#it's not that I like her. but I also don't...dislike her

[hexmari]

Hot take but S.E. Hinton is totally valid to not like gay fanfiction of her characters. It definitely doesn't make her homophobic and its unfair to put that label on her because she is a progressive person. Can you imagine if someone took your OC and represented them in a way that you don't believe is true to their character? You are entitled to interpret characters the way you want. But she is also entitled to dislike those interpretations especially when she created those characters and they are very near and dear to her heart. That being said, she isn't reading your fanfiction so you can write as much of it as you want. I think her main issue is the fact that people keep forcing their ships onto her.

[skysiren41]

Anyone else a little disappointed with Leviathan and Belpehgor's designs?

Edit: something I forgot to say is if any of you guys like their designs, that's great! I can see why people like these designs and I'm not trying to make anyone hate them or change their opinion. It's definitely more of a person taste for me and we can discuss why we may like/dislike something without fighting

I wanna make it clear that I don't think there terrible designs and I think most of us excepted that there not really gonna be accurate to their orignal descriptions, but I can't help but still feel slightly disappointed with what we got

I think my main problem with them is how they share the same problems I have with Mammon and Beelzebub'a designs, and it's that they kinda just look like regular sinners rather then 2 of the 7 most powerful demons. I also think they don't really do a good job hinting to their sins, like Belpehgor does have a bit of an edge due to how we always see her sleeping but that's about it, Leviathan is worse cause there are no hints to her being the sin of envy (I think they were trying to do that with the monster head maybe hinting towards her secretly being envious of others but they don't really do a good job showing it)

There are things that I like about their designs. Their colours are nice, I love the idea of Leviathan having multiple heads like a hydra, the idea of making Belpehgor a sheep demon (since sheep's are usually associated with sleep) is cute, and I like how the markings on her neck are not only an eye opening and closing but may be a reference to the moons cycle. Again I wanna make it clear that I don't hate theses designs and I'm sure with time I'll warm up to them, I just with with the prince's they could've made them more unique and stand out from the sinners like Ozzie did compared to the Succubus and Incubus's

Well at least Satan's hot

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

i mean, i definitely don't disagree that beren and luthien -- and the rest of the lotr universe if we're being honest -- is full of misogyny and sexism. from the characters to the settings to a good part of the messaging, all of it operates from a patriarchal worldview that reflects the mindset of its writer. everyone who reads tolkien's works should be aware of that and it's absolutely fair to criticize it. (though i will say: a trend i've noticed in fandom is criticizing that the misogyny only in the characters/stories one dislikes and wants to prove as "bad," while ignoring it in others.)

i don't think your particular criticism (that luthien should have easily been able to take on celegorm and curufin, and they never should have posed a threat to her) works with what we're given in-story though. luthien is never presented as "powerful" in the typical action-hero sense. it's perseverance, guile, cleverness, and sheer nerve that pulls her through against sauron and morgoth, not physical power. i also don't think it's quite accurate to reduce celegorm and curufin to random dudes. those two are, if not war veterans, certainly battle-experienced by the time of beren and luthien, and they've seen and been involved in a lot of fighting: the first kinslaying (albeit their side was much better armed than their opponents and received reinforcements from fingon), the initial skirmishes of the exilic noldor with morgoth's forces upon their arrival in beleriand, and the dagor bragollach. i believe in some versions they also help cover orodreth's retreat from minas tirith, which similarly suggests some type of military involvement. and i'm absolutely not going to be the person that goes "uwu let female characters be feminine!!1!!11!" -- the argument can, and should, be made that we should get more female warriors in the lotr verse. that's definitely one of my main frustrations; of course we have women like eowyn, haleth, and emeldir, all of whom we know can fight -- but i could always use more female warriors (and more gnc women period) in my fiction. however, in frame of what we know about luthien as she is canonically, the idea that she should have been able to easily overpower celegorm and curufin doesn't hold up.

regarding her putting morgoth to sleep, what we need to keep in mind is that luthien tricks him first, and tells him she wants to sing to him as a minstrel. then it's morgoth's own arrogance and his indulgence of his desire to corrupt luthien that keeps him from noticing her true intentions, giving her the window of opportunity to put him to sleep. she didn't just open the act by immediately sedating him, and i don't think she could have. her magic doesn't allow her to just put people to sleep willy-nilly; the circumstances have to be right, or it has to be one of those moments of, for lack of a better way to put it, cosmic intervention (like when she put carcharoth to sleep). none of that was the case for when she met celegorm and curufin. what i'm trying to say is, despite how she's perceived (often along with resounding complaints about how she's such a "mary sue"), luthien is not an untouchable powerful demigod with a track record of easily kicking aside everyone that gets in her way. many of her antagonists far outclass her in terms of "might". but she's brave, confident enough in herself that she believes she can pull off what everyone else tells her is impossible, and resourceful and astute enough to optimize what she has going for her to her best advantage despite the odds being stacked against her -- and that's ultimately why she succeeds. which was part of tolkien's intention, imo, as it fits best with the lotr verse's themes: it's not the "big," "powerful," people that pull off the most spectacular feats. it's the people who have estel, who don't give in to despair, who have the courage and tenacity that so many others don't.

