#i also LOVE that its clearly based on what the worlds are based on irl – like japan & mt komorebi and sulani & hawaii/the pacific islands

[adobe-outdesign]

Best toy neopets?

Toy is a newer colour, having been released in 2018 as the runner up of a "new colour" poll (so no UC/styled art to compare in this one). The original toy pet used in the poll, Lenny, seemed to be a good example of what to expect from the colour: plastic parts, bright colors, and maybe one or two minor changes to the anatomy where appropriate.

However, while some toy pets stick to the action-figure formula to varying degrees, some go off in completely different directions by being based on random specific real-world toys. On top of that, some of those pets are based on very specific brands (the iDog, Furbies, etc.) while some are just based on generic classic toy concepts.

This can also lead to problems regarding overlap with other colours; the toy Kougra, Lupe, and Bruce are all effectively just plushie Neopets, albeit in a very different style than the standard plushie colour.

I point this out because I feel like either a colour should be 100% coherent across all species, or it should vary wildly by species. Toy straddles this weird middle ground of being part licensed toys, part generic toys, and part action-figure toys where it simultaneously has coherency and no coherency at all. I feel like the best toy pets are the ones where they stick to the plastic-y look but manage to put a fun species-specific twist on it.

Favorite Species:

Mynci: Speaking of which, the toy Mynci is basically perfect in this respect; it keeps the hard jointed plastic look while also being based off the classic cymbal-playing monkey toy, which fits the 'pet for obvious reasons. The colors also look quite nice, and as an added bonus, the clothes are removable (though I do wish the base removed the out-of-place head hairs).

Gnorbu: This one falls into the "generic IRL toy" category, and while it's not the most coherent thing in terms of the overall colour (I'm hesitant to even think of a piñata as a toy), it's such a fun concept and it looks great. There's a lot of colors used but they're all balanced well, the concept reads super clearly, and the subtle inegration of thigns like the mane are just perfect. My sole nitpick is just that the black outlines on the eye look out of place, and something flatter to match the papier-mâché look would've been nice.

Jetsam: Based off a pool toy, this one kind of plays with the action-figure concept by keeping the plastic idea but not being hard plastic or jointed. It's perfect for a water-based Neopet, and the inflatable plastic is spot-on visually, complete with seams. Only issue with it is the weird handle on the side, which might be a thing with shark pool toys but isn't something I've ever seen in-person.

BONUS: The toy Bori takes a similar route to the Mynci, keeping the hard plastic idea but putting a twist on it by making the back plates into an xylophone, which is a fantastic concept. The multi-colored plates really draw attention to the concept and the rest the palette is a simple yellow with a few blue accents.

The only issue with it, and the reason it's a bonus, is that weird bone in its mouth. According to Jellyneo, it's based off a [checks notes] Toddlerz Toddlin' Tunes Puppy, which is just weird because Bori aren't dogs or even dog-adjacent. What was wrong with just making it a regular non-branded xylophone?

Least Favorite Species:

Koi: I absolutely love the idea of this being a bathtub wind-up toy; however, the problem is that the key, which should be the focal point, is so tiny and hard to see that I only noticed while doing this review that it's even there. Even putting that aside, there's way too many colors going on here, and the addition of stripes over the body is strange and does nothing but clutter the design. It's also strange that the back fin is a solid color and one piece while the tail is lobed and multi-colored; feels like those two should match.

[asocial-inkblot]

Things I Hope/d to See in the New ATLA Live Action Show

A source material-accurate Azula (duh) and Aang (the show's namesake!) with something extra added to both. See #7 and #8 for more on that.

Tweaked war-related plans that come across like they could reasonably be implemented in real life and which may be based on/allude to actual battle proposals from throughout history. I know little about these sorts of things but others have pointed out before that one of Sokka's plans, for example, may not have actually made much sense. And Ozai's plan near the end? Yeeaaahhhhh... I mean, I kinda get it in hindsight. But still. Let's have him come up with something better than that.

Appearances and clothing that call back to the ethnic groups and cultures that the show takes inspiration from (things are looking great on this front so far), but also

Eye colors like the ones from the original cartoon. This may seem petty but I find that it's actually important to use the right hues for each character and not just make everyone's eyes brown or black or gray (looks to me like that's exactly what they did). The reason being that, although I personally tend to dislike when non-white characters are given what I now call "white qualifiers" (meaning traits often used to make them still appeal to whiteness, such as light hair, light eyes, bone-straight hair, round eyes, etc.), in the context of the show, the eye colors are actually by and large ethnic characteristics and differentiators themselves. As I've noted before in a previous post from a while back: Ocean blue eyes = Water Tribes, brown and gray = usually Air Nomad or Earth Kingdom, amber or light tan = Fire Nation, with few exceptions for all of them.

Enough similarities for it to feel like ATLA but with enough differences that it's actually its own story. Again, duh, but we all know how often adaptations tend to get this part wrong.

An age rating that won't be used as just another excuse to shoehorn in as much violence, gore and sexual content as possible but instead to allow for the full illustration of the impact that war can have on a people and their society/traditions. We saw, imo, only little hints of this throughout the cartoon (when Aang found Monk Gyatso's remains is one extremely devastating example), but not near enough. I know the reason why, of course. However, things like that only helped sell the show short by not allowing it to fully flesh out into a world with true, viewable consequences.

An Azula who, from day one, is unquestionably made out to be exactly what she is: A child soldier who is also a victim of the war in a similar way to how the Gaang is. I want to see her allowed to show worry, even fear, either during or after a situation. Not because I don't love how kickass she is, but because at her age, level of trauma and amount of risk to her life everyday, she has all the reason to be more stressed from the get-go. Not to mention her family issues. I want Azula to clearly have anxiety or depression, something many of us can relate to. I also want that scene of her mental breakdown to STAY in some capacity, but be seen in-universe and hopefully—eventually—irl, too, as what it really was: A teenage girl pushed to her limits until she had no where left to step. Real, living people have had anxiety/panic attacks and meltdowns before and that didn't make them evil or any less worthy of sympathy. It only makes it that much more obvious how real Azula herself is, and how much she needed and deserved understanding.

I want an Aang who's allowed to cry, not once, not twice but over and over again as the weight of the burden of what it means to be a child avatar during a world war—and one who was out-of-commission for a century—start to take their toll on his mind, body and eventually spirit. After he reaches his breaking point, I want him to learn to forgive himself and even forgive others, and come back from it, stronger than ever.

A Toph who's tough but maybe a little less...umm... She should be/feel affected by the war too, okay? And have some level of guilt, fear or self-awareness at all times. So she should be like her original self, but deeper.

More Ursa pleeeaaaaaaassse. We know next to nothing about this woman and what we do know, still involves a lot of inferring. I need to know just what her beliefs were about the war and her family/relatives. I need to know if she...if she often feared for her or her children's lives!

A little less romance and a little more danger, planning and large platonic relationship growth as well as character growth.

Zuko actually learning something from his travels; early on, every time he meets someone/some new people, and on a regular basis. I also kinda want to see him have consequences for his actions. Not just that one time, where he was only a clueless 13 year old boy anyway. Doesn't have to be huge or bloody, but he needs to lose something every time he gains at the expense of another. The ATLA world (if not within the cartoon then definitely within the live action show) should have a real, tangible concept of Karma present, if it doesn't already. That would make so. much. sense.

If possible, a little more fleshing out of characters like Jet and the Freedom Fighters, Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors, Hama, Mai, Ty Lee, etc. And can we not demonize or shrug off victims anymore?

A still sexy Hakoda, Ozai and June. (I'm so sorry, don't hate me...)

An ending that won't make me break out in hives plez.

(That's it for now. I may come back here to add more.)

[mad-c1oud]

FROM THE FOG I RISE WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH AN IMMI CHAPTER!!!

IT'S LOVELY! It's got yummy Etoiles' emotions and feeeeelings!

Your mc mechanics interpretations are top tier fr, bc holy shit waystones using emotions? subconscious feeling? intent? will? instict? of the person is SO COOL

AAAAAAAA Teleportation magic being this old abstract force of will with its sole focus on connecting people AAAAA its magical flow being natural to this world

It makes me think of all the waystones being connected through a network, or smth like mycelium

Funny question tho, how would teleporting work for some of the ADHD folk who can't for the life of them focus on a singular destination?

And how do u think the magic would deal with a person that desperately wanted to teleport somewhere familiar, but that waystone and the place was destroyed beyond repair?

Anyway, tysm for the chapter, I wish u well for any irl stuff and writing endeavors!

Starcicle prevails 😌 🌟🦠(<- lol it kinda looks like slime if you believe)

YEHAHHHHH WERE BACK. I missed the goobers terribly

I’m so happy everyone has been loving the waystone thoughts. It’s something mentioned in most fics where they teleport, but I’ve never felt like elaborating becuase at those points, the characters already knew how it worked. So this moment of introspection from someone as analytical as Étoiles has been real fun.

I’m gonna blab about it more below the cut so click for insane word rambles if you want<3

So.

The inspiration came from the fact that if given the choice of what superpower I would choose, I would go with teleportation. Always been that way. I would always think about how it would work too becuase I was obsessed with MHA for a few years and they’re take on powers and quirks was just too much fun. So I thought about how teleporting would work, if it was sight based or maybe you had to have physically been somewhere to teleport there, etc. i liked the idea of needing to be familiar with a place before you could teleport there, or having some connection to it. Intent, knowing.

When I saw the waystones in the qsmp, and actually used them myself in minecraft, I just started automatically pushing those general teleportation thoughts onto the mechanic. They naturally generate in the world, these old pillars with ancient scribble on them (lke the enchantment tables). In order to use a waystone, you have to “activate” or click it. I just… went with it.

I didn’t realize I was using the idea until a few chapters into twaho and starting fingers. When. I did, I developed it a little more but still, I like to be vague about it. I like magic you don’t fully understand, especially when it’s ancient. Also I feel like over explaining it ruins it in some cases and while Étoiles is the po to over explain mechanics, I like shoving him at something he can’t fully pick apart.

Gah sorry you asked for none of that but I like talk sorry. On to your queries…

Warping for those with ADHD or just overall scattered thoughts— tricky. Since I like to think of these waystones as almost alive (at least the magic), they’re interrupting the “information” from the person touching the stone. Like Étoiles on the beach of Eggxile right after upsetting Charlie, trying to warp to his base but all he could think about was his mistake. All he could think about was Charlie. So the waystone kept him there, where he clearly needed to be, until Étoiles could focus and put more intent into his warp. It’s real easy for people to end up at the wrong waystone simply because they’re distracted or panicking, their minds a jumbled mess. A funny irl example would be anyone wanting to go to one waystone but out of habit they clicked the wrong one, muscle memory. Silly stuff like that. I could talk about it all day tbh

And for the other q… ouch. While I don’t want to over explain the warpstones, but I will say this: the magic is contained in the stone pillars or the warpstones, so when they are moved, it moves the magic. However— the longer a pillar is left somewhere, the more attachment the magic has to an area. Magically and literally. Same for waystones that are frequently used by several people.

Think of the warpstone hub near spawn. That area is like… it’s almost like a beating heart, veins branching out to other communal places like the Favela or France or Phil’s. The traffic and the thought going into those waystones… the magic loves to share the world and loves when people share with it.

I haven’t put too much thought into what would happen if someone tries warping somewhere a stone has been destroyed or removed, but I think it boils down to a few things: how strong those feelings/memories are, and how desperate someone is to return. It’s going to vary from person to person depending on their own connections. I think it will also not be pleasant. You are trying to use magic that is no longer contained, that might not even be present in the location you are going, relying on a signal warpstone or waystone to get you there. Think like a cut wire: it’s contiained until the metal becomes exposed, with no grounding after. Chances of you actually getting there are slim, but maybe the right spark with find it’s way. I don’t know, my metaphors are awful. The idea ties into the share stones. Someone going to a warpstone without having ever been there is impossible unless they have someone else on the other end, connecting those points. Providing the memories and feelings and thoughts for others

Spawn point and beds and shit are al whole other thing that I have yet to chew on, but I think they are separate for the most part.

Okay I’ll stop talking i could go on for everrrrrr about this stuff and what it means for different hybrids, different situations, restrictions, hiccups… I love over explaining minecraft mechanics. It’s so much fun.

Come yell at me with questions or ideas on anything!! Now you guys can go back and reread some of my fics with a little extra context haha.

[autisticgirliesbracket]

What makes Midori Asakusa from Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! the autistic girlie ever of all time? Here's what the people have to say:

Asakusa-related asks/reblogs: x This post will be updated after each round!

Image ID in alt text and under the readmore.

