#knowing the depression narrative is a lie even when it does not feel like it is is key

[yepthatsacowalright]

"It always feels complete when it's really bad. It feels like this is the whole story of your life, this is the only thing you can ever be, the only life you will ever have, and that's just not true. That is part of this incredibly seductive lie that despair tells, and I understand falling for the lie, I have fallen for it may times myself, but it's a lie."

- John Green on how a lifetime of OCD inspired Turtles All The Way Down

[sky-fire-forever]

One thing I've actually been thinking about for awhile is the parallel between Mary Bonnet and Izzy Hands and, more specifically, how Ed and Stede are treated in their abandonment of them.

Izzy and Mary are mirrors of each other. Izzy is to Ed as Mary is to Stede. The one the captain is duty-bound to. The one they made a promise to stand by. Stede and Ed fail to communicate with them and when they do, they choose the wrong times and method (Ed talking around his boredom with his way of life while they are under threat of death, Stede surprising Mary with the boat). They don't listen to their respective partners (Ed basically ignoring Izzy while Izzy begs for a plan on how to not die, Stede not remembering that Mary hates the ocean). And Izzy and Mary are the caretakers for the people they're responsible for, with Ed and Stede only giving them attention when it's time to play (Ed choosing to stay in his cabin and making Izzy do most of the actual managing of the crew until Ed finds something new to be excited about, Stede being shown to ignore his children until it's time to play pirates). They also both lie to their partners about their plans when confronted (Stede claiming he'll "have it stopped" when referring to the boat before lying about having it made at all, Ed claiming he's planning on killing Stede even though he never wanted to). They both abandon their partners' plans (Ed deciding not to kill Stede, Stede running out on Mary). Izzy and Mary are both shown to be unhappy with their respective partners, but stay with them out of a sense of duty or responsibility (Izzy's threat to resign comes after he's been struggling to manage the crew and his life for some time, Mary saying straight up that she knows this isn't the life she or Stede wanted). There's like a million other things, but other people have made better posts about that

The point is that Discomfort in a Married State is about both Stede and Mary being unhappily married, but also Ed and Izzy being unhappy in the same dynamic. As much as they try, no one in either party are actually HAPPY with the way things are. Ed is bored out of his mind and feels like life is flat and has nothing to look forward to. Stede feels the same way about his life with Mary. Mary is dealing with an impulsive husband while taking care of her children and struggling to manage Stede's mood while still living her life in a way that doesn't make her miserable. Izzy does the same. Even though Mary and Izzy are upholding the relationship and staying true to their bond, they are obviously unhappy too.

What I'm interested in discussing is the way both Stede and Ed are treated by the narrative as it regards their betrayal of their partners.

Stede is shown to be in the WRONG for abandoning Mary. She's happier without him, yes, but it's pretty clearly stated that him just up and leaving her and their children was a DICK MOVE and he has to deal with that. He's made to come back to a world that no longer has a place for him in it. His children have forgotten him or resent him, his wife has found actual love with someone else, and he's no longer fit for the life he abandoned (not that he ever was, really). Stede is shown the consequences of his actions, how he hurt people by leaving and also how people are better off without him. He's punished by the narrative, made to feel uncomfortable and guilty. This makes sense!

Stede being depressed in his life is not an excuse to just... run away from it. We're shown that him leaving was a good thing, but him playing with the emotions of the people in his life by deciding when and if he wants them to be in his life at all and trying to dictate that just isn't the responsible thing to do. It's not until he finally sits and has an actual conversation with Mary where he listens to her that they're both able to move on fully. They're able to agree on an outcome, they Talk It Through and are both happier for it.

Ed imo is never treated the same way as it concerns his betrayal of Izzy. He lied to Izzy and then went back on their plan, doesn't say a word when Izzy is banished from the ship (doesn't even try to stop him from dueling Stede in the first place), and emotionally abandons him pretty much immediately after meeting Stede. Izzy is shown looking for direction and guidance from a man he trusts and who is supposed to be looking out for his best interests, only to be dismissed and mocked. Izzy repeatedly goes to Ed for direction, asks him "what do we do" or "you told me you would do this, so let's follow through" only for Ed to turn around and do something completely different. And then with the Act of Grace, he plans on running away and leaving Izzy behind entirely. Ed's betrayal of Izzy SHOULD mirror Stede's abandonment of Mary.

But Ed is never punished for it. The way Stede goes back to Mary in a time of crisis and the way Ed goes back to the crew (and Izzy) is the same situation. But where Stede has to deal with the consequences for his selfishness, Ed just... doesn't. He has to deal with his breakup, yeah, but not how he really was just going to leave the crew behind. He tortures and hurts his crew and specifically Izzy, but he's allowed back on the ship as long as he wears a cat bell. He doesn't even appear bothered by it. He never has a moment like Stede and Mary get where a conversation is had and faults are acknowledged on both sides.

Where Stede had to recognize his mistakes and grow, Ed gets off with a slap on the wrist. Mary gets better without Stede dragging her down, but Izzy falls apart without purpose until the crew give him a new purpose in being their unicorn

I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing or even poor writing if it was explored more. It mostly just perplexes me. Why make these connections between these characters at all? It fascinates me

I really wish we could see Mary and Izzy interact. Just once. So Izzy could meet someone who understands

[weebsinstash]

I’m honestly living for the potential Miguel angst in your YouTwo fics, like him realising it’s pretty much entirely his fault that you got so injured/traumatised. Excellent Yandere potential right here lmaoo.

No but really, because like your standard edition default yandere could be like "oh, you're so weak and delicate, only I can protect you, only I deserve to have you, oh you're so wonderful and lovely, you are incapable of actually truly taking care of yourself like i can" and you know all the mushy shit that is varying degrees of truth and delusion

And here you have Miguel, who like, let's look on "the timeline" that we've kind of established here, ok, because, wow does he have some reasons to uh, go feral

-you guys have a cordial, team-up kind of first meeting against an anomaly in your home dimension, you wind up being invited to Spider Society, one day your home universe is JUST GONE while you're out and about in Nueva York or elsewhere

-You're like basically homeless, traumatized, depressed, like what was all of that for, what was all your suffering for, those deaths and tragedies you experienced, you SUFFERED to be a Spider, and now, your home is gone, what does this mean, like, you have the most justifiable existential crisis one can imagine, you had a DESTINY my dude! And it's GONE NOW, POOF

-Spider Society becomes new home, new community, new thing to keep you going and alive and grounded and they all like you and sometimes you think you're actually happier than ever, you feel very loved and supported, even teach your own class, people like you, little do you know how much lol

-but you still have depression and anxiety and self doubts but hey everyone supports you 🥺 part of being a Spider is picking yourself back up right?

-youtwo shows up, you feel weird, somwqhat threatened by their presence but, also some kinship actually, maybe they even feed you some story either genuine or a lie and you allow them to be you once or twice, they get drunk on it, kind of trick you, fans out, starts stealing your identity. Suddenly what purpose you had in your life is at question. If anything and everything you can do can simply be replicated, what use is there for you? Whatever depression and issues you have before are amplified

-members of the community start mistaking you for the replica and treat you varying degrees of disregard to outright disrespect and you wonder what that means, if they were all just nasty liars to "real you" or if you were just never really that special or anything to begin with and they just latched onto "real you" for some random reason

-you get framed for something youtwo does,sabotaging a big society construction project that you saved the day on but got injured for. YouTwo doesn't even need to pretend it wasn't them, you're framed and people believe it, they believe the narrative that you wanted to feel needed and set this up to be the hero and people treat you with either pity or disgust or just coddling "oh, poor them :( they shouldn't have done that though..."

-you just kind of start hating everyone because it's at the point where now YouTwo hasn't just stolen your life but put you in a position where EVEN WHEN your identity was believed, your reputation and relationship with others is tarnished. Like picture with me here, put yourself in the moment, you're crying you're feeling so sad and outraged because you genuinely cannot believe what you're hearing as Miguel stands there forcing himself to be emotionless and saying "the footage doesn't lie and we have a witness" and it's just YouTwo planting bombs and they stole your costume or were manipulating people and spreading lies or something, and you're just, like, feeling literally fucking violated that this is happening to you, you're literally sitting there with like a hip or broken femur because of being injured in the incident, where you also saved other people by the way, and you're being accused of being the perpetrator, after everything you've done for them, with them, after never having done this sort of thing before, you're just. Outraged doesn't begin to describe it. Whether you love or respect him you can't believe someone who was like family to you, not just him but by extension all of them, would do this to you. You're more alone than ever, and stuck in a wheelchair where they try to pitying dote on you while you completely clam up and some of them interpret it as guilt and you eventually just tell all of them to leave you the fuck alone (again, a little interpreted as guilt)

-Miguel like legitimately thinks he's doing what's best for you. The time he finally truly sides with YouTwo and winds up actually hurting you the worst is when he's trying to be like, "see I finally believe you, Im sorry I doubted you, I'll fix this I promise, I'll get rid of the second one" and he's saying it all to. YouTwo. Like imagine how bad that fucking hurts. You're either crying or just laughing at the absurdity of it, either weeping or actively antagonizing him until you blip away from having your bracelet broken/removed when you're "exiled"

-after you're gone, that's when he realizes how BAAAAAAADLY he's fucked up. He's got definitive evidence the you in front of him is the fake, he has no idea where you are, if even that you're alive. really, you glitching away instead of outright dying basically makes you an anomaly, even more than before anyways. Maybe the fact you just vanish instead of have the whole cell death thing gives him hope that you're still out there and he obsessively searches for you, but can never find you