also, regarding the "enchantment" idea: another reason it puts a bad taste in my mouth is that nowhere is any magic in the legendarium ascribed the ability to make people fall in love/lust with the user. even morgoth, the most powerful of the valar, can't do that; there's simply no reason to think that luthien should be able to. and i do understand wanting to explore her character more beyond her story with beren, but forcibly shoehorning her into a position -- against all indications given in the narrative about her, about celegorm and curufin, about the extent to which magic in the universe is capable of influencing someone -- in which she's the one at fault for a male character trying to sexually assault her is not the way to go about that. to be frank, the whole concept of making female characters who by all accounts in the source material are perfectly decent people, ~more morally grey~ because it's ~feminist~, particularly when the process of doing so exonerates a male character for his sexually predatory behavior toward her, and in the case with luthien, flips the situation so that she becomes the predatory one... i don't think it's feminist in the least. there are better ways to give female characters more agency and depth beyond their male love interests than making contrived scenarios in which she becomes responsible for the actions of men who victimize her

as blatantly misogynistic as the "luthien enchanted celegorm" theory/headcanon/whatever they call it is, i do think an interesting concept is a celegorm who convinces himself that luthien enchanted him to explain his own abhorrent behavior, because even he can't quite accept how low he's gone -- i.e. he tells himself that the lust and desire to possess luthien that at least significantly motivated his actions toward her was a result of some maiarin enchantment on her part. it doesn't quite align with my personal reading of the character (though it's not wholly incompatible with it either), but celegorm with his own hellfire-adjacent musical number would be a hell of an aesthetic

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I DIDN'T KNOW LEONA KNEW ABOUR RAVEN'S CRUSH ON J WORD QUNFKANSKD does he tease her about her? does he takes advantage of this knowledge in some way?

also the “angsts about not being "the one"” made me kind of sad tho ngl jqnfkwnakdns DON'T DO THIS TO ME. (cries in a corner)

[Referencing this post!]

I MEAN... I feel like Raven's crush is obvious and easy to tell 😭 Girl is so bad at hiding it. Various other students in the cast (even ones she's not particularly friends with) such as Vil, Ace, Floyd, and Rook are aware of it. There's no way that someone as perceptive and as smart as Leona would let that one go over his head!

I think of this knowledge as being a constant source of angst for Leona (y'know, because it plays into his whole inferiority complex about being "second best, never first place"). He can't have his skills acknowledged, the crown, the interdorm magift tournament win, love... Life's not fair. If he's in a really bad mood, he might make a bitter jab about it. Maybe something like, "Why don't you go crying to that slimy eel bastard, since you clearly enjoy being lied to so long as it comes with a generous side of cooing?" If he's feeling more confident, he definitely finds ways to use the relationship for personal gain. For example, in the hostage situation my friend wrote, Leona is pressuring Octavinelle to hand over the money owed to Savanaclaw by using Raven as a bargaining chip. I guess she's just another pawn in his 5D chess games sometimes.

Speaking of Savanaclaw, I like to imagine that (because they admire their dorm leader so much) they're all super supportive of Leona and act as his wingmen + hype him up when he's clearly brooding. You can see the beginnings of this dynamic in the EBG posts, particularly when the mobs make Raven follow Leona around and how Ruggie often asks her to be more patient with him. In a lot of my Leona and Raven interactions, Ruggie tends to be the main wingman. He thinks it's funny seeing his dorm leader act all grumpy over prey and teases him about it, especially when Leona fucks up and acts overly aggressive/scares her. Really, Ruggie ends up being the guy helping Leona out the most by mediating arguments, running related errands, and gathering info on Raven's likes/dislikes (for a price, of course).

Jack is the underclassman that’s a little slow on the uptake. He sees how Leona stares at Raven and assumes they got beef. Ruggie shakes his head at Jack and tells him he doesn’t understand at all, he’s still an immature puppy! Jack wants to know what’s up, but he also doesn’t want to intrude on his dorm leader’s personal life.

As for the general Savanaclaw mobs 😂 I guess I just like the idea of a group of really buff guys being super invested in their aniki finding happiness. Real bro’s bros! ^^

[majaloveschris]

I hate that lisa is now trolling too/

No secret that Lisa has always been involved in Chris’ fandom. He had said it himself years ago that she would get heavily involved and read everything and would even respond to people. I think he even said it was embarrassing and told her she needed to stop. I understand that’s her child, but he was grown when he started in the industry and she needed to let him be and let his team handle things. Her getting involved will never beat the super mama’s boy image it always gave me. Nonetheless, even now with her liking certain comments, it doesn’t help. If anything it makes her look worse and ignorant to the situation as well as ignorant and intro how true fans really feel. She just needs to stay away from social media on that level. Even her ig brio said “social media scares me” but I highly doubt that with how she has always behaved online, past and present included.

I understand that she wants to protect her son. No matter how long he's been in this industry, no matter how old he is, he will always be her son, and she probably doesn't like what others have to say about him. It's all normal, but I don't think she should get this involved, because this doesn't really help Chris at all. 

I agree that people shouldn't bully or harass people, especially not on the level some people do it. I also agree that people shouldn't hate someone just because they are married to someone they are a fan of. 

What I don't like is that it feels like they are feeding this narrative that fans just made up those things about her and the only reason people don't like her is because she is kind of married to Chris. I'm not saying there aren't people who wouldn't hate her even if she was the best person in this world, but we shouldn't act like she is perfect and that those things people are bringing up aren't real issues. She is not a good person; neither are her friends, and they can try to trick themselves and others into thinking it's not the main reason why people dislike her, but it is. 

