", so that it read a bit more like his other novels like the brilliant Boats of the Glenn Carrig... it could just be so good!

I did not last long on my epic quest to rewrite The Night Land. Most of that was because I was crashing out of Toronto with a chronic pain condition and a boatload of trauma, but I also just couldn't quite make the project work in my own head. Eventually I found myself coming back around to Rateliff's position: the archaic writing is there because that's how Hodgson wanted to tell the story; to strip it out is to simply produce a new work, and you might as well just... do that, and take or leave The Night Land as is.

Apparently, though, the temptation will always be there for each new generation of writers to rewrite The Night Land.

Read More On Patreon

[sixrabbits-blog]

Lying: A lie is a false statement deliberately presented as the truth. Some manipulators will say anything to get what they want. They will do it frequently and with so much ease. They also use lies of omission which means instead of making deceptive statements, they simply withhold the truth. The goal of omission is to isolate the victim behind a wall of secrecy in order to exploit the fact that they are unaware of some important knowledge to him or her.

Insinuating Comments: The manipulator knows the victim’s weaknesses and buttons. They purposely push and pull on these to get a reaction. Often they will speak with double entendres or innuendos to confuse and hurt the victim simultaneously while maintaining plausible deniability of any hurtful intention. The goal is to drain the victim emotionally, wear them down, and to feed the manipulators ego.

Discourage and Criticize: The criticism is not for negative behaviors but rather to discourage positive outlets the victim may have to express themselves. Any attempts to join a social club, team, or organization will be discouraged, undermined, or sabotaged by the manipulator. Any attempts to be creative artistically, musically, or otherwise will be criticized and the victim’s work belittled. The goal is to crush the victim’s self-esteem and isolate the person from anything which might garnish him or her praise or attention from others.

Diminish and Dismiss: The victim’s ideas, opinions, or cry’s for help, are either verbally or non-verbally (eye-roll, smug smile, scoffs, ect.) diminished, dismissed, overlooked, undervalued, or simply ignored. The goal is to make the victim less willing to voice their wishes or grievances. When multiple people work together against the victim this can leave him or her completely isolated and vulnerable with a strong feeling of hopelessness and nowhere to turn.

Intrude and Interrupt: The manipulator has no respect for another person’s boundaries, they will say and do whatever they please in front of, behind the back of, or towards their victims, regardless of objections or morals. If done covertly the victim will have no idea what damage has been done until it’s too late. The goal is to cut the victim off from speaking up, gaining support, or making positive changes, either for themselves or the people around them.

Deflection, Diversion, and Evasion: When the manipulator is asked a direct question or called out on a lie, they will either deflect the conversation back onto the victim, “How dare you accuse me of that!” or they will steer the conversation onto another topic as a diversion, or will give an irrelevant, vague, and meaningless response instead. The goal is to create confusion, throw the victim off balance, and avoid any responsibility for their actions.

Emotional Blackmail: Knowing that someone close to them wants love, approval or confirmation of identity, and self-esteem, manipulators will threaten to withhold the emotional support the victim desires or needs, or even take it away altogether, making the person feel that he or she must meet the demands of the manipulator. The goal is to ensure that the victim feels afraid to cross them, obligated to give them their way, or guilty if they resist.

Emotional Barriers: Whenever the victim gets upset and question the manipulator or complains about something they’re doing, the manipulator turn the focus on the victim’s angry or upset state. The manipulator becomes demeaning about the victim’s objection to his or her poor treatment. The victim could also be attacked for being happy about something. The goal is to frustrate and suppress the victim’s emotions in order to dodge the blame for wrongdoing or maintain control of them.

Guilt Trip: A special kind of intimidation tactic. A manipulator suggests to the conscientious victim that he or she does not care enough, is too selfish, has more than they deserve, or got it too easy, regardless of how much or little the victim actually does or not, or what the manipulator has ever contributed. The goal is keeping the victim in a self-doubting, anxious and submissive position.

Inappropriate Restrictions: A person has the right to be taken seriously, to develop their potential, explore and express their interests, and to find meaning and fulfillment in their relationships and lives. The manipulator will engage in ongoing behaviours that inappropriately restrict the victim’s life. The goal is to hold him or her back from success, happiness, or anything else the manipulator does not deem the victim worthy of.

