#that’s for the viewer to interpret not me…

[cindersnows]

the problem with mitsi (or as i like to call it. mitsogyny)

(context: this was written under a youtube video, which i'm sure most of us have at least seen pop up in our recommendeds, in response to many people taking criticism against the new episode. it has been edited a little to be more cohesive as a somewhat-essay)

ok, i wanted to write out a rant/essay/ramble/whatever sort of summarising the criticism against mitsi's plotline because a lot of the people here seem to be misunderstanding the fundamental issue that people have with it, including some of those people themselves.

first off, an analysis that i think tell both sides of the argument very well which i feel should be read before reading the essay: Mitsi: What Makes A Fridged Character (and why y'all are wrong about it) | an AvA essay by InksandPensblog. i will note: i don't care to discuss whether mitsi was fridged or not and that won't be of much importance in this post. the above link gives some insight into some of the fandom's criticism of mitsi and how she was "fridged", defining common tropes for examples. that's what's relevant to this post.

the main issue with mitsi, in my opinion, is less with the fact that mitsi's a girl and moreso the fact that she's one of the only female-coded character in the series, and that her character's main purpose was to further victim's own development. the other arguably female-coded character in the series is pink, who (like navy) only really exists to explain purple's motivations. i don't have much of an issue with that since they're not meant to be important or sympathised with at all. that's not their job in the story.

with mitsi, i've seen people point out that she has more character to her than just victim's love interest and supporter: she invents rocketcorp, she's smart, she's kind, innocent and helpful. narratively speaking, she shows other creations' relationships with their animators, parallels her innocence with victim's trauma, and introduces victim to the outernet (as most fans call the stick realm).

but most of this things imo are either stretches or invalid arguments. she's not really a 2/3-dimensional character in any way; her main character traits boil down to the fact that she likes to be in service of others with no nuance behind why she likes helping people. she hypes up victim for the villagers, she starts a company with him to share his talents with the world, and she helps him overcome his trauma from alan's torture. all of her main plot beats center around victim: and while technically the sticks are genderless and free to be interpreted however the viewer wants, alan and most of his team see all the main characters as male, and that subconciously affects how they're written. mitsi, the first major female-coded character, spends most of her storyline in service of victim, a character not written as female.

there's also the issue of her being victim's canonical love interest. i feel like this statement from alan is important to keep in mind (don't mind the sound effects and edits, this is the only isolated clip i can find at the moment). in particular:

"i just assume that [the ava/m characters] are just a bunch of bros]. i haven't thought of adding any female stick figures but i think it'd be good. i don't want to introduce any romance though, i don't want that to be a theme."

he seems to have changed his mind on that last part, which is fine, but the notable part for me is that he seems to associate female characters with romance from the getgo. before anyone misinterprets this, i'm not trying to call alan sexist or anything. but there's a common issue with women in stories being reduced to just a romantic partner for the male lead, and mitsi falls under this, with her entire character existing to serve victim. (not to mention people will make things about romance whether you like it or not. that's just basic fandom. search up grapeduo or chodark.) even her death is to put victim on the path of vengeance--- it doesn't need to happen to show the extent of tco and tdl's destruction, because that's already made pretty clear in ava s2 the flashback and the earlier scenes showing various characters escaping burning buildings. when you write a female-coded character whose only purpose is to serve a male character, you're contributing to sexist narratives.

a counter i see many people point out with the idea that she has no character is that she does have character traits, it's just that they're generic ones like "kind" and "innocent". the issue is that she has no flaws to counterpoint this; it's not that she didn't have enough screentime. in ava4 for example, we see tsc's flaws pretty clearly; they can be very mean when they want to, they're petty (albeit for a fair reason), they're a little impulsive. this is shown in 11 minutes (from the moment they come alive to the end of the video).

