#if you can understand why it's not actually progressive for a female character who can't vote or divorce her abuser to preach

[ladyloveandjustice]

Speaking of the Sailor Moon manga, I've been thinking about the thing with Haruka and Usagi in the manga, and I think it makes more sense to me when I remember that Naoko has said Haruka is her "ideal woman" and she's also stated that Mamoru is her "ideal man" and definitely means it in a romantic sense.

Usagi is the character the reader is supposed to project on (and who Naoko has indicate she projects herself onto), and I think the whole thing suddenly makes a sort of sense when you look at it through the lens of something we often see, which is experiencing a queer fantasy but in a "safe" way where all "fault" is removed from you for that fantasy (like in Dracula, etc). Naoko wanted to explore kissing and being attracted to what she considered the "ideal woman", either for her readers or herself (or both), but OBVIOUSLY Usagi can't cheat on her boyfriend, that would be bad! So hey, Usagi is clearly attracted to Haruka, but she doesn't actually know she's a girl at first soooo! And also the cool lesbian kisses Usagi out of nowhere, so hey, Usagi didn't do anything wrong, it wasn't consensual or anything! And sure, she thinks about the kiss afterwards and even dreams about it and dreams about Haruka in both "feminine form" AND "masculine" form but it's okay, that's also not cheating, it just kind of happened. She gets Haruka telling her that gender doesn't matter and leaning towards her seductively and she gets to swoon a little and maybe actually considers receiving a kiss, but she gets interrupted. And now she can go back to Mamoru no harm, no foul, she (and the readers) got to live the fantasy but she didn't cheat on her guy or do anything wrong, it's cool.

This obviously doesn't make it good writing, as it makes Haruka come off like a horrible person and completely disregards Michiru and plays into some stereotypes, but I do kind of understand why it was this way when I think of it through that lens.

I don't think Naoko was thinking of what it said about Haruka and Michiru at all. I think Naoko put exploring that fantasy (while absolving Usag and (thus the reader) of all responsibility) above all. And is that progressive or good? No, but I can sympathize with wanting to live out that fantasy. Maybe Naoko didn't want to face her own feelings and fantasies, or she understood her readers wouldn't want to, so they get to live out their fantasy this way.

Notably, she's also a fan of Takarazuka and based Haruka off that, which is very commonly how female fans experiencing the thrill of being attracted to a woman but hey she's playing a "male role" so does it really count? They get to experience that attraction is a "safe" way and then go home, put that attraction in its box, and resume their lives without having to face and unpack those kind of feelings they don't want to deal with. It's just a fantasy, it doesn't "count", but you can always go back to swooning over the hot girl. because she's sticking around and continuing to be hot and protective of and devoted to you.

It's a very 90s approach, but I kind of get it.

[gacha-incels]

It's astounding that these liberal bootlickers *still* can't do the basic ass things of just re-examine those official posts, consult with those who can speak the language and look up the translated threads of the unions' responses.

And before anyone tries to rebuke, no, the things said in both the August & September posts WEREN'T condemnation, just vague corporate reassurances without any statements direct intentions or actions against the perpetrators.

Are these people that cocked up in their echo-chambers to hear out of another person's culture or are they *that* sensitive of hearing of things they like that has done bad things?

ngl at some point it really does feel obscene to me seeing people write about how PM & Limbus are some top tier progressive anticapitalist haven full of lgbt+ characters while Korean women try to tell them the company’s antifeminist actions are actively harming female workers and perpetuating this misogynistic 🤏 witch hunt.

like of course MTL is not perfect here but essentially she’s saying “if you’re a transphobe in PM’s fictional city it’s unacceptable but if you’re a feminist working for PM in reality you’re at risk of losing your job. I’m surprised people who are sensitive to representations of queer fictional characters are indifferent to the labor rights of Project Moon’s employees.” This is just one example, couple of days ago I had posted another, it comes up quite often. these users are trying to tell you that this is something that directly affects Korean women in reality and you just tell them, what? they’re wrong, they don’t get it, actually what PM did was normal in their country and they had no other choice?? it must be fine because the lead singer of mili is a woman and still works with PM and this is actually just like the hays code in the US? I honestly cannot believe someone had the gall to write that last one in their “PM masterpost”. the Korean users telling you this organized boycotts, frequent digital hashtag campaigns to get information out in multiple languages, completely removed fan accounts, created an organization to help victims of feminist ideological verification, monggeu came forward explaining her awful working conditions, Mimi legally took Wonderlab down because she did not want to be associated with project moon. honestly it’s been incredible watching them rise to the occasion and accomplish so much. and you think….what exactly when you see this? that actually all of these people directly affected by the misogynist, incel catering actions of project moon are just misguided fools who don’t understand what happened? that these women are worthy sacrifices for a gambling game because you think it has some epic capitalism takedown and there are male characters who have traditionally female names?

Why do they defend PM so vehemently in the face of critique? I think part of it is this increasingly common phenomenon where these fans need to think project moon must completely have the same progressive political leanings as them because they enjoy consuming the works and they consider themselves progressive, therefore the reverse must be true, that the media they enjoy must also be ideologically progressive because they enjoy it. it’s why they’re so shocked when someone completely different from them in political leanings enjoys PM’s games, we saw this as well when Arknights KR engaged in feminist ideological verification. these high earning gambling games can make all the vague political statements they want but it doesn’t mean jack shit if they’re engaging in antifeminism and harming employees in reality. in the past decade (and especially 2020 until now) “fandom” and “consuming content” have evolved into integral parts of these people’s personalities (especially those who are gen Z and younger) and have significant impacts on how they interact with others and how they see themselves. they wrack their brains coming up with excuses for project moon’s antifeminist actions and this genuinely gets fanfiction tier at some point.

like look at this example from that “PM masterpost” a user here on tumblr made. this is the same one we were discussing earlier that reposted rumors slandering the youth union.

beyond the ridiculous untrue claims (this is nothing like the hays code, what PM did was not normal, Mihoyo isn’t the only company that told incels to fuck off, they also have offices in SK and had literally dealt with a bomb threat at one of their SK events, etc…u get it, I’m not going thru every word) you can see this wild conjecture regarding the actions taken by the 2 studios. To me this is an example that shows how much these people defending Project Moon warp their thinking in order to keep believing this company is “progressive”. The company Mihoyo that did not respond to incels’ increasingly ridiculous harassment, blocked their livestream chat then deleted all their misogynistic comments in the next livestream and was one of the only (if not the only) targeted companies that did not take Studio Ppuri’s work for them down - this is presented as essentially “whatever” and further downplayed by saying “I personally doubt [this] was a part of any deeply held opinion on women’s rights.” And Project Moon, the company that folded to incel demands immediately, fired a woman at their behest, sued unions and condemned them in their later statements while saying absolutely nothing about the incels that caused the incident, put memes in their gacha game from the very community these incels came from, makes sure to dutifully censor any🤏 in their gambling game, worked the Leviathan artist so hard she contemplated suicide frequently and had to get IVs? These things are presented as just inevitabilities of operating in South Korea and PM is lauded as “I can’t believe PM is fundamentally misogynistic.” The editorializing is absurd. imo there also comes a time where you compare your “poor little South Korean gacha game who just got caught in the crossfire and actually they are totally progressive and feminist 🥺” to the “Chinese company Mihoyo who does whatever to keep getting the most money and has no morals about it” that at some point starts to lean heavier on sinophobia. I’m not here to blow smoke up Mihoyo’s ass but I do think their action regarding the korean incels’ harassment was significant at a time when companies were falling over themselves to kiss incel ass. And, as has been discussed before on this blog, Project Moon’s capitulation to incels was also significant just in the opposite, misogynistic direction. idk it just gets so unbelievably frustrating to see English speaking users who believe themselves to be “progressive” or “leftist” making excuses because they want to keep playing videogames without feeling guilt meanwhile the Korean fanbase has consistently mobilized digitally and irl to spread info, protest, raise money, etc. like how are you not feeling any shame whatsoever after seeing how principled they are?

[soulsisterif]

LITG Season 9

(Not Soul Sister related, people, just ranting)

After weeks and weeks of not playing I got up to date with season 9 and... Well, actually I didn't finish playing the latest volume. Same disappointments as always. I'm not one to post to complain but I'm kinda frustrated. Ranting got too long, so, under the cut.

First off I understand that male LIs are also infuriating and that wlw players are not this game's target audience (then again, there are few of those) but dude, at this point I'd rather not have any sapphic options. The last route I recall being actually good (by which I mean the female LI not stringing me along à la Marisol until the very end) was Najuma's and Angie's, and that was season 4. Yes, you can only couple up with Angie at the end too, but you get so many info about her, and so many sweet moments and bonding that I didn't even care. And it's more about her being unsure of her feelings than unwilling to be with you. Quite relatable. Peak of this game for me, if I'm being honest. Good friends to lovers, even if they went too far too fast with the sex scene in my opinion. Still, it was very well written!

But every single season after that had the female LI fucking drooling over several men (and sometimes women too) and then adding a half-assed line like, "'oh, but I don't know, I have my eyes on someone else too', she gives you a wink". Like that makes it okay? I think the only truly unapologetically loyal female LIs were Najuma and AJ back in season 3.

They put so little thought into incorporating the wlw routes that to make them progress you have ludicrous paths. Like, in my playthrough Henri won a challenge and as a prize my MC could actually dismiss him and choose to go to the hideaway with Natasha or Kelly instead. Like ??? That's just bad writing.

What's worse, we can't even make friends anymore, it's all about romance, which wipes out most of the appeal this game had for me. Practically every islander, even after you reject them, comes at the MC confessing their undying love like a crazy stalker for no reason, because we know nothing about each other! Besides half of the options you have to get to know more about what's happening around you force you to be an insufferable gossip or a petty child. "Let's listen to a private convo, MC", "Why don't you sneak a kiss with guy 2 to make guy 1 jealous?" And you have to pay an unfair amount of gems to do it, on top of it!

I want to get to know the characters BEFORE I choose who I want to pick. I want to know the characters even if they are not romanceable. It's ridiculous, though, that there are seasons in which you know more about your besties than you do about your LI. That's why Angie, or Seb, or Nicky, or Viv or Thabi, hell, even Hope and Lottie, wth all their flaunted flaws are so appealing. That's why Season 2 is so goddam popular. We had actual interactions back then. Now, whatever interactions there are, you just witness.

This is also why people like games like Too Hot to Handle so much more. I'm not really into guys but I still play their routes because it's good content beyond romance stuff. Hell, Jirayu may be my favourite out of this season's bunch. And they're all different! It's an interactive game, choices should matter.

