#that isn't evil just misunderstood suffering

[earfgoddesss]

PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR. PLEASE BE MACHINE HERALD VIKTOR.

[thorntopieces]

man

[littjara-mirrorlake]

The Color of Hope: Ambition, Necromancy, and Black Mana

Black is one of the most misunderstood colors in Magic: the Gathering, not least because it appears on the surface to be so straightforward. Look at the most iconic black cards of Magic and you'll see deals with demons, necromancy, mass destruction and cruelty and suffering–the trappings of classic fantasy evil. Even the color's symbol itself is a skull, a universal signifier of death and danger.

And in early Magic that seemed to be all it was. White was the color of Fantasy Good, black was the color of Fantasy Evil, and the rest of the colors were... fire magic? Elves? Whatever odd but intriguing skeleton affairs are implied by Time Walk?

Gradually, though, Magic deepened as both a game and a storytelling medium. The color pie grew into itself as a system of complementary philosophies, archetypes whose associated aesthetics were only part of the full picture. Their arrangement around the wheel, below, is highly deliberate; neighboring colors are said to be allies with a high degree of philosophical and mechanical overlap, while colors on opposite sides of the pie are known as enemies, more likely to disagree on fundamental levels.

Black stopped merely representing capital E Evil and became the color of striving for power; unlike its peers, black felt that nothing, least of all morality, could prevent it from seizing what it wanted. Mark Rosewater's 2015 article about black emphasized the color's focus on the self:

"Black's philosophy is very simple: There's no one better suited to look after your own interests than you... Many costs require the sacrifice of others for your own advancement. Because it puts itself first, black is always willing to make this trade. The weak must fall for the strong to thrive." -Mark Rosewater

At its worst, black is an exploitative, amoral color that prioritizes itself at the expense of all others, allowing the "weak" to fall and scorning the very idea of compassion. Rosewater writes that black is "always willing" to trade others for itself. And these can certainly be parts of black's philosophy, when taken to its worst possible extremes, but they're far from the entire story.

Over time, Magic's outlook on black gained nuance. Magic story introduced protagonists like the necromancer Liliana Vess, whose craving for immortality, seemingly exploitative nature, and demonic deals called back to the oldest portrayals of black–and yet she was not one-dimensionally evil. She underwent character development over the years, learning the value of reclaiming herself and standing beside others, and at no point did she become any less mono-black for it. Remember her; we will come back to Liliana and her story later.

In addition to the usual death and decay, black cards began to feature a theme of relentless devotion. On the plane of Eldraine where each color represents a virtue, black's is persistence, explicitly as important as any other color. On the plane of Ikoria, the love between bonder and beast pulls Winota back from the brink of death. Wherever this Oathsworn Vampire printing is set, its flavor text is quintessentially black. It's the same self-driven attitude as before, but cast in a different light: black is nothing if not persistent when it's got its heart set on something (or someone) it cares about. Nothing, least of all the grave, will keep it down. After all, black will always come back for its own.

These newer cards uncovered the true face of black as a color capable of both great love and harm (sometimes even the latter for the sake of the former), and suggested a tantalizing new thread: perhaps putting yourself and yours first isn't all that bad, necessarily. Black is a deeply protective color; it says you don't just have to accept what you're handed, it's okay even to be furious about it (hello, ally color red), but let that galvanize you to do something about it. 

Vraska, a gorgon who faces extreme discrimination on her home plane of Ravnica, triumphs by reclaiming herself, gorgon powers and all–and even more radically, loving herself. She displays traits often considered the purview of white and green, such as a love of home and a drive to elevate the oppressed, but they are all filtered through the lens of her black alignment. Vraska staunchly refuses to deny herself or her people, the Golgari Swarm, of their value. Nor does she allow law or propriety to prevent her from championing them by any means necessary–even if that means cold-blooded murder, or aligning herself with a villain like the Planeswalker Nicol Bolas.

"[Vraska] thought of Mazirek, of the kraul, of the rest of the Ochran assassins and the malignant Jarad who reigned with casual ruin over the most downtrodden of the downtrodden. She remembered her years of isolation, and the heinous cruelty of the Azorius, and how no group deserved to suffer as much as those who would subjugate her own. Eliminating that hell was all she ever wanted." -The Talented Captain Vraska, Alison Luhrs

Like Vraska, black loves fierce and hard, willing to break any taboo for the sake of those it cares about. And it whispers, the entire way through, you are enough. You deserve better. No matter what others may say or do, you are enough.

"If I am to be met with disrespect, then I must first love myself with a fierceness no fool can take away." -Vraska in Pride of the Kraul, Alison Luhrs

Even black's "ruthlessness" isn't as fundamentally cruel as it appears, centering a passion for problem-solving (shared by its other ally blue) instead of a blunt disregard for others.

"People don’t understand the word ruthless. They think it means 'mean.' It’s not about being mean. It’s about seeing the bright, clear line that leads from A to B. The line that goes from motive to means. Beginning to end. It’s about seeing that bright, clear line and not caring about anything but the beautiful fact that you can see the solution. Not caring about anything else but the perfection of it." -K. A. Applegate

All of this comes together to make a black a color not of evil but of strength, integrity, and persistence. And that's all well and good, but I'm going to take it even further and put forward a new proposition: that black is the color of hope.

Of the nine mono-black Magic cards with "hope" in their names, all but Liliana portray black as an instrument of hope's destruction. This is, once again, black's flaw taken to its extreme–crushing others to achieve its own ends–but neglects black's own relationship with hope.

Black, more than any other color, requires hope to stay alive.

For black to persist, it must believe in a light at the end of the tunnel, a future in which its goals are realized. As long as it does, it will endure any hardship, walk through fire, and turn reality itself upside down on its way there. Primal, desperate ambition is the engine of hope that burns at the heart of black, keeping it always one step ahead of stagnation. Bitter and stubborn, black believes tomorrow will come because there is no other choice. After all, for black to relinquish hope is to let itself wither, regress, and die–an unacceptable outcome. 

Thus, it is monumentally difficult to strip black of hope. That only makes it all the more crushing when it happens, when black contends with the idea that there is nothing it can do.

Black's deepest, darkest fear is helplessness.

