#that he gets painted as That One Guy Who's Just Evil and Abusive for No Reason

[yuridovewing]

As a fellow Dovewing lover, it's frustrating how the fandom watered her down into a whiny brat who never cared about Ivypool. I mean, seriously? Not only did Dovewing care about her sister (reacting in horror when Lionblaze, her own mentor and Jayfeather are willing to potentially sacrifice Ivypool's safety by employing her as her spy instead of trying to get her out of the Dark Forest's clutches, hiding a thorn in her nest to cover for her scarring from her training).

Heck, even the scene where she tries to feed Ivypool her catch during a hunting patrol was demonized because 'she was trying to make Ivypool break the code like SHE does, as if it doesn't matter' and because she got upset when Ivypool started arguing with her! But you guys said she didn't care, right? Plus, people act like being forced into a prophecy is something you should be grateful for, as if it didn't irreparably change her close relationship with her sister? As if Lionblaze and Jayfeather didn't still keep her out of the loop (and for all the fussing they made about keeping it a secret, Lionblaze confesses his power to Cinderheart and Jayfeather doesn't even care).

Meanwhile Nightheart is angry he isn't orange and hates his mom for being exiled and the whole world has to stop for him. 🤪 And Bramblestar is simply so tortured by having an evil father, the only choice is to train with him and his evil half-brother and hide this from his wife! (But remember, it's bad when that witch Squirrelflight hides the parentage of the three from him, even when Blackstar and Leopardstar were still around after being complicit in the torture and killing of halfclan cats.) Why are these male characters sympathized with, even when they actively harm people (Nightheart forcing himself into Sunbeam's life by lying to everyone about being her mate without even asking her if she would be fine with that beforehand), Bramblestar (we all know what he does), but when Dovewing or any other female character is upset, people freak out and call them whiny brats or abusive for (checks notes) asking her partner if he loves her anymore after they argued multiple times in a book. Really makes you think! (Sorry this is so long, you just have based opinions!)

dovewing being characterized as this flighty airheaded vain popular girl stereotype in fanon is like. one of those biggest "we didnt actually read the books" things in the fandom. like theres so much fanart where shes grinning and giggling over the prophecy and shes besties with the trio and shes got preferential treatment, and then in the actual books shes basically the autistic kid no one actually likes. people really, REALLY overexaggerate that one scene where she snaps at ivypaw and brags. (and i dont wanna shit on amvs but i am forever side eying how the animation community handled dove back in the day. more than one person animated her getting murdered. normal.)

i do think its gotten better recently at least. but wow does it feel like at least one person on the writing team has a bone to pick

(also awww thank you <3 no need to be sorry i love getting stuff in my inbox)

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

there are a lot of reasons i think pericles is really slept on as one of the most tragic characters in sdmi, and they start with how easy it is to connect the dots that he took a mind-destroying curse full to the face as an infant. one that breaks adult humans and renders them unrecognizable, when pericles was not only a baby but is from a species that is explicitly much more vulnerable to it. right from the beginning of his life the entity obliterated his sense of self so thoroughly that there's not even a version of him who shows up in the Sitting Room.

fuck, man.

[beevean]

Yeah, she was done dirty. She could have been such a great villain, a selfish manipulator only concerned with her own comfort, hiding behind a veneer of condescending kindness that hid a deep desire to have power over others (desire spurned by the awareness that no one likes her so she has to force people to like and respect her), a monster wearing the mask of a human even if it hurt her (clipping her claws, dousing herself in perfume to hide the stench of blood) because she resents her own cursed condition to the point of not even wanting to bite people but only to not feel "guilty" about it, eventually regretting the awful way she treated the only man who showed her kindness but too prideful and childish to apologize. The elements for a good character were all there, she's fun to think about!

Too bad she was conceptualized by a sexual abuser and it shows, from how her consistent physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse of Hector in S3 is portrayed as masturbation fodder because haha hot girl puts a leash on a submissive peggable idiot, and in S4 she gets out on nowhere painted as a poow widdle girl who did nothing wrong 🥺 and the man she raped into slavery shows zero conflict about how this woman who pretends to be nice to him also broke his heart in the most visceral of ways.

You could have had a heartbreaking story about how Hector's constant abuse broke him, and the way he crawls back to a woman who only showed him the bare minimum of decency shows how he would do anything to feel that someone out there cares about him, even when it's not true. You could have had an intelligent, nuanced story about the intricacies of abuse and toxic relationships, how people can like you and care about you and want the best for you and still hurt you in irreparable ways, because their selfish desires and need for control is stronger than what you need to thrive. Instead, I got this:

Yay, "it's not rape if you enjoyed it" turned into sassy banter! Just what I like from the characters I'm supposed to root for and empathize with :)

I'm sure the genuinely well-meaning, gentle Lenore who fell in real love with Hector that exists in fans' headcanons is a lovely character. I would love to meet her, I also have a Lenore in my head who is a very complex villain. But what I saw on screen from day one was a poor excuse of jerkbait with three different personalities and the source of appalling abuse apologism, because it's fine, she's hot, he deserved it for being stupid, she raped him for his own good, actually it wasn't even rape because when someone lies to another person for the express purpose of having sex which leads to being trapped in an unwanted relationship is just a little dirty trick, a small lie, no biggie, of course the person who was lied to will eventually understand and forgive and want to kiss the person who betrayed them!

Pictured: a poor woman pressured by her peers who was very torn over having to resort to rape by deception to enslave the man she kept molesting for no practical reason other than her amusement. Sure, she could have just offered Hector the position of pet the moment she told him that Carmilla no longer had use for him, and he would have accepted because Hector's only objective in life is feeling cared for, but hey, why not truly humiliate him to feel more powerful? :)

anyway Lenore was never a good person. She had fun toying with the heart of a man for the sake of turning him into a tool to use to enslave people: she did little harm compared to Dracula, sure, but it's more personal, and motivated by even pettier reasons than "wife died", because everything about her screams "I want to feel in control and powerful". And much like Dracula, I would have been perfectly fine with her being a vile piece of shit (well, the writing in S3 still sucks because she's bullying a shell of a man and there's no meaningful conflict, but eh, I could go on a rant on how Hector was done dirty) were it not for the fact that the writing insisted that I should feel sorry for a whiny abusive ineffectual cowardly brat who only thinks about her own pleasure and can't even see the man she trapped as his own person, whose main source of angst is "besties don't like me and Carmilla's plan would be inconvenient to me and my feelings 🥺"

(I linked to too many posts here. I have sources for everything I said. Look at how much proof I collected that Lenore never loved Hector or saw him as a person! It's honestly impossible to read her from any other angle.)

So in short, she's cruel, she's petty, she's disgusting, she's incompetent (using her pussy to unnecessarily trick a man who is painted as so stupid he's on the verge of being called the R-slur doesn't speak highly of her manipulative skills), she's whiny, she's a hypocrite, she doesn't even do anything concrete in the plot (I love me some cringefail villains who still have some gravitas to them, like OG Isaac and Dahlia Hawthorne), she does like one (1) good thing and it didn't even matter, and her grand finale is ragequitting from life like a kid who lost too many times at a videogame, abandoning like he was a mere afterthought the man who cut his own finger to get rid of the slave ring she put on his hand and still chose her. peak. she's lucky that her design was artificially engineered to be as cute as possible, because that's deadass the only reason fans tear their hair to justify her and defend her.

S4 was bad and she was particularly pathetic there (seriously that ring was fucking pointless), but that didn't make her a good character in S3 either. So yes, she deserved to be written by someone who understands the gravity of abuse and doesn't think some people are so stupid that they deserve to be harmed.

lenore is a very well-written character that is written very well

[toastykaykes]

Paint it Black (Prologue)

Hello! This is the beginning of a series for me! Series rating will be M (18+). There will be mention of torture, mention of SA, abuse, fighting, alcohol, sex, and probably more that I'll warn before the chapter.

Pair: Logan Howlett x Mutant!Reader.

Please give me feedback so I can become better! But anyway guys, here's the Prologue!! Teehee Enjoy

Word count: 1116

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CLANG 

CLANG CLANG

.

.

“Get up.”

You peek through your eyes, feeling as if you are the earth gazing upon humanities evils. There’s so much crust and filth embedded in your skin, it’s essentially consuming you. You just want to sink and hide beneath it. Away from all of this. Away from this pain. 

You look past this facade and see the same place you’ve been encased in for…how long now? You’ve lost track of time, between the hell they put you through and the salvation you call your mind when everything goes black.

Grime and grease, blood and bodily fluids litter the concrete floor of your cell. No bed, no toilet, just chains they use to confine you. To use you. 

“I SAID GET THE FUCK UP! WHAT YOU CAN’T EVEN HEAR ANYMORE?” The man yells, the increase of volume and proximity making your earthbound soul shake. He pounds the cell wall, this fist probably getting scuffed trying to make himself look like a monster. 

