#its just sometimes you just see people act really entitled to stuff for that character while every other chara is ignored

[todayisafridaynight]

NO YOU’RE SO RIGHT ABOUT THE MAJIMA STUFF THOUGH. GOD. God forbid you speak poorly about the fandom silly guy etc etc. I rt’d one post about someone being annoyed abt majima getting an insane amount of merch (especially compared to other characters- even other PLAYABLE characters) and suddenly my TL is filled with ppl taking it as a personal attack….. like?? Settle down???

My one fear is that instead of Mine content we’re just gonna get Majima Saga 2 for yk3 and rgg will call it a day. WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO SAY ABOUT THE GUY !!! GENUINELY!!!

at this rate we’re going to have a complete record of Majima’s life from birth until modern day bc you knowww they’re never gonna let the cash cow die or retire. + god I lowkey need the 3jimas to break up Now so saejima and daigo can stand on their own again (w/out being overshadowed by Majima)…. Saejima especially… I miss the days when he felt like a character………

(I may have a lot to say on the topic) (he’s a fun character but at this rate I’m getting so sick of the fandom around him)

gen is kinda funny how when there's the Monthly Critique Of Majima post on twitter the rggtwt part of the tl is flooded with majima fans being upset. its like clockwork really LOL

as for saejima, i do miss him being solo... like he's funny with majima at times, but as wack as Y4 was i still really liked his coliseum scene, and his prison adventures in Y5 were a real treat too..

[crezz-star]

CREZZ⭐STAR

( do not reblog. this is just a pinned post.... )

20 + | Cancer | Artist | INFJ | Devil May Cry ( Nerologist ) | ONE PIECE ( Zorologist ) | ENGLISH / FILIPINO / (bits of basic) JAPANESE

Greetings! I'm Crezz! I DRAW WHAT I WANT and what I love and give me inspiration. I found myself drawn to Isekai fantasy genres lately! I also love sparkles, color gold/yellow, cats and DMC's NERO, very very much! ✨✨✨✨

I like games / manga / anime / comic though I do have my favorites that will be stated below:

✨ Devil May Cry series ✨

✨ Final Fantasy XIV ✨

✨ ONE PIECE✨

✨ Detective Conan ✨

Hazbin Hotel

Final Fantasy VII Crisiscore

Kingdom Hearts series

Final Fantasy XV

Tate No Yuusha no nariagari

MARVEL

I like to draw on my own pace as i do not like pressure nor being hired with a deadline. I work best when i'm taking my time because I find inspirations to fuel me to make the piece exquisite.

>> Also NOTE: I like a chill environment and time so I am very much the fiction is and only remains fiction type of person, meaning i'm PROFICTION / PROSHIP, and thus can tell the difference, and DOES separate IRL from fiction. Meaning I can handle seeing most dark themes as well. Although If there's things I do not like, I tend to ignore / mute or block it to avoid it. So i'd recommend you do the same if there's things you don't like that i draw / like / make or plainly of me being proship. Because I am not anyone's online babysitter. This is my blog and YOU came here. Don't act like you own me or control what I make. You don't, so don't go acting entitled.

>> Also 2nd NOTE: Pairings / shipping wise I have top / bottom positionals preference for very few particular characters. That being firstly DMC Nero (top only) and Roronoa Zoro (top only). While there may be times I like art that depicts them as the opposite, its more of appreciation to the art and skills of the artist itself. Nothing more.

>> Also 3rd NOTE: anywhere I go, which ever social media account. I block people. It can be the stuff they make (fanart of pairings i don't like) /say makes me uncomfortable or I see them agreeing or even doing cyberbullying and doxxing of others themselves. It's nothing personal. I just want to vibe and have a good time and avoid terrible people so I use block ( or mute ) . Especially on X where I go on blocking spree sometimes, block chain, to keep my timeline peaceful and thus peace of mind.

>> Also 4th NOTE: any anons planning to send hate in my ask box. don't even think about it. You will only make yourself look like really terrible laughable ( in a bad way ) clown because I will just delete your ask and block you. ( yes even when you are anonymous, there's an option to block, which if i recall correctly, it's your ip that tumblr blocks instead. ) save your energy. Because AGAIN in case you missed it. I DO NOT HOLD BACK IN BLOCKING. Use your energy on things that makes you happy rather than hating on people.

I hope you enjoy your stay! May the stars shine your path to a sparkling future!

----------------------------------------------------

LINKS

Gank ( with monthly art rewards )

X ( twitter )

Twitch

BLUESKY 🔞🪦🕊🔞

facebook page

pixiv🔞 🪦🕊🔞

[acapelladitty]

oh i don’t mind if you answer publicly!

ok so, i like the batfam and the Gotham rogues and go back and forth between those sides of the batman fandom but tbh i get really fed up that it’s so hard to find Gotham rogues posts (there’s great fic! but there’s less fun “meme” posts or meta posts like what the batfam has). and the half the time the posts that are popular only include a handful of the rogues and my faves are almost always left out.

anyway i was scouring blogs for Gotham rogues content and one had reblogged this post that was like “when people act like joker, black mask, and victor zsasz are honory rogues…” followed by that “sweetie I’m so sorry meme”

and I was so annoyed at that post because like bitch those ARE rogues. those aren’t even honorary rogues, those are all actual members of batman’s rogues gallery! the joker is the freaking joker, black mask is one of the top crime lords in Gotham, and zsasz is a regularly recurring villain. but it’s not like I can say anything because the OP is deactivated, the post is from 2017 anyway, and my annoyance is my own personal problem.

it’s just grating that there’s a minimal amount of rogues content in the first place, and on top of that you have these people that want to sanitize them to the point where they barely even villains anymore, and remove the characters that can’t be sanitized. i’m not even opposed to fluffy and silly interpretations of the rogues, sometimes those are really fun! but there’s a way to do that without the sanitization and smoothing over of everything that makes the rogues gallery interesting.

(u swear u’m not as insane as I sound, and I will be going outside to touch grass now but i wanted to vent and knowing some of your opinions on the rogues, i feel like you might understand. also sorry because this became longer than i intended)

The Gotham Rogues fandom is the same as any other which means it does have its cunts and heroes alike. The trick is to find the people who share similar thoughts to your own and to casually skirt around the people who have entirely different schools of thought.

The sheer amount of takes on here that I see that make me feel like I'm insane and seeing COMPLETELY different characters to others is wild but I also keep to my own lane cause folk are entitled to their feelings even if they're utterly opposed to what I see!

I also highly recommend creating your own Rogues stuff if you feel certain rogues are being missed out or misrepresented 😉 xx

[lilac-udon]

I actually hate the, I love this ship it’s my otp! BUT only the wholesome part and THE NONE problematic part

I mean yes, but I felt like your also denying some bad traits of one character, as example this is a reason I dislike some sunny has been concentrate to no thought and sleepy because he can’t be having bad thoughts and guilt having all those panic attacks etc

I really don’t care much how you ship it but just sometimes is eye sore to see how some ship act only one way. Because it hard for it to work in a wholesome perfect way and ppl feel like the need to never make it any more humane , if any bad traits or thoughts they just straight of label as toxic relationships, my disappointment of this trend of though

It’s cheesy because there’s never a statement is complete right, but your own entitlement of being better showing

Its also okayed to like toxic relationships, it’s an escapism of reality sometimes, consume it reasonably, to me is like people likening murder movies, it not I’m going to murder people after my watch, the purity culture has become to stupid to the point the really bad and actual chill ones are mixed and I fear people don’t understand the real concept or they won’t understand if they really stepped into one toxic relationship

I like pictures perfect things sometimes, I just don’t want theses people go overboard , I like characters w some flaws, and you don’t need to state it that way like ppl who like other them wholesome nice stuff is awful

[cool-island-songs]

11 and 25 for the dangerous game >:3

thanks mal! <33 (from this ask game)

11. number of fandom-related words you've filtered

just 3 on this account cuz it's my personal, none on my fanart archiving blog, and 7 on twitter though funnily enough half of those are stranger things-related from a period where i really couldn't escape stranger things. nothing against it—i just only want to see sp stuff and i guess there was a significant enough overlap for a bit

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

generally a lot of things that annoy me stem from the trend of complaining about "fetishization" (yaoi or just shipping culture i guess?) or acting like people are doing anything wrong or in need of pathologizing for interacting with fandom in a way that was totally routine a decade ago. that they need to show they're sufficiently queer and not focused on sexuality in any ~weird way. honestly, i find that sort of thing easy enough to block out on its own (there's more of it on twitter but i just look at art over there). young people often have shame about sexuality and it's none of my business or anything i would ever argue with someone about. i just disengage

it's more the reactions people have to being told they're doing something problematic. there's this endless chain of moral rationalizations for why it's ok to like the thing that piques one's interest because actually it's woke and you don't get it, i'm gay enough to like standard yaoi tropes. some real gay people are like this! you know.. like, why engage this in the first place? why lend any credence to this viewpoint by debating it on its own terms? you don't need to justify yourself to anyone. just keep yaoifying those fake guys

people end up making really weird generalizations about gender, sexuality, mental health, drug use, etc. in an effort to enjoy the old 00s yaoi tropes. to all those who do this, I'm here to tell you you can just enjoy whatever and no one can stop you. personally, even as a smut writer, i like when characters feel whole and often enjoy a fic less if i feel someone is being reduced to gendered stereotypes or flattened in some other way that doesn't interest or challenge me. but those are my own personal feelings and highly subjective besides

i also don't think sharing some broad identity marker with the character you are writing actually shields you from poor characterization. people can "fetishize" themselves easily (and sometimes that's what people want to read/write, and who cares), and it can be hard to write well-developed characters! i just like to read and view things i enjoy on the merits of the work alone

general "you can't ship that" and "he would never top/bottom" sentiments are similarly grating. people can and do ship literally anything and it can't be stamped out so idk why people waste their time streisand effecting ships/dynamics they don't like. with both of these, there's a sense of deluded entitlement, like if people weren't making stuff for their ship/dynamic, they'd be making it for yours. i promise you that that type of hectoring actually just drives people away from what you like. in general, people are often quite fixed in who their faves are and how they like them in romantic/sexual situations. but for those like me, who really can potentially like anything if sold in a way i find compelling, this stuff really confounds and frustrates me. people are bad at getting what they want because of this need to emotionally react without thinking through the way it might impact others. sad stuff to see from adults in particular tbh

[nothingunrealistic]

text translated from french by google:

The actress Eva Victor, revealed by the series Billions, divides her time between big productions and indie works. She came to visit us during her last stay in Paris.