with mitsi meanwhile… she doesn't seem to have any flaws? she helps victim whenever she can. she's nice to all the villagers. her customers all like her and she's a great leader at rocket corp (to note, specifically as part of a pair with victim. they're a power couple, she's barely given credit for her work alone). she has 13 minutes of screentime, or 10 if you count from her waking up in the outernet. there's plenty of opportunities to show her having flaws; maybe she acts a little selfish during tdl and tco's attack, only wanting to help herself and agent smith, or maybe she overworks herself, or feels awkward at having too much attention (and that could also be why she redirects so much attention to victim, she's shy). you could argue that the episode needs to develop victim and agent smith too, but ava4 shows that's easy to do too: just a few seconds dedicated to showing rgyb fighting over who leaves first shows that they can be selfish and childish. it's very easy to insert a moment like that for mitsi.

it's a little disappointing when the first major female-coded character in ava is completely flawless, with no personality outside of being nice and helpful for others.

also, slightly unrelated, check out this quote from mitsi's plushie website: "her white featureless face seems to ooze mystery and feminine power all at the same time." her main character trait, as a woman, is being feminine. it's irritating as someone who's been raised a woman to see her reduced to just her gender. she feels more plastic than a person, like the concept of what a woman should be (perfect, kind, useful) and not an actual character/person.

i would expect more from the writing in the series seeing as it's not just an independent passion project anymore, and has multiple writers that all could've worked to flesh out mitsi, or at least get a sensitivity reader of sorts to point these issues out. it's extremely disappointing and i can understand why people were upset.

tldr: the problem isn't just that mitsi's a girl, or that she's nice or dating victim, it's that she's written in a misogynistic way.

[katerinaaqu]

What would Cassandra of Troy have worn? Would the Trojans also have Mycenaean fashion or is the any depiction of their fashion? I’ve been trying to design Cassandra but I really wanna be accurate so I thought I might as well ask someone who has more knowledge on it probably haha

That is a very good question given how Troy is a rather interesting city mythologically. Homer and other writers ironically do not refer to it as massively different than the rest of the Greek cities, or at least it highly depends. However the way Iliad is constructed, the Trojans do not follow massively different lifestyle than the Greeks, for they worship the same gods, they do not seem to have a language barrier and they have names that do often resemble the Greek names with some exceptions. This seems to be the case that Homer seems to be hinting to the previous taking of Troy by the hero Heracles around a generation or two prior (depending on the story). So Homer seems to be implying an osmosis of cultures between the Greeks and the locals which most likely were closer related to Hittite and Assyrians given how the Hittites existed at the are around till the 1300 BC as an empire before falling mostly under control of Assyrian empire. The fights or sociopolitical relations between Greeks and Hittites were already known by the data as well as the exchanges of knowledge between the two nations which probably the Trojan War is referencing to

Now of course it is not 100% correct to take Homer as a source that somehow Troy is a mixture of Greek and Anatolian characteristics given how no matter how accurate he is in certain things, his knowledge is still infiltrated by anachronisms so we still should take into account this to the back of our heads. And the fact that he depicts the Trojans worship the same gods or have similar customs and such might as well be his way to make the Trojans even more sympathetic to his viewers at that time so instead of showing them as the "bad barbarians that Greeks have to defeat" he made them all similar, with similar customs and similar cosmotheories with their only difference being the wall that protects Troy. I am not sure that Homer himself believed that Troy was a city of heavy Greek influence at least to THAT degree that he pictures but rather that he wanted to use that trick to help his listeners to remove their own personal biases and see the two sides as similar. Similarities definitely might have existed as well as osmosis of religions but his Trojans seem to be worshiping exactly the same gods which doesn't seem to be a realistic scenario

So if you are asking me how Cassandra might have been dressed I should say that if you are looking for historical locations and historical contexts then maybe is more valid to look at Assyrian or Hittite clothing and this is an old but very nice representation you can look like:

You can also look at the infamous image of Schliemann's wife who is wearing the jewelry they discovered during those excavations they did to the city of Troy (or at least the city that we have come to interpret by the evidence as Troy)

Mythologically though I think it would be perfectly valid to give her certain mycenaean characteristics to her clothing such as pieces of jewelry or skirts or veils or hats that were inspired by it given how she is a priestess associated with Apollo and all. Mycenean-inspired makeup might also work for her as well as an idea. Either way given the closeness of the two people with each other influences of Greek cities and such to Troy would be perfectly valid either way. To what degree is up for interpretation for your mythological depictions and ideas but we definitely expect to see plenty of similarities and exchange between the two.

