#like if you're gonna be blatantly obvious that you hate one character more than any other

[nebulousfishgills]

I wish Stephenie Meyer had the sense to make Caius originally from Sparta since that makes the most sense in my head (but no, god forbid she give any of the Volturi a time period in history that's well documented to allow for character building), even if it would make him chronologically the youngest of the three kings rather than the oldest. He just reads like a hot headed Spartan general to me, and it'd better explain his behaviors in the books.

That and I want to somewhat feasably be able to say I want to semi-seriously crack-ship him with Kratos. I wanna say that those two had something going on in the Spartan barracks with my full chest and just watch the world burn behind me.

These are the thoughts that can only possibly come from my own stupid brain. You only get premium brainrot content from me.

[tiger-in-the-flightdeck]

💔💛💚

💔: If you had to remove one major character from the series, who would you choose?

Joe fucking West. He makes my skin crawl for so many reasons -Not telling his daughter that her mother is alive, pushing his foster son to pursue a relationship with his foster sister, controlling his daughter's life in everything from what kind of career she could go into to whether or not she should know about Barry's identity to -again- encouraging a relationship between her and her foster brother.

💛: What is a popular ship you just can't get behind, and why?

I think I've mentioned this before, but Bruce/Selina. It doesn't make any sense to me. They don't seem to like each other at all, after the 'We're on opposite sides' thing is taken away. Bruce/Talia is another one, but it's actually even more confusing to me, but I'm not sure if it's considered popular.

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

Okay, I couldn't narrow down my favourite character, so I'm gonna give you several!

Len- Any time he is written in a way that it isn't obvious that, at his core, he cares about people. Not just his Rogues, but regular citizens. Especially kids. This is a man who doesn't particular enjoy violence, but will fuck your shit up if you so much as scare a kid.

Harvey Dent- Harvey and Two-Face are two separate entities. While 'Face is the crime lord mob boss, Harvey himself is so fucking full of love and devotion and an intense desire to be good. And he fucking hates 'Face. They actually hate each other, but he fights him so hard. If you're writing a Harvey and I don't get the impression that he is the saddest man in the world, would do anything from Bruce or Batman, and that he wants to take care of Gotham, then you aren't writing Harvey, you're writing a dude with scars.

Jason Todd- Jason. Todd. Is. A. Dork. This is a boy who steals his brother's toys and whistles innocently. He grins and waves before blowing up a building with a rocket launcher. When waking up bare ass naked with a hot woman, he shuffles around covering his junk while nerding out over her spaceship. He gets bullied by the family dog. He Grrrs at people. He gets all sweet and doe eyed when he's drunk. Stop writing him as a dark grumbly edge lord! He is soft! He is dork! He is baby!

Conner Kent- If you aren't writing Kon as the saddest boy in the universe with identity and self worth issues bigger than all out doors, then you aren't writing Kon, you're just writing Some Guy. He is also not a dumb jock. He is a tiny (*glares at Johns' TT run*) little twink who collects Magic the Gathering cards, is a Trekkie, freaks out if he's going to miss his favourite show, and if he's going out as Conner instead of SB, he usually dresses quietly and in big frumpy clothes that conceal his body (someone let this baby explore his gender, goddammit).

Tim Drake- Don't waste my time if it isn't blatantly obvious that the Timmy you're writing isn't just one bad day away from snapping and raining hellfire and destruction across the land while he stands at the top of a pile of skulls laughing maniacally as the screams of the damned are echoing around him.

Tim Drake, 2.0- Don't waste my time if it isn't blatantly obvious that the Timmy you're writing wouldn't lose a fight with an arcade claw machine trying to show off for his boyfriend.

[positivelybeastly]

Oh my god Bobby calling out for the o5 but not Hank at the gala will never not break my heart. I’m experiencing physical pain right now

There's a particularly flinty and cruel look in Beast's eyes.

"Perhaps if Iceman had been less preoccupied about making sure everyone knew he was an Omega level mutant and wasting his time with that singularly useless accessory of a boyfriend, and spent more time practising his combat manoeuvres, perhaps he wouldn't have been the one in physical pain."

Yeah, it hurts me, too, Anon.

Though, what hurts more, Bobby not calling out for Hank, or the knowledge that X-Force Beast literally couldn't give less of a fuck about Bobby?

It's such a shame, because I'm reading through New Defenders right now, and it's really cute seeing how Bobby is really and truly Hank's best friend - Warren is up there, they have a lot of really fun interplay, but by this point, he's a little more mature than either Bobby or Hank, so these two chucklefucks are just on the EXACT same brain wavelength at all times.

