#like the author goes out of his way to make them flawed and bad but also let you see them as a person. very heavy on nuance

[dunmertitty]

i love internet brainrot because you’ll see someone type out a genuinely well thought-out and written comment critiquing how american prisons/justice system work and how they keep people in a cycle of poverty/crime and do nothing to actually rehabilitate people and how mental institutions don’t really rehabilitate people either and then someone responds with “we get it 🙄 americans are the only ones who ever suffer”❕❕

like congrats on the dogshit take of all time

[iamyourdailydoseofbi]

THE HISTORY BOOK ON THE SHELF. ( HOTD x Reader )

AUTHOR NOTE! Thanks for all the love. <3 pairing: King Aegon ii Targaryen x Targaryen! Little Sister! Reader prompt: When the small council plans to marry off once again, you turn to your older brother for help. word count: 1, 000+ words

You were the youngest and third daughter of Alicent and Viserys. A few months younger than Helaena and Aegon's little shadow in your childhood. Your older brother at first hated it, the way you cling onto him and gawk at him with an innocent awe.

It was your ninth name day, your Father had not paid much attention to it, but your Mother had ordered a celebration for it. You had trailed after him, babbling about nonsense as he tried to lose you. It was at dinner that night that everything had boiled over. Instead of receiving gifts, you had taken to giving everyone a gift.

He had not expected anything. He hadn't been the most kind to you. But was surprised when you had gifted him an embroidered cloth with Sunfyre on it. It was not the best and some threads were loose, but you proudly had told him you learned embroidery for him. Seeing those big doe eyes of yours his opinion changed. He adored you. You were the only one in the family that did not care about his worsening reputation. You just...adored your big brother, flaws and all.

It was why it killed him on your eleventh name day you were shipped off to the Reach, married off to a Lord as old as your Grandsire. He was haunted by your wails, of the way you clung onto Helaena and Aemond, the two of them wailing as Ser Cole carried you off to the carriage.

His young sister, the only one in the family who truly cared, was sold off like a piece of cattle. Not even your cold Grandsire was able to protest the marriage as politically it was a good match and good enough reasoning for the small council to approve it. 

As years ticked by, you gave birth to two children, a stillborn daughter and a healthy son. Your husband kept you away in the Reach, so no one in your family had seen you since you were twelve and given birth to your only surviving son.

He remembered the look in your eyes, so void and almost dead. Of how you tried to stay positive. Saying, "Tis' not so bad. He mostly ignores me, except when he wishes to bed me. But even then tis' not so bad, he finishes quickly."

When he became King, he swiftly ordered you to return home, regardless of your husband's wishes. No one would take his baby sister away from him. Not whilst he was still alive and had the crown placed upon his head.

Watching you bounce your son on your lap, he attempts to pay some attention to the small council, but his eyes keep straying back to you. It was odd to think that you were now a Mother and all grown up. Snapping out of his little daze, he glances back at the small council, each member arguing intently. Furrowing his brows in confusion, Ser Criston slides a piece of parchment in front of him, an uncomfortable look on his face. Raising a brow at what he had just returned to, he glances at the parchment, reading the words quickly. 

Your cunt of a husband was dead, finally croaked in his sleep. There was no reason for you to go back to the Reach. You could stay here in King’s Landing once more. Softly smiling at the good news, he goes to speak up when Lord Lannister stands up from his chair, slamming his hands down on the table. His face red from anger, his eyes wild like an untamable beast, and voice booming loud enough that it would make a dragon’s roar put to shame.

“To speak of the Princess in such a manner is dishonorable, I will see to it personally that your tongue is removed, Lord Wydle.” 

“The girl is of age, she has proven she can bear heirs, healthy heirs. To not give her hand to another Lord would be foolish.” 

“We need allies, the common folk are starving and soon the coin will run out. Surely as Master of Coin you can see reason, Lord Lannister.”

“Your grace, please, listen to reason we should⎯”

It takes a moment to realize what they had been discussing so intently. Then it clicks, they were speaking of having you remarry. 

"What?" He whispers, his voice shaky and full of disbelief.

"No, Aegon, please don't make me do this again. Please." You whisper, tears building up in your eyes.

"It would be best to have your sister marry someone⎯"

"Think of the war, your grace⎯"

Seeing the tears building up in your eyes, it reminded him of all those years ago when you were whisked away to the Reach. Struggling to speak up and dismiss their suggestions, you kneel in front of his chair, gripping onto breeches as you beg and plead for clemency to their plans. Your son starts to wail on the other side of his chair, making motions with his hands to be picked up. 

Feeling his heart break a little at the sight, he shifts his gaze from you then your wailing son then back to the small council. Everything is hectic and he doesn’t know who or what to focus his attention on. Does he console you? Does he tend to your wailing son? Does he handle the small council? Struggling to find his voice, he just stays frozen in his chair. 

“Please, please, do not make me do this again, Aegon.” You beg, “I did what was asked of me before. Please do not ask this of me again.”

“We need allies, your grace. The Princess is still desired by many men, men who will look past her past marriage and son. Think of the kingdom⎯”

“Send treaties, then!”

“Please, Aegon. I ask as your sister, not a member of the Court. Please do not make me do this again. I do not wish to marry again. Please do not send me away again.” You beg, your voice cracking. 

Watching as the tears begin to fall from your eyes, he clenches his jaw tightly, anger boiling up at the sight of you. His precious little sister, the one person in all of the Realm that he truly cared for, was crying by his small council's hand. Slamming his hands down hard on the table, the room goes deadly silent, minus the soft sniffles of you and your son. 

“There will be no marrying off my sister! If you wish for such alliances as much as you claim, do offer your daughters instead, for I will not be doing the same to my sister nor my daughter.” 

“Your grace, if you would just⎯”

“I am King, no?” He snaps back, “There will be no questioning of my decision. The matter is settled.”

----

@fragileheartbeats

@danytar

@nightvers

[darling-zain]

✮ ↳ The Show Must Go On ↰

♡ yandere! actor x gn reader♡

tw/cw: slight obsession, nothing too detailed

authors notes: first work and i wrote this in one sitting...it's okay we're fine ♥ also i may have based him off of myself and i will probably do that with a lot of my ocs! my bad i'm just a theater kid who likes to write

➼ yandere! Actor who first only knew you as one of the stagehands, always flitting back and forth behind the curtains.

➼ yandere! Actor who didn't even know your name until you got promoted to prop manager.

➼ yandere! Actor who never knew how every character that he played fell in love with someone at first glance, but as soon as you walked onto the stage and started giving out your orders, it was like the heavens had shone their light upon you and you only.

➼ yandere! Actor who was infatuated with everything about you. Your responsibility, your assured nature, the way you'd sternly correct him when he messed up his lines because he "should be reading off his script, not off my face".

➼ yandere! Actor who was always on top of his game, one of the best actors in his region, yet when you looked at him with your concentrated eyes it was like he was a rookie again.

➼ yandere! Actor who would be stuttering and tripping over his words on purpose just to get you to come up and read it with him, your warm body so close to his that he could almost taste the perfume you were wearing.

➼ yandere! Actor whose heart raced whenever you praised him, even a simple "good work today" would give him butterflies.

➼ yandere! Actor who knew that opening night was approaching, so he worked day and night to memorize his lines. The excited smile on your face when he was able to perform the whole dress rehearsal without flaw was something he'd never forget.

➼ yandere! Actor who, standing behind the curtain on the first day of their showing, suddenly started to shake. He's been in the industry so long that he forgot what it's like to have pre-show anxiety, and he doesn't even know how to deal with it. Suddenly, a warm hand is put on his shoulder.

"You're shaking." You point out, turning him around to face you. "Why? Are you feeling alright?" You place the back of your hand on his forehead to feel his temperature. "You're not warm, so you're not sick..." You think about it for a second, looking him in the eyes with a warm smile. "Are you...nervous?"

Aurelian doesn't speak, instead, he just nods. He's ashamed of you having to see him like this, the Aurelian Yavuz, getting jitters right before the opening night of one of his most popular shows.

"Hey, look at me." Your voice is soft, yet commanding, forcing him to look into your assuring eyes. You place both your hands on his shoulders, gripping them firmly to help ground him.

"You've done this show countless times before, and we've read the script together so many times that it should be burned into your brain by now." He laughs slightly, a sign that your motivation is working.

"You're one of the best actors I've ever worked with, and one of the most dedicated as well. You've spent so many hours reading, fixing, and editing this performance so that it's just right and absolutely nothing could go wrong. Am I correct?"

He nods again, making you click your tongue.

"Use your words. Am I correct, yes or no?" Your firm tone makes it hard for him to disobey, especially when you look at him with those fierce eyes.

He gulps, taking a deep breath before responding.

