#if it feels gross then i portrayed it correctly

[deva-arts]

Then I realized... I live a great life. I love my job- who else can say that they've supported their family since they were like, six? And I have everything now because my mom pushed me to success. Sure, there's some sour grapes here and there, but hey, I've always been a dramatic person. Entertainment is , like, the one thing I'm made for.

Sonia was then homeschooled from the first grade onwards.

[sailing-ever-west]

The Vinsmoke men are misogynistic and it's so narratively important even though it's mostly subtext and never outright stated. None of them ever say anything against women specifically, and they don't seem to discriminate as far as who can be warriors, but their actions reek of it nonetheless and I can't stop thinking about it.

On the surface it seems like Sanji gives thought to treating women differently and the Vinsmokes don't, but it's clear through their actions that the only "equality" they're really upholding is that no gender is exempt from abuse and exploitation.

It's like when people say "well if you want equality, women should get drafted into the military too!" When the problem is that no one should be forced to join the military. That's basically exactly what Germa is doing.

Sanji's view of women is frequently flawed and a bit myopic, but he seeks to treat them with kindness and love and respect, whereas the Vinsmokes make no attempt at philosophy about women and just treat them horribly.

The most glaring example is probably Cosette, who they berated for making food they didn't like and then proceeded to beat unconscious solely to shatter her confidence and upset Sanji. And when Sanji is understandably enraged at their horrible abuse, they assume the reason is that he was physically attracted to her and didn't want the object of his attraction damaged (saying they didn't know he Liked her, and if the busted up face wasn't a dealbreaker they could make her Sanji's personal attendant, which also reaaally sounds like code for something else).

Another aspect is that despite having no emotions, the Vinsmoke brothers still seem to experience attraction to women. But it's not love in any sense of the word, just purely physical. They find Nami attractive, even wanting to arrange to keep her around when the Strawhats are captured by Big Mom (ew), and there's that scene of them and Judge in their private room surrounded by mostly drunken unconscious (and rather scantily dressed if I remember correctly) barmaids that were sent to them. Granted, nothing Happens in that scene, but the undertones are gross and we're only shown a small portion of the night. Whatever the case, it's clear that these women were not sent in to be equal, respectable company, but an objectified distraction to pair with alcohol, and were treated as such.

And then there are the internal family dynamics, which I think are the biggest and most important part.

To start, there's Reiju. On the surface she seems like she has the same status as her brothers, a modified Germa weapon capable of performing as her father wants. But whenever Judge talks about being proud of his children, he always emphasizes the triplets. Often he doesn't even mention Reiju, and his attention to the boys' training seems to be much closer than to hers. Her raid suit is also more sexualized, as though that's expected to be part of her arsenal. And of course, there's her name meaning "zero" while the boys are all numbered. She is the eldest, but she survives by being ignored, and it's clear that her father prefers her emotionless brothers. This feels symbolic as well since being emotional is often seen as a feminine trait, portrayed as a weakness. Judge hates weakness. And so he hates emotion, hates women.

But at the root of it all, really, is Sora. Sora who's choices and body and children were stolen from her for an abusive man's ideals about war and domination. We don't really get to know how much choice she had in her marriage, but given Judge's royal status and the fact that they obviously share zero values I think it would have to be a strategic political arrangement at best, and something she got no say in at worst.

The kids are all named in a numbering system, which also reeks of Judge not letting her into the decisions. And, of course, there is the absolutely horrific experience of being forced into prenatal surgery to genetically modify her children against her will, to the point that the only way she could exercise any agency was to poison herself in an attempt to save even one of them. She was literally just a baby-producing machine to Judge and it couldn't be more blatant.

The violent, self-centered, and misogynistic Vinsmoke brothers are born directly from a woman's choice being taken away from her. Kind, selfless, and loving Sanji is born directly from her one act of defiance, and then later saved by his sister's one act of defiance as well (after which, she was programmed to be obedient).

Basically, the Vinsmoke family is built and preserved on the abuse and exploitation of women, and Sanji is the black sheep for many reasons, but I suspect a rather large one is that he's the ultimate antithesis to that.

[prettypinkporkchop]

Hi can I request a paul x autistic reader were reader gose on long rants about there special interests and gets overwhelmed by how rowdy the pack can get.

Btw love your work it's nice to see the wolf pack get the love they deserve

Your eyes linger on your phone. You are totally drawn into the beautiful artwork. Sam sits down next to you and sips out of his glass. "Is the video inspiring you?" Sam asks, smiling. You look up at him and nod your head. "Yes! I'm so ready to get home and draw. But gosh, I need a new sketchbook. I really hate the edges on it. It just feels gross when I'm into the picture, and it rubs against my arm. Also, I really want to find something more abstract on the outside. I'm totally feeling the abstract - " Sam listens to you keeping a smile. Sam and Emily absolutely adore you just as much as Paul. The rest of the pack loves you too, but Quil gets nervous a out upsetting you. But the loud running, shoving, and yelling coming from the pack that make their way inside stops you mid sentence. You hold your breath and stare at Emily while she bakes her brownies. You try to drown out the sounds. They are being way too loud for your comfort.

A gentle hand touches your shoulder, and you look up at your imprint. "Hey, baby girl. How's it going?" He asks and kisses your forehead before sitting in the chair next to you, and turning his body to you. You are trying to come up with words to say, but the rest of the pack are fooling around loudly. "Quiet down." Sam warns. Paul glares at them, noticing you are struggling. They instantly stop and sit at the table. "Sorry, y/n. What's on your agenda for today?" Embry asks.

Paul runs his fingers through your hair, smiling at you. "Obviously, art! But I am looking at new sketchbooks because I do NOT like the one I have now. The edges are too rough on my skin." The pack listens. Jared looks at the video the plays on your phone. "Damn! That's so good! If you want to, can you draw me something?" He asks. You nod your head happily. "What's been going on, wolf and vampire wise?" You turn to Paul.

