#so hes not hurt by the circumstances.. but by the people personally

[mesetacadre]

how do you feel about a heavy portion of communists being ableist? sending disabled people to prison for being physically unable to work and then acting like that didn't happen doesn't make disabled people confident that communism won't hurt them just as bad as capitalism (I'm not saying billions of trillions dies from communism I'm just saying ''those who won't work won't eat'' is fucking evil especially when I see that rhetoric in modern day! You can say 'oh a wheelchair user can do teaching or archiving' but that ignores how many disabled people are bedbound or fully paralyzed!)

ARTICLE 12. In the U.S.S.R. work is a duty and a matter of honour for every able-bodied citizen, in accordance with the principle: "He who does not work, neither shall he eat."

The principle applied in the U.S.S.R. is that of socialism : "From each according to his ability, to each according to his work."

[...]

ARTICLE 120. Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to maintenance in old age and also in the case of sickness or loss of capacity to work.

This right is ensured by the extensive development of social insurance of workers and employees at state expense, free medical service for the working people and the provision of a wide network of health resorts for the use of the working people.

This is the USSR's 1936 consistution, emphasis mine. Not a perfect constitution by any means, but this is very clearly antithetical to what you believe happened. Disabled people in my own country today have less rights and even less guarantees of those rights being respected. Again, the USSR was not perfect and I'm not saying it was. But you're ascribing willful malice that is embedded in marxism to circumstances that were not easily circumvented. The USSR was an imperfect state lacking in sufficient social protections, which came from times of feudalism without any kind of protection in any aspects save for the nobility, and whose collapse led to unparalleled misery and war. "He who does not work shall not eat" never included disabled people. It's a slogan, and slogans are not nuanced. What the USSR never did was enshrine that slogan into law literally, it always explicitly addressed able-bodied people.

Let's also look at a more modern constitution, Cuba's, from 2019

ARTICLE 42. All people are equal before the law, recieve the same protection and treatment from authorities and enjoy the same rights, freedoms and opportunities, without discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ethnic origin, skin color, religious faith, disability, national or territorial origin, or any other condition or personal circumstance that implies a harmful distinction before human dignity.

All have the right to enjoy the same public spaces and establishments.

Likewise, receive the same salary for the same work, without any discrimination.

The violation of the principle of equality is outlawed and is sanctioned by law.

[...]

ARTICLE 64. The right to work is recognized. The person in condition to work has a right to obtain dignified employment, corresponding to their selection, qualification, aptitude, and economic and societal requirements.

ARTICLE 65. Every person has a right for their work to be compensated as a function of its quality and quantity, expression of the socialist principle "from each according to their capacity, to each according to their work".

[...]

ARTICLE 68. The person who works has a right to social security. The State, through the system of social security, guarantees their adequate protection when they are unable to work because of age, maternity, paternity, disability, or illness.

[...]

ARTICLE 70. The State, through social assistance, protects the people without resources or refuge, not capable of working, who lack family members able to bring them help; and to families who, due to the insufficient income they recieve, if they so choose, in accordance with the law

I don't see anywhere a part that says all disabled people are jailed. Cuba definitely does have effective and real protections for all kinds of disabled people, and just like the USSR, the principle of the duty to work is not applied directly to disabled people. It's hard still to find information on the practical application of disability protection that's not funded by Radio Free Whatever, but here's an article about Cuba's:

[moonmaiden1996]

Sanji as a Romantic partner to a reader.

Okay, hear me out. Sanji is a flirty, chivalrous man with a tendency to be, well, a little extra. Some might call him a pervert because of his over-the-top reactions to women, and yeah, there’s definitely a pent-up side to his personality. I mean do I need to mention him nearly dying in the Fishman Island arc from lose of blood due to the near constant nosebleeds (not to mention *willingly* ready to die just to look at Shirahoshi) . But let’s take a step back and explore why he’s like this. I believe Sanji’s loving (and sometimes dramatic) nature stems from three key things:

His Respectful Nature

Sanji’s respect for women is unmatched. He’d rather hurt himself than raise a hand against a woman, no matter the circumstances. This isn’t just a quirk—it’s a deep-seated principle rooted in his past. Growing up with an abusive father and witnessing the mistreatment of his mother (which ultimately led to her death), Sanji likely developed a powerful desire to treat women with kindness and admiration. It’s his way of rejecting the cruelty he grew up around.

His Romantic Idealism

Let’s be real—Sanji is a hopeless romantic. He sees the best in every woman he meets and isn’t afraid to express his feelings, no matter how grand or unreciprocated they might be. One of the best examples of this is his dynamic with Charlotte Pudding. Even when she intended to deceive him, Sanji still saw her goodness and treated her with compassion. His romanticism feels like a shield against the harsh realities of his past—a way of holding onto hope and beauty in a sometimes-ugly world.

