#my misunderstood faves in one post okay

[im-probably-crying-rn-ngl]

fictional characters that are george russell coded

alicent hightower from the house of the dragon

blair waldorf from gossip girl

paris geller from gilmore girls

stella from winx club

amy dunne from gone girl

eloise bridgerton from bridgerton

[epickiya722]

I think people took the "hey, you should be aware of issues about the way some stories treat it's female characters" and instead of actually going forward and treating these characters as, well, characters that deserve to be fairly analized

they went backwards and put up impossibly high standards for these female characters and made anything remotely sexual about them regardless of context as "it is evil and bad writing" when they wouldn't ever do the same for the male characters.

They don't even bat an eye for the fact that whole fandoms will absolutely ADORE a guy who is either the most vile asshole in the story or straight up a bland nothing as long as he is generically attractive enough.

Like that's just misogyny but "girlbossed" now.

(I kind of went on a ramble here, I won't lie and I apologize for that. I just.. had a lot to say.)

And I definitely agree with you, Anon.

I made that same point that you stated in this point right here in a post I wrote a while back.

The same people who will say "it's bad writing" are the same people who don't take the time out to analyze a female character.

It's not "bad writing". You just don't want to understand her.

A male character can have the exact same traits as her and can be analyzed and "He's just misunderstood" and adored, but the most that female character can get is the bare minimum from the fandom.

I have my male faves, too, that I like to analyze. But don't the female cast also deserves the attention, too?

Everyone who follows me know I am a big Miruko fan. And I love her more now because over the past... 2 years or so I have written posts about her of why she probably acts the way she does or does the things she do. And it came easy to me.

Mind you, she is a minor character. She doesn't have a lot of screen time and we don't much about her backstory unless you have read Vigilantes where she gets a flashback arc. And even with all the little information she has from canon, analyzing her was fun for me.

Analyzing her actually why it's fun for me when I do so for Yuji.

It's just there.

Let's say a female character is comfortable with her own sexuality and femininity. "Slut, whore, oversexualized". But the same people who apply those terms to male characters in a more positive way.

"Such a slutty waist, look at him so sexy, he's such a whore and I'm here for it".

So let me get straight. A woman can be a sexy character, but a man can even those that aren't even all that sexy.

Again, I'm using Miruko as an example.

People will have grievances over her costume but were so quick to be horny over the male characters wearing that same costume. Which, and I know some of you ain't gonna like, some of them did not look good in.

Also, then what about the male hero costumes or the fact that Shigaraki and Dabi are obvious fanservice now? You're telling me you're okay with the fact that Endeavor and All Might's costumes are super tight but Miruko shows some skin and it's a problem?

Oh, I'll give another example of some fandom misogyny.

Maki Zenin. The JJK fandom be pulling some tomfuckery when it comes to her. "She's such a girlboss". Okay, but you feel sympathize or empathize with her? "Oh my gosh, Sukuna is gonna kill her!" So, let me get this straight. Even though others who have been hit with Black Flash has survived, Maki the one female victim of it is going to die from that one blow? Whose body is pretty much a cheat code against cursed energy? That Maki? That one?

Let's not forget, you can bring her up without someone bringing up Yuta! I wrote a post about her and Nobara and someone goes "At least, Maki loves Yuta, right?" THIS IS NOT ABOUT YUTA!! GOOD GRIEF, CAN THIS BE ABOUT THE FEMALE CHARACTERS FOR ONCE? LIKE, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE WITH THAT!!

And Yuki! Sooo... y'all are upset that Gege killed her off, right? Okay, understanding. I like Yuki, too. With that said... um... then why in the fuck did I have to type a Yuki Lives tag for her despite her being dead in the manga since December 2022? Almost 2 years? There are currently 3 fics with that tag and two of them are mine!

Kaori, oh, the fandom doesn't love you enough! I had to type in a tag for her! There was no Itadori Kaori & Itadori Yuji tag! THAT IS STILL HIS MOM?! "But Kenjaku---" Correct me if I'm wrong, but that is still Kaori's body, right? If Choso states he has three parents, then Yuji can, too. Guess what, Kaori is his mother. People love to make sure others know Kenjaku and Suguru are separate people but what about Kaori? You don't think she was her own person?

From Wasuke's words and behavior, I figure she was different than how Kenjaku acted.

Anyways!!

Also, with Delicious in Dungeon! I haven't even watched or read it and I have seen so many posts about how that one helmet guy had a lot of panty shots and loving it, yet I hear about people having problems with Falin and Marcille being sexualized? Makes no sense to me, it just doesn't.

It's like people in fandoms want something involving female characters just to bash those female characters.

Complex female characters - insult them

Female characters is written to have a variety of personalities and backstory - boring, shifts focus to more bland male characters

Female character exist with many characteristics - fandom focuses on one trait and make that her whole personality

Female character just exists - labeled just one single word, not worthy of any attention, post about her and someone will make it about a male character

Just... honestly, I feel like before you call a creator a "misogynist", how about taking a step back and observe how you treat female characters and understand the story in which those female characters come from?

[jennifersminds]

1, 2, 3, 4, 15, and 18 for the most recent ask game!

the character everyone gets wrong

I mean, do I even need to say it? Elena Gilbert. Constantly being burnt at the pire of internalized misogyny and media illiteracy. I maintain that not everyone has to like/stan Elena but if I could hear one justification for it that wasn't 'she hurt my favorite grown adult teenage baby boy' that would be nice.

but since that's the obvious answer I'll also add a slightly more controversial one which is Jennifer Humphrey, another unfortunate victim of the babygirlification of trash boy r*pists and some unfortunate writing. I will forever maintain that nothing she ever did was worse than anyone else on GG and she will forever deserve better, both on the show and in the fandom.

a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

okay, this one I'm actually struggling with because (obviously if we're dealing with favs we're dealing with Elena or Elijah) and I can see them both playing both sides on this tbh,,, however-,

for humour's sake,

Elijah always bottoms and Elena always tops. He's old, he's tired. Elena deserves to have some control for once. Getting daggered by her in season two really turned him on. For whatever reason, he's down horrendous and on his knees. Eats pussy with every meal. (plastic crown Elijah in particular).

(i don't have one for three sorry)

what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

literally anything, this blog is my house, and if I don't like the energy I block. I honestly think it's the best way to navigate the internet. I always think when people send anons trying to argue with me about takes or posts I've made it's like,,, you know you don't have to see my posts right? like, the tvd fandom is a hellscape, we're always going to have discourse. why waste time crying in my inbox when I'm obviously not going to care? as if you calling me a cunt is going to magically make me a d*lena stan.

that one thing you see in fanart all the time

tbh, I'm not the best at seeing fanart. I think it's amazing because I don't have an artistic bone in my body so whenever I see it I'm usually just like 'aww slay'

that being said I see a ton of whitewashing, particularly in book fanart which is like,,, why? no? stop?

it’s absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on…

JEREMY. ngl i've grown a new appreciation for him recently and I honestly think he deserves more appreciation. (particularly season one. he deserved to keep his emo era #freetvdmenfromflannels).

but fr he was the most realistic character on that show in s1, just wanted to be topped by his goth vampire girlfriend and he's so valid for that.

also, Bonnie Bennett. Just,,, everything about Bonnie Bennett. Bonlena deserves so much more love, they have such a complicated misunderstood love for each other that often gets sidelined by fandom wars. (you can love more than one woman at a time I promise the world won't explode). Also Bonnie and Kol or Klaus (I refuse to be silenced they would've slayed and if you disagree just dig down and ask yourself why that's so unthinkable if you have no problem shipping Elena or Caroline with them)

thank you so much for the questions @amandamonroe <3333

choose violence ask game

[chiquititaosita]

maki n y/n defo drag each other on priv stories when they mad at each other then be posted up and all of y/n frens like OH BROTHERRR HERE WE GOOOO

tóxica! maki zenin x tóxica! latina reader if they get into a fight 🫶🏼👹

osita note: NO BECAUSE THIS WILL HAPPEN IF THEY GET INTO A FIGHt

suggestive content and tons of swearing, also tagging my moots @euphofic @sanjis-all-blue @sanjisblackasswife @yourrfavzxri @chrollohearttags @ginger4sugar @kenruu @hqkalon @cottonconnielvr @neptunesinterweb @backwzzds-backup @zorosbignaturals @kisminarii @killxio @backwzzds

if maki and y/n got into a fight it be over the stupidest shit.

when they went out, maki is gonna wait out in the parking lot of her car to see y/n all sexy n shit for brunch. with hair done and nails done to treat herself

“im fucking mad at you!” maki exclaimed before she went out. “what why? what did i do?” y/n crossed her arms all confused.

“you didn’t tell me where you were going, and your locations off.”

