#i am cut out for literacy

[seneon]

why do you not do smaus? you only have like one smau posted

because i am dry in text and i cannot convey another soul's persona

[minakoaiinos]

Animating this season like you can't have the slightest bit of jest and god forbid jesting about yaoi

[magiefish]

This post is making me increasingly realise that people on the Internet are terrible at understanding over-exaggeration, so I'm just going to clarify: I'm not actually that mad, I just thought it would be funny to write a text post pointing out a character's very flawed but human decision in a disproportionately aggressive way wherein the joke itself was supposed to be the unwarranted anger towards a fictional person. If people don't get the joke, that's on me, maybe I'm just not that funny: on the other hand I feel like the 'clown' at the end should've tipped some people off? Anyway, what I'm saying is that people can stop sending me snarky replies to this post acting like it's a real "gotcha" to notice that the tone of this post is, indeed, quite aggrieved while missing the fact that if it's that obvious, it's probably a joke.

I’m honestly so mad at Alice right now. Like, yeah, okay, I get that you really care about Sam, but when Collin CALLS you on a PHONE in the MIDDLE of the NIGHT to BEG you for HELP, you DO NOT proceed to FUCKING IGNORE HIM and go chasing after the guy who ALREADY HAS SOMEONE ELSE WITH HIM and can just LISTEN TO YOUR VOICEMAILS. YOU CLOWN.

[sweetie147]

Do people like... check where their information online is coming from? Oh wait why would they it's the gd internet 😐

Just saw someone with a post that claimed a hospital in Canada was unveiling plans to allow minors (so under 18 years of age) with terminal illnesses to consent to medically assisted death (allegedly) with the caption: very evil-hearted.

This is already setting off massive alarm bells just from the wording alone, so I do some minor digging, and what do I find? They ID as a born-again Christian.

Now look. I have nothing against religious people in general, and not all religious people are socially conservative, but like...

You do realize they're probably just stirring the pot with ragebait, right?

Especially considering the OG article was a poor-quality screenshot AND there were no links to said article in the OG post.

Most posts about controversial topics that I've seen making legitimate points on Tumblr always have a link to the article, clear and good quality screenshots of pertinent points in the article, and a long caption that explains the article more in-depth.

This had none of the above. And oh boy, does it smell fishy 🤔

[blueycarpenter]

little star

Ever since Cairo submitted her midterm assignment, things haven't been the same between you two.

fandom: MILLER'S GIRL (2024) content: x reader a/n: i had posted this on a previous account, in case it looks familiar

Cairo hadn��t been herself lately. You two had talked for hours for the past couple of weeks. You had grown closer and more intimate with each other. Then, all of the sudden, everything changed.

Cairo wasn’t around anymore. She never called or wrote. It was ever since she turned in her midterm assignment for Mr. Miller that ties had been cut. Due to her tight deadlines, you two had agreed not to see each other until after she had finished the midterm, but it had been 3 days since the due date… She had been a ghost.

You called Winnie that morning—the dawn of the 4th day after. She explained the discord that had accumulated and how Cairo had taken the beating to heart. But she was the strongest person you had ever met. She couldn’t be broken.

Could she?

Winnie had said a lot of things. 

Cairo was emotional. Cairo was resentful. Cairo was heartbroken. Cairo was alive, at least.

No more alive than the works she’d create from a blinking cursor, the lead of a pencil, or the ink of a pen, though. She’d masterminded such beauty that reflected nothing but the world around her. Though when she had unlatched the door to let the monsters in, the rain poured and the lightning struck. 

You weren’t as talented a writer as she was, but who could be? Between those paragraphs of literacy and media was blood. It was a rich kind of blood that lured you to Cairo Sweet in the first place. It was reckless and mysterious, but you’d never felt more grounded before you laid eyes on her. Heard her speak… Learned her heart… And you missed that more than everything.

Was there Sweet to her name anymore? Or was there just Cairo? 

Winnie said Cairo had been alone. She said she had wanted to be alone.

But alone meant misery and displacement. Defeat and loneliness. Longing and torture. And Cairo didn’t deserve that. You didn’t care what she’d done or what she didn’t do. She was your north star. She shone brighter than anything you’d ever known, and therefore, nothing could ever change that.

So, you showed up to her house after that 6 AM phone call with Winnie Black. You needed to see her. Not just because you missed her more than anything, but because you couldn’t bear the thought of her discouraging her potential and honesty. Not in her wondrous existence.

Cairo didn’t fear anything, you’d learned, so you let yourself in and found her sitting in the darkness of her room, three cigarette butts on the floor and her journal open on the bed. Through the shadows, you found the top of her head over the other side of the bed. “Cairo?”

She didn’t move a muscle, but she did answer. “If you’ve come to talk, don’t bother. I’ve heard enough, and the sincerity I’ve expressed has been more than society is willing to tolerate. Honesty is feared by many. It’s tragic and hateful, yet it’s a quality that etiquette claims to be most valuable.” Then, she managed a wry scoff. “Hypocrites.” 

“Cairo, I don’t care what happened,” you replied. “I haven’t heard from you in days. I just missed you, and I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

She actually gave a laugh this time. “Aren’t I?”

As convincing as she may seem to other people, you had learned her better than most, because you had to figure her out the hard way, through phone calls and communication of words, not expressions. You didn’t have to see her face to determine how she truly felt. You could hear it. Dare you say, you could feel it. 

There was a tear in her voice as she spoke. And it led you rounding the bed to find her knees up, while she stared at the wall ahead. Those beautiful eyes were slow, like shards of obsidian as they raised to meet yours without a blink.

“Y/N…”

You dropped to your knees and pulled her into a hug. She didn’t reciprocate, but you held her for everything you were worth. You rested your cheek against her head, your fingers gently pulling the small tangles from her hair and your other hand corralling her back, clutching her shirt like she was going to disappear into the darkness. “Cairo, listen to me…” you whispered. Her warm breath filtered through your shirt. “I don’t care what anyone says. About you… About me… About anything… You are the greatest soul anyone could ever dream of having in their school, in their class, in their life, in anything.”

A warm, damp feeling found its way to your collarbone, and you knew it was tears. And all of the sudden, her weight was recognizable against your embrace. She felt so small in your arms that didn’t even hold all of her. It was the first time you realized just how petite she was for an 18 year-old girl with an extraordinary personality. “You know, to me… you’re above everything in this world. I’ve only seen people wander the earth, dreaming of what it’d be like to fly, but you… you fly, Cairo. You’re that star in the sky everyone dreams of being.” Your chest ached from how serious those words coming from your heart were. You then lifted your head to place a loving kiss to hers, because just holding her wasn’t enough anymore. 

Cairo sniffled, but didn’t say anything. However, she had managed to unbend her legs to hold you against her. And when you gently pulled away to have her look up at you and you, down at her, the wet streaks against her cheeks shimmered in the halflight.

