#if you criticize other people for saying ''it will simply take care of itself'' it is hypocrisy to do the same for your own favored system

[imperial-nuisance-rudje]

i think if your response to seeing people say they do not trust random people to be able to take adequate quality measures for many pharmaceuticals and you immediately jump to "they're brain poisoned by capitalism to think more expensive=better", you should examine your own brain poison keeping you from considering how incredibly dangerous many drugs can be if the dosage/release mechanisms are even slightly off, or that many very necessary drugs require precursors that are outright toxic (and some are even themselves toxic and require particularly strict compounding procedures to keep them from cross-contaminating to someone who doesn't specifically need medical poison). Getting a proper clean room is quite frankly not something even people with the knowledge have access to a lot of the time, people have good reason to not trust a rando to have that. And you do have to account for a rando, because if you just have one person doing it, there's a massive supply bottleneck (that a rando can exploit), and if you have a full system going you need to figure out how to supply that system and also be able to effectively investigate and handle problems and failures in any part of the chain (and a rando can exploit those failures as well).

Yes, people can say "i had good experiences with x". There are just as many if not more people being sickened by improper production and compounding of the same drugs.

[opbackgrounds]

This scene with Sanji is one of his most important moments in the series, and in my opinion also one of the most difficult passages in the manga to interpret, because to completely understand it you have to look at the manga holistically rather than this scene by itself.

The big question that needs answered is why does Oda let Zoro "win" here by having him be the sacrifice instead of Sanji. Both are equally willing and both are identified much later on as the Wings of the Pirate King, implying that they have similar importance (although vastly different roles) within the Straw Hat crew.

If we go back to Sanji's introduction on the Baratie, his big flaw was that he lacked the "spear of spirit" to pursue his dream. Since he's been a boy he's wanted to find the All Blue, but even when he had the opportunity to go after that dream he chose to stay on the Baratie out of a feeling of obligation to Zeff. Sanji put the continued existence of the restaurant over his own life, something Luffy rightfully called him out for at the time, and even at the end of the arc had to be pushed away by Zeff and the other chefs before he finally set sail for good.

On Drum, Sanji once again almost died protecting Nami and Luffy during the avalanche, resulting in a broken back that required surgury from Dr. Kureha. Luffy again calls him out (note the English translation here isn't entirely accurate, see here for a breakdown), and with his power there's a good chance Luffy could have gotten them all out of trouble without all the dramatics by Sanji.

Something similar happens on Skypiea, when Sanji puts himself in the way of Enel so that Usopp and Nami can be saved. This case is perhaps more justifiable given the extreme situation they were in, but nonetheless he was still quick to throw his life away.

Then on Enies Lobby Nami--while not criticizing his chivalry--calls out Sanji for simply not running away from Kalifa, instead just accepting that he's going to get the shit beat out of him, and possibly die.

So there's a pattern of self-destructive behavior. Sanji repeatedly puts his life on the line when he doesn't need to in order to preserve the lives and dreams of the people he loves. Even him constantly simping over Nami and Robin falls a little into this category, because if either of them told him to take a long walk off a short pier I have no doubt he'd comply. It's that same extreme willingness to sacrifice anything and everything for the people he cares for that we see in Baby 5, except Sanji was fortunate enough to not be surrounded by people that encourage these worst impulses of self-destructive behavior. As he says here in Thriller Bark, he's just the cook. Luffy can always just find someone else.

(The glory of Whole Cake Island being Sanji realizing, no, Luffy can't, and he won't).

And it is finally on WCI that get to the heart of why Sanji is like this with yet another episode of putting his own dreams and happiness aside for the sake of others, and not until Wano that we finally see him take the first steps toward asking others for help instead of passionately throwing his life away when he doesn’t need to.

When Zoro first offered his head to Kuma, the prominence of his dream was first and foremost. Notice that Sanji never mentions the All Blue. One Piece is a series that places the pursuit of one's own ambition above all else, even if that ambition is selfish. Sanji hasn't yet learned to be selfish, so Zoro knocks him out and ends up being the one to accept Luffy's pain. Sacrifice isn't sacrifice if the person doesn't value what they're giving up, and right now Sanji clearly doesn't value his own life compared to the rest of the crew.

Next chapter Oda will speak through Brook to confirm that Sanji's willingness to give himself up wasn't foolish or stupid. It's just that he's missing a piece of the puzzle, and that's not something he'll have for a long time yet.

[utilitycaster]

Do you think this episode is so boring because they brought back the Nein and reminded us how good they are? I keep thinking about this as I'm absently watching this episode, saw your post and would love to hear your thoughts on it. Because like, at least to me, most villains this campaign are painfully boring. But the Weave Mind are also boring. That was fine, M9 handled it perfectly and I loved it. Ludinus is arguably the only kinda interesting bad guy and a PC's mom is in mortal danger and I can't manage to care.

I don't find Ludinus and the Weave Mind boring! I don't find Liliana boring either! And I found Ozo Cruth and Otohan Thull DREADFULLY boring but actually, the fights with them are pretty fucking great. I mean, I have a LOT of criticism about the first Otohan fight that boils down to "this was EXCEPTIONALLY poorly signaled and I'd be PISSED if my character was killed for someone else's arc at this point in the story" but Otohan being boring is about the non-combat elements; she felt very real and compelling as a THREAT, just, she could have been a giant blender of magic knives that the party was going to be dumped in for all she had an impact on the story as a person. But I do think it is because we've seen the Mighty Nein and Vox Machina recently and remembered that they're orders of magnitude more compelling.

I think it's really like...I don't even want to say Bells Hells isn't bonded, but they lack something. I think I alluded to it in the tags of one of my posts but there's no banter between party members or sense of urgency. Like, I enjoyed the whole All-Minds-Burn/Myceit scenes a lot, actually, but after Imogen's initial (justified) panic the pacing felt unbelievably slow until we got to combat. I have found that really, for a good deal of the campaign, you have to kind of take things episode by episode and enjoy the good set pieces and scenes because it simply does not make for a pleasing and rewarding whole. The reason I didn't care about Liliana is, to be fair, partly because I think having her die would be an interesting development, but also because there wasn't a sense of "we can't stop and fuck around with mushrooms, LILIANA IS DYING" within the episode itself. No one was comforting Imogen as they ran through the tunnels. The Mighty Nein showed more personality and investment in the lead up to a fight that really, they had no more stake in other than the broad world-ending ones. As someone who's been playing a LOT of Veilguard which is all about building a close-knit team, and who's had VM and the Nein the past month to compare Bells Hells with, that lack is immediately apparent.

I said, over a year ago (possibly over two, I don't recall) now about one of the relationships in the campaign that it felt like when I see a single episode from a soap opera I don't follow. The actors are imbuing lines with emotion, but everything feels kind of disconnected. Like, this is all in a deeply subjective realm, I cannot give you a strong argument based on logic here as it's very much vibes-based, but I feel like when I watched this, my thought process was "BAFTA-winning Actor Laura Bailey is doing an excellent job of conveying the emotions 'terror and anguish over a dying relative' in this line read, and not "Imogen Temult, a character I've been familiar with since October 2021, is devastated over the potential demise of her mother.' " And I never had that issue with C1 and C2. Like, you can call it je ne sais quoi or the juice or the sauce or chemistry or the spark or whatever the fuck but Campaign 3/Bells Hells simply doesn't seem to have it for a huge number of people who have adored pretty much every other Critical Role work, and that means something. My personal thought is that it's because this has been such a plot-focused campaign without strong DM prepping of what kind of characters would be appropriately invested that we've had the problems we did (rampant indecision, lack of party chemistry due to lack of early opportunities to mingle and meld, lack of investment in each others' lives due to insufficient time focused on backstory-related plotlines), but I could be wrong, and ultimately the root cause isn't super important to this question, which is just. they don't have the it factor.

