#i feel like after three people you know are harmed by cults

[freakly-fungi]

something something Tim's loved ones (His parents, Bernard) getting killed or injured by cults

[noel-fielding-web-page]

‘The fact that I’m still here is amazing’: Noel Fielding on Bake Off, booze and the Boosh

He has gone from cult niche to smash hit and he still can’t believe it. As Bake Off returns, the comic talks about his ‘feral’ upbringing, his party years – and the day Hammond fell out of a hammock

Noel Fielding’s highlight of the new series of The Great British Bake Off wasn’t a show-stopping cake. In fact, it wasn’t any type of baked goods. It wasn’t even a shot of a squirrel with outsized testicles. It was his co-host Alison Hammond falling out of a hammock.

“I’ll never be able to unsee it,” he says. “What I love about Alison – and I mean this with the greatest of respect – is that she’s an absolute klutz. If anyone’s going to fall out of a hammock, it’ll be her. She also fell backwards off one of the workbenches while showing off. Don’t worry, she was OK. No Hammonds were harmed in the making of this series.”

As the autumnal fixture returns to our screens, Fielding promises a 15th series on peak form. “It’s a belter,” he says. “There are some very special bakers in the tent this year. Somehow the standard keeps getting higher. These unbelievable young bakers are way better than they should be for their age. It’s a vintage year. One of the best yet.”

By stealth, the surrealist goth has become a Bake Off veteran. This is Fielding’s eighth series at the helm, meaning he’s now served a longer stint than original hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins. “Who knew that was going to happen?” he marvels. “Maybe Paul Hollywood’s hypnotised me. I can’t escape the tractor beam of those blue eyes. I loved that original lineup, with Mary [Berry], Mel and Sue, as much as anyone. When me and Sandi [Toksvig] took over, we were terrified. We knew it was a massive risk. We said: ‘Let’s see if we can last one series.’ The fact that I’m still here is amazing.”

A family affair? … (from left) Fielding, Alison Hammond, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith. Photograph: Mark Bourdillon/Channel 4

Toksvig later admitted “I felt my brain atrophying” after three series of glazes and ganaches. How does Fielding keep it fresh? “Sandi, as we know, is a massive brain. She went to Cambridge, she’s super-smart, she writes, she does politics, she needs to be stimulated. She never stays anywhere too long, except QI which is the perfect show for her. The difference between us is that I’ve always really enjoyed hanging out with the bakers. I befriend them and get them to open up. Nobody expected that to be my strength. I assumed it’d be the sketches and banter. In fact, I’m fascinated by the people. I feel protective of them. If Paul and Prue [Leith] are hard on them, I’m absolutely livid. It’s devastating when they leave. This year I was particularly fond of one baker. When I had to send them home, I cried.”

Hammond is his third co-host. “It feels like I’ve done three different shows,” he says. “First with Sandi, under enormous pressure but we pulled it off. Then with Matt [Lucas], which was a privilege because he’s a comedy genius. Now I’m enjoying it more than ever. Alison’s not a comedian, so she’s not as neurotic about jokes as I am, but she’s a brilliant improviser and instinctively funny. She slotted right in. Paul and Prue are very fond of her. Even my kids adore her. We’re having a blast.”

Judges and presenters refer to “the Bake Off stone” – a tendency to gain weight during each 10-week run. In her sophomore series, Hammond valiantly attempted to resist. “She tried to eat less this year but Alison’s quite childlike. She said: ‘Noel, stop me eating cake, I want to be good.’ The next time I saw her, she was literally like [he mimes shovelling in cake]. Alison has a good time all the time. You don’t want her to not be eating the cakes.”

Fielding, now 51, had a “feral” upbringing in Croydon. Hammond was raised in a Birmingham council house. He relishes these “two working-class kids galloping around Welford Park”, the Grade I-listed Berkshire estate where the marquee is pitched each summer. “If you’ve grown up in a working-class environment and go to a stately home, you’re like: ‘Woah! This is like Willy Wonka’s factory.’ We’re like urchins in front of Dame Prue. I permanently feel like I’ve come to sweep Prue’s chimney.” He describes Bake Off’s star quartet as “a funny old family”. Who’s who? “Prue and Paul are Mum and Dad, obviously. Alison’s the wild daughter. I reckon I’m the cat. Or am I the dog? Paul would say I’m the teenage son who’s secretly a vampire.”

‘We knew it was a massive risk’ … Fielding with Sandi Toksvig on the 12th series of The Great British Bake Off. Photograph: Channel 4/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon/PA

The last time we spoke, Fielding reflected on his 00s era as a hedonistic scenester. “I took partying to its logical conclusion,” he said. “When you’ve been partying with Kate Moss and Courtney Love, you’ve gone as far as you can go. A few friends ended up in rehab. I was sick of partying anyway and lucky enough to have my family at the right time [he has two daughters with wife Lliana Bird]. It was like: ‘This is what I was looking for!’”

He returns to the theme today, pondering how Bake Off arrived at the right time. “When I got this job, I’d just had my first child, I was painting a lot and had a different lifestyle. This show fitted that phase. You want to match your career to where you are in life. It’s mainstream, family-friendly and my kids love it, so it suits me. I love not partying – and I never thought I’d say that.”

A fellow comic turned artist provides career inspiration. “I’d love to concentrate on art more as I get older. I love what Vic Reeves [Jim Moir] is doing, making art documentaries and his Painting Birds series. Vic and Bob [Mortimer] were a big influence on me. Now he looks genuinely happy. I’d love to do something similar.”

Claudia Winkleman jokes that she gets mistaken for Fielding. Does it happen the other way round? “I did see a trailer for The Traitors out of the corner of my eye and go: ‘I swear I didn’t film that.’ But no, Claudia looks like a beautiful 60s model. I look like a melted candle. A wax model of Roy Orbison that’s been left too near the radiator. It’s flattering for me but harsh on her.”

Earlier this year, Fielding scored a streaming hit with The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin. After wrapping filming on Bake Off, he’s off to shoot the highwayman sitcom’s second series. Has he learned to ride a horse? “I can get on and off, that’s all I need. Luckily it’s a comedy, so I don’t need to look impressive. One thing I enjoyed was that it’s made by Apple, so there’s a bit of a budget. With The [Mighty] Boosh, it was always a financial struggle to bring your vision to life. If you do fantastical stuff, you’re forever going: ‘We want an underwater race with people riding porpoises but that’d be all the budget gone.’ We’d end up using bits of animation to work around it. With Apple, they go: ‘Yeah, we can do that. Fine, let’s blow up a carriage.’ I’m like: ‘What, really? It won’t be a model?’”

He has formed an unlikely double act with Hugh Bonneville, who plays Dick’s thief-catching nemesis. “You can never predict who you’ll have chemistry with. I’ve learned a lot from Hugh. He’s a really skilful comic actor. And Mark Heap, who plays my dad, has the best timing of anyone ever.” As well as starring, Fielding has a writing credit. In the pilot episode, Heap tells him: “You always were a bit weird. Drawing, coming up with funny ideas, wearing strange outfits.” Was that line autobiographical? “I did write that scene, yeah,” admits Fielding.

Slice of history … Fielding (left) with his Mighty Boosh co-star Julian Barratt Photograph: Martin Argles/The Guardian

He also drew the amusingly rubbish “Wanted” posters that appear in the show. “I’d send them to the director and he’d go: ‘No, not bad enough, do another, make it more ridiculous!’ I’d end up doing them left-handed in about 10 seconds.” There’s even a role for his brother Michael, who played Naboo in The Mighty Boosh: “I put my brother in everything I can. He’s not only very funny but it means I get to hang out with him all day.”

While we’re on the Boosh, was he aware that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the comedy troupe’s TV incarnation? “Does it? Oh wow. Me and Julian [Barratt, his comedy partner] were proud of everything the Boosh did – the live shows, radio series, TV show. We probably should have made a film. People wanted more and that would’ve been a nice way to finish. Julian’s the funniest person I’ve ever worked with, hands down.” Of today’s comedy crop, he rates James Acaster highly.

Would the duo ever reform? “What we had together was so special. Comedy double acts are such rare beasts, like unicorns. I’ll probably never meet anyone like that again but I loved it while it lasted. We stopped at the right time, before the quality dipped. The Boosh was all-consuming, like being in a band. It’s difficult to recreate that when you’re older. You don’t have the same drive and energy. As much as I’d love to get back together, I wouldn’t want to do something that wasn’t as good.”

Going from Boosh to Bake Off has been an unexpected journey. “When the Boosh ended, because it had been a cult hit, I wanted to make something more avant garde and experimental to satisfy my art school side. So I did [Channel 4 sketch series] Luxury Comedy. After that, I didn’t know what to do with myself, then Bake Off came along. It was a huge curveball for me. I love that it’s old-fashioned TV. Millions watch it weekly. People come up and talk to me about the latest episode. It feels like being part of British culture. There’s so much choice now, thousands of shows on streaming, but shows like Strictly, Gogglebox and Bake Off somehow still cut through.”

After dismal weather all series, the sun even came out for this year’s final. “It had been raining and storming but as soon as we went to announce the winner, sunshine started beaming down.” Fielding grins. “Bake Off’s like that. There’s something magical about it.”

Guardian, 14.09.2024

[yall-hate-kids-tourney]

Round 5 (main finals): Chara Dreemurr (Undertale) vs. Amane Momose (MILGRAM)

Propaganda below the cut

Chara Dreemurr (?):

They were constantly blamed for killing all of monster kind in the no mercy route, despite players choosing to go that route. People ignored that they sacrificed themselves to attempt to free the monsters from the underground.

----

everyone wants to blame their own actions (genocide route) on chara, who is a literal child. i don’t know how to tell you this but you are the one playing the game. it’s about YOUR CHOICES. chara is there is punish you for that, you killed the only family that ever loved them! how could they not be upset at that! also if you don’t mind, here’s a good video essay on the subject 

Amane Momose (12):

Amane was voted guilty in the first trial so that she would acknowledge her guilt. It backfired, and now she’s considered a threat. Well, everyone is a threat, but nobody’s threat level has been as heavily discussed and debated as hers. Consider the next prisoner in line, Mikoto. He’s objectively more dangerous and cannot be restrained. He beat up the guard in trial 1, and he was able to hold his own when the other guilty prisoners were attacked. But a good incentive to forgive him is so that he will calm down. You know what? That’s a good incentive to forgive Amane too! But she *can* be restrained, so a good portion of the discussion went into how she should be voted guilty so she *will* be restrained and not a threat. Since her vote was a near 50/50, of course a good chunk of the voters expressed dissatisfaction with her forgiven verdict. Some are already planning to vote her guilty for trial 3, calling her a “lost cause”. She hasn’t even done any concrete harm yet. Hold the pitchforks until she actually causes harm, please? And what if she *was* voted guilty in trial 2? We’ve been warned that she will continue to deny our judgement. A second guilty verdict won’t make her better either, and then what? She’d be called a “lost cause” as well. There is no winning with her.

