#if they post hate in her main tags though or on positive posts about her?

[knightlycrow]

working on some naruto fanart and i just want to say i love sakura so much i almost threw hands with a coworker for calling her annoying the other day. i think she (and a lot of the female characters lbr) was done so dirty and thank god for fandom in that regard. huge fan of stuff that fleshes out the girls.

[occasionalklance]

.

[probablyreadinsmut]

How you doin' daddy?

How I picture his hair and beard post rehab ⬇️:

Note: Readers skin tone is not reflected by the picture used. <3

Summary: In this Reader is Dieter Bravos PA, you've been working for him for around 4 years, cleaning up his messes, making appointments for him, going on coffee runs etc. Dieter is Dieter, we know him, we love him, reader mostly tolerates his bullshit. He's not a bad guy, he just has his demons. Alot of them.

But when he's forced to deal with the repercussions of his past, reader is dragged along for the ride.

///

Reader is afab, has breasts and a vagina. No mention of height, weight or skin colour. Reader has hair, no mention of texture type, style, length or colour. Readers nickname is Star.

Tags for this fic: Smut, Accidental parenthood(?), fluff, angst, pregnancy.

Warnings for this chapter: Blow jobs (imagined), Pussy eating (also imagined), Vaginal fingering and use of a sex toy. BIG OL' PRAISE KINK. Star is crushing hard.

Word Count: 3.9k

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CHAPTER 3 - Daddy's Home.

November 1st, 2023. 

90 days.

90 grueling days Dieter had done in rehab. It wasn't his first rodeo of course, but it was the first time he ever wanted desperately for it to stick. He had a purpose now.

The DNA test had come back within days after sending it off, proving that it was 99.9% a positive match against Dieter. His Daughter, his Isabel. He was going to be the best fucking father he possibly could be. 

The rehab stay had been difficult to say the least, leaving when she was 2 weeks old. You'd agreed to be her main caretaker while he was away. Every sleepless night, every dirty diaper, every burp, everything. You did it all, Gretchen and the team helped too of course and you were grateful for it, the small reprieves you got. Dieter had offered to hire a nanny and a night nurse but you wouldn't let him, you'd done this before anyway, sure it was on a smaller scale before but with him being gone for 3 months you weren't going to be busy running around after him, so, why not? It was then that he decided you were getting a significant raise once he got out, that was going to be his little secret for now though. 

No cellphones were allowed in this particular facility, the people who ran it felt that 'cellphones were an addiction themselves'. Whatever, didn't matter, he still managed to use the communal payphone to call you every night to check in and honestly you loved it, you loved how eager he was for updates and the wistful tone in his voice when you explained a new milestone to him, you did however, hate the way you could hear his heart break a little when you'd told him about her first smile, wishing he could be there to see it. 

What kept him going was the knowledge that his little girl was in good hands and that after he got out, he'd be a changed man for her, he'd spend the rest of his life making her smile if it would make up for the time he lost with her. He'd been allowed very few personal effects in rehab. One of them ended up being the photo you'd taken of her after bathtime  during the one week Dieter was there for, he remembers how grumpy she was during it, it seemed like she was protesting every second of it but when it was all said and done and she was all dry and wrapped up in her little bunny eared towel like a little burrito, she looked fucking adorable and he'd asked you to snap a photo quickly while her little bottom lip was out and pouting as if she were giving you both the stink eye for putting her through such an ordeal. He fell asleep looking at that photo. He said good morning to that photo. That grumpy little girl is what he's doing this for. 

Thank fuck today is the day he gets to go home to her. 

///

It's around Midday when Gretchen comes running back into the foyer with a wide smile on her face "The town cars just pulled up, places people!" 

Everyone had gathered to be here for Dieters home coming, all of his closest members of staff waiting to greet him, a buzz of excitement in the air and you can tell from the turn out how good of a boss he actually is, he might be a pain in the ass sometimes but he's never been disrespectful to any of you, he's not like a lot of celebrity bosses who don't even bother to learn their employees names. Dieter does. He makes time for each and every one of you, seeing you all more as friends than members of staff, not in that cliché 'we're all family here' way that everyone hates, but in a genuine, caring way. 

Everyone takes their places, forming a horseshoe in the large open foyer, you and Gretchen stand at the forefront, baby Isabel in your arms, gently bouncing her, thankful that she's in a jovial, smiley mood right now. She's grown so much since he last saw her and if it wasn't obvious before that she was his kid, it is now, her features have filled out more, she does have his pouty bottom lip, her eyes stayed brown, now a deep chocolate colour and her hair. Unruly sometimes, curly, fluffy and dark, like his. And that smile? It was his, toothless and gummy, but his, without a doubt, even down to the dimples. 

You'd helped Gretchen hang a banner up reading 'Welcome home Dieter', insisting on it going across that god awful portrait of his. 

Gretchen had wanted it to say 'Welcome home Daddy' but you knew he would end up making a joke out of it, so she agreed to compromise, if you agreed to put Isabel in a novelty tshirt that she had printed for her, this tiny little shirt that reads 'My daddy won an Oscar, what's yours done lately?'. It's cute, paired with a pale pink pair of leggings that show off her chubby little leg rolls and some adorable socks with frills on, she's so friggin cute you could just eat her up. You'd never seen yourself as much of a kid person before, only with your nieces and nephews, but taking care of Isabel every day for the last 3 months, has made you start to think about your own future. 

You're just adjusting Isabel in your arms when his key is turning in the lock, everyone falling silent, pretending like you aren't all about to ambush him with a welcome wagon the second he steps inside. 

And then he does, 3 months of rehab suit him, it's the first time you're looking at him thinking 'Holy shit, he's actually looks kind of hot', you force those thoughts aside almost immediately though he does look good, his hairs a little longer, starting to curl around his ears and at the nape of his neck, his moustache and beard are neat and well groomed and peppered with a few greys and- oh my god he's definitely been working out. You watch the way his arm flexes when he sets his duffel bag down as he approaches, bicep almost straining against the sleeve of his well worn Fleetwood Mac tshirt. He'd mentioned something about there being a personal trainer on site but you had no idea he actually took them up on it. 

"Star?"  You're snapped out of your trance by his voice, amused perplexity on his face, arms outstretched waiting for you to hand over Isabel. 

"Oh god sorry!" Shifting her into his waiting arms, you press a gentle kiss to the top of her head. "Little missy here had me awake at 4.30. Welcome home, D" It's warm and sincere, leaning in to give him a side on hug, careful not to squish the baby. You had missed him. 

He'd missed you too, he was so keen to get home to Isabel he hadn't even realised how much he missed you as well and how much he looked forward to those daily phone calls while he was away. He hadn't noticed your reaction to his appearance though, your story about being up early with the little one was true, but that wasn't what had you distracted. 

When you pull away he wants nothing more than to pull you back in, to keep you against him in a little bubble, just you, him and baby makes three. But he doesn't. 

"Thank you... Everyone, really this means a lot to me. I won't be doing rehab again. I'm gonna stay clean, stay sober, all for this little girl here." His gaze drops to her, eyes misting over as he takes her in. This is the same Dieter Bravo that hadn't even held a baby 3 months ago, now he's getting emotional over one. But this isn't just any baby, it's his daughter, his world now.

"Hey sweetie, it's me, Daddy... Really fucking cool shirt" You're tearing up too from watching the sweet reunion, you're pretty sure everyone is actually, wiping your eyes with your index finger and thumb, huffing out a laugh as he comments on her tshirt. 

When she smiles up at him, it felt like his heart was glowing.

He smiles back, voice thick with emotion as he speaks. "Hey, yeah, you remember me?"

Of course she doesn't remember him, babies this young don't have that capacity but there's no way you're going to spoil the moment for him it's too beautiful. 

///

It's not long before everyone filters out of his house to give him space to settle back in and spend time with his daughter, Gretchen hangs back for a while to give him a rundown of an upcoming sponsorship deal that she'd locked down for him, you stay, not feeling right to just abandon him already just because he's home. She's changed a lot over the past 3 months and even though you'd shown him how to take care of her before he went away, you couldn't just take off, not when the thought of leaving her hurt a little. 

Eventually Gretchen leaves, but not before telling him how proud of him she is. She'd been like a mother figure to him since he got to LA in his early twenties, his actual Mother was estranged from him and they'd been that way since his late teens, he never talked about her, it was too painful for him, he loved his Abuela though, so much so he'd named his daughter after her. 

"She's changed so much" It's awe stricken and reflective all at the same time as he says it, laying beside her on the floor in the living room as she has tummy time on her play centre, gurgling and cooing happily. 

"I feel like I missed out on so much while I was gone. I don't regret it of course, she needed me to be a father to her and I wasn't in any fit state to do that before. Now though? Now I feel like I can be that person for her." 

You've stopped folding the basket of clean baby clothes to listen to him, watching his expression as he watches her. 

"And don't think I'm not grateful as hell for what you've done, Star." He turns his head, finding your eyes across the room. "Seriously, you've been amazing and I couldn't do any of this without you."

You find your cheeks heating at the praise, you've never been good at accepting it and with him it's no exception, especially with the way you catch his gaze lingering on you. 

"Seriously, don't mention it... Saved you from shelling out for a nanny didn't it?" You try to sound non-committal, going back to folding the laundry, tearing your eyes away from him laid out on the floor, the sweatpants he'd changed into after everyone had gone are doing things to you. It's confusing. 

He catches your attempt to downplay things, not letting you get away with it that easily. "No, Star. Seriously. You're fucking amazing and I intend to repay the favour." The way your stomach does a little flip when you lock eyes with him again, startles you. What the fuck is happening here? He cleaned up his act and suddenly you feel like a school girl with a little crush? This can't be happening. 

"I um... I have to go put away her clothes in the nursery. You think you'll be okay to watch her for five minutes?" 

"I think we'll be just fine" It's the way he says it that gets you, the confident and elated lilt of his voice as he turns his head to watch Isabel again. It's that fucking tone that has you clenching your thighs together as you leave the room, basket on your hip and head swimming with inappropriate thoughts. 

///

You stay all day to help him settle in, going through her routine with her, trying your hardest not to impose or take over, as much as the control freak in you sometimes wants to. 

The two of you had just gone through her bedtime routine, helping bathe her first, which she no longer hates, practically soaking the both of you as her little arms and legs flailed in the water, you cleaned up the bathroom while he took her to get into a clean diaper and onesie. When you were done you'd left the bathroom thinking you'd walk into the nursery witnessing Dieter put the diaper on backwards or put her arms through her leg holes and vice versa. But you didn't. He'd dried her, put on her baby powder, got the diaper on and was in the middle of buttoning up her lavender puppy print onesie when you crossed the threshold. You couldn't hold back the smile then, it's incredibly domesticated, a side to him you never thought you'd see when you first started working for him. 

Smiling down at her as she's laying on the changing table, telling her she's the prettiest little thing he's ever seen. It's fucking adorable and it's making your ovaries screeeeeam. 

"Hey. I'll head home if you're all good now? I've made up a few bottles of formula already for her night feeds, they're in the fridge. If you put her down now, she won't be up again until around 11ish" 

Confusion crosses his features as he lifts Isabel into his arms crossing over to the glider next to her crib, her current favourite book Goodnight moon sitting on the side table next to it. "You don't have to leave you know? Don't think I'm kicking you out just because she's going to sleep, I thought maybe we could hang out? Watch a movie maybe? If you're not too tired that is, I know she had you up early today." He doesn't want to outright beg you to stay, but he would if it meant you would. Fuck, he really had missed you."Stay. Please?" Don't do it, don't you dare do it, don't-- and he does it, the puppy dog eyes. Isabel has inherited them and you know when she's old enough, she'll be weaponising them against her father. 

