#its the whole concept of being objectified to me

[thelittleprinceconfirmed]

Don't we all love her deep deep down

[dontbesoweirdkira]

howdyyy, what do u think of plat yan! dick grayson (or platonic yan father bruce wayne up to u) with a batsis who is very disinterested with him primarily bc when she was younger she idolised him a lot but now not so much. there are comics where grayson has cheated on his partners before so imagine batsis coming to realise as she aged and matured that her doting brother is a bit of a playboy…. a lot like a playboy actually—

You know, this is actually extremely realistic. There's nothing like the rose color glasses falling off and realizing just how messed up your family truly is.

I'd like to think that there was plenty of jokes and mentions about Dick being a playboy but Batsis would just be absolutely clueless. You probably just thought it was a reference to his charming appearance or the way he gets hit on at least once whenever he goes out. Not really that he was an notorious heart breaker.

Like i don't think the other batkids had serious talks about it in front of you because of your (then) age or maybe it was a request by Dick so he could keep on his perfect mask with you?

Ironically, he wouldn't want any man to treat his little sister (or any of them) the way he does to other women but he has a problem. I will say though, it makes absolute sense that Dick or even the others would have issues keeping relationships or even have sex addictions. I mean it's a real issue that many people are struggling with right now. But can you imagine your father constantly bringing home women and cheating your entire childhood? Like Bruce introduces some of these women to them, they get attached to this potential mother then it's ripped away to be discarded for the new catch. I think that definitely warped Dick's view of women and romance stems from that. *intense mommy issues* But also i mentioned before that it's hard for him to maintain relationships while taking on the fatherly role in the family. His obsession with making sure all of his siblings are cared for and protected(mixed with being nightwing), makes it all the more difficult. Maybe that leads him to just hooking up with and being sloppy in his relationships. Maybe its just a means of stress relief and that causes him to almost dehumanize/objectify the women he "romances".

I'm not saying this is justifiable, cheating is disgusting and his behaviors are something that needs to be corrected regardless of mommy issues but for headcanon sake we are entertaining the concept

I'm not sure how you'd exactly find out about it. Maybe one of the kids let it slip and didn't bother to do damage control because you're old enough now? Maybe you spoke to one of his exes that is still friendly with the batfam? Or maybe your brain started to develop and you realized he wasn't hanging out with that new super model as just friends all night...it was something more and his girlfriend definitely didn't know about it.

Regardless, I think when you finally found out about everything, your world crushed. I don't think you'd hate him but you just feel yucky about the whole thing. Now when you look at him something in your stomach just sinks. You might even wonder if you can trust him. I mean if he's got that much of a problem to be dishonest with his lovers, then why would it be so left field to suggest he lied to you too when he said he loves you or that you were his favorite? The transition from you idolizing him to being standoff-ish would be extremely noticeable to him. I mean it's hard to ignore when you were his mini me. Even as you got older you followed him around and never skipped an opportunity to be near.

He wouldn't think that it was because of the playboy thing, maybe just you needing some space as a teen. Everyone has gone through that phase before but when he notices your shift is only directed towards him, he's a little upset about it. He doesn't understand what he did wrong? One day you guys are eating ice cream together while having a sleepover in his room to you treating him like a disease.

Eventually your big brother corners you and makes you to confess whats bothering you. He apologizes if something he said rubbed you the wrong way but you couldn't keep treating him this way.

"uhm..i dunno, dick? I found out how you've been treating you partners and i think it's kinda gross. I guess i just don't really wanna be around someone who treats women like that right now..."

I think Dick's reaction would be complete shock....who tf told you?! He has no defense but he tries to muster up one before realizing this is just making him look worse when EVERYBODY knows how much of a whore he is lol. He'd back off of you and maybe even mutter an apology before walking away to go collect himself.

He's furious as well...whoever told you will be getting an earful because they just ruined something precious to him. (yeah they did. totally not his OWN actions) If it was one of his brothers, he will be throwing hands.

Dick does very much care about others perception of him, i've said this before. He knew he had a problem and his other siblings have spoken to him about it and it affected him but never enough to change. It's just a far deeper issue than wanting a quick fuck in the expense of his partners...But seeing his baby sister look at him with just so much disgust and disappointment was enough to cause him to spiral. He's not proud of his actions and knows he's hurt and discarded of many, many women for his own satisfaction. It's deplorable. I can imagine him taking maybe a few days to himself, he's just in his head while being overtaken by heavy guilt.

I'm not sure if Dick would actually change for you though? I think he is even debating it. Yeah he's a yandere for his batsis but is his obsession with you enough to kick the other one to the curb? That's up to you. A hopeful person would say, yes he would. Anything for his babybat! He's going to do whatever it takes to prove himself again, anything to make you proud. This habit isn't worth it if hes loosing you.

My opinion? No, he won't change after his guilt wears off. He'll just pretend like he's reborn. Dick would try for like a week and then go right back to doing his habits. He's a manipulative piece of work and yeah, lying to you is bad but he wants his cake and to eat it too. He's not willing to give up anything that gives him a euphoric boost. Shh...what you don't know, won't kill you.

[bikenesmith]

i get the surface level appeal of onslaught to xmcu cherik shippers but i think its my duty as a comics fan to ruin the fun and tell y'all that the onslaught saga is a comic story that revived a weird, ableist, & immediately dropped "charles is in love with teen jean grey" line from 1963, all for shock value

the existence of cherik mind mpreg is objectively insane but its difficult for me to feel neutrally about it when it's at least 50% responsible for the existence of 1000 bottom of the barrel clickbait listicles about The Worst Things Professor X Has Ever Done

it also just completely taints the whole concept of their two minds merging. you're telling me the "dark thoughts" charles contributes to the cherik mind meld prominently features... being in love with his teenage student? wow that's sooo romantic /s

(personally im additionally pissed off bc jean & charles' relationship is one of my fave platonic/psuedo-familial relationships in xmen & that dumb BS is always interrupting and derailing conversations about them. not to mention the whole thing is just period typical sexist writing objectifying jean)

not trying to be no fun allowed, im obsessed with the idea of cherik fusion generally + onslaught is an interesting basis for fanworks, but please actually read the comics you talk about 😭 i don't think onslaught should be seen as a "win" for cherik when it involves such major charles character assassination

[the-haven-keepers-collective]

hiii! :D i noticed yall liked a few of my posts so i looked at ur blog, yall seem pretty swag ^^

would you like to tell me about you as a dragon? we are also dragonkin and love to learn about fellow dragons ^^

Frog/🐸(The host and the dragon in question.)

Aaa I forgot I had this in here, whoops!

Ohohoho I apologize in advance, you've given me an opportunity to infodump about my kintype. No pressure to read this whole post of course. XD Thank you for stopping by! For some context, my draconic kintype is spiritual and it's a past life in this case. Beyond that I also believe that my "soul's truest form" is draconic so to speak, but my truest form is a different flavor of draconic that I've explored much less. I spend more lifetimes as a dragon than not; this particular draconic kintype is just.. the most useful one to remember and identify as in this life.

I'm an amphithere! We're oceanic dragons, "sea serpents" with feathered wings and fins, and even more specifically we're protectors. My appearance was sort of fluid, and not just in the sense that I could turn into water (I could do that too though) but in the sense that I was what I'd call a "mix and match" shapeshifter. Less "you can switch between forms" and more "Do I want antlers today? Hmmm I could use some for legs right about now. Do I feel like this scale color?" It's like changing clothes. What little I do know about my appearance was that my wings and scales were a sort of light sky blue (sometimes), I had silver antlers, and that my scales often rippled with the light pattern you see underwater/on walls in pools as a sort of camouflage.

Other than that, I know I was a sort of predator; even as a protector of the ocean and its inhabitants, I had my place within the ecosystem. Being in that place was part of protection, as I understand it; you need predators in an ecosystem to maintain population balance and such. I also know that I wore lots of jewelry oddly enough. Specifically long chains with dangly bits draped in my antlers, ears, wings, anywhere you could put them- it was culturally important somehow. There was also, while not always, a bit of an "eldritch horror" aspect to me. I've loved cosmic horror for a long time, but less in the sense that it's what scares me and more in the sense of... awe. Not only that, but self-recognition. I felt seen, in it.