Like any mono-black character, Liliana Vess is driven at her core by a seething, desperate hope. When Liliana first unlocks her necromantic power, it is out of a sheer refusal to allow her ill brother Josu to die, even when the esis root that would cure him is destroyed by enemy witches in an undead-raising ritual. She defies her previous training as a healer, which taught her only to take the safe path, in favor of a higher-risk and higher-reward approach: stealing life from the witches themselves to restore power to the esis root she needs. It is her knowledge that her brother needs her, and her sheer stubborn will to succeed, which allows her to defeat the witches against steep odds.

"Six foes, and Liliana stood alone. But Josu's life depended on her, and the power blossoming within her was more than enough." -Liliana's Origin: The Fourth Pact, James Wyatt

Tragically, however, Liliana's attempted cure goes horrifically wrong, transforming Josu into an undead being plagued by eternal suffering. In his pain, Josu attacks Liliana. For a while Liliana holds out hope, finding the power to fight back while she determinedly searches for a spell to reverse the harm she's done. It is when she realizes this isn't possible that her strength falters.

"All this time, she had believed… that she could turn the power of death to the service of life and health. That a healer should use every tool at her disposal. But Josu was the result, a horrible fusion of life and death, and all her spells meant to manipulate the life force of the living could do nothing to harm the dead." -The Fourth Pact

Liliana learns that even her own dark magic, fueled by determination, cannot solve the problem she's created. She discovers the hard limit of her willpower, and the despair of this discovery is what causes her Planeswalker spark to ignite.

At this time Planeswalkers are as gods, immortal and near-omnipotent. Liliana spends decades enjoying this affirmation of her capability before the Mending strips her and all her peers of their power, reducing them once again to mortal mages.

"Then the Multiverse reshaped itself, robbing her—and every other Planeswalker—of the godlike power they once had wielded. Some called it the Mending, as if something broken had been repaired, but to Liliana, it seemed the opposite. It broke her beyond any hope of repair." -The Fourth Pact

Once again, it is Liliana's fear of helplessness and her refusal to accept it that drives her to push beyond the bounds of propriety–this time, to make a pact with Nicol Bolas and four demons to maintain her immortality. It is not enough for her merely to delay death; she requires the security of knowing she is fully beyond its reach, that she will never be helpless before it again as she was with Josu.

"Holding death at arm's length for whatever years are left to me? No, that's not enough. I want to be free of its shadow." -Liliana in The Fourth Pact

Black isn't like its enemy colors white and green, which are superficially associated far more often with hope. Unlike white, it doesn't believe that conviction, justice, and community will bring about rightness. Unlike green, it doesn't trust in the wisdom of the world or the natural order. Black believes that nothing will change unless you make it change; ultimately, black's self is the only one it can trust to bring about the world it needs. In addition, black lacks its enemies' idealism. Instead, it strives to be a pragmatic realist, making a final assessment of defeat all the more definite and crushing.

While white and green are more amenable to finding hope and holding it aloft as a banner, black claws hope desperately to its chest with shredded, bloody fingernails. Every ounce of hope black has, it tore by itself from the clutches of an uncaring world.

Ironically for such a self-driven color, black's fierce hope is the greatest asset it can provide to others–on its own terms, of course. It was Liliana who turned the tide of battle against the Eldrazi titan Emrakul, defiant in the face of cosmic despair. And when Nicol Bolas made his bid to return to godhood, using Liliana's necromancy to command his undead hordes, Liliana finally turned against him. In reclaiming her power, so too did she use it to free her fellow Planeswalkers from Bolas' assault. Her fear of helplessness no longer shackled her to him; agency and autonomy were hers at last.

The triumph of black, its moment of ultimate victory, is the hard-won fulfillment of its hope.

"Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." -Dylan Thomas

An aetherborn, railing against the shortness of their natural lifespan, constructs a new body for themself with their own bare hands. An artificer's grief over her lost companion causes her to push invention to its limits. A young girl who loves her brother calls on the darkest of powers to save him. As it turns out, necromancy–that original thematic keystone of black–is only one of black's many, many refusals to let go of love and hope once it has them, even in the face of the ultimate end.

Time and time again, black–in love with life, ablaze with hope–looks the Grim Reaper in the eye and tells it: "Not today."

[unknown-cold]

The artist: ( @itshuansart )on Instagram and Twitter/X

I love this so much!! Best art that expresses Caitlyn's sadness and suffering, I really wish I had seen something like this on the show.

I can say that Caitlyn's character is one of the most misunderstood characters ever, that these people see Caitlyn as just an enforcer from Piltover made them not understand her, or rather they don't want to understand her character.

Because it's getting really suspicious, I feel like Caitlyn's hate is more than just a character who did bad things. There are characters who did worse things. Let's take Silco, one of the characters who did the worst things in the entire show, from trying to kill an entire family for control, to flooding his entire population with shimmer and turning some of them into monsters and making children work in dangerous factories, all of this and he didn't get half the hate that Caitlyn did. Silco is a true dictator who didn't care about anyone but himself and his interests and his intentions were always evil. Unlike Caitlyn, she tried in the end to fix her mistakes and admitted her mistakes too. And to everyone says she is evil or dictatorial because she used gas, is it a bad thing yes, but Caitlyn had no evil intentions in using gas, she used Gray to facilitate the capture of Silco's gangs and allies who were basically harming the people of Zaun even the kids as we saw in ep 2 in S2 when Chross's Goons was following Isha, and of course capturing Jinx as well, she did that because it was a less harmful solution than sending armies of enforcers and Noxus men to Zaun, and we saw because she stopped using Gray after she end her mission and failed to capture Jinx. If Caitlyn was really evil and dictatorial as some people claim, she would have used Gray again to exterminate the people of Zaun, but she didn't do that because that's not her personality that we knew in season 1, and most of the problems that happened were because of Ambessa, and her manipulation and constant incitement for Caitlyn to capture Jinx.