[Image ID. White slide with a low-quality screenshot of Midori Asakusa sitting on a large orange beanbag. She is surrounded by text boxes which read,

"She's clearly excited about animation and often ends up infodumping about stuff she's interested in, she often is in "her own world" and ends up goofing around during club work when alongside her friends in the film club, but also she gets clearly anxious and uncomfortable around strangers, stumbling over her words and clutching her plush bunny when trying to explain stuff to the student council. i just love having a character who can be BOTH silly and excitable and also more shy and awkward around different groups of people... relatable tbh (also a good article: www.animeherald.com/2022/07/02/a-neurodivergent-examination-of-eizoukens-asakusa-midori/amp/)"

"She loves animation. She knows so much about animation. She has drawings full of sketches and concepts and I will be honest with you I am not great at infodumping because I have bad memory but BELIEVE ME SHE HAD THE TISM SO MUCH"

"when i see her im like yaaay yaaay yaaay inthink its a sign"

"Our girlie here is NOT neurotypical! From the first pages of the first chapter we discover her special interests in the place she lives in and in animation as a medium (she infodumps). This results in several notebooks worth of schematics of the town and how it could be used as the base for wordbuilding an interesting setting for a cartoon. She also piles up vehicles sketches with detailed internal structure. In a later chapter she thinks so much about how a giant robot would work that arrives at the conclusion it would not work and tries to scratch the whole project she and her friends are working on, because if she cannot make it work irl other people would notice. The only way her friend could make her continue to work on the mecha suit stuff is convincing her that she was not making it for "other people" but for her own enjoyment. With this new rule in place she can move on. Asakusa does not fare well in crowds and with strangers. She constantly pushes forward her friend to do the speaking and when she speaks up for herself she rambles in dialect or uses quotes and catchphrases to keep the momentum. She gets soooo distracted by small things. A piece of obsidian in the back of the schoolyard, how did it get there? And oh my god I know we where talking about something serious but IS THAT A TANUKI? Also do not tell me a neurotypical sixteen years old girl has ever saved up for a big army regulation backpack to stuff it with things like a torchlight, a multitool, several feet of paracord, light-up shoes, and a stuffed bunny. She needs them to explore closed down buildings even if she is afraid of the dark. She needs her emotional support bunny." End ID.]

[relaxxattack]

hwy so i saw ur poll ab arasol and f they were matesprits or not and ive been into homestuck for about 7 years and its a special interest and im autistic and thwy are my first and tbh only otp anf so if this is ok i wld like to infodump my opinion/hcs ab them bc i just 🥰 i love them sm 🥰 (def not frothing at the mouth at the idea of an audience for my opinions bc everyone irl is sikc of me lmao /lh)

ok so i deffo think they ar e matesprits BUT i think they never liie. clearly confirmwd it while aradia was alive. and once she became ghost aradia i think she got so distant and aloof (i think thats the right word?) about everytuing that it made sollux feel like she disnt love him anymore, and he eventually just had to move on, even thouvh it hurt. and feferi was there, not necessarily as a "rebound" but as a shoulder to cry on. someone for sollux to confide in, and to listen to him because he didnt have anyonw else he felt like woild. and i feel like feferi was def nto him and wanted to be his matesprit but i think sollux wasnt really. and i think they developed a kind of mixed/blurred lines relationship and the whole ghost and aradiabot phases pushed him and aradia furhter apart because aradia was dealinf wth so so much and in turn sollux was dealinf with the loss of his presumed (unofficial, wtv) matesprit, because that wasnt the aradia he knew and had fallen in love with. the ghost thing wasnt a bother - he loved her, not her physical form - it was the personality shift, i think.

and so when she reached god tier and regained her body nd her sense of identity, ithink they started to rekindle what they had nefore, if that makes sense? like aradia was his aradia again, an aradia interested in life and adventuee and archaeology and not this stupid, stupid game and suddenly not everything felt like it was collapsing around him and he felt like things could be okay again. and she helped him and he helped her and together they did make thinfs okay again. with each other.

and i think aradia's living>ghost>aradiabot>godtier timeline is a good allegory for depression and how it can absolutely shatter your sense of self and strip your world of colour and how that can make you push people away and self isolate and whatnot. idk thats just how i see it but :3 yea

i havet checkwd out the epilogues or homestuck^2 btw so this is based solely off of andrew hussie's homestuck bc i love it sososo much anyways yea !!!! tysm if anybody took the time to read this i love u all!! and ty for letting me drop this in ur askbox lolz and yea :3 srry if this isnt v comprehensive i just got off an 8hr closing shift at work lmao <3

this is a REALLY good analysis and i really love it, thank you for sharing! this makes complete sense to me.

aradia's depression being the catalyst for their split is very true! especially since she then sort of broke his trust with the whole sgrub thing-- and before that interacting with her was hard because sollux felt so guilty about what he did to her. it's just sad on all accounts, and i'm glad they both got better

honestly my poll was more to ask the question; "so we all agree that aradia and sollux were matesprits right because they do NOT act like moirails lol but it's funny because if they're matesprits that makes the feferi business weirder", but i don't think it came across in the post correctly, pfft

yes i definitely agree that they were matesprits, and also the idea that feferi was more into sollux than he was her is a really interesting one-- i also wonder if maybe feferi was maybe less into sollux than she thought, herself-- it's possible she threw herself into that relationship because she was just so relieved to be finally cut off from eridan and "allowed" to have relationships like that. but that's just my thought!

at the end of the day they're all just kids trying stuff out and it's kind of adorable and not that serious. i'm an arasoler at heart but there's nothing wrong with solfef either

[miabebe]

Hi,

I read the 1st chapter of camp seventeen so I'm here to talk about it. The chapter starting with her waking up early and absolutely hating it is so relatable, like girl, we all know how horrible early mornings are. Her being late nonetheless and not understanding how camp works or why it is the way it is, all these details help us understand her character better, since she's just as confused as we are. Coming to the boys, shua being the sweetest sweetheart and helping her out all the time is so shua, like, that's the gentleman in him(can't say I trust he's always like that, considering he's friends with han and cheol). Finding an unexpected solace in the silence with Jun, chan being the most adorable little kid that she has also started babying, seungkwan trying his best, dokyeom also being a sweet angel, jeonghan being an absolute menace with his visits to cheol's house, wonwoo just existing atp, Vernon just vernoning, jihoon being able to read her like a book(which, in my opinion, is so dangerous and I love it), gyu and soonyoung being flirts and goofballs, Hao, the strict yet sweet trainer, and last but definitely not the least, cheol being respectful yet taunting her entire existence, all these character descriptions were perfect, I loved reading how her relationship with each of them was developing. Her trying to adapt to the camp, the training, living with 13 men and the fact that they have no electricity? Now, that's a crime,idk how she survived a week(but then again, ig living with 13 men and having to train everyday keeps her busy enough).

Damn, I haven't even gotten to the main parts of the chapter and I've already yapped so much. Well, I hope you don't mind.

I totally understand her reaction towards cheol, he's the leader and he commands respect which is so attractive, obviously she'd want him, anyone would. What I did not expect was their interaction, him working out shirtless and her drooling over him but the situation suddenly taking a turn and her running away only to end up at soonyoung's house. While I expected something to happen between them, I was not expecting him to have a girlfriend but clearly, it's not a relationship based on love if they're both indulging other people. Anywho, the entire scene with them in his house was so good, it was unexpected in a really good way, I loved it. Her imagining cheol though, girl, you're down bad, can't blame her though, knowing I'd probably be no different. Then, the cliffhanger ending to the chapter, oh my god, why did he stop? I really hope that next chapter it's gonna be cheol, I don't think she'll be able to restrain herself for too long either.

I'm extremely curious about two things, how can she touch cheol without being electrocuted? And what in the world is that lawsuit about? You have successfully made me even more invested in this story, if that's even possible. Thank you for taking time and putting in the effort for writing this chapter. Hope you had as much fun writing it, as I did, reading it 🥰.

Ahhh you're here! I was waiting to hear what you think 🥰 and please always feel free to ramble away in my inbox, I absolutely love it!

I tried to be as close to the boys irl personalities - of course its based off what we majorly see from the svt content but its also subject to change according to the needs of the plot, this is after all just the first impression!

Oh yeah, life at camp is rough - they are in the middle of nowhere, electricity is a challenge and training is even more intense for her because she just joined but she's got to get through it, this is her world now :')

I think she's seen Cheol the closest so far compared to the rest of the members? His aura is such, who wouldn't fall for that right? But yeah, Soonyoung really did come out of nowhere hehehe. About him and his girlfriend though, I think ten years ago when it started they were in love but its been so long, like OC said, now they are more like each other's habit? We'll have to see how things go between them!

Cheol has his reasons, we'll get to know sooner or later but till then there's lots in store! How she can touch him is something no one understands, we'll have to see why but the lawsuit yes, I'm taking my time explaining that cause I don't want to info dump, there's lots to explain about the demigod world and how it works so we'll cover it eventually!

Thank you for reading and dropping your thoughts, I've already begun on chapter 2 I hope you'll enjoy that too <3

[emtmercy]

i think ur take on lestat and louis being written as just being mutually toxic and shit to each other rather than as a case of systematic abuse makes the most sense for how the show ended.. and i see how while lestat also hurt louis readily and often, its not consistent and its perhaps not necessarily abuse. i disagree though that "terrorizing someone for dominance" is the only thing that constitutes abuse. irl ive seen reasons and ways other than "for dominance" where people will abuse a partner or loved one, yes as a pattern of behaviour

also you said jacob had a point when he said what louis did could be seen as abuse. perhaps clarification is needed because this doesnt make sense based on ur definition of abuse. louis has also never "terrorized lestat for dominance" - especially when looking at what the writers had louis apologize to lestat for, which was him being miserable to lestat many nights bc he was suffering and resentful.

also i am trying to wrap my head around how some of the 'they r mutually toxic' arguments r the same ones ive heard with irl relationships -amber heard and johnny depp for example, especially with the recordings of their fights and the trial being so public. how do we clearly tell and argue the difference? u said that the writers clearly dont see loustat as an abusive relationship, and i am beginning to agree, but if for example they also dont see amber and depp as an abusive relationship, could we take the show they wrote at face value anymore.

you made some definite statements about what abuse is based on the show, extrapolated to real life, so I think its only fair to stress test them, but if you don't feel comfortable discussing it further that's fine

Well I do think I have to challenge your understanding of abuse. Abuse is about control. Replace the world dominance with control in your mind if that’s easier to understand. But yes abuse is committed for control. Always. Period. Anyone in the abuse field will tell you this. Suggestion to the contrary is dangerous. Abuse is always always always centered around control. This part isn’t up for debate. That terror can take a thousand forms but the goal is control. That’s a central definitive characteristic of abuse. I’m at work but maybe later I could suggest some writings on this that may help clarify what I mean. Like yes abuse takes many forms but it revolves around the attempt to control another person

And yes I wasn’t listing Jacob’s quote because I think Jacob has a perfect understanding of real life abuse, I listed it to help people understand the very fictional story being told. You’re right that the idea that Louis abused Lestat goes against a real definition of human abuse. I don’t believe Louis nor Lestat abused the other in the human sense. What Jacob was saying was a response to a specific inquiry about the nature of his relationship w Lestat and he was trying to explain that Lestat is not more culpable than Louis and that they’re both hurting each other. Me explaining the intentions and understandings of these people isn’t me saying anything other than that this is what intended and understood by them.

Neither of us know how the writers feel about depp/herd. And whether or not the writers have good opinions on it doesn’t really affect whether or not they’re the people writing this story. Their intentions are their intentions even if you think they should have other intentions. You don’t have to take their politics at face value or respect them. You don’t have to think the show has good politics. You can think the show is offensive. I have no problem with you taking issue with the writers. I am simply explaining their intentions, which exist regardless of whether their intentions are offensive to some or to all. As you’re beginning to agree with, yes the writers clearly didn’t intend to portray a human abuse dynamic with an abuser and victim. That doesn’t mean they did it perfectly. That doesn’t mean they didn’t use tropes they perhaps shouldn’t have. It’s just an explanation of the show as it exists ! I personally have critique of how they handled this. It’s not a deal breaker for me personally because I understand and at heart respect the story they are trying to tell but violence can be really triggering for those of us who have to be in this real world and I totally get if this story is a deal breaker for some

What a writer intends is not chained to what is most politically appropriate in the real world. They can intend and write anything they want. And we can say we think it sucks if we want. But we have to start from a point of understanding the show as written.

And I think your question on how we know the difference speaks to cultural misunderstandings of both abuse and of fiction that people are really grappling with right now

Amber heard experienced real gendered violence within a system of abuse that is very obvious and clear to anyone who has had the opportunity to truly learn the signs of an abuse cycle. It was not unclear or confusing to anyone I know who understands abuse. Depps abuse of her was quite a classic case. His campaign of terror over her in pursuit of total control of her and dominance over her is what makes him the abuser in the situation.