----

Where do I even start? So first of all she’s an cult child who was physically and mentally abused and tortured by her parents and then (presumably) murdered her mother after her mother killed a cat that she took care of.

Now everyone in Milgram is a murderer but when Amane came and her MV showed her murder and circumstance in an admittedly highly fictionalized depiction of it the audience decided to…repeat the cycle of abuse!

She was voted guilty for the main reason of “teaching her” and helping her “realize that she was abused.” I would like to note that this tough love approach is something her parents utilized against her. “We are only doing this to help you.”

So the audience replicates Amane’s abusers and repeats the cycle of abuse and that’s pretty shitty but it isn’t exactly “Fuck Em Kids” level.

And then Trial 2 happened. Cause Amane is bitter and angry and horrifically traumatized so she acts aggressive and hostile. Especially towards another prisoner.

Now, again, everyone here is a fucking murderer (of atleast could be constructed as one) These people being able to Harm is a core concept of this series.

Yet for some reason it feels like people treat Amane as a “delusional creepy kid who wants to kill people” which completly takes away the nuance of her character. She does have the capacity to harm! Everyone here does! She’s not Uniquly Dangerous! She just has a Reason to be Dangerous. A Reason we GAVE HER by REPEATING THE CYCLE OF ABUSE.

In short: In a series full of Murderers I’m honestly a bit pissed that the 12 year old abuse victim is the one who’s treated like the guy from American Pyscho.

----

TL;DR: "We metavoted this abused, indoctrinated child guilty in trial 1, but it didn't work. Now she is a threat to three grown adults: one who is fully free and two whom she has been shown to get along with. Please metavote her guilty again so she will be restrained and unable to attack them, even though that means subjecting her to further psychological torture." Amane Momose is the youngest of ten murderers, prisoners of Milgram who are to be judged innocent (forgiven) or guilty (unforgiven). In the first interrogation (voice drama), she said that what she did was in line with her religion's doctrines. If we judged her the "wrong way", she said she will just deny the verdict. Combining the voice drama and music video, you could piece together that she was raised in a cult and abused, even though she is cheerful and downplays her pain. She never shows *who* she killed, only *why* she did. After the first day of her vote, she was 81% innocent, but this wouldn't last the whole three months. Many people voted her guilty so she would "see her sins", part of the practice commonly known as "metavoting". Her innocent percentage rapidly decreased, and she hit guilty in the last 15 days, finishing at 51% guilty. At the end of the first trial, Jackalope (who is something like a host) went over all the prisoners' verdicts and commented on the general reasoning. When he got to Amane, he *laughed* at the audience for voting that way to make her realize her sins. Trial 2 rolled around, and it was revealed that Amane's victim was her abuser. On day one, she was at 74% innocent. Seems like a cut-and-dry case now, right? Well... in the intermission, two of the prisoners (Fuuta and Mahiru) were badly beaten up and became reliant on the care of Shidou, a doctor. Amane became hostile to Shidou because what he was doing was against her beliefs. She visited all three of them on their birthdays to convince them to change their ways. She seems to be especially close to Fuuta, who is now murmuring about salvation. Guilty prisoners are psychologically tortured, forced to listen to voices that reject their beliefs. Fuuta and Mahiru both say that the mental strain is worse than their physical injuries. But Amane, who also looks worse for wear, was thrown under the bus because she isn't injured and is considered a physical threat to them (never mind that she gets along with them). She's considered a threat to Shidou, a grown man who is twice her size and fully free, while she is partially restricted by the long sleeves in her trial 2 uniform. She might indoctrinate Fuuta even though, in a prison of ten people and one guard, she's the only voice of her cult. Fortunately, she got a break. Her vote was falling at a similar rate to the first trial. But this time, it stabilized at 51% innocent, 12 days before the end of her vote. But there's no way this is over.

[purgemarchlockdown]

On Narratives, Victim Dichotomies and Amane’s Voting

(Also Known as: I'm sick of not being opinionated on my blog about opinions, lets talk about narratives)

(CW: Child Abuse, Cults, Child Death)

(Disclaimer: As I can imagine there’s probably going to be a lot of people reacting defensively to this so what I'm stating Right Now is that I Do Not Believe that most people voting Amane Guilty is doing it because they believe her abuse was justified. This is not, at all, designed to be an accusatory post.)

So a few days ago I read the “MILGRAM” x “Clock over ORQUESTA” interview which you can read right here.

It’s a really interesting interview and I recommend reading the whole thing but the one that caught my attention was this part.

Yamanaka: That's a difficult question... I'm always conscious of emotional control in my work, but in “MILGRAM”, the content has more live feeling to it. So the story progresses realistically based on the presence of the audience. I think I used a different brain than I have been using to create works up until now, I see it as necessary to think very three-dimensionally. I'm currently trying to turn the audience into characters in my work.

This was really interesting to read and made me immediately think of Amane’s voting.

So Amane’s voting situation is currently trending downwards, even with the initial boost from Double she's been going down slowly recently. This is in stark contrast to the large amount of innocent votes she originally got when Purge March released the first time.

Now the reason I connected the two is that I've noted a narrative being formed between the audience and Amane, specifically, an abuse narrative.

The Text

Let's take a step back to the T1 voting landscape, one that I was admittedly was not apart but I do however know what happened. Amane was voted guilty to make her better and to help her realize that the cult was bad and hurting her. Jackalope acknowledges this intent in the T2 and is dismissive about that idea.

Jackalope: It doesn’t matter whether it’s a child or whatever, when you commit a crime… what? Jackalope: ...Why are you making that face? Jackalope: Are you thinking “I want her to realize her sins" Jackalope: No no, no way…

This verdict comes right after Es Restraining her in the T1 VD. Something Physically Violent that causes her an intense amount of Distress. You can hear her struggle during it, with her breathing heavily and her tone of voice becoming panicked and scared.

In this part she's even surprised that Es would be violent like this.

(Translation)

Amane: What is it? Are you resorting to violence?

Now most people in general would become panicked and scared when restrained. But considering Amane most likely has Experience in being restrained to be harmed, something that we have evidence for in Magic due to the punishment sequences. There is a good chance that Amane was Triggered during this moment.

Amane is in a noticeably worse mood after this, wanting to start a fight with Mikoto.

21/04/16 

Amane: ………… Mikoto: Oh, welcome back Amane! ……what’s with the grim face? Ah, right, the guard summoned you! How was it? Did you cry? I bet you were so scared you cried, right!? Amane: ……alright then. If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get. Mikoto: Huh? Oooi! Hey, are you listening?? Ooooi!

Now this is a T1 Amane, and no matter how blunt or even "bratty" T1 Amane could get, she is never outright aggressive except for this moment. Even when she feels threatened and patronized by Shidou she doesn't react with aggression but frustration, first trying to explain to him why it feels bad when he does that and when he ignores that, saying she'll find someone else to teach her.

Plus, due to information from T2 we can assume aggression is not approved of in her cult. This is the only moment in T1 we see her be outright aggressive towards someone. Right after being physically restrained by Es, and Mikoto antagonizing her by invalidating her feelings.

When Amane got that guilty verdict she was confirmed something, that Es was Willing and Able to Physically Hurt Her. When the restraints from the T2 Guilty Verdict came it also meant that Es and the other prisoners who were innocent are in a position to harm her with her being unable to fight back.

Not only that but the ideal we were denying when that verdict came down was not her cult...it's her "sin" that sin being her Will To Live.

It's easy to believe that what we deny in T1 and T2 is her cult, that's the most obvious thing after all and that's what Amane brings up in her T1 VD.

Amane: Ah, I am looking forward to it! Seeing whether your judgement will align with that of these higher standards! If that is the case, maybe Milgram would be the right world for us to live in, rather than the outside world! Milgram relies on your judgement, isn’t that right? In that case, you could become the mediator for a far more righteous world!!

And to some extent we are denying her cult by giving her this verdict! However, that isn't the main thing Amane is asking us.

In the T1 VD the main thing Amane is concerned about is the concept of "free will" and how "seriously" her feelings are being taken.

A: I see. Then, are the things that I as a twelve-year-old think irrelevant? Are you going to cast aside the feelings that I know I have in this very moment, purely based on the fact that I have not yet lived for a very long time? Judging these things based on someone’s age will not take you very far. Do I, at age twelve, not have my own will? Does Muu-san, at age 16, have more of a free will than I do? Does Yuno-san, at age 18, have more of a free will? Does Fuuta-san, at age 20, have an entirely free will?

If we're breaking this down to the basic concept, this is the question Amane is asking us.

"Do my wants and feelings matter even if I'm a child?"

Magic gives us one response to this. No.

Magic treats Amane's pain as "comedic." With Amane being portrayed as childish for reacting so negatively to it. Her wants and feelings Don't Matter. It isn't a big deal. Why are you being so sensitive about it? We're just trying to help you.

This is important to consider when it comes to the questions Amane asks her god, and the Audience.

Dear wise one, Is this ok? Is it ok to be weak sometimes? I promise! A good girl that keeps a promise is like, mwah! I won’t say “I’ve had enough” Will you laugh with me and forgive me?I take an oath! I can only become a better girl!

Is it alright to be weak? Can you forgive me for being weak? Is it alright that I Did This?

Amane never stops singing this, and she never declares herself a "good girl" In Magic and not only that, she rejects the Idea She Could Be One in the Fist Place.

Only if, only if, only if I could be a good girl I hope, I hope everyone can be happy and smile Forever, forever together would be a dream

"Only if" a condition, the requirement being Amane be good. And yet she's treating it like a dream, something unachievable and unreachable.

Now where did I get "will to live" from? It's not something super noticeable in Magic but if we go to the interrogations...

T1 Q12: What is the meaning of life? A: I think it is something you learn for the first time when you look behind yourself when it ends. I do not want to have regrets then, so I live on with all my might.

There it is!

As we know, Amane was been waterboarded

beaten

sleep deprived

electrocuted.

And also has No Medicine or Vaccinations, and is possibly malnourished since her vegetarian diet might not be Planned Properly and thus can't provide her with the nutrients she needs (though that's speculation on my part.)

She most likely has a weak immune system due to the amount of Stress she's been under for most of her life, and lack of sleep can also weaken your immune system. Not to mention she isn't immunized against diseases...like the flu. Which Can Kill You, especially if you have a comprised immune system and No Vaccines.

