#highlights of the discourse

[dxxtruction]

Do you think - all speculation here but let's indulge a bit anyway - do you think, from Armand's perspective when he's in all likelihood just heard Daniel voice his complaints and beg to be turned into a replacement for all Louis' lost, that that could be a part of his choice to then come in when Louis' on his neck? That a part of him was thinking... even if Louis is angry in the moment... that Louis would inevitably do it? (He could, at least?)

He kept him alive all this time. He'd shared with him things he never shares. It's morning and he'd still kept his attention. He's special, Armand knows without needing to hear it out of Louis' mouth.

And like, from his perspective does he see this replacement as the last thing Louis needs? Considering how well filling a void by making another vampire had turned out for him the first time. How he'd been filling a seemingly un-fillable void as it is. How he's unstable, and not in the right mind to be taking on such a responsibility. How it's a bad idea doomed to fail, only a more disastrous mess to clean up in the end if he doesn't stop this now. Or, maybe let's say he's only at all concerned with himself, Armand has many selfish reasons to want Louis to move on. So, he at least finds Daniel, the potential of Daniel, to be a threat because of what he'd be replacing - leading to Daniel as this wedge between something that was already splitting hairs as it was. Maybe it's a bit of both, and either way, whether it's a success or not Daniel poses something Armand can't handle.

Anyway it'll be interesting to see how, or if, they bridge the initial feelings towards Daniel on Armand's part with the Daniel we have now. Cause there's a lot of questions there. There's a strange sense of fondness towards him? At least this is something I'm seeing in their interactions so far.

[dindjarindiaries]

Every year with every new season, all the chatter about whether Pedro will be on set for The Mandalorian or not returns. The only season this wasn't a problem for was season 2, and still, a rumor about him being a "behind-the-scenes diva" still caused gossip to fly around.

Trust me, it happens every time, and every time it's proven wrong. Pedro shows he's just as committed to the role, that he loves it just as much, and that sometimes it's simply a matter of what they work out for the scheduling or for the sake of his own physical body.

It's totally okay to be upset about Pedro not being in the suit that much, all feelings about it are valid, of course! It definitely adds a charm that was evident in many season 2 scenes. Din, however, has so far been someone else in the suit probably 75% of the time - and that's the Din we continue to know and love to this day, too. Thus, the story and character wouldn't be impacted by Pedro's absence alone.

For some reason, it seems people want to specifically discredit Pedro's contribution to the role, but that doesn't make sense. It's the same as Darth Vader has been ever since the beginning, but Pedro's been given an even more active role in it. Even for Vader's return in Obi-Wan Kenobi, Hayden wasn't the one in the suit for every single scene. Katee also spoke about how Bo-Katan isn't always her, too. The same goes for Din and Pedro.

Season 3 didn't feel the same because it was a darker tone, and it focused on more than just Din and Grogu. It had a lot to accomplish, and in doing so, it had to sacrifice some of the things that are most beloved about the series. You can agree with that decision and love it, or you can not agree and consider season 3 a miss. Either way, it wasn't any of the actors' faults, as season 1 proved that Din Djarin is just fine without Pedro physically there at all times.

Din Djarin has been a three-person team since the beginning. The things these actors can control about Din's character will be just fine in their hands. The blame for the way a story goes, as was the case in season 3, doesn't deserve to go to any of them.

It's hard to drown out the noise about this situation for every season, and trust me, I've been in this fandom long enough to know that - but a lot of what's said about Pedro seems to be, for some odd reason, many people wanting him to fail, and he won't.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

idk where these pictures are from but how do you see catra smirking at adora and mocking her, and think “ah, she's looking at adora so lovingly”.

i noticed people did this with that scene in s4 too where catra was literally electrocuting adora and swift wind, all while victim blaming adora for hurting her friends.

i guess context doesn't matter.

[fictionadventurer]

Potential August Reads:

Helen by Maria Edgeworth

Marcel's Letters by Carolyn Porter

Heretics by G.K. Chesterton

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower

Something by Rose Wilder Lane

Poetry by James Whitcomb Riley

Something Jane Austen related (movies/miniseries count)

[a-moth-called-mof]

Okay so I don't usually like posting discourse but something I haven't seen anyone bring up about the current dumb thing Dream did is that he set his fucking fanbase, notorious for harassing people, on a 17-year-old DID SYSTEM WITH CPTSD. Like, all of that harassment and stress will fuck them up. It'd fuck anyone up anyone but like, holy shit living with DID is already stressful. The suicide rate for people with DID is already over 70% with multiple attempts being common AND THEYRE LITERALLY JUST 17. The amount of stressful shit and hate Dream fans are sending them is actually fucking dangerous and will affect them heavily. I hope to fuck they're okay and safe and that their systems doing fine because oh my fucking god

