#not just for the characters' benefit

[symbologic]

I think it's very interesting that Zoro lost:

One parent to illness (like Usopp and Sanji)

The other parent to pirates (like Nami)

One of his best friends to a confusing, senseless death he had to hear about secondhand (like Luffy)

And yet, he is the only member of Luffy's core crew from East Blue who doesn't let personal problems push him away. He is also the only one of the original five who never doubts his place in the crew or Luffy's abilities

Obviously each character has their reasons for their own crises. But Zoro is so much more well-adjusted and centered than people give him credit for

[dykedvonte]

I think depictions of Anya being cruel to Curly or drawing out his suffering are artful and chilling but completely miss the point of the story and her character.

I'm not saying she doesn't deserve to have that "I told you so" moment with him but not in something callous or cold. Even if that is how it happened, she'd immediately feel guilty cause at that point she's not tormenting her tormenter or even the person truly at fault. She's doing something cathartic, similar to how Jimmy likely hits Curly to release rage he can't against the rest of the crew. She'd see herself as no different when she'd come back from the moment and see Curly cowering at her. She wants someone to take responsibility but how does being cruel to the defenseless help? Why would she want the power Jimmy has over her over Curly?

The idea of her extending someone else's pain is just so against the struggles she already faces and how she can't even bring herself to cause someone pain even to help them. Her very desire is to release herself from her own suffering and I doubt she'd even fine some sort of guilty release in being cruel to another.

[stuckinapril]

It really is so true that you never know what someone’s going through behind closed doors. I’ve made being gentle and kind my default bc I’ve had super put together friends disclose the most harrowing time of their lives to me and it’s like oh?? You were going through that???? I would’ve never guessed

[bixels]

I've been seeing some discussion about Overwatch's new characters and Kiriko on Twitter following the MHA crossover event and, as someone who's not totally in the loop of OW lore anymore, what does Kiriko... do. Like, what does she contribute to the story of Overwatch and Talon and the Omnic Crisis, how is she involved. I know she trained with the Shimada brothers when she was a wee embryo, but what's her connection to... Overwatch. Girl, what are you doing here.

[kwillow]

As an eligible young noble of no small fame, Ambroys had a number of arranged courtships and suitresses in his youth, but any nascent marriages always fell through.

It's not that he didn't try; he certainly knew how to court a lady (perhaps too well, according to many fathers and husbands), and when he lacked knowledge on the affairs of womens' hearts, he sought counsel from a young woman who was a dear friend of his (perhaps too much counsel, according to his own father). Nonetheless, all he garnered for his efforts was separation after separation.

Ah, well. Maybe it was for the best.

[followerofmercy]

I think Freminet has some of the most interesting dissonance in his self perception of any Genshin character.

Like, of the Hearthlings we know, he's one of the most emotionally mature and intelligent. Lynette might still have him beat, but after playing her hangout... I dunno. I think they're tied. Lyney is Crumbling, Alrecchino is. Well. Arlecchino. Everyone else is a deeply traumatized child or adult and Freminet seems to pretty regularly be people's emotional support. His character stories talk about getting his vision by saving a bunch of other kids on a dive that went bad. The Selkie event literally had him being a therapist for a grownass woman, citing his past experiences with all the other Hearthlings that have died or killed themselves. And he handled that situation WELL. Yeah, he seems to live in a fantasy, but goddamn he's alive and a lot of people in his position aren't so clearly something is working.

Either his or Lyney's character story talks about the time Freminet had reached out to Lyney to try to ease his burdens, which resulted in Lyney blowing up at him. That probably contributed to Freminet thinking he's not good at it, but I think the reason Lyney reacted so badly was BECAUSE Freminet is actually a good support. He can't allow himself that from the little brother he's supposed to protect.

Freminet seems to both cry and dissociate often, but like... Kiddo you are in fact the only person in this family actually processing your emotions. Lynette dissociates 24/7. Arlecchino. Lyney lies and tells everyone he's fine and would literally rather die than admit otherwise. In comparison, Freminet is doing FANTASTIC

Freminet also gets a lot out of helping people! Like anyone, he needs to feel useful and needed. He seems to be an excellent mentor to the younger Hearthlings and perfectly competent on his own, but when you put him in a room with Lyney and Lynette who baby him and insist that THEY take care of HIM, he withdraws into himself.

Like, Freminet by himself feels like a young man and Freminet with the magician twins feels like a teenager. I have no idea how old he actually is. Logically, he would be OLDER than them! He's been with the House much, much longer and his experience shows. I think it's fascinating that they love him SO MUCH and yet, they just Cannot let him help them. Which is hurting him.

