#it just feels like such a disservice to her

[kedreeva]

i have an odd animal husbandry question you seem like you might know the answer to, your comment about stan reminded me - ive been thinking about getting into backyard chickens for a couple years and the thing that makes me hesitate most is hard culling. im confident in my ability to put down an animal thats sick, or infirm, or for food, but for like, temperament? or for poor egg layers? just sticks on me for some reason. i think it would feel like telling them theyre not a good enough chicken for me. how to you process this part of animal husbandry?

This will be a little long, so bear with me.

If you want to keep use animals (animals bred for a purpose, to be used for a purpose instead of kept as a companion), you gotta get good with the idea that they are here for you under the agreement that you will only keep them as long as you need to. When you take them on, you are agreeing that you will release them to whatever their next life holds for them as soon as you do not need (or they've completed) their service. Maybe for some people that's just release to the biological cycle of life, for others maybe there's an eternal rest, for others maybe it's reincarnation. For soft culling that's just moving to the next household. Whatever it is, you are allowing them to pass to it in as humane a way as you can, and ultimately it is the single greatest kindness and gratitude you can show to them, to give them proper care while they are here and allow them to end with little to no pain- something animals outside of our care rarely get. You are thanking them for their service, and letting them go. Worth does not even begin to factor into it.

It is not easy to take a life. It is NEVER easy, regardless of reason, regardless of excuse, regardless of anything. It is ALWAYS heavy, and it will always hurt you. And it should. I am grateful for the weight of taking a life, because it reminds me that it is serious, and reminds me to take the production of life seriously, because at some point any life I cause to come into existence via breeding animals will have to end.

On top of that, some things ARE heath related that do not seem health related. Aggression in domestic animals IS A HEALTH ISSUE. A cock is aggressive because he is stressed about intruders, containment, mating threats, resource guarding, etc. Even with the best of care this can be true, and unfortunately for you both, this means the animal is not suited for domestic keeping. The same goes for animals (in any stripe of use, but particularly private care) that display repetitive stress behaviors from normal, proper captive care (for example, mice that are food chewing are stressed and should be culled from lines where possible because they are not having a good time). You are doing them a disservice to keep them in a stressful situation you cannot change because of their biology. It has nothing to do with not being good enough for you, and everything to do with producing/keeping animals that do not experience that stress in captive care and releasing the rest from duty because they will not be okay in any captive care.

For some issues (poor egg laying, for example) you CAN pet-home culls instead of hard culling. It's harder to do, you will spend time finding people who just want pets that don't intend to breed or don't care, but it can be done. However!! Is the bird just slow at producing eggs because her genetics say that's how fast eggs get produced, or is she producing slowly because there's a health problem that isn't immediately evident? Is her ovary damaged, is her reproductive tract infected, does she have a disorder that prevents her from processing food correctly so she can't get what she needs to produce eggs as fast as normal? Are you setting the bird up for failure (and someone else for heartbreak/money troubles) sending them to a pet home? Is it something which could lead to pain/suffering down the road if she's allowed to continue? Hard to say without spending a lot of money. Are you willing to risk your reputation, if someone takes a surprise illness/genetic issue down the road badly ("Oh THAT breeder sold me a sick/unhealthy bird/bird with bad genetics"), and compromise your ability to find homes for healthy birds down the road?

You are okay with culling a bird for food- there's nothing that says you cannot eat the bad temperaments, the poor egg layers, the one with genetic issues, and so on. And if you can tell early enough that you, personally, can't make use of the meat, there are plenty of folks with other animals that would LOVE feed for those animals. Take yourself down to a local reptile expo, grab the business cards for a few people who have big snake babies (retics, burmese, anaconda, redtail boa, even BP) that say they'd be interested in taking culls, OR look up local bird of prey rescues in your area (or reptile rescues or big cat rescues if there are any) and ask if they'd be interested in culls. There is ALWAYS someone that can use what you can't/won't. You may have to jump through some hoops to donate to some kinds of rescues (health testing for example), but it's an option you can look into if you want to combat the feelings you're talking about.

As a last note- and I am saying this gently and holding your face in both hands: do not anthropomorphize animals in reality.

In YOUR eyes, you are culling them an illness or an injury or for food or for temperament or for poor quality or or or---- it does not matter to the animal why you are culling them. A death is a death, to them. They are here, and then a thing happens, and they are no longer. They do not understand life or death or afterlife or reincarnation or that they are here for a purpose or not a purpose or literally anything you as a human might impose upon them in your head. They live while they are alive, and then they are not. They do not "want to live" in the "avoid death" sense because they do not necessarily understand "death" as a future concept. Instincts that have worked well to preserve life have been encoded in their DNA to one degree or another, they can and do respond to avoid pain, but with little exception (like... maybe elephants and dolphins and a crows and a few others), it's unlikely that they understand the connection between doing those things and being alive/avoiding death.

So while TO YOU it may feel like telling the bird they are not good enough, and TO ME it feels like allowing the bird to move on in peace... the bird doesn't know either way, and honestly the reason hardly matters. It is alive in the present, and one way or another it will not be alive someday, and you are responsible for making sure that the one way under your control is so peaceful or quick that the bird hardly knows it is no longer alive. The bird doesn't care about (and cannot understand) the why of their death, any more than they understand their pain/stress and how it relates medical assistance; it's why animals often freak out, refuse meds, etc. They don't hate the vet or the car or the carrier or anything- they just simply don't understand human stuff and react according to instincts/what they do understand. If you treat an animal like the animal it IS rather than the person you imagine it to be, you will find yourself with a lot better relationship with them during life, and be able to frame their passing a bit better later on.