“baby my phone died.” you showed her that your phone died and maki was misunderstood by the fact she overthinks and let’s her impulses take over. “still you should’ve told me where you’re going and you always have a charger on you!” on your private story being titled your fave latina 💋🌶️🍺

“y’all i’m done, i love her but *irritated* but god damn!” you have your phone on recording in the bathroom with your nails on, clacking and just taking a deep breath. “This girl drives me absolutely fucking insane.” that’s what said on makis story, titled “bipolar express 🚂”meanwhile your phone is getting blown up by maki whose trying to say i’m sorry, please forgive me. your friends are blowing up your phone asking you to calm the fuck down, and are just over it even worried for you.

[incoming text from mi corazoncita maki zenin ❤️]

“can we talk?”

“please y/n i can’t forgive myself for lashing out on you”

[you]

“what’s there to talk about?”

[her]

“there’s so much to talk about.”

not even an hour later SHES AT YOUR FRIENDS HOUSE! which is where you were and you charged your phone.

“hey,” your friend karlita answered the door

“is Y/n here?” maki asked your friend and your friend called out to you. so you two can work shit out. and there you are with your face all smeared with your makeup on. as you feel like crap. wearing a cute crop top, booty shorts and chanclas (house slippers). you have your arms crossed and look up at maki who is obviously sleep ridden and drained from this. “Look, i was wrong.” and there you are with a soft little smirk on your face forming and thinning for your plump lips. “what were you wrong about?”

“i was wrong about not trusting you enough, and being toxic about it i’m really sorry.” she sighs and looks at you, feeling defeated. “it’s okay, that’s all i wanted to hear.” you smile and leaned in kissing her lips, and y’all started to make out. “yes this means i’m coming back to stay at our place.” you giggle and walk back inside to grab your things to leave, seeing your friends finally sigh in relief saying. “girl you had us fucking loca over this shit!!” one of them exclaimed while drinking a beer.

“sorry, i guess you can say we bring out the tóxica in each other.”

[bloodibambiidoll]

babe 🤍 first of all, i'm so sorry you aren't feeling comfortable on here right now, because that just ain't right.

it’s so, so important to remember that every version of our fave characters is just as valid as another — because in each story, we, as authors, are bending and molding their character into something new and wonderful! whether that takes shape as a mean character, a misunderstood character, a happy one, a sad one, whether they're a bully or a total sweetheart!!

all of those things can change depending on the author or the story and none are more authentic than another because this is a creative space! readers don't need to like every version of their favorite character (i know i don't) but that's okay because there are others out there who might feel the exact opposite! and that's exactly why there is no right or wrong way to portray a pre-existing fictional character! there's a little something for everybody if we all just let our creativity flow freely!!

this got longer and more ramble-y than i intended, but i am sending so much love to you!! mwah mwah mwah 💋

Thank you so much omg, this is so sweet. I know we are newer moots but the fact that you took the time to say all of this after you saw my post is so nice.🥺

I agree fully omg, you’re so right about all of it. I just wish more people would understand that. There’s so many different versions of characters and writing styles and you’re not gonna like all of them. If you don’t like it just don’t read it, ya know? No need to attack the person for writing or saying something you don’t personally like. I really appreciate you saying this. I love a good ramble. KISSIES.🖤🖤

[alovesreading]

11, 14, 54!

11. okay I haven't been reading that much lately but here's the latest 3 I've read and loved!

stress relief by @toomuchracket

high priestess by @bodypaintsculptures

will we talk (part 3) by @imagine-that-100

14. emotional scenes are very tricky because i really have to be in a certain mood to evoke what i'm trying to write, so i usually have to look for certain songs or watch a video or a movie that will put me in the right mindset to write.

i like to think i do feel what my characters feel, but to a certain extent; there's definitely been times i've cried while writing the angsty bits of my stories lolll.

sometimes i do draw inspiration from my own feelings or from witnessing people around me going through a certain emotion, i try to be respectful and very empathetic when writing though, sometimes i explicitly write the thought process behind the decisions and actions of certain characters (because i feel like some people struggle finding the reasoning behind fictional characters actions and there's nothing i hate more than being misunderstood myself so i really like going into the internal debate of my characters a lot) and sometimes i leave it hidden until i can explore it further later on to open up future plot points.

54. plotting a fanfic will always be my favourite part of it all! nothing beats seeing a picture and imagining a whole story behind it and just brainstorming a lot more to make said story more intricate and fulfilling, or watching a video and start to imagine what could've happened if one thing went different (ahem, ahem, that's how csd was born lol). watching a reel or a tiktok and picturing that happening with one of my faves and just plotting a whole delusional story from a silly trend or a insane story that someone has posted and gone viral. finding a song that just has fanfic potential and plucking each line to turn into a story!!!!

there is nothing more fun than texting one of your writer friends and say 'hey, so i saw this and i thought about this happening with [blank] and reader' and then throwing ideas at each other and building up a whole story just by having fun being too imaginative delusional .

[riddlerosehearts]

🐍 oh my god i had no clue there was a way around the character limit, thanks tumblr for being inconsistent across platforms 💀

Nico was my fave when reading the original series as well! Though I did end up latching onto Leo more when HoO came out, I still always have a soft spot for Nico.

Funny you say that about Jamil, I just saw some super awful takes abt him recently (again) that just made me feel like people are reading a completely different story, though part of that can be blamed on how the EN translation changed some stuff that kind of completely change the context of his situation.. honestly, given what you wrote abt Annabeth I think Jamil would also fit in Athena cabin - he's smart, capable, cunning and a strategist, plus he already has the gray eyes. He'd likely be the head of the cabin too.

I agree! Lots of people have pointed out there's a lack of Leo & Nico interaction in canon despite their similarities and I think that's such a shame, while I don't ship it romantically I really wish there could've been a friendship between them. I wish there was more emphasis on platonic relationships in general in HoO, so many things could've been explored further but we didn't get to :(

Nico being allergic to cats despite liking them is actually so adorable, I'm totally accepting that headcanon now. He tries to hold Grim then starts sneezing uncontrollably.

Me too! I'm usually reluctant to share my thoughts in case anyone reads it and thinks "there's no way you actually think that/that's stupid", but I'm really glad I can share with you and chat about ideas because it's so nice hearing what someone else thinks. Along with that I have made PJO OCs that I have been faaar too shy about showing people, but I they're precious to me and maybe I will post them one day...

Leo just using latest shows as bg noise would fit so well and be so funny lol, he'll know a few things here and there about whatever's going on but be completely wrong about some things that die-hard fans get mad at and give him a long lecture about the series that he barely retains because he didn't expect it. And Leo having fire hair can be uh, just a terrible accident where he lit his own hair on fire, for my "i just want to see it one time" convenience.

Now for a fun question, how do you think Leo & Nico would wear the NRC uniforms or dorm uniforms? Like how Idia never wears the blazer, Jamil wears a hoodie etc - how would they prefer to dress?

tumblr is such an inconsistent, buggy mess it's ridiculous sometimes. recently i discovered that i had blocked someone whose url i recognized but who i didn't ever remember blocking and don't know why i would've, so i unblocked them immediately but i was just like?? how did that even happen?? could've been a mistake on my part but i also wouldn't be surprised if it was a glitch 😭

i latched on so hard to nico as a kid because i was an edgy emo kid who really related to him ADKJGHDK. so of course as an edgy emo bisexual teenager i started loving him even more when house of hades came out. but like i said before, leo is easily my favorite of all the new characters from HoO! i have some criticisms of HoO as a whole but i like leo so much that i used to want to be a hephaestus kid mainly so he'd be my brother (and before that, i wanted to be a hades kid for reasons that are probably pretty obvious LOL).

oof, yeah, i do play twst EN and... okay, i was going to go off on a whole tangent here about jamil and kalim and how the localization watered down their entire fascinatingly tragic dynamic but it got so long that i realized it could practically be its own post. so i removed it and expanded it into its own post. it's here if you'd like to read it, but tl;dr is i agree with you completely lol. jamil is one of the most misunderstood and mischaracterized boys in the fandom and i think the changes EN made definitely have something to do with that, which frustrates me immensely because outside of certain choices made with both scarabia and pomefiore i tend to really enjoy the localization. the way they translate idia's dialogue is comedic gold.

anyway, though, i was also thinking athena might make sense for him! and i know i previously said riddle could be head counselor of the athena cabin, but i can totally see it for jamil too. although, i wonder, how would it affect things if kalim was also present at CHB? would jamil still need to keep his head down, make sure not to outdo him at anything, and reject any sort of position of authority so kalim wouldn't look bad? would he give the head counselor position to someone else (not kalim, i don't think they'd be in the same cabin) if it was offered to him? which reminds me, another idea i had is that i think it could be interesting if jamil was the son of a minor god while kalim was the son of an olympian, possibly giving jamil even more reason to resent him. or it could even be the other way around (say kalim's parent is a minor god and jamil's is an olympian, so jamil is more powerful than kalim but has to act like he isn't) too.

personally i do think romantic leo/nico is cute and it's a ship that i have a lot of nostalgia for since i read a ton of fics for it way back in the day lol, but i'm not shipping them in this twst AU! i'm a multishipper who loves nico and will together too and i really just wish leo and nico had gotten to be friends in canon. i strongly agree with you that HoO should've focused more on platonic relationships, and i actually basically said all of this recently in a post here!

okay, it would actually be hilarious if nico was still allergic to grim despite grim's constant insistence that he isn't a cat. and nico being like, well, i'm allergic to cats and i don't think it's the ghosts that are making me sneeze, sooo. and now i'm also thinking about nico coming at grim like idia in his labwear groovy askjdghd.

i feel like in general i'm so bad at explaining my ideas and i get worried about not making any sense lol! but at some point in the last few years i just sort of started saying fuck it, if i have something that i really wanna post on my blog i'll go ahead and post it and if someone thinks it's stupid then they don't have to follow me. i bet your PJO OCs are great, and you shouldn't be afraid to share them!

