#i have this issue with lots of ppl to be fair i just also like

[panicloser]

Yellowjackets has only increased how much I notice the sexism in fandoms

There are SO MANY male characters that are just as if not worse than Shauna and I never see them get nearly this much hate.

Now DISCLAIMER I'm NOT saying every Shauna hater is sexist or anything, if you just don't like characters like that that's fair enough, you're all good I'm not talking about you.

But statistically, I am sure that there is at least a portion of Shauna haters that have a male character that is just as bad as her or worse and they like that character.

For example, Joe Goldberg, he is objectively WAY worse of a person than Shauna, he is done wayyy more damage, he is fucked up many more people's lives, he repeats the same pattern over and over, he is an ADULT man and he doesn't even acknowledge that he's a bad person. Granted, there are people that hate him (me included) but from what I've seen that is about half of the people watching, the other half LOVES him, they even say he's charming.

Meanwhile over here, this character is a TEENAGE girl (yes there's adult Shauna too but ppl hate on Teen Shauna just as much), a bad person ofc but objectively not as bad as Joe and is in a situation where she can't get assistance. Adult Shauna, though less justified in her actions, is also still not as bad as Joe. And the majority HATE her. Comment sections flooded with hate for her. I look Shauna up on any site other than Tumblr and I see so much hate for her.

I don't see this amount with any other male character, so many people praise them and analyse and dissect and appreciate their complexities and then I see female characters like Shauna and they can get so fucking flattened.

I don't even want Shauna to be loved by the majority, I just want it to be fucking balanced.

Now you could say people like Joe more cuz he can come off less angry than Shauna (even tho technically he is just as angry), well you know who is even angrier than Shauna and is loved by millions, fucking BAKUGO. To be fair, a lot of his fans are quite young so maybe this isn't as applicable but because he has SO many fans I know not all of them are.

And there is way more examples: JD, Jax, Nate Jacobs, Walter white, etc

I'm not against any of these male characters getting loved, I love some of them myself, and I'm sure I would hate some female character like this, but my issue is just the lack of balance depending on what their gender is. EVERY one of these morally questionable characters deserve an equally positive and negative lense.

You could rule all of these examples not applicable if you want because they're different characters or the tones of the shows are different or whatever. Could be. You could say it's just because a lot of fandom culture is straight women, I've seen that argument. Sure could be.

But TELL ME, imagine another world where Shauna was a male character, can you tell me honestly that she wouldn't join these other male characters being loved, imagine it, can you confidently tell me that?

[bunnyboy-juice]

do any other autistics struggle with family because you want so desperately to be understood by them but, even when they mean well, they just Fundamentally Misunderstanding what u are saying? like u could literally tell them "i am not feeling upset or angry, i want to do this thing, there is just a little resistance mentally because it is a stressful task/behavior/thing. think of it like doing an exercise but adding a resistance band you know? like it just is taking extra effort i didnt account for but i will be okay!" and they interpret it as you saying"i am triggered, this is upsetting, this has to happen right now or never, i am going to cry from stress" and then try to comfort you but its like!!!! im not upset!!!!! but im Becoming upset bc im trying to explain my perspective and being treated like im broken and need gentleness when i dont really need ANYTHING other than like "alr cool sorry ur struggling" (and i can say this all Explicitly and even give a demo/mock convo of what feels good for me when sharing and its like in one ear and out the other)

[al-luviec]

compiled whatever this is (and I run out of tag space)

meh HoT gifs (3/?)

[fallen-exorcist]

Should I make an ao3 acc that's only purpose is bookmarking the fics that are actually about Chaggie so people would have an easier time finding them 🤔 ? Since I go through the tag at least once a day anyways lol. But within bookmarks, you can't sort by word count/kudos, etc. ...

I also thought about doing a rec blog here on tumblr but that would be less efficient imo.

I just think a lot of people are held back/thrown off by the tag being so clogged with fics of other ships where Chaggie in only a background pairing, which is a shame because there are so many amazing fics out there that get overlooked because of that.

Filtering by F/F only is not perfect either because Chaggie fics can have side pairs tagged as well.

[lesbiansanemi]

Currently trying not to vomit over the fact that I essentially just lost almost a thousand dollars brb

[dyelwi]

Saw a post that was like “Apollo has it sooo much worse than Athena” and like yeah to an extent. Like if you look at the individual story beats then yeah Apollo goes through more. But it feels so weird to me to insist he has it easier and Athena has like no problems anymore when she still has severe trauma and is disabled and like. Idk I don’t think op meant to imply Athena had everything super easy forever but it felt like that to me. Which felt weird. Bc she very clearly doesn’t, we see in aa6 even how she’s still struggling a lot even when on a relatively less important case. And idk it just reminded me of how the fandom at large expects Athena to do things even Phoenix and apollo can’t or can barely do when she’s clearly very effected by her trauma and mental health issues/ disability. Idk, like I said I don’t think op meant it this way but that is just. Very much how it felt esp w how ppl talk about Athena generally.

[arolesbianism]

In the newest patch notes for the beta it says that additional lore entries were hooked up but I'm sure as hell not finding anything new. I swear if this just meant that they made the new logs that were already in game uncoverable outside of debug mode I'm going to cry, don't tease me like that klei my heart can't take it

[unpretty]

Kink taxonomy hell makes me a) very glad I am ace & don't have to deal with these problems & b) lowkey thinking about how I'd approach running a porn production company whose entire output is like 15 minute porn shorts based on these asks. I mean, I wouldn't actually want to start a porn production company, because that would require way more start up capital & effort than it would be worth to me personally (see: ace, but also burn out re: small production companies). But, see, I do work in the production industry at a small production company on the non-porn side of things (we make stuff for like Netflix/HBO/Hulu & shit) & often make or consult on budgets, so it's a bit of a fun thought exercise about how to approach it.

