#legitimately annoyed because why lie???

[jacob-blogs]

Okay but seriously it's the way he said he was into both of us

[greenqueenhightower]

Hey.

I constantly argue back and forth with TB stans that Jace, Luke and Joffrey aren't legitimised just because Laenor, Corlys and Viserys go along with Rhaenyra’s lie about them being "trueborn". As I'm sure you're aware, in Westeros only a king can legitimise the illegitimate by first declaring their bastardy and then legitimising them afterwards. And TB stans. Just. Don't. Get. It. They also seem to think that the King's word is law in Westeros. They don't understand that this a feudal monarchy where the king and his vassals are reliant upon each other and both must respect the social contract in order for the Westerosi social structures e.g. monarchy to be maintained.

IMO, they fall for the narrative trap of the Targaryen characters. Just because Viserys and Rhaenyra say that the King's word is law doesn't actually make it law. It's only law as long as the king has the ability to enforce it. Therefore, if a king did something insane in the eyes of his noble polity, e.g., try to place his bastards in the line of succession, they'd rebel proving accurately that the King's word is in fact not actually law. Aerys's overthrowing is a great example of this. As is the reign of Daeron II: if his word was law and everyone had to obey him, no one would have joined Daemon Blackfyre's rebellion.

Anyway back to TB stans. I think alot of them don't actually realise how the world works. Even GRRM confirmed the bastardy of Rhaenyra’s 3 son's for goodness sake. Every time they try to deny it using the aforementioned argument it only confuses me. Are they insecure about Rhaenyra having illegitimate children? Is that how far they're para-social relationship with her goes?

They also have another stupid argument that Rhaenyra's kids having her blood means that they can inherit her throne. No no no no no no no no no. THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS TB. If it was Westerosi lords with bastard relatives, it would allow them to inherit. You have to be trueborn. It's unfair but these unfair laws are what keeps Westeros from constant civil war. That's the point of inheritance law in the Seven Kingdoms.

Anyway, sorry about the rant. It's just that sometimes when I argue with certain TB stans they don't seem to understand the laws of the world they're fans of. They will bend over backwards to excuse their faves, not understanding that you are allowed to criticise a character you like (& in their case love). I think Rhaenyra is an interesting character - moreso in the book TBH - I just don't get why so many TB stans willfully refuse to understand the way in which the laws of the world she inhabits work. Any thoughts?

Hi anon, it took me forever to get to your ask but you're right! 💚

Not all TB stans share the same views, and there are people in here with whom you can converse intelligently, but I have also seen the discourse you're referring to, and it is very annoying when the stans don't get it.

You put the Westerosi legitimization process very well. If we consider the greater Middle Ages-inspired world-building context that Westeros is based on, it makes sense why bastardy is a stigmatized social issue. Blood "purity," lineage, and legitimacy are important because they are the only way land and titles are bequeathed and inherited.

The King is the only one who can legitimize his own illegitimate children as heirs, but he can do so for other illegitimate children, regardless of whether these are related to him by blood. King Louis IV, for example, legitimized John II Duke of Brabant's son, Jan Cordeken, after a petition John wrote to him thus enabling him to inherit his father's fortune and found the House of Glymes. From Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome to Enlightenment Europe, there are examples of Kings legitimizing not only their children but also the children of their officials, courtiers, and friends. It was seen as granting a favor to them, and when it came to personal matters, a King might choose to legitimize his children when he ran out of heirs, or in the case of Louis XIV, because he could and wanted to.

In other words, Viserys, who knew of but chose to ignore Rhaenyra's sons' (his grandsons') bastardy, had ample time and opportunity to legitimize them but chose to blind himself to the truth instead. What was that about Alicent calling Viserys "weak" in one of the deleted scenes of S1? Well, "weak" isn't the only word I would use to describe him... also irresponsible, foolish, and inadequate.

Nevertheless, the legitimization process in history was seldom favored by the court, the King's vassals, and the people, and caused quite a stir. As you say, the King's law didn't hold up that much ground compared to the law of tradition and at times the Church. The people didn't care if a King legitimized a child by naming them heir... the stigma of being born "illegitimate" wasn't washed off that easily, because bastards were seen as devilish, impure, half-breeds, unnatural hybrids, and so forth. So Viserys choosing to ignore the issue face front was bound to be catastrophic, because no matter how he tried to silence the tongues that wagged by threatening to cut them off, the issue of his grandsons' apparent bastardy remained, and THE REALM would not accept any of them on the Iron Throne, for the same reasons.

And Viserys did nothing about it. He could have confronted Rhaenyra when Jace was born and reminded her of the stark reality of the consequences of what she was doing. Not only did he name Rhaenyra (a woman) as his heir, which alone was controversial and unprecedented, but a woman with three illegitimate children, whose existence never even tried to correct or prevent. Viserys alone weakened Rhaenyra's claim with his lack of foresight and counsel.

If TB uphold the "Viserys loved his grandsons and he accepted them as they were" narrative, they are not only deluded but lack media literacy as well, because Viserys DIDN'T CARE if his grandsons were trueborn or not, or if that would plunge the realm to war, the same way he didn't care that he had named Rhaenyra as his successor when the realm, who was so used to having Kings for centuries, knew he had THREE legitimate sons of his own.

So my two cents on the discourse would basically be that those who don't understand the social and political repercussions of Rhaenyra having bastards, not being counseled as to why this is destructive, left on her own to raise them, and having to cope with the consequences of her actions as she realizes that the father she so loved and admired didn't protect or support her at all, are missing out on a much more interesting character in Rhaenyra and a more complex dynamic with her sons, who she now understands are exceptionally vulnerable and potentially threatening to her cause.

This is a far more intriguing reading than anything TB stans are getting at with their "no criticism" ban on Viserys and Rhaenyra.

[cocogum]

The Great Wave - Chapter 5 Review

‼️ SPOILERS FOR THE CHAPTER ‼️

I’m not going to lie, this was the best chapter of the first volume so far. Not only was it better than the old chapters because we had much more to see and think about, but it’s also because it had some soft intimate moments mixed with happy scenes and not to mention felt longer than the others.

I would like to point out that I was completely in the right to explain why it was perfectly reasonable for Amalia to be worried that Aurora would take her place. In my chapter 4 review, I mentioned how Aurora had no right to lead the kingdom without Amalia even if it was in her legal right to do so. Aurora doesn't fully grasp the beliefs of the Sadidas. If she banishes Amalia, the final member of the royal Sadida family, from the kingdom, she will lack crucial insight into the kingdom's governance, particularly regarding the functioning of the Tree of Life.

It's important to note that while Yugo may not be a Sadida or a Twelvian, he has at least demonstrated the bare minimum level of cultural understanding and interaction that surpasses Aurora. Having lived among the Sadidas and rescued them multiple times, he has even communicated with King Oakheart without difficulty. However, it's worth noting that not all Sadidas may fully accept Yugo despite everything he has done. A good example of this would be what @vinillain has said about the topic in their post. I actually recommend you to see what they have to say about it.