In the series, you often play young people from Gen Z who question their environment. Are you as committed as the characters you play?     Eva Victor: I had the chance to play roles of people who try to do good. I like the idea that my generation wants the world to be better, that they at least have this hope. As I can be quite pessimistic, it's inspiring for me to play them.

You are on strike right now. Yes, in support of the Writers' Guild of America (WGA). I feel lucky to do it with the other members of my union, SAG, knowing that we are acting for those who are doing least well: many do not even earn enough to be entitled to health insurance (the threshold being set at $27,000 per year). This is insane.

Negotiations are moving slowly. Yes, because studios and streaming platforms want to continue making billions at our expense. They are not ready to give up what they have acquired on our backs. Right now, they want the right to our image forever by using Artificial Intelligence to eliminate our jobs. It's frightening. They don't want to recognize the value that we artists bring to the world. This is senseless, and devastating. There, they want to drag things out so that we end up giving up. We have to hold on.

You are also an author, with texts published in the New Yorker. If I couldn't write, I don't know what I would do. I'm so grateful that it was a job, that I was able to make money from my writing. People sometimes think that writing or acting are dream jobs, and therefore they don't deserve to be really paid. No, it’s work, daily, solitary, complex… It must be valued!   

You were born in Paris. How did you move from France to Los Angeles? Yes, I was born here, in the 1990s. My mother lived here for around ten years, she was an architect. And about a year and a half after I was born, she moved to San Francisco where she met the man who raised me with her.

How did you start acting? I knew I wanted to be an actress when I was 18. I studied theater in college, then I moved to New York and I was like, “This has to work!” I started auditioning, I acted in a few plays, I made my own little videos that I put online. I did that for about two years, it put me on the map. And I was on the set of a film for the first time and I understood that this was what I wanted to do.

On your social media bio, you put the pronouns “she” and “they”. I feel pretty fluid, and I think that attitude translates into everything we do. I wouldn't call myself an actress, for example, I just do what I want to do, when I can. Here you have "iel", but it's less common, right?

Yes, it remains within a restricted group of people. I love when people use “they” or “she” interchangeably, because it reminds me of my fluidity. And I like it when it confuses people. I think we live in such a binary world that this stuff deserves to explode and go beyond the binary.

Are you viscerally New Yorker? I love this city. But now, I left New York and traveled a lot for two years. Every time I go back, I tell myself that it is a magnificent city, like Paris, with its particular magic. You can walk, the streets are lively... It's difficult to feel alone there.

Unlike Los Angeles? I'm from Northern California. I spent a lot of time there last year to see my family and enjoy the nature which is more easily accessible there than in New York. There's something truly beautiful about being in a cabin, alone, in the California wilderness.

Do you need solitude? I need a lot of time to think. So yes!

Are your stays in Paris a kind of pilgrimage? I try to come back here once a year. To recharge my batteries, to visit the place where my mother gave birth to me. You imagine? It's the 1990s. This woman is pregnant, alone, American. I think what if she gave birth to a baby in the middle of the night in Paris, in a city where she didn't speak the language very well, and in a hospital surrounded by French nurses smoking cigarettes while she gave birth, I can do everything!

When you are in Paris, do you feel connected to her? Everytime! We each have the same tattoo of Île Saint-Louis on our arms. When my mom got the tattoo, she almost fainted, but it was really cute. One day, we will come and settle here to grow old together. A day.

note that the word translated as “actress” in the lead section of the article is different than the word eva uses when they say they wouldn’t call themself an actress. though the latter is the same as the word used to describe eva in the headline 😒

[namethatghostling]

nobody asked but one little thing i really like about psychonauts is like at its core its a story about seeing things from other peoples perspectives and about how a lot of times someone you think is your enemy just has their own stuff going on that prevents them from being able to empathize with your point of view. like almost every “enemy” you go up against in any of the games turns out to be someone who is hurting deeply and not necessarily a bad person, just a person acting according to their own internal motivations, which are inevitably gonna run counter to yours sometimes.

and then theres gristol malik.

gristol is the closest thing to the True Villain of the psychonauts games. all his motivations are selfish at best and wildly detached from reality at worst. he also has very little reason to act this way. he was just a spoiled rich kid who grew into a somewhat-less-rich spoiled adult who feels slighted for having lost what he was never entitled to. compared to the other antagonists you come across, its pretty much impossible to sympathize with him, which feels like a necessary honest statement about how even in a world where you can physically enter someones mind to help solve their problems, some people cant so easily be helped, often because their problems are self-invented.

the game also communicates all this without ever breaking away from its core message.

gristol is not a sympathetic character, and i dont think hes intended to be, but when you go into his mind you are still sort of forced to understand his perspective. his feelings may be born from extreme privilege, delusion, and a big dose of blind spite, but theyre real feelings. his actions truly are a manifestation of what he thinks is right and necessary. even after his plans go wrong he finds ways to justify his goals and blame his failures on other people, and after youve seen the warped way he views the world and his personal history, its pretty easy to understand why.

nothing about his backstory justifies his actions, but it does explain them. where his presence in the story couldve served as a contradiction to the idea of “an enemy is just a person with their own inner struggles you dont understand yet”, it instead reinforces it. gristol isnt a villain because hes just unrepentantly evil and beyond saving, hes a villain because hes become so wrapped up in his own narrative that hes unwilling or even unable to let himself be helped. he, like everyone, is capable of positive change, but he refuses to choose that change, which is an unfortunate reality as well as something that i think is really important in a game largely about helping people.

theres a big reoccurring motif in psychonauts 2, that seems to me almost like a response to some of the more simplistic ideas in 1, about how wanting to help someone shouldnt turn into trying to fix them. i just think its really interesting how that sorta theme manifests with regards to a character like gristol in addition to friends and allies.

[foryoumyheroes]

Otaku

[Bakugou + Todoroki] are in love with the anime character [Name]. 

A/N:  Gender-neutral reader  Crackish?? 

Bakugou Katsuki: 

He’s sort of picky with the genre, be it fantasy, horror, shonen, but his favorite character has to be a super cool, super powerful one. No excuses. 

You know, the type of anime character that’s probably introduced through a silhouette of them posing dramatically with their notorious group whose image is teased throughout the first few episodes/seasons. 

He goes pretty hard for All Might, and he’s definitely the same for your character. 

Reads the manga (but he buys it super secretly, like in a hoodie at night and the cashier probably thinks that they’re being robbed until he brings the entire [Series] collection to the register). Watches the anime the moment it’s broadcasted, reads metas and watches youtube videos that talk about conspiracies/analyses of your character. 

NO ONE CAN KNOW THOUGH. 

He’s taking his anime phase to the grave. 

For some reason gets super aggressive when you’re being flirty or being shipped with another character?? He hates all the scenes that tease any potential romance between you and other characters. asdfgj He’s like, “No one is good enough for [Name]!!! Except for me.” 

He even tries to think up ways he can legitimately square up with them LMAO. Like he wonders how he could defeat your potential S/Os in a fight but y’all are like ,,, anime characters SO WHY DOES IT EVEN MATTER LOL 

“Three-sword style?? Tch, I’d fucking blow that bastard to bits.” 

“Who’s this Gaara of the Sand looking ass and why is the author getting so bold.” 

He even tries to think of how well your abilities match up with his own Quirk, this dork. 

THE LENGTHS HE WOULD GO FOR YOU.

If you were a real life person and your dislikes are lets say spicy food or loud, overbearing people, Bakugou would be like, “Tch I’m right, they’re wrong. Shut the fuck up!!!” But if his ultimate wifu/husbando has those dislikes he would be like, “Omg...😳😳 opposites attract...👉👈” 

He honestly tries to be a low-key fan (as in, not be a fan at all to outsiders), but if one day during class Kaminari ends up saying that in [Series], you’re the weakest character in your group/squad, Bakugou would get super angry. 

“Hey, Dunceface!! It’s so fucking obvious that you’re an anime-only fake fan, so don’t talk as if you know shit!” 

Bakugou is those “um actually” ;; fans 

Bakugou is a manga reader, so by the time your introduction scene or Ultimate Attack scene is being aired he becomes super OOC. He’s hyped for it for days, incredibly nervous at how the animators handle the scene. 

By the time he watches it?? 

THE ANIMATION!! THE VOICE ACTING!! YOUR COOLNESS!!! PLS ORA ORA HIM IN THE CHEST!! HE’S BEGGING YOU! IF YOU’RE GOING TO UNISON RAID WITH ANYONE PLS LET IT BE HIM!! 

