#hint: the problematic character is female

[bi-badass-geek]

Hades 1 vs Hades 2 Designs

● Hermes besides Hypnos was first character that made me think when i saw him oh some time has passed since Zag's escapes indeed, makes you feel that time skip. In this particular debate between those i'm really digging both but if needed to say which i prefer would go with second. I feel it should be said he sure rolls nicely with longer hair i would say darker outfit too but that's probably because pallet that's used for levels.

Ps. I saw post that mentioned how his ring is the same as ones Charon is wearing in first game and if it's a hint at something i'm here for it!

● Zeus for this god specifically there is discourse about how his pose is less dynamic and oh boy if i don't agree with that so much. In first game you see him and his look makes you think yeah this is the king of gods while in second game man is just there with posture i take often because i'm useless gay that don't know what to do with my hands and feels like they took all this might and put it into chiseling his nipples & abs into his golden chestplate. Not to mention the detail of missing the iconic bolt! Don't think it needs to be said but 100% would pick Hades 1 design out of those options.

● Poseidon the King of the Sea another example in my humble opinion where they went with flattening that dynamic looks exchanging it for man that just standing there chilling which is good for him but where first screams cool uncle second one goes uncle that wants retirement. I really like how we can see the trident now tho and need to point out his outfit sure got more print on it. When it comes down to pointing out which one is the winner in my eyes it would be 2020 one.

● Aphrodite if she wasn't the one that got thrown into drama because people double standards and hypocrisy. Design from first game and the pose straight up makes you think of love, lust, seduction all the things that are associated with said goddess. As for Hades 2 version i have no clue why it feels like this considering it's actually the opposite because we can see armor on her legs now but she feels less covered for me, do i find it negative or in any way problematic? Not one bit let the woman show off all her assets all day long! Really love the adds of her weapon and shield makes you immerse in the store of oh fights are happening around these parts. From seduction to i stand here at the ready kinda vibe and i'm really digging it.

Ps. Another post i read was about fact that her war paint i will call it (not 100% sure if that is it or just line for the giggles) is reference to Ares and considering her myth i really like that touch!

● Hypnos was the first OG i saw and was like man not only catching up on his sleep but also got such glow up i absolutely adore the design. Not to say he looked bad in Hades 1 but there it was like okay nice to Hades 2 like Damnnn and his lil helpers that keeps him up! Love the fact that of all things they made him be tucked into his cape like burrito.

Ps. I really do hope by the end of the game we get to wake him up so he can try out that nectar that we all leave there waiting.

● Chaos so many things to say and at the same time silence says it all. Seen people focusing on fact some out there call them he or how it's a downgrade from previous but don't even elaborate why they think that because everyone has right to have their own preference but at least put it into words instead of going trash next..there was also notion how they resemble Meg and while i see where people get that idea from for sure before reading that my mind didn't went there at all. I think both designs really work with someone who is primordial originator and how time goes so can their form. I find it very fascinating that they put old skeleton with new one and adore galaxy under suit makes me think of Nyx right away and how they're connected. Can totally see how between those two gamers got major stance that left reminds them more of male and right of female beings but at the end of the it chaos is chaos. Gotta take chair routine from Meg while they at it! The face on the shoulder surely throws me in loop tho fits? Sure. Does it disturb me in micro scale? Yes. About frames and poses don't have much to say cause both caption the essence of i mind my business everything unrelevant until i say so.

Ps. I know it's about physical aspect but let me say Chaos roasting Mel about how her brother is amusing one out of two Hades spawns is living rent free in my brain.

[maxdibert]

Lily Evans and the Tragedy of Poor Character Writing: How She Could Have Been Interesting but Was Reduced to the Moral Compass for the Men in Her Life

The way Lily is used as a moral instrument for the male characters prevents her from standing on her own as a character with individual depth, aspirations, and personal struggles. While we see hints that she has agency and a personality beyond her relationships, these moments are fleeting and sacrificed in favor of reinforcing the men’s journeys. This lack of consistent development reduces her to what feminist criticism calls the “moral arbiter” or the “redeeming woman” trope, where a female character exists mainly to define or “purify” a male character’s storyline. This phenomenon is particularly evident with Lily, whose interactions serve to validate or critique the men in her orbit but rarely to explore her own motivations, desires, or struggles.

Lily’s relationships with Severus, James, and Sirius reveal moral contradictions that could have added complexity if they were properly addressed. For example, her friendship with Severus is cut off for reasons that appear, on the surface, morally justified—but she doesn’t seem to apply this same standard to James or Sirius, despite their bullying and violence toward others. Her reaction to Mulciber’s behavior is harsh and unforgiving, yet her forgiveness of Sirius’ behavior (he comites attending to murder) as they get older suggests a double standard that’s never examined. These decisions could have made her a compelling, morally gray character; instead, they’re brushed aside to uphold her as a “good person,” an infallible figure who’s somehow always in the right. This sanitizing approach dismisses her potential for growth, change, and inner conflict, flattening her character to fit the role of a flawless moral validator.

Her relationship with James, too, suffers from this one-dimensional portrayal. The narrative pushes the idea that James becomes a better person because of Lily’s acceptance, implying that he is redeemed not through personal introspection or growth but by “winning” her approval. This reinforcement of the idea that men can be “fixed” or redeemed by a woman’s acceptance or love is problematic because it perpetuates the notion that women exist to reform men, placing responsibility on women to serve as emotional caretakers or moral rehabilitators. This is a trope rooted in misogyny, as it frames female characters as moral tools rather than individuals with their own agency.

Feminist theory critiques this kind of portrayal, arguing that it reduces women’s roles to secondary functions in the narrative. Lily becomes a kind of “reward” for James’s perceived growth, not a fully realized partner with her own arc. This approach reflects Rowling’s broader struggle with female characterization, where women often lack agency beyond their relationships with men and are rarely allowed the depth, autonomy, or moral ambiguity afforded to male characters. By framing Lily as a moral gauge for Severus, James, and even Harry, Rowling removes her complexity and potential flaws, opting instead to present her as an idealized figure who serves primarily to validate the men around her.

The inconsistencies in Lily’s portrayal have led to her being a divisive character for many fans. She’s often disliked not necessarily for her actions but for the incoherent, contradictory ways she’s written, and this is ultimately a failure of Rowling’s character development. Instead of being an empowered, nuanced figure with her own voice and flaws, Lily is molded to fit the needs of the male characters’ narratives, leaving her motivations unclear and her personality inconsistent. This reflects Rowling’s problematic handling of female characters throughout the series, where women are often defined by their relationships and reduced to supporting roles. Lily, as one of the most significant female figures in the story, suffers from this treatment, and it’s a major reason why her character often comes across as both underdeveloped and unrelatable. The narrative’s inconsistent treatment of her is not a flaw of the character but a symptom of Rowling’s broader issues with writing female characters, who frequently lack the autonomy, depth, and agency that would make them compelling and relatable in their own right.