At this point I'll probably stop playing and limit myself to read other people roasting Fusebox. Honestly, a company that asks for the fans' opinions season after season just to ignore all the feedback doesn't deserve half the players they still have.

There, ranting over XD

[good-beans]

hi i'd like to know about your transfem fuuta thoughts please. if that's ok

"if that's ok" as if I haven't been rotating transfem fuuta in my mind for a long time and dying for an excuse to post something 👀👀👀 Thank you so much Ah!! I was able to format my little ideas and headcanons into an actual write-up, I just love this concept so much! All the big murderous twists in the series and I’ll never get over it is what it is...

So, as much as I enjoy headcanons about some big revelation moment, I think that Fuuta Terminally Online Kajiyama has been very aware of his identity for a while. He just never really got the motivation to do anything about it. He knows he's not completely satisfied with his gender, but isn't constantly suffering over it, so he thinks telling people/transitioning would be way too much of a hassle at that point in his life. He also struggles with people taking him seriously given his height, attitude, etc -- unconsciously he's also worried it will only make matters worse in that area.

He wouldn't dare say anything to his parents, and wants to avoid hassle with his friends. People paint them as judgy incels sometimes, but if they were really calling out ‘bad guys’ online, I always got the vibe they were those annoying type of progressives who will harass people for not being accepting in the perfect correct way, you know? They'd be outwardly supportive but there's still a level of high expectations and performance that comes with it, and so deep down Fuuta understands there'd be a "hassle," but can't really define why.

I mentioned in another hc post that Fuuta and his sister have a silent supportive relationship. I feel like she's the one person in his life who knows everything and is super accepting -- this is understood even though neither have said anything out loud. (When he was younger, she definitely forced him into skirts, dresses, and accessories "to check something for her beautician work.") She's noticed all the times he's picked a female avatar in games, or cosplayed in ambiguous outfits.

Then, Milgram. Thinking his life will be over soon anyway, he opens up to a few of the prisoners about himself. Their unexpected openness keeps it on his mind more often than before. Still, nothing changes. Through some rocky verdicts, he's declared innocent and released.

Back in the real world, he's pretty fucked up from the whole ordeal, and starts off extremely isolated. He's in touch with his family, but distant. He maintains contact with some of the other released prisoners, but it starts off only over the phone. He changes schools or maybe drops out completely. Having deleted all online accounts after the incident, he gets to work setting up a new online presence. He was planning on using an alias anyways, and goes with something gender neutral. "To be extra safe that no one guesses it's me," he tells himself.

Letting his hair grow out begins as an accident -- just a side effect of never going out or minding his appearance. One day he realizes how long he's let it go and grabs some scissors to cut it. He makes a comment in his chat, and someone begs him to send a picture first. He goes to take it, but is suddenly disgusted and ashamed of his self-neglect. He's forced to make himself selfie presentable first: brushing his hair and throwing on something clean real quick. When he goes to take the picture, he realizes it looks good. It feels good. He puts the scissors away.

Soon, the prisoners/some new online friends coax Fuuta to hang out more. That's when she decides to reintroduce herself into society as someone new. She ventures out with the name of a favorite video game character. (I'm going to continue saying Fuuta because I genuinely can't name a single popular character from games she'd play, but just picture the most painfully obvious one you can. The kind you hear and go "oh okay. You play X too much, huh." And please send me your thoughts so I can work them into my own personal canon 👀) 

She doesn't have any hatred towards her deadname, it's more the pain of association: she remembers it said accusingly from the mouths of ex-friends. She remembers that name being called a murderer. She's not trying to deny/run from that past, she just wants to be someone better. Well, some days it is her way of running away, but most of the time it's a healthy separation from the past.

Encouraged by the positive reception and abundance of privacy in her isolation, she finally starts to explore her appearance more. Mikoto left behind some earrings during a visit -- she pierces her ears herself and tries them on. (If she doesn't like them, the holes will just heal, right? She's not weak, she can take a little pain...) Yuno/Mahiru stayed over once, and left a bit of makeup in the bathroom. She tries that on too. With a beautician in the family, this self-styling comes very easily. Fuuta's cowardly tendencies have her torn between embarrassment and her typical 'fuck you' attitude that she can do whatever she wants.

You know when you solve a tiny problem and suddenly you're smacked with how much of a huge problem it actually was? Fuuta never believed she had any issues before, but all of the sudden she's happier. Every day is easier. She has more friends. True friends. She does better with school/work. Her personality is still fiery, but it's more passion than irritability now. Self-hatred she didn't recognize starts melting away. She smiles more. She laughs more. She has plans for her future. She's excited about her future. 

(Shameless art plug hehe, before I had the timeline nailed down I did a little drawing of that selfie Fuuta takes when she realizes she's satisfied with this appearance, and now has newfound motivation to move forward in life.)

Over time she experiments with other elements of transitioning, and maybe changes her name to something a bit more subtle lol.

Unfortunately, I don't think it would go over well with her parents, but she never much cared for their opinions, anyway. One day a bit in the future, she bumps into her old friends in the street. Once recovering from panic, she's pleasantly surprised that they don't recognize her. Fuuta thought her appearance/fashion wasn't that different, but to fair, the friends figured they'd remember a stunning redhead with a very noticeable eye injury if they'd met before...

And just a few quick prisoner reactions (because in my heart they're all making it out ;--;):

Yuno has similar relationship as Fuuta's sister, offering immense help without unnecessary words. She's Fuuta’s go-to contact for trying new things and asking questions. 

When Mahiru first finds out, she goes a bit overboard with a makeover attempt. She and Muu provide their most frilly, glimmering outfits. They paint her nails and do makeup. They style her hair. This obviously turns out to be way too much, earning them a Fuuta-typical rant. Still, she's secretly moved by their enthusiasm and kindness. 

After that, designer Mikoto tries his hand at helping. Fuuta had been really worried the two of them would lose their guys nights out and relaxed friendship, but their relationship never changes.

Shidou is very accepting and very awkward. He's trying!! He gets excited, sending her all this information and help for medically transitioning.

Fuuta invites Kazui to their first pride parade <3

Though there's no return address on the package, Fuuta receives a gift of miscellaneous earrings and piercings in the mail with a note that they'd suit her well…

[khruschevshoe]

OFMD Critique: the Handling of Female Characters, "Girlbosses," and Dropped Polyamory in Season 2 (aka Why the HELL did you give Zheng Yi Sao that ending?)

For this one, I kind of just want to gesture at the ending of 2x7 and the entirety of 2x8 and scream at the top of my lungs, "What the FUCK was that SHIT?"

But I already did that when the finale itself came out, so instead I'm going to stay calm and give a genuine critique (though still as rambly as always).

The handling of this show's women is...questionable. I think the only woman that was handled 100% well is Mary in Season 1. No real notes there. I love her and how her storyline is written to bits.

But in season 2, all 3 major women characters (Archie, Zheng Yi Sao, and Spanish Jackie) have their storylines hamstrung by romantic plot lines.

In Archie's case, the romance plot works. Not every character needs to have a subplot. The bits that flesh out her character are well integrated into the story, whether that be her first kiss with Jim directly leading into the fighting to the death plotline/Jim finally standing up to Blackbeard or the lines "you have hope, it's cute," "this is just kinda how things work," and "they just kind of get away with it, you know" (though it still pisses me off that that last one goes unchallenged in the narrative) being used for plot progression, or are fun character details, such as all of the snake cult hints. (Do I wish that the poly aspect of her, Jim, and Olu's dynamic was better executed so that I didn't feel like the tealoranges plot was yanked out from under my feet? Yes. Of course.)

But as for Zheng Yi Sao?

The treatment of this character makes my blood boil.

See, I'm not opposed to her having a romantic plotline. In fact, I think it could have been fun. A woman can have romance and power. 2x7 even looked like it was building to that sort of conclusion, with Jim, Olu, and Archie joining her crew in one of the very few actual canon implications of poly (though no confirmation, sadly- have y'all seen the info about the deleted scenes that could have confirmed it? I can't believe so much ended up on the cutting room floor.) But then the end of 2x7 strips all power from Zheng Yi Sao.

The show pulled one of the most powerful pirates and most accomplished women in history (also a woman of color, btw, a fact which only doubles the weird fucking undertones of her treatment as a character) into the show only to strip her of her power, shove her into a romantic plot line on a ship where she isn't even a captain, and expected me not to pick up on ANY of the fucked up optics of the writing? The fact that we end the season with Zheng and Spanish Jackie both losing their power as pirate queens in exchange for setting them on a ship with only one singular boyfriend grinds my fucking gears, man.

There are ways to give Zheng a romantic plotline without it making her an idiot (ala what happens with Olu in 2x3) or making her lose all of her power (ala the finale). Jackie's case is less infuriating, but it does remind me of the fact that a lot of the casual poly/open relationship rep from the first season got stripped from the second season (and before you come at me with the Zheng/Olu/Archie/Jim storyline, look me in the eye and cite to me any concrete canon evidence we have of it. I ADORE the fanfic as much as the next person, but I mourn the lost potential every day. Check my previous tealoranges meta for that- I might write a long version of it sometime). Lucius and Pete lost all their open relationship implications and Jackie's husbands are dropped from the finale in favor of her running off with the only one who gets a name.

I understand that they probably wrote Zheng Yi Sao this way to show Stede's growth as a Captain by showing that he brings more flexible ideas to the table (which, by the way, is completely undermined by the fact that his plan actively kills Izzy in the process), but they really should have thought through the...everything in regards to the implications of writing Zheng Yi Sao this way. Because if you bring in one of the only female characters with speaking lines onto this show, a Chinese woman at that, make romance actively make her stupid, have her be fooled by a white man (who, by the way, kills THOUSANDS of unnamed women off-page in explosions and it's just kind of treated as a plot point for the whole Zheng/Auntie/Stede/Izzy/Ed comparison which gives me the ick), strip her of her fleet and her power, and then have the GALL to not even make her the Captain of the Revenge at the end of it all? I'm not sure I trust you to handle her legacy, much less write women in general.

TLDR; Writing a very queer show does not resolve you of sexism.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Uh can i ask something...?