[leontalksalot]

I was wrong about the votv drama

I'll be honest that when the drama first started, I thought it was all just out of bullshit pettiness to get MrDrNose cancelled. So many people in the server have so many bad things to say about Kaiden, the guy who made the document, all those stories and claims about him, I believe them. I thought Kaiden was this unhinge weirdo that came from 4chan because so many other people in the community had so said so many things that make him seem like that. But as times goes on and the drama escalate even more, I just became tired and mad. I became part of the 'campaign' to get Kaiden gone from the internet for good. I was repeating the same baseless accusation that I heard from the server, taking it as facts without question. But now I just realized how much of an IDIOT I was. All those things that people were saying about Kaiden that make him look like a complete disgusting asshole are all complete bullshit to try and discredited and villainize him to make other people to bully and harass him into silence without knowing what said in the doc are true. The whole fanbase is a fucking echo chamber, everybody there are unhinge morons with the same fucked up belief that anybody who speak out on the bad things surrounding Drnose and his acquaintances are bad and deserve to be bullied. Seriously, here on tumblr or even in the official discord server there are people bullying and harassing other people for having a negative view on drnose, and the most crazy thing about that is that the mods are completely aware of this in the server, but they all choose to not do anything to stop it as if they don't care because the people that are getting bullied in the server believe nose is a scumbag, so they let the bullies get away with it. The eternitydev fanbase is actually completely corrupted and became a echo-chamber of insane people. These people have no care and humility, and that goes to the same with drnose. One of my friend's whose a patron told me about how he try to invalidate people criticizing him as nothing but insane and mentally ill people.

And than they told me about a drama in the librarian's discord between Drnose and kaiden and my god it just hurts to read.

(I had to take a screenshot from the document itself since I am too lazy to scroll through dm to find it) If I'm correct drnose is a 22 Y.O. adult and yet this is how he behaves. And It's ironic how drnose tries shame kai as "being negative" when he went and call people mentally ill, just literally being ableist. As well as letting people in his damn discord server to continuedly trash talk, harass and make harmful bullshit accusation to get kai more harassed. Seriously, some of the people made claims that he was a pedo or that he sent rape art to people. I feel sick to my stomach from the guilt and the embarrassment. That I take these people's bullshit at face value without giving it much thought and simply repeating what they said makes me feel so ashamed. Do not believe a single thing these people say. Their either morons believing other morons lies and is just repeating it or they're an asshole purposely trying to misinform people into turning against a kid. These people will manipulate and gaslight you to try and make you take their side and help them harass a kid and anybody speaking about it into silence. To the people I bullied, I am sorry, I am an idiot for even taking nose's side. I was an idiot to believe everything they said without question.

[alexalessandro]

This is for no one but myself (ignore the tags) so feel free to scroll away, but no actually the rat grinders are not like Ragh and Zayn and Aelwyn.

Here’s my essay

First of all, there’s a clear difference between the rat grinders and all the bad kids “villains” turned allies and it’s the coerced factor

If we want to put Zayn datkshadow, Aelwyn aberrant and Ragh Barkrock on a scale of most to least coerced, we would have Zayn up top.

He was literally made to be socially isolated and financially dependent on the bad guys, had his reputation ruined and actively had eyes on him to keep him miserable and alone (jokes on them the acting miserable part was his emo persona mostly)

Then we have Aelwyn abernant, who’s behind Zayn darkshadow simply because she had a lifeline to not be abused which was to be perfect all the time although that’s abuse in and of itself, she was literally coerced from birth into evil “we’re rich so we care about nobody but ourselves and you better not shame our house” bs

Then ragh, ragh is least in the coerced scale but he still had his identity used against him and was actively bullied and blackmailed by his crush after coming out to him

Now the rat grinders.

They. Weren’t. Coerced. Into shit.

Kipperlily copperkettle? The gravest sin her parents made was be boring and scold her for breaking into their computers to look for conspiracies. Her reasons to be manipulated is because she’s mad she’s boring and thinks that trauma gives other people an “unfair advantage” while she actively chose easy adventures to pass. Like she looks like any other annyoing ass white girl you dread to meet that complains about people being on her ass for getting starbucks while the boycott’s going i’m sorry i’m not gonna pity her JUMPING at the opportunity to be manipulated and also actively getting the only person that gave a shit about her killed (Lucy frostblade had multiple assailants)

Like cleric killer killed people in cold blood bot as self defense or to stop apocalypses but cus the bbeg was like hehehe bitch please

She is obviously racist against riz but that’s just my own personal bias

Oisin? Freaking nepo baby with an evil grandma that apparently was bitchy even before the shatter star and might have been an insidious incel the entire time

Ivy suggested fabian wore mazey like a coat and that’s where the skin alive but came from, check the tape

I have weird thoughts about ruben mary ann and buddy, they’re mostly stooges and i would personally put them in the ragh box but also ruben’s death was objectively funny sorry not sorry

All of this to say there’s a difference between my villainy is inflicted upon me or coerced onto me and HECK YEAH MAKE ME FEEL SPECIAL I’LL ABSOLUTELY KILL MY BEST FRIEND FOR U WHEN SHE DOESNT GO ALONG WITH THE PLAN

anyway these have been my ramblings I won’t take criticism

[angelsdean]

you probably noticed this but: right after dean finishes telling the CBGB story, he says “john friggin winchester” and takes a shot, and the jacting joices in that moment are… god. i mean the jacting joices are there the entire time ofc but they kinda give *overemphasizing this as a ‘cool john’ story* to me at first, but in that final moment—dean purses his lips, he shifts in his seat, he stares into the distance… he looks bitter. it’s like dean allows himself to feel bitter about this story for just a second, when sam and cas are no longer looking at him ://

(the exact moment i’m talking about is in a gifset you reposted recently)

Yea there's definitely a vibe throughout the whole thing that he's like, telling it as this "funny anecdote" but underneath there's more feelings brewing about this story. Like the story itself comes up because Sam prompts him to tell it, so it's not even Dean's first thought.

Even Cas asking them "You loved your father?" and Dean's response, "With all I had" is like, on the surface you can take that as a positive statement but it's also pretty vague when you really poke at it. It's like, okay and how much love for your father DID you have? It's not the same as a resounding "Yes, of course!" It's more, "I loved him as much as I personally could, given everything." And I do think Dean loved his father. Dean is full of love and he cares even when people might not deserve it. But, we also know he's no stranger to criticizing his father (as he literally says in the next breath that John was not winning any Dad of the year awards) and acknowledging that he was put through shit he did not deserve at way too young of an age.

Even him saying "damn if he wasn't there when we needed him" it's, I mean, he's literally criticized John for being a deadbeat and leaving them and not answering the phone and putting them in danger before so this line immediately rings hollow. And in the context of the scene it makes sense that he'd say this to Cas because Cas is specifically asking them about John as a way of understanding what a father is supposed to do. He prefaces his questions about John with the fact that HE never knew his father and thus has little experience with this whole Claire situation. He's looking for guidance, so it makes sense that Dean would over-embellish a little and want to paint John in a better light for the sake of telling Cas that "yea a good dad is there for their kids." Which we Know John wasn't always there for them. (Side note but all of this ALSO ties into Rowena and Crowley's subplot this episode, how she abandoned HER kid, wasn't there for him, left him vulnerable but is trying to be there now etc etc. Thematically it's an episode abt imperfect parents and their children). And the fact that Sam prompts the story to me says that Dean was probably just going to leave it at that, simply giving his advice to Cas that good dads are always there for their kids.

