#i legitimately do not know how to address this and am gonna have to talk to my therapist bc this is uh. oh boy

[allwormdiet]

Sentinel 9.5

Every thirteen year old in this story is going through hell

Dear Parian, how do you puppet cloth dolls with boxing gloves on their hands?

Nah but this is nice to see them getting along with each other, and I'm glad that Vista gets to see something cute in such a blighted fucking time.

The background levels of desperation and fear in this setting remain very strong and evocative.

Gayyyyyy

Vista like "hey I'm not young enough to actually enjoy this, but I'm old enough to act polite about it"

God that's so fucking cool

Oh man who could have possibly predicted that putting a thirteen year old in constant life-or-death situations with people dying around her could possibly result in a warped perspective on death and dying, that's so weird

Oh man, who could have possibly predicted that enlisting a thirteen year old in a quasi-military policing organization where she's legitimately got seniority over high schoolers could possibly result in feeling distanced from her own age, that's so weird

So like, is there truly nowhere else to put the team portrait gallery than right where everyone sees them every time they enter? Just put them in another hallway or wing or something, especially if you're dropping bodies.

Still a little darkly funny that Browbeat doesn't even get a portrait, guy was straight up too new to even put in front of a camera

The idea that Coil has only managed to infiltrate the PRT at all because they're letting him infiltrate the PRT is. Oh my fucking God he's so bad at this. So far every win we've seen him take against other players is because they feel bad enough to let him have it. Coil, you have got to fucking hang it up my man, the minute someone decides to actually deal with you you're cooked

(It's almost certainly gonna be Taylor, on account of that child you kidnapped and forcibly addicted to drugs)

Okay so like. Hwoo. I keep talking about the expectations being put on the Wards in this fucking story but this is a really steep one. Let this fucking mole into your midst and let him do what he does. Let a tinker, a goddamn superpowered tech specialist, hang out where your stuff is.

I know they all agree to do it but they already all agreed to fight fucking Leviathan, Vista agreed to kill a man for seconds on the clock, we're waaaaay past the point where any boundaries might still be crossed

Hey you know what, self-awareness is good, it's healthy, I wish someone would let Taylor have some but that's fine

Okay, well, at least Piggot is willing to treat these kids a little like kids. And address some of the concerns that they have. And promise that she'll find some kind of compensation for the fact that these kids are going above and fucking beyond in their role as junior heroes.

Glad Kid Win gets a... win

and while I don't love Clockblocker making fun of Piggot, I get it. She's the authority figure in their lives, she consistently plays the role of bad cop with them. That's how it goes.

Okay so Vista turned thirteen on the day that Leviathan hit Brockton Bay, which means she's been at this since she was eleven, maybe younger. This now puts her pretty firmly in the same age bracket as Alec, and that might put her at silver or bronze for youngest known trigger event depending on how old Miss Militia was at the time.

Also, the fact that Vista has thrown herself into her career as a cape, at age thirteen, as a means to not have to spend time with her parents? That's bleak. I continue to maintain that she should be allowed to commit any misdemeanor she wants to and get away with it forever

So Hookwolf almost murdered an 11-12 year old and they truly can't just commit to having a single Triumvirate member sit on his Birdcage transport the entire way along just to make sure he actually gets gone? At least until they're out of the Empire's reach, surely, like what the fuck

Do the unspoken rules not kick in on attempted murder? Do you need a corpse to make it stick?

Jesus God, Sophia, I am trying to keep an open mind about you but so far you have just been such a jerk in so many directions.

Like obviously she's not doing well but what's the alternative for her at this point

Just gotta pick up the slack left by two older, more experienced(?) teammates who had a lot of hopes and emotional bonds riding on them. And Browbeat.

Does anybody on this team like Sophia?

Weld is good people. Also I think "empathetic" is technically the correct word unless the ability to warp space like putty also comes with emotion reading.

This is sweet.

Also, yeah, cry. It's good for you.

Godddddddd fucking dammit Sophia.

This is so unreasonably cruel to do to a teammate, never mind to a kid

"Bluh bluh life is pain, the real world is all about what's hard, suffering builds character" shut the fuck up Sophia, Vista put up bigger numbers against Leviathan and doesn't have a rusty knife in place of a personality.

Also "kids" girl you have at most three years on her

Big bad Shadow Stalker can't handle being the one under the microscope

Yeah no for real, the moment she gets provoked in a way even kind of resembling the way she provokes others, she resorts to acts of physical violence. Thin-skinned hypocrite, thy name is Sophia Hess.

Guess Vista's lucky she's not taller and more gangly or else Sophia would've tried to rip her ear off.

Current Thoughts

Vista is the PRT's strongest soldier and she is out there fighting their hardest battles. She also has not reached high school yet and possibly wasn't even in middle school when she first donned the costume. This whole system is a scam.

Cool to see Weld better settling into the leadership role, at least.

And then Sophia. Sophia, Sophia, Sophia. I don't know what the Undersiders have planned for you but right now I'm having a hard time feeling sympathy. Do unto others, you little maniac.

[cocogum]

Nora is being indirectly mistreated by her own family.

(And why my Noramalia obsession is slowly increasing-)

I don’t know why this happened the way it did but episodes 7 and 8 FED ME SOME GOOD NORAMALIA MOMENTS ✨✨

Also, let me just say how episode 7 ended up being the FIRST EVER recorded conversation between Amalia and Nora and it was WONDERFUL 💕💕

My girl is always the one complaining first but for once, it’s Nora who beat her to it 😭😭

I never thought I’d see the day when someone else would say their complaints out loud and it would be AMALIA OF ALL PEOPLE to try to look at the positives of the situation!

No matter how many times I keep analyzing how these two behave around each other throughout these two episodes, my heart keeps fluttering cuz I see NO FLAWS WHATSOEVER IT’S PERFECT ‼️‼️💖💖💖

Just look at how Amalia keeps being the one supporting Nora and snapping her awake from her panic attacks!

You’d usually think the ones who’d help her often with her problems would be Yugo, Qilby, and even Adamaï, her actual BROTHERS, or even her own mother but NO!!! It’s AMALIA!!!

Amalia saw how Nora looked super out of it during the battle and decided to go to her and snap her from her trance AND EVEN HELD HER SHOULDER OMG ARE U FUCKING KIDDING ME?!!?

But you’re gonna tell me: “chillax dummy, she only did that cuz it was the right thing to do. Yugo was busy supporting Adamaï and Qilby’s just being a dick.”

Oh yeah?

Well I reject ur premise.

Amalia is such a good girlfriend that she KEEPS BEING BY NORA’S SIDE EVEN AFTER SHE CALMED DOWN.

Ankama could’ve made Joris support her instead since he was free but nope! It HAD to be Amalia 💕💕

Just look at how my girl keeps holding her from behind and making sure she’s alright.

Keep in mind that Amalia has no idea what’s going on with Nora. This is the second legitimate time she sees Nora like this (since Nora also had one of those moments back in the Sadida kingdom) and Amalia does not know if her frozen state usually happens when she sees something that triggers her or if this is just something that Nora gets from time to time.

Whatever Amalia may be thinking about this, it doesn’t change the fact that she’s the only one in the group who realized her peculiar case and did something to help her.

Not only is this character development for Amalia, but it also shows how she caught Nora’s odd behavior much more quickly than the others. And it only took two times for her to see it to do anything about it.

LOOK SHE’S STILL HOLDING NORA ‼️‼️‼️

Are you seeing this shit⁉️⁉️⁉️

How the hell am I the only one addressing Amalia’s care for Nora???

And Nora just lets her!

Even after her little panic attack ended, she still lets Amalia touch her back for support!

This is honestly such a cute detail and I love how the small noramalia moments are treated like this 💖

When you really think about it, the relationship could work, especially for Nora’s part.

Nora’s family is especially messy and chaotic. Her mother is too traumatized by the necromes to do anything about her situation or even ask her how she’s feeling. She didn’t even have an alone talk with Nora to properly talk about how she was feeling. I bet that even when Nora had managed to save the Eliatrope goddess and got to be alone for some time, not even once did the Eliatrope goddess ask her anything cuz Nora was too busy consolidating her mother while internally freaking out for her brother.

Yugo and Qilby are just fighting with each other while Adamaï stays on the sidelines and doesn’t try to get closer to his mother, preferring to put some distance between him and her.

So who’s left to talk about her troubles or to let out her frustrations and misery?

Amalia.

The only person who attempted to help and noticed she had something off.

The only person who, despite not being family or even a divinity, attempted to do anything about her case.

The only person who stayed next to her and placed her hand behind her back even when she stopped freaking out.