The concept of a being so unfathomably vast and infinite that we simply cannot comprehend it, or that it could cause absolute catastrophe for our entire world simply by existing and without really realizing, etc. etc. drew me in. Turns out, it's sort of... what I was. Except instead of causing utter chaos or anything like that, I just chilled in the bottom of the ocean and considered it's inhabitants to be my own family. I would almost call the creatures in the ocean a hoard of its own in a way, but not in an objectifying sense; in the sense that they were under my protection, and I valued that "job" above all else. Which, as a side note, @friendofcrowsandcats (sorry for the ping) was the person who mentioned that in their canon (if I remember correctly) we were close to merfolk as well. Not only that, but storytellers. Both of those things pretty firmly resonated with me, although at the time I wasn't sure about merfolk but it became more solid the longer I sat with it.

Last tidbit I swear; speaking of being storytellers, I feel as though I've been a storyteller/writer/whatever title you prefer for lifetimes upon lifetimes, similar to how I'm a dragon more often than not. In this life I'm a witch, and I've started to work fiction into my practice in the sense of pop culture practices. I think that as a dragon, storytelling was also a form of magic all its own, just in a bit of a fancier sense than it is now. Weaving a story and weaving reality weren't all that different to my kind, I think.

But I think even now it's a form of magic, if you're like me and you don't mind getting all philosophical about it. Stories can be life-changing, even life-saving, and there's a value in the art of it. The way people/beings engage in fiction can change their worldviews if they let it. I think it's powerful. There's a reason I have multiple tattoos planned that are quotes/designs from fiction. Those stories changed me as a person, or are stories I found a lot of comfort in.

There's a lot of ways my kintype effects me in this life but I think if I make that post it'll be a separate post that's much more thought out.

Anyway, all that wall of text aside; I like being a dragon lol. I think about it a lot. I joke about being a silly little guy so much and then I jumpscare people by also being an eldritch horror, it's very fun.

[vegantinatalist]

are werewolves disrespectful

werewolves, centaurs, mermaids and all that shit, i see it the same as furry. objectifying, often fetishy and usually with an added bonus of making out various animals as if they are bloodlusting threats for dumbass hunters to use as props in their larps (hunting while pretending its anything meaningful). if youve actually encountered wolves in the us, they are incredibly skittish even when starving. you can scare them off with the flash of an umbrella, even if its night, youre alone and theyre in a pack (i have done this, as well as busted wolf hoarders with the help of teams of wolfhandlers. and wouldnt you guess what kind of fictional concepts and characters wolf hoarders are obsessed with? 3 guesses.) its easy to laugh at the person saying "Werewolves are disrespectful to animals" when you havent had to put down dozens of wolves with bodies full of bullet shrapnel and stomachs full of gravel, either because they were hoarded by a wolf obsessed nerd or fucked with/displaced by hunters or deforestation for animal agriculture. animals need to be represented as the individuals they are, with respect to their reality. humans obsess over and fetishize the everliving fuck out of wolves for some god damn reason and no one ever thinks about how that might end up affecting them.

dont get me started on all the werewolf porn/fetishism there is. need i even mention omegaverse and the false beliefs about alphas and pack structure and peoples obsessions with knotting and dog genitals in general (which has resulted in negative consequences for women and long bolstered podcast bros and incels dumbass beliefs)

i believe when it comes to monsters or surreal things like alien life, people should just make human coded designs or animal coded designs that dont rely on hybrid type stuff. it has always had uncomfortable implications, whether it be "some god human had a thing for raping animals" or "wolves are the spirits of witches, they bring bad luck and steal children"

wolves arent body parts that symbolize monstrosity. nor are they sexy cool beasty fuckboys. nor are they goofy subservient boyfriendos. nor are they spirits of the woods and masters of their tribes. theyre just...basically children. like stop being such embarrassments and just draw animals as animals and humans as humans lol oh another thing, people constantly make out wolves as if they are HYPERCARNIVOREEEE MEAATTTTT HUNTERRRR PREDATORRRRRRS when they are just as omnivorous as domestic dogs and in fact they are more willing to just gobble down whole raw vegetables. they are perfectly able to thrive on a formulated commercial vegan diet but because wolves have become THE fuckin symbol of masculinity for some god damn reason, they are pretty much the mascots of carnivore diets and even insinuating that they can eat vegetables will make people scream at you. this also affects peoples views of domestic dogs and commercial plant based dog foods. despite animal protein allergy being THE MOST COMMON ALLERGY AMONG DOGS people still believe that SINCE DOGS ARE WOLVES plant based food for dogs is HORRIFIC ABUSE.

[kingwuko]

is the concept of virginity a thing in secret? like its something u hold onto cause its special or u just do it? i wonder if wu felt any shame for not waiting until marriage or something like that

WOW. I'm genuinely fascinated that this question is being asked!! I'm cutting it because I may have gone on a small rant at the end 😅

This is such a delicious question you have asked me. Because in Secret, I made a VERY deliberate choice to never mention the concept of virginity, or describe anyone as being 'a virgin'. I wasn't sure if it was something anyone would notice or care about, but it was very intentional.

The short answer is, No. The concept of virginity is not a thing in the world I have created for Secret.

The reason it isn't is purely because it would have been just. TOO MUCH. I literally could not handle trying to add that in. Like. The story itself was already exploring the very fraught topics of internalized homophobia and the fears around coming out. Those topics were kind of the cornerstone of the central plot of Secret. It's the reason they keep their relationship a secret! Wu basically had a whole journey where he came to terms with his sexuality and exploring and experiencing sex with a very safe person, eventually leading to him feeling comfortable with coming out for a few people.

If I wanted to throw the concept of virginity in there too...? I'm just not sure how that would have impacted everything. It also probably would have been more than I have the emotional capacity to explore. Obviously the topic of homophobia is deeply personal and painful to me, and it's been a really interesting thing to explore through writing these characters. The concept of virginity is also something deeply personal and painful to me, but for reasons I'm not sure I can articulate, I don't want to explore the concept through writing. If I ever did explore it, I'm not sure this world and these characters are how I'd want to explore it anyway.

So basically, in the headcanons I have for the avatar universe and for my fic specifically, virginity is not a thing, there's no expectations to wait to have sex until marriage, and the definition of 'sex' itself is kind of nebulous anyway. There is homophobia and heteronormativity, but it varies based on the region and the demographic of people. Where homophobia does exist, the origins are based mostly out perceptions of what's 'natural', tradition, expectations around having children, and keeping up appearances so as not to shame your family/people.

But the act of having sex itself does not hold any deep significance in any of the cultures of the avatar-verse, not the way I imagine it.

I'm sure it doesn't need to be said, but I'll say it anyway because I love shouting this from the rooftops. Virginity, (as in; the concept that there is something about yourself that you can 'lose' by having sex), is not real. There is nothing different about a person before and after they have sex for the first time. The definition of sex itself is dependent on the people involved and how they themselves define having sex. Virginity has historically been nothing more than an imagined state of being unfairly burdening women and used to objectify, control and commodify them.

If someone considers themselves a virgin because they have not had sex, I would never try to disagree with that. You can label yourself however you want! But the overall concept of virginity is a construct. Nothing changes about you physically if you have sex. the only way that sex can change someone's body is if it results in a pregnancy. It's possible that having sex with someone can result in emotional changes but that's not a universal truth.

I'm sorry that was probably an unnecessary amount of detail to answer this ask 😅 No, Wu's not feeling and shame around having sex before marriage. At first he was solely struggling with being gay, and admitting his feelings for and having sex with Mako started him on his journey to shed his internalized homophobia and becoming comfortable with himself and his sexuality. But at no point did he think that he had 'lost' his virginity and feel any guilt or shame about having sex to begin with.

