#not that i think she did nothing wrong

[morganmnemonic]

I can't stop thinking about the relationship between Jon and Helen as perhaps one of the most important ones in the entire show. They are narrative parallels for each other, and they both know it. They've both known it from the very start!

Helen walks into the Archives, paranoid, unsure of who to trust, and Jon sees himself in her. And he thinks "If i can help her, maybe there's hope for me too." Then he can't save her. The next time they meet, she's a monster. They're both monsters. There was never any other way their stories could have gone, their fates entwined from the very start.

And Helen answers his original thought with one of her own: "Maybe if we can help each other, there's hope for us both." But Jon looks at her and sees everything that he fears becoming, and so he turns her away, and refuses to accept that their stories are still one and the same.

Helen went to the last person who was ever kind to her, the only person who both knew her as a human and had the context to understand what she'd become, and he hated her. He hated her because he liked Helen, and told her that she couldn't be Helen.

So she stopped trying to be Helen, and embraced being a monster. Reveled in it even. Then Jon wakes up from a six month coma, more monster than person, and tries so hard to cling to the things that mattered to him when he was human. Even with no support, even with the entire archives staff against him, he chooses humanity and compassion over and over again.

And this is a direct threat to Helen's world view. Their stories are entwined. If Jon can continue to be a person even after everything he's been through, then she could have clung to her humanity too, if only she'd tried a little harder. And that terrifies her! She wants to conceptualize herself as someone who was completely overwhelmed by forces beyond her control, who never had a choice but to become a monster. She want's to be an innocent victim. But Jon argues with his actions that they'd both had choices.

And, Jon, in turn, holds out hope that she might make better choices until the very end.

This is the conflict between them for all of season 4 and 5. Jon wants to prove that they can both be decent people, and Helen wants to prove that they were never going to be anything but monsters. This is why she's so devoted to trying to goad Jon into enjoying his newfound godhood. She knows that they are the same, and wants that to mean that he has a spark of evil inside of him, and not that she was always capable of doing good.

When Jon kills her, she loses her life, but wins the argument. Helen is nothing but a dangerous monster who needs to be killed for the good of everyone, and in the moment he decides that, Jon dooms himself to the same fate. Their stories are one and the same. "If i can help her, maybe there's hope for me too." he thought. But he couldn't help her, refused to, even, in the one moment when it actually mattered. And thus, there was never hope for him.

[thedreadvampy]

Losing my shit about this article in which a transphobic Tory was so busy panicking about existing in the vicinity of a Trans that she almost certainly misheard "jeans" as "penis" and decided that not only was this a problem with the other woman, but also that the world must be informed of this pressing danger.

"a trans woman! I had to stand directly behind her....I thought, 'this is going well', I'm handling The Situation fine'..."

translated: I saw a tall woman with broad shoulders. How would I get out of this alive? I thought. she has a PENIS. PENIS PENIS PENIS. through some force of PENIS I mean will I managed to PENIS behave normally towards her. My hands were PENIS PENIS PENIS shaking as I tried to dry them. summoning up all my PENIS courage I said 'dryer's crap innit'. she turned to me and said " yeah I'm just goiPENIS PENIS PENIS"

It's been a week and I'm still shaking. This proves trans women are the problem and I'm not weird. I'm fine. It's fine. If you think about it I'm the hero hePENIS!!!!!

very this

[dollarstorefern]

*cough* if you hate amber volakis i hate you *cough* (just kidding!) (i’m not.)

[flannelepicurean]

Counterpoint (or maybe not?) about Chi-Chi. And not at all defending the behavior, because I do see it for being problematic, and I have half a thesis on its presentation, but I kinda want to just do Scholarship about what's immediately at hand, so here we go:

She's a warrior, too. Y'all remember how Teen Chi-Chi the Ox Princess got out her 1988 boom box and played the Proclaimers on repeat and like... punched boulders for MONTHS going, "Well I-IIIII would 💥 500 miles and I-IIII would 💥 500 more..." and then fell asleep every night to Zombina and the Skeletones singing"Gotta Be an Ape Man?" on her way to that big tournament? Y'all remember that?

If Goku grasped her wrists like the tender bird bones she has now, compared to him being a little god snoozeville years ago, she wouldn't feel POWERLESS, necessarily. She'd feel PISSED. On a whole different entire level.

