#it really comes down to how it's portrayed and what the intent is supposed to be

[ofgentleresolve]

☀ About controversial topics in roleplay. Would you say there are obvious forbidden topics in roleplay or do you think we could go as far as we want considering it's all fiction? Where do you draw the line and is this line a different one from the one in the content we consume (I'm thinking of popular shows and movies with shock values that sometimes play on morally questionable topics yet are fully accepted/watched/enjoyed by the majority).

lynnie is letting me shoot myself in the foot ( ask me anything about rp meme w/ @uroborosymphony )

send a ☀ along with a roleplay related topic to hear my thoughts on it. Ask me anything!

LYNNIE!! First of all, excellent question, it’s one i’ve thought a fair bit about recently and while it looks straightforward, I’ve found?? It can be a lot more complicated than that, so thank you for enabling me and my rambling here-

So let me just start with saying that I’m not going to police people for what they write because if i did, i’d be miserable and i’d have no energy to focus on my own writing. If i see someone writing content that makes ME uncomfortable or upset, i leave or block, it’s not that hard. just tag your posts or let people know in your rules that you don’t tag triggers and you’ll be fine. 

Okay, now with that out of the way, i think when it comes to this conversation, the worst takes on this always come from individuals who fail to like…moderate their beliefs ( for example, yes this is all for fun so you should respond to things when you feel the most inspired, but if it’s to the point that you start threads and post memes that you NEVER reply to…well makes sense if people end up dropping you ngl :/ ) like yeah writing just happy and nonharmful things would be rather dull, but also when writing something that contains sensitive content, we need to be respectful because there are people in rl that are affected by this. Fiction may not be real, but reality informs the writer and therefore the fiction written which when consumed will affect reality in turn. That being said, i assume that people who write the say, more controversial topics know that it’s fiction and it should not be practiced in real life….that’s one of the things i feel like people forget? We’re not mindless sheep who agree with and take everything we watch as actual reality.

That being said, for me whether line differs between roleplay and forms of media like say, books and tv shows really comes down to intent. what is a reason for a controversial scene to be written- is there a point to be made, an intention behind it? if written with care and thought, books and tv shows can do it, but with roleplay unfortunately a lot of times what is written is usually purely for enjoyment? Not that a story or an intention can’t be attached to a roleplay, but since roleplayer they usually write for themselves, i assume that both parties enjoy what they’re exploring and writing….so when i see someone writing say, noIn-con for example, i can’t help but give the side eye: the difference between seeing this kind of scene in prose and in a roleplay is that if it is done well in prose, there is usually an intention behind it and the characters are developed beyond that event; the same can’t always be said in a roleplay. 

I will say though, regardless of the medium, it is perfectly possible to explore dark content in a respectful manner. When you write these topics, you can portray it without coming off as voyeuristic or trauma porn. For example, with say something like s*exu*al a*ss*ault, going into explicit detail is not necessary to explore the repercussions of such an event. ( of course media in general does not do a good job of this but that’s besides the point :/ )  But whereas in prose, a writer can gloss over the event, the problem in an rp thread is that you’re supposed to immerse yourself in your character’s head/environment…and some roleplayers do so for this kind of content in the name ‘character exploration’....which full offense, i don’t buy that.  

The other hard line i also will always draw is always with historical muses, specifically wwii muses or muses that commit crimes again humanity. Rp is a practice in empathy and so to see someone humanize individuals that have committed major war crimes and human atrocities makes me kinda pissed bc it might just be history to the writer, but for a lot of people, that history still affects them and their families to this day.

[nickel156]

IS RHYSAND MORALLY GREY?

OK, let’s get into it, because this idea that Rhysand is sooo morally grey? Yeah, not buying it. Let’s be real—he’s not a morally grey character, he’s just framed in a way that gives him a pass for a lot of his questionable actions. When you actually break it down, Rhysand is pretty black and white, but the narrative does a fantastic job of dressing him up as “complex” to make readers feel like his actions are more nuanced than they really are. Spoiler: they’re not.

His Actions Are Consistently Justified by “Good Intentions”

One of the biggest indicators that Rhysand isn’t actually morally grey is how everything he does, no matter how manipulative or controlling, is framed as being for the greater good. His decisions, whether it’s drugging Feyre or making her wear revealing outfits under the mountain, are always given this neat little justification. “He was protecting her,” “He had no choice,” “He was trying to outwit Amarantha.” A morally grey character wrestles with the consequences of their actions—Rhysand doesn’t. We’re told, over and over again, that what he did was necessary, and that alone is supposed to excuse him from criticism. That’s not moral ambiguity—that’s convenient narrative framing.

He’s Always Positioned as the Hero:

Let’s not pretend like Rhysand is ever in real moral conflict. His choices are presented as tough but necessary, and we’re rarely, if ever, given a moment where he actually grapples with the darker sides of those choices. Even when he makes questionable decisions, we’re spoon-fed reasons to believe he’s ultimately in the right. That’s not grey. That’s just a hero with a darker aesthetic. Compare him to actual morally grey characters who sit in their discomfort, who make selfish choices or hurt people without always having noble intentions behind it. Rhysand? Nah, he’s just the guy who always ends up looking like the hero, even when his actions should be called out.

His Morality Never Comes Into Question:

A true morally grey character is someone whose actions challenge not only the other characters in the story, but the readers too. We should be asking ourselves, “Is this person really doing the right thing? Should I be supporting this?” But with Rhysand? There’s never any real doubt. Even when he manipulates or controls others, we’re reassured that it’s all part of some grand, noble plan. His friends back him, Feyre forgives him, and the narrative never holds him accountable in a meaningful way. There’s no real complexity here, just a character who gets away with being controlling because the plot tells us to forgive him.

Everything Bad He Does Is Framed as a Sacrifice:

Rhysand is never portrayed as doing bad things because he wants to, or because he’s selfish, or because he’s flawed in a way. It’s always framed as him making a sacrifice for the greater good. He does bad things, sure—but the narrative works overtime to show us that he had to do them. When you’re constantly being told that a character’s questionable choices are out of necessity, you’re not being shown a morally grey character—you’re being shown a hero who occasionally has to get his hands dirty. Big difference.

He Doesn’t Struggle With His Decisions:

What makes a morally grey character truly compelling is when they struggle with their own decisions, when they recognize that they’ve hurt people or crossed a line, and they aren’t sure how to feel about it. But Rhysand? He’s remarkably comfortable with all of his decisions. He doesn’t dwell on whether or not what he did under the mountain was wrong; in fact, he hardly ever reflects on it at all. It’s presented as a burden, sure, but it’s a burden that’s neatly tied up with a bow: he did what he had to, end of story. He’s too comfortable in his righteousness to ever really be morally grey.

He’s Too Perfectly Framed as a Savior:

Let’s be real, Rhysand’s character arc is too neat and too perfectly framed as “Feyre’s savior” for him to be truly morally ambiguous. Every time he’s at risk of being seen as a villain, the narrative bends over backwards to remind us that he’s actually the one who saved Feyre, saved Prythian, saved everyone, really. A morally grey character wouldn’t be positioned so neatly as the savior figure. They’d be somewhere in between—someone whose actions could be seen as selfish or harmful, even if they had noble intentions. Rhysand, on the other hand, is always one step away from being a full-on white knight, cloaked in black and purple.

The Lack of Consequences

A true morally grey character faces the consequences of their actions, both externally and internally. But Rhysand? He rarely, if ever, suffers real consequences for the morally dubious things he’s done. Everyone either forgives him, rationalizes his behavior, or never holds him accountable in the first place. Where’s the moral ambiguity if there’s no fallout? If the narrative is bending over backward to redeem or justify every action, then there’s no real grey area—it’s just a hero getting away with questionable behavior.

In conclusion, Rhysand isn’t morally grey—he’s a hero painted with darker shades, but still a hero through and through. The narrative bends over backwards to excuse his actions, frame him as the savior, and justify all the harm he’s done as “necessary sacrifices.” There’s nothing morally grey about that; it’s just a case of good PR for a character whose dark side is polished up so much that it doesn’t even feel like a flaw anymore. If you want morally grey, look elsewhere—Rhysand is just a dressed-up hero, no matter how much the fandom wants to pretend otherwise.

[oops-prow-did-it-again]

New Phyrexia disturbed me - and not how it should have

This is going to be a VERY opinion-heavy post. Before I say anything, I want to make it abundantly clear that I am not condemning the entirety of the New Phyrexia arc, nor am I saying that the people who wrote these stories meant for them to be taken this way. This is just a post getting into why the New Phyrexia arc rubbed me the wrong way again and again, and why it's... kind of ruined my love for Magic, if I'm completely honest.

Also, yes, I understand that New Phyrexia was meant to horrify and unsettle people - but I feel like it unsettled me in ways that they kind of weren't going for. I expect horror to unsettle me and show me some fucked up shit, for lack of a better terminology - but I also was expecting, in the fantasy/scifi horror shit, I'd get some stuff that didn't feel like it hit so close to home.

More under the cut.

First of all, it has always felt as if Magic can never quite decide if Phyrexians are people or monsters. This is worsened in New Phyrexia, where time and time again, we are given reason to think that New Phyrexians are people that are simply heavily indoctrinated from birth. Yes, the glistening oil works in strange ways, and they have somewhat of shared knowledge amongst their entire network, but by and large, you see time and time again, that Phyrexians have individuality. This seems intentional - you are shown from the start that Elesh Norn is an egomaniac, a fool, and that her plans of grandeur are insane. But her insanity shapes this world.

In that way, everyone in this world are... mostly actually victims of her insanity. Ixhel and Urabrask on New Capenna stand out as examples of times where Phyrexians show that they are not the heartless monsters they are made out to be. In Urabrask's first cards, he claims that he wishes the Mirrans to be left alone.

Yet, in ONE, we see time and time again that red Phyrexians and Mirrans are fighting still, Urabrask doesn't seem to be paying that much attention to the Phyrexians, and... frankly, I don't know what the Halo subplot was supposed to be about (forgive me, if this was addressed in passing, I only skimmed the latter half of MOM to see what big things happened, because i was so upset with it at that point I didn't really WANT to read it anymore). Yes, I have read the creators saying time and time again that just because Urabrask doesn't say outright he wants the multiverse compleated, it doesn't mean it's not what he wants, deep down. However... this still harks back onto one idea.

Sapient creatures being born evil.

This is a trope that I LOATHE in fantasy/scifi to my core. I understand that Phyrexians, for all intents and purposes, are created in a monstrous fashion. They are not created in a similar way to people. However, in the end, they still ACT LIKE PEOPLE. They have individuality, free will (yes, even if it is limited by the strict theocratic control of Norn, they still have it - how did Ixhel create, otherwise? How did Sheoldred rebel? Why did Nahiri snap at Nissa to show the skyclaves? Why did Tamiyo freeze upon seeing children?), and whether you like it or not, this makes them people. They are extremely different people, and yes, their existence does present conflict - but they. are. still. people.

I understand how it may feel offensive to real people to call the (rightful) fear and concern towards Phyrexians to be racism, as I feel like that waters down the term. However... again, knowing that Phyrexians are largely a cult that has been severely indoctrinated by Elesh Norn... it becomes difficult not to feel bad for them, and as if they have all been written off simply because they have a terrible leader. It comes across, to me, as another case of fantasy racism; similar to orcs being portrayed as idiot, warmongering beasts in some settings, or goblins being portrayed as stupid people little better respected than animals (and full of antisemitic stereotypes), just with less baggage attached.