Get a core cast you can rotate through for different scenarios (6-10 ppl for cast; though actual # each day might be much lower); ideally have a studio space + production off with edit suite; aim for ~2-3 set ups each day depending on complexity/# of on-screen orgasms (goal for these is short so might not be a full scene/scenario); in-house equipment as much as possible (cameras, lights, but also build up a sex/prop repository that can be resued); two-camera; relatively small crew, -- Director, producer, AP, DP, A/C, sound, gaffer, DIT (can be the AE), safery coordinator, PA x2, HMU+asst, wardrobe + props + art dept float -- so ~16 set crew, plus on the post/in-house side you'll need: editor x2, production accountant, AE (can be the same person as DIT), post super. Plus then unlike the companies I work at you'd want probably a marketing person & web dev.

Schedule would look something like: 3 weeks prep // 2 wks shoot w/ goal of getting material for ~24 shorts // 8 wks edit to get through all material (could start posting scenes finished sooner before all scenes are edited, obvs; this is assuming 3 edit days per 15 min short on average, but it all depends on how complex you want to get with the edit; if it's just 15 minutes of one shot getting played out with a few cut aways, then edit time could get cut down by a lot. But I'm assuming some stuff is going to get more complex edits; it also might work better to have three editors going so that edit time & prep+shoot time are roughly equal)

The issue here is that, ok, start up costs to get gear, etc will always be high, so setting those aside for the moment but overhead costs + staffing costs are going to get pricey. Granted, I don't know what the going rates are for folks either behind or in front of the camera in porn, but I do know the going rates outside of porn & I also know what I think are fair rates for these positions / what I would want to pay people. So imo for a single shoot day, you're looking at well over $10k for labor alone. All in, with what I described, my slapdash back of the envelope math says you're looking at $350,000+ in labor costs for the whole shebang & that's before fringe (je refuse to 1099 everyone; that way lies audits by the irs), equipment, overhead, etc. Easily I can imagine a half million dollar budget here in total.

& I guess that's where I start stalling out, because I know how to set up a shoot, get insurance, have legal buttoned up, but there's so much free porn out there that breaking even, much less monetizing it!, seems even harder than non-porn stuff these days. (& that's a struggle too! A huge part of why I'm burned out.) I mean, even if people like, pay to have their prompt included, folks aren't going to want to pay THAT much to cover costs. I guess aiming for lots of subscription fees on different platforms? But that's a lot of marketing elbow grease & takes time to build up, making starting capital essential. The stuff I'm familar with wrt indie filmmaking -- grants or corporate sponsors -- seem less likely for porn. & sure I could cut corners in my hypothetical budget, find savings, pay people less (ugh), but like, no. Maybe if I actually watched porn I'd know more about how it makes money, but that's a bridge too far.

Anyway, the government should give us all free money to pursue making art, even (especially?) when that art is porn. Or something.

there's nothing i can add to this, really

[saintbobbynash]

God I'm so annoyed by both Eddie defenders AND Eddie haters rn

On one hand, Eddie is grieving just like Buck is and they're not talking about it so yes it's going to explode and I think we should give Eddie the same grace we give Athena and use Karen's words "you're grieving so fair can mind it's damn business"

On the other hand, this isn't an isolating incident, Eddie has been a lot meaner to Buck this season than he has ever been since the infamous grocery store fight and some of it was even before Bobby's death so we can't just blame it on his grief. And it's been established that Eddie has anger issues and he usually takes responsibility for it and tries to rectify it but with Buck, Buck usually is the one to apologize and actually say the words "I'm sorry" and Eddie doesn't. Did he call himself a dick and bring Christopher to cheer Buck up? Yes and tbh I don't think that's very nefarious like ppl are making it out to be. It's his own way of apologizing. But does that mean it's an actual apology? No. And in this instance they really needed to apologize and talk about it since the whole reason Eddie got mad at Buck in the first place was that Buck wasn't talking about it

Can Eddie be super unhealthy and prone to get angry and mean? Yes! Just as Buck can be unhealthy too. Can aspects of Buck's and Eddie's friendship be unhealthy and toxic? Also yes but on BOTH sides. Now, do I think Eddie emotionally hurts Buck more than Buck emotionally hurts Eddie and that their relationship is unbalanced? Yeah I do

HOWEVER, does that make Eddie abusive? Absolutely not!! Fuck off with that bullshit!

Eddie has never been physical with someone since the fight club when he was at one of his lowest points and almost killed a dude and realized he doesn't want to be that guy. Also, that was, somewhat, a controlled environment where there were two consenting adults fighting.

It really rubs me the wrong way how people are calling a Latino man abusive and violent (when that's a REALLY racist stereotype) but then some in turn want a white man (Tommy) to threaten violence on him bc of that. Like y'all do you hear yourselves????

Also out of the two, Buck has been the one to (unintentionally) physically hurt Eddie (but y'all aren't ready for that conversation yet)

Anyways, Eddie Diaz is a flawed human (like every single character on this damn show) who I still love very much and there are things that have been REALLY irritating about his character lately that I desperately need them to address and have him grow more (mainly his anger issues and how he treats and invalidates Buck). Both statements aren't mutually exclusive.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk

[sandraharissa]

So I never wondered before what happened between Vander and Silco cos I had faith in the writers (my bad) and cos realistically it would require several professional writers to figure this out. I can't come up with a whole scenario, smth that should have been probs a whole episode or many flashbacks to the first revolution to parallel and give context for the second revolution. but since they dropped the whole revolution plotline there was no point in that ig. Now I'm not coming up with a whole plot for s2 to make it connect to a whole plot for the Silco and Vander backstory. I'll just talk about general things when it comes to

How I would do the Vander and Silco backstory:

Silco and Vander meet as young adults, probs in the mines.