Because he was like, "Don't hold back, mystery warrior! Don't be wack like that at a TOURNAMENT! Show me what you GOT, bay-beeeee!!!"

And yeah, he waxed her ass and won the tournament. But she got the prize she came for, AND he acknowledged her as a WARRIOR.

Now she's outmatched by literally everyone and everything they come up against, and even Bulma's got better guns and ammo, guaranteed. Even the toddlers can fucking fly.

And no matter how hard she hits, her Ape Man won't listen to her even 2% as much as he listens to fucking VEGETA, and he don't even unstop his big ol' ears half the time when the Prince of All Giant Ears is like, "kakarot wtf u goddamn imbecile, we JUST flipped the counter to 4 yrs since last kakarot died, don't u want a PIZZA PARTY, kakarot??? THINK OF THE PIZZA, WE CAN GET 3 TOPPINGS, KAKAROT -- NO! FIVE!!! FIVE TOPPINGS, BULMA WILL PAY FOR IT, KAKAROT NOOOOO!!!!!"

He doesn't see or hear her anymore; she doesn't speak his language on any level, especially not the one that matters to him most, in a distinctly Goku way that I have a whole other Thesis about. Or she's TRYING, but she still speaks like... Ancient Greek, and he's on Cyberpunk Cyri11ix 2.6, so they can't communicate at all.

And he holds her like she has bird bones. Because to him and everybody else in her circle, she does.

She could throw a fucking oven at him and he'd be like, "GAAHHH, SHE'S SO SCARY!" but she's not scary enough to stop him flying off and taking the kids with him to maybe go get killed again, or whatever, who knows?!

Again, not defending the behavior. I do find their dynamic both insane and tragic and DEEPLY sad in a really layered way, and I admit that that's more than two things, but that shit is complex and I can't stop thinking about it.

- Bulma bitchslaps her family. She is a violent and angry individual. Vegeta cant do anythinf about it obviously. Bulma doesnt really slap her daughter. She absolutely slaps her son

- If Trunks has the gall to raise his guard and resist the effect of his mother's slap then he gets in even MORE trouble. He HAS to just take the whiplash. He has to take the abuse or he gets grounded for daring to defy his mother. Also Vegeta will get on his case about it. Discipline and responsibility over ones power are very big lessons that Vegeta is always trying to teach, and he needs to make sure that his son understands that taking the hit is not as bad at Bulma breaking her hand on his titanium jaw.

- Chichi beats her family. Unlike Bulma, she will utilize tools. She will chase you down with a cast-iron skillet and then get mad at you for making her run.

- If shes running after you and she trips and falls then you have to go back and help her up becasue she is frail and she is your mother/wife, and then once shes on her feet she can beat you with better clearance

- She will break the wooden spoon on you and then send you to the market to buy a new one (since you broke it).

- Piccolo used to beat Gohan so he and Chichi have that in common.

- Both Goku and Vegeta know the experience of being across the house and then hearing the distinctive crack of your son facing the decisive reckoning of his mother

- Both Goku and Vegeta face the violence of their wives, but Vegeta will honestly just grab Bulma's wrists until she calms down, becasue he is too prideful to run, and just raising his guard is a wildly offensive affront to his nonwarrior wife. Bulma is still offended that he does that but thats just what needs to be done. Goku is not allowed to do that, but he will do it anyway, or he will run away or just get hit. Chichi gets so angry at him if he doesnt take the abuse becasue she feels powerless in their relationship and it's tantamount to him ignoring her completely.

- Chichi is kind of racist toward saiyans. If you bring up the fact that she beats her family she will be like "That's just what you have to do with those Saiyans! It's the only language they understand!"

[moonsaurora]

you know. it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth when people bring up the allegations against drake bell when talking about his abuse. it feels like “yeah this very bad thing happened to you, but you did this” ????

it’s like. you see this man disassociate at the thought of what happened to him. it being so horrible he can’t even say it. 11 charges against brian peck for what he did to drake ALONE, including but not limited to sodomy, forcible penetration with a foreign object, using anesthesia, and even filming it…like knowing all if this you still go “he also perpetrated abuse”

idk. i just feel like you can say that you feel horrible for what he went through and talk about that without bringing up his allegations. like imagine he’s sitting in front of you recounting the horrific shit he went through, and then you say back “yes that’s awful, but you did this”

idk how to explain it but it just feels wrong

[sukibenders]