It comes across as them having wanted to create a sapient race of people that was okay to bash and throw under the bus, so to speak. And yes, they gave plenty of reasons for why these people needed to go... but ultimately, it still feels like people went out of their way to create a civilization of people and show us justification for exterminating them.

I'm not trying to water down the term racism, but like... maybe I don't know the right words, but you understand why that might be uncomfortable, right?

Furthermore, at the start, I thought the transformative nature of Phyrexians was cool. Hot, even, as plenty others here on Tumblr think. Yes, I always sort of knew it was meant to be horrifying, too... but I also thought that the creators also were making them semi-alluring on purpose. (Look at Elesh Norn in promotional art. Look at her in the ONE trailer!! Look at the email they sent out for Arena on Valentine's Day, for god's sake!) But as time goes on... I start to get this uncomfortable feeling that this borderline sensual, sexual tension the Phyrexians produce is supposed to be PART of the horror.

And that's where things start getting uncomfortable for me. I am a transgender man. I don't know if I like sexualized, different people that transform themselves... being treated as horrible monsters that can't be coexisted with. I know plenty of trans people felt otherwise about Phyrexians; I understand this likely wasn't even the intention. BUT it still felt that way to me, for someone living in a country where trans people are getting more and more hunted on the daily.

Suddenly, it wasn't so fun anymore, to look at Elesh Norn and see her as heehoo sexy dommy mommy everyone joked at her being. It felt, to me at least, like she was a caricature of what I was. Of what people like me are. Monstrous. Out to destroy the world. Egomaniacs who want to force others down our same "lifestyle."

This is not helped by how Strixhaven, despite being an obvious play on Hogwarts & Harry Potter, came back into importance in MOM. They made a new Planeswalker from that plane, even! I loathe Strixhaven, and I was not at all pleased to learn that they have made it more important. The stories from the original Strixhaven set make me uncomfortable, too; Lukka arrives at a tavern and is asking for food, as he is not doing so well, and people comment on how he dresses strange, and when he (not rudely!) tells them they wouldn't know where he's from even if he told them, they react by SHOOTING FIREBALLS AT HIM.

These people saw a stranger. And decided the appropriate reaction was to shoot fireballs. (More on Lukka later, as I'm not done with him yet) but you understand how that might have also been deeply uncomfortable, right? Like yes, it did seem very intentional, to show how unkind the general populace of Arcavios can be... but there never seemed to be any point to that?? So it just came across as people hating a guy for dressing unconventionally for ""flavor"" to the very-obviously-based-on-TERF-school set. Which. WHY?

I also was not blind to how most of the compleated Planeswalkers were the nonhuman ones. Barring Lukka and Jace, every compleated Planeswalker was nonhuman, which I think... was done purposefully, because nonhumans are viewed as inherently more "monstrous" to our primal little monkey brains. (I don't think it was coincidence; there are PLENTY of human planeswalkers, to the point the majority could have easily not been human.) But this makes me uncomfortable too, because it feels like it, again, not only implies that Phyrexians are not people and are monsters (even though they had been given traits again and again that very firmly confirmed them as people), but that these nonhuman planeswalkers are inherently more monstrous, too.

Ajani - leonin. Tamiyo - moonfolk. Tibalt - (half) devil. Nissa - elf. Vraska - gorgon. Nahiri - kor.

And of the human Planeswalkers compleated, they chose Lukka and Jace. Jace, who has had a steep history of being viewed as less than human and little more than a tool (even sometimes by himself, as much as he hates it), and Lukka, who was also viewed as less than human by the society he came from, and was essentially labeled a sick dog to be shot on sight by his home city. (But more on him and why I particularly hate what was done with him later.)

And like... I'm not saying that corruption arcs or that transformation horror can't be done in a tasteful way!! It just started to feel like, as time went on, that this stuff was... malicious. I already was uncomfortable with how Phyrexians were seemingly being set up to be offed or taken out the picture completely (for there being no feasible way for them to coexist in the multiverse), so maybe I was looking for flaws, even where most wouldn't see them. But, I mean.. it just... Idk man. That part, too, gets under my skin.

And Lukka. LUKKA. I loathe what has been done to his character like none other. It is frequent fan interpretation that Lukka is stupid, Lukka deserves everything that has happened to him, and that it's a good thing he is gone. However, having read everything he has ever appeared in, I am so infuriated that even the creators THEMSELVES seemed to have bought into this idea.

For those that don't know, Lukka first appeared in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths - Sundered Bond, a digital novella. He was born and raised in Drannith, a heavily militarized city, one of three so-called "sanctuaries" that have actually managed to stay around on Ikoria. Ikoria is a world of kaiju-esque mutated, crazy monster animals, and he was raised in propaganda by Drannith's military, the Coppercoats. He is 40+ years old when we meet him; he has served the Coppercoats for half of that, and then another 2 years or so as Captain of a Specials force team. You see, through him, that he's actually a very caring leader and a rather simple guy: he is betrothed to Jirina Kudro, the daughter of General Kudro, leader of the Coppercoats, and his concerns seem to only be getting his team back home in one piece and getting quality time with his wife. He's not perfect, he's rough around the edges, would probably be an asshole to hang out with in real life, but it FITS for the world he comes from.

And then, he accidentally bonds with a winged cat that slaughters 3/4 of his team in front of him, within minutes of each other. General Kudro has kept the bonding magic Lukka experienced a secret from Drannith populace. He believes it makes Lukka "sick." (Need I explain why a leader referring to a group of people as inherently 'sick' is bad??) Even Jirina, for as much as she apparently loves her father, so emphatically believes her father will kill Lukka for this that she helps him escape! the city!!!

To recap, Lukka has his entire world upended from beneath his feet in the course of like, a day. He becomes the public enemy of the city he has defended with his life for years. In his eyes, it is us (the humans of Ikoria) versus them (the monsters of the plane). This is how he has been raised and trained; he did not choose the bonding and is (rightfully!) upset and horrified at it (ONE was incorrect when it said he "always knew he was different;" lukka made no such acknowledgments in Sundered Bond, that was an invention of ONE). He later then meets Vivien, who tells him how her home plane was DESTROYED (um??? Vivien? Why would you tell a man whose life is going to shit about that??) which makes Lukka vow to himself that he will not lose his home.

Later in the story, Lukka learns of a presence in a particular crystal called the Ozolith, and he goes to it. There, for reasons that would take too long to explain, a three-way battle ensues, and an unknown Planeswalker reaches out to Lukka through the Ozolith. The Planeswalker shows Lukka one of the bonders he has met along the way getting killed by a skysail's bolt meant to kill monsters and it is only then that Lukka accepts the power of the Ozolith.

Anyway, saying all this to say... Lukka is a villain, yes. But contrary to popular belief, he is NOT stupid. He is just as smart as anyone would be in the situation he was put into, coming from the world he comes from. He wanted, again and again and again, nothing more than to just go home. He even tried to spin his bonding into a way that Drannith could defend itself, by telling Kudro they should use monsters instead of peoples' lives (but Kudro wasn't hearing it; and the kicker? Drannith would go on to use bonders & monsters to protect the city anyway, after Lukka had been run off the world).

Lukka had a SHIT deck of cards handed to him in Ikoria, and he - REASONABLY - lashed out. It was just that when he lashed out, he had the power of a Planeswalker manipulating him, whispering in his ear, and the power to actually make people listen. He believed his choices were come home and die like a good soldier, or force them to let him come home. Maybe other people fault him for that, but I don't fault him for choosing to live, even if doing so caused much violence and bloodshed.

But yes, he was still a villain, and in Strixhaven, he was relegated to villain again, when people once again presume him to be an Oriq - which he doesn't even know what that is - and finally, he simply decides that if everyone keeps calling him one, he might as well be one. This comes after nearly starving to death and having his new bond, Mila, save his life. Had someone from Strixhaven maybe, I don't know, taken pity on this very clearly struggling guy.... I don't know! I feel like his role in Strixhaven really never would have happened. THE GUY LITERALLY JUST WANTED FOOD AND WATER. I cannot emphasize that enough

Anyway, saying this all to say, Lukka's arc felt like it was headed toward a redemption of some kind. He had been given a raw deal, reacted very humanly but very poorly, and now, the only way he had to go was up.

Instead, we got Vivien shooting him dead. Calling him "lukka-thing." We got Vivien saying nothing as she faces down the man she called a friend and seemingly felt bad for by the end of Sundered Bond and killing him.

As someone from a country that is VERY obviously careening toward more VERY conservative bullshit... THAT PLOT DID NOT SIT WELL WITH ME. It felt VERY MUCH like I was being told "if you are born into shit circumstances or bad things are done to you, and you don't sit there and take it, you will be punished for not simply taking it. And that punishment may very well be death."

I especially did not care for how Jirina seemed to be veering into her father's mindset in the story in MOM. And yes, she was called out for this, but the story also seemed to be trying to lean into this "survival, no matter the cost" vibe, which seemed like it was subtly justifying what she did, since it DID technically work in the end. Vivien's emo ass "but survival is the only law out here now" or w/e it was she said to herself as she killed Lukka definitely didn't help that feeling, either.

It upset me very much to see a character born into a shitty society, given raw deal after raw deal, and then be told that he deserved to die instead of get help. Or worse, that dying WAS getting help. It was "putting him out of his misery." He was "irreversibly changed," and "didn't know better anymore," he "couldn't be helped." That, combined with how compleation started to feel like a very negative allegory for transgender people after a point to me (see near the beginning of this), made Lukka's death feel like rapidfire punch after rapidfire punch to the gut.

AND NOT IN THE WAY THAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN! I would have loved to see Vivien upset that she can't get to apologize. I would have loved to see Vivien agonizing over the decision to kill him. I would have loved her maybe showing some more REMORSE over having to do it, even if she did feel it was the only way forward. We have seen that New Phyrexians, especially compleated Planeswalkers, are still themselves, even while compleated, so the fact Lukka had nothing to say to her either felt hollow, too. He thought she was his friend and she turned on him; why didn't he have anything to say about that?

Urabrask being pulled apart at the limbs, then, felt like the final message to me: New Phyrexians are not people, they are monsters, end of discussion. They are not making it out of this. Stop asking/talking about it.

Suffice to say, by the time I got to the story of Elspeth becoming an archangel, everything felt hollow and gross for me. I've seen the promo art of Aftermath showing Nahiri and Nissa at least recovered; I get the feeling most of them, bar Tamiyo, Tibalt, and Lukka, probably have recovered or will recover.

But, frankly, I don't think I'm very invested anymore. New Phyrexia felt like it crossed a lot of lines, and not in the way that I would have appreciated horror to do so. It hit on a lot of sensitive subjects that made it rather difficult to enjoy as mere entertainment. Maybe I am just oversensitive, due to the day and age I am living in, due to the fact I am deeply unhappy with the fact I am forced to live closeted irl and feel hypervigilant of all slights, but it felt very gross to me.

Lukka's death in particular just... sealed the deal for me. I know he wasn't a big deal. Maybe he was always intended to just be a villain that gets killed off. But it's not even necessarily about him, in particular, it was about what his death represented. It was about how he was a product of propaganda and hatred, and how he was never given a chance to be better. it's about how I was told that death was the only way forward for him.

Maybe when I was 12 I would have liked that, but I'm over my obsession with the 'death is the only salvation.' SO MUCH MEDIA uses this trope, and frankly, I'm fucking sick of it.

