#in comparison to what most ppl believed was happening

[gojisaurus]

redrew a comic i made when i first saw some bits from the Get Back documentary

[meanbossart]

i always love asking ppl this; how does your character (du drow) see themselves .vs. how they are seen by others (loved ones, friends, acquaintances, etc)

That is a good question!

When it comes to his self-perception, DU Drow assumes he cuts a very intimidating and off-putting figure at worst - and someone impressive and powerful at best.; he doesn't care either way as long as it favors him in either being left alone or getting what he wants out of people. He believes himself to appear confident and as having little regard for other people besides for his tight-knit group of friends and partner. He does believe that he's reliable - and even caring, as weirdly as he may express it. Not particularly intelligent but not dense enough to seem like an idiot. When it comes to more complex stuff - his needs, wants, beliefs, and how that comes across - his self-understanding is extremely lacking and vague. He doesn't have much of a point of comparison, however, so he doesn't really grapple with that.

When it comes to strangers (at least on the surface) he is pretty much right that he comes across as a scary, powerful person. Funnily enough, in the Underdark he is way less impressive to most of the population - a strange sight nonetheless, but his tactics don't work as well on it's citizens. Most drow don't know what to make of him, and generaly don't take him seriously or assume him to be half-something else or even not a drow at all.

(Shadowheart's and Astarion's POVs below, NOTE: these are based on what their relationships are like at the end-game/post-game, obviously there would be some significant differences if we were to talk about first-impressions and so on)

Shadowheart, being his closest friend, sees DU drow as kind of a doofus. She understands him as an animal with simple motivations and impulses, and has no real interest in pushing him to be anything else - in fact she envies how simplistically DU drow seems to view life and every hurdle that it throws his way, and looks up to him for seeming largely unaffected by his circumstances and unburdened by the things he has done/have happened to him. She does think he's a very fun person to be around - and someone she can say anything to and trust him to tell her exactly whats on his mind back, and generally tell her to pull herself by the bootstraps instead of letting her wallow in misery - she has overall a lot of respect and appreciation for the guy, though she doesn't express it too often since she thinks his ego is inflated enough. She isn't afraid or unnerved by him in the slightest and is kind of amused at how much other people are - she pretty much forgets that he looks like a freak.

As his romantic partner, Astarion's perception on him is fairly different. He thinks a bit more highly of Du drow's intellect than it probably appears, and finds it frustrating that he guy just doesn't seem to want to entertain a lot of... Thinking. He knows he can be perceptive and insightful based on how he treats him, but for whatever reason never applies that to himself, and the more they grow to know each other the more he thinks it's just a barrier DU drow has set up so he doesn't have to grapple with the things he's done and what he is. He is under no illusions that DU drow isn't a egoistical, blood-thirsty person (he likes those things about him, anyway) but worries that one day something will click in his brain, and all that willful ignorance will culminate into something terrible. He also thinks DU drow is a far more empathetic person than himself.

He really likes DU drow's company for his unfiltered demeanor - he thinks he's funny and a good listener (lol) and finds a lot of comfort in being with someone who seems incapable of hiding how they feel about him and their relationship, and doesn't think DU drow has much capacity for being manipulative or deceptive. Naturally he adores how much DU drow seems willing to devote himself to him, but it bothers him that it sometimes seem to veer into weird, damsel-in-distress-fantasy territory. Basically there's a lot about the guy that Astarion both likes and doesn't simultaneously.

[beifong-brainrot]

Considering what most tlok fans vs tlok haters feel about the setting of tlok, what are your personal opinions regarding the setting of Korra? Because at first I thought it felt jarring with the way it felt more “Americanized” mainly because of how Republic City appeared, but then some said it does resemble (maybe?) east asian cities like Hong Kong for instance. But then I’ve also heard about the reason why it felt jarring to begin with was more so the idea it poses in terms of the Industrial Revolution and it’s relations to imperialism (post below):

https://medium.com/@nettlefish/the-inescapable-whiteness-of-avatar-the-legend-of-korra-and-its-uncomfortable-implications-debc76bbf7f

Honestly, this is a subject I've tried to not speak of directly, being neither American, nor a member of the nationalities primarily depicted in Avatar. So take my response with a heaping portion of salt, ok?

I personally have a love/hate relationship with Republic City. I like the idea of an are where the four nations intermingle, prompting progress and growth. I also have talked at length about how much I hate the fact that the plot seems to revolve around this shitty poorly utilised oriental reskin of New York.

As for the question of whether RC is 'orientalised Western cities' or if it was actually based on actual East Asian cities, I think it's a bit of both. Mind you, I only have access to old photos and drawings, so my comparisons won't be ideal, but it seems the general buildings of the 'bulk' of Republic City do resemble cities like Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo at the time.

It does however seem that the named buildings and areas, eg. places with actual importance seem to be be mainly inspired by actual western buildings.

Of course, there is also the issue that a lot of the buildings of major Eastern cities at the time looked the way they did due to western interference, and so we are posed with the question if Republic City, a city in a world where there are close to no European influences would even look like said cities.

But relying on these aspects of history leads us to irreversably tying westernisation to progress, which I cannot even begin to describe as a problematic and untrue idea. This further muddles the concept of tlok's industrial revolution, as it follows a very western pattern, eg. the devlopment of for example electrical power, telephones and telegraphs, and train lines which is what enabled another wave of colonialism. Trying to consider what would happen in a world where that never happened would be fascinating, and probably liberating for many cultures.

For example, would the world of Avatar even have a need for electricity in a world where Spirits and people who can control the elements with their minds exist?

I admit, it would probably be difficult to envision a modernised world without western/european influences off the cuff, but it is possible. It would take a lot of research and imagination, but it is possible. It would require isolating western influences and trying to establish new patterns in how the world could evolve without white ppl sticking their noses into everything. (I actually have personally been trying to 'reengineer' Republic City fashion bacause I want to redesign the Krew so I'm kinda in the depths of research hell on this lol. The things I do cause I miss sewing apprenticeship...)

The author of the article says that tlok is steampunk, which is an easy mistake to make, one I have made in the past. That still isn't the best choice for a post atla world, in my opinion. I believe tlok is actually more diesepunk. However, I'd say that if tlok wanted to cling to Avatar's clear wuxia inspirations, it should've opted for something like silkpunk, which, in simple terms, melds East Asian aesthetics, history and philosphies with fantastical technology. I say insimple terms because there is a lot more to silkpunk than just that, and not every "Asian scifi" is silkpunk, but if a creator were to attempt to do something of the sort, silkpunk would be a good jumping off point.

Here are some sources I personally used when researching the genre.

Ken Liu, the Author who coined the term Silkpunk explains the term

Interview with Ken Liu

Interview with silkpunk artist, James Ng

Now, when it comes to the sociopolitical narratives around imperialism and colonisation in tlok, I can only comment so much. But I agree with the author of the article that the Fire Nation imperialism and its results should've been explored more. And it would be SO easy. For example, in the comics we see a wealth disparity in between Fire Nation citizens and Earth Kingdom citizens of the area that would later become the Republic.