Silco is a wide-eyed idealist, he's small and weak making it hard for him to survive from day to day but it's not important to his character (no insecurities, his character is not about that). He cares about and crafts his idea of an independent nation of Zaun. We're meeting a way 'better' version of Silco but he still has all his traits like being a bit of a diva and pettiness and pride and such.

Vander is capable and the 'get shit done' guy. He feels the need to use his strength to protect others. He has a strong sense of justice and fairness. He has anger issues too tho.

Vander uses his strength to protect Silco and so Silco feels safe with him but Vander also has violent tendencies and anger issues. There should probs be some instances where the possibility of Vander being violent with Silco is hinted at.

A la Powder's bombs or Mylo's lock-picking skills no one puts much value on Silco's ideas, everybody immensely respects Vander and his brute strength tho. It's the commonly lived by in the Undercity 'survival of the fittest' vs Silco's silly 'Undercity, united as one'.

Vander loves the idea tho and is Silco's first and biggest fan lol.

They start doing their thing together. At some point they build the Lanes and the Last Drop together.

Silco as a co-leader gets to do his thing, planning the nation and writing in his notebook and such, he's more of a planning guy, not the best in the field. He gets to do his thing but ppl really look up to Vander, with a lot of them not understanding the concept that they should have a shared national identity etc. but they do understand resisting their oppressors and Vander can lead them by example. Ppl admire him cos he rescues ppl and does justice and can kill an enforcer with one punch. Silco also likes that about him. He's the one to take direct action and is more of the pushing force of the revolution. He's like 'bro Zaun sounds amazing and what's stopping us from rounding up our friends and taking out this patrol on the corner? right now?' at Silco. Silco's 'brothers and sisters' beliefs low-key inform the attitude of the rebels even if they still don't get Zaun. He's also the one making all the smart decisions like creating a black market but he's underappreciated for it cos ppl don't directly see the connection between stuff like his scheming/business talents, the Lanes and the living situation getting better. (you could say Vander and Silco were the violence and ideology that make up a revolutionary movement).

As the revolution continues Vander was insistent that they need to push more, that's his mentality cos he was always more capable than others. With Silco being more logical and pragmatic. The stress isn't getting so much to Silco but it is to Vander. What got to Vander was that if he's the one pushing and ppl die bcos of it then it's on his hands and he can't stand it. Especially that it's probs partially self-indulgent. He gets to blow off steam and has an outlet for his violent tendencies. He is not making the best decisions, they are somewhat self-serving and on some level he knows this. Pressure to succeed and get results fast and guilt is getting to him.

Then they're on a mission that's gotta have them both doing different things but somehow connected to the bridge.

Silco and his team, or even bystanders, get caught/get in trouble. Silco starts spouting poetics at enforcers and bcos he pissed them off they decide to arrest everyone (so that's probs a one way ticket) but ppl did get inspired which causes more scuffling, probs ppl die, the situation gets worse but it allows ppl to let Silco escape/hide/he gets knocked out. Vander finds him and they escape via river, they jump from the bridge or from the docks, going further and further away from the shore and the enforcers and they start talking about what happened.

For context Vander and Silco's attitudes are opposite to each other at any time, and they also switch from what they were originally to what they become post their character development moments (betrayal and bridge massacre), they're narrative foils after all. One is at the core selfish and violent and the other is altruistic and for the good of everybody bcos of their lofty ideals. So Vander in his violent era at the end of the day cares about himself and ppl around him and keeping them (like Silco in s1 with Jinx when push comes to shove).

Vander is angry that Silco 'prioritized some "Zaun" over their ppl', starts criticizing his ideology and his ineffectiveness but Silco saw his approach working and decides he should try by himself again, like he did before Vander, with the focus on the whole business enterprise and such, now that it turned out in the last few years that he's good at it. He points out Vander's overly violent tendencies. So they're pissed and stressed cos of the situation, pressure gets to Vander and he feels responsible for every loss that happened. He feels responsible for Silco. If he failed then Vander failed. Then it escalates when it becomes more personal, they start being petty and criticizing each other. Vander stands to lose his most important connection. He feels rejected. Maybe Vander physically prevents Silco from leaving. They start struggling, things escalate, instead of letting Silco go Vander lashes out. And then Vander punches him, gives him the black eye (plus maybe chips his front teeth) and then in the heat of the moment starts drowning him.

Afterwards Vander blames it all on Silco, paints him as worse than what happened. It's easier cos his emotions tell him Silco somehow wronged him (hence the 'you animal' reputation, cos ppl could view it, especially if that's how Vander presented it, as Silco doing that whole thing intentionally, sacrificing his ppl to get a thing done and escaping himself). Vander projects his blame and guilt onto Silco, after years of leading by himself he mellows out and realizes Silco was not at fault but it's years into the cope/lie. He can't do better by himself and his straightforward violent methods don't work well enough for him to be worth it anymore. The bridge massacre is the last straw. Meanwhile Silco learns to be violent on top of being driven by ideology (but also he's not trying to convince anyone anymore of his ideas cos it didn't work the last time, he doesn't preach to anyone in s1 but Jinx).

Add somewhere in there a comment from Vander to Silco about pretty eyes for zaundads and dramatic irony reasons.

[elaemae]

What did Og!Cale sacrifice?

Genuine question...

Hear me out;

I'm reading the latest chapter of 'In an Instant' by Messy_haired_bum and something just clicked in my head.

See, I know that the Og!Cale is a fan favorite, something that I didn't really understand because we don't know a whole lot about the guy, but there's just something that's been stopping me from getting enamored with him via various fanfictions I've read even though they've made the Og!Cale very lovable, and I didn't really know what it was, for a long time, until now.

There are various posts circulating around saying that Og!Cale sacrificed himself greatly with the deal he made with the GoD, and at a time, I believed that. But... reading this chapter opened my eyes and made me think, what did Og!Cale sacrificed?