I want to see people, even some of the most depraved fucking people you can imagine, getting better. I want to see that people can change and recognize the error in their ways. I'm tired of being told to look and see "us vs. them."

I'm not saying that you can't have conflict. But I am saying that if you're going to have conflict of this scale, I would prefer it to be solved in ways that don't essentially boil down to "kill/put away the Them."

Because that fucking blows.

If you've made it this far, I am grateful, but again, please keep in mind that this is the ramblings of a deeply mentally unwell ADHD-addled 22 year old (who is not on and cannot get Adderall right now). Emotional dysregulation IS a big problem I deal with, and the world I live in right now fucking sucks. If you're reading this going "oh my godd, let people enjoy things, you crybaby" then please just... move on? Because I'm not trying to tell people not to enjoy it, quite the contrary I WISH these things didn't bother me so much because I JUST got into Magic, and I would love to keep enjoying it! And Im happy for you if you have tolerance/could enjoy it through these things!

I'm just... sad. I'm very, very disappointed in this story. It was pretty, it was flashy, people clearly put in effort, but it felt like a low blow, all things considered, and worse, it touches literally all aspects of canon and cannot be safely disregarded. Much like War of the Spark, it affects almost everything, and will for a while yet.

[attonposting]

Okay, so Carth keeps coming up lately, both by people who love him and people who don't, and I thought I'd throw my two cents into the ring.

People complain that Carth is sexist, a lot. And I get where that's coming from, I've got the same issues with his romance as anyone else. I love the bones of Carth's character and remember him very fondly – he's tied for my favorite character from KotOR I, even! But the writing is... flawed, to say the least, and in a way that goes past just 'poorly aged.' I don't think his lines themselves ever go worse than awkward, but there's some more fundamentally unhealthy stuff written into his relationship that I suspect wasn't intentional.

What I find interesting, and what a meme just very succinctly pointed out, is that many of the same people who have beef with Carth are cool with Atton. Who is definitely the more sexist of the two, both incidentally and deliberately. And it's a really interesting differentiation between the two pilots/f!PC love interests/earlygame buddies, because I think their palatability comes entirely down to how the games portray that sexism. So this is my attempt to figure out why one thing works and the other kinda doesn't.

Carth Onasi is introduced as a stand-up guy. He stays behind as long as he possibly can to save other survivors on the Endar Spire; he believes in the Republic wholeheartedly, he serves to protect and approves when you do the same, and other characters sing his accolades. He's supposed to be wholesome, but with PTSD-related trust issues that cause friction between him and you.

Atton Rand is the opposite of that. You find him in a jail cell, he's untrustworthy and a cad, at any given moment he's either abrasive or lying through his teeth, he complains when you help people, and when you get to the bottom of his trust issues, you find out he's a worse guy than you ever could have imagined.

It's much too oversimplified to say that Carth is supposed to be a good person and Atton is not, that's not where the problem comes from, but it will become relevant later.

When Carth starts flirting with you... okay. The biggest, most obvious problem is that the game wants you to be into it. Carth flirts and continues to flirt after you can tell him to stop. Sure, whatever; that's not egregious. You can respond to Carth's flirting positively or negatively, and that's great... but when you do respond negatively, the game loves to pull you into these playful insult exchanges where your PC shouts and pouts while Carth taunts you. There's where the issues start. Even when the player is trying to shut him down, they get dragged along for the ride anyway, and the narrative decides that this is also romantic. Thus KotOR I only has a shallow understanding that it's presenting a situation a woman may want nothing to do with. It's kind of impressive that you can actually call Carth sexist in-game, and yet it doesn't feel like the game actually understands that he is in fact being sexist.

Actually, no. Maybe I'm reading too deep into this, maybe this is why I'm so forgiving to Carth as a character, but I don't think the problem is Carth, I think the problem is that the game is being sexist in this particular spot. I was more annoyed by my own return dialogue options than anything Carth said to me - especially the ones where I was being mean. It felt like f!Revan was being pigeonholed hard into the writer's idea of 'women', that it was not an especially flattering or nuanced view, and there wasn't anything that I actually wanted to say. Definitely the writer did not understand my perspective as a player – but that's not a problem unique to K1 and it's one even the sequel is super guilty of at times, so I'll move on for now.

When Atton makes skeevy remarks, you always have at least one dialogue option to call him out for it, and you cannot ever react positively to what he says. Either you smack him down or you ignore him. This is extremely important. Yes, you could argue that it's not as accommodating to how different players might react... but what this establishes is that the game is self-aware. It does not think what Atton is doing is in any way attractive, or that it should be interpreted positively. Instead it acknowledges what a lady's probable reaction to his unwanted advances would be and encourages the player to express it, and the way that's written isn't a playful back-and-forth, it's the Exile snapping at him and Atton backtracking. Atton's being a piece of shit, but instead of stirring up chemistry, the narrative goes out of its way to mete out karma – hence everyone else on the ship mocking him, or the comically topical details like him being an unwashed loser who smells terrible and scratches his junk in public. Whether you like Atton or not, the game wants you to know that it thinks he sucks, and you are never left feeling like there is an unsettled score.

On the contrary, this lack of self-awareness is what makes Carth's romance in K1 hard to swallow if you didn't start out receptive to it. When you can react negatively to Carth's comments, it doesn't feel like you can do so in an intelligent way. The tone is very “Ugh, MEN, amirite” rather than “I don't like the turn this conversation has taken and would like to just be your colleague again” or just “Stop.” - which is probably what you wanted to say if you were just platonically enjoying or less-amicably bickering with your dorito-jacket companion when the gorgeouses started coming out of left field.

Worse, when you actually can shut Carth's romance down, it involves being a dick to him and stomping hard on his personal issues. Like I'd understand if a player was angry with him at this point, because again, you've been forced into a romance arc even when you were telling the game no as much as it would let you - but there's a huge difference between wanting to tell a guy to back off and wanting to shit on his dead wife or his Sith kid or his blown-up planet. I dunno, I'm not that vindictive! I think there's only a couple of options at the very end of his romance tree where you can turn him down... not even amicably, it's still rude, just without being a Grade-A asshole, and by that point, you have been through a lot of flirting you presumably didn't want to be involved with. Generally, the game won't let you break things off with him without being a dick, even if you never agreed to board that train in the first place. Now loop back to the way that K1 unfailingly portrays Carth as a great guy, whose flaws have nothing to do with his upstanding sense of morality, and there's where the dissonance comes from. Not only does the game push you into his romance after you said no, it makes you the bad guy for trying to get out of what he initiated.

But there's another issue in the timing of the Carth relationship. He starts his flirting while he's expressing intense distrust and standoffishness with your PC. With Carth's nonstop skepticism about your trustworthiness, and constantly bringing up his issues with you... at least during Taris and Dantooine, it comes off more like his attraction to you is superficial and not as a result of him growing to like you, something that's pushed by how it's always focused on shallow hooks like your appearance or your 'cute' attitude. It's very awkward. I do not think this was the writer's intent. I think Carth's supposed to be captivated by what he's seen you do, and that's just going in recursive loops in his paranoid little brain and making things harder for him. By the end of the romance, it's extremely clear that Carth's into you for you. But it's clumsily handled at the start.

Contrast this with Atton, who starts off aggressively sexist towards a female Exile, fifty times more offensive than anything Carth ever does. Literally the first line he gets is leering at the PC's forced state of undress, mocking her vulnerability, and he continues in that vein for much of Peragus. He creeps on your nudity at least four times off the top of my head, he ogles you, he complains about women, he tries to hit on you, he even contemplates the possibility of Sexy Kreia (which is a level of dickery I can scarcely comprehend.)

But that tapers off and disappears around the time he starts showing actual romantic interest in your PC, like when Kreia threatens him and it's revealed how much your opinion matters to him, or when he asks Bao-Dur for advice. And a female PC never sees it again. This creates the opposite impression – that Atton's attraction is a result of your time together. Sure, he's still a pig, but it follows that he wasn't making serious passes at you on Peragus because his behavior now that he is actually interested in you has changed. And it implies that in an actual relationship, that would not be how he'd view or treat you, which I think is crucial for how willing people are to ship Atton with their Exiles.

Now, this is all a product of how K2 did not actually answer that question and let you romance Atton, because with Carth, it's the opposite and you see exactly how he behaves once he gets into a serious relationship. It involves spanking. Things could be very different if K2 actually had fleshed out romances. It's hard to say, because both the PC and the crew were very thoughtfully written (I will take a bold step here and say that K2's characters were on the whole written much better than K1's), but on the other hand, Atton is still the worst and I'm pretty sure the game would want to remind you of that if you agreed to play tonsil hockey with him. And it may have crashed into the same pitfall that Carth's did; if the game railroaded your interactions with Atton up to some point, it'd leave a bad taste in anyone's mouth who wasn't already signed up for the ship.

With the way things are, Atton not only gets a free pass to be interpreted as generously as his fans want and easily ignored by those who weren't keen on him, he even gets an interest boost from this because people will always want what they can't have.

Anyway. With a male PC, you'll continue to see Atton make sexist remarks towards other female characters and can even have a wingman chat with him that is entirely him projecting his issues all over women. He doesn't make these comments with a female PC, suggesting that he's on his best behavior... but that he'd still totally be a leering asshole if he wasn't trying to impress you. With a male PC and Carth, his sexism is nonexistent, again probably because he was never intended to be sexist and it's a product of clumsy/oblivious writing.

There's an additional layer with Atton and the question of how much anything he does is an act, but that doesn't exonerate him from any of the crap he says. I could write a separate essay on Atton and his relationship with women, but the guy is very much a womanizer who's terrified of the idea of intimacy and has a lot of shitty opinions that stem from his defensive need to believe that nothing emotional is ever real or relevant to him. He might've been casing the Exile on Peragus, but his chauvinism is genuine.

But I digress. The tl,dr; is that Atton acts less sucky the more he crushes on you and Carth acts more. Combo that with how their respective games make Atton pay for being creepy but give the strong impression they want you to go along with Carth's nonsense, and it's a little less mystifying why Carth gets so little benefit of the doubt while the King of Trash enjoys fandom sexyman status. His romance is almost predicated on the fact that he's a scumbag, where Carth's is very confused to whether the awkward parts should exist or not.

There's a bit more that kinda hurts Carth. The flirting... well, from what I remember it just got “wow, okay then” later on, and I found it way more silly than offensive in any way, but him repeatedly bringing up how you remind him of his dead wife doesn't help the relationship much and suggests that Carth may be projecting someone else over you. I can live with that, drama's tasty and it doesn't prevent a real connection from burgeoning. You can make the exact same argument for Atton anyway, and I think his is way worse. My major issue is at the end of the game. Mr. Trust Issues does not react well to the events on the Leviathan, when it turns out he was right to have kept an eye on the PC all along. It's great payoff! And I absolutely adore his discussion after that, when he admits his struggles to reconcile you and Revan, how he tried but he can't hate you, how helping you gave him something real when revenge only left him hollow. Seriously, for all the shade it gets, there's some really great stuff in his romance too - you just have to stick it out long enough to see it. But then, on Rakata Prime, Carth seems to reconcile his crisis of faith and finally, wholeheartedly decide to love you in a way that falls flat on its face. He confirms you're a good person because you're not Revan anymore, like Revan is some purely evil part of you you've now cast off, when... that really seems more like denial than anything else, and not the foundation for anything healthy.

Seriously, I wish they'd handled that with more nuance. It would have counted for so much in my books.

