#projecting onto two different characters about the same problem is very confusing

[chaotic-toby]

Omori brainrot go brr

Imagine Basil getting jealous whenever Sunny hangs out with anyone in the group for too long, and he hating himself for it. Like, there is no reason for him to hate Sunny being close with anyone. Basil has the same friends-- that he cherishes as well.

It's a very confusing thing for him.

He'll be very sad if anything bad ever happened to anyone in the group, but at the same time, whenever Kel or Aubrey or Hero are taking too much of Sunny's attention (Mari is an exception bc they're siblings), all Basil wants to do is make them go away.

This causes him to try and isolate himself from the group, afraid that he'll snap one day and follow his intrusive thoughts. However, it is unsuccessful because the group refuses to let him push them away. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly, idk), it's mainly Sunny that forces Basil to stick around.

Unbeknownst to the gardener, Sunny also faces similar problems, but instead of thinking of hurting people, he just gets sad whenever Basil isn't paying attention to him

[poisonedspider]

I saw in the tags of one of your post, you said your version of angel duat is intersex & has both parts.

(This is not a hate ask btw)

Intersex does not mean "both parts". Intersex people with ambiguous genitalia have a single set that is somewhere between male & female, but they do not have a fully male and a fully female set. Reproductive organs have a lot of homologous features (clitoris/penis, labia/scrotum, teates/ovaries), in general intersex genitalia do not have duplicate features as what would be required to "have both".

This is all just fanfic, but it's important imo because the "both parts" stereotype is really prevalent, and it's very inaccurate and causes us a lot of problems medically and socially. I'm an intersex person with a phallus instead of a clitoris, and labia instead of a scrotum. I personally refer to myself as "between male & female", because it's more accurate. I have no problems with people writing intersex characters in NSFW contexts, just please do so in a way that is respectful to us! If you do want to write a character with a fully male & fully female set of genitalia, I would recommend referring to them as salmacian, and not intersex. Try to avoid the word futa, as this is the shortened version of a slur for us. Same with herm.

Have a nice day!

I want to start this off by saying thank you, immensely, for starting by saying this isn't a hate anon. Based on past fandom trauma, I always panic when I see a big block of text, especially from an anon.

I'm also going to say that I can be really bad with words (I'm also at work right now shhh) so I hope this doesn't come off as bad/attacky either, because it isn't meant to be! I'm just going to kick it off by saying, I'm specifically a gender and sexuality counselor. So I work with all sorts under the sun. And I think that what can be the biggest struggle is that there are different variations of everything (if that makes sense?) A majority of my clients that are intersex do just say 'I have both parts' because I think that's what makes them most comfortable? I can't speak for them. But that's how a lot of them speak. Since I'm personally not intersex, that's just what I know. I do have one friend who is intersex who has completely male genitalia, but female internalized sex organs (ovaries, etc.) I have a client who has, per their very blunt words, 'a dick and a vag' (tmi here but like in place of clit they clearly have full phallus, but then a vaginal hole? slit? I'm so weird with genitals). I should also point out this is very similar to my Angel.

THAT BEING SAID. Again, everyone's experience is very different, and I am incredibly aware that this experience is not mine. I would never want to upset anyone, especially in an area that I don't personally endure. The best thing I can relate this to (and I'm aware this is a terrible comparison) is being trans and how people all view it very differently (I'm loud and proud about being trans, versus my ex refused to let anyone know and thought I was a 'performative trans' person for doing so.) This is definitely something I'm going to keep in mind, because this is really helpful information, and I can't project only the experiences that I have witnessed onto the experience of the whole. So I'll be mindful of that, and thank you for this. <3

Also haaaaa yeah no way would I use those last two words. Fun fact, I punched a kid in high school for using the herm word. I don't tolerate that shit. So don't worry. <3

But I definitely think moving forward I'm going to just say 'both parts' rather than intersex. I was just trying to drive it as straight forward to people in a way I figured they could understand, especially as things are starting to get smutty on this blog. But hey, demon anatomy is weird af, and probably dissimilar to most humans anyways so there's nothing wrong with having to explain it in depth in a way that might confuse people.

I appreciate your kindness about this, and willingness to educate. I know a lot about this stuff due to my job and personal life, but we are all always needing to grow and learn.

[eighteenoheight]

Don't mind me, just trying to conceptualize a look for Claire Redfield in hopes of manifesting a Code Veronica remake. Feel free to ignore I'm just writing another essay it's not that interesting.

Starting off with a complaint because duh all I ever do is bitch and moan about everything. This is quite a big gripe I've had that's only gotten worse over the last two weeks. In Claire and Jill's redesigns, yes we know they're kind of twinning with the layered tanktops, skinny jeans and boots. But the bigger problem for me is they don't really give the 90s vibes I'm looking for. There's a nostalgia factor I'm missing here. And I figured out the problem. The skinny jeans, bitch. They go in and out of style quite a lot and unfortunately for Capcom, they were out in the 90s. I did a google search as well as sought first-hand accounts. My mother said absolutely not, and she knows a bit about the fashion trends after her traumatic experience with a pair of green flared trousers back in the 80s. What gets my goat a little is it seems whoever was in charge of these character designs didn't really account for the era or that there would be a miserable bitch nitpicking over something so inconsequential. As a consumer I often want my sweet sweet vibes. My excitement seeing Ashley Graham's pink flip phone in the 4 remake is unmatched and I love to see it. I think it was a prime missed opportunity because at this time the 90s trends are back in. I could go into how confusing it is to see how cyclical the fashions are, not to humble brag but I got super into tie-dye just before it was back in style. Another minor brag that actually annoyed me is I spent hours cutting up and shredding a knitted jumper back in February only to find pre-shredded jumpers are coming into stores now. And those are the only times I've been at least within the current trends, otherwise I don't know what's going on.

But TLDR: Factually Claire and Jill's redesigns aren't giving 1998 and I'm butthurt about it.

Now lets get Claire's original CV look out of the way, will be short because I don't really have anything negative to say about them.

These are among my favourite Claire looks, which isn't hard considering the decade of outfit repeating going on. I just think they're neat. And they actually give 90s. Peep the jeans, we've got the original with straight-leg, and the DSC version has a bootcut fit, both of which were the style. We've got cropped torso pieces which, again, very 90s. We can see differences in the two looks, but overall they're the same framework. Love them, cherish them, praying Capcom doesn't bastardise them. These are good templates for recreations and honestly you could take them in a few directions while still maintaining the spirit of the original.

While we're still on our 90s bullshit lets maybe go into some inspo. Won't do too much with this because I shouldn't really be listened to when it comes to being stylish.

Got a little annoyed trying to find pictures of actual 90s fashions. It's all moodboards and the current trends I was ready to call it a day. Whatever. I wholeheartedly believe Claire would suit the 90s grunge style. Perfect fit for a college student who rides her motorcycle around town picking up chicks. A lot of the vibes I gleamed from the google is the styles tended to be comfortable, casual, and there was an emphasis on layering. Flannel was also a big thing, and I'm not just saying that to project my lesbian headcanon onto everyone else. A more simple-minded reason is Claire's main colour is red and you see a lot of flannel in red. I'm pretty sure there was also a lot of band tees going on, and as we know Claire has a lot of Queen references going on. Food for thought. Also found another image that makes me more upset at her remake design.

Imagine if we got something more similar to this. This might be unpopular and a little bit controversial to say but I wouldn't have minded Claire having a simple red leather jacket and the made in heaven decal on her shirt as a band tee of sorts. That way her jacketless outfit would still maintain her vibes. Just a throwaway thought. This is more my realism brain wanting to overcorrect what I can't unsee as implausible with her managing to have a customised leather jacket, and having a second one too?? Gee, bill! How come your mom lets you eat two wieners? See me complaining and saying a look is pedestrian and basic yet something actually unique I'm like no absolutely not. At least I'm self aware enough to say the two thoughts don't coincide.

Now I'm ready and willing to talk about more specifics.

One of my only problems with the original CV looks are they aren't the most appropriate Weather attire. Allegedly Claire's adventure continues three months after Raccoon City goes boom boom. That would mean it was the end of December when Claire was doing her thing in Paris. Europe gets cold af during Fall and Winter so wtf is she doing wearing short sleeves with her midriff out? Maybe she's autistic like me and doesn't know how to dress for the weather, but I'm not willing to accept that until further assessment of her brain. This is where layering comes in clutch.

This amazing design by (90% sure) Jaeon009 on twitter is essentially the blueprint for what I would like to see. The button-up really adds to the look. For the purposes of Claire not freezing to death I would go for a long-sleeve, maybe a thicker material for extra warmth. Could talk about how great this redesign is but I don't have time or the ability to form words when I'm focussed on something else. Let's just remember where we are in the world at what time and that her OG look wouldn't fare well in a Wintery Paris, let alone when she ends up in the Antarctic.

Next bit is more for me needing to know exactly what's going on, just being a nosy bitch. It will go into her clothes but at this moment I'm wondering what she was doing in those three months. We know at some point Leon told her to fuck off and find her brother, unless the remake canon would change that. My concerns for her safety are would she have been able to go back to where she was living? Would she have kept a low profile in case nasty bitches were after her? In that case would she have gone back to her college or wherever she lived to get a change of clothes? It literally doesn't matter whatsoever but I'd like to know, plus these factors could/should affect the look she's giving us. Perhaps she had to thrift her clothing and she put together what we end up seeing in a hopeful CV remake? Yes, I know I get stuck in the smallest of details. We could scrap this entire section and nothing would change but sometimes I need to get it all out.

I've played around with redesigning Claire (as well as other characters) on the sims 4 that I may post at some point but even with cc it's kind of limited for what I'm trying to convey. Don't draw anymore so that's not happening. I'd love to find some other way of getting what's in the brain put into physical form. That's probably why I feel the need to make long essays overexplaining everything. I really should learn to draw again it would make life so much easier.

Bonus concept art from way back when the original RE2 was in development. Perhaps Capcom should go back through all their old concepts to get some valuable inspo.

[tiny-katara]

Zuko’s happiest moments in the show happened when he was with Mai. He smiled the most when he was with her and when Sokka asked her about Mai he also smiled. If you hate Maiko you hate Zuko. Mai is the one who makes him happy not Katara. If you really wanted Zuko to be happy you would ship Maiko but we all know Zutara shippers don’t really care about Zuko.

this... this is a joke right??? his happiest moments!? anon, i have terrible news for you.

zuko is canonically having the worst time of his life in the fire nation. the entire point of zuko returning to the fire nation is prove that being home isn’t going to make him happy. that’s literally an essential part of his arc. if zuko had left with katara in the catacombs, he would remain unsure of whether or not he made the right choice. he wouldn’t be sure that he didn’t miss out on home and his father’s love. going home and getting everything zuko thought he wanted is essential for the completion of his redemption arc. there’s nothing more he could want from home! he’s got a throne, he’s got the girl, he’s got power, he’s got his father’s “love,” zuko has it all, so why is he still unhappy???

a huge part of why our lovely zuko is so unhappy is that he’s pretending. he’s unable to be himself and spends all his time in the fire nation playing a role: the son ozai always wanted. zuko pretends to be confident to the point of arrogance, he pretends he's a hardened war strategist, and he pretends that he feels better than those around him. crown prince zuko is not the same plain ol' zuko. regular zuko cares very passionately and very deeply about doing what is right. his conscious and morals weigh on him heavily if he does something that contradicts them. he is empathetic and understands the pain that others are going through, a huge part of his arc in book 2. it is in zuko’s nature to care about the world, about people, about things. it’s just who he is.

mai as a character is apathetic and doesn’t have a strong sense of morality. it just isn’t something that concerns her. that’s just how she’s characterized. she obviously does care about things/people, but not many. mai’s motivations are often self-serving in nature, such as joining azula purely for the thrill of it. mai never does anything simply because it’s the right thing to do. she always has a personal stake in what she does and to be perfectly honest there’s nothing inherently wrong with being selfish if it doesn’t actively harm other people. 

things get sticky when you stick these two people together. mai and zuko are just so vastly different, it leads to a lot of problems. zuko doesn’t get why mai doesn’t express herself and keeps everything bottled up, which is literally canon based on the beach episode. mai doesn’t understand zuko either, as she’s very confused as to why he leaves the palace at all because to her it just seemed like things were perfect. she doesn’t know why he blows up and why he just generally cares so much. they just literally don’t get each other and that’s not a good foundation for a relationship believe it or not. 

another issue is that mai is dating crown prince zuko and is completely satisfied with that, aka the zuko that zuko is pretending to be. when the real zuko slips out, the passionate and headstrong zuko, she is irritated that he can’t keep his feelings in check. she doesn’t encourage him to grow and would prefer he stay the perfect little fire nation prince she fell for. this literally just all goes to show that mai doesn’t even like zuko, she likes the idea of him, which would be fine if she wasn’t projecting it onto him. mai needs someone she actually likes the personality of lol. 

speaking of the beach episode, that’s a like showcase of why they don’t work. mai doesn’t get zuko’s “romantic gestures” and her lack of affection for these makes zuko very insecure, causing him to act out. it is important to note that zuko’s actions are not in anyway condoned by me, but i am saying that they understandable. zuko was acting ridiculously and his jealousy was out of control, but he was ignored by mai all day and from his perspective she was showing no interest in anything he did and more in some random guy--that’ll mess with your head. and again, zuko should not have had his little beach party meltdown, but the points stands that they misunderstood each other so badly it spiraled to that point.

i really don’t why not liking maiko makes me hate zuko. disregarding the fact that she absolutely does not make him as happy as you’d like to claim, your romantic partner isn’t, or rather shouldn't be, your only source of joy. do you mean to tell me that zuko isn’t happy when he is joking with the gaang about chasing them around? are you claiming zuko wasn’t happy when he and toph bonded over his uncle? are you seriously going to tell me that zuko isn’t happy during that hug on the ember island dock with katara, one of his most soft and genuine moments, if not his absolute softest moment? that would be absolutely ridiculous.

now, saying that i don’t care about zuko is kind of ironic, because it really seems like mai is the one who doesn’t care about zuko. when your partner opens up about their fears, concerns, and deeply emotional moments, the response is never playing it off as a joke and going “don’t worry.” that is literally one of the most unhelpful things mai could have done in that situation like what do you even mean zutara shipppers don’t care about zuko??? don’t you want him to have someone who understands him emotionally? someone who is there for him in those moments of fear and doubt? someone who sees the good in him even when no one else except his uncle could??? like bestie, you have absolutely no legs to stand on here. go home and think about what zuko really needs, and you’ll find it isn’t an apathetic girl that doesn’t understand him.

[trainsinanime]

With regards to Chloé

I am enjoying the back-and-forth about Chloé on my dash, even through all the tangents, but I also feel like it isn’t actually that obscure.

Chloé is an abuser. She is callously cruel to anyone she can. And she is that way because she desperately wants the approval of her mother, who is also a callously cruel abuser. Chloé is both a perpetrator and a victim at the same time.

I don’t think that’s really in doubt, the question is just which part you focus on. This is mostly up to you, as the show doesn’t have a consistent tone here. Chloé is placed on very different points of the “ridiculous villain” to “poor little meow-meow” scale depending on what each episode needs. 

Somewhere around 95% of the debates here discuss facts that happened in episodes when they should really discuss the tone of the episodes. Chloé was portrayed as downright evil. Then Chloé was portrayed as confused and insecure, using evil to hide that. Then Chloé was cruel and selfish again. Then she was heroic. And then she was confused again, and then she was cruel again. Which of this is the true Chloé, and which of this is an aberration? Well, all and none of them. The show picks the facet of Chloé it needs per episode. And you get to project your own feelings onto her, of course.

The part where she’s given the bee miraculous is a good example of that. Chloé is objectively heroic during that phase. She’s a good fighter. She’s also selfish, and she’s being heroic for selfish reasons. There’s two options here: Either you say her heroism doesn’t count because she’s selfish. Or her selfish heroism is the first step to becoming a full-on hero. Either fits, and different episodes will lead you to very different answers, depending on whether we focus on her trying to protect Sabrina (a little bit), or the nonsense with her bee signal. I think those two parts are a consistent characterisation, but they’re tonally completely at odds. Which part you latch on to is largely up to you personally.

Apart from that, I also think there’s confusion around the term “redemption”. Whether Chloé was ever on something at least paralleling a redemption arc depends largely on how you define that, but nobody ever does, as if “redemption”, “good” or “evil” were simple obvious concepts. Very annoying.

I would argue that there is absolutely a plausible way to read the path Chloé is on as a redemption arc if you want to (but also you don’t have to). But it isn’t a redemption arc like Zuko from ATLA. Seriously, stop comparing her to him. Yes, we all love him, but both the show and his character are constructed completely differently right from the start. 