[demonzhalo]

I finally got around to watching a full run of Mouth washing, so here's my take, and you're more than welcome to add more (warning, I'm very bad at picking up cues. Also mentions of SA and narcissism and graphic themes.);

The bad guy(s); Jimmy, while the the worst guy on board, isn't the only one. People like to put Curly onto a pedestal, and he IS a victim of Jimmy, but he's still a bad person. A lesser of two evils, if you will. He knew (whether he figured it out before hand or because Anya gave him confirmation) that Jimmy had assaulted Anya, and his first thought was "I can fix this". While conversing with Jimmy, it's revealed that Jimmy most likely had done something similar, or exactly, in the past that Curly helped get him out of. Helping him avoid responsibility. Making Curly the bad guy instead of Jimmy, something that I've seen get horribly overlooked or joked about. What people need to realize is that Curly has been enabling Jimmy, overlooking Jimmy's narcissism in order to help him.

Just Jimmy thoughts; In the scene where Jimmy is walking past the IDs, we can't see Anyas. He doesn't care what he did to her, he only cares about what happens to HIM. How it affects HIS career, HIS life. Polle (the Pony Express mascot) being symbolized as a fetus kinda shows Jimmy fear, dislike of another "burden", negligence of responsibility, and also his guilt for the unborn child. One that he forced onto Anya. The entire story line is him trying to fix a problem HE created but won't admit to. He self victimizes because it's easier to play victim then to take responsibility for your actions.

Curly; Curly is an enabler. I'll say it right now. He enables Jimmy's behavior and overlooks/neglects the smaller details in favor of the bigger picture (something hinted at during the broken pixel scene). He is not a good person. Curlys decisions reflect on (most) men's relationship with a friend like Jimmy; unwilling to recognize their horrible actions and instead try and find a way to "justify" or "fix" it. However, there's not much he could've done, he's up in space months away from Earth and Pony Express probably would've deducted the teams pay, not to mention that if Curly tossed Jimmy into one of the cryo pods and something happened to him, they would need a copilot. But it's also cruel the way Jimmy thinks he's "saving" Curly, when in actuality he's taking the easy way out and prolonging Curlys suffering, and also staging it to set up Curly as the main bad guy again.

Anya thoughts; First of all. Why the fuck didn't she get evals too? Second of all, I wouldn't be surprised if Anyas suffering and assault was purposely overlooked because A) Jimmy is an unreliable narrator, and B) It reflects on how people don't typically see such things unless they expect it, and they especially tend to overlook it when it involves a close friend/family member. Rewatching, the viewer can pick up hints and details and put together the picture using context they've been given later on in the story. I feel incredibly sorry for her when the man she confided in and trusted turned around and went about trying to help the abuser, which also reflects how people will do anything BUT help the victim. Anya is terrified of Jimmy, something we can clearly see (context or no context) when we first interact with her. Jimmy downplays her role, meanwhile, SHE'S THE ONE KEEPING A SHOULD BE DEAD MAN ALIVE, and he's breaking over being asked to do the job HE FUCKING WANTED (Can you tell I really fucking hate this?). Not to mention I've seen AUs of Anya keeping the child because she was already past the legal abortion stage. That kid would not have survived, the mouthwash has no nutritional value to it so between that, the extremely low rations, and eventual shortage of oxygen, she most likely would've miscarried.

Swansea; He reminds me a bit of my father. An angry man who might mean well but can't get that across. I think Swansea was saving the pods for Daisuke because he still has a life to live. Swanseas wife is ill and his kids don't speak to him anymore, Anya and Jimmy are in severe financial stress, and Curly is just clearly fucked. It's mentioned that Anya has been talking and possibly telling Swansea about the abuse she's been suffering because of Jimmy. Him lodging the axe into the holographic sun is, at least in my opinion, slight foreshadowing to him killing Daisuke. Swansea kills Daisuke to kill his suffering (much like a real swan).

Daisuke; I don't have much on him, but I keep seeing videos of people imagining how he would react to Jimmy after learning what he said, it's... Not quite what I see. Daisuke is pretty young and looked up to Jimmy (because he didn't know the suffering Anya went through), Jimmy is years older than him, and much bigger too (not to mention being a loose cannon). In a situation like that there isn't much he can do except to keep an eye on Jimmy and stay close to Anya. He might've been scared when Swansea was prepping to kill him, but it was better than trying to prolong his life. Anya mentions when we first saw the mouth wash that it's mostly made up of sugar and not alcohol, so it wouldn't have disinfected the wound and might've even made it worse.

Extra; When we first open the game, we get an achievement that says "I hope this hurts". This can either be Anya, telling the protagonist that she hopes their suffering hurts, or (and I don't think this is confirmed!!!) it's the dev, telling whoever they hope this game reaches, hurts them.

[jinxposting]

Jason Todd x Jinx! reader Chapter 5

Your Robin

"Batman and Jinx."

"Jinx and Batman."

"We'll work on it."

That was the last time you'd seen Robin. It's been roughly two years since then. It was a mystery amongst vigilantes and villains alike. One day Batman has his sidekick, the next they both go missing for months. When the Bat did resurface it was alone. Until now.

Your heart soared seeing the familiar color palette of the Bird. Only for it to sink when you came face to face with a stranger. Mask or no it didn't take a genius to notice the obvious differences in boys. This one was much smaller. Shorter, thinner, and relied more on redirecting than raw strength. Your Robin was tall, built, and liked to punch his problems.

Though props to the Bat, they appeared to be roughly the same age. Or rather what age your Robin should be, assuming he isn't dead. You frowned at the thought. No. He wasn't allowed to die. He has to become the new Batman like you planned.