But anyways, all this to say, I can definitely see Dean feeling bitter about the story at the end there. Especially as the happy little mood drops and he's no longer trying to "give advice" and is reminded of the case, Claire, and how his own experiences actually relate to hers. It's like he finishes telling the story Sam prompted him to tell in the first place and he remembers, "yeah and that was fucked up. and dad might've been there THEN but what about all the other times he left us vulnerable and open to be preyed on. and now Claire is in the hands of this pseudo-guardian who is also putting her in dangerous and vulnerable situations, and and and."

[destinygoldenstar]

It’s honestly very crazy that a garbage Hollywood trailer makes so many people apologize to Minecraft Story Mode.

My experience with MCSM was that I was gifted the show by my dad as a teenager the same year the news came that Telltale went bankrupt. (It was the summer, so a couple of months before that)

I got a lot more into it than I was expecting. It had its problems, sure, but I was incredibly immersed with its story and atmosphere. Later on it became one of my obsessions once I finished the two games. It was the first fandom on the internet I ever became a part of. It was also the first time I ever outright became a shipper over a ship that wasn’t canon. (Jetra is my OTP to this day)

But in terms of real life, I never really felt confident talking to people about it. That’s because this was around the same time the hate train for MCSM started to arise. Then it became “Pure Fact” quote on quote that the games were these terrible things.

Now in my opinion and from my experience this started when some popular Let’s Players bashed the games. And even then I can’t blame them for simply having an opinion. But it’s because of their influence that their audiences take their opinions as gospel. (That should not be how that works)

From there every time I brought it up I would get cyberbullied for liking the games. And this was true for a lot of people who did like the games as well. We were all getting cyberbullied into joining the popular crowd and that we were wrong.

“Everyone else is saying it’s bad, therefore it must be true”

And then every time MCSM popped up in my feeds, my heart would sink and I would feel sick. Weird part was, while I did become far more critical of the games as a result of the trend… I NEVER found it in myself to outright hate it.

Like I said, the games have problems. They are by no means perfect games, and some of my critiques of it still hold up. (Not all of them though, ones I do wish I could take back) it was talking about THESE games that even spawned my hobby of writing essays of stuff I like.

So… that’s a sad origin story for how AnalyzGolden came to be. Now you know.

I’ve since drifted away from MCSM, simply because I was older and getting into new stuff. I talk about other stuff on this blog, like The Amazing Digital Circus, Ninjago, Total Drama, and quite recently Disventure Camp. And more. I also try to advertise my own stories to failing results cause no one cares.

So to see, after all these years, people like me finally being VALIDATED for our soured opinion on something… it just warms my heart so much.

I became more critical because of the trend of “MCSM sucks”. And now that that’s growing to not be the case, and I became more exposed to some crazy and wild fandom takes on other media that boggle my mind, that I’ve stepped more away from being negative and made choices to be in my corner and simply “Enjoy Something. Because I enjoy it.”

Oh I’m still a critical cynical bitch. And I do talk about my own critiques and problems if I personally have a problem with it and how the writing or whatever was handled. But I guess I’m more willing to hear the story itself out and what it’s trying to do before I jump to conclusions.

I cringe at my old emotionally impulsive self. And I hate having regression episodes of reverting back to my awful teenager self. But I can say that through experiences, I have to thank that for the person I am now, even if it sucked.

So… thank you MCSM. And thank you Hollywood for making a trailer/movie so awful that it made people such as myself finally feel heard and validated.

(Oh and btw, you guys don’t need to follow the trend of loving MCSM either. This doesn’t need to turn into the complete opposite thing. The lesson here is that you are allowed to like and dislike MCSM, and anything really, and trends should not sour your take on it. You can still not like the games if that’s your honest opinion.)

[ritsusakumawife]

Kamisato Ayato x Reader

Fluff to Angst (?)

Synopsis: Meeting Kamisato Ayato was both a dream and a nightmare

Warnings: Minor swearing, ooc, cringe, bad grammar, not proofread

Meeting Ayato completely changed your life

Before meeting him, everything was the same

Wake up, eat breakfast, get ready, work, eat lunch, work some more, go home, eat dinner, and sleep

The cycle just repeats itself over and over again like you’re stuck in an endless loop

But everything changed when he came to your humble shop and bought almost everything might I add

“These..Items..Are unexpectedly high quality but yet you sell them for cheap, why is that?”

‘Huh? What do you mean ‘unexpectedly'?!? Who does this man think he is to just assume my things aren’t high quality'

“Oh, I just happen to have a great luck at picking out items, I guess..?”

“So, you just happen to always get high quality items when shopping? I find that quite hard to believe”

“Look here mister! I don’t know who you think you are but if you aren’t here to buy then please kindly get out.”

“I’m just a simple average human doing my best to survive in this world”

“And to answer your question on why I sell them 'cheap' it’s because that’s simply the price I paid to buy them”

“I’d be a horrible person to inflate the price a whole lot y’know?”

“Pfft..”

‘This guy..Is he seriously holding back his laugh?!’ (๑•ૅㅁ•๑)

“Alright alright, I’m not here to fight”

“I’ll buy everything from here to there”

‘What—’

“Thoma, make sure everything is safely delivered to the estate”

“Yes, my lord”

'LORD??? JUST WHO IS THIS MAN?!??!’

After that horrible first meeting with Ayato

He came back a few times to buy some things he needed. What did he do with them? You don’t know, and honestly? You didn’t care. Business is business

Due to his constant visits you soon found out his name was 'Ayato'

With time you and Ayato grew closer with each other

You honestly didn’t get why he decided to come to your shop in person when he could’ve just ordered his people to buy the things he needed for him but hey, you can’t say you dislike his presence, in fact, you like it

He came almost every single day that he just became a constant in your life

Oh how you wished he just hadn’t come to your shop that day

Fast forward to when you and Ayato started dating

You noticed a lot of people started to stare at you. And no, it wasn’t just a glance or something. It was full on staring

They always gave you judgmental looks

You always heard them criticizing your looks, voice, posture, the way you talk and walk

You didn’t know why, until Ayato decided to tell you why, that is

And so, you found out that the man you’ve been dating was none other than Kamisato Ayato

Truth be told, even after he told you his full name you still didn’t know who he was. He had to explain to you about his family and etc.

He found it amusing how you had a lot of knowledge when it comes to material things but know almost nothing when it comes to socializing, politics, and all that business stuff. He almost believes that you really are just lucky to have survived this long all by yourself

Ayaka having heard of the news of you dating her brother decided to officially meet you

Ayaka has known about your existence due to her brother always telling her about you and because Ayato always comes to her to ask her opinions on what to get you as a gift

She was a bit cautious at first, making sure you weren’t just using her brother, but it didn’t take long for her to trust you

And it also didn’t take long for both of you to become best friends

Since it was basically public knowledge that you and Ayato were dating, you had to move in, in the Kamisato estate to protect you from possible assassins that may take your life

It took a lot of time for the people working there to get used to you. They were also of course a bit cautious of you since they’ve seen many people try to seduce their lord

In the end, everyone was divided in two sections.