I’m not saying anyone who didn’t understand that case immediately is evil or has no experience of abuse, but I am saying that once you get to have access to the knowledge we’ve amassed on abuse as a greater social pattern and quite specific dynamic then it does become clear.

Louis and Lestat inherently need a different lens than real people because they were WRITTEN. They took no actions not intended to communicate something to the audience. They have no personal will. They are characters who act within a story written by a person with specific intentions. They exist only within this fictional realm. There’s no greater truth than their existence as it is in the fiction because they’re not real.

Louis did not experience a clear abuse cycle and we don’t have to worry there’s something secret we don’t see happening behind closed doors because he’s fictional. The writers have communicated to us what they want us to know. And I think comparisons of Louis to amber are unfortunate given she’s a real person being abused and Louis is an evil vampire doing mutually toxic shit with no One abuser and One victim. Her situation was very classic sadly. The fact that many people rejected the clarity of her situation is due to widespread victim blaming in society and the fact that we don’t educate well on abuse. But there’s a reason all the big domestic violence experts were writing essays. It was very clear. And you don’t see the same markers of abuse in this fictional story because it was written to not be that

I genuinely hope this clarifies some !

[rat-rosemary]

To be frank with you, I don’t think that Dream went about announcing or creating the USMP in a good way.

For starters, Dream could have shown basic respect for Quackity and waited before announcing his SMP. He couldn’t even congratulate Quackity for the QSMP without making it about himself. Dream didn’t even wait a month before announcing the USMP, which you must admit is very similar to Quackity’s idea, which has been in the making for way longer than Dream’s has, based on how Dream doesn’t even have all 60 members of his server nor, you know, an actual quality translator (at least based upon his most recent video).

Plus, what connection does Dream have to other languages? I, for one, distinctly mentioning something about how the only language he speaks is winning, and yet now he’s all for overcoming cultural bounds and uniting people from all across the world? I acknowledge that a person’s opinions can change, but then again, there’s the matter of timing that I mentioned earlier.

Overall, I don’t believe that Dream would have been condemned this way if he had announced the USMP later. However, I do believe that he is being heavily inconsiderate of Quackity and that there is a very high possibility that he is trying to ride off of Quackity’s coattails for whatever reason. That reason could be relevancy, as with the obviously faked letter that he supposedly got from Google (obviously faked because of the multiple spelling and grammar issues), or it could be that he is trying to replicate the DSMP and its popularity again.

Regardless, even without getting into the moral qualities of Dream’s character and whether the accusations about him are true, it’s obvious that he is being rude to a certain degree (the degree of which is debatable, but the rudeness definitely not) towards Quackity and what he is trying to achieve with the QSMP.

Sorry for typing out this long essay, but I feel strongly about this topic, and whenever I feel strongly about something, my brain goes into writing mode (it’s the autism—just kidding, of course). I hope I didn’t come off too mean, I just wanted to share with you my views on why the Dream might not have the best intentions for creating the USMP.

Okay so i also talk a lot but my thoughts come a lot more fractured so you might see a ton of edits to this post

So first of all, i actually do agree that the announced of the usmp was not very good. Personally i think he should maybe have waited a bit more, or idk, but i do agree that it didn't come out the best way

The thing about connection to other languages I think that Dream is doing it both because of some of his friends (Korean in specific, Tina really want to learn korean again after she lost most of what she knew, and there are a few more youtubers Dream is friends with and/or knows that know or are korean) and because he genuinely enjoyed connecting with people from other places and languages! Idk if you saw him during the squid games and more even on spreen's heaven event but he was clearly having lots of fun and really really loving talking to people

And a thing about the Dt that most people who dont watch them dont really know, is that they're all kind of shy around new people. Dream is exited but kind of scared, Sapnap is really really shy and will stick to people he knows (you can see on his first irl stream with Karl, he looked like a spooked cat) and George will be weird with people he doesn't know but he doesn't really make a connections quickly like how Quackity for example does

You can really see how these events left a really strong impact on Dream (and his community!)

(Also, some other languages might also been chosen because of his friends, Foolish, Tubbo, Tina and [Oh fuck another person but i forgot her name] were/are working really really hard on learning Spanish, but didn't really get a chance to use it. Other ones, like Japanese, might just be a "oh! I bet there are tons of cool people there" but really i dont know the streamers, so i cant say for sure)

I can talk a bit about why portuguese tho! Most big brasilian youtubers started out as minecraft youtubers, and they're actually really big! I cant really vouch for them (they're not bad, just... like annoying bad, except that one guy, but we dont talk about Monarca) some of our youtubers were on the top of all creators on the site a few years ago (i havent really looked since then)

So it's a big untapped community that does actually love interacting with people from other countries (there's a reason that "come to Brasil" is a meme, other then the fact that no band ever comes to brasil)

I cannot comment on the google thing because i genuinely dont really know what you're talking about

But about congratulating Quackity, I think multiple cc's were congratulating Quackity and saying his project was really cool (including Dream) even before it was announced, and im pretty sure he congratulated Q after the qsmp trailers came out

But yeah, again I think it was kind of weird how the announcement of the usmp came, but i dont think it was because Dream genuinely wanted to hurt Quackity or try to overshadow him

About the quality of the translation, i actually think its kinda funny? It definitely shows that Dream (and Callahan! Who is absolutely incredible) were actually trying to create this themselves and not just copying from something else.

I also think its not meant to really be perfect? I for sure think it will be better when we see it live, but I think the usmp and the version of the translator we see in it are not meant to be the best version it can be, but more an example so people can take it and alter it and transform it. Thats why i think its free to access and edit, because it was meant to be taken and changed by the community

But hey! One of my favorite tropes is language barriers, so i might he a bit biased on the "It's okay that the translator is glitchy thing"

(I also think that language is so complex that the translator will never truly be perfect, with complicated words and frases and *regional dialects and words that dont truly have translations, like "saudade" or "cafune", i think that there will always be little misunderstanding and confusion and bugs, but we can just pause and try to explain it differently, like it always is in conversations)

[*side note, im kind of doxxing myself a little, but my dialect literally replaces the word "thing" for the word "train" and we only do that in my state. You can also always tell when someone writes something in portuguese making sure that people could translate it because we talk/text completely different, you can translate você but not ce so some things get caught up]

This is actually really nice! Its nice to share views without being aggressive and going for each other's throat. I hope is discussed everything? It's 2:31 am and im sick so i might have missed something and im glad to talk more about it if you want to

But yeah, long story short, i do agree that the delivery of the usmp was weird and kind of disjointed, but i think it came from a place of genuine love and excitement with Dream, he just hyperfoxused on it and forgot to think of some stuff. And i think it will be fun to have multiple multilingual smps and that in the ends usmp and qsmp will be different in some core ways

I hope i wasnt rude as well! If i did i genuinely didn't want to come off as agressive

[saviourkingslut]

okay but curry can we PLEASE talk about how fucking PHENOMENAL like action Mihawk is. Had me on the brink of mental collapse 24/7 bc I kept thinking about his magnificence- he knocked it out of the PARK GODDAMNIT!!! Who's your fave from the live action cast and what are your thoughts?? Personally I think it's very good, I just wish Sanji's arc hadn't been cut (tho Don Krieg sucks as a villain, ngl, kinda happy Mihawk got rid of that bitchboy so easily ☠️☠️☠️), but other than that I'm SO proud of everyone involved, they really put in lov and dedication and respect for the series, I'm looking forward to more!!! How about you??🌸🌼🍀

ok full disclosure lest anyone think i have read the manga or seen the anime: i haven't, it's way long and i've never felt particularly drawn to it. HOWEVER i've seen my fair share of (shounen) anime and when i saw they were doing a live action of one piece i really thought it was going to suck bc the live actions always suck. boy was i wrong. everyone working on this from screenwriters to cinematographers to costume department to the actors themselves clearly love the source material and knew exactly what they were doing, and the vibe is Exactly Right. it's camp and fun and a little stupid like shounen anime tend to be and it fully embraces it and so it feels completely natural. of course the cat-themed pirate crew hiss and wear knife-gloves. of course there's characters with blue and green and whatever colour hair. of course the officers in the marines have personal Themes. we don't need any explanation, the world is just like this. and it's balanced exactly right so the more emotional, serious aspects of the story carry the weight that they need to without feeling out of place.

also, as a someone who hasn't engaged with the manga/anime, i think the series cut away/kept enough of the original material to come out of it feeling well-paced, understandable to newcomers and filled with fun recognisable bits for long-time fans. perhaps this meant, as you say, cutting out some pieces of character development/background that might have been enjoyable, but it's a well-made sacrifice bc it prevented the story from feeling too bloated. i think it was just right like this: gave us background on everyone and simultaneously left room for the story to process, without too many things at once to focus on. you could still sense that it was based on a manga bc of its little arcs - usually two eps with a minor boss to beat each time, and a bigger, badder boss at the end of the season. so i feel like keeping that theme in a narrative sense also really helped to make it reminiscent of the material it draws from and made it well-rounded and well-structured overall.

ANYWAY. mihawk. oh my god. i rewatched his scenes. multiple times. he was gorgeous. effervescent. insert the lady gaga meme. again i haven't engaged with the og material but i know these kinds of manga characters and there's so many ways to do them wrong but steven john ward really said 'i was made for this role actually' and he served absolute cunt. definitely up there among my favourite characters in the show - and that's saying a LOT bc im obsessed with almost everyone in it fr. they made me like the fucking clown (i hate clowns) buggy is genuinely incredible. the main cast? what the hell dude. they just found luffy living irl like... genuinely what the fuck. iñaki was born to play him and he did it so wonderfully - guy who is fatally optimistic but also insane and it works. nami's really cool as well - i've heard/read some stuff abt the writing of women especially in the earlier parts of the manga (woman in shounen main character group syndrome) but i think she was solid here and her interactions with the rest of the cast were great. also usopp! is so cute! so much potential to not have that kind of character work out in a real life adaptation but he's so lovable

and on that note the fucking. interactions amongst the main cast? im sobbing screaming crying they're everything to me. the way they're so supportive and proud and protective of each other and yet they talk shit the whole time too. there's so much chemistry among them and they truly do feel like people from different backgrounds who (sometimes reluctantly) come together and would do anything for each other. like real friends who have fun and make fun of each other too, it's a great dynamic and they really hit the mark there.

as to who's my favourite, well, as i said, mihawk's definitely up there, and im a simple hoe - i love zoro. but i think i enjoyed sanji's scenes the most and not just bc of his ass. heard he's kind of pervy in the og material? well the direction they took him in the live action where they kept the 'imprints on woman' but is overall sweet about it and generally less moody than he is in the anime/manga was a great direction i think. he's supremely enjoyable as a character. the accent? the facial expressions? the smiles? the jokes? im on my bed swooning and giggling and kicking my feet he is so fucking funny and i want him so bad. 'apologies madam i didn't see you there.' 'oooh back for seconds must have liked it' i literally re-watched every scene he was in at least once. his kicks were so nicely choreographed too it was really satisfying to look at, very clean (taz did god's work on his training). sometimes at home ill be doing nothing in particular like ill be standing in the living room and i'll mutter to myself 'cotelette. collier. epaulé. poitrine.' and go on with my day he lives in my brain rent free.

so uhm yea i think the series is really good and 1) sanji 2) mihawk 3) zoro if i had to put them in order i think lmaooo

[threadsun]

\(//∇//)\Oh you little rascal you! Got me swinging my legs over here giggling and crap 😂 Dude, with me being a libra and all, I freaking LIVE for exchanges like that. I’ll gently push here and there (respectfully, of course) until BAM! I’M ON THE GROUND! I don’t do it in a mean way because it’s not in my blood, but it’s just so much fun to tease a bit! Shoot, am I brat? •.• But legit, I know the feeling, well, in a subby way at least. I’m just like, am I going too far? Was it too much? As you can clearly tell I’m a VERY descriptive writer so I’m just sweatin bullets over here being like, “Did I cross the line there?” Lol. But ahhh that makes sense with Joesph and Jack. Got that good old balancing act once they have healthier relationships with themselves. I can totally see them being service based! But UGH can you just imagine how amazing it’d be to finally have the conversation with them where they feel comfortable enough to share their sexual preferences because they feel safe and comfortable enough with you? Just all that healthy communication and then blowing their minds by just hitting all the right places, having them feel fulfilled and loved while they finally love themselves enough to enjoy it? That they think they’re WORTHY of receiving that love and attention and DESERVE IT? That they can be themselves and receive unconditional love? UGH, freaking love it man! Of course, I also love my Yandere spicy men, but like, healthy bonding and healing is so hot too! But that makes sense with Jack willingly pushes all of his precious desires down he had as Joesph. I know Jack is doing it personally to himself and is being shady af, but poor baby boi putting his life on difficult mode when he could just be loved as Joesph. I know the reasonings and that he’s a fully grown man completely aware of his actions, but my freaking heart man! I’m more emotionally driven than logic based so I keep those rose tinted super glued to my face 😂 Real people? Those bad boys be flying off from the moment they say hi. Fictional characters? What do you mean he’s not good for me? He’s only killed 4 guys and locked me in the house for 18 days so it’s not THAT bad!