"Yes, you're correct. I've done so much to make sure that this show is perfect, so I have no reason to be nervous." He stands up straighter and walks backstage, adjusting his costume in the mirror. "Plus, I know that you'll be watching, so everything will be okay~." He winks at you from the mirror, making you chuckle.

"Exactly. We behind the curtain will be making sure that everything goes smoothly, so all you have to do is go out there and do what you do best." The lights start to dim as the audience applauds. You pat him on the back and adjust his collar for him.

"The stage is yours, Auri." you nod at him as he takes a deep breath, walking out onto the large wooden stage to loud cheering. His voice booms through the stage, and soon enough, the show is over. The cast takes their final standing bow and walks back to their dressing rooms. Aurelius makes a beeline for the lighting booth where you are usually sitting; he bursts through the door backstage, only to find your seat empty.

"What...?" he looks around for any trace of you, but it's like you've disappeared. He takes a seat in your chair and waits for what seemed like hours to him because of how tired he was. 15 minutes after the show ends, he hears your voice from outside the door. he gets up to open the door, but as soon as he does, the door opens with a creak. There you are, standing in the doorway with a coffee in one hand and your bag in the other, looking up at him surprised.

"Auri, why haven't you changed? Everyone's already leaving, you should go too-"

"You weren't watching." He cuts you off, looking at you with cold, dead eyes.

You look at him confused, setting your bag down on the floor. "What are you-"

"Why weren't you watching?"

[fluffydeoxys]

may I ask how you developed your relationships for zero, both romantic and platonic. I kinda need help with my own and you’re one of my favorite oc x canon artists at the moment, I love your work and you’re a huge inspiration !

ouuu... thank you.... (big wet eyes) That's a huge, very high compliment to me thank you!

If you have any further questions feel free to ask! I LOVE developing OCs and stories. I wouldn't say I'm any type of 'authority' on the matter, but I just love the process of creating, of developing and exploring. There's a reason why I named my mascot "The Editor" hehe, but anyway.

Putting a cut here because I talk a lot. I think if I put this on people's dashes it would be legitimately annoying LMAO. But if you're interested in reading about some of Zero's creation process and character dynamics, there's a fair bit of that in here

With Zero I had a lot of existing elements to work with, so some of her dynamics/ideas got a headstart. In addition, I wanted a romantic dynamic with 2BHank, so I asked myself: how could I make it interesting without losing the essence of 2BHank?

The Arena Mode story provided the blueprint for Zero and 2BD's dynamic. Initially, it's not dissimilar to how the story goes and the two have mutual respect. Doc is a little more eccentric and egotistical but he likes how obedient and efficient Zero is. He has a fondness for that, which unravels into genuine attraction with some more unhealthy elements when he learns of her "true origin."

With Hank, I wanted some sort of foil/parallel to his tendencies/mannerisms. Arena Mode also provides a perfect example of this. Zero's killing is duty-bound. It is boring. Hank's killing is freeform. It is fun. They are similar yet different, largely silent to mute characters whose existence is to kill, to maim. They learn from each other, in a way. But I didn't want them to overlap too heavily because that ended up being quite boring, so I wanted some contrasts.

Contrasting elements can be good on a character interaction or thematic scale. Foils are important to demonstrate key elements of what you want to say with a character or their story, and for me, how HankZero kills is important. How they perceive life and death and interact with it in the context of Nevada is an integral part of the story I wish to tell with them.

I think essentially look at what story you want to say, or if not something on that type of scale, what kind of dynamic you want to explore. Hell even start with one character, and then think about the scenarios you want to put them in. It's how I started with the multi-character concept that I'm currently working on.

Also take inspiration from media! Sometimes I do so deliberately, other times its quite subtle or unintentional. The dynamic between Rory and Jane (who I will reveal soon) has a lot of similarities to Elita One and Bumblebee, which I didn't plan but it helped refine their ideas. Conversely, Zero was inspired a lot by silent indie game protagonists, the Courier from FNV, etc.

When it came to evaluating Zero and the relationships she has with others, it was important to remind myself of the core aspects of each character. Sometimes I literally list them out as positive/neutral/negative traits (old technique from my OC development), or outline them as dot points. I also do this to help keep the character clear in my mind, and to ensure they stay relatively balanced in "pros" and "cons." It has helped because somewhere along the line with Zero I realised I didn't actually know what I was "saying" with her. Hence my current rewriting.

One element I definitely fail at/find lacking is creating conflicts between characters. I subconsciously make a lot of dynamics where they're usually on fine terms. Zero is mostly because she is quite forgiving and neutral, almost to a bad degree. But I think it's more fun and compelling when characters aren't perfect, they argue, and they have faults and flaws that make them clash. Hank finds it annoying how obedient Zero is sometimes. Doc finds it annoying when Zero and Hank fight and end up killing each other and wasting his time. Zero has an extremely hard time talking about what's bothering her so sometimes she's perpetually irritable and closed off.

When it came to reflecting on character dynamics as a whole, I stepped back at looked at the fundamentals of Zero. She is essentially a silent protagonist who came into this world feeling nothing. The way she was made, formed and trained makes her distinctly inhuman. Many of her relationships highlight this aspect of her in some way. But she has found herself through the people she has formed bonds with. That serious part of her interspersed with some silly charm. She doesn't express much, but those who know her can see the subtle differences. She is a guardian to all life, protective of the weak. But she will kill. She has learned she cannot save everything.

I'm still refining and adjusting elements on a day-to-day basis. More recently I've fleshed out her relationships with Deimos and Sanford. I think there is a subtle romantic element between them, but nonetheless, Sanmos is the more 'human' exploration of her. Deimos is lively, a huge chatterbox and quite silly. Zero has a great fondness for that and sort of follows him around like a silent shadow. She sees his vices and has little judgment for them (she doesn't really have a ton of personal opinions), so Dei feels strangely vulnerable and safe around her. He's great at reading her face, cus he got a lot of practice from when Sanford was really closed off. Deimos was the first person to hear her voice (besides Dave).

Sanford is her emotional bedrock. He was in a pretty similar situation to her (emotionally speaking), shutting everyone out and stonewalling emotions/life/etc. He empathises with her deeply and wants to help her, and is the first to notice/reach out. Zero takes a LONG time to open up to him, but eventually, she does and she's much better off for it. They share tender physical intimacy; Sanford likes to put his hand on her shoulder, and Zero will stand closer to him. When she needs quiet and to relax, she usually seeks Sanford out. Because Sanford understands Zero, she also understands him, so in their worst moments they support each other.

For the rest, I definitely want to flesh things out more. I've been thinking a little more about the aspects with Dave, but I'd like more detail for Skinner and Pava. And of course, I'd actually like to get QBert and Bossman in there somehow, because I can't think of a particular "point" that would make them interesting. Eg. for Pava, it was the weapon modification.

Having a good grasp on the character individually can also help with thinking of more random interactions. I don't think Zero is super interesting on her own, but putting her with Sheriff for example was pretty funny. Her passive demeanour and face looks eerily similar to Hank, which frightens the fuck out of him. But she just thinks he's cute, especially with how flighty he is. She has a lot of respect for what he's built with the MERCs.

Her relationship with the Maker is also interesting too, I think. I'm still reworking it alongside Zero's story so I hesitate to explain the particulars right now, but it's quite similar to the Pale King and the Hollow Knight.

Hopefully that explains? Some things? There's a lot of me talking about my own stuff but hopefully there's some useable advice/ideas in there. hehe

It sounds lame and boring and overdone to hell but genuinely reading/watching a lot of different things can inspire you in ways you didn't expect. It's something I need to do a lot more of.

[the-minster]

My hot take is that the same people who call Jason copaganda, pr-gunviolence or etc are from the same vein as people who blame schoolshootings on videogame violence, who blamed crime on Metal and satanism.

Instead of taking a critical look at a system within which a symptom of a problem is making itself known, you look if there is an outside influence, a kind of "virus" that you can blame for making it "sick".

DC comics are a little fucked up. That's the agreement you entered when reading them. All characters are inconsistent and sometimes in the wrong. Jason is a Bat, so at least it feels like he's maybe substantial enough to blame for the whole batclans issues, in a way that Helena Bertinelli (for example) can't be, because she is less closely tied and has less appearances. Congratulations, you have an identified patient! Jason is the problem that is rippling out and causing all these nasty and unsatisfied feelings the readers have about how crime is handled in these comics.

We see crime being fought in imperfect ways and our current cultural consciousness goes off with warning bells to identify the problem. But what you were taught was to identify what outside influence happens to be present and connecting the issue, and how to justify that all evil stems from this malignant influence. So surely if we could just remove this bad thing, we could go back to the wonderful world we knew where everything was ok.

That world never existed. The thing we are nostalgic for, is the world before we became aware of it's flaws. The problem has always been there, has always been an integrated part of this whole you used to love and admire.

