#stupidrant

[bellaaldamas]

The "mistagging" was clearly not accidental, sadly. This person deliberately used the ship tag (freytos) so that the fans, myself included, would find it. Whereas the "progressive left" has demonstrated yet again how they embrace patriarchy in it's most primordial form by claiming Freya's development and "freedom" from abuse will be "downplayed" if she enters a healthy relationship with another man. This same person never received any kind of aggressive backlash or trolling when it comes to their own, completely AU and fanon headcanons about Atreus and the yaoi involving him. But they cannot extend the same courtesy to other people in the fandom, in this case freytos shippers, and refrain from using the appreciation tag for their outburst.

And as much as I absolutely hate going into that territory and playing the "Greek woman" card I cannot help but be disturbed and appalled by how Lysandra is being used as a weapon against Freytos by the people who do not - nor have they ever - cared about her. Beyond her being a "proto" Greek wife who has "fulfilled her duty" of carrying a brooding and violent man "forward" before he could find a more "advanced and developed" Nordic woman Faye who "finally fixed him". Thus, Faye has also fulfilled her duty of making Kratos into a better person and being the perfect wife and mother before dying on him. Those same people do not even recognize how misogynistic it is to reduce both Faye and Lysandra to the accessories in Kratos's story.

@rhythmsmith and @freytos already covered most of the issues with the anti-Freytos rhetoric in the replies. Therefore I will just copy and paste my own responses to their eloquent summary (you can read their comments in the reply section to this post):

This attitude stems from misogyny and the idea that women become reduced to sexual objects the moment they get involved with men. This is normalizing the society's sexist notion that romantic/sexual relationship mean an automatic loss of autonomy and agency - but only for a woman. Same notion does not extend to men and THAT is why the anti-Freytos types support all manner of ludicrous Yaoi with Kratos involved. Including Kratos and Atreus of Sparta which is absurd because Kratos would never name his son after a man he supposedly had a "crush" on let alone a relationship with. Or Kratos and Tyr and Kratos and Thor where the former has zero basis in canon and is even more fanon than Freytos (which had allusions and direct mentions of the possibility of their involvement in Valhalla). Whilst Kratos/Thor is an outright toxic ship where antagonism between two characters is being fetishized and sexualized. Those same people would bend over backwards calling an M/F ship such as this "abusive" because "dumb women" cannot resist "bad boys'" charms. But men totally can and should be paired with such bad boys.

Finally, there is the greatest evil in the form of the idea that platonic and romantic relationship should be held to a different standard.

This is why the Baldur issue only EVER comes into play when the subject of Freytos romantic involvement comes into play. This is especially offensive in the context of Freya's story where Odin's abuse of her did not exist in vacuum and was enabled and made possible by her community, her own people and both the "evil/misguided" Aesir and the "good/confused" Vanir.

Freya's own people, for whom she had entered the marriage with Odin in the first place, denounced her - including her own brother - and wrote insults on the walls of her realm in order to humiliate her for daring to exercise her agency. But both the fandom and the narrative expected Freya to just forgive and forget because this is what women ought to do.

Then the anti-Freytos types spit on abuse victims from their victim blaming, pseudo-feminist high horse when they pair Freya with Sif - a woman who raised her own daughter to consider Freya a "treacherous ex wife" of her genocidal granddaddy (but Thrud is still a "feminist icon" and should totally be friends and even "more" with Atreus who made it clear time and again he is not interested in her and who, mind you, killed her brother in cold blood; but it's totally ok, because Thrud dismissed Modi's death in an outright sociopathic manner of "we're better off without him").

Most of the anti-Freytos misogyny is repackaged patriarchy from yaoi shippers which suggests a woman loses her individuality the moment she gets involved with a man. Particularly atrocious is the rhetoric of "let Freya just be Free" after her separation from Odin and his abuse, as if commitment and romantic/marital involvement means an automatic loss of freedom and autonomy but only for women. This is both misogynistic and absolves men like Odin of responsibility for their abusive behaviors by implying that the problem was/is not them but the fact of a woman choosing to enter a relationship and marriage. And, by doing so, supposedly "signing up" for marital and domestic violence. This is a progressive version of "she had it coming".

