#the people who suffered because of his actions also had families and i doubt he gave them a second thought

[shouts-into-the-void]

I need to see more people talk about this part of the whole "CEO dead in the street" debacle. Whether or not you think United Healthcare's CEO getting murdered was good or that Luigi Mangione is actually the shooter, there have been multiple reports of people being arrested or investigated over repeating this phrase.

"Nothing can be done" about hate speech, stalking, school shootings, and rape but you better believe the policing bodies of the United States will stop at nothing to prevent the wealthy assholes denying it's citizens necessary medical care from having to endure the people who's inability to afford health care they profit off of being a little mean to them.

you guys made luigi mangione trend for days and I need to see the same energy for brianna boston. she is a 43 year old mother of three who ended a phone call with blue cross blue shield (after being denied a claim) “delay deny depose, you people are next” and is now being held under a 100,000$ bond and could face FIFTEEN years of prison if charged. she has no weapons, her record is clean, and yet she is being held behind bars. they are afraid of the public and are trying to subdue. do not let them!!!! be outraged that our freedom of speech is being threatened!!!!! deny defend depose! free brianna boston!

[hotchtits]

hotch and elle and the killing of their respective 'main' unsubs

if i see one more fucking person say

"oh its so unfair that elle got fired for killing a guy when hotch literally did the same thing and everyone praised him for it"

i think i just might lose it

lets break this down and actually think critically about this

when hotch literally did the same thing

wrong!! what did hotch actually do?

hunted down an escaped (after being arrested and identified) and prolific serial killer that had assaulted him in his own home and targeted his family

listened to said serial killer murder his wife over the phone

entered a literal fight to the death with the serial killer where he had to beat him to death with his bare hands because otherwise both him and his son would have been murdered next

it was self defense. pure and simple. he had no gun, no weapon other than his hands and he knew that if he stepped away, it would be over. there is quite literally nothing else could have done.

what did elle do?

hunted down an uncharged and unconfirmed suspect

tried to provoke him into attacking her

when that didn't work, shot him and planted evidence as well as lie about what happened when the police arrived

did the guy deserve it? absolutely. he was a scumbag and a rapist and deserved to die. but the show makes her actions inexcusable for a reason. you cannot do that as a law enforcement officer. you cannot go and shoot someone who is not actively threatening you, especially not without evidence. additionally, the reason he was uncharged was because she panicked during the undercover mission.

i agree that she definitely wasn't ready for it, and that someone else should have been the bait but she was asked and she confirmed that she would be okay.

"but they should have realised that she would have panicked" why? up until that point, she had been a brilliant agent and had never given any indication that she might not be able to do it. again, she told both hotch and gideon that she'd be fine. why would they doubt her? she's good at her job.

everyone praised him for it

also wrong!! emily and rossi look at him in nothing short of horror when they run in to find him beating foyet to a pulp. even morgan, while comforting him, is obviously disturbed by the scene.

hotch and his team also faced a hearing about the aftermath of the case. it didnt matter that foyet had been stopped and that he and his son were safe, he still had to justify every single action he took.

there's another counterargument here that "well they might not have praised him for it but they understood why he did it" and... yeah? again, self defense.

anyway. this is one of those topics that makes my blood boil. i love elle. do i think they way they never brought her up again was unfair? yes. do i think that the way she suffered because of a choice gideon made was unfair? yes. was she wrong for shooting that guy? honestly i'm kind of glad she did.

but im sick of people saying that their circumstances were the same because they weren't.

people also love to cite misogyny here and while CM has a fair amount of it (dont get me started on the treatment of paget and aj) its not fucking misogynistic to recognize that what elle did was illegal and hotch didn't "get a pass" for what he did just because "hes a man"

TLDR: stop comparing elle and hotch's situations with the intention of pointing out the inequality of their treatments because their situations were in no way comparable.

[hussyknee]

(alt included in all images)

Another thread by Senator Ben Ray Luján here.

A book on the subject (haven't read it myself):

One of the sources in another one of Alisa's furiously impassioned twitter threads have been debunked, so I didn't include that. But she claims that her own family was caught in the fallout zone when her mother was a baby, which eventually led to her and large numbers of her community developing cancer. It's human for that kind of grief to be caught up in inaccuracies. People are already being ghastly and racist to Hispanos and Indigenous people criticizing the hype for the movie. They're not attacking Oppenheimer for being Jewish, they're criticising the erasure of the human cost of these bombs and the continued valorisation of the U.S military's actions in World War II as some kind of moral saviourism.

While Oppenheimer himself believed that the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were morally justified (they had planned to drop them on Germany except they surrendered before they could), he also felt had blood on his hands and regretted his role as the "Father of the Atomic Bomb". He spent the rest of his career vehemently opposing further development of thermonuclear weapons and the hydrogen bomb accurately predicting the concept of mutually assured destruction. This eventually made him a victim of Senator McCarthy's Red Scare and his clearance was revoked. I haven't seen the movie (Christopher Nolan is the kind of casual white racist I avoid on principle) but people who have seen it say that it doesn't glorify nuclear weapons and depicts the man himself with the complex moral nuance that seems to be accurately reflective of his real life.

The backlash to Indigenous and Hispanos people's criticisms and to people pointing out that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were genocides is also frustrating because...both world wars were a clash of genocidal empires. The reason they were world wars is because the countries colonized by Japan, China, the European powers and the US were all dragged into it, whether they wanted to or not. Jews were one of the many colonized peoples that suffered in that time, who were left to die by everyone until they could be used to frame the Allied powers as moral saviours, establishing a revisionist nostalgia for heroism that powers the US military industrial complex to this day.

As early as May 1942, and again in June, the BBC reported the mass murder of Polish Jews by the Nazis. Although both US President, Franklin Roosevelt, and British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, warned the Germans that they would be held to account after the war, privately they agreed to prioritise and to turn their attention and efforts to winning the war. Therefore, all pleas to the Allies to destroy the death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau were ignored. The Allies argued that not only would such an operation shift the focus away from winning the war, but it could provoke even worse treatment of the Jews. In June 1944 the Americans had aerial photographs of the Auschwitz complex. The Allies bombed a nearby factory in August, but the gas chambers, crematoria and train tracks used to transport Jewish civilians to their deaths were not targeted.