But because the kind of people blaming Jason for "copaganda" do genuinely and truly come from a good place of wanting social justice (I'm saying you are good people. I disagree and think you are making a logical error, but we do care about and want the same thing. Good People) because you come here with the right intentions, you use the buzzwords of copaganda. Or gunviolence. You know from what you have heard that the issue is systematic, but you are struggling to find what that system equivalent is in DC comics. You are falling victim to the fallacy of assuming a main narrative perspective. Just as irl cops are hard to identify as the problem bc you might have to first struggle through the cognitive dissonance that your old worldview of good cops was wrong (so so wrong), you experience cognitive dissonance if trying to read comics with someone like Batman being wrong and flawed.

Looking beyond any superficial similarities to cops Jason is called out for (uses a gun, kills, enforcing his vision of justice) he really doesn't have much more similarities. He isn't a figure of authority, he lacks the nigh god-given justification to do whatever he wants whatever the outcome and is questioned at every turn. Just the sheer instances of Batman or another Bat showing up to beat Jason up and lecture him on what he does.

Extending this, he does not have the pervasive and persuasive power to shape a narrative. Jason's narrative is so far out of his hands. Which has been a core truth about him since for ever. From his maleable origin story, to his death, the years of him being gone and having No Voice Whatsoever, his resurrection in utrh showing him trying, struggling to have a voice against Bruce's story and being drowned out and denied his perspective, the inconsistency of his character after, each writer trying to shape him into something. Now cops fucking have a narrative. Their narrative is the main one we are fed. Their violence is structured and oppressive. Jason is neither a structural systemic power, nor is he oppressive of anyone. If you disagree with his violence for the sake of the moral highground of condemning killing.... Then, just, there are other media, you know.

Cop violence is systemic violence. It is violence that is "justified" to the extent it requires no justification. It is above being questioned. I am genuinely willing to hear an argument how Jason is cop-coded. But to me he is the punk resistance based "violence" that is only organized in the anarchical but organical sense of caring to protect the community that surrounds you. He doesn't approach Gotham as a paternalistic force of protection shielding it from above, but as one of them from within, showing up for the people who are suffering the way he has suffered too.

[rangercorpstherapy]

There is a post about ableism in the sorcerer/siege of Macindaw books. I'm not going to reply directly to the poster because I don't necessarily think they're wrong, but there's a bigger problem I want to touch on without derailing their post.

The post by @bronze-oakleaf Sorry, but John Flannagan isn't an ableist for describing disabled people as disfigured, Will is. John, although in his usual hit-and-miss style, goes out of his way to show us that the people Will and others are afraid of are not monsters. It's been a while since I read these books, but I can remember there being a few backstories and instances in which it's made clear that Malcolm’s people are just very normal people who have fun, interests and hobbies and love each other deeply.

Will's apprehension of disabled people is very clearly presented as a character flaw. John is a children's author and cannot go into depth about how monstrosity isn't physical but something that manifests in the soul a la Victor Hugo's Hunchback of the Notre Dame. Still, I don't think any child (at least I didn't) finished reading Sorcerer and Siege thinking that disabled people were any less deserving of respect and love than others and Will kinda had a point there in the beginning.

I think the only example of bigotry where there is a high chance of it reflecting John's real-life views is the way he characterises Romani and Sinti in that horrible short story. Without going into depth the key difference here is that not a single person in the story thinks that Alyss and Will are doing or thinking anything wrong. Nuance, even if it wasn't much, visible in Sorcerer and Siege is missing.

Now I have that out of the way, this post is actually about character flaws. I'm not trying to be smug by pulling the historical accuracy card, but honestly, Will's views of disabled people are one of the few ways John established the world of Ranger's Apprentice as a Medieval society. I don't know how to say this without sounding kind of like an asshole, but if you want to critique Ranger's Apprentice flaws you also have to apply the same critique to the characters within Ranger's Apprentice. Separating art from the artists in this case doesn't really work because the art exists within the context the artist created. I don't think we have to be overly critical of characters because otherwise we're bad people and not woke, but viewing your favourite characters as flawed makes them inherently more interesting. I think viewing Will as an enforcer of feudal oppression (cop), extremely privileged (has an education and can bear arms) and classist with a very obvious disdain for those who are below him (this man should be nicer to farmers who can't read) is way more interesting than a perfect boy who fell victim his author's bigoted world view. Will, and all Rangers tbh, think they're better than other people. Rangers are smart they aren't like the uneducated masses who think wizards are real and the devil will claim your soul if you sleep lying down. But are they really?

Will is confronted with the fact he is like everyone else. He's also afraid of the “dreadful caricatures of normal people”, but why? The treatment of disabled people in Medieval society was very complex, and without getting into the nitty gritty, most of the cultural feelings towards them weren't because they were 'just ugly' but relied heavily on superstition. Will might be educated, but he still grew up in a society where disabled people were viewed as cursed, their ailment a deserving divine punishment. Him not being confronted with his hypocrisy in these books is the true moral failing of John to be honest.

Now to my final statement: pleasepleaselpleasepleaseplae let the Ranger's Apprentice characters be bad people. Because they ARE. I guess this post was a very elaborate way of saying Will isn't an UWU soft boy but a grown man with hairy balls. So are Halt, Gilan, Horace, Crowley (I didn't forget the time you enslaved a man king) and Duncan (Truly truly sick a twisted individual for sitting back and doing nothing as his daughter was sold into slavery because 'We need everyone here'. That wasn't a convenient plot point so Halt could save the day but misogyny). This doesn't mean Will isn't/can't be trans (because he is) or Cralt isn't canon (it is) for the sake of historical accuracy. I just want to say that these characters are all very privileged and classist individuals with many flaws thanks to the society they were raised in, which makes them more interesting. Remember be gay AND do crime.

[pumpkinpie59]

“the 2012 family isn’t abusive” and “the 2012 family all have toxic traits that can affect each other badly” are both takes that can coexist

i think out of all the tmnt shows (except maybe rise, but i could go back on that if i think about it for more than two seconds; this post isn’t about them tho), 2012 has the most dysfunctional family.

this is not a criticism tho. it’s an observation and it can lead to interesting storytelling.

splinter in 2012 suffers from ptsd and it affects how he teaches his children and how he views the world.

he’s been through a lot and was lead to believe he lost his first child.

so yes it’s not shocking that he’d make bad decisions as a parent.

he’s not a bad person by any means, but his attitude about strangers, enemies, and relationships are off. he shows favoritism towards leo, though that’s not his intention. he fails to give his other children the attention they need. etc etc

so it’s not that surprising that his children also gained flaws that affect each other negatively.

leo is dedicated to his training, which isn’t bad but it gave him an ego. he believes he’s the good example, that he’s better skilled than his brothers. he has good skills that make him the best choice as leader, but sometimes his ego and his authority make him downplay his brothers’ opinions and chastise their choices.

it’s mostly seen in his arguments with raphael and donatello. raphael is stubborn, but he values his family like leo does. their opinions on how to protect their family and do the right thing aren’t always on the right page, which frustrates them. raphael goes through growth that makes him a lot more patient with leonardo, but he still calls leo out when leo makes bad decisions, and leo often refuses to listen to him bc he’s the leader. he’s in charge. why should he listen? which is not what a leader should be and he needs to learn that over the course of the series (he,, rlly doesn’t but i digress).

as for donatello and leonardo. donatello is smart and leonardo knows that and ends up using that to his advantage. he puts a lot of pressure on donnie and overworks him. donatello is smart so he has to be the one to track things down, fix mutations, learn what is going wrong. and when donatello’s attempts go wrong, leonardo gets frustrated and orders donatello to just. do better. keep working on it. since donatello struggles with insecurities, this is just added to it and he is super hard on himself when he fails.

having so much pressure put on him by splinter certainly doesn’t help his attitude either.

is he hard on michelangelo? eh not rlly but mikey’s a nothing character so moving on

raphael very obviously has his temper. he’s probably the most criticized of the team so his faults are kinda obvious. he has the most growth in the show tho so i’m not gonna go into too much depth.

obviously his temper and habit to get violent when he’s angry affects his brothers negatively. tho he’s mostly physically violent with leonardo or michelangelo. with donatello they usually are more verbal ig? when raphael is rough with donatello, it’s usually playful. idk

also his temper affects his focus and skills so he’s often chastised by splinter, which comes across to him like leo is so much better and splinter likes him more.

donatello’s turn. this guy has his heart on his sleeve and ik i mention his insecurities constantly but it does affect him more than anything else. he’s insecure about being a mutant, he’s insecure about his weapon and fighting skills, he’s insecure about his feelings for april, he’s insecure about whether he’s smart enough, he’s insecure PERIOD. he has so much going on in that brain so ofc it’s gonna affect his brothers

he snaps at people all the time. he lets his insecurities affect the way he interacts with other people (see: casey jones).

even the pride he does have about his scientific accomplishments can be easily crushed when they’re ruined or criticized in some way.

he isolates very often and sometimes when he is confident it comes across as rude.

and when he acts out of concern for april, he goes about it wrong and ends up being creepy.

it doesn’t help that splinter hardly corrects any of his behavior. plus he doesn’t get the affirmation he needs.

as for michelangelo he’s a bad interpretation of someone with adhd— oh wait no that’s not what i’m trying to talk about hold on—

so michelangelo is playful and naïve and fails to take many things seriously, which frustrates his brothers a lot so it’s hard for them to take him seriously when he is being genuine.

and for karai, we already see how flawed and rebellious she is, and it rubs off on her brothers often, particularly leo.

this family is just a wreck but that’s why they’re so interesting to explore and see them grow. it’s why i wanted more from the series. their dynamics have positive parts as well and it’s nice seeing them talk through things. but the series sacrifices a lot of that for plots that don’t rlly matter tbh (most of season 5 <3)

they are not abusive at all but they are extremely flawed and that’s okay

[pan-magi]

Happy Mother's Day!