This is also where another misogynistic claim comes into play: the idea that Freya being involved with Kratos "destroys her entire arc, their beautiful friendship and Freya's liberation from Odin's abuse". Yet again the mechanics of abuse against women is being misrepresented and implies that involvement, for a woman, comes with the inevitability of being A) abused and B) losing her freedom/autonomy. By arguing that, the anti-Freytos camp is placing the responsibility for those occurrences on women.

But a man can totally be involved with any other man because men in general have "evolved beyond" losing their individuality and freedom when they have a relationship. Only "hormonal and gullible women" do. Hence the assorted yaoi with Kratos passed off as "progressive".

The Freytos opposing crowd is so miserable they believe their "progressive misogyny" gets a pass for invading freytos tag with their "hot takes". Of course said progressive misogyny involves an insulting anti-women claim that woman's separation and freedom from her abuser (Odin in this case) would be downplayed if she enters a positive and healthy relationship with another man. And no, you do not get to play the "but Kratos killed Baldur!!11!!" card if you still "Wuv their Bootiful Friendship" and don't want it ruined by the "dirty romance" which supposedly turns women into sexual objects and robs poor men of the ability to still respect them and acknowledge their needs. Holding platonic relationship to a different standard than romantic relationship is offensive, especially when talking about a character like Freya whose marital abuse at the hands of Odin was only possible because it was enabled by the people she had platonic connections to (including her own people and her brother who had denounced her). Kratos was the only one who did not enable it.

Needless to say those progressive misogynists are totally on board with Kratos being a part of some completely fanon yaoi such as Kratos/Mimir or Kratos/Tyr or Kratos/Thor. Because men are "more complex and deep" than women and THEIR progression, development and "journey" can never be undermined if they take romantic interest in one another. Only women become servants to their hormones if they do, didn't you know?

Predictably, in order to make this progressive misogyny work and get support from the fellow "progressives" the anti-Freytos types proudly establish themselves as the "not like other girls" of the fandom who do not need to learn proper tagging.

One good thing to come out of their sexism, entitlement and lack of tagging ethic? It gives a perfect opportunity to block everyone in the notes.

[mangk0]

I love how every artist who draws atreus draws his hair COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY not only due to stylistic differences but bc what in the collective FUCK are we supposed to do with THAT

[lullabyofthejotnar]

While I do think Odin's design on it's own is great, I feel like it's a bit conflicting when put with the story's context.

The main intent of his character was to make him look like an nice, weak, old man who could possibly do no wrong. Meanwhile his clothing and overall behavior is meant to remind you of something like a mafia boss.

The writers put too much emphasis on the "mafia boss" aspect, while still keeping the "old man" aspect intact. Combined with how a lot of his scenes have a sort of comedic flair to them, Odin ended up making the impression of posing no threat. Not because he seems weak and sweet to do anything terrible, but because he seems dumb. Even his design tells me I'm not supposed to take him seriously.

There's also this thing writers in a lot of media tend to do with characters like Odin. They are so focused on subtlety of the character's manipulation, that they forget to give them scenes that remind the audience of their true nature. So instead of coming up with clever ways of showing it, they quickly throw in some dialogue by other characters, then a moment of them going completly out of character under the guise of "they lost their cool". Odin's attacks on the Jötnar and Vanir, his abuse of Freya and many other things done by him are told to us by everyone else. We didn't get a lot of or almost to none exploration. There is The Rift plot, but it doesn't give us much of his perspective on anything and is barely developed. However this could be excused by majority of his actions happening in the past. But entirety of the false Tyr plot was ruined by the "genius manipulator suddenly loses their cool", which is also how Thor's death scene happened. I can't think of a possible reasoning for it, besides the dreaded "Odin lost his cool".

I personaly wish they leaned into him giving an illusion of an old, weak man. Like him being introduced as a mysterious and lonely traveler who has a suspicious amount of information, whom Atreus meets behind his father's back and goes to him for advice and such. Then over the course of the story, his true identity is slowly revealed. Although, that wouldn't probably work well in the current story. It could however, if the Norse saga was a trilogy.

[aut-um0]

Day 2: Lovers Rock 💛

@stupidrant

It's still day 2 in my timezone I made it...