So yeah hating on Caitlyn is so hypocritical and completely unnecessary, seriously I can't believe there are still people who message me and reblog my blogs and not just me but other people saying that Caitlyn is an evil cop and you should stop talking about her and liking her, or you'll be just like her. Are these people crazy or stupid or what exactly!? What does my liking a fictional character have to do with you thinking that I'll be like her in real life!? These people really need to grow up and leave people alone, like if you don't like something and you see someone else like it there's no need to give them your opinion because they won't care and we who like the same thing won't care either so why bother us with your opinion, and then it's selfish of you to want other people to be like you and agree with you (especially when your style of criticism is rude and terrible)

So I always say the show is not black and white, and there isn't only one side good and another side bad. Arcane proves every day that this show is not for everyone and if you want to enjoy it you have to open your mind well and be open-minded, and most importantly put politics and real-life issues aside, and enjoy this fantasy world with flawed characters and good writing. (This show is not designed to solve political issues. At the end of the day it is a show based on a video game)

[mins-fins]

WATCHING HORROR MOVIES WITH ZB1

PAIRING . . . zerobaseone x gn!reader

GENRE . . . fluff

WARNINGS . . . no actual warnings! some may just be longer than others

WORD COUNT . . . 963

NOTES . . . my brain feels like a puddle istg.. please note that yujin's is written platonically!!

kim jiwoong

this man is NOT scared

like you'll be the edge of your seat literally jumping at every sound and he'll just sit there like "😐"

you always get jump scared and you continue getting closer to him

"do you seriously find this scary?", "the literal grudge is on the screen jiwoong".

he doesn't get your fear

he probably does get scared on some occasions though

but very rare occasions if were being honest

you think he is WAY too calm and he thinks your WAY too overdramatic

"we should watch the sequel!", "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME KIM JIWOONG!?"

he laughs whenever you get scared

zhang hao

he is just as scared as you

scratch that- he's probably MORE SCARED than you

you'll be ten minutes into the movie and he's already clinging onto you for dear life

this man is a scaredy-cat (did you see that haunted house video?? he literally is)

he hides his face into your shoulder half the time because he's scared of something appearing on the screen

"y/n is the jump scare over yet?", "it was over five minutes ago hao".

he hides his eyes for most of the movie

at this point you get less scared because he's scared so now you feel like you have to watch the movie for him

"that movie was too scary!", "you didn't even watch the whole thing!", "well the parts i did see were scary!"

sung hanbin

he's probably not scared

well not that scared

he probably gets startled from time to time but he keeps up a brave front for you

you are literally the biggest scaredy-cat around hanbin

and he tries his best not to laugh

you are literally COWERING in fear and he has to cover his mouth to not giggle

"are you making fun of me, hanbin?", "no" as he is literally fighting for his life trying not to laugh at how scared you are

you get mad at him and literally die trying to watch the rest of the movie

and then he says sorry and comforts you before you go to bed so you don't have any nightmares

"i'm still mad at you", "well you better be grateful that the grudge won't come grab you at nigh—", "HANBIN!"

seok matthew

he's scared but also not scared??

matthew is probably the kind of person to make random comments during the movie because his mind is just full of thoughts

"do you think the nun is just misunderstood?", "you mean the evil spirit from the conjuring?"

you just sit there, scared out of your mind, and he sits there, also scared out of his mind but also super confused

but when he gets super scared he will literally almost jump out of his seat

"that wasn't even that scary!" he says as he's clinging onto your arm for life

"so what did you think of the movie matthew?", "can we watch a romcom next time please?"

kim taerae

he is VERY scared

you cannot tell me that this man isn't a scaredy-cat

he's in the same boat as hao 😭

he'd try to convince you he's not scared then get jump scared two seconds later

"you look like your enjoying yourself", "oh screw you y/n"

covers his eyes every two seconds and only peeks after all the scary noises are gone

"babe seriously, the jump scares are done", "your just trying to make me open my eyes"

he forces you to sleep with him and the lamp on because he gets too scared of the dark

ricky shen

he's half and half

ricky probably doesn't get scared easily but there's gonna be that one part that startles him

like you'll be afraid the whole time and he's just kinda sitting there, trying to grasp what's going on

"i don't get why they're walking into a house that's clearly haunted!" as your suffering from watching this movie

he probably doesn't understand why your so scared

"it isn't even that scary, y/n", "yeah the grudge on the screen is totally not scary ricky"

he laughed at one part and you stare at him like he's a psychopath

kim gyuvin

oh he's definitely not scared

gyuvin probably watches horror movies alone at night

he probably giggles while watching them too

when he sees that your scared he looks at you like your insane

"what do you mean your scared? it isn't even that scary!", "the literal ghost girl coming out of the tv screen isn't scary to you gyuvin?"

he laughs at every scene he's not supposed to laugh at and it's crazy

"i'm kinda scared of you, you know?", "next time maybe you should put on an actual scary movie"

park gunwook

gunwook is brave

doesn't mean he's not scared though

gunwook probably isn't that scared but he isn't not scared

for the most part, gunwook isn't disturbed

there are some jump scares that get him though

"that wasn't even scary!", "i saw you get startled gunwook"

but most of the time gunwook isn't scared

he laughs once then immediately takes it back because he knows your gonna question him about it

"i mean.. it could be scarier", "are you trying to kill me, gunwook?", "…maybe"

han yujin

he pretends to be brave

but he's actually pretty scared

yujin is not slick with the way he's trying so hard not to jump from his seat 😭

"you look scared", "i'm not scared! shut up!"

yeah no he's definitely scared

at this point, your less scared than him

he could literally be clinging onto your arm and would still say that he's not scared

"are you sure your not scared?", "no why would i be scared of the literal grudge on the screen?"

[dross-the-fish]