One side trusts you and are willing to serve you like you’re also their lord and the other side doesn’t trust you as much and still remain a good distance away from you

But it was alright, you told yourself that as long as you have Ayato you can make it through their judgmental stares and comments

Love really does make a person a blind..

The dating stage was..Like a dream, you couldn’t believe you managed to snatch yourself a lovely caring man like Ayato

The newly wed stage was like heaven on Teyvat

The married stage was a nightmare alright

Everywhere you went you felt stares

Their stares

Always judging and criticizing

It was never ending

You thought it might die down after a bit

You told yourself that they’ll stop after a few more months

The people just aren’t used to it yet

You get it, you really do, Ayato is a person of high status so you understand their criticisms

After all, you were just an average person living their regular life then suddenly you were dating one of the most famous people in the land

This particular day was worse than other days

Everyone was much more unbearable it didn’t help that your husband was busy for the rest of the day, again

For the past 5 years that you’ve been married to Ayato you can’t remember a single day where you had spent one day together with him. Just him, no work, no nothing

Hell, you haven’t even been able to sit and eat at the same table during these years you’ve been married

Sometimes you wish you just hadn’t gotten married at all

At least back then you were actually able to see Ayato and eat at the same table as him

Now that you’re married to him you can’t even see him due to work

And when you do see him it’ll either be because you got a glimpse of him through the door before it shuts or if there’s a social party that you need to attend in

Every single promise was broken

“I’m sorry dear, I’ll make sure to eat with you today”

“I can’t just 'relax'! Sigh Please get out I have work to do”

“Next time, I promise”

“Ah yes, about our date today..I’m afraid I’ll have to cancel it. I have a business meeting today”

“Day off? I don’t have time for that”

Your once happy dream life turned dull and unhappy

You kept telling yourself that it was alright, he was just busy with work and will make time for you when needed. Being the Yashiro Commissioner is a stressful job so it was understandable

But..With every single passing day it was hard..It kept getting harder and harder to stay upbeat and think positively

Again, it didn’t help that others was still judging and criticizing you. You honestly thought it’ll only last for 1-2 years at most but no, they’re still nitpicking at every single thing you did

Calling you a commoner, gold digger, snake, slut, manipulator, and a whole lot of other things

Things got worse when the vision hunt decree came

He got more busier and busier and even had to leave on some sort of “trip” without telling you

You didn’t know where he was, what he was doing, is he doing alright? Is he still alive? Surely he didn’t get assassinated right?

It was all just so..Unbearable

You wanted to leave

You needed to leave

Staying in that estate was taking a big hit on your mental health

It’s always been taking a hit. You just hadn’t noticed and continued to look through rose tinted glasses

Your thoughts were spiraling down into the deep depths

You knew you needed to get your shit together

And so, you tried your best to reach out to Ayato

But of course, you couldn’t get a hold of him at all

So you decided to just leave for the meantime

You’ll deal with the paperwork and everything else once he comes back

For now though, you just decided to reopen your shop, get business running, and try to live your best life without him

Maybe once Ayato comes back and you get divorced you’ll try traveling? It’ll be hard to do so with the Vision hunt decree but you were sure you’ll be able to make it work somehow

Maybe an old friend will be willing to help

˚✧₊⁎❝᷀ົཽ≀ˍ̮ ❝᷀ົཽ⁎⁺˳✧༚ ˚✧₊⁎❝᷀ົཽ≀ˍ̮ ❝᷀ົཽ⁎⁺˳✧༚ ˚✧₊⁎❝᷀ົཽ≀ˍ̮ ❝᷀ົཽ⁎⁺˳✧༚˚✧₊⁎❝᷀ົཽ≀ˍ̮ ❝᷀ົཽ⁎⁺

Hihiii I’m sorry if this is just absolute trash

This is definitely not the best of my works so far but idk (◞‸◟)

I’m not sure if this even is considered angst or not tbh

I have more ideas for this butttt I just can’t fit it so I apologize

The end..Definitely wasn’t what I had in mind though

Who do you think the old friend is? (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)

Part 2

[mossadspypigeon]

Do you really hate reform Jews so much? That is saddening. I’ve been a victim of hate crimes, and the perpetrators certainly didn’t care about my “reform privilege”. I can understand having beef with the idea of assimilation, but overtly hating on reform Jews isn’t cool or the flex you think it is.

wow lmao i talk about a few issues reform has and you instantly assume i hate reform jews. i am so sick and tired of this distinct lack of reading comprehension from people on this website. if you had come to my inbox with concerns etc instead of accusing me of hatred, i would be answering in a much nicer tone because i want to have these discussions and i want to do it with empathy.

HOWEVERRR since you made the choice to display some dumbassery, i’m not going to be nice:

aren’t we the literate people? the people of the book? the fuck happened?

i never said i hated reform jews. neither did that anon. neither did anyone in the comments on the post. i hold no anger towards reform or hatred of it. if you and others like you cant listen during these discussions and learn from them, the divide will just grow larger.

TALKING. ABOUT. NEGATIVES. AND POINTING OUT PROBLEMS. ISN’T. EXPRESSING. HATRED. OR “HATING” ON ANYTHING.

so when you talk about negative shit goyim do, do you hate all goyim? no? then stop assuming shit like this about fellow jews who are simply talking about INTRACOMMUNITY ISSUES. CRITICISM AND HATRED ARE TWO DIFFERENT CONCEPTS.

i’ve gotten hate crimed several times before too as a non frum jew and i would not say i dont still have privilege within my community. it’s called nuance. i know that’s a difficult concept.

being the less visible and most assimilated in any group gives you fucking privilege even if you still experience oppression because there is a SPECTRUM. that is the basics. yes you can deal with hate crimes and antisemitism as a reform jew, but the MOVEMENT ITSELF HAS SOME PROBLEMS THAT SHOULD BE DISCUSSED. the MOVEMENT. not YOU personally. stop trying to silence important discussions with this manipulative bullshit.

it’s giving goyishe vibes, so maybe work on that instead of taking any criticism as hatred. we have discussed this stuff for hundreds of years.

[transfemlogan]

Let's Talk About "Watering Down Characters" (& Very Specifically Remus Sanders)

I am responding to THIS POST, "Why I think people should be allowed to “water down” Remus", by @radioactive-dazey and creating a discussion around this topic. I feel like the idea of changing a character's personality is heavily talked about and done within every fandom aaannd with this post being talked about, I want to step in and say some things because I have Many Things To Say.

And before anyone says shit: I am a ts criticiser, yes, but I criticise everything about the fandom and show— not just Thomas. IDGAF that we have "better things to talk about", I've been talking about those things for like 4 years now and now I'm criticising the fandom. I can do it all.

Feel free to respond with your own opinions if you're replying to me. Can't say I'll reply to them all, but I like hearing what people have to say.

I am very aware that watering down characters is an inherent part of fandom. No matter what fandom you join or what media you get into, there is always a huge part of that community that waters characters down, changes their entire personality, or writes them differently. I do agree that this is just What Happens when you are in fandom. Not everyone understands source material, not everyone has the same opinions when analysing a show, and not everyone cares about it that much.

Personally, I don't get why you would talk about a piece of media and change everything about it, because then you're not enjoying the media, you're enjoying something completely different. But this is fandom and people have fun in different ways and I agree that you need to learn when to look the other way and let people exist.

