#like I would be angry if he were getting shafted in terms of promotion but I just don’t see how he is?

[dorindameddler]

Ok honestly I don’t really get people saying that assad has been sidelined in promotion? Armand is a side character in these first two seasons and I feel like he got promoted as such. He was on one of the big murals last season at sdcc and on the elevator and I feel like he gets just as many interviews as the others? Am I missing something

[cheryls-blossomed]

Honestly, the continued disrespect to Iris West-Allen, The Flash’s black leading lady in the sixth season of the show, is absolutely appalling and unacceptable. Meanwhile, the network never fails to capitalize on Iris and Westallen’s popularity in order to gain buzz. (Remember how the entire promotion of Crisis on Earth-X was Westallen wedding, including their own promotional poster, despite how they were shafted in that crossover? Remember how the very first Elseworlds promo was Iris and Oliver, and the first full preview clip was of Barry freaking out over Oliver waking up with Iris, despite the fact that Iris was not even allowed to cross-over? Remember how Eric Wallace went on a whole press run when it was announced that we’ll see Iris in her natural curls in 6x05, even though she and Barry are relegated to the episode’s D-plot?) Showrunners constantly make false promises about her journalism, about The Central City Citizen, about Westallen, and about Iris’s POV being explored, because they are aware that that is what people want to hear, even though they have no intention of following through. They utilize Candice’s talent by giving Iris highly emotional scenes, but they don’t extent her POV outside of these isolated moments, nor do they have characters check up on her. I generally love the Broken Hero trope, but only where the character’s strength and resiliency, despite their trauma, is frequently acknowledged by other characters, so as to allow the character to also be vulnerable and have ample POV about what they’re going through. The application of the Broken Hero trope to Iris over the seasons has resulted in her being relegated to a strong black woman archetype time and again, and it’s utterly disappointing. 

In season 1, the three men whom she trusted most were lying to her. Her father infantilized her frequently. Eddie lied to her face, dismissed her journalistic endeavors, but then cold-shouldered her when she rightfully became angry with his lies. Barry, her best friend and the person she loved most in this world, chose not to tell her that he was the Flash for non-existent reasons which of course he couldn’t even articulate, and this naturally broke her heart when she found out.

Her promising journalism arc with her mentor, Mason Bridge, where they were poised to investigate Harrison Wells together and hopefully discover that he was really Eobard Thawne, was cut short, when Mason was unceremoniously killed off, and Iris’s investigations were handed off to Barry and Joe.

Iris had to put up a strong front for Barry and the Team in season 2 and was never allowed to really grieve Eddie onscreen. The only time we ever saw her have a moment to grieve is in 2x17, when Barry stops his entire mission to retrieve the video message for her. 

Iris again had to be strong for Joe, after she found out that he lied to her about her mother. She was given little to no time to process the fact that her mother was alive, but was dying, and Barry was the only person to ask her if she was okay, but even then, she is not given the chance to vocalize how hurt she is. 

Francine and Iris are given one scene, on Francince’s death bed, to reconcile. Nevermind that Francine abandoned Iris as a child or that Joe lied to Iris all these years about Francine or that Iris has had no time to get to know her mother, but nonetheless has to now say goodbye to her. And nobody comforted Iris during this time. Absolutely no one. She and Wally barely got moments to grieve Francine together.

In season 3, Iris had a death sentence hanging over her head for the better part of a year. She put aside her own fears and trauma in order to prevent Barry from going over the edge in his desperate attempts to save her and also to be strong for her father, who was becoming increasingly traumatized as the season progressed.

The writers even had Iris value Gorilla Grodd’s life over her own. Let me reiterate: the show had Iris tell Barry that her life wasn’t worth Barry compromising his humanity by killing a gorilla. The strong black woman trope is utterly dehumanizing. 

In the wake of Barry entering the speedforce, despite her grief and trauma, having just witnessed the joy of being alive with the love of her life stripped from her once again, Iris kept her promise to Barry and steps up to the mantle to help Team Flash. She bottled up her grief to be strong for the Team, before finally breaking down to a recently returned Barry before she gave herself up to the Samuroid to restore Barry’s mind.  

Despite Killer Frost being complicit in attempting to murder her just months ago, Iris was forced to advocate for Frost during her own bachelorette party.