The character you should be comparing Chloé to is Cordelia Chase from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She’s functionally exactly the same character: Rich bitch, an occasional obstacle for the non-magical part of the plot, and here to deliver casually cruel one-liners. Chloé is more extreme/cartoonish, but they’re really just the same girl.

And Cordelia does get what could be described as a redemption arc: She becomes a part of the team, helps with fighting monsters, dates Xander for no discernible reason, gets transferred to a spin-off show, and then gets done absolutely dirty by that. Throughout the show, she becomes gradually much nicer, leaves her toxic girl crew and so on. However, for a really long time, she also stays a bit shallow, materialistic, and sometimes cruel, and it takes a long time for her to really admit she likes the other members of her gang. Her cruelty at that point is largely played for laughs, though.

That is a conceivable path for Chloé to take. Not Zuko, she doesn’t have any of his sincerity. By now it’s clear that she is not going to do it exactly like Cordelia did, at least not the easy way. But there is a reason why folks don’t see “she’s a high-school bully” and “she can be redeemed even without becoming super-nice” as mutually exclusive.

The real problem for me remains that the show isn’t really great at anything that isn’t Love Square adorableness, and Chloé’s arc is one of the main victims of that. Most of the time, it just doesn’t happen at all. But that’s a whole other thing.

Chloé is evil. Chloé could be better. Which side you focus on is up to you, because the show certainly doesn’t keep a consistent tone when it comes to her.

[steveyockey]

Non spn anon: thank you for answering my confusing question, sorry it was confusing 😅 I must say I’m so intrigued by all the Dean gender discussion posts I’ve seen so when I learned there was a satin underwear moment I was like ?!?!?!!!!! On SPN of all shows? Just so much to unpack here. Anyway thank you again 🙏🏻

okay like I know you didn’t actually ask a question but this ask has been driving me crazy because “on SPN of all shows” non spn anon you wouldn’t know this because you, of course, do not watch spn, but this sort of slippage occurs all the time with dean! as was written in the gospel of dean by tumblr user marcusantonius, the slippage occurs so many fucking times (he likes to wear nightgowns! he knows purgatory is name of a gay club in miami! he’s made everyone he lives with watch lost boys over thirty times! he recites rent lyrics! soft spot for dirty dancing [“swayze always gets a pass”]! loves doctor sexy aka the in universe equivalent of greys! weird kinky sex references about zorro masks and whips!) and with such an earnestness that it actually actively reconstitutes dean against the superordinate classification of Absolute Heterosexual Male the narrative leans on as his assumed identity! 

the thing about a lot of meta on gay/bi readings of dean is that. well. da miller has a piece called “anal rope” where he uses this understanding of coding as a difference between connotation and denotation, basically things that have the potential for a certain reading vs the literal text,

 “connotation... excites the desire for proof, a desire that, so long as it develops within the connotative register, tends to draft every signifier into what nonetheless remains a hopeless task — hence the desire assumes another, complementary form in the dream (impossible to realize, but impossible not to entertain) that connotation would quit its dusky existence for fluorescent literality, would become denotation.”

it’s the same problem sedgwick refers to as “We Know What That Means” in epistemology of the closet, 

“to have succeeded... in cracking the centuries-old code by which the-articulated-denial-of-articulability always had the possibility of meaning two things, of meaning either (heterosexual) ‘nothing’ or ‘homosexual meaning,’ would also always have been to assume one's place in a discourse in which there was a homosexual meaning, in which all homosexual meaning meant a single thing.”

and I have to say anon that back in fandom circa 2014 the panties thing drove me CRAZY because I felt like it was everywhere all the time in every post about bi dean or gay dean or queerbait or queercoding or endverse spiral but NO ONE would ever explain it! “We KNOW What That Means”!! it filtered out into every single fucking fic where dean discovers his sexuality, I swear to god I read so many stories where he had this big sexual identity crisis during which part of the realization would be the panties, just the panties, the fact that he liked them an illumination in and of itself. exactly as you articulated it, a “satin underwear moment.” most interestingly (to me, at least), the idea of the panties makes an appearance in twist and shout but in REVERSE with cas being the one wearing the panties (almost as though through some sort of metacognition the writers understood they were making a work so profoundly out of step with the actual characters the meaning of the panties no longer aligned with the dean they had written - but what about the panties had aligned with dean in the first place!?). 

what DO the panties mean! they could mean a lot of things! sexual domination symbolic castration transgenderism kink fantasy shakespearean crossdressing something something gender roles battering rams to masculinity redefinitions of masculinity transgression of masculinity permeability of the borders of masculinity — nothing about the panties is inherently anything, it’s just about what you as the reader understand their meaning to be, the connotation YOU confer onto the text on the basis that rhonda hurley made dean try on her panties and he “kind of liked it,” and, somehow, and perhaps this is the key, this knowledge is what will convince a future self of dean winchester that his present self is the same self. and of course on the one hand it’s obvious that the assumed private nature of this knowledge, that dean would not have told this story to anyone else and thus only dean and rhonda can confirm its veracity, is the motivator for dean’s admission, but where’s the fun in that! and besides, that does nothing to explain how it come so easily, and so comfortably, which is how a lot of dean’s sexuality is supposed to come to him and part of the project he is cultivating as the Absolute Heterosexual Male! he’s a womanizer he’s a ladies man, again, to quote the gospel, “lovable fucker, always fuckable,” and something about the panties does fit into that, into what has been denoted about dean and sex and how he desires, but! it’s been denoted so thoroughly to collapse the image onto itself, so insistently proffered over and over again that it begs a question of itself and of the very comfortability that dean purports to have in his sexuality and the manner in which he wants you to think he wants the girl in the zorro mask to slap him. so the panties, which could be a reassurance of this comfort in this firm Heterosexual-Though-Non-Normative-Sexually Identity, instead become an object that connotes, along with every other little tic, every slippage, every glance, a hidden truth, a discomfort, a necessity to insist that there is not a secret buried beneath the open-bookedness of his sex life. it isn’t even actually about the connotation striving to become denotation, but rather that the denotation itself lacks stability and so connotation becomes identity as the performance of this heterosexual self tips into parody. masculinity. what a beast.

[literateleah]

the paradox of emily prentiss’ audience perception and character design

some of y’all about to be real mad at me, but it must be said:

emily prentiss’ character design makes no sense: my personal opinion + an objective analysis

i think it can be challenging to separate the versions of characters we have in our little brains from actual canon content, but doing so is important for understanding what those characters are truly like, especially within the context of their environment and in contrast to others around them. plus developing a deeper understanding of the media we consume is super fun and interesting! with that being said: emily prentiss should not work for the fbi and here’s why (in three parts regarding who’s responsible: cbs, paget, and fans) (sit down and grab a snack i promise this is over 3k words)

quick disclaimer: i don’t dislike emily at all! that’s my girl, i just looked closer and realized some funky things the writers did and felt the need to analyze her of course: so let’s get into it

part one: what cbs did

cbs set the stage for emily’s introduction on the heels of the departure of lola glaudini as elle greenaway! lola has clarified that she decided to leave the show because filming in los angeles was not the best environment for her personally, and after one successful season on a major network (but not much established long term plot or drama beyond elle’s departure as a character) a consistent ensemble cast was required- particularly because the bau had been criticized for being predominantly male in the first few episodes of the show and not much development was given to penelope or jj yet. enter emily prentiss.

for the duration of seasons 2-3ish, emily was framed as a chip off the block that was elle greenaway, just slightly…richer? in her first few episodes emily was hesitantly polite but ambitious, clean cut, intellectually concise and held her own within the team. she seemed equal parts intimidated and frustrated by her male superiors (gideon, hotch) but certainly proves herself among other profilers. her childhood was explored only within reference to her strained relationship with her mother (which was only ever referenced once more after the fact) and we received a short overview of her educational and career history in her first few episodes. emily fit right into the hole elle had left, and didn’t have many major storylines yet.

seasons 4-6 brought a bit more development and depth to emily’s character! she begins dropping more snarky remarks, one liners, and socially deepening her relationships with the other team members. this seems more within the lines of elle’s design, but emily arguably took more time to grow into her place within the team. during the foyet arc she was vulnerable and supportive, and the doyle arc gave her some independence and agency she didn’t have previously. this era also solidified her appearance and persona as more edgy, which falls in line with general fanon perception of her character (especially when compared to jj or penelope). i can’t address this era or season 7 without mentioning that cbs was actively trying to remove paget from the cast, similar to how they did to aj cook as well. paget has spoken about this instance before, and i believe it slightly affected her portrayal of her character, and “lauren” was somewhat of a goodbye for both paget and emily (thus why she wished for mgg to direct since they were best friends).

season 7: in my opinion, one of the best seasons for emily. she was wisened and deeply wounded by her experiences with doyle, which was understandable of course. she returned to the team she loved and learned to appreciate life in a different way, remaining mature during this time period as well! though her departure was a bit less than graceful and sudden at the end of this season, it made sense compared to some other exits the team had seen.

now *sigh* all the rest.

paget as emily appears in two separate guest appearances (once in s9 and once in s11, and she is referenced offscreen as well) before permanently reprising her role as unit chief of the bau. these appearances were most likely to boost ratings and get the team back together (i.e. 200) or just to pepper in international cases (tribute). emily’s personality remains pretty consistent here, just more mature and comfortable in leadership positions (seeing as she is running an entire branch of an international law enforcement organization). then season 12 hit.

upon the departure of thomas gibson as hotch, cbs reached out to paget to see if she would be interested in fulfilling her role as emily within a longer term unit chief position. i’ll get into why this is wack in a few paragraphs, but the remainder of her time on the show is spent on a mature portrayal that seems very distant from her previous versions. emily is more authoritative, gives orders with ease, and has no qualms about leading a team of agents or even receiving promotion offers as director of the entire bureau.

thus concludes a general summary of the canon content cbs gave us as viewers. now let's talk about what they didn’t give us, regrettably

the primary aspect of emily’s design that comes to mind for many is her queer coding. though not much was to be expected from cbs, a prime time cable tv network, each of her relationships on the show (all with men) seemed oddly forced, and without much chemistry as compared to the SOs of other main characters. rumors of scrapped plotlines have floated around about what may have been, but the ultimate lack of acknowledgement of any queer characters in the main ensemble still leaves a feeling of disappointment to audiences, and leaves more to be desired as for how emily navigates social bonds.

part two (sidebar): what paget did

i think it could be agreed within audiences that paget brewster’s portrayal of emily made the role what it was! her dry witty delivery and emotional prowess combined with sitcom acting experience made her performance a mainstay for years. i think she did the best she could with a confusing and at times flat characterization, and brought the role to life.

paget also heavily contributes to fanon indirectly with her comments outside of the show (press, cameos, twitter etc). her general continued interest and fondness for the role post production affects fan perception, particularly in what she chooses to elevate and comment on. she and aj have both spoken about viewing jemily content, and paget and thomas have both also commented on hotchniss. most cast members feel free to comment on their characters in the appropriate timing, and seem open to discussing fanon ships and theories outside of canon!

part three: what fanon did

as we can tell from this fan space as well as the presence on insta, tik tok and twitter, fans LATCHED onto emily super quickly. she’s remained a favorite over the years, and this fan persistence is what brought her back so many times after leaving (so many times). in my opinion, queer coding and a bolder female trope (in contrast to her female counterparts) are the main pulls because they resonated with so many fans- new and old. with that being said, newer fans of the show in the past year in particular have been heavily influential in fanon, solely because of the large influx of fan content and popularity of it.

fan content began to take coding and bite size moments and snippets from the show as canon, and cemented it into much of the content and discourse they created. these small pieces of emily’s character are significant, but have become magnified by how easily they are to share and edit. for example, a collection of catchy one liners from emily over the seasons makes for a great video edit intro, or gifset! there’s absolutely no problem with this content, it just all combines to create a certain fanon perception no character escapes (this isn’t a phenomenon limited to emily or the cm fandom!)

these droves of content also solidified emily’s personality as much more defined, but at the same time, simplified it in a way that’s slightly harder to explain.

fanon: more emo/goth than canon basis

fanon: more introverted/anti social than canon basis

fanon: more violent/chaotic when canon emily is relatively well mannered and doesn’t start many conflicts (particularly in the workspace)

fanon: much less maternal when canon emily displays desire on multiple occasions (even crossing professional borders) for children, particularly teenage girls (possibly projection)

(again, nothing wrong with this interpretation at all and it still varies! This is just a generalization based on most of the popular content i have seen)

part 4: why it doesn’t work

let me start with this: emily prentiss does not like her job.

we don’t receive much in depth information about emily’s internal feelings and thoughts towards her mother beyond resentment. this stems from wanting to make it on her own, as a professional and as an individual (cough cough college deposits). this makes emily’s insistence on proving herself to authority figures in her earlier seasons is interesting to watch in different circumstances. she cites her experience and denies help from her mother when justifying her placement in the bau to hotch, she is extra vigilant about being helpful on her first case with gideon, etc. nevertheless, emily forges her own path outside of diplomacy and becomes a successful profiler and agent, with the help of her privilege, wealth and name whether she likes it or not. but if we read between the lines and fill in the blanks cbs neglected, these ambitions may subconsciously be oriented towards pleasing her mother.

example one: emily’s authority issues go further than just “rebellion” or “anarchy”, she frequently questions the ethics and sustainability of the work that the bau does. every team member does this, but emily much more so than anybody else.

in “amplification”, emily almost breaks federal protocol to inform civilians of anthrax threats. she butts heads with both hotch and rossi on this front, and ends the episode with having a conversation with rossi about the ethics of lying in their line of work. emily resigns to a solemn “it be like that” and moves along, accepting this reality.

on multiple different occasions emily laments to derek about the darkness she sees on the job, and it’s shown that this gets to her quickly on particularly bad cases. this is another contradiction of the design that she can supposedly “compartmentalize” better than others on the team, when she cannot unless the lives of others are at risk (doyle arc, s7 finale).

emily also responds in this way to many cases involving children, a similarity to jj many don’t notice upon first watching the series. “seven seconds” and “children of the dark” come to mind, during the latter in which emily is prepared to cross multiple professional lines to adopt a teenage girl left orphaned by the case, until hotch stops her and establishes that her emotions can’t rule her judgement on the job. regardless of hotch’s thoughts about her attempted caretaking abilities, these actions and impulses deeply contradict the typical bureaucratic pathways of the work the bau does.

the looming reputation of her mother’s diplomatic history hangs over emily, and after going to law school and working for the cia, she most likely did want to forge her own path as far away from being a socialite: being a spy. her inner nature doesn’t always reflect this profession, and leads me to believe that with her knowledge of psychology, law procedure and care for children: emily prentiss might be more inclined to working in social work, placing suffering children and teenagers in homes they deserve.

and finally, the hill i will die on: emily prentiss was an bad unit chief

this wonderful post touches on my general sentiment, but there were many reasons as to why emily prentiss’ career arc makes little to no sense (plot holes included).

first: her background. emily attended chesapeake bay university as well as yale and achieved a ba in criminal justice. keep in mind that though timelines evidently don’t exist in the cm universe, emily prentiss is ONE YEAR older than aaron hotchner (for context). in her first episode, she professes that she has worked for the bureau for a little under ten years in midwestern offices- something the audience laters knows to not be true. emily worked with the cia and interpol as a part of a profiling team and undercover agent up until roughly TWO YEARS before her canon introduction. plot holes and time gaps aside, this makes me wonder, why didn’t she just say the cia was a backstop without revealing the highly confidential nature of her work with doyle (similar to jj’s state department backstop and cover story)? penelope or hotch could have easily accessed her file and seen that she did not in fact have experience with the bureau in midwestern offices recently, and given the fact that erin strauss set up her bau placement, i’m presuming these formalities or references were overlooked.

second: her experience within the team. emily worked as a part of the bau with the bureau for roughly 6 or 7 years. after this, she is invited to run the entire london branch of interpol, one of the most renowned international law enforcement organizations. i’m surely not the most knowledgeable on requirements or standard timelines for such matters, but with the fact that emily had never led a team in her life (not in the bau or interpol previously) and had roughly 10 years of field experience, i don’t believe she would have ever realistically been considered eligible to run the whole london department.

third: her return to the bureau. fanon depiction of their relationship aside, if you believe aaron hotchner’s last wish before going into witsec was to entrust his team to emily prentiss, you’re dead mistaken. bringing emily back was clearly a pull for ratings after the loss of two main characters (hotch and derek), but logistically a bad decision. let’s suppose emily has had 4 or 5 years of experience in london now, this established authority position would be unlikely to change at the drop of a hat, even for old teammates or friends. also considering how close they were after a decade of working closely in bureaucratic and field contexts, i firmly believe hotch would have referred jj for the job of unit chief but that’s another discussion for another time.

emily’s reign as unit chief is odd, because of the many chaotic storylines crammed into it. but amidst bad writing and viewings plummeting, emily’s character is completely flattened. completely. emily is unrecognizable, both in appearance (that god awful wig) and personality. at times she acts as a complete wise authority, giving orders and delegating local authorities as hotch did. but at other times she makes multiple illegal, emotional, and incorrect judgement calls based on personal circumstances that lead to further chaos (deleting the recording of her and reid’s mexico conversation and reprimanding luke in “luke” for the exact same thing she did in season 6 even though she enabled her to do so come to mind).

i’m not sure if this is due to paget trying to find her footing in the role again, or the writer’s bad decisions towards the end of the show wrecking any previous design for their ensemble. then, there’s the infamous “wheels up” scene in s13e1. notoriously cringey, this seems like a vague caricature of something rossi would say many years in the past (the same goes for her pep talk in “red light” in the hunt for diana reid). these moments are meant to mature emily in the audience’s eye, but instead completely removed her from who we understood her to be, and made her an unreliable leader.

part five: and why it does

in theory, emily was a bolder foil to jj, similar to elle who she arguably replaced at first. she came into her own, and stands as a more uniquely developed character than almost any other in the main ensemble. she isn’t as maternal or domestically inspiring as canon jj, less bright and sunny than penelope, not quite as stoic or intimidating as derek or hotch. And yet at the same time, she’s a fairly blank slate. stripping fanon content away entirely, canon emily has few defining traits (all of which are constantly changing), and that may be the key to why we love her so much.