Amalia would be a good person Nora could choose to go to for her problems.

It’s clear to see Nora had no room to breathe or place herself first at any moment that we got to see her. Her mother and her brothers are taking too much space and they don’t seem to realize how much she’s got to lose despite the evidence plastered right in front of their faces. Even when Nora explains to them how she managed to find their mother and how Efrim had to sacrifice himself in the process, she gets absolutely no words of consolidation from her brothers or her mother.

Instead, she just gets looks of sympathy from Yugo and Adamaï but it’s clear that they don’t seem to be sad about Nora being stuck in her dofus but rather because she lost her brother. For a primordial eliatrope to understand that their dofus won’t hatch because their sibling got infected means that they’re aware they can predict their time of “death”, ending their continuous cycle and rebirth that was supposed to last for eternity. Since the eliatrope council cannot die and constantly come back to life, this could technically be considered their actual death.

Upon knowing that Nora knows this however, the Eliatrope goddess simply says :

What kind of answer is that?!

Her mother is basically implying that there’s no hope for Nora but at the same time is saying that she loves her??

She does realize that her words feel empty now that she told her she couldn’t let that happen again right?? She’s basically indirectly saying that Nora is a lost cause.

It's clear to see that Nora has much more to lose than her other family members.

She’s the only one who lost her brother for good and will likely not get reborn in her next life with him because she’ll be stuck in her dofus forever. To be able to get reborn over and over again but not be able to anymore because your brother froze the cycle is a fate worse than death. She’s the only one who’s hiding her sadness and pain to give space for her mother because she thinks her problems are way less important than what’s currently going on. She’s the only one having panic attacks and thinks she’s seeing her brother everywhere. She’s the only suspect who is likely the reason why the portal to the necrome world is even there and is very likely the sick eliatrope.

So to have Amalia do this small and kind gesture for Nora made my heart warm up at the fact that she IS worried for her and is still holding her up after she had her little struggle.

Their relationship doesn’t even need to be romantic. Just as long as I get to see Amalia be by Nora’s side for anything, I’d be happy.

Cuz to be real with you, I’m starting to get annoyed that her family doesn’t seem to understand the level of severity of Nora’s case.

If Amalia noticed Nora was having a panic attack, then she could notice her struggles hidden inside her if Nora confided in her. (this also means her family should be able to clearly see it but since they’re not doing anything about it, they shouldn’t be an option for Nora to go to).

And that’s what I would like to see.

A moment like this where Nora can properly rely on someone who isn’t her family.

But for a romantic relationship, I can definitely see it too lol

Amalia’s usually the one speaking her thoughts so shamelessly but Nora might as well take her place and be a boss ass bitch while Amalia’s the more caring side and supports Nora and hears her troubles.

That can be a good dynamic to see. We only saw a glimpse of it when Nora was complaining about the rulers of the world. So it’d be nice to see these two talking to each other again like this.

[sansloii]

SHIPPING SPARK NOTES: EVAN DUERR ( bio can be found here )

things people should know about him going into it all:

Evan self sabotages a LOT so he will either say or do some shit that puts him in hot water with... whoever he's kinda interested in. Or whoever’s kinda interested in him. The nature of his job makes it easy for him to fuck someone once and never talk to them again and trust me when i say that he's done this. and can do it again.

And that leads into this second point—he needs patience and time. He will fuck up, he will pull away, and he will say things he doesn’t mean. And will make it very clear that’s not something you have to put up with ( though it’s meant as a distancing tactic, it’s very true ). you can hold out for him if you so choose, but the path to him settling and choosing introspection instead of running is paved with potholes and bumps.

one has to be okay with how close he is to Mikah, but they do not have to tolerate feeling like they’re third-wheeling their friendship. The two are very close and Evan does feel something semi-romantic towards them. He has never acted on it and likely never will in the near or far future unless there is some plot reason for it. He will get over it if he is interested a relationship with someone else. He will not cheat.

If the above didn’t clue anyone in, the man is emotionally closed off. He does not want to talk about his feelings at aaaaaalll... copes with them with sex and alcohol. Also gets super invested in emotionally unavailable people or people that are not interested in him like that ( See: Mikah ) for a reason that totally has nothing to do with past trauma and neglect.

He is a mess. I am sorry if you like him. Your journey will not be easy. I promise he's like a puppy beneath all that nonsense. You just gotta wade through some bullshit first.

Details:

Hoo boy.

So like… as far as getting close to Evan, it’s in a similar vein as getting close to Mikah. Friendship is key. Though that friendship can occur in many ways, it’s the comfort of… understanding him beforehand (or starting to) that helps him ease into things. Evan knows himself very well and knows that… while it’s not like he’s wants to be an asshole or wants to like… string people along, he also knows that the type of vulnerability that tends to go right along with romantic relationships is something that he struggles with a lot. It’s so much easier said than done for him and part of him struggles with wanting to work through that and address why he feels that way. It’s a difficult process and Evan chooses to… not deal with it—he makes an active choice to not deal with it, which has led to the unraveling of many of his past romantic relationships. It is easier for him to drown whatever… thoughts and regrets and moments of second guessing in sex and alcohol. Backing out early is always more appealing to him so he doesn’t end up getting hurt or hurting someone else long term. Because his mind rationalizes it as “why would you stay in a relationship that you know you’re gonna fuck up? You already fucked up a handful already—don’t bother.”

And yet, he’s a very attentive person. He tries to be a good friend ( albeit, he is a bad influence ) and it’s not like he’s a unreasonable dickhead all the time. He wants companionship, but to a point ( again, see how he is so close to Mikah ) and wants that closeness without that defined commitment—at least, that’s what’ll get him to stay right now.With him, it’s like two wolves fighting each other internally. Romanticism gives him the fucking hives, but he’d be lying if he said he wouldn’t mourn a relationship like the one he has with Mikah.

:) so like… enjoy navigating that little shit show. Evan does not make it easy.

As for preference, Straight and simple—he does… tend… to lean towards people that could absolutely curb stomp him. Like legitimately kill him. Won’t, but the capacity has to be there. Doesn’t matter if they’re shorter than him, doesn’t matter if they’re taller, bececause it isn’t what he’s looking for… it just happens.

What he craves in the bedroom is a challenge. He likes butting heads a little bit ( or a lot ) with whoever he’s sleeping with. He’s no stranger to being dominant and tends to play that role in the bedroom. However, if his partner wants the reigns, he will give it to them…. But only if they take it or yank on his leash a little. There needs to be a little give and take with him—some balance. He doesn’t mind if his partner is rough with him ( and encourages it ) but will… keep an eye and ear on how rough his partner wants him to be with them. Leave bites, leave scratches, leave bruises—he will not care.. unless you don’t allow him to leave any in turn. Evan has a open mind and is willing to try something he hasn’t before within reason ( though… that list is admittedly kinda small, but that’s because it’s mostly made up of “Hard no’s” for him ).

[tw1stedthicket]

You know, what? I feel super fucking salty. About kinda everything related to my former time in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But in this moment in particular, salty that there isn't quite a developed way in their system to address people who wish not be contacted unless those people pursue the legal process of having their names removed off the legal church records and petitioning the help of them to "undo a contract of religious affliation". I've told people a few times before that I do not wish to be contacted, but I still am, and I know the reason is because there's not really a way for them to have a continuity of records that demonstrate lack of membership. Right? Like that makes no sense. If you don't wanna be part of it, then your name oughta be removed. But they have to keep it on there. I wish there was a way to like, "inactivate" it in some way. Maybe add a note with some days of correspondence where I stated I wished not to be contacted. Maybe that's the part of me that works administrative stuff in healthcare talking? Or the part of me preparing to document every note as a counselor? But I have enough sympathy for these people who contact me that like, they don't know any better. Especially because most of the people contacting me are new to the area. Also, me personally, I feel like my deconstruction would have been impossible had I not had people around me who showed me the clear dichotomy over time of people who were grounded in reality, accepting of the broader world, and legitimately intended to do so for the sake of unconditional love and friendship, and how irreverent it was but in the best, most authentic and fun way, and that was holy all on its own.