He gently kisses your lips. You kiss back and place your hands on his soft and warm chest. It makes you calm down from your lingering anxiety. He pulls away, placing his forehead on yours. "It's going. Leech lover won't leave Jake alone. Apparently, she's coming to the bonfire tomorrow." He chuckles and puts his hands around your waist, pulling him onto his lap. You groan and bury your face in his neck. "Please! Get the boy to imprint already."

"I'm about to bring Jacob to a damn bar!" Quil groans. Everyone laughs at him, and Emily sets down the pan of brownies on the table. "It'll come soon. Be patient with him." She smiles her sweet smile.

You look up at Paul and run your fingers through his hair. "I love you." The guys gag, and then Sam snaps his fingers at them warningly. You can't help but giggle at his dad-like antics.

This was so fun to write! I really hope I portrayed autism correctly. I don't have it, but my brothers do. I know not all autism is the same, and everyone is different. If you need me to redo this, lmk! Much love! ❤️

[aithusarosekiller]

keep your jegulily shit the FUCK out of the jily tag. nobody wants to see your pro-fascist mental illness. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN OUR SPACE FUCK OFF

I didn't want to reply to this but...

Lesson in etiquette: being aggressive and accusatory will NEVER get anyone to listen to you :) If you were polite I may have listened but now you're just throwing around LARGE accusations and extremely immature language that demonises real issues such as mental illness and bigotry, which will never make anybody like you or trust you.

I tag jily because jily is in the content! They are 1/3 of the ship so tagging them is logical and reasonable. If you don't like it you can block me or block the jegulily tag :) you don't EVER have an excuse to hide your face and come onto somebody else's account spitting vitriol and hatred over fake characters from a CHILDRENS BOOK

Next: stop equating fictional characters to real issues because it's disgusting and you're minimising real loss of life and suffering so you can make a point. I don't blame you for hiding your name because that's a pretty gross thing to do! People who have lost loved ones to events like the holocaust have begged you lot to stop equating their real trauma to made up characters so you can feel better than other people. And mental illness is also a real issue that you are making out to be trivial and laughable. You sound like so many real bigots I know when you imply that someone you don't like existing must mean mental illness. If only you put this much energy into real issues! Your priorities are clear.

(A little off topic but it's also pretty interesting how it's never the Jegulus fans that get angry at me for correctly tagging content, yet people always portray them as the evil ones?)

[syscultureis]

sysculture is having that we're a system online because thats important to how we want to be seen, and having someone ask abt what a DID system is, which is par for the course. usually its people who think its ~cool~ or whatever, but this person was super engaging and seemed to really want to learn! and it was SO refreshing to have someone asking about DID for the sake of learning and also specifically to challenge misconceptions they had. only to find out they were asking because they have a character with DID and want to ~portray them correctly~ /:

like i feel really gross and used lol. im tired of being commodified for a trauma disorder

.

[slightlytoastedbagel]

Ok I'm disappearing again to play more of In Stars And Time but before I do I just wanna talk about one of my favourite parts of the game so far; Mirabelle's hangout scene.

(Spoilers under the cut)

It just really surprised me how forward this game is with things. The profiles say out right that Bonnie uses they/them and Siffrin uses he/they. Loop introduces themself with their pronouns so Siffrin can be annoyed at them constantly correctly. Everything about Change and the crafting your own body. It's fairly clear what Isabeau wants to say to Siffrin at the end to the point Loop brings it up, Odile is aware of what he wants to say and after enough loops Siffrin knows and wants him to say it so badly . But what really caught me was the discussion on bonding earrings and Mirabelle's reaction when it's brought up people in Vaugarde likely wear earrings to get used to the concept. I didn't consider it much but then I did her hangout event.

I just... Didn't expect to see such a clear depiction of the aroace spectrum. It isn't something I've seen often, and yet here's an entire scene about how Mirabelle is convinced something is wrong with her because she doesn't really want to date anyone and how that goes against the Change belief. It makes me happy to see that, especially with how the scene ends with Siffrin suggesting that if she feels that way, maybe others do and the belief is what needs work on and not Mirabelle. In fact Siffrin himself says they feel the same way in regards to feeling grossed out by the thought of doing certain things.

I've said this a lot lately but In Stars And Time is a really good game and it made me really happy to see the aroace spectrum being portrayed like this as an ace lesbian myself. The main group's hangouts and following trip through the House are some of my favourite parts of this game honestly. The group's dynamic is amazing and the changes in the loop that come from being closer to everyone were a joy to watch. I just really wanted to go over Mirabelle's hangout since it's the one that I can relate to the most.

[juicieste]

Its so wild to me people call others who are against that stuff "antis" like grow up people are rightfully disgusted and want to keep a distance from people who make that junk, it's so weird how oppressed those type of people act or how overly defensive some of them get if anyone shares an opinion 《 like not even directly talking to them 》 of being grossed out at something gross, they always act philosophical and go on and on how morals is a social contract it's such an eyeroll

I totally agree with you.

I think both sides should ignore each other as long as they don't hurt/harass anyone or support this kind of content. (By saying support I mean when people victimize these actions in real life.)

Like I've said, I have nothing against this , as long as it's not sexualized and justified, but written with lots of emotions and showing that it's not anything good or positive, it's fine. Bad things happen in our life and we shouldn't censor it. This kind of thing helps a lot of people deal with trauma, for example. And it's not entirely healthy, but these people feel like they're not alone. Like they're included and what happened to them, matters.

I do feel grossed out and I think it's intended to provoke such a reaction. Like a shock.

People should read WELL WRITTEN books with these kinds of stories to understand that these things are not okay.