He’s legitimately sweating buckets by the time the episode is over. A whole-ass fire hazard. 

Probably knows how to play your character theme on the drums. 

Omg but if your character dies/is hinted toward dying/or the most recent chapters ends with a cliffhanger where you’re fatally injured he will become legitimately depressed. 

Like holes himself in his dorm room for a whole day without contacting anyone and with the blinds drawn type of depressed. 

When he comes to class the next day with eye-bags and is slouching and his classmates think that something horrible has happened, it’s probably only Izuku who knows what’s going on. 

He’ll say, “You’re upset about the most recent chapter of [Series], right? I know it must be hard for you right now.” He’ll give Bakugou an officially licensed rubber strap of your character and Bakugou will just ;; cradle it in his hands softly. 

In complete seriousness, your character is probably someone who is strong physically, but publicly rallies for things like, “Failure is fine.” Your character arc would probably explore what it’s like being not good enough or feeling constantly disappointed, so he feels comfort in your character. 

Todoroki Shoto: 

In comparison to Bakugou, he’s probably a more low-key fan unintentionally, but goes just as hard. 

Buys all of the merch, limited-edition or not, has your picture set as his phone lockscreen and homescreen, has a little acrylic charm of you on his phone, follows several fanartists that draw your character on social media. He buys enough merch that his room looks like a glorified shrine. 

It’s canon that he reads manga, but I headcanon that he’s even less picky with his genres and willingly reads things like slice-of-life or shojo all the way to shonen or adult fantasy, so your anime could come from any possible story. 

Your character is probably someone who is sweet and kind but has a traumatic character backstory. 

He probably ends up thinking stuff like, “If [Name] was with me, I would never let them get treated like that.” asdhj he’s a dork too. 

Unironically dramatically quotes you during battle and thinks that it’s still badass because he’s a teenage boy in his anime phase. 

Doesn’t get into debates with people who don’t like your character. He’s like, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion :)) even though they’re wrong. >:(.” 

If you’re from a sports/competition anime he’ll try to learn all of the rules, and even try it out for himself (if it’s not fighting) but he finds out that he’s... not very good at it. That doesn’t make him any less amazed though! 

If your character is from a different culture with different customs and traditions, he’ll even learn more about them outside of your anime! 

Forces his siblings to watch the anime with him. They don’t necessarily have to, but the Todoroki household has one big TV and he hogs it all the time watching your anime over and over. 

Natsuo is begging him to watch something else and Shoto will just pout angrily from the other side of the couch.( ￣＾￣)

It’s so jarring because he doesn't look or appear like a hardcore anime fan, but sometimes he’ll just butt into conversations randomly and talk about you. 

Like you know those tumblr Naruto posts that talk about it as if it’s some sort of Renaissance literature. That’s Todoroki. 

[”Man, they’re so hot--!” 

“You want to see someone hot?” Todoroki asks with a perfectly straight face, and he’ll just... turn his phone around and show them a picture of an anime character.] 

When his dad tries to set him up with someone else: “You think they’re my type? Do they watch [Series]? Do they know what true friendship is?? Do they understand pining and love the way [Name] does?” 

Endeavor: who the FUCK is [Name]. 

Gets into fanfiction because of your character and series. He’ll just be reading on his phone during break times at school and everyone thinks that he’s being so well-read but he’s just reading pure smut with a straight face. 

Doesn’t mind when you’re shipped with other characters necessarily but he is super picky. If your character is hinted toward a potential romance with another character that’s pretty crass and doesn’t necessarily treat you well but you’re sticking together through the power of friendship, he won’t ship it. 

He’s just like “[Name] would be so much happier with someone else like me.” ://// 

And if your character goes through something traumatic or terrible during the series he’ll be so sad, like soooo sad. :((( Deku would probably be comforting him on the couch in the common room and everyone is concerned because he looks like he’s mourning a lost pet, but it turns out to be over some anime character pshhhsdfh. 

Deku would just be patting his shoulder trying to console him and Todoroki’s just sitting there with a big frown on his face going, [“But they’ve been through so much throughout the anime already...” 

“I know, Todoroki-kun, I know...” 

“The author can’t do that to them... It’s just not fair.”

“I get it,” Midoriya says mournfully.]  

Plot twist: They like the same anime character 

They’ll probably find out when they have to retake the license exam together. 

Todoroki will just take his phone out during off times and Bakugou’s eyes looks over because it’s drawn by the noise but then his head just snaps to the side when he realizes its a little charm of you, like, he’s going to get whiplash from that. 

“What the -- is that [Surname] [Name]?!” 

Like they have never really hung out together before this, so when they both first realize that their favorite character of all time is [Name] they’re left ,, just standing there ,,, pointing at each other like the spiderman meme.

At first they’re both inwardly excited because FINALLY someone cultured and with taste. They spend the entire time talking about your stats, your attacks, your post-timeskip character design, and your personality, and then they delve a little bit deeper and then they realize ,,, oh. 

Bakugou says that you don’t belong with the dumb protagonist, you should be shipped with someone strong, confident and loud, but Todoroki is like noooooo they deserve to be with someone that treats them gently. 

They connect the dots. 

[“Bakugou, you aren’t compatible with [Name]. It says so in their trivia page.” 

“Says you! They won’t want some bland-ass pretty boy! They would want a real man!”] 

They’re such fanboys ;;; they do realize that you aren’t real, right asdfghj?

One day Kaminari and Sero separately invite them to an anime convention, but they both say no and that they have plans or “something better to do” that day. 

Then Bakugou and Todoroki both turn up to the convention at the same place because they both reach for the last limited edition [Name] figure and they just stare at each other wide-eyed (ʘoʘ╬) like that. 

They start verbally fighting each other over the last figure and then physically fighting each other andddd then they get kicked out of the convention. 

Izuku ends up swooping in and getting the last box. 

[fonulyn]

Do you feel drained sometimes from being in RE fandom? I think I'm going through something like this at the moment. I stopped looking for RE content because all I would find was this weird negative energy. Like fans making the voice actors really uncomfortable on social media or streams with some nasty comments or questions or straight up bullying them. I know the vast majority of the fans on social media are very young people but man, there's only so much you can explain with their young age.

i'm not on any other social media than tumblr, personally, so i think i (thankfully) miss a lot of that. but honestly i don't understand how anyone would think it's alright to harass the voice actors (or anyone, really) just for their own amusement or because of their own opinions. you think a VA did a shitty job? yeah go complain to your friends. don't go bully them directly, ffs.

but i mean, even though i haven't seen all of what you mention, i have seen the weird negative energy and somehow it seems to be just getting worse? and it's so exhausting. i don't understand why people need to spend their time hating on the things they didn't like instead of actually focusing on the stuff they actually do like?? i mean. sure a good rant every now and then is nice and cleansing. but if you keep on trying to find things to hate for the sake of hating it can't be good for your own mental wellbeing either??

and of course bullying real actual people is a huge problem and it's on its own level, but i don't get the character bashing either? i don't understand this weird tendency to hate on every other character just bc they're not your own fave. how does it make character A better if you continuously shit on character B? or people acting like some questionable writing choices from the creators are somehow the fault of the characters themselves? they're not even real??

like, as a Leon fan I'm gonna use him as an example. the amount of sheer vile blind hatred i've seen towards him after ID has been absolutely staggering. why do people feel entitled going around telling people who love Leon as a character how he's the worst of the worst and telling them off for liking him? and then purposefully ignoring like 90% of his character development only because he said or did one thing they think is shitty? the whole cancel culture that demands perfection from everyone isn't only tiring it's actively harmful, even if it's directed to fictional characters.

and Leon doesn't even need to be in things to get hate! there was hate for him when there were rumors that he might be in re8, too. and even when those turned out to be false, people used that to hate on him. like??? what??? don't you have better things to do than spew that unfounded hatred?

and although I'm using Leon as an example here, he's not the only character getting hate, not by far. they're probably all getting shit on.

the majority of the interactions I've had in this fandom have been very positive. there are amazing people in this fandom! there are absolutely talented people, kind people, funny people, brilliant people, just.. all around good guys :'D and i do believe most of the fandom is good! but the thing is, those few rotten apples are just so goddamn loud about their hate that it gets really tiring trying to ignore it.

and you're right. age can't and doesn't explain or excuse all of this behavior. i've interacted with older adults in fandom who had zero respect for anyone, and young people who are absolutely awesome. but the overall tendency on the internet seems to be one of making your displeasure known, loudly so, and preferably to the voice actors or actors or animators or creators or whoever the hell else. if someone doesn't like something? they are going to make it everyone's problem. and i don't get it.

but like. the only advice i can give you is focus on the stuff you like. gush at people about your favorite character or favorite game or favorite pairing or favorite scene or favorite quote! look at only pretty pictures and gifs of them, read good fic of them, i don't know, whatever makes you happy!

and blacklist. block. curate your own experience. you don't owe anyone explanations. if seeing a certain blogger around always leaves you drained and sad because of their attitude, then don't engage, block them, forget they even exist. it doesn't mean that they're necessarily a bad person or anything, it just means they aren't what you need in your life right now. and you don't owe anyone explanations or justifications on doing what you need to do to make the fandom space a positive experience for yourself.

hang in there, anon 💖

[sokkastyles]

Thanks for asking! I realize I never elaborated on the Jet/Zuko parallels so here goes.