(Source)

Uncritical consumption of World War II media is the reinforcement of imperialist propaganda, more so when one group of colonized people is used to silence other colonized peoples. Pitting white Jewry against BIPOC is to do the work of white supremacy for imperialist colonizers, and victimizes Jews of colour twice over.

Edit: friends, there's been some doubt cast on the veracity of Alisa's claims. The human cost to the Hispanos population caught downwind of the nuclear tests is very real, as was land seizure without adequate compensation. However, there's no record I can yet find about Los Alamos killing livestock and Hispanos being forced to work for Los Alamos without PPE. There is a separate issue about human testing in the development of said PPE that's not covered here. I'm turning off reblogs until I can find out more. Meanwhile, here's another more legitimate article you can boost instead:

[sapphic-agent]

I feel bad for Mitsuki. She has a parent's worst nightmare to raise, and people are legit calling her abusive because she doesn't worship the ground at Bakugou's feet.

Maybe I'm a bit biased, because she reminds me of my stepmother. Her family spoiled her son rotten (he was never as bad as Bakugou, but he did have some severe behavior problems that alienated him from a lot of people), and she was the only one trying to instill rules and discipline in his life, which made her the bad guy in many people's eyes.

Someone tried to make the case that Mitsuki and Katsuki (calling them both by their given names for this ask) are both horrible and abusive and I'm like no way José.

Compare Katsuki's introduction to Mitsuki's. One of them is inherently painted to be more cruel and callous and it isn't Mitsuki. In fact, I'd say that Mitsuki is actually a lot more friendly. She didn't get hostile until Katsuki did. Calling her abusive from what we've seen when she did it in front of his teachers and they didn't say a damn word is so... Disingenuous? I don't even know what to call it.

A playful tap on the back of the head is not physical abuse. If her intention has been to actually hurt him, this would be a different story. But it isn't. She wasn't even upset during the first hit, so what about that screams abuse?

I'm not averse to saying that Mitsuki could be verbally abusive. But even then for me, it's more like she's careless with her words than intentionally cruel. Like when she says, "Oh hush. This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't gotten kidnapped and caused all that trouble." I sincerely doubt she actually means, "It's your fault you got kidnapped." To me, it's more like, "You were careless and other people are suffering because of it so get off your high horse."

Because as much as I agree that the LOV's actions (and UA's negligence) are not on Katsuki, he very much was careless and that contributed to him getting kidnapped and putting his classmates in danger. Which also was the reason everyone had to uproot their lives and move into the dorms. I think Mitsuki is trying to make him more humble and aware of how his actions affect others by saying this. I don't agree with how she communicated that, but I sincerely doubt her intention was to be cruel.

The problem is that Katsuki stans take one scene and run with it. But they also somehow miss the part where Mitsuki thanks Aizawa for sticking up for him and humbly asks him to make him a good hero. She even playfully ruffles his hair and he doesn't pull away. An abusive mother wouldn't care so much about her son's dream.

This same scene also implies that she regrets letting adults feed Katsuki's ego because she knows it made him worse. That's probably why she's harsher on him now, because she's aware that the temper of a 4 year old and a temper on a 16 year old are two different things and doesn't want him to continue to be violent and temperamental into adulthood. She's doing damage control the best she can.

That's probably why you relate her to your stepmother (who sounds awesome btw). Because you see a woman who's getting hate for trying to correct her violent, bigoted son's behavior before it escalates.

(Female Katsuki stans are such boy moms. No one can say or do anything to their precious Kacchan and nothing is ever his fault because he's just a poor child who doesn't know any better so who gives a fuck about his victim)

[duchessofostergotlands]

I am confused about something

Why would someone who talks about a former porn addiction and has spoken out against it be showing nudes??

I don't understand how any other show people have sang his praises but this one specifically allegedly there are multiple women who were uncomfortable??

It sounds like yhe Heath guy is the main perpetrator in this to me.

I'm not saying Justin is innocent at all, im just confused that the actions don't line up with what he's said (which can happen people can put up a front)

(And just because Blake can be a mean girl and rude doesn't mean she can't have suffered sexual harassment)

He didn’t show nudes, that was Heath. But also, I don't understand your logic at all. I have a lot of experience with alcoholism in my family and it would be really odd if someone said “wait, the person who is addicted to alcohol but maintained a period of sobriety drank alcohol?” I'm not suggesting that his addiction is evidence of guilt in any way, but it's certainly not evidence of innocence and it's bizarre to suggest it is!

As for the second point about why no one has spoken up before, that just is a fundamental misunderstanding of how sexual harassment and power works so let me break it down:

Firstly: In 2024 - in a world where prolific abusers like Harvey Weinstein, Jimmy Saville, Russell Brand etc have been exposed and a string of high profile men have found ways to use the courts to revictimise women who do stand up - I'm shocked we're still having to explain that women do not come forward and absence of public accusations doesn't mean the first person to make the accusation is wrong. Sometimes victims don't want to relive the experiences. Sometimes they are paid off and sign NDAs. Sometimes they don’t realise what happened was wrong or they doubt their interpretation (it took me over a decade to realise things that happened to me when I was younger were sexual assault, and there have been women who have spoken out against things like intimacy coordinators or have said practices like the casting couch are just normal). And in an industry like Hollywood which is so heavily dependent on connections and reputation and where jobs are insecure, some people don't want to make a fuss and risk damaging their career.

Secondly: There's always a first time. Perhaps this was the first opportunity he had to behave in quite such an extreme way at work. Justin had unchecked power on this set and didn’t in most of his previous work. There is a massive difference between being one actor amongst many on a production and being an actor, director and producer of a movie adaptation you own the rights to (and this is the first time he had all those things). On previous projects he may have moderated and controlled some of his behaviours because he wasn't in charge. This movie also had sexual content, which would make it even easier to blur the lines and discredit her. If he was just directing a movie it would have been madness for him to walk up to an actress and bite her lip without consent. But if you're filming a kissing scene as an actor who is also director and producer then you might think that you can get away with biting your co-star's lip without consent because you can just say "oh it was to add to the scene, guys."