I've always wanted to redraw one of the bonding moments Atreus and Angrboda had in Ironwood. I drew one a very long time ago and maybe I'll share it someday. Anywho I decided to redraw the rock tossing scene. Also I only realized the pun on lovers "rock" midway through lol

[bellaaldamas]

The scenario is perfect and character compliant <3 Atreus is not the type to dwell on failures but is the type to dwell on successful or workable solutions and aspire to implement them again. In game, his disastrous attempt to enlist Freya's help in the beginning - and losing his mistletoe arrow necklace in the process - did not at all turn him away from taking action, if impulsive and not well thought out, in other situations. Such as going to infiltrate Odin's camp, releasing Garm and then putting Fen's soul into the latter to fix his mistake. Even though prior he was hesitant and reluctant to use the soul magic again and told Angrboda he was not yet ready for it (despite it working with the World Serpent/Jörmungandr). Thus why Atreus appealing to Mimir's perceived wisdom again, after the latter would have already given him a detailed explanation of Angrboda's behavior and the implications of it, is what Atreus is most likely to do.

However, Atreus still lacks confidence in himself rather than in others (in all the aforementioned cases Atreus relied on his understanding of other people and their motives, be it allies like Freya, foes like Odin and Thor or a person like Angrboda whom Atreus was strongly attached to and who guided him through numerous new skills and abilities that helped him become stronger; and who believed in him even when he did not have faith in himself and doubted his efforts "even worked"). In that vein, avoiding Angrboda for several days is the most probable scenario if/when Mimir tells Atreus to figure that one on his own.

On the other hand, Angrboda, in game, is shown not avoiding uncomfortable and awkward situations but shifting focus to something else (usually something practical, as it's her survival mechanism that helped her handle years of isolation and preserve Ironwood as a flourishing place). When she originally did not want to talk of her late parents as it caused too much pain she realized it might have given Atreus an impression she didn't trust him. So Angrboda went on to (twice) compliment his warrior skill and tell him he "fights like a champion". She dispelled his self doubts when Atreus lost the race to her (saying that because she "already knew the path" it was "kind of like cheating"), when he assumed he brought bad luck to Ironwood because of the Draugrs attacking them (when Atreus mentions sarcastically that he's "just lucky" Angrboda cheerfully counters it with "you're just Loki", turning a stressful moment for him into a lighthearted and playful one) or when he believed his lack of expertise in collecting fruit and tearing the roots was what attracted more enemies (Angrboda instantly assured him that "it wasn't him" and not at all his fault).

But much like Atreus, Angrboda tends to grow dejected and downhearted when she believes she is not important to someone who is important to her. She directly spells it out with Atreus himself numerous times, assuming she can't be a part of his life due to the prophesy. In the end, in the optional post game scenes in Ironwood, Angrboda mentions sorrowfully that it's unlikely her grandmother would ever be proud of her. That is, despite the fact that Angrboda and Gryla, after the battle with Odin (and especially after Angrboda and Atreus destroyed the cauldron - the main source that fueled Gryla's magical addiction) seem to be at least tentatively rebuilding their relationship (as, per Angrboda, Gryla is helping her forage for food - a far cry from her grandmother turning her out of the house and torturing animals, including Angrboda's beloved pet Jalla, and stealing their souls).

In the light of the aforementioned it would only be logical if Atreus is the one who pushes his insecurities aside first, due to having much more support system than Angrboda does. Whilst Angrboda would no longer feel like nothing she does matters to a person dear to her, no matter how much more adept as socializing she's grown to be.

As mentioned, some good angst could help pushing Atreus towards the "ask her how she feels and then tell her how you feel about her" path. For Atreus, most of the meaningful bonding with people happened after a certain traumatic event and/or when faced with the risk of losing them: he bonded with Kratos and then with Freya after his mother's death, let Angrboda in emotionally and had honest conversations with her about their parents and purpose in life after witnessing the mural and being confronted with the prospect of losing his father too. Likewise, he gifted Angrboda the flower after she showed and let herself spell out (almost cry out) her desperation and pain over the fact that they have to part and she's destined to be forgotten by him.