Not only that, waterboarding, physical beatings and electrocution aren't exactly things your body is designed to survive, especially with no Medical Care. Waterboarding can kill since it's Simulating Drowning and if there's no oxygen in the lungs you Suffocate, Beating...beats you, electrocution sends electricity Through Your Body, and even if the voltage is Low it can and has Killed People.

These are all very dangerous things to go through, especially without any sort of medical care. So when Amane says that, she says that with the knowledge that she could have died, many, many ways, and many, many times.

These we're all done to "save her" to" purify her sinful soul" and Amane has gone on record to describe this as "Love"

T2 Q2: Do you believe you were loved? A: Very much deeply.

And has also gone on to define love as "mercy"

T2 Q9: What does love mean to you? A: To spread mercy with no limits.

To spread mercy with no limits...like being a child perhaps? Even if your a child, you can be granted "mercy" and "salvation?"

(Jackalope: It doesn’t matter whether it’s a child or whatever, when you commit a crime… what?)

These actions were done to "help her" and would have Killed her.

Now, we didn't know about Amane's mother in T1 and admittedly there was not much evidence of her being the victim before T2. However we Do have evidence it was life or death...because Amane was horrifically punished before committing the crime in ways that could have actually killed.

The implication here is clear. If Amane doesn't Do Something she is going to die. It's not a question of If, it's a question of When.

When she asks god if its okay to be weak, when she asks the Audience if its okay to be weak. She is asking if it was alright to Choose Herself over "What is Right." And we said No.

The Audience

Now, you might be feeling some dread now. I am at least and I'm writing this damn thing. The intention of the T1 Guilty Verdict was to "help her" and yet through that it has repeated a pattern of abuse. In our actions we have punished her so she can "learn" and pushed her closer towards a possible death (the death penalty.)

So when T2 Amane rolls around she's aggressive, unwilling to listen, has doubled down on methods of self-punishment and her cult's world view, is physically restrained and presumably punished in other ways, hears voices telling her she's wrong, and is Self Isolating.

This is Really Bad. We've put her in a state that resembles how she acted in her abusive environment, and it is Our Fault. Let's not weasel our way out of this, this entire series is built on that idea that the actions of the audience have consequences.

As Barfsunny even pointed out, The T2 Amane Cover art resembles the scene in Magic where she "punishes her Mother."

And since she's facing the Audience, we are being put in the Role of Her Mother.

The same person who did this to her:

We are, to her, reminiscent of her abusers.

If we go back to how Amane reacts to Threats, she is notably only aggressive when she's being Threatened and Cornered.

We can see this with Es and how they restrain and have authority over her. We can see this when Mikoto antagonizes her and her feelings, we can see this in Shidou when he patronizes and invalidates her feelings.

22/10/24 (Shidou’s Birthday)

Amane: I warned you. I can no longer turn a blind eye to this wickedness taking place right in front of us. You’re bringing ruin unto yourself. Do you understand? Shidou: No, I don’t understand. It’s my job as an adult to teach you that throwing a temper tantrum isn’t going to make everything go your way. If it’s a test of endurance you want, I’m happy to oblige, Amane.

And we can see this in the Audience in how we voted her guilty and decided that she should Be Hurt.

Now that we've established our connection to her abusers...let's talk about that Dichotomy I mentioned in the title and how Purge March (and Milgram as a whole) purposefully plays into it.

Victim Dichotomies.

So what do I mean by this? Well it's very common in fiction and audience reactions to categorizes victims as either "good" or "bad." With good victims often being appealing, pitiful and a naturally "good person", while bad victims are aggressive, unappealing and tend to do "Bad Things."

Now these are subjective terms, since...morality is subjective. But it is a trend in both fiction and fan spaces to categorize victims using a sense of what's morally justifiable or not. I was in the Steven Universe Fandom, that was/is a Thing There.

Now, let be clear here, there are absolutely destructive, harmful, maladaptive, ways of coping with trauma. However Moral Catagorization of it is neither productive nor constructive, it just makes it easier to demonize people for not "handling" their trauma properly.

This is relevant to Amane because she is repeatedly portrayed as "scary" in her MV.

Look at the use of lighting and framing, the camera being positioned slightly lower to make the audience feel smaller, a constant shadow on the band members faces that makes them feel...well...cast in shadow. The bright light of the eyes feeling inhuman and unnatural, the dark lighting of the room feeling ominous. With a white figure standing in front of a dead body.

This is what you do when your trying to portray something as "scary" or even "evil."

Amane: Both pain and illness are trials. According to our teachings, those who run from them are the worst evil there is. That’s one of the four great principles. No matter who you are, that cannot be forgiven. Amane: Oh – speaking of which, there is one among the prisoners right now. An evil existence that’s trying to steal people’s trials away from them.

Running away from pain, Amane? Stealing away people's trails for them, Amane? Like choosing to save yourself from being punished again? Like choosing to help a cat?

Not only that but the lyrics of Purge March is this:

The “It can’t be helped”, from the scum who can’t be helped That makes them doubtlessly, clearly, absolutely, unequivocally, beyond any doubt, GUILTY I disavow you, eyes corrupted must be crushed So nary a sound can be uttered a second time, I’ll crush your throat too

This is undeniably a revenge song. This is Amane Momose's Revenge Song. Her fantasies about being able to be the one punishing this time and not having to be in pain again are at full front here. She Wants to hurt her mother.

You are supposed to be Scared of Amane Momose. This is the Expected Audience Reaction.

Shidou is brought up in her VD, both for foreshadowing purposes and to make you Anxious. Amane wants to hurt Shidou, Amane wants to hurt Shidou. A constant reminder of the possible consequences of Letting Her Go Unpunished. If you don't punish her Now she could hurt someone Later.

Once again, we are being put in the position of her abuser. Only this time there really is a few things at stake.

Though I will like to mention, most likely the only reason why Amane was able to kill her mother in the first place is because she had two weapons, the umbrella and the taser.

Something that was brought to my attention by deerlydreaming is that you can actually hear the Buzzing and crackling of the taser throughout Purge March. Most notably it becomes A Constant Part of the Instrumental at the end. That Taser is most likely what Amane used to prevent her mother from escaping her before continuing to murder her. This makes sense because Amane is probably physically weak and twelve years old.

And while Amane Can catch Shidou off-guard. Shidou not only wants to live because he needs to Help People, the rest of the prisoners are aware of her hostile intentions towards him. He is not Safe by any means, and Mahiru is still being threatened, but he is Not In As Much Danger as you might think at first.

And, Notably, characters like Yuno and Fuuta, who are involved in the medicine, are treated patiently by Amane. Even if she's a bit rude or unwilling to talk, Amane is willing to answer their questions and give them advice. This is not Just About the medicine.

I mentioned that Shidou makes Amane feel threatened already, but the anxiety from Mahiru is probably because she and Shidou parallel her parents. I talk about it a bit more over here but the jist is not only does Mahiru have notable lyrical parallels with Amane and similarities in world view (Love = Pain.) Mahiru has also asked Amane about her parents.

20/07/06

Amane: You want to know about my family……? My father is a truly wonderful person. He’s honest, values fairness and justice above all else, and will work himself to the bone for other people’s sake……. Why do you want to know? Mahiru: Oh, I was just wondering what sort of parents you must have for them to have raised such a good child like you. Fufu, I’ll keep it in mind for the future when I raise my own family. Amane: I see. If it will be of use to you, I’ll tell you more. It’s still a long way off for me, but for someone your age the prospect of finding a partner and having a family must be feeling a lot more real. Now that I think about it, I recall my mother was around your age when she gave birth to me……

Mahiru is both around the age her mother gave birth to Amane And thinks of her as a good child and wants to use them as examples for how to raise "good children."

This is why Amane wants her dead but also wants her to be apart of her family, she's less condescending and hurtful so Amane has some positive feelings towards her but she still reminds her of someone that Hurt Her, badly. Muddying it a bit.

My overall point though is, Amane plays into the good victim/bad victim dichotomy. She's a bad victim, a bad kid, not good enough. She's scary and bad and childish. She's not an "ideal" victim.

This connects back into her cat imagery. Where Amane is portrayed as the Cat.

(Purge March Cat having Different Injuries gets to me)

Let's all note that the bow and medal are two consistent parts of her costuming and they are her collar, and that she also has a collar in her prison uniform.

The cat is repeatedly conflated with sin and impurity, both here and in other instances of the cat. There's another cat in Magic and that cat is Collared, implying that cats Need to be collared or else they'll do something "bad" unlike all the other animals who can walk without them.

Cats need to be Restrained and Domesticated.

Or else they will do "sinful actions."

(Don't we all love the dehumanization of the vulnerable? Im personally fond of it, please let her become an actual monster in T3 Milgram Im begging you-)

This isn't the first time Milgram has done this! They did this with both Haruka and Muu!

Haruka is portrayed notably creepier in AKAA than Weakness. While Muu is portrayed so pitiful in After Pain and then In It's Not My Fault...well...

I told you I’m queen, and it’s always the same God gave me everything, everything is as I wish

(Using MV translation for the sake of clarity)

And again, not to say these behaviors aren't destructive, harmful and maladapative. I'd for one say Muu is Very self-destructive in her behavior and shoots good things for herself in the foot. But the point is that these characters Also play with the concept of being a "good victim" and a "bad victim."

And of course, if your not good enough, you will be punished.

Conclusion

I'd say something about voting here but I think its really obvious what I want people to vote Amane as. But more importantly I think its important to consider what narrative the story is trying to tell. What is trying to make you Feel and Why. There is a meta-commentary here about the way society treats vulnerable people. Especially ones who are considered "unappealing." It's...remarkably easier, to punish someone that's been hurt once it's been decided they aren't "good" enough. And I think that's important to consider when voting.

[shinobus-unbreakable-spirit]

How would Muzan, douma and akaza feel if their s/o was like ace in justice league? (from the royal flush gang) being cheated out of their childhood thanks to non-consensual testing and being made into a weapon... it can really mess someone up, you know?

Hmmm! I haven't ever seen Justice League, but I looked up Ace's wikia page and have familiarized myself with this concept. This is a really, really interesting ask, thanks!

So, the way I'm going to tackle this is by going through each of those three demons one by one and saying how they would feel and behave in this situation, where their S/O was tested on as a child and basically used for the purpose of destruction, not even allowed to be their own person.

I hope this is to your liking! :D

Muzan

From the moment Muzan found out about his S/O's childhood, he would remain calm and simply ask where those scientists are now. When his S/O tells him the whereabouts of the lab, he'd disappear in the blink of an eye, and return moments later, bloodied.