You wiped them away and gave her a small smile. “Beautiful…” You kissed her forehead. “Magical…” You kissed her cheek. “Wonderful, you are.” The next place you were dying to heal with your lips caught your eyes, though it was merely small motions of your irises. Instead, you brushed her hair aside and pressed your foreheads together. Her eyes shut and for a moment, she looked peaceful as you finished with, “Yes, you are…”

She opened her eyes, now only tainted with a thin gloss. But then she managed the smallest, sweetest smile you’d ever seen. Her Cairo Sweet smile. “Thank you,” she said, her voice only a little above a whisper, mostly steady but with the slightest crack.

“It’s true,” you whispered back. Seeing her small smile was enough for you to give her your own, though yours was out of admiration, pride, and love. She truly was a star. 

She was your little star.

Then, her smile faded and she glanced away. It was almost shy, which surprised you. “Y/N?” Her voice grew a little stronger.

“Mm-hmm?” Whatever she wanted was hers.

“Kiss me.”

There was no hesitation as you granted her wish. Little did she know though, it was your wish too. You had wished upon a star, because that was the old saying. Wishing on a star was a chance that didn’t come often, especially when that one star was a shooting star. Yet, it hadn’t passed you up, and there was no way in hell you were going to pass it up.

Cairo’s lips were soft, but you could tell there were stories imprinted on them. They weren’t ex-stories, per se, but they were mysteries that you wondered how hard they would be to solve. How many pages would you have to read to uncover them? How much would she have to write to reveal them?

Only time would tell. But every journey starts somewhere.

And the best had a star to guide them.

[theriverbeyond]

Okay please help me I'm not good at the media literacy; did we ever find out who tried to smother Harrow at the beginning of HtN? With all the gaslighting (and gatekeeping and girlbossing) going on I genuinely have no idea what was happening there. Like,, I doubt it was Ianthe for some reason. Pls advice, i am lost

HIII sorry i was going to reply to this a few days ago and forgot whoops

so, in text, we never get specific confirmation of who tried to smother Harrow. What specifically happens there is also obscured by Harrow's own perception/ exaustion/ grief etc, because she doesn't investigate anything that we might want her to -- like figuring out WHOSE blood is on the nails embedded in the wall or doing any psycometry on the crates moved to cover it all, etc.

Anyway -> John logically makes sense, because he both has access to her and also later sics G1deon on her repeatably trying to get her to "activate" in the Lyctoral sense -- however I actually don't think it's so clear cut for the same reason: John doesn't do his own dirty work, generally, unless totally cornered, and attempting to kill her *himself* to trigger a fight/flight Lyctoral reaction is a BAD idea -- what if it works, and now she is a full Lyctor who knows the Emperor just tried to kill her? Also, at this point in the book it's only been a few days since Harrow ascended, and the lobotomy is fresh -- the 1st murder attempt is *before* Ianthe delivers the letters "upon coherence" -- so I'm not sure he'd be yet motivated to attempt murder vs waiting a couple more days and attempting some amateur trauma therapy.

I agree that Ianthe seems unlikely, because she wouldn't have approached Harrow in her murder mode. Also she wants Harrow to be in debt to her, and she wants Harrow to be alive. So she has no motivation. AND she's missing one arm & rejects the new one they graft onto her, so. Not really a pillow smotherer, IMO. Augustine and G1deon don't show up until the Mithraeum so they're out as suspects, and I am pretty sure Mercymorn WOULD attempt a mercy-killing but I don't think she'd use a pillow, and also I don't think she showed up until after Harrow achives coherence.

Like I think John is the most logical possibility of the avalible named cast, but TO ME it's not clear cut. I mean I guess John could have ordered a random cohort grunt to attempt murder but idk. If anyone else has opinions/thoughts pls lmk!!

[cjlouwho]

every time you pop up on my feed i swear more and more you're the leader of a lou cult like wtf are you doing??? stop

well you are right on your way to NOT being the next member of my cult! However, you asked what we do so I must tell you:

To be a member you must submit a formal request directly to me. In this request, you must show that you have legally changed your name to Lou (or are in the process of doing so).

You have to know exactly 5 quotes, off the top of your head, from the movie Resisting Roots.

I do a background check and if I find that you, at any point in time, wrote the words "media literacy" or "plot device" unironically, you are immediately rejected.

Every day for one week you must light a candle (unscented, you motherfucker, I don't wanna smell that shit) in the darkness and chant, "Everything I do, I do for Lou. Everything I do, I do for Lou." If he appears to you, you have pleased him thus far. If not, I must come to your house and steal all the eggs you own. I don't make the rules, Lou does.

You must compliment his accent in Outer Banks. If he doesn't believe you, I am forced to find you and cut your face out of every picture in your home. Your family doesn't know you now. Shame.

If you've made it this far, congratulations, you've completed step one. Next comes the blood oath and speaking in tongues.

Also, thank you for this:

[bimbolita]

I’m so glad everyone is having the same visceral reaction to episode 4 like I did. I thought I was being too sensitive but fucking no. It is painful. It is horrid. Knowing that this type of abuse actively happens to sex workers and those who are trafficked. It’s jarring because I didn’t expect to see this dark and explicit depiction in a cartoon that jokes about penises every 2 minutes. It’s like when light hearted coco melon shows start talking about death, it was just unexpected because I never took this show serious. I’m going to share more of my thoughts below! Trigger Warning: Mentions of SA ⚠️

I don’t think it’s my place to deny or confirm if the ‘poison’ scenes were fetishized, I personally believe it’s subjective. I know how I feel but I think no matter where you stand, you are right in your own way. Many things can be true at once. What we can all agree on, is that it was harsh. In a way, I hope the audience is able to understand how exploiting and non glamorous sex work is. There is nothing fun about having your body used multiple times a day by people you do not know and having said scenes recorded then plastered all over the media. Of course all forms of engaging in or creating adult content are different, I am specifically talking about sex workers who have no say or control over their bodies and finances. Like Angel. Let us put emphasis on WORK in sex work.

It is demanding. It is laborious It is scaring. Remember that and remember the unheard voices who must do this to simply survive.

There is a lot of criticism about angel’s personality and yes I agree it is annoying but you have to understand, it is a trauma response. Hypersexuality is a common trait among those who are sexually abused. Angel just outwardly expresses it all the time because it is all he knows. This thought process is the only way to tolerate his behavior. I say thought process because it is only an interpretation. It’s very obvious viv just adores writing sexed up characters with zero nuance or depth but let’s just pretend she can actually write male characters that think beyond their cock and balls. Let’s pretend that Angel Dust is a two dimensional character and not (grits teeth) fetish bait.