I'm confused, because I can't understand...if Kiku after all is transwoman, why Oda calls her a man in concept art? Why Oden refer to Kiku and Izo not as siblings but as brothers? Why Izo himself calls Kiku brother and not sister? Why Kiku eventually uses male pronouns (sessha) when talking? Why Kiku calles herself samurai if she should be onna-bugeisha (female samurai)? (Does it has to do with when they reveal truth about her she says "sorry, i am samurai") I mean... Why misgendering yourself? I heard that Jap language has problems with gender differences, but it should not be that bad..? If all of it, why Kiku is transwoman then? The only thing that i actually saw is that her words about woman at heart actually being used by transwomen in japan, but outside of it seems like Kiku is just a example of trap pr femboy in japanese media as it often goes... I guess, as a professional, you may help understand what does it even mean and how does it work? Does that mean Kiku is a man? I don't get it...

Hey guys look, I'm a professional Kiku expert. I wanna put that on my next resume. I'm going to assume this is in good faith and not just a troll, but I'm also not exactly gonna sit here and debate this either. So...realistically what it comes down to for me is the things the character says about herself vs. people who don't know. Like...Oden in the diary. He'd just met a 1yo, makes sense to me Izo probably did all the talking. Makes sense to me Kiku couldn't express that yet. A big part of her story is subtle about it but coming to terms with it and her family. Same with Izo in a noncanon scene, he just came back. Remember, my read is there was always something there. Izo/Kin maybe were stern about it when you were young, Toki being around caused her to be progressively more outright about it, the month with Tsuru gave you your first real chance at being "out" for lack of a better word. And Oden's whole flaw in general would also mean he's just oblivious to any inner conflict.

As for the vivre card calling her male with a unique extra bit about the woman at heart line...that's where Japanese gets tricky. There's no real distinction like we might casually say "physically male" here. Same with the sessha pronoun. It might be gendered to a degree but it isn't exclusive like in English. Do you think Big Mom is transmasc? Brook genderfluid? No, but they do kinda use pronouns like that for social reasons. To denote authority and politeness respectively. Likewise while concepts like Onnamusha exist in Japanese history...we don't see it elsewhere in Wano. I'd also add you're being a little selective. Adding the "O-" prefix to your name not to mention speech patterns that don't always translate and honestly even being so demure and quiet about yourself are all strongly coded too.

But that "woman at heart" line? There's really no ambiguity there. It isn't something a Japanese trans woman might say, it's as exclusive and cliche as if an English speaker said "Ehhh...woman trapped in a man's body" in that scene. Even moreso because no one really uses that English phrase much anymore. Not to mention we do have places where Kiku calls herself a woman or passes up a chance to correct someone who says as much. Same with your ancillary stuff like SBS answers, etc. Which to me is a hallmark of your trap/femboy characters. It's a cliche in and of itself to have them spell it out immediately so no one has to feel bad/awkward. Likewise...that wouldn't jive with asking to bathe with the girls because being undressed around strange men would make you uncomfortable.

End of the day, Wano's a subtler arc that trusts you to read between the lines a little. Kiku's story all makes sense as a trans girl who seems to have always felt that way making the best of a rigid society that imposed a very masculine role on her. She'll play that part when the people of Wano and her family need her too, but it's consistently framed as tragic you have to feel that way much like most of the lady samurai movies she's inspired by. We've also seen Oda play with so many characters in this space too, it's pretty clear Kiku's treated a little differently.

[josephsaber]

The Attack On Titan ending has ruined the series and How Isayama can still save it Update 1.0.

How Attack On Titan ending has ruined the series.

This is going to be a spoiler heavy review on how the ending of AoT has ruined the entire series and rendered all previous scenes meaningless

first of all we need to get a glimpse of what happened behind the scenes of AoT to actually understand what's going on.

It all started years ago when Isayama stated in interviews that he changed his ending to avoid a traumatic conclusion source

"Although I'm progressing towards the ending that had been set before, my approach towards the ending itself has changed from the original plans. Because now I feel responsible towards the reader. I originally wanted to illustrate something similar to the film "The Mist,"

so basically the aiming for the current ending is to be happy

what's the mist movie it's a movie where the original main members of the cast were killed at the end of the movie go read about it on the internet.

How was the ending happy ?

the author decided here that in order for the story to be happy, all characters must be redeemed and forgiven for their evil doing, the author implemented a strong DEUX EX machine in order to force all characters to forgive each other out of nowhere 🤡🤡🤡

of course only a hypocrite writer will write such a thing because if you don't hate anyone in your life then you are a hypocrite and if your characters don't hate each other then they are hypocrites and have no principles and with no principles you can't build a good meaninfull story the conflict is pretty much meaningless.

Isayama tried to be deep but this made him a hypocrite with no principles

we can see Armin easily forgiving Eren for his atrocites and we can see Eren to be regarded as a hero as the alliance were mourning his death and that was the first step towards a happy finale. 🤡🤡🤡🤡

Awful characters like Annie who brutally murdered the scouts soldiers and was toying with their lives, contributed to the destruction of wall Maria and stated that she would commit what she did again in order to see her father, Annie despite all her crimes didn't suffer any consequences and that's another big reason why people hate the ending

Also AoT was a realistic story about sacrifice and hard decision but in the end the author implemented a strong plot armor to protect the main cast in the final battle with no one dying which completely makes no sense in order to give the path for a happy finale

this lead to another point why the end was trash which is the assassination of Eren's character.

In order to give the path for a happy finale the author decided to redeem Eren in the last moment in order to be forgiven and loved by the readers and the alliance, you can't of course redeem a character in a single chapter not to mention that you can't redeem a character who killed billions around the world Eren is just unable to be redeemed the author is so sick to think in such a hideous way, the redemption arc of Eren Yeager became a terrible character assassination that ruined his character and left him with no principles or free will

The Assassination of Eren Yeager

In Order to understand how Eren's character was ruined we need to understand how he was developed in the first place

The development of Eren Yeager

Eren was developed to trust in himself and have faith and strong will.

that was evident in the chase of the female titan in the forest where Eren having conflicting thoughts whether or not should he transform into titan or follow the orders of his military leaders.

Eren deciding to follow the orders of his friends in the military led to their deaths, Eren regretted his lack of faith and realized his decision matters a lot.

another scene is during the collapse of the cave of the king of the walls the cave was collapsing and Eren had the choice to either surrender to death or have faith in himself and take the necessary action to save his friends this time Eren decided to follow himself and believe in himself and saved his friends by titan hardening

In S4 we can see the full development of Eren Yeager to come into fruition where Eren secretly organized a coup to take control of the island and execute his own plans !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another part of Eren's development is the death of his mother, Eren is motivated in many scenes by his mother's death during his secret meeting with Reiner in Marley, when he arrived at the Marley port

Eren was developed to have faith

The assassination of Eren Yeager

In order to redeem Eren the author forced Eren to follow a predetermined path where he's a mere puppet to Ymir and there is no possible and other outcome, the author tried to justify the evil actions of Eren by fate and that nothing can't change fate, but actually fate doesn't justify evil, nothing can't change fate indeed that's why you need to choose what's right regardless of the outcome so fate actually condemns Eren's actions and not justify it, the story that presents fate in an accurate way is Cyberpunk 2077 go watch the game and its multiple endings.

Eren in the ending is just a puppet who blindly follows Ymir regardless of the outcome of his choice, Eren doesn't have any determination in the finale he dies in an undignified way unable to accept his fate and unable to stay true to his principles actually one of the most pathetic conclusions to a character.

Choice was an important element of AoT that made it a living breathing world where characters are offered multiple choices throughout the story, but the ending and its wrong demonstration of fate reduced it to a linear flat story where there is no other multiple solutions or outcomes.

also another important element that ruined Eren is the shocking reveal of him to be the one behind the death of his mother, which completely makes the tragic scene of her death to be a complete joke a horrible writing by Isayama, Isayama maybe made that move in order to somehow redeem Reiner and to think that he wasn't the one who's responsible for the death of Eren' mother a complete trash writing

No Build up or Preparations

but before we dive deep into this, we need to understand what's attack on titan and what it isn't

AoT is a story about responsibility, duty, hard decisions and sacrifice.

S4 is filled with heavy politics and backstabbing

AoT isn't a story about romance nor friendship.

There are multiple points where things happen instantly with no build up or preparations and doesn't tie to the story in any way, it looks like that Isayama changed his ending in the last minute.

Ymir's love for king Fritz

No one was expecting for Ymir to love her rapist that wasn't anticipated at all or hinted at all

Also away from this this is a disgusting plot that doesn't make any sense, people justify it by Stockholm syndrome, but this doesn't make any sense it's just a cheap way to justify an illogical plot

Eren's love for Mikasa and his friends

On the table scene Eren insulted Mikasa and stabbed her in the back calling her a slave no one was expecting that Eren was lying Eren's lying gives a negative reaction to the readers as this isn't a buildup, you can't make your character lying in order to build up for your story the character must always tell the truth and doesn't lie under any circumstances

What is Isayama-sensei's ideal character like?

Isayama: "Someone who does not lie." From the story's circumstances, to "lie" means the character twisted his or her original will/resolve. I find the most appealing are those who operate according to their resolve, as well as those who, as metafiction would say, rise up against the entire world. on the contrary, I feel that characters who become pawns of the storyline are unattractive. Often, the main character will give up on their original goals due to the story's development, so those who stand opposite of him or her can become more fascinating.

source

Lying ruins, the story builds up completely and makes previous scenes meaningless the table scene is now completely ruined

Of course, the author assassinated Eren's character and implemented a DEUX Ex machine to force him to lie to love Mikasa and contradicts previous scenes of his in order to once again conclude the story happily but that wasn't supposed to happen at all

why did Eren lie about him accusing Armin of failure why did he change his resolve again the author ruined his character in order to conclude the story happily

Historia's love for the farmer

It was hinted in the story that the farmer was bulling Historia in her childhood why did she marry him why did she had a baby with him, Zeke had the spinal fluid to protect himself there was no need for the pregnancy, also in a meeting between the mps , one of them stated that he had no problem killing the baby in order to kill Zeke

it was theorized that the baby was Eren's, and that Eren loves Historia, that explains why he insulted Mikasa and pushed her away from him and Eren's love for Historia ties and builds upon his hate for Mikasa The 80% plan Eren has always stated that he'll do a full rumbling where it was mentioned that he would stop at 80 nobody knows

Unanswered questions and plot holes.

There are multiple plot holes in the story.

Zeke's plan would have secured Eren's friends a long live, spared future generations of Eldians and the world a painful death why did Eren reject this plan nobody knows Zeke's plan is much better than the outcome of the story.

Why Ymir wasn't inspired by Historia to be free when her love of King Fritz despite Historia killing her father whom she once respected for a moment it was answered by (Only Known by Ymir)

Meaningless sacrifices

All the sacrifices in the story didn't amount to anything as the island got destroyed in the end.