What did he sacrifice that he didn't already lose?

A lot of ppl say that Og!Cale lost everything to be KRS but the only thing he had left was his identity. That's... not a lot to be honest. Not enough, actually.

Now, I can hear y'all thinking "Current!Cale got his wealth, backing, and a family–", but so did Current!KRS.

Current!KRS also didn't need to deal with a world war involving a megalomaniac, entire enemy nations, and a literal divine being.

Og!Cale was a foot soldier for 40 years, most likely didn't help a lot against Arm and The White Star, and he died without any (known) great feats but he's given such an amazing opportunity to take over the body of someone that'll need to deal with all those problems? An opportunity of rebirth that even Lee Soo Hyuk wasn't given until he gave one up of his abilities to help seal a deity?

He knows he couldn't shoulder the burden of saving the world so he just... washed his hands off that responsibility... And then occupied the body of a high-ranking well-known individual to then go off and get a happy ending with his reincarnated mom.

As the excerpt above said, it's a win-win for him, he doesn't get soul-crushing responsibilities, he gets a high-ranking position that grants him power, he can deal with the learning curve due to being given Og!KRS's abilities and having an actual reliable guide, and he gets to be back with his mom.

And...

... If Current!Cale ever fails?

He can just shrug and say it's not his problem anymore.

He's got his new happy life now. (I'm not saying he will, I'm just saying he could, if he was a lesser man)

Current!Cale lost everything he had too, all the fruits of his labors, the results of him dealing with all sorts of issues and problems for years, just... taken away by a stranger in his body. You can say KRS!Cale wasn't really happy, that Og!Cale didn't know if the body he'll end up in would be okay, that he gambled with his life in taking over Og!KRS's life.

Life that... he was about to lose anyways.

It just wasn't fair...

If we ignore the fact the KRS!Cale is literally thriving and just look subjectively at the situation of the body switch, KRS!Cale got the short end of the bloody, hellish, rotting stick.

I can only get closure if I personally find out if Og!Cale ever gave a fuck about the uninvolved, innocent guy that he sent to deal with a 20 year war, and not in the 'Is he doing the saving he's supposed to?' typa way, I want to find out if he ever feels guilty of the responsibility that he gave the man, if he ever worries for KRS!Cale's personal safety and mental health, for putting an innocent man through war. An innocent man that couldn't just stand by, as the world he found himself in, burns around him.

I don't want to dislike the current KRS, I want to love him actually, but this is my current perspective on the matter and you guys are free to share yours so that I can broaden my mindset about Og!Cale (pls do, I wanna like the guy but I wanna know if he's a good guy first, I wanna know why ppl love him so I can love him as well)

[the-mpreg-guy]

sometimes i worry i'm being a misogynist when i get angry at mary about some of her actions during season 12 (i dont hate her i just think shes very complex and i am biased bc of my own hang ups with my family) and its like. god i kind of wish there was an easy answer to who is right during season 12 bc sometimes people want dean to be fully wrong or mary to be fully wrong and i just dont think either is completely wrong or right.

For the record, I don't think you're a misogynist for having a bias you're fully aware of and not making other ppls problem. Mary Winchester is a complicated character for me, because on the one hand I do think she's a very complex human and that bringing her back on the show opened new doors for interesting relationship dynamics and plotlines, but on the other hand I was cursed with incredibly messed up Mommy issues that just make her unenjoyable for me personally.

I think a lot of cognitive dissonance that people (me) experience regarding Mary's insertion in the late seasons of Supernatural have to do with how the narrative seemingly punishes Dean for wanting incredibly valid things. He wants another adult to shoulder the burden, he wants a parent around who isn't going to neglect his emotional needs or put protecting Sammy solely to him. Mary diminishes these wants, basically chalking his desires down to him wanting a mother who "cuts the crusts off his sandwiches" and like. Man, that's not what he was asking for. He just wants her there.

And we're all incredibly attached to Dean at this point (we're at 12 seasons and counting after all), so we look at the narrative (and other characters) punishing Dean for these very valid, realistic wants, and are like. Wow, Mary Winchester sucks.

And honestly that's a fair assessment of the situation. She's not being a great mom, she's not being fair to either of her kids, and she is reducing incredibly normal wants down to shallow, ridiculous things that no adult should be demanding of their mother.

But the thing is it's never that simple or black and white.

Mary is so fucking incredibly valid for needing space in season 12. She just came back from the dead, her husband is dead, her kids are in their late 30s/early 40s, the entire world is fucked, and she doesn't have a relationship with these two men who were her babies literally like. An hour ago to her. That's INSANE. That's a situation that there is literally no precedent for. She can't fall back on her husband or literally anyone she knew for support her because they're all dead.

It would be like if it had been 40yrs topside when Dean came back from hell and he found out that his entire family was dead and also he had a kid who is now technically older than him and wants to have a relationship with him. Just to put things into perspective. And we wouldn't blame Dean for needing time and space to process that.

Dean and Mary are both valid. Their feelings and reactions to the situation are valid. But unfortunately being valid doesn't mean you're being fair. Neither of them are fully correct for having expectations of each other, but neither of them are exactly wrong either.

The real villain in the situation is Amara, who didn't bring Mary back because Mary deserved another shot, who didn't bring Mary back because Mary wanted to come back, who didn't bring Mary back because Sam never got to know her as a mom, but brought her back because she assumed there was something wrong specifically in how Dean loved her post-death.

Mary was selfishly brought back on the whim of a god-like being who didn't care that it would bring greater pain to Mary and Dean. She didn't like the way that narrative went, so she, like so many other people in Mary and Dean's life, decided to interfere.