Therefore let Atreus take those several days off to reflect and then take action ;)

Dropping by to say that I hope you are doing great and having a pleasant and fulfilling August <3

Coincidentally, one of my Atreboda headcanons has them reunite precisely in the late summer/early autumn as Atreus comes back from one of his giant searching quests and has some questions to ask and stories to tell Angrboda. They have a sweet, warm, semi-awkward meeting at her tree house after months long separation. By that point both are certain about their feelings and Angrboda would have gained more experience socializing, having interacted with Kratos, Freya, Mimir, Skjoldr and other Midgardians that whole time.

However, she still struggles with transforming the knowledge she has acquired on communication with people into actions and words of her own, especially where the matter of romantic attraction is concerned. As the result, Angrboda attempts several times to make gestures she is now aware have romantic connotations and are used to demonstrate your feelings for someone in order to make it clear to Atreus that she has feelings for him. But due to the lack of practical experience she doesn't always do it the right way or goes overboard. Thus confusing Atreus and - inadvertently - fueling insecurities of his own, regarding HIS attempts to show her how he feels (his attempts, in turn, are outright disastrous and second hand embarrassment inducing rather than cute in their awkwardness like hers).

For instance, Atreus gives her a rare plant or artifact he procured on one of his journeys and Angrboda markedly shows gratitude (making sure to not react the way she initially did to the flower as she now knows the flower was a courting custom). Then she goes on to enthusiastically talk about said plant or artifact's qualities in attempt to highlight her appreciation that Atreus took the trouble and effort to procure and bring it to her. But to Atreus it looks like she cares more about the item itself rather than who it came from.

Obviously, he goes on to share those concerns with Mimir who, having come to know Angrboda better at that point, would educate Atreus on some of her experiences with isolation, how much she tries to reach out to people and how she mentioned her fondness of Atreus numerous times as he was away.

Then, per my HC, some "Good Angst TM" ensues, brought on by external forces but that's a story for another day.

Again, hope you are well and thriving.

First off, hello and thank you Maria i am doing well and hope you are too 💜 second off, i could definitely see them both slipping up so much to the point of frustration lol to add on to the ending, i can see Atreus coming to an immediate realization of annoyance of himself and curiosity of what she has said so far. But this one time mimir wouldnt tell him and would instead advise him to speak to her personally about it. Which at first Atreus feels shy but a sudden burst of confidence comes through him after he avoids her for a few days thinks about what his straightforward father would do for the person he likes. Be upfront and direct. Which is exactly his final decision 🙏🏾

[dezerex]

Ganon uses his stupidred powers from the walls trapping me please help

[aeinnaie]

So um yeah I drew these because I love our little Fox and wolf and because it's apparently Angrboda week @stupidrant

Day 1. Day 2.

Also for day 1 I did a redraw of my first ever Angrboda drawing which was like a year ago or smth

(This is the old drawing)

[hamadryad111]

Omg the gasp I made when I saw stupidrant like my post and then the even bigger gasp I made when I saw you liked my post I cant😭 you two are my fav god of war blogs ty lol❤

Awww oh my goodness you are so sweet 🥺

Thank you so so much for enjoying my posts and reblogs, I love meeting other fans of the game and seeing amazing everyone’s art and funny posts! I’m so glad I can make you happy, This is actually the first time I’ve received a message like this so it’s making me all giddy!! 🤭 thank you thank you thank you 💛

[shinsources]

Visibility Features + Preventing Third-Parties Sharing Our Info.

So I was in the process of making my new blog strictly for advertising my fanfics, original fiction, worldbuilding, and what have you. Now because of the recent events that came about with Tumblr being Stupidr and giving out everybody's shenanigans "to train AI models" as they claim, I wanted to go ahead and go out of my way to Enable it (something I strongly encourage literally everybody to do btw).

Hide <username> from people without an account. This blog will only be viewable to people that are logged into Tumblr and its submission form will only be available on mobile apps. Learn more.

Discourage external searching of <username>. External search engines like Google or Yahoo will be discouraged from indexing your blog and showing it in search results. It is ultimately up to them to honor your request. Learn more.

Exclude <username> from Tumblr Search. Your blog will be hidden from Tumblr search results, and the in-blog search function will be disabled for everyone, including you. Learn more.

Prevent third-party sharing for <username>. Prevent this blog's content—even in reblogs—from being shaerd with our licensed network of content and research partners, including those that train AI models. Learn more.