[sugirashi]

I’ve seen a distinct lack of nuance when it comes to discussions about Silent Hill 2, more specifically in regard to James as a character. It’s very easy to oversimplify his motivations/actions, when looking at it through a lens of bad actions = bad person. While there’s no justification for him murdering Mary, people often mischaracterize her death being the cause of James hating her.

I’m in no way saying people can’t dislike James, but a lot of the hate I’ve seen reflect misunderstanding his character and really the entire game as a whole. More specifically Ive seen the argument that he was motivated by sexual repression, and since Mary he was sick he hated that he lost that intimacy. But that in itself ignores the core theme of his guilt and how ultimately he didn’t hate Mary, if James killed without remorse then nothing would be drawing him to Silent Hill. He’s facing his guilt, that’s the whole reason characters like Pyramid Head exist in the first place. That same mischaracterization also ignores the significance of different endings and what each of them reflect on James. If he truly hated Mary, he wouldn’t have gone to Silent Hill, especially when considering that he originally went there to kill himself, and how he does in the “In Water” ending.

A scene that’s been used to “support” the idea that James hated her was when he states that he did hate her. But, that scene itself is surrounded by context which shows that while he may have began to hate aspects of Mary (I.e her sickness, and also the abusive tendencies she had during that time), he didn’t truly feel that way. Even Mary herself asks “Then why do you look so sad?” because it wouldn’t make any sense to have James go to Silent Hill if he didn’t care about Mary in the first place. I just find it a bit irritating that people who insist James hated Mary are the same people who think others have misunderstood the game if they like James.

Media literacy has reached an all time low, It’s a shame that a character like James is oversimplified in conversations regarding his morality, because I think it shows that people are willing to accept that a person is just bad because of wrongful action without considering how context may change the discussion.

I think if a person is really stuck in the belief that James never cared for Mary, they experienced Silent Hill with their eyes closed. Because story wise that doesn’t make sense for anything that happens, and does a disservice to the game and how it’s meant to be layered and doesn’t just draw on a single meaning.

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Okay but wouldn't it be hilarious if Callie went to intern!Lena about being gay. Like "sooooooo.... how did you know you liked girls? Like. In a gay way."

And Lena kinda looks at her with a cocked eyebrow, clearly bemused. "I wanted to make my girlfriend come so hard she saw stars. Never had a single shred of desire to do the same for a man."

Lena snaps the chart in her hands shut, and turns more fully towards Callie. "I don't suppose this has anything to do with Dr Hahn?"

"What?!" Callie exclaims, scoffing dramatically. "No. Why would you think that?"

"Oh please," Lena drawls. "You two have been flirting around each other for months."

"What-- no we haven't! Wait... two? You mean... Erica's gay?"

Lena rolls her eyes.

"How do you know?"

"Support group," Lena drawls laconically.

Callie blinks. "You all have a support group?"

"Oh, yeah," Lena croons, "we meet every full moon for a monthly orgy."

Callie flushes. "I didn't mean..."

"I know what you meant," Lena says, softening a little. She steps a little bit closer, lowering her voice. "Look. You two like each other. As friends, at the very least. That's a good place to start. Just... tell her how you feel, and see if she wants to try things out."

Uncertainty steals over Callie at the thought. "But..."

Lena tilts her head. "But what? What's the worst that could happen?"

"She thinks I'm insane. Or a creep trying to take advantage of our friendship--"

"Don't do that," Lena says sharply. "Don't do Hahn the disservice of assuming that will be her default reaction. You know her better than that. She knows *you* better than that."

Callie looks at her. "You think?"

"Would you be attracted to her if you didn't?"

Finally, Callie's anxiety eases. She sighs, and some of the tension bleeds away. "No."

"Give yourselves both the benefit of being honest," Lena says, taking a step back. She shrugs. "Who knows... you might just find some happiness at the end of the rainbow."

Callie watches Lena depart, and catches the way Lexie joins her with a bump of the shoulder. When they turn the next corner, Callie spots Erica in the corridor beyond, talking to Bailey.

The nerves return swiftly, only to spike even further when Hahn's gaze lifts and meets Callie's. The smile Callie offers is thin and hesitant, but Erica's answering grin of acknowledgement is bright.

When Bailey takes her leave, Erica makes her way to Callie. "Joe's tonight?" she asks.

Callie almost declines, but the echo of Lena's rarely soft voice changes her mind at the last second. "Sure."

"Want me to see if Sloan wants to join?"

"No," Callie blurts sharply. "No. There's, uh.... There's actually something I wanted to talk to you about, later. After shift."

Erica nods. "Okay. I look forward to it. See you then."

And then she moves on, leaving Callie feeling like a deer in the headlights. What the hell is she doing? But then she sees Lena and Lexie in her minds eye, and where before she had seen something cute, adorable like watching two kids marry on the playground, she sees something she suddenly wants for herself.

There's only one question that niggles at Callie as the day descends into evening, and the chaos of the OR turns into a raucous evening at Joe's. While waiting for Erica, Callie flags Lena's attention on her way to the bar.

"So, did you?" Callie asks.

Lena shoots her a wry glance. "Did I what?"

"Make her see stars?"

It takes a moment for the reference to click, and when it does Lena's lips twist into the smuggest of smirks.

"Every single time."

[gay-dorito-dust]

I was wondering if I could req Headcannon's with Prince nuada dealing with his romantic feelings for a human s/o who's basically hellboys younger sister, And if possible if it's not too much would you be able to do relationship Headcannon's for this type of relationship?