Her wedding ceremony was interrupted by Nazis, but the only person to ask her if she was okay in the aftermath was her fiancé. Furthermore, no one, outside of Joe and Wally, who attended Barry and Iris’s wedding checked up on them, and instead Iris was relegated to having to comfort Felicity, who was having relationship drama.

We learned in 4x16 that Iris had PTSD from having had a death sentence hanging over her head, and she had quit her job at CCPN as a result. Her PTSD had not been explored at all up until that point. Meanwhile, Ralph was cruel towards Iris, taking out his own cowardice on her, while she was internally plagued with self-doubt. 

Iris attempted to reach out to Caitlin and expressed concern for her in 4x20, but Caitlin coolly dismissed her in Iris’s own home.

In season 5, because it’s totally fine to just put Iris through more trauma and strife for no reason, the writers constructed an arc where Nora was cold and rude to her mother, because of their fractured relationship in the future, a fact which traumatized Iris for a good chunk of the season.

In 5x05, Iris vocalized self-hatred (���I would hate me too”), because that’s how devastated she was over hers and Nora’s relationship. All she wanted to do was bond with her daughter, because Iris is such a sweet and caring person, and motherhood is something which came naturally to her. And yet, the show chose to put her through inordinate amounts of trauma over her motherhood. 

In 5x12, we find out that Nora’s anger towards her mother has warped some of her own memories completely, and the false memory only served to traumatize Iris further. The real memory was sweet and poignant, and just the fact that Iris went through all that trauma in the present for no real reason is absolutely disrespectful and appalling. 

Barry and Iris’s child disintegrated in their arms, but nobody except for Joe and Cecile offer them condolences and follows up to ask them how they are doing. While Iris is shown grieving Nora in 6x01, after that episode, we never see her linger on photos of Nora or be allowed to vocalize how her grief has now been magnified by the impending Crisis.

After Barry and Iris learned that Barry has to sacrifice himself, Iris was given one episode to come to terms with this, and we have not once seen her POV nor have we seen her struggle with her grief over losing Barry, her husband and the person whom she loves most, especially just months after she lost her daughter. 

Instead, the narrative diminished her importance in 6x04, and even had Ralph behave rudely and dismissively towards her. They had a character like Frost ask Iris is Ralph was going to be okay, but no one has a care in the world for Iris’s well-being. But she is always expected to be there for everyone and help everyone and run errands for everyone.

In an arc about Barry dying, Iris, the most important person in his life, has been sidelined and treated like an after-thought. She is now playing support to literal supporting characters. It’s beyond egregious. 

Furthermore, her journalism arc has been disrespected yet again. She hired Allegra, but Allegra’s entrance into the narrative was via Cecile. Iris and Allegra had little narrative space to build any sort of mentor and mentee relationship in 6x03 (because supporting characters’ side stories had to take precedence), and instead the show resorted to Allegra telling Iris off. We have yet to see Iris commanding her team at the Citizen, and her journalism arc was most prominent in 6x01, before we even saw her Team.

This is racist writing. This is misogynistic writing. This is absurdly disrespectful to Iris and to her fans, and this has been a tired pattern since season 1. I am sick of false promises; I am sick of being lied to. This is the sixth season, and to see Iris treated like this is infuriating beyond belief. Showrunners and the network capitalizing on Iris’s popularity and Candice’s talent for viewership is disingenuous and wrong, when it’s clear that the show continues to adamantly refuse to give Iris her due. Enough is enough.

[spiritgriffon]

Rachael’s Favorite FE Characters

Well, since I posted my favorite Pokemon... everything a while ago, I figured I’d post my favorite FE characters class-by-class as well! I’ll also post my least favorites.

The games I own are Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Shadow Dragon, New Mystery on an emulator, Awakening, Heroes, all 3 Fates & Echoes. I’ve played a bit of FE4 too but I’m not far enough into it to pick favorite characters.

Favorite Lord:

Male- Chrom (He’s pretty vanilla but I still love me my Blueberry Dorklord)

Female- Erika (Who is not NEARLY as foolish as recent entries would have you believe. She’s quite a bit better than Celica at any rate- there’s no way she’d fall for fkn JEDAH)

Least Favorite- Ephraim (He’s such a... warmonger. There is no point in the entirety of SS where I go “Yes, he’ll make a good king!”)

Favorite Avatar

Robin! Robin’s the best. Robin has the best coat. Do I need to say more?