"O-okay sure, for an hour or two maybe?" Butterflies, that fluttering low in your stomach, hard to ignore, especially with that beaming smile of his now he's got his way. "Oh I know! How about I order for us? That Korean place you love just started doing door dash?" 

"Yes to that! You're a genius, Star. Just put it on my card, order whatever the fuck you want! Don't get me wrong, the food in rehab was good, should be for twenty-fucking-thousand dollars a week but I craved those little barbecue short ribs so badly, I'd have sold my left nut to get some!"

///

An hour and a half later you're both stuffed full, you'd never seen him so ravenous but he'd had a whole portion of short ribs, but you'd shared chicken dumplings, udon and seaweed rolls. God knows where he puts all of it, his metabolism is insane. 

As you're laying there in a food coma, barely paying attention to the movie he put on, you see him in your peripheral, lazing on the other side of the couch, hand on his bloated belly. He looks happy, content. For the first time since you met him, he looks truly relaxed. Not on the edge of crisis.

Curiousity is getting the better of you, however"Dieter?" 

"Yes, Star?" 

"You never told me you'd been working out while you were in rehab, not that you had to of course and you look great-- well n-not great, you look like you've been taking care of yourself, that's not to say you don't look good tbough, 'cause you do!" You're rambling now, feeling embarrassment taking over, you've never stumbled over your words so hard in your entire life, you're pretty sure."I-I just meant, why didn't you bring it up? You told me pretty much everything else you got up to in there, even about those macramé sessions they made you participate in that you'd absolutely hated."

It's his turn to be embarrassed now, his cheeks visibly going a shade redder. "I um... Well. Fuck... Please don't judge me too hard for this, just bear in mind it was a long three months and a guys got needs!" 

"Dieter, you didn't. Please don't tell me there's a chance that you knocked someone else up, in rehab, none the less!" You are infact, judging him already. 

"No, god no! It was a guy!" 

Small miracles you suppose. "You slept with the PT? That's a little unethical of him don't you think?" 

"I didn't sleep with him just... Sucked his dick a little, he looked a little like Idris Elba!"

The noise you let out is somewhere between a laugh and a gasp, not quite believing what you're hearing but that perverted goblin part of your brain is kicking in painting a picture in your head that you didn't even know you needed. 

Dieter Bravo, on his knees, taking a dick down his throat. 

This is a man who could have anyone he wanted on their knees. 

'A man has needs' he'd said. But he hadn't fucked him and he didn't mention any reciprocation. He got off on being a giver. 

And now you're picturing it, a big hand on the back of his head fisting in his curls, guiding him to take it deeper into his throat as he's getting his face fucked, a deep voice above him gritting out praise as Dieters dark eyes stare up at him, thick fingers gripping at the meat of the guys thighs. 

"Good boy, just like that, taking my cock so fucking well" 

And then his fingers are clicking in front of your face, snapping you out of it. 

You blink a few times rapidly as you come to, greeted by a concerned look on his face "Are you okay? That's like, the second time today that you've zoned out like that?" 

"I um.. I'm so sorry! I think actually maybe the exhaustion is hitting now, so I'm just gonna head home. T-thank you for the food!" It's a stuttered reply as you struggle to get off the couch, pushing up onto your feet, it's only a half lie, you are fucking exhausted and it would be nice to sleep in your own bed for the first time in three months. That and you've now got a date with your rose toy when you get home. It's been a really long time since you've seen any action and you start to rationalise that maybe that's what this reaction is, just envious that he's getting some and you're not. No, no, no it can't possibly have anything to do with the images your brain just cooked up. It's not about him. 

Somethings off with you, but he knows when to pick his battles and right now he just wants to go to bed and sleep until Isabel wakes up for her first bottle of the night. His first night alone with her and he's not even scared. Who is this man? 

"Oh, okay well, lemme walk you out then."

You try to protest but he's already there, his arm around your shoulder as he's walking you to the door, it's a simple gesture that before today you wouldn't have even batted an eye lid out but now? You're thinking about how easy it would be for him to slip his hand down a little lower and how it would feel to have him pawing at your tits while whispering all the dirty things he's going to do to you in your ear. Oh. My. God. This has to stop. You must be ovulating or something, yes that's it. 

Like a gentleman, he opens the door for you and you feel like you can't get out from under his grip fast enough, like if you stayed there he'd feel the goosebumps peppering your skin and he'd work out all the disgusting little fantasies you're concocting. 

"Well.. I'll um, see you tomorrow, bright and early? Oh! And don't hesitate to call if you need anything, I'll keep my phone on the ringer for you."

He looks almost offended at that. "You'll do no such thing, turn your phone off and I don't want to see your ass before 10am tomorrow, you hear me?" 

You open your mouth to argue but he's faster and shuts you down immediately. "No excuses. Rest. You've done so much for me and Izzy these last few months. Please Star, don't fight me on this."

Reluctantly, you nod "Fine. Just.. Good luck tonight." In a weird way, you'll miss it, the 2-4 hour wake up calls, making your way to the kitchen to grab her a bottle, bleary eyed and yawning. 

After you say your goodbyes, making sure the hug doesn't linger too long on your part, he watches you get into your shitbox of a car and as he does, he decides then and there the proper way to thank you, will be to buy you a new one. 

///

The second you got back to your apartment, your small, cosy, slice of heaven on the cheaper side of Van Nuys, you completely bypassed the living room, kicking off your shoes and tossing your keys aimlessly onto the couch. Right now you had a problem that couldn't be ignored any longer. 

With haste, you shuck off your jeans, barely over the threshold to your bedroom, throwing yourself down onto the bed, praying that your Rose toy was charged as you fished it out of the bedside cabinet. A happy squeek leaving you when you pressed the button to turn it on and it came to life. 

Then, you slip your cotton panties down until you're able to kick them off, slipping your hand downwards first, desperate for the touch. A quiet moan leaves you when you find yourself soaked, circling your clit slowly before dipping a finger down to circle your entrance before you slip a finger inside, whining as it breeches you. That's when you bring the Rose toy in to play, starting on the lowest setting against your clit as you slowly pumped your finger in and out of your tight heat, hips arching as you slip a second finger in and turn up the suction on the toy, all the way up to high.

All the while your brain is projecting filthy images over your closed eyelids, Dieter on his knees blowing off his PT, Dieter on his knees eating your pussy like a man starved, your moans get louder and more lustful as you're rapidly approaching your peak and that's when you get another filthy thought. You on your knees for him as he fucks your mouth. 'Good girl. Good. Fucking. Girl' he'd grit out, punctuating each word with another thrust of his cock down your throat as your muffled moans and gags send him over the edge, cumming in thick, hot spurts, making sure you swallow every last drop.

And that is when your own very real orgasm brings you back to reality, cumming hard on your own fingers. "Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" You almost cry out his name, it's right there on the tip of your tongue. It seems he's not the only one who gets off on being a giver....

///

You get up to pee and wash both your hands and the toy before slipping back into bed. Staring up at the ceiling, in post nut clarity, you realise you are screwed. You want him and you want him baaaaaad.

[shewaslikeasunflower]

i was scared to show i liked mother ships and all, especially when one of my fave artists actually hated mom ships and would block the tags n people…

SO I GOT REALLY SCARED, i didn’t wanna reveal i liked any of them because i didn’t wanna be hated over it let alone blocked. understandably so why cause they’re all children but auuughh im not even trying to be weird about that and i just wanna like ships..for fun? I wanna be serious with mom art and draw sad stuff but also have fun moments that make me feel happy as the artist drawing it!! and joy!!

umm, im still a little worried showing i liked mother ships now, but honestly i gotta say - the whole reason why I ended up revealing I liked mother ships was because of @nanaten!!! I ended up reallly liking clausten and discovered the clausten blog she has, and i found her main blog llike a good couple weeks later and AAHHHHH ❤️ her clausten art and her blog encouraged me to actually want to draw the ship for the first time - and post it on tumblr too! It’s not even just nana anymore though, there are so many mother artists im mooties with who do ship art too and it feels great!! sure, maybe i’ll be hated, but i’m really relieved i get to be open about it and just..enjoy ships without having to think of who’ll hate it behind the screen because i focus on the positive comments i get with my art iwndkwnjd

it feels good for me to speak about this i think :"D i even considered making another tumblr blog just to do seperate mother ships but i’m glad i chose to go “screw it lets just post on main”, because i then got to meet the right people in the fandom that appreciate it for what it is - and also even people that respect the art even if they don’t like mom ships!!!

as i said, i’m still nervous about showing i like it. but i think talking about this here makes me feel a little better to keep it up

[maoam]

DISSECTING SAKURA - WHY IS SHE SO TERRIBLE?

INTRO

I promised to write a post about Sakura’s character long time ago so here’s that now. If you want to read my Hinata post it’s here.

Sakura is a character that is very hated in the Naruto fandom. Many people acknowledge she’s one of the worst female characters in anime. And yet, she also has many dedicated stans that defend her character and insist she is simply misunderstood, that she’s actually a good shinobi and a person, or not as bad as people think. While there are many videos and essays about Sakura, my issue with them is that they often either praise Hinata who isn’t any better than Sakura or they do not acknowledge Sakura is supposed to be the way she is. She is intentionally written as an unlikeable person and she was never supposed to be inspiring or a positive character. I will try to explain this to you the best I can by dissecting her character. As usual, if you’re a fan of her character you might not want to see what’s next. This will be tagged under the anti tags so if you see it in the character tag that is not intentional.

SAKURA AS A SHINOBI

I will first focus on Sakura as a shinobi and her skills in fights since Naruto is a battle manga. Sakura is, as it's often acknowledged to the point of memes, pretty useless. A lot of her stans don’t understand why. She might get to punch once every 200 chapters or heal fodders but in the end she is featless. She is placed in many important situations where she does nothing to contribute or even gets in the way. This is not acceptable for a main character that has a lot of screentime. Naturally, this is something that annoys many people but it’s made even more annoying by the fact Sakura is constantly talking about how much stronger she has gotten and how she wants to be on par with Naruto and Sasuke.

In the beginning, during the bell test, Sakura doesn't even attempt to get the bells from Kakashi and only ends up fainting. In the Land of Waves, because Sakura was able to climb the tree due to her chakra control, she became smug and overconfident and thought she doesn't need to train. Which is funny considering she does nothing except stand around during an actual fight while Naruto and Sasuke actually contribute to the fight with the main antagonists. She's tasked to protect Tazuna, yet she can't do that either, but Kakashi has to intervene and get injured. It’s also worth mentioning Kakashi pointed out that during the tree climbing Sakura was able to control her chakra better because she had little chakra to begin with. Thus Kishimoto establishes very early on Sakura as someone who brags and overrestimates her own skills.

In the Chunin exams, Sakura hopes that Naruto and Sasuke aren’t foolish enough to cheat during the written exam, and she’s sure that she can answer the questions based on her knowledge. But what she doesn’t realize is that the real intention of the test is for the takers to use their observation and deductive skills to gather information and cheat. We find this out in the same chapter through Sasuke. Sasuke, unlike Sakura, realizes that the test makers want them to act like a shinobi. Sakura is book smart and a rote learner, but as we have seen in the Land of Waves and what we will see in the rest of the Chunin exams, being book smart won’t help her on the battlefield. Kishimoto wanted to show us that Sakura is just someone who brags and thinks she’s got everything under control, despite the fact she’s not the right kind of smart to be a shinobi, she doesn’t think like one.

