#i can't make words what i want to say.

[miyuskye]

I found this scene in particular so odd and out of place in the new episode. Apart from the fact that Stolas has no right to be angry at Blitz for "not saving him" when Striker kidnapped him nor to be upset that he didn't tell him about Striker's attempt at shooting him. In Loo Loo Land he's perfectly capable of defending himself (even when he hired Blitz for protection!), why is he complaining that an imp, the lowest class on the hierarchy isn't protecting one of the highest?

In that scene Stolas accuses Blitz of not understanding "how much he cared about him", but has he forgotten that he was the one who couldn't stand up not to Asmodeous nor to the accusations of him "sleeping with an imp"?

This reaction shows the actual opposite of what he's telling Blitz he did.

I read that Stolas is supposedly also not aware of ~things~ but why is the narrative conveniently forgetting about his faults as well?

Onto the "apology tour" subject: I fail to understand why Blitz owes Stolas an apology. The only time he was shitty to him was actually in Ozzie's when he asked him on a (fake) date without telling him all the story. But they didn't talk about that not during that episode neither during Apology Tour. Is it because doing this would have forced the narrative to acknowledge that also Stolas was at fault during that episode?

All the other times they interacted (on and off screen, their chats don't really mean anything since it seems that's the way Blitz writes in general), Blitz was being good to him (not that he had any other choice, due to their society ranks and their deal).

To me, this looks like bad writing. But if someone has a different take, I'm happy to hear their interpretation.

[happyk44]

Jason who immediately loses respect for people who don't own up to their mistakes vs Annabeth who would rather die than admit she made a mistake

[oceans-beloved]

Meme dump yayyy🥳✨️

(off to make more now muhahaha >:3)

[maulfucker]

So fucked up that obimaul is a rarepair. What do you mean not everyone is obsessed with enemies to lovers with a Force connection, where one side is completely obsessed with the other who barely acknowledges him (but is just as affected)

[smartzelda]

Sorry guys I gotta speak my truth on this one

I'm not kidding when I say that I think that blaming shit media literacy from fans on shipping/shippers avoids the actual root of the problem to throw people you can easily throw under the bus (simply because it's not unpopular to consider people who post about ships or ship characters in media as having lesser or derivative tastes by default)

And here's why.

I think when you blame people who are "shippers" or "consume media through shipping lenses", the true root of it all is a mindset problem.

In actually, putting on shipping lenses can be helpful when trying to analyze a piece of media. When analyzing media you're supposed to approach it through a number of mindsets and put on different lenses (both to deepen your personal understanding of the media, and to pick it apart and see what you can find there (whether intentional or not on the author's part)), and different ships can be some of those lenses

When it comes to ships between main characters (for those who are genuinely willing to see what the narrative is showing with their relationship and what it's doing), there are times when analyzing it from a shipping lens may be helpful. As someone from KH fandom, I have seen people come to deeper understandings and pick canon apart in the process of analyzing a relationship that is genuinely integral to the story (platonic or not). I've also seen people get into rarepairs of characters who barely interact or who just suffer little screen time, and I've seen them come to better understandings of those side characters and how they potentially fit into the world of the media simply because people are now focusing on these characters and how they fit into the narrative.

Frankly, I resent the idea that the only way to truly objectively analyze a piece of media is by turning off the part of your brain that gets excited over relationships and individual characters. Don't get me wrong, that is a way to approach a piece of media and a valid one at that, but the truth is that we cannot be free of bias.