He’s in denial from the very start.

Nuada hated humans with a vengeance and would not betray his own kind because he felt a slight flutter within his chest, he didn’t want to believe that he was falling for the very people that shunned his to reside within the darkness.

He felt as though it was a great disservice to his origin, his people, his home to fall for someone on the opposing side. He felt disgusted with how easily his body betrayed him when it came to you, hellboy’s human sibling.

He didn’t like Hellboy and the fact that you were human didn’t help make matters better either, and yet he couldn’t help but feel something he long thought was ripped out from his chest centuries ago. Affection, love, softer emotions that he had thought were dead but they were just heavily subdued by the anger, the need for revenge for his own kind that it drowned out any other emotion from surfacing.

Nuada made certain that the only feelings that he felt were to remind himself

Nuala, his sister, belvied that this was the change that her brother needed and would wholeheartedly encourage him to at least be civil with you, or have you strike up the conversation first. She just wanted Nuada to reach out and someday let go of the grudge he had harboured for far too long.

Nuada didn’t like this and neither did Hellboy, who was immensely protective over you and wouldn’t dare allow spearhead anywhere near you without threatening him with a good smack across the face.

This was probably the only thing they agreed on. Neither of them wanted anything to do with the other and Hellboy was more then willing to keep you as far away from the elven prince as much as he could, Nuada wasn’t at all interested or so he claimed but he would always find something deep within himself tell him to at least reach out to you.

So Nuada would find himself waiting for Hellboy to be out of sight and out of mind to allow himself to be within the same room as you.

Not by his own accord, he would claim. He would try to convince himself that the reason you were to do something stupid as per your human nature, should you be left alone to your own devices with no supervision whatsoever.

Nuala didn’t believe this lie, their bond told her more than enough as she finds herself smiling when she felt her brother feeling emotions of love, affection and admiration and overprotectiveness. She knew that Nuada felt more deeply and more then anyone else she knew and his emotions towards you were all the more evidence of that whenever you were both sharing the room.

Nuala could feel the soft blossoming of love within her brother, seen the way that he would try to act hostile and passive aggressive with you whenever you tried to engage in conversation, she could also feel the underlying regret that he would have when he successfully pushed you away.

Her brother was conflicted and she could only hope that one day, and when Hellboy wasn’t so hostile, you and Nuada will build and embrace a beautiful relationship to be treasured and remembered fondly.

Now let’s get to how your relationship with nuada would be like after he quits his ‘I hate humans’ phase;

Nuada is an immensely protective lover.

There’s not a mission where you go on where you weren’t without Nuada being your protective shadow who acted with instinct and fast reflexes that could take down the hardest of opponents as though they were nothing.

To Nuada, was technically the truth. He was a warrior through and through other then being a prince on top of that.

Hellboy still had his concerns when it came to you dating Nuada, he believed that Nuada was still up to his old ways but he was only just your overprotective brother trying to keep you safe and out of as much danger as he could.

Liz had to tell him to let you live your own life and if you see yourself living that life with Nuada then who were they to deny you of happiness. Thankfully Hellboy listened to her, probably more than he ever listens to you at least, but you thanked her for getting him off of yours and Nuada’s arse for the time being.

He’s doting and romantic to say the least as Nuada treated you better than most people that you could’ve dated.

He would kiss the back of your hand, keep it pressed against his chest when you both slept or when you needed a reminder that his heart was yours and yours alone or even for simplistic comfort to ease your overworking/ over worrying mind.

He was your rock, someone whom you could lean on and be reassured that everything was okay as he kept you close and tell you tales of his home and family with a fondness within his voice that you couldn’t get enough of.

Nuada would even listen to you speak about your childhood with Hellboy, remembering the day your father brought him home and how you quickly accepted him as you brother, your blood and how you would do everything in your power to remind him when he felt as though he wasn’t actually family.

Nuada found this determination of yours admirable as he gently covered your face in quick kisses that left you laughing and smiling within his arms as he held you close to his chest, happy to feel something this beautiful and deep with you after everything he had done.

The relationship you both had was built on trust, respect for the other and your unique traits.

It was a relationship where you both listen to each other deeply, so deeply with the intent of wanting to know the other deeper than anyone else.

It’s a relationship where you’d heal each others wounds and just hold each other tightly as you let the day pass both of you by as you listen to him read or you just enjoy the comforts of having the other so close by.

Nuada found himself more at peace with you and less prone to rising to violence and or snapping out of impatience. He found himself thinking more with a clearer head and a heart full of all the things he wishes to do with you one day.

The mere sound of your name, or hearing your laughter was more then enough for Nuada but if he was home after a long mission then eh would want to indulge himself in you as soon as he comes back to the compound, eager to rest within your arms despite his own minor injuries.

[themysteriouswaylon]

I really don’t agree with this post TBH. smithers is My special interest so I have a lot to say, thus putting the rest of this under a “read more” label.

because it’s so long, I also put My main points in bold, just in case you aren’t able to/don't want to read everything.

(also, quick disclaimer: reading over this, I’m not sure if I’m coming off as belligerent? a lot of this is autistic infodumping, so I wrote it with getting My point across > social niceties, but I’m not certain on how that has Me coming across. whoops)

“like, they had burns pestering smithers for help early in the episode to the point it was a catalyst for the plot, and yet, when smithers is INCARCERATED burns doesn't notice until he's specifically told?”

perhaps this is a nitpick, but mr. burns wasn’t exactly “pestering” smithers for help; most of what smithers did for him in the opening was off of a checklist and done while mr. burns was either absent (E.G. evicting the children’s hospital, taking out the trash) or seemingly oblivious to her presence (dropping the ducks).

the only point in the episode where I would say burns does anything close to “pestering” smithers for help is when he coughs up his adam’s apple. even the wine-tasting earlier on doesn’t make burns come off as needy or hyperdependent.

now, I will give credit where it’s due and say that how much burns relies on smithers in general—with the latter functioning as his caregiver—would make it strange for him to have not noticed her absence.