How would this develop over time? If we look at irl examples, we could see this gap become even wider due to lack of affirmative action. And, lo and behold, don't we already have an incredibly wealthy family canonically descended from Fire Nation settlers. Hiroshi may have described himself as just a humble shoe shiner, but it would be so easy to rework his backstory into being a nepo baby feeding off colonialism. Driving that point further, how would Mako and Bolin be treated as children of q mixed union? Would they be treated differently based on their bending abilities, or their appearance?

This could be easily incorporated into the characters' storylines and characterisation and would probably lead to some interesting dynamics, especially from the perspective of Korra, an outsider.

But the silence on the potential issues of discrimination in an america based city created off colonialism and imperialism is a symptom of another point. That Republic City is not only 'oriental America', it's also idealised 'oriental America.'

A lot of tlok feels like a very odd American centric fanfiction of history, with the America stand in always shoehorned in as important. Despite president Raiko being presented as an all around dickwad, Republic City itself is posed as a bastion of impartial fairness and as having a say in solving international conflicts. We're shown and told that extreme poverty exists in Republic City but we're never told why, we simply have to accept it as a fact of life, why don't we all go look at the cool rich ppl, look at Asami and her big airship, don't think too hard about Mako and Bolin's past.

The characters in charge of most of Republic City's important militias are nepo babies to soem extent, and skate by on their likeablity. Iroh II was cool for the ending of B2 and then got relegated to Raiko's spineless lackey. Lin is, in my probably very controversial opinion, a really bad chief of police in the most stereotypically American way possible.

I've talked ay length at how frustrating it is that we keep coming back to Republic City even when the actual plot is going on somewhere else. B2 and B4 have this problem in particular.

Instead of showing us primarily the perspectives of actually dealing with Kuvira or Unalaq's agression, throughout most of the seasons, the Krew are sorta chilling in Republic City talking how much it sucks that war crimes are happening somewhere else. It's giving American self centeredness to the max. But I think I've already screamed into the void about this a lot.

I will, however, say that the author of the article you sent me makes some crucial mistakes relating to the actual plot and scenes of tlok, which I wouldn't hold against her if it weren't the fact that she uses them to back her points. Points which are, mind you, mostly valid. But the author seems to misremember or falsely represent facts in the show to bolster these points, which is never a good look, even if you are making good points. For example, claiming benders being the only ones with political power in RC, as well as saying that the Council was made of benders, which is false. As is accentuating Korra's role as a Southern Water Tribe princess, whose father is somehow chief, despite also being the shamefully exiled brother of the Northern Water Tribe chief to bolster her opinion on tlok's theme on focusing on those in power. Korra is already the Avatar, a divine vessel. And her father being chief happened later in the show, after Unlaq was revealed to be a little shit. It is ultimately inconsequential to Korra's character, and makes her no more a princess than Katara was.

I can see what the author is trying to do and I think she makes good points, but it feels like she either didn't watch tlok very carefully, or is either intentionally or subconsciously skewing facts to fit her arguments. Making mistakes and oversights like this sours the whole text and is probably the reason I feel like agenda came first in this article. Be it a good agenda, it still leads to certain parts of the article feeling disingenuous to a cerain degree.

However, I do still see a lot of merit in the articke and agree with a lot of its points. I wish Republic City and tlok as a whole had delivered on the amazing concepts it offered, but due to a probable myriad of reasons, tlok will always feel slightly lacklustre to me.

[helluva-shit-show]

I swear I don't hate the show, I don't even hate any of the ladies above, not even Stella, it's just insanely unfair how the women get treated in Helluva.

And no, I don't need the creators of any given media to hold my hand and walk me through every tiny choice made by every character in said media.

Of course I can infer that Stella grew up in the same pre-determined mold Stolas was forced into. Of course I can infer that she learned tantrum behavior and violence probably got her what she wanted so her royal parents didn't have to hear it.

I can infer that Barbie self harms bc a tiny thin scar doesn't form a perfect circle around your forearm by accident, and an "X" doesn't perfectly cross out a tattoo that probably causes you great trauma to look at every day, on accident. Her tail scars are deeply concerning and saddening to think about, bc again, why do they PERFECTLY match her twin brother's natural markings? I can infer that his actions, intentional or not, deeply traumatized her, and her response was to remove a piece of herself that reminded her of him. It's dark, it's mature, it's compelling and it makes sense. The issue is, it will probably never be touched on.

I adore Millie, I adored her before season two was even announced. To the contrary, I actually don't care if she ever gets a deep deep dive at her backstory. There have been PLENTY of male characters across all kinds of media that are simply psychotic little murder gremlins, and no one ever bats an eye at it. I adore her as the murder gremlin queen she is. But as she's main cast, it's incredibly unfair by comparison how she gets utilized and how she doesn't. One minute she can take down a 60 meter tall fish monster single handedly, the next minute, because the plot wants this to be about the bois, a single hit breaks her arm to the point that BONE IS PIERCING THROUGH HER SKIN, and she just happens to get thrown directly into the world's MOST CONVENIENTLY PLACED AND ARMED bear-trap ever. It doesn't snag her face, her hair, or her hand or arm or torso or back, she falls just perfectly that her leg is just perfectly in its jaws. No arteries got caught? There's not an excess of blood, she's by the show's own dialogue, "fine." But she's benched for the rest of the episode.

And maybe it wouldn't be so bad from the critical eye if the excuse given for it wasn't SO hollow. "Helluva is more male focused and Hazbin is more female focused." Ma'am. Who do you think you're fooling out here. Angel Dust and Alastor built the HH fandom. Do you expect me to believe Mimzy or Niffty are going to be treated any better than the Helluva gals? Mimzy is literally already on the wiki as a "minor character".

It's truly ok to focus your story on males. There is literally a whole genre of anime focused on mostly male stories. But if someone, or a lot of someones, feel your female cast is lacking in substance, I find it insulting to dismiss them and say they're misreading the media and nitpicking. They care about the show, YOUR show, they care about YOUR characters, if you can remember back when you were a smaller creator HERE on tumblr, ppl love when you ask them about their OCs. And you don't have to spit out a quick bs backstory to your character if you haven't given it much thought, that's not what anyone is asking for. (Cough, Unhappy Campers, COUGH).

Idk how to wrap this critique up, so I'm just gonna say, Moxxie's mom is too badass to be Mrs. Knofirstname Knolastname. 🤡

[mazzystar24]

Let’s discuss how much Bobby said to Eddie when talking about Shannon “how did you make that happen?” And eddie responds “i didn’t”. Are we to believe Eddie, didn’t make the first move? Just like Ana and Marisol; he HAD to be forced/told into it? We know that got together at 14 and pregnant at 18. Were they together the whole time? How stable was their relationship before finding out she was pregnant?

See this is why an Eddie begins again episode is a psychological need as part of his queer arc

Like there is such an interesting thing abt the Shannon and Eddie dynamic where you have to distinct what parts are the truth of it and what parts are the glossed over romanticised in her death version

Also the comp het element of Eddie is just sooooo blatant and like interesting because it’s one of those where it’s not a leap or even a really buried and hard to dissect thing that’s like sprinkled every now and then, instead it’s like a consistent “hidden” piece woven into all of Eddie’s narratives, you know what I mean?

