#i.e. they're villains but no one ever takes them seriously

[itsamenickname]

I really need to watch MegaMind one day because from the clips and videos I've seen, all the stuff MegaMind and Roxanne Ritchi go through in that movie feels like something Bowser and Luigi would 1000% totally do.

[ave-cave]

Lucy in Chapter 118: an Analysis 🫧

Hooo boy

Chapter one-eighteen. Where do I even 𝓫𝓮𝓰𝓲𝓷?

Unlike a lot of folks in this fandom (all more imaginative than I could ever hope to be), I had basically no solid predictions for this chapter (or… any chapter thus far, really, and I've been following the manga religiously since 103, so… yeah, there's a reason I'm a BSD analyst, not theorist, lmao). Needless to say, 118 is heartbreak and bombshells galore: Tanizaki and Kenji’s Ame-no-Gozen-ing, the possibility that all of those “Jun'ichirō and Naomi aren't really siblings” theories were just proven dead right, the protagonist and main villain finally meeting because it's about damn time, so on and so forth.

But because a) the fanbase is already abuzz with talk about those things + no doubt already in the process of doing them analytical justice, and b) I'm annoying, I’ve decided to dissect the ever-loving hell out of the chapter’s three most innocuous pages: this interaction between Kyōka Izumi and Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Inhales

MY GIRLS ARE BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

Does a little jig 🎶

Sorry, just had to get that out of my system

No, but seriously. We haven't heard from Kyōka since chapter 91. Three whole years; definitely too long for a character of her importance. But Lucy… Lucy’s been out of the picture since chapter 81. That’s four whole years. So in other words, two significant female characters, sidelined for ages, are back. That’s kind of huge, IMO.

Of course, we have a vague idea of what they’ve been up to. Anne's Room has been shown more than once serving as the ADA’s safe haven and base of operations, and so per the rules of AOAR, Lucy must be nearby if not inside herself. Kyōka we see in silhouette form in Anne's Room in chapter 92. But this is the first time in a hot minute we've seen either of them in the flesh, let alone gotten dialogue out of them. I nearly choked on my cereal when I turned the page and saw their faces, lol.

So then, pray tell, what does this long-awaited appearance in the flesh entail? Well…

Lucy and Kyōka:

Right off the bat, the girls are seen in Anne’s Room (where they’ve ostensibly been this whole time), standing in front of the white door (i.e., the door opposite the prison, which – unless linked to a surface in the real world – will cause those who leave through it to experience amnesia. Not relevant to the scene, just thought I should give a refresher.) The exit is blocked by rubble; the airport, as well as the surrounding buildings, have all been devastated. How to leave Anne's Room at this point is anyone’s guess.

Kyōka suggests Lucy deactivate her ability, but Lucy points out that, chances are, they'll be flattened by rubble as soon as she does. In response, Kyōka does her signature knife-unsheathing and insists, rather ominously, that they'll just have to take a gamble then. Lucy grabs her wrist and tells her to stop, and when Kyōka asks her why, she replies solemnly, “Because… if you died… it would crush him,” this followed by a picture of Atsushi’s smiling face.

YES. YES. YES.

Now THIS is what I love about Lucy and Kyōka’s dynamic.

In essence, they're rivals. Thing is, they're not your generic “two girls fighting over the same guy” rivals. Kyōka’s feelings toward Atsushi aren’t even romantically-coded.

Their shared love for Atsushi doesn’t divide them; it unites them. After all, since the Guild Aftermath arc, the “rivalry” aspect of their relationship has had almost nothing to do with him. There, they were only at each other’s throats because Kyōka didn’t like how Lucy, still angry about the Moby Dick, was treating Atsushi, and Lucy didn’t like how Kyōka was standing in the way of her talking things out properly with him.

But once a much-needed heart-to-heart was had between Atsushi and Lucy and the latter turned over a new leaf, there was no longer any reason for her and Kyōka to bicker. Kyōka didn’t have the full context of Lucy’s actions, and was thus within her rights to assume she couldn’t be trusted, but Lucy proved that she could be when she led them to the right boat.

Later on, Lucy showcased that she didn't resent Kyōka when she advocated for her, forcing Atsushi to leave her to her thoughts upon learning the truth of her parents' deaths.

