#idk why but it really was kind of surprising to see that discourse on my dash

[cloudmancy]

not to rekindle old discourse if you've moved on, but i was listening to you & @kindlespark's interview on the complicated women podcast / have enjoyed reading your fhjy posts and wanted to ask your thoughts on why the beginning of the season felt so promising to you? i enjoyed the premiere and the premise of the stresses of 11th grade/the rat grinders as foils, but as the season continued i started to feel disillusioned - it seemed less and less like an interactive/collaborative story (cassandra's death, fig's quest to rehabilitate ruben, the ratgrinders being really hard to find/interact with in general) and more of a tour through some unsatisfying callback easter eggs (i simply don't care about porter and it kind of felt like not even emily did). imo the ratgrinders were set up to fail as a narrative concept ever since the bad kids got mad at them for grinding and brennan just sheepishly grinned and shrugged at the camera, and while i share your disappointment that there was no coming together/addressing the root academic injustices that plagued both the bad kids and the ratgrinders, i don't think it was as surprising to me, as the season had already felt too filled with bits/joking around to be that dramatically tight - ironically, i think they got too bogged down in roleplaying scholastic tedium. i tend to come to d20 with a mindset of like, this is primarily a comedy and if they end up producing a satisfying narrative arc, great (and they certainly have achieved this in the past), but i don't think it's a coincidence that most d20 seasons are regarded as having unsatisfying endings - i think it's an incredibly hard thing to do in a ttrpg setting, even for professionals, especially so if their instincts are more towards comedy. they are great artists and improvisers, but evidently that doesn't mean they can't fail to cohere, and i think this season suffered from a lack of investment in narrative all around - brennan not being as flexible with the plot as he's been in the past, the players i think (some anyway) feeling a little tired of these characters and playing them as more chaotic/violent than usual (kristen's random nudism, fig's truancy, gorgug's hatred/bullying of maryann, fabian threatening to skin ivy). idk, i'm just rambling at this point - my overall message is that i'm in agreement that the finale was a letdown, but i'm curious as to how you thought the promising themes interacted with the story/performances in the earlier parts of the season, cause when i look back at it i don't see a unified vision, just some individually interesting pieces that never seemed to fit together, and i don't think i just feel that way in hindsight, but am open to other perspectives (disclaimer that obv this is all opinion and subject to debate)

here are sam's thoughts on it!

ok my thing is that 1) i love porter as a villain and i don't think the twist takes away from his character; i think brennan tied him to ankarna REALLY well and with genuine thought. the lore drop scene in the temple was genuinely chilling and very very cool to me and brennan clearly set up a lot of lore around it that was interesting and not just funny bc fig thought he was bad the whole time. i think porter is a great character and had the bad kids engaged with his philosophy of rage and not had ice feast completely nullify his threat he could've been a really compelling villain. 2) i genuinely had hope for the rat grinders because of brennan's insistence to make npcs like eugenia talk about them as foils, the fact that they used to be the high-five heroes, and the fact that he made them closer to unwilling participants than actual villains. seemed like genuine threads of complexity that the bad kids just didn't pick up on, but i also clearly was fooled bc that brennan didn't react to fig's attempts to convert ruben shows that he wasn't really prepared to have the final battle as anything but tbk vs trg 😭 i think the downtime system was actually really fun and effective at portraying both scholastic tedium while also embellishing the themes (rage tokens!!) 3) this probably wasn't made clear in the ep but i didn't expect d20 to write a perfect thematic story about addressing systemic injustices; i just wanted them to give me any kind of thematic acknowledgment in the battle at all and not just with ankarna. i am very aware that im always reading into the subtext of d20 seasons--that lament is more for the subtext that Could've Been. i agree with you about everything you've said wrt ttrpg settings and lack of narrative investment, but i had higher hopes because fhsy and tuc are so much better with their themes and the themes brennan appeared to be setting up seemed so… obvious to me…. it had me ignoring all the red flags 😭

[dizzythegreat]

Keeper of the Lost Cities meta: a hopefully-not-too-critical analysis

Starting off by saying that this whole thing is a just little too pretentious and a just little too fueled by irritation so don't take everything I say as fact! I'm just kind of ranting about things that I feel like most people are annoyed with (?) please share your thoughts with me! I think it's important for discourse like this to happen to keep fandoms alive!! non-Keeper mutuals feel free to DISREGARD!

First of all Keeper has such a special place in my heart, I started reading the series when I was 12 and I'm 16 now, so I really did kind of grow up with the books. I LOVED the series as a kid and hyperfixated on it for a really long time. As the series progresses and as I read it from a different lens, I'm seeing all of the flaws so much more clearly, so this whole rant basically stems from realizing something so special to me is flawed media and wanting to get my thoughts somewhere. All of this comes from a loving place! I'm just putting down my top few issues with the series and my opinions on a lot of different elements <3

DISCLAIMER I'm doing a reread but I'm only on book 1 and my memory is shit. Any false information is literally not my fault leave me alone

1. Length, redundancy, and predictability

This one really starts in Flashback #7 for me. It will always, always evade me why that book contains ~300 straight pages of Sophitz fluff and fucking around in the healing center. I know that a lot of people enjoyed those parts, which is totally valid! Shipping is a cornerstone of this series! But for me it felt so pointless and fan servicey, idk. And this is maybe my biggest problem with the books: they drag. We're at 9 and a half books now, each spanning like 500-800 pages, and the plot drags and drags and drags. I don't know if Shannon's publisher makes her fill a certain number of pages or what, but I feel like at least 100 pages of bullshit could be cut from each book and nothing would change. They start to almost follow a formula: 200 or so pages of figuring out the Neverseen's plan of the hour, another 200-ish to plan how to defeat them, and then finally we learn that the Neverseen is actually always one step ahead and the crew gets crushed oh my god tragic!! It worked as a subversion of expectations the first couple times but by now I feel like most people could basically just predict what's going to happen in any given book. Sometimes I wonder got left on the cutting room floor because it feels like SM wrote a first draft, barely trimmed it down, and published just that. The plot spins in circles, the protagonists are confused yet again, I am pulling my hair out in chunks.

It's a huge turn-off to a lot of new readers seeing these super thick books, and it's even a turn-off to me when I do rereads because surprise surprise, I don't actually really give a fuck if Fitz likes Sophie back, or at least not enough to read 300 pages on it per book. If the books were more concise, not only would that fix a lot of the plot and character development issues, it would also make them way more digestible because to be honest with you I probably couldn't remember half of what happens in most of them.

2. Sophie...

I think this is a very polarizing opinion but I just kind of don't like Sophie as a main character? I honestly think she's fallen victim to becoming a Mary Sue and not even in a "wehhh powerful woman make me mad" type way! It's just that Sophie at her fullest power is undeniably the most powerful elf in a battle, so to counteract this, Shannon has to keep finding ways for the Neverseen to take away Sophie's power. Whether through the whole "she can only inflict everyone at once" thing or breaking every bone in her hand or creating forcefields or literally fucking anything to stop this kid with five million superpowers, they have to find a way to effectively tie her down so the battles seem somewhat realistic. This then creates a weird pattern where every battle goes one of two ways: Neverseen finds a way to effectively debilitate Sophie and all her friends, or she just goes fucking sicko mode and destroys everyone. You just can't have a main character who's this much ahead of everyone else in terms of raw power.