His Need for Love

Sanji’s childhood was, to put it lightly, rough. Between his family’s cruelty, the loss of his mother, and the trauma of being shipwrecked and adopted by Zeff, he’s been through a lot. It’s no surprise that these experiences left him craving connection and love. Sanji’s unwavering adoration for women is his way of forging those relationships and filling the void left by his turbulent upbringing. Does he have issues? Maybe a few. But underneath it all is a guy who wants to love and be loved in return.

So, Who’s Sanji’s Ideal Reader?

When it comes to the type of person Sanji would fall for, there are a few things to consider.

First off, as we’ve seen with Nami and Robin (especially Nami), Sanji gravitates toward women who can handle his enthusiasm. He’s not oblivious—he knows when people are using him. But because of his overwhelming need to serve and be useful, he doesn’t mind. In fact, he leans into it. Sanji is, in essence, the dictionary definition of a Golden Retriever Boy: loyal, eager to please, and full of boundless energy.

With that in mind, I think Sanji would pair perfectly with someone who has a soft-but-bossy vibe. Someone who exudes no-nonsense energy but can still appreciate his devotion. Aesthetic matters, too. Sanji loves beautiful things—not necessarily perfect things, but things he finds beauty in and he see beauty in most things (apart from Zoro). While many might imagine him with a girly-girl type, I think he’d be drawn to someone more unique—maybe a goth girl, a reserved librarian type, or anyone with an unconventional charm.

With that Sanji’s desire to worship someone comes hand-in-hand with his longing to belong. He wants to be someone’s, but he also wants someone to be his—someone who’ll let him dote on them endlessly while appreciating the loyalty he brings to the table but at the same time someone who is going to keep a firm hand on him and make him feel just as loved and wanted. Also, let not forget the reader will be pampered with endless butler serve.

And that reader is going to be in for a handful of trouble as Sanji is defiantly going to have a new dream ''Opening a restaurant on the all blue run buy a very noise and load family that he has made with the reader, theirs or adopted doesn't matter. He gives me wanting to a daddy figure vibes (especially with how he looks after Chopper)

So what do you think? I would love to hear you opinion!

[cassafrasscr]

I keep seeing people be like, "Ashton needs to stop acting like he's still a nobody with no power or agency. He's a level 15 Barbarian with a Titan shard and Luxon powers."

And like, yes. Ashton is EXTREMELY powerful. That's objectively true. And they're definitely not a nobody anymore either.

But here's the thing. Ashton’s spent their whole life until relatively recently with various boots on their neck. And the last time Ashton tried to step out of the role of a downtrodden gutter punk - to be a somebody, to be powerful, to be a hero - they got in way over their head. He fully bought into the same hubris that got his parents killed, literally blew himself up, and almost ruined all his friendships. Especially with abandonment being one of Ashton’s biggest issues, of course that would be a setback in his personal development.

Ashton leans so hard into being a nobody because it’s safer than being a somebody. If he’s not powerful or important, his mistakes won't have the same effect as they would otherwise. If you don't matter to anyone, you won’t be able to disappoint them.

Of course, that doesn't change the actual facts - Ashton IS powerful, and he matters a great deal, both to the Hells and to the fate of Exandria. I just think they're not in the right headspace or environment to really reckon with that in the way they need to. Especially since, for the most part, they never really asked for any of it. Ashton got their abilities (Titan and Luxon) because of circumstances outside of their control (his parents messing with powers they didn't understand, and Milo pouring a Potion of Possibility into his brain while he was injured and unconscious).

Plus, having power means having more of an ability to hurt people. We know from episode 40 that he worries about potentially turning on and attacking the Hells (or about one of the others turning, in which case he'd probably have to fight them to protect the rest of the group). They also worry about their body/powers being a ticking time bomb that could go off at any time. Not to mention, almost immediately having a panic attack upon finding out that they’re half Titan.

So, yeah. I'm not really surprised that Ashton would take one look at the idea that he's powerful and important and run the fuck away. Especially after all the fallout from Shardgate. Obviously, burying his head in the sand about it isn't going to help them learn to deal with it, and there are definite parallels with Ludinus in this. It's not a rational response to the situation, and the rest of Bell’s Hells are in a similar boat - especially since they've all spent most of the campaign feeling overwhelmed and utterly inadequate for the monumental task ahead of them.

Hopefully, they all survive this and can really start to unpack the nature of their relationship to power. Preferably with the Exandrian equivalent of a therapist, lol. 😅

[elveny]

Hm. I don't watch CR, so I can't talk about that but I do know Dragon Age, and I think where your argument concerning that falls apart is the fact that the critique is not about a world state ("Thedas would be better if the Veil fell") but about narrative failure ("the narrative/plot didn't deliver what it hinted at over the course of three and a half games").