Objectifying: The manipulator treats the victim as a tool for their own purposes. This could be sexually, or to simply damage and destroy, for their own gratification. The goal here is to dehumanize the victim, to the level of that of an object, as if there is no need for concern for the victim’s feelings or experiences. If done long enough the victim will also feel the same about themselves.

Threats: Rarely in the physical form, but more usually they are cognitive and social in nature. One of the biggest such threats is that of social exclusion, which affects our belonging need. Threats do not change minds, but they are often very effective at changing how people act, at least in the short term. The goal is effectively taking control of the victim’s life and preventing them from controlling their own destiny little by little.

Crazy Making: The manipulator says or does something and later denies ever saying or doing such things. The goal is to make the victim doubt their own sanity and perception of reality. Driving them slowly and systematically mad over multiple occurrences. This effect can be heightened/increased when the manipulator employs others to act the same.

Blaming: The victim is held responsible for the harm they suffered. The victim brought it all upon themselves and the manipulator is in no way responsible for their actions. The goal is to put the victim on the defense which makes them look and feel guilty while simultaneously masking the manipulator’s malicious intentions.

Shaming: Shame is an extremely painful state to be in and is a very powerful weapon. The manipulator loves to humiliate their victims frequently with put-downs, expressions of disgust, contempt, disappointment, etc. The goal is to make the victim feel worthless and inadequate in order to subdue them into submission.

Silent Treatment: The manipulator refuses to communicate and uses emotional and/or physical withdrawal as punishment. This is to convey contempt and communicates that the person is not worthy of the manipulator’s acknowledgement. The goal is to render the victim powerless to change the current situation and induce feelings of abandonment or rejection. If the manipulator withdraws emotionally the victim can become love starved for their affection.

Negative Reinforcement: The manipulator will only give positive attention on a random basis to keep their victim off balance emotionally. The goal is to increase the manipulators control over him or her by making them desperate for the manipulator’s love and attention. Then the manipulator will continue to use negative behavior and only stop when the victim complies with demands.

Positive Reinforcement: If a manipulator gives a gift it is only because they expect something in return, or to deceive others into believing they genuinely care. Compliance is bought and paid for with gifts, attention, approval, money, and superficial charm, interest, or concern for the victim. As like negative reinforcement the manipulator will retract anything positive as soon as the victim fails to comply with demands of the manipulator, hence proving it was superficial all along.

Hurt and Rescue: A drowning person will clutch at a straw, so push them in the water, then throw them a rope. Hurting the other person does not mean physical harm and it may not even mean making them feel bad, but it does mean creating a situation that they want to resolve. The goal is to get the victim to play into the manipulators hands so they can rush to their “rescue” only to trick the victim into trusting them or becoming dependent upon them.

Infantilize: The manipulator does not acknowledge their victims maturity either emotionally or psychologically. The victim is treated as if they have no knowledge of life or experience dealing with life’s challenges. The goal is to reduce a person to that of an infant or child, lowering their status in the social order, and stripping them of the ability to make choices, both in the victim’s mind and the manipulator’s.

Double Bind: In the manipulator’s eyes the victim is damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Regardless of which choice is picked the manipulator will always point out that the person should have picked the other. This may be accompanied by remarks such as “Well if you had done this I would have done something great for you, but forget about it now.” The goal here is to beat the victim down psychologically and emotionally, in order make him or her question and doubt their own intuition and judgment.

Covert Aggressive Abuse: Insults are disguised as teachings, helping, giving advice, and offering solutions. The manipulator makes them appear as a sincere attempt to help, especially to others. This can also be followed by put-downs, and disappointment from the manipulator and anyone else who they have convinced of the victim’s inferiority. The goal is to belittle, control, and demean the victim while covering up the appearance of wrongdoing on the manipulators behalf.

Setting up to Fail: The manipulator puts their victim in such a state of stress, or stressful situation, that failure is almost certain, wherein the outcome can be used as ammunition to discredit and blame the victim. This can be done covertly as well, using sabotage or undermining an objective that may otherwise have been achievable. This type of manipulation may be the projection of the bully’s own feelings of inadequacy onto the victim.