-🎃

Sounds like someone might be a little bit of a brat, yeah ;3c but hey, that's okay! Just keep pushing and being bratty until someone puts you in your place and reminds you why you love to submit~

lmao yeah my default mode is flirting. I flirt with all of my friends and for my job, so I struggle to turn it off sometimes. But I don't wanna make people uncomfortable either? Then again, if people are coming onto the Kinky Smut Blog, they're probably expecting at least a lil flirting if they talk to me, hopefully?

Yes, exactly!! They're both service oriented, they want to please their partner first and foremost!! But when they finally get comfortable and can embrace the idea of being served, and having their needs and wants prioritised... oh boy does it blow their minds! As soon as they can get comfortable enough to open up with their partners about what they want, rather than just constantly catering to their partner's desires, it opens up a whole world of possibilities! Especially if their partner happens to have the same wants, and just hasn't expressed them yet. Healthy and honest sexual communication is so good!!! I love seeing it so much.

Oh relatable, like yes Jack did it to himself, but also 🥺 he's like this for a reason!! He's like this because of all the trauma Joseph went through!! Sure, irl I'd be like "dude it's on you to fix this shit" but like in fiction... I just wanna wrap him up and tell him its okay and hold his hand while we work through his issues together. I wanna give broken characters who do bad things because of their experiences the same love and care and understanding that I want given to me when I do bad things because of my experiences (though, the bad things I do are like being a lil bitchy not kidnapping). If they're worthy of love and care and help, then I am too! It's character therapy!

[andsalttheearthbehindyou]

january reading wrapup

a bit weak this month but it was my birthday and thats a holiday in and of itself sooooooo

the shards, bret easton ellis - this was so perfect, top to bottom. moshfegh is obsessed with ellis and i totally see where she draws her inspo from, *I* feel inspired, like this is just an incredibly gifted writer and i feel stupid for being like, hey have you heard of this guy?? but i think everyone just thinks of the american psycho film when we really should be like my god this writer is insanely gifted. im gonna read all his work albeit slowly because i imagine a lot of his novels are similar in vibe and i dont wanna get overwhelmed by it hahaahaha. but this ones gonna stick with me for sure. hbo's making this into a show, im gonna message casey bloys and say cAlL mE I wAnNa Be An aCtrEsS!!!

the vulnerables, sigrid nunez - not much to say but it gave satc vibes for some weird reason to me that i cant even explain

vladimir, julia may jonas - chose this because of natalie portmans bookclub, and i could literally envision her envisioning herself in this type of role if this were a movie, especially after her may december performance. i did enjoy this but the moralist ending really wasn't...warranted? and im being vague here for risk of spoilers but the fire seemed like a very cheap cop out? if anyones read this id like your thoughts? also from the vague synopsis id read it made it seem like the prof was an older man obsessing over a younger woman so i was really intrigued by the role reversal here and i really did want to like this.

black swans, eve babitz - cant believe i didnt read this in 2020! especially since i read slow days back then. eves writing makes me swoon

tender is the flesh, agustina bazterrica - okayy. prefacing this by saying ive been vegetarian for 4 years now and that that greatly affects my take on this, i feel like book is heavily reliant on shock value and the grotesqueness of the real world and the author knows that the reader knows this is a real practice irl and is only forcing them to care because its being done to humans now instead of animals. which is so disturbing? maybe its just me but i think its horrific and cheap to pretend like youre making a statement and pretend like youre urging people to give a fuck about a real world problem but people dont see our irl food industry as a problem, if they did there would be more people with plant based diets. i hate to sound preachy in a 'review' where im condemning the author for being fake preachy but any positive reviews of this honestly are from people that will pretend to make a change in their diet for like a week and then revert to eating meat. and then the 'twist' where it also a commentary on surrogacy at the end, i was honestly appalled. modern day surrogacy as glorified by kardashians where its just rich women who dont feel like gaining weight or are only slightly inconvenienced by pregnancy so they turn to surrogacy is obviously disgusting but the main characters wife in this is obviously infertile and i dont see anything wrong with surrogacy in that instance -- (obviously not like its done here with the cattle-woman, hello??) but oh my god this book was really not....it. for me. and i think cannibalism in media had its fun but we need to move on already its tired. this book had nothing even interesting to say on it, whatever, im annoyed, at least it was short.

sirens & muses, antonia angress - very cute i liked this a lot! it reminded me a lot of this book i read in 2022 called cleopatra and frankenstein, which i also liked a lot. this just reads really well all the way through and i loved all the characters, i was a little upset about what happened with preston but only because i really liked him and i do realize that it was interesting to show flashes of his father in him it made him more complex sighhhh! this could be a good mini series tbh i saw karina so clearly in my head as sophie thatcher ooooof

pefume: the story of a murderer, patrick süskind - kurt rec so i knew it was going to be good, wasn’t expecting it to be sooo funny tho! loved

a knight of the seven kingdoms (the tales of dunk and egg #1-3), grrm - i kept putting off reading this one because ive been scared that i’ll never have a new grrm book to read :[ and also honestly i thought this one would be boring lol but it WASNT, i LOVED it, dunk and egg r literally babies omgmggmgmgmg. loved it so much :,(

the last tale of the flower bride, roshani choksi - i think i liked this, i dont know, i dont know if me not knowng if i liked it or not means i didnt like it, i think i did, but idk lol. I did! i did like this. very tangible and idyllic, i love 'we were girls together' relationships, a jennifer and needy type of thing which will always get me. i thought the switches in pov were fun. someone described this as gothic which is why i picked it up and i...wouldnt call it gothic, but it was good.

i guess this month wasnt as weak as i thought but whenever i dont hit double digits im like ugh. slump.

[genderkoolaid]

#I see the points being made here#and OP will probably be mad at me for this#but like I’m currently in school for gender and sexuality studies#and in my gender and media class we watched and discussed this film#but we disagreed with ur very thesis. my class made th point that the Kens ARENT oppressed in a 1:1 comparison how women are oppressed irl#the kens are not treated as equals. they are infantilized. but they are not subject to the violence that women in the real world face#Barbie goes to the real world and immediately feels an undertone of violence and sexualization#the kens are never treated that was. there’s no violence against them#important to the film is that Gloria Doesn’t dream of Barbie land. she hasn’t even thought the place could exist#Ken tho HAS imagined a world where he gets what he is owed in Barbie (fighting the urge to cite the film)#the kens are mistreated in barbieland I won’t argue they’re not#but the way the kens treat the Barbie’s Vs how the Barbie’s treat the kens are so vastly different#the kens are treated as an afterthought in Barbieland.#in Kens patriarchy the Barbies are treated as literal servants expected to cater to the kens every whim#those two things are very different#also like WHAT are u talking abt with Gloria she never wanted to change her world to be matriarchical?#Barbie was trying to inspire Gloria into girlpower bc she felt unfulfilled at her job?

So for one, as I said in my reblog above, it wouldn't make any sense for there to be the sexual violence women face in Barbieland because it is canonically a world inhabited by asexual dolls who lack genitalia or even the knowledge of what sex really is. The Ken's patriarchy is directly based off the real world, which is why they are sexually harassing the Barbies, but its learned behavior.

My interest is less in what the in-universe non-Barbie women and more what the movie itself was aiming to do for the cis women audience. A big part of the hype around the movie was the idea of Ken being in the objectified, secondary position women love interests were usually put in. The point of Barbieland is to be representative of women's fantasy- which makes sense, because that's also what Barbie is meant to be. The conceit of Barbieland was that it was a role-reversal fantasy where women had all the control. They talk in the movie about how the Kens have no government representation, and at the end they joke about how the Kens will still have extremely limited representation after the events of the movie, clearly meant to parallel women's lack of representation in government. And honestly I wouldn't have a problem if they did this and didn't take it too seriously- its a fun bit, and it fits with how the Barbie franchise has always portrayed Ken.

But they go out of their way to draw parallels between the Kens in Barbieland and women in the real world, and then don't interrogate how the Kens' desire for patriarchy compares with the audience's desire for the fantasy role-reversal matriarchy. Ken's character isn't just in the role of secondary love-interest, he's explicitly uncomfortable in his role in this society. And the Kens are, frankly, entirely right to be angry and it confused me and my friend when we first saw it that the movie really ignores that. I've seen people say this movie pointed out how the patriarchy affects men because Barbie tells Ken to be his own man… but it was never the patriarchy that did that to him? The patriarchy obsession was a coping mechanism when it was the Barbiearchy that made him base his entire identity around being Barbie's boyfriend- another purposeful, direct parallel to how misogyny works IRL.

And the thing is there is no matriarchy IRL! Men's issues DO stem from the patriarchy! But Barbieland makes no sense as a lens to view that through since, in the canon of the show, the Kens are oppressed (in ways which make sense for the rules of their universe). And I feel like this goes alongside what, in my opinion, is the movies biggest weak spot, which is the fact that its feminist takes are extremely lukewarm. The whole big Feminism Speech was literally just Gloria saying "hey, double standards exist and they suck!"

In my opinion, the plotline about Barbie choosing to be human in a world of suffering is a lot better exploration of womanhood and misogyny than anything the film tries to say about patriarchy directly. It places Barbie as the Everyman figure, but in a way which (if I can get way too deep about this movie) focuses on womanhood as humanity. Barbie chooses to be a human who will suffer because she is choosing to be a woman who will be oppressed by misogyny. She finds beauty and meaning in humanity and womanhood and womanhood-as-humanity, and she makes the decision to embrace that with full knowledge of how it will cause her to suffer. That was really beautiful and impactful to me, and it annoys me how the only thing people talked about is what I feel is the weakest part of the plot.

In my opinion, if you are going to draw those parallels between the Kens and IRL misogyny, and you are portraying Barbieland as a role-reversal fantasy, and part of the plot involves the oppressed Kens finding out about patriarchy (which, like Gloria, they literally could not imagine such a world exists), its just a huge missed opportunity to not make any commentary on that, on how oppression can lead us to desire revenge that makes us more concerned with our personal freedom than resisting oppression in every form. I'm not drawing a line between the Kens and the women of the movie, I feel the Kens are a parallel for the women who are watching the movie to see the Kens being treated like women are, because thats exactly the mindset the Kens have when recreating the patriarchy.

And personally I feel like that's part of the reason why the Barbies aren't sexually harassing the Kens. It might make them too unlikeable, and the viewers may not enjoy having the people who are supposed to be living in the Feminist Fantasy World be sexually assaulting others- its too dark to be part of Barbie's character arc.

re; your last post about cisfeminists going "what if men experienced misogyny?"

your points are exactly why i don't like the newest barbie movie. the ciscentric nature around kens being a second class citizen compared to barbies makes me really uncomfortable, since it wasn't handled with care or marginalized men's experiences in mind.

just this idea of "look! men are the oppressed ones here! isn't that so fucked, and unlike anything that's in the REAL world?" that they play with and make jokes out of.

Yeaaah I had similar feelings. I enjoyed the movie & honestly found the plotline about Barbie's humanity to be well done, but the gender thing was like. grade school baby's first feminism and people acted like it was groundbreaking just because it said literally anything about gender.

The whole Ken plotline could have been interesting if they did some sort of commentary on how the desire to reverse oppressive dynamics just recreates oppression. The whole idea of Barbieland was the its the inverse of how women are treated irl, but the movie never takes seriously the idea that, by this logic, the patriarchy is the Ken's Barbieland, and real-life women fantasizing about Barbieland is no different than the Ken's fantasizing about our patriarchal world. But the movie just.... does not take it's own creation of Ken Oppression seriously. The Ken's desire for the patriarchy is invalid and bad and obviously deserves punishment, but the viewer's desire for the oppressive matriarchy of Barbieland is entirely justified.

Obviously it's literally a silly movie about a doll lady but if they are going to try and Make a Point About Gender, then imo they shouldn't have literally made the Kens oppressed and treated it like it meant nothing. They couldve made some point about how what the Kens were doing was bad, but it was no different than what the human main character lady wanted to do in Barbieland– being so focused on escaping their own suffering that they don't actually care about oppression when its not affecting them. But instead they just... made a joke about how the Kens are being treated like women! They don't have voting rights and no one cares if they get them! This is fun and normal!