I suspect that the reasons that you and I don't enjoy Mary's inclusion in later seasons is that a) fandom at large blames either Mary or Dean entirely for their conflict and makes out that one of them is a bad person (primarily Dean, which is unfair for a multitude of reasons), b) people act like Amara was correct for her reasoning in bringing Mary back and c) the narrative ultimately punishes both of them by killing Mary again. It's just not fun to watch, not even in a "my faves are suffering" kinda way. We dislike Mary because the Mary plotline is unfair, and we've grown up with a lot of unfairness.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Ok, but if you believe the monarchy is racist, if you believe that conversation about skin colour did happen, then the fact that you have a blog defending Kate - and to a lesser extent Charles - is morally indefensible, isn’t it? You are supporting two awful racists at the peak of a racist institution.

And if you believe Meghan was the victim of bias, harassment and racism, then why are you are not defending her? Why aren’t you denouncing the BRF - starting with Kate and Charles and W?

Please don’t take this as me trying to be aggressive or anything, but I am genuinely perplexed. The fandom is split between ppl who believe the BRF is the victim and the Sussexes the victimisers and people who believe exactly the opposite. Believing that Meghan is the victim here but then stil supporting the BRF in the conflict with the Sussexes seems kind of a novel take.

Fair, some points:

It has never been acknowledge who participated in the conversation about skin color. All we know is that it wasn't Philip or Elizabeth.

I do, and have, defended Meghan and validated her concerns about racism when I get asks about it. I get called a sugar over it from time to time, and once got dogpiled by Cat's blog for it.

What is there for me to denounce about Charles, Kate, and William? Do you have actual physical evidence of something they said or did that's racist? Or do you just have the word of a third-party reporter who's been told someone did something and doesn't have evidence himself? Show me something Charles, Kate, and William personally did or said and I would be happy to condemn it. But that's not what we have.

I've always said that fandom isn't black and white, that there's a lot of grey. I fall into the grey space. A lot of people can't handle that. They think you have to pick sides, be one or the other. I can not like Meghan as a person but still say "you know what, she actually does have a point there about this". It's not mutually exclusive.

And with all due respect, you're framing BRF vs Sussexes exclusively as an issue about racism. It is not, not for me. For me, BRF vs Sussexes is about status. Because if you really strip the issue down to the bare essence, the issue is haves and have-nots. William was born first, which affords him and his family certain things, and Harry was born second, which affords him and his family different things, but Harry believes he's entitled to exactly what William has because Harry is also the son of William's parents. Racism actually has nothing to do with that issue. Racism comes into this because Harry married a woman of color, which he uses to justify his demand for having equal to or better than William, which makes it a tool.

Racism certainly does have a part in it, but racism is not the only thing being fought over. You seem to think it is and it's all that matters. Why?

[iminyourwallsbabe]

One of the Good Ones (or why CaitVi in early season 2 was... like that)

Okay so I, like many people, were struggling with figuring out why Vi became an enforcer. I had a vague idea, and I also chocked it up to League lore making things a little strange but that wasn't enough for me. With how intentional everything is in this show I had to try and get to the bottom of it, and I think I have the answer.

Tldr; Both Caitlyn and Vi operate under the idea that the other is one of the "good" ones/an exception to their bias while both striving to be that to each other.

Let me cook

Okay so starting with this situation from Vi's perspective, all she's ever known and seen enforcers be are evil asf. This is a valid conclusion to draw, but naturally it creates a lack of respect for and bias against them. So, when Caitlyn shows up and isn't immediately an asshole and goes so far as to be *gasp* pleasant to be around, it's a huge shock. It's like "oh wow, finally, somebody with some sense". Plus, she just got out of prison and most of her family is dead so it's only natural that she'd attach herself to Caitlyn a little faster than she should have. I've said that before and people disagreed, which is fair, but I'll stand on that.

For Caitlyn, it's a similar situation but MUCH less traumatic and brutal. She's a sheltered rich girl who's only ever been told that Zaunites are the worst ppl ever, so naturally, even though she doesn't outright hate them, she has those implicit biases. But anyway, despite that, Vi shows up in her life and it's still a shocker to her. That's not what she was told would happen. Zaunites were supposed to be violent and scary and all sorts of other things but Vi is not that. At least not to that extent, she definitely is a little bit violent but not in the way Piltover would assume she would be. She was one of the good ones.

So that kind of becomes the foundation of their relationship, which is why it gets so rocky. They both like each other for the person they are but a lot of that is attached to the fact that they are not like the assumptions they had about the other's class of people. They both want to try and uphold that view though, and that's the problem.

For Caitlyn, she acknowledges that there's some issues with how Zaunites are treated and wants to try and avoid being part of what she thinks is the problem. She wants to be one of the good leaders who does the right thing. At least in season 1.

For Vi, she's the token minority. She understands how fragile her position is in all of this. As far as representation for Zaun, she was damn near all they had. As far as she knew, nobody was in that council room looking out for them. So the fact that Caitlyn even brought her with her to explain the situation with Silco was an insane opportunity. She had to do what she had to do to keep it because there was almost no chance that anyone else would make it that far, especially if she didn't try to disprove people's assumptions of her and her people. This isn't to say that she changed the way she acted a whole lot. She really didn't. Most of this was an accident, but now she was aware of how she acted in comparison to what Piltover's citizens thought of her.

To try and break that down I'll tell you a personal story. One time, I was with my aunts and they complimented me on how I wasn't like "those other girls with the big lashes and the wigs and etc" and how I was "so true to myself". I've heard things like that a couple of times but it made me hyper aware of it. I never intended to be contrary to most black girls, I just never really had an interest in lace front and lashes and that specific aesthetic, which isn't even a bad thing nor is that representative of every black woman. I wore a lace front for prom and I'm never doing it again, it just isn't my thing, but I'm not striving by any means to not be like that, whatever that means. But now that they said that, that's something I was thinking about. Were they disappointed when they saw my prom photos and saw me in that wig? Did they think I was trying to fit in? What would they think if they knew how many of "those types" of girls I hung out with?