Well, I guess I’ll say too that Robin’s personality is quite a bit like my own, which is why I prefer Fem!Robin. I too, would relentlessly pelt Lon’qu with figs and, when faced with unwinnable odds would, just resort to a Big Fire™

Least favorite goes to... IDK, I want to say Kiran but Kiran can marry Navarre so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Favorite Cavalier/Paladin/Great Knight

Seth wins, but Xander and Berkut are close seconds. Seth/Erika is my ultimate FE OTP- they’re the only ones in the whole series I can’t even bear to pair with anyone else for a playthrough to get their supports. I like Xander/Corrin and Xander/Sakura quite a bit, but neither come anywhere close honestly. And Berkut is my angry garbage son~

Least favorite goes to Jagan. You honestly think I’m going to kill Frey who arguably has better stat growths than both Cain and Abel and keep you? Screw canon, off you go, old man!

Favorite Myrmidon/Swordsmaster/Trueblade

Joushua, obviously!

...

I mean, Navarre doesn’t really count because he’s my favorite FE character PERIOD. Besides Navarre, I like Joshua.

Least favorite is Marissa. Not that crazy about Mia either, but Marissa is just so inferior to Josh stats wise and while he’s tons of fun, she’s no fun at all. If she were in another game it’d different but Joshua makes her look really bad in comparison. Plus she took his spot in Awakening AND I’M STILL SALTY 4 YEARS LATER

Favorite Mercenary/Hero/Dreadfighter

Navarre in FE1

Ike!... Yes, I’m counting him here... Oh fine, Ogma then. They’re both big gay softies that are 40% pure iron muscle and 60% heart. I bet they give the best hugs!

(And no, I don’t believe Ogma’s “feelings” for Caeda are in any way romantic bc he met her when she was like 5 and he was probably 20. He probably feels like her big brother or father- which is equally impossible for him to express due to his lot in life. Plus, Marth never gets jealous around him, while he practically turns green around any of the other characters interested in her.)

(Oh, and I consider Soren to be the more canon partner for Ike over Sothe and Ranulf bc Priam is a thing and I’m like 70% sure Soren is supposed to be trans. And yes, there is a canon lesbian whose name is currently escaping me & Sothe is canonically bi, they just went with the “heavy implied to the point of being basically irrefutable” route instead of outright stating it, so it is VERY possible Soren is trans. I like all 3 ships tho)

Least favorite is... The dude from SS. I can’t even remember his name. He’s the only freaking mercenary in SS and his personality doesn’t do anything for me.

Favorite Knight/General/Baron

The Black Knight of course! His writing is bit... a lot of a mess, but you can’t deny how badass he is.

On a less villainous note, Forsythe is pretty cool too.

Least favorite is... IDK, was there one in Awakening? I thought there was one on the cover but he’s so forgettable...

Favorite Archer/Sniper/Ballistician/Bow Knight/Hunter

Tacomeme :)

Leon is also pretty cool, but he’s not nearly as useful in-game. I like Niles too! But I’d be lying if I said a good part of that wasn’t bc of Takehito Koyasu and his sexy voice rip

Least favorite is Faye in Heroes Python’s inability to hit the broad side of a barn Zero’s stupid name change to Niles Innes. His stats are nice but his personality rubs me the wrong way.

Favorite Pegasus/Falcon Knight/Sky/Kinshi Knight

Probably Claire! I didn’t expect to like her much (I got Maribelle vibes at first), but she really grew on me throughout the game and her supports. I love the way her friendship with Alm was written- if it had evolved into a romance I would have found it believable, but it’s one of the VERY, VERY few times I think IntSys has handled a one sided crush on the main character well.

Least favorite is... Probably Cordelia. Like I said, VERY few times. (Vanessa, Sumia, Syrene, Palla, Catria, Est, Hinoka, Subaki, Tanith and Sigrun all tie for second to last. This is... not my favorite class.)

Favorite Dracoknight/Wyvern Rider/Wyvern Lord

Hmmm... I would say Camilla, but my headcanon version of her is quite a bit different from the way she actually is in canon lol. So... Probably promoted Caeda. Minerva is utterly useless on the battlefield, unfortunately, and I like Caeda about the same as Clare so I put her here.

I guess I like Haar, Jill, Cormag, Gwin, and Valter (As a villain, not as a person) somewhat too.

Least favorite has to go to Beruka. I find her... bland.

