#more than objective discussion

[onelonelystory]

you need to stop thinking your anecdotal experience is a substantive generally applicable argument. you need to stop assuming that being directly impacted means you have a comprehensive understanding of things. and you need to stop feeling like people who say batshit things are correct because they’re speaking from experience and the broad strokes sentiment is something you agree with and support. please.

[dykedvonte]

Something something perhaps the reason Curly lacks a truly undamaged ID where his face is visible is to represent how much damage Jimmy had already affected on him throughout their relationship and the way Curly obscured part of who he is and what he stood to unintentionally cater to this toxic influence in his life.

[shiraoyagi]

sometimes i think about this area conversation

also yes an says 相棒 (aibou) in the original text (i checked)

[carlyraejepsans]

for real WHERE does the idea that [utdr humans] are nongendered so that "you can project on them" come from. their literal character arcs are about NOT being a blank slate to be filled in by the audience

i think i understand the assumption on some level for undertale, because there is a very intentional effort to make you identify with the "player character" in order to make your choices feel like your own (the beating heart of undertale's metanarrative lies in giving you an alternative path to violence against its enemies after all, and whether you're still willing to persue it for your own selfish reasons. YOUR agency is crucial).

of course, the cardinal plot twist of the main ending sweeps the rug from under your feet on that in every way, and frisk's individuality becomes, in turn, a tool to further UT's OTHER main theme: completionism as a form of diegetic violence within the story. replaying the game would steal frisk's life and happy ending from them for our own perverse sentimentality, emotionally forcing our hand away from the reset button.

i think their neutrality absolutely aids in that immersion. but also, there's this weird attitude by (mostly) cis fans where it being functional within the story makes it... somehow "editable" and "up to the player" as well? which is gross and shows their ass on how they approach gender neutrality in general lol.

but also like. there's plenty of neutral, non PCharacters in undertale and deltarune. even when undertale was just an earthbound fangame and the player immersion metanarrative was completely absent, toby still described frisk as a "young, androgynous person". sometimes characters are just neutral by design. it's not that hard to understand lol.

anyone who makes this argument for kris deltarune is braindead. nothing else to say about it.

[puke-ur-gutz]

i will cashapp $10 to the first person who can name 3 real life harmful things bob bryar did without accusing him of thought crime

[unproduciblesmackdown]

winston my quant of billions

[coquelicoq]

good morning can i show you guys the christmas card my little sister wrote me in french (she does not know any french)

joyeux Noël, j'espère que vous comprenez ce que je dis compte tenu de la fiabilité de Google Translate. Jespère qu'à l'avenir nous voir plus de deux fois par an. Je ne sais pas vraiment quoi dire d'autre, alors joyeux Noël et j'espère que papa t'a offert. Profitez également des autres choses que je mets sur la carte au lieu de vous ècrire un essai complet.

and then she wrote me a little crossword and a "connect the language to its way of saying 'merry christmas'" game 😭

[torgawl]

i have zero respect for anyone that believes shonen animanga consistently having badly written female characters isn't a problem within the industry. anytime someone comes forward with "the target demographic is young boys" i only question myself a) don't young boys have women in their lives they care about or coexist with? b) do young boys live in a parallel universe where women aren't relevant? c) why can't/shouldn't young boys have the right to see well written female characters in media? because that sort of argument to me is just a reiteration of "i don't care about women".

[raemoriendi]

“it’s not like anyone can actually tell you’re a monster at first sight,” sneered the lycanthrope. “you have passing privilege.”

“…I’m pretty sure people can tell when I open my mouth,” said the vampire with a frown. “or when I can’t participate in daylight activities, or eat people food, or any of that. you look human right now, and can go in the sun, and eat chili dogs. wouldn’t that mean you have it too?”

“oh my god,” she rolled her eyes. “because people can literally look at me and see I’m a monster when the moon is full! hairy and six feet tall is kinda hard to miss!”

