#let's get some fucking perspective here BH

[arabella-strange]

and another thing!!! [just cos I fucking hate this guy — I hate his hair, I hate his vibe, I hate his actions, I hate his millennium-long murder spree, I hate his cross-campaign bullshit, I hate his face]

one word:

ORB.

Hey, Ludinus? Go fuck yourself. FCG is dead — so many people are dead, but let's focus for a second on something that happened very recently: FCG is dead — not because he died clinging to the Changebringer or the illusion of the Gods, but because he wanted to choose the course of his own (very alive) life. Fuck you.

[caeslxys]

I am SO fascinated to get your take on BH's reaction to Ludinus and Downfall.

*****SPOILERS FOR 102 BELOW*****

As someone who left Downfall with a very negative view of the gods, it's interesting to me that BHs (in particular Imogen) kept saying "but you're just like them" about Ludinus and then not realizing that she was saying that the gods are no better than Ludinus fucking Da'Leth. Yeah, Luda is a hyprocrite. Do you realize that the gods are no better? The GODS.

And BHs comparing themselves to the primes/betrayers as this "fucked-up family" completely ignores the power differential. "They're just little guys! We all make mistakes" but you're saying that about entities that can literally sling 9th levels every 6 seconds without using any resources.

Nothing that can feel and be motivated by loss, rage, fear, and revenge should have that much power. Respectfully.

Sorry this took me so long to answer! I’ve been letting my own thoughts simmer and rewatching the episode in pieces to grasp the Many Many different things that happened on my own because it was Quite A Lot and some of it (the delilah of it all, funnily enough) left me immediately with an overall sense of disappointment that I wanted to sift through before talking Thoughts so that I could determine analysis from bias lol. BUT. I DO HAVE THOUGHTS

Long answer under the read more, but tldr: Apart from Orym, Ashton, and Dorian (simultaneously the most and least surprising!) I don’t think we’ve gotten the full breadth of BH’s opinions at all. In part because this a topic of discussion that requires them actually, well, discussing it to form fully rounded opinions on but also, crucially, because they were expressing opinions and emotions in front of Ludinus. This is important, because Orym/Ashton/Dorian make the most sense to have no reason for holding their true thoughts back in front of either him or the party (obviously in Orym and Ashton’s case, but I’ll be honest in not considering what is now obvious—Dorian has no idea who this guy actually is! Of course he wasn’t opposed to raising his perspective!), whereas other characters—namely Imogen—have many more internal steps and hurdles to actually reaching a conclusion that must happen outside of Ludinus’ eye.

Alright. Long version.

I think it truly speaks to the characters that the ones who reacted the most immediately decisive were Orym—the one whose opinions wouldn’t have changed regardless of what was held within that orb (which. sigh)—Ashton—the punk, anti-authoritarian character who has had an established perspective of the gods and their power for quite some time, perspectives that were in many ways cemented in viewing this piece of history rather than dispelled—and Dorian—someone who, as mentioned earlier, has the least amount of context for who Ludinus is, but who also himself was raised in a comparatively high position of social power so as to understand exactly what Ludinus is saying about the gods’ misusing theirs.

And, of course, Imogen. I’ll admit: I was immediately shocked at her response, but in hindsight of course she responded the way she did. I have talked and gushed and wailed before at how deeply empathetic Imogen is, and how it is also her ultimate fatal flaw (demonstrated explicitly here), so of course her first thought was how she saw the feelings and motives behind the decisions made in downfall and not how it was also an extreme over-reach of power and influence. Of course she did. I think the only person she’s incapable of empathizing with is Delilah lmao.

And to that point: A lot of that seemed, on a rewatch and to me, posturing on her part. So much of Imogen is defined by her guilt and shame and self-loathing and its especially prevalent when she is playing leader—a role she is naturally very good at, but doubts constantly because she does not consider herself “good”. So, often, she does what she thinks others perceive as “good” and “right” and keeps her more complex thoughts to herself until she is in a safe space (often with Laudna), and projects who she thinks others need her to be in the moment.

Laudna, in the same vein, also shocked me that she didn’t push the breach of power here. But, again, she is also right next to Imogen in “bells hells characters most driven by/capable of empathy” (though hers is, unlike Imogen’s, often in conflict with her desires in really compelling ways) so on further reflection—and especially taking into consideration the massive amount of shame she is feeling from swordgate—of course she focused on the empathetic side of it all.

Ultimately we didn’t get much time at all for them to actually discuss and dissect their take-aways on all of downfall in a setting and context that would be free of bias and performance. If i’m honest, I think those conversations need to happen individually instead of in a group, though maybe Dorian’s inclusion and obvious clear decision on his stance being more in line with Ludinus’ may just be enough for Orym alone not to break the conversational thread again with his personal grief (and guilt, but that’s another post lol). I think their real opinions have yet to solidify even for themselves, and we’ll see them truly form in the coming episodes. The Delilah of it all notwithstanding.

Speaking of Orym’s refusal to think about anything—I think he and Imogen both are suffering from Predathos tunnel vision. Honestly I’d argue a good portion of fandom is as well. None of that conversation is ultimately about Predathos, it was about the gods and the role they play and the power they use or over-use or deserve. By focusing so intently on what we all already agree is the wrong and bad solution to this problem, we ignore the problem entirely. It’s one of my main issues with Orym’s stance this whole campaign. If we don’t ask what is to be done with the gods, and the campaign just wraps up with “we defeated the bad guys, yay!” well. What of the ruidusborn, who we know are treated unfairly and unkindly and who suffer through no fault of their own. What of the young vanguard members—the kids—who, also, are only guilty of caving to the idea of peace. What of Aeor, what of Ludinus—what of the cycle that birthed them both. To not engage with the questions being asked for hyperfixating on the Predathos of it all is to leave this campaign, in my opinion, on both a deeply unsatisfying but also deeply hopeless note. The cycle will continue. We may not see it—it may be another thousand, two thousand years before another Ludinus rises—but another Ludinus or Aeor or both will rise, because ultimately no change will have been implemented in the problems which resulted in them.

And—final note, promise—I was talking to a friend about this yesterday but when it comes down to acknowledging the societal implications of downfall, especially in Imogen’s case, I do think it’s going to have to be pointed out first. A lot of Bells Hells are characters who have suffered at the very hands they are trying to save, but also suffered in part and specifically due to a lack of access to knowledge about it all. It does not escape me that the very first scene of campaign three is Imogen attempting to gather knowledge on powers that have made her miserable for a decade and being unable to access them in a library due to her station. That is, to me, more and more becoming the underpinning theme of this campaign—especially as all Ludinus is doing in this moment with the Occultus Thalamus is displaying it; again, obviously Ludinus is wrong in his means (and arrogant in his assumptions that just because of his failures that no one else could find a solution) but this, specifically, the spreading of knowledge—that, I 100% find myself in agreeance with. So it’s not that they won’t understand what characters like Ashton and Dorian, both hyperaware of the implications of power here, are or will be saying. It’s that they literally do not know to think about it like that. Why would they. It has been intentionally kept from them.

Anyway I have no idea if that was uh. Sufficient Enough of an answer adksfjd at some point I just started yapping but! I’m intrigued, especially because of Dorian’s adamant belief, in what conclusions they’ll draw moving forward as the discussions truly begin! Hopefully! Hopefully they will discuss it!

[caninerants]

Honestly, Ive been meaning to write something about Helluva Boss for a while and uh. I'm in that Writing Mood. So here, have some quick rambles about my thought on HB and worldbuilding and stuff

They'll be under the cut just in case I write too much lol

The way HB fails [hard] with being what it wants to be

First things first: I am not a professional writer at all. I'm just some dog who can write for fun.

Ok. That's out of the way, cool!

So... Helluva Boss, amirite? I think the frustration a lot of detractors/critics have over it (and frankly, I'm amongst these) is how much *potential* it has. It exudes it, and like, if you read 5 different HB rewrites, they will all grab different stuff and run with it, because there's many, many things to tinker with that, in the hands of a well planning writer, could make the series just. Brilliant!

But, let's be real, the series doesn't do that. I'm not original in saying this but, from a plot perspective, HB sucks. It falls flatter than a metal sheet (is that a phrase?) And, hypocritically, it's obvious how Viv prides herself as writing it as revolutionary in ways that the story doesn't even (and forgive me for this) have the balls to be in.

It prides itself in having raw portrayals of queer folks, yet it only lets itself write the same overused "gay ppl + sex = funni" jokes over and over again, it goes and compares it's protagonist Blitz to Bojack Horseman, yet in Helluva Boss the plot bends itself backwards to lift any sort of responsibility that Blitz has for his actions (which is, y'know, NOT what BH does, at all), prides itself of being a female centered plot even though it's obvious how underdeveloped the female characters are compared to the male ones. I could go on and on.

And, in the most sincere, nice way I can conjure, this isn't just the creator being a hypocrite, this is straight-up a symptom of what I think dooms not only this series, but most of the works Vivziepop has done: The story of the thing doesn't know what the fuck it wants to be

Helluva boss is, at least in theory, supposed to be a dark comedy about demon hitmen. Simple concept, lots of stuff to tinker and play with! A lot of ways and directions to take it to, too. But then it tries to be a musical every few episodes. And then a family drama. Sometimes it's an episodic story and sometimes it tries very hard to fit into a season-long arc, depending on the mood. It gives characters some sort of growth just to take it away, and then give them another sort of growth. It defangs and villanizes it's antagonists in a way you just can't help but feel bad for them, because it takes away what made them interesting. The protagonists fuck up and the plot let's you know they fucked up, but then... The consequences of their actions never come!

