#if you try and come at me in bad faith about this i will be. so mad. i am allowed to be fucking upset.

[teaboot]

One of the biggest eye-openers for me back when a I went to church was that like…

Oh man how do I explain it.

There’s this prevalent idea I see a lot in Christian circles that if you pray right, if you follow God correctly, if you’re a truly virtuous person, your problems will be solved, right?

If you suffer, if you fall ill, if bad things happen, it’s because you aren’t good enough. You don’t need medicine because if you’re worthy, if you’re faithful enough, God will reward you by healing you. Right?

But like. Discussing this with my mother, and travelling out east with our pastor… Jesus didn’t spend all his time with perfect, virtuous people. Jesus didn’t seek out and heal well-to-do, faithful, perfect Christians. In fact, there’s a specific story in which he straight up doesn’t travel out to heal a believer’s dying daughter, because she’s already “saved”. Her earthy death is okay because she’s going to heaven already.

And like… coming from our Pastor, who is one of the best guys I’ve ever met- there seems to be an ongoing, underlying message of, “Jesus doesn’t care about you if you’re a good Christian”. If you’re a good Christian, if you’re living a virtuous life on earth, then any suffering you experience is only temporary- your ETERNITY is secure. Jesus goes out of his way to meet with sinners and the unfaithful because those are the people whose souls are in danger.

So like. In that perspective, being good doesn’t make your life better, it’s just good for others and good for your soul. Praying and doing good probably won’t cure your cancer, but it may mean you don’t have to worry too much about your death.

And like. I dunno. I wouldn’t call myself a Christian, but I find myself thinking about that concept a lot

Does suffering mean you deserve a reward?

Is suffering proof that you’re unworthy?

Or is suffering just an unfortunate facet of life that doesn’t reflect on your worth, that you still have to deal with as best you can?

Maybe suffering is just suffering.

Maybe the bad things you experienced weren’t about you

And maybe you just gotta try your best and be kind anyways, so you can rest easy when you go

[datamodel-of-disaster]

You know what? Fair.

I never disagreed with the base premise -diets suck and are mostly unscientific nonsense that doesn’t actually do anything but wreck your metabolism in the long run, and the language of diet culture is fairly ridiculous to match.

But yeah. When people say shit like cheese ruining the nutrition of their broccoli, it’s not because they actually believe that, it’s because they are terrified of becoming or remaining fat. It’s like prayer, like an entreaty to a higher power -you repeat the tenets as though you believe em, just to keep the fear at bay. Knock on wood, put out some crystals, cheese is bad -you say what you need to be true to believe you can control your fate.

And you’re right. That sucks ass, especially for (other) fat people in the dieter’s life, and you don’t need to have patience for it as a fat person. You’re not responsible for soothing that fear -especially not in people thinner and less subject to discrimination than you. So FAIR, you can say fuck you to it. You can stop reading here if you like -you’ve made your point and I see where you’re coming from, and I suppose I largely agree.

Because I can’t for the life of me write a short post though…

I’m not “morbidly obese” fat (I know that’s a shit term, I know), and never have been, that’s not an experience I claim or can speak for. But I’ve been varying degrees of fat, on and off my entire life, from properly overweight fat to chubby to basically straight size and back due to whack hormones and various meds, and I’m so, so very familiar with the fear.

I don’t hate myself when I’m bigger, or think I’m unworthy or unloveable or whatever. Nobody’s worth depends on the ability to meet an aesthetic standard. But I have seen and felt the difference in how people -strangers, but also people who know and like me- treat me when I’m bigger. Sometimes it’s subtle, often it’s obvious, and that to me means I can’t act like the fear is baseless.

When I see people, especially straight-size people, participating in diet culture shit, I just see that fear reflected. Talking shit about them feels a little like talking shit about the most scared and vulnerable bit of myself, that just wants people to be nice to me, and knows people always become less nice when I get bigger. Trying to mock that part of me only ever made it more determined to diet and starve and repeat bullshit. I try hard not to do that anymore now, but I get it, I get why people do it, I get the hollow comfort of it.