For me, I think the biggest issue with Sophie is she's not relatable to the average reader. The age demographic for Keeper is preteens and teens. How many 13 year olds are the most powerful, unstoppable person in their friend group, in which three hot guys are head-over-heels in love with them, living in very comfortable conditions, with like five hundred friends? If you were that fucking baller at 13 then go fuck yourself that's super cool for you! But the core pillars of Sophie's life, disregarding the all the magical stuff (which obviously requires some suspension of disbelief) are simply not relatable or recognizable to the average reader. So how are we as readers supposed to feel connected to Sophie's life and situation if we never have (and let's face it, never will) experience anything close to the more realistically human parts of her life?

3. Character development (and the lack thereof)

Say what you will but to me the character development is so pale and arguably just doesn't exist. It feels like everyone has become so one-dimensional, so predictable, and so limp. Sophie has it the worst because we read from her POV, so all of her quirks and thoughts become really fucking annoying to read over and over again. For example, The whole oblivious "omg does Dex like me? does Keefe like me? DO I LIKE FITZ???" thing was cute when she was 12 back in book one but by now I am genuinely tearing my hair out when I have to read "Sophie blushed" every two pages. The whole "I'm a freak and nothing I do ever works and all is hopeless" thing was easy to feel sympathy for the first few times, but by now it's just kind of... exhausting? It feels like the naïve, oblivious Sophie from book 1 is exactly the same person as Stellarlune Sophie, no matter how many hideouts SM makes her burn down to prove she's ruthless or something. At this point, I feel like Sophie's choices throughout the series end up either being really predictable or wildly out of left field.

Every character other than Fitz, Keefe, and Sophie (and you could make a case for the three of them too) have become a shadow of themselves and they all get at most two conversations worth of pagetime. This can be attributed to a lot of things that I don't feel like talking about so here they are in point form: excessive focus on the main "love triangle", overloaded cast of protagonists, too much emphasis on A) furthering the plot and B) Sophie's inner thoughts instead of character relationships and found family. I think the books have lost sight of the original love, trust, and bond created by the five mains, and those super interesting dynamics between the different sets of friends that were so abundant in the first few installements have become few and far between. When I was a kid, I loved the books for the warm friendships and soft moments between Sophie and Dex, and now we're lucky if they even really talk to each other if not to push the plot. Biana barely exists, Marella and Linh show up every once in a while to be gay as fuck and then leave, Stina turned nice and then immediately went back to being a bitch because SM, for some reason, un-did all her redemption, and everyone else fucks around until they're plot-relevant. Where's the squad where's the crew where's the homoerotic undertones?!

4. Miscellaneous whining

Fitz's character is wildly inconsistent imo. I love you Sophie but I'm going to consistently get mad at you over irrelevant things and ice you out even though you need my support! Your boyfriend is for the streets girl

Fuck this whole half-book thing I'm sorry. Understandably, things have slowed down now that SM has two kids and I'm really truly happy for her and I'm glad she's taking time out of her work for herself and her family. But when she keeps releasing these weird novellas every year as some kind of "solution", it really just seems like a cop-out or a cash grab. I wish we could tell Shannon that we don't necessarily need a 700+ page novel to consider it a book! I personally would love if book 10 was more concise!! Let's just get this plot moving a bit!!

Sophie burning Gisela's book BURNS MY BLOOD. SM just had no fucking idea what she wanted that book to say + it would probably end the series too quick so she got Sophie to burn the most crucial piece of information they could have ever used under pretense of "refusing to follow Gisela's trap" or whatever OH MY GOD

Sooo many dropped plot lines/plot holes there is no way this shit is being resolved in the next 1 and a half books. See you all in 2034 for book 13.125

Sokeefe endgame was great but so predictable. Half the reason most people read this series is for the will-they-won't-they thing with Sophie, Fitz, and Keefe (justice for Dex!), and I think it was executed very badly. You could predict that Sophie and Fitz would burn out, you could predict that she would end up with Keefe, there was net 0 suspense by the time Fitz made his 500th dick move. I know I just complained about things being stretched out for so long but this one could have done with some taking it slow without making it obvious what was going to happen

Can Marella and Linh just kiss already

Anyways this all comes from a place of loving frustration. Oh Keeper my love, look what has become of you. Ultimately, SM started a fantasy series without knowing the ending, and it's spun out of control, but what can you do? I appreciate the series for what it is, I wish it was better, but I'll always love it. Through all my bitching and moaning I'm still rereading it to this day so who's really winning here? Please rb and comment and dm I love discussing Keeper!!! If you think I'm an idiot tell me!!! If you agree with me tell me!!! Don't be a dick!! Thanks for making it this far! Don't forget to like and subscribe and smash that bell

[mobumi]

I have to admit that I'm kinda disappointed in Bucchigiri so far, but at the same time I want to see more 'cause the setting and the designs are really cool. Even the story could be interesting if it's done right. I've seen all the discourse with Arajin and as much as I love my boy Matakara I've realized something.

Matakara and Arajin are actually very similar but Matakara is just done better. Let me explain.

Arajin's goal: lose his virginity

Matakara's goal: become a Honkibito

Arajin's obsession: Mahoro/ girls

Matakara's obsession: Arajin/ become Honki people with him

Mahoro shows no interest in Arajin, broke his love stone but Arajin still believes he has a chance. Meanwhile, Arajin avoids Marakara, rejects him and still Matakara believes in him and holds on to his stone.

They both don't let go and pursue the person they like in some ways.

Matakara is as obsessive as Arajin, but his character is more fleshed out. He has a social circle with good friends. We have a backstory with his brother, so there's someone important to him other than Arajin.

He doesn't only use his strength for selfish reasons like Arajin but to protect his friends or the Minato Kai gang.

There's mystery surrounding the shadow in his room, we don't know what will happen to him. That gives the audience some anticipation and keeps its interest in the character and his potential.

I don't think people don't like Arajin because he's flawed. Matakara as sweet as he is has flaws too and other characters on the show as well. Sen'ya for example is shady af and doesn't tell Arajin everything and keeps stuff from him, so not everyone is a saint. And it's not because of bad writing or anything, it's just the way it was intended to be.

The intent here is to subvert expectations. I was surprised at first that it didn't go the way I thought. First, the harem trope is completely different from what we're used to.

- The mc pursues a girl but mostly men are after him, every gang leader wants him on their team because they think he's really strong. So they completely change what people expect of the harem genre.

- Mahoro is not the typical cute and innocent girl the mc usually falls for. She's ruthless, a brocon and doesn't hesitate to manipulate people to get what she wants. That makes her interesting because she's really not what she seems and is similar to Arajin and Matakara (her obsession with her brother)

- Arajin is not the typical shonen prota with big morals or big dreams (the "I want to become xx" type of hero), he doesn't want to be strong or anything significant other than losing his virginity like a normal teenager, and that's the joke. You expected something else? No, we get a pathetic mc who's most likely going to surprise us again just to break our expectations.

We're not supposed to root for Arajin, I think he is a tool to tell a delinquent story in a new kind of way. His character is annoying but I think it's on purpose and he's going to be useful somehow. How? Idk time will tell.

The process is not enjoyable right now and that's fine that people feel that way, but I think it's going to make sense at one point or another as to why Arajin acts like that.

I've seen some people not understanding all the criticism he gets, but I think it's fair criticism, judging that Arajin is not the type of character you would root for. While we know he's going to change it still seems like a long way, especially when you just don't care about the mc or you don't find him interesting in any way. That got me thinking that this is exactly how we're supposed to feel about him, at least for now. Arajin's not supposed to be a likable character so I'd say it's working. it's all fine because for once it's different, this is not what we expect of a shonen protagonist, so it's interesting.

I've also seen people say that Arajin has some development and I'm not sure about that. Sure, as the story progresses and he's getting more and more in a mess, Arajin's reactions have more range, there are some elements here and there that show us he cares about some things. But his attitude remains the same. And I think something bigger has to happen for him to actually break out of his character.