A monster.

You shift your head, (e/c) eyes finding the same guard as always who comes to collect you. His face naturally hosts a snarl of a smirk, as do most of the people at this place. Oh how you just wish to clean the earth of them all. People like them, all they do is hurt and consume others. You manage to contort your muscles in your face to paint on some form of a twisted smile. If it even could be called that. It’s more so of a snarl, but depends on who’s looking. To him, he takes it as a smile, throwing one back as he enters the stall. 

“I knew that would catch your attention honey,” He draws out while his hand jerks out to grab your head, smacking it against the wall behind you, “ya know you’ve lasted way longer than another mutant down here. Poor Wanda couldn’t handle it anymore…tsk. What a shame, right.” 

As you take in his words, your heart feels like it stops. There’s no way she’s..gone. She was so strong, way stronger than me. We both promised to get out of here together, to finally free ourselves of this filth. To make sure no other children and women would ever go through this pain. 

Something that is all you feel right now, throbbing throughout your body. If your body had anything left in it, you would feel the tears slip past the threshold, becoming one with the dirt on your face. You let your eyes fall, shutting out the feeling his hands go lower to your neck ready to start. The cold steel of the needle just barely pierces your skin. 

His chapped fucking lips scorch your ear, “You’re all just filthy demons. You act like you're all powerful when really all you are is weak. Disgusting and impure. Can’t even fight back, I bet you like what we do to you huh? You filthy whore.”

Fight back? All I’ve been doing is fighting back. Day after day, fighting the urge to just let myself die. To end this hellish loop I've been stuck in. But I never did, because of Wanda….

You fall inside your mind, where you're standing surrounded by your shadows. Your safe place. It’s here where you can truly react to what just happened. Wanda is gone. The only person who made you feel an ounce of sanity. Gone. Your knees give out as you gasp, feeling the air leave your body. You feel the shadows around you, swirling between your fingertips and through your anger. You gaze up, tears cascading down your cheeks to see the door. That goddamn red door. 

You begin to smile. Wanda wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. 

I’ll show them who the real monster is. 

And you let your shadows paint the door Black. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Miss (l/n)?” 

You look up from your stack of ungraded assignments to see Daven holding his hand up. You smile. “Something on your mind Daven?” 

“I was wondering if you have a favorite hero here? Like mine is Cyclops. He’s so cool with his lasers that go ‘bbsszzzz’” Daven asks with a huge grin, hands reenacting exactly what Scott’s eyes do when fighting. The whole class starts to laugh, children chiming in louder who theirs is. 

You can’t help but chuckle as they start to all talk about who on the X-men is their hero. So much for a quiet break. “How about you all draw your favorite X-men and give it to them as a gift? I think that would be quite nice, wouldn't you?” 

This of course went over very well with them, their smiles growing wider in excitement. Chairs topple over as you see them all rush to get their papers and crayons, some grabbing paints. “Remember to be clean!” You chime while sitting back down, grading their homework assignments before their attention span dies. 

By the end of class, everyone has their special drawing and the room is clean. Thank God. 

You hold the door for them as they all let out one by one. “Next week you have a quiz! So remember to read your chapters over the weekend.” You smile at them all, feeling content they enjoyed their art class. It’s something you hold dear to yourself, always finding serenity and peace with it. Which makes your heart happy to be able to share with them. 

“Miss (l/n), I have something for you.”

You look down to see Marie, adorably clad with pigtails and bows that match her uniform. 

“Whatcha got sweetie?” You say while reaching out to grab what she was offering. 

“My hero doesn’t come here often. He’s mysterious like that. But I wanted you to give it to him if you see him.” Her drawing is a misshapen round circle person clad in a yellow suit with what looks like knives poking out of his hands like Freddy Kreuger. HUH

“Honey, you sure you don’t want to give it to him? You made it. I’m sure he’d love to receive it from you.” You look down to see her shake her head no. 

“No, I think you should give it to Logan.” She then turns on her cute little shoes and makes her way out the door and down the hall.  Bro I don’t even know a Logan. Huh, maybe Professor Charles knows something about this. You sigh to yourself before folding it into itself and stuffing it into your bag. You feel the exhaustion from today begin to settle in with the quiet. Closing the door behind you, you walk down the hall, ready to get this meeting over with.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Three for One 5

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as dubcon/noncon, cheating, customer service abuse, and other possible triggers. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: As a customer service associate, you’re used to work with a wide variety of characters. Your efforts to go above and beyond draw the attention of a certain set of customers who want more than what’s on the shelf.

Character: Andy Barber, Lloyd Hansen, Ransom Drysdale

Note: How are these getting longer lol

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me 💞

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!)

Love you all. Take care. 💖

If you thought the darkness was torturous, the light proves to be worse. You look at your surroundings. It’s eerie. A room curated for one. For you.

The white fluffy stool in front of a matching vanity. A picture of a woman in white sitting in a meadow, flowers all around and a stream flowing through the lush field. A vanity painted with flowers, the night tables matching; the bedspread under you similar woven with pansies. The trim at the top of the wall is pink petals on white and a soft rug under the foot of the bed.

It’s all very cute but deranged. You’d love to have all this and more but you’d rather your apartment. If the price is those three men then you’d rather a gutter. Most importantly, you want your dog.

You can’t even make your demands. The walls can’t give you what you want. You doubt your captors will either but you can try. You can wear them down. You can be nice sure, you prefer that, but it doesn’t mean you can’t be your own brand of evil.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. The noise needles in your ears and you hear the mechanism click. You raise your head to watch the door open and the one with the beard enters. Alan, Arnold? Ugh, you don’t care.

He doesn’t break the threshold. He crosses his arms and stares at you. A ripple in his forehead underlines his thoughts.

“I’m going to bring you out but you have to be good,” he says.

You close your eyes and drop your head. You fill your chest and let out a blasting wail. He grunts and stomps to the bed. He grabs your shoulders, shaking you until you nearly swallow your tongue. You bite the tip as he sits you up and you’re forced to face him.

“No, no more of that. Or you don’t get your first present.”

“I don’t want any of your presents,” you sneer.

“This one, I think you do,” he intones, “I’m asking you to give me a chance. Let me show you that this isn’t just for us. This is about you, honey.”

“I didn’t ask for this,” you hiss, “why can’t you just let me go?”

He shakes his head, “it’s too late for that.”

“I won’t behave. I swear, I’m going to scream–” you inhale and he quickly covers your mouth, his other hand coming around the back of your skull. 

He hushes you as his blue eyes darken, “honey, I’m being nice right now, so you need to go along with this. If you don’t…” he pauses and looks over his shoulder, “I don’t know what they’ll do.”

You furrow your brow. Getting out of this room is one step closer to escape. You can be good. For now.

You let the tension leave your body and soften your expression. He senses it and slowly slides his hand away from your mouth. You flick your lashes, putting on your best pout.

“Okay, Alan, I’ll be good,” you avow.

His brow tweaks and his cheek ticks. His nostrils flare as his chest rise and falls, “it’s Andy.”

“Right, I’m sorry, I’m really freaked out,” you show your teeth sheepishly, “that other guy… he hurt me.”

“Which one?” He asks.

“Er… stache guy.”

“I’ll talk to him,” he huffs, “can I untie you?”

“Yeah.”

“No, honey, I’m asking,” he looks you straight in the face, “you’re not going to try anything, right?”

“I can be good,” you squirm, “my wrists hurt.”

“Alright.”

He lays you back and rolls you over. He pulls the tape away from your arms, then your ankles. You think of the trick from the van. You know his weak spot but it’s too soon for that. Timing, it all comes down to the right opportunity.

“Let’s go,” he takes your hand and helps you up.

You get to your feet and let him lead you out. His large hand clings to yours as he pulls you after him like a child. As you go into the hall, you examine every inch of the place. He takes you into the front room, a low din that in any other circumstance would be cozy.

It looks like any other living room. A sectional and an armchair, an artificial fireplace set into the wall, a mantel trimmed in tinsel, a rich carpet spread over the dark hardwood, and shelves of books along with a television mounted to the wall. The tree in the corner stands bare over a red velvet skirt.

“We can decorate the tree tonight and see if Santa leaves anything for tomorrow.”

You hold back a scoff, “um, I know Santa isn’t real.”

He chuckles, “it’s a joke.”

“Is this the surprise?” You deflate. Sounds like work to you. Of course, your apartment is too small for a proper tree but you’re less than excited for a pastime you always longed for.

“No, not the only one,” he lets you go as you tug on your hand. “Honey, we did this all for you.”

You turn on him, “I didn’t ask you too.”

“Hey, hey, why are you acting like this? You’re such a sweet girl.”

You swallow tightly and hear beeping again. Then a clamour that includes a scramble, some scraping and the thump of a door against something else. You try to see past Andy as you feel cold air rush in from outside. You want to race past him but he’d be on you in a moment.