His S/O would be in shock; eyes wide, hardly able to process what's in front of them. Muzan would place a hand on their cheek, cold, but smooth like velvet, then utter: "The ones who caused you harm have been dealt with," he'd kiss them delicately on the forehead. "You are mine, and I won't let anyone harm what's mine."

Muzan would have a sense of possessiveness towards his partner and a love for them that meant he would dispense with anyone who harmed them, even if it was years ago or even if their partner told him not to. Simply put, he doesn't believe anyone who hurt what's his should walk this earth unpunished.

Douma

In a weird way, Douma would relate to his S/O in this situation. It's different, but he was robbed of his childhood as well; his parents made him the symbol of their cult starting from when he was a toddler, and thus, he could never be a normal kid. Therefore, he would be empathetic towards his S/O's past, and show a new side of himself.

Typically, Douma is playful and doesn't take life too seriously, but he would be more pensive as his S/O reveals their past, holding them close to his chest and looking down at them with a slight frown on his face. When they have told all, he would just be sad, saying how pathetic humans are to use one of their young as a weapon. He would kiss his S/O, then open up to them about his past as well; how he was used as the mascot for a cult, and how this affected him growing up, that he wasn't allowed to play with other children or do anything he wanted at all. He would say something like, "It seems we have more in common than either of us ever thought, my love."

However, in Douma fashion, he would find a playful silver lining to the situation which is that neither of them had a childhood, so they can make up for it now by never losing their inner-child. After all, they didn't get to be children before, so why not make up for it now? He would remain his playful self around his S/O, hoping that his childlike nature would continue to make up for lost time, even if just a little.

Akaza

Akaza is just about the most protective man alive, so upon finding out about his S/O's past, he would be furious. Initially, he would have the desire to track down and kill every single one of the people who had been responsible for putting his S/O through that. However, his S/O would be able to dissuade him by telling him that it's not worth it. He'd say something along the lines of: "You're right. heavy sigh I just... Can't bear to think of what you must be going through, I wish I could make it all go away."

His S/O is the love and light of his life, everything he does is in devotion to them. Thus, knowing what happened to them and not being able to do anything about it would eat him up inside. Akaza would always be a protective and doting partner, but I feel like after finding out about his S/O's past, he would become even more protective as he doesn't want them to hurt again. He would do his best to help his partner heal from their past, but without putting any unrealistic expectations on them to heal fully. He'll patiently be by their side the entire way through.

-----------------------------

This was an intriguing subject to write about! Thank you for this ask, and I hope you enjoyed it!

<3

[lais-a-ramos]

so, i don't know much this fits into today's theme for lottielee weekend, "day 1: missing/extended scene", but...😅

yesterday i was talking with some discord server friends about the theme of belonging in yellowjackets, and it made me want to expand a bit on how important the relationship between lottie and laura lee is even if they had a relatively short time together in season 1 (if i remember correctly, the showrunners said they abandoned any attempt at tracing an outline for teen timeline, but, as some might know now with those leaked scripts from a few months ago, they spent only three days as each other's People, so, a really short time!!!!)

lottielee is such an special ship, not bc it's "healthier" or whatever, especially since it isn't healthier than any other yellowjackets ship lol

it's special bc lottie spent her whole life feeling like she is an error of nature due to all the psychophobia/sanism that she has faced due to her psychosis episodes and schizophrenia diagnosis, and then comes this girl saying that she is not an error but that she is a gift from God.

and, sure, yellowjackets is a horror story, so that ends up being the catalyst for the tragedy that comes later.

actually, yellowjackets not only draws inspiration from horror, but it seems like it also draws a lot of inspiration specifically from Gothic fiction and literature as it's defined on the Wikipedia entry, especially the parts on how Gothic fiction "is characterized by an environment of fear, the threat of supernatural events, and the intrusion of the past upon the present", how "the depiction of horrible events in Gothic fiction often serves as a metaphorical expression of psychological or social conflicts", how "the form of a Gothic story is usually discontinuous and convoluted, often incorporating tales within tales, changing narrators, and framing devices such as discovered manuscripts or interpolated histories" and how "especially in the late 19th century, Gothic fiction often involved demons and demonic possession, ghosts, and other kinds of evil spirits".

so, with that type of inspiration, it was obvious that things would have a tragic end, which is lottie's downward spiral into cult leader precisely due to this new-found confidence in her visions inspired by laura lee's faith in her.

still, that dynamic, that idea of being moved by someone that tells you that you're not an error of nature and growing attached to then even if for a relatively short time, that is something that's so fragile and so...Human.

and, also, there's a parallel there to be made with queerness, yet another thing that systematic oppression treats as nature's mistake, and how much relief it can bring when someone makes sure that it is not.

as for laura lee, we can't say that it's something that is one-sided on lottie's part.

we can see in pool scene that she feels disconnected from the other ppl in church, as much as lottie herself seems to feel disconnected from her large but empty mansion; actually, that she feels so disconnected to the point of attempting to take her own life, or, at least, some form of self-harm by diving into the shallow end.

and, as jane widdop themself has said in their interview to the yellowjackets buzz podcast, pool scene was a result of laura lee having a similar immaturity to cope with emotions to what the other girls had at doomcoming, which adds to the idea that it was an impulsive act of desperation, a mental health struggle which was received by her peers as just proof she needed to have "more faith" bc she survived the not-so-accidental "accident".

there is a parallel to be made with queerness here as well, actually, with how oftenly queer Christians are told by conservatives that if they have "more faith" they will be "fixed".

so, lottie going after her asking for advice, it was probably the first time she ever felt like someone has seen her and genuinely took her seriously.

the first time someone really took their time to actually listen to what she had to say.

so, we have these two girls who are so fucking starved for validation.

and they met each other, and, for a moment, they belonged together before death (an very strange plane explosion with literally no spark or other catalyst for the fire, to be more specific) did them part, and that is tragic, and melancholic, and so so painfully human...

anyways...

lottielee is a such a raw and fantastic dynamic and i could spend hours talking about them 😅

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 173 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: cutting the French tamarisk in my garden. (Speaking of cutting, I’m going to put only one bullet point instead of three before the cut because the first two are so damn long...)

JON: "Look, I would just really like to get through here as quickly as possible." MARTIN: "How come? This one seems like the quietest place we’ve been in a while – it’s just rows and rows of quiet houses. I mean, I know some people don’t like that sort of thing, but – (slight laugh) – I’m actually finding it kind of relax–" JON: (cutting him off) "Martin. Please." [ALL OF A SUDDEN, IT’S APPARENT HE’S BREATHING HEAVILY.] Hm, thinking a bit more about the background why Jon sounds so panicked here. Like really, reaaaally in distress. I somehow can't imagine it's just about Martin not finding out where they are and what this is. So is this domain doing something to him? In what way, the fear usually feels right to him. Is it the knowledge that the fear of children feels good to him and he doesn't want that? Being reminded once in a while that it is the suffering of others that feeds him? One could argue that he kind of got used to that by now and he gets a bit of a wake-up call here.

JON: "The Eye prefers the more complex neuroses and disquiets of a fully developed mind. So the children are allowed to age – and they are placed into domains where their fears can… mature." Remembering there was something about no pets/children will be harmed in TMA, I think? (Sorry, Gertrude's cat I guess.) Is there more to this "Eye prefers more complex fears" or is it simply done for the audience to get info that they are growing out of their childhood, so no child is harmed? (This has been done before, making a comment that no child came to harm. MAG 97, there were no children in Bucoda, so they couldn't die in the pit. MAG 125, none of the victims of that Slaughter Leitner had children). What begs the question, is the suffering of some people more okay than that of others? Ah, it's fine though, they didn't have children? (regarding MAG 125 e.g.) Or where's the limit to childhood? 13? 14? 15? 16? 17? 18 you're legally not a minor anymore though I very much didn't feel all that different than 16. (What did feel different was that everything suddenly wanted money from me just because I hit that magic mark although I was still in school - damn you, Capitalism!!) This was venturing a bit into the territory of MAG 155 though and not so much what this is about here, I just enjoy moral debates as one might have noticed from my MAG 155 relisten post ^^’’ So returning a bit to the topic, actually I didn't really have the impression that the victims here are not children. The screams sound like children. The statement seems like childish fears. Parents are mentioned... (so the kids on Night Street are joining Gertrude's cat here, I guess xD)

MARTIN: "Anyone who’s chosen to spend their apocalypse tormenting children – God, you need to end them. Now." The one who torments children: Is a child Martin: Surprised Pikachu face

MARTIN: "This is that kid Basira went after last year, right? The one the darkness cult took. So, So that’s not even a kid, that’s whatever was inside Maxwell Rayner; it’s just wearing his body!" [JON INHALES.] JON: (calling) "Callum!" Callum: Whatever was inside Rayner died with him and besides, I was an asshole before this. Martin: Surprised Pikachu face Guess what, kids can be assholes.

MARTIN: "I want you to use your power. I want you to help them; I want you to make things better!" Jon's power. The one he gets from a Dread Power. Dread! Which is at its best passive. Yeah, he got Martin out of this Lonely state he was in in MAG 159, but there is no snapping out of it in this new world anymore. There are no nuances. It's either causing fear, or feeling fear. Martin really is not up to date on how all this works. It makes sense, he is a few steps behind. Steps Jon already made when the world was still normal. (But yeah, I love the trope of trying to use evil powers for good and it does, naturally, backfire horribly because these powers are designed to cause suffering.)

"Is it because he is brave enough to fight the monsters? No. Jack is scared all the time. The world is so big and the night is so long, and the monsters are waiting under the bed and in the closet and down the hallway and in the street and round the corner and behind him." Oh, love the pace picking up here. It's getting this chasing rhythm.

"Her mother is downstairs, but she is part of the sofa now. She won’t stop staring at the television and laughing. Laughing and laughing." Haha, yeah, gotta love the TV zombies xD Do we have a word for them? That generation was quick to call the younger generation with smartphones “smombie”, while they themselves melt plenty into the sofa hypnotized by the TV in front of them. And then they just put a tablet (or a smartphone), the thing they condemn so much, in front of their children for them to watch YouTube so they don't have to play with their children... Sorry, this turned a bit into a rant about hypocrisy. Furthermore this is a domain of the Dark, but there is actually another fear in there. The parents not helping. Bit of Lonely? Or what would you say? This is also something that already dips a bit into the “matured fear”. When you’re a kid, you (usually) have grown-ups to stick up for you. When you’re the grown-up you gotta stick up for yourself and that can be very scary.