In the Forest of Death, we then see she isn’t able to actually put anything into practice and Naruto and Sasuke again do all the work, while Sakura does nothing except stand around, scream and cry. Sasuke even has to yell at her to stop merely standing around. Eventually though, when Naruto and Sasuke are knocked out after the encounter with Orochimaru, Sakura has no choice but to protect them from Orochimaru’s henchmen. But she of course fails. She sets traps that fail, and gets mocked for her amateuristic skills by her opponents. We see characters like Kiba are able to put up traps that actually work, but Sakura who is supposedly smart isn’t. Then Rock Lee arrives to her rescue. After he gets beaten up, Kin grabs Sakura by her hair and calls her out on her vanity and tells her she should have trained more, which is basically what Sasuke did at the beginning of the arc, when he told Sakura if she has time to flirt maybe she should use that time to learn a jutsu or two. In the chapter cover she is also seen brushing her hair in front of a mirror in the forest, so Kishimoto makes it pretty clear Sakura is someone who cares a lot about her looks even during a mission. Kishimoto uses the villains to point out Sakura’s flaws, since the main characters can’t do that considering she is one of the main characters. So we see Dosu point out Sakura’s lack of observation skills and talent, and Kin point out her vanity and boy chasing personality. Sakura then dramatically cuts her hair and gives a speech on how she wants to walk in front of Naruto and Sasuke and wants them to look at her back. Despite the little fight she puts up, she is easily beaten down and is saved by Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji, before Sasuke wakes up and beats up Orochimaru's henchmen, driving them away. Sakura acted like this was going to be her moment, yet it wasn't at all. She had five other characters, 4 of them supporting characters, all of whom showed much better ninja skills than her, come to her rescue.

During Sakura and Ino's match, Sakura starts boasting how Ino is nowhere near her level. What happens is despite her bragging, she falls right into Ino's trap. Unlike Sakura, Ino actually used her wits and shinobi like strategy during the fight, using Sakura’s ego against her to successfully trap her. But because Naruto yelled Sakura's name, her inner Sakura somehow interrupted the fight and it ended in a tie. I think Ino should have won this fight but regardless it didn't make Sakura look good, just an overconfident brat who got lucky.

The rest of Part 1 Sakura spends moping over Sasuke and getting one-paneled by Gaara in the Konoha crush arc where she again becomes a damsel in distress to no one’s surprise. Her uselessly holding a kunai has become a meme because she does it many times during the series. Despite being a liability to her team she never thinks about how to better her skills nor tries to train. After Sasuke leaves and Sakura fails to stop him, she goes to Naruto and begs him with tears in her eyes to bring Sasuke back. Considering how many support characters have contributed massively in Part 1, a main character like Sakura achieving nothing just puts it into perspective how useless she really is. She has been a damsel in every single arc. When Naruto fails to bring Sasuke back, Sakura decides to ask Tsunade to train her, and tells Naruto next time she will go with him to get Sasuke back. The thing is, she should have had the resolve to train and change herself already before Sasuke left. She should have realized she put her team constantly in jeopardy by being weak. She read all about what life of a shinobi entails yet she seemed to treat it as some playground where she can play damsel while everyone around her protects her. It’s only when her crush left and Naruto failed to bring him back that she bothers to make an effort.

At the start of Part 2, Kakashi gives Naruto and Sakura yet another bell test, and Sakura shows some potential by showing off her chakra punch. But in the end, they manage to finally get the bells due to Naruto's plan. Some people act like Sakura is the smart one in team 7 yet she constantly fails to showcase this smartness of hers. Next, team 7 is assigned by Tsunade to rescue Kazekage Gaara. Sakura swears that this time, she will save both Naruto and Sasuke. Again, she sets up a high goal for herself, only to never achieve it. Sakura does however, mix up an antidote to heal Kankuro after he got attacked by Sasori. Next Chiyo and Sakura get ready for a fight with Sasori. Notice how this is the only fight where Sakura actually manages to not fail? It's because Chiyo is literally directing her moves, both verbally and physically. But I will give her credit for using the antidote to survive Sasori's poison, and taking the hit for Chiyo. Sasori was also apparently suicidal and didn’t avoid the last hit but I don’t dwell on that too much.

Now I need to mention something that is very important to note when it comes to Sakura’s character writing. Whenever Sakura does anything she’s complimented countless times by Kakashi, Chiyo, Sasori, and basically everyone she comes across. Kakashi starts to talk about how she might be able to surpass Tsunade, just because she punches the ground once in front of him. Chiyo hails her as a girl who can surpass Tsunade as well, before even seeing her fighting abilities. Hashirama thinks her power might be greater than Tsunade’s despite not even seeing what his granddaughter can do. And this goes on and on. This is Kishimoto intentionally raising up the audience's expectations, only to later intentionally bring them down. Superficial readers think she is smart and could possibly surpass Tsunade because other characters say so, but people who actually read the manga and pay attention can see that Sakura never lives up to the expectations placed on her.

Right after this arc, Sakura goes back to being useless and not contributing much especially considering the screentime she gets. Despite being able to avoid Sasori’s attacks with the help of Chiyo, in the Tenchi Bridge arc she gets first knocked out by Kabuto's flying butt because she's not watching where she's going, and needs to be saved by Yamato. Then she doesn’t let Yamato do his job and gets knocked out by Naruto's 4-tailed form, and needs to be saved by Yamato and healed by Kabuto. When they finally meet Sasuke she charges at him with no apparent strategy and needs to be saved by Yamato again, who gets injured in the process.

So after the entire part 1 of being useless, and 15 chapters of not being useless, Sakura needs to be saved multiple times by Yamato while contributing nothing. To people who paid more attention when reading the manga, this arc made them realize Sakura was never gonna change and this is how her character would always going to be. But others were still starstruck by the previous arc, and would only realize it later.

In the Akatsuki Suppression arc she pretty much does nothing worth mentioning. She is tasked to go help Shikamaru but the latter has already taken care of Hidan by himself. In the Itachi Pursuit arc she doesn’t do anything either, but only follows the dogs tracking Sasuke’s scent. In the Pain arc a lot of characters contribute in the fight against Pain, even Konohamaru who is just a kid manages to defeat one of the paths of Pain, while Sakura is again shown crying and screaming for Naruto. What was that about saving Naruto and Sasuke? If she’s so strong as she acts like she is she could have at least tried to buy some time for Naruto instead of crying like a total whimp.

There’s also a constant pattern of Sakura trying to demonstrate her "powers" or "strategy" and failing. This happened again in the start of the Five kage Summit arc when she tried to fight with the Kumo warriors, got immediately facekicked to the ground and had to be rescued by Naruto yet again. And this is not even the worst. In the same arc she attempts to take down Sasuke by herself, drugging her teammates so they can’t help her, and ends up failing when Sasuke figures out what she’s trying to do and she needs to be saved first by Kakashi and then by Naruto. As always, she aims too high and falls flat on her face. She ends the arc moping how she can’t do anything except to trust Naruto. Of course, Kishimoto doesn’t forgot to mention that Sasuke is resistant to poison, so Sakura’s attempt of killing him whether she succeeded stabbing him or not would have been futile either way. Again, she is failing to come even close to her own goals she set for herself. She is once again a liability that needs saving. And so the audience is frustrated and annoyed with her character. They are thinking, why is this girl who is constantly bragging about her skills constantly making a fool out of herself, crying pathetically and needing to be rescued? Well, that would be because she is supposed to be a person who is completely misguided about her own skills.

In the war arc, Sakura isn’t any better. The war arc only amplifies what we already have seen and know. That Kishimoto uses subversion to show Sakura’s character as overall irrelevant, and to show she’s all talk. In part 1, Sakura is said to be smart and she boasts about her skills yet she can’t do anything in an actual fight, but has to be saved by multiple characters, including Naruto, whom she considered inferior to herself. This of course made people annoyed with her character. When part 2 started, other characters were again commenting on her potential and how she had supposedly grown. So many people got hopeful that she had actually grown a lot and changed. And yet, as I have pointed out, she tried to show off many times and failed miserably. Which made people even more frustrated with her. Because they had gotten their hopes up. The Five Kage Summit arc was definitely the ultimate breaking point. After Sakura’s ridiculous attempt to manipulate Naruto, her drugging her teammates while leaving them defenseless on the ground and her trying to take down Sasuke and failing, she was certified as the fandom’s laughing stock. But some of her stans still remained, and thought she would redeem herself. Somehow.

Then comes the 4th shinobi war. Sakura has mostly been in the background healing people, but when Sasuke shows up, she is suddenly motivated to show off for real. She even gets pissed when Naruto is about to go with Sasuke and suggests to her that she could take a break. Sakura insists she is also part of team 7 and that she surely can keep up with the two of them. We have a panel hyping up Team 7. Then Sakura gets a moment to make a big punch after which she boasts and thinks she’s better than Tsunade, insulting the latter in the process. But she’s not paying attention to her surroundings and needs to be saved by the boys, after which she starts to boast how she will steal the Hokage seat from Naruto and how now they will all fight together with their backs to each other. She then reaffirms herself that she has finally caught up to Naruto and Sasuke. This level of arrogance needs to be backed up, otherwise the audience will get annoyed. And it did annoy a big portion of the fandom, considering they had seen for the past 600 chapters or so Sakura talking about how she wants to be on par with Naruto and Sasuke, how she won’t be a liability anymore and it all leading to nothing except disappointment after disappointment. Sakura’s confidence and ego are greatly disproportionate for someone of her capabilities, which a big part of the audience notices, whether consciously or subconsciously. And this is of course intentional.

She is left on the sidelines again when Naruto and Sasuke are too busy being ”the main act” and fighting perfectly in sync. Sakura has to ask Hinata what is even happening with the two of them. Sakura keeps healing people, but eventually Naruto’s chakra starts to help her with the healing.

Then we get to one of the most infamous moments with Sakura, that resembles another infamous moment in the Five kage summit arc, when she tried to take down Sasuke with a poisoned kunai. In this moment Obito is asking Sakura to stab his rinnegan eye with a kunai. In both moments, she can’t come up with a resolve to use her kunai but just trembles centimeters away from her target. Taking her time shaking she then gets attacked by her opponent, and ends up being saved. In both cases, she wastes her chance because she’s a total whimp who has no resolve to do what she pretends she can do. And thus, the audience is annoyed once again. And the people who always knew what she was like make fun of her.

But Kishimoto won’t stop there. In the very same chapter, when Sakura is trying to heal Kakashi, Naruto takes over and not only heals him but also gives him a brand new eye, something Sakura of course isn’t able to do. Healing was the only thing she could do and even that was taken from her! So much for her being a relevant member of Team 7 who is on par with Naruto and Sasuke.

Kakashi then starts reminiscing about Team 7, and it ends with him reminding the three about his first lesson, which was team work being the key to success. So what happens?

Sakura begans to once again nurse her own insecurities and tries to show off to satisfy her own ego by charging at Madara and telling the boys to follow her. She has no idea of Madara’s strengths and weaknesses and what would you know, her punch is stopped and she gets stabbed in the chest and is once again rescued by Naruto. And what does she do? Mopes that Sasuke doesn’t pay attention to her nor seems to care. She cares more about showing off to Sasuke than defeating Madara, even when this is about a threat to the whole world. What a great shinobi. It’s a callback to part 1 when she moped over the fact Sasuke didn’t care about her climbing the tree. Just like with her shaking with the kunai, it’s just another moment that shows she never truly changes. Not in ways that matter.

And then we see Naruto and Sasuke actually fight Madara, and Sakura literally just stands there in awe of them. She’s shook by Madara’s power which she obviously had no clue about. Of course Sakura still tries to go after the boys but Kakashi stops her and says it’s pointless to do so unless she has a plan. And she stops, and stares at Naruto and Sasuke’s backs as they disappear. Hah. She once again, has failed to achieve the goal she sets for herself. Kishimoto hyped up team 7 yet constantly showed Sakura failing and being left behind, despite how much she claimed she could keep up with the two of them. The way Kishimoto writes her, by making Sakura herself or others hype her, and then showing she’s actually lame is very consistent and relentless.

Taking into consideration that she’s a main character, and all the times that she’s promised major improvement, what we received was just pathetic. When you add it to the fact that she’s a member of such an over-achieving team, it makes her look pitiful in comparison. But it’s supposed to be. Don’t even think this is unintentional from Kishimoto. Sakura was supposed to be someone who never changes.

