#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.

[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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Author Note: Hey friends,

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[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?

[blindmagdalena]

Eat Your Ego, Honey ( Ch 1 )

Homelander x original female character

Notes: 18+ escort services, sex work, masturbation, voyeurism, stalking, Homelander in general. problematic. see ao3 link for detailed tags. chapter index. check out the playlist!

summary: Layla is an escort who specializes in the marriage of sex and emotional intimacy. In an effort to protect herself in an inherently hazardous industry, she enforces a strict ‘No Supes’ policy. Homelander doesn't take no for an answer, and insists that she take him on as a client. She's quickly caught up in the maelstrom of his life, forcing them both to confront a feelings of obsession, danger, love, trauma, sex, and how the entanglement of all of those things have shaped their lives.

“I’ve been booked by The Homelander? ”

Layla’s voice is incredulous while her assistant, Holly, has an apprehensive kind of look to her, a thick paper folder held up between her two hands, clutched over her chest. Holly has always been a nervous looking woman, but today she looks particularly high strung, her shoulders drawn up tighter than the bun atop her head. 

“Yes, ma’am, and he comes with… a whole host of NDA’s,” Holly says, gesturing to Layla with the envelope in her hands for emphasis.

Layla exhales a mirthless little laugh born of disbelief. She takes a moment to process before she reaches out to grab hold of the folder from her assistant, setting it down on her desk to flip through. It’s standard enough legal jargon, assurance that she won’t so much as hint towards any involvement with Vought’s golden son to anyone, but that’s not the part that’s bothering her.

“I don’t work with supes,” Layla reminds her, though gauging by Holly’s expression, she doesn’t need it. They both know that. It’s been a sticking point in her line of work ever since she started six years ago.

“I know, but he was persistent, and… He booked domestic,” Holly says, wringing her hands slightly.

“Domestic?” Layla echoes, irritation giving way to contemplation. Homelander had been all over the news not long ago, denouncing the actions of his former girlfriend, only for her abrupt death to outshine his countless damage control interviews. Her brows furrow. Domestic is precisely what one might expect; cuddling, familiarity, casual intimacy, but no sex. Some clients request that she cooks for them. Sometimes there is a roleplay aspect. They want her to be their wife, or their mother. More often than not, she ends up feeling more like a therapist than an escort during these sessions. 

Grief comes in all shapes. Layla’s seen it in spades in her line of work. Companionship and intimacy at top dollar. Homelander lost his girlfriend not long ago, and regardless of what the situation between them was, whether he actually knew the truth about her or not, he’s clearly more affected than Vought wants to let on.

“That’s what the paperwork says,” Holly answers after a beat, snapping Layla from her thoughts. “I swear, I tried to recommend him to someone else, but his representative was insistent that he wouldn’t see anyone else. Apparently he’s heard of you.”

Absently, Layla begins to chew her bottom lip. She doesn't advertise that she doesn't work with supes, but she generally doesn't need to. She has enough associates to pass them off, so turning them down was rarely an issue, and if it was, they would be flat out refused… but it’s never been such a high profile figure. 

Snubbing someone like him could be bad for business. While Layla has never been formally introduced to the Homelander, she has been in proximity to him at Vought sponsored events, including one less than a week ago. Running into him with bad blood between them sounds… troublesome, to say the least.

“Okay,” she says, forming her game plan as she speaks.

“Okay?” Holly echoes, her trepidation turning immediately to surprise.

“Okay,” Layla confirms. The two of them engage in a mutually incredulous staring contest, neither quite believing the confirmation. To show her precisely how serious she is, Layla walks around her desk, takes a seat, and begins signing the forms.

“You… want me to confirm the booking, then?” Holly asks, holding her hand out as Layla begins shuffling the documents back into a neat stack, handing the folder back to her assistant.

“Yes, go ahead and confirm the booking. First timer stipulations apply,” Layla tells her, taking in a breath as she squares her shoulders. As a first timer, it would be a highly controlled session in her office, as opposed to a more homely setting. She rents a variety of houses and apartments for more elaborate sessions with familiar clients, but Homelander is what she would consider ‘high risk.’  ”It’s one session. What could go wrong?”

Homelander arrives late for his session.

Layla’s been waiting nearly half an hour, seated at her desk with a good book. Frankly, it’s no skin off her back. Her time is already paid for, and she won’t be spending a moment longer than what’s been agreed upon. He can arrive five minutes to the end of his allotted time if he likes; he’ll get five minutes, and not a second more. Just in case, however, she’s left the remainder of her day clear. Heaven forbid something does go terribly wrong.

The office their session is to take place in is sectioned off into three distinct areas, though the floorplan is fully open. Her ‘office’ is to the south, directly across from the entrance on the northern wall, while the ‘living room’ aesthetic and the ‘bedroom’ aesthetic sit on the east and west walls, respectively. The only separated space is the bathroom. This suite also fully utilizes security cameras. It’s ideal for setting her clients up for a proper session while still prioritizing her safety and comfort.

When the door across the way swings open, Layla looks up from her book, peering over the lenses of her reading glasses. Homelander stands tall in the open doorway, his eyes drifting lazily about the room for a good while before landing on her. His flat expression shifts to a smile that somehow feels even less pleasant than the neutral line that had come before it.

“I was beginning to worry you’d lost your way,” Layla says as she stands, sliding off her glasses. She sets her glasses atop her book, which she leaves splayed open, keeping her page.

“Nope. Busy day,” he answers, closing the door behind him. He doesn’t take her eyes off her as he does it. He approaches her slowly, hands on his hips. “Saving people. Hero business. Dangerous world out there, you know.”

Layla’s expression remains patient. Her painted red lips curl slightly in a smile of understanding. “It’s no problem. I’m glad you made it. My name is Layla,” she says, walking around her desk in order to meet him halfway. She offers her hand out to him, but Homelander makes no move to take it. Instead, he’s staring at her, his head cocked slightly. He clicks his tongue, and takes a small half breath.

“I thought you’d be blonde,” he confesses

Unaffected, Layla inclines her head slightly, dropping her hand. She’s certain that he knew she wasn’t. “I am not.”

“Ch’yeah, clearly,” he says from the corner of his mouth. His gaze drifts down from her chestnut brown hair to her eyes, to her painted red lips, to her clean white button-up blouse. She takes note of the way his gaze lingers at her chest for just a split second before he looks down to her pants. He quirks a brow, bringing his eyes back up to hers. “Kind of a masculine outfit, don’t you think?”

“Would you wear it?” She asks, lifting both her brows.

The smug line of his mouth falters at that. “No.”

“Then it can’t be that masculine,” Layla dismisses, her smile fully intact.

“You’re older than I thought you’d be, too,” he says, his tone now adopting a level of derision.

“Is that going to be a problem for you?” She asks, unbothered. She understands too well what he’s trying to do for it to get under her skin. There is a power imbalance between them, and he’s trying to knock her off kilter. He made her wait, showing her that he values his time much higher than hers, and now he’s trying to make her feel less-than. It’s a tactic she has experienced countless times in her profession. It never works.

Homelander scoffs, lips pulled into a lopsided smile that’s halfway to a sneer. He looks away from her, and then back to her, the corners of his mouth twitching with what looks to be a dozen things he almost says. Instead of answering her, he resumes inspecting her office. He turns away from her, locking his hands behind his back, beneath his star-spangled cape. Only when his back is turned does Layla let herself roll her eyes in a brief upward flick. Otherwise, she keeps her body language open and welcoming.

“You didn’t fill out the session form,” Layla says, pivoting to keep an eye on him. Like a shark, he’s circling her while he investigates her office. He pauses to lean over her desk, where she has left her book splayed open. She can see him run his tongue along his upper teeth in his mouth as he casually moves her glasses aside, and begins turning pages.

“Yeah, no. Didn’t see the point,” he answers, and to her bemusement, he does seem to be actually reading the pages as he turns them with surprising speed. The book is a science fiction story, initially grounded in reality and focused on the exploration of space, and the complex politics thereof. He eventually wrinkles his nose, and closes the book. He continues to explore.

So much for keeping her place.

“Bunch’a useless crap. Didn’t think you’d need all that to do your job,” he says, taking a lingering look at the ‘living room’ section of her suite before returning his attention to her.