-until one day when he's at his near breaking point, I mean this man is hanging on by THREADS at this point, you just, glitch back into his life. Like a miracle. And you're hungry. And you're cold. And you're hurt. And you need help and he NEEDS you, needs to be the one to help you, to atone for what's happened, especially when he sees your deteoriated state mentally, physically, and emotionally. Like. He latches on to you like a parasite, please please PLEASE let him make this up to you he is like BARELY holding himself together he NEEDS you and needs to help you (oh wow that whole construction disaster "causing a problem to reap the benefits of fixing it" is unintentionally coming back full circle for you ain't it dude, the apollo gift of prophecy levels of projection lmao)

And you know I mentioned in the past "what if you get rescued by another Miguel and latch onto him" but like if Reader is so emotionally and mentally worn down, I think really having "your" Miguel so desperate for your forgiveness and seeming so genuinely attached to you would really sort of activate the Oh God I Just Need Someone To Love Me And Need Me insecurities and traumas. You wake up from a good rest after first coming back and he's apologizing to you profusely and you just kind of break down and immediately accept him back because you just. Need to feel like you matter. Like the toxic codependency of you needing to feel loved and him desperately wanting to make things up to you, giving you any praise or affection or attention he wants to give you and you feeling somehow reassured by the dedication, but also him being in this position of power and authority over you where he, if he wants to, has extreme control over your life. You're just over here barely keeping it together and critically depressed and needing hugs and needing to matter and you have this hulking almost 7 foot behemoth of trauma of grief who has a More Than Unhealthy Attachment to you who does have Intentions is now being fully in control of your care, of your safety, of your environment, with a heightened emotional investment in just. Literally everything about you

Oh yeah, he's all too happy to give you food and shelter after your traumatizing multiverse travels. But he also didn't want to let you leave in the first place. Now he won't let you. He's partially convinced he shouldn't ever let you out of his sight ever again, period. He's just becoming Downright Mentally Unstable because not only have these things happened to you, between you and him, but also, there were people who helped YouTwo, helped the scheme, whether intentionally or not, and now he's more untrusting of his peers and surroundings. He grows colder to the ones he doesn't trust. He programs his own watch to give him notifications on your status on those occasions you're apart like when he has to go fight anomalies, which is suddenly magically Way Too Dangerous for you to do anymore you're basically on house arrest

You really truly become All He Has Left, like borderline his reason for living at this point besides his own motivations and drive as Spiderman 2099 and his mission to protect the multiverse. But you're a big thing keeping him going. Even if you don't love him, he'll make sure to stay by your side and not leave you ever again. He won't make the same mistake twice, he promises. You just have to give him the time to prove it

[physalian]

Physalian's Top 10 Narrative Pet Peeves

*For now*

In one way or another, these all boil down to “Author took a shortcut and I absolutely noticed”. In other words, most of these stem from Manufactured Sincerity.

All of these come with the caveat of *except when done well*. I’m ordering these from “I’m annoyed but I’ll get over it” to “Nope, DNF”. 

10. Sad times = Alcohol

Everyone drinks when they’re depressed apparently. Only women or fat men are allowed to eat away their sorrows with ice cream and guilty pleasures. No one’s allowed to go on a self-pity shopping spree. No one just goes to bed.

They drink. Or they go shoot something. Or punch a wall. It’s usually out of a flask or a crystal decanter. It’s usually whisky (specifically bourbon) or scotch, or something out of a brown paper bag.

Maybe this is my own bias as someone who does not drink, but writers, please come up with more diverse ways to show your character is mourning someone or something, beyond immediately heading straight for the alcohol. Not everyone likes liquor, not everyone owns a decanter set and crystal glasses.

Let them eat or shop or sleep or get high, or watch their favorite show or a really sad movie or listen to emotional music. Let them cry if they’re bad boys. Don’t make them punch walls.

9. Down time = Sexy Times

This applies of course only to narratives with implicit or explicit sex scenes and what I mean by down time is those situations where characters are either on the run or have some crucial deadline to meet, some race to win, what have you, and the second they get some time to breathe and have a heart to heart, they both let their guard down and ignore impending doom and sleep together.

If you’re in the real world and you are that stressed for any of the reasons above, you’re going to be constantly looking over your shoulder, worrying about what you’re going to do next, wondering if you should even stop to rest, not be dead on your feet but have enough energy to bang.

Obviously if it’s played for humor, that’s different, but in dramas, or especially in environments not suited for intimacy (looking at you fantasy and sci-fi) it just feels ridiculous and particularly gratuitous. Non-aces please tell me if this is a legit thing you would do, I sincerely want to know.

It also tends to happen with near strangers who’ve only known each other for several days, possibly weeks with little buildup, and they also tend to be at each other’s throats bickering incessantly. Save the sex for after you’ve won and can really dedicate all your attention to enjoying it.

8. Pointless Filler Pit Stops

Or ones that last way too long for no reason. I love filler, but only *productive* filler. It doesn’t have to service the plot, but it does have to develop at least one character, a relationship, the lore, somebody’s backstory, or be really funny and/or interesting to sit through.

Usually, it feels like it’s there to pad the run time or slow the pacing, but rarely does anything for the overall story. A fair bit of season one of ATLA is filler pit stops, but even when they go to all these random places for one-off adventures, the story is still showing us the world they live in, making it a teachable moment, introducing important characters, foreshadowing, or is just mighty entertaining to watch.

ATLA has only one pointless filler pit stop: the infamous Great Divide. It doesn’t positively develop any of the main trio, we never see these side characters again, Aang’s story is a complete lie so it doesn’t develop the lore or the world, and, most importantly, it’s just frustrating to watch. Your first job as a writer is to entertain, and this episode is annoying.

7. Fridged Character Motivation

I don’t mind the “fridged lady love” inherently. It’s a quick and dirty way to give your brooding hero backstory and everyone is familiar with it. I’m annoyed at how it’s the only nuance these characters tend to get, like this man’s dead wife/girlfriend/dog is his sole motivation for everything he does in life and all his goals.

I like broody badasses. I don’t like one-note broody badasses. His character existed before he met his dead love interest. Who was he back then? Does he have any friends who hate the man he’s become? Old mentors who’ve lost their faith in him?

This man’s arc is usually not even therapy-via-violence to get over his dead wife, it’s just a ham-fisted excuse to make him mean and short-tempered. Who is he, unrelated to this fridged character?

6. Dumbass Villains

The villain has captured the hero and friends and plans some dastardly torture to break their will. The villain has all their tools prepared and monologues about how easy it’s going to be, and the hero usually says something along the lines of “you can’t break me” or “I can take it,” whatever. And after several pages or minutes of screen time, the hero’s right, and then the villain breaks out plan B: The hero’s love interest, or their parents, who have just been waiting in the wings.

Why is this almost never plan A? The hero can always handle the pain, and always breaks down the second it’s someone else’s health on the line. Why doesn’t the villain, who’s always pissed at the lack of results, start with the proper motivation?

It’s either this or they wait until the perfect dramatic timing to reveal some skill or weapon or ultimatum after precious time has been lost, deadlines have been missed, and money has been burnt. Or they’re in the boss battle and they wait until the hero thinks they’ve won to pull out their secret weapon.

Unless you can give your villain a valid reason to not start with all the tools they have at their disposal, it might as well be a reverse deus ex machina. Even if it’s something as simple as Plan B hasn’t arrived on scene yet.

5. Everybody Has a Somebody

A topic I plan to expand on so I’ll keep it short here. Basically, the story wraps up and every eligible single character has a love interest they’re in varying stages of romance with. No one is spared, or they’re already dead. It’s a race to the finish line to give these characters significant others because that’s just what you do, it’s what audiences expect, there must be a romantic subplot.

Particularly annoyed when it’s an ensemble cast and the entire hero team only has relationships with other members of the hero team and no one outside this unit of 6-10 characters (*cough* Percy Jackson *cough*). No one is allowed to be single, or happy that they’re single. Everybody has somebody, no matter how well developed or plausible this relationship is.

4. Half-Baked Twist Villains

No one likes these characters and I’m not saying anything new here, and yet it still keeps happening. This one comes from just recently rewatching the abysmal Cars 2 (which is older, I know) and just trying to untangle this plot. This plot, that Pixar rinsed and repeated in Incredibles 2, and really thought no one would notice. This plot, where the villain creates a problem that doesn’t exist to make their own agenda look better, whether that’s malignant superheroes or green fuel.

Both try. Neither pretend the story is absent of a villain, unlike, say, Frozen. Both movies have a villain, they just have a hidden identity. The reveal just never hits as hard as the writers expect it to because, once again, they didn’t actually do the work to write a competent villain, they just slapped a “villain” sticker on their foreheads and called it a day. Why? Who cares.

3. Consequenceless Revivals

I love revivals, I love bringing characters back from the dead, love watching it, love writing it, love the drama.

Don’t love it when they’re suddenly back with no explanation or price to be paid. A character death should be a major event, and if you kill a character just to make your audience sad, then bring them back with zero effort, death begins to lose meaning in your world. CW shows are particularly terrible at this, specifically the TVD universe and Supernatural.

In the earlier seasons, when Sam or Dean died and came back, they still experienced character growth by dying and the experiences in hell, the PTSD inflicted, the new emotional battle scars. Even when Dean died a thousand times in the “Mystery Spot” episode, the point wasn’t “ha ha funny Dean dies again,” it was exercising Sam’s crippling codependency on his brother, as Gabriel says. There are consequences, either for the character’s psyche, or a cost for bringing them back to life.

2. Wimping Out on Promised Death

This decision makes me want to throw the book at the wall, or pause the movie and walk away. It’s the penultimate battle, the prophecy is upon us, a character or one of two characters must die to save the day, it cannot be impeded, avoided, or circumvented. We’ve known this is coming since the story began and are prepared for the tears and bloodshed.