Favorite Villager/Recruit

AMELIA THE GENERAL IS COMING THROUGH! MAKE WAY, MORTALS

Do I need to say who my least favorite is? Do I really need to?

It’s Faye. Because... she’s Faye.

Favorite Thief/Trickster/Assassin/Rogue/Ninja

That has to go to Julian! He’s very similar to Gaius, but instead of candy, his thing is puns. Fun fact: I have a blood sugar condition similar to diabetes IRL that makes me unable to eat sugar, so Gaius just made me crave sweets I can’t have most of the time :/

Second place goes to Gangrel or Rennac. Gangrel is actually my second favorite character to romance in Awakening due to his great redemption arc in his supports with both Robins & his talks with Em in the DLC, and IMO he makes the second best dad to Morgan (And yes, I have ALL of male Morgan’s supports with his fathers, yes, it was boring, repetitive, and took hours, and yes, the only one I like better is Chrom), and Rennac is just... so hilariously cranky. They also both go in the “They deserved better in their endings” bin- Rennac can’t marry L’rachel despite their great chemistry and Gangrel flat-out dies if you don’t marry him.

Least favorite... I guess Nina. I never found her very funny.

Favorite Cleric/Troubadour/Valkyrie/Bishop/War monk

Elise! She is... one of two healers I like. In the entire series.

The other is L’rachel.

And Sakura, Lissa, Natasha, and Rena I... don’t particularly dislike.

I don’t like any others. Tat/iana is the worst of the bunch. Tat/iana is actually my least favorite character in the series

Favorite Fighter/Pirate/Warrior/Barbarian

Maybe... Vaike or Ross? Or Boyd? Basilio? Wow, there aren’t any I really like a lot. Guess this is my least favorite class.

My least favorite of all HAS to be Arthur though.

Favorite Mage/Monk/Dark Knight/Sage

Soren! He’s really well written. At first he comes off as a racist asshole, but as the game goes on & you get his supports, he proves himself to be a really great, three-dimensional character. And he’s so gay for Ike. Like, so, so gay.

Least favorite is all of the little red-headed boys that are clones of each other. Except maybe Ewan, because he’s actually useful in-game. Most of the others aren’t.

Favorite Dark Mage/Sorcerer/Summoner/Necromancer/Druid/Witch/Cantor

LYON!!!! Oh man, I don’t want to spoil exactly what happens but suffice to say that he is my FAVORITE antagonist in the series.

My least favorite is either Validar or Iago... I don’t know which to pick. They are how NOT to do a decent sorcerer villain in FE. But all of the Cantors in Echoes also get a special mention for being FREAKING ANNOYING.

Favorite Manakete/Dragon Laguz

Tiki- particularly young Tiki! She’s so sweet... and badass!

Least favorite... ugh, I have to say Myrrh. I do like her, but her uses of Dragonstone are so limited that you can barely use her and while she’s just as cute as Tiki, she’s not nearly as tough. She also has a lot sadder story than Tiki- she’s a really good character, but she just doesn’t make me feel bubbly and happy when I see her the way Tiki does.

Favorite Beast Laguz/Bird Laguz/Taguel/Wolfskin/Kitsune

All hail King Naesala! He’s another character that brings a smile to my face when I see him-and that’s saying quite a bit, since he has a pretty serious story. This man oozes personality- He shows up on screen and you know he’s there to kick the world and rule the ass. And no, that’s not backwards.

Honorable mention to Reyson- every time these two are on screen together you know that Reyson is about three seconds from punching Naesala right in the nose, never mind the fact he’d probably break every bone in his tiny, fragile fist. The fact that Naesala’s only paired ending is with Reyson’s sister is just hilarious to me.

I guess my least favorite is Lyre... She sort of feels like she’s just there to have one more playable character to me, since she has so little bearing on the story.

Favorite Dancer/Singer

In terms of personality, supports, and gameplay, Feena is far and away my favorite. However... I’m honestly not a huge fan of her design, so in terms of appearance, Azura, who I personally think has one of the best designs in the series, takes the cake. The fact she has such a catchy theme song is a huge bonus too!

Tethys gets the last spot because she’s completely useless in battle. I’ve heard Ninian can’t fight either but she boosts your stats- why did they give Tethys the shaft so badly?

Favorite Lancer/Soldier

And finally... ending this on a weird one. See, neither Nephenee nor Oboro do anything for me- I don’t dislike them, but I don’t particularly like them either. So, I guess this one goes to Azura!