So I just kinda feel like, what the fuck is the point of targeting my hurt or anger at people still members. It's just gonna come across to them as mean-spirited and bitter. Nobody deserves harrassment either I might add, which sucks ass already because missionaries do get that from people; and although I believe in my heart that they're doing fucked up shit by audaciously trying to convince people to move from their own convictions to believe a con by a dude from the Second Great Awakening of American history that ended up spawning a church that functions mostly like a corporation (rich ppl at the top getting paid and making investments and people at the bottom earnestly trying their best to achieve worthiness) - I do also believe in my heart these people think they're motivated by love, that would have them leave their family if asked and tell other people that they can be with their families "forever" because of the restoration of the ability for us to "seal" families together in our church and by our authority from on heaven, and they would only be hurt because they are too mired in mind control right now. I've been waffling on about my desire to remove my records from church membership whilst still living at home and what PR shit that might cause for my TBM father and brother, but. I can't honestly say that being contacted every once in a while is like, all that offensive. It's a different story for others who have people try to "bear their testimony" at them or show up at their house unannounced. But I did kinda think of something.

I've tried to imagine what I might say to people a million times over, but. I think if the opportunity comes. I'm gonna flip the script. I won't shun them away like others. I won't invite them to try to argue the ins and outs of books of scripture, or answer for things they have been trained to just default to "I know it's true blah, blah, blah." I'm just gonna meet them on their level. Earnestly tell them I feel compelled by the Spirit to say that God loves all his children. I won't get into the weeds of belief or disbelief, because who the fuck knows and who the fuck cares anyway - live and let live, to me. But I'll say, God loves all his children. He loves you, missionaries. He loves me too. He made us all in His image. And I'll come out to them right there. "I'm a lesbian. And I know God loves all of his lesbian children." "I know God loves me enough that He wants to see me again with my wife, and my kids, and my family, in heaven with him throughout the eternities."

Let them sit with that. Sit with the notion that no, actually, God doesn't love you enough to save you, and you seeing him again isn't actually part of his plan. His plan is for you to prove yourself through perfection to be worthy to even stand in his presence. Let them try to find a way to worm around the fact that my future wife and kids *aren't* a family. Let them try to say that this vision of love and how clearly I feel it isn't actually love, that God actually hates sin, oh - but we don't hate gay people! Let them try to wrestle in their mind why their God has damned some people He made that there's no way they couldn't just...change the temple ceremony, right? There's no way they won't ever allow gay people who earnestly want to fall in love with people a way into the church and into heaven, right? That anybody gay they know who has a heart and wants to love, technically loves *different* than them, and it's a love that God can't stand to be in the presence of...but what if they can? What about how they can stand in my presence and feel that I am human? Will they reject that? That will be a question for their spirit and conscience.

I have a lot of quandries about why I left. But it will never happen until it touches your heart, your sense of humanity, your love for others, your integrity, your conscience, your deeply held idea of "choose the right" -- even "choose the harder right". I believe they feel it. I once did. Not my job to do anything for them. But I'll meet them where we are and let them chew on that, if ever given the chance, I think. Until one day I remove my records. And then one day, if they get married in the temple, and they decide to have kids, and their kid grows up, and one day their kid comes out to them, hey. They might think of me. Think of my love for my family and my future family. And I hope they'll realize it's the same.

[fireemblems24]

Scarlet Blaze Ch 11

Sorry this is taking forever, but here's ch 11.

MAIN STORY

Oh, shit, do we have to fight Gilbert next? AND ANNETTE? This suuukkkkks. It especially sucks since you know they didn't have a choice but to risk their lives just defending themselves.

Annette is so precious. Fuck. I don't want to fight her.

Gilbert being a good daddy though 😭😭😭😭

At least CF was entertaining. SB is a giant snoozefest where I have to kill all my favorites.

Man, they all sound like psychopaths. They're all super excited to go kill people who are just defending themselves. Even Dorothea's only worried about marriage.

MAP/SIDE STUFF

Shez just said that everyone who gets killed in the war "is standing in our way." Imagine comparing self-defense to "getting in our way." Yikes for that characterization compared to how concerned GW!Shez is about Claude's aggressive decisions.

Lamo, Mercedes is like wtf am I doing here fighting the Kingdom and Annie? 

Aww, Marianne (and Dorothea) are like the only two who realize they're fighting other people and not just being all murder happy like the rest. 

Dimitri just got put on par with Holst and Caspars dad by Balthis, kind of, unofficially best Kingdom warrior? 

We're addressing the Ferdinand and Hubert subplot again. Which is good. It's by far the most interesting part of SB. Though, it's just a repeat of what we've seen from it before.

Ok, they're adding some different stuff which is interesting. Bringing up that even if Fredie's dad tried to retire and stay out of Edelgard's way, that he would still have to die because of what he symbolizes. Hubert and Ferdinand disagree on whether people like Mr. Aegir can get a second chance (as in, can you when you've become a symbol).

This is especially interesting to me in regards to what happens to Rhea, Dimitri, and Claude if they surrender to Edelgard and become her puppets. Basically, Hubert is saying that, no matter what, they'd have to die because anyone who would rebel would use (fill in here) as a symbol of their resistance. Claude may be the sole exception here because he can scoot off to Almyra, but it's very obvious that Rhea and Dimitri (and their staunch allies) are fighting for their lives, because even if we're generous and say Edelgard would spare them and give them life worth living (i.e. not locked up), Hubert would most certainly have them assassinated.

Which also brings up another point. People always talk about how it's wrong/bad for Dimitri to try and spare Edelgard at the end of AM because what kind of life would she live? But always praise Edelgard for trying to spare Rhea towards the end of CF but no one - not a single soul - asks what kind of life would Rhea live? I gotta make my own post about that.

SB is really gonna be - kill yo dad, the route. Ironic since I played this the day after Father's Day.

I have to fight Sylvain 😭

SHEZ & MANUELA A SUPPORT

Manuela is flirting with Shez lol. He said he liked her voice and she pushed him with like "is that all" until he talked about her looks lamo

Aww, Shez actually likes her hungover side. Saying he likes warrior her, singer her, healer her, and drunk her. That's kinda cute, actually

Shez said that he can't keep his eyes off her. Laying it on a bit thick. And said she's more attractive now than she was younger haha.

Yeah, Shez, I have no idea how she was supposed to see that in any other way lol.

HUBERT & LYSITHEA B SUPPORT

Hubert finds Lysithea studying at night and teases her about ghosts. She runs away.

The Imperial Army is a bunch of children who don't want to eat their veggies. This is 100% cannon. Hubert orders guards to sneak them into soups for the soldiers actually get their veggies. I cannot. (though, imagine the privilege, Faerghus could never)

Lysithea freaks out because she ate veggies.

Veggies are legitimately delicious though. I don't know what the Imperial Army's problem is.

EDELGARD & MONICA A SUPPORT

Guys, I'm so excited. A Monica support. I wonder what she'll talk about.

Monica counts how many times Edelgard worried about her and invited her to tea. I just . . . no.

This support was pure cringe.

I love how "Kingdom bad" because they're willing to die to defend their homes, family, friends, and everything and anything else they've loved from invaders, but Monica is to be admired because she's oh so loyal to Edelgard that even in when Edelgard leaves her for dead, it's a happy moment for Monica because it helps Edelgard's cause. Like . . . double standard much?

PETRA & CONSTANCE C SUPPORT

Constance is something else. She confronts Petra because Petra's dad invaded and it led to the demise of Constance's everything.

I enjoy supports that address conflict, but girl, that was not Petra's fault. Don't take it out on her.

Oh, good, she's not. She recognizes that Petra's people suffered, and that neither of them were involved, so there's no bad blood.

Then she hahahas and leaves. Lamo, this made me love Constance.

Petra doesn't get a chance to say she agrees and seeks out Constance, but finds her in the sunlight, and needlessly to say, is very confused.

MAIN BATTLE

Hubert and Edelgard just said submit or die.

Wow, Linhardt is like I wish the nobles would think about all the people who they're forcing to fight. The lack of self-awareness is astounding.

Ferdinand can join the "lack of self-awareness club" for acting like it's the Kingdom causing the violence.

Baron Dominic opened the gate, risking his defenses to rescue soldiers. Hubert judged him. But we're supposedly the good guys. I swear the writing goes out of it's way to make the Kingdom look good.

Fuck. I have to fight Gustave :( He dead :( Poor Annette.

FUCK. Now I have to fight Annette.

Fuck this route. Ingrid, Rodrigue, Gustave, and now Annette - all dead.

Even Baron Dominic's death is making me sad. None of the Empire generals get this kind of humanization when they die lol.

Edelgard and Hubert sound insane. Edelgard's acting like their deaths were inevitable because of their lineage (when they would've been just fine if not for her actions), and Hubert's like he's happy to die so it doesn't matter. What a bunch of looney tunes.

Edelgard just said whoever wins gets to decide what's right. I mean, victors do write the history but yikes at the implications.

So deep - "we're up against the world itself." Sounds like a teenage edge-lord wrote this lamo.