JON: "Is that enough for you? Do you need to hear more? See Luka. See Luka sleep –" MARTIN: (cutting in) "No, no, no; that’s enough!" [A JANGLING AS HE – REACHES OVER?] MARTIN (CONT’D): "That’s enough." [PAUSE.] [A FEW STEPS.] [THEN, CLOTHING SOUNDS AS JON SPEAKS:] JON: "Thank you for not hitting me this time." [A PAUSE THAT STRETCHES ON FOR THE SPAN OF THREE HEAVY BREATHS.] It's so interesting that this call out is phrased in a positive way. Highlighting, that now Martin has done it right rather then telling him what he did wrong before. But there is definitely hurt in Jon’s voice and Martin not reacting feels like he's taking time to consider what his actions really did to Jon and then stays silent out of shame. Also what did he do this time? Just pat Jon's arms? Shake him?

@a-mag-a-day

[humaforever]

@panthera-tigris-venenata I'm mildly sure this may not have been what you meant but it's what happened when I started writing. Kinda based it off your story. I hope you enjoy.

_______________________________

Seven Deadly Sins:

Uma is quite possibly the most powerful person on the isle. She has deals with everyone. But even though she knows everyone, she's possessive when it comes to certain people. Very possessive.

Harry is cunning, charming, and flirtatious. He has the looks, but the madness is always what shines the brightest. He's a damn good fighter and crazy as hell. A perfect mix with his utmost loyalty and willingness to kill for anyone he loves. But with that comes a certain jealousy.

Claudine is hidden in the shadows. She keeps her head down. Maybe if she hides she'll be able to avoid all the sins around her. Her father makes her feel like a mistake because she is disobedient. She tries not to be, she tries to avoid the fires of chaos. But when it's the people that start those fires who seem to make her feel like she's worth something, well it's hard to avoid the flames. Especially when blood can be so pretty, blades can be so pretty, people can be so pretty, oh and by God forgive her for thinking about how pretty women can be.

There is a clear outlier here. Where Uma and Harry flaunt all their confidence and power, Claudine tries to be invisible. After all pride is a sin, a deadly one. Where Harry and Uma display their affection and desire so publicly and proudly, Claudine would never do such a thing with someone, after all lust is a sin, a deadly one. While Uma and Harry promise the blood and screams of anyone who dare hurt or insult them or even worse, the other, Claudine wouldn't, (she shouldn't) even think about harming or hurting another soul. After all wrath is a sin, a deadly one.

So when Claudine saw Uma's jealousy and possessiveness as Harry flirted with another person, well she just assumed they were sinning again-

Envy.

Never upon her wildest dreams did Claudine think she would get involved too.

Uma kissed her. And unfortunately, Claudine didn't hate it.

Lust.

Harry watched with prying eyes as the bitterness grew within him.

Wrath.

Claudine was in a haze of desire and confusion as Uma walked away from her like nothing happened to rub it in Harry's face.

Greed.

Both Harry and Uma were too drunk and too cocky right now to admit that they were in the wrong.

Pride.

And it was all because of Claudine. All the drama surrounded her. She had just unwillingly, been in the center of five out of seven deadly sins.

Confusion was swirling. How did Claudine Frollo possibly get caught up with Harry and Uma? She couldn't be more different from them.

Claudine was the most confused. Uma was unfazed, this was nothing new for her. Harry didn't care either, well he didn't care about Claudine, he cared every last bit about Uma. How rude that they didn't seem to care that the other girl was having a life crisis.

Harry is beautiful. But he can be a real bitch.

Now Uma, she's gorgeous. But she caused one hell of a mess just because she didn't know how to properly deal with 'feelings'

Claudine would like to think that she is definitely not a bitch and she absolutely knows how to deal with her emotions. But she is wrong, and that is where the three of them have a mutuality.

In fact, Claudine is wrong about a lot of things in her life because she is in denial. But Uma and Harry see that she is just as sinful as them.

Actually, she's worse than them, simply because she believes she's not. Harry and Uma are proud of who they are, they are happy to defy the rules, they revel in the fact that people are scared of them, and they aren't afraid of each other's love. Claudine is simply just jealous.

Claudine believes that the Lost Revenge is a cult. They have strange practices. They seem to worship a goddess. Harry even prays to her, with every breath he prays to her. He lays down his life before her. He follows her every wish.

But it begs the question, if the Lost Revenge is a cult, then what is Claudine's religion? The lines are becoming blurred.

Did Harry have the right idea? The chances of Harry's Goddess saving everyone were high. The chances of Claudine's God saving everyone seemed slim to none, where was he now?

Did she even actually believe it was possible? Her father's ideals and church brought her pain. Uma's brought hope.

But see, Uma was making Claudine have a crisis. Clearly. Or maybe the turmoil was always there and Uma set it free.

Harry was making it hard to accept though. Because he's a stubborn, loyal, devoted bitch that is completely and utterly in love with Uma and he couldn't see that she could be at fault for anything so he was blaming Claudine.

It would be nice if he could learn how to share. Except Claudine shouldn't want Harry to share. She shouldn't want Uma. And she shouldn't be mad at Harry either, she couldn't blame him, anyone would do the same thing. She would do the same thing.

Uma kept Harry safe and grounded, she made him feel like he could do anything. Harry kept Uma from spiraling and giving up. He made her feel loved.

Claudine didn't know how to be someone's anchor and she didn't want to be. But when she watched them a part of her wished she had one. But her father was adiment that she had no will power to do anything and she was unlovable.

When Claudine accidentally became the drama she was confused and disgusted by the pirates immoral behavior. Until she saw a glimpse.

Claudine saw the pirate crews on the docks and she wanted to be apart of it. She wanted to be accepted and have a family that protected her. She wanted to have fun and drink and party. She wanted to let parts of herself free that she had hidden away. It was the complete opposite of her life and the conservative mind set that was fed to her. But that's why it seemed perfect.

It was wrong though. It was so good but it was wrong. And Claudine didn't know how to handle the contradicting thoughts in her mind.

Uma is a queen, the people love her for who she is.

Harry is a pirate, crazy but he is sure of himself, he's not afraid of others opinions.

Claudine is a disciple, she doesn't get any say over herself, she is told what she can and cannot be. And truthfully, she hates herself for it.

Claudine is so fucking ready to sin.

[drachliebe]

🌙 drachliebe . an independent , selective , canon-divergent dual-muse blog for t.abaluga & lilli . mixed media & verse-dependent portrayal . protected by jam .

⭐ themes : finding your fire , forbidden friendships , to be loved is to be changed , & how our childhood friends are the loves of our lives ...

tblga & lilli ( album 3 ) // blogroll // mobile friendly links in progress!

rules & credits below cut :

patience is a virtue . please forgive me if i’m slow or if a thread slips my mind . don’t be shy to speak up about it after a day or three as long as you’re polite ! just understand that i am a student & work on the weekdays so that takes a lot of my time irl .

semi-selective and oc / multimuse / multiverse friendly! personals feel free to follow and send in asks , just please don’t reblog headcanons and threads . ( i’m greatly flattered that you enjoy my writing ! it’s just not the place for that )

 we  follow  the  golden  rule  of  rp  etiquette  here : do  no  harm ,  take  no  nonsense .   i  don't  associate  w/  taboos  surrounding  pedophilia ,  incest ,  hatred  towards  any  group  of  people ,  disrespect  of  religion ,  &  so  forth .   please  be  kind  to  one  another .

my muses are minors , their oldest age being 15 . this blog won't contain smut nor are the muses open for romantic ships , as they're either too young or in a relationship w/ each other . Otherwise , I'm very open for non-romantic ships!! mun is 21+ years & would prefer to interact with writers over 18 , but i’m generally lenient .

 content warnings including :   death &  grief , totalitarianism / cult-like rule , war , toxic familial dynamics , contemplations of mortality / existentialism ,  & some light religious / spiritual iconography .  i personally have no triggers or squiks . 

 i am  ( unfortunately ) incapable of not putting my 2 cents in when writing , so consider this to blog to be   canon-divergent / headcanon based .   my interpretation of the kiddos also may vary a lot depending on the verse they’re in ! the  default!verse  primarily follows the  OG musical’s storyline , the  show!verse  follows the  90s cartoon variant , & the  film!verse  follows the  2018 movie .   if you have a preference to which you'd want to use to write with , please let me know !

Obligatory disclaimer that i obviously don’t own the characters from the franchise , this is solely done for my own fun . 

credits : header . icons . psd .

[angelnumber1]

Scum Villain Self Saving System mini fic for the Himbo in SVSSS AU I’ve been discussing with @rarepears

Contains vaguely NSFW content and features OCs (Original Characters)

(The NSFW is comedic in nature)

I... was really really lost. Like. I don’t even know the language lost.

Calls don’t work lost.

Weird animals and plants lost.

Some other thing that shows how lost I am lost.

But I still have Wi-Fi? But maps don’t work. It’s all in Chinese right now. Weird.

It’s just. Like.

I know I’m from America, melting pot and all, but this is just weird!

There’s no way crazy cult villages are THAT close to college right?!

Well… at least all this running makes for a good workout. Though I’ll need some fuel soon, track team’ll kill me if I pull a Devon.

Oh right! I’ve got some of those off-brand meat sticks one of the clubs were selling!

They really fucked up the shape though.

Well. It’s nearly sunset so I can use the stars or something to find my way back. There were these three stars by the campus that looked kind of like a short dick if you looked at it from the science building.

We named it Peen-ience.

I followed Peen-ience to get back to the campus once, did walk in on a ‘bros group project’ first though. We named Peen-ience really well.

Welp. Gotta get some grub now. Wish I could just order pizza or something… I’m even wearing pizza pinks right now! Nice fuzzy robe one of the seniors bought me after he showed me this cool club.

Wait! Gotta get food. Um. Ok. You can do this.

Shit.

There’s nothing here!

And I need to piss too…

Sorry trees… and bushes… and random vines that keep trying to trip me…

I’m answering nature’s call right now and they don’t take no for an answer.

So sorry plants!

…oh yeah, plants like this actually.

Wow these plants are weird! They’re grabbing my legs and kind of feel like those octopus suckers? Feels super tingly too!

I’ll just brush them off. Carefully though! I’m not going to harm the environment.

As I finished up my… business the world suddenly… changed, it’s got this pink tint too it! Ah. This is fine :) It happens.

Well I’ll just pull my pants back up and-

Mmh. My legs feel weird again… Why the fuck is someone grabbing my legs?!

Oh my gosh they’re covered in piss.

Pervert!?

Where did they come from!?

Or someone was sleeping where I pissed?!

And I didn’t notice!?

I’m not sure which is worse T-T can people get diseases from piss?