(Lynette is much better about not babying him and that is probably why their relationship is so much better than Freminet and Lyney's. Also why she keeps having to mediate between them. Because Lyney charges off trying to Fix Everything and that just makes Freminet feel useless and he doesn't want to get in the way and- you get the point)

Idk. It's hard to tell what things the previous director said to him vs what Arlecchino has said to him. I'm inclined to think our Arlecchino was the one that said he cries too much, but in a "crying in front of your enemies will get you killed" way and she herself is too fucked up to realize how "you cry too much" could be damaging.

Also I try not to consider gameplay stuff when it comes to story, but Freminet also has some of the most BRUTAL animations. He SMASHES HIS EMOTIONAL SUPPORT METAL PENGUIN INTO HIS ENEMY'S FACE. He doesn't think he's the most amazing fighter, and by Fatui standards he probably isn't, but he is winning fights against most grown men.

Tldr Freminet thinks he cries too much and is a burden and isn't good at helping people when he's actually the most mentally stable Hearthling send tweet

[silvermoon424]

Fellow neurodivergent ppl, do you ever get shocked at how fucking autistic you are

[thattheater-kid]

Aroace culture is accidentally writing all your characters to be aspec because you have a hard time writing romantic and sexual relationships.

[transmascutena]

the poor little meow meow-ifictation of saionji in this fandom has got to stop i can't take it any more

[confusedmothboy]

more demon king laios + evil kabru because i can make them so awful and twisted

[kakushigotofanclub]

Sanemi and Obanai have the most important character dynamic in KnY to me right now and I so badly want to write queerplatonic saneoba fic but I feel like my writing style depends so strongly on dialogue that I just can't do it because it would 100% be an unsaid thing. Like I envision their relationship would be something like...

'I hate everyone, but I can tolerate being around you. I might even. I might even LIKE being around you, actually. But there's no way in hell I'm gonna admit that, so we're just gonna pretend it's a coincidence we spend so much time together. We just happen to be in the same place all the time. But I'm not attached to you and I don't get worried about you or anything like that. At all. Ever. That would be stupid, so don't get any wrong ideas (but god just please be careful I don't know what I would do if I lost you.)'

You know. Like cats.

[i-like-eyes]

the result of asking myself "what's a tf2 level of bullshit for a medic wife explanation"

[syn0vial]

as much as i enjoy legacy of the force and overall don't mind its retcons of previous boba fett media, the one change that i just can't stand is a tiny alteration karen traviss makes to boba fett's childhood as told in the junior novels. in the junior novels, jango keeps a pet eel in his apartment, which needs to be fed live rodents known as "sea mice." boba does not like the eel at all because he empathizes with the feeder mice, to the point where, when jango tries to make him feed the mice to the eel himself, he starts feeding the eel his own food and trying to smuggle the mice to freedom. and when the eel is eventually killed in the story (not long before jango's own death), boba's only thought is "good riddance."

yet, when karen traviss retells these events in legacy of the force, she says boba was fond of the eel, not the mice. which is just!!! such a huge missing of the point!!! like, yes karen, making boba fett fond of the predator in the equation rather than the prey makes more sense on a surface-level reading, but it totally eliminates all of the tragic, ironic weight of that contradiction in his childhood: that this little boy, who idolizes his bounty hunter father, can't stomach the thought of an animal killing something else to live and despises that animal for it. the point is that he's naive and doesn't fully grasp the horror of what his father does and what he's being raised to do, the point is that we know that this is boba fucking fett and that this innocence tragically will not last, and the point is that one of the most notorious killers in the galaxy started out as a kid who literally could not even stand to harm a mouse.

like for kark's sake, karen, how's it feel to be out-nuanced by a novel for nine-year-olds

[taddymason]

Unpopular Opinion:

Sometimes Jaya has good moments, I'm not going to deny it, but... tbh neither the show nor the fandom really give equal treatment to both characters, and that's what really distances me from the ship. If Nya isn't being left behind for Jay to have character development (S6), then Nya is turned into a perfect girlboss who can do everything well and without any interesting characteristics while Jay is reduced to the male wife and adorable man-child, or basically the character that Nya was afraid to become in the first seasons.

The only Jaya I'm interested in is both of them being powerful, silly and pathetic, give Nya more than being the "perfect girl" and Jay being the loser please, there's nothing interesting about that

[canisalbus]

It's quite funny having followed you for years and years and knowing Machete as his dark, bloodied, cunning (and always on the edge of getting horribly murdered for his hubris) incarnation, and coming into 2024 and just... yeah he's gay now. Maybe he's even happy. Redemption at last... perhaps he DID get assassinated indeed and all those AUs are just his personal afterlife (does he get to go to Heaven? Seems so!)

.

[liccy]

I need to say this, and I haven't heard anyone else talk about it in regards to EOW (and I'll try not to include any spoilers), but...

I EFFIN' LOVE CONDÉ WITH ALL OF MY BEING!!!

That is all.