Moving the Goalpost: When the manipulator has control of the situation they will re-define the victim’s goals, in reality, to intentionally devise a way so as to assure that an athlete, for example, will ultimately never be able to finally achieve the ever shifting goals. Depending on how this is done the goal may be to humiliate the victim, keep them preoccupied so as to accomplish nothing else with their time, or to simply wear them out.

Symbolic Aggression: This could be something as small as giving a “look” or some other gesture. Often times it is slamming a door, punching a wall, or throwing something, otherwise a show of force not directed towards the victim. A more extreme case would be brandishing a weapon, or at least making it known to the victim that a weapon does exist and at the manipulator’s disposal, but in a possibly non-threatening way. The goal here is to put the victim on warning and intimidate them into compliance with future demands.

Monitor and Stalk: The manipulator is always present, lurking behind the victim’s back, or from a good safe distance, keeping an eye on him or her. If the manipulator is narcissistic or psychopathic it is common for them to monitor the victim’s computer or phone, and even use surveillance equipment in order to follow the person’s every move. The goal here is simple, maintain knowledge of everything the victim says and does, their coming and goings, and who they know.

Feigning Innocence or Confusion: The manipulator tries to suggest that any harm done was unintentional or that they did not do something that they were accused of. The manipulator may put on a look of surprise or indignation. The manipulator may also try to play dumb by pretending he or she doesn’t know what the victim is talking about or is confused about an important issue brought to their attention. The goal is to make the victim question his or her own judgment and possibly their own sanity. When others are deceived by a manipulator this way the victim feels powerless.

Vilifying the Victim: More than any other, this tactic is a powerful means of putting the victim on the defensive while simultaneously masking the aggressive intent of the manipulator, while the manipulator falsely accuses the victim as being an abuser in response when the victim stands up for or defends themselves or their position. The goal is to build resentment for the victim and put them on trial before he or she is even aware something is wrong, or make them feel guilty enough to question their position.

Playing the Victim Role: The manipulator portrays him or herself as a victim of circumstance, that their behavior is only because of someone else’s, or was the only way to handle the situation they accidently found themselves in at the time. The manipulator was “taken for a ride” by the person or people that are being manipulated. The goal is to gain pity, sympathy or evoke compassion and thereby escaping any blame for wrongdoing or even getting support and cooperation from unsuspecting outsiders.

Rationalization: The manipulator justifies and makes excuses for their behavior. They create false reasons or fake angles which make their actions seem more understandable, acceptable, and appropriate through the use of spin. This often times is done around others, behind the back of the victim. The manipulator may have a different rationalization depending on the type of people they are talking to at the time. The goal is to get the victim off the manipulators case so they can continue doing whatever they feel they are entitled to do.

Minimization: This is denial coupled with rationalization. The manipulator asserts that their behavior isn’t really as harmful or irresponsible as someone else may be claiming. Often times down playing the behavior by comparing it to others, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone,” or such logic may be present. The goal is to make a molehill out of a mountain, thus letting the manipulator continue the abusive behavior, or at least escape much of the guilt.

Trance: If the manipulator is a psychopath, their intense presence and laser-like focus on their victim will cause a trance-like state. He or she will become hyper-focused on the manipulator and vice-versa. Everything they say and do seems undeniably right if for no other reason than pure force of will power. The goal is to render the victim psychologically defenseless. The experiences during these trances are permanently seared into the victim’s psyche and remain ever persistent.

Brandishing Anger: The manipulator puts on an act of furious explosive anger, verbal abuse, or physical threats. If the victim is in a trance or has previously been manipulated by the abuser, with just one incident of such behavior the victim can become conditioned and trained to avoid upsetting, confronting or contradicting the manipulator ever again. The goal is to establish dominance or superiority, and complete and unquestionable compliance, over victims through fear.

Brainwashing: Also referred to as heart washing, is the act of changing a person’s mind or heart by using extreme mental or emotional pressure or abuse. This is typically done when the victim is extremely outmatched by their manipulator either mentally, physically, economically, or socially. This can be achieved a number of ways but usually the victim is in a situation they feel they can’t escape, and will involve several tactics simultaneously. The goal is to convince the victim into believing their viewpoints about life, people/person, or the world are immature or pathetic, and need to be realigned to the viewpoint of the manipulator.