“portrait of a lackey on fire” does show burns’ ability to hyperfocus for prolonged periods of time, at the expense of recognizing others’ absence, but since this post’s main argument is that the modern burns/smithers dynamic is broken, I recognize that this is a weak defense for this decision, especially since burns wasn’t shown to be preoccupied with anything in this case.

“without smithers, burns becomes just an evil old rich man. without burns, smithers kind of just exists??? they are both SO important for contextualizing each other and creating respective depth.”

this is gonna sound mean, but this paragraph is a GROSS disservice to both burns and smithers as characters. I cannot understate this enough.

they both have so much going for them outside of each other. sure, I can understand preferring them together (like most people, I absolutely love them as a duo), but to say that they’ve only ever been given development and character in relation to each other is so incongruent with how they’re actually written.

let’s start with mr. burns. for organizational purposes, I’m going to restrict Myself to pointing out just a handful of bullet-pointed complexities of his:

the modern timeline (as early as S24’s “dark knight court,” IIRC) shows that he was abused and neglected as a child; his pervasive need for attention and power comes not just from the evil of being a white male billionaire, but also from the fact that he was ignored and defenseless throughout his formative years. some of his most extreme interpersonal tendencies result from him trying to avoid being put in such a traumatizing position ever again. the fact that his trauma still impacts him today isn’t just speculation, but it’s a major plot point in both “monty burns’ fleeing circus” and “bobby, it’s cold outside.”

mr. burns’ relationship with others as a whole is complicated, not just his dynamic with smithers. the aforementioned need for validation and control plays a strong role in how he relates to others, the former more so in modern seasons and the latter in classic seasons. in the classic seasons, his relationships with marge (as his crush in “marge gets a job”), bart (as his son in “burns’ heir”), and jacqueline (marge’s mom; as his bride in “lady bouvier’s lover”) all hinge on how much control he has over them: he’d do anything for marge…until he finds out she’s not sexually available to him; he welcomes bart with open arms…until he doesn’t feel comfortable choosing him over homer; he��was never good to jacqueline. I’ve heard somebody suggest that he wanted her only to take her from abe, which I feel is absolutely correct, especially considering that S27’s “puffless” has him seducing her and then outright admitting he only did it to spite grampa. (note: I’m not trying to excuse his behavior as “just trauma.” he’s obviously a misogynist and an abuser, unrelated to his childhood) meanwhile, post-classic seasons emphasize his need for approval, which lends itself to a lonelier characterization of burns: “monty can’t buy me love,” “monty burns’ fleeing circus,” “undercover burns,” and “burger kings” are all ultimately episodes about him chasing after the public’s affection, even at the expense of his own comfort. he’s also been portrayed as rather prone to idealization, taking a selfless yet naive perspective on his relationships with gloria (S13’s “a hunka hunka burns in love”), jay G (S28’s “the great phatsby”), homer and friends (S32’s “undercover burns”), and persephone (S35’s “thirst trap”).

lastly (for what I’m saying here), burns deals with a persistent sense of emptiness. although I’d argue this has always made sense for his character (especially with episodes like “rosebud” in mind), this is shown mostly in post-classic episodes, through his various instances of thrill-seeking (“homer vs. dignity,” “dark knight court,” “opposites a-frack”), people-pleasing (“monty can’t buy me love,” “undercover burns,” “burger kings”), suicide attempts (“the fool monty,” “burger kings”), and depression (“monty burns’ fleeing circus,” “bobby, it’s cold outside”).

now, it’s obvious that the trajectory of his character development has changed over time, but at no meaningful point in the series has he truly just been “evil” and nothing else, including in episodes where he’s largely distanced from smithers as a character.

speaking of smithers:

I’d say that love is at the core of smithers’ character, both her ability/willingness to love unconditionally and her long-unmet need to be loved back. this is—of course—shown mostly with mr. burns, but this has also been shown as just a general fact of smithers’ life. she’s consistently looking for an actual partner, even before the most recent seasons: she dated john in S7’s “homer’s phobia,” is shown with a man in a crowd mostly consisting of established couples in S13’s “the bart wants what it wants,” has an off-screen commitment ceremony in S19’s “sex, pies, and idiot scrapes,” tries to get with abe in S24’s “gorgeous grampa,” dates julio in S27’s “the burns cage,” and—most recently—dates michael in S33’s “portrait of a lackey on fire.” although the earlier cases are simply jokes about smithers liking men, the more recent examples, particularly “lackey on fire,”highlight the actual feelings she has regarding romance, not just who these feelings are directed towards: she’s lonely and yearns for unconditional love, someone who’s kind and attentive. this lack of affection is a major source of discontentment in her life, thus her seemingly frequent relationships despite her perpetual singlehood.

smithers is also shown to have low—or at least fragile—self-esteem. although she’s an incredibly resilient person, rejection can bring this more insecure side of her out. for instance, when she’s rejected from a gay club in “flaming moe” for her appearance, she tells moe that “no one wants an executive assistant who only works out six hours a day.” this tendency to generalize rejection (“no one wants,” as opposed to “they don’t want”) is also shown in “lackey on fire,” when she says “if only i’d been born into a litter of puppies, then maybe someone would love me.”