The next chapter, Kyōka calls Lucy’s coffee mediocre, but Lucy herself admitted that she's not much of a barista, and so the comment is more Kyōka not mincing words than actively trying to be rude. Moreover, Lucy is offended at first, but then concedes without any real hostility.

In the Cannibalism arc, Kyōka is shown bowing politely to Lucy while enlisting her help, even if she is just following Atsushi's lead (and later does the same for Mushitarō).

Fast forward to the Sky Casino arc, Kyōka is miffed by Lucy’s hot-and-cold behavior around Atsushi, but that’s not exactly unique to her...

... and besides, they agree without resistance to work together to infiltrate the casino. In chapter 81, i.e., the last we saw of Lucy until now, the Agency reunites and Lucy encourages Kyōka to join in on the celebration.

Perhaps most notable is chapter 78. Here, the two are lumped into the same category by Ango: he recognizes them both as people who would choose Atsushi over the good of the world, and this nearly drives him to kill them on the spot for fear of what their loyalty could turn into.

In this latest chapter, however, it’s underscored that, while Lucy and Kyōka may be the same in their care for Atsushi on the surface, they’re still – at the end of the day – foil characters.

Both are orphans. Both were taken in – and subsequently exploited – by criminal organizations for their abilities. Both found their place in the story by virtue of meeting Atsushi. Both are undyingly loyal to Atsushi because of what he’s done for them. But that’s about where their similarities end.

Kyōka was introduced as a remorseful killer seeking atonement by death. Atsushi managed to save her (twice, for that matter) in the conventional hero way, cementing himself as her savior and playing into the reckless heroism by which he determines his worth.

Lucy, on the other hand, was introduced as a bitter villain who believed she was justified in lashing out. Atsushi tried, but he couldn’t save her in the traditional hero way. Only his vulnerability managed to get through to her, and if anything, Lucy saved him. This utterly subverted the philosophy by which Atsushi had begun to define both himself and his relationships.

Since then, Lucy has been trying at every turn to get Atsushi to see himself as more than just a hero. She reprimands him for his reckless heroism when she sees it. She stops him from inserting himself into other people’s plights uninvited. She confronts him when he fails to understand his relationships beyond the framework of hero and savior. Kyōka, meanwhile, has been doing more or less the opposite; she’s passively allowed Atsushi to keep playing the perpetual hero, and this wouldn’t be the first time she’s taken on his philosophy of self-sacrifice herself.

To these ends, the girls’ thought processes here are perfectly in line for them: Kyōka tries to push forward without care for what could happen to her, whereas Lucy emphasizes self-preservation.

One might perceive Lucy replying the way she does to Kyōka’s question as callous, but I don’t really think so. She isn’t saying “the only reason you shouldn’t risk your life is because it would make Atsushi sad.” She’s applying her philosophy of self-preservation to Atsushi and Kyōka at the same time. She's encouraging Kyōka to be more than just a hero by telling her to think of how it would affect Atsushi as a person if she died.

If Lucy is good at anything, it’s communicating what she wants from people in a way that she knows will get through to them. She did this with Atsushi on the Moby Dick when she bluffed about waiting on his salvation, knowing that he would be more motivated to stay alive himself if he thought there was someone counting on him to save them. Here, she communicates with Kyōka in a way that highlights the reason they get along; the reason they’re both here in the first place. And if the way Kyōka resheathes her knife without a word is any indication, it works.

Lucy knows that she and Atsushi are close, but she knows that Kyōka and Atsushi are closer; losing her would be the last straw for him. She recognizes their relationship as something beyond hero and savior, something precious. This is nothing out-of-character; to the contrary, it’s in keeping with who she’s been all along. All that’s different now is she’s acknowledging it out loud.

Lucy and Atsushi:

When Lucy pictures Atsushi in her mind’s eye, she sees the spirit that would undoubtedly be broken if he were to lose Kyōka. This in and of itself is heartbreaking, but when you consider the greater implications, well…

In the Sky Casino arc, a huge breakthrough was made in Atsushi and Lucy’s relationship: her elusive “impossible” debt to him was finally repaid, though not in the way you'd expect.