“And what exactly do you think my job is?” Layla asks, stepping back to take a seat on the edge of her desk.

“You’re a whore,” Homelander responds nonchalantly. The word falls easily from his lips, which quirk minutely at the corners. He likes calling her that, she can immediately tell. She can see the power trip in his eyes, the need to put her below him. As it turns out, The Homelander is a man like any other. Power is a poison, and he is thoroughly intoxicated.

“But you didn’t pay for a whore today. You paid for a companion,” she counters, leaning back with her hands on her desk. For a split second, he looks frustrated, but he’s quick to conceal it. He clearly wants a rise out of her. He’s not going to get it. “Domesticity, to be specific.”

Homelander’s lips are pulled into a thin line. His eyes are half-lidded, unamused. He closes the distance between them with long, purposeful strides, stopping only when there’s a foot between them. With her halfway seated on her desk, he seems taller than he really is, looming over her with clear intent in his icy stare. “What’s paid for is your time . I’ll do whatever the fuck I want.”

“So tell me what–”

It happens in a flash. The words die on Layla’s tongue, her breath cut short by a leather-clad hand wrapping around her throat. He’s baring his teeth, his face mere inches from hers. “Do you ever shut the fuck up?” He hisses. She can hear the way he’s gritting his teeth together. His hand is firm around her throat, but he isn’t choking her. She’s able to take in a slow breath, unimpeded. “You think you’re so fucking smart. You think you’re better than me?” He pushes, flexing his hold.

Layla holds his gaze. She remains still, waiting to see if this flare will pass. While it’s true that she does not work with Supes for her own safety, anyone would be naive to think that a man had never threatened or acted violently with her. They were just as capable of killing her as a Supe. The primary difference is that most human men aren’t easily capable of accidentally maiming or killing her.

Homelander’s eyes flicker impatiently between hers, to her lips, then back up. He scoffs, lips twisted in an unkind smile. “What’s the matter, Lalya? Cat got your tongue suddenly?”

Layla stays quiet. Homelander’s expression falters, wavering between arrogance, confusion, and irritation. “Your heart should be pounding,” he tells her, voice low. They can both feel it. Her pulse is a little elevated, but steady. She doesn’t scare that easily. “You think I won’t snap your goddamn neck?”

Gently, Layla lifts a hand to his gloved forearm, resting her palm atop it. She strokes slowly, and with her other hand, begins to pry his fingers away one by one. Surprisingly, he allows it, though his stare remains intense, like an agitated wild animal. Maintaining eye contact, she lowers his hand to her lap, and continues to stroke soothing lines down his forearm, leaving her other hand in his. “Please don’t do that,” she says at last. Her tone is placating, but firm. He looks thoroughly caught off guard by her polite response. His eyes drop to where she’s holding his hand. His expression shifts rapidly between several states, brows pinching, and then relaxing. The corners of his mouth rise, and then fall flat.

“I know how powerful you are, and so do you. You knew precisely how much strength to use to hold me without hurting me,” she says. He’s still fixated on his hand in her lap, on the way she’s holding his fingers, lightly massaging her thumb into his palm. She knows that her touches are having an impact because when he does look back up, his expression is no longer tight with paranoia and mistrust. His lips are slightly pursed, but his eyes have softened. He looks surprisingly boyish.

“From the moment you walked in the door, you held the power. I’m here for you. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to,” she continues, speaking evenly. He’s receptive to that, his squared shoulders relaxing slightly, though he’s still tense. A moment of silence passes. He’s switched to watching the way her hand moves on his forearm, slow back and forth sweeps. It isn’t much through the thick layers of his glove and his suit, but the motion alone seems to have him transfixed. When he doesn’t appear to know where to go from here, Layla stays her hand on his wrist. “Would you like to sit with me on the couch?”

Looking up at her, Homelander hesitates briefly before he nods. She smiles at that, and eases him back enough so that she can stand. The shift in his demeanor is surprising, but nothing Layla hasn’t been faced with before. It’s often the men who are most desperate to assert their dominance that need services like hers the most. Layla laces their fingers together and walks him to the couch. She looks back at him, but he’s too busy staring down at where she’s holding his hand. Layla sits down first, slipping her hand out of his. He flexes his hand once hers leaves it, and meets her gaze. With a patient smile, she pats the seat next to her. “Come,” she says, voice soft. “Sit with me.”

Apparently, Layla has successfully tripped a switch in Homelander’s brain. He moves his arm behind him to hook his cape, guiding it out of the way, as not to sit on it. His hands move instinctively to rest on his thighs, and his posture is rigid. He doesn’t look nervous, but he does look perplexed, uncertain of what comes next. So far, nothing has gone as he’d anticipated. “Is it alright if I touch you?” She asks, currently mirroring his own position, hands in her lap. His lips are set in a tight purse, brows pinched, but he nods again. She starts moving her hand through his hair, as if tucking it behind his ear. She follows that line to the back of his head, where she gently scrapes her nails along his scalp. He’s watching her closely from the corner of his eye. She hums approvingly.

“Soft,” she appreciates, her smile widening slightly as she enjoys his hair. He still looks thoroughly at a loss. As time goes on, however, he begins to relax, sinking back into the chair bit by bit. His hands have gone from coiled fists to resting flat on his thighs. When she hears him sigh, his eyes falling shut, she decides to move forward. “You can rest against me if you like,” she offers. He opens his eyes and turns his head properly to look at her then, glancing down at her chest, then her lap, before back to her eyes. He shifts a little, but looks uncertain of how to proceed, so she offers her hands. “I can show you my favorite position.”

“‘Kay,” he says simply, his first word since the outburst. Taking the lead, Layla picks up his furthest hand, and brings it across her waist. She does the same with the other, putting it behind her, so that his arms are around her middle. With her arm over his shoulder, she cups the back of his head and brings him in to rest his head in the crook of her neck. “That’s it. Good,” she coos, relaxing back against the couch. His arm is pressed to the couch by the small of her back, and he’s shifting himself more to the side, halfway laying down against her. They manage to get comfortable, despite the gaudy eagle pauldrons on his shoulders. He’s terribly stiff at first, but as she cards her fingers through his hair, he begins to relax against her, gradually filling the spaces between their bodies.

Homelander adjusts his hold suddenly, wrapping his arms more tightly around her, pulling her against his chest. She tilts her head to allow it when he nuzzles in closer against her neck, inhaling deep before exhaling a warm, content sigh across her neck. He holds onto her as though she may disappear at any moment, one hand on her waist, the other cupped at her ribcage. Based on what she’s read of Homelander since he booked her, she can understand why.  According to her research, he had lost both of his parents when he was fairly young. Members of The Seven came and went, with Translucent most recently passing. He’d also allegedly been fairly close to his manager at Vought, Madelyn Stillwell, who perished not long ago. Shortly after that, Stormfront. It seems that Homelander has a difficult time keeping people in his life.

Testing the waters, Layla hums the beginnings of a melody. Quiet, like a lullaby, to fill the silence around them. If Homelander minds, he doesn’t voice it. However, when she pauses her hand in his hair, he does give a low grunt. Satisfied that he’s enjoying both, she resumes petting through his blonde locks, humming soft tunes all the while. Eventually, however, a single beep of her watch informs her that they have reached the final five minutes of their session. Layla stops humming at that. She moves her hand from his hair to his shoulder, just shy of the gold eagle, and gives him a gentle squeeze. “It’s almost time to go,” she tells him gently, stroking with her thumb. She can already feel tension creeping back into his muscles.

"No," he says flatly. She can feel him speak the word against her neck. "I’ll pay." “It isn’t about the money,” she replies, maintaining her soothing tone. “It’s about our agreement. If we’re going to establish a working relationship, we need to trust each other.” At that, Homelander lifts his head from her neck. His hair is thoroughly mussed, but his eyes have already lost whatever contentment might have existed in them while they were snuggling. “Relationship,” he echoes, as if testing the word on his tongue. His jaw flexes. She can see him weighing his options as he looks down at her, arms still vice-like around her. “Are you seeing someone after me?” He asks, meeting her gaze.