Now, let’s talk about Charlie. Alright great, she saw her friend being mistreated and was about to stand up to his abuser, ok good good. The victim (Angel) gets upset and wants her to leave because he was beaten. Yes, average response of someone who is an abusive relationship, he is afraid and wants to avoid more conflict between him and Val. The situation at hand couldn’t be more than obvious. How does Charlie respond? She cries. And not because she is frustratedly concerned for the safety of her friend. It is because he yelled and rejected all her poor attempts at helping. Charlie is weak as shit and I think that interaction was weirdly written. I wish she had the mental fortitude to understand how much danger Angel’s life was in at that moment. I cannot enjoy her ‘aggressive kindness’ cutie do no wrong baby girl type of character in a moment like that.

And I feel the same about Husk’s song. Out of all the responses you could’ve made, this is what made it to the final cut? Do better. I don’t care if I lack the mEdIa LiTeRaCy twitter keeps yapping about. It’s bad. You just showed a sexual assault montage and the rebuttal was basically “my uncle broke his neck tap dancing once :/“ lol we’re both losers and that’s ok, suck it up buttercup, I like you regardless. This was the best response to an SA victim? No degree in media literacy would ever help me think that was an acceptable response. I dunno about ya’ll but I major in common sense at the university of using my eyes and fucking ears. Now imagine, if that entire segment, when Husk and Angel are at the bar plus the musical number; imagine if all of that was placed BEFORE we see Angel and Val interact and then poison plays as the final song. It would be 10x more impactful because then the audience sees how deep and stuck Angel actually is. Trauma olympics is never acceptable but neither is trauma participation trophies. It is not right to make Husk’s issues be seen as the same as Angel’s issues. They are not the same and it is ok to acknowledge that Angel has it worst than Husk. It’d be more genuine if Husk were to just hug him in complete silence after dragging him out of the bar and have Angel tearfully embrace him back. The first non sexual and benevolent interaction between them. The first physical act of care with no ulterior motives of lust.

I grind my teeth at the wasted potential.

[katyspersonal]

Guys oh my gosh hgbghgg I am a GENIUS! I've finally figured an explanation for, at the first glance, unreasonable vitriol towards Godrick in the fandom! I should have became a psychology professor for this one but don't let me get ahead of myself ok so:

Like.. This can't be the fact that Godrick literally steals peoples limbs to attach to himself, right? Rykard does a similar thing - consumes people and makes them a part of his body, as all those arms sticking out of him are those of his victims. Also both of these characters appear hard to take seriously upon introduction; "i cOmAnD tHeE KNEEL" and "tOGETHAAAA" are equally silly xd But Rykard is really loved, right?

The difference between the two might happen because Rykard is that cool badass rebel against oppressive system, whereas Godrick willingly perpetuates it. But that can't be this piece, and this also can't be Tarnished-hunting. Because another character who simps for the Golden Order and is racist Tarnished-hunts is Morgott, who is also very loved. Adored, even!

I thought maybe Godrick hit the 'disrespecting women' nerve upon insulting Malenia, which is already a sore topic in the fandom? 🤔 But this is likely not true. Not only he himself is definitely not an incel, since Grafted Scions (his children) exist, but also it is all likely an insecurity. Godrick had that line where he called Malenia and Miquella "rank and malformed" when Godrick himself could be considered a disgrace ( 🥁 ) for the Golden Bloodline with his frail, weak build. He has large insecurities that he takes out on other discriminated people, so that certainly wasn't her gender. Again, many other loved characters also disrespect us for who we are, he isn't outstanding. Nor it is him being "pathetic" for escaping the battle he could not win in disguise or kissing Malenia's feet in apology: the 'pathetic old man' is ABSOLUTELY one of the favorite men types on Tumblr and Twitter! The girls (gender neutral) LOVE the 'pathetic old man', that vibe could not have provoked the hate.

Finally, it can't be the authors intention. Miyazaki confirmed Godrick to be a sympathetic character. So, you should feel bad for his situation of continuing the glory of that imposing bloodline that he is not fit for, and NPCs that dislike him are either within their own right to do so, or straight up hypocritical (like Kenneth). Subtexts, media literacy and so on can't be used as an arguement for why Godrick would be intended as repulsive character.

So... Yeah, it seems like there is no real reason for why Godrick should always be singled out, only brought up as a laughing stock, always brought in negative and mocking context in polls and headcanons compilation and bring his fans being seen as weirdos by an effect, right? Whatever reasoning might be the first responce is very easy to debunk! I think I've finally found an actual reasonable and sympathetic explanation as to why fandom dislikes and bullies him so much more than any other character that explains EVERYTHING! I am going to go under cut as this is the result of long, meticulous thinking and this post is already getting long, so here it is:

💫🌺 S K I L L!!! I S S U E!!! 💕🔥💫

[moonchild-in-blue]

Massive thank you to you and everyone else who calls out how shitty it is to get mad at peoples interpretations. Sleep tokens music is romantic. Its also toxic. These statements can coexist. Its not your business if someone plays bloodsport or vore or hell even atlantic at their wedding. Youre not them, you dont know what the music means to them. If you see a weird take just roll your eyes and move on, its not a big deal. Absolutely sick and fucking tired of all these "why are you calling this romantic/sexy? Youre stupid and a terrible person!" takes like fucking relax. Media literacy is important yes. Respecting that this music is dark and personal to vessel is also important. Same goes for respecting how people relate to the music in dark ways. But as long as people are not saying things directly to vessel or fans about how their individual trauma is sexy then just chill out and respect peoples different interpretations. It sucks that i cant talk about how i view certain songs without being called horrible things and having really fucked up vitriol aimed at me. Yall need to grow the fuck up and get over yourselves. Im not thinking of your personal shit when i call a certain song romantic/sexy, i dont even know you, sometimes im thinking of my own trauma actually lol. Lets all discuss this music maturely where we respect each other and what each of us as individuals bring to the table for interpretation, stop making this fandom toxic as hell for anyone who doesnt agree 100% with your own interpretation. (Also the whole "youre not allowed to say this song is romantic/sexy" thing is very dismissive of some peoples trauma in itself, it ignores how messy someones feelings toward their abusers/toxic partners can be. Pretty fucked up to call a trauma survivor stupid or a terrible person because a song reminds them of their positive feelings towards someone who hurt them) Anyways yeah, just tired of people being so harsh because they refuse to see other peoples perspectives. I genuinely think one of the most toxic aspects of this fandom is the vitriol over different interpretations, people act like outright children at times with it im ngl, especially with more sexual discussions. It also feels infantilizing towards vessel at times, hes a grown adult who put romantic/sexy elements in his music and he doesnt need people trying to protect him from those themes. Im rambling but this stuff pisses me off so much, this fandom needs to do better

Context post for the clueless ones - regarding my tags/replies

Here's the thing - I've been in fandoms for many, many, MANY years. This type of discussion isn't anything new nor unique to Sleep Token, but it sure does make a comeback quite often. It's tiring to keep repeating the same things over and over, but that's what fandom is all about isn't it?