At least the critics I read and agreed with don't want a "Step 3. Utopia", not at all. The criticism about the Veil not going down is that it feels like a narrative copt-out, it feels like laziness. We have three and a half games where the narrative hints at (and in Veilguard even openly says) that the Veil was a mistake and is already failing. Majorly. Across the planet. In Veilguard, we learn that it was never intended to be this way, the ritual that created it didn't properly work, and that it is bound to the lifeforce of seven people, five of which are already dead.

Throughout the games before, we learned that spirits and demons are not necessarily what we think they are, we learned that the Veil itself hurts them and can contort them into something they're not. We learn that there are HUGE misconceptions about the nature of magic, spirits, history, religion and that better understanding of all of it can massively improve circumstances and understanding between all kinds of people. EVERYTHING hints at the Veil coming down.

Narratively, it would have been imperative to take these themes, work closely with them and bring them to... if not a close, then to the next level.

Instead, Veilguard either completely ignores them or tells you what to think about them straight away, handwaving any questions aside. Including the Veil. There is no discussion about spirits or magic or about what bringing the Veil down would mean. We are told "you don't want that, we need to stop it", but we don't really know how. We are told by Solas, the one who wants to bring the Veil down, that "he would've taken steps to minimize the chaos and the loss of life" yet we can never ask him what that would've entailed and what the actual chaos might be. We get different accounts of what the world might be if the Veil comes down ("it would be horrible" vs "it would be wonderful") but we can never form our own opinion or ask what this horrible vs wonderful would look like.

Instead of using that immensely interesting theme and exploring what might be, we are told what we have to think. Also, we aren't even solving the problem. The Veil was failing when it was bound to seven people and our solution is to bind it to one person - and then letting that person go into immense danger. If that danger kills Solas (and he is very much killable, we saw that ingame), the Veil is coming down, whether we want it or not, uncontrolled and unchecked. That fact is not talked about, not recognized, not acknowledged in any way.

It is very, very clear that the DA team wanted to put a checkmark behind "the Veil problem" by making us keep it and sending the person it's tied to into "the Fade" and will not talk about the problem again. That's why they told us what to think about it and how it's solved, no options. From a narrative POV, that is a very lazy choice - especially for a game series that used to capitalize on personalized game choices and world states. And it's not only about the Veil, even though that is a huge symptom (and the most visible) - it's about everything else too. All the problems and misconceptions, all the injustices in the world state etc., are ignored and kept in the Status Quo.

The Veil not coming down, or at least it coming down even being an OPTION, is a narrative failure. And being angry, disappointed and sad about that narrative failure has nothing to do with wanting a utopia in Thedas or having a power fantasy. In fact, even if we look at it from the POV of your post - the Veil not coming down is symptomatic of not working towards change.

Injustice and oppression were major themes in all DA games (expect Veilguard. Even DAI had these themes, though already diminished to DAO and DA2), but Veilguard made sure to not touch upon them, even retconned them into never having happened, and make sure to tell us that "no, no, we don't want to work on change, everything is exactly as it should be, don't question anything." Which is exactly what a lot of the DA players that have issues with Veilguard (and indicative with the Veil not coming down) don't want.

Thoughts on how the Dragon Age and Critical Role Fandoms both have members using "destroying the status quo" as a main argument that characters should initiate a cataclysm (i.e. releasing Predathos/bringing down the Veil)?

It's the power fantasy of believing that you, often a lone individual, can fix things with one dramatic action without having to engage in the difficult and unglamorous toil of continuous and sustained work improving conditions at a daily and material level.

It's the power fantasy of thinking that you can fix (repair) something without having to acknowledge that things are never fixed (stable) because it is dodging that a single dramatic action cannot on its own accomplish anything without a relationship to the conditions as they are in a real sense, an understanding of what creates and upholds those conditions, and continuous and often boring or unpleasant or smaller work to sustain movement toward improvement.

It's a memetic flattening to simplify engaging in the concepts of hegemony and systemic oppression. Oppression existing and being upheld by our prevailing cultural attitudes and systems of governance is indeed our status quo in, since this is where I live, the United States. The concept of "status quo" in itself, however, is simply a term for what the current state of affairs is, so I find the idea of destroying status quo as an always inherently progressive act without reference to what that status quo IS or to what we are changing suspect at best. I know what these fans MEAN to point to, yes, so I'm being a little deliberately obtuse in that prior sentence; however, I find that many of these fans do not themselves know what they are referring to when they invoke the status quo, hence why am I being so. Many of them do believe that the destruction of the status quo — regardless of what that status quo is — is indeed itself a noble endeavor. This line of thinking is pursuit of an ideal isolated from any meaningful connection to conditions of the narrative world or its relationship to how it affects those conditions and is simply pursuing itself for itself.