Season one Zuko/Jet are both extremists, though on opposite sides of the war. Zuko will stop at nothing to capture the Avatar. Jet will stop at nothing to rid the world of the Fire Nation. Zuko is the fallen prince, while Jet is the war orphan, both trying to restore what they’ve lost. And both have significant interactions with Katara.

Focusing on book one first, I’ve already written about how Jet manipulates Katara, which makes it worse not only because she did have romantic feelings for him, but because she was totally taken in by his whole freedom fighter thing. He also manipulates Aang and tries to manipulate Sokka, but Katara was the main one who felt betrayed by him. Katara has such a big heart and fighting spirit but at this point in the story she is fairly naive, and it shows here. She probably never considered before this episode that somebody fighting on the right side could be a bad person.

I also looked up the mouth wheat thing because I’ve seen it a lot in anime for similar “tough guy” characters and as that other post I reblogged said, it is a stand-in for cigarettes. I also found out that it’s supposed to represent a banchou, which is a juvenile delinquent gang-leader. And Jet is the leader of a bunch of feral kids, although they are ostensibly revolutionaries. Longshot, Smellerbee, and the Duke do seem like they have good intentions, and they often call Jet out on his behavior.

I also think there’s a comparison/foil with Katara’s interactions with Zuko in book one, which revolve around the necklace and his attempted kidnapping of her. Zuko tries to manipulate Katara using her mother’s necklace but is not very good at it. Not necessarily because he has any moral compunctions but because he’s just not that socially adept. He is most often the victim of his father and sister’s manipulations and the few times he tries to copy them he fails ridiculously, because he is incredibly literal-minded. He’s blunt and often fails to understand things that aren’t directly spelled out. He is not a manipulator.

I’ve also seen people compare Jet flooding the Fire Nation village to Zuko burning down Kyoshi Island, in order to make Zuko look worse, but as I’ve said before, Zuko burning down Kyoshi Island was not intentional, it was something that happened as a result of reckless firebending. That doesn’t make it any less bad, but it seems like it’s been popular recently to add this to the list of things that make Zuko “problematic,” so much so that I actually forgot that scene and was surprised when I rewatched the scene recently and discovered it wasn’t the intentional razing of the village that some people on tumblr make it out to be. Zuko’s fault there was simply not caring about the collateral damage in his pursuit of Aang. He wasn’t intentionally trying to burn down the village. Plus, if we were being honest, all the gaang would cause destruction wherever they went given how much bending they do. That’s not something the show dwells on, though, the way that superhero movies don’t dwell on New York getting destroyed for the hundredth time (unless it’s a deconstruction of the genre).

What Jet does is much more deliberate. He’s aware that what he tricks Katara and Aang into doing will cause the deaths of innocents, and dismisses Smellerbee when she tells him so, and he’s aware that the gaang will not approve of his actions enough to hide it from them. There’s also an interesting elemental parallel/foil, Jet destroys a village with water and Zuko destroys one with fire - foreshadowing that water can also be destructive? Hama, anyone? Robert Frost said it. 

I think I know enough of hate to say that for destruction ice is also great, and would suffice.

Anyway.

Book two, the Jet/Zuko parallels/foils are much more explicit, and highlighted by the fact that they actually meet in book two. Zuko’s on redemption road, although he doesn’t know it yet. Jet explicitly states that he wants redemption, although he’s still doing the same things he was doing before. He enlists Zuko in helping him steal stuff because he thinks he’s entitled to it, and I guess you can argue about whether it was justified, since the captain was treating the refugees unfairly, but Jet mostly seems interested in stealing food for himself and his group. To be fair, Prince “ew, poor people” Zuko doesn’t exactly have egalitarian motives, either, which is why helping Jet steal food is a regression in his arc. It’s him donning the Blue Spirit identity (although without the mask) once more because he’s trying to get closer to the material life that he lost. It’s also hilarious that when Jet asks Zuko to do this, Zuko’s dumb ass is like “well, Uncle did tell me to make friends.” Sometimes I wonder who was more naive, book one Katara or book two Zuko. Iroh is like “god, I leave him alone for five minutes and he joins a gang.”

When Jet keeps pressing Zuko about joining the Freedom Fighters, Zuko says no. Again, not for any moral reasons, but because he knows that if Jet keeps pressing, he might find out who Zuko really is. Zuko is honest with Jet when he says “I don’t think you want me in your group.” Not for good reasons, again, but the claim that Zuko somehow manipulated Jet is absolutely wrong. Jet was the one who approached Zuko and made assumptions and got pushy when Zuko said no.

Jet does genuinely want and try to change, but his major temptation is finding out that Iroh is a firebender, which he finds out right after he gets pissed that Zuko rejected him so I do think that was part of his motivation for going after them, considering how pushy Jet acted with the gaang when they rebuffed him. Jet, of course, fails the test, although what happens to him certainly isn’t his fault, even if he did make mistakes. It’s a tragedy that in the end, the choice to turn his life around was taken from him, and he was betrayed by the people who he thought were the good guys. This also highlights the theme that sometimes people on the “good” side can be not nice people, which in turn paves the way for Zuko’s redemption and the wider theme that it is actions that matter the most, not which nation you are from. Separation is an illusion, folks.

Zuko’s test happens first when he attempts to steal Appa, the last time he dons the Blue Spirit mask, and then in “The Crossroads of Destiny.” Unlike Jet, Zuko doesn’t know he’s being tested, he doesn’t know he needs to change, although Iroh keeps telling him he does. The change happens in Zuko without him realizing it.

Katara tries to heal Jet, and Jet dies. Katara almost heals Zuko, and Zuko betrays her. And this time Aang is the one who almost dies, who Katara has to heal. This certainly contributes to Katara’s mistrust of Zuko later on, all three of these events tied together. And all three boys are people she has romantic tension with.

Which brings me to another reason I dislike Jet, or rather, what he is meant to be in Katara’s story. Many people have pointed out that Katara is romantically attracted to Jet, and his superficial resemblance both to the “bad boy” trope, and to Zuko. There’s a reason Zutara shippers make this comparison, although I believe its purpose in the narrative was actually to be anti Zutara and provide support for Kataang, but because the writers really didn’t know how to write Kataang properly, it ends up as the opposite.

Recently I saw a post by a popular blog that was anti Zutara that cited Jet as an example of Katara having “low standards.” And like, I can’t entirely blame the post for its misogyny (Katara is FOURTEEN) because this is what the writers want us to think. Katara’s attraction to Jet is very much playing on the “girl develops a crush on the jerk who doesn’t care about her” stereotype. This is, subtly, one of the ways that the show punishes Katara for not returning Aang’s crush. Interestingly, in this episode Aang doesn’t get jealous of Jet at all, and doesn’t even notice Katara’s attraction, but that’s because Aang in this episode is also still naive and in his early stages of his attraction to Katara, and also thinks Jet is super cool. Sokka instantly hates Jet, though. And Sokka is right, but he also has flavors of the over-protective big brother. I do remember that this episode left a sour taste in my mouth because of the (thankfully downplayed) implications that Katara is a silly girl who falls for the “wrong” types of guys because women don’t know what they want and need a man to help them “discover” their feelings. I also think this is meant to be subtextual in Katara making the hat for Jet which Aang ends up wearing, because Aang is the “good guy” who really does care about Katara, you see? Thanks show, I hate it. To be fair, I blame the writers for this, not Aang. Aang is just having fun hanging out in a treehouse and gets to wear a cool homemade hat. It’s the writers who put this weird misogynistic pressure on Katara.

It’s funny though when people compare Zuko to Jet in order to prove Zutara wrong, because when you compare the two, Zuko is the one who ends up looking better, the one who works hard to repair his damaged relationship with Katara, who genuinely did change. The one whose life she could save after he had done the work to save himself.

[twilightofthe]

What was your opinion of the Clovis arc? People I know either love it or hate it, no in between. I generally liked it but found it waayyy ooc.

Hey anon, thanks for the ask!!!!

AHSJFLSLALK OK SO UH. Wow. Clovis arc. Yiiiiiiikes ok so. I totally agree with you on the fandom divide and I also totally agree that everyone involved in it is rather OOC for my taste. That being said, that case of OOC is exactly why I personally do not like the arc that much at all.

(Please note that my following words are MY PERSONAL OPINIONS, and that anyone is free to disagree, in fact I welcome the discussion, and even if this is your favorite arc, please consider yourself welcome on my blog I hold nothing against those who might like it)

Part of me was gonna make a short and sweet point about how I don’t like that TCW has had both of its main female characters have unwanted kisses forced on them, and instead of teaching young girls watching to tell those kinds of people to fuck off and respect their bodies, we get: 1. Just let it happen, you both must kinda like each other anyway or 2. Stay still then sit back while your boyfriend beats him half to death

But actually turns out I wanted to spend all day writing an essay so now you get this. So far I’m gonna hit four points:

the show’s constant need for Vader foreshadowing sometimes tending to completely override Anakin’s current mindset and personality he should have at this point in the timeline as well as his preestablished characterization

the way TCW gave Anakin a giant dosage of toxic masculinity to try and please the pissy movie critics who didn’t like that he cried

the role of Padmé and how TCW tries to portray her as a “strong woman” by just having her constantly be irritated by and sometimes even look like she actively dislikes her husband while simultaneously have her act OOC so they can blame HER and her actions for Anakin’s reactions and anger and overall Fall

How I think this arc is not irredeemable and that with some fixes it could be done decently— decently, not well, because a lot of this arc’s problems are also due to preexisting writing choices throughout the show

(Ok whoops this turned into a half Clovis arc rant half entire TCW Anidala commentary)

So firstly I wanna start that yes, I am fully aware that TCW is meant to fill in the gaps between AOTC and ROTS and help explain why Anakin’s mindset in the final movie is what it is and justify his Fall. Of course we need to show some Vader foreshadowing throughout the series, and in some places it is executed very well, notably the Mortis arc, the Bad Batch arc, the Wrong Jedi arc, as well as others that I can’t cite off the top of my head currently because I might have a mild touch of heat exhaustion wooo I need to get off the beach.