The Arcane fandom, especially on TikTok is never beating the allegations because why, now, some fans act like it's too inconceivable to imagine that Ambessa was, not only, pregnant twice but gave birth twice as well? And their reasoning for this is "She looks like the type to get a man pregnant instead" or "She's too tough for that, I just can't see someone like her going through that." There are layers to these statements because, for one, just because someone, especially a woman, is a dominant force doesn't mean that they can't get/don't want to become pregnant (do you believe overtly dominant men can't be fathers?) It's also very weird because the undertones of misogyny and misogynoir and the overt masculinization of black women are there because, not only are they viewing pregnancy and giving birth, in general, to be viewed as something "weak" (even though it's grueling hours of labor that results in tearing the body apart, sometimes even death) but also attempts to strip Ambessa of her nuance. Yes, she is strong and very dominant, but she also deeply loved her children, who she birthed, and when one was taken away from her it changed her deeply. It's very gross to view a character like her in this way because it also reflects how you view dominant women in real life, pregnancy, and childbirth as a whole. Like how are you going to praise Arcane for having such a wide and diverse ensemble of female characters, but then have misogynistic takes like this? Make it make sense.

[the-daily-dreamer]

It’s always ruin your abuser’s life and crush your r*pist’s dreams, but when I, Alicent Hightower…

[hyakunana]

God and his staff

[srslylini]

is there genuinely a straight woman in arcane or is it a pride parade?

because the more I think of it the more I'm sure either the women are all confirmed queer or unconfirmed, meaning nothing

[nonbinoclard]

the instigator

[beanghostprincess]

The way this fandom treats Pudding should be studied under a fucking microscope because what do you mean you hate a girl who has been manipulated by her mother since she was born into hating herself and using a fake personality to attract men??? What do you mean you hate a girl whose last scene was sobbing because she had to let go of the only guy she has ever truly loved and has ever understood her??? Actually. Let me just-- What do you mean you hate a girl who was manipulated during the whole arc and clearly is being psychologically abused by her mother??

[thebestusernamepossible]

I think a really underrated character duo in gravity falls is Dipper and Stan. Like one, I think they are way more similar than people give them credit for. Like Dipper is definitely the one who feels like the ‘inferior’ twin (internally on his part), something reflected in Stan. Also Dipper is generally pretty cunning and willing to throw punches in a Stan-way, you can see Stan rubbing off on him as the show progresses. Dipper in the Stan costume, and that one scene where Stan and Dipper both cross their fingers at the same time for the same promise, both live in my head rent free. In my heart of hearts I think Dipper picks up a bit of Stans con-man tricks in the future (and Mabel goes on some bonding missions w/ Ford, but this post isn’t abt them). Also I just want to say I bet Dipper reminded Stan of a young Ford and that informed some of their early dynamic. Anyway bye just needed this brainworm out

[princessdarth-vader]

I think my ultimate thoughts re; Kipperlilly is that I wish we got a scene where a character was allowed to show her... sympathy. I know there's a tone you wanna hit with a victorious season finale, and a somber note of a teenager falling into a deep well of rage doesnt match that tone but it would've been nice to see.

In my dream world, we get an extra epilogue scene where Riz goes to see Jawbone to go and talk to him, and brings up the thing he mentioned about "seeing Kipperlilly in himself" -- relating that to what Jawbone said at the beginning of the year, and wanting to talk about that deeply set in need for control, and the latent anger he has, and all the ways he is like Kipperlilly, and doesn't want to be.

And in response, Jawbone is able to address the ways in which he failed Kipperlilly, and let her down. That she needed more help than he could provide, that she needed someone who wasn't too afraid of their own biases to shut down her anger, someone who could maybe have given her a support system to turn to instead of Porter. Someone external to the school and the social dynamics within it. Just an acknowledgement from, as far as we know, the only adult in Kipperlilly's life who earnestly tried -- and earnestly failed -- to help her find a better path than her rage.

Just a small moment of acknowledgement that Kipperlilly was a child, an angry, scared, biased and deeply insecure child who was looking for help when she first walked into Jawbone's office, and because of all the adults who failed her, she was turned into something unrecognisable by the time she was 17.