Then the magical miracle springs out of nowhere and everyone gets to live. Kill them. Please. Even if it’s my favorite character, I’d rather cry over their death than be disappointed by plot convenience. If this is the tragic, fulfilling end to their arc, then that’s how I want it to end. Rarely do these characters get revived in a satisfying loophole everyone should have seen coming. I just feel manipulated.

1.  Forced Miscommunication

*Picture me walking a stadium hawking Pointless Drama like cotton candy and cans of beer* Cheap Drama! Anybody want some Cheap Drama? Cheap Drama!

In the real world, people make misassumptions all the time and many of us are conflict-averse. We avoid talking about our problems to those who’ve wronged us like we’re polarized magnets. Forced miscommunication doesn’t care about anxiety, which would be fascinating to explore as explicitly anxious characters suffering legit mental issues is under-utilized. No, these instances just have characters eavesdropping or snooping and, out of character, make all these outlandish assumptions, refuse to listen to explanations, and start a fight that lasts juuuuust long enough until it’s magically resolved without consequence.

It doesn’t do anything for the story. It exists independently of these characters’ relationship and has zero impact once it’s resolved. I am 100% down for a single miscommunication causing an emotional outburst so extreme that it has the offended party seriously considering the strengths of their relationship, but it never happens that way.

—

TL;DR: The existence of a trope does not do the job of writing a compelling story for you. If you can look at any one scene in your book and not explain why it matters, what impact it has on the plot, story, or characters, delete it or rewrite it so it does. Even if it only exists to be funny, there should still be something gained from the experience.

[sokkastyles]

since you have spoken out of turn ONCE AGAIN I, “the stupid Stan” must educate you, the actually stupid Stan

This is one of the more depressing lines in ATLA, because Azula tried to peacefully coexist with Zuko earlier, because she tried to give everything he ever wanted and acted on the premise that it was possible for both siblings to be happy, successful, and equal.  

But as a result Zuko’s actions she’s come to accept the toxic paradigm of sibling competition created by Ozai and accepted by Zuko where the rise of one sibling inevitably means the fall of another, where it is impossible for her to coexist with her brother unless(at the very least) one of them has been violently forced into submission by the other(if it is possible to coexist at all).

You know, Katara runs out into the arena at the Agni Kai just when Zuko is beginning to taunt Azula about lightning. I have zero idea of what was going through her mind.

You know, ever time I think about the final Agni Kai, I’m reminded why I’m terrified that Zuko having Azula under his control post-canon would lead to him abusing her.  I like to think and hope that he’s better than that, but it would absolutely be keeping with the dynamics between the siblings.  Azula shouldn’t have power over Zuko, and Zuko shouldn’t have power over Azula; otherwise things will end poorly

#zuzu stans are retarded

I "spoke out of turn"? You came into my inbox, numbnuts.

Also, poor choice of words unless you're trying to mimic Ozai, which does seem the case considering everything else you've said.

At least you're not making any pretense that this is about protecting disabled people, since you feel very comfortable using an ableist slur, or about feminism, given the other asks you sent me calling me a "stupid bitch." I shouldn't bother with your nonsense but this one is actually really dangerous for the myths about abuse it puts out.

I like to think and hope that he's better than that

Don't lie. You are VERY willing to demonize Zuko and twist the narrative to make it look like he's the abuser. You just aren't very good at it.

Azula DID NOT try to "peacefully coexist" with Zuko, and that claim in and of itself is abuse apologism. Because there is no peaceful coexistence while Zuko is living with Ozai, and Azula not only brought him back there, she would have brought him back there as a prisoner if he hadn't sided with her.

She's not doing him a favor by bringing him back as an ally because she is the reason he was a prisoner in the first place. She's not doing him a favor by telling him to stay away from Iroh because she is also the reason that Iroh is a prisoner. But abusers are actually very invested in creating problems just to convince you that they can provide the only solution. It is literally an abuse tactic. That is what Azula does when she tries to "peacefully coexist" with Zuko. None of this is for Zuko's benefit, but it benefits Azula for Zuko to think it is.

It also benefits Ozai, since Ozai wants Azula to be his golden child and Zuko to take the blame for everything Ozai doesn't approve of. Ozai did not encourage them to fight each other, and he certainly didn't encourage them to compete. It makes no sense that he would, because he does not want Zuko, his scapegoat, to be able to or even think he could compete with his golden child. He doesn't want them to fight each other. He wants Azula to fight Zuko. And Azula wants that, too.

You say that Azula should not have power over Zuko but fail to acknowledge that Azula did have power over Zuko, which is why when she brings him back to his abuser with a heavy dose of "prove you're not a traitor" and the knowledge that if he didn't, he'd be thrown in prison, plus being separated from the one adult who actually cares about his well-being, it isn't a peaceful coexistence. Zuko is not peacefully coexisting, he shows telltale traits of being abused and gaslit, and describes how he feels like he's not himself, feels like he's losing his mind, is angry all the time but can't articulate why. It's because he's being abused.

Azula also has power over Zuko by virtue of being Ozai's golden child who Ozai allowed and encouraged to treat her brother badly. That's another big reason why there is no peaceful coexistence under Ozai's roof. Not because of some general idea that they're in competition or are mutually toxic to each other. That's actually a myth that abusers use to try and control their victims and obfuscate their own culpability.

Oh, there's also the fact that Azula tried to kill Zuko numerous times.

Azula should not be allowed to have power in any capacity and she's shown that she's very capable of manipulating Zuko and others even from the diminished position she is in in the comics, and that is because he wants to help her and makes the mistake of trusting her. Interpreting this as him somehow abusing his power over her is a very deliberate attempt to make the victim seem like the perpetrator.

Also lol at the victim blaming of Katara that is casually thrown in there. Really doesn't help your argument!

[kiefbowl]

I really loved your post about how you shouldn't settle for a man who acts like you're lucky that he is with you. As a straight woman who has never been in a relationship at the big age of 23, who is also insecure about it, it felt really valuable to me. I also wonder if what you talked about can also be applied to dudes who make a whole thing about how their gf is depressed/insecure/whatever but they love her anyway. I was feeling sad today (for reasons not even related to a man) and being a girl who is sad that naturally made me think of the song that's like "this is the story of a girl who cried a river and drowned her whole world...although she looks so sad...i love her when she smiles". And I caught myself thinking "i wish i could find someone who loves me even though i'm sad a lot of the time." And then I remembered your post and I was like...oh...hmm

I think loving someone who struggles in this way is different than loving someone "despite" them being "ugly." However, yes I think you should be cautious about men who lay it on thick that they love you despite your depression. I thinks some things to keep an eye out for:

does he encourage healthy practices for you and him, or does he enable your bad habits?

does he pay attention to all your emotions, or seems only deeply interested in your sadness? does it feel fetishistic?

does he seem to have a narrative about you he puts forward to his friends and family? like, is your depression your number one feature? does he act like it's his story to tell, rather than take cues from you when and how to talk about it?

does he talk about your depression like a muse, or his own motivation to get himself better? this is objectifying.

does he connect your sadness and trauma to beauty, physical or otherwise? huge red flag.

outside of your relationship, is sadness sexy for him? were other girls he dated depressed (and it's all he talks about)? does he have a hero complex he finds arousing? does he make offhand comments about sad singers, sad movie stars, sad video game characters? this might be esoteric, but people reveal themselves in small ways when they're not thinking too hard about it.

does he keep you sad, does he take you down a peg? does he remind you that you're sad, that you're depressed, does he whittle down your self esteem? when you have a good day, does he ever say things like it won't be long until you're depressed again? does he never let you forget you're only a sad girl woman, instead of a full complete person?

does he expect you to act differently for him than he does for you when he is suffering from similar issues and symptoms? if he's sad, should your world stop to get him back on his feet - yet when you're sad, it's a fact of life and his only responsibility is "loving you"?

any expectation on his part that sex with him should be healing - red flag, big red flag. that's your determination, and you are in your right to say no to sex, any sex act, anytime. you don't have to "try" anything to see if it makes you feel better, you don't have to pretend orgasms are magical drugs, and you don't have to lie about if the sex you just had was good or bad, or did something extra for you or not. loving sex might help your symptoms, or might not, you don't have to convince yourself one way or the other. especially not for the sake of his ego.

Additionally: does being with him feel like it's aiding your health, recovery, or just in general? This is true of all relationships for everyone, but I think if you know you struggle with depression, it's important to remember that you need to prioritize treating your depression, and that shouldn't be a shock or surprise to someone who loves you. If your relationship is taking energy away from yourself, and if it feels like it exacerbates your symptoms, let him go. He doesn't have to be malicious for this to be true. Your relationships should be fulfilling, help you thrive. Not everyone can do that for you, even loving people who try their best might not be who you need right now.

Good luck!

[prettyrealm]

p1harmony soul mini personality reading

positives + negatives edition

this reading is a paid commission, thank you so much for trusting in me! <3

+ positives

takes action when he feels strongly about something - he doesn’t complain needlessly (action oriented, not complacent), confident and thinks very positively of himself (I think he thinks he’s quite handsome and sees himself as a good person), shows gratitude and can appreciate the good things in life, doesn’t withhold information from others - he wants to see others do better with his help, pleasure seeker - he likes to keep himself in a positive environment and keeps busy doing things he likes in his free time, very charming and knows how to be romantic (attracts partners with ease), cares about improving, tries to stay true to his word (being loyal to his beliefs, doesn’t want to make promises he can’t keep), does his own thing, “live laugh love vibes” he tries not to be depressed or dwell on negative memories, good at separating the good and bad moments in his life which makes it easier to focus on the good things only. super resilient and ambitious and it would take a lot to make him want to give up on something. soul is someone who prioritizes living in the moment.