That's the position Vi is in by the end of season 1, but with much higher stakes. Especially after Jinx blows up the council building. Now she has to try and be one of the good ones, because there's extra animosity towards Zaun.

Eventually, this culminates in the cop era. Vi kind of gets backed into a corner, I think. Not necessarily by Caitlyn but by the social pressure around them. As things get more and more tense after the second attack, it becomes less about siding with the enemy and more about "what's the best way to keep my people from suffering and dying", because that's the next move. If she takes the badge and works under Caitlyn, maybe she can have some control or at least some say in how things get handled. It wasn't her forgetting what they did to her and other people, in fact it was a hyper awareness.

This is also why Vi tells Caitlyn to take the shot at Jinx if she gets the chance. Once again, she was backed into a corner by the political situation. She didn't just suddenly give up on her. Look at how Caitlyn was moving in her pursuit of Jinx, y'all think Vi didn't see that? Y'all think she didn't know how much worse it could get? If killing Jinx was the only way to spare thousands of people, unfortunately that would be the better choice. I think people forget just how much Vi cares about Zaun. She is just as much an advocate for them as Ekko or Sevika. She just has a different approach due to her circumstances.

But as we've seen in the real world, holding power like that won't stop the oppression you face. Having black cops doesn't stop police brutality, having a gay governor doesn't erase conversion camps. If they don't want to hear you, they will not hear you no matter what position you occupy. And that's exactly what happened to Vi. Caitlyn didn't wanna hear her because she was too caught up in her own biases and feelings, and next thing you know, things get 10x worse. That isn't a dig at Vi, I think she tried her best given the circumstances but it was an uphill battle she was fighting, even with her girlfriend. Caitlyn took her opposition as a defense of Jinx, which was a reaction loaded with personal trauma and implicit bias. That would not have happened if she didn't see Vi as "one of the good ones".

That's a very heavy crown to wear, and it can and will fall off your head eventually.

It sounds like it's a wrap from there, but they do eventually get back together. I think that split needed to happen the way it did, they both needed to see that being an exception serves nobody. For Vi, she was the first to be hit with that but Caitlyn got that later. When she started to understand the scope of Ambessa's plans and began to recognize her own cruelty, Caitlyn started to see it too.

We all joke that she folded the minute she heard Vi call her cupcake again but it was deeper than that. She already had doubts about what she was doing, not enough to do anything yet but there were seeds. One moment I can specifically point to is when she sees the commune. Something like this, a place where you're not even allowed to have weapons, feel unreal in a place like Zaun. Then, she sees Vi, she sees her family, Vi calls her cupcake again, that is what solidified her decision to betray Ambessa. It wasn't really about Vi in that moment and more so the fact that this is exactly what she wanted at the end of her season 1 character arc. The plan she helped put into the world would have (and did) wreck all of that. She wanted to think of herself as the exception, not as cruel as Ambessa, not as intolerant as a regular enforcer, but in that moment she realized that her intentions and everybody else's were not the same and they weren't trying to hear her. The fact that they supported her so much means she was probably doing more harm than good. Still, notice how she doesn't renounce her position as an enforcer or even really criticize Piltover as a whole yet, she just separates herself from Ambessa.

I don't think it was fully drilled into her brain until the final battle where she's about to die. She's got a knife in her stomach and a gun to the back of her head, she's cooked, it's over, and that's when she really learned that this was so much bigger than her. I think going into the battle she still saw herself as the noble exception that was going to save the day, but when she was faced with the severity and how deep rooted the glorious evolution was, she learned then that her good deeds would never be enough to even come close to fixing this mess. Being one of the good ones did nothing for anybody she cared about.

This is why I'm of the belief that, even if she didn't lose her shooting eye, she probably would've stopped being an enforcer after that battle. Look at the ending. I know it isn't the perfect solution to all of this, but it still says a lot about where Caitlyn is headed post-canon. The council has new people on it including Sevika, which is presumably her decision because idk who else would have (at least anyone with the authority to do so). And, when we do see Caitlyn, she's at that computer thingy. I don't think she was just there to look for Jinx, she was probably also looking into her mother's solution to the air problem in Zaun. I'm also going to assume she's officially on the council now. Again, not what needed to happen but the very fact that she's no longer an enforcer says volumes. The very core of being an enforcer is holding up preexisting systems and whatever decisions are made by the council. If she wants to do anything helpful, that's not where she needs to be. She doesn't need to be enforcing the law of the corrupt, she needs to actually put out orders that at least force them to be better. She's arguably the most socially powerful person in Piltover right now, she has that power. They may not want to hear her, but they will. A really nice enforcer isn't shit compared to a firm leader who actually puts their ideals into action.

So long story short, that's why season 2 CaitVi had such an insane breakup, bye

[menofprogress]

Here are some of my hot (or maybe tepid) takes about arcane:

(Under the cut bc i got wordy lol)

-the show could have used another season or like at least 5 more eps per season. Thats not a dig at the creators bc we know they were already forced to cut stuff out, but imho it shows a little, esp in s2. I fully believe Sevika was one of the biggest victims here, i genuinely believe she had an arc in s2 act 3 that was fully cut. And her being one of the biggest defenders of zaunite independence also means that by cutting her they basically gutted that storyline.

-the sheer lack of time with some characters also means that i simply did not connect with some of them, which made their deaths kind of underwhelming. Like i gasped when loris, isha, elora and sky died, but i cant say i was actually sad. That might be a me problem, but i need a little more time and info on a character to feel literally anything about them.