Thirdly: there’s that smashing quote about how predators groom their character witnesses as carefully as they groom their victims. Many people had positive experiences with Harvey, he got them Oscars and made their dreams come true. Jimmy got a knighthood and was venerated for his charity work. Justin has cultivated a reputation as being a feminist, an advocate for women, and he knows the language of an ally. It not only means that many women will like him, but also makes it harder to speak up because who will believe that Justin would do that to a woman?

Lastly: It's interesting that we never flip this narrative around. It's always "well no one has ever accused this man of sexually inappropriate behaviour before so he must be innocent." But never "Blake has never launched a law suit against a co-star for sexually inappropriate behaviour before so she must be telling the truth." I don't want to imply that women who have made multiple accusations aren't to be believed but it's just weird for people to suggest Blake's just being sensitive or covering her own bad behaviour on set when she's been an actress for 26 years and has allegedly had poor relationships on set before but has never felt the need to sue any of them.

And then for the point about how it was mostly Heath, it really wasn't. Did you read the complaint? Heath is mentioned 94 times and Justin's mentioned 327. He is also the co-chair and co-founder of Wayfarer while Heath is CEO, therefore Heath reports to him and Justin had the responsibility to chastise Heath for his behaviour if it got out of line, which arguably means Justin's partly responsible for everything Heath did too. Blake alleges that they went against industry standards on things like intimacy coordinators, hiring practices, closed sets, nudity riders, HR complaints processes etc. Those are the responsibility of the leadership of the production company so are also just as much Justin's fault as they are Heath's.

I would urge you to actually read the complaint. I know it's long but I deliberately didn't summarise it because I wanted people to read it for themselves. And just let go of the conspiracy theories and think about things with some basic logic.

[chibimui]

The Apothecary Diaries LN3 Thoughts - Ch18-19

LN 3: Prologue-ch2 - ch3-5 - ch6-8 - ch9-11 - ch12-13 - ch14 - ch15-17

Honestly this post was basically just about chapter 19 because... well, who doesn't have a lot of thoughts about this moment? I took a pretty specific approach to talking about this chapter though because I find it interesting how much more positively people look at the events in the cave compared to the LN5 epilogue, and I kinda wanted to poke at that discrepancy a bit.

What do I mean by that? Guess you can read more to find out.

(Warning: These thoughts may contain spoilers from later light novels all the way up until LN15.)

Chapter 18 - The Hunt (Part 2)

It's kind of interesting how much this chapter insists that Shishou couldn't be involved. I do wonder if he knew about this particular incident, or not. I always assumed he did, but when I think about Shishou's motivations for doing what he did, and Jinshi actually getting killed in the process it never really adds up to me.

If I remember correctly, Shishou allowed Shenmei to do whatever she wanted because a) he was too cowardly to actually stand up to her, and b) to weed out all the bad eggs in court because he actually was still loyal to the royal family. But, if he was trying to attempt B, my question again - which I am pretty sure I brought up in the last assassination attempt - is... what would Shishou have done if these plots actually succeeded? What if Jinshi had actually died...?

I guess if Jinshi died the Emperor would have probably put in 1000% trying to find the culprit so I guess all the bad eggs in court would have been routed anyway, but... I feel like having a crown prince killed is objectively not in the best interests of a royal family that is already low on heirs. Anyway. It's all fine because Maomao saves the day.

I just want to say the Sunday GX manga with the panel of Maomao holding the gun is absolute fire and the best take to this scene by the way.

Chapter 19 - The Hunt (Part 3) 🐸

As I said in my intro, it kind of surprises me how much people are more willing to let this chapter slide as a fun joke while LN5 epilogue is so contentious. I remember when I reached this chapter the first time I was like "haha oh I get the frog jokes now" and then very quickly I was like "WAIT JINSHI STOP" because... objectively, Jinshi also assaults Maomao this chapter too? And in some ways I feel like his actions this chapter actually come off worse given where their relationship is. He's just lucky the dog stopped him.

I'm getting ahead of myself though. Rewind to the start.

First off... Jinshi performing CPR on Maomao... *smirks* (although in reality performing CPR on someone is super unsexy, LOL).

Second, I looked up what is the tallest dive someone has done because jumping 50 meters is WILD, and it's apparently 58.5m. So I guess Jinshi jumping from that height is feasible, but in reality I am 100% sure Maomao would have died. LOL.

This moment is hilarious because even though it's entirely from Maomao's POV, everyone and anyone knows that Jinshi is probably having a crisis off to the side. He is probably wondering if he actually smashed is head during the jump, died, and is now living in one of his fantasies. He is suffering.

On a more serious note - I think Jinshi's mentality here is important to consider given what is about to occur a few pages later. He's 19 (or probably 20 by this point?), yes he's taking some version of hormone blockers but I doubt they're as effective as our modern days ones. The girl he's attracted to has literally just started stripping in front of him after he nearly got killed AND he is both dehydrated and probably starving. Mentally and emotionally, this guy is probably at his limit.

This moment is so cute. One of the few rare moments we get in the early days where I think they're both just being entirely themselves--even if Maomao held back her full reaction, the fact that she still let out a small pout speaks volumes. Jinshi afterwards licking his fingers like a kid adds to this.

The words used to describes Maomao's feelings in this moment in Japanese are 恐る恐る (osoruosoru), which is an adverb to describe a nervous/timid action that occurs as a result of feeling fearful.

I highlight this because for me personally when I read this chapter in English, Maomao being afraid, at this point, didn't really register. The word "uneasy" to me feels more like someone is worried about an external situation, but not necessarily fearful of personal danger. She does panic more later, but I think reading the Japanese it really struck me that actually Maomao was probably low-key panicking right from the very beginning (whether she even realizes it herself or not).

This is also the first instance in this chapter where Maomao expresses not wanting to get dragged into things, although she does acknowledging bringing a bit of this onto herself. The highlighted part by the way is a mistranslation - in the Japanese text Maomao notes that she was the one that brought Jinshi further into the woods which results in him becoming an easier target (i.e. she is at fault).