But it also has some rather hamfisted Vader foreshadowing stuff too. Like, y’all know the fandom joke where it’s like “Anakin: *Accidentally Leaves The Toilet Seat Up*. The Background Music: *BLASTS the Imperial March*” but like, they actually really do that. Like the time where they have Anakin take out a terrorist about to blow up an entire ship full of people and then play the Imperial March afterwards and imply he’s a “cold-blooded killer” just to defend the moral purity of the two people who were gonna stand there and let the ship blow in the name of idealism.

I’m getting off topic but yeah, sometimes the show’s Vader foreshadowing makes sense, sometimes it’s pretty forced, and the Clovis arc DEFINITELY leans towards the forced side, and when they try to force more of Darth Vader into Anakin at a point where he shouldn’t quite be there yet, it screws with his entire character.

This is particularly shown in the majority of the show’s takes on Anakin’s relationship with Padmé. Namely, they tend to forget nearly the entirety of AOTC with the exception of the Tusken murder scene, then forget even more of ROTS up until the point where Anakin strangles her on Mustafar. Basically, they take the truth that it was Anakin’s unhealthy attachment to Padmé that sparked his Fall, but then they decide to run with it where almost every single interaction he has with her in the damn show is him being a toxic overbearing dick to her and her acting like she mildly tolerates him at most and definitely doesnt respect him as like, I guess a way of showing what happened on Mustafar is in character for them???? Ugh, I’ll explain further.

So with Anakin’s aggressive possessiveness towards her. We know Anakin has possession and attachment issues. We know he’s a clingy needy whiny anxious mess who’s constantly afraid of losing or driving away the few people he has pinned his entire happiness on. We know he leans unhealthily on Padmé to provide the majority of his emotional support. We know he’s convinced himself he can’t live without her. But never, NEVER is it seen in the movies where his possessiveness turns into outward aggression towards her or this douchey pushiness. Never does he treat her like his property, like she belongs to him.

Not until Mustafar.

Not until he’s raving, half out of his mind with the warring emotions over the atrocities he’s just committed, until he’s begging her to understand where he was coming from, begging her and the child to stay with him and justify his decision, until he sees Obi Wan and sees her backing away from him, leaving him, and he PANICS because oh no no no you can’t abandon me, I need you, doN’T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME. And he lashes out and tries to force her to stay, punish her for leaving and doubting him, and he puts that hand around her throat.

And that is supposed to be when we know he’s crossed the line, when we’re supposed to be horrified, where we know he’s lost himself, because he has NEVER ACTED LIKE THAT BEFORE.

Now how does Anakin act before? In the movies? He’s deferential to Padmé in almost every other scene they’re in together.

In AOTC, yeah he stares at her a bit creepily from a distance, he says awkward things and does goofy stuff to impress her, but he does Not get in her face. The few times he does invade her space, she flat out tells him: stand back. Don’t look at me like that. Don’t say that. Don’t interrupt me. And Anakin always, always backs off, respects her wishes. He follows her lead and lets her call the shots both on Naboo when he’s supposed to be protecting her and when she organizes the Geonosis rescue and once they arrive where she flat out tells him “I’m a Senator, I’ll handle this, just back me up”, and he’s all but just “ok yes queen”.

But they aren’t married then. Fine, take ROTS. It’s a movie all about Anakin’s issues but even then, when he’s worried about Padmé dying, he tells her he’s worried and that he can’t lose her, but he still keeps a distance. He doesn’t constantly hover and loom over her. If anything, Padmé, both in ROTS and AOTC is always the one to approach Anakin and close the distance when there’s conflict. When Anakin is upset, he averts his eyes and distances himself, tries to draw in on himself and brood silently, and we’ve seen it in Palpatine sometimes (of course with bad motives but he still does), but Obi Wan and Padmé both especially needing to be the ones to come over, turn his face to them and be like “hey, look at me, I care about you, what’s wrong”. Padmé SAYS in ROTS when he’s feeling specifically conflicted about losing Padmé, “don’t shut me out” and has to come over to him because he’s retreated into a corner of the room to scowl angstily out the window. Anakin does NOT get overbearing and possessive of her or get in her face, not once in the films.

In the fucking show? The Clovis arc, while perhaps the worst offender, isn’t even close to being the first time Anakin has been overly pushy and aggressive with Padmé, or acting like she’s something he owns, From that time in the Senate Hostage ep where he’s bugging her about ditching work and all but acting like incels texting like “awww but babe my dick hurts :(”, from the FIRST Clovis disaster ep where he’s childishly trying to screw up Padmé’s mission, to the Clovis arc in season 6

And this is where they just roll right in with their “oh so Anakin’s an overbearing, entitled douche” bit with the interaction he has with Pads and he’s trying to talk her out of taking the Clovis assignment and he says something along the lines of “as your husband, I demand you don’t do this”.

Hwat. The Fuck.

What kind of caveman-esque, 1800’s-ass man of the house whom my wife must obediently serve kinda entitled-ass BULLSHIT?!?!?!?

Like, I’m sorry, I really am, but that is just completely out of left field and not like Anakin at all. I mean to the point that when he’s an evil Sith Lord trying to talk her into taking over the galaxy with him, EVEN THEN he does not include “Padmé you must join me because I’m your husband and you do as I say” sort of domineering assholerly.

Anakin does not push Padmé around. He does not TRY to assert authority over her or try and force her to do shit. Not only because she doesn’t put up with that kinda shit for a second, but because Anakin respects Padmé; he will treat her with respect. He always has, and sometimes like in this arc it really doesn’t feel like he does.

Now of course Padmé’s response to the “I own you” declaration is “fuck you, asshole, I do what I want” and doubling down on her decision, and then decides to go even harder on the mission if only to spite her douche husband (and we’ll get to Padmé’s characterization in a bit) which is a very different kind of Anidala conversation we see in the show as opposed to the movies (also discussed later).

Now, the reason for Anakin’s overbearing douchery ties directly into an overarching problem in TCW— honestly, one of the very few issues I have with this show, but the problem is that it touches nearly the entire thing —and that is they almost completely reworked Anakin’s personality to be more hyper-masculine alpha male.

This is a topic I’ve discussed on my blog before, but the gist is that in the movies, Anakin was not the typical male heroic protagonist and DEFINITELY not what people expected from Future Darth Vader The Masked Brutish Male Power Fantasy. He was awkward, he was shy, he was soft spoken, he was clumsy around the girl he liked, he was very openly romantic, he liked frolicking in fields and candlelit dinners and snuggling. Two of the most important people in his life were soft, feminine women and he openly loved them very dearly and very gently— and he deferred to them when he felt it was right, as I’ve mentioned before. He CRIED when he was upset and was messy and emotional. And fanboys hated this with a burning passion. They couldn’t project their power fantasy onto this!!!! The Anakin critics were a HUGE part of the mob who crucified the prequels to the point of chasing both Anakin actors practically out of the movie industry in general.

The Clone Wars writers were obviously petrified of this happening again. So their solution, as has always been Star Wars’s solution to hateful fans being upset about an innocent character, is to completely rework them, hide or retcon all the undesirable qualities, and act like everything was all fixed. Now don’t get me wrong, there are aspects of TCW Anakin that I adore. As I’ve also mentioned before, they got his humor, his cleverness, his eagerness to do the right thing, to help people, his relationship with Obi Wan and Ahsoka and his men, they got that all perfectly. But the rest??? TCW’s solution to the criticism of Movie!Anakin was to turn him into an agressive, dominant, violent shadow of everything “soft” he was in the movie

Now, he speaks loudly and more deeply. Now, he’s cocky and overconfident and while yes he was arrogant in the movies, now it’s dialed up to like an 11. He never cries, never even THINKS to show a negative emotion that’s not Manly Rage And Aggression(TM). And then there’s the way he is around the women in his life. No more awkwardness or shyness, now he makes jokes about being a “ladies man” and does whatever the fuck flirting he does with Miraj Scintel even though the Anakin from the movies would have needed like every scrap of his self control just to look at her without insta-murdering her face. And then there’s how he is with Ahsoka and Padmé. He is muuuuch more of a loud brash dudebro around them who pushes his weight and is kind of controlling and their solution is just to have the both of them be Strong Women(TM) who Fight Back whenever he tries it too hard with them.

With Ahsoka, it’s not too bad because it’s a brand new dynamic and she’s a rather agressive firecracker personality herself when we first meet her, so the constant Snips n’ Skyguy snipefest works for them. For Padmé? It just means that in far too many episodes they’re in there’s a point where Anakin says something Eh and Padmé gets mildly irritated to actually annoyed with him for it and she’ll talk down to him and then there’s an argument between them because he’s bullheaded and she’s a Strong Woman. Why do I consider these out of character?

In the movies, despite the flaws, Anidala is a couple who actually tries to communicate. Anakin feels open to speak about his troubles to Padmé and her to him (for the most part, she definitely has a savior complex and a tendency to squash her own shit so she can help deal with both Anakin’s and the galaxy’s at large) when they’re worried or concerned about something and they want to talk it out, so they’ll talk it out!

