#thats such a negative way to view things.. im also aware of that

[mainfaggot]

I'm attached to my friends in a weird way that they cannot reciprocate and that's okay

[genderstealer2000]

How do you start gender hoarding? I know that it might sound like a stupid question, but you see, I live in a place where trans people and nbs are looked down upon but lesbians and gays are ok. (rural Australia)

I felt weird coming out to my bf as a demigirl( I am AFAB) and he knows I’m a furry, but doesn’t know about my alter humanity (questioning therian)

So my view of gender is very “traditional” and where I live there’s only really female, male, trans and (very rare) nonbinary. I also have highly suspected autism/ self diagnosed yet I don’t see gender in a way I hear people with autism do, probably due to my upbringing

I want to know from a person like you who knows the “newer” ways of gender how I should gender hoard and not stick myself to just the traditional genders

its not a stupid question at all!! ill do my best to answer! so i identify as agender transmasc. agender goes under the trans umbrella and nonbinary, but i dont see myself as gender neutral i just have no gender. now going more into the transmasc, just means i feel more masculine. doesnt really effect the way i present my gender any differently, hmm i guess i dont really know how to explain it. i dont understand the concept of gender, i dont understand a lot of social constructs, i honestly think its sort of unneeded. my gender is complex in the most noncomplex way, its vast and its tiny. ive made my own genders based off of feelings and intrests, i think thats the best way to get started with genderhoarding. making your own ideas, analyzing yourself. (personally its helped me become more aware of who i am!) imaginationnnnn!! creativity!! make something up, no ones stopping you! the way i view gender is its what makes you, you. it doesnt have to make sense to anyone but you. it doesnt have to make sense! some of the things i tie in with my gender are the rustling of leaves in a forest, fog in the early morning, large fields, chaotic music, soft stuffed animals, the smell of pavement after it rains, soft piano music, acoustic guitar, the moon some of those things are real different!! and those are some of the things that i view my gender as! i think its a lot easier too with the internet, theres a ton of people who have similar ideas and interests so they also make genders, sexualities, and flags to go along with them.

i have a board on pinterest that i frequently add stuff to, i could link it here if you would like! i also save just anynthing that pops up if it remindes me of my friends or it seems cool. it doesnt mean i identify with it, but its cool to read about them! i keep track of them in a notebook as well!! my genders relate to my hyperfixations, mostly. Hyperfixations and anything that i can relate too! ex. horrormasc: a masculine aligned horrorgender. fits both definitions (1: a horrifying/all over the place gender, and 2: a gender related to different horror genres) raingender: a xenogender connected to the rain scenekid/scene neutral, oldwebemoic, onlineboyic, endspacic etc, etc. dont feel rushed at all to tell your boyfriend! when i started feeling more comfortable telling people, i made sure to have articals pulled up to read, notes etc. so it would be easier to sort me thoughts? get it out more smoothly. i also wanted to talk about self-diagnosing!! i hear so much negative about it, but honestly, its good to research and try and find out things about yourself. that my opinion. and not for longterm, just for a bit until you can get evaluated. gahhhhh self diagnosing is valid and it makes me so mad to see people who think its not. granted, some people to just see a couple things and "oh yup got that" but when you really spend time looking at signs, symptoms, traits it can be very beneficial in the long run, and also just to check before you go get evaluated also i apologize if this is insanely long, or if it makes no sense. im sleep deprived, im trying to fall asleep gahh i hope this helped even a little bit!! if you want me to expand on anything or explain anything further feel free to dm me!

[deafeninggardenerpanda]

proper post on the Thing™. tws for grooming mention and nsfw mentions im sure everyone gets the drill. im kinda obligated here to make a full reply since i was involved with the issue but Hopefully there wont be another post on this matter. if anyone has issues about what i say/think i didnt address something, talk to me in private yea im more than willing to listen and exchange views. i consulted with several people to make this post in the first place

i havent been keeping up with every response under the sun but i did see opal and blue-jester and some other people in positions of responsibility apologize, so im not gonna rag on them or go on and on about "they should know better!!" because they already know that now. instead ill talk about why i did what i did and why i thought what i did

yep i called opal a groomer at one point. oops thats on me and i shouldnt have thrown around a serious term and accusation like that without getting a better grasp on the situation. lets get that out of the way

to start, how the situation played out was i got an anon saying that i was mentioned in a callout post mtthrw made.

i dont know who sent this ask and it doesnt particularly matter. i just went to go check out the post, which was public and tagged with the main tags. this was not something given to me in private which i decided to spread publicly. first of all it was still in its 242 page glory and had minors discord ids and a lot of peoples discord developer ids (the string of numbers connected to your account that you cant change) on it. i wanted to boost the post eventually, but i was aware that i shouldnt boost something with that kind of information on it, so i dm'd the person who created the doc and gave them my suggestions first (i was the reason why the doc was shortened down to 54 pages later, for example).

they said theyd keep the former doc on the post as well, but i thought they wouldve taken out the developer ids and discord ids of minors in that one too. to be honest i dont know the extent they censored on either document, i was busy talking to other people (like quakey and another adult involved in the callout doc) at this time and then the docs got taken down before i could see them again. also note that i definitely shouldve asked them to censor the names of minors In General and not just the ids, so again, sorry, thats on me. anyways continuing with the actual events that happened, i made a vaguepost warning people to block the "negative" tag if they didnt want to see drama. (unrelated but yeah, also my bad for calling it tea/drama instead of taking it more seriously. i apologized for it after getting an anon about it later.) when i made the vaguepost i got a ton of people asking what was up, so i dm'd them.

i dm'd five people in total for this, all of which except for one or two i considered friends. that said, i have no clue how many people got access to this doc directly because of the people i shared it with. i made a lot of careless and irresponsible mistakes in my handling this, and im sorry for that. but for reasons ill cover in more detail as this post goes on, i dont think the person who made the doc had malicious intent or meant to cause harm to the minors involved.

yall see all the apologizing i just did right, now its time for me to state my case on why i seriously thought opal was a groomer at the time i called her one. btw im not gonna work to cover mtthrws ass on this, thats something they can and should make a comment on on their own.

for some reason some people think that i called opal a groomer because i personally dont like them or have personal beef with them which. Dude?? no?? i dont go around calling people groomers because of petty bullshit. as i said before, i dont know how many people saw this doc itself. i dont know how many people are commenting on this based on context other people are posting only. the doc was not up for that long, so i want to make it clear the ways opal was shown acting in the screenshots provided. this is not to send harassment or to rag on her, shes since stated she will change how she deals with these matters in the future and i am aware of that.

excuse me for not having the screenshots to back my words up (or if i do the screenshots are mad compressed), or not having complete recollection of the exact parties involved. as said ofc the doc was taken down, im reciting this to the best of my recollection, but i think people who saw the doc themselves will be able to back me up on a good portion of this at least. during the magowhore saga, there were a lot of people who came up to opal with their concerns regarding her interaction with minors and the suggestive content she was posting, as shown by her posting the anon asks she got in the planet-popstar discord. both these screenshots and her (as well as some other adults in the server) reactions to them were recorded in the doc.

types of reactions she had were; saying they're just jokes; (joking about it in itself); it was magolors fault for being horny, not her*; thats just how magolors character is; there's a difference between a character and the person writing it so she doesn't need to take responsibility (second screenshot below); (when initially getting vagueposted about her irresponsibility regarding the magowhore saga) lamenting about how people who she liked or looked up to had liked the vaguepost/agreed that she was being irresponsible (first screenshot below); directing blame onto kirbypurrs; assuming people sending her asks with concerns were part of kirbypurrs' clique** and thus disregarded them; called asks with concerns hatemail; deflecting responsibility onto minors if they saw or were interacting with her content; said that people who had concerns about her interactions with minors should just block if they dont like it; being extremely aggressive about people coming up to her with concerns in general; saying that people getting on her ass for the whole magowhore saga was breaking her stride/lamenting about how all this had to happen right as she thought she was finally getting somewhere

and, while not opal saying these next things specifically, i thought these were notable enough to mention about that servers culture: there were people around her advising her to not say anything publicly and to just lie low and wait until this whole thing blew over because people would accuse her of deflecting responsibility if she just said it was magolors fault again, and people called anyone who came up to her with concerns "purity culture nuts" and that they needed to stop infantizing minors

and of course, we cant forget about the stuff in the document not concerning the magowhore saga, like talking about kinks in front of minors or knowing minors were reading/seeing suggestive stuff and letting it happen, as well occasionally talking to minors about suggestive things directly. and her knowing that there were minors in the server, some people who she was speaking to were minors, and people in the community were uncomfortable with her behavior around minors

*yeah i know magolor is her headspace buddy or something of the sort. still not remotely okay to effectively put your legs up about the whole affair because its not Really you doing it

**i got shittalked in this server too btw (by blue-jester and one other person) because ppl assumed i was part of purrs' clique. which, rude i havent spoken to or interacted with them in like 6 months. no clue why people are so rabid about purrs all the time.

with all that said, my point here is that i do not believe it was out of line in the slightest to believe that opal would not have listened to or taken peoples concerns seriously if asked directly, considering her stubbornness and aggressiveness about the situation for so long. i considered this behavior and her unwillingness to change or do whats appropriate as guilt and maliciousness by aggressive inaction, and her aggressiveness on the topic in general led me to believe she was going to continue this behavior for as long as she could get away with it. i understand why mtthrw thought this warranted a callout and needed more eyes on it for things to change. thats not to say i dont think they shouldnt have at least tried to settle this with the involved people in private beforehand, but i think people have downplayed what opal did (or at the very least, i havent seen anyone comment on the sheer extent of her stubbornness regarding this like above) in favor of getting up in arms against mtthrw for calling opal a groomer when they arent. which again, yeah yeah i know its totally fair to get upset at them for that + the leaking minors names thing, but the thing thats baffling me here is that i keep hearing people say mtthrw wanted minors to be hurt by making that doc. i think this was a callout post made with good intentions--mtthrws openness with hearing out and taking suggestions and concerns with the doc when i initially came up to them about it said a lot--but handled rather badly and needing a lot more peer review before being posted publicly.

thats really my view on this.

also for the record, since some people think this conflict is a "we need to protect the pure teenages who cant handle hearing the word 'penis' uwu" issue, its not. im not an idiot, i know people get into all that stuff before theyre properly of age all the time. its practically a teenager rite of passage, frankly id be more surprised if they didnt get into that somehow. my issue has always, always been concerns with minors and adults engaging in suggestive talk in the same space. i literally could not give less of a shit if it were two 15 or 16 year olds talking about sex together in a server of only minors. opal is a college graduate, 21+. the minors interacting with her were 15-17. the adults in that server didnt groom them, but acceptance of that behavior leaves those minors wide-open to being okay with similar scenarios with people who don't have good intentions in the future.