Blitzo indirectly causes permanent scarring, disability , and trauma on his childhood friend and it causes such a rift that they don't talk in fifteen years, but it's fine! Look! Fizz forgives him in the span of a day after a little chat and now they're friends again :] don't think about it at all :] this is perfectly A-OK and totally not a way of making our poor little Blitzy a victim and Fizz the cunt for not forgiving him until now :]]]

Don't get me started on Barbiewire

Helluva Boss biggest sin is not it's lack of character growth, or it's dumb sex jokes (they ARE bad btw. I'm dying on that hill), or any of that sort. There's many good shows that can pull stuff like that and still be, y'know, good. Or at least mid. It's greatest mistake it's in the way that not only doesn't know what to do with itself, but also wants to do everything without understanding why and how to do it. To bite more that you can chew, if you know.

I have way too many thoughts and criticisms around this funky web series, and I'll probably do more rambles around this specific problem. But I think this is it for me and for now

[blouisparadise]

There were some amazing bottom Louis fics posted or completed during the month of January. We really hope you enjoy this list and show these fics love. Happy reading!

1) Bad, Bad Boy | Explicit | 1449 words

Harry is enervated, Louis isn't.

2) Purest Form Of Melody | Explicit | 2554 words

Note: This is the sequel to #4 on the list. This fic is locked and can only be read by AO3 users.

There on the screen is a simple, “Sir, my pretty little hole is ready for your massive cock to split it open.” and attached with it is a close-up photo of his baby’s pink hole enveloping a massive butt plug.

3) Black Swan And Cookie Dough | Mature | 2620 words

Harry comes back from LA, and Louis’ has been horny since the moment he left him. He rides him, and more smut. Fluff at the end!

4) You Served Yourself In A Golden Platter | Explicit | 3381 words

Note: This fic is locked and can only be read by AO3 users.

“Please fuck me.” He panted whilst letting out the prettiest whine. Harry smirked when he heard the request.

“Yeah? So desperate for your little slutty hole to be filled that you came in here in your little skirts and crop tops just be fucked?” At that Louis’ moaned loudly whilst moving his ass against Harry’s hands before leaning in for more kisses. His fingers both gripping roughly on Harry’s curls.

“Of course, you are. That’s what little sluts do, isn't it baby?”

“Yes, yes. I’m a slut.”

5) Bring Me Home | Explicit | 3724 words

Note: This fic has mentions of BH.

Harry figures out how to help Louis get over his insecurities.

6) Thighs | Not Rated | 3795 words

Where Louis still doesn't feel ready to start his sex life with his cute boyfriend and Harry is understanding enough to wait until Louis is sure and decides to try new things with him.

7) You Fit Me Better | Explicit | 3854words

Louis moves back to Cheshire with no prospects and lacking a laundry machine for his apartment. At the laundromat, he meets Harry, a meddlesome alpha who smells divinely enough to ease his anxiety. When Louis goes back home, he finds out he switched clothing with Harry, meaning he needs to meet him again to give it back.

8) Eyes Don’t Lie | Explicit | 4940 words

The prompt given by one of my readers, where Louis and Harry are already in a relationship and somehow Louis gets it all wrong because of a misunderstanding.

9) Conjugal Bliss | Explicit | 5037 words

As the couple settles into their newly wed life, Harry is convinced that heaven sent Louis to him.

10) Early Morning Dew (The Art of New Perspectives) | Mature | 5732 words

Harry develops a piss kink. Louis is just (happily) along for the ride.

11) The Onlookers Join In | Explicit | 6525 words

“It’s the only time Louis gives up control. We don’t always do it that way, but you can tell he needs it every now and then.”

“Yeah, gets pretty mouthy without it.” Liam said, as if he personally knew. It made Louis’ jaw drop.

“Wait. Just how fucking much do you guys hear us? I thought we were quiet!”

Every single one of them burst into laughter, even Harry. Louis pouted even as Harry’s hand landed on his back, ushering him outside of the dressing room. “We listen in a lot, mate.” Zayn said, patting his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. We don’t really mind.”

12) Last The Night | Not Rated | 9169 words

Note: This fic has mentions of BH and TL.

“I know baby. I thought we could maybe make it like a little game. To get us through the night,” Harry offered softly, his tone conveying that in no way was Louis obligated to say yes to Harry’s sex-capades. Louis continued tugging his bottom lip between his teeth. If Harry looked close enough, he could probably see the little blood marks from his front two teeth imprinted on the soft pink skin. “Don’t bite my love…” Harry said, running his thumb over Louis’ chin.

Snapping back from his thoughts, Louis released his puffy, spit-slick lip before glancing at Harry. The pink of his cheeks had yet to fade. “Like a game?” Louis offered up weakly, staring at Harry from underneath his long lashes. He was still squeezing his thighs together, now slowly rubbing them against each other. Harry had him wrapped around his finger.

13) Broken Hearts Aligned | Explicit | 10055 words

The getting back together fic featuring a confused broken Harry, a sad Louis and an incident that brings them together.

14) Wisps Of Love | Explicit | 10669 words

"Now you're going to remind me about the office policies, omega?" The alpha growls and Louis' immediate response is to whimper and cower away, it wasn't Harry's alpha voice, but it was commanding and had frustration in it.

"I-I'm stating facts." He whispered and Harry took a step forward until his boots were in Louis' line of vision, ring cladded fingers raised his chin and made him look at green eyes.

"I'm here Louis. And I'm not here for good. I'm here for answers."

15) Blue Heaven | Explicit | 14023 words

The smutty one shot no one asked for where Louis is everything but a slut for his older brother's best friend.

16) Harness Your Hopes | Explicit | 15605 words

“He takes up half the bed and snores in your ear, Lou. We leave for Phoenix in the mornin’, don’t we? I say we lose him at the first petrol station,” Zayn whispers, thumbing over the omega’s chin.

Louis hums, considering, if only to temporarily quell Zayn’s whining. An arm tightens around his waist a moment later, and he’s tugged just slightly backwards, his backside pressed further into a warm body. Louis can’t help but flush a little. It’s silly, considering there’s nothing to hide from either of the two. Both Harry and Zayn have seen and pushed Louis into more revealing positions than a possessive hand flush against his stomach.

“I say we get the bus to leave without him tomorrow,” a deep voice grumbles into his ear, scratchy with sleep and loud enough for the other alpha to hear his words.

17) Dance Like Waves Along The Wind | Explicit | 17019 words

“What are you doing to me, my liege?” the God of the Sea murmured as he slid an arm around Louis’s slender waist.

Louis’s breath stuttered and his grip on the ruby red apple tightened just as Harry’s did around his body.

“I am hardly your liege, in this relationship,” he whispered out, tilting his head up to gaze at Harry’s imperceptibly dark eyes.

“No?” Harry inquired. “Am I not at the mercy to follow your every order? To cater to your every whim?”

Louis’s lips parted as he swallowed thickly, Harry’s eyes tracing his bobbing Adam’s apple intently.

“Are you?” were the only words he could get out in response before Harry was dipping down to press a heated kiss against his lips.

18) At Some Distant Star | Explicit | 17599 words

Louis Tomlinson was hired to harvest gems on a planet he'd never been to. When his pod crashes and strands him on the planet, he meets a fellow explorer with an agenda of his own.

19) Silk Chiffon | Explicit | 20122 words

Louis gets a message from his ex making fun of him for pretending to know how to cook on Instagram. They settle on a simple bet, Louis had to be Harry's perfect little housewife for an entire month.

20) To Be Loved By Another | Explicit | 25594 words

“What does it mean if he’s done two of them? That both of them are his love languages?”

“Well, maybe,” Oli considers. “Could be something else.”

Louis sits up straight. “What could it mean?”

Oli cowers a bit into his seat. “Listen, I’m not trying to get your hopes up for nothing if it just ends up being a friend thing.”

“Tell me,” Louis jabs him in the side. “Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell—”

“Okay!” Oli exclaims, shoving Louis’ hands away. “Okay, fine. Maybe, if he’s interested in you like that, it could be him trying to figure out what your love language is. And that’s why he’s done two different ones.”

21) Confections Of The Heart | Explicit | 25877 words

Harry chuckles, smiling when Louis’ breath hitches as he reaches up to brush his thumb over Louis’ cheek. “Louis, would you like to go on a date with me?”

He still worries that the date won’t go well, that Harry will get bored of him or decide it’s too complicated dating an omega with a pup, but he nods anyway, “Yes.”

It feels worth it when Harry’s lips widen into a grin and the dimple that Louis finds quite charming craters into his cheek. Who knows, maybe it won’t be as awkward as you think, Louis thinks to himself and follows Harry to where Oliver is watching a chef with a loud laugh show the pup how to sculpt with chocolate. Maybe this time it’ll work out.

22) Still My Only One | Explicit | 27048 words

The AU inspired by the Netflix Series "Sex/life" with Billie as Louis, Brad as Harry and Cooper as Luke.

23) Soltanto Io, Soltanto Tu | Mature | 35592 words

A Romeo & Juliet retelling/AU on steroids, where Harry is Romeo, Louis is Juliet, and comedic nonsense transpires. Featuring the rest of OT5 and the original characters of Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet.”

24) You Are Worlds Away | Explicit | 54450 words

“I met someone,” Louis sighed, grabbing a glass and pouring himself some beer.

“Is that why you look like that?” Liam asked, gesturing toward Louis’ hair and face, which no doubt was all messed up and debauched. Louis self consciously tried fixing his hair and wore a pout on his face.

“He was really cute.”

“Who was he?” Niall asked, sipping his beer.

As Louis went to answer, someone tapped on a microphone, quieting down the entire bar. Louis slowly swiveled in his seat as the spotlights lit up on the stage. Once his eyes saw who was standing there, Louis breathed out, “fuck.”

25) Run After Me, I Long To Love You | Explicit | 61895words

His stomach flips nervously as he recounts his earlier encounter. As much as he wants to claim embarrassment for his strange reaction to the green eyed boy, a small part of him keeps telling himself that is simply not the case. What it actually is though, he refuses to think about right now.

Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.

You can find other monthly roundup fic rec lists here.