The problem with Anidala isn’t that they don’t communicate, it’s that they try but also only do it by halves because they hate fighting. They’ll talk, Anakin will say something that Padmé might disagree with— the fascism discussion in the Naboo field in AOTC, the question of whether the Republic is just or not in TPM —and she’ll try and correct him if she feels he’ll listen, but if he doubles down, she’ll go “ok you know what, agree to disagree, let’s not fight” and she subtly changes the subject because she hates fighting with him. If Pads says something Ani doesn’t like— telling Obi Wan about them in ROTS, some emotional advice she tries to give in both movies —he’ll flat out shut down and be like “I don’t want to talk about this, let’s drop it” and then seek out cuddles or affection as a distraction.

And that brings us back to the Clovis arc. The scene where the “as your husband” line occurs. Anakin is trying to talk Padmé out of doing this not because he’s jealous. Maybe he was jealous the first time he met Clovis and saw Padmé being all cute n’ fond with her old flame, but this time it seems almost entirely because last time ended in catastrophe and he’s genuinely worried for Padmé and feels she’s not thinking wisely, that she’s putting herself in danger.

However, Anakin is deciding to voice these concerns in Possessive Dudebro Pushing because of the aforementioned misguided Vader Foreshadowing and Toxic Masculinity. Padmé? Is not even CONSIDERING what he has to say, is just breezing on through and shutting him down at every turn and generally acting like he’s a dumbass who doesn’t have a clue about anything.

Now, it is very in character for Padmé Amidala to be all “I’m right, you’re wrong, fuck you don’t get in my way”. HOWEVER, they aren’t framing this as solely Padmé having a goal and bulldozing her way through the situation. That’s not how they frame this.

They frame this as: Padmé is embarrassed that she misjudged the situation wrong the last time and embarrassed even further that Anakin had to step in and get her out of trouble— which he brings up —and probably remembers that he made fun of her while he did it—

(Timing out to say that THAT scene was also OOC; they once more wanted a Vader parallel what with Anakin’s silhouette when he opens her cell door and the way Padmé’s sleeping pose is identical to Leia’s in ANH. But Anakin basically steps in and gives her this condescending-ass “awww the little wife’s gotten in over her head like I SAID she would, good thing I’m here to rescue her!” bit that’s really just MEAN. It’s not like him and Obi Wan’s/Ahsoka’s teasing snark whenever they have to pull each out of trouble, he’s just kicking her while she’s already down. Really, Anakin’s reaction should have been a lot less humorous and a lot more pissy; she didn’t listen to him, didn’t trust him, and ended up in danger because of it. It’d be a surly and upset “I told you so”, not an amused one.)

—and now it seems much more like Padmé is solely taking this assignment to spite Anakin for being a dick and to pettily prove that she knows what she’s doing rather than any sense or urge to do the right thing. And....... childish pettiness????? Is not Padmé. And yet, she has the entire immature “don’t tell me what to DO, Anakin” attitude this whole arc that amounts to WAY more than just the normal response she would have to his overcontrolling dickishness

And once again, it’s because she, like everyone else in the episode, seems to think the problem Anakin has is that he’s jealous of Clovis. He’s not, not really. He’s insecure, yes, but he also knows Clovis is a bag of dicks as well, and trusts that Padmé knows she’s better than that. His problem isn’t fears he’ll lose Padmé, it is entirely that Padmé isn’t listening to his concerns, doesn’t trust him, is going into a situation they both know is unwise, and he is frustrated he’s not in a position where he can look out for her since he feels she’s not looking out for herself. And, he’s not entirely wrong. Padmé IS being reckless and kind of irrational solely to prove a point. He just goes about it pretty much entirely the wrong way, which is what you can really say is the cause and effect formula for any problem Anakin Skywalker encounters and subsequently makes worse.

And then there’s That Scene. The one where Clovis tries to force a kiss on Padmé and Anakin freaks and almost kills him for it. I’ll start off by quoting another Tumblr user on that very scene by saying in regards to Clovis: “that bitch deserved that”. The almost murder? Maybe not that far, but the initial hitting for disrespecting someone’s “no”? Yep, that was deserved.

My first criticism is that Anakin shouldn’t have even had time to attack him because why the fuck wasn’t Padmé instantly kneeing him in the balls?!?! Like Padmé is not prone to violence immediately, no, but she can will and does defend herself immediately when she needs to— her right punch knocked someone tf out once when she was pissed —and she already gave him a warning that his advances were not welcomed.

Now, I am absolutely not victim blaming. I am NOT saying it is the fault of a woman (I’d be a hypocrite if I did and that’s all I’ll say on THAT), or of anyone when faced with sexual harassment, if they don’t fight back for whatever reason, no matter how capable of doing so they may be. What I’m saying is that considering her previous behavior and personality and the fact that the show NEVER goes deep enough into explaining heavy stuff like why victims might freeze or NOT fight back when faced with harassment, I feel like showing her not attempting to defend herself at all is kinda strange.

Now, Padmé’s utter passiveness to the situation aside, we’re going back into toxic masculinity and misunderstood interpretations of how Anakin displays possession. While I’ll repeat that Clovis deserved consequences for the forced kiss, Anakin going full caveman defending his property jealous rage just. Doesn’t feel right to me. Again, I think Anakin would probs hit him and put the fear of living god into him, maybe even I’d buy the attempted murder if they framed it as Anakin doing it because he hates those who force their will on others and disrespect women, but the whole that’s MY wife and you’re touching her shite just once more feels alpha male aggressive ridiculousness. Like again, I understand Anakin is possessive of Padmé, but not like this. I’m sorry, but I just cannot see that, him fighting over her like she’s a scrap of meat.

Like, I completely think she’s in the right tho to put them on a break after he does it though. That’s well within her right.

But then onto the FINAL part where after Clovis goofs and fucks them all over and then dies, she forgives him and blames herself for everything and apologizes. And like, that part I do see as in canon and character for her and for Anakin. He doesn’t like to admit his mistakes, her mistakes weigh on her and when she fails to fix or save someone, she falls into depression and upset and self-blame.

But the fact that Clovis died because Anakin dropped him? Anakin Skywalker, who scaled an entire elevator shaft carrying two people over his back who combined probs weighed more than Padmé and Clovis. Anakin Skywalker, who’s used the Force to lift tons of debris, who’s used it to hold back explosions, Anakin Skywalker, MOST POWERFUL FORCE USER IN HISTORY WHO TENDS TO RELY ON BRUTE STRENGTH FOR MOST SHIT ANYWAY. That Anakin couldn’t pull two people over a ledge?!?!?!?!? This has always bothered me.

Like to be honest; I feel this entire episode could have been so fixable too. Like keep Anakin’s obsessive worry over Padmé making a mistake, keep the best part of the arc which is his talk with Obi Wan where Obi Wan tries to connect with him and explain that he’s not alone, all Jedi have emotional struggles and have loved, if perhaps he wants to TALK to someone about it, Obi Wan is here for him, like that? That’s okay!

Just ugh ffs, get rid of the nasty Anakin treating Padmé like a naughty dog who won’t obey him and the Padmé purposely acting unwisely to spite Anakin plot. Have the entire conflict be both of them being upset that the other doesn’t trust them, doesn’t believe in their advice, keep Padmé’s speech about how marriages NEED trust and compromise to survive, take all of Anakin’s aggression towards Padmé and transfer it to aggression towards Clovis, like make the conflict him menacing the guy if he hurts Padmé again just because he’s being overprotective and “if you won’t look out for yourself I will” and Anakin getting constantly checked for not being able to control his emotions, Padmé can tell him off for being overprotective instead of overaggressive and his possessiveness can instead show through him arguing that he needs to keep her safe at all costs. THAT can be the argument.

And if they want the Vader foreshadowing? Like real, in-character Vader foreshadowing??? Tbh, drop the Clovis beatdown, drop the machoness towards Padmé, and just have Anakin blatantly DROP the douchebag at the end of the episode instead of his hand slipping. Make him choose to ACTIVELY kill Clovis. Like THAT, Anakin taking the law into his own hands and deciding that he knows best and this guy is dangerous and has fucked up one too many times, there being an opportunity where there’s an chance to save Clovis when they’re alone without Pads, “be a Jedi, Padmé wouldn’t want this, do the right thing” Clovis might say, and we can see Anakin’s face considering, and then he just “Long Live The King”s him and lets him fall and die, THAT is an in-character Vader foreshadowing.

Then at the end of the episode, we can have Anakin lie to her, say Clovis slipped, say it was too late, and Padmé can believe him, thank him for trying. Then there’s the same thing where Padmé apologizes, and we can have a callback to the convo about trust and she adds that she’s sorry that she didn’t trust him, and when she says that, we zoom in on Anakin’s guilty face.

There. That’s how I’d fix these episodes

And THERE, I think I’ve complained about everything, I am SO sorry for the gigantic ass post and response, I’ll add a read more once I’m on my laptop and not on the beach on mobile.

But yeah anon, I hope that satisfies your question xD

Once again, I welcome discussion if y’all either agree with me or if you have any differing opinions, I know my takes are far from hot for several people and I’m curious to see what others think!