Like, oh my god, you two are both just rock brains, aren't you? But that's FUN. And this dynamic continues on into the 90s, right down to the homoeroticism!

Be warned, about to drop a ton of panels on you here.

Buuuut . . . then Hank mutates, and it feels like him and Bobby stop interacting nearly as much. Granted, it's because they're split up now, on different teams, which is the Doylist reason, but for a Watsonian one, it's hard to deny that these two seem like they're drifting apart. Like, as a roleplayer, that's something you kinda HAVE to do, you have to come up with a reason for everything and a narrative for a whole lot of very whacky, fucked up, downright dumb decisions.

Some of them are dumb enough that you have to just ignore them, but other times . . . ehh, it feels like they become part of the text, and it feels like them drifting apart is all a build up to this moment.

This moment fucking infuriates me.

And the thing is, I try and remain objective about it, because characters are allowed to say the wrong thing and be stupid, and this is a Matt Fraction X-Men pull, which I don't like for a whole myriad of reasons, but it just fucking boils my piss. If I could get a Bobby roleplayer (GOD I FUCKING WISH) to talk to and work out how we wanted to address this, get their feelings on whether this moment felt right for Bobby, I'd be more inclined to be generous, but as it is?

This all takes place, incidentally, one issue before this happens.

That's Hank having legitimate trauma flashbacks and Bobby just.

Not.

Getting it.

And I don't know, maybe I'm just - trained, to be sympathetic to Hank, it's my way of being, but the way this reads is, Hank tries to reach out to Bobby and get help. "I'm fucking dying here, man, I'm in a really bad mental place, I just - need to talk to you, and tell me it's okay."

And, like . . . Bobby couldn't have fucked up that conversation more than he did, honestly? How do you look at your alleged best friend in the middle of a mental breakdown and decide that the best way to bolster his spirits is a, well, you haven't broken yet, so just - keep at it, sport!

Like, what the fuck is wrong with you, Bobby?

NO, HANK IS NOT FUCKING OKAY!

It's blatantly fucking obvious he's not okay, he's stood stock still staring into the ocean and not responding to what you're saying! When the fuck have you known Hank McCoy to be silent???

ESPECIALLY SINCE IT'S NOT LIKE IT'S A SECRET THAT HE WAS TORTURED.

But you don't have any fucking sympathy for that??

"I mean, I hate it for you, but - "

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT, ROBERT???

Are you gonna tell me that Hank should go and get some real problems next???

That moment was Hank trying to communicate. That was Hank desperately needing someone to tell him that he had someone on his side, and that someone just appeals to some vague notion that Hank's always been fine so he'll be fine this time?

Hank left the X-Men the very next issue. Yeah, it was in no small part due to Scott, but honestly, that timing is not coincidental. Bobby completely fucked up his chance to be the kind of friend Hank needed, and Hank took that as a lesson learned: "You can't trust Bobby to be there for you."

Yeah, they're still - vague, friends, I guess, but I struggle to think of a moment of real warmth between them after this point except maybe some dumb palling around in Rosenberg's Astonishing X-Men annual.

Oh, wait, maybe I shouldn't bring that up, because Bobby had to be a fucking moron, eat a burger that was too big for him, pass out, and in the mean time, Hank literally got got by a cult and nearly died.

Bobby is not a good friend to Hank. Maybe he was at some point, but Hank's needs fundamentally shifted (honestly, to something that Simon Williams could provide, clearly, but that's neither here nor there), and Bobby was either unwilling or incapable of changing to meet them.

Yeah, it hurt a little bit to see him omit Hank entirely from his dying words, but like . . . so would Beast, at this point.

X-Force Beast clearly holds everyone who he's trying to protect in the utmost contempt, and under Percy, that's just Bond villain superiority, just his big brain talking, but for me, it'd have been far more interesting if it was a case of, you have all completely failed to be there for me in my worst moments, oftentimes just making me feel worse over what I knew to be horrible mistakes. Why in god's name would he feel any kind of love for them anymore?

If you were the same Anon that sent in the Icebeast playlist meme, then I want to make it clear that I do really quite like the ship, I write it with my partner in private channels, but imo, they haven't really been friends since that moment Hank asked for help on the Utopia beach and Bobby just utterly failed to provide it. Bobby not saying his name as he was dying was just formalising it.

Maybe they'll reconnect, now that we have Defenders Hank back, but on some level, just like how people are going to be looking at new Hank with an air of suspicion, wondering when he's going to break bad again, if Hank and Bobby try and rekindle their friendship, I'm going to be looking at Bobby wondering when he's going to fuck it up again.