This is another moment where the Japanese really creates a different vibe compared to the English. The way it was structured, it really felt like I was reading directly into Maomao's thoughts as she slowly became aware of what just happened and who saved her fall.

It also made me realize... I consider the end of LN4 as the first moment Maomao connects Jinshi to safety, but I think this is actually the first real moment where Jinshi saves Maomao from harm (I don't count him jumping off the cliff because that was just as much for himself). On one hand you can read her increased heart rate as just due to falling and the proximity, but in Japanese the first phrase you read is actually "There was no pain".

It's very direct and to the point. In Japanese, the line to indicate Jinshi's silence is just "..........". The lack of pain is truly the first thought Maomao has, and then the feel of warm skin underneath her, the arms around her and the word used in Japanese to describe the hold is ぎゅっと (gyutto). Jinshi isn't just holding her closely, but tightly. The way Jinshi caught Maomao in this moment is the epitome of safety--to not have to experience pain, to be held close, to feel warmth--whether Maomao reflects on it or not, I think this moment left a pretty deep impression on her.

And then... well, Maomao gets a fistful of.... 🐸 and Jinshi gets a teaser of what may come in a future where they get married. LOL.

Maomao is panicking (for multiple reasons, one because of massive embarrassment and two because she just learned a secret she really doesn't want to know!!!)

The focus on how muscular Jinshi's body is in this particular moment is... a choice. It's almost like Maomao is completely re-assessing and fully registering the concept of Jinshi as a man. A male person. I won't go so far as to say it's a sexual awakening for Maomao, but it's certainly a huge restructuring in her assessment of him as someone she could be attracted to.

So... remember how back in ch4 I mentioned there is a particular pattern Jinshi and Maomao follow when they fight? Here it is again, simplified if you need a quick reminder:

Jinshi wants something, Maomao refuses.

Jinshi acts put out.

Maomao doubling down on her decision and nitpicking at his disappointment.

Jinshi getting back at her by being a petty little shit and getting what he wants anyway.

Here are steps 1-3. Jinshi wants something, Maomao refuses, Jinshi is clearly put out/angry/upset/hurt, Maomao ignores it, and then doubles down (again, because in this case she is panicking). Jinshi, who is not one to back down, goes for a round 2.

Maomao, of course, doesn't back down an inch either. In fact, for most of this fight Maomao definitely has the upper hand - she is beating Jinshi's ego down hard, and what does she do when she realizes her hits are landing? SHE GETS CLOSER INTO HIS FACE. The nitpicks, she pokes, she pushes even more because they're children and this is a childish fight. It's literally "EW BOYS ARE GROSS, THEY'RE SLIMY" and "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M SLIMY?!?!"

And it really shows how far their relationship has come. The whole time she's been nervous about getting dragged into his mess, questioning "Just how important IS HE" and wanting to protect herself from it all.... and now here she is, sitting on his lap, getting in to his face to insult his pride---all her self preservation instincts gone out the window.

Unfortunately for Maomao, when Jinshi can't win fights with words (which he typically can't because Maomao really knows how to hit where it hurts), he tends to resort to direct action to get what he wants, completing "step 4" of the process.

Now, I don't personally actually care whether people consider what Jinshi does assault, but I feel if someone is going to be grasping their pearls at the LN5 epilogue, I genuinely think what he does here (highlighted part) is basically on the same level. What he's doing here is overtly sexual, it's meant to be dominating, to put Maomao in a very compromising position. He does it purposely to get a reaction out of her, and she is clearly freaking the fuck out given the physical reaction that is described (goosebumps and sweating).

I don't think Maomao is scared of Jinshi necessarily in this moment, but she is scared of what Jinshi might do. Remember the pattern. Maomao realizes we have reached step 4 - the part where Jinshi takes her cup of tea anyway, the part where Jinshi gets what he wants anyway.

To be fair to Jinshi though, I do not think he was really going to do anything that terrible - at most it seems like he was trying to go in for a kiss by the end. I think he pauses whatever he was initially going to do because he notices Maomao freaking out. Unfortunately, I also think his horny brain was still a bit too active mixed in with his desire to "win" this dumb fight. I also feel like, just as Maomao is registering Jinshi as an actual attractive male, this is also probably the moment Jinshi really registers for himself that he is attracted to Maomao, that he wants her. For Jinshi, I think there is an element of a sexual awakening happening here.

Does he even remember that he hasn't actually told her his real identity? I don't know, but I feel like he's so caught up in the emotion of... basically all his pent up feelings, the stress of the day, that by this point that he is just acting on impulse. He likes Maomao, he's attracted to her, he's in a position where he can "win", and he's going to go for it.

Except he doesn't because a good doggie saves the day.

I suspect partly why people seem more okay with the events in the cave is because we get more of Maomao's perspective immediately after the fact. It's pretty clear she doesn't blame Jinshi, and she also acknowledges her role in escalating things as we see in this bit at the very end:

(we see you calling it a "fine" frog Maomao, we see you).

So--all in all, what is my conclusion of this chapter after all my rambling?

Again to me, I don't really care to label what Jinshi does because these are fictional characters doing fictional things in a fictional world--that's up for you to decide, but I do think that the double standard between this chapter and LN5 epilogue is... somewhat odd given the circumstances of both.

Jinshi may be a bit more physically violent in LN5, but I think why I feel an argument exists that this chapter is just as bad (if not worse) is because Maomao is actually scared throughout the events of this chapter. Jinshi's actions might not be as bad on paper, but Maomao's emotions are much more negative. She is panicking, she doesn't want to know who Jinshi is, she's scared of what he might do to her. I also think this is why Jinshi manages to restrains himself in a way he doesn't do in LN5--because Maomao isn't actually scared of him at all in LN5, they are just mad at each other.

In this chapter, I think Maomao is scared and Jinshi is confused, frustrated and hurt. They are both kind of low-key realizing there is a physical attraction in their relationship and neither of them know what to do about it, which results in them fighting like literal 10 year olds screaming about cooties.