Eren left 20 to survive, sparked more hate towards the island by destroying the planet, and left the Eldians with no titan powers to protect them.

once the world recovered from the rumbling, they decided to wage war against the island that was complicit to the biggest genocide in the history of man king the world would have never given a blind eye to the island complicit to the biggest genocide in history

Ending defenders state the island would have destroyed itself had Eren made a full rumbling and peace wasn't an option but that isn't true

Prophet Noah's followers didn't exterminate each other after God destroyed the planet with the global flood

Ending defenders are just making random excuses to justify the trash finale

Had Eren completed the rumbling Eldians would have lived peacefully till they abandon the island and settle on other continents then they would divide into different people and nations

Eren is 100% responsible for the island's destruction which completely ruins his character even further.

millions of contradictions

Eren stated that he'll do a full rumbling to save the island not leaving it to chance then he gives up then the island is destroyed🤡🤡🤡🤡

Eren stated that he hates Mikasa then he stated he loved Mikasa 🤡🤡🤡🤡

Eren stated that Armin is useless then stated that Armin is the only hope for Paradise 🤡🤡🤡🤡 Eren stated that he'll do a full rumbling but stopped at 80% Eren stated that he'll avenge his mother then it turned out that he killed his mother 🤡🤡🤡🤡

A sequel

The end prepares for a sequel where a kid enters the titan tree to restart the ages of darkness which indicates that Isayama may have been forced by his editor to ruin the series for money and continuation instead of writing a satisfying ending, any good stories like Breaking Bad should have a beginning and ending, make no mistake the only reason for a sequel to exist is money 💰💰💰

The interference of the editor

in one interviews, the editor stated that he prevented the death of Levi because he thought it would be meaningless but after his survival Levi was done so dirty he's obsessed with killing Zeke which doesn't add any value to the people who sacrificed their lives for the island only the survival of Paradise makes a value to the sacrifices of the story which didn't happen in the story, also Annie is just as bad as Zeke and she didn't suffer any consequences whatsoever.

The original ending

according to story analysis the original ending would have been so dark and tragic

With no plot armor in sight, Eren would have stayed true to his motives, shocking all his friends with his love for Historia, killing all the alliance including Mikasa, destroying the entire world and returning to Eldia to rule it as its new king, Eldians then would have lived peacefully till they abandon the island and migrate to other continents before they divide into different people and nations

this ending is so much better and secures the development of Eren's character as a supervillain but unfortunately Isayama wasn't brave enough to tell the story he wanted to tell also to get a glimpse of what I'm talking about you must read more about the Eternal Champion novel, it's believed that AoT was inspired by that story because Eren shares a similar quote from this story

"You will spare none?" "None! None! I want it to be over. And the only way I can finish it is to kill them all. Then it will be over—only then!" "Including Prince Arjavh and his sister?" "Including them!" "You swear this? You swear it?" "I swear it. And when the last Eldren dies, when the whole world is ours, then I will bring it to you and we shall be married".

sounds familier, the story tells a conflict about the humans and another race called the Eldrians (notice the similarity between Eldians and Eldrians) in the finales the main character is shocked with the true brutal history of his race against the Elderians, upon knowing that he was fighting based on lies and false ideas this flipped his personality and then decided to kill all his entire own kind instead every last innocent human that's on this Earth !!!!!!!! Wasted Potential

Eren had the potential to be the best well written villain much better than Thanos, Walter White or Health Ledger the Joker with heavy policial agenda and development but all that was wasted. Eren isn't a hero nor a villian, a villian should be true to his princibles acting in a full dignity and pride, Eren is just a simp clown with no character, no development no goals no princibles. Go see Thanos in Avengers Endgame, Big Smoke from GTA San Andreas, or Kraven from the recent released Spiderman 2, or Alaa from Utopia written by Ahmed Khaled Tawfik to see some well written villians.

Messy interviews

Isayama contradicted himself claiming that he didn't change his ending but with I don't know answers to a lot of unanswered questions and plot holes it's impossible to believe that Isayama was preparing don't know answers for 10 years !!!!!!

AoT horrible legacy

AoT left a horrible example of terrible and bad story telling other writers should take some important notes on how not to repeat the same mistakes of AoT and GoT ever again

It looks like that Isayama compromised the themes and morals of his story in order to deliver a happy illogical hideous finale that doesn't make any sense.

Most good stories like Eternal Champion, the mist, Utopia by Ahmed Khaled Tawfik and the Breaking Bad all of them had tragic finales but they were logical, meaningful and satisfying

The last hope for AoT

The only way to fix the story of AoT is for Isayama to partner with a video game publisher to develop a brand new AoT video game focusing on adapting S4 based on branched storytelling through which Isayama can tell multiple different endings there should be different three endings at least

no rumbling where Eren parts away with Mikasa

partial 80% Rumbling

Full Rumbling (AnR theory) and Eren and Historia finale

The most important thing is that these ideas must be executed well just like Cyberpunk 2077

[spiderfreedom]

I'm not done with the show yet but?? She did not want to be a wife; she only did it to repay her mother. She tried to "get along" within the "few ways to be a woman" in that world (a recurring theme in Blue Eye Samurai). She was extremely lucky that her arranged husband did not rape her (and I'd in fact call it unrealistic that he did not have sex with her without her consent because it would make him "a brute"). He ignores her and downplays her at first, telling her not to go near the horses.

I do think it's good that we see that Mizu is someone with the capacity for tenderness, and even that she can find happiness in a relationship. But the show makes it clear that this wifely happiness comes at the cost of suppressing your true self. Akemi is told that she can "steal moments of happiness" in marriage. The language is telling - stealing, implying they're not hers, and moments, because to actually be fully happy is not expected of her. Mizu tried her best to fit in with the role given her, but she was never going to be able to without repressing herself.

The use of the word "feminine" in "feminine and soft" is telling. When people say they want "feminine" women characters, what they really mean is vulnerable. Mizu allows herself to be vulnerable and tender with her husband. Vulnerability is not an inherently feminine trait and it is sexist to say so. It is, however, a great trait to see in characters, so it is not surprising people respond well to seeing a highly skilled stoic warrior woman feeling safe enough to express vulnerability. And if you've watched this show, you know that Mizu's tenderness has gotten her betrayed multiple times before. This is not a world where she has the luxury to be openly vulnerable.

Nobody in this show is really "[vulnerable] and soft," though. This world is too cynical and jaded to allow for that. Not even any of the women. Akemi is passionate and spirited, trying to run away to find her love, joining a brothel to temporarily get some freedom, and rejecting her arranged marriage until she could not anymore. None of the women in the brothels were "[vulnerable] and soft," because they have to be hard and cunning to deal with the johns that come in.

The only person who does seem to continue being "soft" is Ringo, who shows a unique gentleness throughout the show. It's not clear why - part of it seems to be his temperament, that he is simply inclined towards tenderheartedness and that he can't repress that part of himself any more than Mizu can repress her love of the blade. But I suspect that's not the whole story. I don't have a theory yet.

In general, I would say the use of the word "feminine" or "masculine" as a descriptor is a red flag that lazy thinking is happening. Before writing it, one should think - what do I really mean? Is there another, more specific word I could be using that better conveys my meaning? Because it took me a lot of rumination to understand what the hell people meant when they said they wanted more "feminine" characters.

If you're interested in a show that focuses on women in Japan without glossing over misogyny, I still recommend Blue Eye Samurai. It's a rare opportunity to see a female ronin as the protagonist. It includes depictions of brothels and full frontal nudity, so warning for that. It is also really, really does not shy away from the awful choices available to women, and the awfulness of men. If that's too much for anyone, I would understand it. The main character is not a one dimensional kill machine, and as far as I know, she is never hit by the barbie truck and feminized as "character progress."

https://www.tumblr.com/sexisdisgusting/743201880161796096/hello-its-me-again-venting-anonita-who-was?source=share

THISSSSSSS

I've been seeing a lot of x bimbo!reader recently and stepcest shit and I am like; "oh. Okay. So fandom folk are having a normal one, huh?"

I was also going to get into blue eye samurai but of course I had to come across a video (BY A MALE) talking about about how the mc isn't the typical "strong female character" and tons of comments were praising the show for making her a wife and feminine and trying to trans her (when she had to dress as a man to protect herself and train????) Like....WHEN AREN'T FEMALE CHARACTERS FORCED TO BE FEMININE AND SOFT????

My skin literally crawled when I read "feminine and soft" 💀

mootina just so you know reading this gave me hives i cant believe people like this actually exist in the world

someone took the time to write that ugly ass comment HELPPPPPP???

CAN PEOPLE PLEASE BE NORMAL ABOUT FEMALE CHARACTERS FOR ONCE PLEASEEEEEEEEEE

[kanyniablue]

from the makers of “historical female character who would’ve worn a corset every day of her life complains about how corsets are evil & oppress women” and “historical female character who would’ve grown up in a society where people marry for money thinks she’s better than everyone else because she doesn’t want to marry for money,” get ready for “historical gay male character who would’ve grown up in a society where people marry & have babies for money & property and keep lovers on the side for actual romantic company complains about his lover marrying a woman with the expectation of having babies” and its live-in same sex best friend who shares a bed, “everyone in this society where being gay is illegal is actually totally cool with gay couples & they can totally get legally married”

[arthurmorganwateringhole]

Why do you think so many people hate Mary? I want to blame misogyny, but a lot of women hate her too.

Oh you sweet summer child. Misogyny is a concept that describes how gender structures our society. For example, we live in a patriarchal society, therefore many of our beliefs are either deliberately misogynist (taboos and traditions rooted in fearing women who express sexual, financial, or social agency; re: Salem witch trials which targeted many a rich widows!) or indirectly misogynist. The latter is less about hating women but privileging cis men.

For example, due to our world's history and the fact that cis men dominated it, many in the US, UK, and Australia believe that, for women, to succeed, they need intelligence and hard work. On the other hand, the same 28,000-people sample cited that men would need connections to succeed.

This isn't 28,000 people saying this is how it is. This is them observing what actually happens. Men promote men because they are products of a patriarchal society that basically conditions cis men to rise to high profile jobs, and this sort of behavior isn't ACTIVELY misogynist, because those employers might not be deliberately trying to be sexist. Yet, all the social strictures placed on women (like needing time for children etc.) end up perpetuating this vicious cycle of cis men getting ahead generally via connections rather than merit.