in general, she’s much more emotionally troubled and unstable than her outward temperament would suggest. there are many points in which she’s rather passionate/intense, even in the absence of burns, such as in “lisa vs. malibu stacy” and “american history X-cellent.” like burns, she feels empty, despite her ability to hold herself together most of the time. this can be inferred from her general sense of loneliness, but lines like “i’ve done it, i’m happy” (“the burns cage”) and “for the first time in my life, i feel free” (“bottle episode”) make it clear that she generally lives in a state of dysphoria, that the happiness she experiences is so fleeting that it hardly even matters at all.

although smithers hasn’t gotten as much development as mr. burns has (which I assume is related to the fact that they were grossly limited by censorship early on: “homer’s phobia” was rejected for glorifying homosexuality until new management came along), I really do feel that—with all this in mind—it’s a disservice to say that smithers has no character outside of her relationship with burns.

“along with that, i think smithers' personality has become way too reliant upon his gayness. in the name of "representation," they've brought it into the forefront of his characterization and, in doing so, dropped most of the shit that actually made him unique in the first place.”

this throws Me off a bit, NGL. I’m not saying you’re homophobic—since that’s a bold accusation and, considering tumblr’s userbase, I’d be more surprised than anything if you weren’t LGBT yourself—but how does smithers simply dating men erase her personality?

it’d be one thing if she was totally without agency in episodes like “the burns cage” and “lackey on fire,” but she isn’t. it’d be one thing if none of her defining features remained in these episodes, but they did.

let’s talk about “lackey,” since that’s My favorite of the two. smithers is clearly shown to have multifaceted thoughts, feelings, and beliefs throughout that episode.

act three is a good example of this: when she finds out michael runs a sweatshop, she initially refuses to condemn this as evil. this aligns with her preexisting tendency to idealize the subjects of her affection (E.G. burns), to the point of putting her morals aside and letting their perceived greatness overshadow their obvious cruelty.

this shines through further as she repeatedly tries to find a reasonable explanation for these unconscionable business practices, first going to mr. burns and then to michael himself. another detail worth noting is that she continues to wear the bowtie michael gave her up until they finally break up, further signaling to her unyielding faith in him.

when confronted, michael tells her to ignore it and “be adored.” smithers almost falls for this, as it plays right into her previously (and now currently) unmet emotional needs. the only thing that causes her to reconsider is seeing him abuse their puppy.

although smithers has previously stood alongside mr. burns as he has committed many acts of abuse—including animal abuse—it’s rather obvious that she isn’t comfortable with it. for example, she tries to discourage mr. burns from killing the puppies in “two dozen and one greyhounds,” and the same episode has a deleted scene in which burns notices her glaring at him for his decision to do so.

I wouldn’t say that this scene erases smithers’ complicated morals, but instead just places them in a different context: she hasn’t been emotionally dependent on michael for the past 20 years of her life, she’s not dependent on michael for a paycheck, michael doesn’t depend on her to survive; she can easily leave him. burns, not so much.

as for “bottle episode,” I see it as a particularly poor example of smithers being reduced to her orientation. there’s absolutely no reference to smithers being gay this episode; no attraction to men, no disinterest in women, no femininity. she’s literally just getting involved in a scheme, totally unrelated to who she does and doesn’t want to fuck.

“of course the writers can't see why he would like mr. burns anymore! they just see him as a nondescript spineless gay guy!”

once again, I strongly disagree with the idea that smithers is in any way “nondescript” nowadays. as for her being “spineless,” it’s true that we haven’t gotten any more “who shot mr. burns?”-esque condemnations of burns in recent seasons, but that’s in major part due to his villain decay, not smithers lacking any willingness to diverge from her expected submissiveness.

I feel the aforementioned ending of “lackey on fire” disproves the idea that smithers is nothing but a doormat nowadays. unlike modern burns, michael showed her a new level of cruelty that she didn’t expect from him, thus something to challenge. meanwhile, mr. burns has long passed the peak of his villainy, thus smithers is mostly dealing with more of the same.

“and yet he's also not allowed to be gay FOR mr. burns.”

smithers is still attracted to mr. burns, she’s just more independent nowadays:

“and mr. burns is a pathetic old man, but he's not allowed to need smithers because he has to be one dimensionally evil and capable of performing functional independence.”

there are too many modern jokes about burns needing smithers for bADLs (basic activities of daily living) for Me to count, but it’s certainly still there. it’s just that it’d damage the plot to randomly throw burns into purely smithers-centric episodes or vice versa, thus why we don’t see it as much in spotlight episodes than we do in minor appearances.

“they got the "smithers likes mr. burns" thing down and they don't seem to know anything else about them and i'm just staring at them like there is no world where mr. burns marries a random shady woman who is blatantly using him for his money and smithers is just like Yeah she's cool because she likes Mr. Burns too! No. He would want to kill her and wear her skin”

I largely didn’t like “thirst trap,” but smithers’ acceptance of persephone was actually the highlight of the episode IMO; it’s character development.

smithers doesn’t NEED to constantly be obsessed with mr. burns. she doesn’t need to walk around thinking “if mr. burns marries someone else, i’ll either kill them or myself.” they aren’t trying to erase smithers’ personality, they’re trying to make her happier.

her realization that burns—her employer that she is not in a mutual, monogamous relationship with—is not “hers” is a great way of showing that she’s no longer doomed to suffer through however-many-more decades of pining and unrequited love; mr. burns can find someone he’s genuinely into, and she can find someone who’s genuinely into her.

it’s subtle, but I’m fine with them not spelling it out for the viewer; they can just develop smithers throughout her appearances, without it always needing to be a spotlight episode. I don’t need her to turn to the camera and say “I AM FINE WITH THIS BECAUSE I HAVE GROWN AS A PERSON” for Me to understand what’s going on.