Often, I also find that even those who can correctly point to what the state of affairs is, they often struggle to meaningfully or coherently lay out what this cataclysm's relationship to that state of affairs is (often the case with Dragon Age) or how this cataclysm will resolve or change that state of affairs for the better (often the case with CritRole). Generally, there's a sense that this cataclysm will free everyone to pursue improved conditions, but — even if this cataclysm action would remove a barrier, and that's often a dubious if at best — there no sense of what the next step is or how this will be accomplished meaningfully and materially. It's always very "Step 1. Cataclysm / Step 2. ???? / Step 3. Utopia" without any sense of how to build or maintain that improvement, at which point we're back at my prior points about power fantasy.

My thoughts essentially boil down to power fantasy and pursuit of a memetic ideal for the sake of itself.

[strangegutz]

hey you played the LISA games correct?would you mind talking about ur thoughts on the games? i love the series and lov hearing people talk about it

Fuuuck that's hard, I'm already awful at putting my thoughts into words, so let's see how much i can say about something as layered as LISA.

It requires a strong stomach and nuanced thought, but I encourage anyone with a passing interest to play it. It's simultaneously the funniest and the most heartbreaking game I've ever played. I think the last time I cried playing a game before this was back when RDR2 came out. I also barked laughing so many times. It's ultimately about trauma and the cycle of abuse, it's certainly not a hopeful game- the opposite, really. I think a lot of folks would see it as hurtful or unhelpful because of this, but it's also important to feel seen when you're really hurt, you know?

You make a decision that you cannot take back. It changes your life forever. The scene ends, you think you're about to be able to sit with your feelings, but no, you walk outside a cave and see a guy with his ass out tryin to take a shit. You crush a small spider for him and he joins your party

I really like the vague worldbuilding. It harkens back to weird old sci-fi novels- a big white flash, and all the women are gone. That's all we know. Live in this world.

I feel like the "doing good makes the game harder" thing can be a bit cheesy, but I like how it's done here- the pacing of the dramatic "difficult choice" scenes is done in such a way that does make you care about choosing between a life that isn't Brad's, or Brad's own limb. Not to mention how much the world in front of you deters you from using Joy.

While I grimace at how they're physically presented, as a gay person I think the Beehive is an interesting light exploration of gay sex workers in this type of apocalypse- They're very confident and it seems like they're fine with this being their job. One of them says something along the lines of "I'm glad our community could thrive, though I wish it were under better circumstances" which I think about a lot.

I think that's all my thoughts for now. I'm planning on cosplaying Buddy this year!

[burningcheese-merchant]

I’m so confused? I thought you liked burning spice but then you say that their reasons for turning evil are bullshit??

I do. I adore Burning Spice, he's my babygirl lol. I can like characters and disagree with their actions and ideals at the same time. Joker is fucking reprehensible in every way possible, but he's still the best Batman villain, if that helps it make more sense

Let me explain what I really mean when I say his reason for evil is bullshit. I don't really mean to deny or downplay his feelings at all. The existential crisis he probably had as a consequence of his job is a valid one to have. I don't REALLY know what caused him to fold for sure - none of us do, all we really have is "I'm tired of history's unending cycle", everything else I've said about him is educated guess with a sprinkling of projection - but if anything in my personal thoughts and analyses are true, then it's reasonable to a degree. Being born and burdened with great responsibility that you never wanted/asked for sucks. Sacrificing your time and effort over and over again only for that to be tarnished sucks. Working hard to build something only for it to inevitably be torn down sucks. Becoming attached to people, only to have to watch them suffer and die and leave you alone again while you stay the same, sucks. It really does. I'm not trying to take that away from the man, if that's really what afflicts him.

It's bullshit to me solely because it is what drives him to hurt people. Whatever is eating him, getting his goat, keeping him awake at night, however you want to put it, stopped mattering the minute he allowed it to influence him to commit atrocities. I don't care if all your friends are dead. I don't care if your town was decimated by the four horsemen of the apocalypse. I don't care if you have glass bones and paper skin. Your suffering does not justify the suffering of others. Whatever unfortunate circumstances you go through in life, regardless of whether or not they're your fault, are ultimately your responsibility. Burning Spice does not get to chop people up with his axe because he's bored with life. Burning Spice does not get to use unarmed civilians as soldiers/cannon fodder (that is an actual, real world war crime. People have been imprisoned and even hanged for shit like that) because he struggles with the cynicism and sense of futility history often curses people with. Burning Spice does not get to stalk, kidnap, beat, imprison, torture and mutilate a woman (who is barely half his size and who has never done anything to him) he's obsessed with because he resents his creators for forcing him to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, or because he watched people and civilizations rise and fall around him constantly regardless of what he did about it, or because he woke up on the wrong side of his throne. Everything before he hurt and killed people is an explanation. Everything AFTER that is an excuse.