SAKURA’S PERSONALITY AND HER RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS

Now a little more on Sakura’s personality and the way she interacts with others which is definitely one of the reasons why many people hate her.

In the beginning, she is introduced as a shallow girl who is focused on her looks and getting the attention of the popular boy in the class, rather than being a good shinobi. She gets called out on her vanity by not only Sasuke but also by her enemies. She is pretty quick to give up on the bell test which annoys Sasuke. One wonders why is she even a shinobi when her resolve is so weak. She beats and berates Naruto and is only able to treat him better by mimicking Sasuke. Despite Kakashi’s comments on all of them maturing Sakura hasn’t changed at all at the start of the Chunin exam arc but she keeps asking Sasuke on dates instead of training and also squeals for him like a fangirl. She mopes that she’s not good enough for the Chunin exam and only gets motivated when Sasuke compliments her. This type of shallow and weak characterization made many people instantly dislike her.

In the chunin exams we also find out she broke her friendship with Ino after she found out Ino liked Sasuke as well. This is something that gave more background to her character but at the same time made people dislike her even more, since Ino is someone who reached out to Sakura and helped her build her self-esteem yet Sakura simply dumped her and started a catty rivalry over Sasuke. In Part 2, they only interact once, and during that moment Sakura wants Sai to call Ino ugly. You can’t really call it a beautiful friendship when Sakura is constantly shown as catty and the only person who does anything for the other is Ino. It’s Ino who reaches out to Sakura. It’s Ino who comes to her rescue in the Forest of Death. It’s Ino who compliments her after their match. What has Sakura done for Ino other than wanting her to be called ugly and teaching her kid to keep Ino away from Sasuke?

During Sakura and Ino’s match, Kakashi says Sakura isn’t the type to brag and bully others, even when we have seen her do both constantly. Already in the Land of Waves she bragged how she doesn’t need to train despite not being able to do anything in a fight. She also constantly berates Naruto and acts superior to him, aside from punching him all the time over nothing. Sakura having a bloated sense of superiority and tendency to brag about her skills is a consistent character trait of hers. But she never manages to truly back up her arrogant attitude but comes off as weak and overall irrelevant, which is yet another thing that makes her an unlikeable character in the eyes of the audience. In the war she also insults Tsunade, the one who taught her, while boasting how she is better than her like she’s some badass when she is far from it. When has she created her own jutsu or made anything revolutionary? During the same chapter she also brags how she’s gonna steal the Hokage seat from Naruto. Yes Naruto, the guy who keeps saving her useless ass all the time.

Speaking of Kakashi, he is a character that Kishimoto used in his writing as someone who treats Sakura with kid gloves and coddles her. This is one reason why some people defend her character, and why some people ship the two of them. If you’re a Sakura stan, it must feel validating when some character constantly defends your fave’s stupid behavior. But Kakashi is someone who not only admits to not understand Sasuke, but also someone who clearly doesn’t understand Sakura, as we see from the earlier image how Sakura’s behavior contradicts with Kakashi’s claims since the beginning. Basically, if you need to know how Sakura really is like, just flip what Kakashi says about her and you’ll know. Since Sakura is part of the main team, Kishimoto needed some character to defend her behavior so she wouldn’t be confronted about it too much. But smart readers aren’t fooled. It’s also worth noting that Kakashi tells Sasuke Sakura still loves him despite the fact Sasuke tried to kill her, while conveniently omitting the fact Sakura went there to kill Sasuke herself. This makes Kakashi look hypocritical but Kishimoto needed some character to do this because of Boruto, and it’s not like he was gonna use Naruto, the one he himself called Sasuke’s ally.

Then we have Sakura’s hypocritical behavior, that Kishimoto also consistently portrayed. During Sakura and Ino’s match, Sakura says Ino is a girl who is focused only on her looks and that she wouldn’t want to be on the same level with her, despite the fact Sakura herself was shown brushing her hair in the Forest of Death and getting dragged for her vanity. She also got upset and hit Naruto when he tried to pee in front of her, saying she’s a lady, yet thought to herself how she would like to see Sasuke pee in front of her. When trying to plead to Sasuke to not go, Sakura says revenge won’t bring anyone happiness, but when it doesn’t work she flips completely on what she said and asks Sasuke to take her with him so she can help him. Even if she acts like she cares about Sasuke’s well-being, what she really cares about are her own feelings. Sasuke unsurprisingly finds this annoying as do many readers. Sakura makes fun of Naruto and insults him, yet gets enraged when Sai calls her names and she proceeds to hit both him and Naruto. She also gets mad at Konohamaru and Naruto for their sexy no jutsus, yet when Konohamaru showed her hot boys naked, one of them being Sasuke, she went all gaga over it.

Sakura is also introduced as a bully who beats Naruto up and mocks him in front of Sasuke who then proceeds to call her out on her terrible behavior. In this chapter, Kishimoto made Sakura call Naruto ”annoying” and then made Sasuke throw her own insult back at her when Sakura mocked Naruto, by calling her annoying. Something that is worth noting is that while Sakura also reacted to Lee badly at first, after he saved her she didn’t do anything bad to him anymore. Yet while she later realizes she was wrong about Naruto’s resolve, and that he cheers for her when she needs it, and that he saved her countless times, she keeps beating him up over nothing and berating him. She still keeps calling him stupid and acting like she knows better. This is why whenever she cries for him, it’s hard to feel any liking to her, because she comes off as more like a poser who will surely soon bash his head in if he dares to behave like himself, or drop him for the sake of Sasuke. Her treatment of Naruto is unreasonably bad at times, but it’s easily explained. In the beginning we find out Sakura dislikes Naruto because she thinks he comes between her and Sasuke. And we see many instances where this notion is amplified by the text. But Sakura is too delusional to understand the reason there is distance between her and Sasuke is simply because Sasuke isn’t interested in her, she’s too shallow and juvenile for him to pay attention to.

Her fake confessing to Naruto and trying to manipulate him made a lot of people lose all respect for her. She also showed she knew so little of Naruto she accidentally managed to tap into all of his insecurities in her confession. She also somehow believed Naruto was really chasing Sasuke for her sake and that he would give up if she offered herself to him.

Her second confession to Sasuke is also very telling of her jealousy of Naruto and Sasuke’s bond. She yells how she can’t exchange blows with Sasuke, how she can’t get close to him, how the only thing she can do is cry and beg. Considering how Naruto is the one who is about to exhange blows with Sasuke yet again, and how Sasuke after their fight talks about how Naruto kept coming closer to him, Sakura is clearly thinking of Naruto when she is having this meltdown. Sakura was shown to be jealous of Naruto’s improvement and skills in Part 1, but she is also jealous of Sasuke’s care and love for Naruto, which she wants for herself and thinks she is entitled to. Even at the start, Kishimoto said Sakura thinks Naruto stole Sasuke’s first kiss which she thought belonged to her. It’s no different at the end of the series. Her outburst is her fighting for what she thinks is rightfully hers, Sasuke, despite the fact he has given no indication that he loves her. But this makes sense. Afterall, we see Sarada come between Ino and Sasuke while Sakura laughs nervously in the background. Despite everything Ino has done for Sakura’s sake, she still sees her as a threat, to the point her own kid is doing the dirty work for her.

Let’s talk more about Sakura’s relationship, or lack there of, with Sasuke. We know Sakura was portrayed like any other fangirl of Sasuke in the beginning, who liked his looks and how cool he was. She never tried to approach Sasuke as a friend but only kept asking him on dates despite his blatant rejections. She never says why she loves him, or even likes him. According to herself Sasuke never says anything to her. Her first confession showed how little she understood Sasuke. She was the girl with everything, with family, while Sasuke and Naruto had nothing. Yet she had the nerve to say if Sasuke left she would be just as lonely as he was. She’s comparing the massacre of Sasuke’s family to a boy she never talks to leaving her, while disrespecting her own parents in the process. How juvenile that must have sounded like to someone like Sasuke. In Part 1 Sasuke occassionally protects Sakura because she’s too weak to protect herself, and in part 2 Sakura probably wanted to entertain the thought Sasuke would still have this consideration for her. But in Part 2 Sasuke treats Sakura like a fodder ninja. She doesn’t manage to get a proper reaction out of Sasuke who focuses on Naruto everytime he meets up with his former team. Sasuke also leaves Sakura to die couple times while choosing to save Naruto instead. Despite all this, Sakura still thought she’s entitled to Sasuke, and in her second confession she started to yet again scream how much she loves Sasuke and how much she hurts due to it. In both of her confessions she is guilt tripping Sasuke and trying to make him pity her. In both of her confessions she makes everything about herself. She admits to herself she can’t do anything for Sasuke, yet she tries to win him over by pity. But she annoys Sasuke once again, and he puts her in a murder genjutsu. Sasuke then says they have no reason to love each other. And he’s right. What does Sakura know about Sasuke? Clearly nothing, considering she said the worst things she could have said during both of her confessions. She heard Sasuke talk about wanting change, yet she started to scream how if Sasuke stays with her, things can go back to how they were. It’s like the most basic things she doesn’t understand. She’s just an overemotional child who has nothing of worth to say. Kakashi who coddles her tries to talk to Sasuke on her behalf as well, insisting Sakura suffers for loving him. Sasuke then thinks of his family and says perhaps those are ties to a failed past. As in Sakura literally lives in the past. And she does. Despite the fact everything has changed, she thinks about the moment when Sasuke thanked her, and ignores him calling her annoying for her ignorant comments, or the fact someone who wants change obviously doesn’t want to go back to the way things were. This brutal rejection though still won’t slow Sakura down, but after Sasuke is leaving to his atonement trip Sakura blushes like a school girl and asks to come with him. After him mocking her and putting her in a genjutsu, this is what she does.

And Kishimoto still won’t stop there. After all of Sakura’s boasting that ended in failure, after the brutal genjutsu and her being made mostly irrelevant, we see her destroy her own house because her kid asked about her marriage with Sasuke and she got insecure. I have to ask how do some people not realize Kishimoto despises Sakura and writes her as a terrible person? She is a bad daughter who doesn’t understand how lucky she is but is ready to ditch her parents for an indifferent boy’s sake. She is a bad student who disrespects Tsunade for no reason. She is a bad friend who treats Ino and Naruto badly out of insecurity. She is a bad person who treats the target of her crush like an object instead of a person. She is a bad shinobi as well who is most of the time a liability. And she is a bad mother as well. When she’s insisting to Sarada that Sasuke cares about them, she’s sweating and looking nervous, she’s clearly not confident in what she says. Kishimoto also drops two implications that Sasuke never kissed Sakura. Because that is apparently important for us to know. Sakura then tries to insist a forehead poke is better than a kiss. Yet when Sasuke is leaving, she is waiting for a kiss and not a poke. And she is rejected, and looks like a wet rag just like everytime Sasuke rejected her before ever since she was a kid. It’s hard to think of a female character that is more pathetic than her.

And yet, we have SS insisting Sasuke surely knew Sakura could take care of herself, that’s why he left her to die and saved Naruto instead, who didn’t need saving. Surely Sasuke thinks about Sakura as an individual and not just a member of team 7. Despite the fact we have never seen Sasuke think about Sakura outside of team 7 context nor say anything about what he likes and admires about Sakura. Surely Sakura is the most important person to Sasuke, that’s why Kishi wrote Sasuke say to Hagoromo, to Naruto and to himself that Naruto is the only one he still cares about. That’s why Kishimoto wrote Sasuke say Naruto is the only one who never gave up on him. That’s why he wrote Sasuke say Naruto alone saved him. Despite the fact Sakura wanted to be part of saving Sasuke with Naruto, Kishimoto would never let her. Because he doesn’t like her, or SS.