Also, (I'll change the subject a bit (sorry))

Porn shouldn't exist, or at least not on this scale. Just go to any site and you're shown a theme of forcing another person into sex. There is NEVER the word rape under these videos. People censor it. They treat it as a normal thing. We know it's just acting, but it's always sexualized and this is the biggest reason why sexual assaults occur. That is the reason why there are so many horrible cases of sexual violence. Young people become addicted, they treat their partners like toys, they have no respect for others or for themselves, they don't even know anatomy of their lover's body, they don't use contraception, they become aggressive... This is all caused by porn and lack of education.

You could say these cases happened before porn was invented... As I said, lack of education. People don't educate their kids because they're embarrassed. Sex was always portrayed as some kind of "taboo topic". They grew up with this mindset and are scared to talk about it. Sometimes it is also caused by their religion. Children should be taught that when they say no, they mean no. And shouldn't feel bad for being assertive.

In short,

Such themes should cause disgust, sadness and even anger. And not everyone wants/has to see it. REMEMBER Your feelings and boundaries are important. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

We should prevent such situations from happening in real life.

1. By educating young people.

2. Portraying these themes correctly.

3. Instead of mocking the victims, listening to their stories.

4. Reminding everyone that love is NEVER about force.

5. Offering help/support. It has happened more than once that someone you know was in a toxic relationship.

6. Talking about your feelings

7. Understanding people's boundaries...

Really there is a lot we can do.

Just so you know, I don't intend to change the world with this post. I'm just sharing my thoughts. You don't need to agree with it.

ANYWAY, I APOLOGIZE FOR YAPPING SO MUCH ANON. FORGIVE ME 😭

[richmond-rex]

I apologize for the heavy topic, but I find it kinda perplexing considering Henry vii and Elizabeth of York had for all accounts a loving relationship throughout their marriage, Philippa Gregory chose to have Henry basically rape Elizabeth in one of the early chapters. I haven’t read the white princess in a while, but I think he did it to either “test her fertility” or it was related to the fact that she was sleeping with her uncle in this continuity. I don’t know how I’m supposed to get behind their relationship after that point in the book since any nice moment they have, I’m thinking, “yeah, it’s nice that you’re both admiring your newborn son, but you raped her.” Honestly, it feels kinda gross to me. I thought I heard that Gregory also chose the story where Edward IV tried to assault Elizabeth Woodville and then she put the knife to her throat in retaliation as part of how they met. I haven’t read the White Queen, so if that’s not true, please ignore that part. If it is, it almost seems like Gregory has a weird thing about adding sexual assault to what originally seemed like decent relationships historically.

/cw: rape mention/

Hello! Sorry for taking some time to reply, but yeah Philippa Gregory's concept of romance is very hard to get behind — of all the versions of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville's first meeting, Gregory choosing the one that involves attempted rape and that historically was meant to portray the king of England in a bad light really is something that raises the eyebrows. Specifically though I'd argue Gregory's intention was never to make Henry VII likeable or to portray him as a true romantic interest; her comments on him perverting England, corrupting and usurping the country are very clear (besides his frank sadism at tormenting Elizabeth). If I remember correctly, from Owen Tudor to Henry VIII, she wrote all the Tudor men as rapists.

I'd argue she's got a very grimdark view of women's lives in the past and she makes her heroines' lives excessively brutal as a way to make more readers sympathise and root for them (though by the insufferable and entitled way she writes them, I don't know if she is successful tbh). But in view of her portrayal of the Tudors as foreigners who didn't know nor respect the traditions of England, that depiction is certainly concerning as well.

[13thdoctorposts]

Hey can you stop being gross by acting like no kiss means no rep? That's literally offensive and several types of queerphobic. It's a standard no other Doctor ship is held to either, Rose and 10 never kissed onscreen.

I’ve never said that it means no rep. But there are different types and levels of rep and people feel differently about how rep is portrayed and how it’s implemented so I’m just having a discussion but hey if you need to go off at someone on the internet for a discussion point have at it. Also good to know that any person who would have like to see them kiss is now queerphonic, I’m sure that’s going to be news to a lot of queer people. Thank you for enlightening us.

Also Rose and Meta Crisis 10 did kiss if I remember correctly and meta crisis 10 is 10, 10 tells us that.

Also 11 and river…

Maybe it’s not a standard people had because it was already met for the straight couples.

But if you want to have a go at a bunch of queer people who want to discuss the rep they get and how they feel about it go at it, hope it lightens your day.

[rodolfoparras]

Let me know if you enjoyed the audio 😊 I listened to it and HAD to share it with someone 🙏 you were an easy victim

I also hate watching straight characters have sex 🧍‍♂️ it's so weird to me 😭 most of the time it's so irrelevant. I mute that shit and look away until they're done 👎👎

I don't read fem readers very often, maybe if the writing is well done and it's not heavily gendered. Sometimes I do by accident because no one tags anything correctly on here 🗣️‼️ my bf in a different fandom stumbles upon so much incest shit ⁉️ and it's just tagged as the ship and not y'know, incest. GROSS (it's the supernatural fandom)

But I do agree:( it's just big scary man who's an asshole and is overly rough to a weirdly innocent woman that's significantly younger than him, that it's basically pedophilic

Somehow Gaz is the only COD character to survive this and it's probably the blatant racism, and they instead paint him as the weirdly innocent character...

Soap is a mix between both, depending on who he's written with.

It's so sad😔 leave my gay men ALONE

Can't believe that one anon was mad at you for being a male writer when half the fem stuff is the same thing and sooo ooc.