“No,” Layla answers, though she takes a mental note of the question. Jealousy isn’t uncommon among her clients. It’s easy enough to work around. If they were to move forward, she would make sure Homelander was always her last for the day, lest he feel shuffled off for the sake of another man. Homelander confirms her suspicion when he relaxes slightly with her answer. “I want to see you again.”

“I would like that.” Layla shifts slightly in his grasp, and uses both hands to comb his hair back into place. He looks surprised by her response. “Really?” There is an unexpected earnestness to his voice. She has never before met a man with quite so sharp a divide between his different moods, but at least the shift is an endearing one. “Will you be on time?”

“Yes,” he answers readily. He leans closer to her. With the way he’s sitting upright now, he’s pulled her halfway into his lap. It’s effortless for him. Layla puts a hand on his chest, steadying him. “Okay, that’s good. When would you like to come back?” “Tomorrow.” Homelander’s voice is firm. His face is close enough to hers now that she can feel his breath on her lips. “Will you fill out the session form?” “Yes, yes, whatever, fine,” he says dismissively, a flash of impatient irritation. He huffs a breath, fixing her with an expectant look. “Tomorrow.”

Layla subtly bites her tongue. Her day is booked solid tomorrow, but she doesn’t want to lose the stability they’ve just barely managed to build. “Okay. Tomorrow at 6:00pm. ”It’s later than she would normally book, but she knows she won’t be finished her day before then, and she’ll need time between clients. She can tell by his expression that it wasn’t what he was hoping for, that he likely wanted to meet as early as they did today, but she’s pleasantly surprised when he does not argue.

Layla’s watch beeps three times, and Homelander looks down at it like it’s something vile. She moves her hands to his wrists, and just as she had before, works towards gently prying his grip around her waist loose. This time, however, he does not relent so easily. His hands stay perfectly put, without an ounce of give, but he does look a little amused by her efforts. “Homelander…” She addresses kindly, albeit sternly. “What’s the rush? You said there’s no one after me,” he says, lips curved in a mischievous little smile. He leans in and very nearly catches her in a kiss, but she manages to get her hand between them, her index finger pressed to his lips. His brows knit together and he looks up at her, another twinge of annoyance in his eyes.

“Like I said before, it’s about our arrangement. Trust. This relationship isn’t about what you can take from someone, Homelander,” she says, drawing her hand away. “It’s about what someone can give to you. Let me take care of you, okay?” That does the trick. Homelander’s expression softens, the curve of his brows revealing a hint of vulnerability before evening out. With only mild reluctance, he withdraws his arms from around her, and lets her stand up unimpeded. As a reward for his compliance, Layla leans down, and presses a chaste kiss to his cheek. “That was very good. Let me get you those forms,” she says, leaving him a little dumbstruck on the couch. She retrieves a copy of the documents from her desk, and gathers them neatly into a paperclip for him to take.

When Layla turns around, Homelander is already standing, his hands interlaced modestly in front of him. He still doesn’t seem pleased about having to leave, but he is at least compliant, and no longer insulting her. She walks to him, and offers out the forms, which he takes with something of a cynical quirk to his lips. “It would really help me if you’d fill those out.” “Yeah, yeah, I got it,” he assures her, lazily lifting a page before letting it fall back down. The bite is largely gone from his bark. The hand holding the forms drops to his side, and his other hand settles on his hip. Homelander fixes her with a lingering stare, head tipped back slightly. He looks to be processing everything that just happened. “So, tomorrow.” “Tomorrow,” Layla confirms, smiling. “6:00pm.”

“6:00pm,” he echoes, rocking on his heels a touch. “Oookie-dokie. Well, ah… I’ll see you then,” he says, bouncing his fingers off his forehead in a little salute that broadens Layla’s smile. Homelander leaves, and Layla is left in the surreal aftermath of his session. She all but collapses down into her office chair, kicking off her heels. Booking him again so immediately in her off hours had been an insanely impulsive move, but after the progress she made between his arrival and his departure, she felt compelled to. Layla absently touches her neck, pressing her fingers precisely where his had been. She squeezes harder than he did. No tenderness, or signs of bruising. It had been purely for show. Layla chews her lip absently for a moment before focusing herself, picking up her cellphone to inform Holly of the development.

On the other side of the door, Homelander watches her for a few minutes, his vision easily penetrating the wood. His lips are parted, the corner of his mouth twitching in an almost-smile.

For the next several hours, Homelander is consumed with nothing but thoughts of his session with Layla. Who the fuck does she think she is? She had been insufferably calm throughout their time together. She was imperturbable, despite his needling, despite his outburst. She had been… Patient.

The melody she hummed as he embraced her repeats in his head over and over like some sick carnival loop. He remembers the way her finger had felt against his lips. More than anything, he remembers the smell of her. Her perfume had smelled vanilla sweet, but not sugary. He can still smell it on himself, which is perhaps the most agonizing part of it. Every so often he’ll catch a whiff of her, and the cycle begins anew.

He can’t wait a whole day. He has to see her again.

This is how Homelander finds himself sitting atop a fifteen storey condo complex. He figured her home wouldn’t be terribly far from her office, and after scanning several city blocks, he found her. He can already smell her perfume wafting out an open window.

She’s cooking herself a meal when he finds her. He watched by focusing his vision down several storeys. She’s putting together some kind of pasta dish that Homelander has no interest in. However, she hums while she cooks, and he likes that. It’s a jazzy kind of tune, matching the sway of her hips as she moves from place to place. While he’s wholly disinterested in the meal itself, it’s tempting to imagine her cooking for him.

After that, she settles down at her desk. She just got home, and yet she appears to be working again already. Homelander cocks his head to the side, honing in on what’s on her screen. The top-down angle isn’t ideal, but he can make out enough to figure out she’s watching security cam footage from her own office. Intrigued, he stands up and walks about the roof, seeking a better angle to watch with her.

Layla is watching the security camera footage of their session. She’s taking notes, pausing or replaying from time to time. Frustratingly, he doesn’t understand the notes she’s taking. They look to be done in some kind of shorthand.

What really catches Homelander’s attention is when she pauses the video and leans back in her chair, crossing her arms. She’s staring at herself in his grip, his hand around her throat. Homelander’s eyes narrow slightly, trying to gauge her response. He can hear her heartbeat from here, but it’s steady. She’s not taking any notes, she’s simply staring at the freeze frame. Eventually, she takes a deep breath, and closes down her computer. She runs her hands through her hair, thoroughly mussing it before she stands.

It’s late enough in the evening now that Homelander has the cover of darkness when he descends down the side of the building, hovering outside her condo. Her line of vision is blocked by the walls, but not his. He watches with rapt attention as Layla makes her way through her bedroom to her bath. She cranks the faucet, and Homelander feels his mouth dry. Anticipation bubbles in his chest.

The way Layla undresses suits her character perfectly. She unbuttons her white blouse first, unfastening every single one before sliding it off her shoulders. She folds it loosely and places it down on the bathroom counter. Homelander swallows, his tongue clicking dryly as his lips part. She’s left now in a simple white camisole. Layla removes the undergarment, revealing a pretty pink bra. It isn’t lacy, or overly designed. It’s perfectly functional, and yet the color sends Homelander into a near frenzy, his jaw tight. What he’s seen of her wardrobe is largely monochrome, so is the pink simply a secret pleasure she indulges just for herself? It’s their secret now.

The bath is filling rapidly. Layla adds a dollop of liquid that froths up into foamy bubbles. She unbuttons her pants next, the zipper loud in Homelander’s ears. She folds the charcoal pants just as neatly, setting them next to her tops. Fuck, her panties are the same soft pink. Homelander braces his hand against the corner wall of the condo, biting down on his tongue. His cock is half hard. He presses his palm to it and gives himself a slow grind. He grits his teeth when she stops short of finishing undressing to fetch a towel from another room. She places it on a hook next to the tub, and begins humming. Homelander’s eyes fall shut almost immediately. He exhales a rough breath, but quickly forces his eyes back open.