You hear a familiar growl before another voice wafts in from the entryway.

“Ah, he bit me. Again!” One man says.

“You think I’m having fun at the ass end?” The other retorts.

“Woah, oh, shit–”

There’s a duller thump and you hear claws and paws on the floor. Your heart leaps and you look around Alan– Andy as you hear the heavy breaths bounding towards you. 

“Ernie!” You squeal as the Saint Bernard lumbers in, furtively searching before he spots you. “Ernie, my boy. Oh, baby boy.”

He nearly knocks over Andy as he barrels into your arms. You hug him around the neck and inhale the scent of his fur. His collar tinkles and let his warmth ease your fear. You were so worried about him, more than even yourself.

“You said it was a puppy,” the bare-faced man snarls as he shakes his hand.

“I didn’t know…” Andy says.

“He is a puppy,” you insist.

“Who let the pussycat out?” The mustachioed creep asks.

Your eyes shoot darts in his direction and his hand shields his pants, almost instinctively. Ernie drags his large rough tongue up your cheek. He was scared too but now you have each other.

“Surprise,” Andy says, “so now, honey, you’re going to be good, right?”

You look at him and chew your lip. His eyes fall to Ernie and you put your arm in front of the dog. He doesn’t need to put his threat into words.

“Shit, I’m bleeding. That thing got shots?” Scarf asks.

“What about the girl? She got me good,” Mustache snickers.

“No, but maybe I should get checked now,” you snip.

“Woa-ho!” Mr. Caterpillar exclaims, “she’s got a mouth.”

“Honey,” Andy warns, “we’re being good, right?”

You huff and nod.

“So, apologise.”

“What?” You burst out, “he–” You stop and look between all three men. You have Ernie but you’re more worried about him getting hurt than knowing he’d hurt them in an instant. Even then, he has his head low, a steady rumble brewing in him.

“That thing needs to calm down,” the naked faced one whines, still cradling his hand.

“He’s confused,” you defend your son, “okay? And I’m sorry, er, dude, I’m sure you don’t have any communicable diseases.”

“The fuck? Disease– Alright,” the man steps forward, “that’s it. First she bites me, then she kicks me in the dick and now–”

“Lloyd,” Andy puts his hand up, “no. We’re all just getting used to each other. You’re not exactly easy to be around yourself.”

“Fuck that, I’m funny,” the fuzzy lipped man, Lloyd, argues.

“Everyone just quit,” Andy demands, “alright? Did you get the food?”

“Food?” The bare-faced man shrugs out of his jacket, “what food?”

“For the dog? I told you–” Andy begins.

“Ah, shit, knew we forgot something,” Lloyd chuckles, “he’ll be fine. He can eat chicken, can’t he?”

“He has a sensitive tummy,” you say.

“Jesus,” the third man grumbles as he hangs his scarf over his coat. “I’m not going back. It’s late.”

“Can he have rice? Carrots?” Andy suggests.

“I guess, I don’t know if he’ll eat 'em,” you look at Ernie as his deep brown eyes meet yours. You pet his head to keep him calm. He doesn’t like these men any more than you do.

“Fine,” Andy huffs, “go get the decorations,” he orders the others.

“Why don’t you get the decorations?” Lloyd sneers.

“She needs to change,” Andy explains.

“Like we can’t help her,” the other man challenges.

“I don’t often agree with him, but he’s right. We’ll get her changed.”

You grimace as your eyes ping pong at the back and forth of their conversation. This isn’t good. You don’t enjoy being talked about like you’re not there.

“How about I get myself changed?” You offer.

The men turn to you. None of them seem impressed. A sudden peel of thunder fills the room and you look at Ernie. His bark echoes in your ears.

“Shut that thing up,” Lloyd snaps.

“He’s quiet,” you say, “he was just saying the same about you.”

“Really?” He goes to take another step forward and the other man stops him, “Ransom, let me go.”

“I’ll take her, you two go get the decorations,” he says.

Andy frames his hips and sighs, “fine. We all know the plan. Let’s stick to it.”

You want to raise your hand and clarify that you do not, in fact, know the plan but you suspect you’re not a part of the collective. You keep your hand on Ernie and gulp. He nuzzles your hip.

You bend and pet behind his ear, “it’s okay.” It’s not. You move to face him, “sit,” you raise your voice, “stay. I’ll be right back.”

As you stand, the dog obeys. He’s a gentle giant, at least with you. You pat his head and turn away. The men watch you.

“That thing listens?” The one they called Ransom asks.

“He can.”

“Come on,” he beckons you with two fingers, a smirk ghosting on his lips.

“This is bullshit,” Lloyd mutters as Andy approaches him.

“We can keep talking all night,” Andy pats his shoulder, “or get things moving.”

“Whatever,” the man smooths his mustache.

You reluctantly move towards the third man, the one with no personality grown out on his lip or jaw. A baby face if you ever saw one. The way he leers makes you uncomfortable. He smells like Armani.

“Not smiling now, are you?” He says under his breath as he ushers you down the hall.

He points you into that same bedroom. You stop just inside and he shoulders past you with a grumble. You watch him go to the wardrobe and open it. You look between him and the door. You could make it.

You wait a few seconds as he pushes hangers over the bar. You take a step. He doesn’t notice. Another and he’s bitching about colours. You didn’t think men were that picky. You get right in the frame of the door and back out. He looks around the open wardrobe.

“Bye,” you wave and pull the door shut.

You know he’s probably swearing at you but you can’t hear him. You hold onto the handle and hit the little lock icon in the corner of the keypad. The deadbolt rolls into place.

This is it. You edge out to the living room. You don’t see anybody. Ernie sits where you left him, sniffing the air. He sees you and perks up. You wave him over and he lifts his rump, taking careful steps across the room.

You grab his collar and take him with you to the front door. You twist the handle, it doesn’t budge. You flip the lock over it, still nothing. You don’t know what to do. What the hell?

You search around you. The windows are barred, you can’t get out that way. There’s a small box right beside the door. You flip it open to reveal another keypad. Fuck.

“And where are we going, pussy cat?” The question nips your ears as a plastic ornament pings off the wall beside you. You spin and face the mustachioed menace. 

“You know, I just need some fresh air.”

Ernie growls and puts himself between you and the man, keeping the distance with his body. He prowls around, snout low as he paces back and forth. Lloyd steps closer and the dog mirrors him.

“Call that thing off,” he demands.

“Why would I do that?” You challenge.

“Well I’m sure you wouldn’t like it if I made him stop,” he opens and closes his fist.

“You wouldn’t hurt a puppy–”

“I’ll do what needs to be done,” he tilts his head.

“Ernie,” you call the dog, “quiet. Sit.”

The dog lets out a wispy boof but listens. He flops his butt down and glares at the man. You put your hands up and step forward.

“You’re mean. How can you threaten an innocent dog?”

“He drooled on my Jimmy Choo’s,” he says, “come on,” he grabs you by the back of the neck, “let’s go get the dumbass out.”

Ernie barks as you whimper. You flutter your hand at him as Lloyd’s fingertips pinch into your tendons, “Ern, it’s okay, I’m okay. Stay.”

He must hear the panic. He remains, restlessly shifting his front paws. You march beside the man back to the hallway. You reach to touch his arm and he only squeezes harder.

“Shouldn’t blame you for trying,” he says, “but I will.”

[shutinthenutouse]

The United States of DARVO: A holiday message from an abusive parent

Let’s psychoanalyze this post from the vantage of abuse dynamics.

Feigned “Generosity” Framed with Criticism

Trump begins his post by extending a superficially inclusive “Happy Thanksgiving,” then immediately undermines it by targeting and vilifying a specific group— the Left.

This is a propaganda technique that is effective over generations, solidifying the dynamics of a family with an abusive, authoritarian parent with golden children and scapegoats

The only criteria needed to stay out of the wrath of the parent is compliance without question, including passively agreeing to live in a fantasy version of reality where all the problems are caused by the scapegoats— the people who refuse to go along with the lie because it’s not fair or honest.

The only way to continue to live and maintain the lie is to paint the scapegoat as insane or a liar. The abuser makes the scapegoat the reason the abuser “had to punish” them. They’re just so bad, they have to be dealt with like they’re a broken, defective, immoral, crazy, unreasonable non-human.

These passive aggressive gestures of “kindness” set up the abuser as the good guy who is doing the scapegoat a favor they don’t deserve by granting them good wishes, but every gift from an abuser is really a punishment or a ransom.

The golden children just fall in line, showing deference because they don’t trust their own understanding of reality, either. Besides, the abuser sets themselves as the ultimate wise, fair, wonderful person— the ONLY person— who can save them from the evil antagonist and the miserable scapegoat.

No one is allowed to tell the truth about why the scapegoat is miserable.