And please, I'm begging everyone to not go "but immortality sucks". I have evolved past that concept and no longer agree with it. Immortality does not inherently suck. I have said this before and I will say it again: we have a plethora of immortal characters in the Cookie Run universe who do not have that attitude about it. Does Wind Archer winge about protecting the forest forever? No. Do Sugar Swan and Millennial Tree lament having to watch over time and the cycle of seasons forever? No. Did Moonlight go insane and go out killing people after the wizards left her to guard their city forever? No. Fire Spirit, Sea Fairy, Frost Queen, Sherbet. None of them regret the lives they live. They all have their issues, but none of them involve disliking immortality (and three of the ones I mentioned used to be mortal). Life is only, ultimately, what YOU decide to make of it. Time passing and people getting old and dying does not and should not dimish either one's worth. This attitude comes from a fundamental lack of understanding and appreciation for life, nature and other people, and everything they have to offer (which Burning Spice clearly has, even Golden Cheese called him out on it to his face lol). It is selfish and short-sighted.

Burning Spice, as far as he's demonstrated, never cared about anyone or anything except himself. He is entirely self-serving and actively punishes and persecutes whatever does not satisfy his ephemeral desires. His gripes about boredom are childish and immature. If he was that unhappy with life and immortality, then he would go ahead and fucking kill himself. "I wonder what it would take to destroy me" brother, YOU are what it would take to destroy you. Cut your own head off. Slit your wrists. Make yourself a nice rope necklace, you must've picked that skill up at SOME point in the millennia you've existed. But no. He doesn't do that, because he doesn't REALLY hate being alive, he only hates that life does not bow to his whims 24/7. ALL the Beasts seem like that to me. Narcissistic, cowardly hypocrites.

Very well, you couldn't handle the power and responsibility bestowed upon you. Give it back and fuck off. Have some dignity and humility and admit that You Don't Got It. The Ancients have proven that there are people who do. Step down and let them take charge. Or don't, I guess. Be a miserable asshole and make everyone around you miserable assholes, too. Make everyone else suffer for your moral and spiritual failings. Because it was never really about your traumas or regrets, was it. It stopped being about that a long time ago. Now it's just about you wanting to impose your will onto others and make them pay for mistakes they never made. Because you crumbled in the face of adversity and gave in to despair. Isn't it, Shadow Milk. Isn't it, Mystic Flour. Isn't it, Burning Spice.

With all of that said, however... I do still love him lol. I love his design. I love his voice (I turned the English audio back on just for Spice, I usually have the Japanese audio on otherwise bc I don't like most of the English voices and lots of characters share Japanese voices with anime characters I love). I love his personality, as horrible as it is. I love his little animations. I love how he interacts with Golden Cheese (inside and outside of shipping context). And I love the storytelling potential I sincerely believe exists within him and his character. That is the double-edged sword that comes with him: there's not enough for us to fully understand him, thus risking him appearing boring (ironic) and one-dimensional, but there's just enough that also allows us to fill in that gap with ideas of our own, and walk down paths we and others may find interesting. Me personally, I've been exploring what it would be like both for Spice to descend into absolute, hellish insanity and depravity without caution or remorse (Yandere Spice/Yandere Beasts AU), and how he might grapple with the concepts of guilt, atonement and forgiveness, what + how long it might take to gain/achieve each one, how it may ultimately influence his personality and view of the world, and his interactions with others during and after a redemption arc (Reformed Beasts AU, which I WILL post about soon, I'm almost done outlining each Beast's arc, let me finish cooking plz). Plenty of other people have their own takes on the little dude, too, as well as those others four bozos. And I'm certain we all agree that they're horrifically awful as people, but we find them cute and entertaining and even sympathize with them to some degree anyway.

I love Burning Spice. He's not my favorite character, that title is split between 2 others, but I still love him. He's still my babygirl. If he was real, I'd call for him to be shot and that's it, because that's all people like him deserve in the real world. But he isn't, he's a little cookie guy from a dumb phone game, so I'm allowed to condemn his behavior while also wanting to pet him, and scratch his little head, and hold him in my hands, and give him little smoochies, and have him sit on my shoulder while I work or cook or whatever, and poke his chest to see how soft his little buff man tiddies really are (and risk getting my fingers cut off for it probably)

I'm sorry if I confused you or anyone else. Wasn't trying to do that. I hope what I've said here makes some amount of sense. Take this apology ice cream regardless 🍦

[magicalwitchbread]

I managed to put my mum on Arcane, so I'm rewatching it with her and taking in more details and understanding things better.