[chikkou]

Will you talk more about Lisa?? Lisa the character specifically but also your feelings on his feelings about Buddy? I just thought your analysis was so good and I want to hear other thoughts you have on her.

yall are honestly spoiling me rn sdhkfdjfks this is like a dream come true 

i already got into the stuff with buddy in this ask here but i have a LOT to say about lisa and the connection between her and buddy so u better settle in!

ok so firstly ill start with lisa. i played the original lisa game (lisa the first) not long after it first dropped in 2012, and im not even kidding when i said it changed me LMAO.... seeing a story about a girl suffering is nothing new, but austin jorgensens approach to it was so fucking unique. you dont just witness it, you get to EXPERIENCE it right along with her. many stories that involve sexual abuse/rape show or otherwise depict it explicitly for the shock value, which is both disgusting and, in my opinion, extremely fucking exploitative. i feel that it is horrific to dignify an act so deeply evil with screentime. but lisa stood out to me immediately because, even though you know exactly whats going on, the game NEVER shows anything explicit. everything is layered in subtext and symbolism, and austin is fantastic with indirect storytelling, so you learn so much from just a little drop of information. this applies not just to the game proper, but to the character as well.

in case its not clear: i absolutely ADORE lisa. she is my favorite character in all of the games, bar none. its going to sound kind of fucked up, but as a kid around her age going through some fucked up shit, her committing suicide at the end felt like a sort of victory to me. she knew she could never escape from marty or what he was doing to her. he leaks into every single part of her psyche, everything she ever cared about or loved is ruined because of him, and even the vague memory of her mother is completely corrupted, and turned into a muddled version of him. lisa the first also had the added benefit of some religious commentary, as there are crosses all over their home and marty is characterized as an extremely religious man, which i fucking LOVE and wish had come back in the painful, but its an acceptable loss. anyway, lisa committing suicide at the end was an act of defiance against not just marty, but martys god, as suicide is considered a mortal sin in catholicism. lisa knew she’d never be free of marty in life, so she escaped the only way she could; she was defiant to the end.

ive seen people complain that the painful has a bit of a “lost lenore” thing going on, since lisas death seems to fuel the Manpain of both brad and buzzo, but i actually disagree. on the contrary, its just like austin himself said - lisa will never be gone. lisa is ALWAYS there, with brad, and buzzo, and buddy, and marty, and yado, and the ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD. i dont necessarily think that there is something paranormal going on in the game, but i AM going to say that, unlike other cases of a girl/woman dying for a mans backstory, lisa isnt just a bittersweet memory they can reflect on and then put away when its convenient for them. she is a presence that is felt throughout the entire game. brad sees her more than once, sometimes watching, sometimes reprimanding him. buzzo is clearly haunted by her, as he cries out to her a few times in the joyful. every character who was directly touched by lisa - brad, marty, and buzzo - calls out to lisa as they die. call it their guilt or call it her actions, but in either case, it is clear that lisa just as significant of a character in the painful as she was in the first, even if she cant always be seen. even in a meta-sense, every game in the series - even the joyful, whose protagonist doesnt even know who she is - is named after her. she is at the center of everything that happens in them. 

that actually brings me to buddy, because i find the dynamic between her and lisa fucking fascinating. as i previously mentioned, brad never talked about his past with buddy, and snaps at her for bringing up his adoptive son dusty (rando), so it goes without saying that she definitely doesnt know who lisa is. in spite of that, though, lisa is a fucking massive part of buddys life, and while she may not know the person herself, i think she is aware that when people (and brad especially) look at her, they arent seeing HER. 

i mentioned it in another post, but even though brad takes it upon himself to raise and “protect” buddy, he seems to almost unwittingly recreate lisas appearance, primarily by allowing her hair to grow long even though he knows what a risk that is to her safety. he also treats buddy in a manner thats incredibly similar to how marty treated lisa (sans sexual abuse, of course) - he insults her, does not let her leave the house at all, and forces her to do unsavory things that no one should ever have to do (in buddys case, this means killing at least two innocent people because brad doesnt want a “weak” daughter). the most literal comparison between buddy and lisa is the fact that they are both very young girls being essentially held captive by their father figures, albeit for different reasons, and both long for freedom from their captors. 

theres also the fact that both buddy and lisa have to deal with misogyny and the effects of rape culture firsthand; they both battle against men who feel entitled to do with them whatever they please, and the threat of ongoing sexual abuse looms heavy over both of their heads. neither one can seek help from anyone; the neighbors in brad and lisas town seem complacent at best, if they even know what is happening to lisa at all, and buddys only allies (sans rando) are long dead by the start of the joyful. this is not just a hypothetical or a distant possibility. this is the real, tangible fate that will befall them if they cant somehow secure their safety.

sadly, because lisa wasnt playable in either of the rpgs, we dont know if she was able to fight as brad was, but it is highly probable that she had the innate skill but was never able to learn it (as marty highly discouraged them from learning “their grandfathers karate,” and seemed disgusted whenever brad did so). however, she did have ONE weapon she could make use of, and this is a weapon buddy ends up using, as well - her femininity. she became close to bernard (aka buzzo), made him fall in love with her, and then used him as a last ditch effort to stop martys abuse by having him mutilate her face. im not saying lisa never cared about bernard - in fact, i think she DID really love and care for him - but her own fucked up experiences with “love” meant she really couldnt understand what it was supposed to be like, or that it was wrong to manipulate the people you care about. lisa did very few things wrong - it pretty much just stops at the maiming of the cat and her manipulation of bernard - but she knew that she would never get away from marty without some kind of drastic action being taken, and scarring herself was her last ditch effort before ultimately committing suicide.

buddy ends up taking a somewhat similar tack in the joyful, and like in lisas case, its simultaneously resourceful and horrific. one of buddys key moves in the joyful is to flash the enemy (which the player obviously doesnt see) in order to distract them long enough to get the kill. its fucking horrible and disgusting and makes you feel so dirty, but then, how must buddy feel having to do something like that just to survive? shes just a child, but in a world where almost every man is out to get you, she knows this has to be done to save herself, very much like lisa. unlike in lisas case, though, buddy is successful in securing her safety in this way - lisas effort is for naught, and leads to her committing suicide not very long after. 

in a way, i sort of attribute buddys brutality to lisas omnipresence; all of the men pursuing buddy are just like marty, monsters who would harm a fucking child for their own disgusting ends, and i think that when buzzo said that lisa wouldve loved olathe, what he means is that she would have loved seeing so many horrible men being punished for what theyd done. so in my opinion, buddy carving out a place for herself in olathe by killing all those who would subjugate her seems very much in the mentality lisa would have had. sure, there are some innocents who sadly get roped into it, but that would definitely not be her intention; for example, if buzzo could have practiced amputation without harming a living thing, i dont think lisa would have asked him to practice on the cat. note the LACK of brutality at the beehive and the swamp bar, two of the few peaceful places in the painful and both devoid of predatory men hunting for buddy - lisa has no qualm with any of them. but marty? brad could hardly even get a full sentence out before killing him on the spot. i dont doubt that that has a great deal to do with lisas presence. 

ok i talked for a while LMAO but basically i think that, in a more metatextual sense, lisa and buddys relationship really strikes me as an accurate depiction of generational trauma. of course it was intentional with the more obvious trauma chain (marty to brad to buddy), but the trauma chain of marty to lisa to buddy is rarely ever addressed due to lisa not physically appearing in the painful. however, i believe it may inform buddys actions a great deal more than people realize - after all, buddys experience is unique, but who could understand it better than lisa? who knows that sort of pain, of being alone on an island, the lone woman trapped with a man (or men) who want nothing more than to cause you harm? even without her realizing it, lisa is guiding buddy, encouraging her to take back what is hers no matter the cost, to punish those who would try to take what they want from her. lisa might be dead, but she is a vengeful presence throughout every game, and buddys actions feel like theyre meant not only to save herself, but to avenge lisa, even if she doesnt realize it. at the end of the day, buddy and lisa both get to exact revenge against all the men who have wronged them, and they succeed. they are aggressive, and violent, and selfish, and ANGRY - and they have every fucking right to be. 

[saintheartwing]

Jesus Christ, Lily, Why Do You Keep Bastardizing the Main Characters?

You know, I didn’t have any problems with “The Gathering” beyond going “Why don’t they just TELL Anduin and the others “Sylvanas and I are happily married and she just likes to do kinky stuff sometimes”. She said “Where’s the drama in that”. Okay, fine.

But then at the end of the story we get THIS line.

“You actually cared for Arthas Menethil as a child?” she asked. “That… must have been a particularly cruel irony for you.”

“Not really. And ‘cared for’ isn’t really the word I would use. The boy was a self-entitled brat. His father seemed to put it in his head that he was entitled to own Jaina when they grew up,” Anevay said, her brow furrowing. “Having been the pawn of nobility marriage politics myself, I came down very hard on him for that. When the initial rumors about his betrayal went out I wasn’t really surprised. Jaina on the other hand was absolutely adorable at that age.”

“I see,” Calia’s lips pursed into a thin line. “Perhaps if you simply had more time to challenge what he was brought up to believe, things might have ended up differently.”

Okay...NO. Do you know why this doesn’t work? CALIA MENETHIL IS ARTHAS’S SISTER...and SHE WAS FORCED INTO A POLITICAL MARRIAGE. Her dad arranged a marriage between her and Daval Prestor. Calia was distraught by the decision and she told Arthas he should marry for love rather than politics.