Someone needs to say something, and I am not one to shy away from uncomfortable conversations like these. Something something, build your own community, be the change you wanna see, etc etc.

I've said pretty much everything I wanna say already under that post, but for the sake of clarity, and because I can't keep my mouth shut apparently -

Under the cut for length - you know the drill:

Music is art. And art is subjective. Meaning, each individual will have their own personal connection and interpretation of a given piece of art, which in this case is Sleep Token's music.

Did Vessel write the songs with a certain intent or meaning? Most likely yes! It's not hard to connect the dots and guess what events/emotions might've transpired and served as inspiration for them (accuracy to personal life is irrelevant and none of our business, but it's also no rocket science to understand what's been said).

Can we establish a base meaning for any given song, or better, can we have a general consensus of what a song is about based on its lyrics and themes? Absolutely! Not every song is like that, but we can all agree there's a lot of recurring themes of past relationships and mental health struggles.

Is it wrong to diminish the songs to one basic element (eg. the sexual undertones) and/or completely disregard the bigger, more important theme? I'd say it is.

Giving Atlantic as an example (which as a lot of you know, is my most favourite song of them and very dear to me): this one has some very blatant references to suicide and depression. Regardless of whether it is based on irl events or not (none of our business!!!), it is extremely heavy and emotionally charged. I find it incredibly disrespectful when people say random stuff during the rituals when he plays this one.

Or for example, how certain people reduce Sleep Token to "baby making metal", instead of acknowledging the insane (insane!) variety of genres and the profound lyricism they present.

Should we limit our views, and by extension, those of others, to surface-level interpretation, without allowing room for different views and interpretations, either fictional lore based or not? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Vessel himself said to "not restrict ourselves to labels or genres because music transcends it all" (paraphrasing here). It's literally their whole thing. It's very hypocritical to be shouting from the rooftops about "media literacy" and assuming people are stupid or idiots for not understanding the basic, surface-level meaning of a song, when Vessel himself constantly writes in metaphors and half-truths.

I've touched on this a lifetime ago on one of my analysis, but if you *actually* look at the lyrics, you'll realise Vessel hardly ever says what he means. There's always something else behind his words, something he purposefully keeps hidden. It really sneaks upon you sometimes! I'm over a year in and I still find something new everyday on their music. That man has a way to weave in a hundred and one statements under a single sentence, that is just truly beautiful to study.

Is, say, The Love You Want, about a man (Vessel) mourning the fact that his love isn't reciprocated? Yeah! Is it about someone who, despite knowing they can never receive from their lover the attention and affection and care they want, will stay by their side anyways? It is!

Is it about bitterness, spiteful accusations aimed at the one person who should love you fully? Or a reflection of how little self-regard the singer has, so much that they are willingly and actively choosing to stay in a sinking one-sided relationship, because the alternative is too painful to bare? Can you flip the switch and see it as someone who is obsessively pursuing another person, and painting themselves as a victim? All of this, yes!

You can even eliminate the romantic aspect all together and apply it to a relationship with the self (past or future, or an alter ego), or a parental figure. The options are endless. There isn't one universal truth when it comes to music, and as such, all of these takes are 100% correct.

Many statements can be true at the same time - it doesn't make one more true or correct than the other. Simply different. The way we connect with music is very much dictated by our own life experiences, and no two people have lived the exact same life.

Can you prefer a certain way to look at a song, or completely disagree with certain takes? Absolutely! I know I sure as hell do! That's normal and expected and part of the fun in being in a community such as ours. More people means more ways to look at a song - isn't that just wonderful?!

Now, this is very obvious for most of us, but some people, especially in the younger rage, have been taught to look at things in a very black and white way. Not to be that person, but the truth is that the rise in awareness of social issues and "pc-ness", is slowly starting to eliminate the possibility of things being flawed and nuanced.

If you're wrong, you're awful. If you're right, you're obnoxious. Made a mistake? Get cancelled. Grow from your mistakes, but not like that. Learn from your actions, but change your whole personality in a day otherwise you're problematic.

You know what I mean.

Life isn't black and white. Art isn't black and white. Music isn't black and white. What may seem like a toxic, dark, obsessive depiction of a relationship to you, might translate to the deepest and most truest of loves to me. I can acknowledge something is Not Right, while still drawing my own conclusions.

Is Blood Sport a sad af song? Yeah! Definitely not the first thing I'd think of when in a happy relationship. But maybe that's the point. And maybe I do. And that's okay, and none of anyone's business. "Okay but The Apparition isn't a good example of a healthy and romantic-" TO YOU! Maybe that's what love looks like to me! Maybe I just happen to be into it! And what about it?

Maybe to me love comes with all the ugly sides too. The violence, the despair, the self-doubt. Who are you to dictate what I can or can't think? I highly doubt Vessel would go 🗣️ "WRONG! NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! >:::(", so why would you?

You can, and should, discuss the songs with others! Maybe some people do genuinely need a fresh pair of eyes to help them get to the juicy core of the songs - that's why we're here! To discuss, and exchange ideas! You can, and should, call people out when their engagement with the music is being harmful to others (joking and laughing during Missing Limbs? No bueno. Speculating about Vessel's personal life? VERY no bueno. Choosing a potentially weird song to walk down the aisle? None of your business + not your wedding + you weren't even invited + none of your business. Notice how I've been repeating that. Notice again).

You shouldn't, however, shame and ridicule others for having different views from you.

I think, rather than engaging in pointless discussions and start accusing people of being this or that, we should all exercise a little "don't like? scroll past". Is it harming you or others? No? Then scroll past! Is it an awful, truly horrendous take about something you're really passionate about? Okay! Disgusting! Scroll past! Good for them! 👍

Also - keep an open mind. We're all doing this living businesse for the first time, no one holds all the answers to everything. It's okay to change your mind. It's okay to say the wrong thing and backtrack. It's okay to make a mistake and learn and grow.

You know what's not okay? Being a dick to others because the thing you like is being misinterpreted. It's hard, I know!!! You can block people! You can scroll past! You can look at pictures of your favourite vessel and cleanse your brain!!!! I know I do!!!!!

And this is a last afterthought but - you don't get to complain about the fandom you're in if you're doing nothing to change that. I see many, maaaaany of you bitch about this and that, while having 0 engagement aside from the bitching. Like?? Maybe if you spent more time reblogging cool art or gifs and less time whining about literally everything, this would be a much more pleasant space!! And I DO get to be a little petty here because I sure do try my best to make this a fun and nice community. I am allowed a little bitching 😌

Anyways, tl/dr: don't be a dick; don't like - don't engage; keep an open mind; gaze upon the vessels. Peace and love yall 💙💫

[bull-at-the-gate]

Aftermath

More brainrot. I think Sehkmet sees a lot in Lae'zel; a fierce ally and warrior; a tactical mind; a cub whose got a lot bigger of a heart than she'll admit; above all though, she sees someone who's lost and doesn't know who she is without her kin to define her.