My real real thoughts? Despite how seriously I talked about this chapter, I actually find this chapter so unserious. It's so silly, and for the most part I just find it hilarious. I love how Natsu-sensei basically takes what could have been a typical romantic relationship development scene and flips it on it's head because Maomao is so unromantic she's just like *strips* "sorry I'm not sexy enough" and then when she gets a handful of Jinshi she's just like "OMG GROSS WTF GROSS GET THIS OFF ME WTFFFFF" (Which, yeah, that is gross.) and Jinshi is understandably SO OFFENDED.

So that's that!

Anyway, I'm ending it here for today because if I add in the epilogue and my final thoughts this post will get too long. We're almost done LN3 though folks!!

[epilogue + final thoughts]

[klemsk-a]

TL;DR

S2a undermines the concept of redemption so badly it makes me want to cry.

Megatron changing for the better is interesting because it’s complicated. He used to be a warlord, a tyrant, people suffered directly as a consequence of his actions. Unfortunately ES fails to show us these consequences. The closes we have are Starscreams words and that is far from showing us anything.

There are no flashbacks, no actual conversations. Nothing but the present and most of it is from childrens perspective.

This lack of nuance is frustrating. For all we know Megatron might’ve acted exactly the same, but changed factions therefore he is a good guy know.

And this “autobots = good, decepticons = bad” morality is so on the nose in s2a it’s actually kind of pathetic.

The new season needed a villain, and all the hatred for cybertronians apparently evaporated (everybody else just had a change of heart ig and the only 2 people who actually disliked them are dead) and the cons were “always” bad so it doesn’t matter.

It allows the writers not to think about Megatron and problems accompanying his redemption because his victims are terrible so… it’s all fine, don’t worry 👍.

Perhaps it isn’t this way and I majorly misinterpreted the show.

The existence of the chaos terrans really makes me doubt it tho. It also makes me incredibly mad.

Aftermath literally comes into existence, has no idea what’s going on, who is everyone and they’re all fighting. So he does too. And immediately gets called terrible, basically the evil version of the terrans.

WHAT KIND OF MESSAGES IS THAT?

That because you aren’t from a perfect family you’re evil? That is what I got out of it.

Terrans = whole Emberstone = good

Chaos terrans = broken Emberstone = bad

For a show about acceptance and empathy that is a terrible plot point 😀

The episode with Aftermath and Jawbreaker (was extremely boring imo but that’s not important) gives you the impression they’re going to further develop Aftermath. Have him questioning orders and thinking about his choices. But no, he STOLE the entire water from a cave in one tank (how did he even manage???)

Spitfire is an even worse example.

On her first day alive, she gets told that if she wins a race she gets to go on an autobot mission.

She wins, by endangering Alex, and they tell her she won’t get the reword. It’s all understandable but the writers clearly don’t know anything about raising children or children in general.

Yes Spitfire did a bad thing and has to be taught that her behaviour was bad. No they cannot be mad at her for not immediately understanding and agreeing with them. That’s why children (especially toddlers) are infuriating. They don’t know better so you have to teach them, but they will find a loophole to help them get what they want (obviously depends on a child but we are rolling with Spitfires personality). Now depending on what they’ve done to get to it you either reward them or punish them. Because they don’t necessarily understand what they did wrong, even if it’s obvious to you, it can be hard to explain in a way that satisfies a child.

Spitfire lashing out and attacking Twitch is common for kids who believe that someone got something they deserved. It’s especially common if a kid has problems with aggression.

That could’ve been an interesting character development and a good message. Sometimes children won’t be easy to deal with (as all the terrans are, sure they can make bad decisions but ultimately they don’t cause much problems), sometimes they have unpleasant personalities or behavioural problems but it doesn’t make them evil. Being there and loving a child isn’t enough to raise them, discipline is needed and so is patience.

But no.

Aftermath and Spitfire are chaos terrans so they are evil by proxy. Too bad lol.

Twitch and Thrash needed to learn everything. So did Nightshade, Hashtag and Jawbreaker. There was a great deal about self discovery.

Aftermath and Spitfire already have alt modes (at least Spitfire I don’t actually remember Aftermath) and they are just terrible, no good people.

Case closed, problem solved.

Oh. And then they died so…

Unlucky 🤷‍♀️

Redemption in media, especially kids media is important. It sends a message that you can in fact mess up in life, make a couple (hundreds) of mistakes and still come out on top.

But redemption is earned, and it can be (and often is) hard to changed for the better (as opposed to changing for worse).

You shouldn’t change for those you have hurt but so it won’t happen again, so you won’t hurt others again.

Some will come back, some will not.

It IS important that you try nonetheless.

Because no matter what explaining isn’t excusing and no one is born evil.

This show is so FRUSTRATING to me because I cared, and still do obviously (I wrote two versions of this but accidentally deleted the first one so had to write one again).

I really hope S2b will be back on track about acceptance and redemption.

I think Starscream deserved better but sincerely hope they (autobots) will get a hold of him, and him and Megatron will actually talk.

At least let Starscream have his father-daughter relationship with Hashtag, please 🙏.

[brightstar2000]

Freaking knew it! Dark Sun was behind it! And i had a feeling he was slowing Eclipse down to buy time for Moon to reach this point. Don't know what he plans to do with him, but i bet it's not good. We know Dark Sun doesn't like Moons.

I am so glad Eclipse is better now though, and to learn that what he needs to do to get Solar back would take maybe a day tops to do, yea, i see why Dark Sun slowed him down despite giving him the information to get Solar back. To drive Moon to the point of no longer caring. I do wonder how he's going to feel when he finds out Solar is back after he left. Cuz I have little to no doubts that Solar is going to be back very soon now that Eclipse is no longer inhibited.

On another, less happy note, i am still seeing people defending Moon, and just.. why? His actions cannot be justified. Grief, psychosis break, insanity, it doesn't matter now. He still did those actions knowingly and willingly. He nearly killed Earth knowingly and willingly. He drove his family away knowingly and willingly.