Three of the four things listed above are, in my opinion, strictly optional (for the most part) whereas one of them is obligatory. And that, once again, happens to be the Prevent third-party sharing for <username> option.

Now using programs such as DeepL, Grammarly, Hemmingway, ProWritingAid, and what have you are fine since they're writing assistants. What that means is that they're used for improving our grammar, punctuation, phrasing, etc. But using AI Programs to "create" fanfics or original stories or fanart or adoptables to sell?? No. That's not okay.

It's one thing to trace over things to learn how to make body parts proportionate in various angles. In fact, it's encouraged for young artists to start out by tracing and then watching/reading/viewing tutorials on how to draw things via freestyle and by merely looking at them. And when it comes to improving our writing styles it's best to read a lot of books, poetry, scripts, articles, songs, etc. because this helps us learn a wide variety of different literary devices and point of views and writing styles. Not only that but it also broadens our vocabulary. The same is equally true for constantly writing. The more we write the better our writing, style, vocabulary, and what have you improve.

This is why so many of us are anti-AI. There are so many people who pour their hearts and souls into their art (be it writing, gfx, drawing, or whatever) and these AI Bots are taking all of these away from us. They're also very privacy invasive (in which the internet is already hella problematic when it comes to being invasive and not caring about our privacy so there's that to consider).

[yumeyleo]

i hate my life i bought a SCREEN tablet for a reason but now i have to use it like those fucking screenless drawing tablets because stupidr.... i hate my life i CANT SEE WELL FROM FAR

WYHY I LIKE SCREEN TABLETS I CAN SHOVE MY FACE IN THEM WITHOUT BREAKING MY SPINE TOO BADLY RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH and im not telling my relative to buy a replacement i barely got this shit . andi m not contacting tech support that shit is for losers ( i am scared )

[de4thcr0wey666]

hii im gonna try to be more active theree,,, i hate twitter so much stupidr dramaa!!

i hope they go to the post mortem agaim!!

ok why there is a wide space urghh

evil, fucked up maybe, perhaps vile, or even wicked !!

okay end of jake smith ms paint apreciationg post!! espect more ugly ms paint drawings bc theyre so fun!! also im gonna try to draw somethimg more serious!!!

[bellaaldamas]

Angrboda Appreciation Week (X)

Day 1:  Colors

[bellaaldamas]

Trolls follow a very specific, tried and true pattern, each time without fail. They know the game is a complete success, which means - since it is a cohesive project and story - every part (and every character) of it was received by the audience well enough to invest time and money into it and follow the characters along on their journey. After the PC release it became even more evident the newcomers express their enjoyment and interest in the characters and the potential Atreus spin off. Which would naturally feature Angrboda, as per developers' repeated hints. That essentially indicates that the paying customers (rather than internet trolls) are willing to embrace her as a part of the story. All while the fandom has been enjoying her and Atreus's budding romance arc - the only budding romance in the series - for over a year now, creating fan art and fanfiction.

That's why trolls launch these sporadic "anti" campaigns and make sure to pick the side on which they proceed to "fight". Now, shortly after the PC release, they came back to the bro side, contrasting with how, several months after GowR original release, those same people happily adopted the very same "woke" direction they are now accusing GowR developers of (DARVO - classic abuse tactic: deny, accuse and reverse victim and offender).

Back then they claimed Angrboda was "not feminist" because she is the only - and possibly the last - female character in the mainstream media to subvert the trite "girlboss" cliche and the idea a woman needs to be violent and bitter in order to be strong. Her unabashed show of vulnerability towards Atreus, her willingness to put her own traumas aside - several times - and revisit them each time Atreus needed emotional support just to lift some weight off of his shoulders; her sharing his responsibilities with him when she absolutely did not have to and when she was perfectly capable and did not need a man to be complete; but chose to want Atreus around (and had no qualms telling him about it) - this storytelling was too revolutionary for modern pseudo-"feminist" media for trolls to pass up on it.