[mashedcontroller]

I watched BH first and it definitely felt like it was missing some key details and had a lot of wtf thematic moments. Like, not even with 03 as a point of comparison, it just felt lacking.

For example, Ed finds that the body of his mom was in fact not his mom and then the entire thing is dropped. Like, excuse wtf did he pull from the gate then? I thought maybe they'd come back to that moment and discover it was somehow Al's body (especially with the plot detail that Al was briefly inside the thing he and Ed transmuted) or that it had something to do with the homunculi (red eye gate gang, besides that the homunculi were established as artificially created humans and that's pretty close to what Ed and Al were trying to do, I can see why the 03 writers went that direction with them). Both directions could have been interesting and complicated the plot, but that detail was just left hanging there and was never brought up again.

The treatment of the Ishval war and generally the concept of genocide was much worse tho. First issue was a massive disconnect between how the characters acted and what their supposed backstory was. The entire heroic cast can be described as good natured dumbasses who are also extremely badass in their own rights. But that's extremely disconnected from the fact that the entire cast has committed fucking genocide. Like, if I were to describe BH Roy, war criminal would be a footnote because that's how relevant that information felt. With Roy in particular, I didn't like how Hughes's death was the center of his character motivation because you'd think he'd have some perspective or something similar happen from Ishval. What's the point in giving him such a dramatic backstory when the majority of his character arc happens in the main story? I think BH Mustang would actually have stronger characterization if he wasn't present for the Ishval war because he could keep the motivation about being mad about it (from second-hand experience like Winry losing her parents to it for example) and Hughes dying could be a wake-up call that he's swimming in deeper waters than he thought and his reaction would feel less "you didn't experience this before??" But that's a random thought I had and more meant to emphasize that Ishval really both didn't impact the way characters are presented as much as it should have and how underexplored it was. The Armstrongs were characters I think really suffered from the underexploration. I'd like to see more about how Alex's refusal to fight impacted Olivier's relationship. Did she respect him before Ishval? Was she there too? Was she like Kimbly or was she more like Roy? The way she talks makes me think that Olivier lives a much more sheltered life than she lets on, hates that fact about herself but is too prideful to admit it and lashes that out at her family, and maybe wasn't there for Ishval (either she was in Briggs or she just wasn't in the military yet). How does she feel about her father, who seems proud of being a former military General? How does Alex feel about him? How is Alex still in the military despite deserting the battlefield? Was it his family's wealth? Did Olivier bail him out? I'm going so far into detail with questions here when not with Roy because Roy has those questions answered in 03 while the Armstrongs don't. But that lack of detail made it difficult to get behind Alex or Olivier emotionally, so I could only ever enjoy the characters at a surface level.  Hughes was another character this chipped my enjoyment of, specifically in the flashback in Ishval where he gushes about his wife and then says he fights to survive. The scene immediately made me dislike the character because standing over the wreckage of the people you just mass murdered is just a really inappropriate time for that. And it's not like this can be brought up later or developed on, the character is long dead.

BH was just way too weirdly casual about mass violence. Like, in Briggs there's the tension about Kimbly wanting Ed to carve a crest of blood out of Briggs and Ed being like "I'm procrastinating on this and don't have a plan." But he manages to get away with it because Kimbly is bad at hostages I guess. (Side note, this is a terrible way to wrap up Winry's arc because forcing her to choose working with her parents' murderer so that she can't be used as leverage against Ed is self-sacrifice, not an olive branch. Even if if plot treats it like that. Same applies to Scar working with the military on the coup). Then the crest of blood still has to be carved somehow for the villain's plot to happen. So Kimbly just goes to Dracma and gets their forces slaughtered in the span of a minute or so, someone's like "hey that's a slaughter for the big ass circle" and Olivier's like "I don't care we did our job well," which is just like "...ok then." That's probably not a good reaction to mass slaughter but that's the reaction the story sets up for. That's way too casual for something that should have been on the same level as Ishval and Leore. Speaking of Leore, we hardly get to see anything between Cornello's downfall and them rebuilding. It's not the biggest deal since Leore's purpose in the story is to show that recovery is possible and the audience is already shown a mass slaughter in the form of Ishval. That said, it's a problem that the one named character from Leore is better off now than she was before the place was torn apart, which creates a disconnect and the implications that Leore wasn't that bad. BH just doesn't treat its heavy topics with the respect they deserve, which results in the themes feeling unearned or the plot needlessly edgy.

I also found the homunculi to be weak primary antagonists. Their biggest point of interest was figuring out how to beat them. While using Sloth's speed against him or using darkness to best Pride is fun, there isn't enough thematic or character driven weight to back up most of their interactions. Like, Pride controlling Al's armor only really carries the weight of Ed needing to figure out how to eject him since it's not like Pride is going to kill Al and Ed has no reason to care about Pride. It's a fun fight, but that's it. And that's one of the weightier encounters. With Roy vs Envy, a lot of the weight from it doesn't even make sense to me. Roy doesn't have any ties to Envy other than Envy executing Hughes. If anything, Roy's hypocritical here since he's definitely torn people from his family while following orders and that detail is never brought up. If anything, wouldn't it make more sense thematically for Roy to fight Wrath and Scar to fight Envy? Vs Wrath, Roy would tie up his plot about wanting to overthrow the government and he'd be able to tie into BH's themes about sins being a part of you that are important even if bad in excess. Since Roy's right to be furious at Bradly for making him fight a pointless war, trying to kill the country, and assisting in murdering Hughes but it also reveals Roy's personal motives and would give Ed, Scar, and Hawkeye a valid reason to question his actions. Having Scar fight Envy also makes more sense than Wrath because Envy was the soldier that started the war, which could be used to parallel the State Alchemists that finished it. A point could also be made about how Envy chose violence because he was envious that humans had what he couldn't and that Scar lashed out for similar reasons. This would also tie in better to BH's themes about all and one since both characters would have to fight with their personal motives for the good of everyone. I'm bring this idea up to say that the homunculi don't need to be conceptually overhauled to still have strong thematic moments, but BH does not have those moments when it really should.

I think Father was a pretty weak villain too. My problem with him is that BH puts so much emphasis on the characters unraveling his plans but then they're so sloppily put together. If BH was more character driven, Father being too prideful to try and stop Ed from messing things up might have held water, but Father is a plot-driven antagonist. He also doesn't wrap up the series thematically very well. His existence is to challenge the idea of All is One and One is All by expulsing the unnecessary bits from himself and consuming everything around him and is defeated by everyone working together, but that's pretty much power of friendship kill god, which isn't super interesting. I also don't understand why the writers tried to make the audience feel for him. His big motivation was his fear of limits, but that's thematically isolated from everything else and the show doesn't do much to bridge the gap.

Overall, BH just has a lot of thematic and character inconsistencies that I don't see get talked about except when used to contrast 03. So, I figured I'd talk about them since they were bugging me even before watching 03, which more or less handles all of these issues well.

[sullustangin]

yeah, well, if you weren’t so drunk maybe i would.” For Akaavi and Risha

😇

Sorry for the very long delay in posting this; I've been in the real estate moshpit and finally moved house. Thanks for the prompt; I should be better at getting to these in the future.

**

Early 3639

Prompt: “Yeah, well, if you weren’t so drunk maybe I would.” For Akaavi and Risha

“We should just be a bunch of chaotic space lesbians and fuck men – as in, forget men. Like the opposite of what I said.”

“Uh huh.” Akaavi patted the back of Risha’s thigh as she carried her up the gangplank of Virtue’s Thief. The Zabrak had hoisted the Drayen heir over her shoulders in order to remove her from the bar; she’d had too much of a few things, and the Thief was short on bail funds because Guss had lost them at the sabacc table. “Now your problem is getting the Captain to agree.”

“Oh, fuck her. Like literally, if we’re going to be real lesbians.” Risha’s vehement foot swung back and forth and almost hit Akaavi.

“Again, you’ll have to convince her. And me.”

“That’s not hard on your count.” Risha’s voice slid low into her register, and she wiggled as suggestively as she could while in a fireman’s carry.

“Yeah, well, if you weren’t so drunk maybe I would.” Akaavi was sorely tempted to drop Risha on her head, but brain cells were an endangered species on Virtue’s Thief, sometimes. Risha only talked like this when she was really drunk. Akaavi had observed and learned never to take it seriously. “What’s your problem?”

“I got thrown out of the casino – how dare they. Fucking Corolastor is up in the penthouse suite, happily drinking herself to death.”

“So she’s blowing off steam. It’s been a hectic last few months.”

“What a shit nickname the holos gave her: ‘the Voidhound.’ Because she killed the Voidwolf.” Risha’s left foot jerked out for emphasis, and Akaavi dodged it. “How boring. How uncreative. How the fuck did she become more successful than my father with a bunch of losers?”

“Watch it.” Akaavi was close to giving into temptation, just this one time – which temptation was cloudy, since Akaavi had been drinking a lot that night too. She knew she had to take Risha home and keep her safe; that’s what the Captain had asked before she bought something ridiculously expensive and took it upstairs.

She usually pulled the barman too, but there’d be a hiatus since…

Risha exhaled dramatically and went limp over Akaavi’s shoulders. “She gets to celebrate not being in jail, being free and all that. Why can’t I?”

“You thought your ex-fiancé was somehow being unfaithful to you despite being your ex.”

“He should be fighting the good fight on Dubrillion.”

“Risha, for the last time, that was not him. It was some other guy with a mustache with his boyfriend.”

“I thought Jedi weren’t supposed to do that.”

Akaavi shrugged the best she could under the dead weight. “As if we know what Jedi are supposed to do, between Guss and Sumalee.”

“Hey! My buddy is the BEST Jedi. She saved Eva – which is why I hate her right now.” Risha’s head dropped, and Akaavi hoped that she’d finally passed out.

No, she was not that lucky.