So ARTHAS HIMSELF wouldn’t have been like “I’m owed Jaina”. Not ONLY because he and Jaina genuinely LOVED each other, had been best friends for years and years and there’s nothing in canon to indicate he was a self-entitled brat, only slightly headstrong and confident, which isn’t the same as being an entitled asswipe, AND they’d fallen in love naturally on their own, he never thought he deserved her or was “owed” her, in fact, the idea would have been REPUGNANT to him because HE SAW HIS OWN SISTER FORCED INTO A MARRIAGE SHE DIDN’T WANT, AND SHE SPECIFICALLY TOLD HIM “YOU SHOULD MARRY FOR LOVE”. 

This passage is insane. It’d be like saying “Luke Skywalker was a childhood bully!” Uh...no! There’s nothing we’ve seen of his past or his personality or in canon to indicate that. 

The idea that HIS OWN SISTER would react to what Anevay said with “Oh yeah totally” or something like that when SHE would know Arthas better than Anevay...AND the whole “political marriage forced on me thing” is TREMENDOUSLY out of character.

Naturally, I pointed all of this out in a comment.

And, of COURSE...Lily Orchard deleted it. Because God forbid I point out major out-of-character-induced holes in the story that make no sense when you actually stop and think about them. 

Can you not do ONE story without the main characters from said fandom acting super OOC? You keep doing this in the Sith Resurgence. Now we’ve got even more of it in your Warcraft stories. All you had to do was just end the story there. But noooooo, you HAD to throw in that dig at Arthas because f--k him, even though Sylvanas did worse shit than him when she was in full control of her faculties than Arthas ever did. Oh, but she gets a free pass for her atrocities because you wanna fuck her.

How  is that ANY different than people who overlook what Kylo Ren does because they think he’s dark/sexy? It’s the same bloody principle. You’re giving a character you like a pass for their evil shit because you think they’re hot. You’d be tearing your hair out if somebody was trying to excuse Kylo Ren’s BS, but because its Sylvanas, you don’t care. 

You had ONE JOB. Just make a cute story about Anevay and Sylvanas and their relationship. You couldn’t even do THAT right. 

[lucidpantone]

Hey, i hope you're doing well! I can understand that it's sometimes annoying that Sobbe stans as you say are complaining because there's not enough content. But the way you say "Sobbe stans, stop complaining, you'll have content soon and you can finally rest", it sounds like they're a heavyweight, something you want to get rid of, like they have to get their act together because they like this couple better, no matter what season it is. And I feel like you're always pointing the finger at them in a bad way("calm down") for what they like, for what they like to publish and that they need to channel their love for this couple and shut up a bit. I feel like in your opinion (which is a blog that posts globally about all the skam remakes) they shouldn't be so invested in this couple but rather follow the trend like everyone else. It's just that I don't know...we're allowed to like a particular couple and post things about them because the fandom is open to them as well as You(s)mina, Zoënne and even uncoupled characters. And yes in a fandom we are all different and have different opinions but I don't know the way you express yourself on Sobbe stans it gives the impression that you hate them more than anything else and they shouldn't like this couple so much anymore especially since their season is over.

Hun I dont hate the sobbe stans am I irritated at the constant diatribe post about sobbe? Yes, I am irritated as are many others. I love sobbe just as much as the next person but this Tumblr ecosphere is a fandom and inherently welcomes people from all walks of life. The tag is like the community recreation center where people go to congregate and discuss all sorts of things. Sobbe included. I agree with you that I think its very weird that Robbe and also Jens haven't appeared. From a canonical stand point its just bizarre and getting a bit awkward now. Sander and Senne I take as characters who are adjacent to the main characters so I never expect to see them as much as Zoe or Robbe but I can agree that Robbe not being around is getting a bit awkward. However, tho everyone is entitled to their opinion and complaints when you air your grievances in the tag you in turn choose to alter a communal shared space. Thats not really fair to the fandom and the 19k people in it. I dont tag my stuff in the tag because my thots are not above other peoples and out of respect for the fandom I am not going to hijack a communal space to platform my thots. This is my issue. I see post being like a I miss robbe and thats fine I dont see anything wrong with that but when its numerous post one after another hijacking the tag and purposefully seeking to destabilize the harmony within it I think thats pretty shitty imo. I would say the same if it was a zoenne Stan. The tag is a lot of stans safe place to digest information about the show so no one’s opinions should take precedent over another’s and I feel spamming it intentionally and prioritizing your wants and needs above everyone else’s isn't very nice.

[piduai]

what do you think of western/american fandom in general (esp in comparison with asian/japanese fandom)?

fandom culture is different in japan compared to the west, and there are also differences between japan and the rest of eastern fandom, and the west and russian fandom. i think both japanese and western fandoms can be very cancerous at times, and at times pleasant experiences.

the most striking difference is i guess the attitude towards consumerism. japanese audience pays for everything without batting an eye and is the one to whom the industry is catered. westerners are used to everything being served on a platter for free. i’m not excluding myself from that btw, i love piracy and opt for it whenever i can, and only pay for stuff that i really like as a gesture of supporting the creator (for example i do buy the golden kamuy volumes as they come out since i started reading it, but i won’t go out of my way to buy the previous 22 ones even in a second-hand shop for cheap because they’re available online). western audience doesn’t like spending money on stuff but tends to have the same, or even higher level of entitlement towards the media they consume. they think of it all as art and free expression, not an industry that has its rules and regulations. for example i keep seeing people in gk fandom complaining about the anime, about how it didn’t animate this or that frame and about how the creators “don’t understand the characters”, and this level of entitlement and disrespect is just baffling to me.

western audience can also be extremely culturally insensitive and forget that things don’t exist in a vacuum and everything is both culturally charged AND mandated. it’s not a secret that am*ricans think they’re the center of the world and project their values, history and culture on everyone else, but it would be nice if they learnt to shut the fuck up once in a while. whenever i see discussions about feminism or lgbtqwerty+ in anime and how sailor moon is actually subversive and yuri on ice is actually gay representativity and japan is actually #woke for having BL as a genre my hairs stand on end. these are the most obvious examples but there’s a lot of more subtle things. making fun of weird “engrish”. saying there should be more poc in anime and acting as though more tanned skintones depict other races. being completely oblivious of traditional tropes and how they work. excusing bigoted behavior by saying “oh it’s the culture” when convenient. also western weebs tend to either weirdly idolize or weirdly alienate japanese as a people; countless times i’ve met people who think that the japanese are a supernation incapable of wrongdoings and everything they do is inherently superior, as well as people who think the japanese came from another planet and aren’t fully human and don’t function as literally any other society on earth. both are dehumanizing and frankly, kind of racist.

however while i do like taking jabs at woques because it’s funny and they’re annoying, sometimes they DO have a point. japanese people think that just because they pay for shit they’re allowed to exhibit insane behavior in public without repercussion. my go-to example is this one artist who draws a lot, and i mean A LOT of l*li p*rn as “artistic expression” or whatever while simultaneously having a small child, whose photos they post on twitter regularly. as in they’ll make a tweet advertising their p*rn doujinshi where a 11 years old fictional girl is getting hammered in all holes and 2 hours later they’ll post a picture of their 3 years old, very real human daughter on the same account, to the same audience. call me a prude but i don’t think this kind of shit is normal, and i don’t think these people should be allowed to have children. anime industry in general has a huge problem with pedophilia that nobody likes to address because again they sweep it under either the “it’s their culture” or “they’re all weirdos anyway” excuses. like don’t get me wrong, most people are normal and against depictions of child rape. but sh*ta/l*li/rape artists have way too much freedom because the industry DOES cater to them, and consumers DO bring money. as long as stuff as comic LO is legal there will be no solution to this issue.

also this is something pertaining to gk fandom only but i wish westerners knew better and stopped being comfortable in depicting the rising sun flag in their artwork. personal opinion but this is just not okay. a couple of years ago i went to kamakura with a friend and just by the daibutsu, in an extremely touristy zone, they had it displayed in several gift shops and i’m still shocked at the audacity. history is taught different in different parts of the world depending on national bias and all, being ignorant is not a sin, but it would be nice if westerners used their brains and avoided doing that just because the japanese don’t.

[pigstepmp3-moved]

Omfg your critiques of the 911 fandom are spot on!! And like I’m not perfect, I started watching the show in season 2 after seeing a gif of Buddie interacting and liking their dynamic and I deff also sometimes focus on them too much and don’t appreciate the other great characters we have. But that’s deff a fandom wide problem. I also don’t like how..... idk.... entitled? some fans act sometimes. Like they are owed the buddie relationship becoming canon. Like yes, Oli and Ryan have chemistry 1/

(Cont.) and there have been moments between them that could be taken as romantic. But that doesn’t mean the relationship should or is going to become canon. And personally I won’t see it as queer baiting if they remain friends. I just don’t like how they see their friendship as something less than a potential romantic relationship. Their friendship is beautiful and something we really need on tv rn and I wish more people would appreciate it for what it is. Sorry this turned into a rant. 2/2

so many genius anons in my inbox tonight!! im in the same spot too, ive been guilty of focusing on buddie over other characters and ships, but the thing is, thats not inherently bad, so long as you acknowledge that and try to work on that. i like to think im far more appreciative of the other characters and ships than i used to be! and youre definitely right on the way the fans act, like. would canon buddie be sick as fuck? absolutely! are buddie shippers owed canon buddie? nope! i personally think theres been some queerbait-y stuff going on - maybe not full on bait but definitely on the border of it. but youre very right, their friendship is not a means to an end, for lack of a better term. as far as i know, close friendships like this between two male characters isnt exactly common, and as much as i and many other people would love for it to Turn romantic, their friendship still stands on its own as a really good, amazing thing to see on tv