HMMM oh man, i'm nowhere near as creative as i wish i was when it comes to fashion because i'm bad at visualizing how things go together lol. but my first thought is that nico canonically insists on wearing his worn out old aviator jacket everywhere up until it literally gets torn to shreds. and then in TOA he buys a black leather bomber jacket and starts wearing that everywhere instead. so i think he'd insist on wearing his bomber jacket over his school uniform like idia does with his hoodie! he'd wear a black shirt instead of a white one, like vil does, and i could see him wearing the vest but i don't think he'd bother with the tie, blazer, or gloves. he'd also wear black converse and maybe he could add some more of his Emo Kid flair by wearing a cool studded belt or attaching chains to his pants or something, i think that'd be fun.

for leo, i would love to hear if you have a different idea than what i say because i'm not as sure about how i think he dresses! but i get the vibe that his main consideration is comfort and how well he'll be able to work in something, like he doesn't necessarily dress badly but he's very casual and doesn't wanna put a ton of time or thought into his clothing. so i could see him maybe wearing the gloves and blazer, but not bothering to put on the vest or tie or button his shirt up at the top, and just grabbing a pair of work boots for shoes.

[rosie-posie0777]

things my sister did that helped me heal from ED sheeran<3

This is halfway a sister appreciation post and halfway a post about how YOU can also help people who had/have my same issues. what worked for me won’t work for everyone, but this is just the perspective of someone who’s come pretty far in recovery and i want to help others do the same! i apologize but this is going to be long bc my sister is amazing.

she wasn’t afraid to “snitch.” sounds weird but hear me out. we have a very controlling mother who i don’t have the resources to get away from rn, and if my mom had found out about my problems, she would NOT have been supportive. she would have watched my every move twenty-four seven, forcing food down my throat, calling me ungrateful, attention seeking, money wasting, etc. but had my issues ever become life threatening, my sister didn’t sugarcoat it. she told me that if she knew i needed serious help and was a danger to myself, she would NOT enable me or keep my secrets. if it was either dying of ED sheeran or living a miserable life being even further controlled by my mom, she would have done WHATEVER it took to keep me alive, even if I was mad at her for it. 

she didn’t force me to do anything. she never guilted me by saying “eat... for me?” or made me eat in front of her to “prove” i was okay, which would only have made me INCREDIBLY uncomfy

she laughed along with my dark, ridiculous jokes about ED sheeran, which she knows are my fave coping mechanism in most situations. she was the ultimate safe space, and i never had to think twice before speaking in front of her for fear of being judged or misunderstood bc she’d always give me the benefit of the doubt. still, she would always remind me why my logic was unreasonable. example: i would make a joke about being scared of bread, and she’d laugh along, making a subtle comment about how she didn’t understand how it could control my life so much. obviously it controlled my life because I felt like i HAD to be skinnier, which brings us to or next point:

she reminded me that my weight did not equal my worth. she would always subtly compliment me both on things to do with my looks and things that did not, which built my self worth. even as someone who didn’t understand my illness, she never invalidated or challenged it, but she gave me even more validation whenever i said anything nice about myself or defied my disorder. any time that i did, she would EXPLODE with enthusiasm and pride, making me feel accomplished for loving myself whereas my eating disorder would make me feel accomplished for going days without eating and destroying myself. and she never tried to shove “looks don’t matter” down my throat because obviously that never works.

she listened and tried to understand, often repeating what i said back to her and continuing to listen if she didn’t get it the first time.

she checked on me randomly. when i was having obviously good days as well as obviously bad ones.

she asked why i was freaking out “randomly” instead of getting defensive or telling me i was being ridiculous when in truth i was just having another ED sheeran related problem

she didn’t judge or make assumptions. never once did she jump to a conclusion once i came out to her as an ED sheeran fan. 

this is more specific, but she would make all sorts of crazy recipes from Pinterest, including Ben and Jerry’s cookie dough, cake balls, mug cakes, etc. endearingly, her recipes DEFINITELY did not always turn out exactly the way she thought they would, but they were always good. she’d never make a big deal out of asking me to try it either. and she never guilted me by saying anything like “i made this, why won’t you eat it?” she always made stuff for me as a purely selfless act. she reminded me that food is not a tool to reach your ugw, food is a necessity to survive, and it should also be fun. 

so this kind of turned into me ranting about my perfect sister, but i really hope this helps any ED sheeran fans or anyone who has a loved one who is an ED sheeran fan. my sister isn’t perfect, and she definitely isn’t responsible for my recovery - that’s up to me. so if you know an ED sheeran fan who isn’t recovering, don’t feel guilty! don’t destroy yourself mentally trying to make them recover because you don’t want them destroying themselves mentally to weigh less, so how is that fair? just do your best.

i told my sister that without her i might weigh 90 pounds by now, but without her i definitely wouldn’t be happy, and with her help i’ve come to realize that if i weighed 90 pounds, i wouldn’t be magically happy. liysm @bettafetta, you make my life a million times brighter and i don’t know what i’d do without u<3

[matan4il]

I'm looking at that "Clothes (colors) of 5x13" post again, and having seen the trailer for tonight, yeah, someone in the production chain is playing games with us.

Oh hon, thank you so much for reading my 513 clothes meta! I’m so glad if you found it useful in any way. And TBH, I think production probably knows about us more than we’d like to be aware of, so there might def be some playing games going on there! But I’m always curious to hear more of your perspective and what exactly you had in mind. Hope you’re having a great day! xoxox

And if it’s okay, I’ll add in here another lovely ask -

Hi there, I'm the anon who asked you where you come from (so sorry to hear about that in Israel, I'm from Italy and I've been to your beautiful country few years ago. I hope they will stop with all those wars and I hope you stay safe.) and your fav episode (mine is Eddie begin and definitely 4*14, even if I agreee, yesterday's one is going to be on this list).

Anyway, I wait for your meta like a child waits for Christmas and I was wondering if you could help me  analyze a little bit more the look Eddie gives buck in the heart drawing scene. He looks up and his look is so... Weird. I can't quite gasp what were Ryan's directions tbh. I know you can help me.

No need to help me deciphering bucks look. He's so in love you can probably tell from the moon xD

Thank you and again, love your takes.

Italian anon

Awwwww, hi Italian anon! It’s so lovely to get to meet you! :D I’ve been to your country as well, and it’s one of my faves in the world. The food alone is just... *chef’s kiss* But then I also adore the language and culture. One of my fave movies ever is about falling in love in and with Italy. ;) I’m so happy to hear you’ve enjoyed Israel’s beauty as well, and thank you for the caring and kind words! We’ve had two more rounds of firing into Israel since that last post, and NGL, it’s all very stressful. And the saddest thing is that this is all so redundant, because I have no doubt that most people here want peace and coexistence. But knowing that there are kind people out there who care, that’s amazing and it helps more than you know! *hugs you SO big*

I’m overjoyed to learn that you enjoy my meta posts so much! I’m NGL, they take a lot out of me, so it’s incredible to know that they can bring so much joy to wonderful people like yourself! And ksdfjhskdjfh HOW DID I FORGET TO MENTION 315? It was, together with eps like 309, 413 and 414, one of moments where, when I was watching it live, I was wondering if this is real and not fanfiction, and how are we being blessed with so much goodness? So yes, another reason why I can’t choose just one ep! I love discussing this with you and thank you for sharing your own thoughts on this!

Oh, that’s such a good question! Okay, so at first Eddie is looking at what he thinks is Christopher’s drawing (but is actually Buck’s) and his expression seems to be both fond and a little puzzled:

But then Buck confesses that it’s his and offers, “I misunderstood the assignment” as an explanation for why his drawing is the one that looks more child-like. Upon hearing this, Eddie looks up from Christopher’s actual (anatomically correct) drawing at Buck like this:

So I think the first thing is to consider Eddie is teasing Buck with a bit of a judgmental look. I do believe this look contains that to a degree, but it’s not the only thing there, IMO. Otherwise, Eddie might have also added some verbal teasing, because that’s usually been his M.O, he’s never been shy or non-verbal about fondly teasing Buck. But I think there’s also an honest surprise there. Buck’s drawing is sweet and loving and soft, not to mention cute as heck. It’s in a sense such a good representation of the kind of person Buck is, and the kindheartedness and love he has brought into the lives of the Diaz boys. Eddie is shown a physical representation of why no one will ever match him better than Buck will. And maybe for a sec that takes him by surprise or is even a little too much to contain, because Eddie has just returned from therapy, and he’s not exactly in a great place by his own admission after (in his words) having cracked himself open for 50 minutes and having walked out feeling like he was hit by a bus. If in this moment he thinks too closely about what this drawing says about who Buck is and what he means in the Diaz home, Eddie might just have to admit some things to himself. So instead he gives in to his fatigue and expresses his sense of hopelessness:

Maybe he does it in part to avoid really thinking about what Buck means to him. And maybe he also does it in part because this drawing is a reminder that this is the optimistic man that is there to love and support Eddie, and it’s okay to let go in his presence and confess the biggest, scariest of doubts. Buck’s gonna handle them with that shining love he has, Eddie’s heart is safe in his hands.