“I don’t mean I can’t celebrate because I got kicked out—I have spice back home. I mean, I can’t celebrate. I can’t celebrate being free of Merritt,” Risha said the last word softly.

The Count’s first name. Interesting. Akaavi gave a non-committal grunt as she ascended the gangplank of Virtue’s Thief.

It was when Akaavi tipped to her side to slide Risha off her shoulders and into her bunk that the problem of the night emerged. “I shouldn’t have listened Eva. I should have married him anyway.”

“Did you love him?” For Akaavi, it was a straight-forward matter; the Captain’s advice had been sound on that front: love him, yes; do not love him, no.

Despite her drinking, Risha seemed to have acquired the ability to read minds. “No, but at least Merritt was a decent man; she probably said what she did because she’d just … with Darmas.” Risha made a vague, distant gesture into the darkness that crept in around the edges of the crew quarters. “I should have done it anyway. Logical. Politically advantageous. Probably subby in bed. I can work with that.”

Akaavi rolled her eyes. “So call him.”

A flicker of light appeared in Risha’s eyes. “He does seem to be in love with me.” Then the light burned out. “But I’m not in love with him. I don’t think I can be in love with anyone.” Risha tilted her head back against her headboard to help her look up at Akaavi.

Akaavi wanted to go to bed now, please. And not in here with her. She wondered if the Captain would be offended if she slept in the cockpit. “So don’t.”

Risha blinked. “It’s just – he can be in love with someone. It seems really, really cruel to take away the opportunity for someone to be in love with him.” She let her head loll to the other side, her cheek pressed against the top of the headboard. “I asked Eva if she thought I’d always be broken.”

Now Akaavi remembered why she hated drinking with Risha: she always got sad when she drank. At least with the spice, she was giggly and somewhat happy. Or she was like a moon: she reflected the light of others as her own. “So you weren’t in love with this count –”

“I’ve never been in love at all. I don’t think I can do it. Maybe it’s because of –”

Akaavi didn’t want to have her drinks go sour in her stomach like when she’d overheard her tell Eva, who wasn’t doing that great anyway. “Some people just aren’t romantic. Or they only feel that way with the right ones.” She paused for a couple of beats. “Not everything is because ‘something’ happened.”

“It certainly didn’t help.”

Akaavi had nothing to say to that.

Risha gazed at her, her expression inscrutable. “Did you always like girls, or only after you swore off men after Lone?”

Akaavi laughed, a short clipped noise. “You know I most certainly have not sworn off men. But to the first question, yes, always.”

“Double the chances to find someone.”

“Double the rejections. Or double the people I have to reject.”

Risha didn’t say anything for a few minutes. In the darkness of the crew quarters, Akaavi thought she might have fallen asleep, if it weren’t for the fact that Risha’s breathing did not slow as it would.

“Sometimes you just are?”

“Sometimes you just are. And there’s nothing broken about that.”

**

This plays around with some orientation and identity headcanon I've had about the girls.

In my fan fic universe, I read Akaavi as bisexual, biromantic because a) she had a male lover who betrayed her in the original SWTOR; and b) she objects to leaving with the smuggler Commander if Mako doesn't get to go too (same with Mako with a BH Commander; if not romanced by the male BH, Mako can be encouraged to date Torian for awhile, so either way, vanilla SWTOR shows Mako liking boys too). For Risha, in my universe with a f!smuggler, she's heterosexual, but either aromantic or demiromantic and hasn't found someone to feel that deeply about yet. Looking at the m!smuggler romance, Risha has a lot of banter, but she actively steers away from any schmaltz or confession of feelings. As to "what happened," I have headcanonned that Risha didn't have the best introduction to sex and relationships, since she was on her own from the age of 11; she was young and vulnerable, and people took advantage of that. I've also had the experience of being a mentor to students from conservative backgrounds that wonder if early sexual activity or trauma 'made them be this way' when they don't come out heterosexual, heteroromantic... or, in their world, "normal." Reassurances can be offered, but not always accepted.

Akaavi is 5 years older than Corso, 6 years older than Risha, and 7 years older than my smuggler; she has better perspective about life and who she really is than these yuckleheads. Risha plays at being hardened, so much to the point that we sometimes forget that she's only about 21 when the game starts.

[btxtreads]

hi, just wanted to drop by and say i think theres been some updates and the problem most people have now is not really the feathers but the use of a dreamcatcher as a prop in one of the group photos?? just to clarify

Okay, first of all, in my perspective as a fan—the issue with the dreamcatcher was NOT brought up until the issue with the feathers and the clothes were brought up so frankly, this smells all so fishy to me.

Second, Dreamcatchers are available commercially. Points were brought up that indigenous people HAVE made dreamcatchers as not exclusive to the tribes but intended to be given to other people—some merchandised by themselves. Check these websites (one) (two). We can say if this is CA if: TXT made it themselves or Bighit bought it from non-indigenous means. However, keep into mind that TXT and BTS have had concerts in AMERICA where one of the staff could have easily bought it from a native. We can’t know for sure. Don’t assume.

Next, the thread you’re using from twitter? Explained. Check this thread. While the creator of the thread is indigenous, all their claims are based on assumptions (”swinging dreamcatchers around” when did they? did you see?, “capitalized for profit” bh isn’t selling dreamcatchers so not really, it’s a photo, and many more) All claims that made that thread is based on assumptions—and clarified with facts. I don’t know about you guys but I’d side with research. 

That same thread also explains the thing I brought up earlier. Appropriation and appreciation are two different things. This includes reference. I’m going to get some hate for this but the dreamcatcher is in the background. The dreamcatcher is not being made fun of, modified to change (Like this) or disrespected. It’s literally just at the background.

BUT OKAY. I also have read threads from some indigenous people themselves, and I don’t want to erase their inputs because again, this is their culture. What I’m mostly defending TXT from is people forcing this CA agenda when they aren’t part of the culture themselves. For another, this problem does not lie with BH but rather the disgusting capitalism and consumerism that appropriated dreamcatchers as a whole. See here. So sure, go for it. Send Bighit and email to educate, but I’m mostly calling out the people forcing the CA agenda and going “im unstanning now because they boys are problematic” because number 1: it’s a common misconception and 2: see below.

To talk about Cultural Appropriation, let’s first define it: According to the definition given by Oxford Dictionaries, Cultural Appropriation is “he taking over of creative or artistic forms, themes, or practices by one cultural group from another,” and “used to describe Western appropriations of non‐Western or non‐white forms, and carries connotations of exploitation and dominance,” There is no exploitation in this sense. On a technicality, this isn’t really appropriation.

Honestly, idk what else to say. These are all my opinions based on research and reading I have done on this. I guess the only thing I can say anymore is formulate your own opinions about this. I can’t really tell you what to think, all i can do is give you articles and threads. But please, think. This issue is being used by FUCK BIGHIT stans. Yes, those same people that sent a truck to BH for Jin to later find out that it was the angle of a camera. Don’t feed antis. 

[parentsnevertoldus]

little-t trauma

CW// health issues, death, suicide, homophobia, racism

When I was little, I thought that “drama” and “trauma” were the same thing. Middle school drama consisted of which popular long-haired sk8er boy was scooping the boobs of which popular pubescent girl; whose secrets were exposed when someone was ousted from their friend group; which 8th graders were dating high school seniors. While, in my experience, these words can often describe each other--drama can be traumatic and vice versa--they mean two different things. However, looking back on my childhood as I got older, I realized the way I had used them interchangeably was, well, correct. 

Whether it’s “Big-T Trauma” or “little-t trauma,” the psychological and physiological responses are the same. Big-T Trauma is an event that happens once but is extremely impactful all at one time, for example, death, assault, and attack, or witnessing an attack. These instances are often more accepted by wider society as stressful. Little-t trauma is by no means less traumatic. However, these recurring events are often invalidated and normalized by society; the burden is often shifted to the victim with the expectation that one should just “get over it.”  Examples of these include chronic bullying, racism, body-shaming, sexism, and other forms of everyday violence and discrimination. What determines whether we call it trauma in the first place is how we feel after the experience. The more frightened or helpless you feel, the more likely that this is trauma. 

Having to let boys playfully “scoop” your boobs every day at school or risk social ostracization? Trauma. Having your deepest darkest secrets exposed at school? Trauma. Being ousted from your friend group? Trauma. Dating someone way too old for you? Trauma. Being the only Black kid at your school? Trauma. Trying to pass for straight? Trauma. Hiding your gender identity from everyone you know? Trauma. No one deserves that.

Minority Stress is a little-t trauma (in contrast to the big-T Trauma of a hate crime).  The term minority stress refers to the excess recurring stress to which individuals from stigmatized social categories are exposed as a result of their position as a social minority. This stress from alienation accumulates over time and results in both physiological and mental health issues.

How Trauma Affects the Body

Increased blood pressure: have you ever heard the expression “higher than a Black man’s blood pressure?” Some epidemiological studies have found that exposure to racial discrimination was positively related to elevated levels of blood pressure in Black people (1). Experiencing discrimination in a broad range of contexts can induce considerable stress. 

Higher rates of chronic disease: Everyday discrimination is positively associated with coronary artery calcification (9),  diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, depression, cancer, and early death (12). Because of this, not only do POC (specifically Black people) experience worse health earlier, but this deterioration accumulates giving rise to higher cortisol levels and inflammation in racial, sexual, and gender minorities alike (13).

Poor sleep:  Black people are less likely than white people to have a decline in blood pressure during sleep, which is associated with increased risk for mortality and traumatic cardiovascular events like heart attacks (11).

Birthing mortality: The weathering hypothesis proposes that the health of Black women may begin to deteriorate in early adulthood as a physical consequence of cumulative socioeconomic disadvantage. This age the body via an increase in allostatic load, the physiological burden imposed by stress: norepinephrine, epinephrine, cortisol, and DHEA-S which gives rise to elevated blood pressure & cholesterol (14). During childbirth, these problems are correlated with higher rates of fetal/neonatal death and death of the birthing person as well as low birth weights and prematurely born babies.