And yes, I’ll admit it—Lily Evans really annoys me, but it’s precisely because of everything I’ve discussed here. She’s been reduced to this saintly figure, this ultimate epitome of “good” motherhood and femininity in the narrative, and it’s frustrating because her complexities and contradictions are glossed over or ignored. Lily isn’t allowed to be fully human; instead, she’s turned into a symbol, an idealized version of what a woman should be, stripped of the depth and nuances that would make her an interesting character.

Instead of exploring her flaws, her contradictions, or the ways she fails to live up to the moral standards she seemingly sets for others, Rowling chose to simplify her into a narrative tool. Lily’s personal contradictions—her selective morality, her double standards, her often unquestioned choices—are brushed aside because they don’t serve the image of “perfect womanhood” the story wants to project. Rather than treating her as a fully realized person with her own journey, she’s treated like an object, a measure of how “good” or “redeemed” the men around her are.

It’s this reduction that bothers me the most. In focusing on Lily’s role as the moral benchmark for others, especially the men she interacts with, Rowling denies her the chance to be anything more than a tool for measuring their worth. She doesn’t get to make mistakes and grow; instead, she’s held up as an unattainable ideal, and that’s not just boring—it’s damaging. It perpetuates the idea that women are there to serve as moral compasses for men, to help shape their actions and destinies, while never being given the chance to explore their own complexities or motivations.

This lack of depth doesn’t just harm Lily as a character; it harms the story as a whole. The other characters’ arcs are all defined by how they relate to her, which only highlights how little she’s allowed to define herself outside of them. Lily could have been so much more than just the woman who inspires James to be better or the woman whose approval validates their actions. She could have been a flawed, messy, deeply human character. But instead, she’s been turned into a one-dimensional ideal, and that’s why I find her so frustrating—not because of who she is, but because of how the narrative chose to treat her.

[see-arcane]

The most screwed up thing about this particular "sexual liberation via undead serial killer" cliche is that in this case main female character literally dies in the process of such "liberation". Which remake now clearly tries to frame not as her own heroic actions of bravery and kindness and unselfishness, but as her fullfilling some of her deathwish and dark desires for vampire and whatever and as something which is now good for her (!), hey look people she's actually happy now. Barf.

The hell of it is that, on the one hand, this kind of framework really can work well in the horror genre. All the most alarming and/or deplorable themes of a narrative are welcome under that umbrella. Horror needs no moral, no happy ending, no healthy relationships. I see all that and it delights me. If I were to take some fragments of Eggers' interview answers at face value, I could really get behind the concept of these characters as he's painting them.

A leading lady who even as she Knows what she's doing is Wrong, throws herself at it anyway.

I could get behind the Conqueror Undone by Fixation.

The Plotting Zealot who Sacrifices Others for the Greater Good.

Even the Sole Innocent Standing/Technical Final Girl being the grieving husband who wanted to protect a loved one even when he knew she did not want him, arriving too late to see she'd chosen mutual destruction with her problematic undead crush rather than staying to live as the good wife she knew she could never be.

On the surface? This is all really good classic gothic fucked up shit. I might even do cartwheels if this was an original film in the veins of The Witch or The Lighthouse, both of which are A+ depictions of corruption arcs steeped in the supernatural. This is Bobby Egg's jam!

The poison comes in when, once again, we see just whose names and plot Eggers has stapled onto these figures. It really is a Dracula adaptation in all but title, because he's following in the exact same bullshit footsteps as his predecessors. These characters are not his. For as closely cloned as they are from Bram Stoker's cast and story, Orlok, Ellen, Thomas and the rest are F.W. Murnau's creations, born in his original Nosferatu.

Werner Herzog could recognize that (even if he got weird about the Dracula cast renaming for ??reasons??) and kept the foundation of the story and characters intact even as he built on top of them. Herzog didn't hollow out the cast and stuff his OCs into their skins to play out his fanficified 2 goth 4 U versions of them. The Count's tragedy buried in his compulsions, the proactive nature and power of the female lead, the miserable tragic result of her husband's unchecked contamination leading to the blow of oh god, we did everything right and the nightmare will continue anyway...that's all from potential that Murnau left in his film and Herzog ran with it.

Eggers' version of Nosferatu is, by contrast, shaping up to be a more elaborate version of Francis' wet dream, just without all the fancy costumes and reincarnation BS. No, it's not Count Chadracula Gary Oldman, but Orlok is still the Dark and Powerful Other Man who the Girl One reeeally wants due to her Secret Gothdark Nature and Long Distance Horniness which meek and mincing little Jonathan Thomas simply cannot satisfy..!

Like. Bobby. You know how to make an original story. You do. This, here, is clearly your story. It has Black Phillip's hoof prints all over it. It has the Lighthouse's cosmic toxic radiance. Every hint and line and trailer so far is painting it all in your very recognizable colors. And I would be so ready to love it like I have your others.

If only I didn't know you had to wring the neck of one of my other favorite stories to empty out its carcass and graft the hide on to your 'reinvention' that is in every way just a goth-grimier cousin to Coppola's take. Fittingly, it's not unlike what Murnau did to Stoker's work. 'I want to do that too, but slightly to the left.' Well, you're doing it. One hundred percent.

And it makes me so deeply, sadly disappointed.

[deliciousangelfestival]

My Problematic Girl - 11

Character: College!Steve Rogers x Rich!Female Reader

Summary:  Steve has lived being nobody in this prestigious university. He just wants to graduate and get a job to get more money to pay the bills for his mother's surgery. But his life turned upside down when a new student attended his class. His quiet and dull life became dangerous and full of surprises.

My Problematic Girl - Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist || support: Ko-fi

Thank you to anyone who gave a like, reblog, and left a comment. It motivated me to write more.

The following day, Steve woke up early, as usual. After getting ready, he went to prepare the medicine for his mother.

Once everything was set, he headed to his benefactor’s apartment, a woman he admired and resented. Seeing her struggle with nightmares recently had stirred a sense of pity in him.

He knocked on her apartment door. "Knock, knock!"

“Come in,” her voice called from inside.

He entered and saw her being attended to by a makeup artist and hairstylist.

“Great, you’re here,” she said, glancing at him through the mirror.

“Do you have an event to attend?” Steve asked, noticing the formal preparations. He knew she liked parties, but this seemed different.

“We’re going to the Solomon banquet,” she informed him, her eyes returning to her reflection.

