#that is genuinely upsetting to me

[umblrspectrum]

3 years of this godforsaken show

[undead-knick-knack]

Dorian: *eases over towards Beau and loosens his sash to show off his abs*

Imogen: You don't have to move the shirt. You're wearing a sheer shirt. We can see them all the time.

Dorian:

Like damn Imogen why you gotta call him out like that in front of his crush 😭😂

[riverofempathy]

It’s a shame, really, that no one registers it as physical violence, or any of Edward’s behavior in New Moon as problematic. Like, they straight up left Bella without a goodbye and let Edward abandon her in the woods even when Alice can see how devastated and depressed she will be. Oh, and Alice’s visions can’t predict if a bear or cougar will randomly come across Bella and attack her, you know? So whyyyyy would they risk that? They just let Edward treat her terribly because “it’s his relationship” I guess.

But anyway, back to this scene specifically (which I completely forgot about). I know Esme adores Edward, but she had an abusive husband. You’re telling me she saw Edward doing THAT to Bella and she wasn’t concerned at ALL?

If she’s too blinded by motherly love, fine, how about Rosalie? Rosalie doesn’t like Bella, sure, but she doesn’t really like Edward, either. She tolerates him at best. You would think she of all people could look at Edward without rose-tinted glasses and realize that even if he was being gentle by vampire standards, he was being violent and controlling by human standards. And she would know, given the very violent last night of her life. In the movie version of her assault, her scumbag fiancé actually did a very similar thing to her, in fact—grabbed her jaw and controlled the way it turned.

No matter how much Rosalie disliked her, she still took the time to tell Bella when she was making a mistake and when she was giving up too much. Because of her past, Rose believed very strongly that Bella should have a choice—and here was Edward, forcibly holding and turning Bella’s jaw so that it was hard for her to speak or even move.

Rosalie of all people should have seen that as a red flag, and Rosalie of all people WOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING TO BELLA. She also should have given Edward a piece of her mind. Like, immediately, in fact.

“Get your hands off her! This is her life, her choice! You don’t get to decide anything for her! And you definitely don’t get to control her body!”

I swear, Stephenie Meyer didn’t consider the impact of assault or abuse at all when she used that as a backstory for Rosalie… and Esme… and Bella… and Victoria… Like, she just needed these women to be in danger/almost die in order to be saved by a vampire (or in Victoria’s case date one, even though James was a serial killer and should have been the last man she ever wanted to be with). It’s so frustrating, that Stephenie wrote those stories again and again, but they changed NOTHING about the characters or the plot, which is NOT how it works. SA causes trauma. For a long time. It is not a plot device. It is a real thing that happens to women, to children, to men, even, but of course when Stephenie had an opportunity for those same backstories to happen for men, she changed it, so she can fuck right off with that noise.

If you’re not going to do anything with a character’s trauma, let alone show them having trauma, leave it out.

Rosalie could have died in a hit and run (with her drunk fiancé and his friends behind the wheel, of course; she could still seek revenge on them if it was important to Stephenie; but apparently not since in Breaking Dawn, she forgot Rosalie had crazy self-control).

Esme didn’t have to be in an abusive marriage; the story of her jumping off a cliff because of the grief of losing her infant child is already intense and traumatic, and the way it was written, her abusive husband had nothing to do with it; he could have been a loving husband, or she could have been widowed, or she could have had the child out of wedlock, and the story could have ended the same.

Bella didn’t have to nearly get assaulted, either; Edward already saved her life once, so instead of randomly having them not talk for months after that, just let the friendship/romance (and PLOT) bloom immediately. You don’t need another damsel-in-distress moment, and certainly not one where you frame it as the victim’s fault. But fine, you want another suspenseful scene where Edward has to save her? What if she’s just lost and panicking? You laid out the groundwork already.

Here’s the thing, Stephenie, about plots for female characters: it doesn’t have to be violent. Why are you so focused on making violent things happen to women? More specifically, why do you keep choosing sexual violence? A woman’s literal worst nightmare? If you at least had them process the trauma and heal from it, that would be one thing. But putting women through violent things just to put them through violent things? And then taking their genderbent counterparts and putting them through different things? It’s almost like you could have put them through different scenarios all along…

Oh, and then you have both the love interests do aggressive, controlling, hurtful things… and you act like that’s normal, like that’s ROMANCE?!

….