So. Um.

There’s just some guy? They’re kind of pretty with all that long hair so they could be a girl, or what if they identify as something else and I misgendered them!

But they keep trying to get more… of my… out of my… by. Mhn!

“S-Stop. C’mon that’s-that’s my. St-“ They keep. They’re. Stop it!

Should I punch them? Stranger danger?

But they look so skrunkly like a poor little green meow meow ;( so thin! And their hair is all messy! And they’re face is all… weird looking, in a pretty way, but that’s not the point!

They’re licking the piss off now.

Wait.

Were they drinking my! My!

I though they were trying to do something else…

…

Imma just…

Imma just leave.

This is getting weird!

…

With a quick few steps backward I easily get away. Glad I didn’t break any of those weird octopus vines though. Respect nature and all that right!

That guy must be super weak though- there was like, no strength to his grip at all. He must skip all the days. Smh I swear. If you skip leg day your glutes are being neglected but if you skip all the days you’ll fall down and break your hip or something.

But man! The sunset and this pink glow looks super cool! It’s like a scene in a web novel!

Oh? What’s that noise?

I heard some singing coming from my right. Some ultra-feminine high pitched voice piercing my ears, it feels… maybe I could head over and check it out?

Nah. Might be one of the people that chased me earlier.

As I headed away I felt almost like something inside of me increased? And when I concentrated on it I felt resistant to the singing? Weird.

Well I’ll just keep moving!

Some of the trees are blocking the sky over here. So I’ll have to find a clearing or something, oh right! Maybe I’ll be able to use my phone over there too!

…

The sun is nearly completely set by now. But look at this!

It’s so cool!

Wow this really is like a novel! There’s this huge clearing here and a little lake with a waterfall and tons of pretty plants!

Oh hey! It’s the green perv from before… maybe I’ll just stay at the edge of the clearing… this place has tons of other guys(? Weird cosplaying ten feet tall dudes? Oh silly! I’m probably hallucinating, I’m laying in a bunch of flowery bushes!)

The green perv looks a lot more human compared to the other dudes in the clearing, maybe he couldn’t get enough stuff to make his costume, well at least it doesn’t look like he’s covered in piss anymore.

In fact he looks tons better than earlier! Maybe it’s a different dude?

Suddenly my vision blurs. Or. A rectangle of my sight?

It’s really staticky though…

…Poison Resistance lv up!

Stealth lv up!

Experience Pasting Activated! Additional Experience added to%#&…

Retry…

Error. Error. Transmigration System. Prince Raising System not detected.

Additional.al.al eXp will be sent to storage.

Error. Invennnnnnnnnn.-

Nnntory does not exist.

Contacting world consciousness…

Errrrrr.

Con#+} {3wards t0 i.t3mized f0rm

.

.

.

I-

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.

.

Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck! What the ever-loving holy shit is this bucket of crap?! This ain’t cosplay anymore!

With that. I felt weird. Empty. Likes there supposed to be something inside that really cool and I’m seriously missing out.

I feel really weird now… but stronger. And I have this Chinese style bag now. Some kind of pouch?

I don’t wanna think right now!… This is a killer headache…

.

.

.

Then another carfucking voice popped up.

And then a THIRD carfucker decided to bulldoze my head…

Carfuckers…

I got some new shit from that though. One of those hair crowns from Chinese movies. It looks like something a MC would wear!

I don’t think I can put it in my pockets with it poking me. But my hairs way too short and I have no idea how to wear it either.

Maybe ponytail style? I was supposed to get my hair cut next week so it should be long enough for a mini ponytail.

It’s really hard to put on without actually knowing how it supposed to go. And also that I’m not even trying to put it on the right way either.

But still, after a few more attempts and the help of a paper clip, I actually manage to put it on! Yay!

…

… it felt weird. Like my whole body was lighter. Still have that headache though.

Damn.

I must look like a cosplayer too now! My hair has a crown and I’m wearing a sleeping robe with a pouch hanging from the belt.

Suddenly another object appeared.

It fell on my head! Owwww…

It’s…

A jade hairpin with a little accessory dangling off it. The pin matches the crown! It looks super pretty. Maybe that guy from earlier needs one of these. His hair looked like tree vines from how messy it was.

I think I have to do something around now though?

Oh right. The stars. Why I came here and stuff.

I look up to the. The now night sky. Middle of the night kind of night sky.

Wait!

How long have I been laying here! It’s the middle of the night! And there are like- a bajillion stars. And my phone still can’t call anyone! But I still have service! And full charge too! Nice.

Huh. Wonder if the cosplayers are still here.

Peeking from the bushes I see most of them have already left. The perv and a few others are the only ones left. I hope they leave soon. I’m super thirsty! Can wait to guzzle up some of that life-liquid.

The other bros in the frat said not to say that out loud now that I think about it. They looked super red when I said that. Maybe it’s some slang I didn’t learn yet?

Hey! That big guy in the middle just hit the perv! It could be because he’s a perv though…

But he can’t keep doing it! And why are the other guys?… OH MY GOSH! Are they eating him!?

Um! Uh! I’ll throw this rock at them!

Picking up the rock I- crush it with my bare hands!? When did I get enough gains for that!

And! Oh. Shit. I’m standing in the middle of the clearing after making tons of noise by crushing a rock.

…Are they going to eat me too?

Frozen in place I stare them down, okay, just back up slowly… if a wall of clearly carnivorous plants weren’t trying to eat my ass!

I’ll fight them then!

Just have to brace my self and-

Oh. Oh wow these guys are weak.

Within moments I’m standing on top of a group of cosplayers. Well. Not anymore considering how broken the outfits are.

Walking over to the other guy I reach down, offering him my hand, I’m feeling a little like a hero. Though all I did was beat some guys up.

The perv though, he definitely doesn’t have manners! He just started licking the tree sap off my hands.

I pull my hands away. Seriously! This is why I’m calling you a perv in my head!

“You know what! Here eat this instead!” I knew they didn’t speak the same language but by anime if he wants something in his mouth at least have it be food!

He gingerly takes the offered food, for some reason he drapes some vines over it first, weird dude.

He seems to be inspecting the length of meat.

His eyes are trailing every inch as the vines tighten and greed sets into his eyes.

After letting the vines rest on the meat a bit longer he hungrily consumes it, shoving half of its length in.

It’s rather long and thick compared to most now that I think about it.

I can see something that I think is his tongue wrapping around fruitlessly trying to cover the entirety of its length.

It isn’t soon before his body starts to shudder at the unexpected gain, liquid flowing down his chin as he couldn’t even close his mouth.

The noises he’s making… wet, sticky sounding gags coming out as he’s forcing the meat into himself. And with a final shudder, he’s completely consumed the offered meat.

Well, while he did that I got some water to drink and started eating some fruit nearby. If you only eat meat you’ll get indigestion!

The rest of the group crawls over to me, I think they want some of it? I do clearly still have a few more and that guy really seemed to like it.

Or maybe not.

The group is just staring at me, the big one who I think was the leader, offers his head to me? No, he’s gesturing to the flower on top.

It’s a… sturdy flower. The color is really dense and the edges are spiked.

I wonder what kinds of plants these are? And if any can get rid of my headache. It hurts ;(

The other guy comes rushing over once he sees us, I can see the outline of my meat in his throat.

He gestured to the flower bud on his head, where did that come from?

It looks super soft though, maybe I’ll just touch it a little?

The bud trembles the moment I touch it, as I lightly run my finger on the light pink sides, he’s shivering as I slowly inspect it.

I lean down towards it, it’s actually kind of cute, and it seems like he doesn’t mind me touching him like this.

It looks really… delicious in all honesty, I want to bite it.

As I play with the bud it suddenly opens up!

Pale petals fill my visions and- oh my gosh it’s so soft!

I give the flower a little kiss for flowering for me.

I might not be able to find my way back but this is fun!

.

.

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And that was an incredibly long snippet from my self indulgence. It was supposed to be short which is why it isn’t on ao3 instead.

Well anyways I hope whoever read it enjoyed it and feel free to direct any questions to my askbox though most of this AU will probably end up on @rarepears blog if they’re okay with it.

Also some of the little things in here like Devon and carfucker are from his fraternity.

Devon is a guy who forgot to eat or drink anything several practices in a row while another person decided to start saying swears differently as to not disrespect mothers.

The ‘people’ in the fic are plants based monsters and beasts whose hierarchy is based on size and traits.

Thicker, rougher and sharper flowers are seen as the stronger and better fed while softer ones are seen as weaker.

These creatures can reproduce asexually or by deflowering another and it works like crossbreeding.

It works with most species though humans need an extra push for it to work with them.

Our MC has abilities from three systems that are needed because he’s not supposed to have them unless he transmigrated to that world.

[princeescaluswords]

So I'm trying to write a "Scott has enough patience so he becomes the monster everybody kept forcing him to be" fanfic (keyword on the trying lol I'm not good at writing fanfics) and it got me thinking something.

What would make him actually snap, taking all the comments until the point he's tired of being the good guy and for once shut all of those comments down by going to the other side of the cause? I mean, he almost died -and actually died three times which is weird how he's handling it like he's pro at it -that could factor the mental side. The consistent negative comments from the "evil" characters (and from his own pack too wtf bro) so why can't the fandom write him an actual good evil plot??

Scott is smart enough on his own, he got outshined by Stiles and Lydia's since they're a lot smarter academically than Scott's (they dared asking him wtf AP stands for??? Just because he does bad in one class doesn't mean he's bad in every class ya get me? He stupid but he's not everyday stupid) so giving him some moments of darkness, and him actually do a type of "I don't harm innocents but I'll slit your throat if you harm one" type of manipulation evilness then expect me to die because I want that Evil Scott more than the typical Scott is a bad friend/true alpha/beta/hE forCEd [blank] shenanigans

Davis did Scott dirty by not making him bad from the Meet Nemeton Day episode alongside Stiles...full of potential to make Scott actually face his mental and emotional health but they have to make the definitely not supernatural token human jackhammer to become the bad boy of the week.

Sorry for the rant I just want you to know how I feel it could go down if Scott had a few loose screws and go downhill.

I sense the frustration coming off this post and it's something I can empathize with but I feel I have to caution you -- and people who feel as you do -- about a bad habit we fans of Scott fall into. We let fandom's poison color our appreciation of our favorite character.

Peter never said that biting Scott was a mistake, and that he wished he had bitten Stiles that night in the wood. When Peter complained about Scott it's because Scott had too strong a will to fall for his manipulations. His complaints were never about Scott's inadequacies, but about Scott being 'morally bland' and 'incorruptible.' When fandom states that Scott wouldn't have a chance against Peter, the first person in line to disagree would have been Peter, considering his canonical behavior.