Aurora has told Amalia to go back to her adventures, implying that she doesn’t need Amalia IN HER OWN HOME. Not only is the blue cow trophy wife a dumbass, but she’s also extremely unaware of the consequences she could receive if she lets her go.

It’s completely ridiculous but insane to kick the only remaining royal family of the Sadida kingdom if you don’t know how to keep the very living thing that keeps its people breathing.

This just keeps me wondering what the hell is Aurora’s goal besides ruling another kingdom other than the Osamodas one. Is there even another goal? Because if there isn’t, you gotta keep the only member of the royal family around you if you don’t want to fuck a kingdom up babes.

Aurora is legitimately an embarrassment to all blondes out there. They are already tired of hearing the annoying stereotype of “being dumb blondes” so don’t make it worse for them.

I hate what this is implying and I hate how Amalia explains it to Yugo.

Amalia already told Yugo in Season 4 that the sadidas protect the trees with their lives. And now, she’s here specifying to him that once a Sadida dies, they are still very much present in other ways.

Tot I swear on my ass, if this turns out to be some kind of foreshadowing for Amalia’s death, I’m booking a plane ticket straight to France. However, if this turns out to be some sort of implication that Amalia will replace or be the official guardian of the Tree of Life, I might be into it. We’ll just have to see where her words will go.

I loved how Yugo immediately went to console her and brought her into his arms. My guy doesn’t hesitate at all anymore and I’m so proud 🥰 He’s now able to give her the love she deserves 💕

This is the first time he mentions the past, and I'm glad he remembers how she used to be and can see the good in her, even when she was less mature.

Look at how he admires her in this very moment! He’s absolutely smitten ��💕

“But already full of courage.” Yeah, the fearless sassy adventurer is definitely his type lol

I’ve been seeing a lot of people talk about the pregnancy situation with Aurora and with Amalia as well. The recurring references to pregnancy in certain chapters have led some to speculate about their significance. They are so vaguely placed in some instances but still present that the mentions almost appear like they’ve been strategically placed, leading to the belief that they may play a crucial role in upcoming events.

Here, we have Amalia crying her tears out at the idea that Aurora is perfectly justified to regain her position as queen simply because of her alleged pregnancy.

Just this scene alone makes me believe that Amalia has all the right to get pregnant as well. This is literally the scene that’s pushing the idea of her getting a kid.

Amalia. Get pregnant already. YUGO HELP HER-

I genuinely hate the fact that Amalia believes Armand would’ve let Aurora become the leader in his place because she’s harbouring his “child.”

Like no babe that doesn’t make any sense.

Throughout Season 4, we were able to clearly understand that Armand and Aurora did have feelings for one another but that didn’t mean Armand thought she was worthy to take his place if he was gone.

There’s a reason why there was only one throne in the Sadida kingdom.

There’s a reason why he was the only one conversing the most with other symbols of power or influence such as Master Joris, Yugo, and the cow king.

There’s a reason why he only addresses himself when he’s talking about the sadida leadership.

There’s a reason why he says “my people” rather than “our people”.

There’s a reason why he told Amalia, straight to her face, that she’s got it from here right before he sacrifices himself.

Armand never thought about Aurora when it came to any kind of leadership.

And sure, even if the child is real (because I still do not believe that wench), that doesn’t mean Armand was expecting the child to take over for him, much less Aurora, when Amalia was still in the picture.

Man was just horny that’s it.

Oh oop- drama???

Omg no this is genuinely such a good moment.

Amalia accidentally tells Yugo that he’s a stranger in the eyes of the royal Osamodas family and supposedly the other leaders as well and Yugo simply accepts this fact while she’s over here internally cursing herself for saying that to his face.

Because Amalia knows she’s right. And Yugo knows it just as much as her, if only more. Despite how Yugo wants to help Amalia in the situation she’s in, he’s aware that his very existence is a disturbance to the other leaders. (Which is a parallel to what happened with the Eliatrope goddess and the other gods around her.)

It greatly bothers Yugo to not be able to help his wife because of what he is and it is pretty understandable. There are people who are clashing with Amalia so he’ll obviously want to fight back.

While we're on the subject of who’s more of a stranger than the actual alien, I’d like to point out that even the royal Sadida staff treats Yugo like he’s part of the family. When Yugo and Amalia were having their moment, Renate (or Canar, I can’t remember who is who these two are just always together) enters the sacred grounds and calls for them, reminding them to be a part of the wedding their friends are having. But the way Renate (or Canar) addresses them is not by their royal status, but simply by their names.

This is an important detail to be aware of because Renate/Canar had no reason to justify why he called them by their names alone.

It just goes to show that some royal servants can be comfortable calling Yugo and Amalia this way without receiving any consequences. It also implies that only the servants who have interacted and gotten along with Yugo and Amalia when they were younger, are allowed to address them by their names.

And I love that fact so terribly much.

Amalia is a queen who understands personal relationships with servants and doesn’t think the idea is a bad thing. She has always been looking forward to speaking to her servants and befriending them since she was a child. Renate, Canar, and Evangelyne are examples of this.

Another detail that can be pointed out in this scene is what Renate/Canar said next: there was a wedding the two are supposed to attend later in the day.

This wouldn’t have been such a big thing to think about if it wasn’t for the fact that Yugo mentioned to Grougal that the two people in question who are getting a wedding, are two of his and Amalia’s friends.

Literally what? Who?!? Who are those friends??? That literally came out of nowhere!

It can’t be Eva and Dally because they already got married ages ago. So who could they be? Some friends who the brotherhood of the tofu met during one of their adventures? New characters that we’re going to see in Season 5 if it ever gets released? Or simply new characters that we’re going to discover in the manga? I’m throwing all the possibilities in the air because these two individuals cannot be normal civilians that Yugo and Amalia decided to plan a wedding for. Yugo precisely stated that these people are their friends.

Because of the Brotherhood’s lack of presence, one might assume that the couple getting married could consist of a Sadida and an Eliatrope, which would explain why Yugo and Amalia are familiar with them.

The Eliatropes and Sadidas depicted in this panel appear to be getting along, as they are all gathered in circles surrounded by Sadidas who seem to be accepting of their presence.

@aphilayx circled the exact amount of small groups that contained sadidas and eliatropes conversing together.

We can also believe that the marriage is unlikely to have any of the brotherhood’s friends who they met in their adventures take part in the ceremony, as was the case with Tristeva and Yumalia’s weddings. It appears that only Alibert, Adamaï, and Chibi, who are not from the kingdom, will be participating.

All of these points only encourage the idea that the marriage Yugo and Amalia would participate in could be between a sadida and an eliatrope.