But back to Shannon and Eddie as you said like we know the whole getting together young and the pregnant young pieces and we also know that at some point they RECONNNECTED so there was a period where they were friends or knew eachother then not then reconnected and then got together then got pregnant

See but then it gets more complex because we have Eddie saying things about how they were magic together when we saw a really different marriage dynamic and then you have him say that the church is the biggest reason they got married in a convo about his catholic guilt, you have him say he positive things about being married to her but you know as the audience that he spent most that time separated or fighting, and even when he says that he liked being married to her it comes off more as a liking to be married rather than liking the marriage or the person you’re with

And even when he was daydreaming that post sex scene nothing about it is inherently sexual or about them in fact the whole conversation is about how he is choosing to let her back into Christopher’s life and “giving him his mom back for Christmas” like people use that scene as a “straight Eddie defence” saying it’s him fantasising about sex with his ex but I’m sat there like brother in Christ watch the actual scene how is this sexy talk or anything other than proof that in Eddie’s sick little brain (affectionate) Shannon and therefore Kim can complete this idea of what he needs for his son

Also controversial opinion that I THINK I mentioned before but I’m really not a fan of Shannon, like the way she spoke about Chris and his CP will never not rub me the wrong way (to put it lightly) and her leaving with zero contact imo makes me low-key hate her and I hate the comparison ppl try to make for when Eddie “left” and this kinda links in with the next part

I think that the show keeps doing too much retcon/romanticisation of Shannon’s character in relation to not only Eddie but Chris too, but they can sorta mend that in a really perfect way by having some sort of onscreen perhaps in therapy acknowledgement from Eddie that he does in fact romanticise her and their relationship since her death while diving into why he does that and what their relationship ACTUALLY was like

Like what’s really interesting to me also connecting to the comp het element is that Eddie as a character is not passive, but when you get into his LI relationships there is this like compliance and like conformity to them

Like by his own words he didn’t pursue Shannon, he also married her largely cos of the church and despite having really ott romantic ideas for chimney’s proposal suggesting that he does have a side of that, he actually admits his proposal was pretty much well guess we have to get married now, when talking about Ana he canonically was following Chris’ heart not his, said something about “gonna have to stick it out” when talking abt her, then we have marisol and that mess and have lines like the catholic guilt, him not being that sad about potentially breaking up with her, him not having said anything to indicate to bobby he wanted to move in with her, etc, etc and we have Kim and that mess which honestly is its own category outside of the LI list

But yeah like totally agree with you like the shannon/eddie thing is in desperate need of a real unraveling in the show out loud preferably in therapy with Frank because that man needs to pull his weight fr 🤩

I have a degree in yappology fr

[queenaeducan]

as i mentioned i beat the murals last night and i have so many thoughts. many i think may take a while to sift through and get to where i want them but. for now.

solas wanted to KILL the mages in his personal quest. the circumstances are not the same (he did agree, however reluctantly, where they did not ask), but the result- a spirit of wisdom turned to violent pride- are the same. how much does solas let himself feel about the regrets in the murals? how much has he let himself process? does his anger in this quest reflect the anger he feels towards mythal?

it also does a lot to contextualise his feelings re: cole's personal quest. i've said before that when you put cole's pq in the context of what happened to wisdom (and others before it), solas's behaviour makes sense. but like. idk, i know ppl will fault solas for anything but being against this considering what happened to him it makes perfect sense he's opposed to the idea (especially when varric is going off of nothing but his gut and his own preconceived ideas of what a person ought to be).

what does the game want us to believe about mythal?

- the one we see in the murals is the one who put into motion many of the problems we see in the world today, even if solas is complicit/outright guilty of carrying them out for her.

- the fragment we meet in morrigan is "older and wiser" but still gives kind of uh. unsatisfactory answers to my elf rook about why she didn't help (oh she did, just here and there. i wish my rook could have been angrier about that. my rook, who frees slaves, and has seen solas free slaves, meanwhile flemythal... helped end a couple blights? thanks, but. that's not specifically an elf problem). she calls you her children in a way i felt kind of patronising. which makes sense, but it's a very. undesired benevolence, i suppose. but i felt like the game wanted us to think this mythal was Good(tm) and that i'd want to keep her around despite having little reason to want to root for her at that point. she also doesn't mention spirits and their part in all this at all, just physical elves.

- the mythal we meet at the secret area morrigan opens is just. an evanuris. thoroughly. this is the mythal that decided the best option to a conflict between elgar'nan and falon'din was to let two other elves die for it. if you tell her you don't need gods she calls you a child and fights you. you can get her on her side by being honest and saying you think she was wrong, which is nice i guess.

- i guess i'm saying we don't get a super satisfactory answer on why she was a charismatic and better than the rest. we see she had vallaslin even in ancient times (felassan) but no mention of that comes up anywhere. so i guess it's up to me to decide why solas is so easily and constantly persuaded to give up his very nature to do what he did.

ultimately i thought the relationship, despite not having a lot of ground for why it became so deep in the first place, was very interesting and problematic (positive). it parallels so nicely with briala and celene, and contrasts well with solas and the herald (or if you're me, solas and the thora cadash AND solas and ian). i don't know how much of the former comparison is on purpose as far as datv is concerned, but i do think it makes everything more compelling so i am running with it.

another criticism is that the rebels were just dropped in favour of the gods. disappointing! especially since the game makes a point of recommitting the future of the elves to solas's motivation in the convo with morrigan. like only 3 of the statues had memories? i wish that there had been an alternate set of murals for each, or something. the memories we have paint solas in mixed lights (sacrificing spirits, killing an agent) but most of the codices we receive have him in a positive to neutral light. i wish the game were more interested in exploring his dynamic with felassan, who calls him "old friend," and other rebels. it would have better served the "mirror" they're trying to make rook into to show solas building connections with rebels as you are with your team. show him loving the people he got killed, the same way i think you will be able to get your companions killed (if the pre-game comparisons to me2's suicide mission are any comparison).

anyway. i'm not even done with the first quest of act 2 god help me.

[1eos]

could you explain more on the gypsy rose and guy who attacked the judge comparison? (how it has textbook ableism, racism, etc) it sounds kinda interesting but i don’t know what’s going on much

THANK YOU FOR ASKING!!!!

for gypsy rose its just rampantttttttttt 'perfect victim'-ism. i believe there is a term for the phenomenon but basically its like everyone will have disdain for an abuse victim unless they're dead then they're a statistic they can use for their own purposes. her mother was abusing and drugging her for years and wouldn't have stopped until she was dead but bc gypsy fought back literally at all and isnt constantly talking abt how she's scum of the earth some ppl are acting like she's some awful evil person and not an abuse victim who acted out of desperation. felt remorse. went to jail and is still on parole. and its misogyny bc we're living in a world that at the same time OBSESSES over and heralds male serial killers as ~geniuses~ that could outwit cops 🧍🏾‍♀️ its always 'women should be armed' and 'if i were abused i'd kill them' and then a woman gets rid of her abuser and its think pieces on how no one should be happy she's no longer being abused and even though its documented that she exhausted every avenue and begged for help and wasn't believed that there was 'another way'. bc abuse victims should just die in the court of public opinion esp a woman