Her voice resonates in his ears, drowns out the sound of the tub filling. He doesn’t recognize the melody, but it’s different from what she’d hummed during their session. It’s slow, almost sensual. Does she know he’s watching her? She must. Why else would she be moving so torturously slow? Finally, standing in front of the tub, she reaches behind to unclasp her bra. Homelander’s hand tightens on the corner of the building, his jaw slack. His tongue darts out to wet his lips. Her nipples are nearly the same pink as her underwear, and the chill of the evening has already perked them prettily. He imagines vividly how they would feel in his mouth. His cock throbs at the thought, almost fully hard now.

Stepping out of her panties, Homelander also gets the perfect view of the dark thatch of neatly groomed hair between her legs. She sets her underwear just as tidily atop her other clothes, and shuts off the faucet to her bath. When Layla slips into the water, she gives a sigh of pleasure that reverberates in Homelander’s ears, setting his teeth on edge. She’s taunting him now, just like when she’d refused his kiss, pressed her finger to his lips like she owned them. He can still remember how she tasted when he licked his lips. Homelander grinds harder against his own hand, steadily losing himself in a mix of memories, fantasies and what’s before his very eyes. Layla sinks deeper into the bath, tipping her head back to rest in the divot along the back of the tub. Homelander watches, transfixed, as she drags soapy water up her chest, her neck, over her face. She takes it to the back of her neck and massages there, her eyes falling shut. The steel beneath his hand groans slightly, but it’s lost on Homelander. He can hear nothing but the soft vibrations of her voice as her humming continues to torment him, joined now by the occasional slosh of water. He rocks his hips slow against his hand, following the tempo she’s set with her melody.

Layla pauses her tune to take in a deep breath, one hand settling on the side of the tub while the other disappears beneath the water. Her eyes are closed, but after a moment, her brows furrow. Her lips fall open on an unspoken oh. Homelander realizes with a start that she’s touching herself. He groans loudly, tipping his head back briefly, gut churning with a flare of heat. With a fumbling hand, he quickly clicks open his belt and yanks his pants open with a viciousness his suit barely survives. He pulls his straining cock free, and grips it tight in his leather-clad palm.

He can see it. He can see her fingers moving in slow circles, hidden from everyone’s view, even hers, but not from him. He pumps his cock slow at first, squeezing the steel frame of the building. He’s distracted when her other hand moves, slipping up her chest, massaging gently at her own breasts. Those should be his hands. He should be responsible for those airy little sounds she makes. She should be bouncing on his cock with her fingers on his lips, in his mouth. Homelander flips rapidly between fantasy and reality, mouth hanging open, grunting out strained little sounds of pleasure.

Layla’s hand slides further up her body, from her chest to her throat. Her eyes are shut tight, and the pace of her fingers picks up. She gives her own throat a small squeeze. “Fuck,” Homelander rasps, gritting his teeth as he pumps his cock faster in turn. She’s thinking about him, he has no fucking doubt. She’s doing this because of him, for him. She’s remembering the way he touched her, had to see it for herself on film, and now she’s showing him exactly what she wants him to do to her. Inside, he can hear Layla’s breathing turn erratic, her heart rate steadily climbing. “That’s it,” he whispers, head tipped back, watching her through narrowed eyes. “Thaaat’s it, faster. That’s it, fuck, fuck, fuck.” Homelander comes with a strangled noise, the metal beam his hand sinking beneath his grasp, leaving a permanent indentation of his hand. He gasps in a sharp breath, head spinning while he rides out the pleasure. He strokes himself through it, watching with feverish intensity as Layla also hits her climax, her fingers stilling while she loudly moans her pleasure. She’s thoroughly debauched, wet hair clinging to her face, a flush spread up her neck and over her cheeks. She looks nothing like the perpetually composed woman he met in her office. He wants to be the one to take her apart like this.

Gingerly, Homelander tucks himself back into his pants. He pushes a hand through his hair, inhaling deeply. Layla sits relaxed awhile longer, lingering in her pleasure-induced stupor in the tub, lips set in an absent smile. He continues to watch while she finishes up her bath, washing her hair, rubbing the makeup from her face. He even lingers while she braids her damp hair, dressed for bed in nothing but a satiny night slip. Homelander listens to the way she falls asleep. Her breathing evens out over time, and the beat of her heart steadily slows. She sleeps on her side, her braid trailing on the pillow behind her, one hand beneath her cheek. Drifting to the balcony door across from her bed, Homelander lands silently. He cocks his head, eying the door. Curiously, just to check, Homelander tests the handle of the door. Unlocked. The corners of his mouth twitch. She may as well have invited him in.

Stepping inside, Homelander is immediately hit with that same pleasant vanilla scent. It’s richer now, no barriers between them. He walks to her bed first, casting a shadow over her in the wake of the city light spilling in. She’s fast asleep, lips parted on shallow breaths. The natural color of her lips is a pretty mauve, but he sees why she wears the red. It commands authority. Without it, she looks almost.. demure.

Looking away, Homelander decides to peruse. He snoops through her closet first, running his hand along the rows of clothing sitting on hangers. Just as he’d seen with his x-ray vision, there’s very little color in her wardrobe. However, a rich pop of blue catches his eye. The dress is floor length, but with a slit on the right side that runs high up the thigh. It’s set off the shoulders, with long sleeves. He takes off his glove, tucking it under his arm, to feel the fabric, rubbing it between his fingers. Velvet.

This is what she was wearing the first night he saw her. Vought had hosted a prestigious gala in an attempt to recoup investor funds in the wake of media frenzies, and he can remember vividly the first moment he noticed her. She had been standing with a date leagues below her, a sorry excuse of a man who couldn’t hold a conversation in a bucket. He had been bewildered by the duo until he learned the true nature of their partnership. Of course he was paying her. There was no other way a woman like her would be caught dead with a man of his caliber.

When she smiled at his terrible jokes, Homelander couldn’t help but roll his eyes. She spoke to him like she was reading from a script— a feeling he was all too familiar with. Their situations were not so different. Homelander had also been forced to regurgitate garbage from men who were less than dirt compared to him.

After that night, he spent days wondering about her before finally deciding to seek her out.

Moving on, Homelander makes his way to the bathroom. Her clothes are right where she left them, folded neatly on the sink. Swallowing dryly, he steps closer, reaching with his ungloved hand to pick up the simple white camisole from the stack. Lips parted, he brings it to his nose, taking a slow, deep inhale of it. His eyes flutter shut. His spent cock throbs dully. Looking around, Homelander tucks the camisole under his arm alongside his glove, and continues exploring, listening for any sign of Layla’s sleep being disturbed. He pokes and prods about her drawers, her cabinets, but doesn’t find anything of particular interest. She likely keeps anything related to her job at her office. In the kitchen, Homelander pops open the fridge. It’s pretty well stocked, she certainly cooks for herself. There’s fresh produce, cuts of meat, and… a half gallon of milk. Licking his lips, Homelander reaches for it, standing up straight with his arm resting on the door of the fridge. He turns it over in his hand. Whole milk. Quietly, he pops open the carton, and lifts it up to his lips, giving a soft, satisfied grunt as he guzzles a few sips.

Catching himself before he downs the whole carton, Homelander sets it back in the fridge, wiping his mouth with the back of his ungloved hand. He licks his lips clean, and starts walking back towards the bedroom. Circling the bed, Homelander stands before Layla once more, head cocked. She’s made it painfully apparent that she wants him as much as he wants her. He felt confident when she so readily booked him again, but now he’s wholly certain of it. Reaching out, Homelander barely brushes his bare knuckles down her cheek. Bracing his hand on her headboard, he leans in close enough to feel each of her breaths on his lips. He could take her now. Wrap his hand around her throat and fuck her the way he’s sure she was fantasizing about. His lips nearly touch hers when he remembers what she said to him.

“It’s about what someone can give to you. Let me take care of you, okay?” Homelander stops. Flexing his hand on the headrest, he stands back up. Taking in a breath, he takes his glove out from under his arm and slides it back on. The camisole, he bundles up into a ball to keep for himself. He casts Layla one last lingering gaze before he turns around, stepping out onto her balcony. He closes the door softly behind him, and then takes off into the night sky. Their next session can’t come soon enough. Chapter two.