…if the eliatropes weren’t children.

The eliatropes are not adults yet. Only a few months, or possibly a year, have passed between Season 4 and the webtoon. The eliatropes are not ready to marry anyone.

But then again, an interracial marriage would still make sense. Because why would any other race be here? I don’t see anyone else. The room we were shown only displayed sadidas and eliatropes. The only other person who isn’t an eliatrope, a sadida, or even a dragon, is Alibert (poor guy’s the only Enutrof there lol). He sticks out like a sore thumb 😭

Speaking of the room, we finally get to see Chibi and Grougal! It's great to have more opportunities to see them, especially since they were only featured in the first episode of the Ovas and one episode of Season 4 until now. In both of those times, they barely spoke or said a line. But here, we can finally see them having more moments and SPEAKING.

Well, only Chibi is talking but I think that’s pretty understandable since Grougal seems to be less talkative than him cuz he’s…well a baby dragon.

Grougal chews on wood when he can’t eat anything else…

Honestly, that’s relatable for all human babies. And then we got Chibi over here who decided to snitch on him for trying to eat Az. I never thought the future inventor would be able to snitch like that, how embarrassing.

DUDE WHY ARE YOU BRINGING DOWN GROUGAL LIKE THAT?! BRO’S JUST TRYNNA BE A DRAGON-

I’ve never seen Yugo get this mad at Grougal damn. I only saw Adamaï acting like that in season 2...daddy’s mad.

Yugo gives off the vibe of being the responsible older brother who had to act mature to help the parents handle the younger kids. He’s such a big brother to them both to the point where he’s making me think he’ll be such a good househusband father.

He’s even compromising with them!! Telling Grougal to wait a bit until the food can be ready.

Please that is such a fatherly thing to do!! They usually do this when the mother isn’t watching lol. Yugo’s over here telling Grougal to wait just a bit longer so he could be able to eat whatever he wants at the banquet.

By the way, I bet the feast will only be filled with drinks and fruits based on the food we’ve seen in the webtoon trailer.

Ruel had once complained that all the sadidas ate were soups so I guess that’s also another thing these people eat. The only time I’ve seen a sadida eat meat was Amalia in the first episode of the Ovas cutting a cooked animal in Ruel’s contraption.

So yeah, Grougal’s gonna starve either way lol

Also I’m definitely using this panel as my lock screen 💕💕

Look at him, he’s about to ground him before Alibert can.

Just cuz of this scene alone, it made me think that’s how he’s gonna act if he ever gets a kid(s) with Amalia. So if his kid misbehaves, he’d make that frowning face lol

And now we’re back to these imbeciles.

It irks me that these two blue-skinned clowns are being served and taken care of by the sadidas. They got THEIR OWN SUITE ARE U KIDDING ME-

The blue cow king even had some food prepared by the sadidas for his goofy ass ride! Stop treating the sadida servants like they are your own ones!!

Aurora is as unlikable as always, ordering the people to prepare her room.

I swear not even younger Amalia used to order her people like that. She used to get along with them and even talk to them as if she was about to spill some tea. But Aurora? Cow is so entitled that she’s even acting like that to people who are not even from the same race as her.

Blue cow mentioned that the chest the Sadida servant was carrying, had a “kougnard” in it (in English it’s a “skrot”).

We couldn’t see what it looked like but it clearly scared the shit out of that sadida woman. So I took the time to search up what a “Kougnard” was and it turns out it was actually a very ugly bat creature.

A “kougnard” is an animal you can use for transportation or a companion you can bring around while adventuring. Their main use is transportation though so they carry you from point A to point B if you can’t find a zaap gate near you.

They originally came from Ecaflipus, the Ecaflip God’s dimension. The kougnard that Aurora has is a newborn one which would explain why it could fit into a chest.

For a visual example, this is what a kougnard looks like in its adult form 👇

So yeah, pretty ugly.

Like ew wtf no wonder the sadida woman shit her leaves. Sorry for any player who uses these things but I don’t see how you can even touch one of them, let alone look at them for more than fifteen seconds. They look like ugly crusty bats that are fighting for their lives just to breathe.

Also what’s up with Aurora keeping familials in chests?? Wtf?? Isn’t she pro-animal or whatever?? Literally what’s up with that?? What’s so special about a living baby kougnard that she has to keep it in a chest???

That thing is even ugly as a baby, just look at how that sadida woman reacted when she saw it. Literally freaked her the hell out.

Apparently, Aurora wears the animal on her head in the next chapter according to what the next chapter’s cover entails. She seems to have something in her head and @geekgirles deduced that if we focus our attention on the top of her head, we can see claws.

I swear if that blue cow is actually looking down on people in that panel while having an ugly crusty-ass bat on her head, I’ll be laughing my ass off at this goofy behavior.

[deadboydetectives-confessions]

I was going to leave it because it's none of my business what other people headcanon, but it's annoying me now (partly because I, like Edwin, very much prefer reading and using logic rather than sport r physical combat and I am very offended by the implication that that means there's no way I could also be physically fit - I'm not but I could be, regardless of where my interests lie), so I'll just say: there's no canonical reason why Edwin can't have muscles. I think the main reason people assume he doesn't is because he's 'stereotypical nerdy boy', which is a really reductive viewpoint to begin with because Edwin is a complex and multifaceted character whose main selling point is not, as some seem to believe, that he likes books - but even if it was, that doesn't mean he has to be unfit. Books are heavy. If Edwin's anything like me, which I think it is fair to assume since one of the only glimpses we have of his past is him reading to try and ignore everyone, he probably spent much of his life carrying around books.

Plus, people tend to assume that Edwin wasn't very sporty, and no, he probably didn't enjoy it - but that doesn't mean he didn't play them. I doubt he got much of a choice. He probably had to do cross country running at school, plus I would be shocked if he hasn't played cricket and/or rugby there. Maybe he wouldn't have been on the school team, but he'd at least have been taught how. Also, as a school for military children during wartime, I think it entirely reasonable to assume that St Hilarion's had a big focus physical strength and any other skills that might be considered necessary for fighting in a war (based on the standards of warfare pre-WW1, as that marked a massive shift in the style of war for which no one was properly prepared).

This isn't to mention everything he went through trying to escape Hell, since you could argue that all the running and tearing apart of brick walls he did in there wouldn't have impacted his physique since he was already dead.

Obviously it's perfectly fine to headcanon Edwin as not being particularly strong or well-built, you could also justify that idea, that it's not the only option. There are plenty of perfectly legitimate reasons why Edwin might be physically fit. I'm tired of the stereotype that nerds can't have muscles.

.

[37-children-of-the-dreams]

PSA WARNING: Asaba Harumasa’s Agent Story Part One

CW: Child exploitation, suicide and talks of suicide, and a bittersweet ending.