All of that said. I know I just went after the man like a vending machine with a stuck bottle of chocolate milk, but I think the sexist vibes in Carth's romance are worst at the start and that he does not deserve the sheer amount of flack he gets. I've seen far worse offenders in the world of video game romances, and this might drive some controversy in and of itself, but I vastly prefer Carth x f!Revan to Bastila x m!Revan. There's a whole 'nother pile of issues in K1's other official ship (f in chat for Juhani), and I think those are much harder to deal with than the ones here. If anything frustrates me with Carth's romance, it's how unnecessary all of the bullshit is. I really want to get into it! The concept is perfectly fine! I love the character! There's good stuff in there! And when I replay KotOR, it's not that difficult to close my eyes to the bleh parts and enjoy the rest, especially once the first couple of conversations are past. Again, all Carth needed was a more conscientious writer at the wheel.

I'd be really interested in hearing other people's takes, both on how they interacted with either of those romances or where their interpretations differed from mine. I only have my own perspective and that of a few people I've talked to over the years, and I'm given to understand this is something of a fandom hot topic!

[hilariousrabbit]

Critic of Stage in Playful Land - The Worst Event in Twisted Wonderland

I'm not gonna lie, I had high hopes for this event. The cards were gorgeous, I loved the new outfits, and we even got new characters! I'm quite a huge fan of the gothic circus aesthetic, so I was even more hyped for what's to come. Of course the stakes would be high for something like this, but unfortunately...the execution of this event has completely brought it down.

This is gonna be a very long and angry critic, so beware! I might be mean too!

The translation screenshots provided are from Ekala on YouTube. TW: Insensitive portrayal of human trafficking

The first part of the event felt SUPER stretched out. I understand, the main cast may have been overwhelmed with homework and losing the basketball match against NRC. But I also feel like they could have summarized this quicker? Plus, Fellow Honest also talks A LOT. I know it was supposed to be extended flattery to the point where it became suspicious, but it was taking so long to get to the main point that I quickly became bored.

The character's reasons for going were also very strange...but let's focus on the Octavinelle twins for a second. Floyd and Jade wanted to visit the amusement park specifically because it seemed suspicious. The twins are seen as a very shady duo, and having conflict with an even shadier duo (Fellow Honest and Gidel) is bound to be something that would be super interesting to watch.

Similarly as to how Idia played a crucial part in the Masquerade event, I thought they would have a larger role in this story, and I was disappointed when they just frolicked around the amusement park. They're not the type to just walk right into a dangerous territory without a plan/strategy, and it felt really weird seeing that happen. With them doing no preparations for this situation whatsoever, it feels like a waste to even state that detail in the first place. Speaking of that...I had heard some other fan theories on the role Ortho would play in this event. Some speculated that he would be representing the puppet in this event, as he isn't human. But then again, none of that ends up happening in the event because there was no thought as to how these characters would be used. My friend made an interesting point about the character choice in this event. They speculated it was just the company gathering up characters that haven't been in many events before book 7 ended, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this was the case.

When the main cast was exploring the park, it was just filler content. Nothing interesting happened, at all. They explored the park that was filled with references from the Pinocchio movie. Now if this was any other Disney film, I would be like "Yeah alright, that's from the movie. That's cool". But if you know what happens in the movie, then it might be a different story. I was deadass filled with dread when they put the references in, and I was so uncomfortable. Especially during this scene:

Also this was uncomfortable to see. Like okay...I didn't need to know that.

Anyone who watched the Pinocchio movie must have known that something bad was bound to happen (most likely some form of human trafficking). So when Fellow Honest's intentions for selling guests as wooden dolls was finally revealed, the entire story went from 0 to 100 real quick. And not in a good way. I know the previous filler was supposed to put us in their shoes, and how we as the viewer could also get distracted from the carnival's attractions. However, there should have been a better way to transition these two contrasting moods of the story. Plus, I can't help but feel like this is an unnecessarily cruel twist compared to the original movie. When it comes to more darker/sensitive topics such as human trafficking, there should be some sort of caution as to how they portray these kinds of things. I felt like this was solely added for shock value to make up for the slow pacing in the first parts of the event, and I can't help but feel really uncomfortable about this. I also REALLY don't like the possible implications of this line:

The insensitivity of the topic of human trafficking is further fueled by how the chase is played out. They needed a reason for characters to be kidnapped one by one, and I know that's usually how these types of events play out. But considering the severity of their situation, I feel very weird about it. Also, the characters are unusually calm about being sold as a literal slave? And the topic is just not dealt with seriously at all.

Important Detail: The Playful Land theme park functions as a ship, which sails away from land as soon enough guests are lured into the park. This is literally a human trafficking ship, there's no sugarcoating this.

Another part I'm upset about is how Kalim dealt with the entire situation. I'm unfortunately used to Twisted Wonderland dumbing down his character for cheap laughs but this has really gone off the rails. Ace gave him a clear reality check. They were at risk of being sold as dolls to whatever rich freak paid money for them. It was clear that Fellow Honest wouldn't converse on the subject over a fancy dinner. Honestly...I need you guys to read this for yourself.

So when Ortho came back, why in the world did Ace apologize to Kalim? Sure, what he said was harsh but it was completely true! There was a real threat to these characters and it wasn't being taken seriously.

For some reason, every time there's a chance for Kalim to develop, all of that is just completely reversed. Even if this was an issue before the event was released, I also feel like the writers forgot one very important thing...

Kalim has literally been kidnapped before! SEVERAL TIMES TOO!

He was targeted several times because he's from a rich family, they were planning to do malicious things to him for the sake of MONEY. Literally, just like Fellow Honest! He should know better than anyone else how horrifying it is to be taken away from the ones you love, and having no idea what will happen to you. But noooo instead he went full on Steven Universe on Fellow Honest! I'm not even taking the excuse that he's desensitized to it because he was putting the lives of his classmates at risk by giving this human trafficker a fucking chance. While he's not the smartest in the group, his character IS compassionate. How did he give more compassion towards this stranger he met a day ago instead of his own classmates?! How did they botch his character this badly?!

Lastly, when Fellow Honest's reasoning is stated in the story...I really have no words. He engaged in human trafficking, because his former teachers told him that he wasn't a good mage? ...I'm sorry? What the fuck kinda reasoning is that?!

He's literally committing a random act of malice because of his own personal issues. I can't even say that he was merely projecting his hatred onto students alone, as there were other guests attending the park too! I don't know how old they are, or if they're even in school anymore, so these are literally just random victims to me! It looks like the writers attempted to add a tragic backstory for this character in order to get the audience to have some sort of sympathy for him, but this just makes him look fucking stupid.

During this event, he talks about school being worthless and about how he and Gidel had a hard time surviving because they didn't get an education. Like...he chose to drop out of school. Of course that would happen! What was he expecting?

This event made an attempt to go into class dynamics and it's just...oh my god. Let's do a character comparison for a second. Ruggie grew up in a poor area, but because of that he was always on that grindset. Instead of bitching about how educated people are entitled and snobby, he takes advantage of every opportunity around him. And this includes the education at Night Raven College! He even takes financial advantage of others if necessary! He doesn't mind working for others as long as he can get something out of it.

Now let's talk about Fellow Honest's unique magic. I'm not gonna lie, I do think that concept is pretty cool! However, let's take a look at how it's implemented in the event. Now this is where I get critical of this. Having an increased amount of optimism doesn't mean being dumbed down. I'm still confused on how none of the characters were at least a little bit skeptical when walking through the park. There were red flags all across the park, free food, surprise gifts, a whole ass outfit for free, and a freaking 10 minute roller coaster! It was clearly too good to be true, so I can't understand how nobody among the main cast doubted it even for a second?

Also the reasoning why a magic-sensitive creature like Lilia didn't sense his magic before is so bullshit. I'm sorry, they just needed a reason for him to not notice this in order to make this event work.

And then when the cast started talking about how great school was for them, and even offering him admission to Night Raven College... Sorry just a moment, I just need to...

He is a literal human trafficker, and they decided to sympathize with him because of his bad school past?! WHAT???

I'm not even taking the excuse that the main cast are based off villains. HOW CAN YOU JUSTIFY THAT AT ALL?!?!?! HOW???

We don't know how many people he has done this to. It's clear that this isn't the first time this amusement park has hosted customers. If this was merely his first attempt by means of survival then it might have been a different story, but he's experienced at this. There's a good chance that he has turned people into dolls before.

And then after a super prolonged chase scene and even more battles, we get to Kalim going full-on Steven Universe on Fellow Honest. Then his employer deducts his pay because of the damages in the park...and he finally had enough. He frees everyone, asks them to destroy the park, and now he's a good guy and he's gonna open a school!

...

Now I'm confused about this for a couple of reasons. So first of all, how did his opinion of schools completely do a complete 180 after talking with them for a few moments??? Change in a character doesn't occur this quickly, and we've seen this be the case with multiple characters in this game. Even if this was meant to be rushed for the sake of this being an event story, not even Rollo had a change in opinions after his event! So what was up with this?

The second reason is that Jack specifically stated in this event that his brother can't use magic but is still attending school. Magicless people DO get educated, and there's many pathways for them to choose from.

They aren't barren from society like Fellow Honest thinks they are. Take a look at the people in Epel's hometown and in Fleur city, they're pretty happy! I don't think the concept of schools for lower magic users/non-magic users is as revolutionary as they're making it out to be, and I feel like this is a super last-minute decision on the writers behalf.

Another thing is that...

Fellow Honest has NO REMORSE AT ALL for what he did.

He wanted to quit because he just didn't wanna work for the higher-ups anymore, not because he actually realized what he was doing was fucked up! Yeah sure, he might be focused on his new goal to open up a school. But is he just gonna ignore the fact that he fucking SOLD PEOPLE AS DOLLS? HUH? How am I supposed to wish him well on his newfound journey when this entire thing is just left unaddressed!

I'm also confused about another thing. Fellow Honest asked the cast to destroy the amusement park after he freed them, promising to turn the park boat around to Sage Island if they did so. This caused the boat to sink, and Ortho had to push the entire park back to shore.

They were able to get back to shore before any serious damage was done, so can anyone tell me why Fellow Honest and Gidel decided to ride off into the sunset WITH the park? It's literally sinking as they speak! So...huh? Where will they even sail to? It's pretty hard to not notice a huge ass amusement park sinking like this in the middle of the Sage Island, especially when it's right beside the port! What is going on?!

Who the hell even wrote this? I can't with this event man...

I know the lesson of this event is to realize the importance of going to school and being a good kid like in the movie. However...let's step back for a bit. The target audience for Twisted Wonderland is young adults and teenagers, and the fanbase DOES consist of these people. I don't think they need reminding of why education is a privilege...? Pinocchio was specifically made to scare little kids, so it just does not translate well to their target audience AT ALL. While I do love Twisted Wonderland, I really do feel like this is their worst event yet. I hate how almost all the characters were dumbed down to make this story work, and I don't care if it was because of Fellow Honest's unique magic. When it comes to sensitive topics, Twisted Wonderland is usually good at portraying them appropriately. So I really have no idea what happened with this event.

I think the company saw the positive reception with Rollo Flamme, and decided that this type of new character was something to be implemented yearly. Surprisingly, Fellow Honest and Gideon seem to have a large fanbase in Japan...so they probably took the popularity of these characters as their next material to work with. This could have worked out wonderfully if they were to treat this like its own story rather than a remake of the movie, but unfortunately that's not the path they decided to go with.