A follower tagged me on a post that was talking about how Edward isn't actually a bad guy but rather he's misunderstood and I'm not going to reply to that post because I don't want to start drama on someone else's blog but I've seen the sentiment brought up a few times so I'm going to make a blanket post about the topic rather than single anyone out. The post I was tagged in mentions the trampling of the child and seems to frame it like an accident so I'll start there and I'll let Henry himself tell you how he views that incident. "An act of cruelty to a child aroused against me the anger of a passer by," He outright says it, it's an act of cruelty. He doesn't deny that. And that's what I hate about fanon Hyde. A lot of interps seem to forget that Hyde is a middle aged man struggling with a repressed sadistic streak and not a social awkward teenager. I think the most concrete evidence we have of Jekyll/Hyde's nature is in Jekyll's letter and how he describes himself and his relationship to Hyde. “To cast in my lot with Jekyll, was to die to those appetites which I had long secretly indulged and had of late begun to pamper. To cast it in with Hyde, was to die to a thousand interests and aspirations, and to become, at a blow and forever, despised and friendless. The bargain might appear unequal; but there was still another consideration in the scales; for while Jekyll would suffer smartingly in the fires of abstinence, Hyde would be not even conscious of all that he had lost.” As afraid as he is of losing the life he's built for himself there's so much LONGING to be Hyde despite the evils Hyde has done. He wants to indulge in his appetites and he knows if he embraces Edward he won't even grieve his losses. I find it interesting that he notes that becoming Edward would cost him his "aspirations and interests," because he would be losing everything to his vice, choosing pleasure and indulgence over his own goals and ambitions. "If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also," Henry Jekyll is a complex and repressed but also very selfish man and here's where the interpretation of Edward as a metaphor for addiction comes most strongly into play. Jekyll shows textbook signs of a drug user: experimentation, denial or minimization of the harmful effects, attempts to quit, withdrawal when he goes too long without being Edward and eventually he develops a dependency and falls into a spiral. The fact that he's taking a potion just drives the imagery that much harder. Even the description of the effects of the potion itself mirror drug use. "something indescribably new and, from its very novelty, incredibly sweet. I felt younger, lighter, happier in body ; within I was conscious of a heady recklessness, a current of disordered sensual images running like a mill race in my fancy, a solution of the bonds of obligation, an unknown but not an innocent freedom of the soul. I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked" It's agony at first but once the "high" hits and he becomes Edward he feels good and his inhibitions are gone. He can indulge every depraved and twisted act his heart desires without having to take the hit to his reputation or the responsibility. “since then I had been obliged on more than one occasion to double, and once, with infinite risk of death, to treble the amount” - Jekyll risks an overdose because he keeps taking more of the serum. This illustrates his dependency on Hyde and his inability to quit. One thing I've noticed about Hyde interps that favor the lighter, softer, readings of the character is that they almost always neglect the characterization of Henry Jekyll. Either depicting Jekyll as the good half or all but erasing them from their fanon version of Hyde and that's something you can't really do because it misses the point of Jekyll and Hyde. Which is about Henry Jekyll and his repression and his eventual turn to a destructive outlet.

"The pleasures which I made haste to seek in my disguise were, as I have said, undignified; I would scarce use a harder term. But in the hands of Edward Hyde, they soon began to turn towards the monstrous. When I would come back from these excursions, I was often plunged into a kind of wonder at my vicarious depravity. This familiar that I called out of my own soul, and sent forth alone to do his good pleasure, was a being inherently malign and villainous; his every act and thought centered on self; drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture to another, relentless like a man of stone. Henry Jekyll stood at times aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde." once the leash is off Jekyll is shocked by what he's capable of, what Hyde is capable of. The words used by Stevenson paint a lurid picture, Depravity, bestial, torture, villainous. He can't outright say what Hyde is doing but it's pretty clear he has a sadistic streak. He also lets slip at one point by using "My" instead of referring to Edward as separate. "My vicarious depravity." He's aware, he is complicit and he enjoys himself. You cannot separate Jekyll from Hyde therefore any interpretation of Hyde as being soft, innocent, unaware or merely mischievous is not only incorrect but it directly contradicts the purpose of the story and strips Jekyll of his complexity. If you can't like this character as he is written then you don't like this character. There are some things you can leave up to interpretation but Hyde's sadism and Jekyll's addiction to Hyde are both very clear cut and Jekyll's confession spells everything out in a way that you'd have to reach pretty far to claim that Edward is being misrepresented by Utterson throughout the bulk of the novel.

[justhere4thevibez]

So, in your opinion...

Jason Carver: misunderstood or deserving of his bisection?

amazing question! and my answer is, a little bit of both.

one the one hand, if Jason was the protagonist and we were following along from his pov, Eddie would ABSOLUTELY be a person of interest in chrissy's death. and who doesn't love someone trying to avenge their love's murder and going outside the law a little to do so?

HOWEVER. I don't feel that his feelings for chrissy were very deep or genuine, for a lot of reasons.

a) because he had NO IDEA what was going on with chrissy. she told a near stranger more about how she was feeling than her own boyfriend (which, for comparison, lucas KNEW something was up with max even though she didn't tell him and they weren't even DATING at the time). the fact that jason didn't know shit when clearly chrissy was suffering immensely under a number of pressures/abuses speaks volumes about their connection (or lack thereof)

b) all of his "affection" for chrissy was for show and only in public places where other people would notice. chrissy's smiles/gestures to him didn't seem very genuine either. i think their relationship maybe started out genuine, but jason was too self-involved, or he just liked having arm candy and didn't really care about chrissy (also the fact that chrissy is happier and more herself with eddie, who she's supposed to be scared of, than her own boyfriend??? that man is a PROBLEM)

c) we see right from the start that jason isn't opposed to using other people's deaths for his own gain. for example, the speech about the mall fire victims to rally the basketball team??? like wtf dude, have some class. i think he WAS sad about chrissy's death, but he also saw it as an opportunity to rid the world of a person/group he had already deemed "evil" whether or not they had anything to do with her death

all that to say, i don't think he deserved to be brutally ripped in twain, but i also don't think he cared about anyone other than himself or his agenda. so, good person? NO. deserving of death? not particularly.

[irrelevanthough]

I feel like Astarion is misunderstood by this fandom

I see a lot of memes, videos, or conversations about how to get him to like you by doing things like kicking puppies, hating children, and being overall a bit evil, and how he's just a violent and power-loving guy.

Astarion approves of certain questionable choices and violent acts because that's all he knows. He spent centuries as a puppet controlled by a power-hungry sadist who taught him that's all there is to life, and to break out of this cycle of abuse, Astarion has to become his master and gain the same power he has; there's no other way to end his suffering.

When he meets Tav, that's the first time he has EVER been free and not controlled by his master. He's seeing the world around him without anyone manipulating or leading him for the first time in hundreds of years. Of course, the first actions he would want to take are chaotic ones—the ones that make him feel powerful for the first time in forever! He has the power! He can be more powerful than his master! Not only that, but he can get his revenge and finally be in control of his life forever!

That's where you, as a Tav, can come in and show him that the world he knows, of constant struggle for control and power, isn't everything. Being powerful is great, but not at an expense of someone else's life. As Larian said, Astarion's arc is about either breaking out of a cycle of abuse or continuing it.