I don't give a shit if "Dream didn't know uwu" or if "he was just replying to hate :(((". If you're a big content creator and you know that your fanbase has a big harassment problem, MAYBE DONT DIRECTLY REPLY TO SMALL COMMENTS FROM SMALL TWITTER ACCOUNTS. You cant control your fanbase but it's your fucking responsibility to use your platform wisely and not reply to a 17-year-old on Twitter because they made a bad comment about your shit merch

[amphibious-thing]

Like there is this issue in historical fiction fandom (not just OFMD) where people care way more about their fandom takes than they care about actual history. So people will take the bits of history that suit them while ignoring the parts that don’t. And there isn’t necessarily any issue with this if we are all aware and honest about what we are doing (fiction is fiction after all). But unfortunately you end up with people who see historical fact as a tool to use in fandom discourse. It becomes my headcanon is the only correct interpretation because *historical fact*. And so if you say hey actually this isn’t historically accurate they see that as an attack on their headcanon rather than just correcting historical misinfo.

Possibly one of the most toxic examples I’ve seen of this was from the Fate fandom where these guys were arguing about what genitals d'Eon had historically. But it was so clear they didn't really care about the history at all. They only cared about proving that the genitals they imagine anime d'Eon having when they jerk off to her are the correct genitals. Their stances clearly based on what they found arousing not historical fact at all. The whole thing was (besides just blatantly transphobic) transparently about what they got off to but there was this posturing of being an intellectual who cares about historical facts.

[ringneckedpheasant]

mr greg is Such an episode. we were eating so good w these songs

[iamnmbr3]

Wow. Just saw a critique of a story that deals with the topic of ableism saying that it is ableist since it depicts the central character being persecuted because of a disability but never has any of the other characters say that the ableism is wrong.

Like the argument is literally that because the sympathetic main character is persecuted due to a disability but none of the other characters turn to the metaphorical camera and are like "oh this is actually ableist and bad" somehow the creator is condoning that behavior instead of critiquing it. Even though that CLEARLY was not the intent.

Critical thinking skills really are dead huh? When will people learn that depicting something is not the same as condoning it?!

[darkshrimpemotions]

Dean's Hair Color: A Breakdown

Or: why Dean is not blond

Note: When capturing the colors I attempted to go for the midtones, rather than the shadows or highlights, for accuracy and consistency.

You can see in the photo of 4yo Dean that he is very blonde, with his hair several shades lighter and brighter than either the "dark blonde" or "light brown" options.

But at every other time, for every other actor cast to play Dean including Jensen, the midtones in his hair are darker than even the light brown option's midtones.

Ergo, Dean is not a blond. He had blond hair as a very young child that darkened as he got older, which is fairly common, similar to how some kids have blue eyes as babies that eventually change.

[sir-dyke-genderpunk]

I don’t care how much I agree with your point my OCD ridden ass will never reblog a post if at the end of it there’s anything along the lines of “you’re a bad person if you don’t reblog this post” “this is a mandatory reblog” etc.

You shouldn’t have to guilt trip people into having morals, and also you’re not going to. If a post has a good enough point people will reblog it anyways, you know, the point of the website. And someone that DOESN’T agree with the very basic concept of human decency, transphobia bad, bigotry bad etc. isn’t going to care if you block them or call them out anyways.

It really only comes off as fishing for notes even though the subject of these posts tends to be serious fucking topics while also trying to exert moral superiority (in reality making people feel Morally Wrong for not reblogging something on fucking tumblr dot com).

[510055]

i do not post much about gender as i dont think my current mental state could handle trans "discourse". but im against transmisogyny with my body mind and soul, and i want this to be a known fact for those who hold any curiosity on their mind for what i base my worldview on.

[kideternity]

Read DC pride. My review of it of the stories I read was that it was predominantly mediocre though I did like the Ray writing and I liked the circuit breaker story as a whole but the only story that genuinely pissed me off was Al Ewing's Mikaal Tomas' story. People have already talked about the whole sexuality thing online but honestly what personally pisses me off more was A) no mention whatsoever of Mikaal's canon long term boyfriend Tony whose a black man in favour of comments of Mikaal fucking the white side character Al made up for the story and then everything to do with Komak and B) no mention either of Komak having had an STD at all and that being really necessary context for how Komak met Mikaal in the first place. Omitting both of these things is imo really fucking disrespectful / shitty to do and as someone who Really Loves Mikaal I'm disappointed that for the first major story he's had in Years this is what he was given. He deserved better

[parakeet]

i thought i encountered a lot of stupid discourse on this website as a teenager but apparently not bc none of it was like this. is this really what life was like for you back then?