I have never felt this way about any other event, and the urge to write this critic was STRONG. I have no idea whether Yana wrote this, or if another employee just decided to pull some last-minute shit with this entire event. Regardless, I'm praying to god that this is merely a one-time occurrence and that the next event will be better. I think for the sake of my sanity, I need to pretend this event doesn't exist.

Thank you for reading my thoughts on this.

[skaruresonic]

So Sonic 3's trailer finally dropped today. Any thoughts on it?

I had zero hype for this film because I didn't like the previous two and had no reason to believe this one would turn out any different. Lo and behold! ...it doesn't.

There's so much I could talk about.

• The shameless digging up of the corpse of my favorite Sonic game just to dress it up Norman Bates-style. Why yes, I love getting butchered adaptations of SA2 shoved down my throat. Keep 'em coming.

• The fact that the overly-furry aesthetic Paramount chose for Sonic and the other anthros still looks plug-ugly to my eyes no matter how much I try to get acclimated to it. In fact, it somehow looks even worse here than it did in previous movies.

• The fact that they ripped off a scene from Matrix Revolutions. Interesting choice, lmao.

• Jimbotnik continuing to register as "Jim Carrey in a costume" and not as Eggman.

• Agent Stone continuing to be a nothingburger of a character aside from being a living footstool for Jimbotnik. I thought everybody said he was going to be 3's main antagonist. Why is he even here.

• Jimbotnik calling Gerald "Pop-Pop," cutesy-ing it up for no real reason, when Eggman simply called him "grandpa" at most in the games. What, is his grandfather Mike Ehrmantraut now?

• The original game's "fuck the police" angle now being ignored in favor of maybe making GUN look like the good guys (what?).

• The fact that the ARK, an iconic location, is nowhere in sight is making me more than a tad apprehensive. Idk if this thing is supposed to replace it:

• This one really steams my hams: the fact that Paramount portrays Jimbotnik's weight gain via hateful stereotypes of fat men which the games do not employ in their overall portrayal of Eggman. It reflects a fatphobic attitude I could have told you was the case years ago judging by the fact that they cast a thin man in the role.

Games!Eggman is stylish and immaculately groomed, but Jimbotnik has to be a slob who dresses like The Dude just because he gained a little weight. Of course. 🙄

It really bothers me because Eggman is quite possibly one of the only examples of positive fat male representation I can point to, and they can't even let him be a little fat onscreen without literally exposing his belly with the intent to make fun of him in ways the games seldom do, if ever.

God fucking forbid he actually weighs the 281 lbs. he does in canon; Paramount would probably portray him like Fat Bastard from Austin Powers.

In lieu of being portrayed as dumb and weak, as is usually the case for fat male characters, Games!Eggman is portrayed as cunning, intelligent, powerful (physically and mentally), and stylish in a way that commands respect, despite whatever this Chili's says to discredit him. Eggman is fucking cool, and y'all are tripping if you don't think so.

• The fact that this movie is probably going to be cringe on the basis of its constant bathos-inducing insistence on making the characters crack mistimed jokes during serious moments.

• Doing a double take when Sonic called Shadow an "alien," possibly realizing that "alien" is the film universe's designation for anthros, then promptly short-circuiting and catching on fire. Can we not.

• Why does the trailer insist on making Shadow look like a wet cat? They did not deep-freeze my boy like they did in the games. Games!Shadow emerged from stasis minty-fresh, whereas Movie!Shadow looks like a newborn kitten yeeted straight out of the womb:

Disgustang. Stop that.

• The fact that everyone gives '06 flack for aesthetic whiplash but thinks Shadow looking like a muppet beside an irl little girl is fine, actually:

And the fact that said little girl may be killed just making dead Maria jokes 10x more uncomfortable than they need to be.

• They missed an opportunity for a fun visual gag by having the bathroom sign read "occupied" instead of "eggupied" or "hatching" (as in hatching a scheme. or a shit. maybe both, lol). Something like that:

They can pay homage to the Akira bike slide and the Super Burly Brawl from Matrix Revolutions, but God forbid we actually allude to Sonic games :v

---

...But most of this can be boiled down to "Paramount gonna Paramount."

All in all, I'm likely to continue my time-honored tradition of seeing the movie when it releases in theaters because deep down, I'm still a Sonic whore and subsequently pretending the films don't exist thereafter lol

[theboogierat]

blaire is peak and why rusty can't write truly evil women

If you've found this post, I don't need to introduce Leasebound to you.

Instead, we're going to talk about the fandom.

Leasebound's fandom has a sort of Lemony-Snicket-esque schism, with Rusty's intended audience and (hilariously) the exact opposite. I've seen both sides of the Leasebound audience, and I've noticed something interesting.

...nobody hates Blaire.

Okay, that's a HELL of a sentence to make, and very exaggerated. I've seen 'Blaire unenjoyers' and other people treating Blaire like the Eric Cartman of Leasebound, it's an eye-catching statement that makes people read more of the text post.

But I wouldn't call it wrong, I'd give it a 'hyperbolic.'

Even on the side of Rusty's intended audience, Blaire isn't loathed. I've seen many enjoyers of Blaire who either talk about how much they went her to talk gender to them, so to say. On the flipside, the worst interpretation of Blaire is a misogynist who pushes her activism on other people, which is more or less her canon intent.

But if Blaire was as bad as Rusty Hearts portrayed her, I don't think we'd see so much art of Blaire. In fact, I put down a poll, and Blaire pretty much took the #1 spot for the 'character with the most fanart' almost instantly, beating out characters such as Jaden (who took silver), Riley, and Violet. And it pretty much sticks!

I've seen a lot of Blaire fanart from the Leasebound tag on both sides! I've seen a lot of Blaire discussion and discourse on both sides, either about the possibility of a redemption arc, a rewrite, thirsting over her, etc.

So...we can pretty much say Blaire is a bad strawman.

Strawmen are supposed to be one-note characters the main cast is supposed to be more interesting than and can fight with no pushback. Blaire is massively popular across the board in the Leasebound fandom, has discussions about her that are multi-layered, and has wonderful fanart from people that really like her.

Done. That's all.

But we're not done. We need to keep talking.

Rusty Leasebound is very good at some things. Her chapter focusing on Shez had emotional, gut-wrenching art, and there is a definite appealing quality to the way she draws things.

Some things, atleast.

But Rusty is not a great writer. There's tons of other essays and an entire discord server that can point all the flaws in her story out enough to write an epic worthy of the Mahabharata. Leasebound has largely forgotten what it is to be a mouthpiece for her political opinions, its characters are one-note and one-dimensional, she focuses on the wrong things at the wrong time, and many more that will make my fingers cry as I type this. But I want to focus of Rusty's tendencies to tell, not show.

Blaire is not evil. She's not even Maleficent or Ursula or Cruella evil. And she's no Makima either. Blaire is just a woman passionate about her beliefs, and makes the mistake of pushing them on other people. That's not evil, that's a flaw. Women cannot be perfect all the time.

But we're meant to believe she is evil. In this panel of the Actor!AU, we are TOLD by Rusty that Blaire is meant to be evil.

Blaire isn't evil! Come back to me when she puts a living creature in a blender, or something!

While the statement is understandable, you're using it in the wrong way! Because there is no reason for the casual Leasebound reader to ever believe Blaire is evil, the way you portray her!

(Yes, casual Leasebound readers exist. Quinty's one.)

And there's multiple occasions of this 'tell, don't show' narrative Rusty keeps pushing.

For example: Meriam.

Meriam is told to be the protective, strong mother, but I'm not sure that's entirely the case.

Meriam has serious flaws in her parenting that is never acknowledged. Shez was made to basically worry for her siblings at a young age, which sounds horrible for a young girl.

(side note: criticism of the comic has often lead to more interesting, and realistic plotlines for leasebound to include.)

She's obviously traumatised, and it shows in her parenting. When she shuns out Rissa and her boyfriend; that's not good! If Rissa wants her family by her side, she won't get it because she's marrying a man. Meriam always keeps Shez on the pedestal like she's Luisa from Encanto.

Nobody asks how's Shez. Someone help Shez.

And there's so much more!

We get snippets of Riley, a MAIN CHARACTER'S backstory from one-off panels and dialouges, but we heard the majority of it from Rusty in the comment section, Rusty confirming fan speculation, the cast page, non-canon panels, etc. Nothing in the main story!

And that just makes Riley...really boring. The most interesting part of Riley is Blaire right now, and that's REALLY bad, considering we're supposed to dislike Blaire.

Here are some more examples of Rusty telling, not showing:

Muddles:

Riley:

Various statuses of offscreen characters:

Blaire and many others of Rusty's characters have fallen into one of her biggest writing flaws' clutches, but it's interesting as to how fan perception and works have essentially made one of the most three-dimensional characters of the comic, aside from Jaden. And that's one of the main problems with Leasebound.

I want to end this with an open letter. I don't know if she'll read it, but if you do:

Listen to criticism, and find out what's wrong with your comic. Tune in to different parts of the fandom, even when you don't agree with them. At the heart of the war, we all share one thing: reading your comic. Don't take that for granted; many amazing, better written comics would love to have the attention you have. Your art is good. I enjoy reading Leasebound when it's about the characters, not how we're supposed to percieve them. You have something; harness it before it goes away! And at the rate Leasebound is going- it might go away really fast.

Thank you for reading. I don't have anything else to say.

...

Hey, remember when a radfem accidentally reblogged a post by a non-radfem-

[gffa]

I know this has been talked about many times before, but I still don't know what we are supposed to think of Padmé's actions when she comforts Anakin after he confesses to murder in cold blood. He feels guilty and all, but he continues his shitty behavior even before he became Darth Vader, and then does it again. It's just hard for me to see Padmé as some sort of saint in that scene. And are we even supposed to see it that way anyway? There's no official answer, which makes it all the more mind boggling to me. When people say she forgave and did the right thing, it's seems unjustified because he still did it, he regretted it, but he also said "I hate them". Idk I'm sorry if this is too long. I just have a lot of thoughts on this scene.

Hi! For me, I've settled into a balance between "there's no hard narrative intention here, so I just have to let it go" and "here's my best guess at a look into what little has been said about her" and "here's what makes sense to me as someone speculating about her character on my own". I think it comes down to two things: 1) Natalie Portman's comment about how Padme thinks she can save Anakin as a motivation for her character and 2) that as complicated as it can be in some ways, the Tuskens were written in an extremely racist way, especially in that their deaths do not register with Lucas the same way other races/cultures would. Which means that while this should be a point-of-no-return moment for Anakin's character, while it should be recognize that he's murdering children here (and I do think that's meant to have weight, that the dialogue specifies he knows he's killing innocent lives), I don't think the narrative fully does so, and instead treats it as his "first step" onto the path of darkness, one that he can come back from. And I do think a lot of that comes from Lucas, much as I applaud him for being progressive in other ways and genuinely seems like someone who was trying to do better, does portray real world elements in a racist way in the movie, they're treated as less than human here. (I will say that Padme also is willing to take Anakin back even after he murders the Jedi younglings, so there's a little wiggle room here, in the way she reacts, but the racism is pretty undeniable and a big motivation here.) But because the narrative and the author don't treat his murder of the Tuskens as a point of no return, Padme can't treat his murder of them as a point of no return, so instead her reactions are based on the idea that, yes, this was bad, but it was something that still left good in him and she's trying to reach out to that good, she's trying to save him. As much fun as it is to examine these characters from a more realistic lens, so much of Star Wars makes a lot more sense when you consider what Lucas was going for on a thematic level--in a lot of ways, Padme isn't written for herself, she's written as a baromter of where Anakin is at. When she comforts him, it's because we're meant to see Anakin in a place of emotional turmoil. When she backs away from him on Mustafar, we're meant to see him as having crossed a line, unwilling to come back. When she says, "There's still good in him." on Polis Massa, we're meant to understand there's a glimmer of hope for the far-off future. I don't think it's really about Padme's character at all, I think she's written--as SO MANY of the elements of Star Wars are--to be an extension of Anakin's character, because the story of Star Wars is the story of Anakin Skywalker. I love love love some of the excellent meta that examines these scenes through the lens of what Padme is thinking and feeling and what her character arc is about. And I may be being uncharitable to the writing for her, but it's largely where I've settled just so I can stop itching over it. For me, I don't think Padme was "right" or "wrong" on Tatooine, I don't think we're meant to see Padme as any kind of saint. I think she's balanced between "Padme thinks she can save Anakin, but ultimately she cannot, Anakin has to be the one to choose to come back himself" and "Padme is basically a symbolic dark side meter, as so many of the characters in SW are symbolic of various aspects of Anakin".