Astarion at his core, isn't evil or a violence-loving vampire; he just doesn't know how to survive in this world by doing something else! It's normal to follow the example you've seen and to have the urge to show your abuser that you're stronger, and to want to take everything from him. I love the fact that we can take Astarion's act in such different ways.

To diminish his character to such simple statements irks me the wrong way, because I feel like this is a bit similar to how Fenris' character was simplified into "he hates all mages, he's broody and rude" when DA2 came out. Astarion and Fenris hate what they had to do, what they were forced into and the sourness of their character is only a natural outcome.

You can show people that there's another way, and they can always change because of the kindness they are shown, even if they don't understand it at first and that's why I love Astarion's character so much.

[cosmichighpriestess]

𝕺𝖜𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖄𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕭𝖆𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖄𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝕷𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖘🖤

My demons know me very well. And they know you very well too. But I specifically want to talk about the demons who are with me and the darkness within all of us. They know I have overcome challenges to forgive people who wronged me. They don't need to test me on those challenges anymore. Our agreement is finished. They serve me now. These demons are high ranking and they know I have no fear of the darkness, and that I do not resist my yin and yang energy.

But the demons that know me deeply, are more so challenging people in my reality because they know I will already forgive them, I will already understand them, I will already know they are under a spell and don't know why they are hurting me and those around them, so these demons are challenging their integrity to see what they will do with me, a person who looks vulnerable and easy to manipulate but I am actually a trap, because I'm neither, I'm actually protected and very hard to manipulate. This is actually a new level for me because I've already forgiven and continue to. You see, if you are to look outside yourself and invalidate the darkness you perceive out there, you're also invalidating the darkness within you, thus not accepting it, thus leaving no room for it to change.

This doesn't mean encouraging negative, abusive behavior it just means accepting that it's there for you to shine your light on it so that is has room to change, an offering of love and acceptance for whatever that being is experiencing to be negative. They must be so disassociated, so lost, so hypnotized from reality to be acting that way towards you.

There have been times where I wanted to curse people knowing my power to really cause harm and I chose not to. I wanted to in my darkness and I was very close to cursing people that wronged me but I did not listen to the little devil on my shoulder and instead I chose to go inside the infinite, abyssal amount of love and forgiveness within me and I realized that felt better for me personally. Even though I may have uttered words I cannot take back from the ethers. I forgave myself, I forgave them, and I learned from those experiences deeply and continue to.

I understand there's pleasure in watching those suffer who hurt you, that is why there are bullies, that is why there are evil actions because there can be pleasure found in those things when a person is so disconnected with who they really are, which is unconditional love. A person who goes down the rabbit hole of dark magick ends up coming to a stop eventually because they can see they are only cursing themselves. I used to have those fantasies of people who abused me relentlessly, but then I realized that was not the kind of world I wanted to live in and that was not the kind of person I choose to be. But I am very self aware, and I understand my darkness now because of going through those hellish experiences.

That hell I experienced was actually the key to my healing and ascension, it wasn't a punishment from a past life. The flames we walk through in hell purify our energy. To be able to incarnate on this planet you have to have a certain amount of darkness to be here otherwise you wouldn't be able to handle Earth or understand the amount of darkness on Earth. There is an intelligence behind negativity. That negativity that our ego defines and labels as so bad and so evil that it shouldn't exist is actually very misunderstood. Isn't the dark so beautiful at night? Isn't the moonlight gorgeous at night? Isn't it magical when you fall asleep at night and go into the darkness? How can that be all evil? There's nothing wrong with it, it clearly is helpful for ourselves to rest and to dream and also for manifesting your dreams.

There are beings of darkness that live in that darkness, that dwell in the shadows that are all Source, all children of the Divine, and they can help you manifest your dreams, in the very depths of your being if you let them. Our dreams are connected to the subconscious mind. And as you dream and you experience and see something you rather not look at, there can of course be fear. But that is the experience of being however you choose to define it, positively serving you or negative.

Always remember you are both light and dark, because you are Source/an aspect of God. You cannot be all light without darkness otherwise-you're not balanced. Remember as the pendulum is pulled all the way into one way, eventually it swings the other way. If you have no awareness of your negativity and no awareness of how to bring light to the darkness then you'll feel unprepared when the pendulum does swing back into the darkness. Remember without the bad days you wouldn't recognize good days, and you would have nothing to compare the good days to and really appreciate them.

My energy particularly pulls out the darkness within others I come into contact with to give them a choice, if they want to accept their darkness and forgive themselves or will they project it onto me to transmute it for them. This is all completely neutral and meaningless, I will do it for them because it serves me no matter what it's more energy for me no matter how negative, I can chew it up and spit it out cleansed. So it's completely up to them what they choose, but it's also up to me to create a version of them I prefer. So now as I am more aware, I choose to create the most positive, loving version of them because that is unconditional love to me, I also allow them to be free to be who they are without me projecting my own beliefs about what I want them to be.

Now, sometimes unknowingly I will create versions of people I don't prefer but when it comes into my awareness I quickly change my beliefs about that person so that I'm seeing a more positive version of them but after this I allow them to play their role in my life, even if it's more negative because it always serves me in some way. I am a master alchemist so it doesn't matter what I get, I can always use it to turn it into gold.

Some beings want to know what my weaknesses are, what my fears are and they go into my subconscious mind to use my fears against me but I always see it in a positive way. I used to love horror movies, now I don't really have interest, but I appreciate the beauty, the art and the emotions they invoke within me that inspire me. I love to weep at anything beautiful and sad and to feel all my emotions, good or bad. I adore dark art and create it. I love dark fashion and dancing in the dark. I listen to a lot of dark music in a positive way. I am very dualistic because I don't vilify darkness.

I don't ever claim to be all light because I know I'm also darkness. I also know that fear is an illusion, all fear is an illusion and it creates and manifests every single problem in our lives, so I just change my beliefs to, "it's always working in my favor no matter what and any darkness I see outside of me is also within me" so I just accept it and turn the other way to what feels better immediately because it feels better. It also feels good to not shame my darkness because it's not evil, it just IS. It's neutral.

I am constantly creating my reality at this level of consciousness. I'm not on the wheel of karma anymore, I've passed that level fortunately with hard inner work. I'm not suffering like I used to, I'm releasing fear, limiting beliefs, I'm forgiving, I'm unconditionally loving, I'm owning all aspects of my multidimensionality. But the darkness doesn't own me. I'm conscious and aware and creating everything I see at all times, now, now and now every moment. I'm in no rush because I'm All That Is, eternal, immortal, limitless and indestructible.