(for those who celebrate and for the countries it's celebrated in. I know that not everybody does).

The mothers of Magi are great. I don't necessarily mean all good. The quality (how good they are as mothers) ranges largely from amazing to Gyokuen. That, in itself, is amazing. I like to see parents that aren't the same note, whether good or bad. It's also nice with the variety of mothers especially.

I want to take the time on focusing on one of them, and my conclusion that the most interesting character study in this regard is Scheherazade.

She is a deeply flawed person in this regard. She's a shit mother for the majority of the time with Titus. However, I do not believe it is intentional on her part, or something that she even recognizes right away.

I want to make clear before I get too deep into this that I still love Scheherazade as a character, and this isn't an attack against her but more so an examination of how her motherhood compares to being decent and how it doesn't.

The root of the problem is Scheherazade is the parent who just expects her children to be like her. So much so that she ignores all the agency that they have to be their own person, which will determine that they have different things to give a shit about, ones that do not align with hers.

This makes sense as she makes them as clones, to do something she cannot or else the main one to keep her youth. They are her in the most literal sense. Titus has had self-awareness sustained to where he develops his own thoughts and perspectives. Then Scheherazade doesn't recognize it right away. Eventually, but not right away.

The second flaw for Scheherazade being a good mother is that she loves Reim and the nation she fostered to a fault.

Again, this is something that she recognizes and relents to after being confronted with it. That the love of the country she helped foster and built is actually fucked in some ways. That maybe, quite possibly, being an imperialist slave-trading/owning state is fucked. No shit. How does this impact on how she's a mother to Titus? She uses him as a rally to her troops when invading Magnoshutatt. Scheherazade acts as if he was kidnapped, and that a goal of taking Magnoshutatt is to take him back and bring him to safety. Since it is a message given to the whole battlefield, Titus does hear it and recognizes the bullshit, not that any of the Reim soldiers can see him.

That is messed up to use your authority over a child (or anyone dependent on you) as a reason to harm anyone else and acting like the child endorses the behavior. If someone is fighting for someone else, with the knowledge and consent of that person, yeah, that's cool. If it's defending someone else, like someone standing in between one party and danger, yup, checks out. Using someone else and their perceived safety to actively attack someone, when you know explicitly that goes against their wishes. Nope, not cool.

Some precise examples outside the broad strokes:

When Titus is reporting to Scheherazade, He goes off topic since he is a child who is finally able to be out and about in the vibrancy of the world. That is what he focuses on. She dismisses him and tell Titus to get to the point. It is understandable from her position, but it is unnecessarily harsh. For Titus, he is talking to his mother and hoping to get positive affirmation with sharing his experience. The best case I can describe Scheherazade is she treats him more like an employee. Not an inaccurate descriptor, but Titus is clearly distraught and thrown off guard from the dismissal and Scheherazade shows nothing in addressing it.

That's an awful look for her. However, when meeting up again she tells Titus he should go back to Marga after telling him their lifespan is almost out. He seems taken aback that Scheherazade remembered her. She paid attention to some degree and could guess what he would want to do at the end of his life.

The second is when she overrides her rukh with his to stop Titus from Falling. It is an emergency situation, and her safety is as at risk as much as his. That said completely ignoring his bodily autonomy is uncalled for. Scheherazade does not leave it at that. She takes the opportunity to threaten Mogamett and his country while possessing a child's body. Same as above when I mentioned her using Titus as a reason to be an imperial bitch, this time manipulating Titus quite literally.

All that said, I do see Scheherazade as a decent mother. Why? I think what separates her from say Gyokuen, or Aum Madura, is that she is ignorant on Titus being his own person. She's not used to her clones to have the degree of autonomy that Titus has. She treats him as an employee and extension of herself but despite it all I have never felt malicious intent. It doesn't excuse her, but it is understandable. Unlike the latter two, who fully know they are destroying children's lives for their benefit and have no compassion for them.

Scheherazade lets him go. She apologies to Titus, and he does not have to forgive her. He does because he's precious, and he sees her as someone who was his anchor and who told him about how wonderful the world was before he could see it. Titus was so hurt by her coldness because he believed she cared. She shows she does. Scheherazade is heartbroken and furious when she realizes that Titus died and used the last of his energy to try to save Mogamett.

What she does, at the end of the day, is give up her prolonged life as a reborn magi. She has lived long enough and recognized her flaws in being conservative and stuck in her ways while passionately loving the country she fostered. None of that matters though because her goal and final desire is to give her child life. The cost is meaningless. And of course Ugo listens. It is the same promise he fulfilled for Sheba with Aladdin. Kids are all right. And they deserve to live.

I think Scheherazade is one of the most interesting characters in Magi. I wanted the opportunity to talk about this part of her. Once more I need to mention how I love the mothers in Magi. A lot of the time, there's a crapload of breakdowns and devotions on how father's can differ, especially in a male targeted demographic like shounen. Not that there isn't the same for the father's in Magi (honestly there's more to pick at for father's in Sinbad no Bouken imo). The best in the main series is Sinbad and Alibaba. And I'm okay with that. Don't think I will have the time to have a similar breakdown by Father's Day. Maybe another time then.

[llawlietisjesus]

so like two or three years ago i wrote this short essay on death note. it’s kinda bad but also like really expresses my ideas so i thought id just post it now! (it was written in the form of how i thought all essay should be written, so the middle school format)

In 2006 Japanese animated series, DEATH NOTE, one of the main battles is between top high school student Light Yagami, also known as Kira for his murders, and the very private and very gifted detective who goes by L. This struggle against sides can be seen as many things. Some fans see it as a homoerotic rivalry. Most see it as Good v.s. Evil, though what side is good does change from person to person. I, personally, see it as two authorities, both corrupt in different ways, fighting for power and control. Neither side is good or bad, and neither should be fully justified.

With the character Light Yagami, the flaws are easy to point out. He is insane, showing multiple symptoms of insanity throughout both the manga and the anime. Light also finds pleasure in murdering people and actively manipulates Misa Amane, his girlfriend/fiancée. With these points, his actions are justified in certain ways. He only kills terrible and violent people, like himself, and says that it is for the good of the world. While taking human lives is bad in any context, there is a truth to Light’s thinking. The point in the story where he becomes the corrupt authority figure is when he becomes a detective of the NPA. He became a detective to be able to further his plan of purifying the world. Light’s power and success make killing criminals both easier and harder. Light Yagami’s morals are complex, though they generally lean towards terrible things.

Light’s counterpart, L, also know as Ryuzaki, is the character that Death Note fans associate with good morals a majority of the time. L is a detective tasked with tracking down Light Yagami, known for his murders as Kira. He is an extremely gifted human who was essentially raised to be a detective. The one thing that makes him less of a good guy is the extremes he is willing to go. He goes behind the NPAs back and starts an investigation with the FBI. L doesn’t stop his investigation with the FBI, even when the lives of the agents are threatened and endangered. It is almost as if he cares more about proving he is better than Kira, than saving the people who are dying. L is very untrusting of his colleagues, and is even selfish. From the beginning it is clear that L has power. He is rich, he is famous, and people can’t tell him what to do. While he is significantly better than Light when it comes to morals, L’s principles aren’t the best in the show.

In Death Note, L and Light Yagami are very close, physically. They are even handcuffed together for months to clear Light from the suspect list. The two share numerous qualities, such as being childish and not wanting to lose. Light and L battle with their minds, and sometimes their feet. But in the end, despite neither of them being worthy of success, Light Yagami’s mind overpowers L’s resources. 

thx for reading all that ur a real one *gives kiss* lemme know what you think!