(late addition: I realize I totally forgot to address the “using him for his money” part of the argument. I feel this is a matter of “not overly involving smithers in burns-centric plots,” as I mentioned in regards to mr. burns’ independence.

it’s not difficult for Me to suspend My disbelief here, since smithers got so little screentime and has sometimes been shown to be passive to the point of letting burns get himself in bad situations (E.G. “the old man and the lisa,” “opposites a-frack,” the comic “a brand new burns”), but I can understand that part of the argument, since she’s also been shown to warn mr. burns about threats on other occasions (E.G. “the musk who fell to earth”))

“they don't just like each other, they NEED each other, and that fact is supposed to create an obstacle that defines them intrinsically.”

I disagree with all of the points made here.

firstly, burns and smithers’ relationship has always been more complicated than just “they like each other.” it’s a love-hate relationship on both ends: mr. burns has a soft spot for smithers, but his “soft side” is still so callous that he continues to dehumanize her as simply a source of labor; smithers loves burns, but she also has a repressed resentment for him, shown as recently as “frinkcoin” in 2020 and simpsons illustrated’s “police chief wiggum’s case no. 209” in 1992.

secondly, burns needs smithers, as shown by the failure of his attempts to replace her in “them, robot” and “the burns cage,” but smithers doesn’t need burns. that’s part of what her development is saying, IMO.

she’s spent most of her life thinking she needs burns, but she doesn’t. he berates her, he overworks her, he underpays her, he puts her in danger, he physically abuses her, he sometimes outright scares her (“three eyes on every fish,” “blood feud,” “bottle episode”), but she pushes down all of the anger that it evokes in her and tells herself that he doesn’t really mean it and that she deserves what he does mean.

at this point, the simpsons is trying to give its cast happy endings: moe is getting married, ned has gotten to process the deaths of his wives, carl has a girlfriend and is generally learning more about himself as a person, sideshow bob has given up on killing bart and focuses on his own relationships, CBG and willie are already married, so on and so forth.

smithers growing apart from mr. burns is just another part of that. just like bob with bart, she realizes that her obsession with him is just doing more harm than good, thus has begun to focus more on her own needs and the people around her.

now, am I saying that I believe smithers is ever going to completely separate from mr. burns? no. smithers is a burns-centric character, so her relationship with him is what connects her to the main family. even “bottle episode” only set her and marge up through that smithers-burns-homer connection.

unless they were to branch out and suddenly make her “marge’s friend” rather than “homer’s boss’s assistant,” (which I don’t see happening and honestly wouldn’t want) staying with mr. burns is the only way she can stay in the series.

plus, although there have been some status quo changes, none of them radically change the dynamic of the series. for example, moe getting married hasn’t taken away from his commitment to his tavern, and carl’s personal development hasn’t separated him from lenny or his other friends.

smithers is definitely in for some type of change (I theorize they’ll try to give her a permanent romance in the next few years), but I don’t see there ever being an episode in which she quits her job, or even develops a permanent assertiveness in her interactions with burns (ned temporarily stood up to homer when he got with edna, but that didn’t last; sometimes a character’s submissiveness is too important to fully write out).

however, My point here is that the simpsons doesn’t have some weird vendetta against burnsmithers or its fans, nor is it acting out of a disregard for burns and smithers as characters. they’re just developing her, which isn’t bad just because it doesn’t revolve around your ship.

thinking abt bottle episode now -_- i think it's so exhausting to watch burns and smithers in recent seasons because it feels like the writers are trying to write AROUND their codependency? they can acknowledge it exists on paper, but in practice, they fail to anchor their interactions in a logical understanding of it.

like, they had burns pestering smithers for help early in the episode to the point it was a catalyst for the plot, and yet, when smithers is INCARCERATED burns doesn't notice until he's specifically told? it just feels like the writers don't want to engage with how these two need each other to function, not just from the watsonian perspective but doylian as well.

without smithers, burns becomes just an evil old rich man. without burns, smithers kind of just exists??? they are both SO important for contextualizing each other and creating respective depth.

along with that, i think smithers' personality has become way too reliant upon his gayness. in the name of "representation," they've brought it into the forefront of his characterization and, in doing so, dropped most of the shit that actually made him unique in the first place. of course the writers can't see why he would like mr. burns anymore! they just see him as a nondescript spineless gay guy! i believe his writing is way more homophobic than it was in the early years because it feels like being gay is all he has at this point. and yet he's also not allowed to be gay FOR mr. burns. and mr. burns is a pathetic old man, but he's not allowed to need smithers because he has to be one dimensionally evil and capable of performing functional independence.

their newfound lack of chemistry drastically impedes their ability to be enjoyable and entertaining, and i think the writers know that but don't realize it's their own fault. it seems like they don't have fun writing the two as the unit they're supposed to be, so they go to great lengths to mischaracterize them even further just to keep them from interfering with each other's plotlines. i mean god, take thirst trap for example. i'll just post what i said about that one on discord.

[text: they got the "smithers likes mr. burns" thing down and they don't seem to know anything else about them and i'm just staring at them like there is no world where mr. burns marries a random shady woman who is blatantly using him for his money and smithers is just like Yeah she's cool because she likes Mr. Burns too!