I Will never recover from the damage

[butwhatifidothis]

Covering their names just in case but

Explain CF then.

Byleth sides with Edelgard before the timeskip. Byleth chooses Edelgard’s violent ways of disposing of Rhea, which are extremely similar to Hopes!Claude’s way of disposing of Rhea (invade the Kingdom that gave her refuge and kill her). So if Byleth is the key factor here in Claude choosing or not choosing to enact violence onto Rhea, then why would Byleth themselves choosing violence not thus influence Claude to enact violence? Why would Claude oppose Edelgard for the entire war, up until she quite literally forces him out of Fodlan altogether?

Byleth would’ve clearly lost Rhea’s approval after siding with the one side of Fodlan trying to murder her, which would mean that Claude would’ve also, by this logic, been influenced to also try to murder her since now there’s no successor to take on Fodlan after Rhea. If his Hopes and 3H versions were genuinely in line with each other, then CF!Claude would’ve joined Edelgard off the rip. If Claude feels that Byleth not being approved by Rhea would make him get rid of her by force... then why does Byleth not getting approved by Rhea NOT make him get rid of her by force?

Like, I can post shit that comes from WC, VW, AM, SS, I can even post shit he mentions that happens well before the game’s plot and story. But the thing that arguably most definitively debunks Hopes!Claude’s existence (past Part 2) is actually CF. Rhea is depicted as the big bad that has to be killed to gain peace, Byleth is opposing Rhea and has this be a known fact since before the five year timeskip, and Edelgard - just like she does in Hopes - doesn’t bother talking with Claude even the slightest until AFTER she’d already invaded his land. But despite that, Claude - despite having no wins against the Empire unlike in Hopes, and despite having far fewer people on his side unlike in Hopes, and despite not having to deal with Almyra unlike in Hopes (and in fact having them be straight up ALLIES here who are NEVER said to have invaded during the timeskip) - does. Not. Side. With. Edelgard. 

Despite “but he was under duress from the Empire!” being MORE TRUE IN 3H than in Hopes, and despite Byleth ACTIVELY APPROVING OF KILLING RHEA unlike in Hopes, he doesn’t side with Edelgard! Even to try and trick her! Almost like that ain’t had SHIT to do with why he did or didn’t side with her, and it was HIS BASE MORALS THAT HE HAS IN HIS BASE CHARACTER THAT NO ONE INSTILLED INTO HIM that influenced him to not side with Edelgard! Crazy idea, but Claude’s his own character with his own internal reasoning for doing things that don’t have to necessarily be tied with Byleth, or Rhea, or the Church, or anything or anyone else for him to have!

And also, Hopes!Edelgard may not have ever been the Flame Emperor to the students of Garreg Mach, but “never did fishy things”? Bruh, did you forget the whole part where she

RANDOMLY WAGED WAR ON EVERYONE???

When she invaded the Alliance and Claude says, quote, “The Central Church is headquartered at Garreg Mach. And the fastest way to get there is straight through Alliance territory. So far, the Empire hasn’t tried to negotiate with us at all. Which means they plan to force their way through here”? That thing that Edelgard literally does, and then literally goes on to lie about? Those things that Hopes!Claude just doesn’t give a shit about for no reason, and then GOES ON TO DO HIMSELF TOWARDS THE KINGDOM? 

And Edelgard’s “compromise” isn’t even that great considering that both Claude and Holst know that once the Kingdom is gone the Empire will likely use their superior might to force over majority/complete reign over the Faerghus region before making Leicester into a vassal state. In Hopes!Claude’s own mind, she still doesn’t genuinely respect Leicester as an independent state - he just... doesn’t give a shit about doing anything about that. He just keeps going on mindlessly attacking the Kingdom anyway because, at this point, Who Fuckin’ Cares Lol. 

Hopes!Claude is intrinsically contradictory and thus can not and does not make sense. To himself or to 3H!Claude. His character’s writing is treated with no respect and only has the purpose of “giving something different” without any care put into making that different thing any kind of sensical. Sorry, but I’m just not gonna bother trying to make sense of a character the writers clearly didn’t give a shit about after a very blatant point in their story

[ooc-themis-cattails]

Mean anon comment sent to my comic rather than here to my OOC blog (which exists for replies, visibility, and Keeping Tumblr Running via the reblogs that we all know makes this place tick).

To a comic? I think that would disappoint my readers. I have a feeling they didn't even look at the blog they sent this to. If they want me to delete my OOC blog they didn't even send it to the right place. Idiot rating: Moldy potato.