“We?” Steve repeated, a hint of surprise in his voice.

She pointed towards the couch where a suit was hanging. “That’s your outfit.”

Steve sighed. “Why are you including me in this?”

“They want to meet the artist who received half a million dollars in less than a month. I’m sure you’ll find potential buyers at this event,” she said, her tone leaving no room for argument.

With another sigh, Steve unzipped the garment bag. Inside was a designer suit and bowtie. He changed into it, feeling the quality of the fabric as it fit him perfectly.

“Does it fit you? If not, I’ll order another suit,” she said from across the room, glancing over her shoulder.

“It fits,” Steve replied, not wanting to burden her with unnecessary expenses, knowing how expensive the suit already was.

“Good. Next, I want you to remember some important names,” she said, turning back to the mirror as the makeup artist continued their work.

“Huh?” Steve didn't understand what she meant until he saw the binder handed to him by her stylist. Opening it, he saw photos with names and job positions. His eyes widened—these were all the guests attending the Solomon banquet.

Flipping through the pages, he exclaimed, “Are you insane? This is a lot! And you’re just giving it to me now?”

“It’s not difficult,” she replied nonchalantly.

Steve rolled his eyes, knowing it was futile to argue with her.

“You can’t be clueless about the people you’ll meet there. None of them will be wearing ID badges,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, trying to memorize the guest information.

“You have two hours,” she added.

“Fuck you,” Steve muttered under his breath.

“I heard that,” she said, her tone amused.

Steve approached her and saw her wearing a black dress with long sleeves, which he knew was to cover the scars and tattoos on her arms. The simplicity of the dress was contrasted by the elegant diamond necklace shaped like a snake.

“By the way, you’re not afraid of heights, are you?” she asked.

“No,” Steve replied. “Why do you ask?”

He should have known better. Soon, he felt a cold sweat forming and his fists clenching as he realized what was happening. He closed his eyes tightly.

“You said you weren’t scared of heights,” her voice came through the headphones.

“I did. This is my first time flying in a helicopter,” Steve admitted, still keeping his eyes shut. She hadn't mentioned they would be traveling by helicopter.

He heard her laughing while he desperately hoped the helicopter would land soon.

🚁🚁🚁🚁

Steve's heart finally started beating normally again after the helicopter landed at the Solomon residence. The mansion was the largest he had ever seen, an architectural marvel that spoke of old money and long-standing power. The pristine gardens, the sprawling estate, and the impressive line of luxury vehicles and helicopters signaled the status of its guests.

This was the first elite party he had ever attended, and the grandeur of it all left him momentarily speechless.

“Close your mouth, Steve,” Y/N said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Steve did as instructed, feeling like a child amazed by Christmas lights. The interior of the mansion was even more opulent, with chandeliers hanging from the high ceilings, priceless art adorning the walls, and finely dressed attendees mingling with an air of practiced elegance. He couldn’t help but notice the curious and scrutinizing gazes of many guests directed at Y/N and himself.

“They’re looking at you,” Steve whispered, feeling a bit self-conscious.

“The stray daughter comes home,” she replied, her tone laced with sarcasm.

They continued walking until they saw Maximus Solomon, the family patriarch, seated in his wheelchair. Though physically frail, his eyes were sharp and commanding. Beside him stood his daughter, Sophia, a middle-aged woman with an air of affluence and authority, and her daughter, Sarah.

Sophia, dressed in an elegant evening gown adorned with sparkling jewelry, greeted guests with a practiced smile. When she spotted Y/N, she whispered something to her daughter before excusing herself and walking toward them.

Sophia opened her arms in a welcoming gesture. “Y/N, I’m so glad you could be here.”

Y/N put on a fake smile. “Me too. I want to slit your throat.”

“Ohohoho, funny as always,” Sophia responded with a laugh that didn’t reach her eyes. “Your grandpa is waiting for you. You should go see him. I’ll accompany your friend.”

Steve felt a bit abandoned as Y/N walked away, but he squared his shoulders and tried to maintain his composure.

Sophia turned to him with a polite smile, breaking the ice. “I finally get to meet the artist who has been the hottest topic.”

“Thank you. It’s an honor to have someone like you know me,” Steve replied, trying to keep his nerves in check.

Sophia chuckled, her gaze appraising. “Polite young man. As you know, I have a gallery too. I could give you an offer that’s better than Y/N’s.”

Steve felt a mix of surprise and unease. He wasn’t used to such direct propositions, especially from someone as influential as Sophia. “I appreciate the offer, Mrs. Solomon. Y/N has been very supportive of my work.”

“Of course,” Sophia said smoothly, her eyes never leaving his. “But opportunities like this don’t come around often. Think about it, Steve. You have potential, and I can help you reach heights you’ve never imagined.”

Steve nodded, trying to mask his discomfort with a polite smile. “I’ll definitely consider it.”

Sophia’s smile widened, satisfied with his response. “Good. Now, let’s enjoy the evening, shall we? There are many people here who would love to meet you.”

As they moved through the grand halls, Steve couldn’t shake the feeling of being a small fish in a large, wealthy pond.

@cherrybubblebullet

Author Note: I know this chapter feels like a filler, but I feel like I need to keep writing to regain my inspiration. 😔

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[queer-ragnelle]

Your comment about liking Amurfina was very intriguing to me! I tend to pass all Arthurian female characters through a mental filter that scales back the weirdest mispgynistically-motivated elements (ie if Guinevere treated Lancelot awfully after the Elaine thing... no she didn't). But I couldn't manage it with Amurfina. I think because Heinrich writes so movingly about assault elsewhere in the text (Guinevere), it makes her actions feel so much more real. I'd love to hear why you like her!

There’s no complex reason really it just stems from an interest in any of Gawain’s partners/wives that get to have decent page time, a name, and their own motivations. I mean, she gets her own chapter title!

Plus I like problematic women. Amurfina has Morgan le Fay vibes. She sent her handmaiden to fetch Gawain for her or else she threatened to kill everyone.

This politeness coupled with descriptions of intense violence reminds me of Gawain himself. He talks just like that. Here’s a quote from Béroul’s Tristan.

Obviously I’m comparing two different texts, but the point being there are threads I can connect which make for an interesting dynamic, one that’s viable even if one were to extract Amurfina from her source material and utilize her elsewhere. Hint hint.

Anyway everyone go read The Crown.