Stephenie, are you okay? Do you need us to call someone?

I’m not sure if you’ve ever said anything about this, but the first time I read new moon, the vote chapter, there was one bit that really stuck out:

(from Bella’s point of view) Edward grabbed my face in his hand, forcing me to look at him. His other hand was out, palm toward Carlisle. Carlisle ignored that.

Bella later went on to say it was hard to talk clearly with how Edward was holding her jaw. I don’t know if I’ve misunderstood what exactly was happening, but why did the entire family watch that and do nothing? I’ve read the metas where you’ve said it’d take a lot for Carlisle to realise what Edward really is, but surely that’s a pretty massive indicator and Carlisle actively ignored it?

Anon, you're hilarious.

An Aside in Which I Say "Look in the Mirror"

I've been running this blog for a few years now (a terrifying thought) and I'm both a) one of the most critical of Edward in this space (which is not a bad thing, mind, people are free to do what they like) b) often get asks in which I am asked by anons to justify why I think poorly of Edward.

This is on top of the thousands of metas I've written pointing out various things from canon, where I've presented many arguments, and anons still will ask me to make more arguments.

This is fandom, anon, relatively objective observers who are privy to information the characters in the story don't have. We know Bella's exact thoughts, we know how Edward has interacted with her in private, and we even know Edward's private thoughts for at least the duration of Twilight because of Midnight Sun.

AND YET, I AM HERE.

And you ask this as if it should be obvious to the most casual observer.

Back to Your Ask

I've discussed this at length in posts I'm too lazy to look up at the moment but the crux of it is that

a) Edward's a beloved family member and it's deeply hard to think ill of those we love and we want to justify their actions

b) the family doesn't see most of what goes on with Bella and are only told things by Alice and Edward with Alice being firmly on Edward's side

c) Due to his having previously had a redemption arc in which Edward came back unprompted to the diet even though it must have been not only humiliating but terrifying, Edward comes across as one of the Cullens who best understands that human life is worth protecting and just why they're all doing the diet.

This particular moment though, I'd also give Edward a pass if I was present. To touch Bella at all, to move her like this, Edward has to be extraordinarily gentle and careful. If he was at all rough with her, at all, Bella would be dead or seriously injured (with her jaw crushed between Edward's fingers, her neck snapped, etc.) Basically, for Edward to do this at all, he's being incredibly mindful and the Cullens as vampires are very aware of that.

Add onto that that Bella can speak, when this is a guy who's hand is made of stone, he has to be holding her incredibly gently from his perspective for her to be able to speak at all (and not have a broken jaw).

Also from the outside perspective, where Bella and Edward are in this romantic relationship (even though they just got out of being broken up) and they all know Edward's deeply in love with Bella, this looks like an intimate gesture than it does a "LOOK AT ME" gesture. It's not something any of them would do, or a normal person would, but they're also not dating Bella/convinced they're soulmates with her.

Add into that that they're in the middle of a very intense day, in which Edward had just tried to kill himself and is very emotionally fragile, Bella's now asking to be turned directly, the Volturi barely pardoned them, and Edward is coming unglued with the idea that Bella's going to be turned and the Cullens aren't at the top of their game.

They're just trying to get through the conversation where they tell Edward (and Rosalie) that, yes, they actually do have to turn Bella.

This doesn't register as physical violence to them, and I don't blame them for this one.

[evan-buck]

9-1-1 Evan 'Buck' Buckley | 8x06 Confessions

[barghest-land]

ata tu corazón, mi amor, y arrástralo por la tierra

[bixels]

I'm not explaining why re-imagining characters as POC is not the same as white-washing, here of all places should fucking understand.

[konigsblog]

Just saw a 13 year old call themselves "worthless fuck meat" and claim that their body is only made for a man's pleasure. Jesus Christ.

I feel nauseous. I don't even know what to say anymore. And to see full grown adults (people in their FIFTIES) message this kid, are you fucking kidding me????

Do parents give two fucks about their kids safety?? I will never understand parents not downloading parental controls onto their kid's phone. If you don't, you're a lazy and irresponsible parent. These parents don't deserve to have kids. It's your job to take care of them and to protect them from predators, and you're doing absolutely fucking nothing about it.

[deoidesign]

I'm so mad that post was misinformation because there is actually an EXTREMELY important conversation to have about the production schedules artists are forced into. There's no need for exaggeration, the conditions are bad.