Scapegoating: Manipulator subjects the “whipping boy” to constant negative treatment and blame they don’t deserve. Manipulators unconsciously project their own unwanted feelings and problems onto the victim. The punishment which the scapegoat has to endure is a direct projection of the manipulator’s own insecurities. Scapegoating is a deliberate act of torment against another person for the cathartic pleasure of the manipulator.

Gang Stalking: Is a form of community mobbing and organized stalking combined. Just like you have workplace mobbing, and online mobbing, which are both fully recognized as legitimate, this is the community form. Gang stalking is organized harassment at it’s best, and a suicide inducing attack at its worst. It is the targeting of an individual for revenge, jealousy, sport, or to keep them quiet, etc., by a group of people. The goal is an organized psychological attack that can completely destroy a person’s life, while leaving little or no evidence to incriminate the perpetrators.

(list by reddit user OnTheBrink401)

mbtilistings

I’ll never trust a person who did most, if not all, of these. If they’re ever going to really find redemption and try to become better people, they shouldn’t count on me to forgive and forget.

Don’t ignore these red flags, people. And don’t give people like this power over you; they don’t have much of it if you don’t look up to them or care for them.

[kudosmyhero]

Transformers (vol. 1) #9: Dis-integrated Circuits!

Read Date: February 21, 2023 Cover Date: October 1985 ● Writer: Bob Budiansky ● Penciler: Mike Manley ● Inker: M. Hands ● Colorist: Nel Yomtov ● Letterer: Rick Parker ● Editor: Jim Owsley ◦ Keith Williams ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● Blackrock Motor Speedway, huh. Blackrock has his name all over everythink as much as Bruce Wayne does. ● pg 3. "I would have been here sooner except I was going vroom-vroom in my racecar, Josie." There. Fixed it. ● zxxxv ● ^my cat's contribution ● Ratchet's running tests on the Autobots to make sure they don't have any lasting effects from their captivity ● Jazz stays in car mode a little longer so the Madonna song can finish

● yikes, Optimus Prime's headless body just chilling ● Autobots are planning a protection racket--offering protection in return for fuel. (Does that make Ratchet the cogfather?) ● Frenzy throws tantrums, apparently ● Starscream bein' Starscream and having duplicitous thoughts against Shockwave ● Does Shockwave always have a laser gun as a left hand? That's limiting. Hands are… handy. ● So we learn finally that Optimus Prime shifted his creation matrix to Buster Witwicky ● Buster looks totally different in this issue ● he manages to rebuild an engine just by thinking about it ● Circuit Breaker. I'm not sure if she should be in Ghostbusters or on a David Bowie album

● what happens when she needs to pee, though? ● Jazz picks up Mr. Blackrock and lays out the protection-for-fuel plan ● Blackrock accepts ● ah, Frenzy can turn into a cassette tape ● Circuit Breaker starts attacking Jazz; Blackrock tells her that Jazz is on their side ● Wheeljack can fire magnetic powder from his shoulder cannon ● Starscream and Frenzy retreat, and Blackrock convinces Josie not to attack Jazz and Wheeljack ● 👏👏

Synopsis: G.B. Blackrock has created a new anti-robot device to use against the Decepticons that have taken over his oil drilling platform and his aerospace plant, drawing the ire of the military who sends officials to question him about it at Blackrock Speedway. G.B. dismisses them on the premise that they have invaded his facilities and he can deal with them however he chooses. He then goes to the Blackrock Chronic Care institute where he visits Josie Beller who was crippled during the attack on his oil drilling platform. Josie shows off some of her new inventions and talks about how she can't wait to leave the hospital and work with him again, to which Blackrock feels saddened.

While in the Mount St. Hellen's region, Ratchet has repaired a majority of the Autobots since retaking the Ark. After testing them out, he takes particular notice of Jazz's interest in Earth culture. While discussing a plan to recapture the head of Optimus Prime and deal with their fuel problems with Prowl, Jazz suggests to Ratchet that they strike a deal with the humans. He suggests that they offer G.B. Blackrock protection, freeing his captured facilities in exchange for fuel. Liking the idea, Prowl sends Jazz and Wheeljack to try to broker a deal.