[la-pheacienne]

Oh so D x D were right in depicting Jaime x Cersei sex scene in the book as a clear cut rape scene. No, you say? What I remember of that scene in the book is that it was dub-con AT BEST, and this AFTER taking into account the author's own very obvious misogynistic bias (Watsonian vs Doylist perspective) and JC's specific dynamic of being the same person in two bodies and their lack of autonomy in the face of one another and their fucked up sick relationship in general. After taking into account all of these quite important factors, this book scene is still technically a dub-con sex scene, under a lenient reading which I'm willing to give to Jaime because again, I'm taking into account all these factors. If someone chooses to see this scene in the book as a clear cut rape scene, it is understandable to me.

D x D took a dub-con sex scene with a shit ton of underlying complexities underneath and turned it to a clear cut rape scene. Okay! Not The Best in my personal opinion! But still, Not So Atrocious! After all, how are you gonna depict on TV with absolute accuracy with the limited time you have something that is pretty complicated in the book and already kind of still comes across as dub-con or at even dangerously close to rape? Oh but I vaguely remember seeing posts in the lannister crowd about the show!scene being a depiction of "gratuitous violence" and "oversimplifying the dynamic". Am I wrong? I also agreed with the lannister crowd on this. I don't think GRRM intended to write Jaime as a rapist and Jaime comes across as a rapist in the GoT scene. I consider this to be a distortion of canon, despite the fact that in the book we had a real dub-con scene.

But suddently introducing out of the blue actual, very real physical domestic violence in a relationship that had NONE in the book is canonically plausible or even an improvement of canon, for the same crowd? And why is that? Because the couple has a huge age difference whereas JC were twins? So an abusive relationship or even rape is less plausible if the perpetrator is the same age as the victim? Who told you this? Daemyra is abusive because the uncle gave gifts to his underage niece? Because the couple is incestuous? In GRRM's work? You are seriously, unironically arguing that the above factors (age difference + incest) are meant to hint at a non consensual, abusive relationship in GRRM's universe? Are you for real?

Where is the acknowledgement of the author's problematic standards and worldview here? Where is the distinction between the Watsonian and the Doylist perspective here? Where is your indignation at the show runners turning up the gendered violence in ways that are not book canon? At least the JC scene was based on a real, already highly problematic sex scene. Now that the show runners came up with a brand new form of violence that did not exist in the book, what do you say? That it's fine because it's not as gratuitous as Sansa's rape arc? What about Alicent's rape arc? That's not gratuitous? Do you seriously believe that a rape arc is a necessary tool for adding complexity to a female antagonist? Really? What about Laena being burned alive? What about Aemma? I haven't seen a lot of talk about those. Are these not "gratuitous violence" in your book? Or you just don't really care right?

To sum it up. It is Problematic™ gratuitous violence hashtag male gaze only when 1) my perfect angelic fave (Sansa) is the victim or 2) when my fave is the perpetrator.

It is not gratuitous violence when 1) the narrative turns my fave from an antagonist to an underdog via rape or 2) when it makes characters I hate look worse than their book counterpart.

Hate to break this to you, this is not exactly a solid construction. The general criteria you use to identify gratuitous, non canonical violence need to be applied to all cases alike, not according to your own bias. The bias in this fandom is so shocking that it borders on gaslighting and I am looking specifically at book fans who have dragged GoT to hell and back for years and are now applauding this shitfest that is House of the Dragon for the same reasons they used to trash GoT.

I genuinely want nothing to do with that show anymore.

[physalian]

On Establishing Authorial Intent vs Character Voice (Specifically, in tragic queer characters)

Coming in hot with another controversial topic.

There is probably a better way to phrase that so what I mean is this: Your book’s message and your characters’ decisions don’t have to match, and if they don’t match, and your protagonist has a very polarizing personality or makes very controversial choices, unless you state otherwise, your readers are going to assume that your character is your mouthpiece.

In other words: If I write, say… a gay man, as a cis, female, queer author, and I write him suffering during the AIDS epidemic, and I write this gay man fitting every single harmful stereotype possible. I write this character that is everything Fox News wants you to believe about gay men and AIDS.

But in the last ¾ of the book, the man has an epiphany with Therapy Speech where I, the author, reveal that I’m not actually a homophobe out to punish my protagonist and perpetuate these stereotypes, and my agenda is not, in fact, to bring the queer community back decades because people are stupid and won’t get to the end of my book to realize that…. Whoo boy, I have f*cked up as an author.

—

Have I dropped enough heavy-handed hints that I read a book that did exactly this? Not a gay man in the 80s, but a queer character nonetheless. Now this was a book that I had to finish. If I didn’t have to read it, I would have quit about ten different times throughout for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being very stiff writing that wasn’t engaging. The actions and thought processes and arc of this queer character were so insulting, so harmful, so off the mark, it was horrifying.

I stopped reading for a day and I’d already drawn all my conclusions and was not very nice in my feedback, but I had to finish it so I did, and the book addressed all my criticisms within the last 100 pages, out of 367.

Meaning: Anyone else would have actually quit and taken away from the book exactly what I did—that this was homophobic propaganda. “Oh but if you just make it to the end-”

Nope, not good enough. I read for entertainment and the book did not hold my attention. I need no more excuse to drop it for something better than being bored, and yet I held on through some nightmarish representation.

So.

How not to do this:

You are completely free and welcome to write unhealthy representations of any minority (why you would if you’re not that minority and not out to make a mess of things baffles me). Not every character has to be smart and well educated on proper representation. They don’t have to be a perfect Mary Sue that makes no mistakes and has no controversial opinions and does absolutely nothing that could hint at being problematic. That’s not what I’m saying at all.

Rather, that character can go ham, but you, as the author, must establish as quickly as possible that all of that is the character talking, not you. Whether it’s a queer character or POC or heck just a woman.

Have a dissenting voice (I like to call them harbinger characters) that serve as the author mouthpiece and is ignored and dismissed by the Problem Character. Harbinger says what the audience is thinking through the flavor and color of a character (so it doesn’t read as super preachy), trying to warn the character about the path they're taking, and Problem Character very cleary doesn’t give a damn about what they think. Critically, the narrative makes sure you know that the Harbinger is correct, and PC is wrong.

Have the PC acknowledge early on that what they’re doing is wrong, minimize it, argue against it, and attempt to justify their own behavior anyway. They know they’re the villain, essentially, and they just don’t give a damn.

Have an equal and opposite healthy character to counterbalance all of PC’s terrible choices. Different from the Harbinger in that they’re less obvious about their place in the story and just living life as that positive representation.

Give the PC a “descent into madness” where they start out a healthy person and through dramatic, understandable, tragic circumstances, they’re forced into this role that they’d never thought they’d succumb to.

Have the PC horrified at their own state of being but too hopeless to think they can escape from it. Have the PC know exactly how harmful they are, to themselves, to other people, and just convince themselves that it won’t get better, that they’re too weak or too afraid or too selfish, whatever.