A buncha silly stuff under the cut. I'm by no one's opinion a good writer, but I just wanted to try and see if I could give Sehkmet a unique voice and spent a bit too much time noodling on it

*cough cough* I am a big nerd about these things, and evolutionarily speaking (based fully on my assumption that the astral plane is chilly), it would be more beneficial for Gith to have a larger air chamber to warm the air they breath for longer before it reaches their lungs. I also just like drawing them a lil' less 'human' adjacent and making them feel a bit more reptilian *cough cough*

Sehkmet is probably around her early to mid 30s and has seen a lot of conflict firsthand. She's seen friends become Oathbreakers and former foes redeem themselves time and time again.

After the creche, she'd spend a lot of time checking in on Lae'zel. Just being present sometimes and occasionally offering advice or sparring with her.

She's dumb, but not naive enough to assume she knows exactly what Lae'zel's feeling, her whole people is raised from birth to build their identity on the dogma of Vlaakith for Bahamut's sake.

She's got no clue how much loss that must feel like. But she tries her best to keep Lae'zel from shutting everything out.

Anyway, I'm not good at breaking down character personalities, I'm a science aud/hd nerd with middling media literacy q-q. But here's just a silly bit of writing

Since getting a safe enough distance from the monastery to make camp, Lae’zel had been sitting at a cliff’s edge staring at the horizon. Her sword lay across her thighs, fingers tracing the designs along the cross-guard. After finishing her normal camp chores and starting the fire, Sehkmet walked over. Squatting down with some minor protest from her sore knees and joining the young Githyanki in sitting on the edge.

‘She really was young, wasn’t she?’ That particular fact had never been so clear as when she looked over at Lae’zel’s face. Clear of her warpaint and cast in soft shadows, Sehkmet could see a growing vulnerability that she’d tried to hide behind ferocity and dogmatic loyalty to a queen who'd cast her aside. Could see her brow crease and eyes squint as she fought valiantly against the tears.

The Dragonborn cleared her throat, she was pretty sure a certain cleric would be ‘subtly sneaking’ into Lae’zel’s tent again, especially following the mess back there, so she didn't want to take too much time.

“You know, I was barely 6 when I tried to apprentice in my order?”

There was no sign of acknowledgment from Lae’zel, “My clan’d been slain by Tiamat’s followers and there were survivors only because of this cranky ol’ paladin of Bahamut.” Sehkmet chuffed under her breathe at the thought of the old gal.

Lae’zel’s fingers had stopped tracing the inlays on her crossguard, her gaze was still firm on the horizon, but the slightest twitch of her ear had Sehkmet continuing her story.

“She’d shown up all silver and blue and righteous fury, tore through the cultists who’d killed my clan and the rest of the caravan.” She looked out to the mountains, following Lae’zel’s gaze to where, if there wasn’t a good chunk of forest in the way, she’d be staring right at the Rosymorn Monastery.

A wry laugh slipped from her as she remembered how the events played out, “Know what Dorna said when I threw myself in front of her and begged her to train me to join the order to avenge my clan?”

There still wasn’t any clear indication of Lae’zel hearing her, but she could hear her breathing relax the faintest bit. “She told me to fuck off and ask again when I wasn’t covered in blood ‘n didn't have baby fat left. Cried something fierce for hours.” The fighter’s eyes left the horizon, just for a moment, to flick towards her. “I didn’t get it back then.”

“I do now.” Sehkmet’s shoulders hunched as she leaned forward, feeling the beat of her once stilled heart in her chest.

“She was telling me to not pledge myself when I was still a cub trembling with the fear of pain and death, fueled by the anger of grief, grasping for an idea of power to feel safe.” Sehkmet exhaled sharply, a fine icy mist clouding in front of her. “She’d wanted me to mourn, grieve, to heal. To feel sure that I was making the decision I wanted, not because of my loss.”

“I had choice, Lae’zel. She didn’t fill my head and soul with Bahamut’s justice when I was a scared and angry cub who’d already lost everything. It had been my choice to follow Him even once I was safe, to still choose to become an instrument for His justice.”

Her voice was more serious than the Gith had heard before, "Everyone deserves it to be a choice, a true and free choice, where to lay their loyalty and devotion."

She squeezed Lae’zel’s shoulder, “You weren’t afforded choice young one. You’ve not done wrong, far as I’m concerned. And you've got allies at your back, whatever choice you make now, as long as it is truly yours, we'll support it.” Sehkmet’s words were gentle as she glanced out to the horizon one last time, the sun was setting and filling the sky with one last colorful display.

She stood slowly, ruffling Lae’zel’s hair playfully with a laugh as the Gith tried to slap her hand away. “C’mon then, let’s help with dinner, Gale’s been chopping veggies for that whole talk and I can almost smell his irritation at Astarion's daily complaint time.”

A hand grabbed her wrist as she turned to head back to camp, hearing rather than seeing Lae’zel stand up. “How is it you keep your faith, when you know the gods to be fallible?”

Sehkmet had to pause for a moment at that, humming softly as she turned it over in her head. She knew how, even if it was a contradiction. She questioned things. She didn't doubt in Bahamut, in His merciful justice, but she did question to keep her faith from growing stagnant and unyielding to change. She felt the divine call of the Wyrmking guiding her where His justice was needed, she felt His presence in every beat of the heart He'd breathed life back into. Her faith was etched into the marrow of her bones and there were no words she knew good enough to explain it.

"I dunno, really, just do? Guess s' comforting that there isn't really true perfection, even among the gods." She finally settled on with a shrug. Lae'zel's hand released her wrist and Sehkmet laughed softly hearing the Githyanki scoff at her poor answer, but started walking towards camp anyway.

She smiled as the Gith crossed out of her blind side, the longer the party had been together, the more she noticed those small habits of Lae'zel. Staying out of her blindspot unless it was to cover her; shoving magic items in Gale's hands before the wizard could protest; hunting with Astarion some nights for safety.

Sehkmet hummed as she followed Lae'zel to camp, picking up a pairing knife off Gale's "prep table" to help.

Lae'zel would make her right choice and she would find her path as this band of fools stopped a cult to save each other and the planes. Sehkmet could feel it in her gut, in each beat of her heart, and down in the very marrow of her bones.

[visohyenadraws]

As someone who loves the mecha genre I wish I was into any of the Gundam series but so far I have been unsuccessful.

I love the aesthetic of a giant robot with a big fuck off gun, if I didn’t I wouldn’t have gotten Armored Core VI lol, but still, I tried watching 79 quite a few times but fell off each times.

The first time was when I watched the first ten episodes of the original series off of a piracy site when they were still untamed by the feds, and just never returned to it. Then my second attempt was with the movie trilogy, I finished the first one and then dropped the second halfway through.