[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

[miela]

From a Submission:

"i thought about it too, you know, your recent reply to the anonymous rant

it's a male-centered fandom... simply because all the original canon characters are male, and the only characters we have at least any information on are male, too (i'm talking about rhe marauders) so people kind of knew what fandom they were going to be a part of... no?

i also don't understand why we need to question jegulus when it's basically just another interpretation of how things could be (i also dont agree with jegulus raising harry... BUT i believe that harry is a surrogate baby if we talk about the possibility and lily is a separate character from her canon child, and they've no mother-son relationship, for the purpose of representing jegulus as gay dads, so they can have harry as their kid. lily could have harry too, if we say she raised harry in a lesbian couple or etc... well, if that's so, that's not a problem, it's just a au and a perspective).

I also agree that in most fanfictions, the girls are used as background characters (sometimes very poorly written) for the plot to work out, for conversations to happen, and I would love to read more works with memorable and meaningful storylines. to see a new perspective on lily, mary, marlene. that's another reason why i loved coptp the most, even though it's a muggle AU. the characters have personalities; they exist because they are all tied together, and they have common and separate stories that simply make sense.

i see where choices can be problematic. you haven't read it yet but you already got a spoiler. the work implies polyamory, which means jegulily (kind of), which means a lot of people hate it. i also don't see how pairing james with regulus can be problematic with JUST A FEW canon compliant AUs in the fandom. yes, we have very few works that tried to follow the original idea with a few fancanon additions that doesn't affect pretty much anything overall. wolfstar isn't canon too at this point and we can ask the same question... why do we focus on men and make it all man focused then (it's literally one of the most popular ships in the whole fandom!!!) and won't let remus and sirius be friends instead and then lead remus' storyline to tonks x remus, because like with jegulus, there's not even a hint of wolfstar, except that they were close friends and that iconic hug

it's all about different interpretations and different ships. we can give jegulus a chance simply because some people are curious as to how a relationship between a dark arts hater and a death eater could go. and we know for sure that regulus betrayed Voldemort, it's canon! so it means that it didn't come out of nowhere, but there was (possibly always) something in regulus that made him disagree with his family values and traditions to kind of follow Sirius' steps. why do we forget about that? i love james x lily, like a lot, it's wholesome, we often see a good, healthy, and mature relationship examples but i dont see why if i like them i cannot like jegulus just as much. we don't want to forget whose son mr. harry i-wanna-save-them-all potter is lol. yes, James'... so why, during Hogwarts, don't we think of a possibility that there was a circumstance in which James and Regulus were somehow connected? hello? it's literally james' closest friend's brother. i bet sirius and james talked about regulus like everyone does when they have annoying siblings who lost their true self, he'd rant to james and be angry with regulus and james would be the one getting all this information. there's a possibility for jegulus to exist. we know they didn't, but it's ALL fiction at this point and life can be so so unpredictable that we can't be sure one hundred percent about pretty much anything.

the only thing I agree with is that we need more interesting, deep, well-written female characters, and we don't need to make Lily a certain sexuality just because we want Jegulus to be a thing. lily is brilliant as she is, but still.

every single character deserves a queer representation and not just the same one from one fanfiction to another. the same character can represent a different sexuality in different fanfictions. it's like 'Oh, the description gives me the idea that the character I'm reading about is james potter (there's this common interpretation of his character that most of us can agree with so we kind of have a general idea of who he is as a character, the same i can say about sirius or remus)... in this fanfic he is straight and in love with lily, so canon compliant... but in that one, he somehow had a chance to interact with regulus and they felt a connection and james realized that he is not straight indeed, but maybe bi... or gay or...'. it's that simple, and that's called interpretations, from different people, in different ffs, and that's the point of fanfics. imagine things, try to make them work and nake sense.

it's just that the fandom likes a certain ship more and if people like jegulus, it doesn't necessarily mean they are supposed to hate lily.

if we rant about characters in fanfictions... why don't we talk about Peter then... people are literally not interested in writing him most of the time or talk about his sexuality, to be honest; he is a marauder for god's sake!!! didn't you notice that? it's because in the canon and fanon too, most of the time, '"he's short, fat, and ugly ish compared to his friends" and a Voldemort's most loyal follower in the future, so f*ck him,' so the only interpretations we get are... oh, where they are? there's like one, and uninteresting. you see what i mean?

there's so many things to complain about. so many possibly new interpretations and having jegulus as one is not the biggest problem. the oppression of female characters and the lack of their development isn't on jegulus alone, it on unskilled authors and people who read problematic fanfictions and make them popular.

a lot of things happened to Mary; one triggering event after another in multiple works. there's established tropes in the marauders fandom that a lot of authors feel obliged to follow in their works i believe (like, wolfstar, twink sirius, tall and smart remus, soft in the head peter, james' nice parents who love and accept everyone, etc...) i understand that some people think that what happened to mary in ATYD is her oppression and humiliation... but why dont we remember how many bad and humiliating events other characters were put through (like regulus was literally and constantly harassed by his best friend in one of the fanfictions i read because he was a closeted gay and also manipulated). so you see, it's not about gender, it's not like having more gay ships between the main male characters oppress female ones. it's about why we need to write in a smart thoughtful way and why the events in our works should make sense without blaming other characters for it to happen, why we don't need to oppress ones for the sake of having an interesting plot twist with the others.

I like men, and I like women, i like reading about both too, in any fandom, but i am not ashamed to admit that my favorite characters are male, simply because i relate to them more thus they're more interesting and dimensional to me. but I don't see a problem with a male-focused fandom simply because, in the canon, it is male-focused like i said, and we all started from the same place, and we all liked the said so-called male canon first and then we discovered and made up new female characters which is amazing. i agree we shouldn't write about triggering topics just for the sake of a work being angst and dark and all mysterious... I agree that female characters shouldn't be rebounds for the male characters (but doesn't what happened to Mary in atyd happens in real life? yes, it does. the problem is how it was written and maybe some people thought it was written poorly but that's their opinion which should be heard too).

let me know what you think, mae! sorry for my "little" rant haha i just saw your post and wanted to share so we could discuss it further 🫶"

My response:

Hieeeeee ☺️

No need to apologize! You know i love yapping! Lol!

I do agree that since the marauders era is central to the Marauders members does make it very male-centered. Absolutely! And we absolutely have the most information on them. 

(And omg i never thought about raising harry that way. Imagine being raised by two gay moms AND two gay dads. Give that boy all the love for he deserves it! I need the au immediately.)

I'm excited to read more of coptp and see how they are written as characters! I love the valkyries and skittle girlies so much, and I would love to see them shine more. I would also love fo read/write them as main characters too and see the world from their perspectives!

I think what the other person im my asks were trying to say was (correct me if im wrong) that jegulus is problematic because of how some people treat lily in the process.  

And I can see both sides on how jegulus can work in canon and in fanon. There are good arguments for both honestly! For me, I'm not against them being used in canon-compliant fics. i find it fun and interesting! BUT my view of canon is just so jily-centered that it makes it difficult for me to headcanon jegulus in canon compliant at all. And that's mostly coming from an atyd lense too. But I'm still exploring and reading so my thoughts are subject to change! For all we know Jegulus could have been a moment in canon. Like you said it's all on interpretation. Like I have two different versions of canon in my mind; original canon and fanmade canon, and depending on which version is being talked about depends on my interpretation. 

Let's make it marvel for a second, yeah? It's a multiverse. That's how I see it. Anything can happen. Each of us are the anchors of our own marauders universe. For example, In one universe there's jegulus and marlily and in another universe there's jily and bartylus. I think it's beautiful honestly, but I agree that the fem characters should be uplifted within these universes too! And I agree with you about multiple characters having different types of traumas and that authors (me included) need to write in smart and thoughtful ways, despite obligations. Obligation kills creativity.

And on the subject of Peter, i COMPLETELY AGREE WITH YOU. I can go on for literally HOURS about Peter getting sidelined as a Marauder. They're the four marauders not the three musketeers. There's SO MUCH to unpack there too. SOOOOO much to unpack. (I have my own version of Peter in my head that I'm excited to share at some point. Literally, anybody ask me about my Peter. I love him. He's my pookie.)