I don’t think a better, less fatphobic world will happen by mocking the people afraid of being fat for their bullshit diets, any more than you will convert anyone to atheism by mocking the big sky daddy, or cure someone’s OCD by pointing out the ridiculousness of their rituals. That was the crux of my initial post.

But I guess that doesn’t mean fat people don’t deserve the catharsis of poking fun at it all, or that fat people bear any responsibility for these fragile fears of thinner people. It just… is what it is, I guess. I don’t have a solution either.

Anyway, thanks for indulging this conversation, and offering another viewpoint. I swear it has all been in good faith.

diet talk is so inexpressibly nonsensical the instant you know anything about "the human body" or "nutrition" or if you think about it for three seconds

[dodgeballstuckonthegymceiling]

If you like my work, please consider commissioning me so I can write more :)

Doey & reckless player

★ Of course you are the kind of person to take chances, its why you came back to the factory after so long. Well, that and the note. By the time you met Doey, you have already taken many leaps of faith.

★ How he reacts honestly depends on his mood and what it is you did. If he's feeling playful and you didn't do anything too serious, he might just poke fun at you for taking so many risks. Putting his hand over where his heart would be and declaring "Oh no, don't do that! You'll give me a heart attack!"

★ Occasionally, Doey adopts a mock-serious tone, playing the role of a strict parent. "Now, what did I tell you about running off like that?" He wags his finger at you, like he was going to reprimand you. But the smirk on his face told you he wouldn't.

★ If the actions you take lead to success, he can't help but feel impressed. "Alright, alright, I'll admit, that was pretty good. But please, try not to give me a heart attack next time." He says with a goofy wink at the end.

★ When Doey is in a more nervous mood. Aka If the player is about to do something particularly stupid, Doey can't help but step in. "Hey, maybe we should think this through first?" Gently but firmly trying to guide them away from making a bad choice.

★ If you manage to find yourself in a risky situation, then get yourself out of it, he finds himself irritated at the lack of concern for your safety. And even more upset at the way you treat your life like it's not as precious as it is.

★What If you go off and do something dangerous and things don't turn out well? His usually controlled temper comes out when he thinks about it. And the frustration bubbles to the surface, "Do you even realize what could have happened?" he snaps, "It's like you don't even care!"

★ You need to be careful. Please. His temper isn't just about your safety. it's about how deeply he cares and the fear of losing you to something completely avoidable. He needs you to stay safe.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I have been thinking about Feast recently and it got me thinking about the kids that are studying at the temple and how fucked up it is that they're brought back 186 years later

Considering that Fu was forced into guardianship and had to leave his family behind we can assume the same thing goes for the other kids as well, which makes the situation even worst

Because imagine you're around young Fu's age, they force you into guarding a box with magical jewelries that you didn't asked for and aren't interested in, doesn't help that the training is a nightmare, suddenly a giant blue frog shows up and swallows you whole alongside other people and you're now dead, and when you thought things couldn't get any worst you're miraculously (no pun intended) brought back to life and you realize you skipped almost two decades into the future, meaning you can't come back to your family since I highly doubt they're alive for so many years, you can't go back to your home either because again highly doubt it exists anymore, so you're now an orphan just like the other kids and you're forever stuck in that guardian temple

One thing for sure everybody want Fu dead after this

The guardian lore is one of the many elements of canon that feels incredibly underdeveloped. Heck, I'm not even wild about the idea that a sentimonster's damage can be perfectly undone over a hundred years later. The implications are really weird. Like, if I'm dying from cancer, can I make a sentimonster and have it kill me so that a future Ladybug can undo that move and I wake up when cancer has been cured? Based on Feast, I think the answer is yes! It's super weird. ~180 years have passed. The guardians should have been dead, cure or no cure.