We've seen how he reacted to Akutaro's speech about Mahoro. It demonstrates that he can get mad for someone else, but he left Matakara tied up in a basement and doesn't get mad for him at all. We have a whole flashback with him feeling guilty for leaving Matakara and he has no remorse doing it again because he's not his priority. Something bad is going to happen so Arajin will finally snap out of it and pay attention to Matakara and realize his behavior was not okay. I hope that's the course of action at least or I'll be really disappointed. Arajin is not a good mc and that's cool, it's not groundbreaking but different. That being said, it has to mean something in the story and I haven't seen that yet.

So yeah, I'm not giving up on this anime and I'm looking forward to see how the story will unfold!

[redlazuly]

so i've just joined the pjo series discourse on sm (i've read all the books) so maybe people might have already said this but i feel like the monster fights are kinda underwhelming ?? the fights themselves but the atmosphere around them too. i'm just going to say it point by point to be clearer :

Mrs. Dodds: she's the first monster and threat of the show. i was waiting for something scary and surprising, that would have terrified percy or something. but instead the "reveal" was slow, and there wasn't even a fight, he just kind of opened the sword (even tho we don't even see him doing it) and she just. dies like that ?? it was really easy and i get that they can't just kill percy in the first ep but there wasn't even a bit of struggle or anything. tbh this first fight really dissapointed me. there was mystery that creates an intrigue but she just wasn't scary or a menace imo (EDIT : I HAVE NOW REREAD THE SCENE AND IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT THIS IS EXACTLY HOW THE FIGHT PLAYS OUT IN THE BOOK (extract down below) so forget everything i said in this part, i'm sorry. )

2. The minotaur : i liked this one much more than the first one, the car chase was thrilling and the atmosphere of the scene was really cool. i've only got one little thing to say about it, but i think it's just a me thing and i'm nitpicking (idk how to make gifs so i hope you can picture it in your head) :

when sally takes percy's jacket to lure the minotaur away from the boys and uses it as a red cape like in a corrida, i think it kinds of take the attention away from the fear of the monster in itself by being comedic. AGAIN i know i'm nitpicking here but why not say it.

(also i regret that the last scene was so far away from the camera and from the camp border. i know it's bc it's percy's pov but i loved percy's desperation in the movie (I KNOW IT'S BAD) when he's failing to save his mother and finally sees her (and her emotions) when she is gets taken away from him.)

3. Medusa : i LOVED what they tried to do with medusa and how they tried to make us sympathise with her. however, the fight was REALLY dissapointing to me. it kind of happened from nowhere. it's implied that it's annabeth plan but it really happened way too fast and did not give enought time for the viewer to appreciate the threat that medusa can be. it felt way to easy for them to beat MEDUSA. the fight lasted 5 seconds max and it felt shy in a way, like as if they didn't not want to fuck it up.

+ special mention : 4. Clarisse: I'M NOT SAYING SHE'S A MONSTER, I'M JUST PUTTING HER HERE BC TECHNICALLY SHE WAS A THREAT TO PERCY. i like dior's acting, idk anything about her outside of the show but i'm going to be honest : not knowing the cast at all, at first i immediately thought she was drew 😭. she IS a really pretty girl but for me she doesn't emanate clarisse's ares' daughter vibe. when her spear broke she was so GOOD, but appart from that she's just really chill i think ? like she's not menacing, she just kind of a mean girl bully (which clarisse is ig but she's not a menace enough imo) and tbh i think she's just not as "rough" as i think she could have been.

tldr : i think the fights were not scary enough and did not set a good tone for the series. they were also too easy and fast for them to be enjoyable.

of course i still enjoy this show a lot so i will be watching the next episodes and the rest of it so maybe there will be improvements. please yell what you guys think !!

it's the first time i ever talk so much on tumblr, so i hope it was readable. if there was any mistakes please tell me, english is not my first language.

[nyaagolor]

what do you think of Carmine and Kieran so far? My stance is that even though neither of them are abusive and do care deeply about each other (and seeing people say they are abusive, especially about Carmine, makes me really sad), I do think that their relationship is definitely NOT a "normal sibling relationship" and both of them do have a bunch of Capital I Issues. But them having Capital I Issues that complicate their relationship while still caring (which FURTHER complicates things) and not being bad people at all is what make them so interesting to me and it's a vicious cycle I LOVE VICIOUS CYCLES OF MISCOMMUNICATION AND MESSY RELATIONSHIPS!!! I'm so normal (lying)

absolutely adore them, Pokemon has really filled this game to the absolute brim with characters who 1. Behave like real people 2. Have actual personalities with arcs that don't act like complete archetypes. God fucking Bless.

The general reaction to the DLC tho has surprised me in the worst way possible. The characters in these games are significantly better written than any pokemon characters in the past but ultimately, they are still pokemon characters. Most of their personality traits are made abundantly and explicitly clear to the audience by the story's end. There is not much digging you really have to do here

And yet! I'm sitting here watching Carmine's reception and thinking back to Nemona, because both of them have a pretty clearly defined personality that I really didn't think were possible to misinterpret. Despite the fact that they are laughably easy characters to understand on a fundamental level people STILL have managed to mischaracterize them to the point of consistently putting discourse on my dash about it. "Carmine is abusive" Carmine is like 15. She is a teenage girl with a younger brother. This is how teenagers behave, especially insecure ones like Carmine is implied to be. She overcompensates and is kind of rude like 3 times and lets her caring nature slip constantly because she feels things extremely strongly. She gets really worked up over everything Because She Is A Teenager. I don't understand why this is difficult

I'm not even sure I would go as far as to say Carmine has Capital I Issues (tho that's a lil subjective, ymmv?) because everything just kinda feels like pretty typical teenager stuff? Like yeah she has issues but they're pretty much exactly what happened to like half the people I knew in high school. And honestly I adore that, it resonates with a lot of people and feels like a good representation of actual teenagers and their problems. It's not especially grandiose but it IS real. Her and Kieran's relationship having strain because they are both kids figuring out how to deal with each other and their emotions is a dope conflict to display in a pokemon game and I think fits in with the more grounded arcs and conflicts we've seen in the base game. It's nice

Kieran's fucked in the head tho idk what that bitch's problems are but I wanna watch him lose it. it'll be funny as hell. I hope his relationship with Carmine gets better but I want it to get worse first

[theinvisiblemuseum]

how about......people demanding wlw rep then never actually engaging with it because the only thing they care about is woke points☕

this really was the wrong day for me to rb this game because i'm seriously genuinely going to be a major cunt about it and i dgaf. that's your warning.

so. here's what i think. in very general terms.

if you don't want to read below the cut (valid) here's all i'll say: stop, actually. i don't want need or care about the megaviral wlw fanfictions of your dreams, because that's not how i choose to engage with fandoms. i already make and engage with the kind of content i want to see which (surprise!) includes a lot of wlw content, but i don't see the need to force moral superiority down people's throats over it. i don't give two shits if anyone other than me is making wlw content. this is fanfiction. fanart. etc. people are allowed to write or engage with whatever they want, HOWEVER if you're throwing a fit over not having enough wlw content and can't name a woman off the top of ur head, that seems like a you problem, idk. basically i choose to actively NOT engage with the type of people screaming crying and pissing themselves over content that already exists that they can't be bothered to look for because appearances and #feminism are all that matters.

if you're here, i'm going to get more cunty, not sorry, you were warned.