Instead of liberating others and pretending to be all light, calling yourself a light worker here to save everyone, going outside of yourself constantly, just liberate yourself first, and own your darkness, own your light but do not invalidate others darkness, negativity for it's within all of us and it serves as an intelligence beyond our human comprehension at the moment. I'm not accusing you of saying you are all light and love but some beings certainly ignore their darkness and label it as bad and shouldn't exist.

Create a beautiful, loving, intelligent connection with the darkness and those who oppose you and they will come into your heart, and they will give you access to their power, so that you can use it. But of course being a being of integrity of love, you will surely choose to evolve your heart and use your newfound power for good to create more beauty in your world. Let us dance to the rhythm of our darkness. 🖤

[rius-cave]

I just saw you mention Adam having PTSD from the exterminations and honestly it's so valid. He did enjoy doing them, he did have fun, yes, but I firmly believe he started it because of his unprocessed trauma that he wasn't even aware of. I mean, I see the way he's masking himself (literally and figuratively) as a way of protecting himself from people. Back when he was "born" he was literally rejected and betrayed by the very people he supposedly loved and who were supposed to love him, then he was practically abandoned and thrown out of Eden by the same people who mentally harmed him in the first place. This guy is badly damaged and no one can convince me otherwise. And he was damaged from the start so he couldn't possibly realize that something was very not okay because these were the very first people he knew. And we all know pushing down our feelings and ignoring them comes with concequences. In his case, the frustration manifested in violence, on top of that violence against his own descendants who chose the wrong path, who had tainted humanity with their acts. He also probably connects them with Lilith and Lucifer who caused it in the first place, bringing evil to the earth. I also love to consider the extermination as a form of personal revenge on Adam's side, since he isn't able to carry out a direct revenge it serves as one for him.

But he knows it's wrong. He knows either way that what he's doing is bad and cruel, and even if he actively avoids admitting that to himself, he subconsciously knows.

Then he gets to Hell. He most likely only used to visit Hell during exterminations, which means his brain most likely strongly connects the place with that. Hence, being in Hell is a constant reminder for him. On top of that, he actually sees what life is like in Hell. That all those "bad bad sinners who can't change and tainted humanity" aren't all bad actually. And perhaps he doesn't care about them, but I don't think he could just ignore that. He has to live among them, he sees the way they live and he's forced to realize that they're still human souls and not pure evil and rotten. It will add to the guilt which he probably also doesn't admit that he feels, because he didn't do anything wrong, right..? Everything was reasonable... But then why does it feel so bad?

Okay this turned our very very long but it just hit me and I could still go on about it lol, I'll spare you from that

First of all, thank you anon for putting into words this thing that I'm not smart enough to do myself.

I really wouldn't dare to say that "canon" Adam is this deep and has oh such big trauma and is only misunderstood by everyone and bla bla, because if I'm honest, the way he's written in the show doesn't lead me to believe that Vivzie really cares about fleshing him out to be a super complex character. And hey, fair enough, I'm taking him from her anyway lol.

But if if we stopped for a second to think about it, Adam definitely has the potential to be a much deeper and complex character that would be able to touch upon themes like this. I desperately need to know when did everything go wrong, was it really Eden? Was it during his time on Earth? Was it after he died???

I honestly think it's kind of a mix of all of them, but the biggest shift was after he died. He was the first human soul in Heaven, hey, it's not so bad in here!! Maybe his suffering on Earth was worth it after all if he was able to spend the rest of Eternity in a place like this! Now he just needs to wait for his family to get there as well so it can all be complete!

Except they don't, not all of them in fact. A couple of his sons, maybe or maybe not his wife, but it's definitely not ALL of them, where is everybody!? He's pretty sure his grandchildren would start aging by now too, where did everybody go!?

Of course, that asshole has them. It wasn't enough for him to steal his first wife and lie to them so they'd get kicked out of Eden, he also took a bunch of his children, his grandchildren, his great grandchildren and so on and so on.

Look at everything they do on Earth, it's disgusting, and it's all that fucker's fault. None of this would've happened if it wasn't for him, if it wasn't for the other sinners who kept repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

And he starts the exterminations after centuries of wallowing in that hatred. But of course, they're only the result of years of watching how everyone just eventually leaves him. And he doesn't realize when that violence starts becoming just a way to cope with his intense hurt.

I feel like I went a little off track there, forgive me I am a little scatterbrained right now. But in any case, I absolutely concur with you!

[fandoms-and-salt]

The main problem with Ruby gillman movie is that it sends a message that "bigotry is actually justified and your racist grandparents are right". The second, closely related problem is it's villain.

Firstly, if we look at the film without the spoiler-y marketing, Chelsea/Neressa is written as a twist villain. Like Hans Frozen type twist villain, with little foreshadowing and those "sympathetic" scenes that actually don't amount to anything and might just as well be a lie. Even with the marketing, i think the movie still tricked people into thinking that Chelsea might be a misunderstood villain or have a redemption arc or what not. And twist villains could work well, usually if their turn to villainy makes sense with their preestablished goals and personality (eg. Disney's Atlantis). Or a liar villain could work well if the audience knows of their malicious plans, but the heroes stay in the dark (eg. Scar from Lion King). In general, if the twist or reveal makes the story/conflict less interesting and/or didn't have proper foreshadowing, viewers are bound to dislike it.

Secondly, Chelsea is our only mermaid. And she is, well, evil. It would have been better if we had other good mermaid characters, but she is the only one, which, coupled with Gramamah's generous description of mermaids, makes it seem like all mermaids are as evil as she is.

Thirdly, yes, stories for young children about pure good fighting pure evil are generally fine, it teaches them right and wrong, so they can later consume media with more complex lessons. But in those stories the good guys are usually the underdogs fighting an oppressive evil. In mermaid vs kraken conflict, it's actually mermaids who are at a disadvantage. Krakens are big rulers ("protectors") of the ocean with superpowers. The characters themselves admit that Granmamah is a warlord. Mermaids are small, weak and need a magic trident to even match the power of krakens. Their only "advantage" is being popular with humans, while krakens are feared and hated, but humans have no effect on the story or the conflict. If the story was that mermaids are actually more powerful rulers of the ocean, or the kraken family were the just rules but got conquered/overthrown by evil mermaids, or if both species were of equal power ruling their own parts of the ocean and mermaids decided to go and conquer the peaceful kraken kingdom. Then the good vs evil conflict would have looked less like "how dare these evil inferior minorities challenge the rule of our superior race".