By labeling the oppositional ideas, criticism, and policies as “hopelessly bad,” Trump sets himself up as the sole source of wisdom, ideas, morality, and success.

He makes himself the victim of the scapegoat. The scapegoat is trying to ruin everything they do right with their insane, miserable disposition.

DARVO

DARVO is an acronym used to summarize the behavior of serial abuser: Deny wrongdoing, Avoid accountability, Reverse Victim and Offender

Abusive parents see their children and sycophants (minions; dutiful followers) as objects or extensions of themselves. When a golden child tries to assert their individuality and boundaries, their own identity, they threaten the plot of the fantasy the abuser stewards.

To ensure golden children don’t rebel, they publicly dismiss or degrade the scapegoat’s individuality and ideas to maintain control and dominance. They will later take any good idea or accomplishment and claim it as their own, or as only being possible because of them.

Trump is signaling to his golden children to maintain the hate for the scapegoat.

False binaries

Abusers maintain false binaries of “good” and “bad,” rendering the only acceptable way to exist as a servant and extension of the glory of the abuser.

Using Fear and Promises to Manipulate

The post from Trump exists to instill fear about a supposedly failing country and offers a promise of restoration— that he can fix, thanks to the unflinching dedication of the golden children.

The abusive parent is using fear to destabilize the scapegoat and get them to act out, so Trump can point at the “bad child” and say, “Look. Dangerous and ungrateful.” The golden children stay in their lanes.

Grandiosity and Projection

The assertion that opponents have “miserably failed and will always fail” reflects an inflated sense of self-importance that thrives on the false binary. He can only be as good as his scapegoat is bad— as the protagonist, naturally.

This is abusive dynamics 101 wherein the parent refuses accountability and instead shifts responsibility for problems onto the child or a more general “kids these days.”

Conditional Pride:

Trump’s post has a heavy implied message— the audience can only feel proud under the speaker’s vision and leadership, tying their self-worth to obedience and alignment with Trump’s expectations.

Golden children are abused, too. They can’t have dreams, independent thoughts, boundaries, or free will. They can only be “good” through self erasure.

How to survive this:

What I’m about to say is going to sound like victim blaming, but there’s no blame here. It’s simply a fact— if you take the bait, you’re going to “prove them right.”

The fallout isn’t going to reach a lot of you, and the fact that you know that shows. You all are, in broad daylight, saying things about wanting the worst things for Trump’s supporters. In broad daylight.

You haven’t seen me, ever, say things like this.

I keep begging you all to stop. I write tens of thousands of words begging you to stop. But you don’t. You tag me in posts with Leftists who are going to get people like me killed as if we are the same.

They get on social media and fan the flames, mocking the golden children.

Right now, rumors are going around that Black women are planning to jump white women in the South who voted for Trump.

But it is white people— the Leftists who are not at risk— on social media and out in the world mocking dangerous people who aren’t living in reality. And the collateral is putting a target on Black women because white women benefit from the way men dehumanize them.

You do this because if you’re a privileged white person, you’re not as safe or easy to scapegoat. Hurting you could divide the horde that gives the abuser a majority advantage and threaten the plot of the collective fantasy they uphold.

You’re generally not an easy target.

Abused children become adults, and the scapegoats are terrified of and averse to any expressions of identity. It makes them so uncomfortable. They have witnessed what happens to the scapegoat, and they want them to stop “causing division” and just go along with the plot.

Assimilation is painted as a moral high ground. If you have a strong identity, people can’t shape you. You’re not going to go along with the plot and let someone else be the protagonist.

When you shame a golden child’s parent, or punish them, you start a transactional cycle wherein the golden child feels an overwhelming compulsion to restore balance—not by addressing the parent’s wrongdoing, but by doubling down on defending them.

This is because the golden child has no identity, so their only anchor is the role they play in the parent’s narrative of dominance and moral infallibility. Any attack on the parent is internalized as an attack on themselves and a threat.

If they don’t defend the parent, they will become the abused scapegoat.

The golden child feels compelled to act to restore honor to the parent. Whether through public defense, private enmeshment, or retaliatory aggression, the golden child shoulders responsibility for maintaining the parent’s status and ensuring the scapegoat and external critics are silenced.

Both the golden child and the abusive parent operate within a system of fear—fear of losing control, fear of exposure, fear of chaos, fear of loss of dominance and the scapegoat getting the justice they deserve.

The parent rewards the golden child’s loyalty with conditional approval, reinforcing the dynamic. Meanwhile, the scapegoat is painted as dangerous, irrational, or unworthy, keeping the golden child aligned with the parent.

Golden children in a system like this mirror how people loyal to figures like Trump react when he is shamed or criticized.

How to resist without feeding innocent scapegoats to the horde:

Mockery and public shaming don’t break these cycles. It just doesn’t work that way. It just hurts the people who are easiest to scapegoat and locks us into an escalating cycle.

I frankly don’t care if they “deserve” it. My kid does not deserve to grow up without a parent, and neither do the kids of people who are more likely to be harmed.

Making the situation worse and irreconcilable is not justice. It’s also not ever going to lead to a positive outcome.

Frame your critiques around accountability and fairness rather than moral superiority.

Explain the objective problem, explain the consequences of upholding, and don’t use value judgements.

Don’t use binaries or value judgements. Just be objective. You can be objective in a spicy way, with flare and humor and scathing wit.

Stop falling for people like Nick Fuentes saying things like, “Your body, my choice” and platforming people intentionally causing division. They are doing extreme things on purpose to gear up to justifying things like martial law.

Again, you aren’t standing up for yourself or defending people against assault to engage on their terms. They want to scapegoat you for reacting so they can justify hurting you.

Don’t engage on the abuser’s terms. The system relies on predictable responses to maintain power, and you disempower them by not giving them the reaction they want.

Now, if you really want to topple their plans to increase their wealth and power, stop buying things. Don’t buy anything you don’t need to survive unless you buy it from individuals and small businesses that are benefiting other small businesses.

Don’t do retail therapy. Buy everything you can get that you need secondhand. Get it locally if you can, from Facebook yardsale groups and similar.

Sell things you don’t need so people aren’t buying new.

Barter. If you don’t have a trade and barter group locally, start one.

Cotton shirts take over 2,500 gallons of water to produce— each. Cotton requires a lot of water, so irrigating cotton fields is a lot. That’s enough water for you to live 3 years.

There is almost no reason for you to buy new clothes right now. Buy used shirts.

Now— I am not in any way suggesting you should neglect to defend yourself should you need to. But conflict is lucrative and a commodity in an economy of harm. Starve the market and be a good person.

And for heaven and hell’s sake, give people a path to redemption and stop taking a position of blamelessness.

Someone has to be the adult. Someone has to let go of the rope in this tug of war and refuse to get back on the maga-go-round.

Stop dehumanizing and generalizing other white people. White is an American invention. It is not an ethnicity, a culture, or a heritage. It’s half of a false binary that does not exist.

Dehumanization is never healthy. It always harms you and other people.

No one is special because of their meat sack or any of its attributes.

“Whiteness” is language that is used to describe a similar affliction as that experienced by golden children. This is not an affliction related to your intrinsic self, and it does not only inflict pale people.

And white privilege, just like straight privilege or class privilege or any form of privilege, comes at a cost to you and reflects a decision made by authoritarians who came before you. You had the “option” to be a golden child, so long as you went along with the script and understood the assignment.

If you have the fortitude to make it to the end of this post, your reality isn’t shattered by hearing the truth. You didn’t run. You’re probably a scapegoat.

People on the Left can be every bit as hollow, performative, destructive, and divisive as people on the Right can be. Having a less harmful set of values does not mean you aren’t causing harm.

Scapegoating only works when golden children agree to give up their agency and sell out the scapegoat. They only do that because they are afraid of the scapegoat’s honesty.

If you are experiencing arrested emotional development because of abandonment, abuse, and a lifetime of invalidation and neglect, get some support and find yourself before publicly engaging.

That’s advice that I and most American’s will have to take. You’re not a bad person if you need to work on yourself.

But if you have been saying things like “People who voted for Trump deserve every bad thing that will happen to them,” you have the same golden child ethos as them.

I have seen people on the left celebrating everything that might happen to Natives because of an exit poll of a few jurisdictions in a few swing states. They are celebrating slurs against Natives and genocide. I’ve seen the Left celebrating Palestinian suffering.

The Poorest states with the lowest education rankings are the reddest states.

West Virginia is a red state.

When I detailed in a post yesterday the devastation that will come to Poor states, a lot of people in the comments were happy. They said things like, “I won’t even act like I notice them when they scream for help.”

They called my post that I put all that time into a “takedown.” Like I was punishing Poor people for making a terrible decision.

No. I don’t do punishment. I just say true things with language that is very direct.