[comfortunit]

ALSO also this is tangential at this point but i love to write fiction with characters who are against or outside of the gender binary and i thought like, an entire series where the characters singularly and only use It for not only the protagonist but another really important character, a fictional universe written to exclude transphobia from the outset with nonbinary minor characters thrown in at random, and you still have people misgendering the fucking protagonist and finding ways to write in misgendering it into the text. at least i could pretend people would respect my character choices when i look at mainstream fandoms but seeing the like rampant transphobia in a series that is trans itself? heartbreaking. depressing. made me want to put down my pen for a whole moment (not even getting into how much "person treated like product/who had their agency invalidated learns how to direct their own life" narratives mean to me and expecting to see people who got that theme instead of. treating it like a product to force to do whatever they want. do people not see the sad irony there. its like seeing an anime girl whos character arc is "people objectify me against my will and i fight against it to reclaim my personhood" and then watching the fandom/company turn around and only sell/interact with highly sexualized shit of her. like i THOUGHT people who were fans of something showing corporate and consumer hypocrisy would be a lil smarter! ive underestimated the average persons ability to be in denial of things and themselves however) ok ok im done sending my silly little asks i hope you have a good rest of your day

right, and a MAJOR theme of mbd is, as martha wells put it (i'm paraphrasing), 'the 'ugly' parts of trauma that no one talks about'. murderbot is traumatized and it's a person but it is repulsed by the idea of being 'humanized'. it just wants to be comfortable after so much time spent being told what to do, what to be, everything. prescribing it pronouns other than what it itself has 'written' in its DIARIES (wow a concept... 🤯 first person pov. fucking mind-blowing, y'all, firsthand experience actually lets you know how someone thinks/feels/perceives things. i know. it's crazy), forcing things onto it, projecting things onto it, that it never opted in to... it's just more of the same. murderbot's ultimate goal is to feel like its own person, it wants to BE. it's literally a struggle for autonomy, and i'm sure humans in-universe and in the fandom alike, they just don't get it, they think murderbot is going about things in a counterproductive manner like "oh if it hates the company so much then why is it still so attached to being a secunit and protocols and all this bullshit?" like god do these people have any fucking idea how trauma works? have they ever understood the trauma of others? my guess is a resounding NO.

and re: my gripes about it being aplatonic and no one fucking caring enough to give it the decency of this canon fact in their fanfic re-creations of it; it GETS MAD at perihelion for trying to FORCE its emotions out. and people write this off!! because they want to believe this is like "aww it's MAD because it LIKES ART" like actually people who care about each other can be terrible to each other! and not everything is secretly cute and adorable! a big POINT of network effect is that ART DOESN'T GET IT; it DOESN'T know what murderbot wants, it DOESN'T know how murderbot feels. it DOES NOT GET IT. the fandom insists on smoothing everything over because the idea that murderbot might have genuine feelings of hate, or intrusive feelings that it both is internally upset with but also embraces... it's like they can't fucking handle this complexity. they can't. they act like they can and they can't fucking handle it, or i wouldn't see it represented so fucking atrociously in fanfic, lmfao.

it's fucking INFURIATING !!!! 🤝

[whatsk-poppinhomies]

Hiii i am the anon who wrote the feedback to the minsung fic. Thanks for the quick reply.

I understand all these points amd readers inexperienced role and minho only allowing it for so long cause he loves her etc buuuut thats just details in a scenario i, as a person, personally do not like.

A poly relationship (in my personal opinion) only works as a concept for me as a thrupple.

Like only if all three Parties are equally in love with each other. Two friends, guys, people (no matter if they deep down harbor feelings for each other aswell or not) or whatever literally sharing a partner without being in s relationship with each other aswell, always has the bitter aftertaste of objectifying in most cases.

'We share her'

'She is mine and yours'

Even if its treated with more Respect than they show in this fic, a person being with two seperate people in two completely seperate relationships, just... is a concept that gives me goosebumps.

I just think if i read poly fics as a thrupple, there are still many options for angst (omg hit me up if you ever wanna do that, my ideas are endless haha)

Again. It has nothing to do with your writing or story telling. I loved the writing snd i know relationships like that exists, this one is just not for me personally.

Hope i made sense haha

Have a nice day

Ps: still looking forward to a part 2 if you make one cause all your stories are so captivating

Of course of course, it was my day off, I try to respond as fast as I can to asks, especially feedback asks. <3

I completely understand, and the concept as a whole was very new to me in writing and in general. I personally couldn't be in a situation like that at all, especially the way that I wrote it in the fic. I'm too awkward for that, and I'd feel like it's inherently cheating, even if boyfriend #1 is taking me to see boyfriend #2.

I will definitely hit you up for more... healthy???angst ideas LMAO for poly asks.

It made sense though, and I really really appreciate any kind of feedback and commentary about my fics. If enough people want a part 2, I'll definitely write it. The problem with writing part twos for fics like this though is like... Do I make reader say no to both of them? And if not... Who do the readers actually want to end up with? It's hard, like... Some people might want to choose Jisung and others might want Minho and I want to give everyone what they want.

[blackbloodteeth]

ah, I wonder what some of your takes about Fire force are

Y'all better strap in.

Actually, I'd like to start this off with reiterating that I did enjoy Fire Force for the most part and was largely into it for it being its own thing, so this isn't just "Soul Eater guy takes a dump on thing that isn't Soul Eater for fun" and most of my opinions come from a standpoint of my experience with Fire Force as a standalone series.

I'm also gonna try to be vague, but this will inevitably touch upon some level of spoilers, so read at your own risk.

That being said, I'd like to mention some things I liked about Fire Force to start off with: While the setup is admittedly very slow, the mystery it builds is intriguing as hell, and had me on the edge of my seat when it proceeded to somehow get even more batshit insane. There are a lot of good characters that end up really shining (to an extent, more on that in a bit) – Joker was a phenomenal antagonist and extremely entertaining. Benimaru and the twins were fun characters (hell, his whole district was probably one of the funnest settings there). Plague doctor guy is a huge piece of shit (/affectionate). I could list quite a few characters because they have an interesting way of existing in this strange, post-apocalyptic world that steadily unravels.

Also one of the biggest positives this series has is the range of abilities. You wouldn't think making every character a Fire-type would be inherently engaging, but somehow the creative ways to interpret the concept of thermodynamics just keep on giving. The human body's responses to heat causing unique and devastating effects? Literal fucking time travel via inhuman speeds and the leftover heat of the universe? How do you come up with this shit.

There's also a really fascinating concept that gets executed in a fittingly batshit manner later in the manga that has me itching to know how the fuck they're going to adapt that, but on the account of that being a later incident, I'm not going to elaborate lmao

Now. Here's where things start to go wrong.

I don't think you need me to say Ohkubo somehow got worse at writing women, because everyone and their mum is already aware of this. Bare minimum personalities, usually a tool to service the male characters, literal objectification, etc. Why is he is like this.

I think the only interesting female character was probably Haumea (and Shinra's mom to some extent, however I'm biased towards her design), but that I think had something to do with her design not really mirroring anyone in Soul Eater's and because she's a spiteful little shit, god love 'er.

And of course, it's obligatory that we have to mention Tamaki, who is probably the mascot of said writing issues at this point. Thing is, though, I actually love her design – A flaming two-tailed cat is an inherently awesome concept, which is why it sucks to see her potential completely squandered in favor of a "running gag" that genuinely no one is comfortable with. A lucky cat who brings misfortune onto itself is a very fun concept, and you went and used it for that. The attempt to write in a self-indulgent excuse of this whole thing late in the manga was not only irrelevant to the rest of the plot, it was, as the kids say, extremely cringe.

Look, I'm not here to soapbox against sexy woman, but when the character who has spent the entire series being distressed and uncomfortable about being unclothed and groped by other characters who are equally distressed and uncomfortable by the male author's fetish, suddenly decides she's going to have to accept being sexually objectified by men for "the sake of humanity", it really makes you think about Japan's view on women. Also she's canonically 17 at most, fuck off.