While at Blackrock's Aerospace plant, Starscream reports back to Shockwave that the Autobots have regained control of the Ark. Shockwave dismisses this as irrelevant as the Autobots are not a threat so long as they have their leader Optimus Prime as their prisoner. Frenzy enters the room having heard the news about Blackrock's weapon and throws a tantrum. After ordering Buzzsaw to quiet Frenzy, Shockwave decides that the humans deserve a show of power and sends Starscream and Frenzy off to destroy Blackrock's weapon. Shockwave then goes to check to see how his six new Decepticons are thriving and gloats once more to Prime how he intends to exploit his Creation Matrix and create a new army of Decepticons. Prime muses to himself how Shockwave will never get the chance since he has transferred the Creation Matrix into the mind of Buster Witwicky.

At the Witwicky Garage, Buster toils fruitlessly to try and keep his father's business alive while Sparkplug is in the hospital. While fighting with some tools, he suddenly is struck again with another headache and to his surprise puts a motor back together with his mind and has a complete understanding how the mechanics of the engine works.

That night at Blackrock's head office, Josie Beller arrive and reveals her new circuitry suit that allows her to move about. Calling herself Circuit Breaker she shows off her ability to fire destructive beams, fly and scramble electronics and offers Blackrock her services as his secret weapon against the robots that have taken over his plants. Blackrock declines, not wanting Josie to do any more harm to herself and vows that he will destroy the robots. Unimpressed with the vow, Josie angrily walks out telling Blackrock that she will do as she pleases.

The next day Blackrock is at his raceway to unveil his new robot destroying device. Skirting the press, Blackrock attempts to spend time alone before the demonstration when he confronted by and forced into Jazz. Taking Blackrock on a high-speed chase with the police, he explains the situation between the Autobots and Decepticons, explaining that there are two different factions. Driving off a cliff and safely landing and keeping Blackrock safe convinces the businessman of Jazz's claims and he agrees to provide fuel to the Autobots in exchange for freeing his oil rig and aerospace plant from Decepticon control.

Returning to the raceway, Blackrock attempts to show off his new weapon to combat robots and it fails to work at the demonstration. Then Circuit Breaker arrives and tells Blackrock that she sabotaged the device and that he should name her his secret weapon in order to avoid embarrassment. He is about to do just that when suddenly the raceway is attacked by Starscream and Frenzy, prompting Jazz to spring into action. Jazz attempts to stop the two Decepticons when he is attacked by Circuit Breaker who incapacitates him. Wheeljack enters the fray, taking down Frenzy with a magnetic dust missile.

When Starscream attempts to attack Wheeljack he is downed by Circuit Breaker who then turns her firepower on Wheeljack incapacitating him as well. Starscream and Frenzy then flee the scene and before Circuit Breaker can kill Jazz or Wheeljack, G.B. Blackrock appeals to her and tries to convince her that there are two different factions of robots, one good, one bad. Josie doesn't believe it but spares the two Autobots anyway. She then calls all debts paid and leaves, vowing that next time nothing he says will stop her from destroying ANY robot in the future.

(https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Transformers_Vol_1_9)

Fan Art: TFA Prowl and Jazz by Tojosaka666

Accompanying Podcasts: ● Transformers Chronicles - episode 09

● Transformers University - episode 24

[raincitygirl76]

This scene leaves me with blinding fury at Kristina each time. But I want to figure out why she reacted the horrendous way she did, when she believes she loves her son.

The sticking point for me is, has, and always will be her finding out August was the perpetrator of the video, covering up for him (the sex offender who victimized her own child), and lying to Wilhelm to convince him to make the lying statement in 1.06. Kristina’s actions there are morally and ethically repugnant, and hard for me to get past. So let’s think about why she took those actions. Not to excuse them (there’s no excuse), but to try and see where she was coming from and why she made those particular terrible parenting choices. Without excusing them, just explaining them.

First off, Kristina grew up in an intensely socially conservative, patriarchal milieu, and both her children are boys. Bottom line, even progressive people often don’t think of boys and men as being potential victims of sex crimes. If Erik had been Erika and/or Wilhelm were Wilhelmina, Kristina and the Royal court might (just possibly) have had a contingency plan in place for one of her girls to be the victim of a sex crime. It’s not that likely they’d be that proactive, but it might at least have been considered a possibility to worry about.