-🐧

And i appreciate the rec and will def let you know my thoughts thank you sugar 🫶🏻🫶🏻

No bc I genuinely cringe at straight ppl kissing on screen😭 idk sometimes it feels weirdly timed like why are we kissing now or fucking now or they just show too much and I get uncomfortable 😭

Also they def have great writers within the fem reader fandom! But I rather not read fem reader pieces for price bc I know a piece of me will die reading how they wrote him😭THIS HAPPENED TO ME but hear me out the characters aren’t even family ?3?3 SO WHY ARE WE MAKING THEM FAMOLY

You know what now that you say it I will stay away from any and all cod x fem reader pieces I rather be oblivious to how they portray the characters than read the silly version of them

I feel that fem readers have attributes they like in a man and they just apply it to any male character and don’t get me wrong we all do it to some degree but while male reader authors add a sprinkle of that, fem reader authors make a whole mold out of their own likes and dislikes and dismiss the whole existing character arc

Right?3!3!3 hello to this day the straight girl in a gay club analogy makes absolutely no fucking sense

[endious]

This HAS to be said…

THANK YOU for being one of the few people who portray Jeff correctly!!! I understand why people romanticise him, but I feel it’s kind of boring?? He’s so much more interesting as a fucked up, sadistic asshole with legitimate mental issues.

Your fics are soo good! I hope, if you still have the motivation to write, that you can continue in the future :)

Could I ask what your general headcanons for Jeff are? Feel free to sprinkle some NSFW ones in too ;)

SPEAK LOUDER !!!!!!! honestly though tysm that means a lot to me ! i am glad you like how i portray jeff and i agree with you that it does get boring seeing the romanticization copy and pasted on jeff. he’s so fucked up i wish more ppl saw him the way i do 😭😭 its so difficult to find writers who write him how i think he should be portrayed so i took it upon myself tbh /hj BUT TYSMMM !! jeff will always be extremely fucked up here and im going to keep him that way 🫶🫶

HCS FOR MY ONE AND ONLY ? OF COURSE ILL INDULGE US BOTH ! this isnt proofread at all and is SUPER SLOPPY I APOLOGIZE !! i kinda went with any that popped in my head when i read this so i hope its okay !

— i’ll be as honest as i can because it is HARD to describe the vision i have in my head (it’s changed many times but roughly stays the same somehow) SO I WILL TRY TO MAKE YOU SEE WHAT I SEE !!

— jeff is gross so gross. not even in the, ew you stink sense (he does, he constantly smells like blood and dirt it’s fucking nasty.) he’s sick in the head and is proud of it. would tell you how he gutted the last guy you so much as glanced in the direction of and how he writhed in pain and choked on his own spit and blood while jeff shoved his boot into the fucker’s gut for added agony. he says all this with a sick smile on his face but be sure to not make any type of look of disgust, anger or expression amongst those. he will blow up immediately and start threatening you if you so much as even hint at not agreeing with his choice of action

— he isn’t afraid of hurting you, he actually enjoys it. he’ll purposely set you up for failure so he can cut you up or bruise you just enough to leave a reminder to behave and listen next time. after all, had you just obeyed like a good little doll then he wouldn’t have had to dig his knife into the bare skin of your stomach just enough to leave a mark that would stay for a short while.

— to add onto that ^ if he’s kidnapped you then he’s even more physical with his punishments. he’ll beat you to make you understand to take his words seriously if you aren’t already. he’s slammed your head into a wall before because you didn’t answer him when he asked you a question and you’d never do that again. you’d do whatever it means to make sure he doesn’t go from leaving marks and bruises to leaving broken bones and open wounds, and he knows that you’re scared of that future and he fucking loves it.

— moving on from that situation for now. he’s surprisingly good with his words (this could either be good or bad) he knows what to say to keep you wrapped tight around his finger and he knows what to say to scare you into listening. “that, uh, new girl you’re talking to. she’s nice isn’t she?” and while he grins, you glance at him with uneasiness at his tone when he spoke.

— i think it’s evident enough he stalks the fuck out of you. whether you’re aware or not he’s always there. ever felt paranoid that someone was watching you? it’s him. but don’f expect to actually catch a glimpse of him, he’d only let you see him if he wanted you to. he’s got way too many photos of you for it to be considered normal (given your relationship with him, nothing is normal). and he’s jerked off to every single one of them. doesn’t matter if it’s suggestive, sexual or a completely innocent photo, he’s gotten off to every single one of them at least once and if he wanted to humiliate you, he’d tell you himself while you cry pretty tears and yell those silly and meaningless words you like to use at him.

— now some nsfw ones… get ready because i dont hold back on anything when it comes to jeff.

— he’s so fucking mean it should be illegal to let him speak. he mocks you, threatens you, manipulates you— whatever he can say to get reactions from you he will. “aw, doll. you look cute all marked up, what if i left my name right- here. what? scared it’ll hurt? can’t take a little bit of pain? oh, you don’t want it? i don’t think i ever asked what you wanted, slut. now hold still before i make ya really scream in pain.”

— he’s so physical with you i’d be surprised if he hasn’t nearly broken one of your arms or crushed your windpipe before. his grip is so tight and he’s so rough it’s like he’s unaware of his strength and how hard he’s being. but he’s completely aware and even makes fun of you when you claw at his arm and gasp pathetically for air he won’t allow you for a few more seconds. he wants to see how long it takes before the life in your eyes starts to flicker. and god the bruises you’ll have from him holding you down to firmly, even if you tried to get away you wouldn’t move an inch under his grasp but he likes with you try to get free so keep going until he gets bored and makes you do something else you might not like doing either.

— speaking of him liking your struggles, he’s put you in situations where you have to fight back. his knife to your throat while he orders you to struggle under him or him forcefully ripping your panties off to have his way with you. anything he does will typically have you attempting to fight back against his advances and it gets him hard and makes him want to hurt you even more the more you cry out and beg him to stop and get off you, your hands pushing against him in failed attempts to free yourself.

— KNIFE PLAY KNIFE PLAY KNIFE PLAY ! i already touched on it but ill say it again because i have this idea in my head ive yet to put into words in a draft. he fucks you with his knife from time to time, it took a few carefully chosen words to manipulate you into giving in and trying “something new” but had you known it was this? you wouldn’t have ever agreed. not that your verbal consent would’ve stopped him.