[msmarvelouswinchester]

Call You Mine

Summary - When Y/N meets Jensen on the set of Supernatural, her life takes an unexpected turn. Never in her wildest dreams, Y/N thought that their casual friendship will change into something sinful after they shoot a risqué scene together one night.

Pairing - Jensen x Y/N, Jensen x OFC!Millie

Warnings - Angst, infidelity, mentions of guilt and despair, explicit mention of extramarital affairs, SMUT 18+ minors DNI (p in v, fingering, dirty talk), slight mention of Dom!Jensen (it's very slight), fluff, a happy ending.

WC - 3052

Square Filled - Free Space ( @supernatural-jackles' Tell Me A Story Bingo); Song Based Fic ( @spnmixedbingo )

A/N 1 - This is a submission for @tvdspngirl314's challenge. My prompt was "I met a girl, we talked, it was epic."

Also this is a submission for @negans-lucille-tblr's "7Ks of the Week Challenge" (Congratulations on your 7k)

@deangirl93's 500 followers challenge (congrats on your 500). My prompt was the song "I Can't Quit You Baby". All prompts are in bold.

A/N 2 - This is a work of pure fiction and irl I absolutely do not support the act of cheating in a relationship. No hate towards the Ackles fam. I love Danneel and for the sake of the fic, Jensen is married to an OFC and not Dee.

Beta'd by @miss-nerd95 (Thanks, hon <33)

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

I can't quit you baby

So I'm gonna put you down for awhile

I said I can't quit you baby

I guess I gotta put you down for awhile

“Jensen...” The name rolled off her tongue effortlessly as the man’s fingers danced across her bare skin, his electrifying touch leaving Y/N breathless, panting and begging for more. The very touch of his that had started it all.

Everyone always expressed how being in love was the most exhilarating feeling in the world, but no one ever spoke about the perils of being in love with a person who already belonged to someone else. The ring on Jensen's finger served as a wistful and painful reminder of that.

As soon as the doors had closed, the actor had backed up Y/N against the elevator, letting her see the need in his eyes. His hands had sneaked behind her, his fingers entangling with the strands of her hair, completely messing the hairstyle she had pulled off for the m&g panel in the evening. Her hands landed on his biceps, trying to steady herself. Their lips moulded together so perfectly as if they were made for each other, but it pained Y/N to think that she was nothing but his dirty mistress.

Their relationship, if she could even call it one, was all about clandestine meets, stolen stares and subtle touches. Jensen was like a drug for her and she was high on the thrill of being with him even if he was gone in the morning, leaving her behind with nothing but guilt.

Jensen had closed the door of the suite behind him as they stepped into Y/N’s room together. With lips swollen from their heavy makeout in the elevator, he wasted no time as she found herself pinned to the wall by the actor's strong hands. In the fairly lit room, she noticed his wedding band was now missing. Y/N knew Jensen and his wife's relationship was on the rocks even before she had started to work on the SPN set. Which was also the reason why few months ago, the hide-and-seek between them and the hungry paps with cameras had started.

Hands on her hips, Jensen had pulled her close on the set, more than the director demanded it. That night, he had found himself standing inside her trailer, after the fated shot. The heart wants what it wants and just as the saying went, they had given in to their burning desires. In a moment of weakness, Jensen had broken off every single one of his vows and destroyed any hope of salvaging his relationship with his estranged wife.

“Fuck, sweetheart,” Jensen ripped her blouse off, unhooking her bra quickly, barely containing his eagerness before stepping out of his own jacket. Y/N clutched at the ends of the counter, knocking off the magazines lying on top of it and draping her other arm around Jensen's firm body. He delicately cupped her face as his mouth devoured hers. She could taste the mint and coffee on his lips feeling his teeth graze roughly against her, making her moan into him. The actor pushed her legs apart with his knees and stood close between her thighs as his tongue explored every inch of her mouth.

In desperate need of air, they momentarily separated before Jensen dipped his head down again, leaving a trail of sloppy kisses down her neck. Y/N’s legs buckled under his hypnotic touch when his mouth found her pulse point and she supported herself against his body. Jensen's hands moved down to her breasts, kneading them. His fingers caressed her hard nipples before his mouth latched onto one sensitive bud.

“Jay, please-” Y/N could only form two words as Jensen flicked her nipple while his fingers worked on the other one, spurring her on. Words weren't quite necessary, cause the man knew exactly what she needed. He knew her every tic, her every emotion like the back of his hand and Y/N was aware of that fact as well. No one could ever worship her body like he did.

Jensen was still wearing the black polo shirt, his noticeable bulge painfully straining in his jeans. She felt her wetness dampening the fabric of her panties as she thrusted her hips forward in need of some friction, her heated core brushing against his bulge.

Pulling apart for a second, Jensen’s viridian eyes studied her as his hands sneaked under her skirt. He watched her intently as she sucked on her bottom lip, closing her eyes when his fingers grazed past her soakedpanties.

A moan escaped her wet lips when Jensen's fingers hooked themselves with the waistband and in one swift pull, got rid of the panties. It quickly glided down her legs, pooling at her feet. He teased her by flicking at her bundle of nerves, making her lean her head back against the wall.

Y/N swayed on her feet a little, her hold on his shoulders tightening as she finally felt her legs give away when his fingers rubbed circles on her clit.

“Fuck-” she panted as he pushed a single finger inside her.

“Have you been thinkin’ about me all day?” Jensen leaned towards her ears, his scruff grazing across her neck. Y/N nodded, not trusting her voice, eyes still squeezed shut in sheer ecstasy.

“Sweetheart, use your words.” He ordered as his finger curled inside her.

“Yeah-fuck, yes.” Jensen kissed below her ear, smirking against her skin when she obediently answered him.

“I have been thinkin’ about you too, counting down the hours till I could get you alone.” He whispered against her neck. She mewled at the feeling of him adding another finger, his thick digits stretching her out as they curled inside her. “That little dress wasn't helping either.”

“Uh-huh,” she could feel the coil inside her tightening as his finger worked their way inside her, his thumb rubbing at her folds and clit, edging her on.

“I have thinkin’ all day about you clenching around my fingers and then my cock-” his words had an immediate effect as she clenched around his fingers as he kept pumping into her, “you've thinkin’ about that too, huh?” Y/N nodded again.

“What did I say? Words.” His other hand travelled down her body, stopping at her stomach and he pinched at her waist. “Words, baby.”

“I-I have been thinki-” Y/N panted when she realised she was close to her climax. Jensen picked up his pace and pumped his fingers faster into her, brushing past her g-spot over and over again.

When you hear me moaning and groaning, baby,

You know it hurts me deep down inside

When you hear me moaning and groaning, baby,

You know it hurts me deep down inside

Oh, when you hear me, honey, baby,

You know you're my one desire

“Lemme say it, sweetheart. I know you've been thinking how I would make you come on my fingers, how my dick is gonna fill you up, make you come all over me. Don't lie.” Jensen's every assumption was right to the dot. She had been thinking of everything to the last detail since the moment she watched him get out of his car, right outside of the convention building. But there was another thought on her mind, the image of him pushing her against one of the counters of his empty brewery a few weeks ago with him buried deep inside her.

That was the last she had seen Jensen before the convention as he had gone back home to his wife.

His wife.

The one woman he had promised to be with in sickness and health, till death do them apart. Guilt clouded Y/N’s mind but all rational thoughts flew out of the window when he lowered his head, kissing the neck and the coil inside her finally snapped.

With a cry of his name, she came undone on his fingers, her legs finally giving away but Jensen's hold prevented her from toppling over. He pulled his fingers out as she whimpered at the feeling. His digits still covered in her juices, Jensen pulled his shirt over his head, throwing it somewhere in the room. Y/N panted, trying to come down from the high but she wanted more. She needed to feel him.

“Y/N-” Jensen rasped, looking right at her with lust blown eyes. Y/N smacked her lips at the sight of his freckled, toned body.

“Like what you see, sweetheart?” He smirked as Y/N eagerly reached out for his belt buckle.

“Uh-huh.” She agreed. Jensen bit back a moan when she reached out to palm his bulge. He threw his head back at the feeling of her hand on his erection through his jeans.

“It has been weeks-” Jensen said, clearly hinting at their last time together at the brewery. He quickly unbuckled his belt, pushing down his jeans along with his boxers, his erection springing free from its confines.

“Baby, it has been weeks since I felt your tight pussy wrapped around me. Fuck.” Y/N looked at him with hooded eyes and wrapped her fingers around his length, running her palm along its shaft and her thumb rubbed the tip of his cock, already lined with beads of precum. Jensen hiked her skirt up, pushing her hands away and gave his hard cock a few slow strokes. He nudged her sensitive core with his swollen tip, all while pulling out sweet, sinful noises out of her.

“Jay,” he loved hearing her needy moans, her voice raspy when she called out his name. His hands grabbed her ass and picked her up. Hooking her legs and arms behind him, with her back still firmly pushed up against the wall, Jensen lined himself with at her entrance.

Grunting, he pushed himself into her and wrapped his arms around her body. Y/N’s mouth fell open with an inaudible moan at the feeling of his cock stretching her out. Jensen placed a chaste kiss on her lips as he let her adjust to his size before slowly pulling out of her, leaving only the tip of his engorged cock inside, and pushed back in again, much deeper than before.

Her legs tightened around his waist, pulling him close as she bucked up her hips to match his rhythm. “Fuck, baby, you feel so good.” Jensen grunted as he started to thrust faster.

Y/N whimpered, her eyes fluttering close as Jensen snapped his hips forward before slowly drawing them back. With every thrust, she inched closer to her release as their breathing became ragged. The actor’s skin was flushed, his cheeks turning a bright red with beads of sweat lining his forehead as he felt her clench around her. Her nails dug into his back as the coil inside her tightened.

“‘M so close,” she whispered, as he continued to mercilessly pound into her.

“Cum around my cock, baby. I wanna feel you all over me-” Jensen growled into her ears, tugging on her earlobes with his teeth and his breath tickled her neck, making her quiver. Jensen had an effect on her that no one ever had. Sometimes, she would say to herself that Millie was a really lucky woman who got to have Jensen all the time and not just on convention weekends and sneaky nights spent in his empty brewery or a trailer park.

And Y/N was the one who was ruining their relationship. A home-wrecker. The tabloids would rightfully call her that if they ever found out about their twisted relationship.

“Jensen, fuck-” a cry of pure ecstasy left her lips as the coil inside her snapped once more and she felt herself coming undone for the second time that night. Jensen's thrust had become sloppy. He rocked his hips forward, thrusting a few more times. Burying his face in the crook of her neck a muffled scream of her name escaped his lips as he spilled into her, his white, hot seed coating her walls.

He lazily circled his hips a few times, his cock becoming soft inside her before he pulled out of her. His cum trickled down her leg, when he set her down, Y/N felt herself go weak in her knees when she tried to stand.

“Hi,” Jensen smiled, their eyes meeting, before he leaned forward.

“Hi.” Y/N whispered back. They stood together, holding each other closely with their foreheads touching. Guilt seeped into her and so did despair but she didn't regret any moment they spent together.

“Let me clean up the mess,” Jensen said.

“I'm gonna hop into the shower.” She said, holding out the hope that he would join her but he didn't.

“Alright.” It was all he said. Dejected, she pulled away from him and made her way towards the shower. All she wanted was to spend every single minute with him before he went back to his room to keep up the facade of his happily married life.

In the shower, Y/N thought about the day she had first met Jensen when she was a newbie on the set and reflected back on their rollercoaster of a relationship. There was an instant connection between them. Jensen was always such a gentleman. He truly cared for her, but love... she didn't know if even the idea of love existed between them or if she was just an affair.

She stepped out of the bathroom and saw that Jensen was now In his boxers. He gave her a nod and moved past her into the bathroom. A sad smile formed on her lips as she watched him walk away. She put on a comfortable pair of pjs and crawled into the bed, under the covers, waiting for the exact moment when Jensen stepped out of the bathroom and put on his clothes. And just like every other time, she would watch him leave after he kissed her forehead and told her he doesn't have a choice.

This time though, it was going to be different.

Y/N didn't want Jensen to leave, neither did she want to watch him go so she squeezed her eyes shut, adamant of not responding when he walked up to her.

She flinched when he heard the bathroom door shut. She counted down the minutes till the goodbye kiss but instead she felt the other side of the bed dip down with a familiar weight. Opening her eyes, she felt his hand wrapping around her waist. Jensen was in her bed. She turned to face him.

He was breathing slowly. His long lashes rested against his cheek and his freckled face reflected the look of absolute contentment.