I hope that answers your question a bit, I will be glad to elaborate further.

[zephyrchama]

hi! i’m the same anon that sent the long-ish ask before about how much i love your writing and how it’s really special to me. i saw that you wrote something about leviathan that was similar to the lucifer duality post, in the rad archives server. im like embarrassed as hell to be saying this here on anon because it’s cowardly, but i’m a lurker in that server because i’m anxious (lol), and i still want to express in some way that i really like both of those posts a lot. even though i didnt make it to the levi one in time.

i also really resonate with them but the levi one more so (probably some bias since he’s been my favorite for 4.5 years). i wrote a very long ramble about my interpretation of it but i felt like it was too long and i’m embarrassed (again) about it and its. very redundant. so i’m not including it. lol. so i understand you deleting the original levi duality post.

but anyways, it hit me hard (knocked me unconscious and kept swinging when i was down) and. actually made me tear up. so, once again, thank you Very much for your wonderful blog 🫶🫶🫶

You!!! [insert emoji that points at the viewer here] Hello!!! That message was so incredibly nice. It was incredibly well written and thoughtful. I spent so many hours alternating between blushing at the wall and pacing around. Thank you so much!!

(Don't be ashamed!! You're not cowardly! I'm also mega super shy. I feel bolder in public discord groups where there's a lot of talking going on because whatever I say will eventually be washed away by the conversation, but totally get that it's nerve-wracking to speak with people.) (I am nervous now hahaha. I must face the consequences of my post-deleting actions. I shall grow and learn.)

So, someone mentioned they get notified when I post!? and that they got the notification but it led nowhere. Apologies for that! I typed something up on my phone and deleted it in shame because after a while it had 0 notes and I thought perhaps it was out of character or poorly written. Sometimes my ideas flop, that's fine and I always leave them up anyway because I like them, but last night a little voice in my head made me anxious and we do silly things when we're anxious.

Here's what the post was for those that missed it, apologies again for deleting it:

---

Leviathan, Avatar of Envy, ruthlessly blasting a hole through Mammon's door and flooding the room to get his money back. Giving the cold shoulder to those who dare speak with him. Glaring at everyone he passes like they're dirt beneath his feet for being normies. Nobody is worth his time. He has more important things to attend to.

Leviathan, Avatar of Envy, weeping as he gently cuts into a pancake shaped like Azuki-tan that he, himself, ordered. He spent fifteen minutes taking photos and now the pancake is cold. His face is red and his body shakes with silent sobs while lifting a bite to his mouth. A passing waiter asks if he wants any butter. He nods. A tear rolls down his cheek and falls onto the collar of his limited edition Azuki-tan t-shirt.

[snorlaxlovesme]

my problem recommending Link Click to people

clearly, i love Link Click. i find the show emotionally compelling, the characters are well-written and interesting, the complex/convoluted plot is very crunchy for my adhd brain to chew on. LOVE that. however. i have yet to find a person irl who Sees My Vision when i recommend the show to them, and i think it's the fandom's fault.

not in bad way! but i think this show is a good example of media that exists for FANS and not casual viewers.

season 1 is by far the most accessible. a straightforward story about two guys solving crime by time travelling in photos. don't mess up the past, it could mess up the future, etc etc. everything is linear, the character motivations are pretty clear, the plot is seriously gripping. the only accessibility hurdles are the piss poor subs we had to deal with and the lack of on-screen text translation. and i suppose if you don't like shows that are episode-5-level heavy then this probably isn't the show for you.