As a final note, a lot of the manga revolved around the importance of family and bonds, yet Sakura, the girl who had parents unlike the rest of her team, is shown to disrespect them everytime she brings them up. And she’s never redeemed on this. This is also intentional from Kishimoto, of course. Sakura is too selfish, too ungrateful and shallow to understand what she has. She’d rather chase a guy who keeps rejecting her like he’s some trophy she owns, all the while trivializing his pain over the loss of his family, by acting like she understands. And she’s ready to throw away her parents, her friends, and her dignity for the sake of this guy who was never interested in her. What’s worst is she had many opportunities to change and mature, yet she choose not to. And thus she remained the same self centred, superficial person she always was.

Actually this is the final note: @sneezemonster15 is a co-creator of this post. She has also talked about Sakura on her blog, for example that war arc part here. Another example is here (but you can just generally go through her anti-sakura tag). But I wanted all this on one big text since certain people are very stubborn about us “picking” supposedly minor things to bash Sakura for when this is throughout the whole manga. And since tumblr doesn’t let her add more than 10 images to a post for some reason I decided to write this down.

[morally-grey-girlbosses]

Welcome to the Morally Ambigious Girlboss Tournament!

Have you ever thought "damn, she's a little evil but that's okay"? Has your fave girlie committed warcrimes, perhaps atrocities, perhaps a few murders? Do you need her freed because she only did some of that? Then this may be the tournament for you!

Submission Rules:

Submissions are open until July 29th, though I reserve the right to close them off early if I somehow get flooded with submissions.

PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT THE SAME CHARACTER MULTIPLE TIMES. You are free to make as many submissions of different characters as you want.

The first serious submission I receive will become the avatar for the blog.

No characters from Harry Potter. If anyone raises concerns about other potentially problematic media, we will hold a vote as to whether it should be allowed.

No characters from real life, or fictionalized/exaggerated versions of real-life people (DSMP characters, youtuber egos etc.) unless its REALLY funny.

No more than two characters from any given work are allowed in the final bracket. If more than two characters are submitted, we will hold a play-in poll to determine which two will enter the main bracket.

Girlbossing is a vibe, not a gender specification. I will probably not be allowing any cis men to enter, but I won't be restricting it to only women, either. If there's any doubt as to whether a character counts as a girlboss, we will hold a qualifier poll.

I will try to include as many submissions as I can! However, in case I somehow get absolutely flooded with submissions, I am capping it at 256 girlbosses.

Because of my personal biases and love for them, Gertrude Robinson (The Magnus Archives) and Anne (Woe.Begone) are submitted automatically.

Tournament Rules:

This will be a double elimination/loser's bracket style tournament, in order to minimize any hurt feelings from people's faves being eliminated immediately.

I will try to reblog any and all positive propaganda, and post any and all positive propaganda asks, but I will NOT be giving attention to any propaganda against a character.

Please remain civil. This is a fun tournament for some slightly evil girlbosses to battle it out. Anyone who starts giving anyone else hate over this will be blocked.

I reserve the right to change or add to these rules as I remember any that I forgot.

Submissions below!

Tags for visibility:

@evilestgentleman @top-fictional-unhinged-women @corrupt-officials-brawl @michaeltournament @judge-and-justice-bracket @hauntthenarrative @greatest-greek-games @cowboycompetition @obscuredilfoff @best-transgender-character @generic-man-in-suit-battle

[muffinsin]

Welcome to my blog

My profile picture has been created by the talented @zeleneagle , it can also be found on their page. I recommend checking out their #myart tag

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𝓕𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓸𝔀𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓸𝔀:

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The main focus of this blog;

Resident Evil Village, the Dimitrescu sisters

Other Characters and Fandoms I’ll occasionally write for:

Resident Evil:

Donna Beneviento, Jill Valentine

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Orin the Red, others are unspecified at this moment

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Faith Seed, female or gender neutral deputies/reader only

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Requesting/Sending Prompts

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I will not write incest, age play or about underage characters, and will not portray non-consensual actions in any positive light

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But I’ll sometimes write a character in addition to one I write for

Eg: Cassandra Dimitrescu & Ashley (re4)

I ask you to be patient, writing a prompt out can take a while :)🙌

Feel free to remind me, though usually prompts just take a while due to the other requests in my inbox :)

I write for gender neutral or female readers only

Please send prompts per the inbox, otherwise I tend to forget about them

Check the inbox status to see whether I’m currently taking requests. This status can be found at the top of this post. Should the inbox be open and I am NOT taking requests and you send one in anyway, it will either be deleted by me or I will answer it very shortly without getting into it. If I spend days writing out prompts, you can take a minute to check the inbox status🙇‍♀️!

Blog, Blog Rules

Harassment will not be tolerated

Whether pointed towards me or anons. I won’t let this platform be used to spread hate. This includes racism, homophobia, bullying, etc.!

My DMs are open to all who want to chat or need help

Though, I usually don’t publicly answer inbox vents as this isn’t a venting blog. Vent on my DMs should you need it, though. Equally I don’t allow self promotion on this blog thru the inbox. If I really like an account or post, I’ll promote it :)! Again though, my DMs are open for such things

╰┈➤ ℝ𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕘𝕟𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

There’s actually an anon list of this blog! There you find a listing of all anons and their hashtags, letting you go through their submitted inbox prompts. It can be found

HERE and HERE

As well as below the Masterlists at the Masterlist Overview!🙌

Should you be interested about me, there’s a post on my person available

HERE

My profile picture has been made by the talented @zeleneagle

Banners, pictures & co are not created by me unless stated otherwise or sporting my username. The ones adorning my recent posts are made by me using already existing pictures.

My biggest motivators are my girlfriend and some of my moots/friends/followers/anons that I won’t name here for privacy purposes :)!

This blog has been created around December 2023

╰┈➤ 𝕆𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣

I’m generally up for collabs, if anyone wants to approach me regarding one :)!

[ladyluscinia]

With all due respect, maybe people feel like they’re not allowed to post about Izzy because people have argued that sharing the opinion that Izzy was not acting benevolently in Ed’s best interests during season 1 is “spreading izzy anti rhetoric” and should not be allowed in the #Izzy Hands tag.

Look I'm way too lightheaded to answer this with my usual thoroughness, but this is a... 20 month? ...old red herring that has been clarified as such on more occasions than I can count so I'm sure I can find some examples.

So here's the short and sweet version. And here's the multiple, extensive attempts by predominantly poc bloggers to draw attention to and reduce the massive harassment campaign in this fandom with methods that did include asking people to not tag character hate.

Your hypothetical S1 meta was never the problem we were complaining about, though tbh people insisted on being absurd about those too. Yes if you put a meta in the #Izzy Hands tag then people who like Izzy are going to see it and might, gasp, respond because that's kind of what tags are for. Yes tagging negative meta as #Izzy Critical is basic politeness for fans to filter and a logically better organization system if you want people who are interested in your meta to find it and have a tag to hang out in without "the canyon" (which pre-S2 meant everyone who talked about Izzy positively / had the wrong Edward takes). This is the logic behind #OFMD Critical as well. No I cannot guarantee you will never receive a single annoying comment for posting in a public forum but you have got to be real about how big a deal that is before declaring that you are bravely risking harassment by posting a broadly popular and fairly lukewarm take about Izzy being a shithead. 🙄

Also since this is presumably coming off this... If you genuinely think "the canyon" (pre-S2 era or current near-dead state) is a boogeyman mob who hate every single aspect of OFMD except the loser antagonist who they have woobified beyond measure and think is the main character and right in all things, and will relentlessly attack anyone who dares to suggest otherwise... yes, I do think you're pretty stupid. 🤷‍♀️ Like that is a pretty stupid thing to believe if you have any knowledge whatsoever of "the canyon" and a pretty stupid thing to say out loud if you are just taking others' word for it.

Learn to be normal about people having different interpretations of a tv show

[eloise175]

Profile and Masterlist info ^^

𖤐 ̊⁎+˳✧༺ Welcome to my blog! ༻𖤐 ̊⁎+˳✧

Who am I and what do I do?

I go by El for short (most used), Eloise, or even Eli if that’s what you’d prefer (though not very used); she/her prononouns.

This blog is focused on VADTD and that only. My main focus most of the time are Callisto and Penelope, I love them so so much and have made it a mission to yap about them constantly <3

I post lots of my personal headcanons, AUs, memes and even episode/character/series analyses. Novel reader so beware of spoilers, there are plenty on my page!!

I'm a VADTD fanfic writer and artist, tho I rarely post my art. You can find my fanfics on Ao3 (I'll link my profile down below) ^^

➠ Callisto and/or Penelope haters DNI with me or my posts, you will be blocked. Yes I will block even if see you hate for no reason, and if I see misinformation being spread!!

What fandoms am I in—manhwas/webtoons I've read?

(These are obviously not all of them, but mostly the main ones);

Villains Are Destined to Die (VADTD/VADD) — my longtime favorite and hyperfixation

Genshin Impact: EU sever; AR 60; Yelan main

Honkai Star Rail (HSR): EU server; TL 67; Acheron main

Sailor Moon — mostly SM Crystal

How to Win My Husband Over — quickly became one of my favorites, may or may not be because I have a thing for men with red eyes (what can I say I’m a woman of culture)

The Siren: Becoming the Villain's Family

A Business Proposal — comfort manhwa, I watched the kdrama too but the manhwa is still my favorite

Daytime Star — comfort manhwa yet again, it’s sooo cute

Positively Yours — comfort manhwa pt.3 :))

Unholy Blood — another one of my longtime favs, Euntae and Hayan my beloved <3

Where can you find me?

I have pages on a few other socials, and I'm usually pretty active except stated otherwise. All of my profiles are still very much dedicated to VADTD or underwent changes to conform:

Read my fanfics on Ao3 — For now I only post my fanfics on Ao3 so if you see them posted somewhere else, that is not me! Please let me know if you come across anything like that, or any sort of plagiarism of my works (yes, it has happened before)

Eloise_175 on X/Twitter — Quite active on there lately, sometimes I post things I don't end up posting on here, like threads and whatnot

VADTD Discord server — I tend to be pretty active on discord and consequently on the VADTD server too, everyone is welcomed to join! (please make sure to read the rules carefully ^^)

calliopeys_ on Instagram — I don’t really post much on there as I’m not an Instagram person, but hopefully I’ll get around to posting more on there as well. Created a new account from scratch to maybe post my art and fanfic updates. If I see an influx of people from here on there, I may do some of those quick asks in the stories :))

calliopeys on TikTok — Empty for the moment, but maybe I'll do some silly memes on there

Tags Directory

(might edit this section later on)

Villains Are Destined to Die | Novel | Headcanons | Analysis | My Fanart | Memes | My Fanfics | Merch | Asks | Incorrect Quotes | Scenarios | Reblogs |

Calliope: Penelope Eckhart x Callisto Regulus

Characters:

Penelope Eckhart | Callisto Regulus | Judith Regulus |Cedric Porter | Ivonne Eckhart | Reynold Eckhart | Derrick Eckhart | Winter Verdandi | Duke Eckhart |

[senshisdaughter]

THE TERUHASHI KOKOMI DOCUMENT (that I forgot I made for like, the past 2 months lmao)

This is a thing I made almost in one sitting while listening to this playlist by CASP, It literally is the best character playlist i've ever seen, it resumes her character arch so well!!

Enough said, he's the thing:

Part 1: Introduction

Kokomi Teruhashi is my favorite character from saiki k. As much as I see myself in Saiki or find characters like Kaido and Akechi funny, no other character has grasped my attention like teruhashi. Her bits were funny, she had some of the most interesting dynamics with other characters, mainly Saiki, and she was the one of the characters that best reflected the themes of the series together with Kusuo.