No. He would want to kill her and wear her skin]

more than anything i wish that burns and smithers would be allowed the codependency that defined them in the first place. they don't just like each other, they NEED each other, and that fact is supposed to create an obstacle that defines them intrinsically. that's where their writing begins. can we just go perform a simpsons coup d'état

[the-crooked-library]

Nosferatu (2024) is unquestionably a multifaceted work, but what I personally consider to be the unifying idea behind its facets is that, for Ellen, Orlok represents validation.

Her fears are dismissed and called childish?.. He's a nightmarish manifestation of them.

She is consistently disrespected by everyone around her?.. He considers her his only equal. She never uses his title, it's permitted.

She is told to fix herself, misunderstood, and always isolated?.. He knows all the darkest parts of her and is delighted by them. He wants her just as she is, so much that he will lie, kill, and cross the ocean to find her.

The scene in their death/wedding bed is a direct parallel to the scene of her waking in that bed at the beginning of the film. She complains to Thomas that the "honeymoon is yet too short" and tries to pull him down with a kiss - however, he is worried about being late for work, and so he extricates himself and leaves. Cut forward to her sharing the same bed with Orlok, similarly early in the morning; he is startled by cock-crow and begins to rise, but she guides his head back down - and, even though he knows that he will die, he stays. He is her sexual and emotional desire, realized.

Given that there is a plethora of emotions Ellen is forced to suppress on daily basis, there is no singular correct interpretation of her relationship with Orlok. To erase any one of them is to render it shallower than it actually is; but there is no doubt as to why their attachment is mutual. To each, the other is something they’ve never had before.

[bigmoon-is-bigwife]

I've seen a lot of people say that when Clown gets back on the server he will make Ros worse and I think that is true! But not because he's going to manipulate her, but because the only thing keeping Ros from being a menace is a lack of confidence and knowledge.

There have been so many times where she has planned to do something murderous or mischievous but backed out of it because she got nervous. Clown has repeatedly been a very reassuring presence to Ros and generally goes along with whatever she wants to do. I don't think he has ever pressured her into doing anything, only supported her in doing it. When she wanted to kill Badboyhalo he provided her OP gear and walked her through exactly how to do it but also told her she could back out if she wanted to when she was hesitating. Ros did feel like she was letting Clown down and feels a pressure to prove herself to him but I don't think that's ever been reinforced by Clown.

Ros expresses a desire for violence even when Clown isn't around, she just has a lot of self doubt and talks herself out of it. Ros also cares a lot about what others think of her. She worries that violence brings her 'goodness' into question but I feel that has become less of an obstacle as of late. People have been very cruel to her and I think she's more willing to snap back now.

TLDR: Clown didn't plant any seeds of murder or anything in Ros, she's always had them. I don't think he's manipulating her or corrupting her, he is simply providing support and reassurance. The support and reassurance are coincidentally for murder so she will in fact be getting worse but by her own desire.

[raticalshoez]

i'm having hyperfixation drought so i did what i did best and created a crossover episode

[plasmaglacious-dndendtotem]

alright doing this completely critical and without bias for whoever is in our system or a mutuals system!

text for each character Stolas ; done dirty Blitz ; I feel for him Fizz ; I feel for him too Mammon ; he's neat, he did robo fizz!/pos(Look, when i was more into this stuff i loved that robo fucker, still do. i have a plushie of him(yes i do have regrets for supporting, but in our defence, we didn't know all that shit at the time. we had bigger stuff to deal with like syscovery and all that)) Q.Bee ; I wish we know more on her Striker ; silly Asmodeus ; neutral Stella ; done dirty(also), I feel for her too Bonus, Loona ; neutral/like, I wish more was done with her. yes stuff has been done, but i wish more stuff was done with her, AND Millie! with millie! They seem to get along, and i feel it'd be neat to explore things outside of their relationships with the boys. Over all, i just wish all of them had better writing for what their trying to do. i love the designs despite what others may say, i love the base idea.. kind of. it's more of a, if had been done right i would love it. but it's kind of just, neutral to me. i haven't watched most of the new stuff and just get filled in whenever the fandom rushes. I do have biases due to system stuff, but fo unbiased stuff, i can't see myself.. hating them. more disliking/pitying them and feeling sympathetic because the characters are put in a lose lose situation for how their written. at most i wish critical side would stop bashing Stolas so hard. he's also being done a disservice. he's also to be pitied. it's not easy being the 'favorite' it means your given shitty 'good' treatment that fucks with your development and hinders what could be done for you. it's not like the bird asked for this. he's just another character caught in the shitty writing. he wasn't that bad in the beginning, none of them were. still, that's my thoughts. i don't get into it much since it's not my cup of tea. but yeah.(also because while i can be critical, i try not to take this series seriously since the vibe i got in the beginning for what it was was that it WASNT meant to be serious. so taking it seriously is only gonna frustrate me and others.) - Lovely

My take on this probably dead trend.

The format i used. Be free to do one aswell

[kikigeh]

Miraculous had 5 seasons to try and turn Gabriel/Hawkmoth into a good, interesting or at the bare minimum a convincing threat but I feel like, even despite all of the brand new lore and backstory, his impact is pretty meaningless when at the end of the day he is going to be facing off against Ladybug and not someone else who'd make infinitely more sense for him to be battling against.

Hawkmoth really has no business thinking Ladybug is his greatest enemy when his own incompetence is the only thing he has ever battled against and Ladybug's gripe with Hawkmoth has more to do with the fact that she can't live her normal teenager life because she was chosen to be responsible to stop him. There's absolutely nothing that connects the two besides the fact that Hawkmoth wants her miraculous and the fact that they are both connected to Adrien somehow.