“yeah, but you’re not always hirsute or above average height,” the vampire said, gesturing to her. “like right now. so why do we differentiate?”

“you want to be oppressed so bad.” the lycanthrope folded her arms, cross. “just admit you have it easier.”

“no, because I don’t think being less immediately visible all the time counts as having it ‘easier,’” the vampire said. they looked over their shoulder at the village near the foot of the hill. “the villagers would come after us both with pitchforks and torches if they knew what we were, wouldn’t they? I don’t see how we’re different in that regard. both of us getting outed would just lead to the same thing.”

“whatever.” the lycanthrope pulled out her phone, already bored. “you can’t blame me for asking what you were doing at pride.”

“I was literally wearing the vampire flag.” the vampire ran their hand down their face in exasperation.

[yrlocalghost]

oh good lord my mom’s boyfriend got worse

[a-wins-a-win]

BAPO discussion question of the day - how clockable is Peter Simmonds?

I’m aware that’s a wild way to start this post but it drives me mad thinking about it - is he externally identifiable as a gay man, even to people who are not, or is it only his anxiety & paranoia making it seem like a bigger thing than it is?

‘Epiphany’ is, of course, an exposition-heavy plot-convenient daytime nightmare sequence, but breaking down the content of the song, it sometimes makes me wonder how key these Queer Flags* are to Peter’s personality as a whole and the way he presents himself to the world.

[actual discussion under the cut for the sake of saving space]

* loves his female singers / loves to cook / looks around in gym / strong as Peter’s attraction to my makeup table / + the Top Gun/Tom Cruise lines in earlier versions of the song

it is also imo worth noting that all of these things (save for loves his female singers - “Fuck me Matt, it’s Diana Ross!” lives in my head rent-free) are basically brought up in ‘Epiphany’ and then not referenced again for the rest of the show

And in considering BAPO as a whole, we know that as a general rule we’re watching the story through Peter’s eyes/from Peter’s POV - so of course his experiences are going to inform the way he views and interacts with the world, and I’m turn how the world reacts to his interactions with it.

That said - Claire obviously had some idea or inkling, whether she liked to admit it or not. There are reasonable counter-points to be made that as his mother, Claire obviously saw a lot of Peter figuring himself out as a small child, back when he maybe didn’t think to hide himself and his interests - and so really if one wanted one could parlay the fact that Claire does have some idea into a point that Peter would be significantly less clockable than he fears himself to be, if his mother had a vested interest in discouraging any perceived Odd or Queer behaviours. So in a sense, individual interpretations of Claire Simmonds, as a mother and as a character, could affect individual opinions.

I personally lean more into the idea that he’s only so hyperaware of these expressions of his queerness because he lives it internally every day, and on the outside no one thinks too much of it - but it is also interesting to consider that had he & his classmates not been raised in such a sheltered (for lack of a better word) environment, no one would have been surprised. But I’m genuinely curious to hear other people’s thoughts on the matter -

[gonzodangerfeels]

Me: no really if you missed even one birth control pill you better double check you aren't pregnant.

[wistful-academia]

i think it’s so beautiful how there are certain language features that we reserve purely for poetry and the like; there’s strict syntactical rules when speaking english day-to-day but if you want to play with them? bend them? break them? in the name of art? sure, go ahead. you can go a long way without impairing communication of your message, and on top of that—it just sounds prettier.

[iguessitsjustme]

[radioregine]

anyway remembering this old mutual in law who, bc they don't like weird al, went on this huge rant about how all comedy music is unfunny and the genre all annoying untalented white guys. then when someone brought up zack fox they got angrier and said 'zack fox is a rapper don't insult his craft' and they were dead serious. it was so strange like just say you find comedy music grating bc clearly you don't have the range to discuss the actual racist shit in comedy circles

[gammija]

i love s4, and im enjoying listening to it with the magaday, but i forgot it would also lead to the worst thing: seeing people interpret media differently than me on the internet OTL