I didn’t put that to words to dehumanize people. I put it to words because golden children keep falling for the lie that supporting an authoritarian is going to pay off for them. It never does. They need to know what is coming.

We all do, so we can work in the vein of harm reduction as we formulate a plan to move forward.

You will never get the abuser to stop hating the people who don’t let them star in a grandiose hero arc. But, you can reduce the impact they have by refusing to dehumanize and scapegoat people who cause harm.

A lot of you don’t care. You’re so mad at them, you paint them all with a broad brush and don’t see their humanity.

If you made it to the end of this post, you likely have profound academic and intellectual privilege in comparison. You just scapegoat people who scapegoat people, but it’s all the same kind of unhealed abuse.

You act like your actions don’t have consequences and their actions do. That’s what they do to you.

But if you want to see thousands of people suffer and die and be incarcerated and taken out of commission because they didn’t respond the same way you did to an authoritarian threat, you both are stuck in the same dynamic.

This is not a game or a perpetual experiment where you use other people as variables trying to manipulate the world into a narrative that works for you, but some of you live as if it is. How you voted doesn’t absolve you as if your one vote out of 156 million was the deciding factor.

How you participate in the world the other 1,460 days of an election cycle matters more.

You ever think about the basic math of an election? Half, approximately, have to vote the same way as you for your candidate to win and to not empower another abuser.

We might not have another election, but even if we do, things won’t ever be the same. We can either figure out how to break the dangerous cycle we are in, or we can hate each other for the benefit of authoritarians all the way up until we destroy each other on a massive scale.

Until you get out of that, you’re perpetuating it. You need to get a journal and stop saying things out loud until you are confident it’s a good idea that impacts the greater good— because you’re not the main character. Other people in this story are being impacted by your behavior and words.

The scapegoat escapes the cycle of trying to be a golden child when they don’t need the external validation of authority figures and sycophants to be the unimpeachable righteous person that only exists in fiction.

The golden child escapes the cycle of living as an extension of the will of an authority figure who only shows conditional love when they decide to not accept the terms and conditions and face the brutal wrath of the abuser.

No one realizes they are being used and exploited. They don’t know what they are missing or even that it exists. They think people are all performing morality because they are performing.

People with a solid sense of who they are and what they believe are not performing.

They do exist. They either grew up having their identity and individuality celebrated, or they did the brave work of risking their safety to figure out who they are.

Everyone has the choice to stop dehumanizing self and others, and that means opting out of celebrating abuse and suffering.

[foreverautumn89]

@miwiromantics

Also can I just say that I hate the anti-Jonathan fans with a passion because they're awful people in general? And they like seriously remind me of the townspeople of Hawkins? Like exactly like them? They are them and its so funny they don't even realize how they act exactly like them but they hate the Hawkins townspeople. And Jonathan is their Eddie Munson. Think about it. They don't understand him. They don't try to. They believe lies others have made up about him even though the truth is right in front of them. They make him out to be a monster when really hes a hero and been a good guy all along. They ignore all the goods hes done, but hyper focus on bad things hes done. Bad things btw that they've spun their own narrative on.

But back to Jonathan and the anti-Jonathan ppl specifically: They care only about looks and appearances and no matter how horrible you are and how many bad things you've done, if you're hot enough to them, you're forgiven automatically-no matter how awful you were. Actually in some cases they even claim that the character in question never did anything wrong to begin with even though its clearly not true. Meanwhile, Jonathan who has been a good guy all his life and did one thing wrong that they make out to be something it wasn't, is evil and a monster and worse than Vecna a serial killing child abuser. And in fact-they even like Vecna. Talking about how hot he is and justifying his actions because ''his mom was mean to him''. They even defend VECNA over Jonathan. VECNA. Because why? Because hes hot and hes sexy and powerful. But Jonathan? eww.

They support Jonathan's abuse. They support him being abused by his father as a child and being locked in a trunk and thrown around. Saying he deserved much worse. They support Joyce treating him badly and think she should be worse to him. They justify him being bullied and tortured by people and claim his bully was the victim in it. They take the sides of people who have tortured him in the past. They make up lies about him to make him look like a monster. Things they know not to be true. And then back each other up on it even though we ALL saw what really happened. They have said he is worse than Vecna multiple times said he's worse than a child abusing serial killer.

Let's not forget Jonathan was abused and bullied and tortured all his life and those people have said many times that he deserves a lot worse. Cheering on his death. Cheering on Vecna torturing him and doing horrible things to him. Cheering on the idea of people hurting this abused tortured child even worse. Making up fanfiction to satisfy their desire to see him 'put in his place' and making the other characters like Nancy and the kids and everyone be their mouth pieces.

Why are we begging for those people to come to our side again? Even if they did realize that Jonathan wasn't the monster they paint him to be and start attacking other characters instead-I don't want that. i don't want people like that over here on Jonathan's side and I have to interact with people like that and then they're making other characters out to be monsters so we Jonathan fans look like trash. Hell to the no. They can stay in their own filth. I dont want them around me. It's bad enough we're already in the same fanbase thats close enough for me thank you.

And I don't want to hear from anybody else reading this Damn its just a show they're just characters. I get that. The issue is these peoples mentality. Jonathan is a character, but the people in their real lives are not. They look at a bullied abuse victim and can't see any good in him only see the bad and make up bad things about him and treat it as the truth so they can justify their cruelty. They make up lies to justify hating him and wanting to see him abused-they're this vile to a *fictional* character imagine how they treat abuse/bullied victims in real life.

[gothamite-rambler]

Raven and Rose being trauma siblings

The "Sucky Dad Awards"

Raven: Alright, let’s kick this off, welcome to the 'Sucky Dad Award.'. What’s the most screwed-up thing your dad did? You go first.

Rose (carefully painting her nails): Hmmm… Well, he caused my brother’s death, had a sexual relationship with a teenager—knows age consent laws and uses them as a defense— and I was brainwashed to the point where I took my right eye just to prove my loyalty to him.

Shaking her hands to dry her nails, Rose chuckled.

Rose: If that doesn’t qualify as bad dad territory, I’m not sure what does!

Raven: That’s pretty evil, but my dad tried to use me as a vessel. The jewel on my forehead suppresses my true power. He tricked my mom into having me by pretending to be a decent guy in his cult, and oh yeah… he’s a powerful demon. I think I win this one. I will take my trophy.

Rose laughed and shook her head.

Rose: That last one doesn’t really count.

Raven (confused): What do you mean, why not?

Rose: Look, demons are already inclined to evil. It’s like they're starting from a bad place but could get worse. My dad was just plain evil without the demonic perks.

Raven: You don’t get extra points just because your evil pops had to discover he was evil.

Rose (raised eyebrow with a smile): “Evil pops?”

Raven: You’re the only person I’ll ever say that to.

Rose: Deal. But did you miss the part where he had sex with a traumatized teenage girl? Terra was messed up, but I have no doubt he abused her.

Raven: Well, did he have a cult?

Rose (hesitant): ...No.

Raven: Ah-ha! Yeah, he didn’t trick your mom into joining a cult, so you had a semi-decent home life. That means I win!

Raven threw her arms up in triumph, a grin on her face, while Rose placed a hand on her forehead in mock exasperation.

Rose: This is a draw.

Raven: Works for me, but I’m going to win this eventually, and when I do, you’re buying me three boxes of Triscuits.

Rose (laughing): You and your obsession with Triscuits. You better label the box next time!

—-------------------------------------------------

A Friendly Exchange

Raven floated above as she spotted Rose and Jason heading toward their group.

Raven (shouting): Hey, bitch!

Rose: Hey, hoe!

Raven: You owe me five bucks!

Rose: For what?

Raven: The Triscuits!

Rose: You’ll have to fight me for it!

Raven: Next time!

As Raven floated back down, Rose smiled.

Jason: What was that about?

Rose: I ate her crackers three years ago. She never lets me forget it.

Jason: You two have a really weird relationship.

Rose shrugged, a smile on her lips. 

Rose: She was one of the few who gave me a second chance right away. Took me out for fish tacos when we reconnected.

Jason (pouting): She never took me for tacos… just cusses me out and says I give off “murder, stab, lick the knife” vibes. What even is that?

Rose (explaining): It means you have dark energy that she doesn’t want to be associated with.

Jason groaned in frustration. Rose glanced around to make sure no one was listening before taking his hand.

Rose: I can convince her you’re way better than she remembers, not to mention hot.

The playful smile on Rose’s face made Jason chuckle.

Jason: You’re amazing.

Rose: I know! Now let’s play it cool.

Releasing Jason's hand, Rose took off, with him chasing behind her, both of them enjoying the lightness of the moment.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

I feel like it invalidates Zuko's character progression to iron out his sharp edges the way many ZK's do. His entire arc is him growing as a person and becoming more mentally healthy. Can't do that if he's painted to be this perpetual victim who's never done anything wrong.