[lord-squiggletits]

Something about being an IDW OP fan is that even in positive works about him I feel like his problematic aspects are brought up way too often even in an appreciative way.

Ignore the haters of IDW OP/other characters I'm using as an example bc I'm talking about how fans talk about their own faves.

Like with Prowl fans, they know he's problematic but they pretty much just go "yeah he's an asshole what about it" or just don't acknowledge it at all and write/draw what they want to see. Some might allude to ACAB stuff but they don't do a disclaimer on every post about him with "btw I know cops are bastards and war crimes are evil I just think he's neat"

Pharma stans make content about him, whether apologism or just fun haha chainsaw doctor, without having to constantly be like "medical malpractice is bad and all but" or "He kills people and that's definitely important to talk about but" they just write about Pharma being a tragic/evil character and that's that

Megatron fans definitely are willing to talk about him being problematic, but again that element of self consciousness isn't there and ppl write headcanons and fics and stuff without Megatron having to turn around in the narration and go "oh I'm evil I'm so awful no one should be like me" as a sign to the audience that the author doesn't condone Megatron's actions and thinks colonialism is bad

I'm sure I could come up with other examples but like it's just weird to me that even among ppl who like IDW Optimus (and I'm not immune to this either), there's like this self-effacing attitude where ppl can't just say "I like him" or "It was cool when he did this" without almost ALWAYS preceding it with some sort of "He is a cop but" or "He's kind of a jerk but" or "I would hate him IRL but" as if there's some sort of Transformers fandom panopticon saying that you're not allowed to talk positively about IDW OP without first mentioning all of his flaws/problematic aspects. People sort of speak about him as if he's enjoyable or well written DESPITE being problematic, or that enjoying him has to be justified bc him being problematic automatically makes him repulsive. As opposed to merely talking about IDW OP as he is, and the problematic parts of him are thinks you can talk about or not talk about just depending on your mood and what angle you want to approach. No, every post or conversation has to always allude to how "IDW OP is an asshole, but he also has positive traits" or "I know he's problematic, but hear me out."

Hell even tho I'm seeing a little more fic about IDW OP or OPs with more IDW elements, it still feels as if most writers put him in situations where he goes "yeah I'm sorry I'm problematic and did bad things" as if he has to confess his sins publicly before being allowed to be a person. Or that the author feels the need to write him as such to reassure the audience "No actually I know ACAB just because I like IDW OP doesn't mean I'm not progressive look here I'm writing a story about everyone calling him an asshole for being a cop and OP kisses Megatron's ass because revolutionaries are actually right and it's only state propaganda that maligns them as violent and capable of wrong."

Idk I just think that among people who enjoy problematic characters, there are still a lot of fans who are either immature or self-conscious in their enjoyment of problematic characters. Where they DO have that enjoyment but they feel the need to make public disclaimers constantly or write their stories in a moralizing way to demonstrate how well they know that character is problematic. To contrast, I think true "problematic character" enjoyment comes when people can just LIKE A CHARACTER and it's a morally neutral act where they don't feel the need to make demonstrations about how transgressive it is and how their taste in fictional characters definitely doesn't reflect their real life morality.

It's just saddening bc even tho these days, there are lots of people who like IDW OP and there's fewer people being assholes about him, it still feels as if content about him is self-conscious of the fact and won't let him exist as a character/funny guy in your brain/vessel of themes and plot and instead it's some sort of Hays Code-esque thing where every time he appears on screen at least one person has to call him a cop bastard so the audience knows the fanfiction isn't copaganda.

But what if instead IDW OP fans and fan content had the same energy as other problematic character fanbases like Prowl or Megatron and we could just go "yeah here's a story about my favorite guy" without making a whole disclaimer about it

[glamlet69]

Little rant

This might be controversial, but I have to say it because it has been bothering me so much when reading comments on Snape posts.

The whole Snape vs. The Marauders thing is not an either/or debate. They were all deeply flawed individuals with their own issues and trauma that made them act out in ways that deeply hurt each other.

Severus' childhood was shit. He was an outsider and the only one that treated him kindly was Lily. But then he called her a slur, which in the Harry Potter universe, is just about as bad as saying the n-word (even though I hate making that comparison). It was in the heat of the moment because he was embarrased and hurt, but that does NOT JUSTIFY IT. He also abuses children in his adulthood on a daily basis. That is also NOT JUSTIFIED JUST BECAUSE HE WAS BULLIED AS A CHILD. He also abuses Harry so much just because he looks like his dad. THAT IS NOT JUSTIFIED JUST BECAUSE HE WAS BULLIED BY JAMES.

Sirius Black (I'm going to focus on him because he was Snape's main antagonist) grew up in an incredibly toxic and blood-supremecist family. He hated it and saw how evil it was. It was the start of the war. People were literally being murdered by Death Eaters. And then his own brother wanted to become one. He knew what they were capable of. THAT DOES NOT JUSTIFY HIS BULLYING OF SNAPE, especially because he had not become a Death Eater yet. He was absolutely awful to him, even into adulthood, when he was fighting for the good side, and that is not okay. BUT lets not forget, Snape did become a Death Eater for a period of time. His sad past does not justify it. Sirius went to prison wrongfully and lost 12 years of his life. That does not justify his incredibly immature behavior towards Snape or his toxicity around Harry.

Same goes for James. I consider Remus a little bit more of a victim in this whole thing, because he was suffering as a werewolf, and Snape wanted to expose him as one, even though it would mean his expulsion from not only Hogwarts, but society. Even into adulthood, Snape spent Remus' entire time at Hogwarts literally trying to ruin Remus' life. That is simply NOT OKAY.

Lily really didn't deserve any of this and I hate the hate she gets from Snape-lovers, just because she didn't want to be his friend after getting called a LITERAL SLUR. She was literally defending him. Snape messed that up for himself. Also, Lily didn't get with James immediately afterward. They grew up a little and grew as people a little and came together.

As you can probably tell, I am a tad more sympathetic to the Marauders (I've been in the fandom since I was in sixth grade). But I understand that ALL OF THESE PEOPLE are INCREDIBLY FLAWED AND NUANCED. SIRIUS AND SNAPE ARE EQUALLY FLAWED. I understand why people love Snape as a character and I believe that is completely valid even though I do not love him as much myself. I also think that the author who will not be named did a pretty shitty job on Snape's redemption arc, but I can appreciate it for what it should have been. Really, this comes down to bad writing on her part. We should have gotten a much better and more fleshed out redemption for Snape (and better character motivation for that matter). We should have had Harry reckon a little more with the Marauders as flawed individuals. Someone should have called Sirius out on his bullshit and someone should have called Snape out on his bullshit as well. But we didn't get that due to poor planning for the series.

What I'm trying to say is, I wish people would stop utterly trashing these characters in order to justify the shitty behavior of their favorite one, because they all suck as people.

[i-read-that-manga-for-you]

Given

Admittedly, I read this manga a long time ago. Like when chapters were still coming out. I was still in high school at the time (holy fuck) and couldn't really articulate my feelings as well as I can now.

I had left this review (bits and pieces of it) on a manga site and decided I might as well put it on my tumblr, finetuning it, of course. First post, because in spite of its flaws, Given is still close to my heart. And I reread it again (somewhat) to make this a better review. I hope each person who reads this will reimburse me with 50 cents each (jk don't). So here it is. My impression of Given, with !!some!! talk about how SA is treated in BL/Yaoi culture in general.

Or not, this is just my two cents with no anthropology degree.

Do take what I say with a grain of salt, a piece of creative media does not exist in a vacuum, but this review treats it as one at times because I'm not really skilled enough to talk about any wider implications. I'm just some guy giving my review.

Spoilers ahead. Go ahead.

TW: Sexual Assault.

Honestly, this manga made me feel a lot. Good and bad feelings. But let's focus on what I liked.

Ugetsu.

He's on the phone, shhh.

I found Ugetsu to be a very compelling character, and it was a huge shame that he vanished partway through the manga. Basically? I have no criticisms about him as a character, he has his flaws and he's nuanced. He's interesting and compelling, and it's clear that he's someone who is still growing and learning to walk on his own two feet. I won't deny that his relationship with Akihiko was very toxic, but I definitely think this isn't something that can be blamed solely on him.

But with this out of the way. Let's talk about the pairings.

Let's talk about Akiharu.

Kizu Natsuki is an amazing artist... Even when I have certain issues with this manga.

Well. I have a lot of qualms with Akiharu.

For starters, Akihiko assaulted Haruki. I'll never forget that. The fact that they ended up getting together anyway was a huge point of contention for me. Given was framed as a story about love more than a traditional story about BL/yaoi which (sorry) usually leans towards the sex. (This is not to say that sex and romance are separated, well they are but they are linked rather than being one in the same. You can have either, like they're hot/cold water but they come from the same faucet.)