i myself used to consume nsfw content as young as 15. coincidently, i was also a hardcore proshipper and impressionable kid at this time, who thought they knew what they were doing and always had all the answers. i wasnt groomed or anything, but those experiences affected me. i interacted with adults in suggestive and inappropriate ways looking back at it, just like this situation. my former experiences (and the fact that some stuff the adults in that server said, such deflecting responsibility onto minors even if theyre in the same convo as adults, and calling anyone who disagreed with them purity culture nuts, closely reflects some proshipper arguments) led me to jump the gun on believing there was malicious intent from the adults in that server. so again, im sorry and take full responsibility for being so rash in my actions. i sincerely hope all involved parties learn from this and be better in the future, including myself. i've never wanted minors to be hurt from this. to people in my own discord server, i hope that my own rules regarding suggestive talk/content, even despite my server already being 17+ on its own, show that this is a topic ive always cared about and taken seriously. i do not want people to make the same mistakes i did

as ive said before, theres a line in which minors take responsibility for consuming this content. if a kid purposely lies about their age to get access to 18+ material, that's on them. if a kid is openly engaging in suggestive and innappropiate talks with adults, even as a joke, thats on the adults.

by the way, on the point of accidently hurting minors, would anyone mind filling me in on why i keep hearing people say minors will get harassed from this? i talked to like 5 people about it and literally no one had a clue. as far as i know, the two sides on this issue are "the minors were victims and the adults were at fault" and "the minors did nothing wrong because they chose to interact with the material", neither of which warrant any grievances against the minors involved. like /gen /srs if anyone knows fill me in because i am lost on why in the world people would attack the affected party

[astronnova]

for the ask game - team rwby ships

i gotchu, i'll go down the list

ruby/weiss whiterose

Ship It

What made you ship it? in v1 i liked the energetic/tsundere archetype

What are your favorite things about the ship? ermmm i like how weiss has red as a prominent color on her first design! its cool how it ties to her grandfather and ruby

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? i dont. really care for it. like.... i think its decent. as in decent i mean average. i think it just speaks to different people and im not one of them. there's something interesting to work off of with ruby reminding weiss of her younger years she lost out on but thats never mentioned in the show

ruby/blake ladybug

Ship It

What made you ship it? big fan of the energetic/stoic archetype, and their colors look good together. black and red goes crazy....

What are your favorite things about the ship? blake seeing a part of adam in ruby was an idea that always interested me, along with the idea that blake sees a part of her younger, more idealistic self in ruby. kinda similar to what weiss coulda viewed ruby as. i think ruby works as a narrative foil to these ideas since she is younger and less jaded, especially compared to blake. a year ago i wrote up a mini comic of ruby and blake going on a solo mission together and even designed them stealth outfits LOL

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? i think it should be more popular i guess? its a shame in the show i think blake talks to ruby one on one maybe. maybe like.... five times? i think/? maybe?

i'll leave out strawberry sunrise/enabler (ruby/yang) since im assuming you arent asking about it LOLOL

weiss/blake monochrome

Ship It

What made you ship it? ohhhh yeah baby its about the duality its the black and white its the two sides of the same coin its about the hating eachother. enemies to lovers. i have a type

What are your favorite things about the ship? the fact their color schemes match so well, the way their personal narratives are inherently tied to eachother, hell the fact their personalities bounce off eachother in a unique way

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? errrrrrrrrrrrrm. i dont usually advocate for ships being canon, since shipping is just about having fun in fandom and clinking dolls together, and etc etc, but... i genuinely think monochrome wouldve been a great canon ship. theres a lot of potential and substance with these two that i feel the show proper unfortunately ignored or wrote accidentally. weiss in the early volumes (and even in later ones i think) proves to be very emotionally intelligent and aware of blake's feelings and keeps an eye out for her which is super interesting but also i think the writers wrote that accidentally because they don't do anything with it and they have a tendency to tell us people are close instead of showing us. if they meant for that to happen they wouldve had a character say weiss is emotionally intelligent by now lol

weiss/yang freezerburn

Ship It

What made you ship it? i think their more extreme personalities lead to a fun dynamic (pre v4) of a carefree party girl and an uptight high class rich girl. plus, i think yang looks best in white

What are your favorite things about the ship? their dynamic mostly! there isn't much in the show that i can think of where yang and weiss get a lot of interaction time, mainly becus yang and blake are usually next to eachother so there isn't much to build off and in v1-3 yang is just ... kinda there. but yeah, the dynamic and the fact they look good in eachother's colors

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? honestly not really! i don't feel strongly about the ship but i don't have any negative feelings towards it either. its a good ship. plus the height diff is cute (i remember the v5 hug)

blake/yang bumblebee

ah..................................... here we go

Don’t Ship It

Why don’t you ship it? canon kinda... turned me off from it. i thought it was fun in v1, and shipped it hard alongside monochrome, but the more the show went on the less i felt interested in it. canon made me partial towards blacksun due to all of their set up and plot points together (and a similar dynamic to bumblebee). cus of that bumblebee kinda felt like... off brand blacksun? so i just didn't bother with it. that, and the fans also turned me off HAHA. usually i don't let fandom mess with how i view ships, but man it was just tiring, especially with how queerbaity the show was up until v9. i didnt really like it. an interesting thing i noticed, which def wasn't intentional, is that blake gravitates towards yang who is similar to her abuser (adam: similar semblance mechanics and anger issues(?)) and yang gravitates toward blake who is similar to her mother (similar appearance, both abandoned yang furthering her abandonment issues). they almost seem codependent, which is cool from a toxic yuri storyline but i am 100% sure thats not what canon was going for. blake's lost her personality and so has yang so they can fit into a "shy wallflower needs her brash girlfriend to stand up for her" dynamic which. boooo character assassination boooo

What would have made you like it? probably if more time was spent with blake and yang's friendship instead of blake and sun's. sun got more spotlight than yang in the early volumes, and from v4-5 he was the only friend with her the whole time. if there wasn't any blacksun buildup then i totally woulda been more partial to bumblebee in canon. concept wise its fun on its own, im just not partial to how the show used those ideas

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it? the fanart's cute! and the idea of soulmates matching eachother's eyes is cute, blake's secondary color is purple and yang's eyes are purple; yang's main color is yellow and blake's eyes are yellow. they've got matching weapons too with eachother's colors (now, post v7) which is cute. basically what i like is the hypothetical or the little details

[blodofring]

how do you stay sane with all the trans bs and violence from men? Sometimes it feels so heavy and that society is always catering towards them it makes me feel hopeless :/

well im not sure i will call myself sane, i dont think anyone can be in this society. i very much relate to you and i think being sane in this environment is the actual insanity.

i've tried to cultivate and seek out friendships and spaces where views like ours are supported. knowing hundreds of thousands if not millions of women (and even men) feel the same way is very reliving. knowing one is not alone. having a safe space to discuss our struggles without being harmed. there are many communities online that are popping up where women can freely share our struggles and anger without being silenced.

also i do think times are changing and there is a pushback against transsexualism and male violence. even if trans is pushed by the elites, i feel like your everyday average people are getting sick of bending over backwards for the minority and are peaking at the ridiculous demands from that group. most people, if they feel safe there wont be any repercussions, will admit they think its ridiculous. more public figures are daring to speak out againt the cult and i frequently see detransition stories being told now. as for male violence, that too is being fought against and brought to light by brave women, like in Iran. things like the porn industry is also being cracked down on, with having to vertify your age by official id etc in several states, more people quitting and speaking out on how harmful it is.

and ending friendships and setting boundaries with people who impact you negatively. i've come to realise i have to cut off most my male friends, as they are silently contributing to womens oppression. even if they havent harmed me, our beliefs are fundamentally incompatible. watching incel commentary, making excuses for abusers, making sexist jokes etc isn't something i want in my space. thats time and energy is better spent on people who contribute positively to my life. actually i will go as far as to say that being a "man hating wrench" has made me an awfully lot happier and optimistic about the future than i ever was as a handmaiden, and a much softer, loving person altogether. awareness is power, knowing your enemies makes you stronger, and having boundaries gives you a space to let your guard down and relax safely. careful of who you let into your circle, protect your energy, and cultivate healthy female friendships.

this ended up very long, it is something i am very passionate about, so thank you so much for asking. i hope you can find a space where your thoughts, ideas and beliefs are validates and safe, and that you'll find your hope ♡

ps my ask box is always open if you or anyone else needs someone to talk to, rant to, or just chitchat

[castlebyersafterdark]

why is that bad? he's been through so much. I can't see mike complaining, in fact I see mike insisting he do stuff because he likes to and it doesn't mean will doesn't show appreciation back.

and thank you for pointing out that in times he has pillow princess energy it doesn't mean he's inactive during sex, he loves sex too much to not be participating, he's just being treated well by his gentleman haha

WOW im also learning about myself during these discussions, because i think i subscribe to these ideals in my own life but am perhaps completely unself aware about what others would think of me?

like… something about the term pillow princess suggests a negative judgement - and in fact when its used in the context of straight women in bed especially, it IS used pejoratively. As in: shes lazy, she just lays back and relies on being hot and does no work. Its definitely something people use as a negative descriptor. Same for trophy wife. In general, thats not seen as an admirable thing to be by culture. so seeing people using that same pillow princess terminology in a positive light for will is what i couldnt get my head around i think even tho i agree with your reasons why he should be pampered. But i dont think what you described is pampering! I think its just being normal? Isnt it just will behaving in a way that he (and everyone!) deserves to some of the time: being doted upon and kicking back and letting someone else do the work! So i think i couldnt see how that was a specific thing that needed labelling, because its just a normal part of being human

or am i unknowingly revealing that some people would call me an accidental pillow princess lol? I dont see that as me getting special treatment though - literally who doesnt deserve to kick back and have people do things for them sometimes? Am i missing the point? I mean, as a woman maybe its different. I have known women who want a man just to do the man jobs around the house so they dont have to, whereas im the kind of person who would be embarrassed to not be able to do things for myself. Feels like feminism taking some steps back, you know. So i can do the stuff, but sometimes if others want to help or do it instead, i let them because thats the give and take of life haha!

Yeah I think there's different connotations and usages with different people. To be honest, I've really rarely heard it certain ways used outside of kind of deep online social media/fandom spaces. Like for me, even if maybe irl a certain dynamic is slipped into, it's not like the whole thing was given a definition or terminology. It just is what it is. And I'm super versed in the history, but my understanding was from an origin in bedroom dynamics of the lesbian community? But as many concepts, warped and turned into multiple uses through colloquialisms.

And I see what you mean, the pampering/doted upon situations just being a normal part of life. I think the difference is turning it into something a little extra? Intentional behavior, not just just the standard sweetness and taking care of each other that comes with a healthy, happy relationship. I think it just depends on how you personally view concepts.