So, seeing the utmost love I have for her character, you can probably imagine my surprise to find out how so many people who have “watched” the show simply hate her. Some will say she’s annoying, some will say she’s narcissistic, mean or a bitch. Some will hate her for getting in the way of their headcanons or for any other reason you can easily see flowing around. Even worse, this teruhashi hate is not a small minority but quite a big amount of the fandom, to the point that teruhashi lovers will tag any teruhashi positive posts with the saiteru tag, even with the ship not present, so that the few teruhashi lovers from the ship can see it.

In this essay I will firstly analyze Teruhashi’s character, mostly from the anime as I have not read the manga, and after that I will point out some of the reasons people say they hate the character and after question the real reasons behind this hate.  

Part 2: The perfect pretty girl:

Teruhashi, like most characters in the show, gets introduced as a shallow character. The whole joke at first is the expectation breaking that comes from Saiki’s power: the perfect pretty girl does not have a perfect personality like we would expect. She is overly aware of her beauty and uses it to benefit herself. She gets surprised by someone simply ignoring it, to the point of becoming obsessed with Saiki without even knowing his actual name.

Her characterization at the beginning of the series is very straight forward, she is a living illusion, a egocentric person who will manipulate people to get what she wants using her beauty, while pretending to be perfect in all aspects. Most of her jokes come from the absurd levels of power she demonstrates because of her appearance or from Saiki running away from her love schemes, as he doesn’t want all the attention that Kokomi brings with her.

At first, like ALL characters in the first season, Teruhashi is not painted in a good or deep light, mostly being very exaggerated in her worse traits and being targeted by Saiki’s funny remarks. This is the way the show first introduces us to characters. Nendo simply starts as the stupid one, Kaido is the shy and awkward Chuunibyou, Yumehara is the love crazy girl and so on. Here is where I personally find most Teruhashi haters get their distaste from, even though, as it will be further analyzed later, there are still some questionable things about the amount of hate this version of the character gets.

At this point in the series most characters are there only to be funny, without too much depth. But, as the season continues, the show starts to allow its characters to gain more depth. As much as Teruhashi still continues to mostly stay as the “perfect pretty girl who actually has a bad personality deep inside” we finally start seeing more depth to her during the later half of the first season. We start to see her develop friendships with Yumehara and the others, allowing us to see more of her personality than just her crush on Saiki and her contradictory personality, even if those are still the main focus of the character. 

But, as with most characters in the show, there is a very important change in tone after season two. We do not see Teruhashi Kokomi simply as the pretty perfect girl, but we actually get to see a bit more than that.

Part 3: The real girl

Kokomi Teruhashi is, above anything else, simply a girl. And that fact gets more and more obvious as we continue in the series. Her behavior that appears perfect is a mask, her thoughts that were very judged by Saiki in the beginning become clearly normal thoughts a teenager would have. Even the way she weaponizes her beauty: we see how all of that is placed on top of a real, normal human girl. 

Kokomi uses people as much as she is used, we get to see clearly how hard it is to “be perfect”, and how much it is expected of her. She isn’t allowed privacy even in her own home (I WILL NOT TALK ABOUT HIM), she isn’t allowed to have common hobbies and behaviors, any change she makes to her appearance is seen and judged and she is not treated like a normal person. The show starts to deconstruct the idea that Teruhashi is faking her perfection out of malice or narcissism, giving us a new view of it.

We see Teruhashi’s internal thoughts: how she thinks she's giving people happiness, how she knows people expect her to embody perfection, how she knows the responsibility and power she got from birth. It changes her relationship with her beauty, no longer is she abusing it, but simply taking back as much as it is taken from her. 

With A LOT of the jokes in the anime, when thinking about them for a little bit, some things become concerning: this 16 years old girl is certain that people will get depressed if she doesn’t show up and perform her perfection (which we know to be true seeing how they all react when she is simply sick), this 16 years old girl is sure that giving chocolates to her crush will start world war three (which, even if we see it as hyperbole, is taken completely seriously by her, and whatever it would actually happen or not is irrelevant, as she feels responsible to stop it even at the cost of her happiness). We see time and time again how much she constantly feels responsible for others feelings and actions, completely changing the reason we think she puts up an act.

Not only that, but we see how much she appreciates being treated as a normal person. Her crush on Saiki, born initially from spite, becomes genuine affection as she grows fond of him mainly because he treats her like she is not special. Of course she hated it at first, she never knew what being treated like a person was! Not only that, Teruhashi feels that she is responsible for others happiness, and here she sees a boy that isn’t happy to see her. As much as it hurts her pride, which is the way Saiki sees the situation, it also directly hits the only thing she sees as her worth, as her responsibility. 

Kokomi at first seems very prideful, and it would be a lie to say she isn’t, but mostly we see how to a certain extend that was a side effect of her mask, and as she gets more and more used to being treated like a normal person, especially by Saiki and Yumehara, she starts to care less about it, even allowing herself to make a “mistake” by forgetting a random thing about what a boy changed after fainting from exhaustion trying to be perfect.

Yumehara herself is one of the most important characters for Teruhashi’s growth. We do not know much about Kokomi’s past, but she clearly doesn’t have a lot of friends at the start or before the series. She, as all of Saiki’s friends, is deeply lonely, as even though she is popular she isn’t close to anyone. That is, before she and Yumehara become friends.

Part 4: Being human

One of the main challenges we see Saiki going through the series is his feelings of alienation from the rest of humanity. He doesn’t feel human, always feels like he is different from others and needs to put on a mask to exist in society. We also see this mentality slowly being melted away by having friends, as they pretty much grab Kusuo by the neck and throw him away from this idea, by showing him love and understanding. This is one of the most important themes of the story, and one Kokomi Teruhashi embodies just as well.

Teruhashi at the start pretty much lived simply to fulfill the role that was given to her by society at her birth: be as perfect as she looked. Boys were too shy to interact meaningfully with her while girls were too intimidated to be friends. When people did talk to her it was mostly to compliment her on her appearance or to try and get something out of her. That at first changes with Saiki.

This random boy from her class, a boy that she still finds the need to make a little happier with her presence (a thing that has ALWAYS happened since she was born), a boy she doesn’t even know the name of. This boy simply gave no fucks about her beauty. He saw Kokomi like he saw everybody else, both in appearance and personality, so he treated her like he did everyone else: indifference.

  Of course Teruhashi doesn’t believe it, something like that never happened before. Of course her first reaction is that something is wrong and that she needs to fix it. At this point she is so immersed in her mask that she can’t even see it is not her real self. And the more she tries the more Saiki treats her like a normal human being.

Then we get the second most important character for Teruhashi’s growth: Yumehara. Yumehara is the first girl we see that not only decides to treat Kokomi as a normal human being, but also to be her friend. We clearly see both of them struggle at first, as Yumehara finds it weird to talk to “the perfect girl” and Teruhashi simply has no experience talking with girls. But we see them building a relationship, caring for eachother and, most importantly, we see Teruhashi being allowed to be a normal girl.

With both of them by her side Kokomi slowly starts to truly become herself, gaining a bigger possibility then the role she had been put since birth. And with time even her other friends in the group start to treat her more and more like a human being. From Hairo and Mera (aroace icons fr) that don’t seem to really care about her beauty, to Kaido and Nendo, who even if they do care about it still end up treating Teruhashi as a friend first.

We can clearly see how much this connections change

Teruhashi's mindset: she becomes less egotistical while still being aware of her beauty, she understands what's more important to her than her perfection, she finally starts to understand that she is allowed to be human.

Part 5: Parallels painted pink and blue

It is so easy to think of Teruhashi’s crush on Saiki as any other joke, like Yumeharas, but there is a very important reason why she and Saiki are placed side by side so much: they are perfect mirrors.

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K is a show about loneliness. Not the psychic powers of quirky people, the main thing everyone in the cast has in common is that they are all deeply lonely. Kaido, Nendo and Kuboyasu are social outcasts, Yumehara and Mera while not being isolated by their peers are also not very social with them, and Hairo, even though he’s popular, doesn’t have anyone to match his freak energy. They all find connection in their weird little friends group. And in this group there are two opposite but mirroring characters: Saiki Kusuo and Teruhashi Kokomi.

Saiki doesn’t feel human, but like a monster. He feels disconnected from his peers as he was born with powerful abilities that, while they can be used for personal gain, he feels responsible to hide as a way to keep others safe. So, he wears a mask of normalcy, not allowing anybody near him and hiding everything that makes him special. He has to deal with the weight and troubles of hiding a part of himself from others, and finds it difficult to show it even to those he knows would accept him.

Teruhashi doesn’t feel human, but like a goddess or an angel. She feels disconnected from her peers as she was born with a powerful beauty that, as it is impossible to hide, she feels responsible to make it as visible and perfect as possible, in an attempt to make others happy. So, she wears a mask of perfection, making it impossible for people to completely get close to her as she hides everything that makes her normal. She has to deal with the weight and troubles of hiding a part of herself from others, and finds it difficult to separate between her mask and herself.

They both grew up with a similar problem: they were alienated from others because of their uniqueness. But, both diverge at the fact that Saiki can hide his powers, while Teruhashi can’t. So while Kusuo fights a part of himself until he doesn’t see it as part of him, Kokomi is eaten by her mask, confusing herself with the mask she wears.

Both characters force each other to confront the truth, as Saiki needs his powers to keep up with Teruhashi and she is unable to mask in front of him. By their similarities they both push each other to become more in tune with their humanity.

Even their real personalities are similar, both being mean to others in their heads while acting very kindly in the end. Both are absurdly competitive, stubborn and even childish at times. They are both good but flawed people, who lost touch with their humanity as it was taken away from them by others because of their unique traits. Even if dealing with it in completely opposite ways, both are, at their core, very similar characters. They are the two who can understand each other the best, having similar problems, from god like abilities and bad brothers (I WILL NOT TALK ABOUT HIM)

Part 6: The haters

Here is where my main problems with Teruhashi haters lie. While anyone is entitled to like or dislike any character, the characteristics that are targeted on Teruhashi are, at its core, characteristics that are very clearly present on Saiki. But, when Teruhashi shows them instead of the protagonist they become a problem.

Saiki is a self-centered guy, who will do everything in his power to avoid others. He is constantly mean to his friends and strangers in his head while being quiet on the outside. Saiki constantly makes it clear, especially in the first episodes, how he needs to lower his abilities, be it physical or intellectual, to keep being normal, because he is better than his peers at both.  

Kokomi does the same, she is self-centered and does everything in her power to get what she wants. She is constantly mean to others in her head while being nice on the outside. She makes it constantly clear that she is prettier than her peers and she does not hide it.

They both have the same unlikable characteristics. but they get framed differently by both the show and the fandom. Saiki can be mean in his head, because if he doesn’t say anything he isn’t being fake, while Kokomi deciding to be nice to others is bad? If Kusuo uses his birth giving abilities to avoid people and manipulate situations it's relatable because he’s being a introvert, while if Teruhashi uses his birth giving beauty and luck (that works in the same level as Saiki’s powers) to get someone’s attention and manipulate situations she is manipulative and a bitch? 

And it’s not only traits she shares with Saiki that are badly seen. She is annoying to Saiki and never leaves him alone? So is Nendo, but when she does it it’s bad, even though we know Saiki never went and rejected any of his friends' affection directly. People will say she can’t take no for an answer when no was never said to her. 

People expect a character who’s whole life was told she is perfect to not think she is. People expect a character who’s been given everything she wants her whole life to not expect that? Saiko thinks exactly that, and like Teruhashi starts to learn that things are not like that, but he still will default to thinking this. But when he does it’s not a problem, but when Teruhashi does it she is entitled and bad.

Like it was said before, disliking a character is something anyone can do for whatever reason, but I do find it important to analyze why you hate a character, especially if the reasons you give are only a problem when given to a confident female character. The whole point of her bit is that, the fact she knows she is beautiful and uses it to her favor is something that would surprise and get people mad, and seeing it be realized by people outside the anime makes it ever so clear why her characters has such a hard time being true to herself. If she didn’t pretend to be perfect the hate that she receives from the fandom would be very similar to the hate she would receive in her world.