Mental health and physical health are inextricably linked. 

How Trauma Affects Us Socially & Emotionally

Psychological distress: Perceptions of discrimination are related to high levels of psychological distress, low levels of life satisfaction & happiness, depressive symptoms, poorer physical health (2), & cognitive impairment (10). Internalized racism is correlated with higher levels of alcohol use (3) while internalized homophobia correlates to higher levels of illicit drug use.

Fatalism:  Understanding one's position as a victim of oppression, rather than lessening the degree of personal responsibility, diminishes feelings of self-efficacy. This leads to a fatalistic attitude that reduces coping effort in the face of adversity (4,5) and, in gay men, is correlated to increased risk of death by suicide. 

Stereotype threat:  When someone is aware of the negative stereotypes that are applied to them, this creates expectations, anxieties, and reactions that can adversely affect social & psychological functioning (6). When a stigma of inferiority is activated for Black people in experimental conditions, exam performance worsens. Similarly, women who were told that they perform worse than men had lower exam scores than control groups (7). Stereotype threat can increase anxiety, reduce self-regulation, & impair decision-making processes and communication abilities (8).

Trauma makes it hard to trust others; it makes us want to self-isolate from friends and family, snap at loved ones more frequently, makes us more susceptible to disease and chronic flare-ups, and startle more easily. Traumatic experiences, especially ones we face daily and have little control over (microaggressions, anyone?), can lead to hopelessness and chronic mental illness. And while white cisgender heterosexuals have problems too, the problems that oppressed minority groups face have a much larger effect on their cardiovascular systems and overall health.

Discrimination and oppression are literally killing people. In a capitalist society where you are only as valuable as your economic or reproductive output (#tbt to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade), where women and minorities are barred access to equal healthcare, thus decreasing their values as workers, the cycle of poverty continues.

Ever wonder where the Angry Black Woman stereotype came from? Ever think that maybe her anger was justified?

While this article focuses on Black people and cishet white gay men, let's remember the overall message: experiencing oppression (external and internalized) causes mental and physical health problems that are NOT YOUR FAULT. These experiences are compounded at the intersections of our marginalized identities which further aggravates the tangible effects of systemic oppression. And guess what? You deserve fucking better.

Click here for some self-care ideas and techniques!

Sources

1.  Krieger N. & Sidney S. Racial and discrimination: risk factors for high blood pressure? Social Science & Medicine. 1990; 30 (12): 1273-81.

2. Williams & Chung, in press (NSBA)

3. Taylor, R. J., & Chatters, L. M. (1991). Nonorganizational religious participation among elderly black adults. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 46(2), S103-111.

4. Jones, E., & Matsumoto, D. (1982). Psychotherapy with the underserved: Recent developments. In L. Snowden (Ed.), Reaching the underserved: Mental health needs of neglected populations. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

5. Neighbors, H. W., Jackson, J. S., Broman, C. L., & Thompson, E. (1996). Racism and the mental health of African Americans: The role of self and system blame. Ethnicity and Disease, 6(1-2), 167-175.

6. Fischer, C. S., Hout, M., Jankowski, M. S., Lucas, S. R., Swidler, A., Voss, K. (1996). Inequality by design: Cracking the bell curve myth Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press

7. Steele, C. M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist, 52(6), 613-629.

8. Inzlicht, M., Kang, S. K. (2010). Stereotype threat spillover: How coping with threats to social identity affects aggression, eating, decision making, and attention. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(3), 467-481.

9. Lewis, T. T., Barnes, L. L., Bienias, J. L., Lackland, D. T., Evans, D. A., Mendes de Leon, C. F.(2009). Perceived discrimination and blood pressure in older African American and White adults. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 64A(9), 1002-1008.

10. Barnes, L. L., Lewis, T. T., Begeny, C. T., Yu, L., Bennett, D. A., Wilson, R. S. (2012). Perceived discrimination and cognition in older African Americans. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 18(5), 856-865.

11. Profant, J., Dimsdale, J. E. (1999). Race and diurnal blood pressure patterns: A review and meta-analysis. Hypertension, 33(5), 1099-1104.

12. National Research Council (US) Panel on Race, Ethnicity, and Health in Later Life; Anderson NB, Bulatao RA, Cohen B, editors. Critical Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2004. 14, Significance of Perceived Racism: Toward Understanding Ethnic Group Disparities in Health, the Later Years. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK25531/

13. Gender differences in age-related changes in HPA axis reactivity.

Seeman TE, Singer B, Wilkinson CW, McEwen B

Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2001 Apr; 26(3):225-40.

14. Price of adaptation--allostatic load and its health consequences. MacArthur studies of successful aging.

Seeman TE, Singer BH, Rowe JW, Horwitz RI, McEwen BS

Arch Intern Med. 1997 Oct 27; 157(19):2259-68.

[lokisasylum]

A matter of perspective

I know we’re all tired of hearing, seeing and reading about the recent events, and controversies around Bangtan, especially Jiminie.

“And all over a fucking t-shirt.”

Most of you are probably still on this mindset. Because we know that it’s more than that, it’s more than an article of clothing expressing the post-war state of their country after years of suffering and its people being treated in all sorts of inhumane ways.

What this situation has taught (I hope) all of us to understand is that whenever a country’s politics, religious views or historic background are the main protagonist of a shit-storm.

Anyone’s fair game in the lion’s den.

I remember around 10 years ago, my 22th birthday, my friends threw me a surprise bday party. And I recall that one of my friends gifted me this t-shirt from a movie I’ve never heard before.

“The main protagonist is SO cool and badass. Thought of you when I saw it.”

I only remember that it was a black t-shirt with the red silhouette of the character (who I assumed was female) and some message in yellow lettering that was hard to make out exactly WHAT it said.

But anyway, come Monday or Tuesday of the following week, I’m getting ready for college and decided that it would be the perfect moment to wear the tshirt that my friend gave me. So I put it on with some jeans, ect. Get to school early for my first period and I think it was sometime around lunch time that I was hanging out with my friend at the Student Center when this guy came up to me directly.

For those who don’t know, I’m from Puerto Rico and over here, politics-wise, there are 3 main political parties that are always at war with one another all year long:

New Progressive Party ( PNP ) - Pro-statehood

Popular Democratic Party (PPD) - Pro-commonwealth, pro-autonomous entity: different from a federated state or a territory. (Estado Libre Asociado), as established in 1950 law

Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) - Pro-independence, social democracy.

Among those three, the third one on the list can be somewhat controversial and quite radical depending on the individual carrying out the ideology. Some individuals know their historic-facts well and know how and when to use them in a debate reciting line by line, word by word to prove a point. But then there are those who don’t know their own history and just go along with details and historic gossip which they try and use to humiliate others who don’t agree with their way of thinking (full anti-american mindset).

So, back to lunch time and the guy I mentioned before. This guy in particular I knew was part of the pro-independence movement, but also part of group with the baseless facts. So the guy comes up to me, gets all up in my face and starts confronting me over the shirt, questioning as to why I was walking around with a shirt that promoted gun-violence. I asked him why did he thought I was? so he points to the character on the shirt who apparently had a machine-gun for a leg?

I told him that it was a character from a movie, which i hadn’t seen (so I couldn't explain to him what it was about) and that the shirt was a gift from a friend (and said friend was right next to me). But of course this wasn’t enough for the guy, he just started going off questioning my morals and loyalties towards my country and asked if I was “one of those disgusting, pro-statehood, pigs who willingly sells their country over to the gringos in exchange for white-privileges.”

The verbal assault towards me and my friend went on until one of the police officers near the area, who knew guy, came over to put an end to the argument and told him to back off.

I never wore the t-shirt again after that day, cause I didn’t want to receive anymore backlash especially because the guy was quite... influential around campus. And #2. I was in a Catholic University and the problem with the shirt had reached the wrong ears. In addition I was a History majoring student so yeah... that image didn’t look too good.

It took awhile, but I got over it. Was their reaction an exaggeration? To me it was, and of course it was unfair how easily and quick people are to question or judge everything that you are; who you are because one day you unintentionally wore an article of clothing, an accessory, a hairstyle, ect.. that  just wasn’t to their taste or “threatened” what they believe in. 

So, regarding the issue with the boys, the best we can do is just let the according parties come to terms with the situation and sort it out, the best way that they can or know how. Because it happens in every country who’s history is smeared with blood from another.

There will always be two sides to the same coin and maybe neither one is right or wrong in the eye of the beholder.

As for Jimin and the boys, I hope they can move on from this nightmare just like they have during previous ones in the past. Also to be a little more quick-witted, wiser in their everyday decision-making, which i KNOW is hard to do when you’re in the entertainment business where everything’s all planned out for you and some days you won’t have a say in what you wear, what you eat or even when you go to sleep (it’s a beautiful dream to think the boys have a say in these, but lets be real... this is the dark-side of the Kpop Industry that everyone talks about and both the Asian and Western media are opportunist assholes).

And I also hope that BigHit, as a company, learns to listen a little quicker to fans concerns/worries when it involves the boy’s safety (how many times did Army need to repeat, tweet, tag, call or email BH to strengthen their security when the first d*ath threats occurred before shit got too real to ignore?) as well as their image.  

Should we feel pissed and powerless when there’s so little we can do to defend those who get dragged into these situations? Yeah, it’s totally okay to feel that way, it’s okay to be mad, it’s okay to voice your concern or POV on it if it helps you unwind and think clearly at the end of the day and see that everything will fall into place on its own.

We just have to be patient.