For instance, I was watching House MD with my parents circa last year. At some point I started heavily tuning into what was going on with House and Wilson's relationship. My parents, on the other hand, were largely watching casually. They're not thinking of character relationships or getting heavily invested in most characters, they're watching because they like watching. One of them in particular did try to analyze things that were happening in the show as they happened. However, when it came to the scene late in the series where House threw out Dominika's letter approving her American citizenship, my parents could understand that he was doing that because he didn't want her to leave, but not much beyond that. I ended up explaining to them that House's fake marriage for Dominika was an explicit parallel to when Wilson was living with House in the early seasons. Both situations started with House being none too happy about it but ultimately letting them stay, spending a considerable amount of effort getting them to leave/getting this situation to be finally over so he didn't have to deal with it anymore, and then by the time a piece of news comes through that would mean the person in question actually leaves, House hides this news as long as he can. Because he doesn't actually want them to leave and has grown attached. And by doing this he became a self fulfilling prophecy. By reacting to the truth of Wilson and Dominika leaving him the way he does, he seals his fate and they ultimately leave anyways. Maybe I ship Hilson, but becoming open to how their relationship was handled allowed me to transition to doing character studies and recognizing patterns/parallels that I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't particularly care about the characters or their relationship.

Likewise, I've seen mutuals complain about how people who don't like or don't care about certain characters often overlook these characters (what they're actually like and their place in the narrative), while the mutuals in question (by default) are able to come to deeper understanding of what the writers/story is trying to do because they care about this funky guy

You can't eradicate bias when you're engaging in media analysis, but you can consciously put on a range of lenses and observe the media through different povs with the goal of understanding the media better or bolstering your reading of it. And those lenses/povs can include focusing on specific relationships or the perpective of certain characters

And this is why I say it's actually a mindset problem. Shippers and people who have this one blorbo they like a lot aren't inherently terrible "fandom brained individuals" who are the root of media analysis problems. The problem only arises when people's readings/analysis of a piece of media are inherently restrictive/narrow and self centered. Your problem is with people who view a piece of media through a ship they like but don't keep an open mind about it, and whose "media analysis"/views on canon cannot be split from fanon and their comfortability levels. These are the people whose "media analysis" starts and ends with justifying their fanon as canon, whose views on media revolve around sorting characters and relationships into categories they personally enjoy rather than trying to understand what's going on.

Here's another example.

Here we have a fictional ship we'll call uhhhh...Blanebin. this fictional ship I made up on the spot for characters that don't exist named Blane and Corbin

Person A is super into Blanebin. They're part of the main cast of characters and canonically childhood best friends, so person A (as much as they enjoy fanart and fic) is also enjoying analyzing how narratively important to each other they are. Recently, Corbin started dating another character in canon, but Person A is enjoying watching how Blane is reacting to this. "Is this potentially a tell that Blane is jealous or is having complicated feelings about this? What if he was, how would that contextualize his behavior this season? Here's what I think based on how Blane dealt with explicit jealousy last season in a different situation". It's not impossible that person A is still missing further understanding due to their obsession with Blanebin, but at the end of the day this obsession has allowed them to start picking through the characters both in and outside this relationship. It has allowed them to see potential subtext and theorize on what might happen next with these characters' relationship. Not to mention that with addition of Corbin dating someone else, instead of trying to erase this fact or state that Corbin canonically isn't into that person, Person A is trying to factor in how Corbin's current dating life affects his relationship with Blane (irregardless on personal views on the nature of Corbin's relationship with the person he's dating).

Person B is also super into Blanebin. They really enjoy fanart and fic of the characters, love obsessing over their moments together, and just feel like there's really something between the characters. To person B, every moment between them is just further proof that the writers are ship teasing them. But Corbin getting together with someone else this season? Oh that pissed person B off. They cannot believe that even though Corbin and Blane are CLEARLY gay for each other the writers had Corbin get with someone else this season. Perhaps, they think, it was even a decision specifically made to spite fans. How evil of the writers to tease a perfectly good ship and then have them not get together first? They must have been just doing those teases to get views from Blanebin shippers those scoundrels. To Person B, since Corbin started dating someone when he obviously has some chemistry with Blane (even though the series is far from over) means that Blanebin can never get together now and Corbin x person he's dating is ruining Blanebin by existing. In fact, they think, this is terrible writing for Corbin to be dating someone else because they don't like that relationship and don't see the point. Obviously if the writers were good then Corbin would have started dating Blane instead because this was supposed to be the Blanebin show.