Anyway, with that out of the way: Joker. I could write a lengthy memorial piece for how brutally the writing murdered him by the end. I said I wasn't gonna spoil, but you just gotta know, when you give me an incredibly entertaining deranged man and then throw him in the trash and then light that trash on fire before the plot reaches its climatic big'n, I'm going to be just a little bit upset about it. It's incredibly obvious to me that Ohkubo didn't know what to do with him after a certain point on the account that his story eventually fizzled out in favor of literally anyone else, but not even showing him in the background of the epilogue was such a personal insult to injury to me. He might as well have actually died at that point.

I think part of this issue lies in that there were almost too many characters to keep track of by the end of the big climax, hence why this led to poorly juggling who actually gets screentime by the end of it. This, of course, is only a symptom of one of Fire Force's greatest downfalls: In that it had no time to actually properly work through its ending after the sheer amount of setup it was playing with.

One could potentially assume Ohkubo is just terrible at endings, however I've also heard there was an actual crunch to complete the series in the amount of chapters allotted, so take that for what you will.

See, I've said I found the mystery of the series to be fascinating and engaging in keeping me hooked to continue reading. I think that steadily building up the insanity happening within this world to the point by the time we learn the answer to the question first proposed at the beginning, it's only a footnote to what's unraveling, to be one of the most entertaining and gripping media I had the privilege of laying my eyes upon (momentary shout-out to the fan translation team for the manga, by the way, they absolutely killed it). That, unfortunately, is where it ends.

After a certain point, it keeps building up this insanity much like a train derails, lunges off a cliff, and then continues going so fast it rides across the surface of the ocean. The problem with this is that at some point it becomes so much, it's suffocating. There was a lot of action so it eventually became somewhat mind-numbing due to the lack of anything to really break up the pacing, which wouldn't have necessarily even been that much of an issue if it had actually given the audience a breather by the end. I mentioned there was an epilogue, but it was, like, one chapter at most, and a significant portion of it wasn't even dedicated to Fire Force.

One chapter to finally soak in the conclusion, and you don't even really get to spend it with the characters you've gotten invested in throughout the entire series. No time to take in what's happened to them, what's gonna happen to them, or even a sense of accomplishment as it just scoots the reader along to welp, show's over, folks. We got one panel of Shinra after the events of the series conclude. One, of the main character.

This of course dives into the delicate topic that is Ohkubo's futile escape from having been the guy who also made Soul Eater. Obviously that's probably my favourite series of all-time, and yet I am absolutely livid with the incredibly shallow connection he attempted to force into the ending, and I have several reasons for this:

It's incredibly cheap. It feels like it was done specifically to get more "attention" on Fire Force through easy means and not its own merit; less like a cute easter egg or nostalgic throwback, and more like it was just thrown in as bait for a starved fandom's wallet. Sure, maybe I can't confirm if that was really the intent, but it sure's shit feels that way when it takes up half the epilogue and the lore tie-in is as stable as the economy.

Like I mentioned, the attempt to integrate Fire Force into Soul Eater's lore leaves way more questions than it answers (and also sets itself up for failure regarding appearing like Soul Eater was going to get a sequel, however that's its own issue). There was so much I wanted to know about Fire Force's world by the end, and instead it kinda just... shoved it all under the rug, and said "alright, you figure it out" considering some of said lore doesn't necessarily mesh well with Soul Eater's world as it stands, for as little as we know about it. Sorry if this is repetitive, I'm starting to get a little loopy from how long I've been typing, haha.

Biggest one for me personally: Earlier in the series, there was an actually tasteful and interesting reference to Soul Eater through a dimensional rift that leads to Death City. This makes the later tie-in a complete slap in the face, because not only did Fire Force not do anything with this dimensional rift set-up, the ending almost retcons whatever the hell it was trying to allude to with that idea. Why must the good ideas die young.

I mean honestly, I'm not necessarily against Fire Force connecting with Soul Eater in any form, I just think it needed to be done right. Fire Force was already being stretched thin by its own plot, so throwing that in with bare minimum elaboration without expanding upon its own world just kinda feels... disrespectful, to both medias.

I won't say that the end of the manga wasn't the most hype shit known to man when the chapters were releasing (you really had to be there for it, haha), but after all the adrenaline died down, I was left drained and somewhat critical of the writing given I had genuine attachment to the series as it was. It didn't really need any fanservice to prop it up, which to me is why said connection feels shallow at best when it eats away "screentime" from Fire Force's own conclusion.

Honestly, part of why I'm intrigued to see how the anime adapts the rest of the manga (aside from certain events) is because I truthfully hope it fixes the pacing issues the climax suffered from. I'm not terribly optimistic about it given there's only a couple more seasons in the works, and the manga set it up with a loaded question regarding the Soul Eater tie-in, but can't exactly say the ensuing chaos won't at least be entertaining.

Alright, I've been at this for well over an hour, so I'm gonna go ahead and roll the credits here since I've got most of it outta my system, haha. This is the danger of asking me discussion questions / my opinion, hahahah (you think this is bad, you should see me on Discord).

[evelynpr]

With the idea of the og post, to me yandere!Ayaka just doesn't make sense because literally her main story is about being able to move on from losing the people she loves (most evidently her parents). Not only is she, you know, a sweet and loving person in general, she is Selfless.

She would never put her own needs above the traveler's because she loves how free, kind, and proactive they are in their life. For Ayaka to be the person to HOLD THEM BACK from that freedom is just a betrayal of who she is and the story she tells.

However, yandere!Ayaka CAN BE DONE WELL!!! Because a major theme for her is moving on from her past loved ones, BUT still yearning for her own freedom and happiness. She may be overly attached to the traveler, heck she almost idolizes them in her mind, so it would be interesting to see her fall back to her habit of overly attaching herself to someone in fear of losing them, and even using her political influence and "sweetness" to that effect. This is a cool and sexy concept if you do it well.

But like, you nearly never see that portrayal because the writing for most "just a nice girl" Genshin characters just flies over people's heads. Next thing you know there's a meme about how her banner might last forever, then leading to a joke of her being Overly Possessive of the traveler, then now she's a yandere because...Aether gets All the girls hahahaha sooooo funny. It's fine for memes okay, but actual characterization??? No? Can you not read?

I personally don't believe that "Aether harem" per say ruins everything (I mean I made a whole post about it), but its the "insultingly simplified characterization of female characters that align with the common harem trope" that makes Aether harem culture annoying to me. It's fitting these characters with such beautiful narratives and themes to such an objectifying and small mold, especially women.

do you ever read a take so bad you can't even be mad about it you're just like... ohhhhhh they must be stupid </3 so sad for them

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

I agree with alot of things on your blog, but when ever you bring up the male gaze i am always confused. For context, im nonbinary and bisexual, but have been having major questions about my gender and sexuality lately. Regardless, even before i started questioning myself, the whole thing about the male gaze always made me feel guilty and disgusting for my attraction to women.

If someone is not a woman, or not only a woman, can they still participate in the male gaze. Or is it something specific to people who are men and men only. If someone that is sapphic likes media about wlw, knowing that the media was not made for them but for men that fetishize people like them, is that sapphic person participating in a variant of the male gaze? Is it possible for someone that is not a woman to like or appreciate women without partaking in the male gaze? If so, in what ways are they partaking in it, and how can they prevent themselves from doing so.

I want to make it clear that i am in no way disagreeing with the concept of the male gaze, but more so confused on who and when the concept is applied to.

So "the male gaze" is a film/art analysis concept, basically the idea that the expected default audience of a work is straight men and that any portrayal of women in that work is sexualized/objectifying for the enjoyment of that expected audience, for the "gaze" of those heterosexual men.

Some feminists (including me in the past, I don't anymore for clarity's sake) have extended the usage of this phrase to talk about the way men in real life expect that women in real life should only exist in men's awareness for the sake of those men's (often erotic and/or visual) enjoyment. It's mostly used to denote a specific flavour of objectification.

All of this is to say, objectification is the problem under discussion, both in film and in real life. Physical attraction isn't the same thing - when you find someone physically appealing you don't have to also treat them like that appeal is the whole point of their existence.