[featherbraincd-a-blog]

🔥 more, more salt, let it out, it's good for ya.

 sorry  but  if  your  idea  of  having  icons  is  to  deep-fry  them  and  make  them  30x30  then  why  even  have  them?   like,  this  isn’t  me  slating  aesthetic  choice;  i  know  some  people  will  find  my  white  borders  ugly  or  'too  simple’  but  for  me  they  work  so  i’m  good;  i’m  talking  about  icons  that  are  SO  tiny  and  SO  heavily  edited  that  you  can’t  even  see  the  picture,  or  have  to  squint  to  see  what’s  going  on  in  it–  what’s  even  the  point?   i  mean,  i’m  not  sitting  here  telling  you  how  to  decorate  your  own  shit,  you  do  you,  but  i’m  asking,  from  a  functional  perspective  given  that  icons  do  serve  some  sort  of  purpose,  why  even  bother?

  ALSO  WHAT  THE  FUCK  IS  THIS  TREND  OF  PEOPLE  EQUATING  IC  STUFF  WITH  OOC  STUFF?   for  me  it’s  so  bad,  because  crow  is  a  VERY  morally-ambiguous  person.   there’s  VERY  LITTLE  he  won’t  do,  and  if  he  has  the  chance  to  take  advantage  of  somebody  then  he  will,  but  that  doesn’t  mean  i  condone  his  bullshit?   i  ADORE  crow.   he’s  my  favourite  oc,  along  with  mike  and  bh  over  on  thercalworld,  and  this  may  he’ll  be  one  year  old,  but  that  doesn’t  mean  i  EXCUSE  him?   this  doesn’t  mean  i  sit  here  writing  him  like  'that  is  completely  acceptable  my  darling  you  are  so  good!!’--  yeah,  i  get  giggles  out  of  him  because  he’s  rude  and  outrageous,  and  i  get  shivers  from  him  because  sometimes  he’s  very  insightful  and  clever,  and  sometimes  i  even  get  a  little  scared  because  he’s  so  fucked  up,  but  i  don’t  IDOLISE  him,  and  i  don’t  think  that  acting  the  way(s)  he  does  would  be  ACCEPTABLE?   also  can  we  accept  that  what  people  write  fictionally  does  not  determine  them  as  a  real  person  out  of  character?   sorry  but  if  you  genuinely  believe  that  somebody  who  writes  questionable  shit  in  a  fictional  setting  with  fictional  characters  is  a  questionable / bad  person  themselves  then  perhaps  you  shouldn’t  be  roleplaying  in  the  first  place–  because  not  being  able  to  separate  reality  from  fiction  to  such  a  stupid  extent  is  not  good  for  you.

[shinylitwick94]

Read “Dust of Dreams”, ninth in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, by Steven Erikson.

This one was pretty meh, but on the good side of meh. It was a much easier read than either TtH or RG for me. I did skim quite a bit, moreso than in the other two, mostly the Snake bits and the whole Bolkando drama (didn’t really see the point of including it), but even that wasn’t as hard on my patience as the whole Dying God v Redeemer stuff or Redmask. I’m just eager to get to the end by this point, I know those will be relevant somehow, but I’m happy with just the gist of them. Of course DoD is a little complicated, since it is only half a book, so many of its stories have no real conclusion in this book, which makes it very much unique in this series, since most of the books are actually pretty self-contained.

Aside from that one storyline, which I’ll discuss under a cut, because spoilers and triggers and so on, not that much happens in this book. It’s mostly setup, but it’s setup I found really interesting, because the pieces are finally coming into place and you can see it and it’s exciting, even if there isn’t a lot of action. There’s a lot of very sudden and unexpected action at the very end, of course, and it’s coupled with a cliffhanger to make us worry even more about the characters. It’s the first book since Bonehunters that has me wanting to read the next one right now, and I love that about it.

It was really great to see so much of the K’Chain Che’Malle! I found them so different and fascinating and I’m still in love with the idea of dinossaurs with blades for arms, so that was one story I had a lot of fun with, especially by the end.

The Bonehunters were great this time around - I feel like I almost enjoy them more when they have nothing to do than when they just fight all the time.

The Shake managed to redeem themselves in my eyes and finally make themselves interesting. I still find the two witches really annoying, but that’s it.

Favorite characters: Bottle, Gunth Mach, MAEL,Sandalath, Silchas Ruin, Brys

Least favorite characters: the Shake witches, the Obviously Evil officials of the Bolkando, Icarium(just flat), Tanakalian

Favorite POV: Kalyth, Brys, Lostara, Bottle

Least favorite POV: Tanakalian, Torrent, Badalle, Abrastal

Favorite scene: Fiddler’s reading,the battle at the end - extra points for awesome Quick Ben and dinos, Silchas Ruin and Olar Ethil, Draconus’ return, 

Least favorite scene: most of the Snake, most of the Bolkando story (i just don’t see the point of it), Tehol’s court and the silly sex jokes(i’ll adress some of this under the cut)

Book rankings so far: 1.MoI, 2.BH, 3.TtH, 4.MT, 5.DG , 6.DoD, 7.HoC, 8.GotM, 9.RG

The Hetan thing(almost as long as the main post sheesh):

Honestly, with the way everyone went on about it, I expected worse. 

It was terrible, it was horrifying, but I’ve read uglier stuff so the fact that it’s horrid in and of itself doesn’t really bother me that much, although of course it was shocking and uncomfortable to read. 

I understand why Steven included it, and I largely agree with his reasons. We don’t help people IRL who suffer such things (and they do exist) by pretending that they don’t exist and sanitizing fiction of them. I’ve always been a little bit against this wave of people telling authors what they can or cannot write, what is appropriate or not. I think we should read things that make us uncomfortable - that is how we grow as people and as readers.

I don’t want to say people are being oversensitive about it. I can certainly understand why someone would be very bothered to read something like this and why that might lead them to drop these books altogether. Personally, that is not the case for me, but I can understand why it might be for someone else.

I can also see how people might be irritated to see something like this in the wider context of violence against women and it’s arguably increasing role in media being a very present topic today. It’s the frustration of “oh God, another rape? wow, that’s so brave of you *eyeroll*” mixed with the genuine discomfort of a scene that is considerably more violent than your average fictional rape.

I can understand Erikson’s choice here and, like I said, I mostly agree with him. However, what does get on my nerves a bit is that last issue I mentioned. How sexual violence against women is treated overall in not only this series, but pretty much all major fantasy series at the moment. To put it bluntly: I’ts everywhere. And as a female reader, it’s exhausting to have say 70%, maybe more, of all female characters be either actually raped or threatened with it what feels like once a chapter. I’m obviously exaggerating here, but it gets repetitive, it loses impact, it makes us angry at the authors and not the characters.

And in that context I want to talk about Janath. I can’t let Erikson of the hook with this one. Hetan’s rape wasn’t, in my view, written exploitatively. But Janath’s were. It was shown almost exclusively from the perspective of the perpetrator, the scenes go on forever, and then at the end what do we get? Mind wipe. All good now Janath, you can go fuck Tehol and make funny sex jokes and no one has to deal with any consequences of what happened whatsoever. Which naturally raises the question of, why was it there? Why was it necessary? What point was Steven trying to make here? I just can’t let him go for this. And I hate, hate, hate that half of Tehol’s story (and now Janath’s) is just silly sex jokes. It cheapens what happened to her even more and it makes me actually angry.

[doorwaykeeper]

Yuri on Ice Fic Rec Mega List

So, this is my own YOI Fic-rec list, compiled from my absolute favorites I’ve been reading during the last three months.

But first, a couple of notes:

Not a lot of angst here (there is some) because I much prefer fluff (and smut), or both (as my friend likes to put it – smuff). Almost all of the stories are T and up, most are M and up.

I don’t do sad endings, y’all. The YOI story is so fucking optimistic, it deserves to be treated as such (sure, if your kink is major character death, go for it, it just won’t be on MY list).

I much prefer the novels, dammit, the longer the better, but there is a section with one-shots and short stories, I just like it less.

I ADORE healthy relationships with good communication, and except for the obvious here, most of these are.

So what do we have here?

A few Fill in the Gaps (FITG) stories, a few Time Travel (TT) stories, two major skating AUs (one of them probably one the best known fics in this fandom) and one completely different AU, One Sub/Dom story that cured me from “50 Shades” (don’t judge me), lots of fluff and domesticity, lots of communication in relationships, lots of social media shenanigans, a few crack stories and a WHOLE LOT OF LOVE ON THE ICE.

The only ships are Victuuri and Otayuri (when they’re older), as I don’t ship them with anyone else, and other ships as side notes.

So. Onwards.

The Novels

Honorary mention - The Rival series – Until My Feet Bleed and My Heart Aches/Of Bright Stars and Burning Hearts, by Reiya. Complete/WIP (Rated E)

General: Ah, boy. So much has been written about this series I don’t really have to add a lot. If you are in this fandom and read fic, you will have heard about this story long before this.

Just for the record – a “What If” AU, told first from Yuuri’s perspective (UMFB&MHA, complete) and then from Victor’s (OBS&BH, WIP), about what would have happened if one small detail was different and the result would be a rivalry between the two. One of the first fics I read and a DAMN GOOD ONE. Like I said, it’s the only one on this list with actual long lasting ANGST, but it’s also beyond sweet.

Bonus points:

Amazing world building, wonderful characterization, handling difficult issues very well, and very good writing.

LOOOOOOONG. As in, novel length. For someone like me, that’s wonderful.

OBS&BH has a pretty regular update rate – especially regarding the fact that Reiya is a FUCKING MEDICAL STUDENT, so tons of kudos to them for keeping the updates as regular as they are.

Reiya (kazliin) is very active here, and answers asks and gives us world building and top ten lists and LIFE I tell you.

One of the best usages of Social Media snippets.

Comments:

A third fic is planned, with lots of fluff and extra scenes, which is something we are looking forward to in the extreme.

Don’t skip the music connected to the story, as it is very important!

Bear Your Soul on the Ice, by SassySalchow (diedraechin). WIP (Rated M)

General: At age 14, Yuuri goes to train with Yakov in Russia and meets his idol, which turns out to be a real dork. The story spans years of both their lives and their relationship (with each other and other people), and it so wonderfully researched and wonderfully written.