the demand for wlw rep is absolutely just dog whistling to seem holier than thou, and like, whatever, most of this shit originates on twitter and tiktok and i've never listened to a word a twitter or tiktok user has said and i won't start now so on the whole i can just put my metaphorical headphones on and tune it out and keep doing my thing, yk? but when it permeates my little den of horror and my brain starts scratching itself, well, i find that sometimes i need to be an asshole and sometimes is right now.

it's not actually a fandom sexism/misogyny issue it's an issue of wanting validation to enjoy certain things, because those things are only cool if the hivemind says so, right? i'm no political expert but i know enough to know that cultlike thought patterns don't lead anywhere good. i've seen zombie movies. i live in america. LOL.

i always joke about how i'd rather die than have my favorite ships become popular (i.e. pandalily, bartydora, lilycissa, etc) but the reason i say that is because a. it breeds discourse that i don't care about, and b. i don't want a bunch of people engaging with content they're not actually interested in just to seem woke or stay on top of trends. it just makes things worse for the people who actually enjoy it.

and while i have your attention, and while i'm being a bitch, wanna know one of the big reasons i think people are crying and whining about the 'lack of wlw rep'? they want other people to care so they don't have to. of course, they don't realize other people already dooooo care, because they're too terrified to sort by anything other than hits on ao3, but that's neither here nor there. no, what they want is for some big strong heavenly god to bite the bullet and characterize these women that, let's be frank, are names on a page and nothing more, so they don't have to. so they can keep on keeping on with the characters they DO care about and toss something around every once and a while about (insert megaviral wlw fic that doesn't exist) to avoid claims of sexism & lesbophobia. AND AS A DISCLAIMER! i don't think people should feel the need to care about a bunch of random characters if they don't want to. once again, this is fanfiction. do whatever the fuck you want. i promise it makes things so much more fun and chill. just because i wanna characterize the shit out of pandora fucking lovegood, i'd never demand anyone else does, and that's the crux of it, isn't it?

this is why it also bugs me when i see posts like 'omg i don't even care who the ship is, i just love sapphics!' or smth along those lines because like, yeah, i love women and i love when women fuck each other and love each other, but i'm not just gonna care about a ship because it's two women. if i did, i'd be more than happy with the pg spoonfed #girlcore sapphic representation in mass media, because half the time it's just two white girls named rachel and brookleighanna whose only defining character traits are that they're gay. nothing more. and sorry, but i'd rather have no wlw content than that. i can't enjoy a ship if i haven't rotated them to hell and back like a rotisserie chicken in my silly little head, often before i've even consumed any content about them. that's the fun of it! i sent like 12 voice messages about a ship i don't even care about that much one time just because i took a shower and had a lot of thoughts. does that mean i'm going to attempt to make them a cornerstone of the Fandom As A Whole and be treated like a celebrity over it? fuck no. i'm just here because i like to have fun and talk to people about characters we all enjoy and create so much lore in my head that only 2 people will ever know about simply because i'm passionate about it and that passion is really enjoyable to me. fandom is a community to me, not a hierarchy, like tiktok or twitter would have you believe, and i think that's what this whole conversation about wlw rep is missing right from the jump. (ta da! i circled back to the point at hand in the end. my tangent had a point!)

yeah so that's my two cents. lol.

[myopicry]

Ty again for responding to my question! This ask is less of a question and more of a mini ramble/vent of my own, idk if you'll find this interesting, pls don't feel obliged to answer this, if not I'll be back with more interesting stuff sooner or later. (disclaimer: im unsure of what terminology to use when) I don't consider myself as a radfem or GC, but in my past month or so of consistent lurking i'd say i've adopted some of the perspectives and opinions, whilst still being supportive of trans ppl and wanting feminism to result in equality between the sexes (i personally believe that this equality and the liberation of women aren't mutually exclusive but that's a different can of worms, also not saying that radfems and GCs can't also be those things). So it kind of shocks me when I at times return to more trans positive/inclusive (?) spaces and see how they talk about TERFs or just radfems in general. I'm skipping the part about how I don't see their arguments in the same light anymore, and more focusing on how they talk about those groups (while most of the time seemingly not having properly looked into them). Like, I have my fair share of criticisms for those 2 communities as an outsider looking in, but they're a lot more constructive and not as "automatic, knee-jerk reaction"-ish than what I've seen from TRAs(?). Furthermore, although I don't think radfems and GCs are necessarily always the nicest to trans ppl or even other qu**r groups, I've seen them being willing to engage in civil debates, clarifying that they don't wish harm on the opposite side/expressing some sympathy to at least a part of the opposite side, denouncing the issues within their own communities, encouraging each other to participate in more "tangible" activism (ex: volunteering at women's shelters), etc more commonly and on a more regular basis than TRAs (?) (not sure what terminology to use lol sorry).

What's even more surprising is that I feel like I can have a civil conversation with most, if not all, of my trans friends without it absolutely obliterating our friendship and mutual respect for each other and even ending up agreeing on some things, so it's odd to see such hostility towards even just *engaging with an opposing belief* and *asking more direct questions* online. Maybe it's more prevalent there than irl? Anyway, if you read this entire thing, thanks and I hope you found it entertaining at the very least x) 'till next time! ~🪼

hey I would be a hypocrite to not enjoy listening to other people ramble considering how much of it I do myself lmao

but also, I genuinely really enjoyed reading this! I totally agree with the sentiment. I did find it super interesting myself in my lurking journeys when the characterization of "terfs" was always built around word of mouth information, the worst faith interpretations of any radfem point, and constant reiteration of how they're irredeemable traditionalists who were completely not worth listening to and directly supporting hategroups (which. is pretty hyperbolic especially if you're addressing radblr lmao).

where as radfems always characterized "tras" directly with screenshots, literally listening to them and displaying them as they are. and yeah, even in radfem spaces where there can be varying disagreements, there is still some level of discussion or debate where you can trace back the discourse and see why they disagree. then, in contrast, when I lurk through broader lgbtq discourse,it's always full of calling people whatever-phobic and just never trying to understand the actual reasons behind any arguments. or it's people over-intellectualizing to the point of nonsense, then still turning around and straw-manning their opponent regardless.

and honestly, it probably is an online thing. the demographic of people online in these communities are just getting younger and everyone is getting more personal too. your identity and digital reputation are now "at stake" in the spaces you frequent, and all your friendships have become your "mutuals" who are an extension of your online personhood and credibility, so you MUST curate your space and your relationships to be unproblematic and aligned with popular opinion as to not be ostracized from these spaces and make yourself look bad.

In real life, people strive to care less what others think of them, and thus can entertain disagreement and nuance while not feeling threatened. online, people are quite literally incentivized to care what others think of them because what's the point of going online otherwise (yknow, if you disregard learning more about different perspectives and using the breadth of the world wide web to learn new things and deepen your understanding). ok, before I start ranting like a boomer comic strip on the "evils of social media" and how the youth are using the internet badly, I'll cut myself off :p

really really well written insights though anon! literally it is always a great time for me when I log on to this website and see you hanging out in the inbox! thank you, and I hope to see you soon !! ヾ(＾∇＾)

[cowardlybean]

your ask button is so tiny it’s so funny

anywho ask game mob psycho fucking all the questions. all of them. i didn’t even read it just answer them all i wanna know

This is gonna be a long ass post :3

the character everyone gets wrong: Tome is a speculative biology enjoyer. thats it thats the post! I also feel like Teruki is more violent than people portray him

a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom: I’mmmm not answering this (cannot decide a fav and most characters are minors lmaooo)

screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr : the worst take ever is shipping Reigen and Mob. Gross! Die.

what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?: I haven’t been here long enough to have any annoying people

worst discord server and why: not in any

which ship fans are the most annoying?: if you ship rei//mob. DIE!

what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?: i already hated Mogami (not from a narrative standpoint, i LOVE the Mogami arc its gutwrenching) but aBoT fic made me hate him even more. KILL HIM!!!