and with the man....first the fact that him attacking the judge was treated as a meme was very weird and a form of misogyny like why is a woman getting jumped so funny? the racism came in in the most expected way. ppl talking abt how he should be put down, insinuating all black ppl are violent monsters/beasts/wild animals. just nasty stuff. one black person does something awful and that means the whole population should be culled according to racists online you get it. also when he showed back up in court they literally had him in a muzzle. and its like.............yeah that's definitely a talking point in a paper. and the ableism comes in bc ppl found out he's schizophrenic and all of the ppl who think mental disorders mean you're just uncontrollably violent w no control were like 'i feel so bad for him he was off his meds' and that's the juxtaposition btwn him and gypsy rose like she fought in self defense and ppl think she's a monster and he is defended despite not fighting for his life. and i believe no problem the jail withheld mental care but then it came out allegedly even ON his meds he was violent towards women but bc he's a man he will always have more grace and some circles of men see manhood AS violence esp towards women so theyre gonna defend that behavior or at least make light of it. and then just say it was his mental illness bc ableism tells ppl that if you have a spooky disorder then you're just violent and

but at the same time if gypsy rose was black. for one she'd still be in prison :/ so many black women kill their abuse victims and end up dying in jail :///// and if the black guy who attacked the judge were white they'd be doing anythingggggggggggg to make him 'redeemable' in the media. and the ableism would probably be even worse as a means to say the violence just isnt his fault! and if the judge were a man it probably wouldnt have turned into a funny meme but if the judge were a black woman then the leagues of ppl defending her would not be there bc white women are seen as innocent victims who never deserve violence (which fueled the racism he experienced tenfold) whereas black women DESERVE to be hurt for their attitudes. theyd be finding reasons to justify it.

idk just seeing these conversations happen at the same time just showed, to me, exactly how different identities preload different kinds of discourse!

[iraprince]

From what I've seen from surveys and bits of news, Spain seems like it's pretty good with trans acceptance and stuff. Is that true?

Relatedly, you've said you started in Ohio and ended up in Spain. How would you reccomend someone else from Ohio do that?

oof, haha. this is a tough time to ask this -- for the past three years that i've lived here my answer would have been an enthusiastic and pretty confident yes, but recently we're all pretty worried bc in recent elections there have been gains made by the far-right + conservative parties. things where i live are still okay, but in other regions there is reason for concern. if you end up seriously planning on moving to spain, i would heavily advise you to do research on the political situations of different autonomous communities (essentially like provinces or states; catalonia is the community i live in, valencia is a community, madrid has its own community, etc) bc they all have individual governments and the experience of living in one community can be vastly different from another regardless of what's going on on a federal level. as an example, madrid is only a 2 hour train ride away from where i live but in comparison covid has been a million times worse there, absolutely fucking nightmarish, bc they have an extremely conservative government and their healthcare systems were privatized + managed differently by that government in a way that caused a lot of suffering.

i would still say it is resoundingly better than the united states, especially on the front of LGBTQ+ safety. i'm not "visibly trans" -- i believe 99% of the ppl who see me out and about probably perceive me as a cis woman -- but i'm very visibly gay, my wife and i are often affectionate in public, and the worst we've ever personally gotten have been frowns and disapproving glares. most of the time, even when ppl stare at us, it's more harmless curiosity than anything else. this doesn't mean hate crimes and discrimination never happen here, bigotry is everywhere, but in comparison i am frankly in a constant state of anguish and fear about what's going on in my home country.

(asked my wife to read this over for accuracy and offer his input and he wants to add that while on a legal level things are pretty stable -- a lot of laws that have been passed that protect LGBTQ+ rights would be difficult to revoke or repeal -- on a social level things have gotten noticeably worse and violence has objectively risen over the past few years. 2022 was the most violent year in a decade, specifically in terms of homophobic hate crimes. we both feel that this is more about rising fascism worldwide than about anything specific to spain, but still.)

as for immigration, i'm afraid i can't really offer any help or advice on that one! my residency here is based on my marriage to my wife, who is a spanish citizen, so i have no knowledge at all on other methods of obtaining residency.

[caitie-likes-talking]

Part 4 Critique: Everything I'd Change

I love DIU..however, I consider it one of the post flawed of the JJBA Parts. Honestly, I feel like Araki didn't fully know where he was going with it til halfway, which is why the plot can be so janky. No matter what, let's dive into it. First, characters.

(also quick disclaimer: this is all my opinion and i am biased for MANY things.)

if u diagree w me dont tell me i think it would crush me

Characters [Josuke, Jotaro, Okuyasu, Kira]

Josuke Higashikata

I LOVE Josuke. I think he's a lovely character concept and his design is really cool. My main problem with him is literally his LACK of screen time!! He is the Jojo of this part, yet his spotlight is constantly stolen by other side characters like Koichi, Rohan, and even Jotaro. This also happened a lot in Part 3, with it basically being the Polnareff show (idk why Araki did this sm in pts3-5...either let the mc have screen time or don't have them be the mc!!)

I think Josuke had some of the most missed opportunities in DIU. Especially with his relationships with other characters. I think this part could've been way more interesting if it chose a solid theme, and one that I think would've made sense is commentating on death & tragedy and how that can impact personal relationships. The reason I believe this is because there's already easy set ups for this in the story. Ryohei's death, The Nijimura Brother's family, Reimi, Shigechi, and Jotaro all have that theme in place, but not enough connecting points or real arcs related to this. What was the point of killing off Ryohei (who was the only father figure Josuke had growing up) if you're not going to show how this impacted Josuke, Tomoko, and how he acts with others besides one single page? Sure, it taught him that his powers have limits and that he can't save everyone, but that was a stupid thing to teach him because Okuyasu doesn't fucking die when he should've!! Like why did we make an arc saying 'hey stands aren't magic they can't bring ppl back to life' just for EXACTLY THAT to happen??

Moving on, I also have problems with his stand. I LOVE Crazy Diamond, I think it has a super cool design and power concept, but personally I wish it's powers were more grounded and had clear limits. I feel like a lot of stands suffer from this treatment of vague power limits (ex: Golden Wind..) but my problem with CD is that there were MANY opportunities to add one! For example: we know Josuke couldn't bring back Ryohei even after using his stand on him. So that bears the question: what can CD not fix? What is the real reason it can't bring a dead person back to life? Jotaro says "No stand has the power to bring back the dead" WHY?? am i missing something? Have I forgotten when it was officially established that stands cant do that? I mean, literally in part 3 there was a stand that could reanimate corpses. So does it have to do with the soul? No matter what, I would've used this moment to establish that CD can't bring back ANY living thing. I actually wrote a short fic abt this and included the fact that he also couldn't "fix" a dead leaf. I feel like overall his stand needed more grounding.

Also, I have beef with Josuke's backstory, but I'll get into that later.

Jotaro Kujo

Ok firstly, I have MAJOR beef with his design in part 4. Mainly the fact that he's drawn extremely pale in the anime. Like..obviously he COULD be pale as he is wasian (im not trying to say all wasian ppl look the same), but he is TAN in part 3. Why did they take that away?? Pisses me off to the extreme. At least they fixed it in p5+6. Anyways..

Character wise, I really enjoy Jotaro's personality in p4. I like how he's mellowed out in comparison to p3. However, I feel like he needed a more clear role in the story. He showed up to figure out grandpappy's shit, and then took the leader role when facing Kira. Why don't I like this? Because most of the time Jotaro was just..there. I think Araki wanted him and Josuke to have a mentor/student relationship (ex: rat episode) but just didn't focus enough on them or Josuke training with his stand for this to work.