Because I just rewatched these movies and they’re fresh on my mind, I’m going to use Caesar from the Andy Serkis Planet of the Apes movies. Caesar is your Jesus/Moses archetype: The Martyr. This is the paragon good guy leading his people out from oppression into the blessed lands of freedom. This is the guy with unshakable morals and a compass that points unfailingly North. He is the inspiration to the rest of the cast on how to act and how to be a good, healthy, moral, respectable person. He alone takes on the punishment meant for the group and is literally crucified, he could not be a more obvious paragon and Jesus figure of goodness and purity.

Until he isn’t.

Caesar’s “descent into madness” comes after humans murder his wife and older son, amidst an ongoing war that’s taking a toll on the ape community and his own psyche as they continue to lose numbers and ground and apes defect to the human side because of the villain Koba—Caesar’s foil.

He becomes everything he sought to destroy and his friend points out that he’s become Koba in all but name and his actions inevitably lead to his death because he is so consumed with revenge that he doesn’t escape the climax of the movie when he has the chance, and suffers a fatal injury. Caesar acknowledges this and basically says, “I know what I’ve become. I have to do it anyway. I can’t escape my own rage.”

All of this is believable and understandable and tragic. He was realistically pushed to these horrible ends by the story and we saw what it did to him.

The book I read had the Problem Character flip a switch because they were horny and thought another character was hot.

—

But once again I was faced with an author taking on far more than they were qualified to write, having a protagonist who identifies as a minority that already suffers enough prejudice and misunderstanding—a minority that the author themselves is not part of.

So once again because this keeps happening: You can and should write minority characters. You should not write the suffering of these minorities if you did not live it, because their suffering is not yours to profit off of and you will almost inevitably do it wrong.

[eerna]

Ok Ok so I've been thinking this for. quite a while like even before Stolen Heir was released. it's kind of controversial because I might be making mountain out of a molehill but -

I think Jurdan fans border on being disrespectful to Holly Black at times... the problem isn't what one chooses to focus on even though that annoys me too, like it's not like people can control the fact that they focus more/love a character more than the other. But I'm starting to see this especially on Instagram and Goodreads, and I think I have good reason to believe HB is more active on insta and Goodreads is like, the book reviewing site, if there's any place she may look for comments or critique it's that.

and my problem lies with the language used . HB can announce she's working on something and can give hints about it and I've seen soo many people just outright tell her "I don't care about [x] and [y] just give me JURDAN!!" or anything along that vein , there's also "I'm only reading this for Jurdan lol I kind of couldn't care less about []".

It genuinely annoys me a lot !! And I wish I could say to each their own but ykw? At some point it starts to feel like if these two characters aren't involved people don't even try to make an effort to connect with the other characters, the new protagonist, etc. To be honest your page was a breath of fresh air because I don't even see a lot of folks focus on ANYTHING in TFOTA other than this ship.

There's also the irony that so many people pride themselves on loving Jude, their morally grey female rage character, but refuse to discuss Taryn with nuance. Or Vivi, sometimes. It's weird how so many people love Madoc (justified, I like him too) then refuse to think that hey, maybe Taryn's way of coping with faerie is different than Jude and that affects her actions! something something fandom misogyny

The above unrelated paragraph is just to say that a Nicasia focused book is something many people just absolutely will not be able to handle lmao and I so dearly wish Jude and Cardan's 'screentime' is few and far in between just so that it's less palatable. But oh well.

(And after Prisoner's Throne it worries me because with the implication that the Nicasia focused book might have Jude and Cardan POVs I feel like she's catering more to these people now.

If that's how things turn out that would genuinely make me really sad because I didn't pick up her books after reading TCP, I started with Spiderwick Chronicles, then Modern Faerie Tales, and I love the way she creates atmosphere, her worldbuilding, her depiction of the weird and creepy and magical. I especially think that's her strongest suit, more than characterization, so something like this that hinges more on specific characters genuinely turns me off.)

AGREED SO MUCH WITH ALL OF ITTT I too noticed the really dumb people in her comments crapping on everything that isn't a new Jurdan book... Like, the woman was writing books and enjoyed fame 15 years before Jurdan happened. She obviously has a lot to say about her world. Why the hell would you want her to stop developing it and only focus on 2 characters??? I was a big Spiderwick fan as a kid, and when I read TFOTA I had no idea it was by the same writer but I could TELL the vibes were all there. I too think that is her specialty and I'd rather get 10 stories on different characters than 5 on Jurdan.

I want the Undersea book to be about Nicasia and part of it is because I agree, I think most of the fandom would HATE it and it would fry their brains, and I want to see it. It is dumb and petty of me, but it would be sweet vindication for all the clowns screaming into my ear that Taryn is problematic actually in case I didn't notice. Ultimately I know it is a fruitless endeavor. TFOTA has the misfortune of being too good and complicated for its main audience of tiktok book fans, but also too bad and simplified to spread into more general, unspecified fantasy circles where its themes could catch the attention of people who would know how to appreciate them. That means there is only a small portion of fans who both like the books AND have the critical thinking skills to appreciate all the things they do right outside of romance/basic female wish fulfilment.

In the end, judging by TPT, we are gonna have to take the L and accept we bet on the wrong horse and minority does not make the money. But at least we will be there together to make a mountain out of a molehill!

[genericpuff]

I've come to the stunning realization-

-that Lore Olympus is basically to the webtoons industry what Youtube Kids is to Youtube.

And I'm not talking about the general "Youtube Kids" label, I'm talking about those videos - Elsagate, Johny Johny, Cocomelon, Mickey Mouse tattooing Spongebob or whatever other weird example you can think of - which are explicitly designed to game the algorithm, turn views into money, and most of all, gain and keep the attention of the one demographic that won't question what they're consuming - children.

!!!!THIS POST HAS FAST PASS SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

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I mean, this is undoubtedly just a tinfoil hat theory, but think about it:

Bright oversaturated colors that are attention-grabbing.

Meme faces and 'lol rAnDoM' humor even when it doesn't suit the situation at all.

Art that's all around ugly and cheap on a technical level but still stands out due to its color design and prioritized advertising.

Vapid surface level scene-to-scene writing that doesn't connect or have any meaning in any coherent way.

One-dimensional projection characters who are easy to manipulate and sway for audience sympathy or anger even if those opinions change on a dime based on actions in the moment.

Cliffhangers that are less like true cliffhangers and more like clickbait. Episodes nowadays tend to be filled with drawn out plotlines, vague hints that can be applied to just about any school of thought, and non-sequitur memes to fill the time until they can hook the reader with another cliffhanger to keep them coming back next week.