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about: Tome is aroace i don’t make the rules (is projecting) but in all seriousness I Really prefer Mob being aroace because his relationship with Tsubomi really reflects my aromantic experience of making up a crush because that’s what I assume it’s supposed to be

worst part of canon: i love the entire show. sooo. i mean i guess its hard for me to watch Reigen on the psychic tv show bc of secondhand embarrassment kicking my ASS

worst part of fanon: sexualizing middle schoolers

number of fandom-related words you've filtered: idk but they’re all gross ships

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them: not unpopular in the “people hate her” sense but Tome needs more attention, shes so autism and i love her role in the Reigen manga

worst blorboficiation: I haven’t been here long but I haven’t seen a lot of Dimple character study content, usually he's just there because he's always there

that one thing you see in fics all the time: autistic Mob and trans Reigen (positive)

that one thing you see in fanart all the time: older Mob being taller than Reigen which I think is silly <3

you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc): idk how popular it is but mob sympathizing with Mogami just. is not my thing

there should be more of this type of fic/art: Reigen in mogamiland, its so interesting to me

it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...: BROCCOLI ARC BODY HORROR!!!!!!!!!!! Honestly its fucking terrifying already when Mobs friends slowly convert to Dimple-ism but can you imagine. The roots creeping beneath. :3 AND ALSO Reigen having a fear of being on live tv is underrated 

you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...: not genuinely ashamed but my guilty pleasure is bashing Reigen over the head with angst

part of canon you found tedious or boring: cant think of any

part of canon you think is overhyped: also cant think of any rn

your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores: the fact that spirits have the power to brainwash without possessing people?? like Dimples two cults are. terrifying!! bc Mob couldn’t sense a spirit changing their minds bc Dimple was chilling in the broccoli

ship you've unwillingly come around to: not genuinely upset about it but I was so surprised I ended up liking yoshieku (Dimple x security guard) the bond between an evil spirit and the man he randomly possessed is incredible

topic that brings up the most rancid discourse: dunno any

common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing: also dunno any

[white-weasel]

Saw Saturday has come yet again, this time we watched Saw VI:

First off, this movie was so aggressively 2008-2009 in its theme I was FLOORED. Of course there were the predatory lenders, loaning out money to those they knew couldn’t pay it back (direct reference to the housing crash in 2007/2008) and then I got hit with the words “preexisting condition” and literally went “oh fuck the affordable care act doesn’t exist yet.” So definitely was interesting to get a blast from the past with social commentary that was very much based on popular public discourse at the time (not saying predatory lending and American health insurance aren’t also issues now just… a different kind of issue/focus)

I cannot believe that Strahm’s hand survived that entire crushing room so in tact. Then again I did not watch Strahm’s actual death at all because I’m too much of a baby about broken bones, but just seeing the rest of the corpse… man Hoffman got pretty lucky with that one

Perez didn’t die in 4/5 I fucking called it!!! Like I said, if I don’t see your body idc, you’re alive in my book

Still, I’m surprised that they revealed that bit of information to Hoffman. I guess at that point they were running off the assumption Strahm was Jigsaw’s accomplice and thus Hoffman would be a trusted ally in the investigation but man

Speaking of, Hoffman was sooooo sus this entire movie it was almost comical. I mean, it’s probably just because you as an audience member know Hoffman’s whole deal but still

Another Saw trap gauntlet! I think it’s interesting that as the movies moved more towards focusing on John Kramer and his crew as the main characters, rather than those in the trap, the traps have turned into multiple tests rather than just one. It makes sense from a story telling perspective though because that way they don’t have to explain multiple people’s deals why they’re in these traps and can instead just focus on one

With that, I think this was my favorite of the trap gauntlets yet! Actual tough decisions for William and I feel like it mixed the moral choices being put forward by 3 about saving people, while also making the decisions tougher/have more consequences like 5. I really liked the maze where in order to let her pass through he had to redirect the steam and burn himself and the shotgun carousel trap where he had to impale his hands in order to save just a fraction of those on it.

I was staring at the teen boy with his mom who have been put in that cage room with the acid and was like “He looks familiar but idk where I’ve seen him before” a few scenes later my friend just blurts out “oh my god that’s Rodrick from Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and we literally had to pause to take in that information

Once again though, not sure how I feel about more John Kramer lore being added, but this at least didn’t stand out to me as being Too Much yknow. It makes sense that there was a slimy insurance guy who screwed over thousands of sick people and also did it to John, who was a close friend. Didn’t break anything pre established too much

Idk if this was intentional but the whole thing about the knives used to cut the jigsaw pieces out being different for Hoffman vs John felt like it was kinda a reference back to John telling Hoffman that the blade on his pendulum was inferior. If Hoffman had just followed John’s lead and used a surgical precision knife, the right tool for the job, to cut up that latest victim, the discrepancy wouldn’t have been raised and they probably wouldn’t have even thought about re-examining the Seth Baxter tape

The scene in the audio technician lab? So good. Once again Hoffman is being so so sus but also he’s cornered. I do have to question the logic of letting Hoffman hear the actual incriminating evidence when it’s pretty obvious they suspected him at this point, but it led to an iconic moment so I will take it

Rip Perez for real this time :( genuinely did like her from what we saw from her and I desperately wanted her to own Hoffman’s ass

Did NOT expect Hoffman to have basically blackmailed Amanda into killing Lynn (and thereby killing herself) back in 3, but now that I think about it it makes sooo much sense. It never 100% clicked with me why Amanda did that with how I read her character, but knowing that she was making the choice between her father figure/mentor/person who’s approval she wanted most in the world hating her or killing Lynn, things have fallen into place better

Jill was MUCH more involved with the Jigsaw operation than I had previously thought. It was basically like a fucking murder family up in there lmaoooo

Hoffman in the reverse bear trap was unexpected!! And the fact he beat what was supposed to be an unbeatable trap for him??? Actually a little bit insane. (He and Strahm both surviving ���unwinnable” traps? They’re perfect for each other) I cannot wait to see what Jill’s reaction is gonna be when he eventually shows up and is like “I lived, bitch”

We’re reaching the point where my friend doesn’t remember what happens in the series (she watched some of the movies year ago) She said she very clearly remembered 1-3, would remember things as they came up in 4, and now only remembers stuff from Jigsaw since she saw that one in theaters. However, she loves hearing me ramble about my theories and then likes to look things up about the movies so she can know ahead of time if I’m right or not lmao

In her words “See, I knew you would like these movies, not because of like the traps or the gore or anything, but because of the crazy shit that happens in the plot. It’s fun seeing you go crazy about the twists and then spiral until we watch the next one.” And she’s absolutely 100% right

[plausible-possible-perhaps]

hi lmao this is completely random and you might not even remember what I'm referring to but you know how there's a Batman podcast? I checked the tag for it today cause a spin-off for it came out last week and because the fandom is ridiculously small I came across an ask I sent you back in march or may? It was part of some discussion abt 2022 movie riddler kinnies and maybe you do remember but either way in the ask I mentioned how I'd seen that some 2022 riddler kinnie with 'racists dni' in their bio made a post complaining about how everyone in the podcast's fandom is drawing that version of the riddler as a south asian man because they (the kinnie) headcanoned him as looking like Paul Dano since they look like Dano and 'can't relate' to the character if he's a poc and they said that 'it's a podcast none of the characters have canon ethnicities so idk why there's no fan art of him looking like my headcanon' ? Yeah so the reason I'm sending this follow up is because like I said the podcast's spin-off with this version of riddler as the protag just got released and guess what? He got confirmed as brown and muslim and a part of the spin-off's plot is about the racism and islamophobia he'd experienced (it's kind of the main plot really). Huge L for that asshole kinnie and a win for everyone else <3