Overall, I understand both views and understand that this fandom has a lot of things to unpack and much to discuss when it comes to different characters and how they're perceived based on how they look or who they are. There's stereotypes and tropes that need to be broken down and internalized misogyny and fatphobia that needs to be dismantled.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! ☺️

[risingsouls]

I mean, while the narrative by no means excuses them, they're shown as being desperate survivors, resorting to cruel acts to survive a universe that pm doomed them to extinction. And arguing for genocide is disgusting. And on Bulma, I agree, original material is not the friendliest to female characters, they hardly get to do anything before being married off and forgotten about. like how does someone forget that raditz/nappa/etc were only doing that to survive...? frieza drove them to it

[Part one here:]

[I saw this and thought the goons had come back to argue with me lmao. But I'm glad that isn't the case and it's someone else that saw how...uh...problematic the narrative of the other side of the argument was positing.

Under the cut for length and ~drama~.

As you said, the Saiyans were by no means good, but they didn't deserve to be wiped out (I mean...that's not even why they WERE wiped out...at least so long as we ignore implications of Beerus telling Frieza to do it which was dumb anyway so). No one does. I will say that, at least from what I understand (and accept; they seem to change the Saiyan's history every other saga), the Saiyans were always looking for a fight, and, according to at least the dub I know, they did go to other planets to do that and wreak havoc even before King Cold got his mitts on them. Whether that was to CONQUER said planets or not also depends on what part of the series you're watching it seems but you know. So they've definitely always had some questionable practices, but that doesn't mean they're evil by design and deserve total destruction.

And that's not even talking about basically ANYTHING we see of Saiyan culture/lifestyle IS post colonization by the Colds. We don't ACTUALLY get to see what their culture WAS without it being tainted by being ruled by another empire. We get some hints, most of which end up contradicted or something as I mentioned earlier, but we have no way of knowing what was purely from Saiyan culture and what got changed, adopted, or expunged.

The point I was trying to make with the Bulma and Vegeta stuff was that a lot of Bulma's behavior stifles or at least attempts to stifle even the most innocuous portions of Vegeta's Saiyan-ness he can practice and show like simply training/fighting (which is part of their culture and maybe even biology, despite what the arguers wanted to say). This is more headcanon-y, but that would probably extend to other aspects of his personality, practices, etc. that did come from his Saiyan heritage that didn't jive with how she wanted him to be or expected him to be. The folks in question unfortunately took that to mean I meant the worst parts of his old lifestyle which wasn't what I was talking about at all. Vegeta himself has no interest in conquest anymore, so their arguments were ridiculous from the get go. However, the things Bulma says and does on screen reveal that she wants him to be an Earthling husband. She wants him to act fully like an Earthling, and she has never been shown to care about his history or learning about it and his culture (i.e. Vegeta has had to inform her and the others of different aspects of Saiyan lifestyle and biology, stuff that she could have easily already known if she, imo, bothered to understand that part of him). And I'm not even saying that's REALLY a huge problem on the surface; you can't really blame her when that's all SHE knows and how her character is. Sexism aside, she is meant to be a spoiled, self-serving brat from the beginning. When it DOES become a problem is that, as I mentioned, she doesn't TRY to understand him on that level, and there are no hints that she has tried. She basically seems to pull exactly what the people that had a problem with what I said did in just assuming Saiyans are just genocidal killers with nothing else to them (and a note: I know Vegeta would probably be difficult to talk to about this but you get me I think).

Overall, I think they were just mad that I dared to call Bulma abusive and is a second Frieza for Vegeta based on this singular post where I didn't really get into the meat of why I think that because I've talked about it several times before. Yes, the writing for her is oftentimes sexist and awful like it is with pretty much every other woman in the series, but that...doesn't really play ball here. The point I was trying to make is that, while it's not on purpose or maliciously (another nuance of my post the people with a problem failed to even ask me about because they went immediately on the attack), is that Vegeta basically ended up in another relationship where he was being controlled by another person (again, perhaps not in a malicious way but she held a lot over him in terms of having a place to live and survive, especially when we know the dude was super depressed post Cell Saga; man was not about to have the wherewithal to fucking find a job and get a place of his own on a planet he knows so little about, so yeah...he's gonna take the easiest option available), something that I think is more apparent in Super than Z but it's still there. And yeah, I actually agree that he should just ignore her when he wants to train or leave or do something that isn't what she wants him to do at the time. But if we go by canon and how it's written (which I can say THIS would be where the sexism comes in), that's not what happens. Bulma does whatever she can to get what she wants from Vegeta in apparent and subtle ways that come off as pretty abusive.

And I'll say it now: Vegeta is fucking abusive and toxic, too. I've said it a million and three times, but since I didn't say it in the post in question, apparently I just don't think that. Which isn't true. Vegeta is shitty to Bulma from day fucking one. I really don't understand why they end up together as, again, I've said a million times. The choice is absolutely disrespectful to Bulma's character. Something else I've said ad nauseum. But again...this one post was the one they cherrypicked to get pissed over.

I got accused of not seeing nuance in any of this during this...debate. Thing is, this take is based on what happens in canon. This is my reading of the relationship based on canon events, and even then, it's just a SLIVER of what I think about their canon relationship. If I had my way? This relationship wouldn't exist or, at the very least, would be written VERY differently, from making Bulma be less of a sexist stereotype (in the relationships and in all aspects) to how Vegeta reacts to her always forcing him to do shit he doesn't want to or, perhaps, isn't even comfortable with (see: parties, huge get togethers for her work, vacations). I would actually write it more like we see in the Buu Saga and GT, where the two DO eventually seem to have an understanding of each others boundaries and have maybe actually gotten to know each other (something I really don't see in Super...at all). It would be more realistic for the two of them rather than this over the top ridiculousness we get from canon and fanon that doesn't fit the relationship. The post I made was about their CANON presentation, not what I would care to see or anything that would "fix" the ship.

Point is, people got in their feelings because I said canon sucks in handling Vegeta and Bulma, and I pointed out that their fave is problematic, all to base their accusations of me being sexist and unable to see nuance or understand the definition of culture on a single post that wasn't near as detailed as I've been in the past (and I've probably still missed thoughts here). They came off as super problematic because of that anger at my take and made comments that painted them as basically okay with the Saiyans being eradicated because of one aspect of their lifestyle which, in some regards, was something they had no choice in at the point of their demise (even if they might be doing similar anyway; problem is we can't know what they might have done if they had agency that wasn't marred by being ruled by the Cold Empire). But it is what it is.

I'll end saying this because, again, they missed every other post I've made about this. I don't hate Bulm, and I actually do hate how she's written. The biggest reason I criticize her and Vegeta in terms of this relationship is that most of the fandom and the ship's stans don't want to actually SEE that. They don't see how her writing is sexist a lot of the time and that her behavior doesn't make sense and IS actually toxic. The RELATIONSHIP is toxic on BOTH SIDES as it's WRITTEN (unfortunately, yeah, the writing makes Bulma MUCH WORSE than Vegeta in Super; I stand by that) and that's what I'm getting at. I point these things out because this fandom likes to paint Vegeta and Bulma as #couplesgoals and pretend they have no issues when that's just not true. It's red flag central up in there, but their rose-colored glasses are too thick for them to see it because they love the "beauty and the beast" "regular girl domesticates feral man" and "love conquers all" tropes and refuse to see the problems with the relationship.]

[nabateaprodigy]

Please may I have a Fairy tail funny scenario of when you (Gray's younger sister age 13 *she is a ice mage but she is slightly stronger than her brother at ice make magic and she is a member of Team Natsu and a member of Fairy tail and Gray is raising her alone*) were still affected by the rival potion that Juvia accidentally blew in your direction and Gray and Team Natsu were called into the music shop by the owner because you saw the music instruments as your rivals (that was where you went..) and you were destroying the instruments..and it would be a lie if Team Natsu didn't see the sight as bizarre as hell.. when you destroyed a guitar singing that song about destruction and How lovely that Gray owed the owner 50k for the damaged instruments. *hint of sarcasm*. It was one hell of a struggle for Gray to practically haul you over his shoulder when you kept on shouting about the music instruments being better than you and stuff..and Natsu and Erza having to take the instruments out of your hands before you damaged any more of anyone's stuff while Lucy and Wendy were apologising to the customers for the sight and mentioned about the potion.

It was rather problematic when you saw Happy as your rival now..

https://youtu.be/bXkhRVh2Byc (that was the song that you were playing and singing..rather weirdly)

Musical Mishap

Series: Fairy Tail.