- negatives

while he’s very confident in himself, he also thinks he’s better than most people (smarter too), and while he tries to keep his word, he tends to come across as pretty irresponsible or random because he’s always changing his opinion on things (he never feels like he has all the answers so he’s always “searching”), way too opportunistic, not necessarily selfish or not generous, but he’s too focused on how to get more money or start new projects etc. that it makes him greedy, he tries to act superior or think he knows best at weird times and it tends to backfire and make him look stupid, like let’s say someone tells him “don’t trust x he’s a snake!” instead of keeping that in mind and remaining cautious he thinks to himself “this is shit talking, I’m above this and I’m gonna form my own opinion!” only to end up backstabbed and realize the other person he dismissed was right and only trying to warn him, he relies on his social skills to get things (and he has “work smarter not harder” mentality - this can make him move kind of dodgy, he likes to think he’s not a liar but he’s good at saying things a certain way or speaking strategically instead to paint certain narratives (he’s just less likely to outright lie - which he sees as a good thing), he is quite superficial with women and cares about looks over personality and is not serious at all when he’s dating them - this goes along with his “yolo” mentality (basically the type that wants to break up at the first argument and think “that was a good two months” and can even be confused if people question this mentality)

[thunderberryart]

It's interesting how some of the criticisms I've seen over on r/runefactory concerning RF4's writing--specifically those surrounding Act 3--are serving as inspiration for a potential AU to explore in fanart (and maybe fanfiction as well, if I ever get around to it.)

So, you know, even as someone who adores Rune Factory 4's cast of characters and the individual character arcs everyone goes through, I am not without my criticisms of the writing. One thing I am definitely not a fan of is the fact that all three acts of the main story are essentially "save Ventuswill: Parts 1, 2, and 3." It's not that "save the Divine Dragon" is a bad plot to have, but that it never really switches up the formula enough to keep it consistently interesting across the length of RF4's story. You can easily describe the three acts of RF4's story as "Ventuswill is secretly dying! You must save her! Oh, now she's dying again! Get the Rune Spheres back from Ethelberd and save her! Surprise! She's not actually dead! Let's save her for real this time!" And because of that lack of variation, the most interesting aspects of Act 2 and Act 3, at least for me, are not saving Ventuswill, but the stuff that happens with the other characters who are involved in the plot. Arthur, who cites frequently in his dialogue how much he dislikes having been born a prince, utilizes the resources he has at his disposal to get Selphia the support it needs from the capital because as much as he may complain about his position, he knows he has a responsibility as a member of Norad's royal family and the true prince who was supposed to run Selphia. Doug, who was revealed earlier in Act 1 to actually be a spy for the Sechs with a personal vendetta against Ventuswill, feels immense guilt for having believed in a lie that ultimately hurt the people he cares about, and he actively seeks to redeem himself to the point of getting injured multiple times across Act 2. And during Act 3, we finally learn that Frey/Lest is a surviving descendant of the Earthmates who have spent literal centuries trying to find a solution to the runes in the land dying out so that Ventuswill will no longer have to rely on the sacrifices of the Guardians in order to live.

However, a post by u/KamenRiderSekai, who I believe goes by @avenger-concerto here, highlights that Act 3 does, to an extent, potentially ruin the narrative themes of Rune Factory 4's story. Even as someone who generally prefers happy endings to sad or bittersweet ones (hell, the whole reason I originally bought Rune Factory 4 Special was because I needed a more lighthearted game after the literal rain of depression that was Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights), Act 3 does feel very... out of place. A lot of RF4's themes revolve around those of loss, grief, loneliness, and self-isolation, and how you need to make the most of the time you have with those you love instead of shoving them away because life is so short. Although it was upsetting to see Ventuswill die at the end of the Act 2 despite all the crap Lest/Frey went through trying to save her, it feels... fitting, especially since Frey/Lest's ending narration solidifies that although they and the rest of the town were in mourning for some time, they resolved to move forward with their lives because all Ventuswill wanted was a bright future for her friends and for Selphia, and she was absolutely tired of people sacrificing themselves for her sake.

But Act 3 comes along and you learn that Oh, not only was Ventuswill not ready to go just yet, but we still have a chance to save Ventuswill despite the fact that she's literally dead. I get that although it has its "dark" moments, Rune Factory is overall a fairly lighthearted series, but it just seems very shoehorned in for the sake of giving players a happy ending where Ventuswill is alive and well. And when you do complete Rune Prana and save Ventuswill, there is so very little fanfare to the point that there isn't even a credits roll like the first two acts; all you get is a commemorative illustration featuring Ventuswill in her human form down in the trophy room. It makes Act 3 almost feel like one big afterthought despite the important lore it contains, especially in regards to Frey/Lest.

With all that said, KamenRiderSekai did briefly bring up an interesting, alternate concept for Act 3, one that has been gnawing at my brain off and on again since I originally first read it. Taken directly from the original reddit thread:

"A more apt arc would have been maybe the birth or succession of a new "Ventuswill", which is something I've always thought of as an alternative for years on end."

This makes so much more sense to me on so many levels. First off: Ventuswill does state during Act 1 that, when she expires, the runes her body gives off will be enough to sustain the land for another 1000 years, during which a new Native Wind Dragon will be born to play their role as she did. A new "Ventuswill" being born, possibly as a result of the influences of the Rune Spheres as well as whatever efforts the protagonist and the Guardians put in, would 100% make sense from a lore standpoint. However, it also makes sense from a thematic standpoint in regards to the franchise as a whole.

A major theme prevalent in the Rune Factory series is the cycle of life, death and rebirth. In almost every game, the protagonist loses their memories, resulting in the "death" of their past self. They wake up in a new town that takes them in, where they create a new life for themselves; eventually, they fall in love with someone, get married, and start a family with their spouse. This lines up so well with the idea that even though the old Ventuswill is gone, she is not forgotten and her spirit will live on in the new Wind Dragon who will one day guide and protect the land like their predecessor.

If I were to make this into a full blown AU, there are other things I would like to explore as well. I highlighted in a post from August about how Arthur's Another Episode reveals that Selphia's relationship with the royal family is complicated because it is not actually ruled by the king, but by Ventuswill herself, and that her death should have had more implications in terms of Selphia's political status as well as in regards to Frey/Lest and Arthur's switch... which it doesn't because a major point of RF4's gameplay is that you're in charge of Selphia and even Arthur returning to his position briefly during Act 2 doesn't affect your ability to manage the town through the Order Symbol.

There is also the matter of the Guardians; although they willingly allowed themselves to have the Etherlink spell cast on them because they wanted to save Ventuswill, all four of them had lives prior to their centuries-long slumber and with her death, it seemingly renders the sacrifices they made pointless. So, you know, there is an incredibly great potential for angst as well as character development if this becomes a "Okay, we failed to save Ventuswill, but we can speedrun the birth of the new Ventuswill" plot.

I'm sorry for the massive ramble. It is just strangely satisfying knowing that some genuinely valid criticisms of a game I adore have the potential to result in some incredibly tasty fanwork scenarios.

[krikeymate]

I feel like all my anonymous requests are really depressing cause I’m just a lil angst goblin.

I was reading a fic where Sam was getting beat up cause if the rumours about her and I was thinking about how the deaths of the Bailey family would play into that conspiracist narrative. I was especially thinking about ethan’s death I mean even if you just look at the scream fandom there are pages and pages on Ethan who really didn’t have that much of an impact but…SHOCKER, he’s white, male and conventionally attractive so it’s literally impossible to escape him (no hate or anything but cmon fandom let the other characters shine) anyways I got so side tracked there. I can imagine Ethan being really glorified and fawned over by people in the scream universe itself in was way that actual serial killers were because people thought they were attractive (ew). Upon hearing that Tara was the one to kill ethan (i know it was technically Kirby but they did it together) I think the conspiracists would go insane and can you imagine a scene where Tara and Sam are just walking together before they both get jumped but Tara is the target of this attack and Sam is just held down unable to do anything while she has to watch tara get brutally attacked.

Well, Tara is my whump blorbo. There's a place for angst in our lives, because it's not about the pain at all, it's about the aftermath. It's about the being picked up, and the softness and the love and the support. It's about being reminded that no matter what we go through, there is a brighter side to be found and there are people who will help you reach it and sit in the sun with you. Anyway, none of that here.

~

Ethan Landry. Sweet, dorky, Ethan. He couldn't find his way out of a wet paper bag, people say. Soft, and shy, and smiled awkwardly at girls. Always nervous, but tried his best. Murdered. They tried to say he attacked them, that he wanted to kill them, that he was a savage monster. Who would fall for such a lie? He didn't even like horror movies, he was shaky around blood.

Samantha Carpenter is to blame, they know. It's heavily debated as to whether she attacked her sister last year, or whether it was simply a home invasion and she took the opportunity to make it something more, to sate her blood lust. But Richie was innocent, they all agree on that. A wonderful man who was guilty only of loving the wrong woman. That poor teenager, the best friend of her sister's... well of course Samantha decided she had to go, she wanted her sister to herself.

And it works! Because here they are, a year later, and it's the sister who does the deed, who thrusts the knife into Ethan's mouth, who twists it, slices it open. He'd had a crush on her, sources say. She used it to lead him to his doom. It was deliberate, pre-planned, it had to have been. Why else would he follow her there? Tara Carpenter may have been innocent, once upon a time, but not anymore. She's spent too long in her sister's clutches, corrupted, ruined. Just look at how passionately she defends her, as if she were innocent, as if the truth wasn't out there.

We should help her, some say, get her away from her sister, imagine what she could tell us, what she could reveal! She needs to pay, say others, she's just as guilty as her sister, it's too late for her.

No one agrees on how to stop this madness.

~

Sam's walking Tara home from her evening class. It feels a little surreal. A month ago, Tara would never have agreed to this, Sam had been desperate to do this. And here they are, Sam's hand attached to her sister's as Tara waves it around in the air, complaining about the professor. (She's not sure what she's talking about, but she's just happy to see Tara this animated).