Yea, I remember you, and thanks for the follow-up! Lately, I'm behind on a lot of DC projects and mainly get my info from word-of-mouth (kinda doing my own thing right now) - so I still haven't gotten to listening to the podcast 😭

Other than that, I'm always happy to see racists seethe at the mouth the moment their favorite characters aren't white, especially when it's a part of smaller, independent works that aren't connected to the main canon. Reminds me of when so-called "fans" see any rendition of black/brown Catwoman and angerly ask the age-old question, "Why aren't you white?" Unfortunately, I suppose I can't be that surprised at the fact people like that still exist - especially when that Tumblr pole showed how most of the users on this website are white, unemployed virgins (that's friendly fire btw, it's just very telling based on all the discourse on here 🫶).

[noddytheornithopod]

Got mixed feelings about the Ahsoka finale. Liked some stuff, but other stuff I'm not so sure on. Spoilers under cut

Okay first thing... the episode felt kinda cheap? Like, I could tell this was on a TV budget, lol. Some episodes have looked pretty good, but for whatever reason this just wasn't working for me?

Maybe I also just am still getting used to seeing animated stuff in live-action. Seeing the green flames finally show up is a relief, but it still felt kind of strange.

My other thing is, I'm not exactly sure I understand what block Sabine has overcome to be able to use the Force properly now? It was kind of jarring to suddenly see her do all this stuff.

Oh yeah, and a lot of this is down to unfortunate circumstances but... Baylan only got one scene? And we only get a slight tease of what he might be after (something Mortis related :v)? Was surprised we barely got any Shin, too.

I did like the zombie troopers even if the action scenes looked a bit cheap. Morgan dying I'm indifferent on, also hey "blade of Talzin." Thrawn explicitly mentions he knew Anakin, and clearly hints he knows of the Vader connection.

Still not sure how I feel about Ahsoka's place in everything, we got Morai finally but Filoni's really teasing the mystery box with her here (and now Baylan, lol). Also, hi Anakin.

I admit I do find the irony of Ezra being the only one to make it back quite amusing. Him making the new lightsabre inspired by Kanan's is pretty cool, too.

It is kind of weird that Sabine only talked about her decision with Ahsoka, though. That conversation resolved that aspect for them thankfully, but to know that Ezra's not gonna know anything until whenever they're together next is... yeah. Who even knows when that will be? If there's a Season 2, I feel like that's gonna not happen for a while, lol.

Oh yeah, some more clarification of the timeline with Mandalore and the Purge. It sounds like it happened at the end of the war, so at least they got to have like 4-5 years of having the upper hand before Gideon and co bombed the fuck out of them.

Maybe it's just me but they felt kind of vague on how much Ezra knew about Thrawn and the Nightsisters? This episode clarified it, but it was hard to tell in his previous appearances.

Am curious as to the specifics of what Morgan went through, and what the sacrifice those Night Troopers made was. It seems like they're not dead, but they do something that renders them subservient to her and makes them undead. IDK how similar Marrok is, he seems kinda different.

Am sure the Thrawn book discourse will continue, but everything's lining up and playing as I expected. He's all in on the Empire, but he's genuine when he says he believes it's for the security of the galaxy. For those of you worried about the Grysk, there's a bone for you. :P

Not sure when "long live the Empire" developed though, cuz if it was post-Endor then wonder how Thrawn got it, maybe it's something they prepared to say if things went to shit, or more weird dream shit is happening, lol.

So... yeah, that's the end of Ahsoka, presumably the first season of at least another. Kind of average in the end for me, I guess. I like more than I don't, but I do have a bit of Filoni fatigue at this point, especially with the amount of mystery boxes, lol.

Okay with Sabine and the Force, upon reflection I realise it's meant to be because Ahsoka showed she trusted her and had faith in her. Definitely think it could've landed better, but I guess I at least get it now.

Also, RIP to learning about where Ahsoka was between Malachor and the end of the Galactic Civil War. IDK what Mr Filoni think, but I personally think it's a pretty important detail to acknowledge, because why wasn't she with the Rebellion then?

[felldragonalear]

you know, partially unrelated to drama im not entirely sure actually exists over The Current Situation, i cant even get mad about the whole bi/pan lesbian thing anymore. like, obviously i think the label is stupid and harmful, but people who use it are generally not being malicious or purposefully transphobic, but instead just really wanting acceptance and not willing to accept that they’re being kinda dumb to get it. like, biphobia is soooo rampant even in lgbt spaces that it’s no surprise people would be hesitant to just    accept that they could just be bi or pan? and its not too hard to see how someone, especially a teen, could misconstrue broad statements about “not fitting in to the System’s Rules Of Gender And Sexuality” as “the very definitions of these words are also irrelevant, because thats also Rules To Gender And Sexuality”

and then refusing to engage with explanations as to why bi/pan lesbian is kind of a shitty transphobic term isnt surprising, because a lot of Current Online LGBT Discourse tm revolves around the idea that no one on planet earth knows better than You personally. its also probably not helpful that the rise of pro-ship bullshit means even people who arent pedophiles have just accepted this weird idea that “problematic” is a word thats just for liberals, so everything deemed “problematic” is immediately good, actually. generally speaking theres just a lot of dipshit takes that are just filtered versions of actual malicious ideologies through the lens of vaguely understood anarchism on tumblr, because “You Are Not Immune To Propaganda, But I Am” is still the prevailing mindset, even in people who will acknowledge that they have this issue (myself included). this is also pretty clear in the whole “slurs are good, actually, and you should let me call you them” thing but thats a whole other issue

idk im just thinking about some bullshit and ill kill everyone on earth including myself if anyone reblogs this i do NOT want randos in my inbox calling me a “pick me gay”

[acetechne]

occurs to me i forgot to aggregate the butter tart responses

cherisezed

a. depends on the recipe b. yes but pecan butter tarts > raisin butter tarts although both are good lol

roniebuttercups

idk about the corn syrup... I've heard about raisins but pecan or plain is the most popular from what I've seen and heard.

carnasnow 

me seeing the words butter tart for the 129th time#and finally looking it up#they look like mini sugar pies#which is making me curious#DO THEY TASTE THE SAME#if i separate my sugar pie recipe into smaller portions does that count as butter tart then

@cherisezed​ @roniebuttercups​ @carnasnow​

okay so why i was thinking about this is because i am a fiend for desserts and learning to make them and this is one thing my mum is very passionate about haha. a few notes under the cut for anyone interested.

pecans / raisins and tarte au sucre

this sort of but not really surprised me - generally i put raisins in because i am a freak who likes them, and generally when i see adaptations of butter tarts (in ice cream form, for example) the discourse is always about whether or not to add raisins. THIS SAID: butter tarts, american pecan pie and quebec tarte au sucre DO have a shared origin I’m certain, so it’s not surprising there is sharing/overlap in the ingredients there. I do think butter tarts are the gooiest of the three and also usually the smallest, the filling should be a bit runny. Also I think maple syrup is more likely to appear in some tarte au sucre recipes, i rarely see it in butter tarts.

the original recipe (below) mentions adding currants (and imho an amount that’s a Lot for my taste lol)

syrup

my mum insists that corn syrup is Not a component of butter tarts when i suggested we make them and kept shooting down every recipe i brought up. The ONLY recipe we could find that did not use corn syrup was from a WWII cookbook!

anyway since you’re all no doubt wanting a nice butter tart around now - sorry to say that I don’t have the (adapted) wwii recipe on me (but I’ll try to dig it up). I do have the one cited as the OG from Mrs. Malcolm Macleod of Barrie and it does not have corn syrup.

and on that subject i want to reassure you - butter tarts are super easy to make! my unsolicited advice is to buy a ton of tart shells (frozen food aisle), keep them in the freezer, and make the filling whenever you have a craving (it also makes a good topping for other things like ice cream...) [arts and crafts show voice] HERE’S SOME I MADE EARLIER

you can get premade filling in the baking aisle of superstore or loblaws or what have you - i can’t vouch for it and prefer to make this kind of stuff from scratch, it just takes a little time to stir on the stove and a little time in the oven and you’re good B) don’t burn the sugar

oh and i want to link the Rock Recipes version not because I’ve tried it yet but because it clearly demonstrates the gooey runny-ness of a good butter tart... and the proper thick crust... yes...