But then the question becomes why? In a show full of self-centered characters, who are inconvenient, who are entitled, who are arrogant, why is Teruhashi the one who gets the most hate for any of these characteristics? While I do believe for some people they just didn’t find her bit funny, I do really think that for most it was simply misogyny. She is a confident woman who knows and uses her beauty to get what she wants. In real life women like this will get targeted and harassed, they are hated simply because they don’t act “pure and innocent” as it is expected, as it is completely shown in the show through Teruhashi. She is a character molded by misogynistic stereotypes, and while I do think the show does well in using them while criticizing it, a big portion of the fandom simply was not able to see this character without the lenses of misogyny the character itself is made to criticize.

I find it to be very important to analyze why you hate Teruhashi if you do so. Did you not find her funny or were you bothered by a woman showing character flaws? Did you get annoyed she got in the way a ship you think is better? While I cannot convince everyone to stop hating a fictional character, I urge you to ask yourself WHY do you dislike her, and to see if you dislike male characters with the same flaws you say you hate. 

Part 7: The tragedy of Teruhashi Kokomi 

Of course, it does sound a bit contradictory for me to say that “anyone is entitled to like or dislike any character” and then write a big ass dissertation on why you should not hate Teruhashi. But there is a big reason why I really wanted to do this: I really really love her character.

It's tiring to see many many people hate on a well written character, and sadly, the reason she is hated is BECAUSE she is well written. The show doesn’t say out loud that Teruhashi is fine, that she is a normal teenage girl that was cursed with unending beauty in a world that will never allow her to acknowledge it. The social behaviors criticized by her character are only made more explicit by the way a portion of the fandom treats her, and sadly, that was inevitable with a character like her.

So in the end I can only hope to see more positive things about her in the future, as I do love this character as much as I do Saiki. And even though I know people will still hate Kokomi, I hope some people can see what a great character she actually is.

[halogenwarrior]

I posted this as a reply to someone else's post but I want to make it its own post because the original didn't get any likes or reflags, maybe because it didn't show up in the tags.

My take on the hate for Cassie Animorphs that you see a lot is that the perception is that Cassie makes decisions that are questionable or flawed but always turns out to be right in the end because of author fiat/favoritism, which I don't think is accurate when you analyze things deeply though I can see why people say so.

The thing is, how it usually works when the Animorphs are having an argument about morality is that the "failure mode" (the consequences of the action if it doesn't work out) of Cassie's suggestion or decision is that the war is completely lost and all of humanity is enslaved or killed by the Andalites, while the "success mode" is that a small amount of beings are saved and/or there will be a long-term ripple effect that leads to benefits for a lot of beings, both in terms of making the war more winnable and benefits that extent outside the war entirely. For example, letting Tom have the blue box would have led to the loss of the war if the gamble didn't pay off, and does have negative consequences for the war that could have easily led to them losing, but its positive impact is in both Yeerk and Taxxon defectors helping the Animorphs in the war and in, from a "humanitarian" perspective, Yeerks and Taxxons being offered a better choice besides war and conquest or the personal consequences of having to live in their standard bodies.

Meanwhile the "failure mode" of following the plan of someone like Marco can also sometimes be that the Animorphs will just lose the war, or sometimes that they will be back where they started (which is still a difficult and hopeless position with the Yeerks' greater numbers and more advanced technology), while the "success mode" is that they get that much closer to winning the war, such that if they continually forego opportunities like this they will have no chances of winning at all.

And for this reason, it is true that generally, when the others decide to go with Cassie's decision despite those risks, or Cassie acts on her beliefs anyway without the permission of the others, she turns out to be right and they don't all get killed or become Controllers. The plot armor and narrative conventions that they can't have the main characters just lose there, which is usually what will happen if they listen to Cassie and she is wrong. BUT the narrative shows the balance between Cassie's perspective and someone like Marco's both having their places in a different way; by showing the situations where the others don't go through with Cassie's plan, and Cassie is unable or unwilling to do her own thing or sabotage them. Such as blowing up the Yeerk pool in #52, which she explicitly opposes morally. But the others don't agree with Cassie and do it anyway, and it works, and it's clear they would have just lost the war there if they had sided with Cassie. Due to the restraints of the narrative, Cassie being wrong is usually indicated not by the others listening to Cassie or failing to stop her from taking action and her failing, but of them doing the opposite of what Cassie wants and succeeding. It's not as flashy and obvious, the other Animorphs don't sit there and say "wow we are so glad we didn't listen to Cassie or we would all be dead and humanity would be enslaved, isn't she dumb", but it's clear from the consequences of the narrative that she was wrong in that case.

The only exception where they were able to illustrate Cassie being wrong in the opposite way, where they take her side and do what Cassie wants and it's wrong, is with regards to throwing away the device to reprogram the Chee (initially what Cassie wanted and the others did not). This leads to consequences in the last book where it forces Jake to get the Chee's participation by threats and force instead, leading directly to Rachel and Tom's death and the escape of Tom's ship. And this comes down to the consequences happening in the last book of the series, meaning that while it doesn't lose them the war the narrative isn't as restricted to keeping all the main characters alive that it can't demonstrate permanent consequences to following Cassie's idea. But in other cases, Cassie isn't always right but her being wrong is demonstrated by the implications of what would have happened if they listened to her rather than what did happen when they did.

Overall I think her character is treated in a pretty balanced way between her perspective being right and wrong, although the narrative framing (out of necessity due to having to write within the constraints of not having the main characters lose and be killed/enslaved) drawing more attention to the times when she is right makes it look otherwise!

[lightofraye]

hi, i'm new on tumblr and first thing i did was search the Jensen Ackles tag.

your blog was one of the firsts to appear, weird seeing that apparently, it's a hate blog, not pleasant.

perhaps you should consider not to tag your stuff with his name, just for the sake of new fans who are searching for a positive experience on Tumblr.

i get it, you're crazy for him, you want to hate his wife for whatever reason and dream that someday he's going to leave her an marry you. and it's ok if that's what you like, no shame on kinks.

just don't do it on main, no one wants to see this bs about a person they admire.

Hi anon.

Hmm. I call bullshit. On posts involving his GOOD news, I use the main. As is my right as it is good stuff for him!

Alllllll the other stuff, I mark as #jensen concern and #jensen supportive, even though it’s not hateful.

Any “hateful” stuff is about his so-called wife, who has done so many awful things publicly that you stans want to ignore and pretend was done under humor or “self-defense”.

But go off. I sincerely doubt you’re being honest about how you found my blog.

I support Jensen and see his true unhappiness. You stans do not.

[atopvisenyashill]

🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇷🐢🏝️ i got tired of complaining constantly on my main blog (@thewingedwolf is me!) about how sansa and rhaenyra did nothing wrong and also i needed a way to organize my theories and stuff. yes i have read all the books. yes i have (unfortunately) seen the whole show. yes i have seen all of hotd as well. so here we go. my stances are this, so you have an idea what to expect:

i am a catelyn, sansa, brienne, elia, lyanna and rhaenyra stan FIRST and a person SECOND

i would die for Gaemon Palehair, Lady Essie, and Sylvenna Sand, those are my canon OCs, and that’s why they’re my header.

maegor rhaena and aerea also could have saved westeros & jaehaerys should have been aborted in the womb.

Sansa and Bran are my favorites! I am a Sansa will be Queen in the North truther and a Bran will be the King in Harrenhal conspiracy theorist, It Is Heavily Foreshadowed In The Text and I stand on that!!

I'm well aware Rhaenyra has plenty of faults, I am saying that the greens (as in, the characters) do not like her because of her gender, and not for stuff she does that’s actually wrong, also, idc that she did all of that i simply think she’s fun.

Helaena really IS the one who did nothing wrong tho.

i am a Dark Daenerys believer. no, i don’t hate her - in fact, i really love her, although i do hate her show counterpart - I just think her arc is heading towards a dark path and being a villain protagonist is the more interesting route for her character.

House Martell will rise or I will piss in old man germ’s cornflakes.

I Will talk about the racism Dorne faces in the text and outside of it and neither your favorite house nor my favorite house is exempt from this. If you have a problem with that, keep it to yourself bc i do not care 🙏🏽

i multiship!! just bc i ship it doesn’t mean i think it’s gonna happen in the series, i just like the dynamic!!

i am in fact the annoying book jonsa truther they warned you about. i will Stay bitter about this. argue with the wall.

with that said, i also like theonsa, throbb, daemyra, laenyra, rhaewin, nedcat, braime, briensa, and a million other ones. faves listed here. several of them are dead dove-esque; what can i say, that's just george's style.

you decide whether it’s romantic or platonic when it’s an incest one, my opinion changes by the hour & im gonna fight grrm for making me think this much about incest.

i don’t like jonerys!!!!!! i'm sansan & sanrion ambivalent and i simply do not care about littlefucker like that. i would say i’ve thought positively about basically every other ship.

I JUST FINISHED A REREAD and i Have started a rewatch of the tv series as a form of torture.

i first read this series when i was 16 in like 2012-2013. i love to bitch about the takes i’ve seen. i sometimes reblog really old ass graphics bc they deserve new life even tho the creators are long since deactivated. i sometimes make graphics that look like they’re from 2014 bc we should bring that style back dammit i hate the typography movement going on rn.

big on tagging triggers so lmk (i’ll tag for all characters & major triggers but i’m fine with adding a specific one if asked and don't worry about it being a "weird" trigger - if sean bean's face or knives or wolves or whatever trigger you, i'm happy to tag for that!). my spoiler policy is that i’ll tag everything from this season as “hotd spoilers” and any of the Big Events with “episode title spoilers” but i can’t guarantee I can be consistent longer than like 2 days though i will try!! i Will be talking about any book canon events tho, the books have been out for years either you know how to avoid them or you know everything, i’m not tagging that.

i have a tag page that is more organized than the slapdash nonsense on this post, feel free to check it out here.

i may sound angry but i promise i am genuinely just here for a laugh. i just have resting bitch voice and no feel for tone and use the word fuck too much. it’s fine and unserious.

[zhaohuis-lost-walnut]

ok i just saw this while going thru the tags and i need to yap with someone about it but. opinions on [HEADCANON] different ethnic groups strewn throughout Zhou, but mostly Libei and Bianjun and potentially some of the characters being from different ethnic backgrounds than most people in Qudu might be.

I made a post abt it and I'm only in book 2, I don't mind spoilers related to this topic I just want to talk about this headcanon and its possibilities. canon universe but not related to plot-ish?

Anyways I'd like to hear your thoughts!!

This is such a fun topic! I will say that I am unfortunately unfamiliar with specific ethnic groups to draw one-to-one or inspirational correlations, but I am a fan of the idea that each prefecture/region has different sub cultures. Though I feel it's impossible not to have diversity when you're dealing with an empire as large as Dazhou/Great Zhou.

Much like real life, the land the prefectures and cities reside on greatly affects the society of the people who live there. I love the world building in general. When it's mentioned that some characters hide their dialects after moving to Qudu for official positions, it serves as a reminder for how big the nation really is.