Coin prices have gone up but episode length, substance, and quality have noticeably gone down. Even if they reach the same panel count they usually have, dialogue is minimal and pacing is brutally inconsistent to the point that plot progression is often non-existent.

Banner ads that run constantly, often in the first or second (or both) slots, with push notifications and pop-up ads also becoming more frequent whether you're subscribed to the comic or not.

And underneath ALL of that, we've got blatant objectifying and sexualization of female characters regardless of context, misogyny that claims to be progressive, racist undertones, borderline fetish content that constantly toes the Terms of Services line, normalization of problematic/toxic relationship dynamics, a creator who's more interested in 'getting back' at critics than writing an actual story, and underlying messaging both from the characters' and the creator's behavior that encourage witch-hunting, rejection of accountability, and blind devotion.

All this is essentially why I've given up consuming LO entirely, beyond just on a critical level as of late. There was a time long ago when I stuck around in the hopes it was going to get better, that maybe it was just going through a "rough patch" as some stories do. After that I stuck around because I wanted to see how it could possibly pull off its ending. And then after that, I simply stuck around for the laughs and community banter. But now I don't even find it funny anymore, the punchline of how bad it is has gotten incredibly old. And at this rate, as much as we'd like to believe it's going to end in its third season as it's been mentioned in the past, we also were told it was going to end between 100-200 episodes prior to that - the way it's going, I can't even stick around "for the ending" because LO is going to be around for as long as WT tries to milk it, despite it no longer having a heartbeat.

As much as I've loved talking shit about this comic and it's undoubtedly the main reason so many of you followed me here in the first place, I'm not going to lock myself in some kind of purgatory hell just to be proven what I already know is going to happen - either the comic continues on forever, doomed to be a lifeless mascot for the zombie corporation that is WT, or RS eats shit while trying to stick the landing with a plane that has no functional parts.

There's a quote from Caddicarus that I couldn't help but think of as I typed this up, from his nearly-decade-old review of Dalmations 3 (oh god, it's nearly been a decade since that video came out what the actual fuck-)

"And this is where I officially lost all fucking care. I realized it wasn't going to end anytime soon. It's one of those rare instances where the novelty of how awful everything is actually gets really tiresome and unfunny." - Caddicarus

[ginnymoonbeam]

Ginny's weekly watches rundown

I won't make any promise of doing this on a schedule, but from time to time I want to run down everything I'm currently watching, in rough order of how invested I am.

Current Favorites

Cherry Magic (Thai) Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Although I Love You and You) Cooking Crush

Bundling these three together because I'm loving a lot of the same things: grownups! Direct communication! Being nice to the person you like and showing that you care about them! Cherry Magic delivered the most romantic sequence in the world to me this week with Karan observing and quietly meeting a bunch of Achi's trivial daily needs, and then Achi realizing this and immediately rushing to undo the hurt he'd carelessly caused. Cooking Crush is also doing a wonderful job of queuing up a bunch of potential problems and then having the lovers resolve them with honesty rather than letting them escalate. And SukiDoya looks to be setting up a beautiful slow burn between two men who have drastically different communication styles, but are drawn together and appreciate each other.

Dead Friend Forever

On the other end of the spectrum, we have the slasher drama with a bunch of students trapped in the woods watching their pasts catch up with them. So far this is delivering exactly what it promised: a solidly-executed suspense thriller with a hefty dose of gay drama. I'm enjoying it immensely.

I Love You, But...

The Sign

Look. It's a mess. As soon as I saw the second trailer and realized we were doing big mythology as well as crime drama I knew this show was biting off more than it could chew, and I knew I'd be seated for the duration. Billy and Babe are doing a fantastic job anchoring this wild hodgepodge of a drama, and I'm having a great time with it.

Last Twilight

This one was in the top bracket for me up until last week. As I've said before, my feelings about it are really going to hinge on how they move forward from the big episode-11 fight and breakup. We shall see.

Intern in my Heart

Not a BL, but with what looks to be a developing BL side plot. I'm enjoying this one, but three episodes in I'm not deeply invested enough to put it into the top bracket. Favorites are the female lead, played by Cris who I loved in Mama Gogo, and the gay bestie, played by Toptap. Hi Toptap! Missed you!

Doing Just Enough

First let me say that I will cheerfully drop shows that I'm really not feeling, so even this bottom bracket is all shows that I like. I just don't look forward to them in the same way I do the above shows, and they might be a few wrong moves away from getting dropped.

7 Days Before Valentine

Episode 9 was my favorite one since the beginning... I liked getting more hints of Q's backstory, and I thought the final rooftop scene was a good culmination of what the show's been building toward. It's been draggy at times, but I am interested to see where we'll go from here.

Playboyy

I'm a sexuality educator and sex nerd, so a show like this is going to have my eyes no matter how messy and chaotic it gets. I've been watching it mostly with that lens: none of the stories or characters are particularly compelling to me, but I'm enjoying seeing what it wants to say about sex each week.

Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun (Mr Sahara & Toki-kun)

I'm kinda sticking this one out for morbid curiosity, and because Toki is perfect and deserves the best. Sahara is a character I could really love in a different drama, but the romance here isn't working for me. I'm not even opposed to a (fictional!) teacher-student romance, and if this show was setting up their relationship as problematic but compelling I might be here for it. Instead it seems to be stalwartly ignoring that there might be anything weird or inappropriate, and it's both jarring and dull.

[shinymisty-blog]

How would you implement the unintentionally problematic characters in Underground into a continuation story?

As someone who is writing an ending to Underground with what we were given with the imposed rule of using the pre-existing characters before introducing new ones, I realized that...some characters are bordering the "problematically designed" line. Some...may have even crossed that line already.

I'm a dumb white female who doesn't know a lot of the harmful stereotypes and depictions some characters in Underground could have, but I know that some are there. Some are even bad enough for artists I commissioned for a project to draw the line at them due to how uncomfortable they were drawing them. I know that the ice is REALLY thin with these characters.

This problem wouldn't exist if I chose to rewrite the whole thing...but I don't want to do that. I want to use what was given and make something with it. This is a little more fun.

I could just exclude them completely, and I was very close to doing just that. I plan to mention Speedster Island a few times but never have the hedgehogs appear there ever again on "screen," for example.