Also, the fact that it took Jotaro so fucking long to figure out who Kira is WITH the help of all those other stand users is so goofy. Like him and the gang back in '89 found Dio's ass from a goddamn microscopic fly in a photo but couldn't find Kira's identity?? Like ugh he almost redeemed himself with the button thing but then he got blown up like gosh what happened king

When it comes to stands, I forever find it stupid that Jotaro didn't work with his stand to become more powerful. Araki just had to nerf him (which is something he does with most reoccurring characters, ex: Joseph). I don't like it and it pisses me off.

With the death of Ryohei, I feel like it would've made more sense for Jotaro to somewhat open up to Josuke and be a bit more sympathetic towards him about it (or maybe he stays closed off until Josuke explodes, causing Jotaro to reveal the truth about his past.) Either way, I think the two of them could've bonded over shared grief.

Okuyasu Nijimura

I absolutely ADORE Okuyasu. I think his dynamic with Josuke is really fun to watch and his personality is just overall super enjoyable.

Stand wise I do think Araki slightly nerfed him by making him dumb as fucking rocks, but I let this slide a little more just bc he's a side character..

I honestly think Okuyasu has the best character arc out of the whole part 4 cast. I think he definitely deserved more screen time, but what we got was really solid in my opinion. His relationship with his brother was well developed and it was really interesting to see how it still affected him even after his brother's death. The way he felt a need to get revenge for his brother and still felt like he wasn't enough really hit me in the gut. I love him.

When it comes to Okuyasu's "death" I have very mixed opinions. On the one hand, ofc the goat of part 4 survived. On the other hand, I feel like him surviving goes directly against the idea we've been given since the beginning. You can't save everyone. And on the one hand, I enjoy the subverting of expectations. On the other hand, I don't like how it's still just never fully explained. I guess in JJBA as long as your soul doesn't feel like dying yet, you won't. I wish we saw Okuyasu actually speaking to his brother when he "died" however. I find him and Keicho's relationship really gut-punching and that would've been a fire scene imo.

I have more to say on him, his dad, Keicho, and the arrow, but I'll save that for when I'm talking about the plot.

Yoshikage Kira

I find Kira to be a really interesting villain. I really enjoyed every moment we got going deeper into his psychology and it's something I really wish we got to see more of. I enjoy his sleek design and he's fine asf tbh.

Im not gonna give commentary on his stand rn bc honestly i dont fully remember how that shit worked by the time he was using the arrow

Character wise I just really wish he was established as the main villain sooner. The build up and hints dropped about him were so addictive, so it's disappointing that they're only there a little before his full introduction.

The psychology of Kira is something I really liked. The way he truly believes he's never really done anything wrong and only wanting to live a peaceful life is something I wish was even more looked into. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but from my memory, in the manga Kira's whole thing with his nails growing quicker when stressed/when his need to kill is getting too strong was only psychological. At least, I don't remember them growing the same way it's shown in the anime. I think this would've been something really interesting to deep dive into. The fact that he believes his nails grow when his need to kill is really high is really intriguing and the overall connection between hands and his killings are something I wanted to be fully developed more. I know it was kind of just a weird ass fetish but like..that's interesting!! this is interesting!!

I'll probably make an individual post to talk more abt him.

Plot

Where do I even begin. The plot of part 4 is all over the place. I loved many episodes, and I enjoyed when it leaned more into the slice of life style, but why the fuck where there like 3 seperate plots? Honestly, cut out Anjuro. His whole plot shit was annoying as hell. Didn't care for him.

Akira's entire plot pissed me off. I only like this arc because of Okuyasu. Overall I found there to be a lot of plot holes and just annoying parts. Everything til Kira was like this for me. Like get to the REAL plot please.

The arrow annoyed me. I've never wanted to rip my hair out more than when Kira's dad got a hold of it. He was SO GODDAMN ANNOYING. I like the concept of Kira using the arrow to get allies or ways to cover up his plot, but most of the stand users that came out of this were annoying and Kira's dad was insufferable in the worst way possible.

I think something I wish was more covered by the plot is the aftermath of Part 3 and Dio in general. This is something that CDDH (best jojo spinoff) covers really nicely, however. Go read it.

I also just in general think more should've been done w Okuyasu's dad, as he is a direct aftermath of Dio.

I feel like a lot of the women in Part 4 were set up to have strong, actually plot-influencing roles, but then were totally side-lined. I'm going to make a full post abt this tho.

Reimi being connected to Rohan never made sense to me. Just narratively speaking, why did you connect the main motivation for catching Kira to a side antagonist instead of the main character? This is slightly fueled by my hate for Rohan but like, c'mon! I think it would've made more sense to 1. just not include Rohan so fucking much and 2. connect Reimi to Josuke's past.

Speaking of Josuke's past, I feel like it just..needed more. Or at least, I think something needed to be done with the boy who saved him. I can appreciate the idea of it connecting to a theme of the general kindness of strangers, but you don't see that theme pop up as much in the rest of the plot. Also, I again would've connected Reimi to Josuke because WHY ISN’T SHE CONNECTED TO THE MAIN CHARACTER OH MY GOD

Overall tho I like the vibes of part 4, i really enjoyed different arcs and characters, and I just wish Araki got more time to flesh everything out and refocus on certain themes and characters.

[kurgy]

What should Endeavor have done? Like he was trying to atone.

im gonna blow your mind here but not only should he have had to hang up the spandex when his long since thought dead oldest son outed him as a violent abuser and aired out all his dirty laundry on national television, I think he should have been publicly fired and denounced by heroes as a whole. his hero license should have been revoked. he got to set and control the terms of his own "consequences", and shockingly, that amounted to nothing at all. he still puts on the spandex he still hits things really hard he still has all his money and the wife he bought and still has the respect and admiration of his colleagues and community. his outing as a violent abuser had no affect on his actual career or legacy. he bought a wife to have eugenics children and she agreed bc he promised to help her family financially. and then assaulted her for more kids when she didn't want anymore. yeah to the other heroes that's annoying at best but in their words "at least endeavor gets the job done" (this tells me hero abusers are actually quite common since every hero was just cool with it. I wont do the cop comparison today lmao). endeavor should have been publicly fired and his colleagues denounce and distance themselves from him, he should have been investigated, the act of locking his wife in a psych ward for the last 10 years should have been investigated, the doctor that told him quirk marriage eugenics children were unethical and possibly illegal but let them go ahead with full support anyway should be investigated. tarnish the one thing endeavor actually cared about, his legacy, actually hurt him in a way that makes him realize he can't just "Sorry :(" his way out of 2 decades of violent abuse (everything he did was illegal!!)

what im saying is, especially because he admitted that everything his son said was true in a press conference, denied no allegation, his agency shouldve cut ties, his colleagues should have condemned him, have literally any character ask Shouto how he's doing through all this specifically, because the Todoroki siblings and their mom were all sidelined in their own subplot to spotlight their abuser feeling bummed about abusing them, their actual feelings and thoughts stopped mattering the moment endeavor wanted to atone, and they only mattered again when they were talking or thinking about endeavor. how revolutionary.