We got crusher. Joy. Did they pry it out of Annette's dead hands?

Oh, joy, more backtracking. Revolts in the Empire. I thought we were out of the backtracking era and into kill every Blue Lion era.

xxxx

[microcosmiclymbic]

Cards on the table. My GODS this took hours of labor. In the face of his lackluster apology

I can appreciate that you wanted to offer help. I know my situation sucks. Like yeah stuck between being homeless and broke or in violence isn't what I want for myself either. And I know anyone who loves me is going to be torn up watching me go through it too.

I don't think you were being malicious either. But that was neglectful, and it still 100% counts as a boundary push regardless of if you were using demanding language or not. Good intentions does not erase impact. And the impact of pushing a boundary is causing me to feel even more unsafe. That's shitty. I'm here stuck in the shitty. Please, be brave and face that shittiness with me without deflecting. Offering an apology that fully acknowledges the impact of your actions and offers care towards that impact, is like offering me an opportunity out of that shitty too. It's a way to walk us both out of it together.

An apology need not include self defense and minimizing by talking about worse things you could have done instead. If I thought you had malicious intent I'd have broken up with you straight away. Please give me some credit by the fact that I am already giving you an incredible amount of grace by patiently explaining all of this to you, and put down your shield.

Sometimes the best support to offer is just, "Fuck I wish I could help, but I know that's not what you need right now. I wish you didn't have to be stuck in this situation." In fact, you empathizing with me and sharing how you feel about something is always going to be preferable to you offering help, especially now. (And I'll bet part of why you feel a need to respond with help is likely linked to early parts in our relationship where I didn't feel an ability to directly advocate for my needs and therefore didn't ask directly for help. - we can unpack that more later. Just wanted to acknowledge your side here and let you know I do see it. I am holding it).

It didn't feel like you understand the boundary in the apology. Or at least the why? So I'm gonna try and over explain it here. Cause the thing is, I do want to be at your place. I'm devastated that it's no longer a place that I can consider safe for myself. That I can't feel safe with you the way I once could. I want you to know that I'm not just choosing distance as some sort of punishment or to put pressure on you to follow through. Or just because of shit with 🍄.

I am(and have been) dealing with legitimate anxiety directly related to the lack of resolution to harm that occurred in our relationship. The shit with 🍄 just eliminated my capacity to ignore it enough that I could keep being patient with you. Because I *do* understand shit is hard for you and all I've wanted to do is to give you the time and space and support you need to grow. But I think ignoring and hiding the anxiety was always the wrong thing to do. I'm sorry for that, for not showing up in the relationship with my honest feelings always.

The anxiety is cause we have never really addressed and worked through anything hard we've been through, expect maybe your Mom's death and your Dad's boundary violation. I have been hoping that once you are in therapy and have a support to learn how to navigate this shit, we could do that without me having to take on the labor of gently guiding us both through this.

Cause like as is, I feel like onus is on me like it was with [his dog's] care. Like either I take on all the responsibility for navigating the conflict or it doesn't happen. And that's just such a shitty position to be in while also being the only one who's actually able to face the impact on me. Like, I can sit and empathize and hold with you how awful it is to live in a partially demolished house, with the new fear of more mold, with how hard it is to do things and how sometimes we just need support. But can you sit and empathize and hold with me the fact that my health is still compromised from the mold? The fact that I'm triggered every time you start humping me in the middle of the night? Or you drive drunk? (Shit I don't think I realized until this moment that a big part of why going out to restaurants with you became so hard originally was because you'd drink so much, and that has led to so many scary moments between us).

I don't want you to suffer just because I'm suffering. That's not the point of me bringing those events up. Just, can you understand that sometimes when you go through something that it helps to talk it out? That some hurts don't just dissappear on their own and need to be worked through? That without knowing the real impact we can't resolve things because otherwise what are we trying to resolve?

I just.... I cant ignore my anxiety and stress about all those past events anymore. But I also don't want to force you into shit you're not ready or equipped for. I also don't want to like, blow our entire relationship up and lose my best friend. I just don't know.

I don't expect you to respond right away. This isn't a demand for anything in particular. I'm trying to communicate and connect. But I'm aware this might be overwhelming and just a lot. Take your time. I love you.

[fandom-hoarder]

Considering OP is yelling at ppl to leave them alone when questioned on specifics because a post that says “the grooming in spn fandom is insane” (specifically Wincest) was “not a callout” and only “a legitimate safety concern” about “a space is known for well you know”, they are not worth the time. They also reacted very rudely to an anon who only wanted to apologize for following them (thinking that OP was anti Wincest and trying to respect OP’s boundaries). Just not worth it.

[I held onto this in my drafts for a day, but I think I'm just gonna publish it after all. Even though v did a much better job of addressing the op directly, imo, I'm not interacting with the op. I'm also going to gather screenshots in a posterity post, but it will likely be unrebloggable.]

Hmm, I debated publishing this ask, because I'm really just. So tired. And annoyed. And it's not a great combination for tact. Nevertheless...

I haven't seen the yelling myself, just avoidance and redirection. Flippancy. But maybe it's happening in a space I can't see, or between people I've blocked, idk. If so, it sounds a lot like it IS January 2023 redux 🙃🙃🙃 -- I HAVE seen it now, and my suspicion still stands, though still not 100%.

People need to stop making such serious accusations when they refuse to back it up. Words fucking mean things. Saying a certain sector of the fandom--that ostensibly you're also a part of?--has a problem with grooming and is stupid...that was NOT worded in a way to help people stay safe. It was worded like a vague callout post to scare people. We've seen those before. 🙄

A post that was actually concerned about grooming in online spaces *in general* would list some things to be aware of, things to recognize, tips for getting out of a situation. But no, it's this vaguepost without anything specific, with the one question in the notes asking for an explanation or if it's sarcasm-- unanswered [eta: well maybe they responded and I can't see it, since I realized I had op blocked]-- and one reblog from a person who claims it wasn't about wincesties specifically, when it demonstrably WAS??

So who is doing it, and where/how? I don't necessarily think it's a good idea to make public posts with names that devolve into personal beef and worse, but if someone is making the accusation that there's a grooming problem in the fandom they need to come with receipts or at the very least descriptions of the situation??

This isn't cutesy. You know exactly what anon is talking about, as shown later. Reblogging the post unaltered gives at least the appearance of agreeing with it as written.

This isn't to make light of! You reblogged it.

This isn't helpful.

If there was no one specific, why reblog a post specifically about the wincest fandom having insaneeee grooming? It wasn't "just in general." It's not a joke, yet this reply looks entirely unserious.

I am too old to keep seeing this type of shit go through the fandom at regular intervals, especially when it's so often a false accusation based on interpersonal drama. The only purpose this serves is riling up the dash. It's exhausting, and waters down the gravity of the accusation by making it a phrase that cries wolf.

I'm not even saying outright that the post is a LIE; just that it has seriously similar markers of past drama that was approximately 90% unaddressed purity culture biases about fiction, 9% interpersonal beef, and 1% actual concern for a human being who was an adult, but young. And it led to the utter gutting of fandom, loss of acquaintances, deletion of a glut of fic-- all due to smearing the reputation of a writer by using horrible UNTRUE AND INCENDIARY ACCUSATIONS.

So I'm sure many of you already understand why I take umbrage with these types of posts! Who knows if it's about fiction or something real? 🤷‍♀️

And since there's no further context to be found, the way it LOOKS on the dash is that someone is taking creeper!Dean too seriously. It could be about something else, but who knows.