Speaking of which. Ruby's first instinct, even after finding out that "mermaids are actually evil" from her granma, is to judge Chelsea as her own person and assume that mermaids can't be actually evil. Which is, you know, a pretty fair and mature response. When she hears that mermaids suffer from terrible conditions, she actively tries to fight what she sees as injustice. But what lesson does she learn? That she should never question her elders, since they do know better. The story is fighting for the status quo to stay the same, while Ruby is punished to trying to change and improve it.

That's all i can say for now. Other complaints i have are:

humans are virtually useless to the story (including the love interest, tho he had some cute moments), they are just damsels-in-distress and trophies for Ruby to save and get approval from. This movie just as well could happen all under the sea with some minor tweaks.

The human designs are weird and uncanny. Otherwise the visuals are fine.

Ruby's arc is kind of all over the place with her main arc being the classic "believe in yourself", which she mainly gains through hanging out with Chelsea. But isn't Chelsea supposed to be the villain who "leads Ruby astray" from being a good citizen who is not skipping school, lying to her mom or ignoring her friends and crush? Make it make sense, movie.

[gentrychild]

jjk au where sukuna and gojo are super powerful cats who just want to fulfill their dreams, not necessarily the good ones :3

1 - Some cats know how beautiful they are and they aren't just vain about it, they weaponize it. Long haired white cat with the bluest eyes you've ever seen. Either more annoying than canon Gojo, is living with at least five persons, his students included, convinced he owns everything, will lie to everyone he meets by pretending that he hasn't eaten in months and will side eye you if you try to give him actual cat food. He wants the stuff from your plate.

2 - Nanami is technically his owner but Yuuji, Fushiguro and Nobara spoil him rotten, no matter how many times he tells them that they are making his behavior worse.

3 - Sukuna is a horribly ugly pink cat who will eat anything, isn't just mean but evil and feeding on people's suffering. Due to circumstances, he is living with Yuuji, and both of them hate that arrangement. There was a time where Yuuji just thought that cat was misunderstood but now, he is a cruel tyrant who tried to kill him several times. The only one Cat Sukuna vaguely tolerates is Megumi, who refuses to take him in his place for obvious reasons, no matter how much Yuuji begs for it.

4 - I think it's important for you to know that Gojo and Sukuna has the exact same powers as in canon.

5 - However, since I want Yuuji to survive, his cursed technique is now Benevolent Water Spray and the only thing that can stop Sukuna.

[digitaldoeslmk]

I find it interesting that MK basically has to learn the opposite lesson his mentor did when it comes to violence. from what I understand swk slowly learned that not all conflicts had to be solved with bloodshed. and MK has to find peace with the fact that not all conflicts can be solved peacefully. People minds can't always be changed, not every villain is broken/misunderstood/misguided, and sometimes people are just pure evil. its no wonder his mental health is unstable, and i'm sure swk isn't thrilled seeing this sweet kid have to struggle so much with it.

yes!!!! yes you got it!!!!! :D

on a deep level too, JTTW has a running theme that the more violent one's response to a crime, the more violent is the reprisal for that response if it fails. the whole arc of the Havoc in Heaven is about a monkey and yaoguai warlord being thrown into an environment he wasn't equipped or prepared to handle the expectations of, and that punishing him instead of properly preparing him for his role has consequences. also you can interpret it in a symbolic way: as Wukong is the Mind Monkey, the restless and unrestrained human mind, you can't punish yourself into becoming better, you must stop, learn, and understand your situation before moving forward. otherwise what you get is just, a mess spiritually and mentally.

meanwhile, MK was brought up in a very loving and understanding environment. yes, the show portrays his friends and family (Pigsy and Tang are his dads, you cannot change my mind) as far from perfect, but they are altogether a circle that loves and supports each other even through their mistakes, and it's their flaws that makes them stronger. however, in esoteric Buddhism there's the concept of a ruthless compassion, in that sometimes you need a heavy hand to stir people towards the right path; in this article my friend JTTWR shares how even Wukong's golden fillet is a display of that concept.

and yes, an understanding and kind approach can take you very far; in my au, MK manages to befriend and help turn around most of the enemies he encounters, not unlike the show! but sometimes, that's not enough, and sometimes, it only makes things worse and drags you down with them. sometimes, violence is a valid and even necessary answer for the good of the majority.

as for Wukong... as a bodhisattva, he knows that suffering is necessary for learning and that he can't shield MK from everything. one must face adversity to learn to overcome it. but as a grandpa himself, he's not keen on the suffering of beings, much less those close to him. he can offer an ear to MK's vents, a shoulder to cry on, a hug, a joke, a few matches of games to take his mind off things. MK needs to learn these harsh lessons, but Wukong's not letting him do it by himself.

[inkdoe]

I've seen all sort of takes about Revan's memory loss. Some believe they are supposed to be a completly different person after the memory wipe (Kotor 1 seems to support this, especially in a light side route). Others think that Revan's memories will come back and they'll be their old self again (Kotor 2 hints at this instead, making it all more confusing). I have a slightly different headcanon (maybe not so different, but I want to share): I like to think the jedi council didn't create the memories of the new Revan (that I'll call Seela from now on cause that's my oc I'm talking about basically) from scratch. They just picked the old ones and modified them.

For example, Seela remembers fighting in the mandalorian wars, but as a common scout (the class I chose at the start of the game). She thinks she grew up in a particularly cool orphanage (the closest thing to a jedi temple). She also remembers people like her bestie Alek and other kids, but she can't recall their names/faces very well (and if she could they would be different). Seela isn't too puzzled about this gaps in her memory cause she is convinced it was caused by the hit on the head she suffered landing on Taris. Anyway she also got to keep most of her characters/mentality (I mean, she lost her memories, not her whole self), only now she isn't 100% sure where some things came from. Like the preference for vibro blades instead of blasters. Or the way she (at the start) treats everyone kinda like a pawn. Not cause she's evil, but cause that's the most efficient way to her. She tries to not get attached to anything, cause she misunderstood the rule in her Revan days, so she wears this friendly and funny (metaphorical) mask, but doesn't actually let people in. One of the reasons she keeps her new name even after the reveal is that she's never been as truthful and open in her past life as she has been as Seela. At least not in a long time.