This Robin wasn't as fun to banter with either. He lacked the dry sarcasm you were accustomed to. This one was too bright eyed.

You sat next to a gargoyle, overlooking the city. You sighed. "Where are you, Boy Wonder?"

"Aw, you missed me?"

"Not you, replacement." You didn't have to turn around to know he felt insulted by the term.

You weren't sure of the particulars when it came to Batman and his sidekicks but you were nothing if not loyal.

"You gonna come quietly or do we have to do this the hard way?"

From the corner of your eye you saw the boy brandish a bo staff. Another reason to dislike him. This one didn't even get his hands dirty.

"Please. As if you could catch me."

You'd taken Robin's - your Robin - words to heart. You'd been practicing your hand to hand combat these past few years. More importantly, you've been honing your skills.

You clicked the button of your remote trigger. Several colorful smoke bombs bursted to life around you. By the time Robin cleared the smoke from his vision you were gone. You had no reason to linger here. He's no fun.

You sat, tinkering away, at your workbench. Bomb after bomb, always decorated in colorful scribbles. This one resembles a bird. Didn't take a psychologist to figure out you'd grown attached to the masked boy. Didn't stop her from pointing it out though.

"You still mopin' around in here?"

Harley skipped into your room, bells jingling. She came to a quiet stop at your desk. You looked up with a sullen face.

"Come on, little J. Don't gimme those puppy dog eyes." She sat down next to you. "I know you miss your playmate but you'll find someone new to explode in no time!"

"But he's my rival. The Batman to my Joker."

"I hate seein' you so down... Tell ya what, why don't we have a girls night? Just you and me." Her grin grew wider. "We can hit the town! Try out those new glitter bombs you been workin' on?"

You gave a melancholic smile.

"That's the spirit!"

You spent that night covered in stolen jewelry and sparkles. One of your most fond memories. Harley had a more understanding side to her than Joker. A gentler one. You admired her for that.

You eventually did move on from your Robin blues. Of course you still miss him, but you knew it was out of your control. You still didn't take to the new Boy Wonder. Batman himself grew on you however. You talked, he pretended to ignore you, but given he always answered your questions of lesser importance you knew he was listening.

You'd also become better acquainted with your fellow villains. You especially like Selina - Catwoman - she always gave the shiniest gifts. Bane was cool too. For someone so roided up he made for a decent conversationalist.

Riddler could drop dead.

Man thinks he's funny. He's not.

You'd also made a name for yourself. People knew that with the name Jinx came explosions and spray paint. Legally you were labeled a terrorist. You blow up one banking building and accidentally erase thousands of credit card debts and SUDDENLY you're an activist. Not your goal but a happy coincidence nevertheless.

Joker was certainly pleased. You were a harbinger of destruction and chaos after all. You and your dysfunctional, mad family were on top of the world.

But even still, between everything at home being good (or at least what you're used to) and being one of the most notorious figures in Gotham you still felt something was missing. You knew what it was. Who it was. The only friend you'd ever had. You missed Robin. Your Robin.

Little did you know far from where you sat in Gotham, half way across the world, a certain boy laid in a vat of green waters. Ready to be reborn.

[walkingstackofbooks]

I know this is cursed but. Please rank DS9 characters in order of how Dominant or submissive they’d be during kink scenes? I feel like we could write whole essays analysing what those guys do in bed tbh.

Oh my god, cackling, is this really what you all think of me? :P (Yeah, no, that's fair 🤣)

This was actually so interesting to think about! I was finding it very hard difficult to decide on an order on initial vibes alone, so I wrote up my headcanons for them all first - and a few of them are surprising even to me! Also there are so many switches/not really into it so the middle is really very fuzzy.

1 - Ezri Yeah, definitely a surprise to find her at the top of my list, but I so really think she'd get a kick out of the dom scene (and mostly dislike subbing). She's just got that quiet powerful energy that makes you want to be in her thrall, and being joined and having Jadzia's memories alongisde her own just makes her more confident that she's good at what she does. She wouldn't dom for brats though. (Also partly why she's so nervous at asking Julian out, she doesn't feel she's got a good read on his dom/sub energy...)

2 - Sisko If he was into it, I can only see him as a dom. He made captain because he's good at commanding, and he likes it, and I think that would carry through into the bedroom. But honestly, he probably wouldn't be interested in power play in the first place.

3 - Jadzia She's a great dom for sure, but I think she enjoys exploring new things way too much not to be a switch? Plus, Worf like to think he's a dom, and she's happy to humour him from time to time. More dom than not, though, and she's definitely a brat when she subs.

4 - Worf I've definitely said this before, but Worf thinks he's a dom. He's a Klingon warrior, etc etc etc, "obviously" if anyone's domming, it's him. I don't think he's that good at it, but Jadzia finds it endearing, so it's fine. And I think he likes it when Jadzia takes charge, but he never actually refers to that as "subbing" in his head... Idk, I just don't think he'd be able to relax enough to really let himself be submissive, even though I think he'd enjoy it if he were able to. (I also don't think he's particularly into power play, either, tbh)

5 - Garak Ohh, another difficult one... I think subbing would be really good for him, if he could let his guard down enough for it. And he'd have to be in the right mood to dom - at times, he'd really enjoy it, at others, it would hit too close to home and he'd be holding off a breakdown until whenever his partner left. I think he'd *want* to dom, though, even if he knows it'll trigger him, because he does enjoy breaking the other person down and hurting them. (Not that he'd think of it as "triggering" to himself, of course.)