...But the more I wrote the story, the more I realized that Raphi (from the episode "Who Do You Think You Are") would play a decently important part in a character's growth due to his lower body being robotized (which, by the way, I will go off on a totally different rant over that on a later date), making him suddenly more important to the story. But the problem doesn't stop at Raphi, as, from the VERY START of my ORIGINAL drafts, Ifyoucan (from the episode "Dunes Day") becomes a vital part of the story, which would mean the rest of his tribe of nomads as well. While I could write Raphi out of the story and try to use another character for the points Raphi was needed for, there is no other character like Ifyoucan in the show. We KNOW this! He became a LEGEND among the other Resistance members due to him getting caught by Robotnik and ESCAPING! He was the only character we see who was starting to be Robotisized but managed to escape WITHOUT the help of the hedgehogs like Raphi. He has become vital to the story I have written. Without Ifyoucan, everything starts to fall apart.

So now both Raphi and Ifyoucan -two of the characters that the artist I commissioned did not want to draw, mind you- are really important to the plot. It'd be hard for me to write Raphi out, and near impossible to write out Ifyoucan.

Other characters I could see being on thin ice on the problematic scale could be Hothep from "Mummy Dearest", who would play a decently important role in future plot points, and apparently, Doo-Bot from "Haircraft in Space" (I personally didn't see a problem with her, but I've read here that it was) who also plays some important rules in future plot points. Both of these characters, while won't be important in this story, WILL be important in a continuation if I feel people are interested. Maeve from "The Pendant" may also play a role in this story.

Now, aside from Ifyoucan and his whole being the chief of a tribe of nomads being decently important to his character to begin with, I have thought of ways of not ever hinting at the problematic sides of these characters. (the parts that I THINK are problematic, mind you).

Raphi's whole point in my story is about him and his robotisized lower body and that not every mobian is willing to forgive someone for their wrongdoings and that is perfectly fine. (I'm trying to explain well enough without spoiling plot points).

Ifyoucan's plot is...well, a lot. He's good at being a leader, and understanding. He understands firsthand how it feels to think you can't let anyone know your troubles because you fear it'd make them think differently of you. He also knows, again firsthand, how to escape Robotnik without the help of the hedgehogs. Sure, he may have had help with Jamal and Amir, but that is different than getting help from the Queen's own children, I feel. And he knows how to function with half of his body robotisized. While, yes, Raphi does as well (again...I'll go into that on a later day), it is JUST his lower half, and is still a child/young adult. Ifyoucan have had time to adjust to his half robotfication. The strengths and weaknesses of having one arm, leg, and eye taken over by robotic parts.

What I'm saying is...who they were designed to portray isn't important to their overall story, which is why I didn't see a problem with them when I had started plotting them into the story. Nothing in the words would indicate anything malicious to the people who share a likeness with them. But just KNOWING about that could be problematic enough. Or, if I wanted to have this story be given some illustration or amvs in the future (Just throwing spitball ideas), then it really might become a problem.

I guess...what I am trying to ask is this:

how would you handle writing unintentionally problematic characters in a story? Mainly Raphi and Ifyoucan and his nomad tribe?

[problematic-tip-centre]

Problematic beliefs (with a hint of redeemability for some of them):

Intolerant of others political views

Violently attacks those who express differing political views

Against legal/illegal immigration (though genuinely doesn’t wish any harm on immigrants)

Denial of a genocide/atrocity (though is genuinely grateful it “didn’t” happen)

Same as before, but the character was a victim of the atrocity and doesn’t want to face it so denies it happened

Is violently prejudiced against a specific ethnic/social group because a member of that group did significant harm to them

Is violently prejudiced against a specific ethnic/social group but genuinely doesn’t wish any harm against them

Used to be violently prejudiced against a specific ethnic/social group, but no longer has those prejudices

Is unforgiving of those of the last example, regardless of how much work they’ve done to be better (though you could write one who forgives the other if they’ve done enough work)

Is willing to protect someone despite having violent prejudices of their social group

Examples from media

Combo from This Is England (former far-right lunatic who nearly beat one of his friends to death)

Walt from Gran Torino (former? racist who repeatedly protected his Hmong neighbours from gangsters)

Sokka from ATLA (former sexist who learned about female power by being exposed to female warriors)

Examples from my own OCs

Acali Whazin, an OC I created based one someone I met one time. She is a left wing extremist who took control of a gang in her city and convinced the members that some otherwise harmless centre-right org was their enemy and not the real enemy gang that was attacking them.

Dzagokü Kimaska, who is violently prejudiced against the LGBT community but genuinely doesn’t wish harm against them. He also questions his views as he feels attraction towards a man who tortures him.

[panahedvn]

I really feel like Taash as a character potentially did more harm than good.

This isn't a dig at the writers themselves (especially Trick Weekes, because we know they are an objectively talented writer who knows the franchise). I blame any and all flaws on EA and Bioware and the undoubtedly short time frame given to rework and finish the game after laying people off.

It is baffling to me how... For example, the creators (I don't remember if it was Gaider or Weekes or someone else) said they didn't want to make Solas bi in order to avoid an evil bisexual trope. Personally I had never even heard of that trope, but it still goes to show the level of care and thoughtfulness going into the representation in these games. Mistakes undoubtedly were still made (i.e the incredibly problematic trans-panic sex workers in Origins) but they were learned from and even apologized for later (i.e with Krem and Maevaris)

So the switch to then making their first nonbinary character be basically an angry teen who is stubborn and confused and argumentative about their identity is like... just insane. That isn't to say people like that don't exist - I know people like that irl, hell I definitely used to be like that - but it's an incredibly harmful stereotype that is weaponized against trans people all the time! Having that be the first major representation given to nonbinary people in a triple A game is actively confirming hateful biases and beliefs against us. It could not have been a worse decision.

I personally don't think the diaspora storyline should have gone to Taash, either. I know it also feels very real to a lot of people and I respect that that story should exist in the game, just writing wise, it should not have gone to Taash. Mostly because they had to actively change the existing lore to make it work. This really offended me, personally, because the Qun specifically is one of my favorite topics to theorize and learn about. It is a horrible writing move. When you introduce a character who's part of one of the lesser known about factions in the world, like the Qunari, they should add to the known lore - Sten and Iron Bull both did this fantastically. Taash's backstory fumbles and confuses the Qunari lore at best, and completely changes it to fit their character at worst.

There are things I like about Taash. They're funny, I like the blunt and deadpan comments because they're a nice change of pace from the rest of the cast. Their visual design is gorgeous and I think their voice actor did an amazing job with what they were given to work with. I also love the concept of a nonbinary Tal-Vashoth and I think, at it's core, it could play with the themes of the Qun really nicely.