I will try not to be too spoilery, but to make up for my ignorance, I would like to go into some of the silly things I remember from each region of Dazhou/ Great Zhou~

Libei is hands down my favorite. The residents are badass, but on top of that, Libei is known for it's grasslands and mountains. So naturally (light pun intended), the people that grew up/choose to live there are very in tune with nature and care for animals. They do not play when it comes to their horses. They're also know for their skilled craftsmen and they take great pride in their work. I love to see it. I could honestly make an entire brainrot post on Libei and their values, but I really want you to read and experience it for yourself. It's really interesting and sweet in my opinion~

Next is Qudu: I hate these people. I could go on about these weirdos forever, but it is truly so jarring going from three volumes with Qudu as the main setting, to all the other places. Obviously, bad things tend to happen where the elite congregate, but jeez. If you're not rich, it sucks to be in Qudu. Even the well meaning imperial officials are serving cult. It's honestly humorous how much people outside of Qudu could not care less about who the emperor is. To give them a little grace, I suppose Qudu is considered the center of education. Qudu is home the Imperial College, which is a place quite a few side characters mention trying to get into. ...But the students there are INSANE, so I can't take them seriously. Qudu scares me. Moving on.

Juexi is known for it's port , merchants, and it's granaries. Very straight forward. I'm honestly a little sad we didn't get to learn more about it. I feel like if I were to live anywhere in this empire, it would be in Juexi. The Biansha ain't gonna get me, plenty of job opportunities, and life just seems pretty chill. Except when they have natural disasters, but that's okay. The characters we meet from Juexi are pretty normal, which also affects my overall positive opinion of it. Cool place.

Qidong is mostly desert...I think? We eventually go to a Qi Clan estate and I was genuinely shocked to realize people actually lived there lmao. A lot like Libei, the people that live there are mostly military families. If you aren't joining the Qidong Garrison Troops, why are you here? I don't remember too too much about Qidong, but from the few things I do, I got the vibe that the men are very macho and really value their legacy. One of the main conflicts surrounding Qi Zhuyin is the fact that she can't get an official title, and the reason that's important is because all of her military achievements won't be recorded in history without one. And while every region values legacy to an extent, the way each one differs in the intensity of that importance makes a huge difference in my opinion. I feel like the people in Qidong are much more individualistic compared to the other prefectures, but the topic is nuance I think.

Finally, we have Zhongbo! Now, Zhongbo is interesting because we get to read the prefecture go through many manifestations. We get to see it after the massacre. We hear what life was like before the tragedy. We see it slowly change for the better and what the characters hope for it to become. Before Juexi took over as the "nations granary" after Zhongbo's fall, Zhongbo provided most of the military provisions to Qidong and Libei. We learn a lot about Zhongbo over the course of the story. And once again, I don't want to spoil much, but I will say the people from there tend to really value their family. Obviously everyone cares about their family in the story...well... most of them... anyhoo. But there's something about the way family and relationships are discussed by those in Zhongbo that really resonates with me. I feel like the reason family is an especially sacred topic in Zhongbo is because so many people lost theirs in the Biansha attack. And that grief over the years transformed into really holding onto those they have left. I don't know how to articulate it, but I think it's very beautiful how a lot of my favorite romantic moments happen in the various cities Zhongbo~ Residents in Zhongbo tend to be really resilient. A lot of terrible stuff happens there, and as a woman, I would never willingly go there. But the people who care about their fam care about them HARD! It's really nice. But seriously, it's still a nightmare there.

And because I can't help myself, mini bonus: The Twelve Tribes of Biansha!!! Okay, I won't actually go into every single tribe, but I adore the detail the author put into them! While, overall, they share some values, each tribe has their own thing going on and intertwined history. I love how they weren't just a "mindless evil enemy", but another group of humans with their own wants and needs. Their reasons for fighting are just as valid as Great Zhous! And both sides have done evil crap to "win" so I'm even less inclined to "pick a side". The world building in this story is just too good man. I'd love to one day read a spin off if the author ever felt like it njsduegfi

I don't know if this quite what you meant, but I sure did yap a lot ToT

Thank you for the ask. I went to read your original post and thought it was really fun! Other readers of this post, you can find it here!!!

[defire]

Ghost of Seattle Chapter 24

Prev

Content: taken prisoner, restraints, beating, interrogation, forced to watch

Chase was brought into a shadowy corner in what was once a cheap meeting-room, with heavy drapes over broken windows. A guy shoved him back against a wall as several sentries took up positions nearby.

Two at gaps in the curtains. One at each door. Most of the rooms in the building had been busted through, but this one near the center of the second floor was intact. The other sentries went back to their posts, except for 4. Those ones grabbed Connor tight, threw her to the floor and zip-tied her wrists and ankles together. They started kicking her, demanding where she got the water. Chase tried not to see.

The main attacker was Timothy. The second guy kicking her was Grad. The other 2 stepped back, one keeping eye on Chase with his pistol held ready, though pointed at the ground at his side.

The floor was rubbery and filthy. Walls drywall, ceiling was paneling. They'd replaced a few. But no clear exit.

Chase was also unable to move from his place quickly. He was in a former closet, but the drywall had been removed so wiring and 2-by-4's were visible, and he could unhappily see what they were doing to Connor. No pretending that her groans were exaggerated when he could see the shit for himself. And he really hoped he wouldn't have to fight with a broken arm.

Timothy was wearing heavy boots, hitting her in the chest. When he stomped on her arm, she screamed and started sobbing. Grad was kicking her in the legs and making her cringe away. She buried her face in her shoulder, keeping it away from the boots.

Chase stood there stone-faced while they kicked her, almost casually, pausing to ask her the question again.

"Where'd you get it?" Timothy kicked her hard in the chest.

She coughed.

"Not telling you." She groaned, voice muffled by the jacket she had her face in.

Grad had tried the water she'd brought. He'd said it was clear and sweet; best water he'd ever had. Chase thought so too.

"You tell us where you got the water, we'll stop." Grad said. "We'll let you live."

They stepped back, breathing hard.

"Good workout on a cold day," Timothy said, glancing at Chase and his bare right arm.

Grad glared at Timothy for that.

Timothy, panting, squatted down and moved Connor's long bangs off her squinted eyes. She flared her nostrils and glared at him. Lips pressed together in pain, you could see cute little dimples on her cheeks. 

Chase winced. He hated seeing people in pain.

Timothy glanced at Chase in time to catch that reaction.

"Sure you wanna just watch your friend get beat up?" He said. "Look at her, all determined. You might as well end this short, and tell me."

Chase said nothing.

The 4 looked at each other. Timothy shrugged. 

"Let's regroup outside." He said. "And we're gonna have to find a runner to get Oldman. He's gonna wanna know about a water supply."

Oldman was the leader of Shiver.

Tag list: @joyjoygorl @cepheusgalaxy

Let me know if you want to be tagged!

Kindle book: Masterpost: Next:

[djarins-cyare]

Get to Know Me (tag game)

Thanks @burntheedges and @sydneyinacoma for the tags! 💖

I guess I don’t post much about myself on here, so behold the mystery of Jyar’ika revealed under the cut (because I waffle and didn't wanna take up y’all’s dashes)…

Ahh space to include GIFs (*is happy*)...

1. Were you named after anyone? Hmm, that’s a sneaky way to get a name reveal outta me. Alright, I don’t mind… apparently one of the hosts on Blue Peter (the longest-running children’s TV show in the world - you’re not getting an age reveal outta me too!) had a baby just before I was born. Why my parents were watching a children’s TV show I have no idea, but this host evidently wrote/sang some kinda song on air about calling her baby daughter Jemma with a J not Gemma with a G. So I was named after a terribly trite and obscure TV reference that nobody will ever remember. You may call me Jem if you wish, my friends all do, and if you’re bothering to read this then you’re in that category.

(If you're wondering about the GIF, the show was always broadcast live and they had several pets. The outtakes are numerous.)

2. When was the last time you cried? I think I’m weird… I don’t tend to cry? Or only if I’m really really upset. Maybe I’m Cameron Diaz in The Holiday? So yeah, I can’t actually remember 🤔.

3. Do you have kids? Nope, although it’s a fairly recent decision to not have them. I spent much of my life assuming I wanted kids until I realised I had been conditioned by society to think I did. Since I started considering what I genuinely want and need in my life, I’ve never been happier! I'd make an exception to adopt a certain little green guy, though.

4. What sports do you play/have played? Ugh, I hate questions like this. Nope, I’m a lazy asshole and now you all know it 🫣. I mean, I activity-hopped throughout my school years (gymnastics, karate, soccer), but these days I live in front of a computer. My exercise is lugging 24 bottles of water up 4 flights of stairs twice a week.

5. Do you use sarcasm? I’m British. Sarcasm is my mother tongue.

6. What’s the first thing you notice about people? I’m the least observant person ever! So voices a lot of the time, I think. Pretty sure that’s why something clicked inside me as soon as Din Djarin spoke his first on-screen words.

7. What’s your eye color? Depends on the light, but somewhere between dark blue and grey.

8. Scary movies or happy endings? I’m an absolute wuss when it comes to scary movies, so I don’t put myself through that. Also, the literature student in me desperately wants to point out that these things are not mutually exclusive, as you can have scary movies with happy endings, so a more appropriate ‘either/or’ scenario would be tragedies or happy endings. But either way, I will say no to the former and yes to the latter. I dislike making myself feel scared or sad – I consume fiction (in all formats) to feel good, so I’ll always look for the positive. I’m currently experimenting to see if I can write a massively angsty fic, and it was supposed to be done by the New Year, but I’m struggling. I will also have to include one of those open-ended ‘maybe it could work out after all’ epilogues. I just can’t leave my characters in pain.

9. Any talents? Not sure what constitutes a talent… I can sing, play guitar, write a longass Din Djarin fanfic that people seem quite keen on, uh… cook, I guess (though I rarely bother), understand quite a few languages (less proficient at speaking them). I’m sort of a jack of all trades, master of none. I would say I have a talent for procrastination – I can complete a whole workday and get barely anything of substance done!

10. Where were you born? In a village outside a town in Surrey, England. It's only about 30 miles from London. Lots of trees. Very dull. I left as soon as I could.

11. What are your hobbies? Writing is my main obsession, specifically Din Djarin-related, of course. Also reading (same genre). Throughout my entire life I’ve enjoyed stories in all formats – reading, writing, watching, listening, proofreading the fuck out of them – so if it’s a good yarn, I’ll have a good time.

12. Do you have any pets? Not currently, my landlord won’t allow it. I used to own 3 rats who were the most adorable boys and so smart – they knew their names, responded to commands, liked to snuggle. When I can finally buy my own place I’ll probably get a dog, as I like pets that listen to you, even if only sporadically. I had a very non-communicative chameleon once. He was called Minion. He was not a good minion.

13. How tall are you? 5’4. Not tiny, but sometimes I have to go up on my tippytoes to reach stuff.

14. Favorite subject in school? English literature (see hobbies question above). When I got to university and enrolled on an English lit/lang degree, I tried to take as many literature courses and avoid the language ones. It wasn’t until years after graduating when I started proofing/editing and writing more seriously that I developed a respect for all the mandatory language courses I had to do. I also liked media studies and film studies; you can guess why. Psychology was interesting too, it’s good to understand human nature if you want to write realistic characters.

15. Dream job? I wish I could write novels for a living. It’s a goal as well as a dream. I know a couple of authors who’ve self-published via Kindle Direct Publishing (I proofread/edited for one of them), and they were successful enough to turn that into their careers. They keep encouraging me to try, although I’m currently in my ‘obsessed with Din Djarin so just writing fanfic to develop my authorial voice’ era. When my obsession wanes, as obsessions inevitably do, I’ll hopefully feel ready to write something original and take my shot. But I’m not pressuring myself, and right now I’m happy attempting to entertain the Mandalorian fan community. I feel safe here 💖

Now I know I’m supposed to tag people since that’s the point of a tag game… but I’m that autistic kid in the corner who is too shy and worried about tagging people who might not reply. So I’m foregoing tags today. But, if you’ve bothered to read this and you haven't already played: TAG YOU’RE IT! That’s me tagging you, please take it seriously and thank me for your tag in your own post (I will be genuinely thrilled if anybody does this, and I’m sending advance love to anyone who does – you don’t know how much it means to someone autistic to have the decision-making element dealt with for them). So go on, now it’s your turn!