Said you know I love you baby

My love for you I could never hide

Oh, you know I love you baby

My love for you I could never hide

Oh when I feel you near me little girl

I know you are my one desire

“You're staring.” He whispered.

“You're staying.” She replied back, making his beautiful eyes flutter open.

Pursing his lips together, he said, “Do you not want me to?”

“No-I mean, yes. Stay…But, what about Jared?”

“What about him?” He scrunched up his face in confusion.

“What if he finds out about us?” Y/N asked as she panicked. Hiding this relationship from Jared was the hardest task. He was like a brother to Jensen so he didn't want to lie to him but it was important to keep him in the shadows.

“Let him find out. I don't care anymore-”

“Jensen!” Y/N exclaimed. She didn't understand what was going on in his mind.

“It's okay, Y/N.” He said.

“How is it okay?”

“Millie and I are over. I finally ended it.”

Her mouth fell open in complete surprise. Of everything she had expected, this was the last thing she was anticipating to hear. “Our relationship was long dead anyway. We have separated. I'm filing for a divorce once I go back home this week.” Y/N would lie if she said that the thought of him choosing her over his wife had never crossed her mind.

“It's all because of me, isn't it-”

“No. No, sweetheart. We were already over even before I met you. I was just too scared to admit it to myself but then I met a girl, we talked. It was epic and the thought of losing her scared me more than anything else.” Jensen caressed her cheek, a gentle smile gracing his lips. He felt a burden being lifted from his shoulders. He could finally be with the woman he truly loved.

“Does this mean no more hiding?” She said, tears pooled in her eyes. Y/N needed to hear him say it now that she could shout it from the rooftops Jensen belonged to her, and she to him.

“Being with you made me realise what I was missing. All this while, I wasted my time trying to work on a dead relationship when I should have realised sooner that it was a lost case. That you are the one I want 'cause baby, I can't quit you. Millie and I would have never worked out no matter how many couple’s therapy we went to….I have never regretted a single moment I have spent with you. I love what we have. I love you.” Her breath hitched in her throat as she took in everything he said. Her mind was reeling from his sudden declaration. A single tear rolled down her cheek, as the corners of her lips tugged up, forming a smile but she was too overwhelmed to say anything, which Jensen took the wrong way and it scared him.

“Y/N-” his smile disappeared as his hand dropped from her cheeks, “I want you to be mine. Will you be mine?” Y/N immediately moved towards him. Her hands raked through his soft hair before she pulled him in for a longing kiss.

“I didn't even realise when I became yours but I know it happened at some point, Jay. I love you so much.” Y/N said. With smiles and their eyes sparkling with newfound happiness, they stayed in bed as Y/N nuzzled into his side. Jensen's warm hands were wrapped around her and she smiled against his chest. For the first time, the fear of losing Jensen didn't cross her mind because she knew he would stay with her that night and all that would follow. She was going to wake up with him by her side and didn't have to sneak behind anyone's back anymore.

She was happy and in love and so was Jensen.

Feedback is highly appreciated!

[vizowrites]

“We” vs “Me”| or “Why BlitzStrike Works So Well For Me But Stolitz [as of episode 6].....Doesn’t”

Alright my Loves, so I said that I was going to talk in further detail about my feelings regarding Stolas and the multi-layered portrayal of his relationship with Blitz in the new episode, and today’s the day where that happens!!  First of all, though, before I really get into my feelings about things, I want to just make it ABUNDANTLY clear that I’m not trying to sway anyone from one side to the other, or trying to shame anyone for shipping two fictional characters.  I’m fully in the boat that you are completely entitled to ship whoever you want, but I also think it’s wise to at least be able to recognize the faults and flaws in a pairing--and especially to be able to recognize them in the context of an IRL relationship.  In this analysis in particular, I’m specifically focusing on these two relationships within the realm of the Helluva Boss universe [......Hell] and within the specific context of their characters as they’ve been portrayed in the show thus far.  And, my biggest disclaimer of all: I’m doing this for no other reason than I felt like putting my jumbled thoughts together into a cohesive post so that they don’t have to stay bouncing and buzzing around in my head.  Please keep that in mind that this is just pure personal opinion and interpretation before anyone comes at me with torches and pitchforks.  <3 <3 

SO WITH THAT LONG ASS DISCLAIMER OUT OF THE WAY 

Let’s finally get to the good stuff.  And the not so good stuff.  :D

So I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone who follows me here that I’m a huge BlitzStrike fan.  What I think fewer people know is that when I first entered the fandom a few months ago, I actually was on board the Stolitz train like so many others that I’ve met here in the fandom.  Naturally Stolitz was the first major pairing I was introduced to, and I did find both the characters of Blitz and Stolas incredibly interesting and compelling in their own rights AND saw the potential in how they could really come to grow into one hell of a relationshp over time.  I was honestly really excited to see it happen, too.  

And then I watched Episode 5 [still my favorite episode, btw] for the first time and had this sudden question hit me like a truck that even now is still relentlessly burning in the back of my mind because I still haven’t found a legitimate answer for it: Why in the FUCK wasn’t Blitz falling head-over-heels in attraction to Striker throughout this fucking episode??

And I don’t mean that in a “They’re so hot and I ship them now why didn’t they get together?? DX DX” kind of way--I mean that in the genuinely perplexed “I don’t understand based on what has been presented to me thus far about Blitz as a character and the storyline overall why he’s reacting so nonchalantly to this whole thing”.  To Note: This is me wondering this from the context of what’s in the show itself, not from any extra fan materials like the Instas or Twitter or just straight up knowing that the most likely answer is that there are people on the creative team that ship Stolitz really hard and realistically wouldn’t have probably written Blitz as being attracted to Striker because that would just be--to quote Jack Sparrow--blowing holes in their own ship.  No, this is me disregarding ALL of that and trying to rationalize this with myself from the perspective of a fan whose entire knowledge of the show and its characters comes exclusively from what’s in the episodes themselves.  .....And that’s where I just can’t find my answer, except for the Stolitz positive “He’s not attracted to Striker because he’s in love with Stolas” answer.  Which really doesn’t even feel like a satisfying answer, because the entire vibe I’ve gotten from Stolitz in the show has just felt.....strangely.....off.  Like, the framework is there and the elements are there, but I’d felt as though they had so far to go still that it would be entire SEASONS before they got there.    

And THEN the new episode [Episode 6] came out and I’d heard a handful of fans going crazy because the show was finally addressing Stolitz in full, and I thought to myself, “Well, maybe if the show really is going to go with saying that the reason Blitz wasn’t interested in Striker is because he’s in love with Stolas.....sure.  I’m curious to see how they finally establish it in an episode, especially since there’s only two more episodes left in the entire first season.”  And then I watched the episode.  And then it hit me why Stolitz just does not do a damn thing for me but BlitzStrike does despite the fact that we’ve had 4/6 episodes [5/7 if you count the Pilot] of Stolitz but only 1/6 [1/7] of potential--not even canonical--BlitzStrike:

When Striker talks about Blitz, or interacts with Blitz, he always talks about them as a “we”.  As a team.  A partnership.  OR he just straight up puts the entire focus on Blitz and his accomplishments and keeps himself out of it entirely.

When Stolas talks about Blitz, he always talks about them within the context of “me”--of himself--of what Blitz does or should do for him.  Even here in episode 6, in the most “selfless” instance we’ve seen yet, where he does ask about Blitz’s safety first BEFORE going right back into how Blitz’s actions affect him and what Blitz should be doing in response for him.  Stolas’s focus is always automatically set to himself--and even when it comes to the people he supposedly loves the most.  

To explain what I mean here, let me give some examples directly from the show itself, starting with the Stolas side of things: 

Episode 1

Blitz, in the middle of trying to hide so much that he actually clamps both of his hands over his mouth just to muffle the sound of his own breathing, knowing damn well that this psychotic bitch who already shot him once won’t hesitate to do it again if she finds him.....gets a call from Stolas.  Stolas, who we clearly see from his leisurely hang out time in his bubble bath, is literally watching this happen and is fully aware that calling Blitz right then was potentially putting him in danger. But what does he say when he gets Blitz on the phone?  He offers--not help--but Blitz the use of his book in exchange for monthly sex.  Stolas literally uses Blitz’s peril as leverage here--consciously or not, though given the fact that he knows the situation at hand, I’d find it very hard to argue that he didn’t do this on purpose--just to get him to agree to be his bootycall until further notice.  

Stolas not only doesn’t lift a finger to help Blitz once in all of this--even at the moment where he and Millie are about to be shot in the face--but instead continues to stay on the phone talking about all of the things he wants for their upcoming future rendezvous.  He already got exactly what he wanted out of this and he still just continues to go for more for himself.

Episode 2

.....There are honestly so many fucked up things that happen here as far as Stolas and his relationship with Blitz goes but honestly the thing I want to draw the MOST attention to is actually Stolas’s storyline with his daughter, Octavia.  I know it’s a little left field, but bear with me--this is actually something I want to use as comparison for Stolas’s relationship to Blitz as we go along:

When Stolas first decides that he’s going to take his daughter to Loo Loo Land, he does so while completey setting aside the fact that she doesn’t want to go.  He just offers her assurances that it’s going to be so much fun because he remembers that she loved it so much when she was a little girl--effectively putting his memory above her wishes even as she’s sitting right there and telling him that she doesn’t enjoy the idea of going now.  

Stolas doesn’t actually notice just how uncomfortable he’s making Octavia throuhought their entire trip by spending his time sexually harassing paying more attention to Blitz than he is trying to cheer her up.  This tells me that Stolas--though I do believe he genuinely wanted to do something to make her happy--still wasn’t able to completely overcome his own self-centered tendencies at first even when it’s for her.  And this is the person that Stolas loves more than anyone or anything else in the entire world. It still wasn’t enough.

It’s only when Octavia runs off and completely breaks down that Stolas finally gets the much needed slap-to-the-face of reality to understand just what he’s putting his daughter through--and, for the first time in the entire show, he actually puts someone else’s needs and well being above himself.  It’s the one solid honest display of love that we see from Stolas in the entire show--and it’s how we as the audience come to learn that that’s how Stolas shows that he loves someone: When he puts their needs above his own with no strings attached or expectations of something in return.  A true selfless act just because he loves them.  **Keep in mind the parallel of Stolas carrying Octavia out of Loo Loo Land at the end, and how it compares to Stolas carrying Blitz out of D.H.O.R.K.S headquarters.

Episode 5

The. Fucking. Cigarette.  I had no idea that something so small and quick would be able to infuriate me as much as it did, but the fact that Blitz used the post sex cigarette to free Stolas from his wrist bondage but then Stolas turned around and put the cigarette out on Blitz’s horn which is literally a part of Blitz’s body just.....honestly it sums up exactly what I’m trying to get across in this entire huge ass post: Stolas only ever thinks of himself first and anything pertaining to anyone else just doesn’t cross his mind at all unless you blatantly put it there in front of his face.  And the fact that he’s still at this point with Blitz all the way here in Episode 5 is not.....promising for their relationship.

The fact that Stolas literally cannot stop himself from calling Blitz “Blitzy” or talking to him in such a condescending way no matter how frustrated Blitz gets and how many times he asks him to stop.  I just--how is that supposed to be interpreted as someone talking to a person that they love?  There’s no respect or dignity given to Blitz at all on Stolas’s part, and the fact that it seems to be presented as a “Oh teehee it’s just their cute couple thing” is just.....I really, really don’t like that.  It also doesn’t match with the Stolas in the very next episode which I quite frankly think is because the creators have been listening to the feedback from fans and were like “We need to SHOW THEM that Stolas actually does speak to Blitz respectfully!!” but that’s just my personal opinion there and, also, it still didn’t happen.  

Episode 6 

Keeping in mind that THIS is finally the episode where we see Stolas actually save Blitz from danger and demonstrate even the slightest inclination towards his well-being.....I think that honestly makes the next few things here even more fucked up

First and foremost: “WE”.  The second after Stolas asks if Blitz is alright and gets the assurance that he is, he roughly grabs his cheek and points out that “If you get in trouble, I get in trouble!  WE don’t want that”.  The fact that this is the first time that Stolas ever talks about Blitz in the context of “we”--when really what he’s really saying is that him [Stolas] getting in trouble is going to be a bad thing for all of them--is just.....so, so disappointing.  At least with this I could hope that perhaps the idea here is that Stolas is genuinely afraid that if he gets in trouble, he won’t be able to protect Blitz from the undoubtedly much worse trouble that he would be in as an imp, but still.  The fact that Stolas immediately reverts back to his self-centered perspective so quickly after supposedly being so worried about Blitz’s wellbeing, really makes it seem as though it’s just his own ass that he’s trying to protect.  And that.....isn’t  exactly what I’d been expecting from “the episode that confirms Stolitz is canon” feedback I’d been hearing.