[mrsq8geek]

Your feelings ARE wrong actually

this is a rant i’m frustrated ok

I’ve been on tumblr a long time, so I’ve seen a whole lot of “ADHD is defined by the fact that it’s inconvenient for other people, not by how that person experiences it”

And of course it’s not a far stretch that this applies to other issues too, if you’re disabled or chronically or mentally ill or neurodiverent or however you wanna call it, it’s hard on other people.

But lately what’s been getting to me is the “your feelings are valid” discourse.  Yes, it’s often followed by “the feeling may be valid but it’s not an excuse to be an ass” or whatever.

But here’s the thing... what if your feelings are the thing that’s inconvenient for other people?  See: Personality disorders, also autism.  That’s just my personal experience, I’m sure there’s more.

(more under the cut cause this ended up long)

Here’s the most recent example: I asked a friend to come with me for an errand that really needed to be run by two people, like where I got there the guy was like, why are you here alone?  My friend is nice and mostly reliable, but this time she was super busy.  I asked her a month ahead of time, then sent two more reminders, and she kept promising to get back to me with whether or not she could make it, but ultimately didn’t, idk maybe she forgot or whatever. Since she’s mostly reliable, I trusted she would let me know in time to ask someone else to come help if she couldn’t make it, but that didn’t happen, so I went alone, and the thing I went to do failed.

I am... disproportionately unhappy about this.  Like yes, by Normal People Standards, I’m right to be upset, but it’s also the kind of thing that’s understandable and can be smoothed over.  But by Atypical BPD Autistic Standards... I’m what would be considered “overreacting”.

I can’t believe this is a thing I have to be dealing with.  I’m spending so much energy regulating my unstable emotions (reference intended) so that when I do eventually talk to her again, I don’t blow up at her.  This is a no-win situation for me.  I can either pretend to be a normal adult who knows how to do friendships and tell her it’s really okay, and be miserable myself, or tell her how hurt I really feel, and risk alienating her, because I’m a big baby who can’t get over things.

This has been happening my whole life.  My feelings are Too Big and it’s fucking embarrassing.  It’s easy to focus on the negative stuff, but it applies when I’m happy too.  I laughed too loud, got too excited, wouldn’t stop talking about the thing. 

It’s not hard to put myself in the other person’s shoes and see that yes, I am indeed Feeling the Wrong Thing.  Because for them, it’s not that you had a big feeling and then good job on bringing it down so you don’t overwhelm the other person, it’s: what’s wrong with you to feel that way to begin with?  You shouldn’t get so excited because you saw a shiny thing while shopping for toilets, talk too loud about how much your enjoyed a movie, laugh too hard at a joke because you can’t regulate your volume, and you definitely shouldn’t express surprise at a change because your surprise looks like anger for some reason, you shouldn’t stay quiet because you look arrogant, you shouldn’t get mad someone moved your crap without permission, what’s the big deal, we moved it to clean it, you shouldn’t even complain about things you don’t like because you sound like a petulant child, just stop it honestly you’re exhausting, just be normal.

To be clear, this isn’t a rant about the “your feelings are valid” thing, I get that, it’s a great first step.  You need to acknowledge your feelings being what they are in order to examine them and then maybe wrangle them if needed.  It’s just that it can sound so trite when literally everyone else takes a moment out of their day to let you know your feelings are annoying and could you stop feeling them thanks, not feel them then hide it, no, just plain and simple, how dare you feel this thing, you’re wrong.

I’m so tired.  I put in so much work to end up at “slightly less obviously weird than I was when I was younger”

[speeedyquick1245]

I really don’t understand the logic of edelgard fans who act like this. Like they’re so butt hurt about people that dislike edlegard and then they act so godamn annoying by doing shit like trying to stalk, “debunk” and belittle posts from years ago, and then wonder why no one likes them and edlegard. This is just pathetic behavior. Like I’ve been in so many fandoms are this point and I’ve seen takes that make you want to rip your hair out and scream with how bad they are. I’ve seen ships I hate become the fandoms favorite to the point where it’s unavoidable and unbearable. Thing is being a part of a fandom means meeting other fans/people and just like irl not everyone disagrees or gets along. And just like irl you do have still the choice and responsibility of being a mature human being.

Go crazy with block! (Well if your not on twitter at least…. I heard of some new changes but idk if they’re actually implemented yet or not.) Be petty and block them even if they just said just one thing you hate! It’s your online experience. You can curate it! Want to vent about how bad a specific post/take that you hate is? Vent about it privately with your best friend or sibling. Want to vent about a group of shippers/popular fandom opinion that drives you nuts? Use critical/anti tags and do it!!!

And I know these kinds of fans say they’re only looking for ahem “friendly debate”. But that’s bull shit. I think with when you want to have friendly debate you go in with a mind set to some extent also accepting that what you believe is also open to interpretation and argument. Also You got to want and like to listen to other opinions as well if you want friendly debate. However these kinds of fans go in with firm belief that their opinion is only right/correct and they want to prove it no matter what. They don’t want to listen, and they only others to admit there right.

idk this is just sad behavior, it seems like to me what this person likes and enjoys has become something that they hate. Like I prefer Dimilix and sometimes it does get annoying on how much more prevalent Sylvix is in fandom. But just because I like Dimilix more doesn’t mean I’m going to spend my time thinking about how much I dislike sylvix. That’s a waste of time. No it means I’m going to just channel that energy into obsessing over more Dimilix fics/content. It can be cathartic to vent about how much you hate something but ultimately you should spend more time on positive content of the things you love.

sorry for this reblog that turned into this long vent. 😅 I’ve been very removed from the 3h fandom and discourse now for a while. I still do enjoy the game but people like this made me leave. I suppose the surprise of seeing people act like this even now just brought the frustration back. @fireemblems24 You responded to this troll very well and I loved your azure moon review when I read it in the past. And as frustrating as this person is, I’m glad they at least gave me the opportunity to reread your lovely review.

Azure Moon Review

My final review! I saved the best for last.

FYI AM, CF, VW, and SS were all my first route since I played them back-to-back one "in-game" week at a time.

Before I started playing, I was the least interested in Azure Moon, but to say it came back with a vengeance is both a pun I'm proud of and an understatement. If asked to rank all four routes, I'd struggle choosing #2-4, but #1 I'd write as easily as my own name - Azure Moon. AM takes the best advantages of what Three Houses excels at while minimizing its weaker areas, uses 3H's narrative structure to the best advantage, and avoids issues other routes run into. It's not without fault, though, so I'll start with those first.