So they adopted said mainstream pseudo-"feminist" stance/rhetoric claiming "girlboss" Thrud was a better match for Atreus even though of all the characters it is Thrud alone who comes remotely close to being a "woke points character". Unlike Angrboda, who contributed something to the story in every scene she appeared in and had an arc and history of her own completely independent of Atreus, Thrud is a complete filler, not moving the plot in any way. She gets zero development because her Valkyrie goal (which had no bearing on the plot whatsoever) remained intact from beginning to end and her self-centered approach towards it did too (Thrud is "better off" without her brother because her father and genocidal granddady thought Modi was a waste of space; Freya is a "treacherous ex wife" of said granddaddy because he said so and it was convenient for Thrud to parrot his propaganda as long as she got what she wanted). But cherry on top is that Thrud has NO existence independent of men in her life: be it Odin and Thor or Atreus and Kratos who eventually come and fix things FOR her, "parent" her parents and convince her mom to let her spread her Valkyrie wings and fly.

Those same people who paired Atreus with Thrud insisted Angrboda was "not deserving" of him and that Thrud "complemented" him (actual YT comment). Even though in canon all Thrud did was doubt and put Atreus down, brag about her own physical superiority (that's totally not "woke" or pseudo-feminist at all) during their Helheim quest and lash out at Atreus for an honest mistake (Angrboda did not lash out even when he made her assist him in creating the World Serpent and then HE was terrified it went wrong whereas Angrboda remained supportive and accommodating); and - the culmination: Thrud punched Atreus in the face, called him a "killer" and tried to kill him, twice (while he stopped Sindri from hurting her in between her murder attempts on him).

The narrative certainly did not celebrate those actions of hers (and Thrud is likely to get actual development in the future). But it will never cease to be strikingly hypocritical as well as laughable that the people complaining of "wokeness" of Angrboda's character are endorsing a character who, if taken at face value, is the very definition of modern "woke feminism" (except Thrud should not be taken at face value - she was framed as misguided and in the very end had a potential to grow out of it, now being rid of her father and grandfather's toxic influence).

In the 90-s, two popular family shows (primarily aimed at older teens) were "Hercules the Legendary Journeys" and "Xena: Warrior Princess". In the latter, a character of Cleopatra was portrayed by a black actress who also portrayed several other roles on both shows. Either series focused on severely re-imagined Greek mythology and featured a diverse cast in which mythological characters intertwined, interacted and sometimes replaced each other. The shows were incredibly popular among the younger audience because even children recognized the story was fictional and loosely based on world's myths. The same way Disney films are loosely based on the many retellings of older fairy tales (that also tend to be markedly different in various versions).

The trolls know all that. They are simply shifting between the two most common mainstream manipulative tactics whenever they see their previous attempts to create an illusion their opinion is dominant has failed. This is exactly what we are observing now. And it'll end just like it did after GowR PS console release: trolls crawling back into woodwork where they came from and SMS continuing to get their money. Because as mentioned, the GA receives the game well and is willing to pay for DLCs and a potential spin off.

I dont think yall understand the laughter i had when i saw the BTS of one of the GOW games in greek era (i think it was GOWII) and i saw a black woman as part of the production team. It was funny bc if ragnarok is such woke trash, what would you say abt her and TC Carson in 2007??? I want sms to do the funniest thing ever and make giants (physically) multi-ethnic as i assume thats what they would be anyways but theyre STILL ETHNICALLY IN-GAME GIANTS. Why would i care abt how they look if they are made to be diverse anyways?

[lullabyofthejotnar]

An Angrboða week event (hosted by @stupidrant ) is starting today; however it is interfering with my life a bit, so unfortunately I'm likely not gonna participate.

To at least make up for my lack of it, here are all (?) of Codex entries related to Angrboða that could be useful for editing etc.

There's another entry which I could not find in the game for the life of me, so I'll write it out instead;

Eistla

There's a wolf here in Jötunheim named Eistla. According to Angrboða, she's the hungry one of the pack! I get it, everyone's got a hungry friend. Fen was such a good eater, whenever we would get him some fresh deer.

After all Angrboða's been through, I can see how comforting it is, taking care of all these animals like she does. Like it's simple, but meaningful.

Anyways, Happy Angrboða Week everyone!

[aut-um0]

Day 1 of Angrboda appreciation week! @stupidrant

🎨 Colors

I kinda rushed this one bc I wanted to do something simple 🩵

[shinsources]

WHELP. My blog over on @shinsources got terminated because Tumblr is being Stupidr as per usual. IDK when the blog will be brought back up so ... well ... yeah.