Anyway all this words to say that I prefer to mix the two most common interpretations: I think Seela IS Revan, but at the same time she's changed so much by the time of the reveal that she can never really go back to that. She probably also feels a kind of disconnect from her old memories, even after she gets them back... The more I think of this thing, the more my head hurts. Can't imagine how it must be for her. Ouch.

[user2872]

FINALLY RANTING ABOUT AZULA'S STANS!!!!

Honestly, I know most of Azula's stans are already quite famous for being the "brightest" in the fandom, but goddamn it, I didn't expect to start hating Azula while scrolling for COOL EDITS of her!!! But that's just how effective her stans are in creating "good" images for their "baby girl".

The amount of bitterness in these clips where they basically play the 'trauma-comparing' game with Zuko is sickening. Like I'm not even a Zuko's stan myself, yeah he's my second favorite character in the series but he isn't even in my top 10 most favorite characters list. However, whenever I saw they pull out his mother's and uncle's support as means to diminish his suffering so that Azula could appear more pitiful, that's enough to almost awaken the inner hater inside me on a character that didn't deserve hate, so that's why I'm dumbing it on these stans' heads, instead.

To clear all of your heads first, mind if I remind y'all that even when Azula was losing her mind, her mother's illusion was telling her 'I love you' instead of calling her a monster like how Azula kept insisting. Usually, whenever a character's delusional, their illusions would tell lies tills the character believes them and becomes more insane. In this scene, even her own mind was telling her what the truth was but it's Azula who pushed it away, just like how she pushed her own mother's love away, and now letting that tormented herself.

And so sorry that Iroh decided to accompany his 13-year-old heavingly mutilated and banished nephew on his journey to fight the Avatar (who they believed to be a hundred-year-old-demi-god), instead of staying with his homicidal niece and dictatorial brother.

Like I love Azula, but as an actual well-written villain, instead of a "misunderstood baby girl" who did bad things because 'This world forced me to be cruel'. No. These fans would post stuff like 'God forbid women to be evil' and then turn around and blame all of Azula's wrongdoing on literally everyone, even her victims.

Zuko LOVES his sister, Ursa LOVES her daughter and I'm not sure about Iroh but honestly, I would probably disown Azula if she was actually my niece no matter how much I love her character.

Y'all can make edits or clips about your favorite character however y'all like, but pulling that 'comparative suffering' bullsh*t with someone that she had played an active part in their trauma is just a new kind of low.

Sure, Azula being with her abusive father is the most devastating thing, but Ursa and Zuko also experiencing the same, if not, MORE is just a teeny scratch to y'all.

Frankly, I'm not expecting everything in this post to reach any of y'all brains, but at least typing this can release some of the pent-up feelings from all of those stupid clips that I have been seeing.

[tubbytarchia]

hi it's my first anon ask ever so I'm nervous but just wanted to vent briefly about a couple of popular jimmy ships. I might be lacking some information / outdated topics but I work with what I know for ig

I'm so glad flwerhsbands is dead. I loved watching their POV in third life but not because it was a dreamland cottagecore relationship, and it was mildly off putting when others thought of it as such. Jim being belittled all the time behind his back wasn't cute. it was interesting cause of how they liked eachother enough but misunderstood the other and their alliance in many ways. If they ever realigned it would probably be the same, maybe worse, and that would not feel good.

Next rachers. I haven't fully watched their povs so I may be wrong abt this but. They weren't romantic in DL but they were good to eachother. Yet it feels like m/m for the ship is like equal to every other fic they are major in, romo or not. I don't get it. I have read and enjoyed a few, but it unnerved me when fics would make them the same age / wouldn't acknowledge the age difference. Idk why it's popularity creeps me so much. I love how supportive they are but they read as just friends to me.

Lastly and completely unrelated, it's great that jim's had more times where he's not the butt of the joke this year (between skrnachers plate up and Joel cooling it on the bullying), gives him opportunities to explore different roles and it makes the teasing more enjoyable (to an extent and at viewer's opinion) when there's that diversity. Oh my god this was not brief I am so sorry.

This is very brief by my standards anon don't even worry LOL. Absolutely agree with the FH segment. I've said this twelve thousand times but I can never reiterate enough that I don't inherently dislike their dynamic in the Life series and instead find it really compelling. I don't think Scott is just straight up evil (he is not one of my blorbos but is at least in the top 3 of most interesting traffic characters without a doubt) and I don't want Jimmy to suffer but regardless the narrative isn't up to me, only my interpretation based on what I see

With ranchers, I think I can understand you feeling this way but I'll be blunt in that I personally couldn't care less about the age gap even if people choose to abide by it whilst talking about characters and not CCs, so I'm not bothered if it isn't brought up, god knows I haven't either in my rancher art or writing. In addition, most creatives within the fandom from my judgement keep these characters as kind of ambiguous players in a game without real life counterparts and within this game world, as many other things associated with real life, specific age could be obsolete, which I think is perfectly fine as far as HC and Traffic at least go as they're all adults. I could very easily see ranchers anywhere on the platonic-romantic spectrum (and it is a spectrum to me, not a scale) because two adults, I don't care, but I can see where some people take discomfort with it, and the age gap could frankly be something interesting to comment on within their dynamic, if, again, people chose to keep it strictly true to the CC ages. I have heard of people trying to counterbalance "toxic FH" with "toxic ranchers" in retaliation and using the age gap as the reason which has probably contributed to me not being able to give a fuck, because that's just kind of funny to me

And yes, ahh Jimmy's competency... it never went anywhere, it's just the environment that enforces this anti-Jimmy pretence so it's no surprise that he's able to shine more when surrounded with people supportive of him. Or not even supportive, just not belittling. That's why smallidarity gradually became my favorite little thing because Joel's relationship with Jimmy I think is really interesting in how it's changed and what it offers in commentary of the Jimmy ecosystem that Joel has been a strong contributor to before. Like unironically I think about that tweet Jimmy made in passing all the time where he replied to Joel talking about his attempted sacrifice to him in Limited Life and how the idea was illogical, and Jimmy went "That's the point, that you tried, no one's ever done that for me"