[likearecordbb]

about your post on the recent discourse...

it's honestly so confusing to me because like,, you say that ppl pointing out how members of this fandom will make neil very stereotypically 'feminine' is reinforcing the idea of 'masculinity' as one thing and 'femininity' as another.... and i get that we should get rid of these labels. but at the same time... the content itself that ppl are criticising (the ones that 'feminize' neil) are already doing just that. that's why they're criticising it.

i can't point out how ppl are reinforcing the idea that a relationship should have a 'man' and a 'woman', without... saying that that's what they're doing. the writer themselves already sees relationships this way and 'masculinity' and 'femininity' as two different distinct things. that's exactly *why* they're writing neil this way while keeping andrew close to canon.

there's nothing wrong with neil being stereotypically 'feminine' of course. but to act like it's somehow misogynistic for me to go to these ppl and be like 'hey, u shouldn't view mlm relationships through the lens of a hetero one! it can be very harmful' is weird to me... *especially* considering these stereotypes that ppl are pushing onto neil come from misogyny themselves. (ppl making neil much much more emotional than he is in canon while keeping andrew very stoic)

idk, like... ur simultaneously saying that we shouldn't view relationships as needing a 'man' and a 'woman'... while defending people who are doing just that and creating content which reinforces just that.

it's one thing to say 'we shouldn't view masculinity and femininity as two distinct and different things!'/'we should get rid of these labels all together cause they're meaningless'... but if i look at the content that u make/consume and it's practically, if not entirely, all andreil conforming to heternormative stereotypes... then i can't help but feel like ur not as detached from the idea of 'masculinity' and 'femininity' as u would like to believe... i trust the ppl who say these ideas are meaningless while not changing the canon characters because they seem to be sticking to their words.

people will just say that they prefer writing andreil is this heternormative way... they'll just say it what they like or what they're most comfortable writing without ever questioning *why* they prefer it this way.

and if they're projecting.. well then, *why* this couple? why pick an mlm couple to project what is often the experience of a cis woman in a relationship? why pick this mlm couple when there are others that do fit the stereotypical heternormative dynamic? idk. like,, u can do this ofc, but ppl can also call u out on ur shit.

there's an undeniable reason that neil is exclusively the one that ppl pick to make more stereotypically 'feminine'. and there's a reason this type of content is also so popular. and it's certainly not wrong to point this out.

You know, I can see all of these points that you're making. For me, the overall issue of this is very complicated. I am also super uncomfortable with the imposition of heteronormative roles onto...well, onto any relationship, regardless of the identities of the people who constitute it. I was raised smack dab in the middle of the gay community by lesbian moms (together 38 years now, jfc, can you imagine??), so that "man/woman" thing was never something that I grew up internalizing or normalizing. I can recognize that this may give me a bit too much of a sense of objectivity.

However, I'm also like...I've been ruined by grad school. The "feminizing" word makes me really uncomfortable because it starts to stray for me into gender essentialism territory. It also seems to foundationally differentiate between "masculine" behaviors and "feminine" behaviors and I just really hate that? Lesbian moms, trans daughter, bi (and late-in-life trying to see where on the ace spectrum I might fall) self, I've just met so many people with so many expressions of gender and sexuality and I just... Idk, I automatically resist anything that feels like it's upholding "masculinity" and "femininity" as real (as in, not constructed) things. And then I also am like, well, I've known SO MANY gay men who behaved in the ways that the discourse constructs as "feminized" and then I start to feel like, what about these men? Are they less 'men' because of it? How would it feel for that man to read these things saying his identity expression was a problem or a bad stereotype? Do I read *Neil Josten* within that context... no, not really. I think Neil has a 'not enough emotional expression' problem way before he has a 'too much emotional expression' problem.

I'll say here what I often say to my students in complex discussions: I don't have answers. I don't think I'm right and anyone else is wrong. I just have complicated thoughts and feelings and concerns about some of the things that sometimes seem to be left uninterrogated.

So, I do 100% get the need to be vigilant about the imposition of a "man" (dominant, emotionally constipated, sexually driven, stoic) role and "woman" (emotional, needy, teary, dependent) role onto relationships with two (or more!) men or women. I would also argue that we need to get rid of that idea in hetero relationships, too, because it's super damaging. I just wish we could find a way to talk about that that didn't feel like it was accepting this idea of femininity as a given? And I definitely agree that it's problematic when the 'bottom' in a relationship is depicted as the one who's soft and silly and weepy. (Have you read TJ Klune's Tales from Verania series? A VERY fun world that does that not at all and it's great). I'm not saying these things are not worth confronting--I'm just really uncomfortable with the way the conversations are often framed around a concept of femininity/feminizing. It feels like shrapnel, I guess? Like, 'ugh stop feminizing Neil he's not weepy and uwu he's a badass' feels inherently to me like it's making femininity and badassery mutually exclusive? Maybe I'm just looking for a caveat or footnote in the argument that acknowledges that that is constructed *for women too*? And is a part of, like, a larger heteronormative patriarchal structure? And not something that we can just all obviously agree is the way the ladies (should?) behave?

One other question I've been dying to ask, though, is: where are these fics? I don't think I've ever read something where Neil is crying over Jack being mean to him or anything. Maybe if I start to see hints of that characterization, I just close the tab and never end up getting to the 'worst' of it?

Although, if what you said earlier about the "content that u make/consume and it's practically, if not entirely, all andreil conforming to heternormative stereotypes..." was referring to me, then... idk what to say to that. I don't think that's what I do. The heteronormative relationship that you're describing isn't one that I enjoy, desire for myself (or anyone else), or have any interest in reproducing.

Does this clarify what I'm trying to say? I guess it's a really long way of saying, in the old insufferable grad school tradition: well, first we have to define our terms. Because I'm not sure we're all coming up with the same thing when we use the word "feminizing" and that probably has a lot to do with why we keep having this exact same conversation over and over and over again.

If I missed any specific point you'd like to pick at in more detail, please let me know--my very sad platonic life partner (who had to put her beloved 15-year-old poodle to sleep yesterday) and her mom are waiting for me to drive them to the stores for a distraction, so I'm feeling a little time pressure.

[selfwriting-sugarquills]

70 Fred Weasley headcanons in celebration of 700 followers:

(plus an extra one, for the heck of it lmao) 

You guys, thank you so much for 700 followers! I appreciate every single one of you and writing for the twins has been such a blast so far, much to the thanks of all of you <3 

Find the 70 George Headcanons: Here

Fred has always been really good at sleight of hand stuff, as a kid, he could do card tricks with ease, steal baked goods from his mother’s kitchen and later on since his allowance wasn’t exactly anything to brag about, he’d steal sweets from honeydukes' on Hogsmeade trips, with the help of George, he’s not proud of it but in his defence, he was a stupid teenage boy at the time. 

Fred is incredibly competitive and will hold onto anything you challenge him to for way longer than you might think. He’s definitely the type to “race you” anytime you’re headed to herbology, care against magical creatures or Hogsmeade together.

As the man himself said in the deathly hallows, Fred doesn’t like the idea of a big grandiose wedding ceremony, he’d prefer something more low-key and simple, where the focus is more on having fun and celebrating instead of neat seating plans and meticulously chosen decorations. Some flowers and booze will do, he’ll provide the fireworks - In essence, he only needs his S/O and the rest he couldn’t care less about. 

George may be better at cooking, but Fred makes a damn good pancake and he will forever pride himself on that. 

Fred is the more jealous, overprotective twin. He’s aware of this and tries his best not to let it go to his head but he can’t help it. 

Fred snores, I’m pretty sure it’s canon that both twins snore, but Fred is louder and, as mentioned in my last headcanon post, a very heavy sleeper meaning it’s more difficult to get him to wake up so he can stop, your best shot is trying (and probably failing) to turn him over. 

Fred is also a very restless sleeper, he’ll toss and turn, and occasionally dream about quidditch. I’m saying you might want to be aware that he might confuse you for a bludger in his sleep, don’t worry though, he’ll always apologise profusely and make it up to you with a lot of kisses (and maybe a bit more than that, if you’re keen ;)) 

Fred has an extensive caffeine addiction, which is unfortunate cause he’s quite hyper already but he can’t function properly until he gets his coffee in the morning, and then again in between lessons/at lunch and then again late in the afternoon. Sometimes, if he needed to write an essay that was due, he’d drink coffee at like nine pm. He knows he won’t be able to sleep because of it, please, Y/n, he’s accepted his fate. 

I personally always imagined the twins as having ADHD, idk why it just fits their characters. Fred is for sure the more outwardly fidgety and intrusive, this gets less and less with age, as it does for a lot of ADHD people, his inability to focus remains the same though. 

Fred loves being outside, he’s the first of the Weasley siblings to suggest a game of quidditch or just going outside for walks, hide and seek in the woods near their house. He absolutely loves taking his dates on walks in parks or at the beach and when he has kids he plays with them in their yard, building snowmen etc. 

Fred probably suggests at some point that the whole family should go camping, and he’s actually really fun to camp with. He’ll tell the best scary stories by the campfire. 

In regards to children, Fred wants a lot of kids. Like at least three but would be willing to have more if his s/o wants to. He just really likes the dynamic of a large family since that’s what he’s used to. 

Fred’s favourite flavour of sweets is anything sour, the sourer the better, because of this he can handle it really well and he loves handing people some of his ridiculously sour candy and watching them squirm. 

He also really likes spicy food, he’s a bit of a daredevil so don’t challenge him to eat anything because he will eat a whole chilli and nearly die. 

 You know he’d be really casual about it too, lol, like sweating and crying but just leaning on the counter like “*pant* what? hot? no not at all *deeeeep breath* I can ha-aw-rdly taste it!” 

One thing about Fred is that he’s oddly squeamish, like seeing his brother’s ear blown off isn’t so bad (if you don’t take into account the emotional trauma that is), but a needle for a blood sample or a vaccine? oooh, he’s gonna need a big juice box and a cookie and his s/o’s hand to hold if he’s gonna make it through. He also has a thing about leeches. One time at Hogwarts they were mentioned in a lesson and he thought he was going to faint the entire time. 

Fred’s broken five bones over the years, four are from quidditch: his left arm and two ribs, and then the other arm from trying to do an elaborate stunt on the stairs in the burrow and falling down two flights. 

Fred loves to sing karaoke (because I cannot get that damn clip of James singing karaoke out of my head) though he particularly enjoys doing a very poor job on purpose. 

Fred is such a good liar that on several occasions he’s given presentations in school and gotten good marks for them despite having bullshat his way through the entire thing. 

Like seriously, he’s that guy in the group project who only looks at the slides like five minutes before the presentation and then just turns on a full charming newscaster voice on the professor to the point of them being genuinely convinced (albeit a little confused) that what Fred’s saying is true. 

This is also why Fred loves playing card games like poker: he’s really good at bluffing. 

Speaking of poker-face, he’s really quite good at teasing in public (if you’re into that sort of thing *wink*) because no matter the dirty deeds he might get up to under a table, his face remains as regular as always (safe for a little smirk to his lover every now and then) 

Fred always wanted to learn an instrument, he thought it’d make him cooler when he was a teenager, as an adult, he just really wants to recreate that clip of the trombone-playing dad with the sunglasses, or maybe serenade some cows with jazz or something. 

Fred was never a big fan of the uniform thing, so he always tried to make it his own, whether that be tying the tie differently, or having his sleeves rolled up; it’s not much but you gotta take what you can get when you’re literally dressed the same as everyone else. 

Fred might make fun of his dad’s interest in muggle things but secretly he loves it too. He has spent a lot of hours in the shed with Arthur, assuring everyone that it was just to have some quality time with his dad but he would still pay close attention when Arthur explained things to him. 

Fred had a whole business of selling candy from Honeydukes’ and joke products from Zonko’s to second and first years before he and George started dabbling with their own products, he could get you a butterbeer too but it’ll cost you an extra three galleons. 

Fred really likes glitter, George has a thing for lace, anything that glitters on his s/o makes Fred weak. If you want to get your way just put on some glittery eyeshadow or lipgloss and watch him spin. 

Since he loves things that glitter and gleam he loves buying his s/o jewellery, he loves seeing them wearing them as little tokens of their relationship. 

Did someone say slight possession kink? oops not me

Fred is incredible with numbers, this is pretty much canon and has been explored but I’m just amazed at this boy’s wit AND intellect. I have a slight headcanon that if he ever goes on a proper first date with someone where a bill is involved, he impresses his date by calculating the tip after just a glance.

Even if Fred has a longstanding reputation of not caring about school, when he has kids he does want to help them with any coursework over the summer and Christmas breaks, he’ll even study up on his old books just to be able to help out in any classes he didn’t take/didn’t pay attention in. 

Fred would, in general, be an amazing father. He’s goofy and playful most of the time, though he’s serious and incredibly caring whenever his kids are in a bad mood or have problems. He knows that he’s not the most outwardly emotional of the twins but he makes sure his kids know they can always talk to him about anything. 

Fred is incredibly messy. His room is usually a cry for help and he only cleans it when it gets to the point where it distracts him from focusing on work. 

No worries though, his S/O doesn’t have to do all the housework for him, he’ll do it. He just needs to be reminded that he needs to every once in a while. 

Fred has a really bad temper, he doesn’t know where he gets it from but he tends to get angry easier than George, though Fred is better at letting it out so it doesn’t continue to bother him. 

His bad temper does mean that he used to brawl more with siblings as a kid, and it wasn’t unusual to see him with scrapes and bruises as a kid, much to Molly’s dismay. Fred didn’t mind though, he thought it made him look tough. 

Fred is more likely to get caught sneaking around because of his brash nature, he tends to forget just how quiet you have to be to avoid Mrs Norris in the corridors. 

Fred is certainly not an early bird but his favourite time of day is, in fact, the morning when the sun’s coming up. He only knows this because of Wood’s ridiculously early quidditch practices but there’s something about the way the world looks when it’s bathed in soft golden light that just hits different to Fred. 

Fred is a great team player, as much as he seems like he’s more selfish than George, if it’s regarding a team activity (like quidditch or a battle of sorts) he’ll completely lose all focus on himself and only try to ensure other’s safety and victory. This is also why he plays as a beater, he’s not afraid of getting hit at all when he’s focused on getting the bludgers away from his teammates. 

So if his s/o ever needs it, he’ll be there to help with anything: Needs to take a day off from work to take care of his sick s/o? no problem. Needs to stay up with his small child because his s/o is exhausted and needs rest? On it. Something as small as carrying groceries or books, making a cup of tea when the other is busy or doing the dishes is all on the list of things that Fred will happily do for his s/o, and often without having to be asked, he’ll just do it. 

Fred’s boggart is seeing his family members and/or his s/o hurt beyond what he can save. Essentially his worst fear is being helpless when he needs it most. 

One of those times was when George lost his ear. The first night when George was lying practically unconscious on the couch with blood everywhere was the worst night of Fred’s life, he truly felt so anxious and helpless and angry that he vomited and ended up passing out next to the couch after staying up till sunrise watching his brother like a hawk. 

He didn’t just sleepwalk when he was younger, he also often experienced nightmares, it’s only George, Molly and Arthur who remembers anything about this. 