I hope this helps, please don’t hesitate to let me know one way or another, Italian anon! xoxox

(I got an influx of asks, I WILL answer all of them, but it might take a sec. If anyone wants to check whether I've already answered theirs or to read my replies, here's my ask tag. Thank you! xoxox)

[my-faves-said-gay-rights]

my faves said gay rights part 3 - Sunmi

For pride month this year I thought I would live up to my name and post about all the times my faves supported the lgbtq+ community! So let's go ahead with our lgbt queen Sunmi!

1. She LITERALLY said "gay rights" at a concert after a fan asked her to

2. She also said happy pride at a concert before taking a rainbow flag and wrapping it around herself

3. The iconic day when sunmi said "I have many different sides of me like dorky and LGBT queen". I know some of us misunderstood and thought she was coming out but this is still massive because she's saying that her support for the community and the love we give her are an important part of who she is as a person. And in the tweet later clarifying her statement she outright says she supports lgbt people

4. At concerts sunmi has held many lgbt flags, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure

The first pic she posted herself on instagram (I remember freaking out lol), and in the last one she told the fan who gave it to her that she adores them

5. She held up these fan made signs at a concert

6. At her lalalay showcase: "When asked about her LGBT fans, she said she believes in equality. She also said she disagrees with forcing one's belief and ideas on others when people are morally responsible and not harming anyone"

7. In an interview with cosmopolitan korea she said this

(you are pretty and cool miss)

8. All the times her back up dancers have gender swapped so she does the more suggestive choreo with women, and of course the iconic bisexual choreo in tail

9. On the first day of pride she posted her eating the Baskin Robbins 'over the rainbow' taste of june flavour

Okay I think that's everything but if you know anything else please let me know! Have a happy pride miyane and know that sunmi loves you :D

Edit: okay there's something I forgot! For sunmis tail comeback, her yt channel had fans react to the mv and then meet sunmi. Sunmi said to two women in the video "If there is a man who will fall in love with me…you should prepare to be madly in love!". Then one of the women asked "How about a woman?", and sunmi responded "It is possible!". Thanks to @faithforgottenland for reminding me, sorry it took me so long to add it but I just kept procrastinating lol

[megamindsupremacy]

✏️ What is your fave fic from another writer?

fanfic ask game

oh god okay I refuse to pick one so here's a few. The Desert Storm series by Blue_sunshine (and it's ongoing sequel Rise and Fall) is a god-level Star Wars time travel fic that I'm obsessed with. I recommend this to anyone who's in the Star Wars fandom its so good just trust me on this.

*coughs* so there was a post going around about a "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" fanfic and i read it and. Jesus Christ it's so good. A fanfic based on the devil went down to Georgia should not be so good but here we are

Inimitable Verse by deniigiq is a very good (marvel) team red series, plus later on in the series it crosses over with many other dimensions, and I'm a sucker for dimension crossovers.

As for DC (which is probably what yall were expecting me to start rambling about), there are MANY great fics that I've read, but off the top of my head I can't think of anything and I cannot scroll through pages of bookmarks right now, so maybe I'll make a rec list later

I just realized I may have misunderstood the ask but it's too late I've already written my response and I'm not going back

[neon-junkie]

unpopular opinion: Micah is terrible but he shows instances of having real, human emotions and completely erasing those moments to paint him as a 100% monster is a disservice for the fandom.

arrrrkajslkfjdsglk okay I'm gonna break Micah down and explain why I like him, just bc of everything going on and cause you've summed that up perfectly. Let's make one thing clear - I don't stan his actions, I never have, I never will. A lot of ppl seem to keep ignoring that lmfao. AND we all know that Micah is a fucking piece of shit. He's the devil. We know. Like the list goes on and on and on when it comes down to why Micah's garbage, but I guarantee you, there is NOBODY out there who actually *stans* him. He's a villain and damn good one. Now. Relating to what you've said, this man has just as much emotion as everybody else. I think the people who view him as an emotionless monster have either never seen ANY camp interactions with him, or they just choose to ignore them. For whatever reason. Idk. It is VERY obvious that Micah has 100% been abused by his father, probably physically as well as mentally and emotionally. He openly talks about the monster that his father is, and he KNOWS that he is just like his father. Now, Amos (his bro), on the other hand, has managed to break away from that lifestyle, straighten his ways, and settled down. Micah is so obviously jealous and even takes the time to write to his brother, probably to try and rekindle their sibling friendship or whatever you wanna call it. Amos basically goes 'NO' and slaps that idea right out of Micah's head, so I do feel bad that Micah was rejected. Amos makes it clear that he will only rekindle that if Micah changes, but he doubts Micah is able to change. So now his only 'role models' are gone - his father and Amos - Micah has nothing left to lose. He has no family, friends that encourage his chaos rather than help fix him, and no partner. He's a loose cannon, and without guidance, Micah will only continue to fire. That's why he sucks up to Dutch so much, because he STILL needs acceptance, praise, and guidance, and Dutch gives him all of that. Yeah, it's creepy to see, but that man must be dying inside if he'll literally lick Dutch's shoes just for a bit of acceptance. Micah clearly does try, like his approach to making friends is so cringe, but he's clearly never ever done this before, and he's only following the ways his father taught him. I mean, we see him still try to befriend Arthur at the start of the game, but Arthur barely looks at him and just continues to shoot him down. I know Arthur is probably following his gut, but people can't say that Micah didn't try. And we see him try it on with the women of the camp, he's clearly desperate to at least find a partner, and probably secretly jealous that his brother has that and a family. And if his brother can do it, then maybe he can too? and we do see him try. But Micah's no rapist, and it makes me cringe when ppl say that. There's a good post about it (here) that I won't go into detail, u can just read that for urself. So - Micah has nothing to lose. The camp doesn't want him there, so it's no sweat off his nose if he rats them out. Obviously, I don't agree with it and I think Micah should have just left, but then that'd be a very boring game lmfao.  There's nobody stopping him from causing chaos, and he's just going to continue to do what he was taught to do - be a fucking piece of shit. But to say he has no emotions? You sure about that? It's SO obvious that Micah still craves acceptance in any form, whether it's from a friend, a partner, his mentor, etc. He NEEDS acceptance and he seems very lost without it. And it's so clear that Micahs past trauma still controls his actions, and he clearly has no idea how to even begin accepting and moving past his trauma. That man just needs a therapist asap. Peter Blomquist said it himself, that Micah is essentially just misunderstood. (here) And well, if his own actors said that then why the hell do people continue to ignore it? Because they just want to hate Micah. They view him as an evil and racist piece of shit and just want to hate that, which everybody does cause yanno, it's bad. But they continue to ignore that Micah, like Bill, suffers from a lot of mental trauma and issues, and his past has resulted in the person that he is today. I’ll say this AGAIN, I’m not condoning his actions, far from it, I’ve said many times before that Micah is fucking garbage, we just find him interesting. Honestly, I think if the gang was accepting, or if Micah had someone to shove him in the right direction, then he would have redeemed himself and fixed his ways. Things like racism are taught, and if you can teach it, then you can unteach it, just like Bill begins to learn. Micah is a villain and that's why I like him. Again, I don't support or stan his actions, but it's just so refreshing to see someone so chaotic and loose. People saying that you shouldn't like Micah because he's racist, also choose to ignore the fact that Abigails abusive, so why do y'all still stan her when we see the way she speaks to John? or the way she physically abuses him? So abuse is fine but racism isn't? hmm.  But if we shouldn't like Micah because he's bad then why the hell do we like characters like Darth Vader or all the fucking Disney villains? Have you seen how much merch those criminals have? But a bunch of strangers on the internet having a wank over the ratman is bad? We're allowed to enjoy those but not Micah? big sigh. Peter also said that there's nothing wrong with liking Micah. You're allowed to enjoy villains, it's not a fucking crime, and it doesn't mean you support their actions, it never has done.

PLUS, this is a game full of mass murderers?!?! Arthur does a LOT that is considered questionable, such as beating a terminally ill man into his grave, but people choose to draw the line at Micah. You’re free to enjoy whatever fiction you want, but there’s no line you can draw. Well, you can draw a line for yourself, but you can’t rule what others can and cannot enjoy.