You're right and you should say it. It pisses me off whenever ANYONE in the fandom, not just zutarians, goes "Oh, Zuko was always kind and fair and good" because the whole point of his arc is that he had those traits beaten out of him by his abusive father. He was sent the very clear message of "Being kind will get you killed" and he internalized it because he was a child, because he was scared, because he raised to think of violence as normal, because he was HUMAN and wanted to survive even if the way to do that wasn't morally right.

His arc is about him being both a victim and a villain. There is nothing he can do as a bad guy that will retroactively make it okay that his father abused him, but his status as a victim will never give him the right to victimize others. It's about the up and downs of his journey, his shining moments of progress and horrifying relapses. It's about his selflessness and selfishness. If you get rid of one, you kill the other.

Zuko's arc doesn't work because he was "always good/not that bad." It works because he realized he was evil, felt REMORSE and then TOOK ACTION to be better even when just leaving things the way they were would have been more benefitial to him.

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

John

This fella is Fascinating. just trust me on this he deserves to be here

He tried so hard to do the right thing, he feels bad and says things would be better if he was never born. He thinks he should've just stayed acting like a monster and continued to act threatening.

(LONG PROPAGANDA INCOMING)

John. Milgram. Here's a short description of the fortunes and misfortunes of the guy. It gets worse before it gets better (probably).

While MILGRAM is a prison that judges a bunch of sympathetic killers, it doesn't consider him to be one – it didn't even exactly know he existed until too little too late, when it got its grabby hands on the brain of prisoner 009, who claimed to not know anything about any murder he'd have committed. Then, footage from his brain was extracted, as MILGRAM does, into a music video, and… that was MeMe. Ninth prisoner, Kayano Mikoto, was revealed to have DID, and what obviously who do you think actually Killed Someone?

Enter John. Well. Mikoto is half deeply unaware half subconsciously scared of his existence, so the MV painted him in a rather. Deeply disturbing way, bathing in bloody baths and all that (not a blood bath though! easy mistake). Adding to that him showing up in the first Voice Drama for five seconds to punch the "protagonist" and yell for a bit, and the result wasn't. Assuring. The fandom proceeded to treat him like a cardboard cutout and variously dunk on MILGRAM for having a cliché "evil" character w/ DID despite the overall well handling of complex characters.

Two years time skip: second season ending. We get to prisoner 009 again. The protagonist Finally gets to chat with John: and voila, he's admitting to the crime, he's apparently "killed a bunch of people because they annoyed him", which means, as he's saying, Mikoto has nothing to do with the crime at all! And he, as per the judging system, should be forgiven, right! Well, he's so full of shit. The music video immediately reveals how protective he feels of Mikoto (and well, he definitely doesn't rebuke That one), that the events of murder were somehow tied in to Mikoto's job at a black company, his continuous overworking and him being mentally on the brink of breaking; that any committed violence was For The Sake of Mikoto and that John feels deeply horrible for messing up his life in any way. By making himself into the image of a "monster" he's trying to make Mikoto look good in comparison and be forgiven and all. He also mentioned if Mikoto is voted innocent he's gonna try to go dormant since he's The Issue, right, and the audience/protagonist hates him, Right, and Mikoto Also Hates him, Right?

I'm underselling the sheer devotion of this guy tbh.

Yeah, the fandom results were kinda mixed on that one. Lots of people immediately started to love him dearly and kinda forgot any people were maimed or killed with baseball bats; lots also got sold on him "messing up Mikoto's life" and actually voted Mikoto innocent Specifically because of John's promise to eventually "disappear". There's more of the babygirlifying kind in the English side of the fandom that I've seen, to be fair. And that's around where we are!

Dazai Osamu

He did bad things in the Mafia. He's trying to get better. He abused people but he also saved other people. Fans portraying him as an unforgivable abuser are WRONG. He perpetuated an abused cycle on Akutagawa thinking he was right to do that, because of trauma, before he could leave. But he left. He's still treating Akutagawa wrong because he's trying to be a better person but doesn't realize that it will not erase what he did and that he can't just ignore the past. Fans portraying him as a pure angel who didn't know what he was doing because he was sad are WRONG TOO. He abused Akutagawa. He was traumatized but it doesn't give him the right to traumatize innocent people. He's trying to be a better person but he can't keep ignoring Akutagawa. He needs to apologize. And even that won't erase what he did. Dazai is a complex character in a complex situation. He left the abuse cycle and tries to be a good person but did unforgivable things while he was still in this cycle and refuses to aknowledge them. He's not a monster but he's not innocent either.

Dazai used to be a mafia executive until his best friend (a former assassin who remained in the mafia but refused to kill) died. As the friend was dying he told him "I know you don't care about whether you're a good or bad person, so if it doesn't matter to you, be on the side that saves people." Despite that, I've seen countless people insisting that Dazai is a good person/trying his best to be a good person when he really only changed sides by joining a detective agency, while still continuing to do the same things he did while in the mafia (including but not limited to: harassing his coworkers for fun, manipulating people, killing people instead of just trying to incapacitate them, and even torturing an innocent man in one of the side stories). That being said, he's not evil either. Even when he does cruel things, it's not for the sake of being cruel (even when he harasses his coworkers he still has limits), it's just a means to an end. I think most of the confusion comes from a scene where he's talking to a young girl, another former mafia member, who asks if he thinks people can change and he assures her they can, but what the anime left out was that he was thinking about his former assassin friend during that discussion, not himself. The entire series is themed around gray morality, to the point where it's even reflected in the main protagonist and antagonist's designs (mainly white with a bit of black, and mainly black with a bit of white), so I feel like insisting that he's a good person now completely misses the point of the story.

[shrinkthisviolet]

1, 7, 8, 9, 19, 21 for Star Wars for the ask game please?

1: the character everyone gets wrong

Luke Skywalker. Everyone writes him as naïve and happy-go-lucky, but like…no?? Even in ANH, he’s snarky and impatient, and he develops throughout the OT into a badass who suffers no fools. Yes, he’s kind and generous towards his loved ones, and he’s very friendly, there’s no doubt about that, but like?? Writing him as an innocent ball of sunshine who can do no harm is just wrong. Luke is kind, but he’s not naïve—he knows fully well what Vader has done and how evil he is, he just also knows, has felt, that there’s good deep down in Vader. He believes when no one else does because he knows he can get through to Vader and change his heart, and he’s right!!

7: what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Kylo Ren. The way some parts of fandom used to (probably still do, but I wouldn’t know) paint Han and Leia as abusive/awful parents and make Kylo the perpetual victim who was forced into every decision he made…as if he wasn’t like 23 when he destroyed(?) the Jedi Academy* and joined Snoke, as if every decision after that wasn’t his own decision—like, come on guys.

*I know there’s a comic that said apparently a lightning storm caused the fire that destroyed the Academy? But Wookieepedia said he’s the one who summoned the storm in the first place, so 🤷‍♀️ who knows. In any case, the distinction is irrelevant to my point

8: common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Anidala isn’t abusive, and I’m sick of people saying that.

“Oh but he choked her!!” Yes, that’s what happens when you fall to the Dark Side and your good traits are twisted/corrupted. You act in ways that are not like you! This is how the Dark Side works (despite what some Star Wars media would have you believe, the Dark Side corrupts, it’s not freeing. It’s an illusion of freedom, but it’s just a trap)

“Oh but Anakin forced her into it!” Nope! He confessed to her, and she turned him down initially, but she made the first move, and there’s no indication that she was forced into marriage.

You don’t have to like them, but saying they’re toxic/abusive is incorrect and I’m tired of seeing that take.

On that note, everyone attributes Vader’s salvation to Luke, and says he’s the person who always believed in Vader…but don’t forget that Padmé did first!! Padmé was the first one to always believe in Anakin, even after the worst had happened, because that’s how strong their love is! Because Anidala was true love!

9: worst part of canon

If not for the sequels, the Luke/Leia kiss would be here. I still hate that so much.

Taking the sequels into account though…the Rey/Kylo kiss. Absolutely awful. Putting aside the fact that I don’t like the ship, there isn’t really much development for this as a ship. Sure, there are some hints of chemistry here and there (mostly in TLJ with Rey slowly developing an interest in redeeming him), but they’re far outweighed by: Kylo kidnapping and torturing Rey, Rey trying to kill Kylo, Rey metaphorically closing the door on Kylo at the end of TLJ, and Rey killing Kylo in TROS and only undoing it because she felt Leia die.