Having Fu be an unwilling child guardian would have been a solid choice if the goal was to have a discussion about Marinette also being an unwilling child guardian. It's a decent analogy for generational trauma. It could even be used as a discussion on child soldiers! But canon isn't doing any of that, so Fu being an unwilling child guardian just feels sad and weird. Why add that element if you're not going to do anything with it? It's up there with implying that teenagers aren't supposed to be Chosen like they did in Furious Fu:

Su-Han:(interrupts, shouting) When the lion speaks the cub listens! First off you two are going to hand over your Miraculous to me. Cat Noir: What, that's a bad joke. (smiles with Ladybug) And I know all about bad jokes. Ladybug: We can't do that! How are we going to defeat Shadow Moth without our Miraculous? Su-Han: I will reassign then to carefully selected, appropriate adult holders. Like any rightful responsible Guardian would do.

You should never acknowledge that teenagers are a questionable choice for heroes in your show about teenage heroes unless you're going to give that statement actual weight and discuss how messed up this would be in the real world. Canon doesn't do this, so this was a terrible thing to include. This isn't breaking the fourth wall for a joke. It's the writers trying to engage with bad-faith criticism to which there is no good counterargument other than, "this is the show's premise. If your suspension of disbelief doesn't allow you to enjoy that premise, then this isn't the show for you." Don't remind the viewers who are happy to play along that the show is asking them to use their suspension of disbelief. That is a great way to break their suspension of disbelief!

All of this is why my stance is that the guardian order was a bad call. It's just way too complicated an element to introduce if you're not going to do anything interesting with it. Su Han could have easily just been the guardian of a different miracle box who comes to train Marinette when Fu is lost. He could have even been some sort of master guardian who only has one kwami of his own and no box because he oversees all the different sub boxes. Anything is better than introducing a whole temple of guardians and then only having one guy show up to help, especially when he doesn't actually do anything to help! At least give the heroes a new power up!

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

Oh my god, I was enjoying it enough but very quickly it has become my favorite to get updates on (even more than GOMM 😳). So, please some for boy dad (a fantastic departure from the usual girl dad dynamic!!) Buck!

🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻

- Sarah

Thank you! So happy you're liking this one!

90 for 🗻:

---

"I don’t have any rights to Arthur.”

Karen nods. “It’s hard. This much worry, and valid worry. I get it.”

Eddie knows she does. He doesn’t know a ton about their situation with Denny’s birth mother, but he certainly remembers the shit they went through to get Mara back. 

“It’s not even really about me,” Eddie says. “I’m making it about me. It’s about Buck and Artie.”

“No,” Karen shakes her head. “That’s not true. You are his father, too. In every way that counts How you feel about this matters.”

Eddie inhales. Nods. 

“Thanks, Karen,” he mumbles. 

“At one time or another, I had to fight to keep both my kids,” Karen reminds him. “But they ended up where they belonged. And I really believe Artie will, too.”

She sounds so sure. Eddie wishes he was that sure.

“Thank you,” he says again. 

Karen smiles. She reaches out and ruffles Artie’s curls.

“You’re one lucky little guy,” she coos at him. 

Eddie chuckles. “We’re lucky.”

“Yeah,” she agrees. “You are.”

🗻

Buck finds Eddie and Karen a minute or so later. He tells them that sent Jaylin away.

“I said we could find a time for her to see him, but today wasn’t appropriate and dropping in without warning isn’t acceptable.”

And is proud of him. Really, he is. Eddie was afraid of Buck’s people pleasing. Of Buck giving in. But he’s held firm. Arthur needs him to make some of the mean decisions, now. The uncomfortable decisions. And, honestly? So does Eddie. Maybe that’s not right of him, but it’s true. 

They go back to the party and try to finish it normally. Though nothing feels normal. And everybody in the room knows there’s a threat to their little family, but no one says a word about it for the rest of the evening. 

v.

Less than a week later, Jaylin is back on their front porch. This time, by invitation. To see her son for the first time in over nine months. 

Eddie has done this dance before. Christmas Day, 2018. Shannon. That had been a much longer gap in absence. But Chris was old enough to remember. To miss his mother. To need her back in his life. And Eddie knew Shannon. He knew her heart. Even if it had taken him a while to trust her not to make a mistake again, he always knew she wouldn’t be reckless with Christopher. She wouldn’t put him in the sort of position Jaylin had put Christopher in. What reason does he have to extend the same faith now? None. 