They got less and less the older he got and he assumed that he’d never be bothered by them again until after the second wizarding war and the battle of Hogwarts. 

I don’t like to headcanon that he dies cause he didn’t and that’s final lol. I do, however, headcanon that Fred still gets hurt, since everyone in the explosion beside him seemed to sustain minor injuries, I just think that to even out with George losing his ear, he hurts his leg and needs a lot of retraining/a walking stick. I think that’d be a more fair/unfair ending for Fred who’s always full of energy having to have to adjust to living slowly for a little while (not permanently, I couldn’t do that to my boy). 

The boy has anxiety sometimes, ok. (just let me project for a second)

He didn’t know how much tension he usually holds in his body until he drank alcohol for the first time and felt his entire body loosen up and was like “huh this is new.” 

He doesn’t use alcohol to deal with it though, he prefers just talking to George about whenever he feels is stressing him out and that helps. A massage from his s/o to loosen him up doesn’t hurt either. 

Fred prefers to talk to his dad about his problems more than he prefers to talk to Molly, generally. 

His favourite body parts on his s/o: Shoulders, hips, hands. 

He loves to kiss, just in general, but he also loves kissing his s/o’s nose, forehead, neck, shoulder, etc. as little gestures of affection. 

He def. has a bit of a size kink, he loves being taller than his s/o. 

If Fred could have any pet he wanted, he’d probably want a dog, the bigger the better. He doesn’t think he has the time for a pet though. 

It was his idea to start breeding pygmy puffs, it’s the closest he’ll get to having a pet. 

I don’t know why but I feel like when Fred and his s/o are expecting and his s/o goes into labour he just panics. loses it, drops the binkie as we say in Denmark: Freaks the fuck out, if you will. He’s definitely the pacing and wringing his hands together type, though he probably tries his best to keep himself composed and chill during the whole thing whilst simultaneously hyperventilating. 

Fred doesn’t cry often but he sure as hell wept with pride when he held all his kids for the first time. 

Despite the notion that the twins often slip in a joke version of a sweet treat or something similar amongst the snacks at parties, Fred is strongly against tampering with drinks. He knows the connotations it holds and he doesn’t want anyone to be afraid they’d put something in it. If he wants you to test out their truth serum or a love potion, he’ll just ask you flat out and if you don’t want to, he’s not going to continue asking. 

Most of the detentions Fred has gotten from Snape come from times he’s spoken back to him when Snape’s been giving another student a rough time. He doesn’t regret it one bit. 

 If you ask Fred what his proudest accomplishment is, he’ll probably say that it’s having had enough restraint to not punch Umbridge in the face every time he saw her. 

On the note of Umbridge. It wasn’t her detentions with him that got his blood boiling, it was when she punished little kids (a la Nigel) for doing practically nothing, he understands that to an extent and by comparison, setting off a bunch of fireworks inside a building would harbour a harsher punishment, but making twelve-year-olds bleed for running in the halls or playing music or just doing things that twelve-year-olds will inevitably do, is something Fred doesn’t understand. That year pretty much any kid younger than him, or anyone who was too afraid to stand up for themselves, became Fred and George’s little siblings, and they’re very protective older brothers. Umbridge can vouch for that. 

He struggles with a lot of insecurity in his relationships, he always puts on a front of being extra funny and outgoing when he’s in a new relationship because he’s secretly afraid that the way he is isn’t good enough and that eventually, his s/o will see through him and leave because they don’t like the softer, more serious side of him. 

Fred is the godfather of all of George’s kids but is also the godparent of Hugo, Lily and Lucy. 

Fred loves business meetings, he sees them as a good challenge to practice his smooth talk. 

Fred spent his first salary from the shop on the most expensive bottle of champagne he could find and a new suit. 

Fred tried to get into whiskey, feeling like it’d make him a cool business owner type of man, so, with his second salary, he went out and bought a fancy-schmancy bottle of whiskey and the whole getup with a bottle and some cool glasses, and then invited Lee over to try it with him and George. 

They did not like it. Fred thought it tasted like what he imagined gasoline tastes like so they mostly used it as decorations, not having the heart to mix it with something. 

Fred doesn’t necessarily like PDA, it depends on what you mean. He likes being secretive. Pulling his s/o into an empty classroom, nook, hallway, secret pathway etc where anyone could wander in at any time and snogging her senseless is one of his favourite things to do. 

Fred knows how good he looks in his quidditch uniform and will absolutely use it against his s/o. (they’re gonna get spicy from here on so read with caution if you're in public)

Fred prefers giving more than receiving oral. 

He has a lot of energy, did you not think that would rub off (no pun intended) on his sex drive? He can go pretty much any time and place, and typically last at least two rounds. 

Also, his favourite position is having you on top. Okay, I'm gonna stop now. 

[theimprobabledreamersworld]

Ooooh boy! Welcome to a new side to writing from me! 

This little one shot is probably the most angst ridden one I’ve ever written. It’s okay though, promise! This is also the first time I’ve ever written about the characters as Sides instead of a Human AU... Plus the main premise of this was based off a scene in Thor 2, a film I absolutely adore! 

I hope you enjoy reading it. I loved writing it! <3

General writing taglist:  @psychedelicships @jwillowwolf @red-imeanblue @lost-in-thought-20 @writerwithtoomanyships

Read on Ao3!

No More Illusions.

Platonic/Romantic Logicality.

Word count: 1,623

Warnings: Crying, hurt, anger mentions, angry actions.

Logan rubbed his neck, it was still sore from where Janus yanked him away during the video. That wasn’t the only thing that was sore, his heart felt bruised too. He was ignored, skipped and still seen as an inconvenience. Hell, he turned himself into a textbox so he was out of the way. Was that not enough?

Despite the rage and the heartbreak he felt surging through him. He couldn’t help but feel a need to check on Patton. Even though he was angry when he appeared back one final time, he noticed that Patton wasn’t… himself. The way he desperately tried to beg Logan to stay, the pleading in his eyes… something must have happened when he was taken away. He needed to find out what.

He walked through the Mind Palace cautiously, he could still feel the anger swelling in his chest and he didn’t want to take it out on anyone unnecessarily. He couldn’t do that to the others. Their intentions were in the right place, but all of them got clouded by their own judgements… by their own emotions, including him. He chuckled bitterly, Janus was right in the courtroom all along.

‘I don’t feel anything.’

‘Oh, of course you don’t.’

Right now, it was impossible to deny that Janus has been right all along. He was feeling more than it was possible to express. Including a sense of relief when he walked down the corridor and noticed that all of the room doors were shut tight. Everyone must be wallowing in their own problems, so he wouldn’t need to speak to anyone apart from the one person he was genuinely concerned about. He reached Patton’s door and knocked softly three times, one long, two short. He heard a sigh from the other side of the door and he wasn’t expecting what he saw when the door swung open.

“Logan!” Patton shouted in an overly positive voice. His smile was plastered onto his face, as if he was wearing a mask. There was a soft, yellow glow around him and the room had the same glow. Almost as if it was covered in gold.

“I didn’t think I would see you today! We… didn’t exactly treat you very well earlier. I wouldn’t blame you for being angry with all of us for a while.” Logan stared at Patton, the smile didn’t falter… didn’t change at all. He knew that none of this was real. The mask was slipping, the voice didn’t match the ‘happy-pappy-Patton’ he knew. That’s when he realised, he needed to try and help.

“Is… there something you needed?” Patton laughed gently, but the gold outline around him was begin to crackle and his eyes were shifting back and forth, almost willing Logan to leave… practically begging him to leave. To let him fight this battle alone. Logan wasn’t going to let that happen. He took one step forward, gave Patton a soft smile and called out into the room.

“Patton, enough. Please. No more illusions.” His voice projected a sadness he didn’t even know he could feel. The fact that Patton needed to hide how he was feeling to such an extent, even from him, showed that the events that happened after he was removed must have been catastrophic.

Patton sighed once more, he bowed his head and the façade cracked, shattered and melted away. The gold outline started to fall from the ceiling. Patton began to disappear, leaving a gold shimmer in his place. The room fell into disrepair causing Logan to gasp. He knew that Patton kept a lot of different things in his room; photos, old books… pretty much any and all memories pertaining to Thomas. So to see such anger in a generally positive space, it was quite hard to look at. The books that were usually so delicately kept on bookshelves were tossed onto the floor, the dents in the wall showed the sheer force that some of them had been thrown across the room. Photos that were kept in piles based on the year they were taken were scattered carelessly around the entire wall. Frames with Thomas’ accomplishments were shattered, the things that Patton was proudest of, reduced to target practice. Logan claimed to not feel anything. The state of the room was a shock to be sure, but when he looked over at the bed, his heart broke right there on the spot.

He heard a small laugh, something that made him shudder as he saw Patton sit up on the bed. The sheets torn up, and the pillows ripped in half. His eyes were red raw from crying, his voice came out as a hoarse whisper. The cardigan normally lovingly wrapped around his shoulders was tossed into the bin, along with his polo shirt with his logo on it. A large hoodie covered him instead, he looked up at Logan, waiting for him to make some kind of comment.

“Now you see me, Logan.” He laughed in a monotonous way. Logan slowly took steps closer to the bed. He took his steps cautiously and Patton noticed the hesitation.

“I’ve hurt everyone… I- I couldn’t control myself. Janus was asking so many questions as you. I- I didn’t know the answers. I turned into Lilypadton. I hurt Thomas, something I swore I would never do. I’m supposed to be… good. I’m supposed to help protect him. I- I- I hurt you! I skipped things you were saying, I didn’t realise you were replaced. I didn’t mean to hurt everyone. I- I don’t know what to do… I’m a monster, Logan.” Patton’s body wracked with sobs, this uncontrollable pain radiated from him. As he started to glow a dark blue, Logan raced over and wrapped his arms around Patton as tight as he could.

Patton was rigid for a little while, but eventually he caved in and buried his head into Logan’s chest. He rubbed his back and told him repeatedly that everything was going to be okay. This was new for Logan, it’s been a long time since he felt this… helpless? He didn’t know if that was the right word, but he definitely felt unsure what to do. All he knew is that Patton needed him.

“Hey, listen to me. You must have been so overwhelmed and confused. Morality isn’t a cut and dry concept, you’re doing everything you can to help Thomas. Getting overwhelmed sometimes is nothing to be ashamed about. It’s part of nature. You can’t know everything the whole time. Thomas will end up in scenarios that will cause all of us to stumble and be uncertain.” He pushed Patton back so he could look him in the eyes and reassure him that things will be okay. He brushed his hair out of his face so he could look Patton right in the eyes. He couldn’t help but smile as Patton reluctantly looked up at him.

“You are not a monster. You can never think that, Patton. We’ve all made mistakes… but we grow as we go… we grow and learn with Thomas. No one thinks you’re a monster, least of all me. Okay?” Logan held Patton by the shoulders, and he seemed to relax more with every word. The tears were slowly stopping, but he could tell that Patton was trying to figure out how to say something. So he waited until he was ready.

“B- but, I hurt people. I hurt the people I care about most.” It was almost as if he was looking for any reason to keep beating himself up, to keep feeling miserable. Logan wasn’t having it.

“Patton, we’ve all been there. We’ve all hurt people, and we’ve been hurt in return. That’s just how things go. You are good, Patton. You apologised to Thomas, you worked out things out. You made some very clever observations about morality with Thomas. ‘A more mature person comes with more mature, moral questions…?’ Being able to admit that you don’t always know the answer, but you’ll still keep fighting anyway. Now that’s brave.” Patton smiled, it was a relief to see he smile and genuinely mean it this time. Logan wrapped his arms around Patton once again and he immediately hugged him back.

He had to admit, this was nice.

“I’m going to use yours and Thomas’ words against you. So bear with me… Look, Patton. You’re not perfect, just like the rest of us… but those imperfections, don’t make you any less worthy of love. I want you to remember that.” He could feel the happiness radiate off of Patton, there was a light blue glow surrounding him, and he pulled away from Logan.

“Thank you, Logan. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Logan smiled, it was nice to feel appreciated again. Despite everything, he felt infinitely better now.

“You’re most welcome, Patton. Would you like me to go now?” He secretly hoped the answer would be no. They needed each other, even if it was just for a night.

“Actually… Could you read to me? Can we carry on with Lord of the Rings?” Logan felt relieved and immediately grabbed his book off Patton’s bookshelf. He climbed onto the bed and waited for Patton to get comfortable next to him. He turned to the page they left off on while Patton eventually rested his head on Logan’s shoulder.

After a while, Patton fell asleep so Logan put the bookmark on the page and gently placed it on the table next to the bed. He carefully removed Patton’s glasses and took his off as well. As he drifted off to sleep as well, one last thought entered his mind.

Patton had his moments, but all in all, he was Logan’s hero too.

[itsclydebitches]

YYH Recaps: Episode 1, Surprised to be Dead

Hello, all you hypothetical readers! It's a beautiful spring day and I have a free afternoon ahead of me, so what better time to start another massive project while I guilty stuff my other WIPs deep into the depths of my hard drive? Yeah. Iffy life choices aside, someone mentioned a few weeks back that they'd love for me to recap a show I have more positive things to say about than negative (RIP RWBY) and ever since Netflix announced that their live-action adaptation of Yu Yu Hakusho is in the works, I've been itching for a re-watch of the anime. With the RWBY hiatus underway, it seemed like the perfect time to fulfill both desires.

Before we begin though, I'd like to touch on a few things that are going to influence this project.

First, YYH is near and dear to my heart. Written by Yoshihiro Togashi in the early 1990s and later adapted for an American audience by Funimation, I had the pleasure of experiencing this story five different ways: as a serialized tale in Shonen Jump, a binge read when I had the money to buy the manga, tiny snippets of the anime on Adult Swim late at night — don't tell my parents ;) — as an after-school treat on Toonami, and then years later as a re-watch when I introduced it to a friend (who, in turn, blessed me by having us watch Fullmetal Alchemist next). I used to keep a Hiei bookmark in everything I was reading, the spirit gun made it into our witch-wolf-space adventures on the playground (middle school was wild), and there was a long period of my life where I tried very hard to teach myself to stand with my hands behind my back, precisely as Genkai does. Spoiler alert: I failed. So to say I love the series is... a little bit of an understatement. I bring this up simply as a way of demonstrating that there's more than a bit of nostalgia attached to YYH for me and that will inevitably cloud my reading of it. How can it not? So that's just something to keep in mind as I work through a series that, like any having hit its 30th birthday, has its outdated, flawed, and other questionable aspects.

Second, but very much connected to the first point, is that these are pretty casual recaps. I summarize and extrapolate, focusing primarily on plot and dialogue (but with the occasional cinematography aspect tossed in). I'm not conducting research on the cultural history here — something that will come up at least once in this episode — I'm not arguing an overarching thesis, and I've never been someone who focuses on the author/production/trivia of a series. I'm here for the story as the story is presented to the viewer. If you've read my RWBY Recaps, this will function precisely the same way, with the only difference being I'm engaging with a finished text as opposed to an ongoing one, so there’s a lot less, “Maybe ___ will happen” theorizing going on. 

Third, I obviously recommend that you watch the show yourself (you can find it on YouTube!), but you don't have to know the series to follow along. As these massive paragraphs attest, I tend to be both detailed and verbose, so we'll be covering every major plot point — and most of the smaller ones too.

Finally, I'm working from the dub. I know, I know, the horror. But it's what I grew up on and, honestly, I think it's superior to the sub. YYH's dubbing is in a class all its own and to this day there are very few shows that compare to it. Trust me, it's a good call.

That's enough of the boring chit-chat though. Let's get started!

Our very first episode "Surprised to be Dead" opens on a crowded street. We see lots of traffic, people going about their business, and a pedestrian crossing sign that, crucially, turns red. This is our normality and, like in every genre story, you need to break that normality at some point so that the protagonists can go on their fantastical/supernatural/science fiction journey. YYH eases us into things by first breaking the normality of an everyday afternoon: there's a screech of tires, quick shots of a man pushing a child out of the way of an oncoming car, and then his back is hitting the windshield. We begin this story with a horrible — but otherwise mundane — car crash.

Now, these flashes alone have a fair bit to unpack. Despite later getting a brief shot of the man's scared face right before he's hit, the moment's focus is really on the child. He's the one foregrounded in the initial, slow-mo shot. He's the one who appears in color while the man is kept in shadow. This isn't just a hit, it's a rescue. The camera is also careful to follow the soccer ball this kid was playing with (more on that later in the episode), with it flying through the air as the man is hit and bouncing to a stop in the street, acting as the dramatic finish. It's childhood! It's innocence! It's play on a sunny afternoon! And it's all gone wrong.