Person C despises Blanebin. Don't get them wrong, they've always enjoyed the character's childhood friendship, but they actually have always thought Blane would have been better off with Victoria. They have a lot of moments too! But they're tired of seeing people ship Blanebin. Corbin just got together with someone else, so obviously that's not gonna work out. Plus Corbin and Blane totally has always given person C bro vibes. In fact, person C thinks, sure Corbin and Blane have a close friendship, but people shouldn't be shipping them. Person C likes Blanetoria and Blanetoria can't be canon if Corbin is in the way of it. So Person C likes to read Blanebin as siblings anyways. Sure they're canonically friends, but obviously their friendship turned into brotherhood. This means that nothing can be in the way of Blanetoria and Corbin can keep dating the person he's already canonically dating. Actually, now Blanebin just straight up makes Person C uncomfortable. Don't the pesky shippers understand that Blanebin are sibling coded because they're childhood best friends and that they're important to each other because they're brothers? It's obvious to anyone with eyes.

Sure, ships are involved here, but is the root of this problem shipping? Character A isn't as knowledgeable of other characters in the plot due to this lens they're using, but at the end of the day they're dedicated to analysis. Their love of the characters is pushing them beyond what they like or dislike to try to understand what might be happening through their lens. Not perfect, but they are slowly broadening their horizons. But Person B and C's problems here are their restrictiveness. What is or should be canon to them is tantamount to what they personally like or find comfortable. Is person C actually analyzing the this fake show when they decide to "read" Blanebin as basically canonically siblings (and this all of their moments are totally a bro thing) just because they don't like Blanebin and the idea of them getting together over Blanetoria makes them uncomfortable? Is person B actually analyzing this fake show when their "analysis" of Blanebin goes only as far as asserting it's being ship teased and deciding anything short of canonizing Blanebin is a targeted attack or "bad writing" because it's not what they wanted personally to happen?

This is what I'm talking about. This is the mindset. Shipping isn't the problem. The problem is when people marry fanon and canon to the point where they have a vested interest in superimposing their fanon over canon as "a reading" and trying to make "collective decisions" on what is canon (or what canon is trying to say) based on what does or doesn't make them uncomfortable. The problem is people being restrictive and centering their own likes and dislikes in the conversation, so they can only interact with canon "analysis" wise by deciding what is canon or should be canon "as obviously agreed on by everyone". You can't simply claim you like media analysis. To be able to analyze media and bolster your views on any given canon, you must be open to looking at it through multiple povs, to studying characters without trying to pretend things you don't like don't exist or do like do exist. There is a balance that must be kept between trying to keep objectivity and putting on specific focus/bias based upon the lenses you're putting on. You have to be willing to try to figure out what a media is doing or saying, not saying you're trying to figure out what it's saying while in actuality trying to define the narrative around what people believe it's saying in ways that suit you.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[kyouka-supremacy]

BSD Official Guidebook Gongeroku - Uemura Yuto & Ono Kensho interview

※ As usual, I'm heavily relying on automatic translators for this, so if you notice any mistake, please feel free to bring it to my attention! I'll be posting the original text in reblogs.

Thank you for your hard work in recording seasons 4 and 5. The story has now come to an end, with the story left “to be continued”¹.

Uemura: In “Two Hours Later,” Atsushi (Nakajima) and Ryunosuke (Akutagawa) trust each other; the exchange “Just the two of us?” "Do we need more?” also occurs in episode 53, but this time Atsushi is smiling a little. He says “Let's go, Akutagawa”, and takes on the challenge. I think it was a very hopeful ending, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the relationship between the two will develop. Also, I'm curious about Akutagawa's outfit. He had something on his head… Ono: That's right. (Akutagawa) looked strong. It seems like he's regained his sense of self, so what will happen next? What are Akutagawa and Atsushi fighting against? I'm curious about it all. I felt like the 5th season ended on an interesting note.