Eddie doesn’t really participate in the visit. He’s there. In the background. Like a dog pacing up and down the fenceline, waiting for a threat to its home. He watches vigilantly. Because, although this is between Buck and Jaylin, Eddie has so much at stake. 

She sits down on the couch, eyes downcast. She looked ashamed. Eddie supposes he would, too. No. Not would. Did. He did feel so ashamed. When he would come home from Afghanistan and Chris would cry when Eddie held him. He felt rotten. He felt wrong. He knows exactly how she feels right now. He just can’t bring himself to feel bad for her. He should, but he doesn’t. 

Buck brings Artie to her. Eddie watches his body language as he hands their son over to the woman who left him without a word. His jaw is tight. Clenched. His fingers hesitate, letting go. His eyes are the electric sort of blue that lets Eddie know he’s close to crying. He hates this. He hates this just as much as Eddie. More, maybe. 

[succumbed-to-the-void]

In my opinion, the idea of being farther from God or closer to God is an imperfect metaphor that exists to some degree in both Judaism and Christianity. Both Judaism and Christianity believe that God is omnipresent, and both Judaism and Christianity believe that we can never truly hide from God or do anything to change the fact that God will always be there with us. I don't know as much about Christianity as I do about Judaism, so I can't fully comment on this, but googling the phrase "straying from God's light" mostly just comes up with the tumblr meme, so I'm not even sure if this is an actual Christian idea.

However, versions of the idea do exist within Judaism. My understanding is that at one point, ancient Israelites literally believed that God's presence dwelled in certain places on earth and not others, but that this idea was eventually supplanted by the theology of God's omnipresence. (I'm basing this off James Kugel's How to Read the Bible, particularly chapter 7, "Two Models of God and 'The God of Old.') So this way of thinking about God is still part of Tanakh and has trickled down into our religious language. Quoting Aish: "Argument, fighting, murder cause the Shechina to take leave...The Second Temple stood until hatred became the order of the day, when schism brought the Temple down and caused the Shechina to be exiled."

There's a famous anecdote that Rabbi Menachem Mendel once asked "where is the dwelling place of God?" His students laughed and said "is not the whole world filled with his glory?" To which the rabbi responded: "God dwells wherever we let him in." So this idea certainly exists within Judaism as well. I don't know enough about Chassidus to know how literally Rabbi Menachem Mendel intended this. There is the idea of tzimtzum which supports the idea that God's presence is somewhat withdrawn in this world. Ultimately, I think these are all metaphors for trying to make sense of God from our limited human experience. We can certainly experience God as seeming very far away sometimes, so I think there is a meaningful sense in which God cannot fully dwell in our hearts unless we let Him in. At the same time, there's another sense in which we can never truly be separate from God because, as OP pointed out, our very selves are created in God's image. Christians believe this as well!

I was also able to find that Jesus says in Matthew 28:20, "I am with you always," and I think that's a popular idea in Christianity. I know my Christian therapist often says to me that faith at its best is about knowing there is always someone there with you, no matter how bad things are or how alone you feel. I think that both Judaism and Christianity generally see God's distance as an illusion: in reality, God may be hidden, but God is always there.

Am i insane or is moving closer to god/farther from god an inherently xtian concept. I am jewish hineini btzelem elohim i have a little piece of hashem in my neshama and i always will. I can never be far from them, they are always as close as my own heart. This ofc is equal parts freeing and burdensome

[thepoisonroom]

can i make a post about being irritated by antimaskers as a disabled person without annoying people trying to condescendingly explain accommodations for my disability to me! btw!

[scopophobia-polaris]

The fact I have to boot up totk AGAIN, honest to God yall after I make this one fuckass post it is au only I am not doing zelda discourse no more

[midnightwind]

why is everyone so pissy at me after the Fade!! the Inquisitor just physically fought through hell and all I hear is whining afterwards

[rebelsabers]

Okay, i wasn’t going to respond to you but you’ve gotten out of line and downright offensive.