season 2 already starts off on a very niche foot with the fact that there was a pretty big spoiler (or a hint at one) in the XETROVERTHINK music video that released before the season aired. fans who knew about that video were already speculating, and by the first 30 seconds of season 2, theories were running RAMPANT. NOW everyone was intentionally looking for hints of time travel mid-season. they were predicting how and when cheng xiaoshi might die. it made an extremely confusing season FUN because even when we didn't know what the hell was going on, we could always fall back on the lu guang timeloop theory to chew on.

but if you didn't see the XETROVERTHINK video? well, you probably weren't paying as close attention to what lu guang was saying in the first 30 seconds. the shot of cheng xiaoshi dying lasted for only a second or two. blink and you miss it. if you didn't rewatch the episode, you probably wouldn't notice. in a show where so many things don't make sense, that could have just been one more to add to the pile.

cut back to all the people that I've forced to watch the show, I can say that they did NOT have the same watching experience that i had as a fun following along on tumblr. which is fine, but they do look at me like i'm insane when i try to explain that this is the most fun show ever created.

after one of my friends finished season 2 i sent him a draft of the fic i was writing for some feedback and when he got to season 2-spoiler specific part, he didn't fully understand that lu guang had gone back in time to prevent cheng xiaoshi from dying, and therefore didn't understand what i had written. he didn't have the fandom, who had been speculating about that for 12 full weeks before the reveal, so as a casual fan, the first time he received that info was in that last 2 minutes of the season, and he didn't full understand it

my younger sister has made it to yingdu, and every time i try to talk to her about it when get to talk about shiguang a lot, but i don't have much time to sit her down and show her frame by frame analyses of why the lu guang vs vein interaction in episode one looks like it might be in two different timelines. she's not seeing that there's morse code in the books or interpreting sonnets or pausing to check the eye color of characters, so when i talk to her about it we're scratching maybe 3% of what the show is truly communicating with us.

and again, it makes me look like a total headcase when i try to explain to people that this is the best show ever and so much fun because if you're not INTERACTING with the show and with the fans, mulling over the minute details in a scene or asking for a more accurate translation of something, it's like you're missing out on most of the show

i once tried to recommend my sister one of my favorite pokemon fanfics of all time. she'd read some others and seemed interested, so i sent her the link and then told her that to fully understand it she'd need to have knowledge of basically every major character in the entire pokemon anime, from kid trainers to gym leaders to Champions to villains to rivals to professors. she'd also have to know how they all relate to each other, PLUS some game characters. i sent her a list of episodes she needed to watch for character and plot relevance and links to wikipedias for other main characters. after she absorbed all this information then she could truly understand why this was the greatest fic ever!!

that's what recommending Link Click is feeling like, currently. like i want you to like this show, i want you to understand this show like i do, but that means you HAVE to be insane about it. there's no other way to appreciate it if you're not in the fandom.

[dreagine]

Ourple

[captainharlock]

took too long to crosspost all my xb1 x xb3 ortiz/shiora extended family content and now i just have a giant compilation for you all. if its not already observable the family tree i imagine in my head here is as follows:

thanks that's all

[thelostgirl21]

Pretty much!

I mean, I do get pretty passionate talking about characters I love and will gladly share my perspective on various dynamics.

Over analysing things comes to me easy and is tons of fun, and my neurodivergent ass has a special interest for human and animal psychology (I'm a parrot behaviorist).

But I typically do my best to use "I" statements and specify that's my interpretation without imposing it (hopefully).

We each relate to a character, a show, a book, etc. our own way through a bunch of personal filters...

...and this is art.

The goal is to make the viewer feel and experience things that are intimate to themselves most of the time.

Not to come up with a single interpretation / truth about it.

IRL, you want to clarify the message you were supposed to receive from the sender to make sure the communication works and what is being understood is as close to identical as you can from all sides.

With art? You can make it your own.