Yet unlike the other villains who come from backgrounds that are similarly or more tragic still get hated on when they were first introduced as a villain. Like OG Eclipse. Someone who was torn out, abandoned, trapped, who was confused and scared because he didn't understand what happened to him or why it happened to him, becoming solely angry and lashing out when he finally got strong enough to break out, and doing horrible acts. He had a tragic backstory that led him down his path to villainy, and nobody excuses or defends his actions. And he only ever murdered one person, and that was to protect himself, and subsequently Sun too (gov interview video). He only hurt Lunar in a pretty minor way that he could recover from, physically, pretty quickly. Just a slap. (Still not okay at all, but i am going somewhere with this.) He felt some remorse for it too. (Also important) And yes he said some very mean things. Mainly taunted them, and just sent them to some places they needed to escape from, and could, relatively easily, most times. (Except the witherstorm eps. They had to beat it before they could leave) For the most part though, he left them unscathed.

Then Moon who was initially just suffering from grief of losing Solar, verbally attacked his family after Eclipse tried to get him help and they confronted him with an offer to help, which he refused. He hurt Eclipse v4 for doing it too by breaking his fingers (note: worse than a slap). He was so relentless in trying to kill Blood Moon that even when Earth was present, he literally just called her Colaterall Damage and proceeded forward with it anyways! He had no care for her! He felt no remorse! If not for Puppet, Earth would be dead, and Moon would not care! And she got a bad burn from it too, ehich is gonna stick around for a while too! (Way worse than a slap)

Yet people still defend him just because we actually see his spiral down into insanity. Just because he wasn't a villain at first!

Everyone knows the saying: "Villains aren't born, they're made."

This literally applies to every villain on any show ever! This applies to Moon! This applies to OG Eclipse! Both of which were innocent at first!

And people still try to defend Moon for his unjustifiable, and unforgivable actions! Where is the sympathy for the other villains? Why are they not touched on as much? Because they were dropped on us as villains from the get-go! Even knowing their backstories, nobody touches on them as much because of that fact! We just go "Oh okay, still doesn't excuse their actions."

Meanwhile New Moon still has people defending him just because he was not a villain at his first inception. After Solar died, yes, i can understand he was grieving in his own right, even if it wasn't a healthy way to grieve. There is a reason that Anger is known as one of the five stages of grief. Yet this has extended far past grief now.

His family tried to extend their olive branch to him multiple times. He smacked it out of their hands. Every time. So i do not blame them for no longer trying. He didn't want their help, and he made that abundantly crystal clear. They still were trying to stop him from doing something stupid with reviving Solar, but also, at this point, it's not about Solar at all anymore.

Moon is a villain now. No more, no less. Even if in the past, he was a better Moon than Old Moon, he is way worse now. There is just a certain point where one cannot defend a person anymore. Moon has long since reached that point. At least for me.

And i apologize for the rant, but i really needed to get that off my chest. I don't like what's happening either, but it is.

[lowkeyed1]

Willow Month 2023: Day 3 - Favorite Episode This is a tough call for me, because it's very close. I love Episode 7: Across the Shattered Sea because it has so much gorgeous character development for everyone and so much beautiful scenery, but Episode 4: Whispers of Nockmaar just barely shades it. I think it's the whump. This ep is basically 45 minutes of whumping on poor Graydon and.... he suffers beautifully.

This poor kid starts off the ep infected with dark magic. He and the group both know it will eventually corrupt his entire system, cause him to become possessed and try to kill everyone, and they will have to kill him. And they spend the first part of the episode chaining him up and not doing anything about it, except Elora comforting him.

They finally decide to do something and this leads to him restrained even more, splayed out on some kind of bench. He spends a lot of time writhing and moaning in pain. They tear his shirt open while he gasps, exposing horrific scarring he feels deeply ashamed of and doesn't want to talk about, while he sweats and groans even more.

Then they throw a bucket of liquid on him while he writhes around some more and it's obviously painful and I should probably just acknowledge it's not just the whump I love in this episode? They did NOT have to make this whole thing so BDSM but they really did, god bless them. Plus lovely grace notes in the script referring to him being ravaged and also reamed -_-

ANYWAY we go on from here to his having hallucinations about his painful past, then the possession really starts to set in and he gets aggressive, then starts talking in the voices of loved ones to scare and distract people. Then we have a break in the action and when we get back to Graydon...

well. all right then. Spoiler, he's fully possessed here but acting like he's not. You can tell because they flat-ironed his hair! Lol, but also he's uncharacteristically comfortable with his exposed flesh and touching other people which seems like a nice, subtle hint.

Trust me, Graydon in his right mind is never leaving that many buttons unbuttoned. He leads Elora up to the tower so he can complete the banishment ritual Bavmorda was trying to do to baby Elora at the end of the movie, but then everyone else shows up and he gets whumped on some more...

Literally I would die, as an actor, if I had Erin and Ruby holding me down and Amar crawling on top of me and pretending to pummel me but like. That's the biz, I guess?

At any rate, Kit convinces Elora that she is magic enough to fix this, so she goes and almost-but-not-quite kisses him (she does call it a kiss later) and sucks the evil out of him. He tells her he never doubted her, and the boy is clearly smitten after that

Unfortunately, Elora had a vision of him shoving his brother out of a tree when he was possessed as a child and feels like he might be sketchy. So he's giving her a big smitten smile when they leave....

(credit to willowgifsdaily for this gif)

...but that smile starts to falter bc she's giving him this look in return, yikes

Anyway, that was good wholesome fun for the whole family and kudos to Disney+ for realizing they needed to put in a bondage-themed whumpfest to really sell me on the show! And kudos once again to my boy Tony Revolori, who sells every inch of this episode just amazingly. The emotional range is all over the place and there's no part where he falters in just performing the absolute shit out of this one. This episode changed my brain chemistry forever, I think. And that is why Whispers of Nockmaar is my favorite episode of WIllow! Send help!

[williamafton2030]

Fazbear Entertainment and their role as a villain

When we talk about Fnaf villains we usually think of William, Eleanor or Mimic because of how important they are to the franchise. On the one hand, William was the one who started the tragedies with the objective of being immortal, experimenting and killing children in the process. While on the other Eleanor killed in cold blood, enjoying such a heinous act and causing the souls of her victims to be trapped in an agonizing loop, wanting them to be like this so he could feed on her suffering. Finally there is Mimic, who is ironically the most "human" of all since at the beginning he was not bad but Edwin's bad learning and mistreatment of him made him become a being that kills in horrible ways but at the same time remembers. from his past and wants to start a family.