"Am I going to get ANY thank you for the rescue Bltizy?”  This for me was kind of what actually lead to me having this whole epiphany over Stolas’s selfish perspective in the first place.  I realized that even here--even when he’s just been the most “romantic” towards Blitz that he’s ever been in any previous episodes up until now [and yes this shift in his character was incredibly jarring for me because of that]--Stolas still goes right back to thinking about what he’s going to get out of this now that he knows Blitz is safe.  Let’s take this back to that thing I was saying about Episode 2 and comparing how Stolas rescued Octavia and how he rescues Blitz.  Obviously they’re going to be different because it’s Stolas’s daughter vs his hook up BUT just think about where the focus is for Stolas in both of these scenes.  With Octavia, Stolas is entirely focused on making things up to her--taking her to do something she wants to do--even if it’s something that he himself doesn’t fully understand or isn’t fully into.  That doesn’t matter though, because the entire point is that he’s doing something just for her.  It doesn’t have to be about him.  But now go back to the scene where Stolas is carrying Blitz out of the room.  What does he do?  Ask what Blitz is going to do for him.  That just takes the idea that this scene was a confirmation of their love and throws it right out the window.  Stolas--as we’ve been shown before--would never ask for something in return from someone that he actually loves.  

Now let’s take a look at the one and only episode we have of Striker and Blitz interacting together, with an honorary shout out at hallucination!Striker’s appearance in Episode 6: 

Episode 5: 

Striker knows Blitz’s name.....and he uses it.  He’s literally the ONLY other character that we’ve seen so far refer to Blitz as “Blitz” instead of “Blitzo” or “Blitzy” by someone who wasn’t a member of I.M.P..  Aka someone who wasn’t a member of Blitz’s family.  He shows Blitz respect at that basest level, and only builds on that from there going forward.

Striker first recognizes Blitz for being “the bold imp that started his own killin’ biz”.  Not his hotness, not his skills in the Harvest Moon games because at that point he hasn’t seen them yet.....but for his accomplishment in starting up his own successful business down in Hell.  He treats it as an accomplishment.  With the kind of respect that comes with acknowledging another person for their accomplishments.  Right there, within two seconds of meeting him, Striker demonstrates more respect for Blitz than Stolas has yet to do in the entire show.

The Harvest Moon Festival Games.  Now this is something I find fascinating to think about from Striker’s perspective in particular.  We as the audience are shown pretty early on that Striker has a strong desire to be the one who comes out on top.  He likes the idea of being superior and he openly relishes in the praise and attention he gets for being better than everybody else.  ....Except Blitz.  When they tie in the games, Striker doesn’t seem bothered with sharing the spotlight with him at all.  If anything, he--again--respects just how skilled Blitz is in rightfully earning his place beside him on the stage.  That, to me, is HUGE.  I’m not going to go so far as to say that Striker necessarily sees them as equals because I think that might be going a bit too far for his ego but he does still fully acknowledge that Blitz is in the same general class as him: that is to say, better than most.  Worthy of the same kind of acknowledgement and praise that Striker gets.  I literally can’t get over just how big of a thing that is for what we’ve been shown of Striker’s character, and I think it’s unfortunately something that’s incredibly easy to miss or gloss over. :(

And now--for what I personally think is the most significant thing of all--we have: “We”.  How many times does Striker suggest during that final scene between them that he really wants Blitz to join forces with him as equals?  He never demands that Blitz join up with him, he doesn’t threaten him into joining up with him--Striker barely even hurts Blitz at all during their fight scene compared to how he tried to straight up murder Moxxie--and, most of all, Striker continues to acknowledge that Blitz deserves better than his current arrangement with Stolas.  And he’s right.  But instead of putting it as “I’M right and this is why you should do this”, he always puts his focus on Blitz himself, or the two of them together as a partnership:  “You are so above sucking on a a digusting rich pompous Goetia” | “We could be the most dangerous beings in Hell, Blitz” | “You could partner up with me and klll the unkillable--starting with the one that treats you like a plaything”.  It’s just--I honestly can’t believe it’s taken me this long to put together why Striker appeals so much more to me as a romantic interest for Blitz, but really breaking it down episode by episode and comparing the differences in wording between Striker and Stolas’s dialogue when it comes to Blitz is just.....holy shit. 

Honorary ShoutOut of Episode 6: 

The fact that the only thing hallucination Striker has to say to him is “But you don’t want to do things alone Blitzo!” is really, really interesting to me in the fact that he’s.....not......wrong??  Like, To be fair, Striker, RoboFizz, and Verosika all spill their harsh truths, but the thing is.....Striker’s is markedly different in that his wording really isn’t harsh or aggressive at all the way the other two are.  He’s just kinda stating a fact in an overexaggerated way because tripping balls hallucination sequence.  It’s very interesting to me that that’s the worst that Blitz can imagine him to say--as well as the fact that halluci!Striker calls him “Blitzo”, which is really weird considering that Striker’s never called him “Blitzo” once in the entire show.  Makes me kinda wonder where that came from tbh. 

Alright so, in conclusion of this very long and rambly styie post: I want to take things back to where I started by reiterating that this is not me trying to convince anyone that BlitzStrike is “right” and Stolitz is “wrong”, or that you should stop shipping what you’re shipping in the fandom.  This was just me honestly getting way more excited than I should’ve been over having my “Eureka!” moment for realizing why this new episode didn’t put me back on the Stolitz train like it did for so many other people--and why, in fact, it actually made me think even more favorably of the idea of Blitz and Striker being together.  

Thanks for sticking around with me for this very long read, I hope you found it interesting, and I really really hope that it didn’t piss anyone off or rub too many people the wrong way.  Like I said at the beginning, ship who you want to ship!!  That’s part of the fun of being in a fandom.  I’m just hoping that this might help make it easier to understand at least one perspective on why Stolitz is seen as being so problematic as a ship [as of where they are right now].  

Here’s to seeing where things go from here!! 

[marimopeace]

there's a limit on how much you can be an isekai intellectual...

a bunch of analyses have been popping up before me all day so i wanted to throw my hat into the ring. all love to ppl who are exercising their creative minds + ppl like geoff here who just talk about these things because of fan interest but i feel like there reaches a point where exploring the "types" of isekai is pointless? i've seen ppl list out the different types of villainess revenge isekai or fantasy mmorpg isekai but eh why fit them all into separate boxes like that?

i think it's easier to think of isekai as a "type" (genre) of itself with only two categories: 1) a focus on isekai (lit. another world) 2) tensei (lit. to be reborn). this allows for a variety of applications and thus tropes that ppl see so many trends of!

with isekai - in another world

you see everything from:

pure fantasy (inuyasha, digimon wait maybe not the best example but in my childhood mind i count digimon as pure fantasy, fushigi yugi)

mmorpg inspired fantasy/adventure (.hack//legend of twilight, sao ugh, log horizon, overlord (LOVE OVERLORD!)

otome game-esque worlds >>> this is where it gets complicated with "villainess routes" since i admit there are multiple villainess tropes but this is why it's nice to not think of this as a "sub-type/genre" bc it frees you from those complications! (the saint's magic power is omnipotent, the white cat's revenge as plotted from the dragon king's lap soso cute!, the savior's book cafe in another world, i'm a villainous daughter so i'm going to keep the last boss wait i can't remember if she's reborn in this one lmaooo see this is why rules make everything hard)

with tensei storylines - being reincarnated/reborn in another world as *insert character/role*

you see...

the same tropes!!

pure fantasy (a returner's magic should be special, reminiscence adonis, the lady and the beast, light and shadow, i can't think of a manga off the top of my head for this ah)

mmorpg inspired fantasy/adventure (so i'm a spider so what i stan kumoko so hard, her majesty's swarm, can't name another off the top of my head ah i hate lists shorter than two things...)

self-insert based games/novels (fiance's observation log of a self-proclaimed villainess, who made me a princess, death is the only ending for the villainess, the villainess wants to marry a commoner, honestly games vs novels are different applications but i'm not in the headspace to try to remember a bunch of both lol)

*insert line break to give random ppl a break from scrolling but tl; dr just enjoy things for what they are no need to micro analyze*

similar variations occur in both genres (if ppl want to be super technical i guess i'm arguing that isekai itself is a massive genre that has the "another world" subgenre and "reincarnation" subgenre tl; dr) so i think it's honestly a huge pain to try to separate all these trends into so many different types of stories. for me personally it's easier to not get overwhelmed by this gigantic umbrella of "isekai" that spans light novels, manhwa, manga, and mobile games by just stripping each story down into its trademark tropes (aka character archetypes, story structures) and slapping "oh this is a person going to a world that's not ours" and "this person gets reborn as blank in another world". none of this "omg this power fantasy is such a this kind of isekai moment" or "there are 14 different types of villainess revenge stories and this series fits into this" bc AH labels! limitations! circle-jerks via ppl trying to compartmentalize everything and sound smart for leaving a comment on story analysis instead of ooh-ahhing over a character's face! dividing things into light novel manga vs manga vs korean manhwa ft. female characters!

the last bit is mainly why i feel frustrated by ppl's insistence to group everything?

the video linked at the beginning of the post (honestly good video essay, i enjoyed it, i just kept thinking in my head the whole time "marimo these are tropes do not take the genre talk literally") has a baby comment thread talking about "korean isekai manhwas" as a genre featuring nothing but reincarnated villainess' and i can't.

like i cannot acknowledge that as a genre of any sort. the energy i felt reading through some of those insights takes me back to 2012 when all yt americans discovered k-pop and deemed all korean music k-pop from then on! (ppl still do this now, yes you are seen and don't talk to me pls i don't like you. k-pop is korean pop music and nothing less and nothing more. take a few seconds and try to parse apart aspects of korean culture instead of slamming everything into a monolithic label that has the letter k and a hyphen.) it feels so odd to see a bunch of young ppl on ig and tiktok acknowledge korean media that happens to be in the form of a webtoon as "oh stories all about young girls becoming villains in stories they made/played" bc it feels so reductive u.u

(positionality disclaimer that i'm praying isn't actually necessary: i am a 3rd-generation korean of japanese descent do not fite me i am exhausted irl of ppl asking for validation/verification bc massive shove off.)

breaking news! korean manhwa...is just as multifaceted as japanese manga...bc how can comics as an art-form not have multiple genres...huh such a shocker?!?! same likely applies to media in other parts of the world like chinese manhwa and french comics--not my place to explain either of those i just know those industries exist bc of wakfu and donghua shows by Tencent.

at the end of the day it's not like analyzing any kind of isekai is wrong--absolutely not!! i think it can be super fun to think about how isekai elements complicate a story (MCs trying to go back home, ppl from the og world, reincarnation plot-twists) or maybe even bash a series for including some kind of other world element when they could have just written a super fun fantasy.

insert marimo's brief ramble that hey you can get sick of truck-kun's hitting disillusioned guys who happen to be super duper smart or girls who happen to be master chefs/craftsmen but transporting a fully-grown being into a fantasy setting is the ultimate cheat code for making mundane modern technology seem cool and overpowered, and being reincarnated as a fully grown person in a world with a pre-made story/game set-up completely bypasses the need for an author to slowly flesh out world-building in a natural progression so isekai is actually a really smart writing tool it's just that there are some series where the author didn't use it well at all and it's cheesy or clearly isekai was misused as a vehicle for character/story development and it was pointless *DEEP BREATH OUT*

in this essay i will argue...lol i am such a culture studies major!! if i were an english major i would be talking all about writing but here i am having a side-tangent about world-building via someone being reborn wow i love this for me (don't get me started on when an author has someone reincarnate as a baby and the story is mostly them having warm fluffy moments with their family--typically father figures--and getting lots of powers i could and would and probably will rant about east asian toxicity)

but anyway am i crazy????? like yes for being passionate about the technical use of a word like genre (i am a scorpio rising let me be fussy pls) but i don't think it's a lot to ask for ppl to not unironically see "villainess revenge isekai" as the definition of korean manhwa.

idk as someone who resonates with why japanese isekai is so popular domestically + why a lot of korean manhwa feat. the same tropes (it's not for great reasons lads it's actually depressing tbh) i'm just starting to feel kind of pained by the generalization and need to separate "cute japanese girl in an otome game"/"japanese boy finds a harem in another world" from "korean girl dies and comes back as a villainess" bc they are just! applications to the same story device!!

recommendations for any who makes it this far down below <3

// also gladly recommend any of the examples i've listed in the above rant as i've read/watched all of them and adore them v much! //

save me princess

super refreshing fantasy manhwa ft. a princess and her ex-boyfriend having to save the world!

the beginning after the end

an AMERICAN web novel turned into a comic (but see it being not korean/japanese doesn't really matter when you just consider isekai as a genre...isn't it nice to not overthink it?) ft. a super-powerful wizard king reincarnated into another world and starting from scratch--gives mushoku tensei vibes but huge twists!

the reason why raeliana ended up at the duke's mansion

love love LOVE this story--read the title and you'll learn how this girl reincarnated as the character raeliana in a book gets married to a duke!

trash of the count's family

such a good novel!! a guy gets reborn as a lazy oaf and he takes the hero of the story under his wing...plot twists come up later on!

this time i will definitely be happy!

v good and refreshing for a shorter series! she's been reborn 3 times and remembers every time the hero's stabbed her in the back, and now she just wants to break up with him!

silver diamond

older manga but v good adventure w intrigue! a boy who loves plants get sucked into a desert world with demonic lizards and a mysterious bodyguard by his side. shonen-ai not BL but wonderful vibes nonetheless + great side characters!

the princess imprints a traitor

adore everything in this from the world (not in that way this society makes me so angry) to the machinations at play and the dynamic between the fl and ml

[corrosiveblue]

Ok reblogging and adding on cuz i thought i could just post a little paragraph comment in response...but I spent like 30 minutes prattling away on my keyboard lol.