The story ended with Atsushi and Akutagawa fighting together, but looking back at the first season, what do you think has changed about Atsushi and Akutagawa?

Ono: I think the biggest thing is that now they're able to have a conversation. Uemura: That's right. At first, the two of them couldn't have a conversation at all. Atsushi said “I don't understand you at all” (Episode 23). Ono: The relationship started out with each saying “this is what I think'”, not listening to what the other person had to say, and then fighting, so that's where the biggest change happened. I really felt this change during the conversation on the ship² at the end of Season 3 (Episode 37), where they say: “Don't kill anyone for six months. Then you will come to see the truth in its simplest form”. Uemura: Atsushi started out thinking “I can't survive like this”, but then he joined the Armed Detective Agency and found himself in a position to save people. In the process, he made various choices, thinking about what Dazai (Osamu) would do, and what his colleagues at the Armed Detective Agency would do. He was finally able to accept himself and think that maybe there was a meaning to his life. In particular, the movie Bungo Stray Dogs: DEAD APPLE and the conversation with the headmaster (episode 31 part 2) were major turning points for him. He was able to face his inner self. I think that it was through these experiences that he was eventually able to make that “promise” with Akutagawa. Ono: Akutagawa is always one step ahead of Atsushi. But Atsushi is grows up really fast, right? He is the main character after all (laughs). So I think that Atsushi is gradually beginning to see Akutagawa³. Uemura: That's right. I think Atsushi originally had a very narrow vision. But after going through various experiences, his vision has finally broadened. And I think he's now able to see Akutagawa clearly. If you have a narrow vision, you can't accept any way of thinking different from your own; but as your vision gradually broadens, you start to accept that there are other ways of thinking, too. I think that's why he was able to have a dialogue.

On the contrary, what do you think remains the same about Atsushi and Akutagawa?

Uemura: Atsushi has grown and become more confident, but he still panics when he hits a wall. I've been playing Atsushi for a long time, so I'd like him to be to take a decision more quickly, but Wakabayashi Kazuhiro (sound director) would tell me, “It's too early, not yet” “It's not time yet”. When you can see what's ahead, you just want to move forward, but Atsushi takes many detours and puts his full effort into each step. I think that's what makes Atsushi unique, so I always try to cherish it. Ono: One thing that remains unchanged about Akutagawa is that he is always aware of Atsushi. I think that the relationship between Akutagawa and Atsushi, with Dazai in the middle, has not changed at all, and Akutagawa is the one who is acutely aware of that. In Season 5, Akutagawa says that fighting alongside Atsushi is “a trial (that was given to him by Dazai)”, but even though he says that, the fact that he's also aware of Atsushi has not changed.

The “trust” between the two was evident in their deadly battle against Ochi Fukuchi (episodes 53 and 54).

Ono: When Akutagawa was wounded by Fukuchi Ouchi's Amenogozen, and he says "You fool, get out of here" as he lets Atsushi escape, in the original comic Akutagawa has a sad expression on his face. However, in the anime, he has a desperate expression during the fight. The difference is very striking. I felt like the expression in the anime was an expression that matched the visual flow. That left a strong impression on me.

Afterwards, Akutagawa, who has turned into a vampire, faces Atsushi at the airport (Episode 60).

Ono: By this time, Akutagawa had completely become a vampire. I was able to record the scene with Uemura-kun, but… Uemura: Ono-san seemed to have a hard time. Atsushi tries his best to talk to Akutagawa, saying “It's me, don't you recognize me?”, but he can't get the conversation going. When he called out “Akutagawa!”… Ono: “Shhhh”. Uemura: That was all. But there was a moment when he regained a little sense of self. Ono: That was the toughest one. I put a lot of thought into how to express it. Uemura: In that scene, Atsushi was hoping that he would regain his sense of self. I think that was a kind of dynamic that had never existed before.

Having performed for so long up to season 5, what does “Bungo Stray Dogs” mean to you two?