6 - Odo I really cannot see him being into it. No rating. [Edit: I came back to re-evaluate after writing Kira but no. Even for her, it's really not something he wants to try.] [Edit: Fuck, he would dom for Quark though.]

7 - Miles Again, not sure he'd be into power play for itself, but he enjoys playing his role for a partner who's into it. Keiko, I think is a switch with a slight preference for domming, so he's been a sub more often than not. I think his favourite part of it is giving aftercare when he's been a dom :3 (something something good-cop-Miles-bad-cop-Keiko domming the hell out of a dazed Julian)

8 - Julian Disclaimer - I exclusively read sub!Julian, so I'm biased XD But trying to think about it objectively... I think he's a switch. Like Jadzia, he enjoys exploring new things too much to really stick to one or the other. I do think he'd have hangups over how much he enjoys domming though, what with his secret fear of going bad... And being a sub allows him to relax and not have to think and just relish in all the sensations and I think he'd love being slowly taken apart bit by bit...

9 - Kira Sure, she screams dom at first but I pegged her as a sub a few weeks back and now I've really talked myself into it. I think she could dom, but unlike Sisko, while she's very good at being in command, I don't think she intrinsically enjoys it, and letting someone else be in control would give her the chance to relax. It would take her a while to allow herself to explore it, but once she got there, she'd find a space where she can be soft and gentle and cherished - and hurt, and soothed.

10 - Quark Oh my god he's such a sub, right? Not that he'd ever tell anyone but he LOVES being told what to do and ordered around. In theory he's a brat, but it never lasts for long - he becomes a pliant submissive wreck too quickly. (Okay now I'm considering if Odo would break his definitely not rule for Quark and... Yeah, actually 😅 Why would their dynamic change just because they're having sex?)

[sideprince]

When I tell you I'm tired of this "but Snape was mean to children and that's unforgiveable" shit. And it's always from anons.

I had a lot of awful teachers in school. Like the one who overwhelmed us with work and then tried to sabotage my grades at my next school after my parent told her off for it. Or the teacher who failed half the class because he was racist, and it was known around campus that he was racist but the administration did nothing about it except make him head of the department. Or the other teacher who tried to fail me because she just didn't like me (and when I went to the administration with a complaint, they made her recalculate my grade and it turned out I had earned over an entire letter grade higher than what she wanted to give me). Or the elementary school teacher I had when I was SEVEN who used corporal punishment and abusive language. Or the high school teacher who only allowed white kids in her honors class to take the AP test at the end of the year, and not the hispanic or black kids.

And yet somehow when I read Harry Potter for the first time, Snape didn't stand out to me as a particularly abusive teacher. Because in the landscape of 90s education, he wasn't. I found Fake Moody/Crouch disturbing because of how much he enjoyed watching Neville suffer during the Cruciatus demo and how wildly manipulative and sociopathic he was with zero administrative oversight. I hated Lockhart because he reminded me of the teachers who, despite being grown adults, were more interested in personal validation from a bunch of teenagers, and our grades and test scores suffered for it. But the teacher who stood out to me as particularly vile and reprehensible was Umbridge - because I knew teachers like her. Teachers who exploited adminstrative policies to feel powerful because they were small, unimaginative, stupid people who were unqualified for their jobs and they knew it. Teachers who were emotionally stunted and felt the need to assert their personal like or dislike of literal children by affecting their transcripts forever. Teachers who thought that if they disliked a student enough they could justify using corporal punishment against them. And you know what I did? I put together petitions and got every student in every period to sign it who was taught by the teacher the petition was about. I went to the administration and invoked my rights as a student - sometimes they said there was nothing they could do, sometimes they took action. One teacher ended up getting fired. One administrator's contract wasn't renewed. And I don't feel bad, because they failed in their responsibilities to their students. And because I actually did something, instead of sitting around and complaining. And if I'd been born later and this had happened more recently, I would have done the same things, instead of venting my frustration online at random strangers on the internet over a piece of fiction.

So I have a question for every one of the "Snape was mean to kids and Snape fans excuse it" people, who never seem to ask themselves why they get so riled up over this character but not about Umbridge. Because I've had teachers like Snape. And when I look back on them, I don't feel traumatized by them. I remember hating them at the time. And I also remember everything they taught me. Because they were good teachers. And tbh, we were little shits, and the attitude check they gave us was socially acceptable at the time, so they weren't exploiting their power because they could - the way an Umbridge does - they were just mean. Sometimes people are mean. It's not OK, but it's also not the irreperable heinous crime some people make it out to be. There's a lot of nuanced grey area between those two things. And what I was left with by those teachers is the knowledge it was their job to impart, and did so successfully, and I have no hard feelings - to the point where when I looked one of them up I was sad to find they'd passed away because I wanted to reach out and thank them. The same way as the ones McGonagall reminds me of, who was also mean to kids and made them unsafe. But when I think back on the teachers Umbridge reminds me of, my stomach tightens. My blood pressure goes up. I get angry and feel helpless. Especially the ones who weren't just teachers, but were administrators who abused their power and affected kids' entire lives and academic careers. I want to look them up too - so I can shout at them and tell them how vile they are. And I'm glad I can't do that, because for all I know they've learned and grown as people and changed for the better. Because they're real people and not a fictional character.