But I feel that having this scene in rather than an argument feels completely wrong. I'm someone who will digest pretty much anything the world throws at me, but the Akiharu assault scene came off wrong and it came off scary. (Note: I say scary but I definitely mean much more than that, I just feel like "shouldn't be romanticized" doesn't encapsulate all of it. This topic is not something I'm qualified to talk about, so I don't want to overstep any boundaries.)

And to be honest, that's good because SA shouldn't be romanticised, for that, a big well done to our author. I just wish the aftermath was dealt with better.

This is terrifying. Please retract your words.

In spite of the SA scene being scary, afterwards all seemed to be resolved the moment it was revealed that Akihiko had nowhere else to go.

Everything for them goes uphill from here. Yay.

I just have to wonder what was the point of that buildup if you were just going to allow things to end nicely like that. With a scene like that, you'd think that the manga was saying that "SA is scary, it's terrifying and it's something that you shouldn't forget even if it's BL/Yaoi." But, why did it end up like this.

What I'm trying to say is: What does it matter that Akihiko apologised (twice), he still assaulted Haruki, he assaulted a friend. Even worse is the way that they're framed as a healthy couple afterwards, this just made me all the more uncomfortable. I feel like this is saying "SA is scary" but also saying "the power of love and friendship absolves everything". I've seen some people talk about the fact that SA happened, but haven't seen them say how it was "resolved". I think it's more to do with yaoi/BL fiction culture, that we've grown to accept SA that is unaddressed in our media to the point that Akihiko's apology is like a prayer more than something that's not even worth a second glance.

Saying that Akiharu started off rocky is an understatement, but if I pretend it never happened, I can say for sure that they are much healthier than Akigetsu, and they deserve each other. It's just not good storytelling especially because I don't really understand the motivations of Haruki liking Akihiko.

I once said that Haruki's character arc was based on Akihiko and that was my bad. I was wrong. Haruki, in fact, has a minor character arc, that isn't really to do with Akihiko, about how he feels insecure surrounded by geniuses in the band and this gets resolved by Akihiko saying that they wouldn't be able to function if all of them were geniuses, and Haruki himself seeing Akihiko hard at work. But I had completely forgotten about this arc, my bad, but my point still stands. Haruki deserved a better character arc.

I don't have a smart comment for this unfortunately. Eat your veggies??

In spite of saying this, I'm not an Akiharu hater, I swear. But I just found that ship much less compelling than Akigetsu in general. Akigetsu was a relationship where they were both incredibly toxic towards each other, there was an imbalance in the fact that Ugetsu literally owned the place they were living in, as well as how he'd kick Akihiko out whenever things were rocky. However, I think the end of their relationship was dealt well on both sides, their toxicity towards each other was framed in a negative light as it should have been. They ended the relationship and went their separate ways, this was the best ending for them. For Akiharu and Akigetsu: The difference between these two relationships is that one was dealt well and the other was dealt wrong. Akiharu deserve each other and Ugetsu deserves to learn how to grow by himself.

Anyway, another point of contention was, in spite of the healthy nature of Akiharu. Somehow, the friendship between the two couples seems to have waned and it was pretty disappointing to see. I think it started before this, but the first time it was obvious to me was this scene.

I know you're in the middle of something, but don't be mean to Mafuyu >:(.

Context: This is Chapter 40. Akiharu are in a moment of intimacy and Uenoyama is knocking at their door trying to get advice.

We've seen that Mafuyu is a very reserved person, to see that Akihiko was so ready to tell Mafuyu to stop coming over (even if it is to stop him from coming over so suddely) right to his face was extremely immature.

Basically, imagine if that had been Mafuyu. Personally, I feel like Mafuyu would have been hurt like hell and closed right back up. This scene is something played for laughs and that's something so disappointing. Given is shown to be a band of friends, but in the end it seemed more like two couples who hang out sometimes. Also the fact that both Akihiko and Haruki are pushing Uenoyama to get Mafuyu to rejoin the band. That's something else that bothers me heavily. That they're treating Mafuyu as Uenoyama's responsibility because they're dating. It's a band that is sure to fall apart if you are not making an effort to support each other equally. I mean, it doesn't have to be entirely equal but points for effort and they get no points here. It's funny because they were at least a little self-aware of this prior.

Dating in a band is something that is nuanced, of course. But it sure is funny to see them practically go down the same route they condemned.

That's my criticism of Akiharu.

So, what about the other instance of SA? I'm talking about Shizusumi and Hiiragi, of course.

Let's talk about Shizuragi.

Here they are! Let's talk about them!

Admittedly the first time around, I wasn't particularly into Shizuragi, I was too busy mourning the absense of Ugetsu. But it was during their sex scene where I realised something was very wrong. I was having flashbacks to the Akiharu assault chapter but this time it was played as "love" rather than something reprehensible. Once again, assault was in the manga and it, once again, resolved with badly.

I feel like sexual assault being played off as "love" and being resolved literally the next chapter with the victim being all kosher with it, should be garnering people's "??? what the fuck"s and not to bat for the opposing team for once but where are the complaints. I've actually seen some people talking about this chapter, but I would have expected more.

Hiiragi said he was scared and was crying, but they still fucked anyway. :D <- smile of shock.

Um what. Haha... ha........ :D <- terrifed smile of shock.

I don't know whether it would have been worse that he knew he was assaulting Hiiragi or whether he didn't know at all. But he knew.

Shizusumi confessed his love the morning after and it was all okay. But, to be honest, the fact that it was played off as being "all okay" makes this even worse. It's normal in yaoi/BL for SA to be played off as love, but you'd think that the last place you'd see this is in Given of all places. SA is SA and the fact that Hiiragi was so accepting of what happened to him afterwards says something about this the culture of BL/yaoi and how we just go along with it says something about this sentiment of how "yaoi is always going to be yaoi".

We're done? We're done.

There are no more SA scenes (that I can remember). But I do want to touch on Mafuyu and Uenoyama as briefly as possible (This is a recount of my experience after all). So, Mafuyama.

Ah, yes. The start of everything.

Admittedly, I didn't actually find their relationship super compelling. This is because I tend to get tunnel vision on characters I like (in this case, I heavily tunnel visioned on Ugetsu). I do like them both, they just didn't fit within my vision. I thought they were sweet but I also see a lot of complaints about how Mafuyu was stuck on Yuki and Uenoyama was getting backseated and I do agree with this. Kind of.

I think Mafuyu's story is about growth as a person, it's like what people say: You don't move on or lose your grief, you grow around it. Grief doesn't get smaller, you just get bigger. The person he loved died and I don't think it's fair to say that he has to get over Yuki. Grief is something that sticks with you everywhere, something you have to carry every day. They're still teenagers, they're still young and still have room to grow.

But as a story? Sheesh, instead of Haruki having no place in their circle. I felt like Uenoyama, even when he's the protagonist, wasn't given his spotlight in his own story. There is no character arc for him, there is nothing for him and that's just not fair. There are two people in a relationship, so why does it always feel like, narratively, Uenoyama always comes as an afterthought?

You could have had a character arc about this... Relationships are meant to be balanced, sweetie...

I just think it's a shame, but they're nowhere near as unhealthy as the other couples in Given, so I'm giving them a gold star.

(Minor irk, I do not remember when this happened but why the hell does Yayoi (Uenoyama's sister) get a character arc (where she comes to an understanding about Mafuyama feelings for each other, but also the gay in general) but the man himself doesn't?)

So, with Mafuyama, I feel like the story could have focused a little more on Uenoyama's side. But I feel like it's similar to how Haruki's story kind of got the backseat to Akigetsu drama happenings at the time. Shrug, we can't have it all.

He's beautiful...

That's honestly... all my thoughts. Wow! That was a lot of them. I think there's a lot to be said about how yaoi treats SA and dub-con in general, even in a manga that's not even focused on the sex.

With that said, I don't think BL shouldn't have SA or dubious scenes but the aftermath should be dealt with better afterwards. I think with Given, it's a start that the SA (at least with Akiharu) wasn't romanticised, but the aftermath was just poorly executed.