There's no clashing ideologies that are put at the forefront, they are in no way foils, Hawkmoth's "noble" motive of resuscitating his wife is impossible to root for because he spends the rest of the show being utter shit to his son so you can't convince anybody that he's a good person who deserves to be rewarded. The fact that at the end he's going to be rewarded with anonymity, a wish come true and his son never once being able to learn about anything about his deeds, all to make the showdown about how Hawkmoth and Ladybug have always been destined to fight against one another... it's just so silly.

The show really is a monument to wasted potential because how do you miss the chance to make it at least the kind of show that you'd recommend wholeheartedly because at least "the ending is good", and instead opt for the silliest kind of undeserved ending for the bad guy? It's seriously kind of depressing.

And to top it all off, the show actually gave Ladybug a formidable foe in Felix/Argos but then tossed that storyline away over... Lila??? Man.

[meownotgood]

Is it just me or was the placement of the caitvi sex scene kinda weird? Like jinx pretty much told vi she was gonna kill herself so it just didn’t feel in character for her to ignore tht n just go at it w caitlyn right after idk I could be reading too much into it

no I definitely agree. when I read the leaked info for the episodes a week ago and I saw, "cait and vi fuck in jinx's cell" I was like. well that sounds totally fake, that'd be pretty stupid and perhaps rushed even. and then when the episodes began playing out exactly like the leak I thought well maybe the scene will still be handled well. yeah about that

[bumblingbabooshka]

People who act like Seven of Nine is a naive child being taken advantage of when it comes to c/7 but not j/7 hmm...examine that.

[sekai-no-koi]

Okay I hear you,

except for Ran being "emotional coded" I'm not sure what you mean by that specifically,

but the thing is, how Ran acts around Conan ultimately doesn't really matter. Hattori already treats him like Shinichi every time they meet. The police force have started treating him like an advisor. He's famous for going toe-to-toe with Kid. At this point, if the Organization hasn't taken interest in him, they're probably not going to short of an outside influence directly tipping them off.

From a standpoint of worrying about Ran's feelings and her and her father's safety, it doesn't really make sense to continue hiding things from them. They should both know.

If Shinichi waits until there's actual danger, then Ran has to process everything (Her beloved little brother Conan isn't real, Shinichi's been lying to her all this time, Shinichi's been in danger all this time, her whole family's been in danger this whole time, Shinichi didn't trust her to help him until he had to) at a time where he needs her mentally present and ready to help, or at least run and escape. That puts her, Shinichi, and Kogoro in danger.

If they wait until EVERYTHING is over, then how is she going to move forward from there? It's not intended as a betrayal of trust, but it absolutely is one. I do think in canon they will probably find a way to gloss over her feelings, but that's not a "well we can still keep dating" kind of thing to find out about your boyfriend. It doesn't matter how kind and forgiving Ran is, it's unfair to expect that she'd be fine with Shinichi after learning what really happened.

Whether he chooses it or she finds out from someone else, she's going to know at some point. Genuinely, how could she not? She isn't stupid. If she finds out via evidence instead of Shinichi, it's going to be even worse for her emotionally. And the longer this goes on, the more there is a person she's going to have to mourn when all's said and done. If he told her up-front that Conan wasn't real, she wouldn't have to miss her little brother. That's no longer possible to avoid.

And really, we've seen Ran 1v1 Organization members multiple times now. She's also been a good enough actress to fool both Shinichi and Kid. As for Kogoro, I think he's actually fully capable of hiding it and actively helping Shinichi when he does find out. We've seen him keeping cards close to his chest before, when it comes to his loved ones.

Finally, there's the question of whether or not Ran and Kogoro are actually safer not knowing, and at this point, I don't see any proof that they are. If anything, not knowing what's going on has allowed them to stumble into danger they could've avoided otherwise.

kinda fucked that the reason to not tell Ran transformed from protecting her to "she's a fucking gossip don't tell her anything"

[binglepringle]

I love Pinterest alignment charts, cause sometimes I find gems like this

[pinkrose05]

Am I the only one who doesn't vibe with the Gaiathra Triclops = Ena the Order theory?

[sukibenders]

Something that still doesn't sit right with me while being a part of the HOTD fandom is how Laena was done so dirty, from being placed as a "second" option for Daemon and having him keep her from returning home, from having her daughters see Driftmark, from seeing her own brother and parents before she died! That added on to the fact of how Daemon just sucked at loving her the way she deserved makes my blood boil. And to make matters worse, to drive the knife further, is during her funeral (added on to him laughing during it, which wasn't appropriate at all no matter the context or what anyone says) where she and her unborn son were only just recently placed at the bottom of the sea, Daemon and Rhaenyra sleep together and then marry each other all within the span of the same episode (don't even get me started on how they went heavy into the romantics of the moment but couldn't even bother to show Daemon be affection with Laena like he was in the books I believe).

And some in the fandom reaction to all this can be such a turn off. Because you can have people, mainly black fans, rightfully call out problems with this plot change, with Rhaenyra and Daemon sleeping together only right after Laena's funeral and will be met with so many heinous responses (a lot in which tie in with centering Rhaenyra and going "oh so you hate her" type beat) and it's so frustrating. That, and how we barely see Daemon interact with his daughters, let alone be affectionate as well as protective over them---that scene where the girls are bruised from a fight and clear in distress and yet Daemon doesn't even move to check on them nor go into a rage at the fact that his daughters were harmed, let alone the fact that his now dead wife's dragon was claimed by another on the day of her funeral. None of that. But will stand protectively by Rhaenyra and her sons' side without second thought. Make it make sense.