At the time, all Lucy felt she could give in return for Atsushi’s turning her life around was conventional heroism – or in other words, many a close call and many a trip to Anne’s Room. This conventional heroism was a worthless currency in her mind – it wasn’t the kind that saved her, after all – but on the other hand, the vulnerability she so valued in its stead she wasn’t capable of giving; where she came from, being vulnerable was a death sentence, after all. Because of this, how she could ever come close to repaying Atsushi’s ultimate favor was a mystery unto itself. All she knew was that she had to do it one way or another, and that’s where her most glaring flaw – her quid-pro-quo mindset – came into play, eventually driving her so far as to override her own philosophy and embody the reckless hero she so discouraged Atsushi from being.

But when Atsushi saved her from Nathaniel – thereby repaying her for her acts of service as he’d promised so many times he would – she realized that, just as her care for Atsushi doesn’t depend on his being a hero, Atsushi's care for her doesn’t depend on her being vulnerable. The illusion was shattered.

From this point forward, Lucy is no longer helping Atsushi out of a sense of indebtedness. She's doing it because she wants to. Because she truly, genuinely cares. Not the artificial kind of care that comes with repaying a debt, but the care that she showcases when she stays by Atsushi’s side after he faints, pressing a cold towel to his face. The kind of care that involves refusing to hurt Atsushi in any way, even to jog potentially vital memories.

Lucy considering what Kyōka’s death would do to Atsushi’s psyche is a perfect continuation of this new leaf she’s turned over, but it also goes to show that her shared arc with Atsushi is far from finished.

Lucy’s character development has always been structured in a rather unique way: each arc she’s appeared in has worked either to establish or address her current most glaring flaw, more often than not in unexpected ways. Her appearance in the first half of the Guild arc established her villainous façade being just that – a façade – by having it crumble as she realized the kind of person she was up against in Atsushi. The second half addressed her unhealthy attachment to the Guild by having Atsushi dissuade her from villainy via empathy. The Guild Aftermath arc added the finishing touch to all of this – the last little push needed to propel Lucy into her new role – by addressing her and Atsushi’s “promise” on the Moby Dick. The Cannibalism arc subtly established her quid-pro-quo mindset, which the Sky Casino arc would then go on to address.

Another great subversion of the tropes usually involved in these dynamics is that, despite Lucy being the closest thing to Atsushi’s “love interest,” only he's managed to bolster her development, not the other way around. This isn’t for lack of trying, of course; Lucy tries. But Atsushi is a tough nut to crack. The fact that she’s still, nearly fifteen chapters later, trying to steer Atsushi toward personhood instead of heroism – albeit indirectly – is testament to this.

If she could reach him now, she’d no doubt be trying even still. She’d be conveying to him that none of his friends’ deaths so far has been his fault – that he can’t be expected to carry the burden of hero to all when the world is going to hell in a handbasket. But she can’t reach him. She’s trapped, and so is Kyōka. Thus is the cruel irony.

Anne's Room:

Anne of Abyssal Red has played a key role in pretty much everything plot-related up to this point. It’s only appropriate, then, that its owner finally appearing alongside it would give it all the more significance.

Lucy’s last line in this chapter is as follows: “So the enemy… even took this into account.” She’s right; Fyodor had countermeasures against her ability. That said, I don’t think this is attributable solely to Fyodor being, well… Fyodor.

AOAR is in the same ballpark narrative-wise as, say, For The Tainted Sorrow in that it’s overpowered to the point of detriment. It’s Lucy’s playground; the product of an imagination run wild due to crippling loneliness. This in and of itself is scary. A power having rules that malleable is automatically dangerous, because it means that, while its wielder can bend and exploit said rules, so can an enemy. In both major fights Lucy has been a part of, the rules of Anne’s Room being molded to favor her opponent has spelled either victory or loss on her end: Atsushi used the prison room loophole against her, and she indirectly used the transportation loophole against Nathaniel. Hell, her capture by the Guild following her betrayal was thanks to the loophole that, while Anne couldn’t be defeated, she could be restrained.

So basically, for as powerful as AOAR is, underneath that power is a shaky foundation. Power doesn’t always mean stability, and this is underscored by the fact that, at the end of the day, Anne is only infallible in terms of strength; she could only do so much to alleviate Lucy’s loneliness growing up (which is honestly a pretty clever mirror to her conflict of strength vs. vulnerability with Atsushi.)