the point is at most the only real consequence endeavor really suffered was Natsuo cutting him off and refusing to ever let him meet his wife or future grandkids. like thats the extent of his consequences. Dabi had to take his own pound of flesh and there is no shortage of ppl to shit on Dabi for that or say that the abuse was his fault or justified, that it didnt happen at all, that he was just a spoiled kid, he just wouldnt do as he was told, etc., honestly choose anything out of the abuse apologists play book and i can point you to a fan who says and believes it wholeheartedly. and even Dabi at the end could not find peace, endeavor kept him in a life support tube where he could only be conscious or talk for a few minutes a day as he waited to die just so endeavor could come by once a day to say he's sorry. words and actions that truly mean nothing at this point and serve no purpose other than making endeavor himself feel better. Dabi's conclusion wasnt even a conclusion for Dabi or Touya as characters, if Dabi/Touya was given an actual conclusion of his own it wouldnt have solely focused on endeavor, Touyas wish to talk to his mom would have been an actual scene, talking to Natsuo and Fuyumi for closure, sharing that meal with Shouto, but he was reduced to an object for endeavor to talk at until he died and that was portrayed as a good thing. he still has the full support of his colleagues. the wife he bought and abused is left to be his caretaker. I don't think the author ever even considered giving her an ounce of autonomy.

youre asking what endeavor couldve done, and like, literally anything that actually takes responsibility? but he didnt. he just felt bad and said he wanted to atone without putting in any work to take accountability for his actions (if he wanted to atone he should have retired on his own without being outed and I mean that) and he did this by doing the exact same thing hes always done. hit things really hard.

[sketching-shark]

Man, zhu bajie n tang sanzang had to b up there w swk about their mischaracterization n hated in lmk fandom

I have never seen so much mishandling as i seen with those three characters 😭😭(like bro i get that the most noticeable arc that ppl retain is the white bone spirit arc bc of OSP BUT THEY DIDNT STUCK TO THAT CHARACTERISTICS IN THE LATER ARCS LIKE CMON NOW—bajie couldn’t even lie about the dragon piss medicine in a later arc, what makes yall think he’s always a fantastic liar. Theres some benefit to his lying but they also backfire. BAJIE DO END UP LIKING EVERYONE LIKE HE REFER TO SWK AS ELDER BROTHER!<- no man could ever live up to the wonder of zhu wuneng. He just sweet n he does get a fantastic arc in the novel!

Tang sanzang does have some(albeit rare moments where hes nice but his asshoole moments sometimes intertwined) where hes like “yea my disciples r greats but theyre mad ugly.” Or that he gets better at having more trust in his disciples besides zhu wuneng. Even if its followed by hella traumatizing moments that no human person would remain sane like that. <hes just barely holding on by his faith, his mission and his disciples. Not his horse bc he cant hold on to save his life but that character arc where he DIDNT FELL OFF THOO!>

Monkie Kid spoilers below

Hmmm I know about the Sun Wukong & Tang Sanzang dunking but is that happening with Zhu Bajie too? Have to say I find that a little surprising given that (if memory serves correctly) Monkie Kid did say Zhu Bajie's main fault (well besides the whole being a man-eating yaoguai thing) was being stubborn, but then lego Patriarch Subodhi said he became one of the hardest workers of the pilgrimage. I guess I was under the impression that people were more light on their criticisms and thoughts about Zhu Bajie, but maybe that's just because he doesn't seem to be a point of great interest in the lego show fandom lol.

Kind of funny story anon but I've been vicariously growing in awareness on how much Zhu Bajie is loved in China through @antidotefortheawkward's posts about the pigman. And yeah, I can see that being in large part because Xiyouji in its totality does give a very different impression of who these characters are and where they end up than a cartoony summary can provide. As a number of people on this site have noted for example, the White Bone Demon Arc can be understood in a much more complex light than "Tang Sanzang & Zhu Bajie hurt poor monkey for nothing" when placed in the context of it being more near the beginning of the journey when the pilgrims were still grating against each other a lot & it happening very soon after the whole debacle with the Ginseng fruit tree. Here after all you can see how the monk has a recent history of getting into serious trouble from the monkey lying and being quick to destruction, so he would be primed to not believe SWK, not to mention he does hesitate to use the headband against SWK more than many give him credit for here. And YEAH given all the things they go through together I am more willing to accept a Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie enemies to friends arc than that put on many another character.

Also LMAOOOOO Tang Sanzang DOES seem to have quite a few lines where he tries to comfort terrified individuals by telling them that the pilgrims are good people even with their rancid looks (ugly pilgrim rights <3). And oh dang anon you are so right about how even if Tang Sanzang is much more of a static character in comparison to SWK it's kind of a shame more attention isn't given to the series of horrifying events he goes through and what effect that would have on him so that he gets a little more depth than "weepy monk who's mean to the Monkey King & falls off his dragon horse" in the popular western imagination. But then again I can understand why the monk's trauma is largely downplayed in western cartoony retellings, given that said lighthearted cartoony retellings probably wouldn't be the best medium to even touch on stuff like human butchery, death threats, sexual assault, and the consequences thereof.

[softpine]

i mean, elaine was also there when that women committed suicide. and obviously jada is affected the most by her mother’s death (and not preventing that other women’s death), but they all saw her mom die in a car crash at a very young age iirc. now, i know this is a story where we have characters who see dead ppl all the time, but like damn.

i get what anon meant kinda, so don’t wanna claim they said that in bad faith. nor do a wanna pit the gangs traumas against each other. but also idk the phrasing “she doesn’t have anything bad going on” is weird/lacks depth to me; yes elaine is the most immature and she’s been through less, but also she’s still impacted like everyone else from the shit she’s been through. if anything i’d argue she’s partly like that not from innocence but because of trauma.

like part of her and stevie’s friendship is built on the trauma that they probably feel like no one else will understand besides the 4 of them. so while i don’t agree with her, i understand why she said stevie is her problem.

and i’m saying this a someone whose least favorite character in the gang is probably elaine, and who agreed with austin through 90% of that argument until the end. also, i repeat, i’m not trying to bicker with anon as a fellow frozen pines enjoyer 🤝 i hope i didn’t misread yours or anon’s points.

tldr; idrc that that anon doesn’t like elaine, but yeah their reasoning could’ve been way better (also u don’t have to post this if u rather move on from the convo)

okay yeah i have to answer this because i 100% agree. me when i have no trauma 🤪

originally i had written a paragraph about how the bar for being considered "traumatized" in frozen pines is extremely high by comparison, so even though she isn't being re-traumatized every day, she's still been through hardships. if we plopped her in an ordinary teen story, elaine might actually be the one who has seen the most shit. but i erased it because.. idk. it feels icky to say that there's a certain amount of trauma a person must experience before they're allowed to act a certain way / be forgiven for the way they act. but let's talk about it, because you're exactly right that part of the way elaine acts is a trauma response.

there was a huge time skip after aileen died, so we don't know exactly how elaine dealt with the aftermath, but we do know this:

elaine's only goal was to cheer jada up, so she didn't get into her own feelings about aileen's death, she just wanted jada to know that she's not the only one haunted by the memory. their friend group is bonded by this memory that no one else understands – hell, even the girls don't understand what happened that day. only asa knows the truth. so they're bonded in uncertainty too.