Bonus points:

Long, and getting longer. As far as we know, the story is supposed to be around its middle point, and as it currently has 21 chapters and 126,442 words, you do the math.

Amazing (!!!!!!) Original Characters, ones that you don’t want to let go of, and can’t really remember that are not a part of Canon.

The skating descriptions are STUNNING.

Pretty regularly updated.

Social media shenanigans – and texting – from before WhatsApp, oh, dear lord.

Comments:

Additional fic (Life and Love off the Ice) always being updated with titbits and extra scenes.

Winter Song, by proantagonist. WIP (Rated E)

General: One of my favorite FITG fics, and one of the best written. It begins after chapter 7 and goes on after the finale. Lots of really cute Victuuri, tons of healthy communication and fluff (…and smut, yeah).

Bonus points:

Did I mention the COMMUNICATION? I don’t think I did. C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-T-I-O-N. Yeah.

Wonderful characterization of all those involved, with extra cuteness when it comes to Yuuri’s family.

Healthy sex. Really. And it progresses in a REASONABLE PACE.

Call Everything on the Ice…, by shysweetthing. Complete (Rated E)

General: Another FITG fic, with Victor being extra insecure and cute as hell while being very bad at directions and learning Japanese. Some miscommunication and angst here, but nothing major.

Bonus points:

The last chapter is extra cute, way into the future.

Victor and Yuuri’s family, my god.

LANGUAGE KINK. YES.

No Less Unthinkable, by rageprufrock. Complete (Rated E)

General: Well, this one is really tons of smut (a lot in the first chapter, less in the second), but it also portrays Yuuri as somewhat more experienced than you would normally see, so that’s cute. First Chapter is pre-canon, second is FITG for S01.

Bonus points:

Wonderful characterization.

Yuuri and Yuri, LOLZ.

Best sex talks EVER.

Quite a lot of crack. Seriously. These people are HILARIOUS. Snap Stories. Phichit. Dear god.

CHRIS. CHRISCHRISCHRISCHRISCHRIS.

Also, it might be 2 chapters… but it’s long. J

Katsuki_fc wrote, by tetsurashian. Complete (Rated G)

General: How Social Media viewed the happenings of S01. Obviously CC, and FUNNY AS HELL.

Bonus points:

THE CRACKIEST CRACK OF CRACKLAND. Really. DO NOT drink ANYTHING while reading this.

People being supportive which is FUN.

Sweetsilversub, by phlintandsteel. Complete (Rated E)

General: Remember the Dom/Sub story I talked about? THIS IS IT. It’s mostly CC (with a bit before canon and divergent from a point), FITG for the sweetest relationship in the world. Some chatroom talks, a couple of Dom/Sub Scenes between Victuuri and HEALTHY COMMUNICATION.

Bonus points:

Did I mention the communication?

YUURI IS THE DOM AND VICTOR IS THE SUB. It fits so well, my god.

The Dom/Sub scenes are handled so beautifully.

Nice and long (you see a pattern here, don’t you?)

OCs are super cute.

The Carnage of the Art, by ExorcisingEmily. Complete (Rated T)

General: CC Post S01. When Yuri gets hurt, Victor and Yuuri take care of him. Some guilt and some angst here, but a lot of relationship building.

Bonus point:

Extra Podium Family - so much love between the three.

TWO PAIR SKATES!

Beautiful characterization and writing.

On My Love, by RikoJasmine. WIP (Rated T)

General: After a car accident, Yuuri finds himself in the past. It’s probably my favorite TT story, as it is incredibly well written. It’s also kind of a tear-jerker, so be warned.

Bonus points:

Yuuri being confident is great.

Vicchan lives!!!

Yuuri being able to be great at what he does, and Victor falls so hard for him it’s magnificent.

THE BANQUET!!!!

Victor and Yuuri’s family! CUTENESS OVERLOAD.

Fluffy as hell.

Comments:

Update rate is quite slow on this one (not complaining, just saying - I know fic writers have a life and whatever they give I’m grateful), but it’s still already nice and long. Worth the wait, IMHO.

Re: Yuri Katsuki, by Ishxallxgood. WIP (Rated T)

General: CC, S01 told from Phichit’s perspective. Lots of crack, lots of social media, super cute and fluffy.

Bonus points:

Phichit is stirring the Victuuri Ship, y’all. Enough said.

Phichit spends money… XD

ChulaCommeti!

From Almaty, With Love, by BoxWineConfessions. Complete (Rated E)

General: The best Otayuri fic I found, where Yuri goes to stay with Otabek for the summer in Almaty. Pretty slow burn, but seriously good read. Some angst (though I’d call it a tear jerker), but worth it.

Bonus points:

Absolutely STUNNING writing and descriptions.

Almaty in summer is described so life-like it’s as if you’re there.

Both Yuri and Otabek are so well written and their interactions are funny and sweet. And real.

Also long.

Comments:

Second fic in the series (Line and Verse) has extra scenes before and after and is just as well written.

Home, by Kurenaito. Complete (Rated T)

General: Post S01, when Victor and Yuuri adopt two girls. Very sweet family dramas.

Bonus points:

Great OCs, well portrayed.

Extra Yuri being a big brother.

Comments:

Two extra fics in the series (Spark to Flame) – Clara tells all (short) and Spark, which picks up after Home and is a WIP.

Blackbird, by sixpences. Complete (Rated M)

General: WW2/Cold war AU, where both Yuuri and Victor are spies. I’m not big on AUs that aren’t skating, but this one is… Just fucking beautiful. Some angst and it can be a tear-jerker, but it’s really, REALLY worth it.

Bonus points:

One of the best written stories I found, including characterization, plot development, pace, descriptions and emotion.

Nice and long.

Yuuri is not a timid little thing! Yey!

THEY JUST LOVE EACH OTHER ABOVE ALL ELSE, MY GOD.

I cried quite a lot during this, but it’s the good kind of tears.

Very well researched.

The sex scenes are not explicit but the go RIGHT TO YOUR BONES.

Comments:

There will be extra fics in the series (Birdsong) to accompany the main one, with more about the side characters and a bit more about our Victuuri.

Turn back the Clock, by IronScript. WIP (Rated T)

General: TT where Both Yuuri and Victor go back in time. This is pure fluff.

Bonus points:

Long and getting longer!

DID I MENTION THE FLUFF

One Shots and short stories

OK, so true, these aren’t my favourites, but these few are still good enough for me to love them.

You can have everything, by shysweetthing. Complete (Rated T)

General: CD – when Yuuri finds Victor’s phone in the Sochi GPF HILARITY ENSUES.

Bonus Points:

Total Crack most of the time (except for Vicchan).

Everything that's silver is not gold, by SassySalchow (diedraechin). Complete (Rated M)

General: Soulmates story, where the marking on your body grows when you see your soulmate. CC and very fucking cute.

Bonus points:

Pretty long for a one shot and very well written.

Super cute, just about it.

So this guy walks into a bar…, by silvercistern. Complete (Rated E)

General: Victor and Yuuri pretend to not know each other and Victor is BAD at seducing Yuuri. Crack and a bit of smuff.

Bonus point:

Well, the crack, and the fact that Victor can’t seduce FOR SHIT.

Also, being a couple can be very comfortable.

Drunk on You, by kiaronna. WIP (Rated T)

General: Soulmate AUs one shots, each chapter is a whole different story. Most are CC and quite cute.

Bonus points:

Not “regular” soulmate AUs, so a bit more imagination.

Lots of cuteness overload.

That’s it - if you guys have fics to recommend, I’ll be happy to hear!

[saharasnowfall]

Regarding Birdie Gate

My BTS Asks posts, specifically the question regarding BigHit, come at an interesting time so I want to drop in some of my personal thoughts.

Background:

BTS were about to release a Japanese album, in which one of the songs, Bird, was penned by Akimoto Yasushi, a Japanese lyricist who is perceived to be a misogynistic, right-wing extremist.  

Considering the sensitive socio-political history between Korea and Japan, the Korean side of fandom strongly voiced their concerns to BigHit and demanded that all collaborations with Akimoto be terminated immediately.  When K-ARMY did not receive any response, they, understandably, reached out to I-ARMY for help.  It should be noted that K-ARMY have disregard J-ARMY opinion on the matter, despite the facts that Akimoto collaboration is specifically intended for the Japanese fans.

Most I-ARMY tried to stay out of it or watched from afar with a neutral perspective while gathering more information, until K-ARMY started spamming twitter, fancafe, public forum, and vandalizing BH building with hostile notes. At one point, Jimin logged into fancafe and saw all the hateful comments left by K-ARMY.  This pissed off a lot of I-ARMY who considered the fancafe to be safest place for BTS.

I-ARMY criticized K-ARMY for their poor handling of the situation, even accused them of running wild with dubious claims. K-ARMY offended by I-ARMY’s skepticism and being condescending toward I-ARMY for their ignorance of the issue and blind trust in BigHit.

It’s only been a couple of days since this controversy started but the situation has already spiraled into a huge ugly mess.  

Finally, BigHit issued statement with the decision of removing Bird from BTS Japanese album.

  Response to K-ARMY’s actions and their justifications:

1. BigHit and BTS are separate entities.  K-ARMY are questioning BH and Bang PD’s decision as an effort to protect BTS. BTS is not to blame for the situation.   

Eh I don’t think it works like that.  Bird is promoted as BTS song in a BTS album. Also, it is well-known that BigHit give BTS a lot of creative freedom and control over their works.  If BTS don’t want to work with Akimoto, there would not be any collaboration.  If the collaboration is problematic, then BTS are right smack in the middle of the scandal, no matter how K-ARMY spin this.

2. K-ARMY spamming fancafe, which is considered to be BTS’ safe space. Jimin probably freaked out when he logged in and saw those hateful notes.