However, I run a critical blog and my fun is criticising.

"It can be hard to write intrusive thoughts in a respectful way, so people avoid it."

OP brings up that writers may not know how to write intrusive thoughts and so they avoid it, in order to not "writing wrong". Which is alright to do! You don't have to write about serious topics... BUT... if you are voluntarily choosing to write about a series that includes the topic that you don't know how to write about, maybe... you should take the time to learn how to write it.

If you don't want to write about intrusive thoughts, I don't think you should be forced to, but if you are writing a character that controls intrusive thoughts, it makes zero sense to completely remove that aspect when you simply should not write him.

It's brought up how mischaracterising Remus leads to the misunderstanding of intrusive thoughts themselves and stigma surrounding them. Changing Remus' character is fun and all, until we remember that he represents something very serious and important. It's something that actively impacts people. Which is my issue with "escapism" within fandom (touched on later in this post). When people actively ignore real issues happening within the fandom, or in this case, the real issues the series itself is about, by ignoring Remus' character, watering it down, or completely changing it, you are causing more harm to intrusive thoughts and the disorders that are connected to them.

Let's bring up an example: Jimmy from Mouthwashing.

Mouthwashing is a game about a very heavy topic: sexual assault. You play as Jimmy, the main perpetrator, though all the men in the game have a role to play (bystander affect, toxic masculinity, etc).

The fandom is already watering down these characters and topics. Introducing shipping to a game with characters that shouldn't be shipped; making the characters all sweet, perfect, stupid angels who didn't know any better; implying that if Anya had told someone else then she would've been saved, and it's her fault she told Curly in the first place. I could go on and on.

Obviously, Sanders Sides is about different topics. Obviously, Remus is not the same as Jimmy. This isn't a perfect comparison.

But it'd be completely strange if someone told you they were using Mouthwashing as a way to escape real-life issues. That they're writing Jimmy differently, or completely removing the sexual assault entirely, because it's "hard to write".

This is at best super fucking stupid, and at worse actively harmful (which it is). If you can't write the topic of SA, simply do not write for MW in the first place. The same applies with Sanders Sides, and any other piece of media.

"Writers use writing/fandom to escape real life and may not want to talk about those topics."

This is not an inherently wrong statement, but it does ask a question:

If you are joining a fandom to "escape real-life topics", why are you joining one that talks about those real-life topics?

Sanders Sides is a web-series that discusses morality, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, catholism, and other heavy-hitting topics. With the introduction of the dark sides, with certain plot points and arcs— Sanders Sides is very much about those "real-life topics". If you are trying to avoid writing about intrusive thoughts, writing for a show that talks heavily about intrusive thoughts and has an entire character that controls intrusive thoughts isn't... a bright idea.

I know there's this entire talk about using fandom to escape, which is something I have talked about repeatedly on this blog, mainly when we talk about racism within fandom. When you bring up serious topics, people flee and get upset because this is their "safe place", when in actuality, it's a safe place for them and no one else. They are using the phrase "escapism" and "safe place" as a way to spout racist rhetoric without consequences. We all know how I feel about the idea of "escaping through fandom."

The statement "I don't write Remus in character because I'm escaping real-life" makes me raise an eyebrow, because.... the entire show is about that. You're escaping through something that has exactly what you escaping from— that's like if I said I was avoiding my triggers by watching something that included my trigger.

The better answer is just don't watch.

It's the same sentiment I held throughout the fandom after Remus was introduced. "Can you please tag 'duke dont look' or 'remus tw'? He squicks me out." I respect your triggers and squicks and I acknowledge that sometimes they can stem from strange places and be "irrational", but... if your trigger is an entire character, it makes more sense to simply leave the fandom instead of ask everyone to collectively keep in mind your feelings.

If you don't want to write intrusive thoughts, that's okay and I respect this, but maybe you shouldn't be writing for Sanders Sides in the first place if you "can't handle" what the series is about.

I know Sanders Sides did not start off like that, I understand if it was a way to escape at the beginning stages of season one, but it is more serious now. If it's including topics you cannot handle, then you need to take care of yourself and leave.

This mentality of "this makes me uncomfortable, so I don't have to partake" is such an interesting one. Mainly because people think their uncomfortableness always stems from a good place, a place that isn't allowed to be questioned. You can't get mad when someone is feeling bad, because those are their emotions. "If I am feeling uncomfortable, you should respect me and let me be."

But the issue with this is that sometimes (a lot of the times) the things that make you uncomfortable aren't inherently an issue. Sometimes it is an underlying thing you need to work through. Sometimes it's good to step outside of your comfort zone.

I have agoraphobia, which is the fear of leaving my house and going outside. If I was constantly letting this fear control me, I would never leave my house. This feeling doesn't stem from a good place. I need to be comfortable leaving my house and I need to force myself out.

You don't let uncomfortableness or fear control your morals. Just because something makes you Feel Bad, doesn't mean it is Actually Bad.

Which is why I think this debate is brought up. It's always talked about how one feels about Remus, how one feels about intrusive thoughts.

"What if they don't like writing about it?" "What if they don't feel comfortable writing something they don't know?" "But Remus makes me uncomfortable, I can't accept him."

Your feelings, while okay to have, are not always "valid."

You can feel how you want about Remus, but no one is forcing you to write him. When you write fanfiction, you are voluntarily writing it. You are choosing to create content within the media.

If you don't like the content in Sanders Sides; if you don't know how to accurately write intrusive thoughts; if you won't learn how to accurately write them; if you can't handle the topics that are in the series, itself; then why are you here? Why are you choosing to write it? Why are you in the fandom?

Change him all you want, but a better option is simply don't write him in the first place. You have no reason to mischaracterise him when writing him is a chose you actively chose to do.

Sure, it boils down to personal interpretation and "what you want to write", but if your interpretation is going completely against what is represented in Sanders Sides, then what are you here for? Which wraps all the way around back to my own personal opinion on mischaracterising characters:

If you're changing the characters completely, then do you even like them or their story or source material?

[scoobydoodean]

Do you have siblings, and what order are you in?

How do you view and feel about Sam running away multiple times, and then in 5.16 Sam running away are the only memories he's given? (and do you think angels did that purposefully?)

I am the younger of two and I understand how Sam can run away and how it would only be about getting away from their, but that Dean would feel the brunt of it all. But I can totally imagine my older sibling understanding Dean, but not necessarily Sam's pov.

I also don't think Sam's reasoning is ever fully explained, at least in 5.16, it makes him seem much more selfish and uncaring. I think he assumed Dean was better equipped to handle living with their dad alone simply because he behaved, it just happened to be that Dean and dad were linked - and I don't really know how much they talked about their relationship with their dad till they were older.

I wonder if Dean ever would've considered leaving John and living somewhere near Sam, or even running away with Sam.

I have three siblings. I'm in the middle. Two older siblings and the caboose is 7 years younger than me. So I remember what it's like to be the baby but I also know what it's like to play older sibling to a sibling several years younger than me. My younger brother and I are also very close.

If this was all prompted by my comment the other day that I wasn't looking forward to watching "Dark Side of the Moon", I don't dislike the episode because it shows Sam running off. I do have issues with the episode, but a large part of my distaste for it is that it is generally very depressing. It being depressing in of itself isn't a criticism of the episode—it's supposed to be depressing because it's about total loss of hope and belief for Dean (and then Cas as well losing hope at the end of the episode). It's doing what it's supposed to do in that sense. It's just hard to watch. Unfortunately, a lot of people take the bleakness of it and the idea that Dean is a burden and etc as truth and not manipulation meant to drive him to say "yes", and that also makes me rather sour about it.