So here's my question: why are you @-ing strangers on the internet about fictional characters and are you doing anything in your actual life about the Umbridges of the world? Are you on your local school board? Are you someone your kids or nieces/nephews/niephews can talk to if they're struggling with someone abusing their power? Are you still a student and if so are you doing anything about these teachers in your school? Organizing with other students, going to PTA meetings to bring up these issues, starting petitions to bring the administration's attention to the fact that the student body has issues with a staff member? Are you actively involved in any way, or have you been at any point, in trying to protect students from teachers like Umbridge, or do you just go around sending anons to Snape fans because stamp collecting was too boring a hobby for you and apparently you slept through the section in Lit class when you learned about how to spot when an author uses a biased narrator as a literary tool?

Do you actually care about abusive teachers as a real social problem, or do you just like to argue about fiction from the comfort of your couch and feel superior to strangers on the internet you actually know nothing about?

Grow up. Do something constructive. And stop thinking you're the first person to come up with this asinine argument because it turns out,

okay, yes, snape suffered a lot but he also made his students suffer a lot. do you know what it must have been like for all those kids to be constantly humiliated??? if you like comparing with real life so much, what would you think of a real adult who abuses their power to feel better at the expense of children??? snape fans always come up with all kinds of excuses, but when it comes to the topic of his abuse towards his students, you always stay silent, and that's because it has no forgiveness.

Severus’s role as a dysfunctional adult is honestly pretty amusing to me, especially because while I never experienced bullying from peers or equals, I grew up in an environment full of wildly dysfunctional adults. On top of that, I now work on legal cases involving even more dysfunctional adults. And, to make it even better, while my classmates never gave me grief, attending a private Catholic school in the 2000s meant teacher-on-student violence was pretty much a daily occurrence. Not just at school—I've also had some truly awful professors at university. So, I get firsthand what it’s like to have authority figures who are supposed to guide and protect you but act like an absolute pack of jerks.

Here’s an unpopular opinion: if I compare my personal experiences with dysfunctional adults and terrible teachers, Severus is practically a lamb. I’ve witnessed some insane things. There was a case at my school where a teacher bullied three siblings (in different grades) so badly that their dad came to the school and physically beat the teacher up. And honestly? The guy deserved it. I’ve seen old-school priests handing out slaps. I’ve had a teacher in his late 30s openly flirting with 17-year-old students. I’ve had teachers who didn’t just throw out a sarcastic remark—they flat-out called us “idiots,” “morons,” "dickheads", "assholes", “worthless,” or said things like, “You’re all going to end up mopping floors because you’re useless pieces of crap.” Fun times with Mr. Antonio.

There was one teacher who made students stand up one by one so he could critique their outfits in front of the entire class, piece by piece, like he thought he was Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. Another handed out nicknames that were humiliating and outright cruel. Or that elementary teacher who also taught catechism and would call up children who were not going to take their First Communion (this happens at 8 or 9 years old) to the front of the class and publicly ask them why they didn’t want to embrace Jesus Christ. She would even ask if they thought their parents didn’t love them because they weren’t letting them do the same as their friends. Or the second-grade teacher who called a boy up to the board because he didn’t know a multiplication table very well and started singing a mocking song in Spanish that goes, “Fulanito tururú, que no sabe ni la u” (basically calling someone slow-witted).

Then there was the fourth-grade teacher (9-10yo) who had a particular grudge against one of my classmates and kept threatening to lock him in places or scaring him by saying he was going to throw him out the window. The English teacher, who, when we were 14 years old, locked us in a classroom, made us skip lunch, and kept us there without eating until 5 PM. The technology teacher, a 50-year-old man with a very hands-on approach towards the girls in first and second year of secondary school (12-13 yo). And I could go on and on.

So yeah, I’ve seen some wild stuff in classrooms, and trust me, you don’t need to explain the trauma bad teachers can cause—I’ve had my share of them. And none of it is going to make me like Severus any less. If anything, the stuff he does in the books feels like 1% of the madness I’ve seen play out in real life.

[egg2k16]

I feel like!!! Shiv was set up to be like her father, but then was relegated to becoming her mother

I think she intentionally set out to be like Logan, ambitious, power-hungry, a good businessman. That's why she was so hellbent on becoming president of the company, or at least holding some viable power as a co-CEO. This also explains some habits of hers, very easily abandoning n backstabbing her siblings bcus that's what Logan did to his children – he never really loved them, only caring in a duty-honoring facility, that made it easy for him to essentially leave them behind himself (Connor didn't see him for 3 yrs, he stopped Ken from becoming CEO during the gala, Shiv's politics getting in his way, always insulting Roman, etc)

Monkey see, monkey do, especially in the way that Shiv's always trying to prove herself to her family that she's capable. She's...not. She knows politics bcus that's what she decided to specialize in, but bcus of that, doesn't know how to maintain a poker face or a bluff, which is why every time she's tried to backstab her family for her own gain, it always backfires on her

I think one of her most important saving graces growing up, not being relegated totally to the shadows, being allowed to pursue politics (esp those contrarian to Logan's own personal political views), stems from the fact that she is Logan's only daughter. Daddy's little girl

She has so much tension w her mom I think bcus of it. Logan preferred Shiv over Caroline, n Caroline – we know she was always a bad mother, never really had it in her – but her specific jabs at Shiv were always so direct n open compared to her treatment of her sons, the sons she preferred (really, she preferred Roman). They always bite at each other over Shiv's childhood, n when Caroline notices she's pregnant, she makes snide remarks about Shiv being a mother. Tom wants a child w Shiv, but even he called her out on not being...the best option