Do you see or treat women as objects to possess or to use, or whose purpose is your personal enjoyment? Do you prefer to ignore the fact that women are human beings just like you, with their own complex motivations, needs, dislikes, and experiences? When you look at women, are you seeing people or objects?

"The male gaze" isn't about being a man and looking at someone, it's a specific form of objectification in media made under patriarchy.

It's about hierarchial social forces, not every individual man. Even if you were a heterosexual man, you wouldn't be doomed to reenact this objectification upon the women you encounter. It wouldn't be unreasonable to accuse female filmmakers of catering to the male gaze sometimes either - but you just consuming media that objectifies its female characters doesn't automatically mean you are objectifying those women.

Think of this objectification not as an inherent quality based on gender, but as a specific form of patriarchial dehumanization that people of any gender can choose not to perpetuate.

Whatever your gender is, even if you eventually land on "man", being misogynistic isn't fate, it's not hard wired, it's just expected behaviour you can choose not to go along with. You will always have a choice about objectifying women, your gender won't change that. Even women have to decide not to see or treat other women as objects.

And your feelings about women aren't tainted with objectification automatically just because you find them physically appealing. Attraction isn't objectification, and the idea that objectification is an inherent part of being attracted to women is just another way patriarchy justifies misogyny.

If you want to make sure you don't get sucked into a mindset of objectification when you consume media that may objectify women, it may be helpful to consciously analyze the media's choices as you consume it. How are the female characters treated differently to male ones? Who gets more interiority? Who gets more agency, whose choices influence the story more? How are the camera angles or physical descriptions different? Do the female characters seem to exist only or primarily for the sake of an expected male gaze?

(A bonus round to this analysis could engage with how the expected audience affects how a piece of media treats lbt+ women/women of colour/disabled women/fat women/sex workers etc., the way the casting choices do or don't submit to misognynistic and otherwise oppressive beauty standards, and so on and so forth.)

[kanohivolitakk]

Thank you for tagging me in this post Fairy.

The women in the Engage manga aren't treated as sex objects, this isn't an ecchi manga for gods sake. Just because the women are attractive and exemplify some fanservice moments doesn't make them any worse character than the male characters, nor does it make them objectified. They still are allowed to have characterization and agency, them being hot isn't an issue.

Heck if them being hot was an issue then why aren't we complaining whenever a dude is being hot/fanservicy. Like fairy said, male characters get fanservice too, its just less overt than with female characters.

This is something that really bugs me with how western fans talk about otaku culture, that it is this deeply sexual and fanservicy experience when it's not? Sure, there is fanservice and ecchi in otaku media, but a lot of otaku culture media around emotional appeal to fictional characters than T&A. Thats the whole concept of moe revolves around, getting attached to cute characters with cute and appealing personalities. Yes, looks are important too, but they're half of the puzzle. If the character isn't likable and sympathetic, then the otaku media has failed.

Otaku culture functions less on fanservice, and more on emotion, by getting the audience attached to a character. It is more important for a character to be "cute" and "beautiful" than sexy, unless again ecchi is the main appeal. Which as I said usually isn't the case .

On the note of sexism and fiction affects reality. Yes, it is true to an extent, but you have to understand that otaku media isn't designed this way. Because like Fairy said, otaku media views female characters as objects and gets the appeal of those women being objects.

A major thing about otaku culture that westerners don't grasp is that otakus lust specifically fictional women rather than real living and breathing women. While it is somewhat of a stereotype that otaku only care for fictional women, it is one based on truth to the point the phonemenon has a name, 2D complex. Something that's time and time again repeated in otaku academia is that otakus desire is specifically based in the women being fictional two dimensional drawings. To quote what one of the most prominent otaku academics Saitou Tamaki said in Moe Manifesto.

Otaku can fulfill their desires interacting with fictional characters, which exist in what they call the “two-dimensional” world. When I wrote my book in 2000, it was assumed that drawings of cute girls were a substitute for real girls. The thinking was that those who could not make it with women in reality projected their desires into fantasy. But with otaku that was never the case. The desires for the three-dimensional and the two-dimensional are separate.

~ Saitou Tamaki, The Moe Manifesto: An insider's look at the worlds of manga, anime and gaming. wb Patrick Galbraith,

Imagine this in this way. In the minds of the otaku fictional women are a caricature, a simplification of real women that exist in their own plane. They are not comparable to real women. If otaku like say, a teacher character, this doesn't mean that the otaku has a thing for real teachers. If anything it is the opposite. Otaku like the things they like specifically because they are fiction rather than them existing in reality.

Fundamentally otaku media is escapist: there has been numerous researches of how otaku media appeals specifically to societal dropouts and down on luck salarymen due to it giving them an escape from reality. The appeal of otaku media comes preciesly from it existing in a fictional plane separate from reality and thus giving otaku a safe space to escape worries and be in a world thats warmer and kinder. Its why so much otaku media is wishfulfillment fantasy about a down on luck everyman becoming a hero to save the day and getting all the girls: for a guy whose life sucks the fantasy of having a good life even in fiction gives comfort and power they lack in real life.

To be fair, otaku do somewhat take it to the other extreme where they treat fiction and reality as two completely separate entities unrelated to one another. In reality yes, fiction and reality are connected and affect one another and there are case where being invested in moe and otaku media is a sign of being a misogynist or a p*do. But usually it's not as people who like cutesy anime girls either don't give a shit about real women, or like fictional women for different reasons than real women. Liking cutesy anime girls in otaku media may be a sign that you're a creep, but doesn't inherently make you sexist towards women or a creep. It is far more nuanced than people say.

Also a character being sexy or NSFW doesn't mean theyre inherently sexist. A character having internal life and agency is far more important than whether or not the camera oogles at them. You have plenty of well written and defined female characters with solidly defined arcs who still get cute bath scenes. Those aren't mutually exclusive.

This isn't to say there aren't any issues with 2d complex or "fictional women as objects" mindset, but just as much do we have to realize that "fiction isn't reality". Engage women being drawn as waifus doesn't make them sexist, at most it is a sign of the otaku media functioning on trends that are a bit old fashioned. But even then, there are emotional reasons why they are the way they are.

I know you love it, but I really don’t like the manga… all the women are drawn like objects (minus the kids aka veyle), like the bathing scene and the only person who’s body is covered is Alfred’s, or ivys suspenders squeezing her thighs in a way that would cut of circulation. I’m kind of glad the mangaka picked m!alear because their one drawing of f!Alear had an up skirt shot. I don’t know… do you have any opinions on this?

...bathing scene ? What ? There is no bathing scene at all, what are you talking about ?

"ivys suspenders squeezing her thighs in a way that would cut of circulation"

That's accurate, she doesn't wait gartbelt, so if they aren't tight, they would fall. Someone made a tweet about this hang on (damn I can't find it)

"the only person who’s body is covered is Alfred’s"

...he isn't covered...there is just a bubble in front of the drawing...that's not coverage...what ?

"the women are drawn like objects" they aren't...really, they aren't. They are literaly just drawn having fun in swimsuit that aren't even that revealing. Also Anon, we are talking about fictional characters, not real women, I agree sometimes fanservice can be gross but there is no instance of that in the manga, the artist isn't straying away from the original designs, and i know we love to poke fun of how they draw Lumera and Chloé, but imo it's more proportions than anything

"I’m kind of glad the mangaka picked m!alear because their one drawing of f!Alear had an up skirt shot. "

They've drawn her many times, there was nothing objectifying about them

Like, I don't know why exactly you don't like the manga, but none of those claims are true, imo it's probably your discomfort speaking more than anything else

If I were you, I would just stop reading it

[wolf-queer-discourse]

Adventures in Aphobia #1

So I was scrolling through Tumblr the other day (a regrettable mistake as always), and I had the great pleasure of seeing this joyous post.

*deep breath*

Not gonna lie, posts like this make me real pissed. Pissed because the person who posted this exists in a space where they feel comfortable enough to post this online. Pissed because these posts are so common and often face little backlash. And pissed because there’s nothing better than allosexuals condescendingly explaining to asexual people why they’re dirty attention whores who invent their own oppression. Ace people deserve to be defended against this horseshit. Young people see these posts, and it’s extremely damaging to have your identity be nothing more than fuel for people in discourse to mock you and demand you bled in order for them to notice your pain.