I don't care that Sam wanted to go to college, or that he was happy at another family's thanksgiving at one point in his life. The Flagstaff memory bothers me a little because Sam's fond recollection of it, unmarred by any negative associations, clearly suggests he didn't face any consequences for running off once John found him. The fact that he never even into his adult life considered that Dean might have faced consequences does feel rather self-centered, and that's on purpose. I don't care that Sam went to school or that there were points as a kid where he wanted to run off.

I do disagree with the premise that Sam still desires some normal core Thanksgiving. I simply don't think that would be a favorite memory for Sam anymore. Just a few episodes prior to this, in "Swap Meat", Sam sat down with someone else's family for a normal, family dinner and he hated it. He found Gary's parents absolutely obnoxious. He told Gary afterward that he envied his life, only to turn to Dean and say he lied.

SAM I totally lied. That kid's life sucked ass. All that apple-pie, family crap? It's stressful. Trust me – we didn't miss a damn thing.

Or observe earlier in the episode:

DEAN You ever think that you'd want something like that? Wife, rugrats, the whole nine? SAM No, not really my thing anymore.

In fact, it's Dean who envies the normal life in "Swap Meat" and several other episodes (ex: 2.20, 4.19) whereas Sam indicates several times that a normal life is not something he wants (2.02, 2.10, 2.20, 4.08, 4.19, 5.12). In 4.08 and in 2.20, Sam in fact overtly states that he would not go back and choose a normal life now if he could go back. In 3.01, 4.19, and in 5.06, Sam also heavily emphasizes the importance of family within the hunting dynamic. I track a lot of this within the tag #sam the hunter.

I think there is a strong argument to be made that Zachariah ran them through heaven like rats in a maze in 5.16, directing them toward certain memories and not others in order to make Dean believe that Sam doesn't care for him (I have a separate post to make about this in more detail). However, I don't believe Zachariah forced in memories that aren't "greatest hits". I think he just drove them away from any happy memories Sam has with Dean and toward ones where Sam grasped independence from John, misappropriated to make Dean feel Sam doesn't care about Dean or appreciate/recognize his sacrifices (the former is not true, but the latter is in fact true in many cases).

Note though that when Joshua arrives and takes them to heaven's garden:

SAM: This is heaven’s Garden? DEAN: It’s-it’s nice… ish. I guess. JOSHUA: You see what you want to here. For some it’s God’s throne room; for others it’s Eden. You two, I believe it’s the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. You came here on a field trip.

So right there, we have a shared favorite memory, right after (presumably) any potential influence Zachariah had on what memories they were seeing was eliminated.

What primarily irritates me about this episode and many other Dabb/Loflin episodes is their perpetual need to insert the narrative that Sam wants a normal life he explicitly states he does not want over and over and over in everyone else's episodes, while they write Dean as someone who says things like "I mean, we’re supposed to be a team. It’s supposed to be you and me against the world, right?" It implies a sort of desperation vs apathy that, even when contradicted in subtler ways, I just don't find interesting... And yet they seem to harp on the same dramatic "misunderstanding" over and over and over for all eternity. And Dabb continues it after cutting ties with Loflin. In fact he continues to toy with these obnoxious dramatics to the very end of the series in a way I find unbelievably tired and obnoxious and I resent it. He's the same one-trick pony when it comes to his ideas on Dean and Cas conflicts in the later seasons.

As to your last bit there: Dean did consider running off. We see this in "Bad Boys", and in that episode, we also see that Dean doesn't end up abandoning their family because he felt Sam needed him. We hear a similar narrative in regards to John in 1.06 from the mouth of the shifter—that Dean had dreams of his own, but Dean felt that John needed him, so Dean stayed. John echoes this when he says that he was an emotional wreck and Dean took care of him (2.01). We see Dean also taking care of Mary in "Dark Side of the Moon" after she gets off the phone with John, upset. 5.16 casts Dean as someone perpetually sacrificing his own needs for his family, but unappreciated all the while. In fact, Sam doesn't recognize any of his sacrifices. Dean is nothing more than a blood offering on the altar of family. Zachariah intends this narrative and leans into it heavily in the scene where he explicitly manipulates what Sam and Dean are seeing.

MARY: Don’t you walk away from me. I never loved you. You were my burden. I was shackled to you. Look what it got me. The worst was the smell. The pain, well. What can you say about your skin bubbling off? But the smell was so… You know, for a second I thought I’d left a pot roast burning in the oven. But… it was my meat. And then, finally, I was dead. The one silver lining was that at least I was away from you.

Zachariah has Mary speak about Dean being a burden to his family and to her, but it's potentially more layered than "Dean has abandonment issues". What Mary says about being shackled to Dean—being burdened by her child—firmly recollects Dean's claim to Cas in 5.03 that he's chained to his family through responsibility, and that finally being away from Sam is a relief. This fake Mary says death was her escape from similar chains of responsibility to her loved ones. It was the only escape. Burned up and dead but finally free. There's an implication there that Dean can finally escape responsibility in a similar way, and in two episodes, Dean is going to try and escape by saying "Yes".

[genericpuff]

I reread episode 24 of LO after having dropped off between seasons 1 and 2 and it genuinely brought me to tears. I feel like there’s no way the theory about Rachel not intending this to be a depiction of SA can be true. The way it’s written feels so powerful and intentional, and I honestly think that makes her dropping the plotline that much worse.

I mean, maybe I’m projecting because of how similar the scenario was to my own experiences, but I just don’t feel convinced that she didn’t fully intend to write this as SA.

The shots of Persephone trying to physically push him away, of her standing shell shocked in the shower, after the fact, her internal dialogue about wanting it to stop but feeling like she can’t take back the “okay” she gave. It’s gut wrenching. And Apollo commenting on her hair and saying she should leave it long is such a brilliant piece of writing that hits like a punch in the gut for us readers who know why it grows.

And honestly, I think that chapter being so well written is what hurts the most. Because it feels like myself and other survivors were lured in by the prospect of seeing our stories told, and getting catharsis through Persephone even if we would never have it. The conversation she has later with Eros, where he states plainly that what happened was rape, not dancing around the word, validating what Persephone and so many real readers have gone through… It’s so, so painful to read that back and know that this plotline was dropped. That we were led to believe we would be seen only to be completely swept under the rug with no resolution to that story.

And I know people criticize that it’s immediately followed by a phone call with Hades, but honestly? After rereading that too? I loved most of the phone call. They had real chemistry, and you could still feel the weight of what just happened in how Persephone carried herself, but as they talked and she had something to distract herself, the burden got a bit lighter, at least for the moment. It felt resonant. Emotionally intelligent.

It’s like you said. Lore Olympus wouldn’t be so easy to hate if it hadn’t been so easy to love. I think it could have been good despite its flaws and problematic elements, because no media is 100% pure— but somewhere along the way, Rachel stopped caring. And THAT is what ruined it.

No but this is so valid, everything you just described was pretty much why I loved the SA plotline in the first place.

I think the scene itself is beautifully written, but it's odd how it becomes more about Persephone simply wanting an "easy way out" of TGOEM, not just in the 'decision' to have sex (i.e. she was coerced and assaulted) but later when she tries to get out of TGOEM, like... is it because she wants to actually date guys, or is it because she doesn't feel like she "deserves" to be in TGOEM anymore due to the assault? The story tries in some places to explore this but never commits to it fully so it's really hard to know what point it's trying to make at times when you actually peel back the layers.