Rey appears to have a change of heart about Kylo in TLJ, but that’s very clearly undone when he refuses to turn back to the Light Side (again, she metaphorically/telepathically slams the door on him)! And she literally kills him in TROS and only undoes it for his mom’s sake! And yet suddenly in the final scene she’s calling him “Ben” and putting her trust in him?? Nope. Not buying it. If I did ship this, I’d be very disappointed about how it was handled, because that’s just sad

19: you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like…

I'm intrigued by Vaderdala as a concept 😅 not in a genuine healthy relationship way, I think that bridge is burned post-ROTS, but I find the idea of them in a Padmé Lives AU very intriguing. Vader ofc would still harbor feelings for Padmé, and deep down, she would too (she does canonically believe in his goodness), but her loyalty would be first and foremost to the Rebellion and her kids…but also those feelings keep drawing her back to Vaderkin, because a not-so-small part of her wants to redeem him and get her husband back. And he, ofc, wants her by his side as his Empress. It’s just fascinating to me imo

21: part of canon you think is overhyped

ROTS. Listen, listen, I love it too, okay? I love all 3 of the prequels in their own ways. But…even people who hate the prequels claim ROTS is “the good one”, and I just…don’t get it? What exactly makes ROTS sooo much better than the other two? It’s not like ROTS is a perfect movie by any means, it has flaws too, just like TPM and AOTC do. It even has a similar tone. People seem to love it because it’s the moment of Anakin’s descent into Vader, and believe me, I love it too, but…some people love it disingenuously, I feel. One of its big flaws is the lack of Padmé scenes in it, with them all being deleted, so the fact that it’s the most loved of the prequels despite having the least amount of Padmé in it is…weird, ngl

And yes, I know people have complained about those scenes being deleted, this is a common complaint, but that doesn’t seem to have dulled the general consensus that this movie is (one of) The Best Ever.

(On that note though, if you haven’t read the ROTS novelization, please do, it’s absolutely amazing and tbh I’m enjoying it more than the movies, simply because it has more space to expand on certain characters and what they’re thinking, and thus expand on certain scenes. AND it adds the Padmé deleted scenes back!!)

choose violence ask game!

[agathah]

Episode 8 spoiler!!

How do you feel about the fact that they made Armand too dirty in the series? I was ready for him to take part in Claudia’s fate, but it seems to me that his agreement with Louis’ death was a bad decision. It's just out of character. I don't even know what to feel about this. It looks like they decided to sacrifice the personality of a minor character in order to win Lestat back into the audience's good graces. I would like to know your opinion, as a fan of the books and Armand in particular.

Ohh now we're talking, i couldn't say anything about this on twt because i was afraid i was gonna get some kind of hate, but as you asked (I'm so glad you did), I'm gonna tell you what I think. You guys know i love Armand especially because he's a complex character, not entirely evil and definitely not entirely good, but also human, very human, ironically. First things first, I don't like what they did to loumand. Did you guys notice how corny they were? It's like they were written to be unlikable, to be tasteless. And I say this as a loustat warrior. And the way they connect in the books is so beautiful because they match melancholy, they want to find purpose in life with one another. It was never supposed to work, yes, but now we go back to the last episode. Of course, we haven't seen Armand's version of it all, but they definitely made him worse, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's off character if we compare this version of him to the book one, but if this is how the writers wanted to adapt Armand, then it's not necessarily bad writing. The thing I don't like is exactly what you pointed out, Armand looked like this manipulative cruel villain who trapped louis in this abusive relationship for decades by playing the victim in every single opportunity he had, all of this for Louis to go back to Lestat, and Lestat to seem less evil. Don't get me wrong, I love lestat, and I loved how we got to see that he's not this soulless monster they made up. But that had a cost: making armand look worse than him. My hope is that Armand is supposed to have the "lestat effect" next season (in S1 they villanized lestat in a very similar way they did with Armand in S2, and now lestat is likeable again, so maybe they're gonna show Armand's side of the story next season and things will be more understandable). But even if they do that, they painted Armand as really bad and cruel, and that's such a superficial take on his character. Also the fight between Louis and him was so anticlimactic. I think it's weird how the show emphasized how powerful Armand was, a 500 year old vampire, but he seems to be outsmarted by every single character in the show. And the whole "Armand directed the play" plot was so ??? I don't know, was the coven that important? Is he really supposed to have this machiavellian persona in this particular situation? And just to be clear I'm not saying that i want him to be more morally correct, i love to see these characters being evil. I just don't like how they made him look weak and unlikeable at the end (and in my opinion yes, i think part of the point was to elevate lestat's character :/) Anyway, sorry I WROTE A LOT LOL AKSJSK and I could write more, but that's basically what I think

[laststandx3]

I'll be bitter for a minute and say it: i think the terror for how good it is, is also very partial on crozier on being #1 mister only good colonizer in the arctic, and i sort of hate it because the change happens only because he sobers up. and sure alchool makes people cruel, but sobering up doesnt make them perfect. he went from let silna be left on the ship without protection/kick her out for the tuunbaq if she doesnt help us/ rip the guy that died to get me a bottle of whisky, anywayy to peace and love on planet earth lets us all take this walk together while i share words of wisdom and love with this other colonizer who's also very sorry he didn't do anything good with his life. Crozier started the journey at least as a heavy day-drinker and i understand how that's different from heavy alcholism but at the same time i can't imagine all of crozier's faults being the consequences of whisky alone. and having him overcoming his alcholism and wising up immediately after being clean for a few weeks is FOR ME a terrible writing choice that paints him as being naturally good and his 'bad' behaviors coming ONLY from the alchool. yes he sees blanky getting hurt and that's starts his sobering up path. but that's not enough for me. the people (other characters state aloud for the audience) he loves more than god loves them are dying left and right. and i really dont care if corzier cares about the crew or not but if he cared he should have cared about them even when he was drunk and not remembring about their wellbeing AFTER he got clean. i'm not saying you cant enjoy crozier. i just believe his character development isnt earned and that he got it only because he's the designed good character that canonically survives in the book. i dont think that him shitting himself for a few weeks while sobering up can count as having the emotional development to go from one extreme to the other. especially because everyone else is also there sufferring physically and psychologically even more than him due to the fact that their all stranded in the arctic and dying of scurvy and no one else in the crew could have the time off work, privacy and attentions to heal. crozier being the 2nd on command and then captain used his power to become a drunk and later to clean up. and i just dont believe that a man who abused his position like that from the beginning just becuase he was pissed he couldnt marry the woman he wanted suddently stops abusing his position because he's now clean and pure. TO ME it's a bad writing choice that is also force-fed to the audience with the line 'more than god loves them' so that you get it for sure that he's the good guy who cares about people not like those others evil characters who would do anything to survive like killing innocents and being racist (the good guys could never. except they canonically did- but wait, not in THIS continent so it doesnt matter) and eating people (which is a sign of being naturally evil, no matter the circumstances) or following a religion in a desperate last chance of survival (again no one on the good guys side would put religion above good sense and the safety of fellow human beings. in this continent?? maybe? ugh)

in summary i think the main flaw i find in the terror is how much it still tries to draw a line between good and evil. instead of just trying to portray the human disperation for their mortal condition. how much having to come face to face with tuunbaq must destroy all of those men convinctions on what life/afterlife are (for what i remember it just addresses it for tozer AND in the SCRIPT) nobody else gets a life shuttering experience. it's either the devil, then good christians should be safe, or it's a different religion, then what?? what do you do when your life looses its meaning? and the answer for most of the charactes was 🤷‍♀️guess we'll think about it after this awesome party we're about to throw. i dont want this to be about religion, but these men are wrecked in every way, there's nobody to save them and everyday they're a little more in pain than the one before. there shouldnt be a camp of the good men lead by the strong and wise one who take care of their sick and lets the dying die peacefully with morphin. while in the bad guys camp they eat people and have evil laugh competitions and kill their sick with knifes bc giving them poison might make them unedible. and specifically those evil guys where also the reason why the expedition happened to hurt the locals, the good guys have nothing to do with it.

i dont think there's nothing wrong (narratively) in doing anything to survive. even if it's something cruel, because those men are at the end of the world alone, it's at least realistic that they'll try everything to avoid death. crozier(and jfj even if offscreen) gets to be cruel at the beginning of the story but by middle point they're shown to be sad (about unrelated things) and spend the last few episodes being kind and brave (and forgiven by the narrative) while their chance at character development is uniquelly given by their ranks. in the meantime the consequences of those cruelness (only hickey, because we dont get to see survivors of jfj trip to China, if he left any) dont get the chance to heal and change because hickey's position of subordiante never allows him to be really safe, and because his torture was public, automatically making every witness taking the side of the perpetrator. hickey's never given weeks off work to recover because he got lashed because of his own actions. hickey doesnt get words of wisdom from a companion because in his mind everyone agreed with crozier in him deserving the lashes, (except maybe tozer? but even that isnt that clear cut) hickey, manson and hartnell also magiaclly heal from the lashes after a few weeks (even when ANYOTHER character cant heal because of scurvy) so the narrative can't held crozier accountable for the pain he caused.

the good guys and the bad guys' actions are treated differently by the show. even when the good guys actions should have consequences and the bad guys' shouldnt. the narrative has already decided which sins will be forgiven and which will be punished. and it's a bit annoying to me because for how wonderful the terror is, i cant help but feel like i'm being spoonfed a narrative about morality when at its core the story is about humanity.