[mekatrio]

OK my tingle thoughts before i end up forgetting them

let me get the negatives out of the way first..... firstly, the racism: terrible. yamatami tribe is super uncomfy and everything abt samba the king's daughter makes me want to strangle whoever at vanpool that had thought of this. deku forest being a temperate forest yet having a rando tarzan-esque hero is like 🆗. also the random durians in mt desma despite durian not being a mountain fruit at all.. like yeah ok this isnt the only fruit to grow in a random place, but the association of durian = exotic, which by proxy equates seasia = exotic, is.... 😑 also this isnt racism but i was disappointed that pinkle ended up having a thing for tingle. i was put off by the whole "you saved me from a terrible situation so i must reward you" bla bla bla deal. theres more layers to this that im honestly not to bothered to tackle like how its a subversion of expectations with how tingle is portrayed as a 'ugly character', but the way this game wrote its female characters just felt stereotypical af and its like eh.... and like it sounds worse in balloon trip of love which i have absolutely 0 plans to play.

and secondly THE GAMEPLAY JANK..... like the rupee system is Very... yeah i played without a guide for like the first dungeon before i realized it was unsustainable. bc it really is. practically no leeway for players who may ask for too much rupees, and asking for too little will end up stifling players' progression. and in both situations theyre gonna have to go and grind for rupees which is REALLY... NOT AT ALL fun to do. there is nothing fun about loading and reloading a map area to kill some enemies again and again in order to sell their drops. or digging an area over and over again. this doesnt just extend to rupees but to getting ingredients as well; like i dont understand why minced meat is so hard to come by. like after the first continent, i barely got any minced meat. and minced meat is a main ingredient for the health potion so its like.... fuck me i guess. had to farm minced meat at cape treasure until i was rich enough that it wasnt too much of a loss to just revive my bodyguards with rupees.

other gameplay janks are the fact that there isnt a way to view the zoomed in map in its entirety, the walking speed is sooooo slowww, and you can fucking lose access to fast travel to the most recent area if you neglect the tower. also there are a few puzzles and one boss fight that requires pushing shit around; and if you have a bodyguard they will 100% makes things even more difficult for you, sometimes to point where they'll push the item to a corner and you have to leave and reload the entire area to redo it. terrible developer oversight. also fast travel and saving is so tedious 😑

and the last main 'complaint' (sort of)... this game made me realize that ive been taking satisfying endings and credits for granted. bc ive been playing so many amazing games in these recent years, ive come to expect that the finale and its accompanying credits of any game would be a satisfying wrap-up of everything ive achieved. but trr had made me realize that No!!! thats not always a given. because i definitely didnt get that in this game. and that was so disappointing to me, because this game had so many diverse and quirky and unique characters and settings, but there was no final acknowledgement or one last wave goodbye for any of them. what a shame.

also the ending itself was uh.... not very satisfying either. both the good ending and the standard ending. i think i like the standard ending more honestly. it was nicer to see the children lament the adult's greed, than it was to see the unrealistic ideal of rupeeland actually be achieved (yes im completely aware how silly this sounds irt a tingle game IDC). neither ending was a super deep commentary on money and i wasnt expecting it to be a Perfect Socialist Manifesto, but the ending was essentially just "money can be good and money can be bad. ok bye" and it was like.... ??? ok bye

OK NOW THE GOOD PARTS: i love the music and i think the art direction of this game was soooo so fun. it was so quirky and zany and it reminds me a lot of mother 3! its like mother 3 if it wasnt an rpg, didnt have emotional moments, and hated you even more than mother 3 hated you. thats what this tingle game was like.

despite the gameplay jank, i think there were many good parts abt its gameplay. like despite how badly designed the rupee system is, i think it made for a very interesting setting and really emphasized how valued rupees are to the characters of this world. i really wish it was designed a bit better bc i really didnt hate the idea of this mechanic. and the music and character portrait screen when youre made to ask/pay for rupees is so creative and good too!

i think the mapping system was super fun as well. annoying that you couldnt view the full zoomed in map, and that sometimes the circling feature just... wouldnt work.. but paying attention to the overworld while simultaneously paying attention to the map, and being paid handsomely for spotting the differences made exploration all the more rewarding. and i loved the bodyguard system! i think the 'combat' in this game was very fun actually. i loved the music of the bodyguard's combat. the bodyguard salons were such a fun tidbit of world-building, and it was nice to have a place where i could actually spend money and get something worthawhile in return, compared to the rest of the game where you need to pay people just for the basic decency of like, being able to talk to them (which i dont mind thats how this world works, but again it was nice to SPEND MONEY ON SMTH USEFUL). see, i liked a lot of this game's mechanics, its just that they werent ironed out enough and had enough jank to really piss you off 😮‍💨

the dungeons (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE WRETCHED INSECT CAVERN FUCK THAT PLACE FOREVER) were good too! nothing to write home about but like they were fine. but oh man the boss fights.... THEY WERE ALL AWESOME!!! sorry minish cap and albw but i actually enjoyed the boss fights in this game a lot more than any top-down zelda ones LOL. each one was so different and creative and unlike zelda, didnt just rely on Sole Item Gimmick for you to defeat them. and they were actually challenging!! but not too challenging to feel unfair. i think the lack of a standard combat system allowed for boss fights as interesting as these.

what else... i think it was really fun to see the foreshadowing of uncle rupee throughout the game. i think pinkle's ominous dialogue of being trapped in a room all day was very neat. i liked the lyphos lore too. OH and the zelda references throughout the game was amazing. like aba and her father being a sort of emotional reunion echoing the hero of time's origins.. only for them to beat each other's asses a second later was great. the saria theme in the deku forest was awesome too.

overall it was a game that i wish i could like more. like i really really wish i could like this game more! cuz the parts that i liked i really liked. also i only played like 30 minutes of phantom hourglass but this game was way better than that regarding its control scheme (fuck nintendo for ph and st control scheme forever btw). unfortunately trr has too many weird things and gameplay jank that i cant like it as much as id like. sad!

[dodi-li]

i have neither patience nor desire to get into a fight over this but I’ve thought about it too much to leave this be, my apologies for the disturbance.

positivity first, I agree wholeheartedly with the actual point of the post; its a very unsightly thing to let the whole world bear witness to Medrano living in one’s head rent free, and more often than not it takes the form of a very discourse-oriented “virtue signaling”, if you’ll forgive the vulgar word for lack of others. Its a negativity of a particularly nasty sort, and inspires an affliction of mind comparable to waking up with a hangover. I fear I am one of these people.

I have never posted about it, nor spoken openly of it to more then two close friends, but naturally in my likely very compromised opinion, theres nuances to it. on a personal level, i dont really gaf whether or not im wasting my time, what ive come up with is a form of art in its own right, which is all the justification i need to be satisfied. but thats not to say there aren’t other beneficial consequences. for instance, when we as discoursers talk about racism, or religion, or revolution, its more often than not in strictly theoretical terms. as a result, ive found, the then proposed solutions to these things take on an air of armchair isolation, being in the same theoretical terms as were used to frame the problem itself.

but that isnt how it works. these things arent just matters of hypothetical relationships between theoretical factors as part of a thought experiment, they are real physical phenomenon, with material, comprehensible causes and effects. they are, as in this case is Hazbin Hotel, cases that can be studied. turning away completely is certainly easier, and as stated above the other option is rarely much fun, and it is certainly the best way to protect one’s peace. but like it or not you cant be escapist all of the time, youve gotta threaten the bubble now and again. that doesnt mean you have to watch and write commentary on a pair of eight-hour brandon rodgers sketches, but again, that is the case being discussed. well less discussed, moreso shouted by me unprompted from the peanut gallery, but im not done talking.

a concrete example of what i’m talking about is the fact that, in my journey as a writer, this endeavor of mine has represented a monumental milestone in the development of my sense of subtlety and poetry. I shall not bore you with specific details, but it consists of a re-write of the story written with one primary design principle— use everything. every character, every concept, failed or successful must be included. large shifts are obviously allowed, but they must flow naturally out of only the material we currently have. in short, the question i aimed to answer was, what would it take to make this story good? cliché i imagine, i dont talk to very many people about this. obviously, as a creative endeavor, weirdo behavior. im aware. how do you think i feel. but as an exercise, a more heavily structured project in which the main skill being used is problem solving, its just as obviously an extremely rewarding experience.

and outside artistic growth, theres the other obvious consequence of me having to take its dogshit depiction of bigotry and abuse and somehow turn it into something interesting. Again, sparing detail, but in my view, and in the judgement of the two people who know about it, i cooked! more than that, it allowed my personal philosophy around these things to solidify in my mind, and be it real or a trick of bias, i feel smarter for it.

but once again, theres the elephant taking up half the room, the fact that i am in no way of sound mind, and my putting six years on-and-off into this with absolute earnesty is more than a little offputting. hence the readmore up there. sorry. also fuck vivziepop or w e

I hate Hazbin Hotel as much as the next person but every time I've encountered someone who dedicates a whole blog to how much they hate Hazbin, writing posts about how they would have written the plot much better, making redesigns of the characters, etc etc it just feels as insufferable as actual Hazbin fans. You're just as obsessed as the fans, why are you giving it so much of your time.

[obscenitymoving]

⛧ ; hiihi

thank you for your response, again! do you have any favorite things about being schizoid or ones that you consider positive?

also, do have any views on szpd in the sense of it being a disorder and all that? i find it interesting because it's technically considered among the Serious Mental IllnessesTM and personality disorders (the latter of which makes sense but i wouldn't be surprised if people with other pds find it much harder to deal with theirs) but i don't really perceive my experiences as.... suffering? ill? or the like? perhaps it's because some other pds tend to come with intense emotions and i'm just. dissociated all the time pfff. the way i am feels normal to me, even if neurotypicals would consider schizoids very confusing or hard to understand or abnormal in general. though then again i have this sorta mindset that suffering and pain = negative emotions that are felt, like sadness or anger. not Nothing. emptiness isn't negative if you compare it to feeling upset. sure, there's supposed to be fullness, perhaps, but i don't view it that way aha. but regardless it's funny when you're neurodivergent with little awareness about others no matter what your neurodivergence is, because i can't comprehend neurotypicals are unlike me and that i'm supposed to be the weird one. i've always called them aliens instead aha. i'm perfectly normal To Me, so what're the weirdo neurotypicals on about? (/joke but also i do think that way.) i figure it's just interesting to think about.