when austin fails to show up to a date on time, elaine thinks: "What if he got in an accident? Did he forget his seatbelt again? Oh, God, I told him! He’s dying in a ditch somewhere and I’m sitting here all annoyed at him!" and when she visits austin's house for the first time, she realizes he lives right next to the train tracks where aileen died, and thinks, "I wish he didn’t live so close to the train…" (btw he lives VERY close to the train, so elaine has to hear it outside his window every time she spends the night)

it's been years, but aileen's death is still at the forefront of elaine's mind. it also shows that she turns that trauma into worry for other people. we've never seen her worry about her own safety in this way, even after she starts driving.

after she witnesses the woman die from jumping off the bridge, austin gives her a bunch of advice for how to survive a big fall, which comforts her a lot, but she's horrified to learn that austin has also jumped off that bridge for fun. it's one of the only times we've seen her be truly pissed off, and it's because the fear of losing austin in that way terrifies her. she can't believe he's being so casual about it (and cocky, honestly. he says: "It was sick. I didn't break anything. [...] You could do it too if you practiced.") again, elaine doesn't find it distressing to imagine herself in a dangerous situation, but as soon as she imagines someone she cares about doing it, she panics.

no doubt about it, elaine lacks awareness when talking about gruesome deaths with other people. while stevie makes jokes about her trauma, jada avoids the subject like the plague, asa channels his trauma into helping ghosts... elaine overshares and downplays death. she's interested in true crime because she's already seen the horrors of death and now she just wants to understand the why and how of it (she even says: "Death isn't so scary when you understand the science behind it.") she doesn't believe in religion, she's not spiritual, and she doesn't believe in ghosts. all she can do is cling onto the physical effects of dying and everything that she can learn from it. the way she's able to cope with the things she's seen is by treating it like something that happened to someone else, far away from her. can this be insensitive? yes, absolutely. but this is something she can definitely learn from and change. again, she's only 17... she's gonna have some wacky views about mortality.

so that's what we know so far about elaine's trauma and how it changes her behavior. but without spoiling anything.... in a short time, you're about to see the effects of her trauma in a big way, so it's good to put this out as a refresher!

[darcyolsson]

hey there! i want you to know that i’ve never watched an episode of riverdale ever, the only thing i ever knew about it before tonight was that someone throws babies over a fire or something?? (saw it in one of those ‘whcih of these didn’t happen’ things)

i followed you for tsc stuff, but your posts about today’s finale made my head spin. i thought riverdale was a mainstream typical heterosexual show w/ bad scriptwriting tbh, based on the look of it? i’m ace so i’d seen ppl complain about jughead’s ace erasure, but i did not know literally anything else about this show? so your blog tonight deeply confused me, but in a fun way, so i decided to go to the tag and try and figure it out.

and, oh my word. never seen an ep of this thing but i’m sitting here with tears rolling down my face, i can’t stop laughing, i cannot believe they ended it like this, this is absolutely hilarious and iconic and what the hell levels of finale….. i feel for y’all and i’m happy for y’all and i kinda wish i’d watched this show before it ended.

also…… i must ask how it feels to be a part of two fandoms in whcih two ‘finales’ have both been extremely unbelievably chaotic and ended w/ a polycule to avoid ship wars in which the polycule breaks up at some point in said finale (if i’m understanding riverdale’s finale right?)……. as someone who loved qoaad but had no clue what was happening i cannot help but wonder what y’all must be thinking of this episode, it seems even crazier than thule and sebastian and janus and annabel from the edgar allen poe poem and your boyfriend literally selling his soul to his job but telling you two to be happy and😭😭

welcome to riverdale insanity. i hope your adventure has made you want to watch this show. i can try to explain it to you but i physically can't put this show into words (i can actually, they're "camp" and "metanarrative")

basically: riverdale is an intentionally batshit insane show which started out as a somewhat normal teen drama. most people, however, stopped watching after the crazy got turned up a notch and because of that most people still think it's a teen drama and the writing's just bad. but it's not bad writing! it's very very good writing! because every insane storyline is purpose!!!!! and that's why people love it. because they love their insane and gay show. somehow this is very hard for the average person to wrap their heads around.

i love riverdale to death. it is truly, genuinely, the only show of it's kind. it's outlandish and crazy and hilarious and beautiful. there's literally no other show willing to be as insane as riverdale was and it's definitely one of my favourite shows ever made because of that. this quote from a recent interview with some of the actors says it best:

as for the comparison quoaad: i will say that i enjoyed this finale... about the same amount as queen? i didn't like some parts of it but more for general storytelling reasons (i don't want to know the exact fates of every single character at any cost and that's literally all this finale was lol).

the main difference here is that the dark artifices is a serious (wel.. serious-adjacent) ya fantasy series but riverdale is a show that's centered around outlandish, comedic and dramatic storylines. a crazy finale didn't really fit TDA, while obviously, a crazy-ish finale did fit riverdale for the aforementioned reasons (i say "crazy-ish" because i would say this episode is like. maybe #70 on the most insane riverdale episodes list? believe it or not this was very normal by riverdale standards).

and yes the polyamory ending is always ICONIC. they really kierarktina'd us and i'm delighted. more of this please!

also, can i just say, the fact that you thought riverdale was a straight show is unbelievably funny and i KNOW most people think of it that way but you have to know that genuinely, without lying, 80-90% of the characters are canonically bisexual. and virtually all the other ones are gay. all of the main characters are gay/bi (except jughead, though that one's still a little debatable?). most of the main characters' parents are gay/bi. homophobic villains all end up being gay in the end. random background will make one on-screen appearance just to say they're gay and then leave. every single one of cheryls ancestors was a lesbian. i don't have the time to count but think riverdale has somewhere around 30-50 confirmed queer characters. and yes i do wish that they had given is a crumb of ace or trans rep but this is not my story this is one insane gay person's 20 year revenge plan and who am i to judge.

go watch riverdale now <3

[stevelives]

For the "least favorite" ask game: Episode of Stranger Things? Fanon ST headcanon (and)or theory? Comment people make about Steve? Trope in fanfic? Beauty trend? Accessory? Color?

ooo so many, thank you!

Episode of Stranger Things?: i want you to know that i forgot this was a least fave list and wrote out this really long explanation about my favorite episode then had to delete it ASDFSHDHAJ but i think we can all agree it’s the lost sister. not because i didn’t dislike the story or the characters i loved it, but it was just so ill placed in the season that it took away from what was happening in hawkins. it sucks we never fucking hear of kali again because i liked that storyline

Fanon ST headcanon (and)or theory?

idk maybe that el is actually hoppers daughter that had cancer cuz like it just doesn’t add up at all. while i understand a point ppl have that the hospital where she was being treated where we see hopper crying on the stairs looks EXACTLY like hawkins lab but like you can put that up to it was the first season so they were budgeting themselves and just reused that set for that small scene. idk if ppl still believe in it but that’s one that i remember that bothered me cuz its just absolutely not true

fanon uhhh don’t kill me but steve and robin being “platonic soulmates” i just think that’s too strong of a label to put on them?? they’re besties at most but i wouldn’t call them soulmates and yes i know soulmates can be friendships, love interests, family etc. but i just don’t see that for them in canon the bond is not that intense in my eyes, they’re just best friends idk how else to explain it. love them !!!!!! just don’t see the platonic soulmates thing