I also feel the need to point out that Bobby has fucking HORRIBLE taste in men, and maybe things would have been better for him and Hank if they really had been fucking each other stupid in that sex cabin. Then Bobby wouldn't be with Romeo the emotional vampire, stuck being the Mandated Corporate Gay X-Man.

[therealv1ultrakill]

Adding more because the tumblr text limit hates me. Also, the last thing was 3636 characters apparently! I 100% understand and validate not wanting people to ship characters, but the fact that this creator has openly mocked people, AGAIN ON MAIN, FULLY ON VIEW, IN THE GENERAL CHATS, for shipping people with at least one specific character, making fun of ships as a whole, and also the creator straight up posted a screenshot of someone's Doors fanart because it was a humanoid variation and they/he/etc. (I apologize universally I can't check discord right now, but I hope one of those was right /gen) blatantly were like "ohhh man I can't wait for people to make shitty humanoid fanart of my characters/ruin my monster characters like this." Again. I wanna emphasize this guy wholeass took a screenshot of someone's art, who probably isn't even aware that it has been sent in this server, visible to a plethora of people, easily searchable and semi-implying its shit. Someone responded negatively and made fun of the art itself which I don't condone or agree with, don't misunderstand me here, but it's kind of fucking clear why they'd come to that conclusion? Like you have a bunch of rabid fans who will do anything for an ounce of approval since you're the creator, right there, making fun of something, so obviously someone might jump and make a shit comment, especially if you were being vague enough that it could look like you WERE shitting on the art. What pisses me off more is the creator immediately spun around and went "dude wtf" (not this part but in tandem w the next, moderation here was good) and was like "I'm not making fun of the art itself, just the concept of humanoid art, plus it's obvious the artist is young." … Bro? Like yeah from what little I recall seeing (though I took a ss) it is likely the artist is young, especially since they're in the Doors fandom, but on the off-chance they're NOT. That makes it even more demeaning because you're basically saying the art could only be "good"/acceptable if it was made by a kid. I don't even know if I have enough space to get into why shitting on people's concepts especially in a fandom that actively makes you so much fanart is pretty ass. Sure, want what you want, limit what you decide to limit, quite literally you own it, but damn! Kind of sucks.

Okay I've definitely spoken too much / added these middle paragraphs which ruins any potential brevity I had before - but I also just remembered in regard to the shipping stuff (which again lowkey valid at times) that dude straight up mentioned that someone / some "girl" or smthn made a character x insert fanart already, again, mockingly, and they/he/??? said "I'm not gonna say her name, but it's posted here lol" ?? DAWG??? What the fuck is your problem, holy shit! I would not be shocked if this fandom turned into a bandwagon adjacent one. Sure, it won't be a shipping war, but it'll still be a fandom war/people willing to attack others over fandom related stuff. I don't care if it sounds childish, and I don't think it's so much of me to wonder why people can't just be nicer. Idgaf if it's "the internet", people have lost any sense of basic decency and respect. And no, I'm not gonna come out here and drop names, drop the game, start "canceling" or wtvr, truly I think that kind of shit is stupid and the exact thing I go against. I just find it kinda frustrating but also worrisome cause these seem like some of the warning signs/red flags I've witnessed and unfortunately participated in (I will never say I'm above these things or that I've never done 'em, it's part of why I do my best to try and avoid it now), and it just makes me worry that this will lead to future problems and/or severe internal animosity. God knows how many fandoms have eaten themselves from inside out. Not trying to bring about a curse on this thing or wtvr or try to be like oooo I know what will happen ooo I'm so much better than the rest but like. I think atp y'all know my intentions/understand my stance. And if I'm misremembering anything, though I don't think I am because 1. It was relatively recent I saw these messages and 2. Screenshotted, but obv that doesn't mean I'm golden on memory (esp cause... yk LMFAO). But I am always willing to try and listen and if I must, I shall eat my words. Improvement is something I try to take in as much as possible.

Besides ULTRAKILL will always be my interest of joy. Sure, there are other ones that can rival my clinical insanity for this game, but I really do think I'm definitely one of the very silliest people about this thing. And I do not say that to make myself sound sooo better and sooo cool. I'm not! That and also I absolutely am pig excrement compared to those speedrunners (holay molay.. praying I reach that level of excellency or at least somewhere close).

Besides, at the end of the day if no one else has my back (though I know my sibling always will, love you pookie <3 /goofy) I know I do. It's the literal reason I have become a fragmented consciousness. How horrible it was to deal with those things and traumas on my own that my mind had to go inwards so the outwards could not reach who I am today. And that does hurt, it does, but I will always love those parts of me and I will always try to be kind, because even if they act out or put me in painful situations, I know they're trying their best just as much as I am.