Let’s get one thing clear: accusing me of misusing “bad faith” is just a deflection. What I’m saying is that you’re misrepresenting Sam’s character by insisting he needs to stop and explain Bucky’s trauma for the audience, as if that’s the real issue here.

At this point in the MCU, most viewers understand Bucky’s backstory. If you're watching Captain America Brave New World or any recent MCU films, you know that Bucky was experimented on against his will, and his serum was forcibly administered. Anyone who doesn’t know that has clearly missed key parts of the MCU. Sam doesn’t need to rehash that for the audience. This moment is about Sam and his personal journey—not about constantly explaining Bucky’s past.

This scene is about Sam’s grief, guilt, and emotional conflict. Sam doesn’t need to stop and explain Bucky’s trauma because both Sam and Bucky already understand each other’s pain. The focus here should be on Sam’s emotional state, not on making sure the audience gets every single detail about Bucky’s backstory. The expectation that Sam has to tiptoe around Bucky’s trauma every time they share a scene together is ridiculous. It’s not Sam’s job to explain everything for the audience, especially when Sam’s emotional journey is at the forefront.

Your complaint about Sam “getting the details wrong” is a distraction. You’re avoiding the real issue here: Sam’s emotional state and internal struggle. Sam and Bucky know each other’s histories. What matters is Sam’s vulnerability, not whether Sam should stop and go over the specifics of Bucky’s serum. This scene is not about Bucky—it’s about Sam, and your fixation on continuity is just a way to avoid engaging with the emotional depth of the moment.

Let’s be honest here: you’re deflecting from the real issue, which is Sam’s emotional development, by focusing on continuity and semantics. Yes, the MCU writers have made mistakes, but that doesn’t change the emotional focus of this scene. It’s about Sam. You’re undermining Sam’s emotional journey by insisting he explain things that everyone already understands, just to make Bucky’s trauma the center of the scene.

But here's the thing: by insisting Sam has to validate Bucky’s trauma in every single moment, you’re sidestepping the fact that Sam’s story is being overshadowed. This is his movie, and yet you’re trying to make it about Bucky’s trauma again. That’s not only an insult to Sam’s arc—it’s an incredibly racist tendency that happens far too often when it comes to sidelining Black characters and making their stories secondary to those of white characters. By pushing Sam aside and demanding that everything revolve around Bucky, you’re diminishing his journey and further perpetuating the erasure of Black characters in their own narratives.

The real issue here is that Black characters, like Sam, are finally getting their own stories and their own space in the MCU. After decades of being relegated to sidekicks or supporting roles, Sam Wilson's arc is crucial for representation and visibility. Yet, there’s this persistent tendency to sideline black characters and make their narratives about white characters. By continuously redirecting the focus onto Bucky—whose story has already been explored in depth—you’re diminishing the significance of Sam’s own journey. This is a glaring example of how, even when black characters finally have the spotlight, there’s an attempt to make everything about white characters and their trauma. It’s a deeply ingrained, subtle form of racism that denies black characters the full, complex exploration of their stories and reduces them to mere accessories to white narratives. Sam Wilson deserves to have his emotional arc center stage without being overshadowed by Bucky’s past, but that’s exactly what’s being done here. It’s a pattern of racial erasure that needs to be called out for what it is.

The real issue isn't ableism (a deflection tactic on your part btw)—it's the way this constant nitpicking about Bucky’s backstory derails Sam's moment in his own story. The fact that people are focusing on one small detail—whether Sam’s words about the serum are “incorrect” or “misrepresented”—is exactly the problem. This isn’t about the serum, it’s about Sam’s emotional arc, his grief, and his struggles in this moment. Bucky’s already had his arc, his redemption, his story told in full. But now, when Sam finally gets his chance to shine, there’s this urge to make it all about Bucky again, forcing him to explain or address Bucky's trauma in a way that distracts from his own. This isn’t ableism; it’s an issue of prioritizing white characters and their histories over black characters finally having their moment. Instead of celebrating Sam’s emotional journey and letting him exist fully in his own narrative, people are using Bucky’s backstory as a way to push him to the sidelines again. It's not about Sam making space for Bucky’s pain—he's already done that, many times over. The issue here is the refusal to let a black character have a fully realized arc in his own film without being overshadowed by the white character's past.