hiiiiii again sorry it took me so long to answer this time ive been busy being insane (playing tower of fantasy)

anyways . for me it really depends on the day. sometimes i have a lot of fun just reveling in my space and existing with entirely 0 responsibilities and obligations from other people. its very nice. i like to imagine a future in which i continue to exist as i am now (doing absolutely nothing. at least for another 2 weeks before i have 2 start college) and i dont find myself upset by it. i dont find myself being sad or feeling lonely if i continue living in my own little world where no one is ever allowed in. im not overly upset at the possibility i might just be single for the rest of my life. im content to coast through life feeling very little. though like i said, it depends on the day. sometimes i get really mad at myself (im angry more often than sad) and wonder why i cant just be "normal". and why its so hard for me to just talk to people. its an uphill battle just to remain in peoples lives. its very difficult for me because i rarely, if ever, am the one to reach out first or message people first. i just dont, im often not thinking about other people for long enough to want to text first. which obviously means most other people take this as a sign of me not being interested. which isnt always the case with me. i just dont like being the person to do it. im terrible at putting effort into relationships because it just feels so ... hard. and not worth the fight to keep someone in my life. i often think things like "if they really wanted to stay, they would have" when i drift apart from people. of course i know relationships have to go both ways, realistically i know one person cant just always put in the effort. but the little schizoid devil that sits on my shoulder tells me otherwise. (if you were wondering the angel would also be the schizoid. ie the euphoria of cancelling plans and avoiding social situations)

i do consider it a disorder (because my nothing is in equal parts enjoyable as it is suffering) but youre right in that it just does feel very normal to me. ill probably never go to therapy for it, as its not something thats so debilitating to me that i need "fixed". theres nothing to really fix, i think this is just how i am. im not really interested in putting allthe effort in to make myself "normal" when i have no problem with myself in the first place. and i dont really consider myself abnormal, i dont really care honestly. i dont care if people think im a creep... or that im a weirdo.... or a freakazoid or whatever. im too busy having a superiority complex anyways

[probably-haven]

after binge reading i have come to a new revelation: I’m not a fan of most Xiaoven fanfics

Don’t get me wrong, I love the ship and its one of my favorite to think about.... but most of the fanfiction for the ship just- doesn’t sit right with me for a number of reasons. 

Disclaimer: these are personal opinions from my own taste and are in no way an attack against any authors out there, because frankly fanfic authors are great and not like i could do better lol. As these are personal opinions, I acknowledge here and now that a number of people disagree and that they are under no obligation to change their opinions in any way as it is not and never will be my intention to tell others what they should be thinking That said- read at your own risk if you want- meh, anyway-

time to share some opinions that have been on my mind lately

The biggest reason.... is how they handle Xiao. And I don’t even mean mischaracterization because Xiao is such a complex and yet simultaneously simple character that as long as you’re somewhere in the range of “Xiao vibes” it’s really hard to write him out of character because of his complexities. What I mean is something that i actually completely agree with as being accurate to his character. In nearly every single fanfic I’ve seen, there is some element of idolization that Xiao has for Venti, or for the sake of reference, Barbatos. He tends to think himself beneath Barbatos and/or indebted to him, whether that be because he’s an archon, because he saved him, or simply because of Xiao’s tendency to dehumanize(yes i see the irony in that word usage) himself.  This by itself isn’t an issue but its often how this trait of his is treated.

Imma just list a few ways I’ve seen this be handled within Xiaoven fics. - It isn’t handled, it’s just there and accepted as a part of who he is in the story - It isn’t handled but his trait is treated as source of humor within the story - Venti(and others) roll with it (finding humor in it, just cant change it, encouraging it, making jokes about it, etc.) - Venti takes advantage of it(whether accidentally or purposely) - it’s actually addressed(by Venti or someone else or the narration- can go a number of ways, but just- even a brief reference to the fact that its not a good mindset fits in here) - savior!Venti(Where venti disagrees with it but the way it’s written gives off “god among mortals” vibes- like he’s just being humble and truly is above him in reality) - its the focus of the story  - not directly addressed but shown to be destructive.  - they chose not to not include this in the story’s characterization of Xiao(just saying that this is valid ahead of time) Theres others but i have a lot already.  Note that I tend to read more ‘serious-toned’(idk if that makes sense) fics so that may skew my perception

Now there’s a few that i have issues with on their own- both instances of it not being handled, Venti(and others) rolling with it, Venti takes advantage of it(purposely(and without good intent)), and savior!Venti. Xiao not only has this trait, but he is unfamiliar with what is normal in relationships or emotions as a result of isolation and inexperience. He is also either not aware of or not concerned with what is considered strictly “healthy.” Combining these makes for a rather dangerous combination and just accepting it as “oh he’s just like that, it’s who he is” or making it out to be something funny- It’s not wrong or bad by any means necessarily, and I could still possibly enjoy it to an extent depending on a series of different factors, but its- not as often.  Even in the case where I do enjoy reading it however, I would still feel uncomfortable sharing it with or recommending it to others because in the first instance it feels like normalizing a destructive and dangerous mindset, and in the second case it does the same while simultaneously making a joke of it. It’s the same deal with Venti or other characters rolling with it, but that’s probably gonna be mentioned later too. Not to say that this is a “wrong” way to handle it, that it makes the fic bad, or that authors even are normalizing anything by doing so, just that in my specific instance- not a fan. 

I’ll get to the others when i talk more about Venti, but for now: It’s the focus of the story. I think I saw like... 2? where the story was like- focused on this and why its a problem which- power to them, address those real world problems like a boss- but also i wouldn’t actively seek it out or anything- like, good job, but doing so just leaves it open neutrally for other factors to decide how good a story i think it is. 

not directly addressed but shown to be destructive. You’d think i wouldn’t like this- but frankly in fanfiction not everyone wants to address every character flaw verbally because it can through off story, narration, dialogue, and general flow to do so. This can be with an event, an action, a dialogue, a mere comment, making it actually fit into the it’s actually addressed category except that its- subtle enough to make its own category. plus i live for show not tell- in everything- its a thing. im- very much a fan of when the fics do this but the subtlety is easy to miss and its not common so- 

It’s actually adressed- doesnt have to be a lot- just mention anywhere or imply anywhere that maybe idolizing someone as a god and savior and being in a relationship with them while having little knowledge of standards, emotions, relationships, or healthy behaviors in general- maybe isnt the smartest idea in the word. (”Call me Venti, not Barbatos” by itself is not enough to fit in this category tho as a note)

-

Now lets talk about Venti...

uh.... those who have followed me for awhile will probably already know this but... I have a lot of opinions on Venti and a pretty- “niche(?)” perception of his characterization that isn’t shared by a lot of others- so I don’t actually read as much Venti fanfic in general as you might expect because I often end up disagreeing with how writers portray him, which again, in no way is their characterization wrong, but- “their perceived truth” conflicts with “my perceived truth” and by extent so does the characterization, though neither is any more correct than the other from an objective point of view, if that makes sense... but anyways now that that’s said, moving on before this becomes a philosophy lecture, as fun as that would be for me.  I’ll try to keep my “perceived truth” out of this for the first bit. 

Venti’s response to this: 

He rolls with it: this depends on the mood of the fanfiction. If they dont put a lot of stress on that trait of Xiao’s it totally fine but if the trait seems to be a major part of Xiao’s character, it seems like normalization once more. (more on this later)

he takes advantage of it purposely: if its an AU or something and Venti’s like a villain(i saw a few) then- villain venti isnt my cup of tea but i have no qualms. If they don’t portray Venti in a negative light while having him take advantage however that’s a bit uncomfortable to read for me because it feels like normalizing taking advantage of that mindset as well as the mindset itself. However, i did see a number of instances of Venti using it as leverage for like- self care- which i definitely have no qualms. Xiao: [insert probably destructive idolizing statement about being indebt] Venti: How bout you pay me back by actually sleeping for once smh or other variations are okay and depending on the vibe are actually a really fun dynamic as long as it doesnt turn into romanticizing or normalizing it, y’know?

Venti accidentally taking advantage of it.... I love angst- and in most of these theres a sense of guilt when he realizes- and i just think thats a lovely way of addressing the dangers of such a mindset for both sides. As long as it doesn’t keep repeating to the point of romanticization its totally cool to read in my eyes(not irl ofc). If Venti never realizes he accidentally took or is taking advantage it feels a bit like normalization, and if he does but just- doesn’t care thats- a rip.

savior!Venti...... i- i hate. the story giving off vibes that Xiao’s mindset is technically correct while Venti oh so humbly tells him to treat him as an equal like the wonderful and charitable person he is.... i just- no. of course thats over dramatizing it- I think the main thing that gives it this vibe is when Venti doesn’t seem either concerned, surprised, uncomfortable, or otherwise have a negative feeling towards Xiao’s mindset. Just- it makes the whole thing weird in my eyes when Venti doesnt really seem to have his own reason to oppose the mindset idk- 

-

fact time!

Venti is the god of freedom. His backstory is freeing Mondstadt from a god’s tyrannical reign. His origin is a windsprite, just another breeze bringing changes for the better. His form is a nameless boy who played an instrument and then died, thus failing at his only dream and only ever accomplishing anything because of the help of others. He slept for a thousand years after the archon war to avoid putting Mond under the rule of yet another tyrannical god. He only even became a god because Andrius chose to let him. He wouldn’t have even had that chance if the nameless bard had survived, he’d remain just another wind while his friend ascended to godhood. Venti sacrifices his own power for his people’s freedom. 

now that I’ve laid out a number of canon facts, time for opinions:

Venti has little to no desire to be seen as a god. He thrives in, comes from, and emphasizes a lack of superiority in quite nearly everything. The first Ragnvindir, who canonically turned his back on Venti after Decarabian’s fall, likely did so because one- he anticipated power would corrupt and Venti would soon become just another tyrannical god, two- he suspected Venti used the nameless bard in an attempt to rise to godhood, or three- idk insert other possibilities to acknowledge again that i could totally be wrong.