Characters: Gray, Natsu, Erza, Lucy, and Wendy.

Genre: Fluff/Crack.

Proofread: Yes.

Reader: Female.

After the disastrous day before the Fairy Tail Guild was in search of rivals among themselves. There was one person for whom the effects of the rival potion had not yet worn off. That would be you Gray's younger sister and you were in search of a rival.

Yes, a rival while everyone had been confused and forgot of the events of the day before. The same could not be said for you as you were out in the streets of Magnolia in search of your rival. Just then you finally found your rival!

Which was a music store full of instruments... "MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS YOU WILL BE MY RIVAL!!!" You yelled furiously as you charged into the music store.

"Ah hello, how can I help you-" Before the owner could even finish speaking you immediately began destroying the musical instruments. "ICE MAKER HAMMER!" Ice gathering in the form of a hammer appeared before you as it swung down destroying the musical instruments before.

"NO! MY PRECIOUS INSTRUMENTS!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?" The owner tells out in terror. As he rushes out from behind the counter to try and stop you. He noticed the Fairy Tail Guild mark on your arm.

He then immediately contacted the Fairy Tail Guild. "Get some of your Guild members down here! One of them is destroying my store!" The owner spoke to Mirajane.

Mirajane then informed Team Natsu of what was going on and sent them out to the store to stop you. When they arrived they almost couldn't believe their eyes! Was that you destroying some music store? After recovering from the brief moment of shock they immediately took action.

But before they could it seems you had one more surprise in store for them. You picked up a guitar and began to sing. "Pain and suffering, pain and suffering I hate skies so blue I want rain and hail and lighting to bring the thunder to!"

You then finished your little performance by smashing the guitar against the floor. Once again Team Natsu was completely stunned by how you were acting. However, after a moment they recovered and took action to stop you.

Erza grabbed you and pinned you against her chest while holding onto your arms. "Y/N get a hold of yourself!" Erza yelled still in shock at the way you were acting.

"No! Erza these instruments are my rivals! Look at them thinking they're better than me! I must destroy them!" You spoke as you completely had frozen another instrument you were holding.

Gray then rushed over taking the instruments out of your hands. "That's enough Y/N! You can't go destroying these instruments because they're your 'rivals.'" Meanwhile, Lucy and Wendy could be seen apologizing for the actions of their friend Y/N.

Erza had managed to hold you over her shoulders and was beginning to leave the store then turned to the owner. "I apologize for the actions of my friend Y/N. Please send the cost of repairs to the Fairy Tail Guild and we will deal with them from there."

Erza spoke as she left the store soon followed behind by her friends. By this point, you had now passed out. Team Natsu had many questions on their mind but they would have to wait until you would wake up.

[horizon-verizon]

Inspired by other ask: What positive quality people see in Aegon II? What do you think makes people love/like/feel anything positive about him?

@daenerysthefirst 

The heft of the love or sympathy for Aegon II mostly comes from:

a) the belief that men should continue to inherit power over women in a patriarchal society; Rhaenyra is not as much of a human being with flaws as Aegon to them

b) the idea that the patriarchal rules in of themselves, more often than not, should be followed for the continuance of order and stability (too much work to actually do something and uproot this sort of thing even in smaller, inspirational ways)

c) When considering what makes a man a good ruler, and how he respects the autonomy and boundaries of women specifically, doesn't factor into his how good or bad he is as a leader. Yes, it does to some (me for example) but I mean as a social pattern and idea. Think of how people praised Jaehaerys for years and are ignorant of how his treatment of his daughters, sister, and wife doesn't concern them so much. And yes, he was good at some practical aspects of ruling and was better at self-preservation….that also became his patriarchal selfishness in his decisions to assimilate body and mind to use Andal suppression of female leadership for his own ends.

d) fandoms and people consuming TV nowadays -- as this article hints at -- do not view women as autonomous, thinking and feeling humans as men; so they grant men much more lenience and less scrutiny for their questionable, evil, or problematic actions. Especially once they show the sort of helpless frustration or show a different image of themselves and their abilities than what is apparent. sometimes that includes them failing at the male-assigned/traditionally associated social "duties" and behaviors (examples: controlling the flow of cash within the household not by directly going through a budget but by giving direction and/or providing those funds OR holding onto power and trying to present manliness while doing it but showing vulnerability and frustration privately [so only the viewers see how pathetic they "really" are]) and being vulnerable to a person who could do those things better or ahead of them in some way.

That writer pointed out the linguistic infantilizing/feminizing of male characters who "fail" at achieving and/or presenting the ability to achieve/obtain impressive positions, images, resources, etc., i.e., the "girl failures" and "baby girls", and the teenage-girlification" of some male characters of Succession in the viewers seeing and "relating" to their emotional pain... sometimes just because they happen to actually express that emotional pain or frustration with recognizably teenage girl items and/or behaviors to "self-soothe".

The Senex Amans and the Connection b/t The Spectacle of Comedy and Drama & Patriarchy

Kinda reminds me actually of the senex amans character of Latin literature and adopted into medieval/early modern literature, how this jealous old man, sometimes a pervert, is supposed to have begun as a comedic character in Greek & Roman comedy. This character is defined by his pathetic lack of control over his own sexual desires or is both "impotent" for being cuckolded/thinking he won't be/that he has the ability to prevent it by isolating his wife. Trying to present himself as having some real control only to have it slip from him until it's too late (the seducer or wife's using blind spots against him or just plain opportunity). In other words, he tries to regain some of the masculinity he lost by getting old through his possessing her. As the old man can/not be expected to ever really participate in knightly/military activities younger men can in the "high" literature that these sorts of medieval texts parody or refer to in "cruder" language and wordplay. Being a knight or showing traits associated with aristocratic knighthood and chivalry was the pinnacle of masculinity even for those who are not aristocrats.

The plays and other texts usually had the younger girl being either kidnapped/seduced away by a more powerful/younger man or voluntarily entering an extramarital affair with a young man. The same texts would also expose and center that lack of restraint/how absurd it is to think a man could expect a woman to stay faithful to his old, wrinkly self (sometimes with the other implication that women, in general, could ever restrain themselves since women are the descendants of the seductive and mentally weak Eve) for the audience to laugh at and mock.

Alongside that, there was another idea/observation that a woman can't be totally blamed or should rebuke and reviled at all for not being faithful (usually a take or comment made by women). Her husband is just physically unattractive to her (his age) and she's bound to him until death, thus her looking elsewhere for a male, one she c/would actually choose if he were both wealthier and accessible-- if she weren't arranged by others into the marriage after years of social isolation. And there would be people in the crowd thinking so, too, medieval people are still a diverse thinking group of people.

But even this idea was still sometimes twisted into making the unfaithful young girl childish & irresponsibly unable to restrain her desires to fulfill her marital duties. Because women were already expected to reserve their sexual activities to their husbands even after death in some circumstances AND masculinity is no longer totally available to old men as it once was AND most of the poltical+economic power is still in his hands (thus the panic at being found out with another man).

The narrative's concern focused on the plight of the old man even as he's being portrayed as pathetic for his attempt at moving out of his own limits or not taking the implications of his age seriously enough in his pursuit of masculinity. Because masculinity is/as always much more valued than a young girl's sexuality/feminity.

The tension of competing masculinities within the context of marriage (which is meant to "seal" in resources and human behaviors) is made funny when the old man's masculinity is constantly negated while also naturalized. He has to find sexual enjoyment somewhere, his wife is desirable, and he must "protect" her, but it is a foregone ending. And what makes this a comedy is it's usually "back to the order" ending with the wife never being found out and the husband being none the wiser despite the hijinks OR coming into a nonunderstanding with her older tyrannically impotent husband to be faithful...but not really.

Diverging -> Comedy = "happy" ending; ends with a new/intact marriage or (re)union of some kind

Tragedy = sad ending; danger looming/an existential crisis ending in death, separation, dissolution of social bonds, or soul-crushing loss

Both of the genres' action comes from the flaws in an institution and/or MCs and ironic juxtapositions to create emphasis.

What does this have to do with Aegon, Though?