It's just SO tiring (personally) to constantly see happy endings and pure, wholesome, golden characters. I'm a sucker for bad guys and seeing them win, so when I played RDR I was like 'oh yeah, this is what I need' and that's probably why Micah's my fave lmao. It's so refreshing to see, and there's nothing wrong with enjoying it. Some people just enjoy villains, big whoop. We need to stop expecting characters to be pure cause that's just so unrealistic. Everybody has flaws of all different kinds, and that's what makes these characters human. Like, are we just choosing to ignore the fact that Arthur is the most wanted out of the gang, who has probably murdered the most people? Do we just wanna sweep his kill count under the rug and choose to hate Micah based on the one fact of him being racist? The whole fucking gang are outlaws, they're all essentially villains, even the babies like Kieran!! Micah is just as complex as every other character in this stinky game, and people who refuse to acknowledge his layers and just portray him as a monster are whack as shit. And remember, those who tell you what you can and can't enjoy are just as bad as Micah Bell himself. Especially the ones who abuse you over FICTION.

[bigskydreaming]

Thinking about Kings of the Sky and Jason's titans. Kid Devil, Beast Boy, and Danny Chase are shoo ins. Who else? Arisia Rrab would fit. Sprout? (Damn a lot of options are sexually controversial.)

LOL actually I do have the full, extended lineup of Jason's Titans in that AU all figured out: 

Here's the initial post explaining the background of my fave Jason ship, JasonTom, and possible choices for Jason's teammates and my reasons for each. 

And here's the post laying out the finalized list of Jason's lineup of Titans and who each one's respective mentor from Dick's lineup is.

Beast Boy is solidly a member of Dick's lineup because this AU only diverges from canon around the point where the Garzonas case happened, and despite being younger than a lot of the others, Gar was still well established as one of Dick's Titans by then. And tbh, Vic and Gar are one of my fave dynamics and I can't imagine not writing them as BFFs forever, which just works better with them in the same age range. One of my biggest RAGE, I RAGE, DC! changes to the New 52 was them aging down Gar and Raven, because I just love their friendships among the NTT so much and just look at that choice and get stuck on a loop of going yup, that was a choice that happened alright, but WHY was it a choice and does it HAVE to be a choice? Let's make it not a choice that happened. 

Danny Chase floats in a kinda in between state between Dick and Jason's lineups, due to his age and established dynamics with the characters present here. This goes AU well before Titans Hunt so Danny, Joey, Arella et al don't die as they did there, so he never becomes Phantasm, so he's kinda the slightly older, more experienced confidante to Jason's generation of Titans and is like lol yeah fuck the older Titans, I heavily endorse you doing anything and everything that will make them groan in exasperation, particularly Dick.

Kid Devil I didn't make part of the lineup because I most primarily associate him with being part of Tim's lineup of Titans during the year of Countdown/52, and okay that's also clearly a total cop out since I made Amy one of Jason's lineup and she was literally a traitor on that same lineup of Tim's so what is the truth, me, hmm?? 

Okay, lol lbr, the reason I didn't include Eddie was total pettiness/personal reasons. I just kinda have a.....grudge, I guess you could say, against his character for the way his 100% offscreen friendship with Jason is hyped by a lot of Jason's fans while they actively ignore the ON the page moments we got between Dick and Jason back then, where Dick actively tried to build a relationship with Jason, and they just default to being like "no. Dick hated Jason. Is canon. No shut up it totally is." 

And then two seconds later its like okay and now let's talk about Jason and Eddie's epic friendship which consists of two whole pages referencing them being pen pals and teaming up one time pre-Crisis (which again, was where Dick and Jason's brotherly relationship truly lived and we saw tons of at the exact same time, so its like okay so Eddie and Jason, still BFFs forever because of a couple pages, but Dick and Jason, mortal enemies because Dickhead was an asswipe to Jason all those times we didn't actually see because he wasn't actually an asswipe. Got it!)

LOL so the point is, that discrepancy, let's call it, just annoys me on principle. When its like, painfully obvious that almost an entire fandom's view of Dick and Jason's dynamic is contrived and literally just a choice Big Name Fans with a large influence over what new fans do and don't know, like, made a long time ago, and people just decided that oh okay, we can hype the hell out of two pages of bonding with a character most people don't even know exists while ignoring multiple repeated displays of genuine sibling affection between brothers just because we don't like that narrative and prefer Jason be misunderstood and resented by his brother for Reasons, I'm just like.....mmm, don't love that. 

As you can see, it gets me easily worked up into a tizzy, lmao, and while I don't MIND being in a tizzy while posting meta thoughts all tizzily, I prefer not to WRITE write while in a state of being tizzified, and so I just decided to swerve around making Eddie a Titan here and putting a lot of focus on his and Jason's friendship, since I don't trust myself to be objective and nonpetty about writing it. I'm just like...eh, I don't want to write them, and I know and understand why I'm making that choice, so I'm fine with it. *Shrugs* 

(Which is basically what I actually always argue for people to do more of so I try to take my own advice. Like, I truly don't think anyone should HAVE to write characters they aren't thrilled about, lol, like why would they, but I just believe its better to just be fucking honest about the why of it and own it, even if just to yourself, so that it doesn't leak into the actual writing in the form of like, resentment that you feel you HAVE to write someone you don't actually want to invest page time and effort into.)

So for the record, Eddie and Jason ARE still friends in this, they do still have that penpal relationship, just modernized, and I didn't do away with that or anything, I just keep it mostly just referenced and happening off the page while on page I focus on the lineup I outlined above and the friendships I develop there.

Arisia and Sprout just didn't come up when picking my lineup because I'm not as familiar with their characters and at this point there's already so many characters even peripherally in the mix that its unlikely I'll throw them in, but eh, you never know. Most of the people I did pick though are like, C and D list faves that I always thought had mega untapped potential DC remains committed to untapping, because I can delve the hell into characters like that, with all the gusto. 

So yeah. That's the What and the Why of all that story direction!

[thesunnyshow]

Name: hi, i am nyx  Age: 20 years old Writing Blog URL(s): jungcity.tumblr.com | v-asl.tumblr.com 

Nationality: filipino Languages: english, filipino Star Sign: pisces! MBTI: infp-t Favorite color: white accentuated by silver Favorite food: it’s sweet and spicy chicken garlic!! Favorite movie: hmmm, it’s prolly flipped because that movie was so cute :,)  Favorite ice cream flavor: rocky road!! Favorite animal: it’s gonna be cats!! although i love lions so much because of narnia :,( Coffee or tea? What are you ordering? coffee :,) Go-to karaoke song: i don’t sing agskh the world would end if i would 

What has been one of the biggest factors of your success (of any size)? i think it’s me writing about jaehyun??? since he’s the king of fanfiction, especially in ncity nowadays. 

What fandom(s) do you write for?  nct + wayv

When did you post your first piece? three days ago!! that would be august 4 i guess???

Do you write fluff/angst/crack/general/smut, combo, etc? Why? i don’t really much write fluff since i don’t have any idea how to write a good fluff!! :( this has been an issue every time i write some au’s. so im always ending up writing and focusing more on angst. it’s the genre i know best. well, crack… it’s hard to make the readers laugh when you can’t even make their tooth ache from sweetness with your fluffy writings. :( smut… i don’t write smut explicitly any more. i’m more on the suggestive side rn. 

Do you write OCs, X Readers, Ships...etc  i write OC’s especially when im writing a series!! to diversify my writing. but i usually am on the x reader side. ships? not that much. 

Why did you decide to write for Tumblr? uhm, back in 2017, i was searching for some website where i could publish my works. ive always been a tumblr-girl since i am that wanna-be-aesthetic kinda person :D then i had found that i could write and publish on tumblr so yeah that’s pretty much why i am on this app rn

What inspires you to write?  ooh, music has been a great help for sure!! whenever i don’t feel like writing something, i always listen to music and the idea would flow like a river. classic poems helps, too. :)

What genres/AUs do you enjoy writing the most?  supernatural!au’s, fantasy!au, medieval!au. i feel like it’s easier to write something out of pure fantasy. i have a hard time writing modern!au’s since i lack the humor and the knowledge for modern slangs. 

What do you hope your readers take away from your work?  ooh, i always always always am careful with the way that i craft all my works. i try to feel what my characters feel to give them a certain validation. i put my shoes on the scenarios i have in mind even though i haven’t yet experienced everything ive written. and i do love writing strong female characters, whether it’s oc’s or female readers. that’s my main priority whenever i write. and i want them to know that girls could do just as much everything boys could. women are powerful. 

What do you do when you hit a rough spot creatively?  i read a lot to get back on my foot. i also try to re-read my past works so i’d be inspired to better my writing on my current draft.

What is your favorite work and why? Your most successful?  my favorite work is the one i’m still writing rn, which is entitled 505. it’s a hendery fic in which he is a bandit and the female reader is a sacristan. it’s my fave since i relate myself so much to the female reader. :) my most successful one is the childhood best friends!au taeyong x female reader. it’s about to reach 600+ notes i guess? and im so grateful of all the feedbacks i got from it. 