Even pregnant, Shiv didn't stop chasing power, bcus she thinks she's deserving of that power, that it should all be hers hers hers. Daddy's special girl as the only thing she could've become in life, n she's trying so hard to prove herself as Siobhan Roy, as much Roy (n therefore, w as much capacity) as Kendall. Kendall, whose middle name is Logan. The presumed heir

Logan had at least five women in his life: 1st wife (Connor's mom), Caroline (2nd wife), Sally-Anne (secretary during Caroline's tenure), Marcia (3rd wife), Rhea (PGM CEO), Kerry (secretary during Marcia's tenure)

Shiv has had at least two affairs during her marriage w Tom: Nate (up to her wedding date) and Angel (one of Willa's actor friends)

She doesn't realize that Tom is solid, n would never actually go behind her back w someone else, even w a never fully defined hall pass of an open relationship. Lukas says he thinks, if things were different, he n Shiv would hook up. To Tom

Shiv uses her pregnancy as leverage against Tom, initially to get him to do what she wants during the election night/get him back on a shorter leash. (She later tries using it as leverage to keep him married to her, "finally falling in love with me"). She does everything she can to gain power, at least as Lukas' puppet leader in his proposed North American branch. But Lukas knows she doesn't have the knowledge necessary to act as a puppet, n trusts the role to Tom, known puppet doll

Bcus of Tom gaining power over Shiv, for the first time in his life, Shiv is relegated to the backseat. It's not the first time this has happened to her, but it's the first time that she understands it's a bit more permanent now. She's seemingly going to take the pregnancy to term. (And she's stated multiple times that she's gonna leave the baby alone, much like her own mother did). She's also apparently accepting her new role in life, as Tom's wife. She doesn't fully enjoy it, seeing as how she doesn't hold his hand, only lightly touching it

Shiv was set up to be the new Logan of the family, but Ken beat her to the punch. Unfortunately for Ken, n more or less thankfully for the family, Ken will never be allowed to be the new Logan of the family, bcus they are all destined to be losers, so long as they continue w the family n its ways

[akiacia]

multi-step shenanigans

[chalkanthit]

The main girl!!

[arcane-ish]

I don't think that "we were interested in those characters (ie [my guess] Caitlyn, Jinx, Warwick, Viktor)" implies "we don't think Vi is interesting".

My suspicion is more that they saw it "Vi got her turn and now we also want to do those other characters".

Take Silco for example. My guess is that they enjoyed writing him, but they felt that his story came to a natural and so they killed him and didn't feature him a ton in season 2. They had gotten what they wanted out of him. Silco fans clearly felt very differently. But in the end, it is their call to make.

Writers will always make decisions about who gets screentime and hero moments and badass lines. Them making Vi the character with the most focus in season 1 in itself is a favoritism choice because from an IP point of view, all these charactres are pre-existing and there is no practical reason to make Vi the point of view character of season 1 when in game is is equal to Caitlyn and to Ekko and to Viktor and to Bliktzcrank and to Camille and to 100 characters that didn't make it into the show.

They chose her because they like her (favoritism) and because they had potential. But they also like other charactres and see potential in other stories.

. If Vi is not interesting for you to explain to us more then why did you make us attached to her?

I find that an approach I can't get behind. The same logic could be used by the Silco fans to argue "you made us love Silco now you HAVE to make season 2 completely about him". What if fans have decided they have attached to Heimerdinger or to I dunno, the SevikaxSalo pairing and now the writers OWE them. (also worth nothing, it seems season 2 was written in 2019? before Arcane ever aired to the general public)

In the end to some extent it is normal that the writers want to make you care about all the characters, but they will make calls about what to focus on.

Don't get me wrong, I DEEPLY dislike many of their decisions. I for example DEEPLY think that doing the whole Viktor glorious evolution stuff and making it the main threat of Act 3 was a strategic mistake.

But at the same time, reading/listening to the interviews I understand that it's a story he really wanted to tell and it's one the artists put tons of creative effort in and some fans are into it and others (like me) aren't.

In the end, they get to have artistic freedom. (and I'm glad that he's at least smart enough to want to step away and have the next stories handled by other people)

they made her a dumbass character who only understands fighting,

That's not the vibe I got from season 2. I see a lot of traces of Vi having good instincts about people (ie following Singed, Remi's people). Act 1 seemed to be about the moral instincts vis a vis Cait.

Amanda Overton did an interview from which I got "We wanted to explore who Vi is if you take everything away from her/we see Vi's fundamental trait as being a protector and we wanted to explore who she is if she no longer has anybody to protect". To which I say ... okay... but it feels like the answer you came up with is something like "a shellshocked self destructive traumatized husk"?

I genuinely don't think that it's that much of a problem that they made Vi so heavily about physical fighting... it's that they did that and THEN made her fighting pretty useless? I wrote a lenthy analysis of the finale battle and I genuinely think that if Vi had gotten to be more heroic and successful, even just in a pure physical sense we would have walked away feeling a lot better about Vi. At least superficial satisfaction for "she's a figther and being a fighter is important and valuable and essential to this world".

Caitlyn and Ekko do heroic moves in the battle because of their smarts and their iron hard determination. Jinx and Jayce do heroic moves by reaching out to the baddie and doing heroic sacrifice. And what does Vi do?