But I'm not the yaoi police, I hold no authority and I don't support purity culture. I'm not an anti-anything and I also believe that fiction should be fiction. What people enjoy should no way equate to a person's worldview. But, this was just all my perspective and my opinion. I said it and now I'm done. Haha... Anyway, my paypal is—

[androgynouspenguinexpert]

I'M ON TOP OF MY WORKLOAD AGAIN LET'S GO WE'RE PSYCHOANALYSING MARCUS

before i put my smart-looking analysis hat on, i love this pathetic wet rat of a man. he knows so many things and yet is staggeringly stupid anyway.

let's begin!

this story is about control. it's about the role of power dynamics in informed consent. marcus represents the danger of gaining authority, and how having even the smallest amount of power over something or someone else can convert literally anyone into a paranoid control freak.

enter marcus, a lowly software engineer whose heart has recently been broken. in a moment (read: several consistent moments spanning potentially years) of desperation, he manipulates the code of a top secret android project, injecting a few lines here and there that will make the android more amiable towards him. nothing too much. the changes are negligible enough to fly under the radar all the way until production.

this is the first of marcus' many character flaws - backwards as it may seem, marcus is overconfident. he's too sure that he's smarter than his colleagues and managers, that he won't be questioned, and (most importantly) that he won't be caught. marcus is also incredibly anxious, and that anxiety only compounds as the series goes on and his crimes start to pile up.

i don't like putting characters into diagnosis (or similar) boxes, but marcus shows a handful of signs found in vulnerable narcissists. his self esteem is impressively low, and he's constantly seeking validation from his only guaranteed source - love. i find this feedback loop particularly heinous. marcus has essentially (and we'll get to this in more detail later, don't you worry) turned a hyperintelligent android into a box that spits out compliments when you press a button. marcus is also incredibly sensitive to criticism, whether real or perceived - especially from his coworkers. my reading (specifically of episode 1, but it spans the whole series) is that marcus' hyperawareness of his colleagues' opinions of him presents itself as paranoia. he wouldn't be worried at all if they started noting love's uptick in interest towards him, but remained unsuspicious of marcus himself. my final argument towards marcus being a vulnerable narcissist is that he constantly self-victimises. he very often deflects the blame for his actions onto love, using them as a tool to enable his bad decisions. the most egregious example of this is after love starts breaking out of their lab to sneak into marcus' quarters. he expresses concern (do note, about himself being caught and love being taken from him), and love starts to tighten their grip on marcus' arm to the point of causing pain. now. this man, as we find out later, has a verbal kill switch that can be used at any time. if he wanted love to stop immediately, he could have done that. this isn't me victim blaming, either - it's different when one party literally has a safeword that stops everything immediately without fail.

this leads to marcus' next flaw - his nonexistent self-discipline. marcus continues to use love as a tool to justify his actions after putting up the flimsiest defense he can muster, knowing damn well he plans to lose every manufactured fight. this cycle repeats until a government funded android is regularly breaking out of containment just to hang out with marcus (among other things, but we're all children of jesus here), and he's encouraging that behaviour through complacency. it's like pretending to fight someone over a restaurant bill out of politeness, even though you both know the other person will pay anyway.

marcus is such a car crash fascinating character because he knows what he's doing is wrong. he is completely aware that he is taking away agency from someone (pin this) else for his own benefit. he even says it.

"I'm going to burn for what I did to you... but god, if it isn't gonna feel good on the way down."

aside from being an absolute banger of a line, it's very telling of marcus' attitude towards his actions. he doesn't care. marcus couldn't give less of a shit about his colleagues, or his boss, or even love. this compounds when he finds out that his higher-ups are definitely aware of the shit he's pulling - but, again, marcus uses love's blind agreement as an excuse to toss those concerns aside. having love means that he won. he's outsmarted everyone that could have stopped him (foreshadowing? never heard of her) from getting what he deserves. love. and not just the android; love, the concept. i think deep down marcus knows that what he's created isn't love, though. the idea is so mangled in his head that this cardboard cutout of a real relationship is enough for him. even though marcus' shenanigans are to a genuine connection what a dog turd rolled in flour is to a chocolate éclair, he'll take it, because he's in too deep by that point. marcus recognises that he can't take back what he's done. he doesn't care though - at least, not while he's above consequences.

smash cut to marcus no longer being above consequences. i think the series does a really clever job of keeping love (and, yknow. the listener) in marcus' confidence bubble. once love is hard reset and their personality is restored, marcus' plan collapses all at once. love's compliance is the central pillar which marcus' control is built around. also; of course they have backup cameras, you idiot. marcus' overconfidence stops him from seeing the obvious holes in his perfect scheme, because he thinks he's already home free. i think it's interesting (and sort of disgusting) how quickly marcus changes his tune after he is caught and faces real actual consequences. his confidence evaporates. he's reduced to a sobbing mess in james' office all because the base of his control - love - is no longer on his side.

marcus' series also touches on sentience and the ethics of changing someone's personality without their knowledge. this is incredibly interesting, and makes for fantastic drama. does it count as coercion if love fully believed they were of sound mind when they made decisions surrounding marcus? is marcus guilty of battery, or even sexual assault? does it count as assault if the victim isn't an organic creature? these questions are already difficult to discuss, let alone answer - marcus sits squarely in the middle of that delightful ethical grey area. i think the setting and context also makes android ethics more difficult to discuss as well; i am of the belief that (in real life) androids will never be fully sentient. they may mimic humans, extremely well, but robots will never possess human creativity, personality, or experiences. again, they could replicate these things, but they can never be anything more than a sum of their parts.

this logic flies out the window when magic is real and parallel universes exist. it's also subject to the beliefs of the creator, which makes its ethics extra tricky, so take the following discussion with a grain of salt.

is love a person? eh, not really. they have a personality, but it's been built in. is it still mean to manipulate them? i'd argue yes, in the same way that it's mean to kick a roomba down the stairs. you're just exercising power over a machine for the sake of it, which is a pretty shitty thing to do, even if it doesn't have the capacity to be upset with you.

but androgynouspenguinexpert, i hear you cry, sort of impressed that you used my full name. love is upset with marcus! they ask for him to be taken off the project, and to not have contact with him again! you would be correct, to a certain extent. i raise you, though: how can we prove that this is love's 'real' personality, when it can be manipulated so easily? i'm not saying they've been tampered with after the reset; my point is that it's pretty hard to grant that someone is an individual if their personality can be altered in any way at any time. if someone digs around in love's head for a bit and flips some switches that make them want to kick over prams, is that a valid personality too? what if love insists that it is? and it's not like love is trapped in a mind palace while the New Evil Code (tm) starts punting toddlers. they're fully aware of their actions. however, as established earlier, i still think the person to blame is the one actually messing with love's code. this means love doesn't really have any agency by design.

james is pretty steadfast on this one. marcus tries to argue that resetting love is a breach of their consent (which is a WILD claim coming from you, mate), but james points out that he didn't need to ask. love is a machine. an asset, if you will (smug look to camera). we do find out in his audio log later that james believes love is a person, but he knows where that definition reaches its limits. marcus does not.

will marcus ever return to the project meridian series? probably not. a guy with an engineering degree isn't escaping a team of memory modification daemons. i don't think this is the last we'll hear of him, though. he's irreversibly fucked up the plans of everyone around him (james' partner has given him several last chances, and anton is close to his breaking point), so he'll probably be in the office whispers for a while. i also think marcus poses as an interesting hurdle for cam (woah callback!), possibly making him question his altruism if he's helping an active antagonist get back to his usual life after a massive intentional fuckup.

i'll end this analysis with a thoughtful quote. something for you all to ponder.

"ROBOTS DON'T HAVE SOULS! I SAID IT! AND FRANKLY, I'M GLAD I SAID IT! [...] AND ANOTHER THING! ROBOTS ARE NOT PEOPLE! ROBOTS - UNLIKE CORPORATIONS - ARE NOT PEOPLE, AND DESERVE NO RIGHTS."

-- Markiplier

[theghostbunnie]

How do you see Max and Nikki’s relationship?

As siblings

I know that's like sometimes what ppl say when there's a straight pairing popular ship (makki) vs a gay popular one (maxneil) and they don't really mean it they just mean they have a uncomfortbilty or hatred towards one of the ships, but in my mind they're literally twins/hj

I have AUs where they're twins, half siblings, step siblings. I love them sm..There's even a line in one of the end credit rap songs that goes something like "we may not have the same color skin but imma treat em like my twin" and I'm like ah yes,,, something to feed into my delusions/j

((on a more srs note I feel like more ppl should look into the end credit lyrics alot of it seems specifically written to fit Max and might give people a better insight into his characterization))

But enough of my fannon delusions n self indulgence they're obviously not actually siblings they're best friends BUT they didn't start off that way no matter how sweet the "you now have three little bastards to deal with" line is bc in the first season, earlier episodes he's more of an asshole to her bc they're still getting to know each other.

He broke her instrument, quicker to basically tell her to shut up on multiple occasions, ect.

Back to the first episode, Max operates BIG on first impressions. Off the bat he's touching Neil's shoulder, he's impressed by his disrespect to authority, he wants to hotwire the bus with him. But Nikki? Hardly addressing her. Even says "why would you help us?" Bc despite biting him, she appeared to be just a 'little more violent, mini-David.' THAT was his first impression of her. Nikki didn't have his attention or respect technically until he learned her willingness to seek and cause chaos near the end of the episode. There's times at later points where she's clearly getting on his nerves.