[transryanguzman]

i think the addiction language is making people a little uncomfortable because we're already on edge. there's been fandom homophobia, the show making a "turned gay" joke, buck not addressing his bisexuality in canon, and #letbuckfuck (which i personally don't think is biphobic i'm just... not a fan), plus people's personal interpretations of what the show has been doing. i don't think there's anything inherently wrong with using addiction as a metaphor, it's just that a lot of factors have been compounding and people are disappointed and feeling vulnerable about everything.

fwiw, my post was actually in response to a buddie post that was tagged as anti-bucktommy but i do get that people are feeling particularly touchy rn. (tho i did see other posts they just didn’t trigger my comment.)

i have my own opinions about the whole buck hasnt said bisexual and that’s Bad thing (i don’t think it’s bad, tbh, i think he still doesn’t have the word bc thus far it’s been Only Tommy and that’s part of the whole hes still got shit to figure out thing - speaking from experience as a 40 year old who came out late in life in my 30s and spent years trying to find the right words and half the time STILL doesn’t know it anything really fits) and i PERSONALLY feel uncomfortable with some of the talk about how if we thinks he’s still figuring shit out were infantilizing him or treating him like a child. sexuality is hard especially when you’re kind of feeling it out as you go and honestly labels aren’t everything. i get it people want the tangible representation but for some of us that IS a person who just kind of needs time to say the actual words and is still trying to figure it out. i do think he’ll get there though and maybe that’s Very Naive of me. but right now i think he’s only thinking about tommy - and honestly i think that’s kind of where he’s always been.

its not surprising that mr im an ally i mean sure ill look at a hot guys ass but that’s normal i’ve only ever really kissed or thought about kissing one man and im hung up on him hasn’t really thought about a label TO ME. i don’t begrudge anyone who feels differently.

we all have shit rn that’s making fandom uncomfortable to us so i DO get it. we’re all just feeling our feelings. since 8x06 ive found everything to be a little depressing, particularly hostile, and honestly just completely unenjoyable which is why i haven’t been here much. (both because tommy leaving was just so devastating to me and because i feel like the atmosphere in fandom is just thick and tense which i do understand why but it’s just sigh) so i DO get it. and everyone had a different lived experience that’s gonna color how they view things.

honestly i kind of just wanted to post about how clean is the greatest break up song of all time. i am very sorry if it poked at anyone’s wounds or made anyone feel bad i just love music and pop culture and metaphors and i have not stopped thinking about that song since buck said the thing about relapsing last night.

like it is legitimately still baffling to me anyone reads the things i say on here and cares at all about them even tho i know they do. i just wanna shriek to the void about the weewoos. i won’t argue that it’s the greatest show of all time or anything but i love it i find comfort in it and its fun for me. i’m trying more and more not to take it seriously bc at the end of the day it’s a show where there can be a bee tornado and a shark on the freeway and your dead wife’s clone and then a tsunami just wipes out santa monica and it’s completely rebuilt 6 months later. also chris was gone 3 months 3 months ago but he’s also been gone 3 months last night and how old is eddie diaz anyway????

[thelediz]

Sonic Underground episode 26: Six is a Crowd

AKA the obligatory reverse/evil AU

I’m watching Sonic Underground in search of inspiration to finish a fic I’ve been writing forever. It’s a sad state of affairs. See the recap of the first three episodes here, if you're interested!

The plot (for want of a better word): To teach them a lesson, the Oracle of Delphius sends the triplets to another world, this one ruled over by three mysterious dictators: the Sonic Underground themselves! Can our heroes overcome their own worst selves to prove the heroes they really are?

Today’s parental guidance warning is actually about appearance-shaming. Specifically fat-shaming and a little bit of hair loss. It’s not directly addressed in the episode, but it’s there, and I give it a bored stare, and you should too.

So-ho, remember in episode 20, it ended on an image of a tiered thing? This was a snow-globe. Apparently that was foreshadowing for this episode, because the Oracle wants it when they talk to him. The plot doesn’t actually have anything to do with it, it’s just… a weird moment to remind you the episodes are linked, I guess. For the next few episodes, we're going to have actual continuity, and it's gonna be weird.

(SOMEONE CARED ABOUT THIS SHOW AND ITS PLOT.)

In other news, there’s something weird going on with the Oracle’s voice-sync, where his audio is just a fraction out from his mouth movements. I am pretty sure it’s not intentional.

They are transported to a city that is what the Archie comics used to use as the image of Mobius: multi-tiered, lots of greenery to the point that it often overflows the tier edges, flying cars, colour pallet of bronze and silver everywhere. So at least the evil hedgehogs we don't know about yet know how to make a city look good.

We get out first hint of weirdness when Sonic sees a statue of himself, and it has a gut. Sonic is unimpressed with this insult to his ‘perfect bod’. Now, this is legitimately funny in hindsight, because Classic Sonic (which Underground!Sonic is designed after) is a Round Boy, in contrast to Modern Sonic being a soft dorito. Generations made the joke of (when they saw each other) having the two Sonics slap their stomachs to draw attention to the difference. So it’s a bit of a meta-joke these days that Classic Sonic was chubby. (I actually take it a step further, because while I cannot finish a single level of the Sonic Riders games, that character model was a Long And Thin Boy. When combined with how short the triplets are compared to adult characters in this series, I like the idea of Sonic’s growth spurts causing him to have some pretty serious inconsistencies in his weight appearance, despite him having always been healthy and athletic.) But this episode isn’t going for that. It’s just saying evil!Sonic would be fat because he eats too many chilli dogs and doesn’t exercise enough. Because evil people do these things. Mmhm. We move on.

There are statues of the other two which aren’t as remarked upon, but closer inspection does show some weirdness. Sonia is super spiky and just straight up looks like a bitch, while Manic is holding a bag and smirking about it.

While Sonic indulges his chilli dog obsession, we see our first glimpse of this world’s Robotnik, who has hair. Because evil people are bald, too. After some minor success from the triplets, he manages to catch them, and we are introduced to the actual story of this world:

Here, the Sonic Underground are the evil dictators. Manic taxed everyone’s money, Sonia enacted cruel laws that restricted freedom, and Sonic outlawed music (he gives no reason for this, he just did). Robotnik is the leader of the Freedom Fighters. Luckily, Robotnik has a spy bot in the royal court and quickly discovers he hasn’t kidnapped the dictators, which is further proven by our heroes playing

The Song: I can do that for you. It’s a very sweet and corny song, vaguely reminiscent of “I’ll be there for you” by the Rembrandts, but cheesier. I kind of dig it.

So the plot, now the scene is set, is to have our triplets stride into the castle and make a mess. They fire all the palace guard SWATbots and split up to take on their evil selves individually.

Sonic chases his version to a race, but evil!Sonic is using weapons, and so wins.

Manic uses some kind of vacuum bot to take all evil!Manic’s money, and then sucks him up too.

Evil!Sonia doesn’t notice Sonia (who is dressed completely differently and doesn’t have a crown) is mirroring her behind an empty frame, and so is caught off-guard when Sonia confronts her and Manic arrives with his double. She faints. Because girl, I guess.

Sonic is saved by Robotnik showing up, and takes down his double by using his weapon against him. And so the bad guys are all captured.

So because our heroes aren’t actually evil even when they’re bad guys, the solution to this situation is to show the evil triplets the realities of the world they have created. And realism once again takes a nice trip out the window as their evil hearts are healed by a quick tour of the city.

I kid you not. That’s all it is.

And with that, our triplets head home to hear a monologue from Aleena about how power can corrupt, but good will totally triumph over evil soon, promise.

Oh, Trashfire, it was a close one, I almost thought you were on a roll with two good episodes in a row, but you didn’t let me down with that conflict and resolution. That was atrocious.

Because in contrast to the last episode, these evil characters' flaws weren’t based on our heroes’ flaws, and the solution didn’t make sense in context.

So much like the episode it calls back to, it’s another awkward Divine Right implication; that these people are heroes and royalty because we say, not because they’re actually good or worthy or…

It's not a good message to be sending, is what I’m getting at here.

But we move on regardless.

[teriyakichop]

Show you that I care.

Let me start off by saying that I slept good this morning. The reset for WoW is in progress, and I still have Anonymous Sensationalists like this individual eager to be my friend. 1, Truth be told, it took me about 8, maybe 10 minutes to make that reply to you. I knew what I wanted to say to you, but it took me a bit of time to articulate how I wanted to say it to you. 2, Obsessed? Perish that idea. Concerned? Absolutely. Obsessed? Nah. See, unlike you keyboard warriors, I go outside. I work on improving my life. I can get a man if I want. I can enjoy life. As with typical blogs they will have their highs and lows in terms of theme and emotional response. But Wyrmguard? The shit y'all be talking about, I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Y'all need help, and I legitimately wish I could help y'all. I am super sincere when I say that. My heart breaks when I read the things y'all say on there. Being cheated on (I know how that's like as a divorcee) and being rejected from social gatherings, feeling lonely, not knowing how to approach RPers in the game, arguing all the time and getting nowhere, and Wyrmguard has become the epicenter of everything negative. You'll have a positive post from time to time, but the moderators of Wyrmguard are like leeches that feed off of depression and misery. I assure you, I'm not obsessed with that, but I am DEFINITELY concerned with it. 3, Do you know what the definition of "unhinged" is? Stop using that word. You're using it wrong, and when people see that, you make me actually look good. 4, I have a VPN in general, but, you got damn right I have Wyrmguard on VPN, who wouldn't? Why wouldn't you? Y'all talk about stalking one another and doxing one another, and trying to get people's living addresses because y'all are psychoactive timebombs, and you think having a VPN for Wyrmguard is a bad thing? C'mon, now... 5, I'm not stupid, far from it. But you? You sound like you need a friend, and you need to rest from all of this anger. I stopped posting for 2 months, and all y'all did was talk about me. My guild help RP events, carried out RP scenarios, we're going through some internal updates as we speak, we moved on with our lives, and yet you guys continue to talk about us with impunity. And it upset me that y'all wouldn't just move on too. Now I have people who are upset over the false allegations, they believe what they see first hand, they refuse to talk to me, but when I talk to them they don't want to hear my side of the story. These be the same people that talk about how politics are fucked up, and yet they participate in and perpetuate this political engine from all angles, and gleefully use it as a means to put down others, and then chastise the very system they shame yet use, when the tables are turned on THEM! When I realized that, I came to the conclusion that I'm not upset at y'all anymore, I pity y'all. You have a whole life to live, and we all will only live once. And you waste it...on a lie. If I were ANY of you, I would investigate and get the truth but y'all can't do that because living the lie, being in your rage and hatred is all y'all got. Meanwhile, my credit is good, I got several men that wanna holla at me; maybe have a good time, my daughter is gonna graduate this year AND she's gonna be a grown woman this year, I'm gonna get another car this year, I'm living my life, and pushing to live my best life, I'm blessed. I wish y'all were, too. But that won't happen with all of that anger, hatred, and rage y'all keep festering. All because y'all believed a lie and didn't even care to investigate if it was true or not.