Anywho, perhaps we'll start signing off on these. But with no shade to V1, or the rest of the system, we really suck at consistency. It's why our journals have stuttering date variations in them.

lmaoo okay love yall baiii - V1, Kondraki, and some other losers probs. We're blurry 24/7, trying to be exact is kind of impossible + dissociation been bad, but therapy does help! /lh silly

Honestly I will not make this a habit, but this place is in some sense my personal diary now so !

I am a bit upset? I do not shame or gatekeep others for having similar interests or being insanely passionate (i.e "number one fan of xyz"), but seeing someone in a server I am in was a bit of a jumpscare! But also in some sense good, I think. Wake-up call of sorts, and I don't say that just to cope or remove the feelings from it.

I really like this myth/lore/horror (whatever you'd like to call it, haha) game. And it wasn't unpopular before per se, but especially over the past month/since its full release, it has been EXTREMELY popular. We're talking double-digit thousands (10k, 20k, you get the point). And I saw someone who.. I don't really find myself using the word "lore" for people anymore, it feels kind of icky. At least, for more mundane or truly not like. TRAUMATIC traumatic situations. Do some of these things scar my mind? Yes. Most things in life do, in technicality, butterfly effect, unpredictable outcomes, whatever. I had to let this callus my mind. I still feel weak, worthless, pathetic, cruel, etc. But I know I am not those things, and again, in some very weird way the initial thing before the server-seeing event really helped me begin my progress on my backbone, and actually feel like I can truly believe in myself.

Anywho, I struggle to stay on track, it's a very apparent thing with me that my mind has multiple railroad systems (hah! no pun intended though) going on at the same time. It scared me! I got a little nervous. I got anxious. And all the built-up positive energy (which was already a bit of an iffy thing) came down. Even now, I woke up feeling a bit of sorrow. But I do not hate myself, still. It does hurt, but I am finally at a point where I am doing my best to allow myself to feel these things and process this hurt while also not using my wishes (be it well or not), energy, mental rooming, etc. on these people involved, or anyone as a whole in my past who likely does not enjoy my continuing existence. I felt jealous, almost, for a second. But I do not think it was because of any posted art, but I think just as a whole. The concept of sharing something I love so deeply and devote a lot of time to. The thing that I want to be one of the number one fans of. I am still trying to accept though that there will always be a person better, more devoted, more obsessive, etc. at something than I likely will. Sure, I can become one of those. But I do not think it ought to be for this, especially since it has negatively impacted me a bit at times / controlled my emotions some (prior to this incident. They do not control me that much, my friends!).

Also, tbf… the creator + the currently morphing fandom are like. Really fucking foul at times. Like yeah dude can ban whoever he/they/? want but it's pretty damn wild that if you post chit-chat in the channel (granted they said not to) you get immediately banned. And see, that alone I wouldn't give really a rats backend about - it's the fact that the fandom and creator revel in it and so many people continued dog-piling and mocking people, I swear I've never seen the words "lacking media literacy/lack reading comprehension" be run into the ground so fast it looked like 65% of the channel was pure spam. Like… damn? I know the internet sucks (and someday I ought to go on a tangent about why the phrase/saying "it's just the internet, get used to it/get over it/why don't you expect it?" is stupid, harmful, and excusing bad behavior and denouncing any form of accountable and perpetuating people to get away, but I digress..)

[wifegideonnav]

the actual short version is: read this pesterlog and try to tell me that 1) vriska doesn’t see herself as inherently “bad” and corrupted (a killer is a killer, and she’s definitely a killer) and that 2) she doesn’t absolutely hate herself and wish she could change

long version under the readmore

im not gonna super edit this bc i don’t. want to. so understand it was originally directed at someone who hasn’t read the comic and therefore it overexplains certain things. that being said, let’s a-go:

why do people hate vriska? and more importantly, why are they wrong?