Who is your favorite person to write about?  it’s jaehyun and hendery :) 

Do you think there’s a difference between writing fanfiction vs. completely original prose?  character wise, perhaps. since you already have a face value in fanfiction, but in an original prose, you would have to craft everything from 0. 

What do you think makes a good story?  a good story is something that doesn’t romanticize the bad things going on in the world. a good story is something that is emphatic to the hardships of others. a good story is something that gives comfort to those who are in the dark. a good story is something that boosts the hearts of the readers and makes them feel things!! 

What is your writing process like?  first, i think of a plot! (this happens oftentimes when im washing the dishes) when i have the plot, i think of the ending. when i have the ending, it’s time for me to device a fitting title. and the plot would develop from then on. 

Would you ever repurpose a fic into a completely original story?  i don’t think so… this is scary. since some people think of fanfics as delusional works from delusional authors. it’s kinda sad. 

What tropes do you love, and what tropes can’t you stand?  i love love love enemies-to-lovers trope!! one that i couldn’t stand and do my best to not read is probably… hmm… no, i love all tropes!! i just love e-t-l most!

How much would you say audience feedback/engagement means to you?  it means a ton. since it could really boosts me up. heavy sigh. it’s the best thing when you write something— the feedbacks. even though it’s a simple reblog with the ‘#ATKSHSKSHSKAHAKSGAHGEGSJA’ or ‘#myfave’. i would smile like an idiot whenever i read it.

Dream job (whether you have a job or not)? i want to be a successful writer someday!

If you could have one superpower, what would you choose? teleportation!! 

If you could visit a historical era, which would you choose?  ancient greek + victorian era

If you could restart your life, knowing what you do now, would you?  yes!! im so hell deep in indecision right now so i want to restart to make everything right

Would you rather fight 100 chicken-sized horses or one horse-sized chicken?  100 chicken-sized horses!!

If you were a trope in a teen high school movie, what would you have been?  enemies-to-lovers trope agsksj LOL

Do you believe in aliens/supernatural creatures?  YES!!! perhaps they are lurking somewhere here on earth and we don’t know it yet ;)

Fun fact about yourself that not everyone would know?  oh… i don’t really know what to write. i don’t give much attention to my personal details agsksj

Do you think fanfic writers get unfairly judged?  yes!! ugh, there’s this recent issue wherein stan twt called fanfic writers as freaks. and it broke my heart. i mean, most fanfic writers get inspirations from their idols and that shouldn’t be a bad thing. we aren’t delusionals as one might think. we are simply doing our craft. 

Do you think art can be a medium for change?  yes!! our country’s hero ‘jose rizal’ had somehow stirred the nationality of the people back in the old days because of his writings. i do believe that art changes things!! it has the ability to pierce the heart of the people.  

Do you ever feel there are times when you’re writing for others, rather than yourself?  yes. i feel this whenever im writing smut. i mean, let’s be real, your works would do better once you’ve included some steamy smut scenes in it. when i was writing my first fanfic after three years, i didn’t think that i’d ever include smut. but the fear of not getting feedbacks crept up in me, so i forced myself to write some sexy scenes. i know that’s like… weird. but i’m trying not to dwell on feedbacks any longer. and i also have decided not to write explicit smut anymore. honestly, i feel better now that i don’t force myself to do something that i think would please others rather than me.

Do you ever feel like people have misunderstood you or your writing at times?  uhm, as far as i can remember, nope— still hasn’t felt that way. :)

Do your offline friends/loved ones know you write for Tumblr?  yes!! my best friends irl knows about it. my sister knows. my parents are also aware of my passion in writing, and they do know that i write. but where and what, that remains obscured from them :D 

What is one thing you wish you could tell your followers?  that it’s okay to be vulnerable. it’s okay to make mistakes. it’s okay to fail sometimes. it’s okay to feel things. because like a good book, there is always a character development and you have the pen to write your own version of happy endings. 

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers who might be too scared to put themselves out there?  i’ve been there: the scared and conscious part. but one thing i would say is, you have to dare yourself!! you won’t know how your writing would have impacted so many lives and touch the hearts of people if you won’t grab your pen or your gadget and start your draft. 

Are there any times when you regret joining Tumblr?  nope, there aren’t. the community has been lovely to me ever since i started writing. :,)

Do you have any mutuals who have been particularly formative/supportive in your Tumblr journey? yes!! oh my god. i’d like to take this opportunity to thank my mutuals who’s done me nothing but kindness— @legendnct (hannah), whoo!! you know how much i love you, right? thank you for always being there to listen to me. :) @cloudysuh des, since day one you’ve supported me. i couldn’t ask for more. thank you for the never-ending praises, keyboard smashes, for the tags, and for always boosting me up. @bohoes georgie, you know i love you. since 2017 you’ve been with me— praising my works and supporting me. thank you. @cherr-e cherry!! thank you!! for teaching me how to better my writing. i hope endless happiness for u and please take care. @writermoon hello my babe!! thank you so much for reading my works with such vivid imaginations. i love you. @jaeyongf amy!! the bestest person :,) thank you for always leaving me feedbacks!! thank you for being kind to me. thank you for always supporting me. i love you guys so much and let’s be mutuals for a long time!! 

Pick a quote to end your interview with: 

“If the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.” — Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

[ultravioletsoul]

Maybe an unpopular opinion regarding Makarov/Character Analysis (part 1)

Sometimes I read comments of CoD fans saying that Vladimir always was an asshole for apparently no reason, that he was the typical Russian cliché villain doing cliché bad things (such an original concept, I know). And while I do agree that for the most part the games didn’t do a very good job at giving him any significant depth (and he acts like a jerk, it’s true), I also have to say that he’s probably one of the most misunderstood characters in the series. Not because I think he was some poor innocent man who did nothing wrong, but because his villainous portrayal tends to take the spotlight every time he’s onscreen and we literally cannot see anything else beyond that. Which, of course, makes him look very one-dimensional since the game always has to remind you in oh-not-so-subtle ways how evil he is.

The story of MW never goes into full detail as to what drove him to do the horrible things he did. And it’s not clear unless one bothers to analyze some obscure information hidden in the loading cutscene of No Russian and does a little research on the side. In all honesty, I wish his story would have been better explained and developed by other means than just a slideshow of newspaper articles and an overview of his dossier. I would have been content with a special trailer that actually explained his background, rather than have him say some pseudo Sun Tzu lines in a few teasers and let that be the entirety of his character development but okay… I guess this was as far as Infinity Ward’s story-telling capabilities went back then.

Sure, you may think: who the hell cares about his motivations? He was an evil mofo and needed to be put down. Well, unfortunately for these people, I exist and I do care because Vladimir is one of my faves— perhaps my most favorite character in the entire MW universe. And though I like him because he’s an unapologetic baddie, that’s not the only reason.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Vladimir is this super complex character that nobody else gets, but there are definitely some elements that give him a few extra layers and they’re worthy of being analyzed.

Beware, this is going to be a long post and will contain a few historical references. This isn’t a comprehensive breakdown, and I’ll probably make a lot mistakes along the way because I’m not a history buff by any means (please, don’t yell at me ;A;), but it should be a rough explanation of what I think led Vladimir to such extremist views and why I think he’s a good antagonist in Call of Duty. Also it could be a helpful reference for anyone who wishes to write a story about him.

I’m not claiming this is the most accurate interpretation of Vladimir, or that it’s the only valid one, but if any of this information comes in handy or offers a different insight into his character then I’ll consider my mission accomplished.

Without further ado, here we go!

Tagging @sunset-and-periwinkle​​​ and @renegad3spectre​ because they may be interested in this post :v

1. No Russian

So one of the first recollections that come to mind when thinking about MW2 is the infamous mission of No Russian. This kind of content was so violent and crude for its time that it caused quite the controversy and it still divides the opinion between people who think videogames should push boundaries and people who believe there are things that shouldn’t be portrayed in such an offhanded way. Whether including that level in MW2 was a good or terrible choice is not the point of this post. However, I’ll share my personal experience.

Me, back when I played this mission I didn’t give it much thought. I mean… it didn’t have this serious impact on me as I’m guessing the developers intended, from what I’ve read, but that’s mainly because I wasn’t mature enough to make a proper assessment of the story-line and to me CoD games weren’t about deep narratives either. Keep in mind that I was an immature kid and I just wanted to play a game that my brother enjoyed. So yes, without much thought I breezed through No Russian, accomplished the objectives and it wasn’t until the end of the mission that I realized I’d been played like a damn fiddle.

And my first reaction to seeing Makarov killing me was “bro, I thought we were allies”. Never mind the carnage that had ensued moments ago, never mind that I had participated in it. I was more offended by this unexpected 'betrayal' and well... imagine how stupid I was for thinking Vladimir could be my friend. The fact that Allen was a CIA agent completely eluded me and I didn’t understand a freaking thing of what was going on but that was on me. I shouldn’t have been playing those games at my young age because evidently I wasn't ready to handle adult themes like that.