Well, good luck to y'all. I'll be praying for y'all. <3

[celesteiscute]

This stupid situation is all I can think about and it's driving me crazy that my roommate just straight up lied to me when I expressed hesitation about moving in with them. They told me that they're really easy to live with and that their cat is very well behaved and that they keep it really clean. This is gonna get super venty so I'm putting it under a read more.

When I moved in with them, I asked how they wanted to deal with conflict if something ever came up and they said that they preferred if I were direct with them. Then, when their cat being in my bed constantly became an issue, I asked if they could do something about it and they literally shut down and stopped speaking to me except over text messages. They texted me later saying this was because I "bombarded" them and they actually only wanted me to bring things up in the morning so they can think about it throughout the day. 2+ months later, after exactly 0 attempts on my roommate's part to compromise about the cat situation and me asking exactly 1 time after the first time I brought it up for them to please keep the cat out of my bed my bed when I'm not home because the cat was getting better about it when I was home but I was still finding litter in my bed which grosses me out, I got a message about how we needed to have an in-person discussion about our living arrangement. That "discussion" was them reading from their notes app a speech they wrote about how they wanted me to move out. The monologue included a list of my unforgivable sins which were

1 Raising my voice at the cat (this was only in instances where the cat was on my bed because they asked me to be the one responsible for training their cat and I obviously wasn't going to start beating it with a shoe or something)

2 Closing my bedroom door on my way out that morning (I do this every morning. The cat just happened to be on the other side of the door that day)

3 Leaving trash on top of the trash can (it was one frozen meal box that was there for less than half an hour because it was full but I was eating)

4 Leaving my laundry in the dryer on their designated day (they had changed which day was their day and I forgot because I was more worried about the cat vomit they had left on the carpet all day even though when I complained about having to clean up cat vomit they offered to clean it next time so that morning I asked them to clean it and came home 12 hours later to find that they hadn't and it dried up)

The whole time I was really trying to think like "wow what have I done without realizing like am I being super horrible?" and I was trying to introspect and really couldn't come up with any reason why my roommate was being so cold and refusing to speak to me about anything. When it was laid out in front of me, I realized that they were just insane and impossible to live with. Legitimately (with the exception of my tone with the cat) they were talking about single instances of me "disrespecting the house" that could've been addressed.

Either way, whether I'm being asked to leave because my roommate realized they simply can't handle conflict like an adult or if there's more to it that my roommate just won't communicate for whatever reason, I have to find new housing. Looking for housing is already stressful when you know it's coming. Like, I was stressed five months ago when I knew my lease was ending soon and I needed to find a new place to live so I'm sure you can imagine how and why this getting thrown on me on a random Tuesday night turned into an all-consuming type of stress.

I keep trying to remind myself that I'm not in a situation where I'm being evicted. I'm still on this lease whether they like it or not so realistically there is no enforceable deadline but its obviously uncomfortable as fuck. The worst part is that I'm traveling internationally in three weeks and there's no way that I can find a place and move before my trip. So like I was kinda worried about my trip but now I can't even be excited for my trip because I'm stressed.

[autistic-shaiapouf]

Seeing that my roommate is moving some of their stuff around and has made a small pile, today I only just realized that the pile is all things I had given them as gifts 😶

[accio-victuuri]

EXPLAINED : WANG YIBO IS DESPERATELY ILLITERATE???

On a normal day and considering what’s been going on for years & years, I wouldn’t want to address any negative press about Yibo. I would rather spread positive news and showcase his talents but i’m making an exception on this one. I am writing this as a Yibo fan who has watched a lot of his interviews and shows and feel like I have a good sense of what type of person he is. A fan who is sick and tired of people using the fact that he doesn’t have a college degree against him. There is really nothing that disgusts me more than those who feel superior just because they have a piece of paper. I accept people’s criticism of him but this is obviously beyond that so I wanna talk about it.

Sadly, he is at a disadvantage as casual people will only see a cut video or a certain post and will tend to run with it. add the fact that the general public don’t have much good point of view towards celebrities. I’m not going to discuss the alleged attack from yyxq’s side or the fan war going on cause that’s just too messy. and well, organized black propaganda is expected cause everyone can’t fuckin comprehend how Yibo is embarrassing everyone else with how good he is at acting and making money for companies that invest on him.

»»————-　　————-««

I thought this was gonna pass naturally but today “Beijing Youth Daily” shared the article called : can the desperate illiterate perform well?

The reason is that the lead actor of a Chinese New Year film was interviewed during a road show. When asked about his impressions of the work and the characters, he didn’t know what to do. Netizens dubbed him “desperately illiterate”.

This first paragraph clearly talks about WYB and the incident at one of HB’s roadshows. This is the whole article and it goes on to talk about literacy in terms of being an actor and all that, trying to make their article into a legitimate thinking piece. Take note that WYB is not the only one “mentioned” here but the title and the intro is about Yibo so he is at the center of it.

In fact, "illiteracy" in this context does not mean to engage in academic discrimination. We all know that there are specializations in the art industry, and the level of education and professional ability are not necessarily directly linked. The "illiterate actors" that everyone refers to often refer to those actors with low cultural reserves, empty heads, incomprehensible scripts, and incomprehensible characters.

This has been going around weeks ago but today, there were lots of verified accounts sharing it. I’m seeing talks of this is a fake account, organized verified entertainment accounts reposting or whatever, it doesn’t matter. the point is — this is out there. People have read it. Some have talked about it. I would have loved to see them actually name Yibo if they are really so brave, but I guess not really. They can only hide in their accounts like the cowards they truly are. This should come as no surprise, trending today of all days because it was officially announced that HB’s cinema run will be extended. Also that HB is at the #2 spot with only a meager 7% of the slots. It’s only a matter of time before HB overtakes everyone and that’s bad news for a lot of people. Also HB will be released in North America this week.

Coincidence? I think not. We all know what’s going on here. 💀💀💀

Now let’s see the Q&A portion that sparked this talk of illiteracy:

Q: In another time and space, if you met Mr. Ye, what would you say to him?

Wang Yibo: "Are you asking what will I say when I meet the character? First of all, I think this question is meaningless. I don't want to say anything, and we won't meet."

Q: Yibo, who is Mr. Ye in your mind? Do you think you shaped him and wanted to show him to the audience, what do you think is the most difficult thing about him?

Wang Yibo : In fact, I really don’t know how to answer this question ..

( He tries to answer this but the host and CE end up speaking in behalf of him )

As a Yibo fan, this kind of answer is not new to me. This is not the first person on a Q&A that Yibo has shut down if he doesn’t like to answer. He’s always been honest, sometimes, painfully so and may be misinterpreted by those who don’t know him. I can explain that he’s already tired of all the roadshows or the question itself was too much etc etc but as i said in the beginning, I CAN ACCEPT CRITICISM. I understand why certain people was put off by this answer. Especially if this your first exposure to him after hearing about Hidden Blade or watching it. There is nothing more that I wish for Yibo, than to be appreciated by the General Public and his popularity to extend to more than just his fans. I wanna say that this may be a learning experience for Yibo. This is his first roadshow experience. Promoting a movie is totally different from what he did with Dramas. He has two more movies, and I hope he will be more prepared. The Yibo i know and support will not be screaming and playing the victim because of this, he would learn from it and bounce back. He will be better.