Like Crimson Flower, Azure Moon bit off more than a Fire Emblem game can currently chew. The genocide of Duscur is not given the attention, resolution, or weight it deserves. Like Fire Emblem Elibe series's genocide of Sacae, it takes an incredibly serious topic and uses it as a background tool for plot and character backstory rather than treating it with the seriousness such topics demand. With Duscur, things get even stickier and ickier because one of the "good countries" rather than the war mongering one did it. At this point, I think FE should quit including genocide in its storylines unless they hire the Tellius team to write it.

Permadeath also kept AM from living up to its fullest potential. AM has the most tightly knit group of characters, but those bonds are limited in their narrative potential because of FE's (in)famous permadeath feature. This forces the plot to revolve around a small handful of characters and has hamstrung the storytelling throughout the franchise's history. It's felt the hardest in AM, though, because of how intertwined the cast is.

The portrayal of Dimitri's mental illness has also received mixed reviews. I've yet to see a mentally ill character get universal praise, likely because mental illness is such an intensely personal experience. There are valid critiques like the harm of associating mental illness with violence while others praise AM for not romanticizing mental illness and not giving Dimitri a happy ending because he's "cured" but will achieve happiness and success despite his ills. Narratively, some claim his turn around happened too quickly. Here I both agree and disagree as AM did lay down the proper narrative beats to set up for the plot-turning point for anyone paying attention, but I do think it could've been improved. 

However, AM is still, overall, the best written route. There are many, many subjective reasons this route ended up my personal favorite, but I'm going to stick to somewhat more objective (though still debatable) points. So I could endlessly gush over how the Blue Lions are all my babies, but I won't do that here. And for anyone reading wondering if I see AM objectively the best because of subjective reasons, I can only ask, what came first, the chicken or the egg? (I don't know) The strength of AM's writing let its characters flourish in a way other routes did not. Because of that, did I like them better? Going into this, Dimitri was my least favorite lord - but boy did that change once I actually engaged with the game's writing. Personal preferences are what they are, but there are undeniable aspects of AM that are superior in terms of pure story construction compared to the other routes. 

AM emphasizes what Three Houses excels at while minimizing the weak spots. It's widely agreed that character-writing is one of FE3H's biggest strengths. Every character in Three Houses is both unique and reads like a natural result of the world and situation they lived in. Supports are often engaging and varied, adding layers of interest to even the most minor of characters. 

AM takes more advantage of the characters than other routes. Character conflict and development drive story beats in AM far more than the other routes. Dimitri gets the most fleshed-out and focused-on character arc among the various leads, the Blue Lions have the most connected cast and thus have the highest number of complicated and complex relationships, minor Blue Lions get the spotlight in various chapters (Ashe and Sylvain in the pre-timeskip), and just about everyone has some piece of the overall plot tie-in to their personal arcs (such as Mercedes dealing with Jeritza or Annette with Gilbert). Because it's the most "personal" and intensely character-driven story, AM takes the best advantage of the game's strong suits. 

This character-driven focus extends to the route's antagonists too. The poorly written and cartoonishly evil TWSITD are side-lined and killed off almost by accident. Instead of them, a mindless zombie, or Rhea randomly going evil, Edelgard is the main villain, and is far more interesting. Her dispute with Dimitri is ideological, personal, tragic, and compelling. Because of this, she's humanized in a way the other routes' antagonists are not, making the conflict with her more engaging in comparison. 

It's a pattern AM continues to follow through on - making the best of what's there. AM is the only route that utilized the Flame Emperor reveal and the time-skip. In the other 3 routes, these two story aspects fall flat. No one really reacts to the Flame Emperor reveal or seems to care - even Byleth and the Black Eagles. In AM, it's an emotional highlight that greatly impacts important characters. AM also takes the best advantage of the time-skip, as it's the only route where things actually happened during the 5 years Byleth wasn't around rather than seeming like everyone inexplicably hit pause until Byleth came back.

Byleth also functions as a character and a self-insert well in AM. You, the player, are allowed to express frustration with the cast - unlike elsewhere. There is plenty of romantic teasing with Dimitri, but Byleth also functions just as well as a mentor. It gives the player some choice in how they want to view the relationship while maintaining an emotional and important relationship between the two. Byleth is also a bit more active here than elsewhere, taking direct actions that help flesh them out as a character. 

While all of this is part of what made AM's story so strong, the biggest success AM had was its willingness to engage with negative emotions and take risks.  Three Houses often seems at war with itself - wanting to be both a serious war story where things aren't black-and-white, but also unwilling to make the player question their choices. This results in some odd emotional dissonance and mood whiplash. AM took risks other routes shied away from by prioritizing telling a story rather than making the player feel good. This escalates the conflict and allows for greater character development. 

While far from perfect, AM ended up the best-written route in Three Houses because it uses 3H's narrative structure to the best advantage and avoids common pitfalls other routes fall into. While it may have started out as the route I was the least interested in, it ended up my absolute favorite.   

[skaldish]

Been following from afar for awhile, long enough to (generally) know what you mean, even if I personally don't always agree with your wording sometimes either, so I consider myself a pretty neutral audience to all the commotion earlier... that being said, I thought it was pretty big of you to apologize and even backpedal a little on the 'bad faith' accusations because to me it did seem like two people having two wildly different debates (which screams misunderstanding to me). I get and agree with what they had to say, and I think you deciphered the issue and course corrected very maturely. However, I can't help but feel it was all very performative when your followers start flooding in after the fact validating you and villifying the opposition and you turn around, agree and encourage the messages. Apologies are empty if you continue talking behind someone's back after you've accepted equal responsibility. All that other person really said to you was (not "hey you're wrong" but) newcomers will see this post and potentially read "American heathenry" and naturally assume "as a whole." That's it. And it was clear you didn't immediately pick up on that because you glossed over their points, said they made none, and then reiterated your original statement while crying bad faith. Now in your defense and to their discredit, their argument (while not incorrect) wasn't needed, and did upon first read through sound like an argument/correction, rather than an info dump to support WHY using "American" as a generalization is reductive and harmful (and outdated now that a great many more Americans are doing proper research and avoiding early imported "heathenry"). But that's it. A misunderstanding. No one was wrong or right and they never claimed otherwise and they even accepted your compromise in the end based on what I read between you. Not troll behavior at all! Idk... a little disappointed this is still ongoing after it looked like an understanding had finally been reached. But I don't think any less of you and will continue to look forward to seeing you on my dash! Just wanted to give my two cents since your asks are starting to look like an echo chamber.

Yeah…the way I see it, it was ultimately just a lousy misunderstanding.

Honestly? I don’t always know what to do in these kinds of instances. When I react one way but a lot of people say I should’ve reacted another way, it makes me second-guess myself.

I take time to entertain all kinds of perspectives. Often I’ll do this before really truly determining what I think. But when I’m still considering things, I’ll waffle around for a while and play “yes, and—” with the perspectives that come my way.

But in light of this ask, I realized I should be mindful of doing this in settings where I have an audience, since it does look like I’m back-peddling on an apology as a result, which is bad form. For what it’s worth, my apology does stand and I’m still reassessing the terms I use because they’re causing confusion. My goal is to creat less confusion, not more.

And as for the people in my ask box? Genuinely I think we’re just seeing a “your mileage may vary” phenomenon. Not everyone runs a big blog like this precisely because discourse is emotionally difficult to handle and logically difficult to discern. People get heated. I cleared the defense-asks out of my ask box because I was getting a surprising amount and figured I should address them.

Hopefully this all makes sense. Thanks for the input.