[chaotic-saturne]

Just watched good omens season 2 so here are our thoughts :

SO OBVIOUSLY BIG SEASON 2 GOOD OMENS SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!

- don't like the Aziraphale slander, let characters be ✨flawed✨ and not perfect little beans

- not really fond of the fan theory that Metatron did put smth in Aziraphale's drinking cuz it would miss on the whole Aziraphale' struggle with his morality and basically religious trauma, AND the fact that Metatron clearly pushed him into it, Aziraphale has lots of issues with the statue quo and authority figures, so Metatron clearly coming in right after Crowley left (I'd think he likely saw them kissed, or at least see Aziraphale emotionally distressed) so Aziraphale has no time to think, Aziraphale clearly hesitates but Metatron pushes and pushes again

- love (tho emotionally destroyed us as well) the scene in which Aziraphale is waiting for Crowley to bring him to hell because he lied, as if lying is worse than killing CHILDREN because it's god' ineffable plan, this whole scene really shows the lack of understanding of humankind from angels and God AND how authoritarian god actually is, which is why when Crowley says in the last episode they're toxic, it really hits on point, how cult-ish it almost looks and how it destroys your own morality, how Crowley who is a demon is supposed to be bad but is doing good things and angels are supposed to be good and do constantly bad things, and how Crowley is "bad" only cuz he asked questions (it also makes us wonder, are all demons stereotypes bad or are some shut down/pressured into acting bad? Like the angels can be shut down/pressured into not thinking too much?)

- was destroyed by the fact that Crowley opened up to Aziraphale on his feelings to end up being emotionally so fucking hurt to the point of putting his GLASSES ON WHICH HE NEVER DOES BEFORE INSIDE AZIRAPHALE'S BOOKSHOP

- love the lesbians, so glad Nina was able to break up and so glad they opened up with Crowley on how THEY also play with human lives as if it's funny and/or entertaining and not considering humans' relations and feelings which is in fact a replica of their own relationship to each other (also as a way to not emotionally open up to the other)

- the way God is treated in the show really keeps reminding us of the way God is shown in Angels before Man by Rafael Nicolás (really recommend ! especially if you're a queer with religious trauma)

- happy for Belzebub and Gabriel tho'

- glad to have wheelchair disabled representation, as a wheelchair user as well ☺️

- loved the tension between Michael and Uriel (they should angrily smooch)

- love the fact that both Crowley and Aziraphale use god' imagery to do good when it was not god' intention to do good, the whole morality thing is even furthermore questioned there (let there be the light by Crowley episode 1 and the whole situation with Job)

- Crowley has religious trauma but acknowledge it and Aziraphale don't

- Mr Fell, i don't know i just feel like his name being FELL when trying to pass as human, is kinda funny and ironic and maybe means something more

- Aziraphale being a landlord is UGH SIGH BIG SIGH, however that he is bad at it is actually good and it just furthers (along with his capitalist bullshit ranting when in Scotland) him wanting to follow the statue quo and what authority portrays as good even within the human morality is, well, it says a lot

- Aziraphale wanting to be saved by Crowley cuz 1/maybe it means in his thinking that it means Crowley can be saved/redeemed 2/Aziraphale likes being saved, taken care of 3/Aziraphale kinda puts his authoritative issues (trusting someone too much bc they have an authoritative power over him) on Crowley those moments cuz Crowley is the one deciding and taking control, but at the same time they are on equal foot and everything so it may mess up Aziraphale furthermore into his own personal dilemna

Here's for now, thank you for reading 😭

[henrysglock]

i think where u and aemiron's csa theories flop at times is that. well. we have no proof henry has sexual intent.

yes, the vines and billy's lines and so on yada yada can be easily interpreted as CSA-coding - even the GA picks up on that. yes, i literally believe so much that the vines, will talking abt the MF in 2x04 and the entire possession thing is easily a metaphor for rape and CSA (i mean on character tropes it says will's possession was mind rape but who knows if character tropes is canon).

however the thing is, we have NO clue if henry is an actual pedophile. there's no textual evidence that he's sexually attracted to will or any child and thats why he did those things. the entire upside-down CSA thing is literally just a metaphor because, as far as we know, NONE of those actions had sexual intent, and the entire point of rape is quite literally, unfortunately; sexual intent.

(and even then the metaphor isn't even canon unless an ST writer etc says so. literally nothing the fandom theorizes is canon because its all a theory)

it's a common coding thing in film. they'll add metaphors that they never actually put into the explicit text so it just stays that way. for example, in wednesday, a character's in-ability to transform into a werewolf and become part of a wolf pack could be seen as a metaphor for being queer. this doesn't ACTUALLY mean the character is queer, unfortunately (personally i doubt that but nothing is canon yet) - but they use metaphors to portray that experience in their fictional world.

so while SA-coding is associated with henry and the upside down, this doesnt LITERALLY mean henry's a pedophile (because again we've literally never been shown his sexual attraction to children)

"There's no sexual intent"

How...How blunt do I have to be about this? Anon...He...There were babies involved. The entire slug thing in general (Barb included) is quite literally sexual reproduction. You can't say there's no sexual intent when there's sexual reproduction involved, anon. Like...please enlighten me on how I can possibly make that clearer. Do I have to be vulgar about it to make it click? Because I'd really rather not be.

All this without mentioning the fact that nearly every person he's targeted, lured, or said goosebump-worthy (/neg) lines to has been a teenager or younger. He's Vecna, Mindflayer, and Demogorgon. We have to look at all the seasons. Here, let's make a list of his victims and their age groups together:

Will: Preteen and teen.

El: Teen.

Nancy: Teen.

Max: Teen.

Fred: Teen.

Chrissy: Teen.

Patrick: Teen.

Barb: Teen.

Billy: Teen (but not a minor).

Heather: Teen.

Holly in S1: Child.

That's one hell of a track record lmao. The only outliers are Joyce in S1 (she's only targeted because she's connected to Will) and the Flayed (which were kind of a mixed bag since they were only there to become the Fleshflayer).

So, not a single one of the primary targets are over 20 years old...but most of them are teens. So you're right, I guess. He's not a pedophile.

He's closer to the definition of an ephebophile (with a thing for redheads).

Also, this isn't Wednesday. This isn't even in the same ballpark as Wednesday. Stranger Things is an adult supernatural horror series. It was supposed to be named Montauk for heaven's sake, as in the MKULTRA subset known for...what, exactly?

You guessed it: raping and otherwise abusing boys to break them and turn them into mindless super-soldiers.

I...don't know how much plainer I can make it without it becoming tasteless. The tentacle and the Mindflayer's possession are not a metaphors for rape. They're literal rape. The metaphor is the combination of Henry and the Shadow Monster re: cycles of abuse and the way forced conformity and weaponized trauma allow cycles of abuse to be perpetuated.

If you don't want to see what's on the screen in front of you, for whatever reason, that's totally fine. It's no skin off my nose. But don't come in here telling me my analyses flop when I incorporate the things you choose not to perceive.

[realbeefman]

your analysis of house md is so fascinating and it makes me wonder, what's your take on the g*od doctor? I find it hard to reconcile that they're by the same person but maybe there's an obvious reason behind-the-scenes why they're so different that I'm not aware of

had a long discussion with my mom (who has actually watched the good doctor in it's entirety, unlike me lol) about this ask.

i think it comes down to the intention with, and context within which each respective series was created. i'm assuming your ask is referencing the way autism is portrayed in each series, so that's what i'll focus on here.

house md is created in 2004, in an era of television where the antihero protagonist is becoming increasingly popular - house is coming out of an era of television that created iconic, enduring characters like walter white, tony soprano, and don draper. house very much belongs to this antihero craze, and he's written to intentionally be an asshole, who acts like an asshole to everyone around him, and continually ruins his own life.

house md isn't created to be an uplifting, heartwarming piece of television, with an autistic main character who is just trying his best in a horrible, ableist society. we, the audience, aren't meant to interpret house as autistic at all.

this is explicitly told to us in 3x04, "Lines in the Sand." (brief summary for context: the team treats a severely autistic 10 year old in the A plot, while in the B plot, house performs shenanigans throughout the hospital in an effort to annoy cuddy into giving him his old, blood-stained carpet back.) in this episode, cameron, acting as the audience, interprets house's behavior as him being resistant to change, which in her (the audience's) mind, is proof that he is autistic. however, the narrative reinforces again and again that no, actually - cameron is wrong, because he really is just doing this to get a rise out of cuddy. this is eventually reinforced when wilson, the voice of narrative reason and in this episode, the voice of our dear showrunner mr. shore, lies to cuddy about house having "asperger's" (autism) before later telling house that he isn't autistic - just a jerk who wishes he had an excuse for behaving like one. the episode ends by reprimanding the audience for having come up with such a theory - the answer is simple, he isn't autistic, just a jerk!

in stark contrast, we have the good doctor himself, shaun murphy.

the good doctor is an adaptation of a k-drama by the same name, and airs it's first episode in 2017. the american television landscape is an entirely different place, and antihero protagonists simple aren't in vogue anymore. attitudes towards disability are, on a surface level at the very least, changing, and america's tastes have changed as well.

shaun murphy breaks out onto the screen as an intentionally autistic character, in an era of television in which our hearts are meant to be warmed. unlike house, shaun's autistic traits aren't something that have been unintentionally included in the writing of his character, the fact that he is autistic is literally his defining character trait. shaun isn't meant to be a standoffish jerk, who goes about the hospital reigning abuse upon those around him and attracting lawsuits like a malpractice magnet. shaun is a severely autistic man, who is incredible at his job, and most importantly, we are supposed to like him.

so, on the one hand we have house, who the creator's didn't intentionally write as autistic, who was written in an era where douchebag's with a penchant for offensive behavior was vogue, and on the other hand we have shaun, whose autism is the reason we, the audience, are supposed to root for him.

while i do think there's a whole other laundry bag of complaints to address in the way in which the good doctor treats shaun as a character, and particularly in how the show itself portrays autism, i think those critiques are best left to somebody who has done more than a cursory overview of the show and a consult with their mother, and fundamentally, i do believe authorial intent is the major contributing factor to the difference in how these shows portray autism.