Just don't make it your own, and then claim to be a champion of authenticity while implying the writers of the show's interpretation is lesser than your own if they fail to see it your way is pretty much what bothers me about Cavill's stance in this case. Or how his fans interpret Cavill's stance, more like, since he's someone that rarely if ever clearly states his opinion on something (just vaguely implies things) to sort of play all sides and this drives me nuts!

Great PR strategy! Ineffective communication technique, but if your goal is to remain popular and have "everyone love you" as an actor, because they believe you think like them, crazy effective.

I'm a huge fan of his version of Superman and this is pretty much a repeat of the "release the Snyder cut" stuff, except it's "kill the show" this time around.

I've been thinking about The Witcher books and tv show recently. Because half of the things that make Geralt seem cool and edgy in the show just don't exist in the books.

In the show he's always so stoic. Most of his exposition has to be told by side characters implying things and you just have to gage his reaction to decide if it's true or not. In the books however, he gives a full lore dump to anyone who's remotely nice to him.

Random Character: So how've you been?

Show Geralt: Hmmmm.... 😒 😔 😒...

Book Geralt: Terrible actually, thank you for asking. Monster hunting is dying out and I have zero transferable skills. Yennifer's left me again and Jaskier's off god knows where. Overall I suppose it could be worse, but that's the life or a Witcher. Also, my perfectly good leather jacket got ruined in a fight the day after I bought it :(

[yoinkschief]

Oh hey I just remembered I didn't schedule this lol

[tubbytarchia]

"Cool ship art, unfortunately I'm interpreting it platonically" dude it's literally fine lol. Guys please. Art is meant to be interpreted. Don't call it unfortunate just because you think your interpretation differs from the artist's vision (and please refrain from using wording that implies strictly correct and wrong interpretations, it dismisses others!)

[raptureshots]

I'm not providing context for this

[fuumiku]

Day 3 : fashion Jackalope & dungeon rabbit

"Who are you to Chilchuck Tims?" Smiling softly: "I’m his best friend, his confidante… His silly rabbit." "His… silly rabbit?" "Yes." "Does he call you that?" "No."

I spent way too long rendering this. Coloring Chilchuck’s hair is like painting an autumn landscape and I appreciate that

I love love love brown hares and jackalopes being a Chilchuck thing. Why jackalope specifically it’s more complex bc it’s also tied to my indulgent cultural hc for him but if you want to you can dig through this post, for when I talk about why rabbits are so good for him & them. Though now I also associate Rabbit Hole by Deco*27 with them… In my mind they alternate as Miku in that popular animation mv for it, equality for all… Also Zombies but that’s for another day. Also Fashion by Lady Gaga. Also-

They are both flat asses to me. In my heart of hearts

[puppppppppy]

i feel like im not making any sense but does anyone else feel like there are stories that let u run with them and ones that spell everything out for you

[redshoes-blues]

I love seeing other people’s interpretations of 73 Yards. It’s about the fear of abandonment. It’s about being queer. It’s about growing old. It’s about having mommy issues.

To me? It’s about the deep-seeded fear that your intrusive thoughts are true. That, deep down, there is something awful about you. That if everyone who claims to love and care about you found out what went on in your head, they’d hate you as much as you hate yourself for having those thoughts. And in the end, you know what? When we see those fears manifest in Ruby’s life, we’re shown that she’s still never alone. Not even when everyone she cares about leaves her. She’s never alone because she has herself. And it’s not worth it to fear that side of herself, because it’s always with her, following her wherever she goes. For better or for worse, she’s stuck with that fear, so instead of shunning that side of herself—something that only makes her feel worse—she decides to be there for herself. Because, at the end of the day, you’re the only person who will always be there for yourself. You’re stuck with yourself. So why not treat that person, even with all the things you hate about yourself, especially with those aspects in mind, with a bit of kindness and understanding?

[5-turtleducks-in-a-trenchcoat]

I was thinking about episode 174 again. I'm absolutely fine in case you can’t tell.

[dead-dove-orchid]

Deciding Moment.

[aprilblossomgirl]

# mood 1 + mood 2 (basically)