[himehomu]

“Homura callously destroys everything and everyone else because she's selfish and she only loves madoka” right that's why, when she rewrote the entire universe, she not only made it to where Madoka would be surrounded by her friends and her family, but she also gave Sayaka a second chance with not only Kyoko, but with Hitomi and Kyoske as well. That's why she gave Nagisa and Mami a life together. Because she's callous and selfish and she doesn't care about anyone but Madoka. That's why she took on the brunt of immortality for Madoka to be human again, even if it's temporary, choosing to suffer alone whilst everyone else has a second chance at a life. Go fuck yourself. I'm so tired of seeing ppl minimize Homura's love for Madoka and her friends by writing off her actions as “oh she's just a selfish evil edgelord who destroys everything and everyone who isn't madoka bc she doesn't care about anything else bc selfishness vs selflessness themes!!” like you do know that you can point out Homura's selfishness and Madoka's selflessness without blatantly lying and trying to rewrite canon to fit your narrative, right?

[inpermanences]

[wyfy-meltdown]

"As much as I wish for the happiness of someone, someone else must be equally cursed."

This is Sayaka's most icon line (next to "I won't regret anything!") and for good reason. It describes herself, but also the entire concept of "magical girls".

Kyuubey grants the wishes, and in return, a girl becomes cursed becoming a magical girl. Every character (*at least in pmmm, not magia record) becomes cursed at the expense of helping someone else.

Madoka(mi) ends the curse for all magical girls and her friends, but she and Homura becomes the most cursed of all. Madokami bears the weight of the whole universe on her shoulders; Homura's love made her into an object of worship.

Homura ends Madokami's reign (therefore un-cursing Madoka) at the expense of becoming more cursed herself, and cursing the rest of magical girls. Homura losses herself, her mind, and Madoka all for the sake of allowing Madoka to become human again. She can't interact with Madoka, but she can watch her inside her gilded cage; and that's "all" Homura needs

Sayaka is the most poignant example of this; with her "role" being to showcase the ultimate curse of all magical girls. She's determined to make a "selfless" wish (disguising her true "selfish" desires) despite how much Mami warns her against it. Sayaka losses the control she wanted to gain, and losses her mind. Mami's facade left such an impact on her she's dedicated herself to portraying herself as the "perfect magical girl" that never existed nor could exist in the first place. She becomes more cursed bearing the curse Mami left for her, and pushing away the one person who could help her because Kyoko doesn't line up with Sayaka's deluded image of how a magical girl should be. Sayaka curses the people around her up until her curse is ended by Kyoko.

Kyoko makes the most selfless wish of them all, and the most people become cursed as a result. The ones she loved and wished for the sake of in a genuinely selfless way had enjoyed her wish for a while, until the wish could not longer protect them. Kyoko's whole family and life went up in flames as a direct consequence of her wish; because of that, she's decided to live only for herself because she understands best the curse that comes with selflessness; the curse that comes with love. I don't know if it's directly confirmed when Kyoko leaves Mami, but I theorize it was shortly after the death of Kyoko's family; the time Kyoko lost her selfless heart and could not longer connect with others as a result. Kyoko stays that way until Sayaka; Sayaka is the antithesis of Kyoko and yet the same as her. Kyoko relieves the curse on herself and Sayaka with their deaths; the only way to end the curse of a magical girl.

Mami's wish is the most selfish (*objectively) and so the fewest people are cursed (one could even argue that the only one cursed by Mami's wish was Mami herself). Mami's curse is a "self-fufilling prophecy" of sorts where she isolates herself and fully dedicates herself to being a magical girl from the fear that she'll end up alone again and/or that anyone she comes into contact will suffer/die. In a sense, this is true, as the rest of the Holy Quintet do in fact suffer, die, become witches, and so on. Mami didn't even really get to make a wish; she simply had an opportunity to survive and took it, and was forced to suffer as a magical girl because of it. The impact she leaves on Sayaka and her trying to convince Madoka to become a magical girl are curses she imposes without knowing the extent of her actions, nor that her actions are in any way bad; she's gotten swept up by the lies of the incubators and has become someone who curses as a result.

Nagisa is an interesting case because she deliberately curses herself and the people around her. She knows that she COULD wish to save her mom, but prefers the idea of making her mom indulge in her revenge: the world's tastiest cheesecake. The cheesecake Nagisa wished for instead of her mother's health. She becomes a magical girl, with the knowledge she'll never not be a magical girl again, all for the sake of revenge.