Really the biggest reasons I 'suspect' Rachel of not intending to write a genuine SA plot from the very beginning is because of how... 'back of mind' it is. It only seems to be brought up whenever Rachel can be bothered to remember, but then it's completely juxtaposed against scenes where it should affect her (or reasonably would) and it doesn't. Case in point, a few episodes after she tells Eros what happened and he confirms it was rape, he tries to convince her to go into Hades' office dressed in a trenchcoat and nothing else underneath and it's like bro... this girl just told you what she went through, why are you suggesting she try to seduce her boss who she doesn't even really know yet LOL

As a result , it really does just make it feel like the SA scene is just there to make Apollo an easy villain, and Hades an easy hero, with the only definitions being "well, Hades didn't assault her, so he's definitely the better choice!" (as if Apollo was ever a 'choice' to begin with, Persephone didn't like him from day 1 so there was basically no chance of there being a love triangle setup except for the audience members who quickly latched onto that "I guess he's cute if you squint a little" line). And with the way episodes are chopped up, separating points of the narrative from each other, it feels like whenever stuff does happen (esp surrounding the SA plot) it's because Rachel's finally bought herself enough time to come up with something, like the therapy episode, Eros confirming it was assault, Persephone stealing the lyre with the intent of hiding it from Apollo (only to then willingly show it to him alone in her bedroom with him a handful of episodes later), etc.

If she did intend to write an SA scene from the beginning, it doesn't feel like she thought the plotline through fully to make it actually feel genuine (and this goes for a lot of the subplots in LO, they always seem to start off as these base "get your attention" ideas but with no actual follow through). And with Apollo now being written as this "huehue you fell right into my trap!" villain (and very poorly I might add) it just feels like the SA is now taking a backseat to, "Actually, Apollo is the bad guy because he wants to overthrow his dad or some shit. Forget the SA happened, I don't wanna write about it anymore."

All those points aside, I agree with you fully, if Rachel cared about what she was trying to write back when the SA was first shown, then that level of care definitely doesn't seem to be there anymore and it's such a shame to see. It just feels like it's being used for artificial drama and nothing more and that's so frustrating and disappointing for many of the SA victims who are critical of this story (including myself) to see when that plotline originally felt like comforting visibility.

[sepublic]

So I've seen some people criticize lately the deconstruction of the child hero trope, arguing that it originally existed as a way of empowering kids who feel ineffective and powerless. And yeah, kids DO have a notable lack of agency that as an adult, you really begin to understand more and appreciate, at least on my end. These are all fair arguments, the deconstruction of the deconstruction, and I don't think they're necessarily wrong. It's just...

Some stories are meant for other people? The thing about this generation is that it's got a LOT on its shoulders. This generation is the one that's tired and burnt out, it has to deal with the burden of a world that's imploding in on itself, and the expectation that they have to fix it. It feels like corporations and politicians are casually destroying the world, knowing future generations will be the ones to have to clean it up, so why should they care?

There's a lot of anxiety and angst about the sociopolitical sphere. We've got the rise of Linkin Park, we've got people becoming jaded with late-stage capitalism and wondering how they can even survive in this economy. The fantasy has shifted from large and grand stuff to simply being able to survive and make a humble yet satisfying living. Kids are becoming burnt out, and being gifted is more apparently not worth the hype.

So I imagine THAT's the appeal behind the deconstruction of the kid protagonist for modern audiences, the one that's like "Hey isn't this fucked up? Isn't this messed up? The fate of the world is on this kid's shoulders, they're just a child soldier?" Because I think it reflects a lot of people's frustration with the adults around them, that it feels like the adults have become useless and are just forcing them to do things on their own, and often for them.

For a lot of young people, it feels like they're being forced to do all of the emotional labor while parents and guardians who tend to fail them, especially for being queer, ultimately slack on their duties by guilt-tripping them; Saying they've already done so much providing shelter and food, so you should be grateful, how dare you expect emotional support and the like!!!

It's all a way to vent frustration over the ineffectivity, and even abuse, of parents and guardians. It's catharsis for angst, because it feels like there's so much wrong with the world; The internet and modern communication has led to this phenomenon of "infowhelming" where kids are constantly bombarded by news of all the world's ills. It's sensory overload, it's a Greta Thunberg situation where it's inherently ridiculous that a kid has to step up and fix things, and instead of acknowledging how much help they need, the adults have the audacity to congratulate this child and put them on a pedestal as the chosen one who will fix things for them. Instead of just taking responsibility themselves.

The "Kid Protagonist is a Child Soldier" deconstruction is an outlet for kids to explore darker emotions, to admit their angst is valid, that this is a really shitty situation and this is how they can deal with it. Growing up, I already had Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which DID play into the idea of kids cast into too much responsibility because of useless adults around them. It felt like a way for kids to cope with the fact that the world can be a very unfair place, it was cathartic in its acknowledgement of the frustration and its validity.

Plus, it's not as if all these deconstruction stories are saying that kids CAN'T have fun, that they can't do things, because kids DO want to do things!!! They want agency, they want to feel like they're making a difference! It's just that a lot of them also want the reassurance that the adults are still there for them as a support network, that they have people more experienced to fall back and rely on when it's too much; They can do their part but it's not ALL down to them, is that too much to ask for? The nuance of being able to do things, but not having to be the only one?

Sometimes kids like it both ways where they can be an adventurer but also recognize when some things messed them up, so they can have space to breathe before moving onwards. Sometimes they need a break because it IS taxing, but they’ll still go back to it. Sometimes they'll still do the work knowing how necessary it is, while wanting acknowledgement for how hard it was. People write about the traumatic effects of 'bad things' for a reason; They still want to see those bad things in media, for the catharsis of the coping and emotional fallout afterwards.

These defenses of the Kid Protagonist trope and how it resonated with kids from, say, the early 20th century is fair. It's true. But these deconstruction stories of today also apply, in that they're a power fantasy in a different way for different kids of a different generation, with different struggles. So I find it disingenuous to simply dismiss these deconstruction-type stories as just CinemaSins bathos, even if I understand that a lot of people are understandably tired of the MCU's "That just happened" attempts at self-awareness.

And I don't think kids of today are completely decrying straightforward depictions, it's just nice to have those, AND the deconstruction, to flip back and forth between as their mood needs. These types of stories where the protagonists realize they're child soldiers, like Animorphs -which itself was written for teenagers in all their angst- might simply... not be for some people. And that's okay, that's fine! Different stories resonate, different stories serve different purposes because they're by different people.

[superkooku]

My problem with "feminist" retellings

It's all a question of attitude.

On paper, I love the idea of focusing on different women or really anyone in the myths. Their stories are very interesting, the base of many more tales to come and that inspired us. I'd be a hypocrite if I said that I didn't see the appeal of giving a bit of your own ideas to an existing work, or to focus on a figure you find underrated but personally vibe with (me with Asclepius right now :3).

I'm not Greek but I'm personally saying : go ahead. Have fun, see why you love this story and how the ancient Greeks perceived it, try to add a new spin to the myth.

My problem comes when some people are taking everything out of context, trying to smother the original message and character motivations, or just the cohesive narration of the myth, to then put some clumsy feminist message.