With Anne’s Room nullified by Fyodor, Lucy has truly nothing at her disposal. She's not physically strong (she’s 165 cm and 44 kg, so… yeah ˙◠˙), and while by no means stupid, she doesn’t repeatedly say in this chapter that she doesn’t know what to do next for no reason. Anne’s Room is all she’s ever had. While at the orphanage, it was her only comfort. While in the Guild, it was her only value. With Atsushi, it was all she had to offer in return for his ultimate favor.

This, I feel, could be the establishing point for the next portion of her arc. She could strive to find a way out of the rubble, working together with Kyōka, and in the process learn to break away from her ability as what defines her role in all of this. One thing's for sure: something has to be done sooner or later, otherwise, they'll starve.

I dunno, maybe that’s wishful thinking given how much is already going on. But either way, I’ll hope against hope that this isn’t some one-off return, because Lucy has proven time and time again that she has a lot to offer to the story, both plot-wise and thematically.

[canonically47]

here I am :) review?

I LOVE YOU ANON!!! <333 (seriously you are the best!! i love sharing my thoughts and receiving your message straight after the episode is over you are the best ever <3)

as always, let's break this down in bullet points!!

SPOILERS FOR DCAS EP 4! (duh.)

right off the bat, i gotta say, why is yul so VIOLENTLY racist? 'curry girl' are you KIDDING ME??? oh my god WHEN is he leaving?

they are... running out of ideas for the challenges, just like in TDAS lol. what do you mean an ALL-STARS CHALLENGE is a race to dig up sandbags LMFAO?? we really are getting TDAS quality with this season, pushed relationships (grett & yul, connor & riya), exaggerated antagonists (riya when i catch you riya), well at least the generations are interacting with each other :3 not all in a good way though

also why are they still in their swimming stuff i don't. get it did they forget to redress them? i get that they were around digging in the sand but i think they could've done that in clothes no?

jake continues to piss me off and despite her sob story i continue to care very little about ashley. i like what they're doing for her i think?? but i really don't care about her shrug

TOM AND AIDEN FRIENDSHIP WOOOOOOOO I LOVE THEM SMSMSM MY FAVORITE M/M FRIENDSHIP IN THIS SERIES EVERRR

jake got ran through the DIRTTT in this episode I AM LIVING FOR IT also he talked SO LITTLE WOOOOOOOO FUCK YOU JAKE I AM LIVING FOR THE JAKE ERASURE

VILLAINS ALLIANCEEEEEEEE <333

oh my god miriam literally scared the shit out of me with that reveal. this series is so unpredictable so i was ready to say goodbye to alec BUUUT if we go by writer/total drama logic we know that his arc not being finished (i.e. him not having made up with fiore, which is clearly his main plot point) means he would not be going home anytime soon. i really expect, by this logic, for him to last long. i think there are 20-21 episodes this season, and i expect him to be there until at least 15. he will definitely make the final six, and no way will he not make merge. i'm rooting for the guy so hard

i never expected to cheer at miriam's elimination, but here i am. she's been asking for it this season i think... and she actually got really downgraded?? like her whole shtick was "omg the youngsters can't communicate i gotta talk some sense into them" and that. was it. which was SOOO BORING i KNOWWW you can do better queen!! :( and i hateee how they made her rude again like her whole thing in s1 was becoming less rude through her friendship with jake come onnn how can you mess up THE QUEEN HERSELF

so, i have a theory, which immediately everyone started talking about in the chat but i'll try to speak it into existence quicker so it seems i am original: grett voted for yul. i am going to stand by this until i die. we didn't get to hear the sixth vote, but there was no need. grett voted for yul. we know connor, alec and yul voted for miriam, so that's her three confirmed votes. we know miriam voted for alec. that leaves riya and grett; and while i do admit that it's likely riya voted for him because she dislikes him, and i hate to say this because i hate her, riya is smart. she knows yul is a bitch boy and not a threat. she would absolutely jump at the chance to vote either miriam or alec, so that's another vote for either of them. grett. voted. for. yul. and i am so excited for where this will take us.

although i enjoyed this episode, i think it was one of the weakest of the season. the challenge was absolutely boring, jake existed which like?? ew?? also yul was there so massive thumbs down, and riya was there so automatic dislike, also jake and yul had lines? disgusting ew. yul and riya had some plot relevancy this episode which disgusted me.

but seriously jokes aside the episode was pretty solid aside from the challenge, that's a hill i'll die on. ellie and alec still have a good dynamic which is GREAT to see, i cheered when i saw alec pop out of that bush to talk to her, and i am so happy to see the four s1 and two s2 villains uniting forces. i cannot wait for the fanart we'll get of these six (says girl who wants two of them dead)

[haleigh-sloth]

Ngl you are right.