So here is my revamped version of Taash. They were born and raised as a woman under the Qun. As an adult, maybe they were more adept at combat and were re-assigned male (aqun-athlok), but didn't feel right in the role of a male warrior either. They left the Qun like so many others because they could not accept their assigned roles - in this specific case, because of their gender. Neither the male or female roles felt right to them. (And named themselves Ataashi, Taash for short, after what the Qunari call the dragons - literally translating to "glorious one")

Then, where does the diaspora/cultural struggles plotline go? I think it should go to Davrin! I feel like his struggles with Dalish identity are completely glossed over and I am honestly desperate for them to have expanded on that more. The Dalish altogether are glossed over in this game, honestly, which is a travesty considering how central the Evanuris are to the main plotline. If Davrin had a family member reach out to him (a parent, perhaps?) and try to convince him to return to the Dalish or something, and his difficult relationship with his culture was more explored, it would add so much to him as a character. He already mentions feeling like he didn't belong among the Dalish! He hints at dealing with similar criticisms that Taash canonically experiences from their mom! It would even further develop his struggles with raising Assan with a gentle hand, if his upbringing among the Dalish was established as not a kind one.

Anyways this is just the tip of the iceberg for me when it comes to this game. There are so many missed opportunities and botched storylines that I 100% blame on corporate bullshit. I think the game as it exists today only started production after the latest layoffs in 2023, and whatever work was done previously was scrapped in the name of making it more widely marketable. It's bullshit and we deserve better, especially queer fans

[st-just]

I mean there were several different categories of people; there was a bunch of Finn fans that felt that he was being shunned in favour of Kylo, when he has been clearly set up as a romantic interest for Rey in movie 1, and they felt that this was due to racism on the part of either the creators or the fans (my personal opinion on this is that Finnrey is an unappealing ship because Finn was written as a racist caricature from the start, so a bit of column A and a bit of column B I guess). There was the typical moral purity crowd that objects to the prevalence of villain romances in romance-centric media in general (which was really at its heyday at the time, what with Bardugo growing in popularity etc.) and that wanted to spit on anything even vaguely "problematic" or "toxic" (and Kylo held Rey prisoner and mind raped her in the first movie). You do see those for other ships too. There were also the dudebros who objected to a female lead in the first place and recoiled at any hint of a central romantic narrative in Star Wars. And they all tended to gang up and attack the Reylos from different directions, who doubled down and basically created their own fandom away from the main Star Wars fandom and made a whole isolated thing out of it 🤷🏻‍♀️ with all the toxic group dynamics this entails

Also, lots of Reylos were just... People who liked villain romances in general and weren't that interested in Star Wars before the ST. And they treated it as just another villain romance that they ran into while casually watching a new blockbuster movie. Like you see a bunch of them that ship Reylo and Darklina and some Draco Malfoy ship etc. etc. and just strip the characters of all their nuances to cram them all into the same sad tortured bad boy + morally pure naive woman mold. And I think a lot of Star Wars fans resented the sudden influx of these into their spaces, because what each group considers important or thematically relevant in SW is very different and there was already enough discourse about the ST ruining the themes.

re: your last paragraph - did basically the exact same thing but for slash instead of het happen with Kylo Ren and, uh, posh brutish fascist guy? Very funny that Adam Driver specifically is hot enough to enough people for this to happen to him twice in the same franchise.

[loveaetingkids]

Arthur and the Minimoys or the nostalgic movie I would not recommend 

Back when I was little I was a big fan of a cartoon that told a story of a 10 year old boy traveling to the land of microscopic creatures in order to rescue his grandpa.But upon rewatching the trilogy (yes,there are three movies out there) I realized that it has way more problematic aspects then I remember.You may ask:what is so icky about a French cartoon from 2000s with uncanny valley effects that made you want to warn people?Well worry not,for I will explain it to you!

1.Bogo Matassalai

Bogo Matassalai is a fictional African tribe that the main characters grandfather,Archibald Suchshot,helped build an irrigation system.As thanks,they gifted him a bag of rubies and introduced him to their friends-minimoys.What is interesting though,is that both tribes mentioned moved to Connecticut,specifically to the Archibalds yard or nearby,seemingly without any reason (as it wasn’t mentioned in any film).Bear in mind that Arthur’s grandfather is supposed to be an explorer during the 60s,so now the implications are weird.

Another thing is Bogo Matassalais lack of individuality:we don’t learn about their reasoning behind abandoning their homeland to move with Suchshot,their backstories aside from what others told of them,even their names are unknown.The tribe usually shows up when the plot requires them to,helping the main character and then disappearing.What’s worse is the reaction of others towards them:Arthur’s father,Francis,after first seeing members of Bogo Matassalai,ran away frightened towards home where he tried to call the police,and when he failed,Francis tried to explain that he saw “tall and black” figures.His wife,Rosie,isn’t better in this regard:every time she sees the tribe,she either faints or acts as if they could bite her head off.It seems that the crew behind those films wanted to show the bias of Arthur’s parents and ridicule them, but without devoting enough time to this aspect, the audience only sees the shuddering and gawking at people of another ethnicity for the comedic aspect.

It’s also important to add that in the second film,the tribe wanted Arthur to pass the tests of nature,where he hugs trees and sleeps near wild animals.Aside from cultural inaccuracy I’m not qualified to dissect,we also get-

-this.

It becomes pretty clear that Bogo Matassalai are used either as a narrative foil or some kind of exotic “other”,stripping them of any personality or agency.However,this wasn’t the only instance the trilogy did certain characters dirty.

2.Selenia 

Oh boy,where do I even begin?The princess of the First Land was hinted to be Arthur’s love interest from the very start,but upon getting to know her we notice that she’s voiced by a grown actress(Madonna in the eng dub and Myléne Farmer in the french) and is sexualized either through frames that showcase her butt/breasts(like that scene when Arthur took a lace from her top-corset thingy and she had to hold it from falling apart) or through the words of grown men who want to marry her.So aside from objectification of said character,we also get the memo that she’s an adult and Arthur is too young for her.But apparently that isn’t the issue?During their stay with Koolamassai,the princess explains that she’s 1000 years old,but the human equivalent is 10.So now it’s confirmed that Arthur,a 10 year old boy,is considered an adult in Minimoys society and therefore allowed to marry Selenia,a woman who turns out to be a child in human years.So here we have a female character, who,despite being  portrayed by the male gaze,is still implied to be a kid.

Thus here are my reasons as to why watching Arthur and the Minimoys may be uncomfortable for an audience who hopped on nostalgia train or wanted to see something new.

[daenystheedreamer]

the old guard is like the equivalent of cocomelon to millennial tumblrinas i swear. its like the perfect recipe of chemicals and bright lights that make their brains melt. put in enough hints of yaoi, a couple sassy #BAMF female characters to use as extras in their yaoi fanfic and a little supernatural powers to woobify. a little angst and betrayal but not enough to be dark and problematic. oooo and sad wet cat white guy with grey morals. catnip