I work for webtoon. My publication schedule is weekly. While publishing I'm required 10-15 pages a week. Fully colored.

This means I'm finishing a 150 page fully colored graphic novel every 10-15 weeks.

When my comic is not updating, I am not getting paid. Any time writing, editing, or off is out of my own pocket. I don't get healthcare. They do not provide any assistants. They expect me to promote myself; they chose to deprioritize me before I even launched and gave me an end date half a year in. I never had a chance.

And this is the industry standard! Every company has artists forced into crunch hours, overtime, and burnout. Artists are literally dying early due to it. So many of my friends can't afford to go to the doctor.

It's unsustainable and untenable, and it's also the expectation our audiences have.

If we want to have this conversation, there's plenty of conversation to be had with the realities of the situation. It's bad as is.

[dnpg-hiatus-survivor]

sorry to all those in support of an amazingphil rebrand but you will never catch me even theorizing of such a horror. mr amazing will always be amazing to me

[tillsbiggestfan]

the recent till comic that vivimeng dropped got me thinking…

isn’t it interesting how ivan was predisposed to be loved, but he wasn’t loved at all?

he was adopted on valentine’s day as a gift for unsha’s wife, is considered a fan favorite contestant, is well respected by the children of anakt garden and their teachers …

but he still never got to experience true, genuine love for himself. despite the fact that his conditions were ideal — that he seems so easy to love — he wasn’t.

[rubberduckyrye]

Okay in all seriousness. There's something that I REALLY want to talk about as an open discussion with the fandom, but. This is not going to be a very nice thing to hear/talk about.

It's about how Gonta is treated by the fandom.

As a fan of all the V3 characters now, and as someone who has always been a fan of Gonta, and as someone who has many mental disabilities and two diagnosed neurodivergancies... I'm tired of playing nice about it.

You all need to stop being ableist towards Gonta.

I've mentioned in the past that I don't like shitting on personal interpretations. I don't like saying something is or is not canon because narration is just a big web of text that you try to decipher with your own personal biases, experiences, and thoughts. That's why two literary analysts analyzing the same text with the same literary criticism rules can come to wildly different conclusions--why people develop different headcanons from the same canonical information.

But one of the things that challenged my integrity is just how many people view Gonta as this innocent, naive, ignorant, baby boy who can do no harm/never has a complicated/dirty/violent/sexual thought in his life ever.

This incredibly ableist interpretation of the character bothered me for, well, obvious reasons (See: It's fucking ableist, need I say more?) but I never challenged it as harshly as I am now because to be frank, it's not my place to tell people how to HC a character. It still isn't. But I've pretty much given up on my integrity on the subject and have decided to go all in on discussing why this interpretation of Gonta is just. Really bad.

First of all, not to promote my own analyses here or anything, but I think this analysis I did of Gonta explains a LOT in regards to the ableism the cast gives him in canon. I also think that this subtle ableism is why the fandom is so bad with Gonta's characterization in headcanons and fanfic--because they've seen how the cast treats him, and they think it's normal. They don't see the microaggressions, they don't see the subtle ableism in the cast--they just see this big giant idiot who speaks like Tarzan in the English version (which... I don't actually know why people assume Tarzan (Thinking of Disney's version) is stupid. Like as a boy he had to reinvent the spear with no one to guide him on how to do it. He was able to strategize and outsmart "civilized" men in the final showdown. Still I digress) and don't see the literal genius behind his social awkwardness.

There is also another very important point I'm going to make in addition to this, and it's going to be very uncomfortable to Gonta fans who insist he's nothing but a sweet baby who only has pure thoughts. Especially to the fans who insist he "can't be sexual" or think it's weird to ship him with his peers.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but... Gonta blatantly has sexual desire and gets horny right in canon.

This is further clarified here:

It wasn't a matter of Gonta didn't want to touch her because touching someone in their underwear was inappropriate, or being flustered because she was in her underwear which is inappropriate...

It was literally a "weird feeling" that made him unable to approach her or touch her. A "weird feeling" that Miu makes pretty obvious as to what it was--sexual arousal.

He literally was sexually attracted to and felt sexual arousal from looking at Miu in her underwear. He had sexual feelings and thoughts about Miu. Why?

Because Gonta is a young man.