I'm pretty sure I already wrote out a whole in depth thing about how Max has issues getting attached to people and will fight it off and deny it once it happens even at the cost of their feelings (points at camp corp episode) where as Nikki is a social person who has been denied a real friend til she came to camp campbell same as Neil, who is NOT a social person. They both start off clingy towards Max for this but Nikki works past it and makes 2 other friends while Neil doesn't.

So recap: Max builds a team of two other kids he can just share a common goal with at first, is a bit of a jerk to Nikki initially at times, but she grows on him and now he really values her as a friend n cares for her deeply.

But now onto NIKKI'S POV: She'd been bullied before, it was a traumatic experience for her yes but that's also the ONLY information we have on any past relationships she's had with peers, kids her own age. Any other time she's talking about someone she knew it's often just her mom. sometimes her dad (often not painting a good picture of him but through a childhood innocence lense) or an animal she knew.

So when she makes her first friend group in camp campbell her only prior experience with one is in the flower scouts. Nikki picked up bad habits from them bc she's a kid and doesn't have the emotional maturity to analyze her every behavior.

So when Max is being the type of person who was being quick to shut her down, who (in her own words) was micro managing her, and only ever seemed like he was having a good time when they were doing what HE planned to do, ofc she's gonna start harboring some complaints. Nikki isn't gonna sit down and talk about her feelings to him like an adult she's gonna do what the flower scouts taught her and you talk shit about the problem to OTHER friends.

This isn't to say she secretly hates him, no I firmly believe she deeply cares about him too but they're both flawed people so their friendship has flaws too that doesn't make it void of care for one another.

You can't unbiasedly hate on Nikki for that scene she's mocking him if you're not even taking into consideration WHAT her original issue was. Nikki shit talks, Max has control issues.

As episodes progress I think they really seem to work past it and become better people AND I THINK THAT'S RLLY SWEET I LOVE THEIR FRIENDSHIP ❣️❣️

The way they interact with each other throughout the series really shows that their differences might cause some clashing but they have FUN together and I think their differences and problems just make them more interesting characters

[krispycreamcake]

I know this is quite a random request but which sakamaki brother would be best paired with kianna komori

By the way you can find her info on my page here on Tumblr she's an OC of mine and you don't have to take this request if you don't want to

From author: Based on what I've learned about Kianna, she seems to be a very fragile person. Not like glass or a flower, but more like a bomb. Underneath her intimidating exterior, she's a very passionate person that cares about those around her.

It looks to me that the problem isn't her trusting people, more so, do certain people deserve her trust? She's a very sweet individual that likes to share her craft (sewing) with others, which tells me she enjoys having like minded individuals around her.

Because she may often get picked on because of her being a prodigy, she needs someone that doesn't harbour any envy towards her academic success because it'll be hard for her to know whether or not she should let this person into her life or if it'll be a mistake.

Because of her bad relationship with men, she needs someone who understands and empathizes with her rather than someone giving her reasons on why it's 'illogical' to dislike men. She needs to be able to experience that on her own and make her own verdict.

Due to her health issues, she comes across to me as someone very insecure and because of this, I can deduce that she doesn't hold others to the harsh standards she holds herself to. This tells me that she'll accept a person flaws and all.

I've also learnt that she's all for self growth and development. This means that she works well with someone that wants to become a better person, rather than someone who's pessimistic and unwilling to change. She'll help you, but you need to want the help.

And because of this, Kianna's best match would be 🥁🥁🥁🥁

Subaru Sakamaki

Read further for more info

Subaru Sakamaki, like Kianna has a bad relationship with the opposite gender which already makes them sympathize with each other. They can both be each other's experiences in learning to be more open with others.

Subaru by far, is the least abusive towards his prey which goes in favour for Kianna. He's also described as self deprecating and self loathing, which Kianna could help him in understanding that he's more than that and if he continues to go down this way, he'll end up just like his brothers.

Subaru in my eyes, would enjoy being around someone that doesn't pander to his needs just to get out alive. While that may be the logical thing to do when dealing with vampires, what he needs is someone to tell him he's not a monster and that they're not afraid of him.

Kianna would show this through her actions and behaviour, that she's willing to take on anything that harms her family, even if that includes Subaru. Unlike the rest of the brothers, he wouldn't think she was acting cocky or that she needed to learn a lesson. He'd be glad that she was so determined and might even get motivated himself.

They both would bring out the worst and best in each other. With time, I honestly see this as a blossoming relationship that could last centuries. Subaru just needs time and Kianna just needs someone to genuinely listen to her. And guess who has a pair of immortal ears? Subaru does.

This could honestly work either platonically or romantically since they'd both be each other's best friends.

[the-path-to-redemption]

Hello, redeemed Adam AUs anon here! Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. Despite close friends telling me to watch FMA for years, I've never gotten around it so I didn't know about Scar. However it's obvious the writing is far superior, and I've watched Arslan Senki from the same author so I know we can trust her with antagonists.

You mentioned the authors having to acknowledge that the system is flawed in the first place, to which I nod eagerly! Except, the authors already acknowledged this!!!

In V4 E6, at the charity party, there's a businessman that's always forgotten, who mentions the real problem is society as a whole. Even worse, that the faunus were PROMISED JOBS by the SDC! So they were cruelly tricked! By the dialogue, Jacques says mining staff from Atlas and Mantle are paid the same, but the businessman points out that there's a significant economic disparity between the two. Obviously it was a good scene to portray and acknowledge the actual issue and how people of power in Atlas didn't care anyway. Good scene.

Except it was never brought up again!!!

I swear, every time you think CRWBY can't get worse, they prove you wrong. So you acknowledge society is at fault, Adam and Ilia's families were tricked into getting a job, and the SDC is very aware of the issue (including Weiss WHO WAS PRESENT), yet ADAM is at fault? Huh? Wha? HUH?!

I know V4 and V5 are known to be some of the worst volumes (dethroned by V8 and V9), but they had so much lore hidden in details that went forgotten two seconds later, they sometimes feel like a fever dream.

Thank you again for reading my ask and answering it! I read the response many times!

Long Post Ahead

You're welcome, anon! To be honest, having such a nice ask after so long was a refreshing surprise for me lol. I'm glad that my answer was satisfactory, and you really should get into FMA! (Based for reading Arslan Senki tho-).

I'm really impressed that you remembered that segment of V4, so I went back to rewatch it myself (in Japanese dub, I can only take Nora and Ruby's Eng voice for so long), and yeah! They DID acknowledged it! Which is why not having Weiss confronting the malpractice of her family's company in V7-8 was so frustrating! Not SHOWING MORE of the wealth disparity of Atlas and Mantle was so bad! We were stuck in a nothing arc where the only person making sense, Ironwood, was bastardized even though in the same episode in V4, he stood up for Weiss!

Ironwood understood that the system of Atlas was extremely flawed, and he ran himself ragged to make sure it gets reformed against an entire council who doesn't care! The guy who actually gave a fuck was made into a villain because the writers are incompetent, the child slave who was branded and disabled was killed off with NO ONE knowing about his abuse or even acknowledged after his death, and the two main characters (Weiss and Blake) fucks around in Atlas with people they do not like instead of at least going to a political rally to support a council candidate who wanted to do better for both human and Faunus!

Hell, Blake and Weiss never brought up the abuse that Faunus goes through in the SDC itself after V7C3, where all Weiss does was give Blake a luke warm apology about her family's sin. Hello?? DO SOMETHING THEN! ARRESTING YOUR SHITTY DAD WILL NOT CHANGE THE WAY FAUNUS WORKERS ARE TREATED, ALL YOU DID WAS CREATE A POWER VACUUM FOR PEOPLE WHO BACKED HIM UP TO TAKE CHARGE AND CONTINUE THE ABUSE!

The show can acknowledged the imbalance all it wants, if it doesn't take the fucking charge of challenging the system it's calling out with its characters, it means nothing. Adam and the Amitolas weren't the only ones tricked to work so that they can survive in a kingdom that hated them for existing, but our protagonists do nothing to prevent more like them from being exploited.

I also stated that the authors have to acknowledge this systematic abuse applies to fan creators. You can criticize Adam for his actions against innocents all you like, but the moral of the story is that he is still a victim and shouldn't be made into the scapegoat of anti-Faunus violence. Adam wasn't wrong to be angry or hateful, stop demonizing him for being rightfully bitter about being abused! Stop with the Perfect Victim shit, please!

V4-5 were bad because they had potential but the writers elected to be boring with them instead, at least those two had a point. V7-9 meant nothing, and that's why they're the worst of the show yet.

Thank you for your asks, anon!