What I can’t accept are the people who obviously are insulting his whole being because of this 1 thing. Don’t mind all the good things he said in other cities or other times — let’s just rally behind this and attack him. The thing is, they don’t have much negative things to say about his performance in the film or how it’s doing in the box office so they will find something to make him look bad. and this is it. It’s also too much to say that he is ILLITERATE. I don’t think someone who is illiterate can host, memorize/choreograph dances, memorize scripts, be considered a language genius, act scenes, understand directions from directors etc.

It’s so unfair cause there are people like Yibo who need time to articulate their thoughts. Or those who prefer to reply in shorter sentences. It doesn’t mean they are illiterate. they are not stupid. All the comments saying “of course he is, he didn’t graduate college..” not only on weibo but on international platforms. It’s always what they say. I wonder if they actually believe it and like how do you sleep at night with that poison in your head? It’s not like Yibo chose to not go to college cause he’s lazy. He had work to do. He had a career that will leave no time to focus on studying. He is clearly not stupid cause he got high marks while studying in Korea. It’s so ironic, especially those people in China who are saying this cause they know a college degree does not even guarantee them employment. Even a Tsinghua University graduate will end up as a tutor just to make ends meet. It’s the same thing all across the board — A College Diploma alone does not guarantee success. but of course people will just happily insult him and it’s fine, at the end of the day, Yibo is thriving and will continue to do so.

The next coming months, as BTF & One/Only gets released, expect more attacks. I hope we don’t get distracted and just let the positive be louder than the negative. 🙏🏼

To the people behind the scenes working to bring Yibo down, well, I hope they turn purple in anger cause this is only the start of his success.

[lediz-watches]

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

To quote or paraphrase Andy Farrant (I watched the stream a few days ago, the wording's not in my head) "It was better than it had any right to be."

This was such a fun movie, though. It was silly popcorn fun with legitimate heart, which is exactly what action adventure movies should be.

I loved the overarching narrative and the way it showed a legitimate found family long before it verbally addressed it. I loved the relationship between Holga, Edgin, and Kira, and that beautiful repeated phrase "I'm gonna bring back your mom".

As someone who loves the idea of DnD but has never had much success with it (I think it's very telling that my favourite DnD stream is Oxventure and I couldn't sit through more than ten episodes of Critical Role), it was so curious how they played this. They didn't (although they very easily could have) show you the rolls, but you could definitely feel them sometimes. I'm not just talking about the Nat20s and NatOnes, but like Simon's player in general is a very good player with such cursed dice. He failed so many saves and had to adjust around them.

I actually wonder how someone who has never played the game would react to some of them, actually. Like, there's a point where Simon gets his foot caught in some cobblestones. To a DnD player, what happened is that it's clearly a failed stealth check followed by several failed saves from everyone to free him. But I wonder if to a non-player whether that seemed like a bit of an arbitrary complication to the story for DRAMA.

But there are, I should point out, very few points where I actually noticed those points that would likely end up as a divide. Mostly, I think, the movie was incredibly accessible.

Like, even painfully DnD tropes. Everyone points out that Xenk is either a DMPC or a player who barely ever gets to play and so is always overpowered so they can be a fun addition. But the actual painfully DnD trope about him is that he's just SO Lawful Good. So lawful that he can only walk in straight lines. But rather than it being specifically a DnD joke, he's a parody of The Perfect Hero. Everyone knows that trope. Everyone can follow that trope.

So the only problem I have with it from an adaption perspective is how twisted and messy the story felt. As a DnD player, it was fine - the players were scrambling to find solutions to a problem and were going on multiple quests to figure out what they would do. But I can definitely see how an outsider might find it all... incohesive.

They're gathering party members > oh, that wasn't good enough.

They're going to search for a helmet > oh, that isn't available.

They're going in search of a hero > oh, he's going to give them a different quest for the helmet.

They've got the helmet but more importantly they have this hero > oh, he's leaving, okay.

They've got the helmet > oh, that won't work.

They're doing a heist > oh, that's not going to work either...

Like, I get it. I FELT it. But I can also see how an outsider might react to it in the same way I originally felt watching The Dark Knight. After a point, plot twists get tedious. And some of these plot threads could have been entire stories on their own rather than quick asides. Everything was a little too shallow in order to fit a lot of story into a twisted adventure.

But that said, I enjoyed it. And I loved the complications in this a lot more than I do in heist movies where it all turns out that it actually went exactly as the grandmaster thief intended all along.

And more than anything, I loved the main arc. I am always a sucker for Found Family, but this was beautiful.

From the very start, the film goes out of its way to SHOW us that Holga and Kira are an unconventional but very real mother and daughter. Holga has a closer relationship with Kira than Edgin does. BUT the story is told from Edgin's perspective, so it repeatedly TELLS us that Holga is Edgin's partner, Kira is Edgin's daughter, and the quest is to bring back Edgin's dead wife so she can be a mother to Kira.

I love that dichotomy SO MUCH. I adore it when stories not only use show and tell cohesively, but make the difference between them a POINT. It was amazing, and something that I think couldn't have been done nearly as well in a written medium, I'm so in awe of how effortless it felt.

That one line was... mmph! Nice job, Mr Pine, nice job making that line hit your character so hard.

AND while I probably can't get into it without going on a whole essay about western ethics re: resurrection, there was something I really appreciated about how the film didn't linger over Edgin's wish and decisions about his wife. This was a DnD campaign. Resurrection is expensive and a pain, but it's a thing that happens, the only issue is Faerun lore about other planes, let's move on.

Last thing I'll talk about is the characters themselves. This was such good casting, and I love the characters and how they're embodied.

I love Holga's unapologetic dumb muscle and how much heart she had. (Side note, Bradley Cooper's cameo was wonderful and heartwrenching and that whole mini-arc is going to quietly stay in my heart for a long while)(Side-side note, I love Bradley Cooper so much more as a supporting character actor than a lead. He's SO GOOD at what he does but lead characters make his arcs overwrought)

I love Simon and Doric's blunt, awkward style and how you can tell they'll work well together but would be hopeless without Edgin's charm and energy to guide them.

I love Edgin, and I LOVE Edgin played by Chris Pine, who balances that charm and quiet desperation and arrogance into one perfect BARD. He was SUCH a BARD, even though he was missing the magic and lore (yeah... Simon fails saves, Edgin fails knowledge checks all. the. time. His dice hate the lore and it's absolutely a running joke at the table). His personality was just embodied Harper bard and it was perfect.

I love Hugh Grant's villain era because I actually find it a very natural evolution of his typecasting. But more than anything, I love that Forge isn't and never was actually evil. He's Neutral. He's selfish and willing to do either good or bad to achieve his goals. He didn't really want his friends to die, and you know, the overall outcome of the scheme was regrettable, but he would get away with money, love, and his life, so... -shrug- And Hugh Grant plays that so well. He's so dry and deadpan and you're never sure whether he's making fun of you or not, and it just works. So it's Nice. I like it. Nice.

But yeah! I could ramble about the things I loved for days, and there are certainly things I would have preferred, but this was actually a really good, really fun movie using DnD rules and tropes.

Good game, Paramount. Well done.

[sparklyeevee]

If you have the time/inclination, could you talk about the overlap between propagandistic rhetoric and communication disorders?

That line really hit on some experiences I’ve had (and am trying to deconstruct so I can more easily push past my gut reaction and be a better ally in the future)

I will do my best. This might be a little wide-ranging, and potentially disorganized in exactly the unsettling way I was talking about, because it's something I've only noticed recently and it sometimes takes me a very long time to get my thoughts into an easily communicable order when I see a pattern. (Note also, I'm gonna mostly use "they" when talking about people with communication disorders. I do also have one, but it is not of a type or severity so as to cause most of the problems described below).

When someone has difficulty putting their thoughts into words at all, or has a limited vocabulary, or is trying to work around a stutter, there are some things they tend to do. They might repeatedly circle back and express the same idea in slightly different ways, while trying to narrow down on exactly what they mean, or to express it clearly to an interlocutor who didn't get it, or might not have gotten it, the first time. They might use wonky vocabulary - longer or more technical words than are necessary, language so simplified it's legitimately unclear, or word choices that are slightly...off, so that you're pretty sure you know what they mean, but you can't be totally sure because it's not what they said. (Sometimes it's similar sounding words, like using 'mortified' when they probably meant 'horrified', sometimes it's using words with slightly different connotations, like my ex who would say "seal" any time he meant "close", even if it was like, a tab in his browser). They might start a sentence hoping they'll figure out how to say the end of it by the time they get there and then not manage it, so they just kinda trail off and hope you know what they mean. When discussing the usage or meaning of words, they might focus very hard on etymologies or dictionary definitions, especially if those are tools they were taught to use in speech therapy. They may struggle more than other people to update to Approved Language for sensitive topics. They may try to preemptively address disagreements or misunderstandings that were not actually likely. A lotta people with communication disorders are also someways neurodivergent, so they may speak at an unusual volume, have tonal weirdness, interrupt more frequently, or have more trouble dealing with interruptions from others.