Now I just went on a long ass preamble, and for why? What does this have to do with Mary? Because I want to address that part of your question that assumes women can't be misogynist or subject to the same biases that are built into a patriarchal society, like the one we live in. Because guess what? Women can definitely be sexist despite their self-proclamations of being feminist or progressive. Just like how people of color can also harbor racism against themselves and their own community, or racism against other ethnicities. You would think sharing the same experience enables empathy or something, but nah. People are that conditioned to passively allow this sort of bullshit. So long as it isn't blatantly or deliberately misogynist, they're going to go around holding Mary to an impossible standard and not examine their own biases regarding the role of gender in how they view her complex and messy emotions.

Just take for example how this fandom talks about/reacts to Dutch in comparison to the general feeling wrt Mary. Except for a few deluded fools, most people in the fandom find Dutch to be a flawed character, i.e. he serves the narrative purpose of being a complex and fully fleshed out character whose problematic actions drive the momentum of the story. In this case, Dutch is an example of 'good writing' (and I don't disagree with that). Even outside RDR2, any male character with a sociopathic, manipulative streak will be heralded as the pinnacle of writing. And I don't disagree. People who can write complex and flawed characters are actually great writers!

The problem is, people lose that type of rationale and analysis when you take even half the imperfections a character like Dutch has and put it on a woman/female character. Suddenly, she's not evidence of great writing, but she is a living, breathing person whose abusive behavior is condemned by a living, breathing 'trained therapist' so Mary apologists are clearly wrong and any attempt at understanding her role in the narrative is abuser apology.

lol sorry for being a bit on the nose, but you can't deny this pattern fo behavior in fandom and across other fandoms. Flawed male characters are complex and PEAK storytelling. Flawed female characters are bullies/manipulative/straight up bitches who need to burn in hell (sorry to use really outdated gender language, but I'm more broadly speaking to the cisnormative array of characters mainstream media tends to feature).

And I wish these same people who invest so much energy in justifying their dislike of Mary on the basis of moral condemnation could just STOP for a second and think about how insane that is. Here is Arthur, shooting, killing, stealing... but see he is a complex and complicated character!!!!! Fuck Mary though for using whatever means at her disposal to help her family. That fucking bitch!!! Look at how insane this is once you contextualize Mary in the actual fictional universe she exists in, rather than taking her out of context and cherrypicking 10-second clips to apply harebrained psychological analysis to???

So yeah TLDR I think people hate Mary because of plain misogyny. It's weird because I was never like an enthusiastic Mary fan when I first played. Like I loved her as a love interest for Arthur, but I never thought I'd spend THIS much energy defending her. And yet I do, because I cannot stand seeing people fall into this problematic pattern of thought any longer. I want people to sit down and just think for a moment. Is it okay to dislike Mary or not like her or not care about her? YES IT'S PERFECTLY OKAY. It's not okay though to overstate the harm of her flawed actions in order to shut down discussion and use her character as an excuse to basically be closeted misogynists. You guys are WAY more obvious than you think you are.

[gay-jesus-probably]

unpopular opinion: a lot of the LGBT encanto headcanons are bad actually (an accidental essay)

I've decided that actually y'know what I WILL talk about my thoughts on Camilo Madrigal, specifically the Encanto fandom's incredibly bad takes on him. I am so fucking sick of having to see people cheerfully talking about how 'well this shapeshifter turns into men AND women sooo obviously they must be genderfluid, and definitely can't use just the one set of gender pronouns they have in canon'.

I don't know how to explain this to you, but insisting that a character is genderfluid specifically because that character can become biologically male or female at will? Not the progressive statement you think it is. Actually taking us back a few steps there.

You know what's a lot more interesting? Camilo being a cis guy who has no problem shapeshifting into women, because gender is a lie and biology only means what we want it to. The world isn't divided into 'trans people' and 'people who are physically unable to examine their gender identity'. Why the fuck isn't anyone writing about Camilo as a boy that's been able to shapeshift since he was five, and has the perspective to see that his physical form changes nothing about his identity, and he is a boy because that's how we feels, not because he's AMAB? Am I the only enby person that actually WANTS cis people to examine their gender identity and decide that biological sex isn't very important and their assigned gender being correct was just a happy coincidence?

And again, cannot stress this enough, while I understand why the idea of being able to shapeshift away from your dysphoria is appealing, and you want to project that fantasy onto a shapeshifting character, declaring a character genderfluid because they are capable of shapeshifting into men and women has some incredibly fucked up implications, and you should probably put some more thought into that.

Look, if it was just Camilo, I'd give the fandom the benefit of the doubt, but I fucking see how Mirabel and Luisa are the only other characters getting trans/enby headcanons. Especially looking at you, people who saw a character that's very tall and muscular with a deep voice and decided she must be a trans woman, all of you are fucking banned from making gender headcanons until you get your heads out of your asses. And I've definitely noticed the suspicious absence of nonbinary Isabela headcanons, that's not a great look for y'all. The 'Mirabel is enby' team doesn't seem to have quite as much blatant transphobia behind it, but also I do kind of get the vibes that y'all latched on to her specifically because she doesn't qualify as beautiful by eurocentric standards, and I'm not super comfortable with how that ties into the idea that brown/black women don't get recognized as women unless they can perform femininity at a standard that white people deem acceptable, but that's. Not really something I'm qualified to talk about.

And of course all of this ends up coming back to the main problem, which is that this shit is being done by white people whose understanding of intersectionality is shaky at best. So I'm honestly not sure how much of the white Encanto fandom understands that the characters being latine means they will have a different relationship to their gender/sexuality, so things that are progressive in white characters might carry unfortunate implications in brown characters.

Being queer isn't just a white thing of course, and having queer headcanons for non-white characters is great. But a different culture is going to have a different queer culture as well. People aren't getting mad about LGBT Encanto headcanons to be homophobic, they're getting mad about it because white people aren't writing queer latine characters, they're writing characters who read as queer white Americans that happen to live in Colombia. The writers are projecting their own experiences and culture on to the characters, and completely ignore all but the superficial details of their actual racial identities. So yeah. That's why latine people keep yelling at you to stop headcanoning Encanto characters as queer and/or neurodivergent. It's not because they're homophobic/ableist. It's because you don't know what you're doing, and keep whitewashing the characters so you can project onto them.

Fuck, I've seen a genuinely disturbing amount of white fans who assumed a detail in the movie was about them, got informed it was actually a Colombian/latine culture thing, and decided to argue with them and appropriate it anyways. For example, the part in What Else Can I Do where the plant pollen Isabela's throwing around forms a Colombian flag on her dress, which white people have been outright arguing was actually just a messy take on the lesbian flag. The people arguing that like Isabela and can relate her to her exploring who she is and celebrating her sense of identity. It's just that those people can't relate to connecting to their race and culture and finding a defiant joy in celebrating that aspect of their identity. But instead of realizing and accepting that that specific detail isn't meant for them, they're just... twisting the moment to try and make it belong to them anyways. Because acknowledging that the experience of being a white lesbian and the experience of being a brown woman share some similarities, but are ultimately completely different? That's not super fun, and makes it hard to project onto Isabela. But ignoring and twisting the nuance to interpret the character as an extension of yourself, oh, that's both fun and easy, no uncomfortable feelings required! Or how white fans hold up Bruno's habits of knocking on wood, throwing salt over his shoulder, and holding his breath as evidence of him having OCD. But those aren't abnormal behaviours; they're common, socially accepted actions for bringing good luck in Latine culture. The only significance they have for Bruno's character is highlighting that he's very superstitious. He also has a habit of crossing his fingers and avoids stepping on cracks, but those are never brought up as proof of him being neurodivergent, because those aren't considered strange to the people making the headcanons, so they don't register; that just looks like a normal, harmless bit of superstition that just brings a little peace of mind. And again, these headcanons are from white people with OCD who saw a character performing strange rituals to ward off bad luck, and saw themselves in him. But they're missing the wider context, which is that Bruno's actions aren't personal, compulsive rituals that look strange and unnecessary to the people around him, he's just making casual gestures that other character see as being on the same level as crossing your fingers for good luck. They see a character doing things they consider weird, and feel a connection to him, without realizing that they're just projecting their own values onto a different culture.

Honestly, this sort of thing is an especially serious problem for white American fans; they're used to a very self absorbed culture that places America as the default option, the center of the world, so trying to understand another culture just... doesn't come naturally to them. Meanwhile literally everybody else has experience having to put up with stuff that assumes they're American, and therefor gets frequent reminders that other places exist and have different cultures. Like, if I'm writing a fanfic set in another country, I'll do a little bit of research about what their normal is, and I'll try to make sure that stuff I consider standard doesn't slip in unless it's a thing there too. Meanwhile I've seen Americans write fics where prom night is an important high school experience in South Korea, fics where a badly injured Canadian is terrified of the medical bills pilling up while he's in the hospital, fics where going from Denmark to Sweden involved passports and border checkpoints, fics where gun ownership was treated as normal for average civilians in Japan, and fics where Russians living in the city while also owning a second house for vacations in the country was only for crazy rich upper class people. There's just this sort of built in idea that Americans have where the every modern civilization must be just the USA with some cosmetic differences.

I mean, cultural blindness/appropriation is global problem, anywhere you go you'll find people who think their idea of normal is the universal standard. But it's especially common in Americans, and they're the most resistant to accepting that they can connect to the similarities they find in stories from/about other cultures while still acknowledging and respecting the differences.

[matan4il]

I just saw we're getting yet another newbie and now everyone is freaking about her being an Eddie love interest, but what if, she's actually Ravi's. They've already established Ravi as mini Buck, and so what if they bring in a female ex soldier single mom and start having them mirror Buck and Eddie. We always say that if Eddie had been a woman, Buck and him would be together by now, this is the show proving that fact for the casual audience/antis. Then when buddie goes canon and people are like "but it came out of nowhere" they can point to Ravi and the new woman and say "it's the exact same story". 🤔

Or maybe I'm just desperately clutching at straws because I don't want to sit through ANOTHER damn pirate (it's what I call love interests brought in to destroy a ship)

Hi darling!