[ben-talks-art]

We need to make "explain but doesn't excuse you" a more popular sentence

I was thinking back to my list of favorite characters, and how I have people like Rameses in it and thought to myself "Why do I like this guy again...?" and then I started to recall why I was so into his story, and honestly ended up liking him even more.

Something that I noticed about the way writers try to handle backstories nowadays, is that they love to use a sad past to make people be on a character's side and then proceed to absolve them of their crimes.

Like, we love redemption arcs, we love character development, we love bad guys turning good... But I feel like we might love it a bit too much, as if we were waiting to forgive a character for all they did before even getting to them realizing the mistakes they made.

People love picking a villain they're into and going "Oh, it's not their fault, it's because they were raised that way, it's because they were abused as kids, it's because they lost someone they loved, it's because society treated them like trash, it's because they never had friends, it's because their girlfriend dumped them on Christmas eve..." and so on.

There is an obsession with "My character did nothing wrong because their past justify their actions!"

And here's something people tend to forget. A past explains one's actions but doesn't justify it.

Being abused by society, being trained by terrible morals, being oppressed and attacked... they all explain why someone would think it's okay to hurt others, but doesn't actually justify them hurting others.

Just because we know why someone's doing all the things they do, doesn't make the stuff they do any less bad.

This is why I love Rameses. They show the human side of him, they show he wasn't just born evil, they show that he could have been a decent person if he just had the right people to raise him.

They could have so easily made him just a cartoon villain who happened to be born evil and take joy in making others suffer under his command, but no, they show how he became this way, how he went from just a regular kid to a tyrant unable to feel sorry for others' pain and suffering, who was so brainwashed by the traditions of his family that he couldn't even process the harm he was bringing to others and why he couldn't even see the slaves as actual people in agony.

And, again, what I like about this story is that they explain how he became this way, but they don't paint him as blameless. The story acknowledges that he has blood in his hands, even if he himself doesn't, and it makes sure that he pays for what he did, even if what he did was the result of a long process of terrible lessons being passed down by generations that he didn't start.

At some point he became an adult, he became free from his father's command, free to make his own choices, and free to listen to the right people, free to look at what his actions were causing...

He had agency for his choices... And he still made the wrong decisions.

I feel like if others tried to tell this story today, they would either have made Rameses more evil from the start so you wouldn't feel bad for the tragedy that befalls him, or they would give him some sort of realization where he thinks about the harm he did and develops a change of heart in the last second.

I keep thinking about how there was a group of people going "Azula did nothing wrong!" when the new live-action Avatar show started and they basically tried to move all the blame from her to her "big bad evil father."

It makes me wonder if they released Prince of Egypt today, if there would be some sort of revisionism where people would try to argue that Moses is the villain for "not saving his brother" or something like that.

To the point I'm beyond curious about how things are going to end up in Arcane, since that series has a very similar story with two siblings that ended up splitting apart and reuniting but realizing that they were completely different in the paths they chose to follow, with one trying to fix the errors from the past and the other embracing them and trying to view them as part of who they are.

Is Arcane gonna go all the way and make Jinx an irredeemable monster that needs to be taken down, or are they gonna try to pull a "deep down, Powder is still there!" stuff?

I really hope they don't. I hope they give her an ending similar to Rameses where he's defeated but doesn't even get the luxury to die, just left alone and powerless while watching his most beloved family member moving on with his life while he's still stuck in the past and suffering the consequences of his actions and realizing that he achieved nothing.

And what I especially like about his ending is that even at this point he still doesn't realize why he's being punished so much, just showing at full power the danger of ignorance and refusing to see what's right in front of you.

It would be a terrible tragedy, but I think it would make for a great message.

[sodapops0lstice]

If youve all been wondering where grubpeta and friends have been the answer is theyve all been busy growing up!

More info about the guys under cut ⬇️

Equius Strider-Zahhak

Equius wasn't originally meant to go Dirk. Considering his reputation of him and children. Dirk didn't exactly disagree and was more than willing to just be a collective uncle that visits sometimes. Unluckily for him, Equius almost immediately attached to Dirk. Whenever he was took to someone else's house to be raised, Equius started to chew up table and chair legs and causing general mayhem. So he was dropped over to Dirk's. Not under the control of a demonic puppet that was made by literally the most evil entity in the universe, Dirk is actually a pretty solid dad. Equius helps out with robot projects.

Nepeta "Grubpeta" Vantas

As y'all saw before Nepeta went under the care of Karkat. He had felt guilty about how he treated Nepeta in his past so in an odd sign of repentance he adopted Nepeta. Most people still refer to her as Grubpeta or other derivatives of that. She's only ever called Nepeta by Karkat. Karkat has 0 drip so she got that scarf from Kanaya who is basically another parent for her since Karkat is pretty inept at parenting.

Tavros Strider

When Vriska saw that a Tavros grub was up for grabs, she immediately dibbed on him. Obviously, everyone knew that was the worst idea possible but everyone who would of reasonably adopted him was already handling a child of their own (whether that child was one of the omega kids or the grubs). Dave basically threw his hands up and took one for the team. Promising to "swag this baby out". And he sure did that. Tavros Strider ending up as a lot more confident than his other self. Vriska is still not allowed near him.

Eridan "Caligula" Lalonde

Eridan was adopted by Calliope and Roxy due to Roxy wanting "tha wizard bby". Calliope attempted to paint herself to appear more lusii-like for Eridan. Roxy had to talk her out of it. The cardigan was made by Kanaya as a forgiveness gift. Which was a really serious/awkward confrontation with essentially an aunt and he 5 year old niece who was getting forgave for actions he didn't even get the chance to commit. The tail was by Calliope from scraps of her cosplay works. He was affectionately nicknamed Caligula by Calliope.

Feferi Crocker-English-Peixes

Was picked up by Jane to end the cycle of abuse started by the Condesce. She was adopted before Dirk became a part of the polyamourous clusterfuck that is Jane and Jake's marriage, the only real issue it brought up for anyone was that Feferi asked awkward questions with little to know hesitation. Made even funnier cause she adopted a very formal way of speaking. The tiaratop still works but has no ads/brainwashing mechanisms. Spoilt to hell and back by Jane and Jake but when has Feferi not been spoilt?

[showtoonzfan]

Would you say HB is portraying gays like they can do wrong and are perfect? Because every happy/good character/relationship is gay and every character that isn’t implied to be lgbt is pure evil and any m/f pairings imply that one or both of the people involved is at least bi.

Viv definitely prides herself in creating characters who are LGBTQ+ and unapologetically problematic, but if you know her work that’s the exact OPPOSITE of what she’s accomplished. She sees any of her gay characters as uwu babies who did nothing wrong, so yeah I would say that HB is portraying gays as innocent. This is why so many people make posts begging creators to craft gay characters who are nasty little shits because we’re so used to queer media portraying them as soft or pure. And I’m 100% on that boat, gimme some LGBTQ+ evil villains or bad eggs!!

Viv TRIES to get this done by making Angel a mobster who kills people, Blitz an assassin, Stolas a problematic weirdo ect, but despite their character flaws it’s pretty obvious that she wants you to think they’re good and gentle people deep down, that’s why she crafts Saturday morning cartoon villains against them so they look worse in comparison and you’ll have no choice but to side with the one who “isn’t that bad”. Val is a r@pist and Stella is an abuser so I guess that means the characters that murder people are better than them. Angel and Blitz are the worst case since they’re both murders and yet Viv portrays them as helpless and lord knows what she’ll do to Alastor. It’s been obvious from the beginning but Viv just wants her audience to see these characters the same way she does, soft and gentle uwu boys who are traumatized and just need love. I’d say that Val is the only exception since I doubt he’s straight but he doesn’t count since he’s boringly flat and his mere existence is just to make Angel look better in comparison. Vox seems to be the legit only gay character that’s evil and unapologetic but that’s not saying much since we don’t know the guy yet.

I’ve said it a million times but for the love of god she needs to stop being afraid of what her audience will think of these characters and just LET them be bad people and make mistakes WITHOUT it being excused or justified. I’d say that part of her is worried people will think she’s portraying gay people badly which……people already think that lol but in a sense that she’s painting them in a negative light. It’s an issue that some writers go through, they don’t want to give their audiences the wrong intention when it comes to their characters, remember when people disliked Angel because they thought he was in hell for being gay? It’s like that. I’d say you can accomplish this well if you play your cards right as a writer, but Viv unfortunately doesn’t have that skill. She’s under the impression that she needs to make all her gay mlm characters uwu babies while also slapping the same “snarky crude” juvenile personality onto them over and OVER again and it’s just…sickening to watch lol.