The fact that people will push this narrative based off of small things like Casca not pushing Griffith away is so freaky. Like yeah its fiction, and I dont believe in the whole fiction to IRL pipeline on a grand scale. Obviously your feelings towards something in fiction and reality can be very different. But I do worry like…I hope this isn't a mindset people carry with them in general. These are fairly realistic depictions of these topics and to see people respond to them like this is concerning.

Casca not pushing Griffith away reads so clearly like shock to me. This is someone she loves, someone she looks up to, and held on this high pedestal for YEARS. And suddenly he's on top of her trying to assault her. Years of thinking he's this near godly upstanding guy shattered in one moment. I feel like a lot of people would freeze in a scenario like that. He literally saved her from an attempted assault, just to turn around and do exactly that to her..

You're fighting in your mind between the before and after of this person. All those good memories and feelings, but now there's this...

There's literally a word to explain this. It's Fight or Flight? Hello? Not everyone's gonna respond to a dangerous situation with violence, especially when it's someone you care for. Someone who's never shown any intent to harm you before.

(and excuse me for this next tangent, I know I'm reaching a bit and even I keep repeating to myself "these arent real people" but hey this is tumblr)

I'd also argue that Casca is still a woman in a world that very clearly puts them in submissive subjective roles. She may be a mercenary, and second in command in this ragtag group. But I don't think that negates her upbringing, and what she sees on the daily. Obviously we don't get much info on her early childhood before the Band of the Hawks. But we know one thing. She was sold, one of her first major defining moments is being sold by the family that raised her. Being abandoned and left to the whims of a man that can do whatever with her. And as we see in the manga he does attempt to assault her until Griffith saves her.

But even then, despite her rank she's still subject to the fact that shes a woman in a very patriarchal violent society. For example, I think about Griffith commanding her to lay with Guts to warm him when he first shows up. Sure on a meta level, thats def just sex appeal to get the presumably straight male reader inticed. Ohh, sexy woman next to me and shes naked??!! But in the context of the story, I feel like that shows that she's still in that submissive role. Obviously it makes sense to follow the commands of your LEADER, but that scenarios so extreme and humiliating! And yet she still does it.

I could pick a few more examples, but I bring those up to say, she's still conditioned somewhat to be at the whim of the men around her, and I'd say, just like how it is in the real world, that probably factors into her reaction as well. She's in a world where people like her are play things regardless of their status. Even if she's in a position to fight back, it's brought up time and time again. She's targeted, or threatened with assault verbally. She's conditioned to it, and that may make you think at some point that "yeah that's just how it is". SO sadly, you dont freak out and rightfully lash out at your assaulter when 1. its your friend/crush/superior and 2. on a subconscious level, you know where you stand in society. ( i feel like im not explaining this as well as I want but I'm stumped on what to elaborate on so please excuse me if something sounds not right)

And like you said, so many women IRL have gone through terrible situations and put up with it cuz "he's xyz to me". Even on a smaller scale I think anyone can relate to letting someone do something you don't like but you let them cuz you like them, or theyre youre friend, or partner. Only to realize after that, oh...that wasn't cool. Like you let shit slide when you know people, and even more when you love them!

Sorry I'm gonna get mean here, but not everythings scum of the pot hentai with a women yelling no but meaning yes. Most people mean No, and Stop when they say it.

was the wagon scene in berserk sexual assault?

i mean whatever lol. im ngl in some ways this feels like making a whole ass meta post about whether or not "casca enjoyed it." like do i even need to take this perspective seriously? yeah, yeah, i know, that's a pretty inflammatory thing to say, and a lot of the people who i've seen say the scene is NOT assault don't deserve to be belittled like that.

i think it's possible, and very interesting, to discuss the nuances of the scene. what was griffith's intention in that moment? why didn't casca bring up what happened to guts when he asked? how does this contradict or supplement what we already know about their characters?

per usual, though, most of the discussion of the scene itself put very little thought into one of the TWO main participants - casca. so let's do that, i guess, and look at the scene on the whole.

CW, i will show one eclipse panel (the kiss) in this meta, but that's is

what happens before?

the scene in the wagon comes immediately after the band of the hawk's encounter with wylad. wylad has thoroughly humiliated griffith in front of the entire band of the hawk, told them that griffith is totally defeated and broken, and tried to rape casca while griffith struggled uselessly, unable to help at all.

the band is regrouping afterward, and the reality of griffith's situation is sinking in to the members of the band. we don't know for sure if griffith can hear this, but the band is even discussing whether it makes sense for casca to permanently become the band's leader. where would that leave griffith? a burden, helpless, unable to even lead his own men.

griffith can, however, overhear casca talking to guts just a moment later. she says guts isn't reliant on griffith's dream, and griffith through the wagon can easily see their closeness.

at this point, casca goes to griffith in the wagon.

so where is griffith? his men, who despite his capture have been sustained by his dream, are losing their faith in him because wylad showed how utterly powerless he is. meanwhile, guts is touching casca in an intimate, close way. he feels like everything is slipping through his fingers, even his particular place of importance for guts. he's lost guts to casca. i would argue this piece, seeing casca intimate with guts, changes his mindset even compared to where he was during the scene with wylad.

where is casca? she's still clinging to that hopeless dream. she was so lonely as the commander of the band of the hawk, trying to face the reality of griffith's injuries and the overwhelming way that their roles have been reversed. she's leaning on guts, on anyone, for support for the first time, while being forced to put on a brave face not just for the whole band of the hawk, but for her idol and savior.

what happens during the scene?

casca is changing griffith's bandages. she knocks over a bowl of water, and when she goes to leave the wagon to replace it, griffith grabs her, and... well, that's kind of the whole crux of this meta, isn't it?

griffith forces himself on top of her. the question is why, and what's his intention? that's been discussed a lot on tumblr. the other question is: what does casca think his intention is, and how does she take it?

there is a lot of visual language in the scene that, to me, clearly indicates sexual intentions from griffith, and clearly indicates that's how casca takes his intentions.

side note, i think griffith is crying in the above panel. could be sweat, could be tears... it's subtle enough to leave it up to interpretation.

that last panel in particular is EXACTLY paralleled with the kiss panel during the eclipse. the helmet, the direct eye contact, the pose... miura has always been very intentional with his parallels and his paneling, so i doubt this was an accident. the eclipse panel is just below, btw. scroll quick if u dont wanna see

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this is also how griffith and charlotte's sex scene started.

the wagon scene and the sex scene with charlotte happen because griffith is doing something rash purely on emotion after feeling stripped of all power and no longer in control of a situation. it's not as simple as griffith being an evil rapist from the start, but you can easily see a pattern of him lashing out and trying to regain control through pushy/coercive sex with women. would griffith do this kind of thing normally? no, of course not. but nothing about the situations he's at these points in the manga are "normal," and again there is a pattern of him lashing out and using women as an outlet for his feeling out of control. they ALSO both happen because he feels like he's losing guts.

casca tells griffith to stop, and griffith does stop, but it's not clear to me if he stops intentionally, or if he simply is physically incapable of continuing. i've seen the idea put forward that griffith is terrified that guts and casca are going to abandon him, and so he offers his body as the only thing he has left in a fit of desperation. i'm not opposed to that being part of it - griffith has used his body and sex as an offering before, with gennon.

this is how griffith is looking at casca during the scene:

one is normal and even wistful and sad, the other is...... fucking batshit LOL put those damn things away!!!! blue eyes white demon

one thing, though, that i want to say very clearly: griffith may have offered himself sexually to casca out of desperation, but it is very clear to me that casca did not want it. griffith fully forced himself on top of her, too, with his arms wrapped around her. if it was unwanted and forced sexual contact, regardless of why griffith did it or how much of a woobie he is to u, that is BY DEFINITION sexual assault.

this is the part that kind of drives me crazy. i don't personally believe that this was an act of self-loathing or self harm, like take my body because i have nothing left, but even if it is - it is still sexual assault. it is!!!! this isn't an argument!!!!!! yeah he was sad about it but it was still sexual assault!!!!

but anyways, enough about griffith. how does casca react?

i've seen the fact that she doesn't push him off presented as evidence that this wasn't assault. i'll... get to that.

what happens after?

after, we get these panels of casca, obviously shaken, outside the wagon.

she is clearly VERY upset. when guts approaches, he sees something is clearly wrong, but she brushes it off and says its nothing. when he keeps pressing, asking if it was something with griffith, she eventually breaks down and tells him that she can't leave with him. she has to stay with griffith, she has to care for him in his fragile, broken state. guts, on the other hand, has to go. even if its alone...

is this reaction in conflict with the idea that what griffith did in the wagon was sexual assault???? no. not at all.

casca feels immense devotion to the band of the hawks, and especially to griffith. she reminisces about how strong griffith seemed to her while she bandages him in the wagon. he gave her everything - a purpose, a reason to fight, a dream, and now even though the event was terrifying she sees griffith's physical weakness and knows she can't leave him. she can't leave him. how often irl do women overlook instances where their boundaries were violated, or a man they're close with was sexually aggressive towards them, because of those pre-established relationships? because that's their boss, or manager, or idol?

and not telling guts - honestly, that to me oddly is evidence to prove it WAS sexual assault. i think casca's single-minded devotion to the hawks and their dream would have made it so that she wouldn't dare bring up griffith doing anything to make her uncomfortable, because everyone is already on the brink of falling apart. even before this, we see her putting everyone above herself to keep the hawks together - crying alone when she thinks no one can hear her, barely sleeping, so exhausted she becomes suicidal, there is no reason to believe she would bring up something that just upset HER. she is less important, in her own mind, than the good of the whole. it makes perfect sense that she would do exactly what she does - she cries alone by the side of the wagon and doesn't tell anyone what happened.

another thing that i want to be very clear about: the idea that because casca didn't immediately push griffith off of her, and because she didn't bring it up to guts, and because she decided to stay with him afterwards, that means it certainly can't be sexual assault? that is rape apologism. full stop. if your argument hinges on any of those things, your argument is rape apologism. this is not up for debate.

NOW - did kentaro miura in the 1990s in japan know about the nuances of how women react to sexual harassment and sexual assault? that i'm not sure about lol. the argument "this is not in line with the way i assume cishet man kentaro miura in 1996 would understand sexual assault, and therefore i don't think it was his intention to depict sexual assault" is something i can understand. that's NOT what i'm seeing though.

that being said, there is some evidence that miura DID have a very nuanced understanding of assault. here, we have griffith talking almost to himself (though casca is nearby), breaking down about how dirty he feels for sleeping with gennon.

and yet, when casca embraces him, trying to comfort him, what does he do?

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

and yeah, guts kills gambino, but only because gambino tries to kill him. guts first reacts by crying and asking why?

finally, compare the above panels of casca after the wagon scene to casca after almost being raped by wylad, and after the eclipse:

i mean, this is how miura draws casca when she's fucking going through it generally, but STILL. they are similar. she's shaking while bandaging him because he's so weak, but afterwards she is unable to mask how shaken she is. i don't think her reaction is JUST because he's weak.

this is so fucking long LOLLLLLL. i'm not interested in arguing with any of the various meta posts about the wagon scene not being sexual assault directly, or discussing it with the authors. if you want an alternate perspective, one that takes into account more of casca's POV, this is for you, and i hope you found this helpful! finally i've got this all in one place

tl;dr i think due to the framing you're supposed to see griffith's intention as sexual during the scene, casca very clearly doesn't want it, if your argument that it's not sexual assault hinges on her not pushing him off immediately u suck

uhhhhh that's it