But Erik and Wilhelm are (were in Erik’s case) both boys. Which means if Kristina and her team ever workshopped contingency plans involving sex crimes, chances are good they were assuming her sons would be the accused, not the victims. So they’d be thinking, “Call in a salt-the-earth criminal lawyer to defend the prince. Try and demolish the victim’s credibility, wave an NDA and a heap of money at her. If she turns it down and the investigation of a sex crime reaches the media, come out swinging to protect the Prince’s reputation, vilify the girl so she drops it.”

See everything Prince Andrew’s lawyers did to Virginia Giuffre before they finally settled, after years of dragging her through the mud. And that was just a civil suit. A criminal investigation would’ve likely provoked an even more savage reaction.

At no point would it have occurred to Kristina (or any of the traditional, socially conservative people who work for her) that her son would be the victim of a sex crime. This was a situation she simply wouldn’t have had a template for. Society in general is shitty at helping male victims of sex crimes. It's also shitty at helping female victims, but there are at least some resources for women, usually organized by other women. The scant resources there are for men are usually organized by gay men, and Kristina and The Royal Court wouldn't touch those with a ten foot pole.

Monarchy as an institution is inherently heteronormative and homophobic. Furthermore, everybody at The Royal Court (including Wilhelm's parents) seem extremely socially conservative. A Prince being publicly perceived as queer is a serious problem in their circles. Particularly given Wilhelm is Kristina's only heir, and two episodes earlier, she was talking to him about how he and his future children will succeed her now. Until the tape hit the internet, it would've never occurred to Kristina or anyone who works for her that Wilhelm mgiht not marry a girl and have babies the old-fashioned way.

So right from the start, they're not thinking of it as a sex crime, they're thinking of it as a sex scandal. If there are lawyers on retainer, they wouldn't be sex crimes prosecutors, they'd be reputation management lawyers or criminal defence lawyers. Nobody would say to Kristina, "Your majesty, a sex crime was committed against your son." And the media certainly wouldn't bring that up. THey're having a field day reporting on the scandal, racking up great page clicks. Why would they ruin it for themselves?

Actually, maybe someone on staff did tell Kristina it was a sex crime early on. It's not that likely, but it's possible. She probably would've dismissed the information as irrelevant to the scandal and crisis she was dealing with. There are many examples of parents of sex crimes refusing to admit even to themselves that their child was victimized. Thus, they revictimize their child by insisting no crime took place. But someone as powerful as Kristina wouldn't have anyone pushing back at her preferred interpretation of this as a scandal to hush up, rather than a horrible, criminal violation that happened to her baby at the school she sent him to.

So she approaches it as a fuck-up of her son's which she has to cover up. I'm not trying to excuse her behaviour, just trying to put myself in her shoes. Wilhelm isn't happy about the idea of issuing a public denial, but he doesn't outright refuse, either. Even if he did, she must know she can apply sufficient pressure to ensure he goes through with it. There, she has a plan in place to fix the problem. As she perceives the problem, that is.

Then she gets word it was August who leaked the video. But it doesn't change anything. She's already decided they have to deny it was Wilhelm in the tape. She would never call the cops on even a peripheral member of The Royal family. In fact, it being August makes it even more imperative that Wilhelm deny it, because if it gets out it was August, that makes it obvious to the media and the public that Wilhelm was in the tape. August has a motive to leak damaging material of his second cousin with whom he's often on bad terms. He has zero motive to leak a video of two random boys at his school having sex.

On a personal level, Kristina was probably angry and disappointed that her cousin's son did this to the family. Exposed an ugly secret that should've stayed hidden, not committed a crime. But as the monarch, she needs more than ever to bludgeon Wilhelm into handling the crisis her way.

Please note I'm not condoning any of Kristina's behaviour. I'm just trying to put myself in her shoes and figure out HOW someone who thinks she loves her child could end up protecting the sex offender who victimized said child. And it's chillingly plausible how it happened.

Wilhelm-confession: he simply awakens the most motherly feelings in me, and I'm a guy lol