They're turning the corner when they bump into someone... someone's. There's a couple of guys in hoodies, with surgical masks on their face. "Oops, sorry!" Tara smiles up at them, pulling Sam to move around them. They step back into her path, and Sam begins to feel nervous. Tara's hand tightening around hers tells her she feels the same.

Sam steps backwards, but before she has a chance to speak, arms wrap around her from behind and she's yanked away from Tara, as her sister is shoved to the floor.

"Hey what the fu-" Sam manages, before a hand is covering her mouth, jaw wrenched closed as her head is forced backwards against someone's chest. More arms appear to grip at her own and hold her back.

Tara is thrown to the floor, and a boot kicks out at her arm, stepping on her wrist as she tries to reach into her pocket. The figure looming over her bends down to reach into her jacket, and pulls out the taser she was reaching for. Scoffing, he hands it to one of his companions.

"What did we ever do to you," she growls, breathing deep to push down her fear. "It's not what you did to us," he says with conviction, "it's what you've done to others. What you'll do again!"

Sam kicks out and tries to speak, understanding setting in. Someone punches her in the stomach.

"We haven't done anything!" Tara yells, watching her sister get hurt. She tries to get up off the floor only to be kicked down again with a boot to the chest. "Just leave us alone!"

"But you have!" The one holding Sam shouts. "You killed Ethan! She-" he shakes Sam, "killed Richie and all those others." "They were innocent and you killed them," another pipes up. A chorus of agreement follows, and for the first time, the girls begin to notice just how many people are surrounding them. 6... 7, no, there's more further back, hiding in the shadows... watching. Some of them have their phones out, recording.

"You're going to pay for what you've done," the one looming over Tara declares.

"It was self-de-" he kicks her in the jaw, her head snapping to the side and smacking back against the pavement. He pulls her up from the floor, hands fisting her jacket and slams her back into anothers waiting arms.

Sam struggles against the numerous arms holding her back, unable to move. Her head is pinned, her jaw is clamped shut, tears begin to fall.

The ringleader leans in close to Tara's face, eyes meeting her dazed ones. "Your sister seems upset. Is it real, or just another act? Is she even capable of caring? I mean, she wanted you for a reason, right?"

"Fuck you," Tara snarls back. He grins, rewarding her with a backhand. "It doesn't have to be this way, Tara," he speaks, voice softening in faux-compassion. He cups her chin. "Just tell us the truth, tell everyone what she did, what she made you do, and it can all be over.

"She didn't make me do anything!"

"So you admit it, you killed Ethan in cold blood?" His voice is frantic, delighted.

"Ethan was a sadistic little fuck who got what he deserved." Tara finds herself thrown back to the floor. "He was a nice boy who never hurt anyone!" the one who threw her shouts, kicking her.

Tired of Sam's struggling, the one holding the taser moves closer, releasing it into her stomach. She groans, body twitching. Her legs give way beneath her, held up only by the formless figures clutching at her. They drop her to the floor and a boot presses down on her back. Sam is stuck, unable to convince her body to move, prongs digging in painfully from their place stuck between her skin and the pavement. She can do nothing but watch as the two figures assault her sister, kicking her, watching them pull her onto her back to hurt her some more.

"Stop, please, please stop," Sam begs. She's ignored.

It's only the sirens closing in that make it stop, dark figures scattering. She manages to drag herself forward, limbs slow to respond and shaky. "Tara," she cries. Her sister doesn't respond, still and bleeding.

[tothefiniteyou]

Blind Sight - A Retrospective

Includes spoilers for the entirety of Tales of Leonardo: Blind Sight, as well as discussion of suicidal ideation, depression, and other sensitive topics. Some of the panels included might be considered gory as well. I'm also writing this with the assumption that you're familiar with what happens in the story.

I'd like to begin this little think piece of mine with a disclaimer; I'm going to be fairly vulnerable with this, as this is a piece of writing that impacted me greatly for a variety of reasons. Let's get into it.

The beginning to Blind Sight really begins with the 5th issue of the second volume to Tales of the TMNT - Blind Faith. I think it's very bittersweet that the story begins with Leo comforting a small Shadow who's still afraid of the dark, because it's a good way of setting the stage and tone for this story. Phobias and fears are typically irrational, and we're afraid not just of what we can't see, but what can happen because of that. They can control us because we let it fester and grow, losing ourselves to that fear.

When Leo loses his sight in this story, he has to be confronted with the fact that life won't be the same. He doesn't think he can lead or protect his brothers anymore, and he doesn't have control, either. He's very much someone that prefers information to be clear and concise with no punches pulled. He needs facts, and he relies on his senses and logic.

I know Jim Lawson has been praised plenty for making everything monochrome to show how Leo cannot see and no longer remembers what things look like, but his prose doesn't get enough attention, in my opinion.

There's a lot I admire about this entire story, especially the moment in which Leo believes he has taken an innocent life. There's nothing dramatic about it, as Leo isn't the type to have some over-the-top reaction. He freezes, mouth partly agape, as he takes in the fact that this could be permanent and that he has lost the ability to do the only thing he considers himself good at. It's such a subtle display of grief, and I love it.

Really, there's not much I can say about the actual event where he's blinded, and it's not what I want to focus on, either. I want to highlight the aftermath:

This scene really gets to me because we, as the viewer, only have Leo's perspective. There's nothing to see, just a black and white landscape of shapes. I think it's a good display of the dissonance between the brothers here. Mikey's trying his hardest to find some positives, or to at least not make his brother feel different. Leo, however, wants none of it; his grief is narratively blinding him in this story, and this scene is meant to show that. He's saying he still enjoys it up here, but it's a lie. It's a lie because instantly when he's alone, Leo begins to have Thoughts.

With these pages, it's clear that Leo considers himself to be his swords, in a sense. He's a weapon - his whole life has revolved around defending and protecting. After all, Splinter raised them with a single purpose; revenge. But revenge is what led to him losing his sense of purpose to begin with, so even then, what good is he? What purpose does he serve now that he can't fight like he used to? If something is broken, you throw it away; nobody has use for something that can't even do the thing you have it for. At least, this is the idea he's subscribed to here.

Now, Leo is definitely no stranger to depression in the original Mirage series. Hell, I'd argue that Mirage Leo was really the blueprint for IDW Leo, who has a similar goofiness contrasted with these types of melancholic monologue to him. He's so fixated on what he no longer has that he can't even get past it. To him, he's as good as dead. It's harsh to say, but I think he's having such a huge identity crisis that a part of him doesn't even want to try. He's just... So tired.

Of course, I'm sure he'd give everything to be able to fight again, but that's for his brothers. When it comes to people that need control, sometimes the scariest thing is realizing that your control wasn't actually ever needed. He fights for his brothers, but what if they don't need him protecting them? He could fight again, but he wouldn't forgive himself if it hurt and endangered them. He'd also be hurt if they did well without him, though.

After the incident in which they are forced to go to Northampton, Leo isn't in a coma at all. He becomes testy and goes out into the woods to hunt and be alone, scarcely seen by anyone else. He's more closed off here than in 2003 & 2012 and never seems to really talk. He sort of gets past it when Raph ends up being nearly killed by the Shredder, but my point here is that Leo seems to have a lot of identity problems.

He couldn't protect his brothers or April then, so he hunts. What's interesting about that is the fact animals are good at sensing enemies and tracking their prey, similar to how the Shredder herded Leo to where he needed him for the ambush (I wrote a little fic about this too teehee).

Anyway, it's clear that Leo prides himself on maintaining order. Any setback can cause him to spiral because of his need for control.

I think that's why this conversation scares Mikey so much, basically insinuating to their other brothers that he's genuinely afraid of Leo killing himself, directly or passively it doesn't matter. His fears aren't unwarranted, either.

Now, it's revealed that this ^^^ is just an intrusive daydream of Leo's, but still. Up on the radio tower, he imagines what it would be like to fall off, his own weapon piercing through him. This, to me, is very deliberate. He's the weapon, defending his family, but also ruining the lives of others, bad or not. His sword blinded the one that retaliated and blinded him back, which may as well have sealed his fate and killed him. Also, doesn't this seem a tad bit similar to seppuku? In that he's killed by his own blade? Seppuku is seen as the only way to regain honor in the afterlife...

The resemblance is meant to be there, I think, because what are the odds his katana is able to break through the concrete with the force of its fall and be blade side up long enough for him to be impaled by it? I suppose it can happen, but I think it just shows how Leo isn't his usual, rational self right now.

(I think it's also interesting in his little daydream that he doesn't imagine himself jumping off. He can't quite bring himself to do it, so instead of stepping off himself, he goes out of his way to picture one of the rungs snapping, leading him to fall. Now, on a meta level this could be a bit of a diversion tactic to scare you and make it feel real, but ehh. I think it can go both ways).

Anyways, he imagines his death in gruesome, visceral detail, to the point he wonders if his death would cause the death of his family as well. His leaps in logic are irrational. Because really, what are the chances there's a special mineral from the sewers embedded in his feet, leading to government agents finding the lair and killing his family?

This is the scene I really wanted to talk about, as I find it to be one of the most brutal and realistic depictions of depression. Later on in this series, Leo basically implies that there's plenty of ways he can die, and they're all preventable. All he needs is a reason to do so (keep them from happening), but he currently doesn't have one.

I think it's the same thing here.

He's looking for a reason to step off the tower - either to jump, or to walk away and go back home. He doesn't need some grand sign, he just needs a reason. So, he considers what it would be like, to die. But he can't even go through with it all the way because then he imagines Raph dying because of his decision. This is what finally causes him to snap out of it, choosing to abandon his katana.