Okay, I choked up laughing at that pirate bit! XD That's brilliant, and I hope you don't mind if I adopt it, too. Let's make it a thing! It actually kind of reminds me of the ultimate ship pirate IMO, Gwen from the BBC's Merlin. That whole show was built around Merthur's epic love story, but it was obvious that canonically, the show will follow Arthurian legend, and ultimately, Arthur would be paired up with Gwen, not Merlin. Yet s1, which set up the show, was all about Merthur. Arthur and Gwen barely interacted. So when the show decided in s2 that it HAD to jumpstart the Gwen/Arthur romance, I mean literally jumpstart it (going from barely having interacted at the start of ep 202 to having had an "epic" kiss by the end of it), the writers obviously couldn't come up with why Arthur would become so suddenly smitten with Gwen, other than... to have the two of them recreate within that one ep the dynamic that Merthur shared all throughout s1. I kinda died laughing because if anything, it only further proved why Merthur were perfect for each other.

So yes, I could and would love to see this new addition become a love interest to Ravi, that would parallel and demonstrate how right Buddie are for each other. I wouldn't count on it, simply because from what I understand, Ravi's actor has booked himself a regular gig elsewhere, so I doubt we'll see too much of Ravi in s6. For what it's worth, I'm sure we won't be getting a new pirate any time too soon. 911 spent s5 having our boys move away from their former pirates and choosing themselves. Now the show has to explore that. If they just throw them into yet another r/s (that can't compare to Buddie), it'll just be throwing all that good character progression away. Especially for Buck, who only broke up with Taylor in the s5 finale. And the timing really does remind me of where the show left of in s2, where it chose to keep both of them single for the entirety of s3.

Basically, I feel you about not having to deal with pirates in the near future, but I think the water's clear for the near future. ;) Thank you for this ask, hon. Hope you're doing well! xoxox

(If you’re looking for my ask replies, here is my ask tag! xoxox)

[writer-monster]

11 reasons why cap 4 should reintroduce Bucky Barnes as the love interest, an essay

to start this off, i am not writing this essay from a shipping place nor do i believe that this would have any influence at all over the upcoming movie. i expect nothing. this is simply something that i would personally like to see. (of course no hate to anybody who thinks differently)

here are 11 reasons why i think making Bucky into Sam Wilson's love interest in Cap 4 would be a good move for Disney.

-

1. on the Chinese film market - and why it's an irrelevant argument against the inclusion of homosexual themes in Cap 4

the Chinese film market is something that has been blamed for a lack of diversity in Hollywood films a lot lately. many people claim that this market with a lot of buying power has been responsible for the lack of gay and black representation in particular within Hollywood films.

and we have certainly seen Hollywood treating it as such, going so far as to cut gay scenes from movies for their Chinese releases, and vastly minimising John Boyega's (a black actor's) presence in the Chinese poster of Star Wars The Force Awakens.

[image ID: on the left is an image of the American poster for Star Wars The Force Awakens, featuring John Boyega prominently on the right-hand side. And on the right is the Chinese poster for the same movie, in which John Boyega is barely visible.]

so we know at the very least that Disney believes this through their own actions and efforts to self-censor for the different markets.

but Captain America 4 is a black-led movie, don't you forget. and Disney can't minimise Sam Wilson/Anthony Mackie in the movie or the poster because it's his movie and his poster. and no amount of creativity in the editing room can change that (thank God!).

so if by their own argument the film is already going to be either banned, panned or slammed in China... then what do they have to fear from making it a gay movie too?

-

2. oh, the queerbaiting

queerbaiting is an unusual cultural idea. and sometimes i find myself thinking that the term is far too easily used, but then all of a sudden i will stumble upon a movie or show that is so quintessentially cruel and overt in it's... well... queerbaiting that i will start to wonder what the hell kind of a bizarre relationship all these straight people seem to have with their friends. take Troy and Abed from Community or John and Sherlock from Sherlock as the perfect examples of this. (in which my reaction to the show's creators saying the show wasn't gay was to ask so then why did you make it so gay?!)

i felt that Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes in tfatws were getting quite close to this level of queerbaiting.

there was the field scene, the couple's counselling scene, the boat scene, the couple's counselling scene, Bucky going with Sam to face Karli when she told Sam to come alone, the couple's counselling scene, ALL the staring scenes, Sam checking out Bucky's ass here as they said goodbye, the "i would move in with him but" hidden scene, "Uncle Bucky" showing up at the cookout scene, the romantic walking off together into the sunset together ending scene, and the couple's counselling scene. did i forget anything? but i mean seriously, the couple's counselling scene!!! that thing they did with their legs and their crotches while staring deep into each other's eyes, would any straight guy willingly do that? do straight guys crotch-snuggle now?

[image ID: an image of Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes during the therapy scene with the quote, "Isn't anybody going to drag me into impromptu couple's therapy and slot my legs firmly between theirs before staring deeply into my eyes?"]

(yeah i stole this image from a buzzfeed article on the fan reactions to the couple's therapy scene. but given that they stole 80% of the content of that article from fandom tumblr, i think it's pretty even-steven.)

there's also the fact that people started talking about bisexual Bucky Barnes a lot after the tiger pictures line, and the lead writer Malcom Spellman responded to the talk of Bucky's bisexuality with "just keep watching". well we watched, Malcolm. but it's beginning to feel like you were just jerking us around.

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3. the writing

seriously though, what else is Bucky Barnes doing right now in the MCU? his only remaining connection to anything going on right now is through Sam. there is literally nothing else established that's left for him to do that doesn't involve Sam. he moved to Louisiana to be closer to Sam (canonically), he hangs out with Sam's family (canonically), and Steve is presumably gone and is definitely not coming back for more adventures.

he has no villains or loose ends left. he has no other superheroes that he appears to be in contact with. he has no girlfriend or potential love interest, or even other friends or family. he is living in a tent that he has secretly set up in Sam's backyard and is mysteriously appearing from the bushes when it's time for dinner like a stray cat.

in my opinion there is no other meaningful and pre-established progression for Bucky's character that wouldn't just feel cheap.

plus, i don't think the general audience would be all that surprised if they kissed. i think a LOT of people picked up on all that tension. i think a lot of straight people picked up on all that tension too.

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4. the chemistry between the actors & the chemistry between the characters

the original pitch for tfatws was essentially just this, it was the chemistry between Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie and their respective MCU characters of Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson.

now obviously Anthony and Sebastian are simply friends, and i wouldn't mean to imply anything more. but they are also not their characters.

Sam and Bucky's scenes together before tfatws were both limited and short, and yet audiences still fell in love with the dynamic between the two characters.

in interviews, these two actors are constantly slipping into character and flirting with each other and frankly it's adorable. plus it's really entertaining. i'd love to see that dynamic, unfiltered, in a movie.

because believe it or not the flirting is actually even more open in their interviews than it was in tfatws. and i'm leaving some links as proof.

this here is known as the "married" compilation

and here's a "lucky dip" selection of interviews - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

and here's Anthony trying to get Seb to take his jacket off.

i'm just saying, why not let their chemistry shine? these two are so talented and so entertaining, especially when you put them in a room together. and can you imagine how absolutely hilarious and brilliant it would be to watch them navigate being a couple?

(and for those who bring up the "friends would be uncomfortable pretending to be dating" argument, i'm not here asking for a sex scene or anything. i don't think anyone would expect them to show any more intimacy (physical or emotional) while playing a couple than what they've already shown together in say... tfatws or in their own interviews. not that i actually expect anything regardless.)

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5. if they were a man and a woman they would've gotten together in tfatws

i have no more to add here. just that... yeah, they would've.

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6. and i'm not talking about the comics here, i'm talking about the MCU.

i understand fully that none of what i'm saying here falls in line with these characters from the comics. but the mcu itself doesn't fall much in line with the comics either, and these two characters especially are very different from their comics counterparts.

i'm not asking for these two to get together in the comics. tbh i don't think that it would work.

but the mcu Sam and Bucky are different and closer than their comics counterparts. they've got different histories, different backstories, and a very different dynamic. please rest assured that i am only talking about them in the mcu.

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7. Bucky Barnes is believably bisexual. and Sam Wilson has never been proven to be straight in the mcu, nor has he had a love interest.

(now please continue to keep in mind that these points only stand for the mcu versions of Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson, and not at all for their comics counterparts.)

Sam Wilson has never had a love interest, which is crazy because have you seen that man! he has had two blink and you'll miss it moments of verbal expression of attraction to women, both in TWS. and that's the extent of it, through his entire history in the mcu.

Bucky Barnes has had a number of surface-level female love interests, but none of them even came close to the level of connection and chemistry that Bucky shares with Sam.

and i'm sorry SarahBucky fans, but i just don't think there's very much to their relationship either. i love Sarah, i really do. but it's Sam who shares all the meaningful moments and history and chemistry with Bucky. and i don't see what making her into a love interest would do for Sarah's character either, what would that add to her story?

[Picture ID: Bucky at the cookout with Sam, Sarah, Cass and AJ. Bucky and Sam are looking at each other and smiling.]

and also there is the whole tiger pictures thing... again. which does strongly suggest that Bucky is bisexual whether this was intentional on behalf of the writers or not.

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8. it's representation... AND it feels natural

marvel hasn't had a lot of queer representation that's been noticeably present in the MCU at the time of writing this.

there have been a lot of failures so far, from the bisexual erasure of Valkyrie in Thor Ragnarok to the wlw erasure in Black Panther.

there was queerbaiting almost identical to the bisexual Bucky baiting for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. when asked if he had considered featuring a gay hero in gotg2, director James Gunn stated that "We might have already done that. I say, watch the movie." after the movie's release audiences were understandably confused about the lack of queer representation. To which the director followed up his comments with, "But we don't really know who's gay and who's not. It could be any of them."

there is also Loki, considered by most fans after the airing of his six episode series on Disney+ to be both a poor attempt at both genderfluid representation and bisexual representation. with both attempts being summed up fairly well by the term "blink-and-you'll-miss-it". (also it's just terribly written and Loki doesn't wear any interesting clothes! fanficcers are a Goddamn blessing in this hard time!)

and let us not forget that Andrew Garfield was apparently FIRED for pushing for a bisexual spiderman. a bisexual spiderman within an interracial mlm relationship no less.

so for all these failures, marvel, why not allow us queer fans this? two brilliant and heroic men in a loving interracial relationship. two heroes that we can look up to.

now, one of the biggest detractions from the argument for representation is the idea of "forced diversity". and some poorly written characters certainly do end up feeling forced into the narrative. take Iceman in the comics for example, with Jean Grey just straight up suddenly telling him he's gay. like, marvel, sweetie, that's not how this works! and i don't know a lot of queer people who thought much of that "representation".

but the crux of the "forced diversity" argument is almost always that it feels unnatural within the story, right? and i don't think that anyone could say that about MCU Sam and Bucky ending up together, given these characters' existing chemistry and their history. they've both played characters in gay relationships before so we know that it's not outside of either actor's wheelhouse. and y'all know that Anthony and Seb can act, people. if it's in the script i believe that they'll make it seem like the most natural thing on earth.