This moment is chaotic and even a bit confusing. Not in the sense of what's happening — that is quite obviously a guy being hit by a car — but who the victims are, how precisely this came about, or even why we're meant to care about this beyond a generic capacity to feel for other human (fictional) beings... that's all removed. And it works. As the crash takes place, the camera pans across the stunned crowd and we, the viewer, become a part of that crowd. They don't know what precisely is going on either. We're all just horrified onlookers as a sudden tragedy takes place. We're all watching the same show.

So everyone realizes this guy has been hit. People are staring in shock and someone calls for an ambulance. We see the driver fall to his knees in the street, distraught, shakily saying, "I didn't mean to..." It's a very serious and emotional scene that —

— is immediately tempered by this guy waking up, complete with a cute 'pop!' sound effect when he opens his eyes.

This is YYH's brand, this Very Serious Circumstances skillfully interwoven with casual indifference/comedy. It's admittedly far from a unique brand, but it's an excellent choice given that this is the same attitude that will drive 99% of our protagonist's interaction with the world.

Speaking of said protagonist, our guy wakes up, opens his eyes, and realizes that he's floating. There's a great, disorientating shot from his perspective where everything is upside down, causing him to nearly fall out of the air. Well would you look at that, he's as confused as we are. It's our audience surrogate!

A narrator says, "And so it all begins. This boy's name is Yusuke, he's fourteen years old, and he's supposed to be the hero of this story. But oddly enough, he's dead."

Game of Thrones might have made it popular, but YYH did it better.

(Yeah, yeah, I know one death kick-starts the journey and the other is a shocking twist. Just let me have this.)

Now, it's a weird introduction, right? At least at the end. The announcement that change has occurred, a name, an age... that all checks out. But "supposed to be the hero"? What the hell is that “supposed to” mean? Our narrator gives us the easy, surface answer: "But oddly enough, he's dead." We're capitalizing here on the audience's expectation that death ends a character's journey and though they may have been a hero previously, they can no longer be one moving forward. That function within the story has passed. So it's this intriguing question of, "What kind of hero do you have when that hero is dead from the start?" but as we'll see soon, there's an additional meaning here of, "How can Yusuke be the hero?" As this premiere sets up, Yusuke doesn't act like the hero is “supposed to” act. 

Until he saved this kid.

But right now he's just confused: "Okay, this is weird. Stupid weird."

Two EMTs arrive on the scene and are hilariously useless. You know how in any medical drama a doctor will stop CPR after a couple of seconds because obviously you're not going to spend half the episode on realism? Well, that's this only a thousand times worse. One guy just looks at the kid and announces he's fine except for some bumps and bruises. Meanwhile, the kid is sobbing.

"Well, at least one of them is," replies the other EMT, because I guess he can tell Yusuke is beyond hope without taking a pulse or anything? "I hate cleanup," he complains as they load his body onto a stretcher because that's? An empathetic response to have??

Honestly this scene is wild.

Yusuke is understandably upset that he's, you know, dead and all. He starts hounding the EMTs who, unable to hear him, just go about their business of taking the kid and his body to the hospital. "You think you can just do whatever you want because you have that stupid uniform on? You can't just write me off. Listen to me!" and Yusuke tries to punch one of the EMTs in the head, resulting in him floating right through.

What a great way to introduce your protagonist's personality. We see here that when things go wrong Yusuke's default emotion is anger and it starts creeping in even before he thinks the others are ignoring him: "Stupid weird." He has problems with authority — "You think you can just do whatever you want because you have that stupid uniform on?" — is used to others listening when he gets angry — "You can't just write me off!" — and is poised to use violence at the slightest provocation. Yusuke is a guy who, right now at least, is ready to punch first and ask questions later.

As Yusuke floats back up into the air and the ambulance drives away, he finally cools down enough to try and think his way out of this. "It's not like this is the first time you've been in a jam,” he thinks. Yusuke recalls that yeah, something was different about today...

...he actually went to school.

Catch me laughing that this idiot boy equates the weirdness of him dying with going to school. Good lord. 

Anyway, this jumpstarts our flashback. We open on a generic, anime middle school (that always feels like a high school to me) where the principal is calling for Yusuke through the loud speaker. Oooo someone’s in trouble! We follow a young girl up to the rooftop and she gets a classic hair-blowing-in-the-wind moment to  establish that she's our love interest. Meet Keiko Yukimura.

Keiko finds Yusuke hanging out and immediately starts lecturing him for trying to chew gum and refusing to wear the boys' uniform. "Oh, give me a break, Keiko. I look better in green." Note that it's here we learn her name and it's an easy, casual way to introduce it. I bring this up because Yusuke's introduction via our narrator is very much... not that. It's an on your nose statement about his name, age, and importance to the story, and if you're just starting the show in 2021, it might come across as a rather armature move. Like something out of a kid's show, perhaps. Yet here we see that this was a deliberate choice, considering that YYH is capable of introducing character information naturally when it wants to.

This moment also tells us that Yusuke cares a great deal about his image. More on that in a bit. Because Keiko isn't finished her list of grievances yet, going on to say that his attendance record has hurt their entire class, hurt her as class representative, and if he keeps going down this path he won't even graduate middle school. "Sometimes I think you don't care about anyone but yourself and then you don't even do that right!"

They're legit complaints. Too bad Yusuke is busy looking up Keiko's skirt.

Yeeeeah. Sadly, this is common for anime, particularly a 90s anime like YYH. Even presumably more progressive series like My Hero Academia feature characters like Mineta, whose entire personality is being a pervert, and the creation of abilities that "require" kids/young women to be scantily clad. See: Yaoyorozu. YYH is no different in this regard, with various forms of sexual harassment functioning as a shorthand for how much Yusuke secretly likes Keiko. "Boys will be boys," right? Obviously not. 

Like so many others series, the creators get away with it because they’re framing it as a bad thing. It's totally fine because look, Keiko slaps him! This is  teaching the viewer how wrong this behavior is. Never mind that this is clearly an established habit between them, that Yusuke laughs off Keiko's discomfort, and that the whole scene is meant to be funny for the viewer. That's the real purpose here; it’s not a PSA on harassment. 

That, and to establish the long-suffering love Keiko has for Yusuke in turn, largely stemming from a life-long friendship. "Dumb boy! He hasn't grown up a bit since he was four years old." We see that Keiko's early interactions with Yusuke have given her insight that others lack. As she heads down from the roof she runs into two girls hiding around the corner, too scared to come out lest "the great Urameshi" set his sights on them. Isn't Keiko terrified of what he might do to her? "Or worse, what others might say of it?" Like any classic high school middle school setting, one's reputation is king. Yusuke cares about how others see him — maintaining that tough boy attitude — and the girls care more about what the rest of the school might think of Keiko's interactions with him than the presumed harm Yusuke could do to her. They heard he can summon 2,000 men with just a whistle and that he "kills for fun!" But that means nothing in the face of people talking about you. Despite being one of the most popular girls in school, Keiko is the outsider here via her disinterest in what other people think.

The animation changes here, giving us a good look at how the girls picture Yusuke: tough, scowling, surrounded by shadows, and backed by an entire army.

In contrast, we've already seen what Yusuke is really like.

Keiko laughs the image off too. Yusuke is more like a "lamb" than a killer and besides, he couldn't order around two people, let alone two hundred. "He doesn't have many friends."

"That's not what I heard," says one of the girls. 

"Yeah," goes the other. "I think we would know." 

Again, rumors rule here, with whispers in the hall considered more reliable than someone who interacts with Yusuke on a daily basis. Keiko doesn’t have a hope of changing their minds. 

Oh, as a side note, I love that they gave Keiko Miyazaki-esque hair. It's very emotive.

Yusuke escapes outside where the principal is still calling for him to report to his office. He overhears a conversation around the corner and we cut to two boys, one of which is showing a wallet off to the other. He explains that some bully tried to rough him up, but he said he was Urameshi's cousin and the bully took off, dropping his wallet in the process. The guy's friend is impressed, but what is he going to do if Yusuke ever finds out he lied? Not to worry, he says, that "blockhead" would probably think it's true even if he did somehow hear.

Yusuke, obviously, does hear about this and he, also obviously, does not believe this guy is his cousin. He looms ominously and they scurry up against a wall, terrified and offering him the wallet as an apology.

"You think I want your money?" Yusuke yells.

YYH is, in many respects, a rather simple story, but I appreciate the hints of complexity in these otherwise straightforward interactions. It's not that this guy used Yusuke's name to steal a wallet, he used it as a form of protection against another bully — a far more sympathetic motivation. It's not that Yusuke's fearsome reputation has resulted in any genuine respect because once people think they're safe they reveal how little they think of his intelligence — he's a "blockhead." And Yusuke, though intimidating and violent, is not your average, schoolyard bully. He doesn't care about money, only the insult and the damage this guy using his name might have done to his reputation. There's a little more nuance here than you might otherwise expect.

Also, note how dark the boys' standard uniforms are and how much they blend into the rest of the world. Yusuke, as our protagonist, stands out in his bright clothing. He was right, he does look better in green!

So he's ready to clobber this kid when one of the teachers arrive: Mr. Iwamoto.

Iwamoto demands to know what's going on, but the boys are too terrified to rat Yusuke out. Noticing the wallet on the ground, he assumes that Yusuke was after their money, something that greatly offends him: "Whatever!" Iwamoto goes on to say that, "No good weeds like you should have been plucked a long time ago," making it clear that he considers Yusuke a hopeless case. The positive aspects that Keiko sees, as well as the complexity the viewer sees — to say nothing of his introduction of saving a kid — aren’t considered here.

Notably, Iwamoto exists in part to show us what Yusuke could become. Not a teacher (he's obviously not attending school enough for that!), but a cynical man who is cruel for cruelty's sake. Yusuke is already barreling down that path, ignoring Keiko's advice, terrorizing other students, trying to punch EMTs, etc. If his life (or afterlife...) hadn't changed through that accident, this is the kind of person Yusuke might have grown up to be, and we can see that clearly in the visual parallels between them. Dark haired men dressed in green who scowl with ease and toss out cutting insults. Yusuke is staring his future in the face.

For now he walks off with a final shot, "You shouldn't talk. It makes you sound stupid." This time Yusuke makes it to the school's entrance and tries to enjoy his second attempt at chewing gum, but someone hits him in the back of the head.

"Okay, somebody's DEAD — ah. Sorry, old man."

"That's Mr. Takenaka to you."

Our principal has finally left the office and hunted down Yusuke for himself! Putting this interaction immediately after the one with Iwamoto allows the viewer to compare them. Yusuke might be irreverent towards his principal, but it's clear there's still some kind of respect between them. Yusuke only starts threatening because he doesn’t realize who hit him and once he does realize it's Takenaka, he immediately apologizes. That "old man" comes across as a teasing insult and Yusuke allows himself to be briefly dragged back towards school, rather than throwing a now classic punch. In turn, Takenaka cares enough about Yusuke to try and keep him on the straight and narrow. He utilizes Yusuke's preferred language — violence — but in a casual way, nonthreatening way: slight hit to the back of his head, noogie, pulling him along by the ear. 

It's the sort of physicality we're used to seeing in media between a parent and child who are outwardly antagonistic, but actually share a deep bond. Takenaka is also careful to frame their return to his office as a "discussion," not a punishment, and offers Yusuke tea along with the conversation. Whereas Iwamoto considers Yusuke to be a "weed" that should have been plucked from their school long ago, Takenaka is determined to help Yusuke bloom.

If we're continuing the flower metaphor :D

Yusuke isn't in the mood to play along though. He gets away by using a fake ear, startling Takenaka when it unexpectedly pulls free. Yusuke escapes the school grounds and Takenaka, suffering a back twinge from his fall, can't chase after him. Poor guy. I understand that pain lol.

Yusuke heads home where we're introduced to his mother, Atsuko. Most notable in her first shot is the soft lighting that highlights her looks. We're not told how old she is here, but I believe she's around 28 — and she looks it, if not younger. Given that Yusuke is 14, that means Atsuko was a mom at his age. This is a quick and subtle way to tell us about Yusuke's home life. There are more overt details in this scene — it's at least lunchtime and Atsuko hasn't left her bed yet, she demands that Yusuke make her coffee instead of greeting him, it's all meant to imply (before we actually see) that she's an alcoholic — but her age is another way to highlight the broken household here. There's no partner in sight and she clearly had Yusuke as a teenager. He hasn't had a strong parental figure to take care of him. If anything, Yusuke is taking care of Atsuko here.

"Oh great, mother of the year!" basically sums things up.

Atsuko wants to know why Yusuke isn't in school and he says that everyone is pissing him off today, particularly with their preaching. "Dear, if you hate preaching so much you should live on your own... but you can't do that, can you?" Alongside a rough upbringing, Yusuke is suffering from the common problem of being trapped in a dead-end life. He hates his school, his town, and coming home to find his mom hungover. Yusuke has no prospects and, outside of one principal, no one who is actively working to help him find some. Even the little things he hates, like being preached to, are unavoidable because if you want to live on your own, that requires money. Good luck pulling that off as a middle schooler whose only skill is street fighting!

Yusuke walks off in a huff, literally shouting in a street about what a bad day he's having (and hilariously scaring off pedestrians in the process). His shout brings trouble though. A couple guys appear to ambush him, their boss close behind. The music increases the tension, Yusuke's expression is serious, and we even get a Dutch angle thrown into the mix. 

For any who don't know, the Dutch angle is a popular film technique to establish that something is wrong. There's tension in the scene, something uneasy is at play, and the world is now literally off center. It's perhaps most famously used in Do The Right Thing to establish the friction between an Italian-American pizzeria and the predominantly African American neighborhood it's based in.

But it's also used a great deal in horror as a way to say: yup, shit just got real. Scary real.

This Dutch angle introduces a character you may not appreciate at first, but absolutely should: Kazuma Kuwabara.

He's initially the comic relief and that's clear in his introduction. Within seconds we move from that intimidating arrival to, well, seeing him. To be clear, I've got nothing against redheads with big chins, but compared to Yusuke's design, Kuwabara is meant to be the funny looking one. His threat level plummets the moment we get a look at his face, especially in a series that will occasionally use looks as a (supposed) measure of intelligence. 

Also, Kuwabara is dressed in light blue so, like Yusuke, we know he's important!

Any assumptions that his appearance isn’t meant to imply a goofy, embarrassing personality are put to rest when Kuwabara starts rambling about how they last time they fought Yusuke just got a cheap shot in and he'll definitely win this time. Yeah, he won't. Yusuke is thrilled by this diversion though and we get a shot of him looking almost as creepy as Keiko's friends think he is. Whatever else might be said about Yusuke, he is absolutely a monster in a fight.

Which we see here. If anyone picked up the series without knowing this was a fighting anime, they'll realize it now. Yusuke's choreography is stylized to show off his skill: he disappears with a 'whoosh' and dark lines to suggest inhuman speed,

attacking Kuwabara with a knee to the face, utilizes flying kicks, lands perfect, precision punches, and ends it all with the toe-tip landing we've come to expect of all powerful fighters. Kuwabara never even got a hit in. 

Happy as a clam now, Yusuke wanders off whistling and Kuwabara's friends are left to pick up the pieces. AKA, his likely broken bones. I love that they're legit friends though and not just nameless goons for the sake of giving Kuwabara a small gang (though their names won't come up until later). "That makes 0 wins an 156 loses!" one of them cries, trying to get Kuwabara to stop ending up in the hospital, probably. We establish that Kuwabara is The Most Dramatic Ever when he pulls his broken body into a seated position, shouting, "No! I almost had him that time!"

Then he passes out.

Kuwabara, honey, you obviously did not almost have him, but god bless you for the outlook. The most optimistic thing on this Earth is a well-loved Golden Retriever, but Kuwabara comes in at a very close second.

With his dream to one day beat Yusuke in combat established, we cut to Yusuke wandering the street where the episode opened. "Okay, I'm remembering" he says in a voiceover. "After that I met the kid."

The soccer ball reappears as it rolls to a stop at Yusuke's feet. He grabs it and immediately starts yelling at the kid. Horrible protagonist, right? Well, Yusuke is trying to instill in him the danger of using this street as a playground, a worry the viewer already knows is 100% justified. “Listen, kid, that’s dangerous! There are cars going by that will splatter you into the pavement!” It's one of those quick moments where we get to enjoy Yusuke's duality: he's someone who is nearly making a toddler cry, but for rather understandable reasons. He's got the right idea, but needs to go about it in a more mature manner.

Which is precisely what he attempts to do. Sort of. Yusuke changes gears, though whether it's a more "mature" route is certainly up for debate lol. He tries entertaining the kid instead, raising and lowering the soccer ball to reveal goofy faces.

When these fail to impress, Yusuke goes full out by stuffing the ball into his pants, pushing his nose up with a pair of chopsticks he got from god knows where, and generally just putting on a display.