It’s been a while but I can try to explain why, I know what Didn’t spoil it for me: I have a stupidly high tolerance for old anime and old media in general, I was Raised on that shit, including many of Sunrise’s anime from the time, so I didn’t care because it looked old or outdated.

No I think what got me the most, and this might be an issue with the movies since I do remember some good episodes they had to cut out for time, was the characters, ironically. I’m sorry but I couldn’t care less for Amuro, he’s boring as hell and very generic… and he’s ginger (I’m kidding), when he’s not fighting he’s either ranting or getting beaten up by Bright and OH I’ll get to that cunt soon.

Idk maybe I hold up Shinji as the definitive example of how to make traumatised underage pilots, and Amuro just isn’t enough of a mess to work here despite the setting, and for the record I Like Shinji as a character.

My other issue is with a lot of the women in the cast, again, I didn’t finish the series so it prob gets better but a lot of the women in this show do nothing but stand around, cry, die, or keep repeating AMURO AMURO AMURO AMURO AMURO if they’re on the side of the Federation. I have seen films from the 50s with more feminist depictions of women ffs.

Now onto Bright, I like to think that my media literacy is good enough for me to not let characters who are bad people get to me, au contraire, some of my favourite pieces of media often involved the Whole Cast being pieces of shit, I am a massive Always Sunny fan after all. I can live with unsavoury characters if they’re done well enough.

That being said, I could never shake off the feeling that the series wasn’t doing quite Enough to call out Bright’s hardass martial approach to social interactions, almost as if the series was saying “yup, he’s in the right brah, nothing wrong here” which yeah this set the stage for me to bounce off the series incredibly hard in the second movie I think where he says some shit about women not being allowed to pilot mechs.

I really hope I’m misremembering some of this stuff because brother that’s not it. Really the only characters I really cared for where the villains like Char and the other guy, since they go against what you’d expect from mecha baddies, but even still they don’t have that much screentime and one of them famously dies in the tenth episode or the climax of the first movie.

But those were my issues with the series itself, on a more meta level, I have some amount of resentment over the series specifically the original 79 for its impact.

For those who don’t know, mecha series before Gundam were retroactively labelled as “Super Robot” since they were basically giant metal superheroes, animated Ultraman essentially, they could jump, move and run like it was nothing despite the laws of physics, and had extravagant weapons and attacks fighting whacky aliens or evil scientists.

Even Sunrise’s previous works like Daitarn 3 and Trider G7 were super robot through and through, especially the former being downright comedic at times and being closer to James Bond than science fiction, even their supposedly darker Zambot 3 was super robot through and through.

So when the original MSG came out in 1979, it really was a big deal as it was unlike everything else; it was a lot more grounded in tone and setting, the villains not only were fellow humans but had layers of complexity and weren’t just cartoon baddies, the robots carried shields and guns instead of cock-rockets and roketto-panchi, it was less a superhero Kyodai/Kaiju romp and more like a war drama, the severity of the conflict was made front and centre and not brushed aside for the cool fights.

That’s brilliant, even to this day it’s a great premise and deconstruction of the mecha genre, the problem is that this series became So popular that basically every single fucking mecha and scifi anime had to model itself after Gundam or be seen as outdated. Super robot was killed overnight, because god forbid we have some fucking fun with the concept of GIANT ROBOTS BEATING THE BRAINS OUT OF EACH OTHER.

Like Gurren Lagann being modelled after super robot shows as a fun throwback shows how utterly dead the genre is.

I understand that by the time Gundam came out the genre had run its course, you can only rewrite Mazinger/Grandeizer so many times, but fuck’s sake surely there’s ways to do it just be creative. I love the things Gundam helped create but the fact that it had to exist at the Expense of super robot is what bothers me.

Let me explain it by comparing it to Godzilla ok? There’s two kinds of Godzillas: serious war drama Godzilla and KWE standing for Kaiju Wrestling Entertainment. There’s fans that prefer one over the other but both Godzillas exist without cancelling each other out.

Now the 1980s movie The Return of Godzilla was the first movie in the series in a while, and it was a grittier more serious return to form that just had Zilla destroy a city without all the other monsters duking it out. Now IMAGINE if after that movie Toho went “right, it’s clear, people only want serious Godzilla it’s very clear” and from then on we ONLY got movies like Godzilla 54, Minus One and Shin Godzilla, yes they’re peak, but after a while a part of the fanbase is gonna get seriously tired of them and wish they would just get “Godzilla vs Mothra vs Kong vs Gheedora All United Brawl” already.

Now if you know me personally you’ll ask “but what about Evangelion” and yes, if Eva is not my favourite anime ever it’s in the Top 3, but honestly? Calling Eva just a mecha show or any of the sub genres is seriously selling it short, it is SO much more then robot fights and thats why I love it, watching Eva just for the robot fights is like playing Silent Hill 2 for the riveting combat.

So those are my thoughts, I still haven’t given up on the series as I plan to revisit it through War in the Pocket since fans quite like that one in particular, hopefully it’s more up my alley lol.

[itsanotheridiot]

Alrightly as someone who owns LiS, BTS, LiS 2, and TC. I also had given the benefit of the doubt to DeckNine but after seeing multiple clips and leaked information about development from a confirmed ex employee of DN I am officially not buying double exposure.

For anyone in the unknown or don’t want to read my long rant. TLDR: Life is Strange felt victims to Corporation greed ruining game franchise and character alienation

Also side note I do have to be vague about specific of the leaked content due to post with it getting taken down. Also DO NOT HARASS THE VOICE ACTORS OR DEVELOPERS BLAME DECKNINE, SQUARE ENIX, NARRATIVE TEAM AND EXECUTIVES

First thing first the narrative team did not give a fuck about the game from the starts and didn’t do any research and never attempted to understand the characters or their stories so yup just bringing max back for one big old cashgrab and due to their egos of a executive producer and the lack of media analysis and literacy from the narrative team they decided to cut Chloe from the story all together but should we be surprised this is coming from the DN the company that had a controversy about one of their developers trying to sneak into racist symbols into the game and DN who fought against their team from having Alex be the first confirmed bi lead in LiS (saying this cause it’s obvious the male love interest Warren, Elliot ,and Finn was there to appeal to audience but their interest with the lead isn’t as flesh out as the women love interest Chloe, Rachel, and Cassidy)

Anyways How did they write Chloe out you may ask? They had Chloe tell max “she can’t move on so I has to go” and broke them up like that is the most OOC shit ever Chloe the girl who journal entries from 5 years in the form unsend letters to Max. Chloe who canonically in the comic waits 2 years for max to come back to her.

There is a reason they are called partners in time their relationship is crucial to the story and their characters arcs they are linked to take away one of them fundamentally breaks the story because the relationship is at the center of it all

Now I am aware some argue the sacrificing Bae is the moral choice but canonical max by the time of episode 5 wants the town to burn and everyone in it she doesn’t care anymore max is more fucked up then people allow her to be cause she is quiet but while we would sacrificed the bae. Max would never. And trust me this is from someone who also sacrificed Bae but I still understand how important Chloe is to Max’s character

These are a few canon max journals entries these ain’t even all the evidence max has dialogue expressing disgust and hatred for Acadia Bay.