[alyjojo]

November 🕷️ 2024 Monthly - Taurus

Preshuffle: You’re trying to be the calm & stable center in an unstable situation within your home, family, or relationship. Something that’s been slow starts moving much faster 💨

Meditation: It started with a car alarm 🚨 outside of my real window and your vision started…everyone getting up in the middle of the night to play out a rehearsed scene or survival situation. Like tornado drills at school. Except this was the real deal. Lock your cars 🚙 It was something happening very quickly, efficiently - like clockwork, and successful, but under PRESSURE. Intense yet prepared.

Main energy: 10 Swords

You’ve been hurt by something, could be a swift or painful ending - maybe one involving betrayal, that’s the whole reading. Between the Depression Oracle, 10 Swords, 9 Wands and The Star rev…trauma 🙏 It’s leading all of your actions, thoughts, emotions, etc., right now. Raspberry shows a kind of demanding or pretentious energy, having standards but like…it’s protection, you could be coming off snotty because you’ve been hurt and people don’t know that (and you aren’t saying anything). Or this is someone else you’re dealing with, three cards showing the energy of a child, could be one - or someone’s inner child even. 9 Cups rev at the bottom isn’t happy, this isn’t what you or someone else wants, but how can you fix or change it, when you’re already feeling like there’s no hope?

We 👏 gon’ 👏 find 👏 out 👏 I got you ❤️

A side note: Cool Lemonade asks if Spirit really didn’t give you what you asked for…usually that means they did, what did you ask for? 9 Cups rev can be getting what you wanted and it’s not actually what you wanted. Turns out badly. Oracle at the bottom shows this is part of your chart, or what’s supposed to happen will change all of this without needing to do much.

What’s going on in November:

To clarify 10 Swords, this is some connection you’ve lost and go back and forth on whether you want to actually lose it or not. Could be betrayal, could be someone else’s decision, could be anything that’s come in between you & someone else so that there’s little to no communication or connection anymore. For some it could be a child you’ve been separated from due to a breakup or divorce (I assume), and it’s really got you down. For others it’s not as serious, someone that likes you and makes effort - and then disappears entirely. Could be you too, maybe you go out on a date and cut this person off before even giving them a chance due to - all of this pain and trauma. Past shit probably. Whatever came before.

Knight of Cups clarified by 9 Cups rev again, you either don’t want anything to do with love, romance, or dating - though someone may try. Or you do, and are rejected or ghosted. It’s like you come out of your hidey hole to play for a minute, get rejected, and go right back into your hole - never gonna happen, it’s not for me, go away. At the bottom shows a need to move on or away from whatever or whoever this is. Wheel of Fortune, you have to, it’s karma related here. I’m hearing “you don’t really know them” and it’s coming off as ominous 👀, so keep it moving. Could be someone extravagant & addicted, they could use substances or be a “bad influence” in some way like that. A partier. “Bad boy/girl.”

Ace of Swords rev is a liar, what you don’t see or know. This person was waiting to hurt you, maybe reject you, maybe even use you. 9 Wands can be actual pain and at the bottom shows someone being used sexually and bullshit intentions - the trash took itself out for you Taurus. You could’ve been roofied by this mfer. Because it’s reversed, you probably don’t know that. Or you could. Hasn’t happened, avoid this 🛑 Or if they have done something to hurt you, they never said or did anything to lead you to believe they would - could also be how it’s being portrayed here. Or a sudden ghosting after seeming interested, that’s repeated. 9 Wands clarified by The Emperor…either you’re dealing with an ex that’s keeping your kids from you possibly, or they’re a self-indulgent fk that doesn’t care how you feel. They could do selfish things when your kids are around, the thing itself is subjective, pick a vice. If not an ex, it could be police, government, officials. Maybe you DO get roofied and call the cops on this creep, and they don’t even care? 8 Swords rev is release, maybe they took them to jail and let them right back out. It could simply be you’re dating someone you’re not sure you’re into and you haven’t said a word about any of the past trauma that you’re definitely carrying. Some of you are dealing with active trauma, others are hesitant to discuss past trauma for fear of 10 Swords, it happening again or being used against you, is this person trash, do they care, can you actually trust them? Probably not. All of this. Fuck this 💯 Raspberry has standards at least.

8 Swords rev…yaaas. Release it! All of it. Old shit, new (problematic) shit, all of the excess shit, traumatic shit, it’s all gotta go. You’ve got healing to do ❤️ Queen of Cups is self care, loving yourself, doing the things you enjoy doing again and getting yourself back to an energy where you *can* trust again. Maybe. Someday. At the bottom is clarity and King of Cups - a mysterious divine partner. Do you know them, probably not, are they actually a water sign, probably not. Maybe but that’s not the message. It’s just showing that your energy currently cannot attract your actual person - you have to fix that. Starting with The Star rev…depression. Lack of hope or faith, there’s no communication with anyone about what’s going on in your head and it needs to be released. Some of you need to journal 📓 and process in that way, re-reading over days that are hard or good either way, gives you some perspective later on. You are your best teacher. Must be, I’m not seeing anyone else. There’s no progress with 2 Wands, because it’s being blocked by doubt, pessimism, and disbelief in anything not being fking traumatic - due to whatever has happened that was. You need space & time to just worry about you. What makes a happy Taurus? A cuppa ☕️ , a snack 🥑, and your favorite tv show…start there. We want The Star and Page of Wands upright, feeling passionate about the future, your dreams, the things you *could* do, hope, spiritual purpose. Getting excited about things again 🙏 Your future.

Basically, fuck relationships, you’re more important. That’s the whole message. Or you could be dealing with someone like this that you just can’t understand & Spirit is explaining that they’re feeling this way, and you may not be able to do anything - you need to worry about you. If you’ve gone through divorced parents, there could be lingering issues with the father in regards to the mother, or you. Same for an ex co-parent that’s on some bs. If that’s the case, you don’t see any hope and Spirit is telling you to be patient, self care, you only *can* worry about yourself - so do that. Raspberry shows things aren’t the worst that they could be, that’s important. It’s hard to look on the bright side but start small. A good movie, or a conversation with a friend can change a whole mood, be careful of what you’re immersing yourself in…sad stuff makes you sad, angry stuff makes you angry, etc. Do the stuff that makes you feel like a happy & excited little kid again - Page of Wands.

Signs you may be dealing with:

Gemini, Sagittarius, Pisces, Aries & Cancer

Oracle: ✨

Depression comes from being trapped. Spring the trap and change your life.

We enter into November as:

Cool Lemonade 🍋

“My dreams got answered.”

There are times when chasing dreams leaves us winded and unhappy. If this gift has been given, it’s to remind you there is always a plan. If you fear you’ve been sidetracked from your right path, have faith you’ll be guided back to it. There is not always a complicated reason why things didn’t work out how you wanted them to, it may be simpler than you think. Are you sure your prayers weren’t answered? Or was it a reply you refused to hear? You will find total peace when you appreciate the gifts you have, rather than pining for what you lack. Sometimes, we all need to be reminded that the point of prayer isn’t to get what we want, but to ask to be of service. Cool Lemonade reminds us to only seek to be of service in our lives, closeness with Spirit must always be put before what we’d like to have.

What is to be learned in November:

Righteous Raspberry 💅🏽:

“I have the same high standards for myself as I do for others.”

This is a message to lighten up! Notice your present attitude towards others. Perhaps you’re being too hard on yourself, and others as well. Allow others to be as they are. Supporting others around you creates allies. Watch your expectations, you could be setting yourself up for disappointment. You cannot be satisfied if you expect others to live up to standards you can’t even live up to. Besides, others are not you. Do it wrong, mess it up, have flaws. Trying to make the world perfect will only exhaust and alienate. Allow things to simply be. Look for what’s right in your world.

Red may be a lucky color ❤️

[baileyagreste]

Has the Miraculous Team really Forgotten About Cat Noir?

It feels like an understatement to say that the Miraculous fandom has been frustrated lately, especially when it comes to Adrien/Cat Noir’s character. Throughout seasons 4 and 5, something shifted, and many of us have noticed the glaring imbalance in how much screen time and plot relevance Ladybug has compared to Cat Noir. I mean, let’s face it. Miraculous Ladybug is a show with two main characters—Marinette and Adrien, Ladybug and Cat Noir. But recently, it feels like the writers have focused so much on Ladybug’s journey and left Adrien by the wayside. Sure, he still has his moments here and there, but they feel like token gestures rather than the central, meaningful arcs he deserves.

Now, I’m not saying that Ladybug doesn’t deserve attention—she absolutely does! Marinette’s character development has been amazing to watch, and her struggles with responsibility and leadership have made for some fantastic storytelling. But, there’s an issue when one half of the duo is barely included in the show’s most crucial plotlines. It’s almost like the writers have forgotten that Adrien is supposed to be Ladybug’s equal. He’s a main character, too. Why does it feel like the writers are pushing him out of the spotlight?

And it’s not just me noticing this—people across the fandom have been vocal about how Adrien has been sidelined. There’s been so much focus on Marinette’s choices and challenges that Adrien’s role feels like it’s shrinking more and more. Cat Noir, once portrayed as Ladybug’s inseparable partner, has been relegated to the background in a show that once thrived on their dynamic partnership.

What makes this sting even more is the way Season 5 ended. When Ladybug defeated Monarch (Gabriel Agreste), the world was led to believe that Gabriel was a hero—including Adrien. Marinette lied about Gabriel’s true identity as Monarch, hiding the fact that Adrien’s father was responsible for so much pain and destruction. And, for a lot of fans, this felt like a betrayal—not just to Adrien, but to the character’s journey that we’ve all been invested in. Gabriel Agreste got away with everything, leaving Adrien in the dark about his own father’s villainy.

So, why did the writers do this? It almost feels like they’re deliberately leaving Adrien out of the narrative. But could it be on purpose? Could this be setting up something much bigger?

Interestingly, if you look at the Season 6 promotional poster, you’ll notice something odd. Cat Noir, who is usually standing right beside Ladybug in previous posters, is positioned much farther away from her. This is a huge shift that didn’t go unnoticed by the fandom. Many fans saw this and thought, “Are they still leaving him out?” But, looking closer, it might actually be intentional. The way he’s depicted feels almost threatening. His posture is defensive, almost aggressive, and his facial expression is unsettling—he’s smirking, but not in his usual charming way. It gives off a much darker vibe.

Nothing is ever done by accident in shows like this, so it’s worth thinking about what the creators might be hinting at. Could this distance from Ladybug, both in the narrative and in the visuals, be foreshadowing something? If Adrien does eventually learn the truth about his father, it could trigger a major shift in his character, maybe even pushing him down a villainous path. This poster could be teasing that possibility, and the more you think about it, the more it seems plausible.

It doesn’t make sense for Adrien to just forgive and forget the fact that Ladybug completely lied to him about his father’s true identity as Monarch. This is huge. We’re talking about his entire worldview being shattered if he ever finds out. Ladybug keeping the truth from him, even if she thought it was for his own good, is a massive betrayal of trust. Adrien has always been portrayed as someone who values honesty and loyalty, especially when it comes to his relationships with the people he cares about most. For him to just accept that Ladybug lied about something as monumental as his father’s actions would feel out of character and undermine the weight of this reveal. It’s not something you just move on from without serious emotional fallout. This could (and should) create a major rift between them, and that’s what makes it so frustrating for fans who feel like Adrien hasn’t been given the depth or focus he deserves in this narrative. If the writers are heading toward a redemption arc or even a villain arc, this betrayal would play a key role in shaping his future decisions.

I believe the writers might have something planned—something that involves a possible redemption arc for Adrien. With how Gabriel’s story ended, there’s definitely room for Adrien to eventually learn the truth about his father, and the fallout from that could be massive. Could this lead to a villain arc for Adrien? It’s not impossible. There’s so much unresolved tension there, and if Adrien does find out the truth, it would change everything for him.