So Yusuke cares very deeply about his reputation... but only when it comes to those who are an established part of his life. Keiko, Mr. Takenaka, and the other kids at school all need to maintain a particular image of Yusuke, one that he's carefully cultivated. But random pedestrians on the street? Who cares about them? Let them talk.

This shows us that Yusuke does indeed have priorities over his own, selfish goals. Namely, the happiness of some kid is more important to him than looking "cool" for a bunch of strangers. Lots of characters with Yusuke's surface attitude would sneer at the idea of degrading themselves for — their words — some brat. But Yusuke, as we constantly see, actually does have that heart of gold. “Well, if all else fails I can still make kids happy.”

Although... I'm not sure what to make of his display itself. I have the distinct sense that there's something prejudiced here that I'm not able to fully articulate, what with the chopsticks, slanted eyes, bald head, and the like, though to be entirely frank I don't have enough knowledge of Japan's history to say precisely what it might be. Or, really, whether it exists at all. Just something to chew on.

What I am sure about though is the importance of having the child label Yusuke as monster — "Yeah, monster! — but in a delighted manner. Yusuke is indeed some kind a monster, someone who disappoints adults and terrifies his classmates, a demon fighter on the streets too, but here that identity is reworked into something positive.

Having successful secured a laugh, Yusuke tells the kid — calmly this time — to go play elsewhere. The toddler stares up at him with the blank expression only kids can manage.

Well, kids and whatever headspace I'm in after writing these metas.

To absolutely no one's surprise except Yusuke's, the kid does not go elsewhere. Instead, he continues kicking the ball down the street, causing Yusuke to exclaim, “Dammit, what’s the use? The kid can get smashed by a car for all I care!” Liar, liar. 

The picture becomes desaturated as the kid kicks the ball and it flies into the street, time slowing down to show it landing precisely in the middle of the road. Yusuke again yells for him to stay put, but when has a toddler ever listened? He begins to walk into the road as our driver arrives, speeding, swerving, and paying more attention to the girl at his side than what's in front of him.

This time, we see the accident from the front with both Yusuke and the kid presented equally.

There's a cut to black and when we return we're in the present, Yusuke floating above the policemen now investigating the scene. “So that’s it? I’m roadkill?” As Yusuke realizes he's dead, specifically that he's a ghost, a voice goes,

"Bingo! Bingo! You win the prize!"

A woman has appeared who is quite obviously othered by the standards of the episode so far. Unlike the greens, blues, and browns of the series' modern clothes, she's dressed in hot pink kimono with blue hair to match. She's also, you know, floating on an oar.

“I didn’t expect you to figure it out so quickly," she says, referring to Yusuke's revelation that he's dead. Apparently, those who meet unexpected and/or violent ends tend to take some time coming to terms with their demise. It's a nice acknowledgment of Yusuke's intelligence in an interaction that's otherwise... not great for his self-esteem.

Meaning, this woman is about to drag him lol.

She introduces herself as Botan, pilot of the River Styx and guider of souls to the afterlife. You might also know her as the Grim Reaper.

(Hey, RWBY fans: I originally wrote that as Grimm Reaper 🤦‍♀️)

It's an claim Yusuke takes issue with because 1. Botan is too pretty to be the Grim Reaper and 2. If she was really some god of death she'd be taking this much more seriously, not laughing and saying, "Bingo!" For the audience this does two things. First, it acknowledges our own expectations and validates them. Yusuke's world isn't so far removed from our own that he takes Botan's looks and personality at face value, he also expected a skeleton with a scythe. So don't worry, all the weird stuff in this series is weird to our protagonist too. They'll be explanations. Or, even if there’s not, you’re not wrong for being surprised. 

Second, it sets up the very common theme in YYH of undermining those common assumptions again and again and again. We've already seen it with Yusuke, wherein characters who look and act a certain way are, supposedly, destined to be that person and nothing more. Yusuke is meant to be just a "weed," a dumb, violent, angry loser who goes nowhere in life... but we already know he's more than that. Botan is supposed to be scary and serious, but she says nah, I want to be cute and bubbly instead. No character in YYH embodies who they're "supposed" to be when you look past those surface characterizations. They play the part of archetypes — and do keep certain parts of their expected personalities — but they're also far more well-rounded than that. Which yeah, is something most people expect from any story nowadays, but YYH is particularly adept at making you think you're watching Simple Show A only to turn around and surprise you with More Complex Show B.

It's great, trust me.

So Yusuke is pissed that Botan isn't adhering to those expectations, in the same way that he works hard to validate others expectations of him. He doesn't know how to deal with someone challenging his world view yet. Rather than angering Botan though, she just nods and says that this response makes sense for him. “Rather than being scared, or surprised, you yell a lot and tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about." Taking out a notebook, she quickly summarizes everything we learned in the flashback — minus Yusuke's complexities: he's fourteen, in middle school, is ill-tempered, violent, hates authority, and is a horrible student.

Typically, Yusuke responds by getting angry and trying to snatch the booklet out of her hands, only for Botan to pull it out of his reach, laughing. The tables have turned! Rather than being surrounded by people who cower at Yusuke's imposed authority, he now finds himself faced with someone who laughs at his transparent attempts to take control of the situation.

Calming down, Yusuke wants to know if the kid he saved is really alright and Botan offers to let him see for himself. That offer produces Yusuke's first, genuine smile.

They fly to the hospital where a doctor is in the process of giving the kid a clean bill of health, his mother crying with relief. 

That's enough for Yusuke. “Alright, Botan, I’ve got no regrets, so you can take me to hell or wherever it is I’m going.”

That tells you all you need to know about Yusuke's self-worth, despite his bad boy attitude. His life is a dead-end as far as he can see and most of those around him haven't done anything to dissuade him of that idea. He says he doesn't care if the kid lives or dies, but then instinctively saves him. Post his death, Yusuke doesn't have anything he considers a regret, or anything he'd like to do before he leaves, like saying goodbye to a loved one. Oh, he's also pretty sure he's going to hell and has resigned himself to that without a fight.

Uplifting!

Botan just laughs though, saying that she's actually here to offer Yusuke an "ordeal" that could bring him back to life. See, he wasn't supposed to die today — let alone die saving a kid — and frankly they don't know what to do with him. It's another neat summary of what we've already learned: Yusuke is a far more complicated case than the afterlife assumed and now, when push comes to shove, deciding whether he belongs in heaven or hell is... muddled.

There's a fantastic story there about the problems with an afterlife that reduces a person's entire life to a few surface characteristics recorded in a book, refusing to acknowledge the context of their situation, or their capacity for change. “Run someone with your credentials a thousand times and they never would have saved a kid like that." Except, of course, Yusuke did save him, so those "credentials" are suspect, to say the least. However, YYH is not a story that explores these issues. Instead, I recommend you watch this!

Rather than being upset at the afterlife's low opinion of him (because let's be real, Yusuke shares it), he latches onto a little detail Botan let slip. If he wasn't supposed to die today... then was the kid?

Mmm... no. Actually, without the chaos of Yusuke jumping into the road, the driver would have swerved at the last second and the kid would have not only lived, but actually come out with one less scrape.

So Yusuke is obviously upset by this news! I would be too!! Holy shit, hang onto the "it's the thought that counts" message with everything you've got.

Also, don't think too much about the fact that the afterlife apparently knows exactly what will happen to people, down to how many cuts they accumulate in an accident. Also, don't think too much about where the afterlife foreseeing the crash begins and the unexpectedness of Yusuke interfering ends. That way lies madness. This will never come up again, so just let it go.

Sorry, 2013 me hijacked the post for a second.

As said, Yusuke is understandably upset by this revelation and as he fumes I'm reminded that this series likes to pull some amazing expressions.

Botan reiterates that it's all fine because Yusuke can come back to life. Weren't you listening? He should feel honored, in fact, considering that an offer like this only arrives every 100 years or so. Well, that explains why all of humanity isn't grappling with people coming back to life on the daily. One person every generation isn't going to cause much of a stir.

However, instead of jumping at the chance Yusuke announces that Botan is just like the teachers at school: she doesn't know what she's talking about. “You said yourself my life was kind of pathetic, right?” he says, going on to explain that everyone will be happier now that he's dead. His school won't have to deal with his behavior, Keiko won't have to nag him, and his mom will be able to party whenever she wants. It's a win-win for everyone involved. 

Hmm, this feels familiar. 

Don't worry, Yusuke doesn't need to experience a whole alternate reality to get the message.

“I’m sorry you feel that way at such an early age," Botan says and she is sorry, because despite her teasing nature that's a legitimately horrifying thing to believe. Yusuke won't budge though and after a little back-and-forth Botan leaves, telling Yusuke he should think it over while visiting his wake. She'll come back once he decides what to do.

“Do you have worms in your ears, lady? I did decide!” but Botan is long gone.

We cut to that night where Yusuke has indeed decided to attend his own wake. Maybe because of Botan's advice, maybe because he's just morbidly curious. We’re not given insight into the decision. 

Atsuko is a mess, to put it mildly, not dressed for the occasion and sitting slumped against the way, staring vacantly as the guests offer their condolences. Yusuke is surprised by the fact that his entire class is here, but quickly writes them off when he sees two of the boys laughing. I'm on the fence about this detail, which I'll unpack in just a second.

First though, Yusuke sees Keiko exiting the house, inconsolable in her grief. She collapses on the ground with her two friends trying to offer comfort, despite the fact that they had nothing good to say about Yusuke himself. Good on them.

Before he can think too long on this though, Yusuke is distracted by Kuwabara's arrival. Unlike Keiko's crying, he expresses his grief through yelling. Specifically, yelling at Yusuke. For dying. For daring to "run away." His own friends are physically holding him back as he charges into the wake, screaming, “Who am I gonna fight now, huh? Who am I gonna fight?" It's not really about the fighting, of course. At least, not the fighting alone. "You’re supposed to be here for me," Kuwabara finishes, the punch he's thrown at Yusuke's photo going limp and catching his first tear.

You know, for all the  goofy expressions, this show really is gorgeous. Just wait until we get to the fight animations.

Kuwabara's reaction is why I hesitate to write off the classmates like Yusuke has. Granted, we have no reason to believe that they care for him as Kuwabara does — they're nameless background characters defined only by their terror of "the great Urameshi" — but it's still a split second taken out of context. We don't know what they were laughing at, or if laughing is a part of their grief. God knows I personally laugh at the most inappropriate moments. If you tell me someone has just died there is a very good chance I will laugh awkwardly as I try to process that. It’s just a reflex. All of which I bring up not because these side characters are important, but because Yusuke's perception of his own worth is. The point of each of these moments is to show that those around him have always cared for him, even if Yusuke didn't notice. It's nice to think that extends to his classmates too. The variety likewise exists to show us how people grieve differently, with Kuwabara's friends not understanding that this is how he's working through the trauma: “This place is for mourning!” He is mourning, even if his way of mourning isn't as socially acceptable as Keiko's. So if screaming and throwing punches is valid, crying is valid, staring stoically in a drunk stupor is valid... why not laughter too?

Not likely, perhaps, but possible.

As an additional possibility to chew on, watching this premier again, it struck me how more emotional Kuwabara's scene is compared to Keiko's. Don't get me wrong, crying and calling Yusuke’s name gets the point across, but it's two seconds of generic grief compared to a much longer scene rife with intensity. When Kuwabara arrives the music swells and everyone is forced to pay attention to him. His grief is loud, violent, and given symbolism with his fist and the photo. There's more effort put into his reaction, frankly, so it wouldn't surprise me if fans started shipping them after this. That grief combined with an "enemies to lovers" possibility is a pretty potent mix. To be clear, Yusuke/Keiko is the (oh so obvious) canonical endgame and in the fandom Yusuke/Kuwabara can't compare to another slash ship that will turn up later, but this is a good example of how writers can craft some Very Gay Scenes without realizing it. When you have the girl crying prettily for a second and the guy absolutely losing his mind over Yusuke's death, questioning his purpose now, his support network, and then collapsing in grief... don't be surprised if your audience goes, "Oh hey, maybe they'd be a good couple instead."

But I digress.

The only people who are unquestioningly happy about Yusuke's passing are Mr. Iwamoto and his co-conspirator, Mr. Akashi. You know Akashi is another bad guy because he has bucked teeth and "ugliness" is an easy way to code for evilness. YYH is not immune to those mistakes :/

These two are really something else though, standing in the middle of a wake and claiming it's “too bad that car wasn’t big enough for them too," referring to Kuwabara and his friends. Wow! What stellar members of the academic community. Iwamoto goes on to say that Yusuke dying at least accomplished something good. Not, mind you, saving the life of a child, but rather looking good for their school's reputation. Akashi agrees, but says it's likely Yusuke only accidentally saved him while trying to steal the kid's lunch money. Remember, that accusation of theft is the one thing Yusuke has said outright that he does not do.

He's pissed listening to all this — wouldn't you be? — but knows by now he can't do anything about it. In another fantastic shot, Yusuke hovers his hand over Iwamoto's shoulder, desperate to grab him, when Takenaka's arrives there instead.

“What do you suppose is more disgraceful? That boy showing his misery, or your insensitive and idiotic words!”

HELL YEAH. You tell 'em, Mr. Takenaka.

Yusuke gets his third shock of the night at this passionate defense. Takenaka leaves the teachers to go pay his respects, but admits to Yusuke's picture that he just can't speak well of him. He was surprised to hear that Yusuke gave up his life for another and it's a fact that he acted selfishly. Though he doesn't say it in as many words, Takenaka explains that he's not grieving because Yusuke was a good person, but because it's so clear to him that he might have been. “Why didn’t you stay? You could have made something great out of yourself.”

Normally, "Why didn't you stay?" is just something for the living to grapple with, as the dead obviously don't have any say in what happens to them. But Yusuke does. It's here that the lighting grows soft again and Yusuke considers Takenaka's words. Keiko and Kuwabara grieve for who he was, but Takenaka grieves for who Yusuke could have been — someone that might still exist if Yusuke decides to undergo this ordeal.

Atsuko adds fuel to the emotional fire, breaking down and hiding her face in her knees.

Finally, the kid Yusuke saved arrives with his mother. Because yes, Yusuke saved him in every way that matters, considering no one else knows — or will know — that he'd have lived anyway. I like that the show doesn't allow that knowledge to undermine the emotion of their arrival, or what Yusuke’s act meant to them. 

The mom tells her son to pay his respects and the kid thanks Yusuke for saving him, and for "making faces." He clearly doesn't get what's going on here. This is confirmed as the two leave and he asks his mom if he can play with Yusuke again tomorrow. “I know some people sounded angry at him, but he’s really nice!" 

They're probably just crying because they want to play with him too, he thinks, which just makes his mom join in. Everyone is crying in this club tonight.

Those words are the cincher for Yusuke and with a brief montage of all the grief he's witnessed, he makes his decision.

We cut to later that night where Yusuke floats above the city, admiring the moon. Botan reappears and he asks, “Have you ever not known about something that seemed obvious to everyone else?” Yes, everyone has experienced that at one point or another. She asks if he's made his decision and Yusuke agrees to try and come back to life.

Emotional revelations out of the way, we're allowed another tone shift as Botan yells with joy, speeding off and causing Yusuke to grab hold of the end of her oar, lest he be left behind. Cranky as always, he demands to know where they're going. "To the spirit world, of course!" They're off to see someone who can explain the ordeal and give Yusuke the tool needed to complete it. Just hang on and enjoy the ride.

Thus ends our very first episode! Ah, the nostalgia. This is part one of a four arc series, with the anime cutting out a lot of the filler stories found at the start of the manga — a smart decision, I think. They primarily do the work of teaching Yusuke what he learned at the wake, so if you can accomplish that as quickly as the adaptation did, all the better. Especially since Yusuke needs to grow a great deal beyond the basic understanding that people might, sort of care for him, and that work will occur primarily through a job he's going to take on. The series isn't really about his death and it's not about an attempt to come back either — it's about what happens once you get that second chance. So this is the setup, but it's important setup all the same.

No need to skip ahead though. I've blathered enough for one recap. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you when the writing gods next bless me with energy! 💜

[canary3d-obsessed]

Shen Wei Serving Lewks Part 8

(Masterpost)

Shen Wei wears a lot of cosplay looks in Guardian! Ostensibly some of them are actually different characters but...whatever. 

Look 36: Black Robe Envoy

Black Robe Envoy is always a hit at the Dragon City DixCon. This robe is very nicely constructed, with gauzey curtain things on the back and a hood that keeps its shape well.

The mask is...something he got in the paper-mache department at Michaels and painted with craft paints.  He seems proud of it.  