While yes LiS handles heavy topics and tells stories about children with supernatural powers that’s what it is a story and what makes a good story is characters relationship that’s what we connect with not the that’s what makes these heavy topics more personal or easier to handle

LiS wouldn’t be what it is without Chloe and Max’s relationship

LiS 2 wouldn’t be a good story without the wolf brother relationship

BTS expanded the amberprice relationship to make the reveal in the original game hit harder

TC was a interesting case because Alex didn’t have any connects but throughout the story she builds some

LiS is about outcasts craving and finding connect in extreme situations chaos was happening but love still prevailed (romantic, platonic, familial) 

Now away from all the shipping stuff for the moment. The writing in DE from the footage I seen is something like the way they try to make the game seem mature is by making sexual jokes targeted at max but it feels like they are trying to be adult like it feels like jojo siwa’s rebrand the being super sexual because that’s adult like no that’s not (also I’m aware people who experience sexual violence could become hyper sexual due to the trauma but from what I seen in the leaked footage this ain’t it) The pacing is also wonky from what I seen stuff that needed time to set in didn’t get that or they breeze by quickly.

Like comparing DeckNine’s LiS games (BTS and TC) to DONTNOD (LiS and LiS2). BTS to me kinda feel like a fanfic they had a whole game to build off of and expanded on the complexities of the Amberprice relationship which I did really enjoy while having Rachel father be a DA was definitely a writing choice it was vague enough where we can ignore it and it didn’t break the base of LiS too much just made little plot holes Now TC I do think TC is a decent game but is also the blandest out of the LiS games there was a lot of missing potential I feel like they could have done but it does work enough and gave us some nice lore like explaining why Steph and Mike wasn’t in the original game they were out of town or wasn’t at the school. Nice little story moments without stepping on the original too much.

Making a sequel with a beloved character like was a super risky choice one they could have achieved if they had actually cared about the stories and characters. I genuinely thought DeckNine was just hiding Chloe and we was going to get the memorable detective duo again and we could have had a very interesting story about a traumatized max regretting her decision all those years ago and exploring different timelines to revalue if she made the right choice that could have been a good way to expand of how the OG story effect the characters while still respecting both ends but also respecting who the characters are at their core

My last point is also how disrespectful the oversexualized and axing of pricefield is. I would like to remind you that LiS came out in 2015 this was around the time female gaming and female characters in video games were started to be taken seriously JMax and Luc even revealed how at the time Square Enix who gave the game a chance with a female lead that looked like a normal teenage

Also because this game came out in 2015 It was a massive achievement for the LGBT+ community a video game with explicit queer content at the center of the story won 3 categories at the game awards. At the global game awards it won 2 categories and came in second for globe game of the year. life is strange won 6 awards at the golden joystick. That was massive process in 2015 especially since LiS came out January 30, 2015. Gay marriage wasn’t even legal then gay content was barely anywhere this was a important game to people at the time and still is. It’s hard to imagine that now considering how much progress and content we have now.

Double exposure had so much potential I feel like there was so many interesting ideas the fandom has only to learn the game never stood a chance from the start because of a bunch of greedy egocentric executives that would rather destroy the hearts of their story than make a good game

I guess the only bright side is that alternate universe exist in life is strange in a different universe we didn’t get this shit cash grab game we actually got a game that how real love and care put into it the characters weren’t alienated and the heart wasn’t torn out in alternate universe pricefield is thriving after everything romantic or not

[justice-flonne]

Twitter and the death of Media Literacy

As the original post now has reblogs turned off before this post came out of the queue, looks like I have to make my own

Lemme tackle picture number 2 first. Number one, what the HELL do you mean "normal mentally ill [woman]"?? There's no such thing. There's not even such a thing as normal non-mentally ill. Everyone is different and has different reactions and symptoms. and number two: where the fuck do you get off calling the author a sex pest for the "crime" of exploring her options in brothels (well, i guess maybe it is a crime, i forget how japan's laws are, but still. i better not hear you demanding more rights for sex workers while indirectly demeaning their jobs, ya nitwit)? Being gay (or even just non-conforming, and that's not even just about gender) in Japan, while not as bad as say, the Middle East, is not exactly a walk in the park. She probably at the time of writing didn't have many options, and everybody explores their sexuality in different ways. It's really messed up that you're calling the author a sex pest for describing her life, especially since she did nothing wrong (as in, her encounters were all consensual. again, don't fully know the laws regarding brothels there. i think it's a "we'll pretend we didn't see that" scenario)

This also kinda ties into the downright dangerous idea that an lgbt+ person, lesbians especially, can only be an innocent pure being. that kind of thinking can and HAS gotten people into horrible abuse scenarios

As for the "incest"... whoo boy, this is gonna be long:

Now, I have actually read this manga, and I can cite the pages with the supposed "incest" mentioned in the first pic. I'd elaborate, but I'm admittedly quite bad at that, so I'll let the comic speak for itself:

(forgive me if there's any errors in the alt text. it's late 😭)

As you can see, the author does not LITERALLY want to fuck her mother. She has childhood issues from not enough affection (elaborated elsewhere in the book, but I'm tired. read it yourself. i got these pages from a definitely legal website, so can you), and wants to be held and coddled. She even straight up says what she feels is abnormal and yearns for a woman NOT RELATED TO HER to do things with. She KNOWS what she feels is strange and wants to (and eventually DOES) grow from this. I could post more images, but i'm probably pushing my luck as is

Point is, you "adults" really, REALLY need to learn that depiction is not the same as endorsement. Not everything is as cut and dry as the Marquis de Sade. This is, as the damn title says, the author's experience with loneliness as a result of growing up with an emotionally distant mother in a society that is markedly different than America

please, PLEASE, learn to think critically, and i mean "critical" in a "english class analysis" kind of way (for lack of a better term), not a "this thing you like is bad and it offends me" "critical." It's alright to be uncomfortable with things and even to not like things, hell I myself am a HUGE hater, but please, don't throw a tantrum because a real person wasn't a smol bean like you hoped

holy shit i need to go to bed

[joe-spookyy]

nothing makes me more evil than seeing someone misinterpret daniel “oz” osbourne of buffy the vampire slayer fame. this is deeply unfortunate because it seems to be all everyone knows how to do. the amount of people i’ve seen dogging on him for things he did not even have control over is crazy. if you have issues with him read on. he’s the best character and i will die on that hill, so fight me on this one. i dare you. season 4 spoilers under the cut sorry to my friends. also him and tara could have been best friends but this isn’t really about her. just had to say it.