Anger aside, many people do not see why this post is wrong, so why is it? Let’s unpack this clusterfuck of bigotry:

“would love to see substantive evidence of systematic “aphobia” that isn’t actually just misogyny, toxic masculinity, or rpe culture.”

God damn, we are not mincing our words here XD. A few things: systematic in bold, which tells you if you do not make a blood sacrifice on the altar of queer pain you will not be taken seriously. Potential nitpick, but systemic and systematic are not the same thing. I believe systemic is the word they’re looking for. Systematic implies a lot more intentionality that can be hard to prove. Systemic merely means that systems, in their current state, do aphobic things, which they absolutely do.

“Aphobia” in quotes is absolutely rich. Not only will this person refuse to acknowledge systemic aphobia, which is only one type, but this poster casts clear doubt upon the mere concept of aphobia in and of itself. We love to see it.

There’s a lot to unpack here. The statement, as clearly condescending as intended, is sort of correct, though it doesn’t mean a whole lot. Systemic oppression is about the systems in a society (government, healthcare, etc) discriminating against people. Systemic oppression is not bigotry faced on a person-to-person level. In short, systematic oppression is something a person experiences in their overall life, while personal discrimination is experienced on a personal level by people who are not singularly in control of the systems. This post boils down the negative comments ace people face into being called “weird”, which is an understatement for sure, but calling a gay person weird isn’t systemic oppression either.

It’s still bad and discriminatory.

This is such a snotty way to dismiss aphobia as some mere, insignificant comment with no meaning as if it doesn’t reinforce society’s painful aphobic views in the same way casual homophobic comments reinforce heteronormativity and society’s hostility toward gay people.

Ace people face discrimination in healthcare, most notably, which is systemic discrimination, but the systemic discrimination of asexuals really ought to be its own post if I’m to nosedive into it. Even if ace people faced no systemic discrimination, it wouldn’t make this point anymore correct. Discrimination is a perfectly valid reason to feel disregarded by society, and often only ace people are denied the right to feel this way and are instead gaslit into admitting what they face is no big deal and they’re just making it up for attention.

The experience of being pressured to have sex when you’re allo vs ace is very different. The vast majority of allo people do not plan to be celibate their whole lives. Many ace people do not want to have sex, ever. “Waiting for sex” in much of western society and in Christianity is seen as pure and honorable. Yet being asexual and never wanting sex is seen as a deviant disorder and people are accused of robbing their partner of sex forever.

There’s really a specific flavor of sexual pressure that is unique to ace people. Sex being to “fix” someone or because they “just need to try it”.

In this respect, aphobic sexual pressure is better compared to that faced by gay people and lesbians. Lesbians especially often can face this same struggle, men pressuring them to have sex because they think lesbians just need to “try it” or to “fix them”. I can imagine this poster would have no issue acknowledging lesbophobia being the root of lesbians coerced into sex with men, yet she does not give ace people the same.

Imagine if someone said (and knowing our fucked world, someone probably has): “Lesbophobia doesn’t exist. It’s just misogyny. Straight women are coerced into sex too!”

It’d be pathetic bullshit. Toxic masculinity, misogyny and many other issues can all tangle into combined messes with other forms of bigotry. Lesbophobia is an experience that deserves to be recognized apart from misogyny, even if the two are linked. Please stop erasing ace people’s experiences with this when it’s not the same thing.

Honestly, though, this post, as trashy as it is, if anything, is perhaps, really asking: Is there any type of aphobic experience that’s inherently exclusive to ace people?

I still wager to go say, yes, yes there is, but I must make an important point first:

Most experiences of queer discrimination are not limited to queer people.

Homophobia and transphobia are both experienced by cishets in certain instances. Feminine straight men can be victims of homophobic harassment. This does not disprove the fact that it’s homophobia just because a straight man is the victim of it. A tall cis woman with broad shoulders and a lower voice may be the victim of transphobic remarks or comments. The basis of these comments is rooted in transphobia, however, so the fact that the victim is cis does not erase the transphobia.

People who argue that experiences ace people complain about can be experienced by allosexuals are not poking a legitimate hole in doing this. Certain experiences related to aphobia can and are experienced by allosexuals. If you do not acknowledge this, then homophobia and transphobia aren’t real because cishet people have sometimes experienced them.

Despite cishets sometimes experiencing queerphobia, most of us acknowledge that their experience of that bigotry, however unfortunate, is not the same as that experienced by actual queer people. It’d be quite homophobic for a feminine straight man to claim he knew just as much about the gay experience as an actual gay man. Similarly, when allosexual people relate experiences that were rooted in aphobia, it’s overstepping a line when they claim asexual discrimination isn’t real because they experienced elements of it too.

Cishet (cishet including allosexuals) people do not experience their doctors telling them their sexuality might be a disorder or caused by trauma. Allo queer people can experience this with their sexualities too.

“using sex appeal to sell products is misogyny, it is not engineered to gross sex-repulsed people, it is meant to objectify women.”

This is a strawman thinner than my last nerve. Uh, what? What ace people are you seeing that literally think sex appeal was engineered to gross-out sex-repulsed people?? I don’t think this is a core argument??

Yes, sex-repulsed ace people sometimes complain about sex appeal in media being uncomfortable. But that’s it. Every time an ace person shares a discomfort of theirs doesn’t mean it’s the entire basis of their oppression. For the love of God, let ace people discuss their experiences without being blow-torched over not being oppressed enough with an individual discomfort. 

BONUS ROUND

(This was in the tags)

“Completely vilifies celibate individuals” 

...no…? What…? Huh…? 

The most charitable interpretation of this vague accusation is that the poster means celibate people face aphobia as well, due to not wanting to have sex. I have no idea how this “vilifies” anyone, but that aside, as said before: people who are not queer can face aphobia. Also worth noting that society treats celibate people way better than ace people, which is really another example of aphobia. Celibate people can be told they’re missing out (which could be at very least related to aphobic ideals), but they’re rarely called broken. Celibacy is seen more as a respected, controlled ideal in allo people, but when ace people want to do it, they’re just mentally ill.

Anyway, the post was aphobic trash, and it needs to be debunked more often. Mocking ace people online is not a good look anymore, guys. Don't be ugly.

[shoezuki]

Isn’t one of Techno’s boundaries not being sexualized though? /gen

I’m confused on why everyone is so upset? Were you joking?

So like its a kinda weird whole thing if i Actually take all of whats being around n analyze it down to its bare bones. But imo it comes down to how perceptions and definitions of 'sexualization' are just... weird n a lot of ppl have different ideas.

Like ESSENTIALLY it all started w This

And the thing is ITS NOT ENTIRELY A JOKE. it Is to be Haha Funnie. But also i Do think highly of te hno n have like. Think some celeb type crush on him yknow. More like 'yo holyshit 😳' type thoughts a the dude.

So essentially the bare bones Beginnig of this: i made a tweet that Could either sound vaguely sexual or literal (we love to fight here) and i thought that the Either Or type of 'wait what does this mean' is REALLY FUNNY. and it was like some of the intial 'i dont get it..... WAIT' replies had me losing my shit

But like. People started to freak out over it somewhat n essentially it comes to this. Is this sexualizing technoblade? Is this against his boundaries? I really don't think so. On both accounts.

For one, the concept of sezualizing ccs to me has a lot to do with objectifying, reducing them from human beings to something sexual. Me making a tweet that COULD be interpreted in a vague nsfw way isnt really equivalent. This one is more like saying someone is sexually attractive in my mind. SECONDLY, his boundaries that ppl have cited to me in order to say he is Against This. Is like. When he found flirty donations towards him weird, how he doesnt want ppl to make sexual content of him and his friends. And for one a vague tweet isnt creating content, and this is Not a flirt towards him. Which WOULD be fuckin weird if i was @ing him w this shit. But i aint

BUT LIKE. that aside. My biggest whole Thing is. How is this much different than how other ppl talk or treat him.