Ono: This is a project that I'm putting my life on the line for. Akutagawa also puts his life on the line, so I feel like that is something we have in common. I think there is something I can learn from Akutagawa's desperation and his approach in facing challenges. When Akutagawa first appeared in the first season, Wakabayashi-san told me: “He doesn't sound strong”. It's a statement I still recall. The recording of Akutagawa started from there, so I hope I have been able to improve on that now, and I would like to continue to do my best without letting my guard down. Uemura: After recording the scene with Atsushi and Akutagawa, Wakabayashi-san said: “It looks like both of them have a lot more to scream”⁴. Ono: Oh, did he say that? Uemura: That's right. I'm so grateful for receiving such words. “I want you to go even further”, isn't that what they meant? I feel that if Bungo Stray Dogs will continue from now on, I will have to do something even further than that. Ono: I see. I guess I'll have to give it my best as well. Uemura: Personally, I would like to see what happens to Atsushi in the future, so I'm looking forward to the next developments.

In the fifth season, Dazai refers to Atsushi and Akutagawa as “the soukoku of a new era”⁵. In season 5, there was a scene where the soukoku duo of Dazai and Nakahara Chuuya played an active role; do you think the two of you can lead a new era?

Ono: Uhm, neither Akutagawa nor Atsushi are as smart as Dazai (laughs). Uemura: Right. I would like to see more of Atsushi and Akutagawa joining forces… But Chuuya and Dazai are both still very active (laughs). Ono: Yes. Both of them are still amazing. I don't think Akutagawa and Atsushi can realistically compete. Well, let's try our best to achieve that goal. Uemura: As the story progresses, I think it would be great if the two of them could become a duo known as Soukoku. It's different Soukoku from Dazai-san and Chuuya, it's a Soukoku that is unique to the two of them.

¹ The 「未了」 of the episode 11 ending ² This bit confused me, but they are indeed using 「船」 ship. They're probably referring to how the scene was showed as flashback while Atsushi was on Fitzgerald's ocean liner. ³ 「それでだん だん敦にも、芥川が見えてきたんだ なと思いますね。」 not sure about this one. Began to see Akutagawa in his own eyes? Began to see Akutagawa in himself? ⁴ 「まだまだ2 人とも叫べそうだな」 not sure about this one either 😔 Is it “it looks like both of them can scream even more”? ⁵ Unless I'm widely mistaken, this is a misattribution; Dazai says this in episode 24, not in season 5 (please correct me if I'm wrong). I don't remember Dazai saying anything similar in season 5.

[quaranmine]

On Wednesday before I gave my presentation I confessed to a new employee that I was worried it would be too long and she brightly told me her life hack was to just let AI rewrite things for her. She said I should put in all my talking points and ask ChatGPT to give me a five minute exactly presentation. I was like....how is the most polite possible way (since this is a new colleague I shouldn't get off on the wrong foot with) that I can express that I will Not be taking this advice. Ever. I told her that I didn't think we were allowed to use ChatGPT at this job (we most certainly are not, it is a nightmare for any type of protected information) and also that I prefer to write all of my own work. Despite my best efforts the last part of that was still passive aggressive, lol.

Something about being a writer makes it so that it's almost offensive to me for someone to suggest I use AI to do my work instead? Like, the day I reach the point where I let AI write something for me is the day y'all need to be checking me for brain damage because clearly I'm losing it

[missgallavjch]

i wish we had bi representation that really feels like it was made for bi people and understands bi people

[nostalgia-tblr]

okay, so the thing with wishing we could kudos every chapter of a fic.

i get it, we all want to hit the little like button more than once, it's the easiest way to express our approval/enjoyment/gratitude. i am going to address this to a generic 'you' (hello Y/N!) and assume that 'you' has either never posted fic to ao3 or hasn't posted both oneshots and multichapter works.

hits, kudos, comments, bookmarks. every marker of popularity (which many will interpret as quality) on ao3 is inadvertantly weighted in favour of works with more chapters. no, not longer necessarily, but with more chapters. go and sort a few fandoms by any of those stats and you'll probably be able to spot this trend in action right away.