Like in that time Izuku would have 1 panel where he is nice to Endeavor and those specific todostans that hate Deku would lose their shit.

Okay but honestly it's not even just that

It was about Shouto and his siblings too.

The whole "I think you're getting ready to forgive him" scene, granted it might not leave the best taste in people's mouths--it depends on how you individually want to absorb the Todoroki plot as a whole. But just....acting as if it was out of interest for Endeavor and not for Izuku's friend is what I'm talking about. I never thought THAT was the case, but I DID wrestle with it for a bit! I did, I sat on it, I decided that "hm maybe not the best thing to say but okay he means well". But now, looking back, all that matters back then was that he meant well.

Takes from back then "He shouldn't give commentary on a family matter 🙄", well, maybe Shouto shouldn't have forced his horribly traumatic past on him on a whim when literally nobody asked, and at the time, they didn't know each other. And maybe when inviting them over for dinner don't talk about how you're deliberating forgiving your abusive father, how he reminds you of your mother's mental break, and talk about how one of the siblings basically accuses him of killing their oldest dead sibling. Maybe, if you don't want anybody to think or talk about it, don't do that. Bakugo had a point to be made during that scene lmao.

Now again, this isn't me snubbing the Todosibs because it's very clear Shouto is written to be awkward socially and very unsure of what to do in certain social situations, and that is by no means his fault. And it's only fair you extend that grace to the rest of the siblings too. But that doesn't erase the impact of what they're doing, and it's fucking called out via Bakugo--in a humorous way!--but still addressed.

The other big scene that caused upset was during the PLF war when Izuku stepped in to STOP SHOUTO FROM BURNING. And SURE you can argue that he didn't need to give commentary, I guess, but Touya saying "Don't meddle with family affairs" and that statement being taken way more seriously than the fact that if not for all the unasked for information Izuku received from Touya's FAMILY--Izuku would have absolutely nothing to say, is pretty wild. And don't get me wrong--I WRESTLED WITH THIS TOO. I DID. IT MADE ME UPSET. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to agree with Izuku at the time or fucking Touya. I think uh, given my gradual change in mindset toward the villains (that I still love btw let's be clear about that) I can safely say you're not supposed to be like "Yes, Touya, as he was trying to actually kill his brother and by proxy everyone else in the vicinity, was right actually and we should agree with everything he says".

I mean, one thing I never agreed with was that Izuku was forcing Shouto to accept his dad. Never ever did I ever jump on that stupid bandwagon, but that is almost exactly how specifically todoroki fanbase acted at the time--and unfortunately this is still a thing, yes. And it took me a while to come to this conclusion but....I mean what did people want Izuku to do? When he met Shouto, Shouto was trying to reject his dad with all of his being. Never did Izuku say "accept your dad", he said "accept yourself as an individual". And from that point forward it was Shouto's choice to open up to accepting his dad. He saw Shouto FREAK out over his dad during the pro hero arc, worried for him, and rooting for him to make it out alive. From that point, as Shouto's FRIEND, Izuku has two options 1) Go along with his friend's choice and match his energy toward the man in question i.e. being respectful and just acting like he would toward any other adult OR 2) NOT accepting his friend's choice?? and just??? telling Shouto to uh not do that???

And...Izuku doesn't comment on Shouto's situation without Shouto around, without Shouto himself bringing it up, without it being prompted out of him. He isn't talking about it in the background, giving his two cents on what HE thinks Shouto should or should not do. Like....that's just not a thing that's happening.

I'm really glad to get this all out because really, I'm over the deku hate boner that exists on the villain side of the fandom especially because all of the reasons for it are again--bad faith at best, and stupid at worst.

This is all to say that the Todoroki plot is great, I love it, I'm excited to see Shouto and Touya be brothers, I'm excited to see their dad finally do something, I'm excited for family reconciliation. But this whole mindset of shitting on every other character at the expense of erasing their negative traits is just dumb. Don't take the flavour out of Shouto, he overshares and sometimes makes the situation uncomfortable. It's great.

[mellometal]

Hey, everyone.