Replaying this mission now that I’m older made me realize how messed up it was, and maybe not for the most obvious reasons. Yeah, innocent people die all around us and that's something we cannot stop from happening, no matter what we do. However, it’s not really necessary for us to hurt civilians to complete the level (we’re not punished for not doing it) so we can be simple witnesses to the brutality ensuing in front of us, which is as equally messed up perhaps. You can even skip the whole mission altogether if you want to, so no biggie: you’re spared the nightmare fuel and you can happily head to Brazil to capture Alejandro Rojas. Heck, you’re even rewarded a glimpse of Ghost ready to torture Alejandro’s assistant and all is back to normal, yay!

However, when you think about it, from the perspective of the story, Allen wasn’t given the option to skip anything. He was pushed to commit a vile deed and ordered to follow Makarov’s lead no matter how morally questionable those actions turned out to be in the end. Shepherd told him that this mission would cost him a piece of himself and he was right about it. Had Allen survived, I’m pretty sure he would have been scarred for life after what he did. I don’t know how he could have lived with himself knowing that he slaughtered all those innocent people. Vladimir killing him off was kind of… an act of mercy in a way, though of course we know he had completely different intentions for doing so.

So people may wonder, why the heck Vladimir carried out that massacre? Some common opinions I read is because he’s an asshole, because he’s crazy, because he wants to make a statement, because he enjoys being a psychopath and hurting others. All these may be true to some extent, we’ll never know for sure, but it’d be very simplistic to just leave it at that without taking into consideration other elements of the story that were left implicit.

I’m going to say that, from my perspective, I didn’t get the impression Makarov enjoyed killing those civilians (but hear me out, neither did he regret it!). It would have been pretty easy to make him this psycho that slaughters people with a smile on his face, but that’s not what we see in No Russian… and perhaps it’s even more terrifying when you realize how casual he is about the whole affair. You really get the impression that he’s a man on a mission and he carries it out in a very no-nonsense manner, does it all with a straight face, without batting an eyelash, without any trace of doubt about what he’s doing, not even a hitch in his voice, absolutely no emotion whatsoever. His actions, his words, his whole demeanor, all scream about being a professional at what he does for better or for worse.

He didn’t know these people, he had no quarrel with them, and yet he killed them all in cold blood. Why? Because they were stepping stones to his goals and there was a very established purpose for that op. To the rest of the world, yea, it  may seem like there’s no logical reason for what he did other than he’s nuts but, honestly, Vladimir could care less about that. The only thing that matters to him are the results.

Even if the whole world thinks that he’s insane, in his mind this was the most reasonable course of action. To him it had to be done, there was no other way, and he didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger when the time came because he was truly convinced it was the right thing to do. The fact that he (a criminal who’s wanted by the entire world and probably cannot afford to leave himself out in the open) participated in that brutal event shows the utmost importance it had to his plans. Vladimir personally oversaw and carried out the operation, he didn’t leave anyone else in charge because of the very special meaning it had for him. He says “for Zakhaev” before engaging FSB units because this incident would mark the beginning of a new chapter in Russian history, a chapter Vladimir would write in honor of the man who was his friend and mentor— the man who started it all, who gave him a cause to believe in and fight for.

He definitely had his reasons for what he did. They were the wrong reasons of course, but Vladimir didn’t act on a whim nor did he waste his time on matters that didn’t advance his agenda. He didn’t start a war nor massacred hundreds of people at that airport for simple fun and without a solid motive (though this isn’t by any means a justification, it still was a pretty shitty thing to do). We all know that it was a false flag operation, as he wanted to put the blame on the US for the attack. His intention was sparking a war between Russia and America and he was willing to achieve that by any means necessary, even if thousands of his countrymen had to die, even if he had to make common cause with Shepherd (we don’t know under which circumstances and terms), a man who by all accounts should have been his worst enemy— a man who had set up an entire task force for the sole purpose of hunting Vladimir down. And don’t get me wrong, they weren’t buddies, they still hated each other’s guts and would kill the other in a heartbeat, but they were willing to work together towards the same goal because none of them would succeed on their own.

So, ultimately, Vladimir’s objective was riling up the public opinion to push for an invasion of America and provide the Russian government a ‘legitimate’ reason to do it. Does this have 9/11 commentary undertones? Well, I’m not gonna be the judge of that but it could be a possibility.

However, to understand this moment, we’ll have to go much further back in time.

2. His Childhood

This is going to be a huge oversimplification of Soviet history, I’m afraid, so my apologies in advance. Don’t take my word as the absolute truth, this is barely scratching the surface.

According to the information seen in No Russian, and Return to Sender, little Volodya was born on April 10th (not sure how reliable is the wiki since I was convinced he was born on October 4th *shrugs*) of 1970 in Ivanovo, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Or for those who, like me, don’t like those long names, better known as Soviet Russia.

As a curious fact, Ivanovo is known as the City of Brides because it was a very important center of textile industries in the Soviet Union that attracted many young women seeking work. It also has an important historical significance as hotbed for revolutionary activity in czarist Russia and was the city where supposedly the first Bolshevik assembly took place (earning the nickname of City of the First Soviet). During the Second War it proved invaluable as a front city, located close to enemy lines, receiving refuges and injured soldiers of the Red Army that treated their wounds in the many hospitals that were set up for that purpose. Also, in addition to producing armament and fighting in the war, the citizens made good use of their industries and donated huge quantities of fabric to make millions of uniforms.

Back to the topic, next thing we have to wonder is what Vladimir’s life was like as a child born in the 70s. We don’t know much about it and it’s never even mentioned anywhere in the game but, if we had to hazard a guess, he most likely had a relatively happy childhood— raised like any average Soviet kid at the time. His parents were maybe workers, maybe doctors, maybe engineers, maybe teachers, maybe in the military, but they surely weren’t bad people and they wanted their son to be a decent member of society. They didn’t raise him to be a criminal, they didn’t shape him into a monster. If Vladimir had at least one grandfather alive, then he would have served during the Great Patriotic War (a term used in Russia and other former Soviet republics to refer to the conflict in the Eastern Front during WWII). And as a kid, Volodya probably grew up in a typical khrushchyovka apartment with his family. It wasn’t very luxurious but, you know, it wasn’t so bad either and it was home sweet home for them.

Now you gotta imagine what growing up in the Soviet Union was like. Education was heavily influenced by the Communist party and children swam in a sea of propaganda. No, no matter what western propaganda says, they didn’t teach him to hate the west as a kid. Vladimir didn’t want to wipe out Americans from the face of the Earth or skin them alive as you probably imagined at some point, but from a young age he was taught to be proud of being born in the greatest country in the whole world and he pitied the ‘oppressed’ American workers for their lack of Soviet blessings, for being unable to stand up to their imperialist overlords. Heck, this was a popular song in the 80s, when he was about ten years old and probably every Soviet kid sang it at school, including him.

Speaking about that, at school he must have been in contact with several ethnic groups— remember that the industries attracted a lot of people to Ivanovo, particularly women, from many places all over the Soviet Union and, even to this day, Ivanovo is a multi-cultural city with over a hundred nationalities. It’s safe to say that Vladimir would have never given it much thought if someone wasn’t an ethnic Russian nor would he have cared. There weren’t nationalities or differences back then. Everyone was a Soviet citizen and everyone was equal or so it would seem at least, if you ignore the multiple genocides, mass killings, deportations and other horrors of the Stalin era before the Soviet Union adopted a more moderate domestic policy and started a process of de-stalinization after his death— eliminating his cult of personality and other institutions that allowed him to hold autocratic power.

This was also known as the Khrushchev Thaw period, and it was during this time that repression and censorship began to become more lax thanks to Nikita Khrushchev’s policies, and millions of prisoners were released from the gulags. It also opened up the Soviet Union to some economic reforms, trade with other countries, as well as educational and cultural exchanges in the form of foreign uncensored books and movies, music, dances, fashion, and new forms of entertainment in national television. So all this would seem a shift towards a more positive outlook for the Soviet citizens.

Our little Volodya shared and played with other kids in his neighborhood in the playgrounds of the apartment buildings, maybe fell off those Soviet swings and whacked his head a few times but that was okay, he still had fun and laughed and cried like any other child. He grew up listening to old pop music, synth (because people just didn’t listen to patriotic music all the time) and watching Bollywood movies which were all the rage at the time in the USSR as an alternative to western cinema. He had friends, a family that loved him. He spent weekends at the dacha (cottages outside the city) working the land with his family, growing fresh produce. He probably had an affectionate babushka that looked after him, told him many stories, and cooked hearty meals for him because she was a genius at handling finances and feeding the family. She surely was a god-believing woman despite the widespread atheism in a society where the word of Marx and Lenin had an almost religious significance, who took no shit from anyone, and who would  chew Vladimir’s head off if he so much went out under-dressed in a breezy day. Even as a grown ass man, she would still intimidate him because you don’t mess with babushkas!