On my first watch, I did not particularly like Caitlyn because of the shit she pulled. The difference is that now I can "defend" my stance.

Arcane spoilers below the cut, so beware.

Jinx and Cait

Jinx, who was obviously in an interesting, to say the least, place mentally, took a shot at Piltover's council. In the aftermath, it was discovered that councilwoman Kiramman had died. Yes, very sad, anyway. JINX DID NOTHING WRONG. She fought back against her and her people's oppressors. This is not wrong.

And very importantly, she did not target civilians out of spite while in-fucking-sane. There is a whole sequence where Vander talks to Vi and says "I know you want to hurt the top side people." The people. Not the ruling class, not the council, the people. Vi had hatred and spite in her because Enforcers killed her parents, and that's understandable. (Also, note that as she matured, she did not act on it.) But since Powder and Jinx had separated, Jinx did not have anything against the people of Piltover, but she was batshit crazy so killing them would not be out of pocket for her. Powder's parents were killed by them, but Jinx had killed her own father figure, Piltover's citizens had nothing to do with it. She purposefully targeted the council. And achieved exactly what she wanted, she killed her oppressors. Not because she felt personally victimized, the way Vi felt, but because they were oppressors. That's why she managed to become the symbol of the revolution in the second season, even though she was not "active".

Now Cait... She could have stopped Jinx and saved her mother. That's the reason why she is so hell-bent on apprehending Jinx herself. But she does it completely wrong. She builds a team, which includes Vi, Jinx's sister, which is just a dick move overall, and her objectives going into Zaun are to apprehend Jinx, dismantle shimmer and neutralize any agents still loyal to Silco, who is dead now. But she does not hesitate to kill any innocent civilian who even remotely inconveniences her and her goals. She kills people, not to mention that while fighting, she almost shot at Isha, A CHILD. She didn't stop at civilians but at least she did at children. And don't get me started on the whole "I wouldn't have missed." bit. Isha's and Jinx's heads were lined up. If she shot at Jinx, she would have killed Isha.

Ekko and Cait

I also hated the way she talked to Ekko. "Yes, I know you live down here as a community's leader at the ripe old age of 'not old enough to lead literally anything under normal circumstances' and live through the consequences of my mother's actions and decisions but you are wrong about the situation in the place where you literally live. My mum would never do that to people who have historically been oppressed and mistreated by people in her exact position."

The way she is disgusted and in complete denial when Ekko says "Your people hunt us like animals.". And then goes on to refer to the people who crashed her mother's memorial as animals. These are the same people, Cait. And that all while not considering that her mother's coffin would have been able to feed all of Ekko's, and anyone's in Zaun for that matter, found family for a long fucking time. And not knowing, I give her grace for this but she can piece it together she's a big girl, that Ekko was forced to leave his dead parental figure in the streets because he did not have the privilege of a burial not to mention a funeral and a memorial. Between him, Jinx and Vi there are seven parental figures that died but were never buried.

[jrueships]

hes so funny to me

[secriden]

*cracks knuckles* Okay lets talk about the elephant in the room: Style going to the support group for those who've suffered loss and telling what appears to be a fake story about losing his pet dog.

I'm going to point out a few things that I think provide a framework for Style's actions here. Not because I think it excuses what he did, but because I think a nuanced read is what the character deserves.

Point 1: An irresistible opportunity

The subs put the "Support Group for Loss" on the image in the notebook, but I'm not sure there's anything to suggest that Style would've known that was what this image represents until he showed up and saw the sign on top of the door.

In episode 2, Bison says, "He plans everything down from years, months, weeks to days" and then tells Kant:

So Style is literally just going to addresses/locations at given days and times, potentially not knowing what to expect. And as much as Fadel is certainly attending this meeting as a response to having that heartbreaking flashback (😭), this is also something he attends regularly and has planned to attend way in advance. So Style has no reason to think Fadel is attending this meeting because of a recent resurfacing of his pain.

What we, the audience, and what the characters know are very different things.

Now, should Style have turned his cute ass right around once he realised what this meeting was? Of course he should. But that wouldn't have been true to Style's character. We've been told by his best friend that he is "crazy" and been shown repeatedly that he lives right up to that description.

Style is impulsive. He's all base instinct and he acts on his desires without thought or contemplation. And by this point he is desperate for a deeper connection with Fadel. He's fascinated, captivated by the mystery that is Fadel and this is an excellent opportunity to finally see behind the wall Fadel so carefully maintains.

When Style sees the sign above the door, Style looks at the notebook (which, again, shows nothing but people sitting in a circle with the words RISE UP) like he's just realising what it means. He then gets this amused, almost rueful look on his face (like he's thinking "am I really going to do this?") before it shifts to determination and he walks through the door.