FIRST of all. he did not cheat on willow. veruca took advantage of him. i don’t even get how there’s grey area there - it’s clear that in both situations the wolf has control over oz, but not over veruca. so not only was HE not choosing to have sex with her or even aware that he was doing it, but SHE was aware and was taking advantage of him. this is not in ANY way his fault??? now yeah. he coulda been a little more defensive about himself when he was talking to willow and buffy but it’s oz. he’s already worried about hurting people when he’s a werewolf. if everyone’s telling him he’s bad and wrong for this he’s gonna believe it even if it isn’t true. and he didn’t have to scram and go full no contact after that. but again. he was SCARED! he didn’t wanna hurt willow any more than he already had. he made a snap decision based on what he felt he HAD to do. and if you’re one of the people who says just because he brought veruca into the cage that means he Wanted her to do that to him. i am going to get you. that’s victim blaming. he just wanted to make sure she didn’t KILL anyone. it makes sense that he would pick risking her taking advantage of him again over letting people die. did he handle it perfectly? no. that does not mean he wanted her to do all that. he loves willow and says that so many times explicitly. literally left to make sure he was good enough for her. he did not want veruca. jesus.

and SECOND. even worse is the people who are saying he comes across as homophobic for having a negative reaction to finding out about willow and tara. like. hello. did we watch the same scene. not once does he say anything negative about the fact that they’re both girls. he’s clearly just upset that willow didn’t tell him she was involved with anyone else, and with his whole new controlling the wolf thing, there’s gonna be a lot of pent up emotion and probably anger. so when he got extra upset when tara wouldn’t tell him anything more and eventually ended up wolfing out, it’s clear that it’s because he’s upset that he trusted willow but she didn’t give him all the information about where she was at and whether or not he had a chance with her again. which makes sense from her perspective of course, and tara’s reaction was valid too, but we can’t act like he suddenly hates gay people just cause he got mad that someone he cares about wasn’t totally honest with him. and he warns tara so he doesn’t end up hurting her by accident. and at the end of the episode all he wants to know is whether willow is happy. and she is. and so he’s happy for her and accepts it. i don’t even know how people are getting any other perception of the situation. god. sorry.

big idea is if you think oz is in the wrong for either of these i am going to hunt you down and beat you up evil style and maybe sit you down and have a talk about media literacy.

[wroteclassicaly]

All these people in the gator and fargo tag complaining of people thirsting over gator, calling him a nazi and how dare people find the humanity in him but praising joe for his great job like he didnt find the humanity in this character and played him to be someone you feel for. 🤡

Then being pro munch like he doesnt have problematic traditional values either

Honestly so tired of these people virtue signaling and having no nuance or media literacy for the sake of internet points, its exhausting and they just look annoying and stupid

Okay, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to answer this, because I’m trying to stay out of things. But I’ve gotten several messages like this, and I’m writing for Gator, so I feel like I owe my take on him, which had a major influence on my choice to continue.

TW below the cut, discussing Gator and his issues:

I live in a Midwestern, republican town. Everyone here owns flags like Gator’s, has blue lives matter flags, etc. If you’re raised into that life and it’s all your family knows/the people around you know - you will likely adapt to that way of thinking as well. I was fortunate enough to be able to break away from how the people around me thought and felt, forming my own opinions and expressing my disgust for the blue lives matter crap and the flag, etc. My parents are heavily republican (carry all that side’s beliefs) and so is my brother.

It’s an incredibly suffocating and confusing environment to grow up in, especially if you have no way to safely think and form your own opinions. Again, I’m grateful I could break away and think for myself!!!!

Now, discussing Gator. I just want to say that it never said he was a Nazi! Roy was. Gator was misogynistic and racist.

I’m going to compare Gator to a character called Mickey Milkovich (now this will probably upset people, due to Mickey’s character being a gay man), but I’m mostly comparing fathers/environments. Mickey and Gator were raised by two dangerous and horrific men, who beat and brain washed their sons into one way of thinking - theirs. Products of their environment, (Mickey used slurs, had flags like Gator, weapons, drugs, and even had nazi items on his wall) and what is called ‘learned racism’. They have no safe way to think for themselves, no other people around to show them love or kindness, help lead them towards a different way. Mickey found that with Ian and was able to develop and fully nurture the kindness/goodness that was in him, and he had over ten seasons to grow!

Gator only had Nadine and 10 episodes. When she left he began to let his warped devotion to the only person he had a blood connection with - flood him, outweigh his own personal goodness. Dot said it herself when she said his need to be like Roy outweighed the goodness inside. He was a product of the father and the environment. He didn’t have his own way of thinking, not really, he clung to what was beat and brainwashed into him, trying to find love and approval from his abuser/only blood relative/only person he was around (very common).

Am I excusing that? Absolutely not! Gator was not entirely a good person, and he knew that as well! He made choices he knew were wrong, to impress and gain affection from a sociopathic, demonic man. Gator was responsible for what he did, so this is not me trying to excuse or argue that!!

The only way for him to become free of who he was molded to be (he has no clue who he is, just a weak prototype of what he tried to be, hardly anything that is his own), was for him to become blind in order to see, and start serving his time. They left his ending open, which is a great way for those of us who choose to write for him - to explore his mental freedom and further nurture the soft/good side of him!

We don’t know how Gator would act or think (he was immediately apologetic to Dot and didn’t hesitate to give Roy up when he saw he wasn’t loved or cared for, so he didn’t need to protect his father), now that he is away from the environment and the man that molded him into the character he was on the show.

Gator was still a child trapped in a man’s body in some aspects; his temper tantrums, his knee jerk reactions, his hot headed plans without thought, his bedroom items (the toy cars, the sneakers, etc), his blinding anger towards Dot for leaving him behind (not even faulting her, because baby girl needed to get out and I’m glad she did). The show also alluded to the fact that he might have been addicted to some kind of substance he was stealing, as well.

Feelings on Munch are that he’s got just as much issues, lol. And we hardly knew much on him, tbh? What he did in the past, other than what he said.

Anyways, that’s my take on Gator.

We all have the right to feel how we feel!! Hate or love Gator, see his humanity or not. Some of the things his character represented effect a whole lot of people, so they have a right to be upset! There’s a lot of different factors and feelings involved!! I only look sideways at you if you thought his torture and eyes getting burnt/cut was what he deserved, because that’s just gross!

But at the end of the day, none of us who do love Gator/write for him — condone Gator’s actions! Seeing the layers and humanity in a character Joe put his all into, is perfectly normal/okay!

Sometimes there’s areas in between, and it’s not just either/or.

But I will say that not everyone who feels this way is just doing it for internet points! A lot of people have valid points/feelings about the dislike of Gator, to which I will not/have no business arguing, you know? There’s also other people that make callout posts for clout and false superiority, without even recognizing what Gator actually did and they just pull stuff outta their ass, lol.

If you don’t like Gator fans or writers, then just scroll!! It’s easy, I promise! No one is hurting anyone or being malicious!! ❤️