Derek didn't resent the Master Plan because he recognized that Scott's actions saved him and his pack. In fact, he chose to learn from Scott and became a better person. Part of that evolution is that he stopped caring about the Hale legacy or revenge; the only reason he came back to Beacon Hills was for Scott. In the end, Scott's influence enabled Derek to become a True Alpha as well. His last words weren't to Stiles or Peter, after all. It's only parts of the fandom that think that Scott took something away from Derek or brainwashed him into a cult.

Theo and the Doctors recognized that the threat to their plans that Scott represented. After all, he was the only one that had to be eliminated. Deucalion told Scott that it was him that Gerard was truly afraid he couldn't beat. This was what was on the screen, and that's the only thing that fans of the show should take into account.

And not just the villains. The Sheriff of Beacon County turned to Scott when the crime was supernatural. Satomi Ito. His mother. Hellhounds. Banshees. Even Stiles. They all believed, even if they were angry with him, that Scott would be able to save the day. They didn't care that he got a D on a test or that he took summer school, because they weren't looking for a reason to dislike him. That's what parts of the fandom do, and for the chance to shift attention to the nearest shitty entitled white boy.

Because Scott did have moments of darkness and violence, no matter how much parts of the fandom want to diminish them, but the difference is he overcame them, no matter how much parts of the fandom want to act as if he didn't. Heroes have something different that marks them as such, and they have had it since humankind first started writing heroic stories. I would tell you what it is, but I'll let Derek say it from The Divine Move (3x24).

DEREK: When there's no chance of winning, he keeps fighting. When all hope is lost, he finds another way. And when he's beat down, he stands up again.

Scott's darkness is Despair. It's the temptation to give up, to recognize that his opponents are too powerful for him to care about other people, that he can't win without becoming like them, that what he wants is forever out of his reach because of what was done to him.

This includes Night School (1x07) when he barely manages to shake off Peter's mental enslavement. This includes Battlefield (2x11) when he has every reason to give into Gerard's manipulations, including his own mother's pleas and threats to Stiles and Allison. This include Motel California (3x06) when he convinces himself that his suicide would be the best thing he can do for everyone else. This includes The Divine Move where he pushes aside the memory of Allison dying in his arms to take care of Stiles while finding a way to win. This includes the entirety of Season 4 to the moment he rips that skull off his head. This includes the end of Status Asthmaticus (5x10), when he asks "why would they come back?" instead of focusing on what was done to him.

This is what happened, in both the show and the movie. This is what this story was about. This is why he is the heroic lead protagonist. This is why we like him, not because he never touched the darkness, but because he did touch the darkness and he rejected it. Well, maybe I'm being too presumptuous, but that's why I like him.

But too often, I think we've allowed ourselves to be blinded by an overwhelming majority of fandom who wanted a white guy instead so much that they'll look for ways to bash Scott. And they have to bash him really hard in order to make the real hero a guy who broke into Scott's house, threw him up against the wall and threatened to kill him on their third meeting and then bit four kids to serve as soldiers in a war. They have to bash really hard in order to make the real hero a guy who was so much of a coward that he worked with the woman who burned his family alive in order to get what he wanted. They have to bash really hard to make the real hero a teenager so fundamentally insecure that he lied to every single person he loved about an accidental death and then worked with there enemies to cover it up, selling his best friend out in the process.

So we spend time defending Scott from these people and their fanon creation -- and don't get me wrong, it's a good thing we do that -- but we have to remember that they are wrong. Absolutely wrong. Because their alternative version comes from banality and racism, and the story they wanted would be full of brutality, selfishness, and the capitulation to the worst instincts of human nature.

So my advice to you is to keep that frustration, but direct it at the media that actually deserves it.

[whalleyrulz]

it is so frustrating to me how many people keep missing the very specific criticism of mattel and Straight Feminism within the barbie movie

i know it had to be kind of subtle about it to get past corporate brand approval but i keep seeing SMART people miss it

barbie spoilers below the fold

so the movie is like. super critical of gender essentialism and gender prioritization in societies. it's pretty blunt about it

one of the first things it does is show "hey all barbies are super happy but in this society that caters only to barbies, it sucks to be an aware ken, because life is shitty when you're not the Right Gender. we then see that there's a barbie that doesn't perform gender the Right Way, and she's also excluded from society and not allowed to be a part of things, only useful when people want a Weirdo, and everyone's aware they're treating her like shit as they explicitly address this. barbie also feels awful living in this society. addressing this makes her an outsider.

we then go to the real world where barbie learns oh shit, it sucks when you're not the Dominant Gender. ken gets excited because holy shit, a place where i can be valued, through the only lens i have been taught. during ken's learning of the patriarchy, we cut directly to a girl who, much like weirdo barbie, rejects gender norms and fitting into the gender essentialist cult. she directly calls barbie a fascist. this is correct. barbie is a gender fascist.

cut from there back to barbie land, where the patriarchy has taken over because nobody's been taught shit about equality, and it's making everyone upset. partially because the patriarchy just sucks, and partially because nobody fuckin wants this. we also meet more people who're siding with weirdo barbie, aka the only person who wasn't brainwashed by the new school of gender fascism. they're all queer coded. they all hate this. an alan points out alans have run away from this before. by "this" he means "a gender essentialist society" because the kens have never risen up like this. barbie is taught that it's actually okay to not fit in.

and then we come to the big finale, the big closer, and as the audience, we've been shown three times QUITE DIRECTLY that gender essentialist thought and a monogendered ruling system sucks and makes people feel bad. it's not a good way to live. for anybody. and what happens?

barbie, after basically being crowned the voice of mattel and gender essentialist feminism, says "i saw how inequality sucked, and actually the system where i'm on top is best." there's direct and blatant lines about how the kens want some degree of equality but that would get in the way of barbies having ultra fascist power. the weirdo barbie ends the movie saying "fine i mean call me what you will." the queerdo outcasts are sent back to the shadows. and barbie chooses the "Power of the Vagina," despite the movie showing that trans barbies exist, despite the movie joking that genitals don't matter, and she IMMEDIATELY has to go and see a doctor about it

like

it makes this point in such a blatantly cinematic rule of threes it can't be an accident

the barbie movie outright says that gender essentialist societies are Bad, and that mattel as a corporation is Fine with it, and that the mainstream brand of feminism that only accepts femme women as women is Fine with it, and that this is a problem that harms everyone

and yet every critical take i see is either "the barbie movie supports a shallow version of feminism" or "the barbie movie hates men"

i feel like i'm taking crazy pills or like i saw a different movie to the mainstream or something

anyway

barbie's such a good movie

[vennevis]

@nyxokal OH BOY ALL THREE Buckle in, this is probably gonna get long (and probably a little messily worded so apologies in advance for that) --

1.what drives them? what’s their ultimate goal? I think for all three of them 'stopping the cult of Orcus' is, pretty much the goal in general? But their reason/motivation for doing so is a bit different. Arolas: Ensuring that what happened to him doesn't happen to anyone else Halcyon: Stopping the cult from hurting anyone else, and after that? She mostly just wants to go home. Sigurd: For him - I guess it's more of a case of repentance, in a way. He's done… a lot of harm in the past. Don't think he'll truly be able to relax until he's done "enough" to make up for it. also maybe a smidge of revenge, dw about it 2. what was your original concept for this character? how did playing them change that concept? Arolas: Oh boy - Arolas is kind of like, a progression of an OC I've had for over a decade now. A couple of things have remained pretty consistent with him. Largely: Anxiety, scars, being far less intimidating than he initally seems from appearance. With how he is now, the general idea I was running with was like -- for lack of a better way of wording this a "lone wolf" character but -- played more like an actual wolf in that they're social animals. Don't do so well if they're alone for too long. Halcyon: ngl i kinda just wanted to make a gunslinger (and also some other plot ideas arguably got out of hand) Sigurd: The initial concept for Sigurd was basically just: what if pretty much everything went wrong for the guy? Can't elaborate too much there, unfortunately. Spoilers :3c 6. how have they changed in the last year? how about the last five years? I am going to assume in-universe for this because with the exception of Arolas, I've not had any of these guys around for quite that long. Arolas: Stagnated a little over the past five years but the past year? He's actually letting himself get close/attached to people now instead of near constantly isolating himself from other people. His self-confidence has improved a lot too. He still struggles, sure, but he's stopped hiding his face behind a mask all the time at least. Halcyon: A lot of the change is down to her age, I suppose, since 5 years ago she'd have been about thirteen. She's a lot less timid than she was when she was younger, or she tries to be anyway. Also she has a gun now. The past year has been… rough, but she's getting there. Sigurd: Well he's no longer a warlock, for one. Also a lil bit just his 'fake it til you make it' confidence has becoming something he's far less willing to force. He's had a real drastic change in cirumstances and it's honestly done a lot of favours for him. He's a lot more rilling to just, be himself and be honest about things. Again mostly just stuff that's happened in the last year or so with him. 15. is there something that never fails to make them laugh? Arolas: His boyfriend's stupid goddamn jokes/puns. Halcyon: Don't know if there's anything that's guaranteed to make her laugh, but despite what she says, she does have a bit of a soft spot for really stupid jokes. Sigurd: Lighthearted pranks, mostly. 17. they’re crying—what did it take to make them cry? Arolas: Oh that, depends, really. Often it'll be because he's anxious and/or triggered one way or another. Assuming he's allowing himself to get upset ayways. Halcyon: Not exactly hard to do, she's a little bit of a crybaby :') Usually it'll be because she got overwhelmed, one way or another. Sigurd: Someone or something probably pissed him off. He's got a bit of a tendency to bottle up his emotions but that kinda falls apart when he's sufficiently annoyed. 19. what sparks genuine, unadulterated rage in them? Arolas: Hurting the people he cares about, more or less. Halcyon: I feel like she's probably kinda difficut to genuinely anger like that but-- messing around with undead is an easy way to get there. Sigurd: Anyone using/exploiting other people certainly get him close to rage. Almost guaranteed to flip his shit if someone's hurting kids though, doubly so if they're hurting their own kids.

[yall-hate-kids-tourney]

Grand Finals: Chara Dreemurr (Undertale) vs. Amane Momose (MILGRAM)

Propaganda below the cut

Chara Dreemurr (?):

They were constantly blamed for killing all of monster kind in the no mercy route, despite players choosing to go that route. People ignored that they sacrificed themselves to attempt to free the monsters from the underground.