Even when contemplating death, his family is still the reason he keeps going. He needed a reason to live, and imagining his brother(s) dying is what did it. He weaponized his own intrusive thoughts to live. His own death didn't scare him, but his family did.

Yet, a piece of him still clearly dies, as depicted by him throwing away his sword. He doesn't want to be the weapon anymore, but he's not too sure what he is without it. He wants to make a point that he's more than the weapon. However, you can read him dropping his katana as him giving up, thinking he only kills and is no longer worthy of trying to protect. Not after killing an innocent man.

He doesn't directly kill his brother, but I don't think that matters to Leo. Not when he internalizes mistakes.

Never before have I seen intrusive thoughts depicted this way, or even suicidal ideation, really. It's....not quite comforting, but makes me feel seen, you know? Sometimes it's not really the happy thoughts that keep you going, but your own fear twisted in a way that fits your narrative.

The fact the first issue just ends with this ^ page is also so.... We don't get to see him actually step off, because a part of him never leaves. It's still there, not sure which direction to go.

Self-blame is both a canon and widely fanon aspect to Leo's character. By that I mean the portrayal feels a bit fanon, as I don't think Leo's perfectionist personality is really explored until Vol. 2 of the original series (although there is the Northampton arc...) It's definitely there, don't get me wrong, but it's more like his self-blame comes from a place of grief and fear. I think this panel might make it clear what I mean?

These deaths were because he lost his autonomy, blindly killing without being able to do a thing to stop it. He blames himself for everything, but I don't think he trains relentlessly to be perfect or to necessarily protect people the best he can. I think he's scared of doing the opposite. It takes more control to not kill a person than it does to do so, in a way. Anyone can kill another, but having the skill to pull back and merely disarm an enemy whilst protecting yourself and others is marginally harder.

But he's having a hard time knowing if it was worth it, pulling his punches. If he had killed the Foot soldier that blinded him, he wouldn't be feeling like this now. He wouldn't be unable to help his family (as he has been blind for months by this point I believe?) like he currently feels like he is. He was trained since birth to kill the Shredder, just to suddenly have to save people. That's a very different thing!

Splinter literally started their ninja training the second they began walking and copying his movements. He trained them for revenge, just for them to have to be vigilantes as the time calls for it.

I think what I'm really getting at here is that he's more than just angst; he can be silly and bossy just because, too (Leo is such a bossy older brother). But his fear manifests in the urge to do his best, and really a lot of his angst is self-made.

It's not just "I have to be perfect", or "I'm trying to keep you safe." It's something more, though I lack the proper words to describe it... It's almost like he wants to bear the burden in the case a scenario just like this one happens. If being the best means facing the worst, so be it. Hopefully that makes sense...

I want to get more into how IDW Leo and Mirage Leo feel very one-in-the-same to me, but I think that's an essay for another time. It's just very important to me for you to know that Leo often questions his devotion to Splinter in the original comics.

Not only does he say things like this, but in this story, when Splinter pushes him down the hill in the woods and forces him to find his way back home while blind, all Leo says is: "I knew it." He didn't expect his father to outright help him or to offer sympathies. He just accepted that he was going to have to look inside himself and solve this psychosomatic matter. Just another example of Leo internalizing the idea that hurt is all in his head...

He stated "You think I'm crazy." when Splinter suggested he was keeping himself blind, as well. It wasn't a question, and that, to me, really showcases that all Leo's have daddy issues /hj.

Anyways, sorry that this was mostly incoherent and didn't serve too much of a purpose. I really just wanted an excuse to get people to read Blind Sight... well, and to talk about the scene in which Leo imagines endangering his family because of his actions.

[castleclerics]

new perspective on midleven pizza scene and vol 2 mike’s pov

i think mike is in more denial/repressing his feelings for will even harder in s4 than i’ve thought this whole time

alright first of all this mf says “hopefully these will block out any peripheral light” while will is literally in his peripheral vision in the kitchen and ofc will is light

“and it’s completely dark which means it works!” only for so long michael

“do i look cool?” literally he went back to how he was acting in s3 about his sexuality. denying it and being with a girl "bc that’s what boys do boys like girls i have to do that so other people can see how straight i am" mentality.

now this part i’m viewing a lot differently

everyone says that mike here was gonna break up with el, apologize for their fight etc. but now i’m thinkin he was gonna say he loves her and make up with her. and look how depressed he looks, he doesn’t want to because he knows it’s not his truth. but he’s more selfless than people give him credit for and he wants to make el happy.

i still think he understood that will was talking about himself in the van, but maybe he thought if he repaired his relationship with el he wouldn’t have to focus on her anymore (LMAO) and she wouldn’t be upset or unsure of mike’s feelings towards her (even though he would just be digging himself deeper into the lie but that’s probably the point narratively) and could focus on will since he knows he needs him.

he would still be pushing his feelings for will away, but making up with el and being in a relationship with her is the best way he knows how to distract and bury his love for will. so it would make sense that he would be trying to dig them even deeper down so he can focus on being there for will without his feelings for him getting in the way. (remember, he automatically assumes will doesn't like him back just like will does).

he would kill two birds with one stone in his mind. making el happy and being there for will, while completely abandoning himself and succumbing to his internalized homophobia again.

also the triangle behind mike in this scene is so funny because while he is digging himself deeper into something he isn't, he's got that huge lit up triangle behind him and on his shirt, showing you his queerness.

also the way the pizza only has 6 pepperoni slices instead of 7. will needs his other 7 (mike) to make 14, but mike isn't able to when he's literally in the act of running back to his internalized homophobia.

[dearweirdme]

Has someone put out a bat signal for passive aggressive Tae 'fans' or something? Because some of these 'fans' are moving like haters in these asks.

Like half of the videos and shipping shit to this day is focused JK being obvious as hell about how he feels about Taehyung. The only reason we know about Taekook in the first place is because JK always wore his heart on his sleeve and made it so obvious; closing space between him and Taehyung, staring at him, the fact that he seeks out subtle touch with him more than he does with the others, his protectiveness over Tae, the fact that Tae gets away with anything, JK can't say no to him etc

Now all of a sudden, JK is deep in denial? Are you all new here or something?

Now Taehyung is baiting shippers when in chapter 1, you were all pissed at him for, according to you lot, not doing enough while JK was, according to you guys, doing all the heavy lifting and Tae was being dismissive and too social, driving JK mad with jealousy because he wasn't centering him enough?

Pick a narrative, already 🙄

None of you are as smooth as you think you are and we're not as dumb as you seem to think we are either. We all know what anti, solo and alt shipper rhetoric sounds and looks like so stop wasting your own time and at least be upfront about it rather than pretending you're a fan.

And if you are a fan or at least like to think you are;

Have any of you considered the fact that Taehyung has openly spoken about being depressed for a while until recently so maybe he wasn't in the mood to be making videos with friends that only act as platforms for 'fans' investigating his every move and motive like you're getting paid for it. Maybe they've had more time to meet up with other now that it's only Tae (and not the group's) schedule to be accounted for? Maybe they're working on something together? Maybe their friendship has gotten deeper and they're hanging out more lately?

But you'd rather choose to question Tae's integrity first? 🤨

Leave him alone, already 🙄 He literally cannot breathe, blink or fuckin burp without his own 'fans' questioning him, picking apart his intentions and implying shit about him with no damn basis for it---people were just here the other day questioning his friendship with Jimin, for lords sake. Making him out to be complicit in some big company lie about how close they are and implying that he was actively lying to fans about their relationship.

But none of you guys are piping up when it comes to other members, are you? None of you are here talking about Jimin's motivations for supporting his group or any other members motivations or how about JK's motivations for even addressing questions about Tae that he could easily ignore if he wants to? JK is out there playing Slow Dancing, smooth moving to it and singing along word for word. He's choosing to answer questions about Taehyung and you're all like 'Aww'

Why isn't that ship baiting?

Is there an outcry of ship baiting when any other member interacts in the same way with each other?

No, because you take that at face value and know it's just friends being friends (or a supportive boyfriend) and it's nothing shady because damn, as if any member of BTS even needs to be pulling rookie tricks for more attention 🤨 You really think they don't get enough?

You really think they've gotta mine TikTok for fan attention?

It only seems to a problem when it's Taehyung for (so you say) Taehyung fans 🤨

And if you're legit considering yourself a Taehyung fan and you're still here pulling this bullshit and implying that he's an attention seeking liar and a user then why are you even a fan in the first place?

Get a clue, get a whole life and leave Taehyung out of it. The pressure you put on that man to justify and explain every... single...thing he does to meet standards YOU put on him is ridiculous and top tier entitlement.

He's allowed to keep his relationships secret. He's allowed to publicise them too. He's allowed to have friends and he's allowed to hang out with them. Hes allowed to have a whole life and social circle outside of JK (just like you all seem to allow JK to have without writing soap opera fanfic)

---and his own fans should respect that without getting triggered just because you're not getting Taekook content and landing on him being a terrible person whose relationship all have ulterior motives to them because of it.

And his haters, you can go touch water, feet first.

Anon doing my ranting for me! 👏🏻

[zonedelicious]

EchoVN analysis thingy

This will be a quick analysis of the furry visual novel Echo which will obviously contain spoilers. This is my own personal interpretation of the narrative and shouldn't be taken as factual. I must also state that I am not sexually interested in any of the characters, so this will be an asexual reading of sorts.

Echo to me is a story about mental illness and how it affects people. All 6 of the main characters are suffering mentally and that has affected their relationships with each other. Of course there is the paranormal entities that exist within the town of Echo. Our characters are one small part of a greater messed up world.