So I did Harumasa’s Agent Story knowing that it’s not going to be a happy one. Yet, I was not prepared for what the writers had in store for his Agent Story.

Now, if you think Lighter had problems, you’re about to question what is wrong with the writers because they upped the ante with Asaba Harumasa.

(Sorry to the next S rank male, but the devs might torture you next)

Now, the story starts off lightly and a bit sad because Harumasa wants to be on sick leave, and then it’s revealed that he was abandoned as a child. Is he an orphan? Might as well because those people shouldn’t be called parents anymore.

Then, after a few fights into his story, we learn that he knew Seth and his brother from their academy days, though it seems that Asaba did not have a good relationship with Seth’s brother and that might’ve contributed to why he acts mean to Seth. If you did Lighter’s Trust Events, you would remember that Asaba and Seth did not get along when dealing with Lighter, Asaba even going as far as to tell Lighter to report Seth for what happened. And now you know why.

And then the fight with the child who turned into an Ethereal. It was bad. Asaba is shook and Seth drives it harder. We had no chance to save the child.

And then you meet this guy. You will want him dead and gone to HELL.

More lore about his master. It hurts him to think about him. He wants answers and has been finding him for years.

I didn’t get much pictures from the start of his second part, but the ones I did get, it’s just horrible. The reason being that you and Asaba meet THREE more victims and Asaba knows what they’re going through because it’s his past that they’re going through. And one of them is suicidal.

He studied a bit of psychology. Good for him because it does help with trying to deal with trauma.

The writers need a ton of awards, higher pay checks and a million vacation days. They legitimately deserve it. This is highly realistic and true. There will be days when you’ll think of why you’re still alive when the world is just suffocating you but then realize that everyday you haven’t died is you being a survivor of your worst thoughts. It’s hard, and it is highly annoying to keep hearing people telling you to be happy when you don’t want to feel like it, but one more day of living for a tiny reason is better than nothing.

We get back to Seth and the other guy. All I can say is, I advocate murdering people that uses children as science experiments and lie to their face about it. Also, I don’t like the other guy because he’s okay with children dying for medical advancement. I get that they won’t live for long, but it’s not right, and we all should try to be like Seth in this topic.

I know this is a secret test of character, but this is why, despite his naivety on some topics, Seth is a good boy. You can trust him to save your life.

May the bad blood end today. Seth passed his test.

Shoot him. Take him to HELL.

[ceilidho]

Sorry to dump this here, but no one in my immediate and/or accessible circle reads as much as I do and this conversation came up at the right time.

I don't read a lot of romance and I started reading some popular ones last year to ease my way into it. I feel like such a snob to say this, but the plot and writing are never fully fleshed out nor are the characters. None of the romantic actions I see people swoon over are ever explained well enough for me to understand the hype. A scene in which there should be an emotional inner monologue is shorted to a paragraph and if the character is toxic (I understand a lot of people enjoy toxic/dark men, but romance books never write them well enough) and destroys the other character's life/says a relationship-ending lie/any other cliche, there is never enough explanation, justification, groveling, or any thought process behind the reconciliation.

It's always just one half-written and half-baked trope after the other.

Again, apologies for dumping it here, but I think there are such damning consequences for women (the main demographic of romance readers) who read things like this and don't give constructive criticism or thought when facing these problems.

no but you're 100% right. i mean, this is one annoying bitch's opinion (mine LMAO) but trad publishing is in the absolute pits right now. that's not to say that there aren't still some good books coming out because of course, every now and then you're going to get a gem. but i think the environment has become outwardly hostile to good writing.

i mean, i know this has been discussed a ton, but the "fast fashionization" of books has become a huge problem. every time there's a new microtrend or whatever, every author rushes to push out a book to meet the demand (see: the hockey romance trend). this, obviously, means that the editing time is severely compressed and you get books published by like harper collins and penguin with typos, grammar issues, and more.

i got some flack for this when i posted about it on twitter ahah but i honestly do not understand why the sequel to "fourth wing" came out so soon (not even getting into the messy qualities of the first book). sequels used to take a year or more to come out to allow for the book to go through several rounds of editing and fine tuning! what happened??!!

i think authors now feel compelled to get their books out as soon as possible out of fear that booktok/readers will simply move on after the initial hype and they'll lose their reader base. there's like an anxiety about being left behind in the current publishing world.

this is kind of in line with what i was talking about the other day with Bo actually - writing romance and smut is actually way harder than people think. you can't just use the same 5 recycled porn dialogue lines and call it a day. you have to care a little about the story you're trying to tell, not just churning it out to make a buck or to make people pay attention to you. i'm not saying belabour every single action and decision made by your main character or go crazy on description (i still think the sweet spot for a published book is between 250-300 pages, and maybe more if you're writing a genre specific book that involves a lot of worldbuilding), but as a writer you need to want to be writing that book in the first place.

no one who's legitimately excited about what they're writing is going to resort to cliches and overused tropes - they might lean on tropes they like, but there's inevitably going to be something original and exciting there.

also my lil controversial opinion about the state of trad publishing lately is that i think it's 100% influenced by this weird pervasive strain of purity culture that's on booktok where people feel like any enjoyment they get from reading a particular thing has a direct reflection on them as a person and their values. rather than it just being a book.

(by the way i actually completely agree with you that even dark romances are as bad as everything else we've been talking about - that's another conversation lol. i also kind of agree with the idea of more romance books coming with content warnings on the front page - this hasn't really caught on yet except with some dark romance authors but i think it's a really good idea)

i don't think there's anything wrong about people getting excited about books on tiktok and instagram and youtube btw. i think it's a fun way to share recommendations, commentary, and interests. what i think is the big problem is that the publishing industry has almost become beholden to trends and online perception because they've seen how much profit they can generate by catering to it, and i think that's why books now just feel bland and soulless. they're tapping into a FOMO on both the authors' and writers' side, of either being left behind and not being able to make a living, or missing out on what everyone else is reading and talking about.

[lazyofficer]

HERE IS WHY SHIRLULU IS A LEGITIMATE SHIP -PART 3

Warning: I'm not a writer and English is not my native language. So kindly bare it or DM me about it. Criticism is welcomed not hate.

Continuation

LELOUCH BEING BOYFRIEND CODED -

2. Lelouch's Sweet Side

Lelouch generally has this indifferent attitude and blank expression, but when it comes to Shirley, his expression and even his voice turns gentle. 

Nunnally is the only other person with whom he was this gentle.

Shirley is an extrovert, while Lelouch is an introvert. It's natural for him to get annoyed, as it could be energy-draining but Lelouch never got annoyed with her, not even once. In fact Shirley is the one who got annoyed with him.

Examples:

R1 Stage 02

Shirley was nagging him about his gambling habits while he was in the middle of something important. Instead of getting annoyed, he gently answered her. 