But we rarely stop to reflect that this company is also a villain and that its actions are just as bad as the others. That's why I decided to make this post to rate all this and give theories about this company.

From the first moment the foundation was laid for us that it was a company that did not take care of its employees in the mythical call of Fnaf 1. In addition to establishing its second peculiarity: its love for money conquers everything. From underpaying his employees to reopening after children disappeared in his restaurant. Apart from wanting to cover up everything by saying that nothing happens when it really does.

In the next games we would see more examples of these traits but the strong part comes after Fnaf 6. Regardless of whether people like it or thought it was nonsense (this is said now that it is known that Henry's plan did not work), We cannot deny the great weight that this game has. Henry wanted to put an end to all the suffering that William had generated and, although he did not succeed, he did set the pieces for William to end up dead in the Fazbear Frights. Everything was already over, there would be no more deaths but those from Fazbear Entertainment arrived and they did not want to leave everything like this, causing the plan to fail.

Help Wanted is without a doubt one of the worst things they did and they literally laughed at all the misfortunes of the past. They tried to hire Steve to design the games, and when he refused, they forced him into an illusion, which is completely unethical. The next thing they did was "report" him for defamation so that people would believe that what he says in his games is false and thus be able to clean up his image and finally they created Help Wanted itself. This virtual reality game was the cause of the death of one of the workers and the mental control of another.

First, it should be said that Fazbear really wanted to release the game, so they put pressure on the first development team who had to work tirelessly to get it done in a very short time. To speed up the process, Fazbear would give them circuit boards to scan, one of which was from Mimic. The first team was totally unaware of how dangerous it was, but Fazbear was very knowledgeable about this and gave them absolutely the same. We know that they know this because it is not the first time they have done something like this with this program since they had previously used it to create a version of Mimic 1 called Mimic 2 that would save them a lot of work since by imitating the behavior of the other animatronics They wouldn't have to program them. This project was a failure but that didn't stop them from using it a second time.

This program was implemented bringing back a dangerous villain again, Mimic who now had the appearance of a rabbit and would be called Glitchtrap. Jeremy, who was the game's beta teaser at the time, would be the one who encountered it and began to suffer the consequences of being exposed to this virus. Leaving aside how bad he had it during all his test sessions, we have that Fazbear Entertainment was the cause of his death. Well, not exactly. It wasn't them who killed him but Glitchtrap but there is a possibility that Jeremy would have become another follower of Mimic if it hadn't been for Fazbear's threat of dismissal. Mimic was smart and instead of letting him go and alert his companions, he finished him off in a horrible way.

A curious fact is the fact that tape girl said that she was not going to fire him because of his poor performance or anything like that but because he saw something. This totally confirms that Fazbear was aware of Glitchtrap's existence (I highlight this because it is never mentioned that Fazbear knows that this is Mimic's appearance, or well, maybe they knew and it was even worse since he had created an independent entity to the that the programmers used to make the models and on top of that it now seemed to be able to move and act in a dangerous way, so much so that it was considered a virus)

Who knows. What we can say is that they knew perfectly well about this and did nothing and on top of that they tried to fire Jeremy to silence him in some way.

After Jeremy's death and Tape Girl's failure to put an end to the virus, Vanessa would arrive, who this time would be controlled by it. It is also worth noting that in the terms of conditions that they barely let you read it says that they are not responsible for any accidental transfer of digital consciousness, again pointing out that they knew how dangerous it was and that they wanted to clean their hands of this.

Already at the Pizzaplex you can highlight several things they did. One of the most serious was once again the cover-up of all the deaths that occurred during the years that the shopping center was open. Or there is also the fact that in the story Pressure Fazbear creates an attraction that recreates Fnaf 3, which is a complete spit on the anguish that Hudson felt in What we found. Or well, the fact that in Security Breach there are no human workers but Staff bots that replace them when there were before. The latter was done to save all the salaries that had to be paid to the employees. This did not happen overnight and the first indication of this was seen in The Storyteller when Burrows wants to use that attraction to save the salary of those who invented the stories that were then told to the public. Which was a big mistake because Mimic would end up taking complete control of the Pizzaplex.

But what I think is the most serious thing they did for me is build the Pizzaplex on top of Fnaf 6 and try to make a museum of that place. As I have said before Fnaf 6, whether you like it or not, has a great weight and feeling and that they used that as a museum signifying what the place means is simply despicable.

Finally, mention something that is more of a theory and that is that it is believed that Fazbear Entertainment has taken over William's research and uses it for its own benefit. This may be backed up by the scooper that we see in Ruin and that has the company logo or simply the fact that the story Dittophoboia is in the Tales from The Pizzaplex when it has nothing to do with this place. His reason for being in this saga is to give a clue that Fazbear is using what was seen in this story in the story Help Wanted to cause those hallucinations in Steve.

That's it for this post pointing out everything that Fazbear Entertainment has done and why that makes them another villain. Before I leave, I say that what has been said here is my opinion and that if you don't share it, nothing happens, we each have our own opinion and that's okay. In addition to saying that I did not include stories of the Fazbear Frights since I do not believe that the deaths in these are the fault of the company but rather Eleanor's.

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 5 Meakashi pt. 5

The voice acting: "pachi pachi pachi pachi pachi." Anyway, hell yeah baseball. (he said in the tone of voice that implies immeasurable suffering) It turns out our lad Satoshi isn't the best at sports, and suffers from a type of performance anxiety and can't just completely dominate the field.

I want you to just sort of tuck that "you need to let your demon out" line into the back of your mind. We'll get back to it, in a few.

Personal question there doc, and not one I think you should be asking a minor.

"Goodbye doctor Freeman! Be adequate!" -Half-Life 2: Episode 2

Oh that rascal.

It is somewhat disconcerting the amount of anime tropes this series invokes only to pull the rug out from under you and be like "see, it's all mental disorders!" Tatarigoroshi tried to pass off the unreliable Satoshi idea as a joke, but here it's like no, it's mental disorders. Also, this is another idea I want you to just keep vaguely aware of for the future.