Then there was this you added in:

It’s also incredibly offensive that you continue to make baseless, wild accusations about me to deflect from your own bigotry. You’re accusing me of being ableist or somehow not caring about male victims, but the reality is that I have relatives who are trauma amputees and who have been victimized very close to me. Also, the fact that you assume my gender incorrectly and accuse me of being an Andrew Tate type incel, despite the fact that anyone can scroll and see them not that type of person, simply because you don’t like me is too far. I’m also disabled and you have no idea how active I am in that community. The very group you claim to be advocating for. Family and dear friends to me who are real people who face real, everyday struggles—and you’re disrespecting them with your assumptions and your need to weaponize victimhood for your own agenda.

What you’re doing is disgusting. You’re making up lies about me, pointing fingers, and deflecting from your own bad behavior. Instead of addressing the valid points I raised about Sam’s emotional arc and how it’s being misrepresented, you’re trying to silence me with personal attacks. I looked at your behavior. You wrote fanfic about me. That’s not a debate—it’s an attempt to shut down the discussion with smears and accusations.

Your need to make everything about Bucky’s trauma and accuse others of “not liking male victims” is a deflection from the real issue: your attempt to erase Sam’s narrative and make it all about Bucky. This is not a debate about victimhood—it’s about giving Sam the space to have his own emotional journey, in his own movie, without constantly being reduced to supporting Bucky’s story. Your accusations are offensive, and they only serve to distract from the actual discussion we need to be having.

If you can’t engage with the actual content or the emotional layers of Sam’s character, then don’t resort to petty personal attacks to win a debate. I’m not the problem here—you are.

the sambucky scene from Captain America: Brave New World

[leori-the-unlearned]

the way digimon does conflict/drama between two characters who should be or are close: chef’s kiss <3

the way sonic idw handles creating conflict/drama between two characters who should be or are close: *wilting flower*

[northern-passage]

Genuine thought as a fellow trans dude, I’ve seen a lot of (obviously non-serious) questions on other blogs about characters’ genitals such as “how does it look like?” and similar, and I think we all know & understand that such questions are extremely inappropriate to ask and (I hope) no one would actually go around asking these questions irl. Idk, I think we should treat trans characters just like cis ones, without any special “precautions”, so to normalise them and not make cis people treat them like fragile boxes, a thing which happens to a lot of us irl. Hope this doesn’t come off as an attack or anything lol.

no worries, i didn't take this as an attack at all. i actually agree with you, that's why i mentioned feeling conflicted about it and also mentioned that i've changed my stance on how i felt about handling Noel and Clementine in game and in explicit intimate scenes.

however, for me the problem comes from the fact that people... don't ask these kinds of questions about cis characters? i suppose people do get cheeky "who is the biggest 🤪" asks but i would hardly compare the two. to be a bit crude, no one is going to be asking if a cis character has a dick or not, or "what does it look like". of course it's natural for people to be curious, and i honestly encourage the open discussion and am happy to see trans bodies being talked about more in a positive way, but not everyone is going to be comfortable with it due to the inescapable transphobia online and in the community. sending me that kind of ask is like sending out an invitation for a debate or a discussion that i don't necessarily want to have. i also just don't think people should default to asking a random IF author on tumblr dot com to describe what bottom growth looks like.

and with most of these asks typically coming from someone who is anonymous, i have no way of truly knowing what the tone is, what their intentions are or why this is being asked - is it another trans person? or maybe someone who is just genuinely curious? or, more likely in my experience, is it someone who is going to immediately follow up this message with something transphobic after i answer? do i want to roll the dice and find out?