(My soul for the ability to once again gif something because FUCK Dunk is doing SO MUCH in this show!!)

To Style, this is just too good of an opportunity to give up.

Because let's be real, Fadel is so clearly lying and hiding something:

Fadel is shady as FUCK. He is simultaneously actually a really good cook (Style finally tries his burger so he knows, now), and also has the skills to work at a strip host club, and also can take on 3 guys in a fight, and also can break a man's arm with his thighs. Can you honestly blame Style for losing his mind just a little bit about wanting to get his hands on something, anything, to figure this man out?

Style is being absolutely consistent in his persistence to understand Fadel. This isn't about the car or about finally 'winning' the fight (thank you @airenyah for giving such a detailed framework to understand what Style's been doing until this point) anymore. This is about Style wanting to know Fadel himself.

Point 2: The potential implications of the setting

Now, what might give us a bit of insight as to why Style is this way? I have a theory (albeit one that could prove to be very wrong, but hear me out). I think this whole entire show is set in what could potentially be quite a small town/suburb.

There's a few things that make this theory plausible:

(1) Fadel and Bison are in hiding after Bison blew their previous cover. They're probably on the run from some section of the authorities and so it makes sense to settle in a quiet/out of the way place.

(2) Style seems to be really familiar with the people in the area. Like he grew up there and its the kind of small town where everyone knows everyone and everyone is in everyone else's business.

(3) Style is clearly the darling of the market aunties and uncles.

Style just lost her a sale and potentially a loyal customer, and she's still rooting for him? In episode 2, when Style asks the uncle to let him borrow his cart, it takes nothing but his word for the uncle to give Style his entire cart of produce for his ridiculous scheme.

Style is so clearly someone they all know well and have great affection for, and a very plausible explanation for this is that they all watched him grow up and the entire market (town/village) is fond of him.

And honestly?? Yeah, we see the way Style is actually quite sweet in that careless, guileless, thoughtless way. He goes the extra mile to fix his mistake with Fadel by replacing his car parts for free in episode 1. He helps out by taking orders in episode 2 without being asked and takes it seriously. In episode 3, he tries to drive more business to Fadel's store (bless him, he so clearly does NOT understand how restaurants work, but he MEANS well!!), and can we all acknowledge that it works?? He understands how to appeal to potential customers in the area because he knows the people there. It's not (entirely) his fault that Fadel wasn't remotely prepared for an actual rush crowd and Bison was off getting kinky with Kant and not doing his (fake) job. He is so clear about not judging Fadel's host job and tries his hardest to help him (to absolutely NO effect, but still) when the 3 guys gang up on Fadel.

Style is so loved and more importantly so very loveable.

Point 3: What this could mean for Style's character

So, potentially, Style is someone who grew up in a small town, who has been well loved, potentially spoiled and coddled, but also very much kept within the confines of the narrow viewpoint that a quiet, country town places on you.

It's in the way his dad scolds him as if he was still a child when he's at least in his mid to late 20s. It's in the way Style was so mad at Fadel for scolding him ("thanks for the lecture, dad"), like that hit a sore point for Style. It's in the way no one in the market takes him seriously; they're fond, but he's still a kid in their eyes. It's in the way he has an abundance of free time like he doesn't REALLY need to work at his dad's shop. It's in the way he sees Fadel beat 3 guys up with ease, starts wondering if Fadel is an assassin or a hitman, and is completely unfazed like he doesn't quite have a handle on reality.

It's in the way his best friend is a man who has no qualms about lying to him and putting his life in danger, and how Style seems to have no other friends or people (aside from his dad) in his life.

@wuxian-vs-wangji made a comment to me about Style being desperate for a meaningful connection, and I think she hit the nail on the head. Because along comes Fadel, a mysterious stranger with a suspiciously versatile set of skills who is also very hot and keeps giving Style these wonderfully complex reactions? Who sometimes wants nothing to do with Style, but at other times seems to be at war within himself about desperately wanting him? Who treats Style with anything but apathy?

This is catnip to Style; he never had any hope of resisting this.

Breaking news: Style is a complex and imperfect character...

Here's the thing, though: he was never going to try. The show has been incredibly upfront about who Style is as a person. Regardless of whether I'm correct about why he is this way (ie. that he is very much the product of the environment that didn't know how to handle a kid with Style's personality), episode 3 shouldn't have surprised anyone about Style. He's been incredibly consistent and true to himself.

He wants Fadel and he's "crazy" enough to go all in, no holds barred about it, and the Support Group was the biggest doorway to finally discovering something REAL about Fadel.

And its not just about sex or to prove his superiority anymore. Because if it was just that, then Style would have reacted very differently to their first time.