Look me in the eyes and tell me Venti wouldnt trade godhood for his friend in an instant. His godhood was only granted to him because his friend died and could easily serve to constantly remind him of what could have been and what he lost. Venti takes no enjoyment from being seen as superior and in my opinion, I feel that it could actually make him largely uncomfortable when his divinity and abilities as an archon get involved-

also self promotion for my favorite posts- check out #archon war era venti if thats interesting to you

so anyway Venti rolling with it or making jokes about it just doesn’t sit right with me.- 

-

Okay! enough talking about that mindset!

idk- i have... a few/lot of other gripes and stuff or just things that kinda throw off the vibe for me but that’s the main one plus my general personal pickiness when it come to Venti fanfics- but this has gotten long enough already- 

idk i just felt like rambling about it and i haven’t done a long post in a while so-

again, I love the ship and its actually one of my favorites- just the fanfic isnt my thing..... that doesn’t mean i don’t still love it and come up with a whole ton of brainrot and ideas on it tho lmao

[izzyliker]

Hey, asking you this as nicely as I can but can you give the immediate victim blaming a break. The absolute lack of respect you have for the people tmc abused is genuinely disheartening. Yes, he’s a shitty person, you’re entitled to hate him but immediately going “well you should’ve seen it coming earlier lol we’ve been saying this” is just ASTONISHINGLY shortsighted and cruel. Have your opinions about him and the situation all you want I would just ask that you please keep it to yourself due to the many many people he’s hurt that are still on here and can see you disparaging them.

ok, that is not what i have been saying. "well you should've known" is not an accurate summary of my feelings on this matter but apologies if thats how it came across. i have been in an abusive relationship where the person did a lot of the same things and i, too, defended that person without considering how it impacted other people. i almost lost my best friend because of how i acted as a result of keeping him in my life while people around me kept telling me to get tf out. i know.

what i am is im frustrated and annoyed by how long people were willing to publicly and passionately defend this guy while apparently fully aware what kind of shit he was doing to other people, many of which is detailed in the callout itself, and how this is now being framed as news. before the document itself was published all me (or anyone) had to go off of was vague posts that amounted to a "callout trailer" and almost all of the information on it was shit that was 100% completely public knowledge. 20+ people being aware of all that goddamn stuff and not one of them publicly stopping associating with him is frustrating. it comes across as spineless and yes, like one anon told GD, gaslighty (although i have my own issues with this being used on a large scale instead of in interpersonal relationships but i understand where they were coming from). his lesbophobia, transphobia (strange that none of the transphobia towards trans men was mentioned?), and panphobia/aphobia/biphobia were widely documented and seeing that on a callout post as if it were news was extremely tiring.

ive since read the callout. the interpersonal actions seem to have been horrible but sadly im not surprised (by which i dont mean "and neither should you" but rather. my spidey senses for this sort of behavior are pretty accurate most of the time and i did see this coming. this isnt me saying im Better than these people or that they shouldve as well but rather that i have learned to identify people of this genre.) by any of them.

also im 75% sure this is tumblr user GD. hello. if not then apologies, its just that the typing here is very similar. if it is, i think you trying to both take accountability for this and process whatever it is youre processing at the same time on tumblr is a bad idea and going to just lead to people feeling hurt and betrayed because while i truly do see where the reaction is coming from (like, truly, i understand, believe me), if you say "i take responsibility for how i acted while being manipulated" but then when people voice their negative feelings you tell them theyre victim blaming you it is going to reflect poorly on you. i dont think you understand how many people were absolutely hurt by the enabling you and your large, massively popular group of friends did for him, including the MASSIVE defense rant you typed up in defense of him when someone sent an ask to the bi jon event about him being panphobic and aphobic. whether its fair for people to expect you to immediately go into depth about it is questionable but dont invite people to do this when you obviously cannot handle it (i dont mean this in a bad way like "oh you should handle it". i mean genuinely this is how you get burnt out and possibly worsen possible future trauma. by trying to immediately placate people without having the mental resources to do so.)

i think the "we dont condone these views and never did!" without ever specifying what they were or doing any other work there is a lazy fucking cop-out. your circle was/is massively popular and a lot of people took all of you as authorities on stuff like headcanons and respectful portrayals of certain characters or identities to the point of accepting your meta as canon (something you havent really dissuaded ever), and associating publicly with someone who would constantly do this kind of shit and then defending him publicly while also positing yourself as an authority isnt something you can just "oops! we never agreed with him!" yourself out of. GD & TF specifically, you are massive blogs. you are babys first TMA blog. people in your askbox hurt and betrayed by this shit are not necessarily there to victim blame you. they are there because they trusted your word when they said "hey seraf reblogged anti pan and anti ace and weird transphobic posts" and you said "seraf is one of my dearest friends and would never do any of those things and im personally offended youd even imply that." i think you dont understand the real life consequences of the massively popular posts and sentiments he made & published and that you helped spread (despite apparently knowing that he was being a massive hypocrite and bigoted towards those groups or identities in his personal life). obviously interpersonal abuse/conflict is going to be "worse" but dear god i hope you collectively understand that "oh btw we never endorsed his views" is a massive copout and a shit apology for the hurt this association and endorsement caused. tmc has been terrorizing this fucking fandom for months with his bullshit and bigotry and you have not been passive bystandars but active enablers.

anyways, hope everyone involved gets to uh, heal i suppose, but i think expecting the people who seraf suicide baited, the groups of trans men he misgendered, the people who he targeted and harassed, the genuine fucking long lasting dysphoria he caused real people to have over his shitty takes re: transness and dysphoria, and the general shit behavior he was allowed to keep up with zero pushback from anyone in his circle of the fandom to drop all the anger or frustration they have for the people who enabled him and defended him aggressively is... unrealistic. and makes you look bad. especially when the doc doesnt even clarify which opinions you still support.

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 48 - Nike CM inundated with criticism.

K: Hi, this is Dir en grey's Kaoru, with this week's episode of The Freedom of Expression. Joe san, Tasai san, welcome. Ok, lets get started, Joe, if you please.

J: Yes, uh, last week's episode...the first episode of the year, we were talking about poo, haha. It shows what a wide scope this show has. This week I have some more serious news. This was quite a talking point back in December, I think many people will already be aware of it. Its the news about the Nike commercial which recieved an avalanche of complaints. The promotional video made by Nike Japan, 'Keep moving - yourself - the furure. The Future isn't Waiting' has taken a lot of criticism. The view count on youtube had reached a million views as of last December, but at the same has recieved a lot of negative comments thought to be from Japanese users. The majority of these seem to be from online right-wingers saying things like, 'Racist discrimination is extremely rare in Japan (This cm is outrageous)',  'There is no discrimination against Koreans in Japan, even if there was there would be a reason for it', 'Nike is anti-Japan, Im not buying from there any more', 'Are Nike aware that the Association of Korean residents in Japan (Chongryon) were involved in the abuductions of Japanese people?' etc. Incidentally, there are 3 young people who appear in the commercial mainly. One of them appears to be a Korean resident of Japan. She is shown walking the streets looking down, while wearing Chima jeogori, and also being bullied at school, likely due to her ethnicity. The online anti-Korean, right wing Japanese sphere are thought to dislike this depiction. To summarise, their reaction to this CM has been to say it shows contempt for Japan, by suggesting that Japan is following the same kind of trend as the West in terms of discrimination, even though Japan hardley has any discrimination compared to the West (they think)....

So I checked out this cm as soon as it became news, and the first thing I thought is that these kinds of comments have kinda missed the point. The second thing I thought was in regards to the claim that anti-Korean discrimination is extremely rare in Japan. I personally have quite a few Korean-Japanese friends, and they have said that since they were small, throughout school, they have faced discrimination. Well, discrimination isn't a uniquely Japanese thing, many countries also have discrimination. Im not saying we are the only ones who have it, but I am at least very aware that, even in Japan, discrimination does exist. Well, I mean, how should we interpret this CM?

T: As for the meaning, I get that it shows there is discrimination, but after that it must somehow be related to sports, being Nike?

J: Yeh, so when you see these young people in the CM suffering discrimination, they are each doing different sports. Its like, if you excell at your sport, you can change your own future, kinda. A message like, even though there is discrimination, if you find your calling, you can change the world with it.

T: I see.

J: Kaoru, what do you think?

K: Well, even with that, its definitely not wrong.  *1

J: Yeah, as for Nike, they must have made it this way deliberately. They made a Korean resident of Japan the protagonist on purpose, so they are trying to put out the message of 'lets stop this kind of discrimination'. And with sports, surely...well, its not limited to sports, if there is anything that someone really excells at, they can overcome discrimination with that, and create something new. I think thats the message of this CM. But..

K: Its a bit difficult to get that message across.

J: Well, yeah...

K: To get that across as the point.

T: Yeah.

J: Hmm, yeh. Another thing I was unsure about was the response from the mass media. When this kind of news appears, they use the phrase 'the cm is under fire/recieved a backlash'. But as far as I could see, I had a look at the comments, they seemed a lot more like false accusations, or like harassment. So if you use that to say the CM is under fire, it makes it seem like the fault lies with the CM. All I could see was harassment from the right-wing. And its probably not a lot of people writing this stuff. Its more likely to be a few people from one group doing it. So I thought it was a bit wrong of the media to present the issue as if the CM is under fire, as this makes it seem like the problem it the CM itself. It seemed to me like just a lot of false accusation.

K: Hm, well, they made this CM, knowing it would be an easy target for accusations. So, its kinda hard to see what their aim was with this.

J: Yeah, I see.

T: For example, if they had made the protagonist a really famous sports star, it might have been easier to get the point across..with their story. But because the CM features these 3 kinda abstract characters, the meaning gets a bit vague.

K: Yeah, yeah, I agree. Im not entirely sure what they are trying to say with this.

J: I see, yeh. You think there is room for criticism in that sense?

K: Im not sure about criticism, but for the CM itself, I wasn't sure what they were saying, although Im sure there are people who understand the meaning of it.

J: So as of now, the CM has not been shut down, so if anyone wants to watch it, they still can if they are interested. If any of the viewers have any thoughts on it, please leave a comment on this video.

T: Yeah, they are definitely not showing off their shoe performance with this CM. Though their specific goal isn't obvious, I reckon this is fine. If it starts debate, then its good.

K: Well, yeah, if it creates the opportunity for debate, then its good.

Kami: Um, there is a lot to debate about this cm, but Nike shoes are cool, right?

J: Ah, he joined us.

Kami: Do you guys all have Nike shoes?

T: Yeah, I do.

K: I do.

J: Ahh, I havn't bought any Nike shoes recently.

T: I've always worn Nike. The basketball one's, Jordans.

K: Oh, I have those too.

J: Are they like the low-tech ones?

K: What do you mean by low-tech?

J: Like, not the Air Max type.

T: Well, yeah, they don't have air in them.

J: Right.

Kami: No, the Air Max ones are good.

J: He likes Air Max, haha.

Kami: The Air Max ones are easy to get on, and you don't get tired. Is it different for you guys?

K: No, well, they're ok yeh. Haha. I can't deny that.

J: Right, yeh. Kami, you are a fan of the Air Max ones?

Kami: Yeah.

T: People used to go hunting for Air Maxes, do you remember?

J: Oh, yeah, they did.

T:...when they were really popular, in the 90s. Kami probably bought some of them then.

Kami: I did, I did.

J: You hunted for them?

Kami: No, I didn't hunt for them.

J: Imagine Kami going hunting for Air Maxes.

Kami: I didn't hunt for them. I just bought them normally.

J: Ah, ok. Haha, if you did you wouldn't be a god at all.

Kami: You can only get them through lottery these days, right?

K: Yeah.

J: Oh, really?

K: Yeah, the popular ones. Airmax, and other types like Jordans.

J: Oh, right.

Kami: I don't buy those types though.

J: Oh, you don't buy those?

Kami: No.

J: Ahh, you just buy the normal ones, without lining up or doing a lottery and stuff?

Kami: Yes.