Like a good Soviet kid he was taught to never lie, to help his parents and respect the work of others, to have good manners and not be a spoiled brat, to be considerate and kind to his elders, encouraged to be resourceful, to do things by himself and not expect others to come to his aid, to improve his culture and intellect, to study hard and become someone who would help build the future of socialist paradise. He probably collected silly trinkets like many kids do, he spent his time learning to carve wood and other crafts, reading about the great war heroes and the communist leaders. Year after year he played zarnitsa, a war game for kids and a very popular activity in the Young Pioneers (the Soviet ‘Boy Scouts’, so to speak) that trained young generations for military life, compulsory for every man, cultivating their love for the USSR and preparing them to defend the homeland from the enemy.

Life back then could be tough at times, true, but he must have been quite happy and there was joy to be had. He was raised to be patriotic, a good communist, living in what he believed was a place of peace where all were equals and all were comrades. Having little contact with western influences, he grew up listening to a carefully woven narrative and was told of the decadence of warmonger capitalists that feared the spread of communism so much that they would wage countless wars to stop it and destroy other peace-loving nations. So much could be argued regarding this statement, sure, but this is what he was told and it was during a time when Operation Condor (the US-backed campaign of state terrorism and wave of right-wing dictatorships in Latin America during the 70s-80s) was in full swing to eradicate communism and any Soviet influence from South America. Not to mention the many proxy wars waged throughout these decades, as well.

“For years the western hypocrisy has made the world a battlefield.”

Little Octobrists and Young Pioneers were a thing and the Communist ideology was still going strong even if some started to quietly question it. Not that many did, at any rate, since the dreaded KGB kept a close eye on everyone so dissidents wouldn’t spread the wrong ideas in the Soviet society. Well, at that time maybe you wouldn’t be sent to a gulag just for saying bad things but someone would ‘talk’ some reason into you and there would be subtle threats to tone your attitude down or else your life and that of your relatives could be screwed. Don’t say this, don’t do that, the walls have ears and you’re being watched.

You have to keep in mind that he also grew up under the constant threat of nuclear annihilation. And much like American kids, Vladimir would have been greatly concerned about nuclear armageddon and be familiarized with procedures to follow in case such a terrible event came to pass.

The US and Russia pointed nukes at each other for many years and the NATO military exercises of Able Archer— at the peak of Cold War hysteria— didn’t help matters. These were annual exercises but that year of 1983, new elements never seen before had been introduced, and then there was the menace of the new Pershing II nuclear missiles that had been recently deployed in Western Europe. If launched, these would be able to reach their target in less than ten minutes (faster than any other missile known until then), landing with high accuracy and virtually no warning.

Until then the only thing stopping a nuclear war was the threat of mutually assured destruction, but these missiles tipped off the scales in favor of the west, since the Soviets would have no way to retaliate if their command centers or even their own missile launch facilities were targeted. So the Soviet Politburo was very concerned about this situation, in a time when president Reagan poured great efforts to fight the Brezhnev Doctrine (which established the legitimization of military interventions in Eastern bloc states, or any country that became a threat to international socialism) and show the world that the USSR wasn’t indestructible.

The increase in realism of these exercises, the strained relationship with the US under the Reagan administration, previous psychological operations, participation of heads of government in the exercise, and recent deployment of these new ballistic missiles, made the Soviet military believe that the US and NATO were preparing for a preemptive strike and that the exercise was nothing but a ruse. In response, the Soviets readied their nukes, air forces in East Germany and Poland were put on high alert to any funny business, and Soviet intelligence monitored the situation closely for signs of an impeding attack.

After nine days, the exercises came to an end and that was probably the time both countries were the closest to nuclear annihilation since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

So in those years, Vladimir was living under the administration of Leonid Brezhnev famously known for his era of stagnation and also for his passionate kisses (the famous socialist fraternal kiss, you guys :v). Though it’s worthy of being mentioned that in the early 70s the Soviet Union had reached the peak of international power and prestige.

Nikita Khrushchev, Brezhnev’s predecessor, had promised that by the 80s communism would be a reality and maybe that wasn’t so hard to believe at the time. The economy was growing at a rate of about 3% annually and things had started off relatively well in the mid 60s when Brezhnev assumed office. There was full employment, even minimal wage was sufficient to afford basic necessities, healthcare was a given, education in all levels was free and once you finished university or a vocational course, there was a job waiting for you. Things were pretty much settled for everyone. There wasn’t a lot to worry about, not many uncertainties. It was a pleasant predictive life for the most part. Not perfect, by any means, and it had its difficulties but Vladimir’s family felt protected and safe and they had great hopes for the future.

What went wrong then?

To be continued in part 2

[alexiaugustin]

Okay I'm gonna make this one post about my post yesterday and people's reaction to it and after that I'm not gonna mention it again because I don't wanna be involved in all that fandom drama

First of all I would like to clarify something about my post to prevent further misunderstandings. When I said "so go ahead straight people n fill my asks with hate [...]" I was in no way trying to say that only straight people watch this show or that just because, I as a queer person, gave my opinion on this matter every other queer person should/is having the same opinion as me. I read some posts and realized that this sentence was phrased really badly and I also wasn't aware that both of these statements from above are a huge problem in this tag since I only ever was in the wtfock tag when s3 was airing. So this misunderstanding is something I'm apologizing for and I hope that it didn't cause anyone any pain. That being said I would like to explain what I actually meant by it.

I'm aware that this show is watched by both queer and straight people and that's amazing and good. But one of my issues with this show (and in general all skam remakes) is that suddenly there are also a lot of straight people telling queer people how to feel about the representation, writing decisions etc... Of course everyone is allowed to give their opinions on tv shows and neither straight people should police queer people around nor (and that's important because so many people misunderstood me there) should queer people police other queer people around how to feel about this show. Nobody should send hate asks to anyone ever. But I do think that there's a difference between queer people discussion something they might or already have experience(d) in their daily life than people who might try to understand but will never ever fully get to understand because they just aren't experiencing it themselves. So if I say something that offends a queer person and this person replies to it maybe even a bit harshly because after all I offended them, that's something I can understand and I'm willing to listen to this person even tho they might not be 100% friendly. But straight people who have never experienced and will never experience the things I'm criticizing have no right to be angry and rude because let's make this clear; they just aren't in the place to be offended by a queer person talking about queer rep. They just aren't. And yes, in the skam fandoms are a lot of straight people freaking out as soon as someone criticizes their fav remake and it really rubs me the wrong way. I'm always up for discussion with everyone and my post a) stated that this was just my opinion and b) I even said in the tags that I respect other people's opinion on this.

And if u just saw a reblog and didn't read the tags then sorry but that really ain't my problem maybe make sure to read the whole post ur gonna ramble about on your own blog or in other people's asks next time because it would definitely prevent some misunderstandings. I would also really love to mention that I think that it's absolutely unnecessary to send hate asks to other blogs that had nothing to do with my post and now had to deal with the "drama" I started?? But maybe it's just me who thinks so. Honestly if y'all wanted to know what I meant with certain things I said you could have just asked me instead of sending those questions to others but okayyy

And for the people saying "If you can't handle criticism why did you tag it?" first of all I can handle constructive criticism really well and would have replied to it but people starting drama and being really disrespectful is something else and I didn't want to explain myself over and over again that's why I'm writing this one post now.

Anyway I don't even know what kind of tumblr rules y'all read and if I just missed them but where did anyone ever say that you're only allowed to posts memes and jokes in tumblr tags. And if you have something to criticize you just can't tag it so... nobody ever sees it?? I'm sorry but where is the logic. Personally I love to read criticism on tv shows, books, movies and such. Because constructive criticism is so so important to broaden your horizon and see things from different perspectives, that's something so important yet people aren't willing to make an effort and don't even try to understand why other people think the way they do. That's exactly why ignorance and misunderstandings exist. Because nobody seems to be able to listen to people apart from the people who 100% agree with them. Everyone is just living in a bubble where one's self confidence gets booted because people are constantly validating your opinion and nobody ever dares to get out of there to see and understand other people's views because everyone just wants to have an opinion that is the "right" and "valid" one.

The ability to love a tv show and still being able to say "but I don't agree with character xy when he said this and that" or "my fave is problematic and I'm aware but this show means the world to me and I can love it and still understand why people might dislike certain aspects of it" is just hands down one of the best abilities to have on here. And y'all should learn to develop them because people who can't take criticism are seriously annoying.

I also didn't like that everyone just jumped to conclusions about me and my life. I'm sorry but do you know where I'm from and if homophobia is really common in my country?? No you don't. Do you know what has happened to me and what I've been through in life?? You don't either. You don't even know what aspects of the show I was criticizing because I didn't say it anywhere, yet y'all started writing essays about some scenes and why they weren't badly written the second I posted this. That is just proof of the fact that you can't stand people criticizing a show that you love. Because y'all didn't even care enough to ask me what my issues are with that show, you just freaked out because I was criticizing smth you love.

Anyway I'm sorry that this is so long thanks to everyone who read till the end, I really appreciate it. And I'm aware that I said "y'all" a lot because that's just how I always talk and ofc I know that there were also a lot of people who asked questions before freaking out and respected my opinion no matter if I they shared mine or not. Thank you so much for that<33