The mask does actually make him look different, unlike, say, Wei Wuxian’s mask which anybody can recognize him under. This mask has those cheek parts that change the overall shape of his face.  

Look 37: Gold Mask Bro

Gold Mask bro is a look that is similarly hampered by the craft-store aesthetic, but gaudier. 

Combined with the scenery-chewing villain thing, I’m always pretty eager to get this guy off of the screen. 

Look 38: Hot Bro

Once the gold mask comes off, on the other hand, Shen Wei as Ye Zun  is stunning with long grey hair.  I mean, goddamn.

(More behind the cut!) 

OP understands why Da Qing makes ridiculous cat paw gestures while dreaming about Ye Zun because this look is a scorcher. 

OP makes ridiculous cat paw gestures

The Princess Leia gown needs some help, though. This thing has a cowl neck so stiff you could bake a cake in it and there is a curtain sewn onto one half of the chest. It’s confusing.  The belt is nice, I guess. 

Masks

Important question: Why did both Ye Zun and Shen Wei buy the same paper mache mask? I mean, they chose different craft paints but both masks clearly came out of the same mold.  Ye Zun started wearing his mask specifically to avoid looking like Shen Wei, back when Shen Wei had a different mask. 

So did Shen Wei deliberately copy his brother’s mask just to fuck with him? Because that is some next-level sibling trolling right there.

Look 39: Downtown Ye Zun

Then there’s the time Ye Zun decided to cosplay as Shen Wei. It...doesn’t go well. This look fits so poorly that I refuse to post a full view of it, because Shen Wei would be embarrassed if he knew his brother was making him look like that.

This entire outfit/disguise is terrible, and fits worse than Swamp Coat 1.0. Ye Zun even knows it’s terrible because he points it out to Zhao Yunlan and asks if it looks good, as if Shen Wei ever needed to ask a thing like that.

He does his best to make up for it by serving memorable facial expressions.. Thank you, Ye Zun.

Look 40: P.I.M.P.

This completely impractical getup, OTOH, fits like a dream. I am slightly obsessed with how good Shen Wei’s Ye Zun’s his feet and ankles look in this outfit, when I normally am grumpy about baggy ankles. But these trousers are so nicely fitted that the crumpled ankle looks like a statement instead of an accident. With the frock coat and the walking stick he looks long and leggy, and if Shen Wei isn’t covered in grass stains the second he takes off his terrible cosplay hair and mask, Zhao Yunlan isn’t the man I thought he was.

Hair Lewks

Other characters also get in on the cosplay, with Da Qing looking much less ridiculous than he does in his modern-day clothes and hair. Zhao Yunlan wins Most Beautiful Hair, with metal beads and those side-bangs that frame boys’ faces so nicely.  (His post-shacking-up hair also wins most beautiful hair in the modern era).

Baby Envoy’s braids (see Look 41) make him a close second, and Hot Bro’s grey hair is a close third, but the weird locks that the Zhu Yilong brothers grow out of the sides of their faces are distracting. I get that they aren’t exactly human and that there are certain artistic conventions at play but...this is not how sideburns work.

Other Cosplayers

Other cosplayers include Tea-Party Princess, Crow Bitch, and Snake Uncle who is Never a Snake.

And here’s Old Chu cosplaying as..as...ok fine this isn’t cosplay, it’s just Old Chu flexing, sweating, and bleeding.   

I like what I like, ok? 

Look 41: Baby Envoy

The last look in this post series is Young Black Robe Envoy from the time-traveling Kunlun bit. When the mask is off, this is one of my favorite Shen Wei looks, because he is so young and vulnerable, and the robe has a nice edge detail and stamped metal accents that aren’t part of his later look. 

This would be a pretty good mage-in-light-armor getup in whichever RPG Shen Wei would play if he understood technology. He would play DA:Inquisition and he would be an elf and he would romance Dorian  OP always romances Cullen it’s a bit of a problem 

The mask is ugly craft-store nonsense, but makes a nice contrast to his sweet bare face when Zhao Yunlan yanks it off.  

Now I’m going to take a dive into into this scene, because we’ve run out of Shen Wei Lewks (*sob*), and this scene is lovely. And there really can’t be too many gifs of WeiLan eye-fucking each other Shen Wei sucking a lollipop.

In one conversation, Shen Wei falls permanently in love with Zhao Yunlan, and you can see that Zhao Yunlan really is as wonderful as Shen Wei thinks he is. He's kind and encouraging; he's confidently romantic, and he gives Shen Wei a name that has a LOT of thought behind it. 

Being as hot as a fresh pancake doesn’t hurt, either.

The high point of this interaction is probably the most sexual moment of the show, In which Zhao Yunlan teaches his true love to suck on a lollipop. The moment’s sexual energy is only partly because it suggests other activities. 

I mean...it’s definitely suggestive. 

But let’s look at what is literally, not metaphorically, happening in this moment. This is the beginning of their present-day sexual connection (within the bounds of Chinese TV, yes, yes. Het couples don’t bone on-camera in C-dramas either, so let’s assume off-camera boning when the story supports it. These two have been coded as lovers since the closing moments of Episode 14).

Zhao Yunlan puts sweetness into the mouth of this young, stressed out, serious man. Then he unabashedly, delightedly, watches Shen Wei having this new sensory experience while he *explains it* to him. 

Imagine the dopamine hit Shen Wei is experiencing here. He’s got a mouthful of sugar and he’s got Zhao Yunlan projecting waves of cheerful, undemanding lust at him while dropping bars about life and sensuality.

With a single lollipop, Zhao Yunlan uses his short time with Young Shen Wei to teach him the concept of pleasure. And takes his heart in return. 

One Last Lewk

Ass Chain Congee is love.

Thanks so much for joining me on this ride! Next I’m leaping off of the cliff of good sense into a full rewatch of The Untamed. If that sounds like fun to you, please come on along to my Episode 01 post, over here.

[streetlight11]

Streetlight

Summary: Changbin wants to be the person that those around him can rely on when they’re having a hard time. But he doesn’t realize that his mistake was to keep his own problems to himself, only to burst one day due to the pent up emotions he’s been holding onto.

Genre: slight angst, fluff

Warnings: mild swearing, prior to the current pandemic situation

WC: 2.8k

Pairing: Seo Changbin x Reader

Growing up, you always knew Changbin was the kind to put everyone else’s problems above his own. He wants to be everyone’s pillar of strengths. Mostly the people that he loves and cares for. Back when you were in high school with him, he was always there for you. Be it when you got bullied, when you had a rough day, when you got one mark lesser than your expected score, anything.

Even though Changbin tends to lash out when his problems have been pent up for too long and was taking a toll on him, saying harsh things to you, never once did you take it to heart. 

Simply because you understood why he was acting that way. You even offered him a listening ear for his problems but he chose to keep them to himself. Only after endless prying and persuasion, that he finally opened up to you and it still wasn’t everything.

But at that very moment, you were thankful that he did. At least a small chunk of his problems were out of his mind and chest, you could almost see the slight heavy weight being lifted off his shoulders.

However, he was never not there for you to the point where he would often hang out at your family home almost every day. Your parents loved him. They adored this little boy who was more selfless than anything, who puts up a strong front for others to rely on.

Even after he successfully debuted as an idol, he was still the same boy you knew during your childhood.

You watched as he grew with his members, his character never once changed as he still lends his shoulder to his members for them to cry on, giving them something to rely on during tough times.

Changbin still kept in contact with you after all these years as he told his members about you as though you were a prized possession. 

And to be very honest, to him, you really were his prized possession. 

Today was no different as he texted you after lunch. You were just sitting in your office desk, reading through the email you got from your Head of Department regarding the project you were going to be a part of when your phone dinged on your right side.

Binie✨ [3:06pm] : Noona

Binie✨ [3:06pm] : What time do you finish work today?

You [3:08pm] : 830

Binie✨ [3:09pm] : Will you be too tired if I asked you to stop by the company building after work? 🥺

You [3:10pm] : Nope! It’s fine!

You [3:11pm] : I can stop by

You [3:11pm] : Just tell me which room you guys will be in okay?

Binie✨ [3:13pm] : Okay noona 🥺👉🏼👈🏼

Hours later, you were just waiting outside your office building for a cab when your phone started ringing, only to see his caller ID flashed on your screen.

“Hello?”

“Oh noona, where are you?”

“Waiting for a cab. Why?”

“Do you want my manager hyung to fetch you? I can get him to do it.”

“No, Binie it’s fine. I’ll text you once I’m there okay?”

“Okay. Text me once you’re 5 minutes away. I’ll come down.”

“Alright Binie. See you.” 

You hung up the call and soon, entered a cab that you managed to hail. The drive to JYP building took about 45 minutes so when you were around the corner, you texted him. He immediately rushed downstairs to fetch you from the entrance.

The driver came to a stop, only for you to pay him by card and he soon wished you good night.

You did the same as you left the vehicle before heading straight into the building. The minute you walked through the revolving door, you jumped at the voice that called your name. His voice echoing the entire lobby.

“Y/N Noona!!” Changbin said as he skipped over to you only to wrap his arms around your frame, earning a soft clear of a throat from someone behind him.

“Safe distancing please.” The lady at the front desk said with a little smile on her face before Changbin and you apologized in unison.

A soft chuckle escaped his lips as you went over to register your name and soon used the hand sanitizer followed by getting your temperature checked by the machine before you could enter the building further after Changbin told the lady that you were with him.

In the lift however, Changbin couldn’t keep his hands to himself as he wrapped his arms around your waist, nuzzling his nose against your neck. You giggled at the tickling feeling as you squeezed his shoulders lightly.

He brought you to the practice room where his members were in, and the minute you both entered, the boys got excited as Jisung ran up to you. You brought your hands out to brace yourself for the impact. Instead, Jisung bent down only to put you over his shoulders with your backside in the air. He carried you to the middle of the room as you found yourself laughing.

“Yah, Jisungie put her down!” Chan scolded with a laugh as the rest of them chuckled as well. Jisung soon placed you back down, only for you to hit his chest playfully.

The boys asked you how you were doing and some of them even whined to you saying they haven’t seen you in so long and that they missed you. You giggled as you told them you were too caught up with important work recently, only for them to understand. 

After a few more minutes of chatting, Chan beckons them over to continue with practice, only for you to situate yourself in the corner where the couch was at.

A few hours passed and they were all visibly exhausted but they still persisted on like the hardworking, talented young men they were. You didn’t realize what was going on in the practice room until you heard bickering.

You looked up from your phone, only to see Changbin squaring up to Jeongin. That’s when you saw Chan and Minho separating the two with Chan forcefully holding Changbin back.

Uh oh.

“You know I’m supposed to be there! Why didn’t you let me move?!” Changbin’s voice low as he growled at the younger tauntingly.

“Guys, can we all calm down? It’s getting late and everyone’s tired but we need to work together.” Chan said as the rest of them began to keep a distance between Changbin and themselves. You knew something wasn’t right so you got up to hold Changbin’s arm.

At that moment, you could feel it. He was burning from anger. 

“Bin ah, you’re just stressed. Calm down.”

“Calm down?! Did you not see him?! He was a mess! They’re all a fucking mess!” Changbin yelled but you didn’t even flinch meanwhile everyone else did.

“Seo Changbin. Watch your words.” You scolded him firmly.

At this point, everyone could sense the strong tension lingering in the air as it was too thick to be cut with scissors. The boys watched silently as they knew that if there was one person who could talk some sense into Changbin, it was you. They knew that only you could understand him like an open book. And right at that moment, Changbin was mad. 

He was letting his feelings control his mind and you weren’t gonna let him continue with it. He took steps closer until he was less than an arm lengths away from you.

“Don’t fucking tell me what to do. You’re not even a damn idol. You have no idea what it’s like.”

The boys gasped in shock, not expecting him to say that. They thought you would break down or even leave the room upset but you didn’t. They knew there was a deeper connection between you two so they just chose to watch silently while Chan and Hyunjin comforted Jeongin.

“You’re right. I’m not an idol. But that doesn’t mean you can lash out on your members just because you’re mad at something else.”

“What bullshit are you talking about!”

“Your bullshit Bin! You can lie to everyone else that you’re okay, but you can’t lie to me. You put up a strong front for people but you refuse to break down your own walls for the sake of your own well being.”

You paused for a while to see his reaction but when all you got was his sad, confused eyes, you took that as a sign to continue.

“Being selfless is a good thing but you have to know your limits. They want to be there for you when you’re having a rough day. I want to be there for you. But you’re making it so difficult for them. For me.” 

The room fell silent as Changbin closed his eyes tightly before taking a deep breath. He took off his cap and soon threw it harshly towards the wall behind you but never once did you flinch. He soon left without saying a word as the door slammed behind him. You let out a heavy sigh as you walked back to the guys, only to hold Chan’s arm.

“I’m sorry about him guys… Changbin can be a little… tough if he’s having a bad day. Please don’t get upset with him. I promise you he doesn't ever mean those words he said. He’s just doing it out of anger.” You said, only for them to sigh.

Just then, you walked up to Jeongin who had a small tear roll down his cheek, making you smile apologetically to him before you pulled him into a hug.

You caressed the back of his head soothingly as he buried his face in your shoulder.

“Don’t take it to heart okay?” You said, only for him to nod.

You pulled away from him as you turned to them and told them to continue where they left off as you quickly left the room to find for your childhood best friend. You searched through all the rooms down the empty hall as you jogged past the lift lobby only to hear soft sobs coming from the staircase.

You carefully walked over to the door, only to peek through the glass panel on the door. That’s when you saw his back, seated on the steps as he buried his head in his arms, resting on his knees.

You smiled softly as you opened the door, not a single movement from him. 

You carefully closed the door and walked over to him as you took a seat beside him. You let your legs brush against his as you turned to look at him with a small little smile on your face.

Just then, you reached up to gently caress his hair as you heard his sobs slowly reduce.

A few minutes later, Changbin’s head lifted as he stared into the empty space ahead. His mind clearly somewhere else.

“Noona…”

“Mmm?”

“Am I a bad person?”

“You can be annoying, a little hard to please, hard headed sometimes… but you’re not a bad person, Bin ah.” You smiled as he finally turned to you, his eyes glossy as his cheeks wet from his fresh tears.

“Then why do I always hurt the people that I love?” He asked, his voice faltering as you couldn’t help but cup his soft cheek and gently caress it.

“Because you rely too much on yourself.” Your words seemed to break him as you pulled him into a hug, letting him wrap his arms around your waist while he buried his face in your chest. He cried as his grip around your waist tightened.

“What am I doing wrong noona?” He whispered as you let out a soft sigh.

“You want people to rely on you. You want them to feel strong when they’re with you. You want people to feel safe and share all their problems with you so that you can ease their burden but you don’t realize that there are people who are willing to do the same for you.”

Your words came to a pause as you played with his hair before you continued.

“You don’t have to keep all your problems to yourself just because you don’t want to seem like a burden to others. You have no idea how many people are willing to be your pillar of strength on your rainy days. And I know for a fact that your members are one of those many people. You might never realize this too, but I am willing to do the same for you.”

With that, Changbin pulled away from you, only for him to wipe his tears with his sweater sleeves.

“Why are you still here? I’ve hurt you so many times before with my words. Why are you still holding on to me?” He asked.

“Because I know that of all the things you’ve said to me, you don’t mean any of them.”

“How would you know that?”

“Because I trust that this cute little boy would never do such a thing to anyone he loves and cares for.” You said as you cupped his face in both your hands, making him chuckle.

Just then, he glanced down at your lips.

“That means you know that I love you right?” His eyes met yours again only for you to smile.

“Of course I know.”

Changbin found himself grinning as he looked back at your lips only to lean in until he pressed his soft wet lips on yours. 

You could taste the salt from his tears as you smiled against his lips. You slid your arms around his shoulders as you pulled him closer to you, leaning your back against the wall for support as he had one hand pressed against the wall beside your waist while the other wraps itself around your body.

Changbin’s heart pounded against his chest as he felt so safe and secure in your arms. Something he has always felt ever since the day he met you.

You pulled away when you felt him bite your bottom lip teasingly, making you giggle.

“Come on. I think your members deserve an apology.” With that, Changbin pouted as he whined at you softly.

“Can we stay like this for a moment? You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this.”

With that, you giggled as you kissed his nose and whispered.

“We can do this any time, love.”

With that, Changbin sighed as a smile replaced his pout. Both of them re-entered the building as they walked back to the practice room, hand in hand. The moment they entered, Changbin’s voice echoed around the room as the boys were just taking a short break.

“Guys, can we talk?” Changbin started as the boys turned to both you and Changbin, only for Chan to smile.

“Sure.”

With that, Changbin turned to you as you gently squeezed his hand before you gave him a soft nod. You let go of his hand as he soon walked up to them.