oneshots are only at the top of a tag (by the default date sorting) once, and even if you re-read it you can only leave one kudos on it.

a multichapter can stay near the top of the update-sorted results for months if you time your chapter drops right, and of course every time someone comes back for the next chapter that's another hit, and being seen more it is more likely to end up with more kudos. you can still only leave one per work, though, which limits the effects to some extent. multichapter works still tend to overall outperform oneshots on stats, and the longer they are the more likely that becomes, but you'll still usually see a couple of oneshots on the first page if you sort that list by kudos.

and a lot of people (percentage unknown) do sort by kudos (or some other stat) and works at the top of 'by kudos' will thus attract more readers and more kudos. so there's an incentive to get as many kudos as you can on your fic, and if cutting it up into 250 chapters will help... well it already does, and that's had an effect whether writers will admit to dragging fics out a bit on purpose or not, but imagine if that effect were to become orders of magnitude more intense.

even if you personally prefer longer fics cut into fairly short chapters, you probably don't want to get your 150k epic in chapters of only a 100-300 words, do you? you don't want the oneshot writers to just give up when every page, no matter how they're sorted, is full of 5000-chapter works to the point that readers now riot when asked to read a whole 2000 words in one go. your fave author is now feeling insecure because chapter 12 didn't get as many kudos as the last one did.

and this is why ao3 will never let you leave kudos on every chapter. they're aware that the site already incentivises chaptering works and doing that more than you otherwise might. so you're just going to have to learn to put an emoji heart in the comment box.

[housederiva]

Your art is FANTASTIC and the random observations/polls/interjections you make have really helped to fuel the DA fandom in positive ways! Which it definitely needed after Veilguard's release, lmao. It's always a pleasure to see you on my dashboard!

That's very kind of you to say oh my gosh thank you so much. I'm just bumbling around and every once in a while I say something people think is worth sharing, and I like sharing what other folks feel/make too! I'm glad I'm a not too much of an annoyance xx

I think my favorite thing about having this blog is the notes I see on other peoples posts I rb, it’s nice seeing all sweet things get things sent an artist way or conversations/theories carried on in a rb chain

It’s a big ol show n tell and it’s a wonderful reprieve from my normal day to be able to see other folks stuff too ✨

[beastsovrevelation]

A complete travesty in the Good Omens universe? Michael not being portrayed the leader of angels.

She's supposed to be the Supreme Commander, and she's supposed to be the boss. I sincerely suggest you don't fight me on this hill. For Hell's sake, the actress has the perfect vibe... A crime has been commited here.

Therefore, I swear to fix it in my fanfictions. General, I'll do right by you. ❤

If you can't tell, in spite of being on the opposite side, I'm attached to this figure. I'm protective of this figure. I'll defend this figure with claws and teeth.

[samuelroukin]

they need to do so much tip touching but there's so little time </333

[bacchuschucklefuck]

the boy-but-not-that-way-ism of riz gukgak send tweet

[a-s-levynn]

(source)

[charactersmashorpass]

i know no standard i set will be uniform and not everyone will view it the same way i do. and i can't stop these sorts of submissions from coming in, but i can make my own decisions about what is and isn't acceptable to me and put in effort to do a more thorough vetting process

edit: okay one more thing, me choosing to not include characters is not some ultimate signal of morality, it's just based on me and my own beliefs. this is a dumb gimmick blog, and ultimately i'm going to prioritize my own comfort and boundaries before getting involved in discourse that i, quite frankly, don't think i have the ability to speak about in the way that i think it should be spoken about

[iniziare]

Reminder to self when I've done some more writing: Remind people that I'm canon-strict, what that means, and how I guess it means that I'm reclaiming yet another term that has been rendered as being something akin to negative by the masses. Better known as, a... 'lore purist'. Hi, yes, that's me! Hi, hello, my name is Sae, how do you do?