Sometimes they'll also like... I don't have a good way to describe this one. A little over a year ago, I was helping my partner design a roleplaying game (I don't like, on purpose only date people with communication disorders, but it sure has worked out that way), and I had an idea about how to address a potential issue, but I wanted to make sure I understood it correctly. So I asked "So [thing] works like [description], right?" And he said "No" and then launched into an explanation of the whole subsystem, including the exact thing I was asking about, which did, in fact, work how I'd said. He was acting based on his own anxiety that since I hadn't included every single thing about the mechanic under discussion, he might not have explained it properly. But naturally I felt like he was trying to maintain control of the conversation and status as the person who knew what was going on by telling me I was wrong when I wasn't and hoping I wouldn't notice. So I guess... Prioritizing making sure they've said what they wanted to say, and expressed themself clearly, over any of the other things that might matter in a conversation.

The effect, often, is that following what they're saying at all can require your full attention and engagement, without any brain left over to consider your own responses or assess whether you agree with what they're saying, whether it makes sense, etc. And, y'know, a fair amount of repetition, which we know from science can make someone more likely to believe something. Someone delivering propaganda wants this effect, that you have to pay close attention and have trouble thinking clearly about what they're saying, and will deliberately use similar techniques to that end, where the person with a communication disorder will use them mostly by accident in the course of trying to express themself at all. Similarly, someone using propagandist rhetoric may speak a little too loudly, to make it harder to think, and to increase the emotional charge of what they're saying, or too softly, to further force you to focus on understanding what they're saying. Someone with a communication disorder may do the same thing just because they don't regulate their volume well.

By interrupting, responding harshly to interruption, or behaving as though any objection, disagreement, or confusion on your part is clearly you failing to understand them, the propagandist makes it more difficult to marshal a coherent response, and retains control of the conversation. The person with a communication disorder may do the same things on impulse, or in an effort to retain enough control of the conversation that they can say their thing at all, or in response to experiences indicating that disagreement or confusion are the result of them not being clear.

(None of this is meant to imply that someone with a communication disorder can't also be doing propaganda. They totally can. But if, y'know, you're talking about a TV show you both like and your interlocutor is using conversational tactics better suited to a street corner evangelist or one of those angry YouTube people, chances are they just have a communication disorder.)

Unhelpfully, leftist social circles are basically more hostile to communication disorders than far right social circles. The pressure for up-to-the-minute word choice and complex unspoken rules about who should be given more conversational airspace on which topics are obvious problems. But in my experience, leftists are also more likely to have an implicit belief that good communication = maturity = being a valid person. People who can't communicate well are reflexively evaluated as immature, too much work, even toxic, especially (but not exclusively) if they're unwilling or unable to preface Every Single Interaction with like "I have a communication disorder, please be patient". This means that a lot of people with communication disorders (especially men and boys, who are more likely to have communication disorders in the first place) end up spending at least some time in libertarian, MRA, rationalist, or otherwise... Bad social contexts, because that's who will have them. Plenty of them get past it eventually, but often they carry the communication patterns typical of those groups with them into the wider world, where it brings them under additional suspicion. My partner one time asked for feedback on why people were getting angry at something he wrote in a Facebook comment, and I told him like, "There's nothing wrong with what you actually said, but you write like an MRA". And he was like "Well yeah, they were the only people willing to listen long enough to understand me."

Nothing in the above paragraph directly relates to the overlap between communication disorders and propagandist rhetoric, but it exacerbates the social problems that overlap can cause.

Thank you for asking about this - this is the best I've done so far at actually laying out my thoughts about it. Also please feel free to ask if you have more questions or need clarification.

[liquidstar]

hi this is evilmario666 anon. im ok now and i realized that despite the misogyny that does exist on account of genre and perspective re:zero actually understands the subaru archetype of guy very well and i was jumping to conclusions too quickly based on what i was seeing. it was impolite and unfair of me and id like to apologize both to re;zero and you, i am no longer on the verge of a blood rage. thanks once more because i am genuinely having a ball of a time . lost track of arc numbers but im on the one where subaru accidentally SPOILERS kills emilia becaus he tries to reveal return by death

NO YEA ANON ITS OK sorry i didnt respond to ur first ask last night i was too tired to read long things lol

but i TOTALLY get how you feel like subaru early on legit annoyed me with his behavior, and it was completely intentional. not that he didnt have his endearing traits, i think the first thing that made me really like him was the fact that he got to know the names of the village kids and legit cared about them a lot because before getting to know them he just considered them and everyone around him as "npcs", and the village kids in particular arent "important" characters. (also dont take all of what im about to say as subaru hate, having read most of the story now i legit love the guy but im just talking abt his portrayal in the show in the early arcs)

basically arc 1 just served to introduce us to characters and concepts so there wasnt all too much of an arc there, subaru is dense as hell so he still came out of all that thinking he was gonna get his Isekai Harem Fantasy and so when he arrived at the mansion in arc 2 he literally treated all the characters like tropes (even before that though he would assume emilia's behavior based on what the tropey response would be). he just didnt see any of them as people and thats where a lot of the conflict came from, in order to overcome in that arc he had to actually befriend both rem and ram in a way that actually mattered, and he really did start to care about them as people and we know that because of the story he tells ram about the ogres.

arc 3 though addresses his mindset about this hero fantasy he has a lot more bluntly, because while he may have grown some in arc 2, he still has a huge martyr complex and places emilia into this role where he gets to be her hero even though she didnt ask for that, and their fight about it is simultaneously really satisfying to see him called out, and hard to watch because hes being such a child about it, hes so incredibly entitled to her at this point. the show luckily frames him as completely in the wrong and shows us the nastiest parts of this mindset in him. one of my favorite scenes in this arc is the one where he accidentally kills her, but just before that. when he rushes into the room and yells at her about how shes useless and unable to save anyone and we focus on her face, and she just says "why are you crying?" and the cut zooms into her eye to reveal that he was staring at his own reflection in it, he was talking to himself. that just perfectly describes what she is to him at that point- a beacon to project all his insecurity and doubt. re:zero loves using those eye-reflection shots, and i love seeing them because my absolute favorite theme in the story is "self-recognition through the other"

subaru does legitimately learn and become better, he acknowledges how shitty hes been in his convo with rem and it gets turned into a really sweet moment between the two of them, and it gets memed a lot but "i love emilia" is honestly a really good line because its in that moment that he stops trying to either run away or project and face his feelings genuinely in a way that doesnt throw her under the bus. by the time arc 4 rolls around hes so much more likable, and his dynamic and relationship with emilia becomes honestly really cute, the way they talk is sort of dorky and charming (spoilers, but even when they have another argument that calls back to the one they had in arc 3, you feel its coming from a legit place now, and when he kisses her he does so only after getting explicit consent and telling her its okay to dodge). hes so much more sympathetic and you really root for him. i loved the choice to not show any of his backstory until arc 4, the point where youre supposed to be on his side completely.

all that being said though its NOT a series i think is perfect nor do i think its super feminist, i just think its a good deconstruction of these isekai tropes and calls them out in a blunt way that i enjoy seeing. there are lots of things about it that i dont like too though, some of the character designs sort of bother me and seem antithetical to this, part of that is that the writer and character designer are different people but it still passed. but i still enjoy the story and characters enough that it doesnt totally sully my enjoyment of it (some are more egregious than others tho). at the end of the day im so along for this whole ride, i love the way it explores its themes, again especially the whole "self-recognition through the other" thing but also suicidal ideation and of course the deconstruction of what the isekai genre has become.

TL;DR: the series perfectly understands the type of nerdboy that watches isekai anime and wants to be sent to another world just like their favorite blank-slate nerdy protagonist and it directly calls them out, saying "no. youre not gonna be an OP hero who saves the day and gets all the bitches with that fucking attitude. youre not gonna be able to escape your insecurities via this escapism, you treat the women around you like trash, youre not entitled to any of this, youre just pathetic." and though subaru is a character that gets better many of the viewers of the series straight up plugged their ears to its themes so they can jack off to rem lol.