so while i agree with what you're saying, it's important to consider the context and the reality we live in. the IF community is not kind to trans people or trans characters. and as a trans person, my first priority is protecting myself and my mental health. so what i mean when i say "precautions," is that those precautions are for me, because i've had to deal with transphobic harassment here for years now, and i try to mitigate it as much as i can. it's also for my personal comfort - again, to be blunt, i'm simply just not comfortable discussing a trans character's genitals with anonymous strangers on the internet. it makes me feel vulnerable.

also i do want to say i didn't mean for any of that to come across as a dig at other authors - if you're comfortable answering those kinds of questions, that's really only something you can decide for yourself. like i said, this is just coming from my own experiences in IF and for my own personal comfort - i have previously talked a lot about trans stuff and gender and sexuality here, when i'm feeling up to it, but it is something that is very draining for me and can also be very upsetting.

basically: i do agree that it's important not to other trans characters or treat them any differently than cis characters, but i also think there are ways to do it that don't require me answering invasive questions or questions that i don't feel comfortable with as a real life trans person, you know what i mean?

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

Human pet guy showed up on my dash again (via puppy play sick skateboard tricks post) and I decided to look at what he was up to these days, and

what do you mean he was born in 1995?

[zizbombs]

This post was mostly just bad faith but think about the battery thing. Battery was this up and coming ward as far as the text stated. She has an incredibly strong power and was in some regard working under legend. Next we see her working in Brockton bay which is a complete shithole city, which armsmaster was desperately trying to get accommodations to transfer out of. Why is battery in Brockton and not NYC? She’s certainly has a good enough power + fairly skilled. I do believe it’s cause of this man child assault which slowly strangled her upwards mobility as he acted as his typical self.

And yeah I get thats kinda one of the goals of cauldron, but it’s more the fact that assault was going to be sentenced to the fucking birdcage and instead of even pretending like he cares and puts up some resistance he just immediately folds to assaults whims and uses his position as the head of the protectorate to pressure battery into looking after him when she’s clearly uncomfortable with it. Assault is literally responsible for the reason why she got a vial. ‘Yeah battery we kind of need it people in the protectorate and assault has a strong power.’ The entire reason she’s with him is to keep him in the protectorate in the first place. She probably covered for him so many times to help keep him in the prt and ugh this makes me sad just thinking about it.

There’s a reason I say battery had some of eidolon’s luck, she had to deal with legend, chariot, triumph AND assault. (Worst people on bet as far as I’m concerned.)

But yeah lmao. I hate how his power is so perfectly designed for him. He lacks any true offensive abilities to help against endbringers but by god can he shit on randoms with it. You would think echidna would be the perfrct match up right? Close ranged enemy with no defensive hacks. Legend YOUR LASERS PHASR THROUGH WALLS. You have that option. You could most definently avoid a lot of collateral damage like that. Where the fuck is that city destroying laser now you useless prick. It’s a miracle he didn’t get himself caught.

Also, his speeches aren’t even that good and are hard carried by his jawline. Fuck you legend you slimy prick.

Yes I’m legend, yes I need help from a ward to beat assault, yes I curse the very same ward to get groomed and take care of a man child for the rest of her career, yes I can only hit my teammates or allies, no I will never use any of my other beam options, yes apparently I have leveled a city yet none of my onscreen feats even come remotely close, no I will never do anything coming close to useful

[psalmsofpsychosis]

Some Batman: Telltale thoughts

[this is a Batman Telltale critical post, ye be warned.]

So. There are perhaps no words in the english language to describe with how stupid i feel right now.

I started Telltale Batman because i thought that it's one of the more distinct unconventional Batman narratives that would let you have a more interesting, complex and nuanced relationship between Bruce and Joker— the game even lets you bring all of Bruce's sincere hypocrisy and sentimental selfishness to the surface and have him admit that yes, he can fight the rogues gallery because it takes a madman to know a madman; to love a madman. For a moment i geniunely thought that i can escape the everpresent shadow of DC hays code in the freakshow funhouse that is Batman comics, i thought Telltale had done something different.