In this scene, Style is pleased and evidently enjoying himself, but he isn't exuberant. He isn't overcome with joy. If anything, he was more happy and excited when Fadel let him help out in the diner (I mentioned this in the tags in this post too) than he was when Fadel is literally fucking him. He lets Fadel set the pace; barely moves to touch Fadel except to hold him close. Almost like he doesn't want to accidentally mess this up, like he's worried he'll take too much, so he'll take what Fadel gives him and no more (please appreciate @braceletofteeth's amazing tags on this post). For a character that has been so aggressively on the offensive, this is shocking until you realise that sleeping with Fadel - while it's a step in the right direction - isn't Style's end goal anymore.

And he makes that abundantly clear in this episode:

Does Style even fully realise the weight of this desire? I doubt it. But I do believe that Style is in earnest. He doesn't fully understand his own feelings, but he also doesn't really care to either. All he knows is that he wants Fadel, wants his attention and his passion and his focus and his heart.

...but Style is also kind of, sort of, perfect.

Because he's exactly, precisely, breathtakingly exactly what Fadel needs.

Because Fadel is hurt and broken and bleeding inside. Because Fadel is barely holding it all together for Bison's sake, but has already given up hope for any true happiness for himself. Because Fadel can't trust anyone or anything in his life, when he's been used and used and used by the family who should've loved and cared and protected him.

Because it's going to take nothing short of this kind of unwavering, unshakable, uncomplicated determination to give Fadel even a chance of healing and opening his heart to love again.

[kil9]

everyone agrees that the patriarchy teaches men to hide their emotions, and that this is a bad thing, so why is it that when men actually show an emotion everyone jumps to call him an abuser or manipulator or whatever :\

[uncanny-tranny]

I think the thing about the way people conceptualize empathy is... when you're interacting with other people, they are going through things that, which you may empathize with, you won't always understand, partially because you're two different people, but also because not all situations are 1:1 copy-pastes that are easy to understand.

This isn't saying that empathy is useless, but that acknowledging when you relate personally to somebody and yet also recognizing that this is their struggle is important. When people pretended to empathize with me, it made me feel like I was being placated to. I felt like people were only trying to shut me up by saying that they, personally, "get it," when I knew they didn't. I just don't want people replicating that because they genuinely do want to help the people in their lives.

[mad-hunts]

goddd. okay, i know it was honestly QUITE some time ago that i talked about jack mathis, so let me just give y'all a bit of a refresher as to why he is the (current) best of that mathis kids in my humble opinion: he doesn't like killing, but will do it in instances where he is 'forced to' (and i mean where he feels like there's no other choice BUT to do so, such as to protect one of his family members, or save them from going to jail, etc.) and jack honestly just wants to make barton proud.

(though, unfortunately, his father tends to treat him the worst out of all of his kids because of his 'joking' attitude). and he is also touch-starved as HELL / actively seeks out anything that will bring him comfort in regards to this, like warm showers, for example. so let me get on to the reason why i'm saying 'god' — him literally barely scraping by on the positive interactions he gets from barton when they have a 'family night' once a week?

as well as once a month, when his father takes a day off to just spend playing video games with jack + whatever else he wants to do? it's such a sad concept for real, because just imagine having five days out of the month feeling like they're the only reason why you've kept whatever semblance of sanity you have left. well, that and his relationship with matilda, as she is the closest sibling to him, but 😭

considering jack has the lowest amount of blood on his hands, and he actually seems to have a stronger conscience (though i could see him still having some moments where he's morally bankrupt)... i think there could be a good chance that he could be, quote unquote, 'flipped' as in change to want to redeem himself. but he feels an obligation to be loyal to his family, which might make that difficult NGL

[petrenocka]

"X is just a guy" is a popular phrase to throw around these parts when talking about blorbos, but I swear, and I am 100% stone faced serious when I say this, not a single character has ever done it quite like Geralt from The Witcher books.

[raelyn-dreams]

I think Ryuseitai and Crazy:B should have an event together purely for the Rinne-Chiaki parallels because the !! Main Story really gave us "If I had taken one wrong step, I would've ended up exactly like you" and then just. Never really elaborated when there is so much that could be done with it???

Do you know how often I think about the potential of these two??? I am literally skimming through stories for Chiaki-Rinne mentions its that bad.

[dootznbootz]

There's something so specifically infuriating when someone uses one of your experiences or your demographic in an argument, especially if said argument is about spreading hatred or is just so wrong. They "speak on behalf of the ___" to say such fucked shit.

"You're not thinking of the ___!"

"I literally am ___. You saying that adds nothing as you do not speak for me or for other ___. Shut up."

[alfredolover119]

jjk manga spoilers slash 219 leaks in tags bc i am feeling things :((