“I’m sorry for what I said earlier. Sorry if I made you upset. Especially you Jeonginie. Hyung’s really sorry.” Changbin said as he approached their maknae, only for Jeongin to flash him a smile as he immediately wrapped his arms around Changbin’s shoulders.

“It’s okay hyung! Please don’t ever feel like you burden us! If you have problems, tell us or tell noona okay? We love you so much.” Jeongin said as Changbin smiled against the younger’s shoulder.

The boys soon gave them a group hug as they all encouraged Changbin to not always pent up his problem to himself and that he can rely on them and you too.

You smiled as you took careful steps towards the corner where the couch was. Ignoring the soft whispers they were exchanging, only for Changbin’s voice to speak up.

“Noona?”

You turned around as he walked up to you. Once he was right in front of you, he gently took your hands in his, only to caress the back of your hands with his thumbs.

“Thank you for making me realize my mistakes.”

“Hey, what are best friends for right?”

“Except, I don’t want you to be my best friend anymore.”

He paused as you frowned in confusion, not catching up with what he was saying. Just then, Changbin softly reached up to caress your cheek as he leaned in to let his lips brush against yours softly before he spoke up.

“I want you to be my girlfriend…”

With that, your eyes widened as you heard happy cheers from the boys behind him.

“I’d love to.” You said as he smiled, finally capturing your lips in a kiss again for the second time that night. You smiled against his lips as he held you securely in his arms. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that he called you over that night.

[fromthedeskofthecaptain]

For anyone who would like to know the contents of the Ghosts Empire Spoiler Special, I’ve summarized the discussion below.

There are two episodes, both centered on series 2, excluding the Christmas special. The first is Martha, Ben and Larry and the second is with Matt and Jim (and is better in terms of how deep they go into characterization and the writing process). I’ll skip the bits that are just chatter.

I’m not going to transcribe it all, but I’ll spend a few posts talking about the key points. I’ll do the second one first, because it’s the richest.

Writing process-

Storylining is done half a series at a time as a big group and then who writes each episode depends on availability and not being engaged on other projects. People will often write an episode because the plot was their idea, but it can work out that they write up an episode based on someone else’s outline.

They knew they wanted to show characters going against type - angry Pat and vulnerable Captain - and that they wanted to explore love between the Ghosts. They wanted to show humanity, add complexity and depth to characters and allow a range of movement into the present and the past. It was harder to write than Yonderland because there isn’t a new character with an “adventure of the week”.

Episode 1 -

The original idea for Pat’s DJ spot was that he would give an intro to Dexy’s Midnight Runners “Come on Eileen” and hum the first few bars, but it turned out to be £1000s to obtain the rights. Jim was so thrilled that it got such a laugh in rehearsal he considered paying himself. They tried a few others (2,4, 6, 8 Motorway) and then Jim improvised “Chicken and Chips” thinking he’d have a lot more tries, but Tom Kingsley moved them on before he could.

(Btw, they had no problems getting Kylie to agree to use of “I Should be so Lucky” because she loves the show! Music Club presented the same problem of having to ask for clearance and pay. Apparently there’s no standardized system so they had to think of something and ask, rather than picking from options with a price list.)

Episode 2 -

They came up with Dante’s plot to give Alison some way of moving through the house and interacting with everyone. They went with the Ghosts natural reactions to partying. Pat was conflicted between fun and the right thing. The plague ghosts and Mick giving everyone the plague was based on a play Matt was in years ago about a village where this happened.

They structured the episode by using the principle “what’s the worst thing that could happen next?” a la Curb Your Enthusiasm and thought the answer was the plague ghosts coming upstairs and there had to be a cause of that. The archaeologist was a good person to deal with the question of how is it they’ve just found out what Mick did.

Mary x Robin came from them thinking someone would end up having some intimacy with someone in hundreds of years without much stimulation or any other people, or even things, to touch. They joked about everyone having had ghost sex(!!) with everyone else at one point. (Editor’s note: I can’t really see this. Kitty doesn’t know what it is, Cap and Fanny are too uncomfortable with it so that leaves Julian, Thomas, Humphrey and Pat, who I suspect is too loyal to his wife).

Episode 4 - The Thomas Thorne Affair

There was an awareness that Thomas’s character could become a “one note joke” with no capacity for development. Jim described him as potentially like Pepe Le Pew. Matt asked Charlotte how she felt about the sameness of some of their interactions. They thought about having Alison just lay down the law as it were, but that would change who he was too much. They needed to “play the same tune with a different dynamic” in Thomas’s arc. They considered making his character a peeping Tom, but thought that would bore everyone quickly.

Episode 4’s plot structure came about because they wanted to promote the unreliable narrator idea. They knew some ghosts would have witnessed Thomas’s death and that, plus familiarity with characters, let them play with the format. Matt didn’t want to have the flashbacks to deaths to be done the same way each time. Pat’s in series 1 was obvious because he “wears his death” (Jim). Jim did an improv of Pat’s death in the writer’s room when they first had the idea of how he died. It worked because although it’s quite horrific, the audience knows he’s ok, in a sense, afterwards, so it can be comedic too.

Matt felt a bit guilty about being front and centre of the story he wrote. The unifying thread was Mike and Alison’s issues with truth / perspective. His death also establishes that some ghosts are present at others deaths.

They developed Thomas by writing about why he is as he is. Matt thinks that because Thomas died “heartbroken and fixated” Mary’s observation that “you stays how you dies” is psychologically true, too. They always knew he died in a duel over a woman, but elaborated it to include dying thinking he’d been abandoned. He transferred this state of unrequited obsession onto Alison. Thomas can’t cope with Robin’s point, re monogamy, about what would he do if both Isobel and Alison were alive.

They still aren’t sure if he’s a good poet - they wrote it so we know it’s bad BUT he can believe it’s good and the audience within the show are a bit confused about whether it’s just confidently delivered rubbish or not. They think he’s capable of good work but gets too caught up in his fixed ideas of what being a good poet is and tries too hard (the implication being that this blocks genuine creativity/ originality). His vulnerability is quite charming (Matt).

The idea of the cousin betrayal was thought up once they started. The first idea was just that Thomas tells a story and others interject to say it wasn’t like that and Kitty would tell her version which the audience would know to be true because she has no guile. The contrast was originally just in Thomas’s grand passion cruelly interrupted story versus the actuality of a not very good poet being deluded about a random woman who barely knew who he was. The twist of the cousin was a spark in the writers room that everyone was immediately excited about and that matches Thomas’s sense of the melodramatic.

(As an aside, they always knew there were different groups of people in the house before the Buttons and intended to use that to explore other stories and characters throughout history.)

Matt is a bit embarrassed that they didn’t really have space to give Francis a proper motivation for orchestrating his cousin’s death. They put in a bit about him appreciating Button House and added a line from Thomas - “don’t embarrass me, cousin” - to suggest perhaps Thomas bullied him a bit. They thought about giving Francis lines about having gambling debts to create an urgent need to marry into money, but that made it too obvious that Francis was a bad guy.

To be continued...

[ectonurites]

Okay, so I kinda wanna know your thoughts about how weird the fandom portrays the bat characters. Canon is ... not my favorite, but it actually offers a lot of nuance to the characters that I think makes them all interesting. Unlikable, but interesting. I noticed fanon tends to boil the batkids all into these superflat caricatures. Like, cereal obsessed manchild Dick Grayson or bad boy who's literal crimes are only because of the lazarus pit Jason Todd. Its not really a major problem, just weird

Oh I have a LOT of thoughts about this. I try so hard not to shit on how other people interact with content because like, it’s comic books! We’re all just here trying to make the best out of a mess of stuff and have fun, but admittedly a lot of fanon stuff drives me fuckin’ nuts as someone who reads a ton of comics.

Like, I like memes, obviously, I draw tons of memes with the batfam (+ yj) characters and make lighthearted jokes etc etc, and honestly if it’s just for jokes then I don’t mind people having whack interpretations of the characters quite as much. The thing that drives me up a wall though is like... when serious works and analysis and discussion are very clearly based on just the fanon interpretations without any bearing on canon aside from what you could skim from a wiki page, and it’s spoken like it’s fact! There’s ‘having fun with jokes that aren’t taking things that seriously’ and then there’s ‘blatantly mischaracterizing based on misinformation’. Way too often I see things fall into that second category.

Now, a lot of people in the batfam fandom don’t... actually read comics (or at least not frequently) and that’s not even a bad thing necessarily, like you’re 100% allowed to enjoy content however you want to! (I don’t wanna be gatekeepey, especially since comics are confusing to get into)

But the problem is that when a lot of people aren’t reading the comics, then the people who do’s opinions have a lot more influence if they’re loud enough. All it takes is one person who read something and interpreted it a specific way that might not even be correct, and then it can echo chamber and suddenly half the fandom thinks it’s 100% canon that way because ‘oh so and so said that and they actually read it’.

I also think that’s a problem with the popularity of out of context panels/blogs, while they are super funny sometimes, when people make assumptions about characters based on just a few things without context... it can lead to problems. If enough people say something enough times people just... start to think it’s true, even if it exists entirely devoid of context which changes the meaning.

Like, for example, according to canon there’s no actual confirmation Tim stalked Batman on foot for an extended period of time! We know from Lonely Place of Dying that he followed him once to get a picture to convince DIck that he still needed a Robin. Otherwise his ‘stalking’ & how he figured out Batman’s identity was more through media appearances (like newspapers and tv). This is wildly different from the common fanon idea that little Timmy was sneaking out regularly to follow Batman & Robin around with his camera.

I primarily blame Geoff Johns for this misconception because of these panels in in tt 2003 (from issue 29)

But like, think about it for a second, literally how would Jason know that? This is one of the first times he’s ever interacting with Tim, and he was dead/catatonic when that would have been happening! He is either making a wild assumption or perhaps Talia told him this when she told him about Tim, whichever of those it was it’s secondhand information not something he witnessed. Taking his word as fact here makes no sense, he was just trying to get under Tim’s skin while fighting him. But seeing those panels out of context if you haven’t actually read Lonely Place of Dying/only read a vague summary of it, and don’t necessarily know the details of the Jason situation, it could absolutely lead you to believe otherwise!

Dick as a cereal manchild is a weird one because like... okay yeah sure he likes cereal, I can think of like two panels I’m too lazy to find right now off the top of my head of him having it, but... that’s not something we see all the time! Its not like Ollie & his chili (which IS a running joke- seriously I have not read that many Green Arrow comics but the amount of times I’ve seen that man bring up chili in just in the few things I have read is wild. there’s even an official recipe. his chili has it’s own dc wiki page). Then, because Dick isn’t quite as emotionally closed off in the same way the rest of the batfam tends to be, people project literally all the pent up feelings onto him, making him this hug-crazy crybaby manchild... again it’s just very clear people who perpetuate those ideas (outside of like, maybe as jokes) haven’t actually fully read that many comics with him. I’d also even blame the Young Justice cartoon version of Dick for some other traits fanon Dick has, bc that version of him is def a bit of a Hot Mess™️ once he’s Nightwing 

Jason I understand misconceptions about probably the most because of how wildly inconsistent his writing was before the new 52 and how consistently Not Great it was once Lobdell took over. Jason’s one of the few characters I have read like, 90% of appearances for so I’m speakin’ from experience here. But still... acting like Jason as Red Hood is just a ‘bad boy rebel’ that could have a relatively happy connection with the whole Batfam is fun but unrealistic. You can not blame everything on the lazarus pit... he still has killed people! Lots of people! Willingly! Yes he has reasons and when he’s being written well it’s clear that he’s not just ‘random murder happy’ but rather ‘I kill when I feel they deserve it and that it’s necessary’ which is what keeps him an anti-hero rather than a full fledged villain most of the time, but that still keeps him so at odds with the rest of the Batfamily! Writers in more current continuity have had him compromise by only using rubber bullets in Gotham so they can have him interact with the family, but he’s still killed and will do it when he deems it necessary.

Also like... at the time of Under The Red Hood in the comics... theoretically... he hadn’t even been in the lazarus pit for well over a year. Go read Lost Days (it’s short! And except for the thing with him & Talia towards the end of the last issue it’s pretty good!), he spends a lot of time traveling the world and learning things/training before the events of UtRH. Yes you could interpret there still being some Lazarus influence going on there but I think the movie version of UtRH especially leads people to believe there’s a lot less time between his dunk in the pit and his first actions as Red Hood.

Fanon also has a lot of ideas about pit madness that vary wildly from what we have seen in canon, like yeah it’s been said to be a thing to some extent, but there’s not really the Danny Phantom Glowing Green Eyes™️ or anything like that... it’s fun to explore cool new ideas for sure but I just think it’s important to recognize the distinction between things that are actually canon and things that are popular fanon. (Also there are things that fall somewhere in between, there’s definitely stuff that isn’t 100% confirmed canon but could still be plausible/has been hinted at by some writers/is only canon in some settings)

Other things that drive me nuts are ‘quiet does-no-wrong angel Cass’ and ‘the Normal One™️ Duke’ because those just make literally no sense if you’ve read any comics with either of them... but fan content either does those versions or just completely ignores their existence a lot of the time! So! That’s a whole bigger problem!

In general though, this is fandom it’s not like this... matters that much on the grand scheme of things in life, we’re just people on social media talkin’ about comics. And this kind of misconception/flattening of characters does happen in literally every fandom ever. But it still does suck to see characters that have a lot of nuance and interesting history to play around with get reduced to a few traits that aren’t even actually that relevant to who they are.

[kasdeyathebitterwoman]

If you're not too backed up? I would like to request something 😀. Henry is away filming and misses the reader. Then, out of nowhere, for a few weeks straight he's sent Troubled Birds postcards. It confuses the hell out of him thinking it's a random fan but it made him and those around him smile and laugh nonetheless. He uploads pics to instagram and keeps the cards. When he gets back the reader is like "did 'ja like my cards? 😀"

Awww! Nonnie, I love this! Okay, here goes. I hope you like it! 

--

The days were getting longer and his bed grew colder with each passing night. He loved the work, the challenge of his role, but he couldn’t deny it was starting to weigh on him. Especially now that you were in the picture. You were a blind date that went very, very well. That one date turned into two which turned into a year of dates out, dates in, and time well-spent. But you weren’t here now and that was the problem. 

Henry was on location, filming a segment for the latest movie project he’d been signed onto. It was great work, but he missed you. God, he missed you like crazy. What he missed most was your sense of humor. You were always sending him funny memes, making ridiculous jokes, and just generally being a goof. And he loved it, he loved all of it. Even while he was away, you sent him these things but it wasn’t the same without you around. 

Then one day it started. These random postcards kept being left on the door of his trailer. It took him a while to realize what they were. They were these Troubled Bird cards with ridiculous phrases overlaid on random images of birds. Regardless of how silly they were, there was one on his door once a week for six weeks, without fail. Each one made him smile. They also made his team smile.

“That one is hilarious,” Jacqui said, pointing to the latest postcard that was left on his door. 

“Right? They’re too funny,” Henry replied. They laughed about some of the other ones then began talking about his look for the day. 

As the days went on, it never occurred to him to wonder who was sending these little notes. Henry being Henry, he just assumed they were from a fan or coworker. He was working with some real characters in front of and behind the cameras. As the weeks went on, he continued to receive one postcard a week. None were signed nor did they show any indication as to who they might be from. 

Finally, the day came to head home. As quickly as he could, Henry packed up his trailer, stowing the postcards in an envelope and stuffing them in his bag. His flight home was long, but well worth it when he stepped into the house and found your warm, welcoming smile. 

“Welcome home,” you murmured as he pulled you into his arms. “I missed you.” 

“I missed you too,” he replied, kissing the top of your head. Reluctantly letting go of you, he walked to the bedroom while you followed behind. He dropped his bag on the bed and began pulling items out. You sat on the bed, helping him sort out various things. He told you about different things regarding filming that he could, then he found the envelope and remembered the cards. “Oh, I forgot. I wanted to show you these.” He said, pulling a few out, holding them up for you to see. You smiled wide. 

“Oh yeah, did you like my postcards?” You asked. Henry frowned at you, flipping a card over and scowling at it. 

“Your postcards?” 

“Yeah, I sent these to Leah who dropped them off for you,”

“She never told me that!”

“Because she wasn’t supposed to!” You said, teasingly. Henry frowned at you. “They were supposed to be little surprises every day. I wanted to send you something to make you smile. And think of me. Did it work?” You asked, smiling slyly up at him. Henry scoffed, shaking his head. 

“A little too well,” he replied. You laughed and narrowly dodged a pillow that he swatted at you. “Come here.” He muttered, chasing after you down the hall. He wasn’t even upset. He was, in fact, very happy and he couldn’t believe he got to spend the rest of his time with you. God, he missed you.