basically first in order to understand vriska you gotta understand the society she was raised in

alternia is a very violent society, with death and violence being a lot more commonplace than it is in our world. also, the way the society is set up, the only people left on the planet are the children. once they mature they leave the planet to go work on the conquest of the galaxy. this is partly for practical reasons vis a vis empire building, but also for practical reasons vis a vis preventing the adults from killing the entire population of children

you're left with this planet populated entirely by children, raised in a society steeped in violence. their only caretakers are literal monsters who also cant even talk. obviously this is going to lead to troll kids having very very different lives than human kids

so that's the first thing. people ignoring or dismissing the context of the normalized violence and dog eat dog nature of alternian society

then there's vriska herself. she is blatantly being abused by her lusus who will literally kill and eat her if she doesn't bring it a constant supply of other trolls to consume. this creates a dynamic where vriska is constantly terrified of being killed by the creature thats supposed to nourish and protect her. for the first 13 years of her life, vriska is forced into this position where she has to go out and literally hunt and murder her peers in order to survive. which obviously does quite a number on one's psyche

because you've got that double combo of 1) violence and murder are less of a big deal to trolls AND 2) vriska is forced into a position where she has to be more ruthless than she genuinely is on the inside

thirdly, apart from the abuse from her parental figure, she is groomed by a literal child predator in a pretty transparent metaphor for csa. this pedo, doc scratch, is an omniscient, evil being who manipulates vriska into attempting to kill one of her friends, starting a cycle of violence that ends with tavros paralyzed, terezi blind, vriska armless and eyeless, and aradia dead.

readers obviously care more about the violence done to characters that we know and care about rather than the faceless masses that she killed before, so this is what a lot of people get caught up on, along with her constant cruelty to others, which i'll get to. but it's also obvious that vriska is eaten alive by guilt and deep seated shame because of her actions, and desperately wishes she could undo or fix the situation without having any idea how to. im holding off on including screenshots of convos, but this is not some subtle thing. anyone who reads what she's saying should be able to understand how destroyed she is over what she did

so going back and picking up the cruelty thread: vriska is a bully. there's literally no question about it. she's mean, and snide, and says some pretty terrible stuff. i would never argue that those things dont matter. bc she *is* a morally grey character, which is the part that people cant handle. she does plenty of shitty stuff, and whether or not shes sorry about it doesnt change the fact that it happened.

however, it's also painfully obvious within the text that the person she's cruelest to is herself. this is especially apparent in the conversation between her and her dead alt timeline self, whom she verbally eviscerates. like, tears her to shreds, leaves herself crying. vriska isn't cruel to others because she's an inherently bad person, she's cruel to others because:

1) the specific way she was abused means that she learned early on that weakness was unacceptable. in order to survive, she had to be tough, ruthless, and remorseless. however, internally, she's a very sensitive and insecure person (also. because of the abuse). therefore she's cruel to herself for not meeting the expectations she has for herself. also, this ties into an aspect of herself i haven't mentioned yet, which is her ancestor mindfang. mindfang was a ruthless pirate queen who basically did whatever she wanted and left a trail of devastation in her wake. vriska idolizes mindfang, and wants to be her. she even roleplays as her extensively. this is just another layer adding to her belief that being "weak" or "soft" is an unforgivable deficit

2) because of this, in some twisted way, she believes that her cruelty helps people. she picks on tavros over and over again because she wants to make him "better," especially since she feels so guilty for paralyzing him. she believes that other people just need to toughen up and go after what they want

3) she also bullies other people, especially those who she views as weak or deficient, because she's so angry and jealous that they've found a way of life where they don't have to be the way she thinks she has to be. when she confronts (vriska), her dead alternate self, (vriska) has become a lot more happy and vulnerable during her time in the afterlife. (vriska) tells vriska that she'll never be happy acting the way she does, and points out that she's miserable. vriska is furious because she *wants* to be like that but believes that all sorts of bad things will happen if she does

so some of this requires a little bit more critical thinking than other parts, but most of it doesnt require any kind of deep dive to notice

vriska is very blatantly an abused child lashing out at the world, who hates herself for not being what she was raised to be, and who has no idea how to even approach any of her issues. and honestly that's the other big thing that people leave out when they're hating on her. she's a child!! the comic covers her from ages 13-16. of COURSE she's selfish and mean and emotionally unintelligent. she's. a child. who has had NO positive guiding influences in her life.

vriska is absolutely not morally justified in what she���s done. there’s arguments to be made about moral relativism, but it’s quite clear that despite alternia’s violence the trolls actually have humanlike consciences. so vriska is absolutely culpable for all the shit she did, from bullying to murder. her remorse and self hatred do not at all forgive her or excuse her. but also… she does lots of good things too. she *tries* so hard to be good. and i genuinely believe that with an author interested in giving her a character arc she could have a very believable and satisfying redemption/growth arc

tl;dr i don’t think that her backstory excuses her from her actions, i just think it’s so important to note that those actions have deep reasons behind them and also that… vriska never really stood a chance

so did vriska do anything wrong?

hiiiii *twirling my hair* do you want the 1800 word essay i texted my friend or the short version. which is that yes but it’s ok bc i forgive her 😌