P.S - His expression and even his tone was gentle.

R1 episode 03

Shirley was interrogating him about his whereabouts (Clovis death) while he evaded her question.

Lelouch is someone who could lie through his teeth. It's interesting how he avoided eye contact with her.

R2 stage 12

Sayoko turned Lelouch's image into a playboy, resulting in Lelouch going on dates.

Shirley is angry and jealous (obviously), but Lelouch behaves like a scared boyfriend, trying to escape her wrath and even promising to explain and clear up the misunderstandings.

Lelouch gets angry about being pushed, but the moment he notices it was Shirley, he was like, "Never mind, I deserved it." 

Lelouch behaving like a clueless boyfriend, trying to pacify his angry girlfriend. It's cute that he even got her a gift to pacify her (I still can't figure out what he got).

The whole school watches their drama as a typical "lovers's quarrel." 

Both of them are unconsciously behaving like a couple. No wonder the whole school ships them.

ShirLulu Crumbs :

R2 Stage 03

Lelouch when Shirley does something silly.

R2 Stage 07

Lelouch was distressed about Nunnally becoming the viceroy. Even in that situation, He was able to smile a bit because Shirley was laughing.

Note - This gentleness is not stemmed out guilt and many ignore these scenes as fillers and thus these moments don't make strong case.

[spindle-girl]

what are the bad undersiders opinions you’re seeing outside of tumblr? curious

Just as a precursor, this isn't any specific person or section of the fandom. You'll find these opinions anywhere and they've been around for years and I probably shouldn't get as annoyed as I do at it but whatever. It's (I'm paraphrasing btw) stuff like:

"Taylor would have been a hero without (evil/bitch/stupid) Lisa." Ignores the very legitimate issues Taylor has with authority and ignores Brian, who was the actual main reason Taylor joined the Undersiders. Lisa did lie in a few different ways to mislead Taylor, but nothing major enough to trick her into being a villain.

"Aisha could have been a hero if she knew what the Undersiders were REALLY like." Aisha would get annoyed that her brother can be cool and only does it when he's not around her. Also, she knows, but people ignore that or else they would be forced to realize Aisha has an actual character instead of a manic pixie girl they can ship with whatever hero of the week they want.

"Brian is stupid for joining the Undersiders and not the Wards." I've talked about this before, but no he fucking isn't. Choosing to not become more like his dad is actually a good thing. Also pretends that cps is both a) not incompetent at best malicious at worst, and b) ignores how they're considering the Laborn's mom again as an alternative to Brian to house Aisha after their dad failed so badly.

I'm beginning to realize the main theme with these is that people don't want to think about how the Undersiders have legitimate reasons to not like authority.

"Alec is evil for not turning himself in after escaping." The heroes have only ever made his life worse and I'm sure the cops didn't make it any easier in the time between running away and joining the Undersiders. Also, blaming people for shit they did under mind control is a dick move. Despite Worm having lots of comic book fans they don't seem to remember every annoying mind control arc or the Purple Man.

"Taylor (and the other Undersiders) would have been happy and fine if they joined the Wards." Lol, lmao. Ignoring Sophia for Taylor and Coil for Lisa, I don't think any of the Wards had their lives improved by joining anyway. Even if, for some magical reason, the PRT helped them with their parents they'd have issues with the organization itself. Not to mention their risk of dying gets upped tenfold by joining. Piggot is more than happy to use her child soldiers until they break.

"Lily got manipulated into leaving a good career with the heroes." Foil mention?!? I know, but I can't forget that half the time this is brought up, they always mention her career. Fucking bleak. Also, Parien isn't even her full reason for leaving. She left before confirming her relationship with Parien, because what she really got tired of was the heroes not being heroes. It's why she investigated Armsmaster, why she listened and respected Parien's choice to get help from Skitter. There was more I think, but yeah.

Nothing really to say about Rachel or Sabah. People don't talk about them that much. Oh, wait

"Rachel would have gotten help if she got captured and been a Ward." That wog was specifically if Rachel got captured early on, is only with Boston, PRT therapy actually helping (lol), and she still doesn't have anyone close to her tying her down to Boston so she could end up like Foil.

There's more. I could write pages on Lisa alone, but it's been a few days and I'm not currently in the mood to be annoyed rn.

[lightofraye]

I decided to torture myself.

I don't know why.

Her voice is just awful. Dear Danneel, please get vocal lessons. Bring it down an octave or something because fucking yikes.

A follower sent me this and asked if I had seen it. I had not. It was, after all, a fan compilation of various interviews of Danneel, videos, whatever. And...

How the hell do people stan her?

She's vapid, uneducated. Ugh.

Anyway... points of interest.

Throughout the whole video: WHO CARES ABOUT THE DAMNED HAIR TWIRLING?!

0:54: During a photo shoot I guess at a premier. ZERO chemistry between Danneel and Jensen. Jensen is smiling politely and wanting to get away as fast as possible.

1:00: Yes Danneel. We can see that it's a hallway. GOD. How insipid. Even Jensen was like "OMG, what?"

1:54: Uh. Danneel, honey, why would anyone else play Dean Winchester besides Jensen Ackles? He did not like that one bit.

4:14: Uh huh. If Jensen had witnessed some of it, why was nothing done then? I'm super-dubious about this claim. I really am. And how could he have witnessed it when he was likely filming Supernatural during that? Hmm.

5:55: Yeahhh.... had the family, but the steady career? Hahaha. Nope.

6:35: Danneel, honey, neither do you. If you expect me to believe you do any of the cleaning, I'm gonna call you a liar. You do nothing. Also, Jensen looked annoyed at the idea of so many bathrooms.

6:43: You are also not nice. I came across some old rumors about you, honey. You were awful, vicious, and the reason you got fired from One Tree Hill was because of your *whispers* drug habits.

6:55: WHAT IS SHE WEARING?!

7:35: The ever-changing face, proving that she lies about her plastic surgery. (Supposedly she claims she doesn't that many and I died laughing.) Also: "beautiful men with big egos"--bullshit, honey. You're the one who has the massive ego with zero to back it up. Plus she sounds as insincere as fuck.

8:22: "It's good. I love him. He's great." Insincere.

8:33: I'm cringing on Jensen's behalf. "Where the magic happens". And bypassed Jensen's wishes and insisted it not be cut--and guess what? It wasn't cut. As if they've shared a bed in years.

8:44: Ohhhh my gods. The brewery interview. Pay attention to Jensen's face as the interviewer talks about working together, living together--Jensen's done. And actually says "yes" to being tired of being with her. Danneel looked pissed. Ah honey...

11:43: Uh huh. The ring, huh? Gold digger.