— he’s rough with holding your hips down, his arm over your lower stomach as he nudges the hilt of his knife against your folds. “ya scared, doll? nothin’ to be scared of, ‘m not putting the sharp end in your stupid cunt.” he could, but that wouldn’t be much fun would it? he pushes it just barely into your entrance and it’s difficult to adjust to, it’s such a stiff object it’s weird feeling it inside of you but he only pushes it deeper and then you feel the dips in the hilt from the use it’s gone through from jeff and how hard he must’ve held it repeatedly and oh. this shouldn’t feel as good as it’s feeling right now.

— “look at you, getting it nice an’ wet f’me aren’t ya, princess? do you know how many i’ve killed with this knife? how many bodies i’ve stabbed it into repeatedly?” and you wish he’d stop saying it like it’s some achievement of his, in fact you wish he’d stop talking all together but his voice seems to only push you further to the edge maybe that’s the pleasure talking though and not your logical brain.

okay ill stop FOR NOW LMFAO this is kinda long and i’ve never dont hcs so idk how to properly do them 💀 this is extremely messy but if i dont post it now i probably wouldnt post it for another two weeks bcus i’d think too hard on it.

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

So I decided to actually go through and point out the flaws of the logic of the post I saw regarding Hero and how it foreshadows James’s fall because I just have a mighty need to discuss it. 

I still am not positive how we’re supposed to perceive any part of the song as a threat to the person it is being sung to. The post never elaborates on this point so I just really have no clue what exactly they think makes the song a “threat”. Their is a  section of the song I though maybe it was referring to:

Portrayed as cruel and heartless, 

I am might I am power, I'm due process, I will smite

Our enemies destroy Mettle I'll deploy

But to me the lyrics are more of a threat to anyone who would cause harm not to the person being sung to. Again it’s hard to really argue with their argument as we don’t get much more then “Trust me I said so” so I am just kind of having to guess here for that particular part. But that section is what I would call the most “threatening” portion that feels very obviously directed towards Salem in his mind and the unseen threat to the listener. 

Their is also an oh so convenient skipping over of what I find to be the most powerful part of the song: I would die Without regret, I'd offer up my life With zero reservations I would fly Into the sun, if that would keep our dream alive

Deliver you from harm Shelter in my arms The fear will surely fade Know right now the plan I made will guide us home We'll survive this storm

It is also important to note that this section is where the song start off in Gravity. The very first words of Hero most people heard where “I would die” we see James fighting Watts and a song that is James’s song declaring his willingness to die if it meant keeping people safe. Those are the first words we see from the song meant to be a gateway into James’s mind, a willingness to die for the dream, and an assurance that he will keep you safe and that somehow they will make it through the darkness and find the light again. Somehow you have convinced yourself that that is somehow a threat and mimicking the villains? 

I- I have no words. You literally acknowledge this section is the damn chorus, the section of the song that is supposed to repeat and are now trying to insist it is an obsessive mantra. Trying to argue the chorus is an obsessive mantra makes no damn sense at all. It’s taking something that is in most songs and trying to make it into something it is not. Here is how the chorus is defined: Chorus. The chorus is the big payoff and climax of the song. It's also where the verse and pre-chorus have been reduced to a simple repeated sentiment.

So in this case, the climax, the payoff and sentiment the song wants you to walk away with can be broken down to Ironwoods strong desire to protect people, a willingness to put himself in extreme danger and suffer extreme harm to do so, and an assurance to hang in their a little longer. Which reads as they initially correctly pointed out, a comforting gesture meant to reassure the listener that no matter how bad or scary things seem, they will survive, they will make it through and be okay. That’s not an obsessive mantra, it’s an assurance, a promise. 

This is truly a gross misreading of the text in volume 7 it’s actually infuriating. It wasn’t about just “Keeping Atlas afloat” Salem, the person hellbent on ending the world whom he just discovered is immortal was heading straight for Atlas and they had no plan to deal with her. He was traumatized and triggered and terrified what happened to Beacon would happen to Atlas and knew she wanted to end the world. Yes, he was going to leave behind those trapped on Mantel but them dying? Is still Salem’s fault. She is the one killing people. She is the one who is willing to do anything to get what she wants and what she wants is to end the world and Atlas is currently housing literally half if the items she needs to do that. Trying to make sure she doesn’t get those items isn’t him focusing on just trying to keep Atlas afloat its about trying to keep the whole damn world from dying. 

Yes,, James does some horrific things in volume 8, I won’t pretend that is not the case, the issue is it happens far to quickly and in a way that is not only extremely out of character but also is extremely ableist and harmful. But reassuring someone who reasonably would be terrified and unsure if they can survive the storm that they will make it is not an obsessive craze to “protect”. No one accuses the mains of being obsessed with being Heroes, people just say they are trying to protect people. So trying to twist James into some man obsessed with Atlas just really doesn’t work especially given the lyrics of the song. 

This section is an odd one because that line is literally a callback to a comment James  made back in volume 2 towards Ozpin asking him if he thinks his children can win a war and Ozpin sadly saying he hopes they won’t. It was an ideological conflict wherein James has faith in his Atlesian Knights taking over the battlefield, Ozpin seems to be more content with the status quo. James recognizes how dangerous being a hunter is and sees a lot of people dying from it and thinks they need a new way of dealing with the Grimm that minimized people on the battlefield. We also did see in volume 2 James is willing to listen to other people and follow their plans instead. James wanted to send his army to investigate Mount Glenn, Ozpin wanted to send team RWBY and James follows his lead and lets him send team RWBY which leads to a complete disaster. The WF just moves their plan forward and invades Vale and sends everyone into a panic and leads to a lot of destruction of the city. But also, this section is kind of trying to be miseading, “I’ve made my plan” is the ending of the verse that goes:

What if it's true as they say That I don't have a heart That I'm more a machine than a man? What would that change Would it matter at all? I've made my plan

The I’ve made my plan section is referencing back to the section where James is wondering, am I a monster? Am I just being heartless and cruel? Before disregarding the fear and reminding himself more then anything that he has a plan, he knows what he’s doing and regardless of what people say that won’t change his course of action because he believes it can keep people safe. 