But telltale's approach to The Enemy Within is so flaky and flimsy and timid at best— such noncommittal twist on themes of pain and grief. They take on a hefty plotline, "what does it take to actually fight through evil and be surrounded by it? How long does it take before your resolve and your selfhood cracks? When you lose the mask, which one did you truly lose— The ideal persona, the superhero, the crusader, or the person underneath, the casket that holds all your humanity and your heart and your hopes? How long can you stare onto the abyss before it stares onto you?" It's indeed a very Nietzsche approach to Batman— except that a good Nietzsche narrative takes a lot of intentional plot points and honesty of thought and of heart. And Telltale doesn't commit, not to Bruce's characterization, and not to any other character, and definitely not to Joker's journey in any variation of it. The existence of the Vigilante route is useless on every front; Joker is going to turn into a villain anyway, just with a different hello kitty eyeshadow palette and an extra bland consolation lollipop. No good choice Bruce makes on Joker's behalf affects anything whatsoever, and i particularly love the "community and friendship and sympathy do not help the mentally ill and all that ever works is punishment and shock therapy and confinement and loneliness" message the vigillante route puts on the table, charming charming status quo commandments from DC as always.

Telltale Batman could only be revolutionary if it had dared to break comic convention and let the vigillante route play out like Selina and Bruce's relationship always does; very grey morality, irrational, full of tension and trust, unstable, intriguing, inexcusable, irreversible, unavoidable and heartfelt, human. But we can't have nice things in batmanverse, so both Joker routes run on stuck gears and topple and fall into a predictable narrative hole that neither Bruce nor Joker can claim out of.

And on the predictable front? this story is too lukewarm to be a good time for me personally. When you get 84 Batman comics per minute every other Tuesday, all ending the same way no matter whatever the fickity happens inbetween, you have to pull no punches. This is my 53368532th Batman-with-tragic-batjokes-implications read of the week, say something new or forever hold your blue-balling silence, i dont care.

[aftvrdark]

" well, it is my name, so maybe faith is exactly what i'm supposed to have in people, " she muses, soft laughter following. it's an outlook that hasn't always lead people to be kind to her, often finding herself as someone easy to poke fun at. but it's an outlook that's served her well, helped her keep positive in testing times. despite having many reasons to be mad at the world, she chooses to keep seeing the good in it. " i guess so, if you're open to him. " the facts keep coming, and she can't help the way her chest warms, a light feeling washing over her. the conversation is nice, and she's enjoying learning more about him. up until now, it had been only his name and the areas he needed help in. " oh, that's too bad. maybe you should try and find some time for it, somewhere along the line. i guess basketball has more of your heart, then ? if that's what you chose to focus on. " she's never been very good at sports, nor particularly clued up on it. but she has to admit, seeing people work hard at this passions is inspiring. " me ? " lips part, dazed look glossing over her features momentarily. faith doesn't talk about herself often, tends to be the listening ear more times than most. but he’s asking, and it seems only fair that she shares too. " i love animals, " the blonde gushes, loose curls cascading over her shoulder as she leans closer, as if it's a secret between the two of them. " most of my free time is spent at the animal shelter. i volunteer there, for the experience. i'm actually hoping to become a veterinarian. it's a pretty long process, but i know it'll be worth it in the end. i've always just had this feeling, you know, like it was born to do it. "

the way her smile lights up her features was stunning, finding that he wanted to make the girl smile as much as possible. eyes are upon her, but they barley pick up on anything she says, he's too busy admiring her beauty, catching onto her last bit and figuring that he should start listening, " mm, think you have too much faith in me, " if it was any other girl, he would've used that as a shot at flirting with her, but he does his best to refrain. noticing how the book is shut , he smiles to himself knowing that she's now no longer focused on their studies. " doesn't he know everyone the most ? " lucas personally wasn't religious himself, but he figures that it was something special to her and he wasn't going to shit on her for it. seeing how her smile grew wider, it instantly pushes for him to spit out random facts about himself just to see it even more. " let's see , i like partying , skateboarding , did that before basketball -- yet obviously it took up majority of my time, so i couldn't really focus on skating all that much. feel like i'm yapping so much about me, i wanted to learn more about you. "