Aside from the hateful notes, which I can’t verify because I can’t read Korean so I’m not going to comment on that, I’m actually okay with K-ARMY spamming fancafe.  

Fancafe was created as a channel of communication between BTS and ARMY.  This communication channel works both way.  ARMY should be able to utilize it, in a respectful manner, of course, to freely communicate their concerns and voice their criticisms.

So what if Jimin sees those comments? Jimin is my baby, okay.  I call him baby because he is so damn cute.  But he is a fucking adult.  Let’s treat him like one.  

Don’t baby him or the rest of Bangtan for that matter.  Shower them with praises and love as you see fit.  But also let them hear criticism when the situation warrants it.  

There is no such thing as a safe space in the entertainment industry. If Jimin and the rest of BTS cannot handle criticisms, they are in the wrong business.

And I rather have BigHit, BTS, K-ARMY and I-ARMY duke it out in the fancafe and have their fights contained in private settings, even if the fights get ugly, than air them out in public.  Which brings me to point # 3:

3. K-ARMY spamming twitter, public forums, Naver articles, etc.

K-AMRY say they want to protect BTS from public backlash, yet they’re bringing the issue directly to the public eye. 

They’re pretty much screaming: “HEY GENERAL PUBLIC, GUESS WHAT.  BTS IS GOING TO DO SOMETHING TERRIBLE THAT YOU’RE NOT GOING TO LIKE. TERRIBLE TERRIBLE THINGS.  OH YOU WILL NOT LIKE IT AND YOU WILL BE VERY VERY ANGRY. BAD BAD BTS.”  

The goal and the method to achieve that goal are not aligning. *sigh*

4. K-ARMY vandalizing BigHit’s building.

What the hell.   Bad bad K-ARMY.

5. Akimoto is a misogynist that writes questionable lyrics.  BTS should not associate themselves with someone like that.

Yeah, I read those lyrics.  Definitely disgusting and misogynistic.  

However, K-ARMY seemed stubbornly stuck on the lyrics of problematic songs, while ignoring his other songs where he writes about life struggles, self-acceptance, fighting against social ideals, you know, ideas that are very similar to BTS’ message.  

Have we forgotten about War of Hormones, Expensive Girl, or Boy in Luv music video?  It’s like judging BTS’ entire discography solely based on War of Hormones and completely ignore everything else they have done, including how much they have changed and grown. Is that how we want others to judge BTS? Because that is certainly how we judge Akimoto.

Okay, say that we can’t look past Akimoto’s misogynistic views and we make a stand that we don’t tolerate BTS working with anyone with questionable morals.  Understandable.  It is actually a good stand.  May be a bit impractical in a business sense, but still a good, socially responsible stand.

Is K-ARMY going to demand for the immediate termination of all Supreme Boi’s works with BTS? Supreme Boi has been working closely with BTS for several years now and has probably produced some of your favorite BTS songs.  Where is your outrage?  

What about Chainsmokers?  Nicki Minaj? What about Kanye West or Chris Brown, other other problematic artists that BTS have expressed interest in?  Where is your concern?

K-ARMY not accepting Akimoto because he is a misogynistic individual or because he is a misogynistic Japanese individual?

I’m not saying that we don’t criticize BTS/BigHit for their association with questionable individuals, we should. But K-ARMY's selective judgement and inconsistent, even hypocritical, behaviors imply that there are other factors at play.  That this is not just a case of ARMY “protecting” BTS.  This is my main point.

6. Akimoto is a right-wing extremist.  Considered the sensitive socio-political relation between Korean and Japan, BTS should not associate themselves with someone like that.

My issue is that K-ARMY have not provide any concrete evidence to support this claim.  We can’t go around and accuse people of being a Nazi, a very serious accusation, without solid proof. I’m not sure about others, but I’m a big believer of the whole innocent-until-proven-guilty concept.  

Actually, even some K-ARMY admits that this is more about “perception” rather than solid evidence.  Which brings me to my next point:

7. “Whether he is actually a right wing or not, the general public PERCEIVES him that way, not just k-armys. Please understand that that is the point. The korean PERCEPTION of him is enough for them to rise in arms against the boys. That's what we don't want.”  

Yes, negative perception, whether true or not, can have detrimental effect on BTS.  But I don’t want to take the stand that false perception is more important than the truth.  If the general public have some false perception of BTS, we can try to educate the public and correct that perception.  

Sure, we might lose some support initially, but news flash, ARMY have been carrying BTS on their backs without general public’s support for years.  Don’t forget, we have been through scandals before. We got through all of them and came out even stronger. We should not be afraid of false claims. The truth will prevail.

8. “This issue is important to the people of Korea.  That's what you guys don't understand. The GP, when it comes to issues with Japan, NEVER just listen. It's THAT sensitive.”

I agree that we, I-ARMY, cannot fully understand the sensitivity of this issue.  It is not our place to decide what is offensive or not to Koreans.  It is not right for I-ARMY to dismiss and belittle K-ARMY’s opinions/feelings on this matter. 

But K-ARMY did reach out to I-ARMY.  Some did acted rudely and insensitively, but most of us was try to understand the situation with an objective eye.  We asked for evidence, but were instead given lies and misinformation. 

Even if I-ARMY cannot fully understand the sensitivity of issue because we are not Korean, BigHit and BTS would.  

Have K-ARMY forgotten that BigHit and BTS are themselves Korean?   

They grew up in Korean. They are Korean citizens. They know Korean history and share the same Korean culture, beliefs and sentiments that K-ARMY and the Korean general public have.

Even if BigHit is some incompetent company that does reckless harmful things, do we think that RM, Suga, Jin, J-hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, all seven of them, would be so ignorant that they don’t know, or that they do know but dumbly choose to be insensitive about something that is so important to the Korean general public?

I trust BTS’  intelligence, knowledge and judgement, especially RM and Suga.  They have shown to me that they are wise, mature and thoughtful adults. 

But hey, may be BTS are that dumb because K-ARMY are so adamant that BTS don’t know what is harmful to them.  K-ARMY clearly know better than BTS, than BigHit, than any of us!

BTS is not Akimoto’s first Kpop collaboration.  There were no huge backlash from the Korean general public at PD48, MNET or MAMA for their association with Akimoto that could not be settled/resolved.  I think that during one PD48 press conference, Korean media actually clarified the right wing controversy.

So K-ARMY, are you sure that you’re protecting BTS from credible threats? Concrete, significant, detrimental threats that would justify your extreme actions?  Are you sure you are not blowing the issue out of proportion?

I’m going copy these here:

Well, I guess we won't ever have to worry about the general public turning on BTS. ARMY will do that and more before the public ever gets a chance.  

What’s done is done.  

K-ARMY, you got what you want. Congrats.  But please handle yourself better in the future. Oh and the whole pathological willingness to manipulate news & spread lies in the name of "love and protection" thing, it is disturbing as hell.  Stop it.

J-ARMY, sorry.  :/   Hopefully BTS will find a new lyricist for Bird, re-record it and release it later under a different name for you.  

Response to BTS/BigHit’s actions:

I’m not one to have blind faith in anyone or anything.  Although I’m a big fan of BTS, I’m critical of their actions, as well as BigHit’s.

If BTS or BigHit do something questionable, ARMY should be able to voice our concerns.  In this situation, while there is a better way for K-ARMY to communicate such concerns, had BigHit acknowledged the issue right away, things probably would not have gotten so out of control. I swear sometimes they are so frustratingly inept.

Honestly, I don’t think BTS/BigHit should cave to ARMY’s demands, especially if the demands are irrational.  They should not reward all the bad behavior, the bullying, the harassment, the lies and manipulation. Today, we’re killing Birdie. Tomorrow, we’re kicking international playboy JungKook, or Jimin, or Taehyung out of BTS for dating because K-ARMY demand so. 

Fans controlling artist’s creative works and even personal life is not new in Kpop. But for so long, BTS have been talking and singing about rising against society’s unreasonable expectations, about being themselves, being able to do what they want without fear.  Look at IDOL’s lyrics:

Whatever the reason for your criticism is I know what I am I know what I want I never gon’ change I never gon’ trade

If BTS think that Akimoto is the best collaboration candidate for Bird and accusations against him are unfounded, then they should proudly release the song.  Whether or not I agree with their decision, whether or not there are grave consequences, I would respect them for being brave enough to do what they think is right, even if it’s unpopular.

With that said, I do understand BTS/BigHit’s decision.  Disappointed, but not surprised. 

Yeah, BTS are artists.  BTS are idols. They might know what they want, but they won’t be able to do what they want.  They’re gon’ change & they’re gon’ trade, for the K-ARMY that claim to love them.  It is fake love.  And that is the saddest part. :(

Contrary to popular beliefs,  I don’t think that it is BigHit is the one that rolled over. I think it’s BTS that caved in first.  They probably had a call to discuss. BigHit asking BTS for their thoughts. BTS wanted to give in.  BigHit agreed.

I’m not saying that BigHit would not have given into K-ARMY’s demands if it wasn’t for BTS.  I think BigHit would arrive at the same decision even without BTS input because it is the most prudent business action with the least damage and the quickest way to put an end to this whole mess.  

It’s just that BigHit would probably take longer time to consider various business implications (i.e. expansion to Japanese market for BTS AND their future groups, BigHit reputation to Japanese business partners, lost opportunities, lost profits, weighting pro & cons, etc.), while BTS’ first instinct is to stop the angry mob and make fans happy because they are the one that will come face to face with the fans. 

We know that BTS, certain members and as a whole, are super soft and sensitive to K-ARMY’s criticism & demands.    They would cave in first and trust that BigHit will deal with the other business fallouts later.  Jimin didn’t put out that happy tweet for no reasons.  

In the end, while I don’t complete agree with BTS/BigHit’s actions from a principle standpoint, I understand and respect their decision.  

Just please don’t ever kick Jungkookie, or any members, out of BTS, okay.