-on the other hand: we need to accept that sometimes background or minor characters are just that. No they werent robbed, no they werent underwritten, theyre simply not that important and thats OK bc theyre characters, not real people. You dont need to give equal attention to all characters for it to be "fair". And i sometimes feel like ppl think they HAVE to bemoan this. esp when its a female character a lot of fans talk about "sidelining" or "theyre using them as a plot device!!" Buddy, sometimes characters are literally just there to move the plot along, thats not inherently a social justice issue. (Ive seen this the most with sky and lest and like.... sorry, they were never gonna be more important than this. They can still be your fave, but just bc you wanted to see more of them doesnt mean they were sidelined for nefarious reasons)

-however sometimes the problem isnt that a character got too little screentime. S2 is a perfect example to show you can do a lot of character work in less time (viktor, ekko) and little character work with a lot of screentime (vi, sorry). Viktor and ekko were missing for entire episodes and managed to have full character arcs and vi was kind of there the whole time, but stuff just happened to her? Like she does do a lot, she looks incredibly cool, i liked watching her scenes, but her motivations, her goals and her values are ALL over the place. I love caitvi, but it did kinda ruin vis integrity when she threw away core beliefs (she becomes an enforcer, she temporarily agrees to kill jinx, she participates in chem warfare against the undercity) for cait. Hmmmmm.....

-i wasnt that deep in the fandom in s1 so i might have simply missed it or i might just not be following assholes, but the "jayvik shippers hate mel" thing never made sense to me. NOT because i dont believe it, bc i sure as hell have seen enough mlm shippers be fully misogynistic or racist, but the way ppl (mainly meljay shippers lbr) talked about jayvik shippers being horrible to mel like it was this HUGE thing confused me bc i personally have seen like 2 fanfics where they horribly mischaracterise mel to be a viktor-hating bitch, but thats it? Like, was that an actual problem or was it ppl deliberately misunderstanding stuff? (One specific example: ive seen someone accuse jayvik shippers of being misogynists bc they accused mel of manipulating jayce and sidelining Viktor. Which is a canonical thing happening in the show. Like ofc you can word it in a way to make mel a horrid evil bitch, im sure there are ppl who DO hate mel and think she is an evil succubus, but this person in particular just seemed upset about the fact that ppl were talking about things that mel canonically did.) This is a genuine question, bc from my pov after s1 mel was one of the fan faves and jayvik wasnt THAT big of a deal until s2. I literally saw a hundred times more jayce hate than i did mel hate, but maybe thats not the universal arcane fandom experience? Like, again, i HAVE seen (for lack of a better term) fujoshis get wildly hateful towards female characters in the vicinity of their ship, i was just pleasantly surprised that the arcane fandom seemingly DIDNT. So the unrestrained resentment and bitterness of some fans after jayvik "went canon" caught me off guard.

-the reason i ask this: i saw a video where someone talked about some rando homophobic timebomb fans who apparently resented caitvi for getting a happy ending instead of jinx and ekko. So i commented "i s2g het-shippers act like theyre an oppressed group sometimes" to which another person responded "well jayvik fans were really shitty about mel, soo...." and i was so fucking confused bc what? The video wasnt even about mel or jayvik?? They just heard me make a snarky comment about het ships and immediately felt called out. But yeah thats what prompted my question.

-i dont get the thirst for the fish man. I get the salo thirst even less. I cheered when jayce bonked him.

-i actually dont want jayce or viktor to appear in future projects. While i love the idea of them being ~not dead~, i think any further canonical storylines about them would devalue the extremely emotional ending they had. Like, imagine if they only bring one of them back?? What then?? No, i actually prefer post-canon fix it fanfics in this case. (Cough cough esp bc this way i can still plausibly delude myself into them being actually canon and yall KNOW it probably would not stay this way if their story continues)

[i-suc-at-art]

OKAY SO

I saw this old tiktok from like 5ish months ago about tim drake and saying that they hate him and like his fanon version. And i as a TIM FAN i am on tumblr now to defend the fandom (Im not going to link the video bc if this blows up i DO NOT want the person getting blasted bc these are takes they had in like june of 2024) Also in all fairness this person is talking about the “crazy” tim drake fans (some might even reach to say stans) Im just yapping my opinions as (in my personal opinion) a very reasonable tim fan

Also this is very long so buckle up 🫡

Their first point (stated as 1. (i will be stating their points as “#.” and my response as “-“)) Also i refer to op as “they” and “their” bc i didnt wanna put them on blast, sorry if it’s confusing. I put (op) next to references to them that might be confusing

1. Tim drake is mis-characterized by the fandom which leads to it becoming canon

- They are not wrong with this, HOWEVER please note that a lot of fans who like batman (SPECIFICALLY bat family are reading fanfics or WFA) meaning that their knowledge of what is cannon and what isn’t is misconstrued. (reminder that WFA isn’t cannon to the main DCU (i’m like 90% sure) While i do disagree with some of ppls headcannons (coffee addiction Tim DrakeTM i’m looking at you) I don’t see issue in writers making headcannons cannon. it could mean a lot to the fans AND MEANS THAT THE WRITERS ARE LISTENING TO THE FANS

2. Tim drake fans bringing him up every chance they get (ie: bringing him up with the fact he might have been at the flying graysons routine where they died)

- Yeahhhh i got nothing to say about this.. Tbh ppl just like their fave, i feel like SOME tim drake fans get a victim complex with him (or whatever you’d classify it as) and like feel the need to relate him to every single character

3. The “Timdrakeafication” of every single robin

- THE TEEN TITANS ROBIN LOOKS LIKE TIM IM SORRY SOMEONE HAD TO SAY IT SO DOES THE ROBIN IN YOUNG JUSTICE 🗣️🗣️🗣️

NOW here’s my evidence, also i made an insta story abt this. 1) Tim is THE robin (especially in his first comics) to have changed up the robin suit design

exhibit a-f:

All of tim’s suits (unused and used) were KNOWN for changing up Robins look (Id say that they were making him look more “adult”) (also he’s known (especially IN THE COMICS) for being the robin with the pants. Is it unreasonable for Tim fans to think that hes the robin in the shows?? (ALSO it’s a very fair assumption for tim to be the Robin in YJ bc THATS HIS FUCKING TEAM??? HE WAS THE ROBIN WHO LED THEM!!! TEEN TITANS IS DICKS TEAM)

Please Dc bring back young justice 🙏🙏🙏

also tim is explicitly shown using a bow staff in the first ‘Robin’ issue. He specifically picks out a collapsible reed staff from Lady Shivas friend’s collection (which i find hilarious)

exhibit g:

Robin (vol 1) part 4/5 (april 91)

So when first seeing Robin in Teen Titans (and Teen Titans Go) It’s not unreasonable to assume he’s Tim (Now to be fair i haven’t seen all of Teen Titans (fake fan ik 😔) So take my opinion on this with a grain of salt)

Though, ppl still getting them confused about who is who is on them especially bc they’ve had multiple instances where it is confirmed (in both season 1 yj and teen titans) who is who (Tim is literally in season 2 (and kinda 3) of yj

ALSO they bring up the fact that Damian is starting to look like tim and i have nothing to say to that bc im not a super huge damian fan (other than WFA which imo does justice to his character) and I couldn’t tell you shit about it BAHAHA

4. Tim being ‘underrated’ in the fandom

-Tim is not underated in the fandom. HOWEVER because rn it is Damian’s turn to be robin it is difficult to find main stream comics with Tim (Batman: Failsafe my love) And i believe that in a lot of Tiktok’s and fandom media about the birds and bats skip out on Tim bc he is seen as overrated so they just skip over him (which bruh what???) Nightwing literally has a comic series currently still releasing. Damian had the batman and son comics, and his own robin comics.(im pretty sureee) Tim (and dick) both have a compendium out (i love my Tim Drake Compendium 🫶🫶) Jason has the death in the family book, and other red hood comics (however his character tends to get boiled down to just the angry robin, and he doesn’t have a currently airing comic series). None of the 4 boys robins are technically under rated.

Real underrated batfamily members: Duke Thomas, Stephenie Brown, Cass Caine. (i swear if anyone says Duke was a robin it’s on sight/lh)

5. Dick threatening to send Tim to Arkham bc he thought bruce was alive

-NO DICK NEVER IN CANNON THREATENED THIS. This was a fic, meant for tim drake angst. Their (op) argument that Bruce (i’m going off the failsafe cannon idk if their is another instance where bruce gets lost in the time stream/ multiverse) was buried and gone (they don’t have a funeral for him girl (gender neutral) what?? Also no one argued that Bruce wasn’t alive, Tim didn’t even go to the league with this one he talks to Jon, Dick (dick actually believes that Bruce is alive) And Mister Tarrific (Michael Holt)

Exhibit h and i:

Batman vol 2: the bat-man of gotham 2023, The Toy Box: part 1

Dick believes that Bruce is alive BUT doesn’t think they can do anything about it. Dick isn’t stupid, there’s very little chance that he’d actually think Bruce is dead. HOWEVER where is your whimsy?? Where is your want for angst?? Tim being thrown in arkham came from a fic (im pretty sure) it wanted to push the idea of everyone thinking tim was crazy like he said in exhibit h, top right frame: “I’m tired of everyone looking at me like i’m crazy.” The point of fandom and fanfiction is to take your own idea and make it into a story about characters that already exist. Tim haters using this au (we’ll call it) as an excuse to hate on tim “🤓☝️bc it’s not cannon that Dick threw him in Arkham” boils my blood (not literally i try and be a passive guy)

6: Tim fans “villainizing” other hero characters (ie: Dick Grayson)

- One of their points is that Tim fans villainize Dick for choosing Damian as his robin. All i have to say to this is: If your older sibling who you explicitly looked up to chose your younger sibling who is know to be a brat (not saying that Damian is actually a brat BUT (and maybe i’m projecting) Tim would probably see him as a brat bc that kid tried to kill him before, because he thought that tim wasn’t fit to hold the role of Robin) you’d probably be hurt, and pissed. SO ppl “villainizing” Dick aren’t really, they are showing (in my experience at least) that, that is how Tim views Dick at that moment bc he’s pissed off at his brother.

7. They (op) says that they’ll get so much hate for their tim drake takes, but literally all the comments agree with them. As a closing thought they said that they wouldn’t be making this video but it’s so prevalent now (in the fandom ig??) and that it’s (tim drake’s character??) so hard to ignore that they had to rant a make the video

- I have one thing to say: WHERE IS YOUR WHIMSY???

In conclusion, I wish no ill will on this person, they seem chill, and like a good fan. However they talk very condescendingly (Someone pls lmk if i sound the same lol) and ignore the fact that it is called FANNON for a reason. It is the fans cannon and we can add what ever head cannons we want. It is very easy to ignore a characters fandom, block the tags on tumblr, click ‘not interested’ on tiktok like- girl (gn) you just need to do the work and your life quality will be so much better PLEASEEEE. Well I agree with some of their points (like tim not actually being underrated) it is hard to ignore that there seemed to be very little research done for this (It’s a tiktok so it not that big of a deal lmao) but when taking about the cannon and fannon i believe that you need to take into account the cannon comics, and make a distinction between fannon and cannon. I do not like the commment about Bruce being dead, and saying that they watched him get buried. He was technically incinerated by Failsafe, they (atleast in the failsafe and the bat-man of Gotham) didnt hold a funeral.

Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jiménez i love you, pls read the fail safe and the bat-man of Gotham comics they are beautiful and very well written imo.

Have a good night/morning/day🫶