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9. it'd be a nice change

there's been an ongoing meme lately about "Disney's first gay character", the joke being that they continually announce gay characters without really ever including gay characters in their films.

this is to the point where Disney has formed a reputation amongst queer audiences of being homophobic.

if Sam and Bucky were to become a couple, then Disney could have its first actual gay character within a gay relationship. AND have him be in the lead of his own movie, no less.

it's also worth keeping in mind that there's likely an overlap between the people who were outraged by a Sam Wilson Captain America, and the people who'd be outraged by a gay Captain America. and if they were already not seeing the film, then i don't think much is gonna change that.

queer audiences would definitely love it, and the media attention would be guaranteed to be huge. i mean, simply look at the amount of media attention mere rumours of a character's queerness gets you and multiply that by a canon confirmation of said rumours.

but i'm pretty sure that Disney already knows this.

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10. and yet, in truth, it's not about the representation

in truth i've never felt that i had any trouble relating to characters of any sexual orientation, race, gender, sex, body type, etc. (although that is not to throw any shade at all on people who do wish to see themselves represented) but for me, i think it's more about the story than the packaging.

and yet, a love story is still just a story. straight or queer, monoethnic or interracial. when two characters have chemistry and history and have sacrificed for each other time and time again, and they also can't keep their hands or their eyes off each other, then i'm pretty sure that that's a love story.

straight or queer, monoethnic or interracial, it shouldn't be about these simple labels. it should be about how well written the relationship is. it should be about chemistry, and history, and sacrifice.

because i'm fucking sick of all the hollow, forced romances in media no matter the genders of the participants. i'm sick of lazily written, shallow relationships where any two people sharing the same space for any extended period of time will simply fall in love. it's boring, it's repetitive, and as a writer myself it drives me up the wall!

romance stories suck! and everyone knows that romance stories suck. between twilight, and most of the entire YA genre, and love triangles (so boring), and romance used as poorly-written throwaway subplots in Hollywood movies, the world is in agreement that the romance in western media is simply dreadful. and yet we still want love stories. it's an entire genre that sits at the heart of the human experience (<3), and yet one which so few of today's best known writers seem truly able to capture.

i don't think that i'm the only one who feels this way, either. i suspect it's actually a large part of why fandom is so romance-centred in the first place, that we're all just starving for a good love story.

(btw i think fandom has a reputation for being something that as a whole that it is not. it has this reputation for straight up demanding things and harassing people until they get their way. while unfortunately there are a few people who do this, they're fucking annoying and i swear that they're far from the majority.

in my experience fandom is mostly about writing a five thousand word story at three am while drunk off your ass because it might make someone whom you've never met smile, editing it in the cold light of day, and then posting it. expecting nothing. sometimes getting nothing. and sometimes getting someone send you kudos or a comment so heartbreakingly wonderful that it makes you smile in return.)

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11. so once again, it is all about the writing.

i want to see Sam and Bucky get together in the mcu, not because they would be a gay couple but because i genuinely believe that their story has potential to be an amazing love story.

and i know the mcu isn't about the romance. it's why in my personal opinion we haven't gotten a lot of good canon romances besides Peter Quill and Gamora. and i don't think that the mcu should be all about the romance either. i fucking love the action and the fighting scenes. i love the comedy. Captain America: The Winter Soldier had no romance and it was a fucking treasure, it was an amazing spy-action-thriller and it made my little gay heart dance. Thor Ragnarok had no romance, and it was an utterly brilliant comedic spectacle action film. not every movie needs romance.

but mcu Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes were doing couple's therapy and fixing a boat and walking off into the sunset together in tfatws. they were inseparable on the battlefield. they've got a dynamic. it's beautiful, it's romantic, and it's gold.

a budding relationship between them in the next movie would be a good way to explore both characters more without the narrative feeling too stilted and separate. at the end of tfatws, both Sam and Bucky fans found that their respective fave felt somewhat underutilised and that their characters were underexplored.

now, that problem would be even more difficult to remedy in a movie, because the plotline of a movie needs to be really tight to work (giggity). and we know that the central conflict of the movie is gonna be action-based (which is good), but we still need each character's personal journey and growth to tie into the main conflict. (which is another issue that some fans found with tfatws, that these characters didn't really feel connected to the action-based plot on a more personal level.)

if Sam and Bucky are already in a relationship, however, this whole dynamic changes. first, their relationship has already been set up for nicely since TWS and through tfatws and they would officially be the best-fleshed-out couple in the mcu. but most importantly, a relationship gives them a perfect vehicle to explore both of their pasts comparatively and connect them personally to the action-based plot.

do you want to establish that Sam is a little too trusting and naïve? then establish this through his relationship with Bucky, and through showing his placing his trust in Bucky. (rather than through having him sympathise with a villain who threatened to murder his sister and his nephews).

perhaps you want to show Bucky recovering from his trauma? show us how comfortable he is with Sam. they get along, they're enjoying each other's presence, we see more of Sam's life and of his family, and then let Bucky tell Sam something that's raw and dark and honest about his life as The Winter Soldier. something about a memory, one that he only just recalled. he's opening up. and maybe what he tells Sam is even something that sets up the future action-based conflict, to ground that in something real.

you want to explore that Sam has trauma too? do this through Bucky. he tells Bucky a story about his time in the military. in the form of a flashback, he shares his own story of loss to evoke before the audience the shared theme of feeling at fault even when you're simply a helpless bystander to an act of pure destruction.

then, action sequence! and it's directly connected to Bucky's time as the Winter Soldier. explore the grief of someone whose life the Winter Soldier tore apart manifesting into a villain perpetuating the cycle of pain. establish your villain.

Later, Sam is dragged into battle against this villain for protecting Bucky. But Bucky doesn't want Sam to protect him. He feels guilt for what he can't control and he doesn't want Sam getting hurt because of him. Bucky reminds Sam that he has a family, one who needs him and who loves him. He tells him to go home.

Sam reminds Bucky that he's a part of that family. And that sure Sam's a hero and his job is to protect anyone and everyone, but that he's doing it because he wants to. It's not simply to prove that he can, or to prove that he's not a bystander (this connects to Sam's trauma here), but that he's doing it to help people.

and this gets Bucky thinking about who he is and what he's doing here. is he a hero who stands by Sam's side? or is he an ordinary man who stands aside? or perhaps, does he stand alone? what does he stand for? Maybe Sam knows. But does Bucky?

Sam and Bucky fight off the villain again, and for the first time Bucky meets this adversary face to face. And Bucky recognises this villain, and has a flashback to the genuine pain that he inflicted upon them in the form of the Winter Soldier. Bucky freezes mid-fight, he almost dies, and Sam has to save him.

Sam chews Bucky out for almost getting killed because he was afraid for him. but Bucky takes this the wrong way and goes off to fight the villain alone, or perhaps to die alone, he's not quite sure.

He puts up a half-hearted fight. He apologises for what the Winter Soldier has done, and he waits for the killing blow, when Sam swoops down and he saves him. He asks Sam why he saved him and Sam calls him a moron. And then, Sam asks him what sacrificing himself would solve. He tells him that you can't choose your past but you can choose your future (connecting to his own experience of loss and guilt and grief). And that no matter what Bucky Barnes still has a future, whether that's as the Winter Soldier or the White Wolf or just some dork with a day job. And that he has a future as a part of Sam's family too.

Sam fights the villain, and it's toe to toe. He delivers a few good blows, but receives a fair few himself. And then the villain tears off his wings, first one and then the other, in a manner reminiscent of what the Winter Soldier did to him in TWS. Through Bucky's eyes there's a flashback to highlight the parallels. Sam gets back on his feet and he fights his best fight, but is now losing.

And then the heavily injured Bucky steps up and fights by Sam's side, and only together do they take down the villain.

"So... I inspired you, huh?" Sam teases with a smile, utterly exhausted. "With my heroism and-"

"You inspired me." Bucky said, equally exhausted. "Let's leave it at that."

Together, Sam and Bucky go back to the safety and warmth of their family. Sam fixes his wings. Sam goes back to being Captain America. And Bucky... he's around, but it's unclear what he's doing.

That is, until the very end. When Sam is in a fight, and suddenly Bucky shows up and helps him out.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asks.

"I've made up my mind." Bucky says. "I'm the Winter Soldier. But now I'll save lives, Sam. Now, like you, I'll be a hero."

Sam smirks. "So does this make you my sidekick, then?"

Bucky smiles. "C'mon, at least make me a partner." He says.

"How about co-workers." Sam says (in flashback, he remembers back to the death of his last on-the-job partner).

"How about friends." Bucky says, with a wry look.

"Bucky... I don't want to see you put your dumbass self in danger." Sam says.

"Oh, and it's ok for you to go running off into danger on your own all the time?" Bucky asks.

"Yes." Sam says stubbornly. "Absolutely it is."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not a dumbass?!"

"Sam, if you think I'm not gonna be watching your back for the rest of time... then you're the biggest dumbass I know. And I don't care if you need me or not, I will be there for you."

"Because Sam, you're more than Captain America. You're more than a good soldier. You're a good man. And I think sometimes, the world forgets what the difference is."

-

...or something like that.

(i only spent like 15 minutes on that. you know if i were actually writing this movie i would come up with something much better. and if anyone from marvel is seeing this, yes i can come work for you. i will make the time, let's do this thing right!)

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finale

at the end of the day, whether or not the mcu chooses to make Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes a couple, it's their decision. and they don't owe me anything.

i'm just some random person on the internet. who thinks that Captain America 4 should #givecaptainamericaaboyfriend

[300iqprower]

As someone who never quite got to finish Persona 4, what exactly is it about Naoto's handling that is so questionable/problematic? I fully believe there's been a lot of mishandling, I've partially took a break from the game because of how Kanji was treated, but the fandom had me believe it was just a fairly standard Mulan-esque crossdressing storyline. I don't mind spoilers

Ok, here we go....[Full spoilers to follow obviously]

Kanji and Naoto are, in a vacuum, both incredibly well written and non-problematic characters. However, Persona 4 is unfortunately very much not a story that exists in a vacuum. The director of the game, Hashino, is a subhuman piece of shit incel who is openly homophobic and transphobic. My favorite go to is how in an interview when asked why in Persona 3 you were forced into romantic relationships with every female character which no option for platonic relationships, he responded it was because "I believe a non-romantic relationship between a man and a woman can never be genuine". He also stole credit from others to get his position and actually contributed almost nothing to the success of the series. I'm not a fan of the site it's on, but this thread does a good job of summarizing all the things he's done.