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everyone wants to blame their own actions (genocide route) on chara, who is a literal child. i don’t know how to tell you this but you are the one playing the game. it’s about YOUR CHOICES. chara is there is punish you for that, you killed the only family that ever loved them! how could they not be upset at that! also if you don’t mind, here’s a good video essay on the subject 

Amane Momose (12):

Amane was voted guilty in the first trial so that she would acknowledge her guilt. It backfired, and now she’s considered a threat. Well, everyone is a threat, but nobody’s threat level has been as heavily discussed and debated as hers. Consider the next prisoner in line, Mikoto. He’s objectively more dangerous and cannot be restrained. He beat up the guard in trial 1, and he was able to hold his own when the other guilty prisoners were attacked. But a good incentive to forgive him is so that he will calm down. You know what? That’s a good incentive to forgive Amane too! But she *can* be restrained, so a good portion of the discussion went into how she should be voted guilty so she *will* be restrained and not a threat. Since her vote was a near 50/50, of course a good chunk of the voters expressed dissatisfaction with her forgiven verdict. Some are already planning to vote her guilty for trial 3, calling her a “lost cause”. She hasn’t even done any concrete harm yet. Hold the pitchforks until she actually causes harm, please? And what if she *was* voted guilty in trial 2? We’ve been warned that she will continue to deny our judgement. A second guilty verdict won’t make her better either, and then what? She’d be called a “lost cause” as well. There is no winning with her.

----

Where do I even start? So first of all she’s an cult child who was physically and mentally abused and tortured by her parents and then (presumably) murdered her mother after her mother killed a cat that she took care of.

Now everyone in Milgram is a murderer but when Amane came and her MV showed her murder and circumstance in an admittedly highly fictionalized depiction of it the audience decided to…repeat the cycle of abuse!

She was voted guilty for the main reason of “teaching her” and helping her “realize that she was abused.” I would like to note that this tough love approach is something her parents utilized against her. “We are only doing this to help you.”

So the audience replicates Amane’s abusers and repeats the cycle of abuse and that’s pretty shitty but it isn’t exactly “Fuck Em Kids” level.

And then Trial 2 happened. Cause Amane is bitter and angry and horrifically traumatized so she acts aggressive and hostile. Especially towards another prisoner.

Now, again, everyone here is a fucking murderer (of atleast could be constructed as one) These people being able to Harm is a core concept of this series.

Yet for some reason it feels like people treat Amane as a “delusional creepy kid who wants to kill people” which completly takes away the nuance of her character. She does have the capacity to harm! Everyone here does! She’s not Uniquly Dangerous! She just has a Reason to be Dangerous. A Reason we GAVE HER by REPEATING THE CYCLE OF ABUSE.

In short: In a series full of Murderers I’m honestly a bit pissed that the 12 year old abuse victim is the one who’s treated like the guy from American Pyscho.

----

TL;DR: "We metavoted this abused, indoctrinated child guilty in trial 1, but it didn't work. Now she is a threat to three grown adults: one who is fully free and two whom she has been shown to get along with. Please metavote her guilty again so she will be restrained and unable to attack them, even though that means subjecting her to further psychological torture." Amane Momose is the youngest of ten murderers, prisoners of Milgram who are to be judged innocent (forgiven) or guilty (unforgiven). In the first interrogation (voice drama), she said that what she did was in line with her religion's doctrines. If we judged her the "wrong way", she said she will just deny the verdict. Combining the voice drama and music video, you could piece together that she was raised in a cult and abused, even though she is cheerful and downplays her pain. She never shows *who* she killed, only *why* she did. After the first day of her vote, she was 81% innocent, but this wouldn't last the whole three months. Many people voted her guilty so she would "see her sins", part of the practice commonly known as "metavoting". Her innocent percentage rapidly decreased, and she hit guilty in the last 15 days, finishing at 51% guilty. At the end of the first trial, Jackalope (who is something like a host) went over all the prisoners' verdicts and commented on the general reasoning. When he got to Amane, he *laughed* at the audience for voting that way to make her realize her sins. Trial 2 rolled around, and it was revealed that Amane's victim was her abuser. On day one, she was at 74% innocent. Seems like a cut-and-dry case now, right? Well... in the intermission, two of the prisoners (Fuuta and Mahiru) were badly beaten up and became reliant on the care of Shidou, a doctor. Amane became hostile to Shidou because what he was doing was against her beliefs. She visited all three of them on their birthdays to convince them to change their ways. She seems to be especially close to Fuuta, who is now murmuring about salvation. Guilty prisoners are psychologically tortured, forced to listen to voices that reject their beliefs. Fuuta and Mahiru both say that the mental strain is worse than their physical injuries. But Amane, who also looks worse for wear, was thrown under the bus because she isn't injured and is considered a physical threat to them (never mind that she gets along with them). She's considered a threat to Shidou, a grown man who is twice her size and fully free, while she is partially restricted by the long sleeves in her trial 2 uniform. She might indoctrinate Fuuta even though, in a prison of ten people and one guard, she's the only voice of her cult. Fortunately, she got a break. Her vote was falling at a similar rate to the first trial. But this time, it stabilized at 51% innocent, 12 days before the end of her vote. But there's no way this is over.

[cripplerage]

So as another cult survivor, I personally really like when fictional media presents cult parallels, especially in family friendly media.

The top examples off the top of my head would be Nimona, She-Ra, The Owl House, and yes, Spiderverse.

I think the first three are much better examples of this, but spiderverse did present a pretty accurate depiction it just didn't have the time to explore it in-depth.

Cults generally target people with something missing in their life, and promise they can fill it. They use strong and gradual manipulation tactics. You may think that you're smart enough to not get drawn in, but you're probably wrong. HOWEVER, repeatedly seeing an exploration of similar scenarios onscreen might help you be aware of what to look for, if even just a bit. And I like that there are examples in family friendly media because children are often raised in cult environments and probably don't have anyone in real life to help them figure this stuff out. Plus, I find these media really cathartic and relatable as a survivor.

So let's look at these a bit. (Vague spoiler warning)

All of these media generally show characters who don't have a sense of community or connection outside of their cult. Often they don't have a family, a home, friends, or anyone that understands them outside of the cult. Leaving isn't just a matter of deciding to go and then going; it's leaving friends, family, and a sense of safety and security. It's also often coming to terms with knowing that you've believed and invested in things that weren't ever real, and possibly immoral. There's guilt, shame, regret and frustration. It might feel easier to just accept the situation instead of trying to deal with all of these barriers.

Adjusting often takes time; in all of the media listed we see seeds of doubt in the characters grow over time. It's probably impossible to be able to change your entire world view all at once.

We also often see characters maintain feelings of love and affection for characters still in the cult, even if they've been hurt by them. They miss them, and often go through a sort of grieving for the loving relationship they thought they had with these people. Often the people in the cult they have affection for will go through periods of love bombing and other periods of harmful/abusive behaviour. They will often show affection or love bombing to the person trying to leave the cult, to try to get them to feel like maybe the cult wasn't that bad after all. That can be a really difficult thing to resist.

Often there's an adjustment period of feeling uncomfortable with new things that everyone unaffiliated with the cult finds totally normal. This can feel alienating, fearful, and embarrassing.

This is a non-exhaustive, not proof read ramble but I hope it gives some idea of a counterpoint to this commenter. And no hate to them - it's valid to not like this media or these kind of analysis. But I wanted to explain why others might find value in it. Personally, I've been really happy with how media has grown to show such complex scenarios.

P.S. I'm not saying that these media are going to personally save anyone or anything like that, but learning about perspectives you don't live is why fiction exists in the first place.

Fiction often imitates real life situations. In fact, fiction is a great way to explore and raise awareness about real things.

It's not inherently disrespectful to show real things in fiction, or comparing between fiction and real life. It's all about how you go about it.

[demigoddessqueens]

This is less of a request and more of wanting to share this with you.

Note: My knowledge of Vox Machina is show only and, unfortunately, have yet to have the chance to play BG3 (I plan to someday!) but I have done some research along with whatever clips I’ve come across of it. I do apologize for that along with how long this ask is.

Also: spoilers of Dark Urge information from Baldur’s Gate 3.

After seeing Vox Machina with Orin!Reader post, it got me thinking: What would Vox Machina with a Dark Urge!Reader be like?

Rather Reader embraces or resists the urge, I feel as though this could be a sad story for the group to go through. Especially if Reader chooses to resist the urge to do unimaginable cruelties; and the reason I see this being a sad story is because Reader is an amnesiac who is trying to learn more about their past all while being plagued with urges to be unimaginably cruel and violent as possible. Reader who is traveling with good people, people who are the opposite of their dark urges.

If one were to think about it: having amnesia is [I guess could be seen as] having a ‘second’ life because however Reader ends up traveling with the group, Vox Machina would be a good influence for Reader to live by because they have no recollection of how they were like in the past. As time goes on, as Reader learns more about their past, the influence Vox Machina gave them will conflict with those recovered memories or learned knowledge of their past because the person Reader is now is different from how they were before. Reader experienced what it was like to be compassionate and gentle with those around them as opposed to being cruel and violent like they were in their past. Basically they have experienced two different versions of themselves.

Which make their desire to resist the urge grow more because they don’t want to become the person they were before. Especially after forming a bond with Vox Machina because they don’t want to harm or kill the ones that have been helping and taking care of them while they have amnesia. They saw that there is good in them and that they don’t have to be the ruthless person they were before.

It’ll all depends how Vox Machina reacts once Reader learns their heritage of what they are (and if they decide to tell the group about it) because here’s the thing:

- Reader isn’t just some regular Bhaalspawn, but was created directly from Bhaal’s flesh and is his Chosen.

- Was a leader of the Cult of Bhaal who have done unspeakable things in the past, even if they don’t remember it.

This gives Vox Machina a moral dilemma to deal with once the knowledge of what Reader is: should they end the possible threat of Bhaal’s child out of fear, or (because Vox Machina saw how different Reader is now from their past self and has been trying to resist the urge) risk the chance to save the Reader they’ve got to know over their adventure with them? Reader has been resisting the urge (even if there may have been an accident or two when the urge becomes too much or unchecked, but have showed remorse of what they’ve done afterwards) with the help from Vox Machina from time to time.

Yeah that’s kinda how I got into Vox Machina first, and now I’m listening to all three of the Campaigns at the same time so everything all overlapping keeps it interesting 😁

But you’re so valid with the Dark Urge anon!! It fits the found family perfectly and with tons of angst too because you have each character’s individual arc for C1 PLUS helping someone crated with ill intent become the better version of themselves

Like the platonic angst would hit hard because here’s Durge who’s battling themselves, the spawn of Bhaal, AND then you have the crew going up against Vecna which may or may not also compromise Durge too??

It’s a perfect combo for everything!