12:04: The so-called flight anxiety. Whatever, Danneel. If you're able to fly without supposed help or therapy...? (No, getting drunk is not legitimate help.) You fly a lot, more than most "average" people. You take your kids. You go to conventions. You supposedly saw your husband a lot when he was filming Supernatural. You flew for your tidbits of roles. Then you're fine.

14:34: "Jensen's first time being in here." For the kitchen? Oh please! As if he never went in for a snack, beer, or anything. SHUT UP, DANNEEL.

14:38: "Nothing can happen to me, not for me, but for my kids." Excuse me, I need to shake some sense into her. Babe, honey, you do jackshit for your kids. They'll be fine.

Also that's not how panic attacks work. You literally aren't able to talk yourself out of it. Please stop.

15:36: "We're having another baby." That look your husband gave you? A deserved death glare because you knew he wouldn't like it. Stop emotionally torturing him, god!

16:41: I love that Jensen called her out on her lie about her name. I don't think she liked that either.

17:24: Ah. The insult about him smelling bad. God, can't she ever say anything nice about him? See the way he took a deep breath, braced himself? That's not a normal reaction to a "joke".

17:43: How can he not know women put perfume on their wrists and elsewhere? Translation: he never sees Danneel do it. Because they don't share a bedroom after all.

18:11: HOW CAN HE NOT KNOW THAT CHAIR MOVES?! Did the man not live there at all?!

19:34: Oh god. The doll. Honestly, Jensen should dump it. Stop torturing him with it! It's not funny!

19:53: Couldn't let him have the closet joy, huh? Bitch.

20:18: No. You're not nice. Nope. Not at all.

God. My eardrums. I'm crying now.

Danneel, babe, vocal coach. Please!

[bonefall]

What do you think of Fallen Leaves (as in, canon Fallen Leaves)? I'm pretty neutral towards him, but I'm curious to know what you think of him and why you decided to merge him with Hollyleaf. Also, does Hollyleaf ever regain a better understanding of Clanmew again since you mentioned she only half remembered it? Does she ever teach anyone the ancient language or nah? I can imagine kits begging to know ancient swear words.

i dont like jhim

BANGER idea, wasted. Ancient ghost in the tunnels??!? He drowned to death in an ancient ritual?!!? He has been unable to move on for a thousand moons ??!?!?!?!?!?!

Idk make him a lonely sadboy or something. No he doesn't try to drag people down. No there's no ghostly powers or anything. No he's not like a folklore ghost.

He just lives in the tunnels and Is Sad. Lame.

Erin Hunter LOVES coming up with cool ideas for characters and then doing nothing with those ideas, slowly turning them into boring ship material and cardboard background cats.

"We can't just do nothing with the ghost, idk. Hollyleaf is the closest female character. Ship it"

Do they have chemistry? No

but holly is a Girl and fallen is a Boy so that's good enough. Have him (ghost) nurse her back to health ig, people eat that trope up, no effort required.

It also frustrates me that this random ancient Softpaw's death made the entire Lake Society consider leaving their very bountiful home. "Oo it's been a hard year or something. Let's leave everything we've ever known."

Broken Shadow being dramatic about his death is also... fuck it I'm gonna be honest, it's annoying. I hate how women in this series are always more torn up than their husbands over dead kits, I hate how they needed to make Broken Shadow "insane with grief" and completely hysterical to drive home how sad this one, random, singular loss is

Honestly, I don't think there's a single part about Jay's Time Travel Adventure that I like. I'm seriously trying to think of one thing I enjoyed and I'm coming up with a blank. I like the vague idea of the cats leaving the lake I guess fgsdfgf

So, personally, I think there's 2 things you can really do here with Fallen. You replace/merge him with someone for a stable timeloop, or you replace/merge Rock with Jayfeather for a stable timeloop. Without that, being in the tunnels for so long doesn't matter.

Fallen could have been in there for 2 years or 200, nothing about him is legitimately old to contrast modern cats. He was waiting for someone who no one has any actual attachment to because her entire personality is being a crazy-with-grief mother.

Hell, you could replace Fallen with a weirdo who hates sunlight and it would fill the exact same role as Love Interest Who Doesn't Leave Tunnel.

He has the bland honor of not being as bad as Moth Flight but I'm sorry. I would squarely place Fallen Leaves in F tier. You can definitely make an argument that the idea of him is cool, but somehow that feels worse because he could have been GREAT and he wasn't.

SO INSTEAD I merged him with Holly! Because making this unnerving connection between Hollypaw and the tunnels, catching glimpses of a strange ghost, and interacting with her mother when she was young and wreckless is FUN imo and accomplishes a lot more about her whole arc coming to terms with the lie.

Naughty god goes into the timeout tunnel to be adequately wiggled, indeed

And YES she does eventually get a better handle on Clanmew again, it just takes a couple years. And 100% she teaches some kittens how to swear in ancient Lakemew.

[everybody-loves-purdy]

So I'm seeing people say that Leafstar has been ruined, and I'm sorry if this sounds mean, but I really hate whenever fans don't seem to understand what context means! The entire reason Leafstar wanted to involve herself with SkyClan in the first place was not only because they no longer had a leader, but also because Tigerstar had taken over by force! As far as she knows, RiverClan has a legitimate leader again and Frostpaw is just some apprentice who let everyone believe she was gone forever, was mistaken in her visions over and over again, is now accusing a Clanmate—one she had previously had a crush on, at that—of murder without proper evidence, and her only (public) ally at the time she made her accusations is the very cat Leafstar was willing to fight against. What we the audience and the main characters know will not extend to her!

Another thing, SkyClan is still a new Clan compared to the other four—having just moved to the lake only within the last generation—have a history of being pushed around since being rebuilt (even now, her Clan is basically isolated because the others wanted their lands back), and Leafstar herself has always had a strong sense of faith and justice, for better or worse. And considering it's noted that a cloud was beginning to cover the moon when it looked like "Splashstar" was going to fight Tigerstar at the Gathering, yeah, with all this in mind, it's no wonder she believes the former, if only to try and keep the peace. To these cats, Ashfur had only been defeated months ago!

Agreeing that Frostpaw and Puddleshine have a reason to want Splashtail gone also isn't even the worst thing she's said this entire arc imo (her endorsement is another story; my point is that she's said worst), so I really don't see why she's being seen as "ruined" now. Calling it annoying is one thing, but she hasn't exactly been out-of-character, either.

Yeah I don’t think she’s been ruined at all. She is still new to navigating politics with other clans, and without our context you can definitely see why she would take that stance. My sister was kind of brining this topic up about Leafstar, and I just told her “ok, just imagine you didn’t read Frostpaw and Nightheart stuff in Thunder, that’s the context Leafstar has.”And after that she did agree with me that although it sucks Leafstar is taking this stance, it isn’t that odd for her to do so.