But, even if the writers have grand plans for Adrien, it doesn’t excuse the fact that they’ve almost completely sidelined him. If this is all part of some long-term character development plan, the least they could do is throw the fans a bone by giving Cat Noir the attention he deserves. We want to see him play a more active role in the show—not just be Marinette’s supportive sidekick. Cat Noir is a hero in his own right, and he deserves to be treated as such.

At this point, it feels like the fandom’s frustrations are more than justified. If the writers are setting up something big for Adrien, great. But until then, it feels like we’re being robbed of the incredible character arc he could have had across these last two seasons.

What do you guys think? Is this all part of some master plan, or have the writers genuinely forgotten what makes Adrien and Cat Noir so essential to the show? lmk!

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

The far cry 5 confused me, like ever played Assassin Creed 3? Like they did a good job showing the difference between American ideals vs what Congress did.

Like they outed George Washington historical orders to burn down native villages during the Seven Years War and how Congress screwed over the natives after the revolution

But like there was a subset of side quests called the Homestead missions, that showed the American dream. People from different walks of life coming together to make something different, something better, second chances and such.

And journalists was surprised that the normal town folks wasn’t racist to you if your character was non white? I mean, they would be weary of you regardless of race or gender as you are a Marshall so still an outside. Also one of the first marketing for 5 had a black priest show he getting armed to protect his town from the cult

But…the game humanized American townsfolk better than Hollywood been doing for the past decade.

Like a parade of American gun control…despite a French Canadian company executing our ideas better our own entertainment industry.

When you have a chance can you answer this anon? I’m a black American and I thought they did it well.

I've played Assassin's Creed 3 and I didn't really like it, but AC3 really doesn't have anything to do with my point about Far Cry 5 other than providing more evidence of Ubisoft's political leanings.

Ubisoft is a French company run and staffed by mostly left wing people. When they make political statements in their work, those statements are always pushing the left wing side of an issue. Far Cry 5 is very clearly supposed to be a game making fun of rural, religious life and American gun culture. They have two different characters who are large parts of the story who exist solely to make fun of Southern Americans, one of whom is a blatant MAGA stand in. The other is that character's son, a stereotypical stupid redneck who only gets some character development beyond that when he starts going against his father's beliefs. The bad guys are all white and religious and mostly male, while the good guys are multicultural with a lot of female characters. The main character is a federal Marshall and it's that main character who is the catalyst for the good guys finally pushing back the cult. It's not too difficult to see the message there being something along the lines of "rural prepper types who pride themselves on being self-sufficient need the government's help to protect themselves". The intent with Far Cry 5 was very clearly, at least in part, to mock "right wing" ideals and American rural culture.

But what they actually ended up doing was writing a love letter to those ideals and that culture. They ended up portraying most rural folk as accepting and competent people who just want to be left alone to live their lives, and who will do the right thing when they come up against a difficult situation. They ended up illustrating why the second amendment is so important by showing how an armed populace is necessary for fighting against tyranny when the police/government/etc can't, or won't. And yes this tyranny was a cult and not the government, but the point still stands. The fact that Ubisoft ended up "executing our ideas better our own entertainment industry" was by accident because they really don't understand the issues they're commenting on. They're a bunch of left wing French people who have never experienced rural American right wing culture trying to portray that culture from within their own left wing echo chamber, while also needing to tone down the political commentary to sell a video game to the very people they're trying to mock. But even the mockery that does get through ends up backfiring when the metanarrative overrides the written narrative. They focus so hard on making their bad guys out to be right wing religious nuts that they don't realize they're making their good guys out to be a much more numerous population of normal right leaning people fighting back against the extremism on "their" side.

[sciintillla]

Can I request a non-con for enha Heeseung where you are his maid? So like he has given you a very short and revealing uniform, touches you , gropes you and fucks you at night or day

Sorry if you felt uncomfortable :(

author's note: hey!! this wasn't uncomfy, don't worry :) i apologize it took me a while to post, and i couldn't really include the ending (and therefore half of what you asked for) because tumblr won't let me include more words :/ please let me know your thoughts on it, and if you'd like a part 2 (a.k.a the ending). thank you for the request!

warnings: +18 (minors do not interact!), noncon, explicit language. use of 'darling' and 'dove' (no gender specified). a visual reference is linked. let me know if i forgot anything.

disclaimer: i do not condone the behavior portrayed in this scenario! it's a piece of fiction and for entertainment purposes only. don't read if you're uncomfortable.

heeseung was the nicest boss at first.

you're the youngest of the maids – and in much need of a job –, so he gave you flexible schedules, proper training, a nice wage, and treated you with given respect.

the other maids were nice too, assisting you with what you weren’t used to yet, and advising you on how to do things the way heeseung liked them done.

it wasn’t about 3 months of you working in his house when heeseung noticeably changed his demeanor. what once were respectful greetings became brazen flirtation.

“hey, darling” instead of “hello, y/n”, “good job, dove” instead of the usual “nicely done, y/n”. at some point, you felt like he unapologetically forgot your name.

then began the teasing.

during lunch breaks, or whenever he had some free time, heeseung would come up to you and casually chat, snaking his hands around your shoulders.

you didn't give it much thought until they eventually ran down your lower back. red flags went on in your head, but you still kept it to yourself considering he was still somewhat respectful.

you can't quite pinpoint what made heeseung switch, but upon seeing you arrive without the attire he provided (instead, dressed in something that revealed your legs), heeseung became an entirely different person around you.

before you could even change into your uniform, he called you over to his office, making you anxiously sit and watch him move about the office before locking the door.

“what's that?” heeseung aggressively held your jawline, eyes intently studying yours.

“i-i'm sorry, i don't think i get what the matter is, sir,” you replied as best as you could, swallowing hard and already feeling tears well up in your eyes, scared as you had never been.

“the matter?” heeseung scoffed as he gazed down at your legs and then back to your face. “this. your clothing is the matter.”

upon seeing his jaw clenching, you looked down, away from his prying eyes.

“i apologize, sir. i didn't know i wasn't supposed to come in without my uniform.”

heeseung sighed and let you leave, ordering whatever task to you (not before making sure you got what a uniform meant).

he summoned you to his office again about a week later, and you never dreaded facing your boss more than that instant. he didn't make any rascal remarks during that week. he didn't even bother looking for you.

so, when he presented you with a smile, you couldn't be more perplexed.

“i bought you something, dove. and you better use it, or i'll feel very, very upset.”

heeseung then searched for something in one of his desk's cabinets, soon taking some piece of fabric out. quick to throw it at your lap, he chewed his bottom lip in anticipation.

it was the softest piece of clothing you've ever touched, and yet you couldn't admire it. a sort of apron, it was. black and white, and obnoxiously short and revealing (visual reference).

“put it on.”

discredited, you tried to argue and refuse, but to no avail. your boss's towering figure was right by your side, willing to take your clothes off himself.

you took the first steps toward the restroom, but he grabbed your wrist before you could reach it. heeseung tilted his head, intimidatingly analyzing your face. his lips were parted and wetted by his tongue, slow movements making you more frustrated by the second.

“no. change here, i wanna see it.”

your wide glossy eyes find his, but he did little to appease you. malicious eyes and fingers explored your bottom lip.

“there won't be much hidden anyways.”

you dawdled with the clothing under heeseung's gaze. you tried to keep the underwear on, but the man was adamant, tearing them off your body in a blink.

heeseung took the chair you'd previously occupied, legs spread wide and feet restlessly tapping on the floor. curious hands now and then probed the softness of your thighs. when you were finally dressed (poorly, in your eyes), the impatient man got up and grabbed your waist from behind.

you could feel his ragged breath hitting the back of your neck, and before you knew it, heeseung's lips were against the sensitive skin, trailing a path to the shell of your ear.

“you have no idea how long i've been wanting this. to touch you, to feel you. it's so much better than what i imagined.”

countless nips and pecks were deposited on the warm flesh of your neck. his hands accompanied his excitement, caressing and squeezing from your hips to your chest from beneath the thin clothing.

finally resting his dominant hand on your neck, heeseung turned your body to him. he planted kisses on the curve of your lips, drawing you closer every time you tried to pull away.

planting your hands on his chest, you used all the force you could gather to make space between your bodies. you felt wet, warm droplets down your cheeks and chin, which heeseung's tongue quickly collected anytime they rolled down your sternum.

“sir, please, i don't like this.”

heeseung clutched your sides in response to your broken low voice. he began leaving hickeys and bites, pleased by your crying and wailing, and tempted to go further with how your hands squeezed his biceps in a failed attempt to free yourself from his hold.

when satisfied, heeseung turned you around and slammed you against his desk, one hand pushing your upper body against the cold surface, and the other pulling your hips towards his pelvis, making you feel how hard he was.

once again, his hands explored your skin, down your back towards your ass.

when you heard him take off his belt and pull down his zipper, pleads left your lips alongside desperate sobs. you yelled out some of the maids' names, hoping they'd come to rescue you, but none did. instead, you received a harsh slap on your buttcheek.

“now now, little dove, they won't come. i'd like it if you made better use of your voice to let out pretty noises for me, hm?”

[bonebabbles]

im curious, do you think there is any good way to portray a redemption by death? like, can a character truly be made a better person by dying? or is it just an all-around bad trope? i vaguely saw what the authors were trying to do with tom and sandgorse's situations, but they just sucked too bad and gave it the absolute wrong effect imo

I think there's a way to make anything work! So I won't say "NO NEVER." But personally, I have a big bone to pick with it so I avoid it

A redemption death doesn't give the character time to meaningfully change, imo, or truly make up for their actions. That all has to come before the death itself. And even the very idea of giving your life up to "redeem yourself" just... sits uncomfortably with me.

Dying never makes a person better. It just kills them. A person who's dead is not changing nor growing.

So Tom and Sandgorse... what their deaths are supposed to do is re-frame everything they did before that point. With no apology on Sandgorse's end for how badly he hurt his son or wasn't there for his mate, he was a good enough person to die for someone else and thus must be forgiven. Tom thrashes two women and they both die because of him, but he was still willing to heroically throw his life down for his child, and so he is 'worthy' of being avenged and honored.

No growth. No change. No acknowledgement. The death is supposed to add sympathy to them, while there's no actual reckoning of how they hurt their victims. Not even a real consequence. "Their intentions were good, and this is proven through the ultimate sacrifice." As if that changes anything. It doesn't.

I think if there's an decent example of a redemption death in warriors, it's Bluestar's. I still have problems with how it believes Stone and Misty have to "forgive her" for some reason, REALLY don't like the fact that this series has always equated redemption and forgiveness... but that aside? Just focusing on Firestar, ThunderClan, and Bluestar?

I think what makes the moment so strong is that it is a moment of clarity through her cruelty arc. We saw the heroic person she was at the start of TPB. We know that her actions are coming from anger, spite, and paranoia. That is never shown as a thing to be excused. But while she's wrapped up in her own misery, Fireheart is being the leader she isn't.

And her last life is a return to form, spending it the way she is supposed to, as a leader, and as his mentor.

Her arc could never be about 'growth' because... she WAS a great leader. She WAS selfless, long ago. Her redemption death is a return to that, and a plot necessity. Bluestar and Firestar cannot both exist.

But, anyway, it's generally a trope I'm not fond of. I think that nearly anything can work in the right context, but I think it's so situational that I personally avoid it when possible.