If you saw the post from earlier, I had to delete it. There were things I forgot to discuss and things that didn't get saved into my drafts. Sorry if you have to see this again.

I've been WAITING to talk about Glee. Not in the good way either. There's so much wrong with the show, and it's sickening. Yes, I've watched the show last year. Against my will, but that's because of other people refusing to put on anything else besides Glee. I can say that I hate Glee with my entire being. (My initial reason for hating it was because they covered "SING" by My Chemical Romance and turned it into a slow, patriotic song when it's a song about rebellion. NOTHING about "SING" is patriotic. I hated the show since I first heard about it...for that very reason. I was like thirteen or so at the time when I first heard about Glee? Despite it being out since 2009.

Though it's been over for several years now, it's a show that many people have mixed feelings about. From what I've seen, you either love Glee or you absolutely hate it. There's no in-between that I've seen. (If you can't already tell, I hate the show.)

The show is a literal dumpster fire, the characters are all fucking awful people and all of them are poorly written, the script pisses me off, it literally makes me feel disgusting, and don't even get me started on the covers. Most of the covers aren't that good. A lot of them sound like nails on a chalkboard to me. The pacing of the show makes NO sense in certain areas (like when Blaine was initially made to be a grade above Kurt, but was then changed to be like the same grade as him so he'd stay). It just feels like everyone in the show is either a Mary Sue, a Gary Stu, their whole personality is just that they're from a minority group or they're EDGY AND HARDCORE DELINQUENTS BLEEEEHHHHH, creepy as fuck, bigoted as all hell, or they're just background characters who occasionally have the spotlight.

TW: The following post and any other posts that I'll make about this show contains subject matter that may be triggering for some audiences. It will go into subjects like racism, homophobia, ableism, outing of a person in the LGBT community, bigotry in general, statutory r@pe (between teachers and students), teachers being creepy towards students, mentioned past child m0l3stati0n and invalidation of the victim's trauma, making fun of su1c1d3, making fun of overdose, making fun of drug addiction....a lot of fucked up things.

If anything mentioned above is triggering for you, please feel free to scroll and consume safe media instead. I'd rather have you be safe than to be triggered by anything I'm gonna talk about.

Let's start off easy. The characters. It's easy to tear them apart. At least the most problematic ones.

Rachel, the Main Character™️, is textbook definition of a Mary Sue. Instead of calling her Rachel, I'm gonna call her Mary Sue for the whole post. She's almost completely perfect (like too perfect), her flaws are minor if anything, she gets all the special treatment....you get the picture. When Mary Sue does anything fucked up or she says anything fucked up, it either goes unnoticed, people make up excuses for her being a shitty person, or it gets twisted so it looks like Mary Sue is the hero! (I hate her. So much. I cannot stand her.)

Aaawwww, Mary Sue didn't want some OTHER GIRL (Sunshine) to steal HER spotlight, so she SENT THIS GIRL TO A CRACK HOUSE. A FUCKING CRACK HOUSE, OF ALL PLACES. A PLACE WHERE THIS GIRL COULD HAVE BEEN PUT IN SERIOUS DANGER. THIS GIRL COULD HAVE BEEN SERIOUSLY INJURED AT BEST AND KILLED AT WORST. Yes, I'm aware not all drug houses are the same, but still. It doesn't matter what this girl did. What Sunshine did is irrelevant. It's not okay to send people to strange places where they don't know anyone, and are put in danger, even to the point of either getting injured or killed. But it's okay, because at least it's not an "active" crack house you sent Sunshine to, RIGHT, Mary Sue? You still sent some poor girl to a place where she could have been put in serious danger, even to possibly get injured or killed, all because you didn't want her to steal YOUR spotlight. You fucking disgusting, entitled, bratty cunt. You don't need the spotlight all the time anyway. THAT'S HOW THEATRE WORKS. YOU DON'T ALWAYS GET THE LEAD ROLE. YOU DON'T ALWAYS GET THE ROLE YOU WANT. AND THAT'S OKAY. YOU WORK WITH WHAT YOU GOT. Sincerely, a theatre kid.

There are other fucked up things Mary Sue has done, but this is the one thing I could find anyone talking about. If I remember correctly, she hurt her Gay Best Friend™️ Kurt in some way. All I remember is that Kurt was mad at Mary Sue about something. Mary Sue is annoying as fuck. What else can I say about her?