I do hope once some evidence is presented to Leafstar she will change her mind. Perhaps the death of Harelight could sway her since by rights next gathering RiverClan will arrive with Berryheart as deputy and most of the clan looking traumatised, it would be harder to think any account of his death by Frostpaw and co is false. Although you never know, Splashtail could have an excuse lined up ready and make sure the rest of the clan goes along with the lie and threaten them if they don’t.

[fandom-hoarder]

Considering OP is yelling at ppl to leave them alone when questioned on specifics because a post that says “the grooming in spn fandom is insane” (specifically Wincest) was “not a callout” and only “a legitimate safety concern” about “a space is known for well you know”, they are not worth the time. They also reacted very rudely to an anon who only wanted to apologize for following them (thinking that OP was anti Wincest and trying to respect OP’s boundaries). Just not worth it.

[I held onto this in my drafts for a day, but I think I'm just gonna publish it after all. Even though v did a much better job of addressing the op directly, imo, I'm not interacting with the op. I'm also going to gather screenshots in a posterity post, but it will likely be unrebloggable.]

Hmm, I debated publishing this ask, because I'm really just. So tired. And annoyed. And it's not a great combination for tact. Nevertheless...

I haven't seen the yelling myself, just avoidance and redirection. Flippancy. But maybe it's happening in a space I can't see, or between people I've blocked, idk. If so, it sounds a lot like it IS January 2023 redux 🙃🙃🙃 -- I HAVE seen it now, and my suspicion still stands, though still not 100%.

People need to stop making such serious accusations when they refuse to back it up. Words fucking mean things. Saying a certain sector of the fandom--that ostensibly you're also a part of?--has a problem with grooming and is stupid...that was NOT worded in a way to help people stay safe. It was worded like a vague callout post to scare people. We've seen those before. 🙄

A post that was actually concerned about grooming in online spaces *in general* would list some things to be aware of, things to recognize, tips for getting out of a situation. But no, it's this vaguepost without anything specific, with the one question in the notes asking for an explanation or if it's sarcasm-- unanswered [eta: well maybe they responded and I can't see it, since I realized I had op blocked]-- and one reblog from a person who claims it wasn't about wincesties specifically, when it demonstrably WAS??

So who is doing it, and where/how? I don't necessarily think it's a good idea to make public posts with names that devolve into personal beef and worse, but if someone is making the accusation that there's a grooming problem in the fandom they need to come with receipts or at the very least descriptions of the situation??

This isn't cutesy. You know exactly what anon is talking about, as shown later. Reblogging the post unaltered gives at least the appearance of agreeing with it as written.

This isn't to make light of! You reblogged it.

This isn't helpful.

If there was no one specific, why reblog a post specifically about the wincest fandom having insaneeee grooming? It wasn't "just in general." It's not a joke, yet this reply looks entirely unserious.

I am too old to keep seeing this type of shit go through the fandom at regular intervals, especially when it's so often a false accusation based on interpersonal drama. The only purpose this serves is riling up the dash. It's exhausting, and waters down the gravity of the accusation by making it a phrase that cries wolf.

I'm not even saying outright that the post is a LIE; just that it has seriously similar markers of past drama that was approximately 90% unaddressed purity culture biases about fiction, 9% interpersonal beef, and 1% actual concern for a human being who was an adult, but young. And it led to the utter gutting of fandom, loss of acquaintances, deletion of a glut of fic-- all due to smearing the reputation of a writer by using horrible UNTRUE AND INCENDIARY ACCUSATIONS.

So I'm sure many of you already understand why I take umbrage with these types of posts! Who knows if it's about fiction or something real? 🤷‍♀️

And since there's no further context to be found, the way it LOOKS on the dash is that someone is taking creeper!Dean too seriously. It could be about something else, but who knows.

[lemonhemlock]

imo an underexplored part of Corlys is how admitting to Rhaenyra's children being bastards would slight both his son and him, and his entire house. He'd rather play make-believe than admit that for one, he arranged his gay son into an unhappy marriage which eventually led to his early death, and secondly, actually give the rumours that his son is indeed gay and can't produce children concrete affirmation. for a story so concerned with misogyny, the homophobia is so easily handwaved away as if these two are not integral in upholding of cishet patriarchy.

what you're saying is true, but, at some point, it becomes a matter of just cutting down your losses and doing some damage control. where was corlys when laenor was spending most of his time on driftmark gallivanting with knights while rhaenyra was popping out babies he had nothing to do with? he didn't do a damn thing about it

i actually had a conversation with @duxbelisarius today where he pointed out that the silent five (aka vaemond's cousins whom viserys ordered their tongues be cut out) actually fought for the greens during the war and three of them even died in battle, that's how deep their grudge went. not to mention the fact that the remaining two plotted to murder alyn after corlys' death so that he wouldn't inherit in their stead.

so all this make-believe happy families fantasy that i see team black peddling, about how luke & rhaena would have made a great power couple ruling driftmark in peace, because they love and care for each other or whatever, is straight-up delusional. the velaryons would have assassinated luke as soon as possible to get him out of the way and, had they been sent joffrey as a replacement, they would have done the same to him. rhaenyra was living in la la land for making such a fuss about driftmark, while corlys was absolutely incompetent as head of the family for putting his house in such a precarious position that his death would be followed by in-fighting and instability

i think that he perhaps DID eventually realise what a stupid idea that was and, in the aftermath of the luke debacle, decided to make sure driftmark at the very least goes to someone with velaryon blood, but he went about it in the most annoying and unhelpful way possible.*

can you imagine the audacity of this man to clown on (dead) rhaenys' memory AND on rhaenyra's arse at the same time in order to engineer driftmark to pass to HIS bastard son? all the while claiming that alyn was fathered by his gay son? who everyone knew was gay? and couldn't have fathered joffrey? otherwise why would you break the law** to give driftmark to laenor's alleged bastard instead of his alleged trueborn son?*** corlys must have taken lessons from rhaenyra herself, because that's the most boldfaced lie i ever did see

this man was so annoying FORREAL. was there at least one member of his family he didn't fuck over in some way? truly an example of being prideful to the point of stupidity

*not to mention, of course, that he already had legitimate heirs of his own body in baela and rhaena. and, lacking that, there were other true-born velaryons who could have inherited.