Listen, I'm all for feminism and empowering women, to make our voices heard. I mean, I'm a woman so the opposite would be very counterproductive. But :

A. Many women in mythology are already interesting enough without our help. By being physically strong, enchantresses, or simply cunning, diplomatic forces, soft caring presences, protectors, etc... I could go on and on about why Penelope is such an icon, or why Leto and Demeter are amazing mothers, Hera's fascinating ambivalence and many more. Do they fit our modern perspective? No. Do they have to ? No.

B. I say "clumsy" because in some cases, they're more passive than in the so-called sexist myths so we can make the men into these evil figures that only seek harm. Listen, sometimes, I get it. Some figures were ill intentioned, others good and 99% of them in the middle. But if you won't see me defend Polydectes, I'm all for treating men like Perseus with respect and every deity with nuance (yes, even Zeus).

Now, are all feminist retellings bad ? Not necessarily. Though I didn't find any that convinced me probably because the advertisement itself is not my cup of tea.

Better adaptations that are ironically more feminist don't advertise themselves as such, or with buzzwords such as "revolutionary, world changing, sublime reimagining" but as a simple story of someone who loves mythology and poured some time to research. To respect the women in the myths and make their voices, not the author's, shine through the work.

Ofc, this doesn't completely apply to original stories with feminist messages. Since the context is chosen by the author and not some important cultural and religious findings, I'm way more lenient with those and won't complain. They can advertise their story with the words they want and can do absolutely everything they'd like.

Listen, ancient Greek norms could be misogynistic, I'm not gonna deny it one second. Women had way less autonomy. But if we want to get interested in an era, we kinda have to include the whole package, you know ?

Or, if sexism is uncomfortable to write, or for child friendly purposes, it's okay not to include it too much but one should at LEAST try to respect the original message and make the story fun. Not just cherry pick who's good or evil even though most of the time, neither fit.

Btw I'm not naming any retelling in this post because I really don't want to target any author. I may seem harsh sometimes but only want to criticize the works. They're probably lovely people irl and it's ultimately just some goober's opinion on the net. But I just don't agree with how they frame the myths.

Anyways, what are your thoughts ?

[myehm228]

Sorry if you've answered this before, but why do you hate the reboot so much?

well, actually, I’ve already talked about this several times here

I hate him because it ruined everything for me. I’ve been in the fandom for quite a long time and it’s not just a fandom, it’s already become my home, it’s one of the few things that makes me happy, that can bring me good emotions, I had it during the terrible periods of my life, I’m very close to the show and the characters, I love this very much, I can’t take it any simpler, I just can’t. I built so many things, I had so many ideas, I thought about the holes in the plot and in the lore, about the characters, about what could have happened before and after the canon, taking into account almost everything that was said in the canon, I really tried to do everything logically and as best as possible. and now that this has come out, everything I’ve done all these years has become worthless in an instant, I don’t know what to do now. previously, no one cared much about my ideas and creativity either, it was almost of no interest to anyone, and now even more so. people only like the reboot, they don’t like anything else, they don’t always like the original either. I don’t like it, I don’t want it this way, and it’s everywhere, I can’t even hide from it, it’ll get me everywhere, everywhere they will shove it at me, everywhere they will equate my headcanons to a reboot, everywhere they will call my designs peri and irep, and they will be surprised that I use the original canon, wow. I can isolate myself from artists or writers that I don’t like, but I can’t with this, it makes me sick, I want to bang my head against the walls.

and in general, the reboot itself is pretty mediocre, let's be honest. it may not be downright terrible, but it’s pretty boring and mediocre, and it’s only being singled out for its beautiful graphics (and even then, computer animation doesn’t suit the style and it looks bad). if it weren’t for all this, I simply wouldn’t care, but I really don’t understand how people can lick this so passionately, and also say that this is a masterpiece and much better than the original, well, excuse me of course. they forgot about the canon, if you are making a direct sequel in the same universe, as reboot are very fond of repeating all the time, then can you at least, I don’t know, normally review the original cartoon? seriously, there's a change in how Cosmo and Wanda met, well guys, I wanted to cry. it feels like everyone who created this didn’t watch anything other than season 9 and half of season 1 (and then only with one eye and background), otherwise I don’t know how to explain these huge holes and illogicality. and the fans are also good, they’re sitting there, they haven’t even watched the show and are already proving something to others and doing something, well, are you serious or what. how many fans of the reboot will cry if I say that fairies canonically cannot have children not from fairies, but how can that be, but what about the children of perirep оh how did it happen🥺🥺🥺 and the fact that Cosmo and Wanda should be fairies of Timmy's children and not on some vacation and with Hazel, because it corresponds to the time, well, who cares about stupid original. and this is not an isolated case.

and also, simply because I didn’t like the reboot (at that time I didn’t hate it yet, I just didn’t love it), so much shit was thrown at me than I had ever seen in my entire stay in the fandom. I was called a racist simply because I don’t like Hazel and I think that she’s not an interesting character, well, because after all, we know that everyone who doesn’t like the reboot is racist, really, yes yes, that's the truth. and also in response to criticism of the reboot, they told me to grow up, touch the grass and that I’m toxic, oh how cool, and after that it’s me who’s bad, it’s me who needs to be cancelled, I DARE NOT TO LOVE A N*W W*SH OMG, that’s how it works yes.

I have enough reasons not to like the reboot and its fans, especially after what happened to me. I really feel bad watching this, it ruined my whole summer, it was terrible, it was so terrible, if they release a season 2, I don’t know how I’ll live, I don’t think I can stand it. I don’t want, I don’t want to see this, I want the fandom to die again, I feel bad, it’s killing me from the inside.

ой достали меня эти омерекосы все вам объяснять надо😑😑

[fleshing-out-fodlan]

I think this is a nice moment of Edelgard consoling Byleth after Remire Village. She’s often criticized as being heartless for her response to Jeralt’s death and even if I disagree I can see where people are coming from with that. But I think this exchange shows that she genuinely cares for Byleth.

She learned first hand about the limits of human strength during her experimentation as a child so she knows that, while this weakness/failure must be acknowledged, it’s also not something to feel bad about. She also states the importance of staying positive which I think speaks to her coping mechanisms. Throughout her involvement with the Agarthans, she found comfort in imagining the good she can bring to the world by using the power they gave her instead of dwelling on what she lost. I think understanding this mindset is important in understanding her reaction to Byleth grieving Jeralt. While her response was admittedly harsh and for many people would probably not be particularly helpful, it was a result of this mindset. While grief and failure should be acknowledged, it is not something you should dwell on. After Jeralt’s death, she feels Byleth is focusing too heavily on her loss instead of looking to the future and making plans for how they can manage the situation. She thinks it’s ridiculous to “wait for time to heal [your] wound” because time itself doesn’t do anything. Your actions and your mindset are what allow you to heal, hence why she emphasizes the importance of “stay[ing] positive through the horror.”

She says to Byleth that she does not want to “stand still” with her but rather wants to “move forward.” Edelgard’s focus has always been on looking to the future and trying to take another step forward and, as stated above, this is what allowed her to get through her grief. She feels that, by allowing Byleth to wallow in her grief, she would simply encourage self destructive behavior. So, while the phrasing of her statement is harsh (and I believe Edelgard in general struggles with phrasing her thoughts in ways that will be well received by others), the sentiment isn’t. She would rather move forwards with Byleth, helping her to learn to cope with her loss, than simply sit around and cry about it in a way that she feels will only hinder Byleth’s growth.