So how does this tie back into Persona 4? Well, it cast a very undermining shadow over the aforementioned well written characters, who deal with themes of sexuality and gender identity respectively but have a very pro-status quo resolution to both their stories that becomes much less nuanced with the knowledge that a raging bigot was in charge. The localization handled Kanji and Naoto much better than the japanese version did, and IMO effectively salvaged two phobic premises (the ideas of homosexuality being "confusion" and transgenderism being "a lie") by handling the characters with much more tact in their portrayal. I'd go so far as to argue Kanji is written to be pansexual instead, and as a bisexual I don't see the version of the game I played through as even remotely problematic, especially with how he's never written as if he "got over" his sexuality but rather simply stops worrying about gender entirely, which Naoto reinforces heavily due to his attraction to them not even wavering throughout the story's progression (and showing similar attraction to Yu at times). To be clear though my talk of localization is not me throwing shade at the japanese team, rather I'm saying likely because of the localization process giving Hashino less oversight, the localization team were able to portray it much better. The existence of things in both versions like Yosuke's romance route (that reportedly was going to be included until at the last second Hashino mandated it be cut entirely, retroactively turning Yosuke from a repressed gay into an outright homophobe due to never getting resolution that explains his wariness) shows that there was a clearly positive intent even in the japanese development side.

Naoto is the real can of worms though, not Kanji. Naoto's character arc revolves around the extremely patriarchal system of Japan, particularly Japanese law enforcement. They want to be a detective, but due to both their age and gender fear that they will never be accepted in such a role. The conclusion they reached was that if they can't change their age, they can still at least change their gender, and so began presenting as male. The crux of their arc revolves around their acceptance of who they are and not feeling a need to lie about who they are to please other people, presenting as female later on (though their actual appearance remains the exact same outside of a select few instances).

This is where it gets messy. In both Naoto's instance and real life, there ARE people who feel pressured into presenting as something besides what they are comfortable with for reasons such as insecurity, societal standards, or simple lack of understanding on such things. In a vacuum Persona 4 could be argued as simply telling a story of one such case very well. In context, however, this is disturbingly in line with Hashino's statements on transgenderism and him claiming it's equivalent to mental illness. No matter how well done it is in context, to the point I genuinely believe the people actually writing it did so with completely earnest and well-meaning intentions, those malicious intentions from the one in charge still undermine it completely and utterly.

This is where it gets even messier. As I said, the point of Naoto's character arc is self-acceptance and the understanding they do not need to label themselves to live up to the standards of others looking down on them. Understandably, many choose to claim Naoto is a trans character and treat them as such. On the other hand, one can also rightfully see it as flying in the face of the lesson of Naoto's character of how you should not conform to labels and the assumptions of others, especially since Naoto's story very clearly conveys that Naoto has no actual issue with their gender, but due to bullying over their stereotypically masculine interests and fears of the patriarchal society they live in, feel they have no choice but to live as a man. These are very real issues that many can empathize with, and it's understandable why those who particularly empathize with Naoto might find certain circles explicitly treating them as FTM something that rubs them the wrong way, especially when some of said circles are extremely vocal about this.

And so the end result is any actual discourse is basically FUBAR. While there are unquestionably transphobes who would use Naoto as a "gotcha", many have a genuine reason for not wanting to treat the character as trans. Similarly, there are many people who rightfully see the treatment of Naoto as female being a form of trans-denial and among those people are those who push back particularly vehemently. And in the end most any attempt to actually discuss this devolves into one side claiming acknowledgement of the obvious transcoding is disrespectful to the character, while the other side labels anyone who would treat Naoto as a woman as being transphobic.

[fanfiction-artist-prototype]

One of the biggest things that annoys me on a personal level (and not a capitalism consumerism level) about the MCU is that if you're brunt out from the films or you've sat back and realised "Wow... they're really just shitting all over these stories and covering it up with millions in green dotted suits and abuse of SFX crews aren't they?" you're automatically counted in the same basket as 'Marvel Bros'

You know the people I'm talking about; they've never picked up a comic in their life but women have to list like 17 arcs they verify by Wikipedia, the people who sit there and scream about how comic accurate representation is Marvel/Disney vying for woke points -those are the Marvel bros.

And it annoys me that I can't say "I won't be watching the new she-hulk show because it looks atrocious." And be given the time to say that the CGI makes me uncomfortable because it's un-canny Valley esque and that the premise of the show might be based on a actual comic line but it just feels a bit too late to be picking up a "fourth wall break" character after all the multiverse references/use of the multiverse they've thrown in.

Not to mention that it does feel pandering to the people who liked the Deadpool films and that comedic aspect of fourth wall breaking but now with... MCU "he's behind me isn't he"/"on your left" humour. This is purely subjective on Mt part and I recognise that She-Hulk has always been a fourth wall break character and I do love her in the comics but MCU writers don't know what comedy is.

You can't say you don't want to watch it because it looks atrocious because Marvel fans are in three camps.

A: Marvel Bros.

These guys think everything is for woke points and if it doesn't appeal to them sexually or in a power fantasy way its woke and stupid.

So you can't provide actual reasons to rhem because they'll just go "Well why did we even NEED a FEMALE hulk!? Fucking woke bullshit!" and any actual reasons you have will fly so fast over their heads the Guardian of the Galaxy writers will get in another Drax joke.

B: We know but we're ostriches.

This group are the people on the verge of burn out, who have turned liking MCU films into a part of their core personality and so NEED to watch the next one even if they know all the issues surrounding it, even if they're disappointed or hell even anxious about what's next and how the drop off in quality is going to look next phase with more production that should be feasible.

But they're a MCU fan so they put their head in the sand and they know what you're saying but they can't acknowledge it because then a part of their personality is gone then.

And C.

C: Marvel suckers.

These are the ones that as soon as you mention not liking the films they're screaming about you being a marvel bro. Don't like the look of she-hulk? Mysonginst.

Black Panther was an alright film but didn't really capture you the same way say the Avengers did? Racist.

Thought that Endgames solution and explanation of timeliness made NO fucking sense and can even point out glaring potholes in Dr Strange's logic and his decision and how it then contradicts with future films? You just don't UNDERSTAND, you weren't paying attention. If you give Marvel more knew and watch their spin offs and mini series and not Canon amendments we all take as Canon to fill the void in our hearts, you'll actually understand its not a plot hole its a different timeline even though timeline branches as explained in the movie don't work this way.

And it just... MCU films are nothing more than CGI hotmesses designed to suck any joy and love that was put into the original project and it makes me so mad you can't criticise them online without being a massively "anti-progressive" fan.

On that note I hope people finally fucking stop saying "you just hate the left" when people criticise the MCU for attempting to make the Hydra Steve Rogers arc into a film. Wherein the character all these men and boys have been told is a role model will be shown as a literal nazi worldwide at a time where anti-semitism and facism is rising. Its disgraceful enough that Marvel defiled the character made by two Jewish men and made him a nazi for story purposes but to do that and try and get the storyline green lit for a film at a time where fascism is on the rise is disgraceful.

[brycedearings]

I’m obsessed with the new Jurassic movie! I’ve been sobbing over Beta and Blue (I am slightly disappointed that we did not get more Blue screentime) and the OG cast and the Jurassic world cast we did not get enough of them together. Clawen and Maisie have me in a vice grip. Anyway what are your thoughts?

I loved it so much! [sp*lers ahead for anyone who hasn't seen it] this turned out really long lol

I was actually really surprised there were negative comments about the movie- but then again I thought the same thing happened with Fallen Kingdom. I genuinely loved it and would rank it above FK although it's very close. I'm just such a sucker for the Jurassic movies that there's not one I don't like.

I went into it with 0 expectations or spoilers so my only wishes for the movie were 1. Claire doesn't die (I doubted she or any major character would bc Jurassic has never done that before but I was paranoid lol) 2. Claire and Owen would still be together and not another breakup/complicated thing. I worried for a second when Franklin mentioned them being 'weird' but someone pointed out to me how it made sense bc with Claire and Owen being in hiding all those years protecting Maisie, they wouldn't have seen him and Zia a lot or at all so they're not seeing the daily dose of affectionate/in a healthy stable relationship clawen.

Which points me to something else- I read some people saying they didn't like how Claire wasn't really working or seeing her career driven but imo that wouldn't have made sense in this movie. In the first JW she was working at the park, then she was handling the DPG. Now she's got to take care of Maisie so it wouldn't have made sense for her to be risking her and doing something concrete. She was helping the dinosaurs so she still very much had a purpose outside of Maisie and I didn't see any problem with it. The film also ended before we could see what she would do next but 1. There's only so much they could fit into this already jam packed movie and 2. I liked that a lot was left for interpretation.

Claire had SUCH a beautiful progression in these 3 movies. Her arc was the most prominent and it made me tear up. I also love that clawen were finally in a healthy relationship without any unnecessary drama. They communicated, they were partners. All those beautiful moments!! I hoped we would get another kiss like in the other movies but I wasn't expecting one- and then we got that long kiss moment, all those hugs! The worrying, the reunions. Sigh. That perfect plane scene with his "i love you".

I loved their reunion with Maisie as well, that hug + that other hug later with Claire and Maisie warmed my heart. If I had to get picky with anything in this movie was that I wish it had been longer lol had a Dominion part 2 but that's not that easy and they already had issues with COVID back then so I was impressed with all we got.

I wished Maisie called them "mom" and "dad" but I can also understand why they didn't. It could have been perceived as corny or too easy. Her calling them her parents was a lot already- which I loved. Even an apology scene with her and Claire would have been nice but it's not something that overly bothered me. And yeah it would have been nice to get more Blue, but again there was already so much happening in the movie.

I loved seeing Owen saving Claire for once in this movie. It didn't make her look weak, it was just realistic I mean they're surrounded by dinosaurs. They're all saving each other at some point and it was nice to have that. And I mean Claire was still really badass in this movie. That opening sequence and the jungle scene? oof.

I almost cried when the OG 3 met clawen and Maisie. The callbacks to JP were great without being cheesy. The script was smart without being corny. I'm just still on a high from it and can't wait to see it again. Normally with movies you don't really get great character writing and progression for a female character (claire) and an amazing love story without over the top drama. The most we saw was in FK post breakup but even then we got a lot of great moments between them. I just wasn't expecting all the clawen we got. At all. I was on cloud 9 repeatedly.