I actually sat down and listened to Sacrifice for this post and I just am not seeing what they are implying here in Sacrifice. With how many people I’ve seen say it I imagine their is something that is just not clicking lolz and I’d love to hear other peoples thoughts on this. The only thing that maybe would work is this little section here:

What if all the plans you made

Where not worth the price they paid

That section I can kind of see, in Hero it mentions having a plan and Sacrifice questions if the plan is worth the price which again, I do think Volume 7 introduced a trolley problem which both sides had a high price, one that should not have to be paid but one Salem was going to take no matter what any party did and the decision came down to more what was the least awful price to pay which is not an easy question to answer nor a rabbit hole I intend on exploring in this post.

Back to the point I really really do not understand how they could walk away from Hero thinking James is mimicking Salem, the person responsible for his severe trauma. The song has brief mentions about how emotions can get in the way of doing what needs to be done which in some ways is true. Emotions can cloud peoples judgement and keep them from seeing clearly. You can’t completely ignore your emotions like James toys with in volume 7 but that scene always read to me as a traumatized person trying to emotionally work through everything that happened and kind of wishing he didn’t have to feel all of those complicated feelings he’s dealing with which....I honestly get. I imagine most of us have things in our lives that cause us pain, things we wish we didn’t have to feel and wish we could make go away. That doesn’t make us, or James, like the villains for feeling those things.

The whole “Casting doubt on RWBY + JNRO thing is a continuing problem within the FNDM. They simultaneously insist we can’t be too critical of them because “they’re just kids” while also trying to insist they are the only ones who can save the world and we shouldn’t doubt them because they aren’t kids. The narrative can’t seem to make up its mind on what it’s trying to say about them in regards to whether they are adults who can be trusted to handle these things or if they’re just uwu sad kids and its oh so sad they have to fight. We cannot have it both ways, either they are kids who shouldn’t have to fight a war, or they are adults who can make their own choices. The arc we see James go on is one wherein he does see the students as kids who shouldn’t have to be fighting this war but also recognizes they have to and seeing how RWBY has grown and all that they have endured and recognizes they can handle the heavy responsibility of being huntress’s when he gives them their licenses. The line is just a callback to volume 2 and you my dude are reading way to much into it lolz. (also I hate to break it to you but the rabbit hole is not that deep. CRWBY just is constantly throwing spaghetti at the wall and praying something sticks and the FNDM is falling for it.)

The point being, it is so frustrating seeing people not taking Hero, a song which James declares he is willing to die to save people, is willing to suffer extreme pain and harm to stop Salem followed by him willingly searing the flesh off of his own arm to stop Watts, and say it shows he is a villain.

We can see here how much pain he is in as he is doing this. He has to stop and he grabs his arm in pain because it hurts so much and understandably so. It’s agonizing but he tries. 

Some people think here he’s even starting to go into shock from the shear agony of what he is trying to do, but he does it anyways. He pushes through the unbearable pain because he knows what will happen if he doesn’t. His song is called Hero because in this moment, he was being a true hero in a scene that none of the mains have come even close to matching. Hero is about a man fighting to try and keep the world from ending and reassuring the people looking up to him that they can do it, they just have to hold on. 

[flock-of-cassowaries]

As a person diagnosed with a disease that causes brain inflammation, whose diagnosis was significantly delayed by a neurologist failing to pass along important MRI results - yes, this was infuriating.

I nevertheless ship Hannigram, for reasons I struggle to succinctly explain.

(I would say “brainworms”, but I now get a monitoring MRI every year, and my last scan was clear. Presumably, someone would’ve mentioned it if there were literal worms in there.)

More on both the medical angle, and the “why TF do I ship this??” angle, below the cut.

What it felt like to find out important test results were not shared with me:

It was a horrible gut punch. In my case, there was no malice - only negligence - but the result was that I had been walking around for ten years gaslighting myself that the worsening symptoms I was experiencing couldn’t possibly be what I originally thought they were.

I was mad, but also just devastated. It really shook my core sense of safety in the world.

It took me about a year to even start to kind of feel normal again, despite the fact that I was getting really good medical care in the wake of the error being detected.

Details of what’s portrayed in this episode that are just dumb (aka ✨pedantry✨):

My experience of actual medical testing and care around inflammatory autoimmune brain conditions makes me even more irritated by this plot line.

First off, the MRI scene. Like, perhaps it’s different in the states, but in Canada, MRI departments operate 24/7. I’ve had scans scheduled at 3am.

They will definitely set up an emergency scan for you if you have an emergent condition (I only waited four days for the scan that ultimately got me diagnosed), but there’s no way that they could just do an “off the books” unofficial scan with no one around, as is portrayed in the show.

Also, neurologists don’t perform the MRI. Radiologists do it, and then they send it to the neurologist to interpret.

Most importantly, you CANNOT move your head during a scan. There’s actually a little cushion in there that fits tightly around your head to stabilize it so you don’t accidentally move it, but they also will tell you to stay very still. One radiologist warned me to “breathe gently”.

In the show, you can see the plastic frame where the stabilizing cushion should be, but in the name of a cool shot, they’ve removed it, and Will Graham is just bobbing his fucking head like he’s in Night At The Roxbury.

I was so irritated I made a gif.

That scan would be unusable.

Also, the fact that Hannibal is able to correctly guess the exact condition Will has makes no sense. So many things could mimic those same symptoms.

To conclusive determine that what I had was MS, the following tests were done (within the context of the taxpayer-funded Canadian medical system):

1. Standard blood panel and urinalysis to rule out common infections

2. MRI

3. MRI with contrast fluid

4. Spinal tap

5. Seventeen additional blood tests

And they did all that despite the fact that I had a first degree-relative already diagnosed with the same disease.