T: There are some that cost a huge amount of money. Collaboration items and stuff.

J: Ehh.

Kami: I shop in Shibuya ABC Mart.

K: There was a collaboration with Dior.

J: Nike collaborated with Dior??

K: Yeah, they are about ¥1million yen.

J: Ehhh??

T: Yeah, they are.

J: Ehh? Its not even leather.

Kami: Shibuya ABC store is good!

J: Hahaha

K: Ahh, yeh, its good.

J: Of course, right? Kami, do you shop there?

Kami: Yeah, cause they have a lot in there.

K: Haha, yeah...ABC does.

J: It does, yeh.

Kami: You can buy whenever you like.

J: Well, yes, thats true. I havn't bought any sneakers recently though.

K: You don't have that kind of image.

J: Thats right, I don't. I usually buy leather shoes.

K: Dr Martens?

J: Yeah, Dr Martens. I worked with Dr Martens last year. Would love to again this year!

K: Should we all go out and buy some? haha

J: To ABC Mart? haha

Kami: I also buy them on Amazon.

J: Eh?!

K: I bought some on Amazon just earlier

J: Oh, you buy them on Amazon?

T: Aren't there a lot of rip offs on Amazon?

J: Hm, are there?

T: I had a look on there before to see if there were any Air Maxes, and there were complete rip off versions going for as cheap as ¥2000. When its normally ¥12000, thats cheap. When you look, its not actually Nike, but 'Ni-kay' or something.

J: There are rip offs of Dr Martens like that too. They look exactly the same but super cheap. I saw two pairs going for ¥5000. They were so cheap, I bought them, and when they arrived they were no good at all. They looked the same as the real thing, but they leather was artificial..I thought, 'Aghh!'.

K: These days even brands are making things like copycat products, aren't they?

J: Yeah, yeah. Like putting out fake versions as the real product. Thats also interesting, its like a totally different approach. It has an effective punch, 'Fake!'.

K: Well, anyway, is that about it?

J: Yep.

K: Thank you for watching this week too. Please subscribe.

*1 Not entirely sure I've got that right.

Back to top

[thatfunkyopossum]

whys it a worthless video essay? genuinely curious on your thoughts :0

The racism mostly!

Disclaimer: i’m white, and not meaning to speak for any person of color! My opinions on this are formed based on what i noticed in combination with what i know about racism, and I believe that in this case i’m right about what i’ve observed. That said, my observations are open to criticism from any black people who might be reading this and feel like weighing in, as my only personal experiences in bigotry are with my identity as a queer person. In short: i’m not an expert, but i do have eyes and what they see is repulsive. Anyway this will be rambly.

First and foremost, The Tragedy of Droids by @popculturedetective’s editing directly connects the Droids in Star Wars with the atrocities of chattel slavery in the americas, and the perceived connection is at times hinted at in the script.

@4:10 into the video “...they’re also bought and sold like cattle” is a quote i caught when trying to find the following time stamps, because the editing is the real beast here.

There’s also @ 4:35 “you can probably guess where i’m going with this, because the social arrangement i’ve just described is one of property and owner. And a property relationship between two intelligent beings that gives one absolute power over the other is called slavery.”

In this video essay, there are multiple times when the visuals cut between Roots and the droids of Star Wars. This is important because Roots is a mini series based off the family history of the black man who wrote the book, Alex Haley, and the scenes being directly juxtaposed with Star Wars droids are the scenes from it where black people are on slave ships or being sold at auction. TToD essay, which was at the very least presented by a white man, wants the viewer to connect robots and black people for the sake of the essay’s argument. TToD essay wants the connection between real black human beings who actually lived and suffered and died in the real damn world to, i cannot stress this enough, machines.

To anyone who is reading this and not seeing why thats fucked up, because they view the droids as people, here’s the problem. Droids aren’t people. No matter how you slice it, no matter how much you love them, theres actually no way for us to be sure that 99% of droids are sentient beings, that are self aware, and that feel things. Droids in the Star Wars universe are constructed to be tools that talk to you and have fun personalities. Some droids might be self aware and sentient, but the likelihood is that the vast majority aren’t due to being what they are. Tools. This is in stark contrast to black people, because black people are, uh, people!!

At 4:00 into the video essay, we start to see the cuts between Roots and Star Wars. Pop Culture Detective cuts between C-3PO/R2-D2 being sold to Luke’s family and a black woman being put in front of a crowd of white people to be auctioned off. This same sequence of cuts is used again later in the video essay.

At 28:20 into the video, a clip from Star Trek: The Next Generation is used wherein Guinan (played by Whoopi Goldberg, a black woman) is talking about slaves and slavery, how there have been disposable people in history. This clip on its own is so, so good. It aired in 1989, and I have no idea what the political climate was like for black people then (im not as well versed in history as i would like) but i can guess it probably wasn’t good!

“...They do the dirty work. They do the work that no one else wants to do because its too difficult or too hazardous. You don’t have to think about their welfare. You don’t think about how they feel. Whole generations of disposable people.”

And then Pop Culture Detective uses this (to me) powerful line about atrocities done to human beings... and cuts to R2-D2 serving drinks to Jabba’s crew. PCD says some bullshit about how star wars is using the droids as an allegory for slavery but has nothing to say with the metaphor, and then it cuts back to Guinan to finish her speech. Might i say: what the fuck. What the fuck.

I can’t find it right now, but i distinctly remember there is also a bit where the visuals cut straight from a black man’s face to the face of an astromech.

And the cherry on top is that the clones are in this video... and never mentioned. Okay actually i’m going to talk about this video’s treatment of the clones and how utterly fucked up it is because i was so caught up in the “this essay wants you to think of the horrors of chattel slavery done to black people as being even remotely comparable to the existence of R2-D2” that i forgot to talk about the clones.

Okay so this video does not mention the clones at all. It uses clips from the clone wars and clips from the prequels movies with clones in them, but the clones aren’t even so much as talked about in passing. The closest we get is this brushing off of the issue in general @29:50:

“Remember, this is a universe where humanoid slavery exists as well, but its presented as unambiguously negative, though not exactly something the heroes are in a rush to abolish.”

Which is said about Anakin and his mother. And its not like they forgot about the clone wars and to talk about it at all! No, they had this to say on it @15:10. See if you notice anything.

“...But what about Battle droids?... Well, the separatist droid army in the prequels seems specifically designed as little more than canon fodder. Making the bad guys unfeeling robots avoids the messy moral complications and mass casualties that would result from an interstellar war. If battle droids aren’t alive then the audience doesn’t have to care when thousands of them are killed in extended battlefield scenes. Indeed we’re encouraged to think of these types of droids as mere objects and to cheer at their dismemberment.”

Drink it in y’all, i’m still absorbing it. I’ll note that sections of this were played over clips from the first battle of geonosis, and there were clones on screen. So, PCD completely sidesteps the issue of the clones, seemingly unaware of the actual explicit enslavement of brown men who are unquestionably living thinking feeling people, in favor of projecting humanity onto every single droid including the infamously poorly programed B1 Battle droids.

I don’t know what else I can say on that besides the fact that some obscure ass clips from the clone wars are used to humanize the robots, implying that PCD watched tcw and missed the episode where Slick calls the Jedi slavers.

There’s other problems with it as a whole, like the essayist completely failing to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that all droids are sentient, or that even most droids are. No consideration is given to the purpose, construction, or make/model of droid into the question of “are they sentient”? And we’re left with the implication that your average mouse droid is at all relatable to a black person.

In fact, PCD in this essay seems to actually imply that r2-d2 and bb8 being sentient-ish robots we’re supposed to empathize with, and the battle droids being not that, is due to a failure/breakdown of internal logic. And not that they’re, you know, different machines...?

I have so much to say on this mess, but this is long enough as it is. In conclusion, Pop Culture Detective’s video essay should have been about the clones, but it chose to focus on droids instead and in doing so dehumanized black people in an attempt to humanize robots.

I’ll leave you with this quote from the video, but edited slightly to be instead about the clones.

“[Slick]’s observations about [clone] slavery could have been an opportunity for Star Wars to finally grapple with the uncomfortable fact that...the good guys seem to have been keeping sentient beings in a state of perpetual servitude.”

[la5t-res0rt]

this was written several weeks ago in response to asks i was receiving i am posting it now it is very long the longest i have ever made and it is not very well edited but here it is in this final essay i talk about how shitty rae is about black people in her writing as well as just me talking about how her writing sucks in general lets begin

hello everyone 

as you may know i have received a lot of anons in the last week or so about issues of racism in the beetlejuice community both just generally speaking and also within specific spaces 

i was very frustrated to not be getting the answers i wanted because i typically do not talk about what i do not see but in an effort to be better about discourse i went looking through discourse from before my time in the fandom and i also received some receipts and information from my followers and from some friends

keep in mind that the voices and thoughts of bipoc are not only incredibly important at all times but in this circumstance it is important that if a bipoc has something to add you listen and learn and be better

i admit that when this happened i wasnt aware of the extent of what occurred and im angry at myself for not doing more at that time and i want to work harder to make sure something like this doesnt go unnoticed again

im a hesitant to talk about months old discourse because i have been criticized for bringing up quote old new unquote but this is very important and i am willing to face whatever comes from to me

lets talk about this

content from our local racist idiot that may be months old but its important

putting my thoughts under a cut to spare the dash but before i begin obviously this is awful

lets fucking unpack this folks

right out the gate op states that she supports artistic freedom but then within a couple words she goes against that statement

being entirely canon compliant isnt artistic freedom and even so if this person has so much respect for canon they wouldnt be out here erasing lydias obvious disgust for beetlejuice in the movie or ignoring lydias age for the sake of shipping that shit isnt canon either 

also we love the quick jab at the musical there hilarious we love it dont we because god forbid a licensed and successful branch on a media have any standing in this conversation but whatever

now lets scroll down and talk about the term racebending

the term racebending was coined around 2009 in response to the avatar the last airbender movie a film in which the east asian races of the characters were erased by casting white actors in the three leading roles of aang sokka and katara 

whenever the term racebending is used in a negative light it is almost always a case of whitewashing like casting scarlett johansen in ghost in the shell or the casting of white actors of the prince of persia sands of time instead of iranian ones

this kind of racebending erases minorities from beeing seen in media and is wrong

all that being said however racebending has also been noted to have very positive after effects like the 1997 adaptation of cinderella or casting samuel jackson as nick fury in the marvel movies nick fury was originally a white guy can you even imagine

i read this piece from an academic that said quote writers can change the race and cultural specificity of central characters or pull a secondary character of color from the margins transforming them into the central protagonist unquote

racebending like the kind that rae is so heated about is the kind of creative freedom that leads to more representation of bipoc in media which will never be a bad thing ever no matter how pissy you get about it