Gonta is a brilliant, talented young man who has normal human thoughts for someone his age--sexual desires, upsetting thoughts, complicated thoughts, ectect. He is not a child, he is not mentally stunted (I've been informed that people have literally said this on Ao3 for the NSFW Gonta fics, please for the love of god stop that)

I think the reason why Gonta fans typically want to keep him as a "pure baby child who can do no wrong" is because treating him like the young adult that he is makes it harder for them to justify Chapter 4. Every time I've seen a Gonta fan that hates Kokichi, it's always followed by the sentiment of "Kokichi manipulated and abused Gonta into killing Miu, so it's all Kokichi's fault." They're afraid of nuance and liking a character with the grey morality of genuinely thinking Mercy Killing the cast is a viable option, because it challenges their own morals about the character they adore.

To those people who read this and are upset: You can and should like Gonta! Gonta is a magnificent character who showcases the subtle way microaggressions can manifest and hurt people, he's a good-hearted person and a literal genius, he cares deeply for his friends and loves everyone with upmost sincerity.

But.

You need to re-evaluate your stance on Gonta if you think he's a stupid, naive fool who Kokichi manipulated. You need to re-evaluate why you think those thoughts, why you think Gonta being shipped with anyone is "Kinda weird" or "has weird consent problems" or "give you the ick." You have to challenge yourself and ask yourself uncomfortable questions in regards to why you treat Gonta like a child when canon has proven otherwise, why you think he cannot have violent or sexual thoughts, why he can't think mercy killing his class is the only way to save them.

This isn't an attack on you--but understand that these specific takes on Gonta? They are ableist in nature. They belittle and dismiss him, they treat him like a child, an idiot who can't think for himself--and you have to come to terms with the fact that Gonta is a far more complex character with complicated thoughts and feelings who is a young adult. Not a child. A young adult.

So again, ask yourself this: Why are you treating this young adult like he's a toddler?

[ewwww-what]

I mean??? That’s one way to get him to stop picking on you I guess?????

[kaiminluu]

incriminating evidence

NEW CHAPTER OF CLOSE TO ME ON @wayward-sherlock 's AO3 OUT NOW (this chapter we get silly)

[foxx-queen]

so about the choice in act 3. I feel like the writers wanted to do the suicide mission from me2 AND the companion choice from me1. which clashes at its core because the whole point of the me2 mission was that if you did all the companion quests and worked for it, you could keep everyone alive. and I get wanting the shock of having one of the companions die no matter what, but at this point in the game after the obvious set up, it just feels like one of those haHA surprise! moments

then there's the fact that it's between davrin and harding. the black man and the fan favourite from dai. like it feels so stacked against davrin at that point.

I picked davrin first, and then I went back and picked harding, thinking maybe that was the right choice to keep her alive. and here's where the whole choice gets even worse for me, because harding, instead of using her stone magic, the actual thing that would give her an advantage against ghilan'nain, she climbs up to the exact same spot as davrin, and uses her bow. she tries to use arrows against a giant multi-limbed blight enhanced being. it's stupid! of course she dies!

I had expected that if you picked harding, she would use her stone magic, which would distract ghilan'nain because of the history with the titans, giving lucanis enough time to act. it would have worked really well as a continuation of her character arc, and it would tie into her personal quest in a way that would make it clear that the effort we put into doing that was what makes the difference.

but by not doing that and having her die no matter what, it instead feels like it doesn't make sense. davrin, at least, is just a man with a sword. his death here makes sense because he's against impossible odds.

which brings it back to feeling really bad that the choice was between him and harding. because for this sacrifice / loss to make sense, it feels it should be davrin. for this narrative beat to make sense, it should be davrin dying.

it feels like the writers are saying: the correct choice here is davrin. he's the only companion who should die no matter what. to signpost this at the moment you make this choice, we will have the other choice be the fan favourite from dai. because no one will want to risk her potentially dying.

it feels bad. it feels racist. davrin deserved better.

[castrotophic]

sorry naka choko is actually so funny im dying... margot is like 'hey will lets have sex' and hes like '🤨 lesbian??' and shes like its fine. and then they have sex but the way theyre both so like meh about it is killing me. will is unbuttoning his shirt like 😒😒 i guess if theres nothing else to do😒

[turtleblogatlast]

Something I like about Leo is that he’s honestly really chill? It’s easy to remember the moments where he’s being obnoxious or excitable but I feel like most of the time he’s incredibly “go with the flow” and has an overall affable demeanor.