Some people have suggested Hannibal made the diagnosis based on smell, but that is anatomically nonsensical. The brain is wrapped in a pretty thick membrane; aseptic brain inflammation would be not off-gassing from the skin or mouth like a stomach cancer, or arsenic poisoning.

Finally, the ease with which Hannibal is able to talk Dr. Dipshit into committing gross and easily-detectable medical malpractice makes no goddamn sense. It is perhaps the baldest example of the cynicism of the show’s writing - as I argued in another post, it portrays a world in which almost everyone is despicable.

If we rule out the possibility of literal brainworms, how the f*^% did I end up shipping these two?

As for how I ended up shipping Hannigram anyway - I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that as a former right-wing true believer, I am an expert at creatively misreading media.

When almost all of popular art has the theme “your beliefs are bad, and you should feel bad”, you learn to preemptively kill the author (death the author?) so that you can extract enjoyment from a work of art without reexamining your odious beliefs.

( See: Republican politicians using lefty protest songs at rallies. )

I’m no longer a conservative - I excised those brainworms about a decade ago, thank god - but the willingness to just arbitrarily toss out parts of a story that don’t suit remains strong in me.

Season 2 of Hannibal is quite good, and Season 3 (while objectively bonkers and very poorly paced) has some great character moments. Hannibal as a character becomes a lot more complex as he unravels.

This unraveling makes him a fascinating figure onto which to project some of my worst psychological tendencies - specifically, my tendency towards splitting (where I see the people close to me as either all good, or all bad, and for that perception can change in an instant). So that’s really interesting to explore.

It’s also probably a deliberate misreading of the text on my part, but there are quite a few parts in s2 and s3 where Hannibal can be read as straight-up delusional; and while I am sensitive to the fact that people with delusional disorders are far, far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators, I am also endlessly fascinated by the trope of “character looks back on his life, and sees a series of horrible sins he’s committed, whose damage to others cannot be undone; and struggles with how to cope with that.”

So in that context, giving Hannibal a deus-ex-machina of high-dose risperidone creates some fascinating narrative possibilities.

(This is probably something I enjoy writing because I spent 15 years being an obnoxious apologist for horrible right-wing politicians.)

I also just like the idea of Will taking it upon himself to kill this guy once and for all, and then not being able to bring himself to do it, and instead just keeping him captive and constantly wrestling with the question of whether he’s just being pragmatic about keeping everyone in the vicinity safe from his pet serial killer, or if he’s actually doing what he’s doing to passive-aggressively punish Hannibal.

There’s just so much there, thematically, that I love to play with.

hannibal lecter SLANDER rant [spoilers for 1x10]

WHATTTT WHAT WHAT. Hannibal Lecter…Oooh… this just confused me so bad guys and when I finish the whole series and this whole rant turns out to be wrong I’ll admit it but how can you still sit there and ship hannigram!!!!! after this!!!!! it made me so mad that a LICENSED RADIOLOGIST sat there and lied to Will’s face ABOUT HIS OWN RESULTS because Hannibal asked him or whatever the fuck, I don’t know how close him and the doctor are yet or what their relationship is BUT???? LIKE???? He’s actively subjecting him to hallucinatory torture and the pain that comes with it, HALF. OF. HIS. BRAIN. IS. INFLAMED. HE CAN LITTERALY DIE FROM IT + brain damage, seizures, and worsen his already worse mental health. I HATE THIS GUY!!!! My hate train will start from here and continue on until he can prove me wrong

[lunaryugamine]

YOUR THRONE CHAPTER 122 SPOILERS

So Your Throne chapter 122...

I'll admit, I don't have the full picture because I can't read Korean and I can't access the raws due to not being able to pay for access, but it seems like Eros and Medea have had sex when Medea was in Psyche's body.

Since I don't have all of the context, I've been doing some thinking. I'm pretty sure that we saw the only times that Psyche and Medea switched bodies, and in the picture, Psyche had long hair. That means this incident, if it's correctly being portrayed since I think this is Eros' perspective, happened during the first switch.

There are three main questions that I think will change how this is perceived.

The first is: does Psyche know about this? It would be hard for Medea to ask "Hey, can I have sex with your fiance to keep suspicions off of me while we're trapped in each other’s bodies?" since the only time the two of them got to really talk during that time was right after Medea almost got murdered and Psyche was told that the love of her life was trying to kill her, and Psyche would probably feel pressured to say yes because of the situation they were in. Or did Medea tell her after this and she was okay, or at least accepting, of it?

Secondly, what was the situation that the two of them had sex in? Was Medea pressures into doing it because she was pretending to be Psyche and Eros expected sex from her, or did Medea initiate it for some reason? If it's the first, that takes a lot of the blame off of Medea because while it's gross, I can't imagine what else she would do in that situation. If it's the second, Medea had better have had a damn good explanation for it. Killing people is one thing (oh my God I can't believe I'm saying that) but having sex in another person's body is another.

Thirdly, was it even Medea in Psyche's body when Eros thinks this? He found out about them switching bodies, but does he know when that happened? In the last chapter, we saw how paranoid he was over it. Could he be mistaking Psyche having sex with him as Medea being in Psyche's body? As far as I can tell, that would be a potential explanation for this.

I'm just hoping that whatever this is, it's not terrible. SAM-nim has so far been really been good at handling consent so it would be weird for them to suddenly drop the ball like this. Granted, creators dropping the ball on sensitive topics that they had been handling well before this has happened (looking at you, Wonder Egg Priority.) I guess we'll have to wait for the next chapter to get more insight.

What do you guys think?