Next, we have Finn, who's textbook definition of a Gary Stu. I'll call him Gary Stu throughout this post. I hate this fucker too. He's the Main Character's Boyfriend™️, the Hot Quarterback™️, and The Good Guy™️. Yet....he's not a good person. He's treated like he's a good person, but he's really not. His flaws are fairly minor and excused (and any major flaws aren't even talked about much), he's almost completely perfect, and every fucked up thing he does is ignored or is justified in some way. Like how he outed Santana as lesbian in the hallway WITHIN EARSHOT OF EVERYONE. HE DIDN'T EVEN APOLOGIZE FOR THIS.

As a woman who has struggled with her sexuality growing up, this really brought back shit I went through. I "dated" boys when I was younger to cover up the fact that I'm only attracted to other women. I wasn't happy with these guys at all. I acted like I did so nobody would suspect anything. I felt nothing for them, except for in a platonic way. I've been outed twice. Once when I thought I was bisexual with a strong preference for other women (by my dad's girlfriend at the time), and when I came out as lesbian (by my brother). It sucks to be outed. The people who outed me in real life could have put me in danger. They could have made it so I had no place to go back to. They could have had me get hurt. It's a scary feeling. Like, it doesn't matter if you're supportive or if you're in the LGBT community. You don't fucking out people without their explicit permission. You especially don't out people to their abusers or to people they don't trust, let alone out them publicly. That's what happened to me. I don't wish this on anyone.

***By the way, for anyone who's closeted, you're valid, I love you, and I know how it feels to be stuck in the closet. You don't have to come out right now. Come out whenever you're ready to. Whenever it's safe for you to do so.***

Or how about the fact that Gary Stu made fun of Kurt's voice because he's gay? Gary Stu apparently has ✨anger issues✨ and that's pretty much the excuse they use to justify him doing fucked up shit to people.

They treat the characters who are from minority groups (i.e., BIPOC, AAPI, LGBT community, disabled people) like absolute garbage, put them through all this horrific shit, or they put them on a pedestal simply for being in a minority group. The teachers and other school staff are either written to be total bigots (Sue), or they're total pr3dators (Mr. Schue, the school nurse, and another teacher who I can't remember her name off the top of my head).

Sue pretty much only exists to be a poorly written villain who's a bigoted bitch just to be a bigoted bitch. Yes, there were some things she WAS right about (like how "Blurred Lines" wasn't an appropriate song choice for the Glee Club™️, but Mr. Schue The Pr3dator™️ downplayed it). Other than that...that's all I can think of. Because everything else that came out of her mouth was bigoted bullshit. Like these right here, for example:

Or how she drugged the principal, date r@ped him, and blackmailed him?

How about them making a tasteless joke about Sue committing su1c1d3 and having her "overdose" on multivitamin gummies?

DO I NEED TO EXPLAIN HOW FUCKED UP ALL OF THIS IS? I do? Well, first of all, she called people racist, homophobic, ableist, and otherwise disgusting names. She boiled them down to their race, sexual orientation, their disability, and their appearance in general. Second, SHE DRUGGED, BLACKMAILED, AND DATE R@PED SOMEBODY. I don't think I need to explain how that's bad. The evidence is right there. Third, she said she was committing "sue-icide" by overdosing on multivitamin gummies. (Yes, you actually can OD on vitamins in supplement form, and it can cause serious symptoms and even death. Specifically with vitamins A, D, E, and K, and Iron. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble. They're a lot harder to remove from the body. The B vitamins and vitamin C aren't as severe if you do OD on them because they're water-soluble, but still be careful. You can't OD on vitamins and minerals you find in food. If you take supplements, vitamins, etc., only take what's on the bottle.) As someone who has su1c1d@l thoughts on and off, this is extremely insulting. Yes, I do use humor and I joke about my own experiences to cope, but this? Nah. Nothing about this is funny or cute in the slightest. Enough said.

Do I need to explain how fucking terrible it is to make light of a serious topic like this? It was never funny to see Britney Spears' mental health be at that low of a point in 2007. It was never funny to see the abuse the paparazzi inflicted on her. How the fuck was this ever okay? You can dislike Britney Spears all you want, but this was never it.

This is all I have for now. I'll probably make a part two because there are way too many things to talk about.