When seeing how people talk about the characters it is very similar how people discuss mental illness in real life. That is villainising it. With no offense to anyone in particular, there is often a hatred towards these characters that feels personal and that hatred comes from ableism. Thinking that none of these characters deserve happiness, that they're inherently bad, or that they're psychotic, it's all ableist reaction. And maybe that's intentional. Because Echo is a game that makes you feel uncomfortable. And maybe it's trying to make you question your own biases.

If there's one character that could potentially represent this best it is Sydney. The kid that drowned. Who's often portrayed as a cruel and even demonic kid. Some say he's even the one behind all the demonic entities. You could say he's a bad person. Right? But that would be wrong. Because Sydney being a bad person is a lie. A lie Chase made up.

Chase is an unreliable narrator who throughout the game is often seen lying and intentionally twisting the truth. It is his coping mechanism. He intentionally exaggerated Syd's bad moments and lies about Syd's death, to cope with the fact that he was the one who killed him. Chase as well as TJ had buried their memories of the event due to how traumatic it was for them and avoid thinking a out Syndey at all. In Flynn's route we even see Syd as a very friendly kid. It was only after his father's death that he grew distant from the others, because they judged him. Sydney was not a monster. He was simply another kid. Anyone could have taken his place. Just like Chase, the player frames Sydney as a bad person. You would expect him to be bad. Especially when being aware of common horror tropes of a vengeful ghost. But of course that never happens. Sydney probably has even forgiven Chase from what Micha says in Jenna's route. So what's the message then, that Chase is the bad guy? Well you would think that of course, but that's also false.

Chase is a mentally unwell person. He has been possessed for so long that he doesn't even know who he is. He lies and manipulates people because he is emotionally detached from everything. Does that makes him evil? No. He's simply a person. He does shit things. He has mental issues he can't control. This of course is shown by him literally being possessed by multiple ghosts, that also represent real world mental health issues. In TJ's route he is basically no longer in control of his own body according to Sam. He is a puppet. And that doesn't excuse his actions entirely. But it needs to be understood that he and everyone else in the game are suffering from serious mental health issues, and in the real world that means they are unstable and not fully in control of their own actions. So while yes technically a demon possessed Chase killed Sydney and Flynn. It was also a metaphor for how mental illness can cause you to do things you do not want to do.

Carl could get a job and go to college and be the best student and get all the girls and be happy. But that's not what's it like when your anxiety is so bad you start having panic attacks constantly.

TJ could just man up and be a badass. But how can you expect a 19 year old to change like that when they've been emotionally stunted due to trauma.

Trauma, depression, anxiety etc. It is all fucking painful, it fucks you up, and you can't function because of it. I relate with all these characters because I felt it too. I lost a friend and I've quit college and I had anger issues and people treated me like I was crazy. Probably shouldn't be personal on a furry post but I need to emphasize that this shit is really fucking hard to deal with.

So to say these characters are irredeemable and inherently bad, it is simply cruel to me. Yes I do think someone like Leo deserves love and care and to be hugged. Not because I want to fuck him. But because I understand that this is a broken man who does not deserve the pain he is going through.

Leo is the reason I started writing this essay. Before I even started playing I saw how Leo is said to be the worst person ever. To the point that liking Leo is seen as "missing the point". Which I find strange because Leo is never portrayed in the game in this way.

"I can fix him" in reference to Leo is a meme for how an absurd of an idea it is, but the game itself says that he should go to therapy, which is the game saying Leo should get fixed in a way. And he does get fixed. In his good ending he refuses to get Chase's number. In Jenna's route he apologizes to Micha and takes responsibility for his past actions. Leo makes changes despite being mind fucked by the mental illness devil. So him being portrayed as evil I think goes against the actual message.

Most of what I said for Leo also applies to Jenna. Though the hate she gets is also heavily tied to the fact she's the only girl in the main group and this is a game aimed at gay males. Any action she takes is the wrong one. Funny as that's exactly how Jenna grew up. She was always screwed over no matter what and had to eventually leave home. And her cold personality is a defense mechanism a lot of women develop to protect themselves from men. Then maybe she was also a way for cis gay men to question their misogyny.

So what's the end message? That you should excuse bad actions? Not necessarily. I think it's important to differentiate when a person chooses to hurt someone and when they don't. With Flynn, his bad actions are often choices. He chooses to be distant and an asshole. Yet at the same time this is how he communicates. I do not think Flynn knows he's hurting Carl when he insults him. Is it wrong to do so? Yes. Does Flynn care about Carl and doesn't want to hurt him? I believe so. Is Leo selfish and obsessive? Yes. Does Leo genuinely care about his friends and wants to protect them? Also yes.

Again this is simply how mental illness is. Anger issues, personality disorders, etc. The way you act does not always reflect your intentions. I'm not an expert here and don't know the right terminology. All I know is that functioning as a normal human being is really fucking hard. It affects your life and your relationships. And most of the time it isn't your fault.

So that's what Echo means to me. It is about people who are suffering. Who make mistakes. Who are assholes. And who are still people despite all that. They aren't evil, or psychos, or monsters. They're just people. And I am happy that the game treats them as such the entire time. People with mental illnesses deserve happiness.

This was my first analysis post. Well it's a rant post really but those are the same things. I hope to make more posts like this in the future as I am bored and jobless and that's what you do on the internet. Thank you for reading everyone.

[philosophicalparadox]

Cough, it’s me again

Our dear demon bastard stated what type of women he likes. What do you think would be the type of woman (and maybe even man) he dislikes the most?

He is living in my head rent free

This one is much easier and less complex to answer 🙏 (I promise your other ask is in the works 😚 its just taking its dear sweet time to manifest in coherent thoughts)

My picture of a person Mephisto absolutely would not like conveniently exists in canon: Michael Gedouin. And no, I'm not just saying that because I hate the bastard.

Gedouin is everything Samael loves to despise. He's clingy, desperate, arrogant, short sighted, pushy and rude. He's got delusions of grandeur and crippling insecurities. Mephisto would eat him alive out of spite - possibly literally if he weren't so fat as to give the malnourished demon clogged arteries for the effort.

I personally think that when Samael expressly dislikes or loathes someone he goes out of his way to be an absolute menace to them. Because he's petty like that.

Canon kind of backs me up on this, and offers a compelling series of reasons why. Everyone he dislikes in canon, he dislikes because they're too intrusive or rude (Lewin) too cocksure and ignorant (Arthur) too needy and pushy (Yukio to a degree) or too self absorbed and narcissistic (Lucifer).

What do all these people have in common?

They're all liars.

They all lie to themselves and to others constantly. Lewin lies to others because he has to in order to appear normal; Arthur lies to himself so that he feels normal-ish despite blatantly knowing he isn't; Yukio lies to both himself and others for the sake of status quo and because he has crippling insecurities he would rather pretend didn't exist; and Lucifer lies to everyone including himself because his mind and ego can't handle the truth or reality, so he twists the narratives to suit himself, and to hell with the rest.

Samael, Father of Lies, absolutely despises liars.

He despises liars, and he despises those who turn away from a hard truth they'd rather not face. In his mind, these people are cowards, possibly, and I don't imagine he is fond of cowardice either. Part of why he is so hard on Yukio is because Yukio refuses to see or acknowledge the present, focusing -- and hiding in - the past or sometimes the future. He is similarly stern with Rin at times because Rin was running away from the past, but with no sense of direction for the present or future; he was lost, though, not deliberately hiding. Yukio hides; he uses the past or possible future to justify the present while acknowledging neither, and that makes him both annoying and dangerous; vascillating between the past and future without thinking about the present is how you end up circling a drain with no outlet. Yes, Yukio is depressed and stressed and has some serious trauma issues, and that is why he acts that way - no doubt Mephisto is well aware of that - but he also was stubborn and foolish and refused to accept help in any way except very marginally for his way, and his way was not what he needed. And I just don't see Samael having the greatest patience with people who wallow in their misery and refuse to help themselves, or if they are, like with Yukio, then they won't listen to reason if they're wrong.

Samael does not like people who deny the truth. Who insist they know better than he does, who won't budge an inch no matter what he tells them. He has not the patience, and after a lifetime of dealing with Mr. Narc Himself I honestly can't blame him for that.

At the same time, he finds great delight in tormenting people he despises. He ribs Arthur all the time and makes a mockery of him, he belittles Yukio and infantalizes him in some respects; He openly says he doesn't like Lewin and finds him creepy due to his persistent, invasive intrigue regarding himself, and doesn't bother him much I feel because anything Samael did do to bugger him would only entice him more; and he can do nary a thing about Lucifer, except quietly chide him in the back of his mind and hope his brother comes to his senses eventually. A hope I think he has lost all faith in.

Now, I feel a need to bring up an odd little relationship regarding these things - Amaimon.

Does Samael dislike Amaimon? Yes, i think he does, in a way. But he dislikes him because he is rude and lazy and doesn't like to think for himself or make hard decisions and acts like a total child about it when he does. Amaimon doesn't pick sides because he doesn't want to think about the ramifications of either choice, so he just doesn't make one. (until he has to). Amaimon doesn't like actual hard work, so to entice him to do anything one must invite him to "play" or offer a reward - and sometimes punishment - worth motivating him. Amaimon does not give a single flying fuck if anyone really likes him or not, which I do think Samael finds admirable about him actually, but it comes with the caveat that he can't trust Amaimon to blend in very well or follow a set of rules he sees no point in following, like "Dont punch people, because they die, and we dont want them to die". To explain anything to Amaimon, one must explain it in his terms, on his terms, which makes him difficult and annoying to deal with at times because if there's no relevance to himself going on, he has no reason to care. He is the quintessential "not my problem" guy.

(I confess after writing this I am a lot like him in many regards)

Samael doesn't appreciate people who make his life more difficult, I would say for the above case. He prefers things to go a certain way, and people who propose to mess this up by being stubborn and difficult to control are thorns in his side; but he is willing to put up with them for the greater good of his work.