[gellavonhamster]

what I, being Russian, loved about The Winternight Trilogy

It is obvious that there is a tremendous amount of research on Russian history and culture behind this story. Like, you can feel it. As I started reading the first book, I was sceptical and fully expecting it to be a cartoonish parody of Russian fairytales, but everything turned out to be so authentic and well-written. Now, I am no historian, of course, but just as an average Russian person, I didn’t notice any gross inaccuracies.

CORRECT NAMES! Correct endings of surnames and patronymics! Correct use of full and diminutive forms of first names! I adore Grishaverse, but I couldn’t help cringing at stuff like ‘Aleksander Morozova’ or ‘Alina Starkov’ back when reading TGT because it just sounds unnatural. No such thing here.

Continuing on the topic of names, I absolutely LOVED all the names of horses. Super poetic and fitting. I could nitpick that Tuman hardly seems like a name one would give a female animal because the noun is masculine in Russian, but whatever, it’s beautiful. 

The great variety of mythical creatures and the way they are described - not evil, but clearly having different notions of morality than humans, yet willing to cooperate when treated with respect. I guess deep down I am still a little kid who used to put cookies under the cupboard wishing to find out if our apartment has a domovoi, and that kid is absolutely delighted at how the chyerti are portrayed in these books. I also appreciated the note in the glossary to TWotW on why the term ‘chyerti’ was chosen to refer to all mythical creatures in the novels: it is not the word most Russian speakers would use as a collective noun for all spirits, but I can see the reasoning behind using it in this sense in this particular case.

Speaking of which, glossaries! An excellent idea, more fantasy novels should have them 

The way the real historical events, such as the Battle of Kulikovo, are interwoven into the fantasy narrative

Beautifully translated Pushkin’s poems in the epigraphs

References to so many well-known and well-loved Russian folk tales, and the way all these tales are connected in the story 

Iconic characters from Russian folklore making an appearance or at least being mentioned (when I thought these books can’t surprise me anymore, they brought up Chernomor and I was like !!!!!)

DED GRIB BEING A SHOUT-OUT TO MOROZKO (1964)

(I immediately thought of this movie when this character was introduced, but then I thought “no way it’s because of the movie, he must’ve been somewhere in the original faitytales, but I forgot” but NOPE he’s a reference to that movie, I was right)

When Russian words are used, they are transcribed correctly (at least, if there are any mistakes, they aren’t bad enough to catch my eye)

Apparently Katherine Arden mentioned on Twitter that Vasya’s physical description is based on the painting The Swan Princess by Mikhail Vrubel? How cool is that???

Just how well-written in general these books are, and with how much respect Russian culture is treated (much more than I expected, tbh)

In conclusion: HIGHLY recommend

[king-crane]

Rehabilitation

tw for discussion about torture, imprisonment, ableism, and other darker themes

okay so @brokentoys already posted a discussion on this in this post but i also wanted to add my own two cents and i dont think the reply function is long enough for what im thinkin of saying

so, like, as they pointed out, Ark Asylum is intentionally designed to be outdated, and, beyond that, the Ark games, especially the first one, are all about the corruption of power, and the inherent flaws in the American Prison-Industrial Complex. The only reason Joker’s plan goes off without a hitch is because he got the full cooperation of not only Frank Boles, but Doctor Young. Yes, Joker could have simply been manipulating Doctor Young in the same way he manipulated Harley, but the fact remains that the Asylum even allowing this kind of contact without being monitored or interfered with shows a gross negligence on behalf of pretty much all of the Security team. As well, the only ‘competent’ officer, Aaron Cash, is ALSO shown to be extremely trigger happy and willing to shoot and kill. Cash is under no illusion that the ‘Asylum’ is just another prison. Hell, even the founder of the Asylum, Amadeus Arkham, founded it on an extremely shaky basis, and he was the first true patient of the Asylum himself. Warden Sharp confesses to regularly beating and torturing the inmates, just to feel control over them.

to me, Batman in general is a story about a man who is trying so desperately to bring justice and clean up the city he loves so much to make sure nobody suffers like his family did, while also being unable to either see or fix the flaws in the system itself. and i love these themes, and how they’re explored. Commissioner Gordon is a great man, but nearly every other police officer in the GCPD is on someone’s payroll, abusing suspects, or simply feeding into the corruption. I don’t think there’s ever been a single Mayor of Gotham who has been portrayed in a positive light, and a repeated theme is the absolute disparity between Gotham’s Upper Class and the working class that most if not all of these criminals belong to.

In addition, the existence of both Belle Reve and Blackgate are alternatives for being institutionalized, and HAVE been used before - Waylon Jones and Harley Quinn are frequents in both the Asylum and Belle Reve. Belle Reve’s use as a disgusting recruiting ground for government black ops, and Blackgate’s complete ineffectualness as a prison, where a fire can destroy the entire prison, are both indictments on the system.

I think the easiest way to summarize the problems of the system, is with Lyle Bolten. 

Lyle Bolten encompasses everything wrong with Arkham, and also correctly identifies and points out the problems in the system, at the same time. His methods are cruel, inhumane, and almost certainly violations of human rights, but he is completely correct that these ‘methods’ keep everyone in line. Do you know how terrified Crane must be of someone if he would rather risk getting pummeled by Batman out in Gotham, than stay in there with Bolton? How much it must take to scare Harley, AND SCARFACE? 

At the same time, during Bolten’s hearing when he finally snaps, he screams his condemnation of the useless bureaucracy, corrupt police, and ineffectual doctors. sure, the representatives of these fields that he’s screaming at are actually the level-headed and reasonable ones - but everyone else in their profession are completely in the wrong. the fact that Bolten was in power for quite a while and the only reason the hearing was even called was because of Batman taking notice of Crane’s fear, and having the power as Bruce Wayne to bring up a committee. 

i could talk for years about how horribly i think the rogues in batman are treated by the very same system that condemns them.

but yeah uhhh this got way longer than i expected so um shoutout to brokentoys for getting my brain neurons all fired up