designing a version of a character as a poc isnt serving to make them necessarily better it serves to give new perspective and perhaps the opportunity to connect even more deeply with a character it doesnt marginalize or erase white people it can uplift poc and if you think uplifting poc is wrong because it tears down white people or whatever youre a fucking moron and you need to get out of your podunk white folk town and see the real world

the numbers of times a bipoc particularly a bipoc that is also lgbt+ has been represented in media are dwarfed by what i as a white dude have seen myself represented in media is and that isnt okay that isnt equality and its something that should change not only in mainstream media but in fandom spaces as well

lets move down a bit further to the part about bullying straight people which is hilarious and lets also talk about the term fetishistic as well lets start with that

this person literally writes explicit pornography of a minor and an adult are we really going to let someone like that dictate what is and what isnt fetishistic

similarly to doing a positive racebend situation people may project lgbt+ headcanons on a character because its part of who they are and it helps them feel closer to the character and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that

depicting lgbt+ subject matter on existing characters isnt an inherently fetishistic action generally things only really become fetishistic when the media is being crafted and hyped by people who are outside of lgbt+ community for example how young teens used to flip a tit about yaoi or how chasers fetishize trans people

but drawing a character with top surgery scars or headcanoning them as trans is harmless and its just another way to interpret a character literally anone could be trans unless if their character bio says theyre cis and most of them dont go that deep so it really is open to interpretation and on the whole most creators encourage this sort of exploration because it is a good thing to get healthy representation out in the world

as for it being used to bully straights thats just funny i dont have anything else on that like if youre straight and you feel threatened and bullied because of someone headcanoning someone as anything that isnt cishet youre a fucking idiot and a weak baby idiot at that like the real world must fucking suck for you because lgbt+ people are everywhere and statistically a big chunk of your favorite characters arent cishet sorry be mad about it

lets roll down a bit further about the big meat of the issue which was when several artists were drawing interpretations of lydia as a black girl which i loved but clearly this person didnt love it because they have a very narrow and very racist and problematic view of what it means to be a black person

and before i move forward i must reiderate that i am a white person and you should listen to the thoughts of poc people like @fright-of-their-lives​ or @gender-chaotic it is not my place to explain what the black experience is like and it certainly isnt this persons either

implying that the story of a black person isnt worth telling unless if the character faces struggles like racism and prejudice is downright moronic 

why use the word kissable to describe a black persons lips now thats what i call fetishistic and its to another extreme if youre talking about a black version of lydia on top of that

the author of this post says herself that shes white so clearly shes the person whos an authority on the black experience and what it means to be a black person right am i reading that right or am i having a fucking conniption

how about allowing black characters to exist without having to struggle why cant a black version of lydia just be a goth teenager with a ghost problem who likes photography and is also black like she doesnt have to move to a hick town and get abused by racist folks she doesnt have to go through any more shit than she already goes through and if you honestly think thats the only way to tell a black persons story you need to get your brain cleaned

you know nothing about the complexities about being a black person and i dont either but you know wh odo black people who are doing black versions of canon characters they fucking know 

lets squiggle down just a bit further 

so the writer has issues with giving characters traits like a broad nose or larger lips if theyre a woman but if theyre a man suddenly its totally okay to go all ryan murphy ahs coven papa legba appropriation when approaching character design like are you fucking stupid do you hear yourself is that really how you see black men like what the fuck is wrong with you

none of the shit youre spewing takes bravery it takes ignorance and supreme levels of stupidity

do you really think you with your fic where a black lgbt+ woman is tortured and abused where you use the n word with a hard r to refer to her like that shits not okay its fucking depraved and yeah we know you love being shitty but like christ on a bike thats so much 

can we also talk about this

what the fuck is this fetishistic bull roar garbage calling this black character beyonce dressing her up in quote fuck me heels unquote are you are you seriously gonna write this and say its a shining example of how to write a black character youre basically saying ope here she is shes a sex icon haha im so progressive and i clealry understand the black experience hahahaha fuck you oh my god

on top of that theres a point where this character is only referred to as curly hair or the fact that the n word is used in the fic with the hard r like thats hands down not okay for you to use especially not in a manner like this jesus christ

oop heres a little more a sampling for you of the hell i am enduring in reading this drivel

oh boy lets put a leash on the angry black woman character lets put her in a leash and have the man imply hes a master like are you kidding me are you for real and what the fuck is with calling her shit like j lo and beyonce do you actually think thats clever at all are you just thinking of any poc that comes into your head for this 

also lydia fucking tells this girl that she shouldnt have lost her temper like she got fucking leashed im so tired why is this writing so problematic and also so bad

hold up before i lose my head lets look at some of her own comments on the matter of this character and what happens to her

hi hello youre just casually tossing the word lynch out there in the wide open world as if thats not a problem that is still real like are you fucking unhinged there have been multiple cases of this exact thing happening in our firepit of a country in the last five months alone like how can you still have shit like this up for people to read how can you be proud of work like this in this climate

and also what the fuck is that last bit 

what the actual fuck

i dont speak for black people as a white person but you do!? im sorry i had to get my punctuation out for that because wow thats fucking asinine just because one black person read your fic and didnt find the torture and abuse of your one black character abhorrant doesnt mean that the vast majority of people not only in the fandom but in the human population with decency are going to think its okay because its not 

i started this post hoping to be level headed and professional but jesus fucking christ this woman is something else white nationalism is alive and well folks and its name is rae

if you defend this woman you defend some truly abhorrant raecism

editors notes 

in order to get some perspective on these issues more fully some of the writing by the author was examined and on the whole it was pretty unreadable but i want to just call back to the very beginning of this essay where the person in question talked about holding canon in high regard but then in their writing they just go around giving people magic and shit and ignoring the end of the movie entirely like are you canon compliant or nah 

the writing doesnt even read like beetlejuice fanfic it reads as self indulgent fiction you could easily change the names and its just a bad fanfic from 2007

also can we talk about writing the lesbian character as an angry man hater like its 2020 dude and als olets touch on that girl on girl pandering while beetlejuice is just there like here we go fetishizing again wee

i cant find a way to work this into this already massive post but

im going to throw up

okay so thats a lot we have covered a lot today and im sure my ask box will regret it but this definitely should have been more picked apart when it happened

please feel free to add more to this i would love more perspectives than just my own.

[cosmic-affinities]

Deku Vs Kacchan Part Two- Bakudeku

HOLY SHIT I just got done rewatching Deku Vs. Kacchan Part Two and now when in watching it I totally shipped the two from the start and so heres my word vomit of why I can’t understand how some people don’t see their shipping potential. 

Alright so the first time I watched this episode, and their fight at Ground Beta, is where I really started to ship them hardcore, I always liked their dynamic but this really locked it in for me. So I was idly going through and rewatching some of my favorite episodes/arcs and I watched Deku Vs Kacchan Part Two, this time with them already being my favorite ship from the show so obviously I have thoughts. 

I just want to go through and show why I do not understand when people absolutely refuse to think these two have any chemistry. Also this focuses on Katsuki quite a bit just because there’s usually a bunch of this type of thing about Izuku.

1) First of all back to the very begining of the series Izuku very nearly told Katsuki about OFA, he felt so guilty for betraying Katsuki that he needed a way to explain himself, with full confidence that Katsuki wouldn’t tell anyone. This was after he had spend literal months keeping all of this a secret from everyone, an everyone that included his mom and would eventually include his closest friends.

2) Back to the episode in particular, this is one of the only times we ever see Katsuki cry and get emotional (with an emotion other than anger) and it is all for Izuku. He specifically made sure Izuku and him were together and he broke down all of the walls he had put up (these same walls had kept all of his emotions from affecting him during the provisional liscence exam) Izuku is seriously the only one who can truly get how he is feeling like he says during the episode. They have such an understanding of each other’s emotions that Katsuki is actually angry that he can’t read Izuku the same way after All Might. 

3) The entire episode really highlights their childhood together and Katsuki’s conflicting outward superiority complex partnered with his deep seeded inferiority complex (IMO the superiority complex he outwardly projects is the direct result of his true inferior feelings that he refuses to submit to so instead he is ‘faking it until he makes it’ so he doesn’t crumble) anyways the point of this is it really shows where all of his aggression towards Izuku comes from. He doesn’t hate Izuku necessarily he hates the fact that he is sure that Izuku looks down on him, I think if the two had met at UA or maybe even only slightly later than they did there would be much less animosity (although where’s the fun in that dynamic [im slightly kidding]) another anyways is the fact that Katsuki so willingly tells Izuku all of this and doesn’t even try to take any of it back.

4) The actual factual fight scene is also very well done and leaves a lot to my shipping imagination. The way that they know each other just well enough to know the best ways to fight but both of them have to really put everything in to even get hits out on each other shows how closely they examine the other, for Izuku we know is is out of habit/ in his nature but for Katsuki this is eye opening, showing how much he truly pays attention to, even though his demeanor is very much ‘im the best and I don’t need to learn anything about anyone’ (this is not to say that he is not very very intelligent and can very easily evaluate fighting styles on the go during battle but to say he took time outside of battle to think about Izuku says something when it comes to Katsuki) also can we all take a second to appreciate when Katsuki has Izuku pinned to the floor and they are both panting *chefs kiss*

5) When Katsuki is talking to Izuku after he has him pinned he says ‘You have All Might’s power but even using his strength even after making it your own some how you still managed to lose to me.” and normally he would stress that he lost and that he specifally lost to him but when he says it he sounds resigned and slightly dissapointed, as if he expected to lose, which is something he never expects because he does have faith in his own abilities which shows that he, no matter how subconciously, thought Izuku would win, or maybe put up more of a fight. That coming from Katsuki is high praise.

6) When Katsuki starts his rant about how he finshed All Might and breaks down he talks about how it all keeps playing on loop and that everyone has to know about it, but who does he go to? Izuku. He goes to the one person who has always been in his life and has seen him at some of his lowest moments (sludge monster) and as I mentioned before the only one who truly knows what he is feeling. Izuku even says that Katsuki was more affected than he himself was and he is All Might’s succesor.

7) Moving a bit into Izuku, this is the first time we see him stand up for himself, before this most of their interactions are negative and Izuku allows Katsuki to walk all over him, but here he tells him that he won’t be a punching bag anymore, which puts them into the playing field as equals.

8) Izuku also narrates their relationship, hitting on how awful it was up until that point, how they knew each other for a long time, how they never talked about they ‘really felt’ which can be taken with some extra shipping context since it is directly from Izuku’s point of view.

9) More about everything Izuku says, this is the first time he hears what Katsuki thinks about him, how he thinks he is constantly beeing looked down on even though Izuku treated him like he was golden. This makes everything so much clearer for the two of them, the giant mess of misunderstanding that they needed to work through, this is their opening.