Rin is another thorny case for Samael at times, though its more that Rin has the utmost potential to be a problem than that he presently is one; Rin is strong willed, though not exactly stubborn - he can be plied fairly easily with the right kind of persuasion, and as recent chapters have so kindly delivered onto us, Rin is the faith-having sort of person; he believes in Mephisto's power and abilities, and has faith that Samael would be able to put the world to rights if Satan wasn't being such a stubborn Git about it all.

That being said, I could easily see the tables turning if Rin decided to get in Samael's way and provoke him with his stubbornness, especially since Rin isn't always keen on listening to reason, so I hesitate to say Samael likes or dislikes Rin outright - I think he's an edge case and that Samael cautiously likes him, but would absolutely kill or maim him if it came to that. And I personally am of the mind that Rin is very much aware of this.

So, to recap -

Samael does not like Liars, Truth Deniers, and People Who Make Life Harder.

I also am of the mind he has a particularly vengeful distaste for thieves, based on the possessiveness of his personality and penchant for collecting things, but only insofar as they have stolen from him. After all I doubt he got all of his own belongings by moral means, given Loki and Dionysus' penchant for being thieves themselves. So steal away - just don't steal things from the Devil, maybe. Unless he wants you to. (Ahem, Impure King arc). But even then, probably not the wisest idea.

[sapphire-weapon]

Part of why I love the remake Leon design so much is because he DOESN'T look well. Yes, he has conventionally acceptable features, but he's also sickly pale (I mean his lips often look greyish purple!), the dark cricles, he looks slightly older than he actually is and I just... love it all, because it adds so much to his character. Despite still making him attractive, I feel that they're slowly (and only slightly) pulling away from the Perfect American Boy ideal and are testing out making him less... idk, vacuum sealed for mass consumption. Idk, I just adore "flaws" (even if they're few) on my faves, because it makes them so much more interesting, arguably more attractive and easier to empathise with. I hope they continue investing in letting him look like shit, it gives us a much easier look into his mindset.

you know, this ask reminds me of the discourse that happened when FF7R's development got pulled in-house, and the build that CyberConnect2 had been working on and had been shown off previously was scrapped. I know that no one reading this post gives a shit about FF7 lore or dumb arguments in the fandom anything like that, but go with me on this one. I'm bringing it up for a reason.

basically, there was a not-insignificant chunk of fandom who preferred Cloud's CC2 look over the character model that Creative Business Unit 1 gave him and that made it into the final release of the game. the argument was that CC2's model looked more "sickly" and that felt more canon-compliant to people, since Cloud had spent the last five years living in a tube and being experimented on.

the argument on the other side was that Cloud wasn't actually supposed to look sickly, despite the whole tube situation. in OG FF7, he's repeatedly referred to by other characters as looking "healthy" and "strong" -- so, despite his extreme Mako poisoning and the extensive experimentation his body underwent, he showed no outward physical signs of it. the lore dictates that the Jenova cells in his body kept him strong and healthy thanks to their extreme regenerative properties. so, actually and technically, the CBU1 model really was the canon-compliant one.

the people who favored the CC2 model basically said that that was a cop-out excuse of an argument made by people who just wanted Cloud to be kawaii and fuckable, and that Square Enix missed an opportunity for some visual storytelling by falling back on the Jenova thing.

for the record, I was in the camp of people who preferred his final model and thought that CBU1's interpretation of him was more correct and that the CC2 one was wrong. I don't actually give a shit about what the lore says, because FF7 lore is a bunch of stupid bullshit nonsense that only makes sense and is consistent if you're certifiably insane (as much as I love my lore expert friends dearly) -- and I certainly do not want to fuck Cloud and haven't since I was, like, 12. what I actually cared about was the fact that it fucks up the storyline and the suspension of disbelief for Cloud to look anything other than the part of a genuine First Class SOLDIER. in order for FF7's narrative to work, the lie that Cloud lives has to be believable.

I take a similar stance here.

is Leon a depressed sack of shit who doesn't always take great care of himself, per canon? yes. should he look the part visually? not... necessarily.

Leon doesn't have full autonomous control over his life or his body. no one who is technically "owned" by the government in some way does. talk to anyone who was ever in the US military, and they'll tell you the same thing. physical fitness tests and body mass measurements and all of that other shit is a regular occurrence, and there are penalties up to and including dishonorable discharge if someone doesn't keep up with their health and if they continuously fail to meet the required physical fitness standards.

Leon can't afford to do that. if he were to fail physical standards tests, being discharged is the least of his worries -- what would happen to Sherry as a result of his failure is his concern. it's the axis around which his entire character arc turns, and it's really important that there's nothing going on implicitly to undermine it.

I don't think that Leon should ever look any worse for wear than he does in RE4make. that's the absolute limit that he should hit. missing a night or two of sleep and sometimes drinking himself to sleep here and there is one thing -- but it shouldn't be happening so often that it's taking a visible physical toll on his body.

I think that OG has been doing a fantastic job on this front for many, many years. there are times in this series where Leon is clearly not at his physical best. his weight fluctuates between titles. sometimes his hair is grown out a bit too much, and you can tell he's been neglecting it. sometimes his facial hair looks fine because he's been keeping up with its look -- and sometimes, it really, really doesn't, and he's just scruffy because he just hasn't given a shit enough to actually shave for a few days (looking at you, Death Island).

but he never looks so bad that it's Legitimately Worrisome. because he can't let it get that bad. his neurotic nature shouldn't and won't allow it to ever get to worrying levels.

so I think... by and large, it's not about making sure Leon is and remains a sex symbol (though I'm sure that's part of it because Capcom gonna Capcom). there's a broader sense of visual storytelling at play here. Leon has to keep up with his physical wellness, because there's too much for him to lose if he doesn't.

[primaviva]

Your theory is so good but it does make me really sad bc if they go down the 'we can't mess with the multiverse say goodbye everyone' route, then CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW ALONE GWEN WILL BE

She lost Peter, half gained back her dad but let's be fr that relationship will never be the same, then has to lose Miles, Hobie, Pav, Peter, Jess, Margo, EVERY SPIDERPERSON she knows and has found comfort in. She has to lose them in one go. like.... poor baby losing literally everything 🥲🥲

I'd cry for her but having said that I can 100% imagine the end of btsv being a no more multiverse travel. That or it's like multiversal travel more 'free' bc they find a safe way to do it without collapsing universes or sm

But yeah loved your theory and would love to hear more of your controversial opinions 😼

I HAVE SM TO SAY ON THIS OMG REMINDER

i love astv but the writing for the plot or just the concept that started astv is lazy and they thought they was slick

they wanted to make it seem like miles was lonely when he has ganke, someone who knows his secret, because they wanted to use his solitude to push the plot. to me that’s just a lil lazy because miles could’ve opened up to ganke and if he was overwhelmed he def would’ve told him because you can tell they are close friends.

AND GWEN IS NOT ALONE LIKE YES IN HER MIND SHE IS but it’s so funny cus she has more friends than miles from what they show in the movie like the way they portrayed the mary janes kinda made it seem like they were JUST bandmates

not only did they try to get her attention at the prom (yes they were there if you didn’t notice before the lizard attack and she was looking for pete) BUT MJ AND GWEN ARE BEST FRIENDS TOO like after her day one peter, mj is one of gwens close friends after betty brant (the girl w the beanie)

and it’s like yes they are alone but not in the physical sense. they tried to portray their solitude as they had no support systems that could understand them and therefore made the spider society this holy grail of people they can relate to when to me that isn’t true. they did this more heavy on gwen side where they made it seem like mj and them weren’t her close friends and yes she didn’t have her dad but even then she could’ve still opened up in a different way.

they both feel like they have a lot going on with no one to understand the pressure that lays on them. and they lowkey demonized rio by making miles give a latina mami attitude because yes of course two parents aren’t going to hear they kid out when he is giving them attitude and allat. and gwen just straight up ran away from her problems which she has a track record of doing.

i just feel like they are using this “omg they both have been so lonely yearning for each other” thing with miles and gwen to add to their dynamic and it takes away from a message of teen mental health and the generational differences that they could’ve done instead of this idea that you have to depend on people because that’s UNHEALTHY.

miles and gwen do not NEED each other but they are good to support each other and this narrative that they been obsessed with each other since they last saw each other is just unhealthy it’s really toxic to focus depend on individuals to make you happy instead of finding your own peace which is something they both need to learn. they barely knew each other too like it’s just very unrealistic like yes miles has every right to admire gwen because she was everything he wanted to become when finding out he’s spiderman but for him to draw her every single day since is ode like you can’t lie

I just hate when movies do this narrative where the two love interest lean on each other for support and are depressed when they aren’t around each other because 1) if you can’t be a stable person when someone you like isn’t around that’s 🚩 2) depending and literally glorifying someone who gives you happiness to the point where you put them on a pedestal which is literally what miles did is so again UNHEALTHY

idk it’s just wasted potential to actually discuss teen mental health and how to actually push teens to deal with it instead of finding ways of escapism like getting a s/o as a distraction, isolating themselves, self harming in ways that aren’t just physical pain you inflict on yourself like purposely neglecting your health, etc. especially since most spider people are teens it’s just i hate how they depicted it like miles and gwen have nobody to relate to in their universe when it was a personal matter on how to open up cus they only did that just for plot sake of “i need a watch to see all my friends in different universe and finally feel whole!!

like miles literally wanted to do a physicist type major just so he can see gwen and open a portal like does that not sound wild to y’all? lowkey villainous? lowkey a little too fixated, obsessed, and unhealthy? idk maybe it’s just me who has a problem with this choice or narrative and how they portrayed it cus nobody talks about this unless it’s people clowning miles for loving up on a snowbunny 😕