Like. Is this any worse or More Explicit than saying youre a techno simp or that youre Down Bad for techno? At one point there was a copypasta people kept making which a Bigger acct had made which was describing techno's voice as 'hot smooth' but that was fine while mine isnt? What about his jokes about his elbows being hot and how people beg for pictures of his elbows? Is that too far and is that Sexualizing him?

Moreso i saw a mutual of mine (whos still my mutual there LETS GOOO) make a post saying something along the lines of 'if this is sexualizing would how people compliment art of him and how they draw him be sexualizing?' And THAT is extremely fucking interesting to me.

Basically its like..... people tend to pick and chose what is and isnt good on a whim or to go along with the crowd, even though these things could be considered equal in such ways. And like what ppl consider is or isnt sexual changes HUGELY depending on context, intents, personal ideas, etcetcetc. So what i say could be fine to one and then be weird to another. Which is FINE.

Its jus when people decide where boundaries lie for ccs and other people in relation to majorly harmless things like this. THATS weird and it becomes a means of ppl flexing their superiority real quick.

[aspoonofsugar]

Your Power...Your Theme

This post is born because of @waywardtravelerfart asking about a comparison between Semblances (Rwby) and Quirks (BNHA).

In general, I am not a hardcore BNHA fan, though, so I decided to drag other magic systems in this comparison.

So, I will be comparing...

1) Semblances:

2) Quirks:

3) Nen (HxH):

4) Abilities (BSD):

5) Magic (WHA):

Body and Soul

1) & 3)

Pyrrha: Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. Have you ever felt you were being watched without knowing that someone was there? With practice, our Aura can be our shield. Everyone has it, even animals.

Nen and Semblances are very similar ideas. Both have their root in the concept of aura aka life force and are trained through specific exercises that are based on martial arts.

More importantly, they are manifestations of a person’s soul.

This is why in both series they are linked to one’s individuality:

Ren: A common philosophy is that a warrior’s Semblance is a part of who they are.

And both Nen and Semblances grow and evolve with the person.

At the same time, both stories focus not only on the soul, but also on the body.

In HxH Gon and Killua must train their bodies just as much as their nen. No matter how much stronger their auras become, they would still be left defenseless if they forget about basic training and if they do not take care of their bodies.

Similarly, Huntsmen and Huntresses in Rwby have both Semblances and Weapons:

By baring your soul outward as a force, you can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment are conduits for Aura. You protect yourself and your soul when fighting.

Weapons are linked to personalities just like Semblances are:

Ruby: Just weapons? They’re an extension of ourselves! They’re a part of us! Oh, they’re so cool.

It is only through the combination of weapons and semblances that one becomes strong and whole.

In order to experience humanity to its fullest, one needs both a soul:

And a body:

In short, Semblances and Nen are representative of the Soul. They are a physical projection of it. Moreover, they need to be completed by the Body to properly work.

4)

BSD abilities are similar because they clearly symbolize characters’ coping mechanisms.

They are linked to people’s personalities and their effects are highly variegated and impossible to explain through biology alone (for example, a character is able to materialize a whole room in another dimension).

At the same time, they seem to have some physical properties.

For example, it is possible to create artificial abilities and to implant them into people. The process has yet to be properly explained, though.

This can be compared to the research on aura made in Rwby.

That said, this specific research is framed negatively by the narrative because it is an attempt to control what it should not be (a person’s soul).

Similary, in BSD, such experiments are criticized as well because they violate human rights and are an attempt to weaponize abilities, which is an ongoing topic explored by the story.

2)

Quirks are instead framed as the result of biological evolution. This creates an interesting inversion compared to the other stories. Quirks are not simply physical representations of a character’s psychology, but they are a part of the reason why that character develops a specific coping mechanism.

Toga is attracted to blood because her Quirk is about drinking blood, so she naturally likes it.

Shigaraki’s destruction traumatizes him because it leads to his family’s death.

Touya’s weak constitution makes his power difficult to use, hence he develops self-hurting tendencies.

5)

Finally, Magic in WHA is something that exists outside the characters.

It is not something people are born with, but an art they can master through study and dedication.

Its origin is still unknown, but it is explained that it works thanks to specific materials:

And even human blood can be used to strengthen it:

In short, Magic is a human art that makes use of specific natural resources and a specific knowledge to create several effects. In a sense, its logic is similar to both art and programming. It is similar to art because the witches need to exercise on drawing and to be creative on their approaches to things. It is similar to programming because they must use what is basically a specific language made of symbols to create different effects.

So, Magic is not linked to a person’s soul in the way other magical systems are, but a character’s personality still emerges from the kind of magic they specialize in. This is something unavoiable... after all this is how personality works in real life as well... we all have different approaches to problems and beliefs that will emerge in our art and in our jobs.

In conclusion, all these magical systems are connected in different ways to characters’ personalities, to their flaws and to their symbolic roles in the narrative.

In these metas, there are some examples of how this happens for HxH, Rwby, BSD and WHA.

Power and Privilege

3) & 5)

Nen and Magic are similar:

With enough training, both powers can be used by everyone.

However, both HxH society and WHA society choose to keep them secret because the damage that could come from sharing this knowledge is potentially devastating.

That said, both stories also show how there is hypocrisy behind this stance.

HxH does so in an indirect way.

Nen is supposed to be secret, so that dangerous people can’t use its power for wrong reasons.

However, many hunters are not really moral people. If anything many are violent and ready to kill. The exam itself encourages these tendencies since it does not punish murderers. Moreover, it turns out that very dangerous people already know about nen:

WHA explores this theme more directly:

The secret behind magic creates inequality. Magic could be used to help much more people, but it is limited by the law that imposes witches to keep the secret and forbids them from using magic to heal.

The result is an unjust society and a paradox. Isn’t there another way to use magic that it is less elitarian?

2) Similarly, quirks create inequality in BNHA. However, the mechanisms behind it are slightly different.

Not only people without quirks are discriminated, but also people with specific powers are considered less than others.

This happens either because the power is considered weak or lame or because it is considered a villain power.

In other words, BNHA society nurtures a simplicistic and black and white vision of quirks and people. This leads to some being discriminated for their quirks and to others being excused of everything because of their abilities.

4) In BSD, we have a similar yet partly opposite situation.

Ability users are mostly dehumanized and weaponized by society.

Basically the series explores how society makes use of its more vulnerable members and objectifies them.

So, in BSD having an ability is not really a synomim of privilege, but it is rather something that can set you apart and make you a victim of your country or your organization.

Because of this,the characters struggle to both accept their powers, but also not to be defined by it.

1) Finally, the case of RWBY is interesting because even if society is founded on privilege and inequity, semblances are not really a pivotal part of it.

It is much more common for people to be discriminated because of their bodies (like the Faunus) or their social status than for their semblances. Surely, cases like those exist, but they are not particularly explored by the story.

This might be because semblances are just one of many factors that determine a personal’s stance in society. Moreover, it is not even that clear how much common people know about semblances and aura. I would not say it is exactly a secret, especially because semblances can manifest themselves in a variety of situations. Still, it seems to me that they are mostly aknowledged and accepted by common people, but not exactly pursued or studied.

Symbolically, semblances are linked to an ancient magic that has been forgotten by people. This could tie with why some people, especially in Atlas, have been dismissive of them to an extent. Whitley dismisses his own and is not interested in developing it, while Watts is one of the few characters who fight without a semblance.

It might very well be that human technology and dust make so many different effects possible that a semblance, even if important for a warrior’s own strength and individuality, is not really the only factor that determines the place of a person in society.

In conclusion, all these power systems are linked to privilege in different ways. They are used to explore social inequality or parts of the society that are either repressed or not aknowledged.

Choices and limits

1) 2) & 4)

Quirks, Abilities, Semblances and their limits are not chosen. You are born with them and the most you can do is to try and overcome the limitations or to come up with clever ways to use your power.

You can train your Quirk, so that it becomes stronger.