The senex amans means nothing without the social context of patriarchy and the exculpation of male foolishness. And Aegon's passivity is the element of demasculinization that I think he was also trying to win back in his attack against Rhaenyra. I write about that last part HERE (and no, I despise him--and not in a fun way like Aemond--so if it looks like I'm defending him, I'm not. I'm saying what I think HE feels.)

Aegon himself is a failure of any sort of leader because:

a) he never tries to be one, partially because he thinks it's already owed to him

b) every time he actually attempts ruling or winning at any confrontation, he either fucks it up for himself, has someone else do it for him because he himself can't bc he already fucked up before (having a betrayer cut Rhaenyra's breast and Sunfyre eats her instead of a battle) or cannot restrain that self-defeating anger (think him going into battle at Rook's Rest)...meanwhile they are blind to/choose to be blind to his decision to have "sex" w/12 yr olds, the years of Rhaenyra never haven been hateful towards him (in a text that hates her, this would be noted by Gyldayn, or Alicent would have at least spread and emphasized it to him and the court during his formative years). "Girl failure", "baby girl" "king".

But some viewers feel for him anyway bc:

a) the misogyny I already listed above in the first section

b) they feel Viserys should have loved him like he loved Rhaenyra and that he deserves that love and attention more than her by virtue of the fact that he is a man/his first male child and "true" heir that Viserys had been seeking

c) in HotD, he pleads with Alicent about how he doesn't want to be what they're pushing him to be when she finds him after he raped Dyana, which in some people's minds makes up for his rape (the evil person showed vulnerability so he deserves sympathy).

It is his comparatively larger passiveness and lack of ambition to Rhaenyra, Aemond, and even Daeron which makes his active decisions and actions seem like they don't matter. His canon patheticness and HotD vulnerability combined appear as if he were less responsible for his own actions than others are. It makes him seem a more passive player in his own life and people latch on to that.

He does not actually do anything in his youth (in the original story) worth mentioning and so the reporters/writers of F&B care to make note of him. They only take note of his drinking, crossness, and "fondling" servant women so it's set up how bad of a leader this guy would be. This is his defining trait!

Aemond does more in his youth by his claiming of Vhagar, the eye incident, his training with Criston, etc. Rhaenyra's life, we get from the moment she's born and we see/hear much more from her than Aegon with his life and marriage to Helaena. Even later, when he gets burned for the first time, he's put out of the story for a while for Aemond and Daeron to come back into the focus of the plot's action. So he appears like a person who is just here to enjoy his privileges and whatever comes his way like he's maybe carefree until his mother comes along to drag him into a war. (Untrue, but more on that later.)

The lack of really a deeper and wider scope of his interactions with Otto, Alicent, Helaena, and Aemond after episode 7 works to make the ones we do see the only ones that "matter" to pin down the relationship dynamics and how Aegon sees himself, but because we get nothing of his treatment or relationship with Helaena and how he justifies being away from his children. Little character development except for the most passionate moments or pathetic moments equals real characterization when you're deprived of a look into the character's "everyday" persona.

It's then easier to see him as more of a victim and a sincere "baby girl" when we see him almost cry at Alicent's castigation in episode 6....yes even as one remembers that he's naked from his just-rape of a much more helpless young servant girl. Right above the bed where she was raped.

HotD really incentivizes the idea of his lack of real accountability when we get nothing else about his interactions with Helaena or his kids, or how he preys on those servants. We don't get to see Aegon by himself or what he chooses to do when no one is there to use their authority against him aside from encouraging his nephews to bully his brother and calling his brother a twat. We see Aegon and all the characters, really having highly intense moments and not the moments of buildup or setup to them, so we are harder-pressed to trace the development, not those high, intense moments of culmination. Aegon thus, gets an easier pass because we don't really see him at his "rest" stage nor the transition into and out of that stage.

d) Otto pushes him around to comport himself at Laena's funeral and not embarrass him and his efforts at presenting him as a dignified heir candidate, totally leaving out any sort of desire to find out why he acts the way he does. And Otto does not seem to care much for any of his grandkids (even with Helaena, he's condescending, not actually engaged with her....yet no one ever mentions this, hmmm) beyond his plans for them.

And Alicent, as her fans and nonfans say, has herself been sexualized and sexually abused before and during her marriage to Viserys into not being able to emotionally connect with her kids as much as if she hadn't been for this same man's ambitions. Aside from Aegon just being insufferable, their relationship is further strained and she's impatient and crosses some boundaries with him because of that strain and history. Because she sees him as making all her own suffering seem worthless/pointless. So the sympathy for her also translates to sympathy for his having to deal/not deal with that, which would be fine...except for what else we know of him.

From Otto's disinterest/abuse, Viserys' comparative disinterest, and Alicent's desperate abuse, some fans feel that he's a victim for being pushed towards the throne through a lie and illusion of danger (the "promise of a young man's life 'wasted' ") after a lifetime of emotional neglect and exploitation -- that Rhaenyra would kill him, Alicent, and the rest of them if he didn't take the throne.

Or if they actually think that either Daemon or Rhaenyra would inevitably target him if he hadn't come into power and opposed them--that Alicent "had a point".

Either way, they also feel bad for him being pushed into a dangerous position without actually ever wanting or pursuing it. That because he didn't want it, he didn't deserve the burns, deaths, and year-long convalescence, that comes from his entering the war at all.

While yes, our parents and those who raise us are far likelier to pass on their habits to their charges (worsening the character their kids build later by letting them get away with stuff), that person is never just a wooden board receiving hit after hit. They have a brain and the ability to observe, think, feel, and compare. Aegon (book and show) simply chooses not to pursue anything beyond himself.

*EDIT this one paragraph* (12/5/23): He didn't want kingship at first (and I am sorta amending some statements of the past but also not) but he always wanted power comes with the removal of accountability and he comes to see kingship as the only his mode towards that anyway. Both in the book and show. To reiterate, he wants to be treated as if he's a big deal and comes to see kingship as the only way to be treated as the biggest deal...without having to cater to anyone else's needs or perform altruist policies bc this is the antithesis of what he wants. He thus ignores others' boundaries. And this circle of abuse further makes him lend more of that helpless image. Think Roderick Usher of the The Fall of the House of Usher tv show.

This is where I could see why people would feel bad for him...but he is a rapist both in the show and book and even if you were abused/raped, it doesn't stop your act of rape from being rape and it doesn't stop the internal patriarchal entitlement to rape from existing and being self-evident in the rape. His raping also gets ignored because some think that his "fondling" of women is not "serious" or never happened.

Or if they believe it "serious" and have happened, it doesn't occur to them that Aegon would rape someone because they assume that he has a higher moral code than he actually does...because they feel that Viserys ignoring him/near "motherlessness" somehow automatically makes him a victim.

If one is a victim, one cannot criticize their evil or questionable actions and thus cannot confront and acknowledge their wrongdoing, and victims automatically know to not victimize, therefore he couldn't have victimized anyone.....

e) Many people have been abused by those who are supposed to care for them or have felt completely powerless and trapped in familial cycles of trauma....so they feel they see themselves in Aegon more than in Rhaenyra, who actively finds partners in Harwin, Daemon, Laena, and maybe even Laenor, built her own family, and has more of Viserys' attention and regard. However, Rhaenyra also has traumas, Viserys also disables her from accruing power where it most matters, and has had to face Alicent's censure and targeted attacks for years, whether in book or show and would have felt helplessness in being a woman, lost her mother to at a very young age. Her abuse and traumas do not matter because she tries to fight back or she does so by going directly against the traditional mores of womanhood that create those foundations of abuse and emotional neglect she is rejecting in the first place.

Because they can't relate to her (or think so) and she is not suffering like how they want her to, Rhaenyra's resistance becomes a flaw rather than something to admire. HotD Alicent's suffering is much more appealing and Book!+show!Alicent's internalized misogyny doesn't really challenge them to look beyond their/her own suffering from patriarchy, so sometimes it feels like they are actually participating in denying patriarchy. Aegon, like show!Alicent, is a more passive but seemingly helpless victim of his demasculinization. Perfect vs imperfect victimhood, it's also described pretty concisely and perfectly by la-pheacienne HERE. And the blackqveen talks about the projection of suffering HERE.