[EDIT: i'm wondering if this isn't a behind-the-scenes reason for daenaera being presented at the maiden's ball. daeron velaryon (don't get me started on the audacity of him being named daeron as well) was vaemond's son and also contested driftmark after baela & rhaena had been passed over in favour of alyn. so i'm wondering if baela didn't devise this little match to placate her cousin with a trade-off: if he couldn't have driftmark, at least his daughter would become queen]

**i'm saying he broke the law bc grrm himself states that it's unclear where precisely in the line of succession legitimised bastards fall. whether they go by birth order in between the other true-borns or they just go straight to the back of the line, behind all other heirs born within wedlock. so the legality of shoving alyn in front of everybody else is debatable at the very least

***idek how to call this, he is literally using his gay son to cover up his own arse and inadvertently implies that laenor was both cuckolded by rhaenyra (in that joffrey isn't his) AND that he broke his own marriage vows to rhaenyra by sleeping with another woman. he truly is a poet in the way he manages to implicitly insult everyone left and right

[yanderefairyangel]

Look. I get people dislike F!Alear sockpuppet, but the anonymous people leaving mean comments celebrating that they aren't going to ship alearcryst anymore are jerks. Don't be mean to them. Just cause they are annoying doesn't mean people should be mean to them. I would personally reach out to them and try to befriend them

>Just cause they are annoying doesn't mean people should be mean to them

I agree

>I would personally reach out to them and try to befriend them

I disagree

The problem is that this person refuses to acknowledge they did something wrong and constantly lie NON STOP about their identity which means they can't face the consequences of their actions

You can't expect people to forgive them if they refuse to apologize, acknowledge their mistakes and instead continues to denies them + lies about their identity + repeats same mistakes

Also I would side with you if I didn't put myself in the shoes of alearcryst shippers for a second, but if I do, then yeah why wouldn't I be happy that someone who dislike one of the character in the ship involved, mischaracterize said characters, argues he would be better if he was a girl, and worse STEAL fanfic ideas to write their own decide to move on to another ship ?

I am not saying it's right, I am saying I get it, that doesn't excuse being mean to this person on the contrary that would legitimize them and that's not something you want to do

But we can't expect people to try to befriend someone who is known to be a liar, like it's not even avoiding revealing things about yourself because of privacy, it's lying. For fandom stuff. And way worse

If that person had at least idk made an effort by apologizing and recognizing their wrongs, I would understand, but this isn't someone you can trust, they have proven this time and time again

The best thing you can do is actively ignore them because clearly with all the things they are doing, orphaning fic etc. They don't wanna be ignored, they wanna be seen, if we keep giving them attention they will continue, if we stop maybe then they will get tired (I hope)

Now I just hope that now they have a new ship they will start to behave and stop being so shady

[theliterarywolf]

Not gonna lie, as much as Threads seems to be horrible, people on Twitter talking about how much better it is or how they NEED to use it just... annoy me

I've been in there in my own account for less then 2 months, and only follow like, 4 people, but it is the most toxic and annoying big website i even used, and i have been on Tumblr for YEARS. people just love to complain about everything, any sincerity is mocked and anything even a little "weird" turns into a harrasment campain. And since nobody uses hashtags or tags, you NEED to use the algoritm, and see even more people being awful. Really the only good part is the NSFW stuff being allowed.

And them i see people complaining or mocking tumblr... people are very annoying here too, but its like a few toxic bins next to Chernobyl itself

This is why, when one of my earlier posts about Threads was making the rounds and someone accused me of fearmongering, I was sitting here like 'come on, man!'

We all know that the major social media sites are predatory with the types of data they collect. Hell, even as I'm sitting at my laptop typing this response, there's a glowing link on the bottom of the Tumblr window that says 'Privacy Notice for California Users'.

It's the fact that Threads released with bare-bones to little UI elements compared to other social media sites in combination with the fucky-wucky elements of it being a Meta product (you're telling me that the Zuck couldn't have invested some money into QA before launch) as well as the forced Instagram/Facebook connection in conjunction with all of the privacy-botchery that makes people skeptical.

Because, yeah, let's call a spade a spade: Twitter itself is a cesspool that, in the months since Elon bought it, has been falling apart like one of the firefighters at Chernobyl.

And part of that is due to the botched way that things like 'For You' and Blue Checkmarks were handled.

Because, initially, For You legitimately was a benefit and introduced you to similar content to what your Twitter account was comprised of. However, now it just funnels unhinged discourse and Blue Checkmark accounts who KNOW that they would not have an audience if it weren't for the site forcing their batshit brainworms onto others.

Same thing with Blue Checkmarks getting priority placement (along with ads) under people's tweets.

It's one thing for these elements to be present on a site, it's another for that site to make it nigh-impossible for you to curate your experiences to avoid those elements. Because, let me tell you, I've been hearing from people on Twitter that 'oh, those Tumblr people are whinging about XYZ' and I'm just here like 'I! Am actually in those communities/fandoms and I have not seen the wank, so my curating and filtering must be working great!'

[comshipbracket]

Antis DNI

Remember, vote for which ship you DO want to see ending up on the official bracket amongst the other fandoms, only one Oshi no Ko ship will make it through to the main poll bracket. Choose wisely!

Propaganda under the cut!

As always, feel free to reblog with your own propaganda and reasonings as to why one ship should move forward while another shouldn't!

Aiqua Propaganda (Incest, Age gap, Necro if Aqua's no longer a child)

"I really can't emphasize enough how much ai has imbedded herself into aqua's mind. At one point he's asked what kind of girls he likes, and he pretty much just describes her, then confirming that she's exactly the type he means when someone brings her up. When an actress perfectly matches ai's energy and personality, he gets legitimately flustered. They're also fascinating in their shared aro energy, as Ai was never truly able to love anyone her entire life, terrified to say "i love you" to her kids because she didn't want to say it and realize it was a lie. come to her death, she FINALLY says it, and whadya know she genuinely means it. Aqua, meanwhile, has a lot of trouble sorting out his feelings in general. He does understand love better than her, but between thinking of her as 'a previous love [he] can't get over' and having to compare every romantic prospect in his life to the intensity he felt as her idol fan, he's in a very strange position he can't figure out. throw in the fact that his original age difference and the way he gets so fed up with adults not protecting kids makes it really clear that at least SOME of his feelings towards ai are parental in nature, and you have a really tasty double-parenting kind of feedback loop. i want to study these two."

AquaRuby Propaganda (Incest, Pseudo-age gap through Reincarnation)

"Ruby and Aqua have a much more reborn-as-twins starcrossed soulmates kinda thing going on, and they're also just adorable to boot. from day 1 as twins they have a very funny Fellow Otaku relationship, almost more like coworkers, and they both have a sort of protective streak to them; aqua is DETERMINED to make sure the same fate does not befall ruby, often going to stalkerish manipulative tactics to keep her in his safety zone. meanwhile, ruby gets annoyed when he's flirty with girls and actively decides she'll pick his girlfriend for him, because CLEARLY she gets a say in that, DUH, right? ruby's also the only one who directly comments on the way he /changed/ after ai's death, which is impressive given how their memories from that age aren't very good(cus, yknow, they were toddlers). ruby often jokes that aqua has a "sister complex", and frankly, it's not a joke. at the same time, he's a liar in the end; he SWEARS he won't let her become an idol, but then ends up HELPING her become one and even goes above and beyond to make sure she'll be ready for her first show. basically they're really soft and they could get over their trauma together if they tried i think."