When it comes to Abilities instead, characters usually must train to control what are potentially dangerous powers.

There are also abilities that help other people to control their powers and modify how these powers work. For example, there is a character whose ability is about summoning a fighting avatar. However, to do so, she needs to be called on a specific phone and it is actually the one calling that commands the avatar. Still, thanks to the influence of the above mentioned ability, she becomes able to summon the avatar at will and does not need the phone anymore.

Finally, in the case of Semblances, you need to meditate and to train your semblance, so that it can evolve. At the same time, though, semblance evolution can happen also because of specifical psychological conditions.

For example, Ren’s Tranquility both activates and evolves not because of physical training, but because of stress (the first time) and emotional growth (the second). This is fitting because his ability has mostly to do with emotions, so it is telling that it evolves as he grows emotionally rather than physically.

Ruby’s semblance is instead a physical one since she is super fast. So it is fitting that it mostly manifests and evolves with her training at using it.

Finally, when it comes to semblances, you do not really choose how they evolve and what new effects you gain. They are mostly an unconscious part of yourself that grows with you.

3) & 5)

The kind of magic you specialize in and the nen power you are gonna have are things one chooses.

To be more specific, they are influenced from one’s talents, but then they evolve according to a person’s choice.

For example, the protagonist Gon has an aura which is particularly good to strengthen things, so he chooses to use it to strengthen his punch. Moreover, he really likes Jankenpon, so he comes up with a power that uses this game. It is a technique that creates different effects depending on what he chooses to “play” (scissors, rock or paper).

Similarly, Coco is good at drawing straight lines and this makes her good with basic magic, that she uses in original ways because of her thinking outside the box. Her teacher Qifrey instead specializes in water magic because he used to be scared of water when he was little and wanted to overcome this fear.

At the same time, both nen users and witches must face limitations.

Nen has limitations that are self-imposed and decided by the users.

Magic has limitations that are imposed by society and codified through law.

Nen works with the idea that the stronger the limitation you set, the stronger will be your power. Similarly, if you sacrifice something, you can obtain a more powerful effect.

For example, another character called Kurapika creates chains with different powers. One of his chains has the limitation to only work on the members of a specific criminal group. Moreover, if Kurapika breaks this rule, he’ll lose his life. Since the sacrifice Kurapika has decided is pretty extreme, that chain is basically impossible to break.

Of course, limitations do not need to be so extreme. The protagonist’s jankenpon is limited by the fact he says out loud the name of his technique and takes time to use it (both goes against him, since it gives his opponent time to prepare). In this way the power gets stronger.

Magic is a very dangerous force, so it is prohibited to use magic on people’s bodies. This includes the idea that you can’t heal bodies directly or that you can’t change the way you look. It also forbids people from using blood to make magic stronger and to put glyphs on a person’s skin.

These limitations challenge the characters and force them to think outside the box. For example, Coco wants to save her mom who became a stone. The best way to do so is  to use magic on her, but this is prohibited hence Coco keeps brainstorming about how she can do it and even thinks about breaking the law multiple times.

In conclusion, powers are often linked to the self and the degree of control and choices characters have on them is symbolic of which part of the self we are talking about.

In the case of semblances and abilities, they mirror an unconscious part.

A Quirk is a biological factor that influences one’s self instead and that everyone can try ot develop in a way they like.

Finally, nen and magic are a conscious part of the self that still mirrors unconscious tendencies.

Not only that, but abilties have limits that come from either outside the person or inside them.

POWER SYSTEMS AND THE FIVE KINDS OF CONFLICT

In stories, there are at least five types of conflict.

1) Man vs Self

2) Man vs Society

3) Man vs Man

4) Man vs Nature

5) Man vs God

The magic systems we explored are linked to at least three of these five types.

Man vs Self

Supernatural abilities are linked to a person’s interiority and personality. Often they are representative of the character’s flaw and their limits can be overcome only by the person’s growth.

Man vs Society

Power systems end up being influenced and influence fictional societies.

They can represent privilege or some wrongdoing in society itself.

Alternatively, they can be limited by society’s rules and imposed laws.

Man vs Man

It is not uncommon to have special powers used in fights. In this case, they become symbolic ways to explore characters’ relationships, themes and different value systems.

This is something that BSD, HxH and Rwby do a lot. WHA has had less fights as for now, but it is definately something that has come up and will come up more in the future. Finally, I am not too much into BNHA to comment on the series, but I would be surprised if it is not the same there as well.

In conclusion, I do not really have much to say on the onthology of powers in different narrative worlds and tbh I do not think this is really what many writers think about when they design them. I think what writers focus on is how to make interesting powers that convey a character’s personality, can be used to explore the world and give life to entertaining fights.

[fangirlinglikeabus]

like off the top of my head and with the caveat it's been a While since i last saw most of these (though i have watched them all at least twice)

the twin dilemma - i mentioned this in the tags but obviously this has the World's Worst Regeneration. actually this post was partly brought about because i saw the clip post-him trying to murder peri where he tells her 'i have an inbuilt resistance to any form of violence' but then realises that she's genuinely terrified of him - that whatever the spectrox poisoning did, it's altered him far more than simple death.

attack of the cybermen - idk man it's the cybermen, lytton almost gets converted.

vengeance on varos - peri almost gets turned into a bird and while this is apparently an expression of her desire to fly away, the doctor does have to bring her back to herself by telling her 'i am the doctor and you are peri', as though the transformation put her in danger of losing that.

the mark of the rani - one of the goofier examples cuz a man gets turned into a sentient tree (whose human consciousness does apparently still manifest itself enough to save peri!) but on the flipside we've got the men who remain human but whose personality is altered by the rani stealing a chemical from their brains.

the two doctors - this is doctor who's Race Science Is Real episode and i therefore cannot in good conscience defend the whole Mess that is the androgums and the argument that they're inherently brutal and quote unquote 'reforming them' both requires medical intervention and is doomed to fail. however i do think a more interesting version of this would present dastari's experiment as wrong not because it won't work and invites a monster among 'civilized people' but because he's imposing his own ideas of superiority onto someone else, altering her body in the name of it, and thus disconnecting her from the rest of her people. though admittedly i don't think that would solve the problems innate to chessene's conception as a character. oh yeah, and the second doctor ALSO gets his body modified which transforms his personality in this one.

timelash - okay to be fair the borad did that to himself. but he wants to transform peri into his mate! men being gross to and objectifying peri is its own form of bodily violation, besides the whole unwanted mutation thing, but that might be a topic for another day.

revelation of the daleks - humans being transformed into daleks! it's kinda wild to me that Noted Cybermen Enjoyer eric saward should leave his 'isn't it horrible to be forcibly converted into a monster intolerant of those different from itself while also losing your sense of your own humanity' plot for this instead, though i suppose with the daleks you've got the added element of 'they'd HATE to be reliant on human dna'. CANNOT remember if that's at all brought up here.

mindwarp - philip martin's obviously big into this whole theme cos it crops up in creed of the kromon as well. anyway this is the big one, we've got a mutated guy, we've got peri being forcibly turned into a vessel for another person's brain - and it also serves as something of a callback to the twin dilemma, with peri once more dealing with an unpredictable and hostile doctor while she's isolated and out of her depth.

terror of the vervoids - comparatively tame but we do get a woman who's mutating into a plant thing, to her own horror. what with the tree mines of mark of the rani as well, this seems to be a Thing for the bakers.

the ultimate foe - this is a major stretch but like...the valeyard? all that's evil in the doctor, facing him across a courtroom, looking to supplant the doctor's identity by stealing his remaining lives.

no i don't know what it All Means but i do kind of feel like i'm destined to post about it on my next proper classic who rewatch because it's certainly a recurring motif, and even if that just represents saward's interests (and thus what he was inclined to commission) rather than a deliberately worked out theme, there's still probably something to say about that

i think listening to peri and the piscon paradox has fully reactivated the 80s dr who brainrot part of my mind...anyway do you ever think about how many of the sixth doctor's tv stories involve someone undergoing a physical transformation imposed upon them by an outside force which fundamentally alters their identity in some way?