10) The magnificence of the line “All Might was my hero, but you were the one actually in my life!” this is one of the lines that plenty of people say solidified the ship for them, you get to physically see how much Izuku loves All Might, mere episodes before you see his room(s) (dorm+house) covered in All Might memorbilia but he flat out says that Katsuki had/has a bigger impact on him.

11) Izuku narrates something he would never admit, he even says that he would never admit it. He says that when he gets emotional and his desire to win takes over he subconciously starts to talk like Katsuki, think about that for a second, when Izuku is aware and not swept up in a fight, he is fully trying to emulate All Might, everytime he is fighting or doing resuce mission practice he thinks about what All Might would do or say. So much so that when he gets told off for saying the wrong thing during the Provisional liscence exam he beats himself up for not doing what All Might would at the begining of the rescue mission. Even with all of that he says that when he gets rilled up he starts to talk like Katsuki, this shows how much he looks at Katsuki and sees a hero, the ideal (thats a bit of a strong word but you get the point) when he wants to win so badly he does not try to copy the actual number one hero he tries to act like Katsuki, his hero, his image of victory. Also he calls him his image of victory, come on he is basically shipping himself at that point.

12) Katsuki thinks he isn’t good enough and says so to All Might and Izuku, the one who would never willingly accept anyones help he allowed himself to tell the two of them.

13) When All Might says that Izuku admires Katsuki for his strength and Kastuki fears Izukus heart and spirit, how is that not total shipping material?!

14) This all ends with Katsuki accepting his role in Izuku’s training, he didn’t even think about it for more than a second before he ‘threatened’ Izuku basically telling him that if he doesn’t get stronger on his own Katsuki will force him to get stronger

15) Then they have their little banter about surpassing each other (mad bants ;) ) then All Might mentions that they are now ‘Proper Rivals’ in a way they werent before. Their relationship grows and expands, with that a mutual resepct and understanding.

16) When Aizawa asks who threw the first punch Katsuki does not hesitate to admit that he did, even after thier one fight he is showing growth, he doesn’t try to play it off as if it was mutual, Izuku quickly jumps in and says he was at fault as well, not letting Katsuki take all of the balme. All Might has spoken to them once and yet they’re already working better together.

17) When the two are on house arrest and Izuku asks Katsuki what he thinks about the shoot style Katsuki gives him an actual answer, and even (back handedly) compliments him on it when previously he would have shaken it off and maybe even yelled at him for asking, major improvement in their relationship.

18) This last one is something that happens in every episode but really stands out as they fight. Katsuki still lets Izuku call him Kacchan, his childhood nickname. It would be so easy and probably more ‘in character’ for him to tell Izuku off for calling him something that would be considered so childish, but I think it is his own way of holding onto that part of himself, when they were young and quirks didn’t matter. Most of the conjecture about why he lets Izuku call him that is mostly fanon but it is definetly something that helps the ship.

OK so i rambled on for a lot longer than i originally intended but here you go to the one person who might read this far, this is for you thank you.

Also mind you this is a single 24 minute episode and there are 18 (EIGHTTEEN) points, although it is an episode deicted to the two of them, either way I ship bakudeku and this episode really did it for me.

[donnieluvsthings]

gonna rant about sanders sides plot bc i think about it all the time and need an outlet okay here we go. this got super long so most of it is under the cut.

fyi: i talk a lot about patton and virgil and how theyre doing. i dont think i paint either of them negatively and if i did its not on purpose bc i love them both but just be aware!! also this is just my interpretations/predictions and i wanted to share but its not The Only Acceptable Interpretation and if u disagree then obviously thats fine lol

so i keep thinking about the conflict between virgil and patton. clearly something is weird. i think it probably started when virgil asked patton to stop treating him like “some innocent harmless angel” at the end of LNTAO.

i actually think this was a good interaction—virgil was trying not to hurt patton’s feelings but also was expressing something he was uncomfortable with and he succeeded in my opinion. and patton doesn’t argue, just immediately goes “okay, virgil!” like he says his name, no nickname, no kiddo. he starts trying instantly to check himself and respect virgil’s wishes.

then in embarrassing phases their interactions seem a little more...tense? i’ll list the ones that stick out bc lists are Fun:

patton fakes being scared. virgil: “don’t patronize me” patton: “you mean pantronize” virgil: “whatever!!”

patton corrects himself from saying “bat winged cherub” to “bad....boy” while virgil shoots him a look like we just talked about this

virgil’s talking about how his style is a relic from thomas’ emo phase. patton: “we’re basically style twins!! look out just a couple of cool guys comin thru!” virgil: “okay, patton” patton: “um! sorry...”

virgil seems aggravated, probably bc patton is still treating him like a poor lil anxious baby when the whole point of this episode was virgil showing that they can’t just ignore his role as anxiety. they may be friends now but virgil’s past attitude is still part of him. one could say he doesnt want them to ignore the “dark side” of his presence. wink wink. this could be him maybe building up to revealing that he used to be a dark side, subtly preparing thomas for it.

then SvS. patton and virgil don’t interact directly except at the start and during the trial, but it doesn’t seem as strained. this is probably because theyre both on the same side when it comes to deceit—and i think thats important. in svs, both patton and virgil are anti-deceit, and like patton pointed out in LNTAO, “anxiety and morality are telling you the same thing,” which seems to signal to thomas that he should listen.

also in SvS, janus alludes to the fact that virgil was a dark side and is hiding it:

“so you’ve never been reluctant to share anything with the group?”

“dont.”

“what, i just meant your name!”

“dont.”

“maybe that’s why its so easy for you to see me for what i am! like i said before, it takes a liar to know a liar.”

i’m 90% sure he didn’t just mean virgil’s name. virgil is clearly distraught about where this conversation is headed and that just doesn’t line up with him being hesitant to share his name. his fears over his dark persona and reluctance to share his name have been addressed multiple times, so what does he have to be scared of? unless janus is talking about virgil being a dark side.

moving on! in DWIT, again, theyre both kinda anti-remus. theyre both afraid of him, and as logan points out, theyre both part of why remus is so powerful as intrusive thoughts. they dont argue much; virgil spends most of this ep arguing with logan, actually, which is interesting bc he and logan seem to have one of the closest friendships in the show.

in this episode, there’s a few final pushed that i think lead virgil to confess he was a dark side.

first remus reveals his own name and says “i would never hide anything from you!” and sends virgil a little glance. virgil looks uncomfortable. then, around the 31 minute mark, logan says “you can always talk to someone...subjects who talked about their thoughts often felt better emotionally and physically.” and you can see virgil looking around like he’s realizing something.

and then he reveals himself at the end of this episode. just to thomas, but i’m assuming all the other sides would know as soon as thomas himself does, right? if they didn’t know already. what sticks out to me is that he specifically waits until the others leave. he doesn’t want to say it directly to them. and as for how this connects to the patton-virgil stuff...patton might think virgil doesn’t trust him/doesn’t want to open up to him. and/or virgil actually doesn’t want to open up to patton as much anymore.

then in healthy distractions, we clearly see that something is up between virgil and patton.

patton: “how could he feel b-a-d with his inner d-a-d?” virgil: “i can think of a few ways”

patton: “thomas made his decision and i think we should all just try to settle into it” virgil: “how are you telling me to settle into something right now when you have taken your sweet time to settle into things that you were uncomfortable with in the past”

so honestly i don’t really know what virgil’s talking about?? does he mean the events of moving on and the whole breakup situation?? or maybe he’s calling patton out for taking so long to drop the “angel baby” nicknames/treatment. or its implying that patton didnt know virgil was a dark side and is still coming to terms with it/coming to terms with the fact that virgil didn’t want to tell him & the other sides directly.

or he’s referencing something we don’t know of. either way, their relationship is obviously strained rn and it isn’t entirely clear what the turning point was between DWIT and ATHD.

then we come to the new episode. virgil doesn’t appear in POF at all, not even a cameo. i think thats the first time this has happened since accepting anxiety part 1. the only reference to him is the purple time-clock during the mario sequence and other smaller inclusions in the other video game parts. and then what happens in this episode?

patton realizes selfishness can be good sometimes. he accepts that the world, and thomas’ view of it, are not as black-and-white as he wanted to believe in svs. it wasnt a matter of “callback = bad vs wedding = good” bc thats not how the world works. beyond that, he accepts janus.

and i’m gonna bring up the idea that virgil is super mean and gets away with it. its true that the other sides, especially patton, are hesitant to correct him or reprimand him, which i think is bc theyre afraid of making him think they hate him. this idea could even be in the forefront of their minds if they really are that impacted by virgil not telling them he’s a dark side.

the thing is...virgil IS mean sometimes and he DOES get away with it. often, its just directed at janus or remus, and the other sides don’t WANT to disagree. when its directed at the other sides, i’m not sure its taken entirely to heart, regardless of whether it should be or not.

and we all know how virgil feels about janus. suspicion, anger, and aggression are all things virgil expresses towards janus from the moment he appeared as patton in CLBG.

so this all has been building up to me saying that the virgil-patton conflict has now become a virgil-patton-janus conflict. virgil and janus’ past is going to clash with patton and janus’ new alliance, which will strain the already tense relationship between virgil and patton. even worse, now roman is firmly in the anti-janus field, which will likely feed virgil’s anger, especially if he also blames patton for hurting roman.

and if we DO go to roman’s room next, and janus shows up, and the situation worsens...we might have a full blown “patton & janus vs virgil & roman” level argument on our hands.

i think virgil’s gonna be aggressive towards janus, as he has been, but when thomas and patton don’t dismiss him—when they call him by his NAME, not just “deceit”—we’re gonna get a rehash of “are you seriously siding with deceit?” except this time roman won’t be the one saying “are you seriously so closed minded to think that everything said by someone you dont like is automatically untrue?”

the other sides—or patton and thomas at the very least—are going to see that virgil’s blatant dislike of janus is not entirely warranted. and keep in mind that we still don’t know what happened between virgil and janus to make virgil hate him, so maybe it IS warranted. but its clear now that janus is trying to help (assuming he’s not lying which i rly hope he’s not lol) and i dont think its fair to thomas for virgil to want to disregard everything janus says. thomas and patton will realize this and they’ll have to confront virgil about his treatment of janus. we just haven’t gotten there yet.

its gonna be wild, honestly. i want janus to be fully accepted but it might be a while until we get there, just like patton took a while to understand the whole “grayscale morality” idea, and how its probably gonna take a while for virgil (and janus, tbh) to move on from whatever happened between them in the past.

i also believe this is headed towards a sympathetic everyone ending where theyre all important to thomas, acknowledged by him as important, and all actively working together, no dark sides or light sides, just sides. so yeah

basically, the next few episodes will probably be an explosion of all these char tensions and its probably gonna get worse before it gets better, and thats not even considering logan angst, creativitwins angst, or the orange side. but i think (and hope) it’ll all be fine and im hyped to see where this series goes :p