I think it's one thing that let's say Vi fans wanted deep hurt-comfort exploration of Vi's trauma. I would say that was always unlikely to happen (I feel the same way when I see people the bemoan that the show wasn't about Zaun crushing Piltover in the dirt of Mel fans saying they wish the show had been only about schemes and politics and not action fighting). But imo they failed Vi even within the story they gave her.

I genuinely think Vi's story would have "rolled off the tongue" better if she had been down there with Caitlyn fighting back to back against Ambessa instead of Mel. Or if it had been her instead of Ekko smashing Viktor's mask.

Of it the show ended up on Vi finding the evidence that Jinx might still alive and not Caitlyn. (signalling = oh, Vi smart)

Or if the show had ended on episode 8. If it would have felt that the conclusion of her story is "okay, if you strip her of everthing, then Vi will choose life, symbolized by her having sex with Caitlyn". But instead we have:

1.) a whole episode where Vi does barely anything except watch in horror as other people die (after we already had that sort of in the Act 2 finale too)

2.) the looming idea that Jinx might be alive and okay ... so how would Vi feel about that? It leaves her story feeling unfinished in a particularly unsatifying way

(I compare that to Ekko for example, Ekko is strictly speaking in the same situation where if Jinx faked her death he doesn't know and his ending is very mornful and bittersweet-to-bitter. But I think it works better because his theme that arc was the whole "leaping forward while leaving something behind", so I personally walk away with a slighty better feeling for Ekko, like he would understand. But of course he also got "wins". He smashes Viktor's mask. He talks Jinx out of suicide. He is just a supporting character (outside of maybe episode 7), but you can still feel good about his character).

Vi was not devoid of good character moments. Her standing up to Cait at the end of Act 1 was an important moment. Her trusting Jinx and about Vanderwick was an important moment. The problem is that Act 3 doesn't manage to tie to together in a way that is satisfying.

"Dirt under your nails" isn't without merit. I guess it's supposed to signal to us, that no matter what you take away from Vi (original family, Jinx, Vanderwick) she will keep on fighting? But it just feels kind of meh, especially with how ill fitting she was in the big action finale.

I'm afraid the same writers will be writing the next shows.

They won't. For one supposedly the Noxus show has been in the works for a year while Arcane was still being finished. And Christian Linke had talked explicitly about how he wanted to find new people to tell those other stories. That they think of the new shows as representing the regions and him and Alex were the right people for Piltover and Zaun but they need to find somebody else for Noxus for example.

I wouldn't rule out that he might do another show (he has mentioned somewhere that he would like to maybe do more with the more whimsical parts of the IP, but to be honest, other parts of statement sound like they were pretty exhausted [and that was before the criticism over the finale was in] )

My guess is the Noxus thing will have a different creative team with their own priorities. (that said this approach with a multi character focus might by a likely side effect of League and of how League is structured).

For what it's worth, I don't think you and I ware even that much in disagreement about the flaws of season 2. i just don't think that switching Vi to supporting was necessary impossible to pull off. I think there's plenty of ways that could have been done and still have left her with a story that makes the fans feel reasonably good about it.

(for what it's worth, I think Warwick's story was also extremely messy and similarly jumbled as Vi's even thought that was one of the new stories they wanted to tell. Or the Commander Caitlyn story was introduced with so much pomp in Act 1, I wouldn't say it was completely fumbled [it ends with Caitlyn's badass sacrifice of her eye], but I would argue it still wasn't as emotionally resonant as it could have been, this is my read of Jinx's ending btw and why I think it is meant to be uplifting by the writers [mileage may vary])

Vi season 2

Saying this about Vi, considering the fact that fundamentally the very basis of the show is about the relationship between her and Jinx is INSANE. The description for the show literally tells the audience it’s a story about two sisters and because the writers grew uninterested with one of them, they sidelined her.

I’m happy she got her happy ending, and i do believe that her writing remained consistent, my biggest issue with Vi this season was that she did feel sidelined, THAT was very obvious. I love her as a character outside of her relationship with Jinx and Caitlyn, however we didn’t get to see that this season.

Regardless if the ending stayed the same, Jinx and Vi barely interacting in the last act felt off. It’s really disappointing to see that one of the shows main and most important characters get sidelined in favour of others

anyway yeah there’s my rant bc seeing this shit on twitter has been pissing me off

[dangoulains-devotion]

this room was built for one chair only,

i'm not empty, i'm just lonely

[demigods-posts]

I've seen a lot of discourse about Virginia Kull's portrayal of Sally Jackson in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV series, and I'd like to say that I loved her. Don't get me wrong. I love Sally from the original book series, and I, too, would fight the God of War on her behalf. But something that I enjoyed about Virginia's portrayal of Sally that we don't get in the books is the character depth. We don't hear much of Sally's backstory in the TV series, apart from a couple of flashbacks with younger Percy and that scene with Poseidon (Toby Stephens). However, those scenes do an excellent job of showing us that alongside being Percy's mother, Sally is also a young woman who fell in love with a man she could not be with and is enduring the natural consequences of having Percy. She struggles to communicate with him when she's frustrated, gets teary-eyed when she lies to him to prolong the inevitable, and actively sacrifices her happiness to ensure his safety. Virginia Kull's portrayal of Sally Jackson reinforces the character's humanity, imperfections, and determination, and it's everything to me.

[mohntilyet]

let me be clear i like veilguard but it does suck that no one disapproves anymore outside of like. three choices. i want to be fighting for my life earning approval back again someone has GOT to hate my ass. i should be careful about party composition and companion reactions again. i miss tactically taking fenris out of the party before i'm nice to merrill like those were the days