Comment people make about Steve?

i guess maybe that he’s unintelligent? sure in comparison to dustin, nancy, robin and the others he seems that way but he’s just an average guy who’s strengths aren’t science or literature

Trope in fanfic?

i dunno whenever reader ends up suddenly being pregnant it’s like ok you’re done bye

Beauty trend?

nothing- let ppl do what makes them feel pretty

Accessory?

i don’t think about them enough to have a least favorite one lmao

Color?

dark turquoise??? i don’t know but that’s a color i have never and will never wear. its not that it’s ugly or anything i just dont own anything with it and wouldnt if it was an option

ask my least favorite _____

[will80sbyers]

Some byler arguments legit making Mike sound like an asshole. Like, this guy's biggest personality trait is caring for friendship, but you want me to believe that he 'used' El to find Will? This is the reason why I do not think Mike is faking his attraction to El, and that he is mostly portrayed as confused/oblivious. He's not the type to lie about such things bc Mike doesn't actually lie or hide his feelings as some ppl claim. And like, S3 argument doesn't count bc the reason why Mike had to lie in that season was because of Hopper (not blaming Hopper ofc, he had his own points) and he actually has more moral code regarding this in comparison to both Will and El lmao.

personally I think that when Mike lies in the show he is not doing it because he wants to but because he feels like he has to for pride (?) in a way or because he feels forced by something like for Hopper telling him that he would not allow him to see El ever again if he didn't stop going there all the time

BUT he doesn't lie about his own feelings to the direct people he's talking with (El and Will) because he does have deep respect for them

he lies about his feelings only when he is talking to other people that are not directly involved about something that he finds embarrassing in s1... like lying to Nancy about the fact that he did like El or covering the pretty with "pretty good" when Lucas and Dustin are watching him but as soon as he is alone with El in the bathroom he just tells her on his own without pretending... when he lies to El about being bullied he's lying about a thing that happened not about his feelings

he tells her why he's angry every time he is, he tries to talk to her and even when he can't bring himself to say he FEELS something he is more omitting the truth instead of just saying it and risking lying about it

he does lie about the Upside Down stuff and other minor things through the show but he doesn't lie about his deep feelings from what I've observed

lying about stuff is different than lying about feelings, lying about your feelings for someone is really hurtful to the other person, it fucks with their mind and I really don't know how it would make sense for Mike...

I really think he's the most honest person about his feelings on the show when he understands them, when he can't say the I love you he just avoids, he doesn't want to lie to El about that because he understands that's a deeply hurtful lie if he's not 100% sure of it for some reason

[uniiiquehecrt]

#but yeah like it's mostly probably from comparison TO loki that ppl do this#bc like loki's always so many steps ahead everyone else looks dumb in comparison#but you'd NOT outwit thor just randomly#as a random person#nuh-uh - @thelibraryofsylphide

Hello lovely (i wanna ty for the reblog! ^-^)

I want to also add that Loki can't easily outwit Thor either. Contrarily, they're on the same wavelength a majority of the time; perfectly balanced as all things should be evenly matched, to be frank! :D The only real exception to this is in "Thor" (2011), when Thor is completely in the dark about everything happening in Asgard for 3 days while banished to Earth, (and he wasn't aware of Loki's betrayal before the Warriors told him so. He believed Loki 100% because that's his brother, who as far as he was concerned wouldn't lie to him about anything so drastic as their Father's death.), and kind of "The Avengers", but only because Thor and Loki had been apart for a year (with Thor thinking Loki was dead) and was not willing to torture his own brother for information on his plan. He was more concerned with the fact that Loki was alive at all, and how to convince him to return home with him as his brother. Which ultimately leads to a case that Loki has, canonically, only outwit Thor whenever it's an emotional manipulation at play that Thor was unawares of.

Loki's greatest strength is his intelligence and his ambition, absolutely! I'm not here to detract from that in the slightest. I like Loki as a character. But I've always thought that in the instances that someone compares Thor to Loki and the result of that is to somehow get the idea that Thor is somehow unintelligent as a result is completely mind-boggling to me!! (Not saying you're saying this, for clarification!!! I'm simply speaking broadly, because I do also see that assumption thrown about too! And it is horribly, grossly incorrect.) I think both boys can be incredibly intelligent, and that their strengths lie in completely different fields. A sort of... book-smart vs. street-smart instance. But that doesn't make one of them less smart. It also doesn't make either of them non-geniuses. They're both geniuses.

But to the point:

I feel as though whenever I read the take that Thor is "unintelligent because Loki is a genius", people often forget that Thor has tricked Loki before! Specifically in "The Dark World" when he sleights-of-hands Loki into cuffs. (He's then all cheeky and jokes about how "And here I thought you liked tricks ;D~", what a silly man)

He then tricks Loki (and the entirety of the Asgardian army, AND his own father, the who-knows-how-old warlord) again with the concept of his escape plan, leading everyone not in the know to think that he had stolen the "biggest, most obvious ship in the universe" to escape off-planet.

"You lied to me. I'm impressed."

This was all a very long con. A ruse, if you will.

Not to mention that the entire escape plan was entirely of Thor's own making from breaking Jane and Loki out to getting off planet at all. The only part that Loki's played was utilizing the bridges between worlds. Which was ALSO solely Thor's idea. Loki just agreed to the recruitment.

It's also heavily implied (if not just flat out canon.) that BOTH brothers worked together to create the plan to make it seem as though Loki had betrayed Thor to get the Aether! As Loki stages this rather theatric display following Thor's lead, I'd wager that this was also primarily Thor's idea, the same with the rest of the plan. (This is also working on the understanding that Loki, by the time he's had his "Trust my rage" moment, would have been full-tilt on attempting to prove to Thor that they can be more than enemies; that Thor can trust him after all. So, working together and following Thor's leadership would be instrumental in securing that trust. Which is entirely in Loki's M.O. by this point.)

On top of that, even in "Thor: Ragnarok" (surprising I know) Thor's intelligence is displayed to be on par with characters like Loki, because he's able to talk in science-fiction mumbo-jumbo with Bruce Banner when they were discussing their plan to get off Sakaar and back to Asgard.

All this to say that if you ever want specific and concrete examples on how Thor is perfectly intelligent, street-savvy, quick-thinking and altogether on par with characters like Loki, Tony Stark, and Peter Parker, here are not one, but five examples! :)

The definition of a himbo (according to urban dictionary) is as follows:

"Himbo - A dumb or naive man, who, despite looking like an asshole Chad, is actually sweet, respectful, and kind. Typically large, beefy, and relatively handsome, but friendly. Gentle giants, if you will. Perhaps the best example of a himbo is Kronk, from The Emperor;s New Groove. He is large, strong, and stupid, but extremely kind and respectful to everyone. He is also incredibly innocent and unaware of many events happening around him, as most himbos are."

The key words here being the following:

dumb or naive; stupid.

Other definitions also include:

An attractive man, often very buff or fit, that is not particularly smart or bright but often tries to be respectful, particularly to women.

A man who generally is stupid, but tries hard to be a respectful man.

Thor

is

NOT

A

HIMBO

and

has never been.

by any definition EXCEPT when approved by Taika Waititi.

But, thank you for seeing that he is, in fact, respectful, kind, and very hot.

We can at least agree on that much.