This line got me thinking, back in Watanagashi when "Mion" randomly decides to rant at Keiichi that Satoko is a cursed child, that was probably Shion disguised as Mion. Nothing, at any point in the preceding events of the chapter or the first chapter led to the idea that Mion had any belief in the notion of curses. Hell in Onikakushi she outright says to Keiichi that she doesn't believe in Oyashiro. Shion, meanwhile, has her belief in the curse, and there was that interaction in Tatarigoroshi when she interrogates Keiichi about the idea that Satoshi transferred away. Which makes me wonder, at what point did Shion knock out Mion to more or less take over her day to day life? There was the part where Ooishi mentions that Shion disappeared that day he saw Keiichi and her at the library together. Was that the time? Or was it earlier in the day? I want to remind you that during that part of Watanagashi Keiichi gets interrogated three times about his actions during Watanagashi, and who he was with. But prior to Mion asking him about it she mentions that she's leaving school early that day due to a hangover. Then, when he sees Shion she mentions she also has a bit of a hangover due to a family drinking party. This is all circumstantial, because at the time I doubt that plot idea of Shion having to live a secret hidden life from the rest of the Sonozaki family had occurred to Ryukishi. But what if, that night Shion took and imprisoned Mion in the torture shack and just left her there for the rest of the chapter until the end? And the Shion and Mion we keep seeing throughout the chapter is in fact just Shion, since she can dupe people into thinking she's her sister. It would go to further explain just why Satoko had to die shortly after dealing with Rika. There's the surface level reasoning of she's aware Rika went to the main Sonozaki house, but if this is Shion she can do away with the girl she feels drove Satoshi away.

Also, this is again circumstantial evidence, but I feel the line about letting the demon out proves that the Mion that confessed to the various crimes towards the end of Watanagashi was Shion. Sure, you could argue that Mion talking about releasing the inner demon might make sense since she in theory has that demon tattoo on her back. But she never really expresses any belief in the paranormal or spirituality. Basically what I'm saying is, I'm all-in on the idea that Shion put Mion out of action for the entire second half of chapter two: Watanagashi.

For no reason, here's Remake and Original Irie.

Shion is weirdly possessive of this guy she's only known for a month. I know romance can make you do some extremely questionable things, but in universe, they just had a conversation about how forcing a child to grow up too fast can cause mental issues. And here Shion wants to force Satoko grow up, and just endure the abuse. If anything, you'd think Shion would be more sympathetic to Satoko's situation because she's the unwanted twin of a crime syndicate. She probably wasn't treated especially well by the rest of the family. I know it's probably meant to be read that she's being harsh because she's trying to do the right thing for Satoshi, but that doesn't really hold up to scrutiny at all. She is wanting to lay all of the abuse at the feet of the victim of it, and wants to tell her to suck it up and just take the lumps. In addition to being an extremely callous way of looking at things, it also would not work at all.

I wonder if this little tirade of Shion's made Irie think about the Sonozaki family at all. He's interacted with them in the past, so it feels reasonable to assume he'd be aware that Mion has a twin sister (he interacted with baby Mion in Himatsubushi, I'll remind you). So I wonder if he listened to Shion go on about how when you really think about it all this is Satoko's fault, and go "hey wait, this doesn't seem like Mion at all. Wait a second! Her twin sister?" Cause I imagine it's going to come up that he's aware that Shion's Shion.

She's gonna offer to adopt Satoko! Take her to a nice farm upstate.

Linkin Park.mp3

[indras-wife]

Hey I was wondering if you're request are still open. If they are can you write about indra s/o trying to help him getting rid of his pain (the pain that black zetsu caused) . I don't know if this made any sense to you. You don't have to write this if you don't want to

Heyyyy!! what a fine request thank you! I had envisioned this way too many times in my head. Indra deserves to be healed from all te pain he went through.Sorry for the long wait too((My work and health issues were kicking my arse badly.

Indra would not reveal the inner suffering and pain he endured after leaving the village for a very long time. Talking aout his feelings, especially the ones which hurt him isn’t something he desires to shre with his s/o. But as surprising as it is, his s/o does find a way to make him talk about his pain.

Indra tired to evade the topic as much as possible, using his busy schedule as a possibility to escape the dreadful part. His s/o, being smart and sly, trapped him however in a very intimate time to have him talk about his pain. They were taking a bath together, one of their usual activities when suddenly his s/o asked “Now is the perfect time to tell me about what you been through Indra. I know you suffer from something and I want to help you..so allow me to do it.”

Indra could no longer deny her request and also could no longer say no. So he pulled her closer to him and started telling her about his life and where it all went wrong. Initially, he did not want to tell her about Black Zetsu, but his story would make no sense without it, so he had to do it. Indra hated talking about him too, because even till now that black humanoid creature was after him, dictating him what to do and what not to do, something that Indra hated.

He was taking pauses in between, trying to gather his thoughts to continue his story. His s/o noticed that he was taking his pauses when talking about his family, his father and little brother, the village he grew up in, his students and the people who were once close to him. She saw clearly how bad his taken path hurt him, and she know that he would never turn back becuse of it. Indra rather take the pain, than go back to his word and action. Many people considered Indra a cold hearted monster, who shows no mercy…but they never notice his softer side, the one who shows or has shown to very few people.

After their long talk, Indra was not even sure what his s/o would do,how she would act after hearing all about it. He was scared to think that maybe she would find ways to escape him, because who would wnat to be with a man like him. But he was wrong.

His s/o turned and hugged him hard, not uttering any word. Silence and her embrace were her way of saying that it will be okay and she doesnt hate him or judge him for whatever he did. She knows he had no other option and taking this path was the only thing he could do.

After days passed from their conversation, but Y/n was very careful in her words and actions. She did not want to say or do anything that could hurt Indra. Her husband of course noticed her behaviour and found it little strange. She was now being more quiet and extra caring. For some reason she was also being more cautious which Indra thought was because of Black Zetsu.

Almost everyday now Y/n was saying soft and encouraging words to Indra, making sure he knows that whatever happened wasnt his fault and that she will be with him as long as she breathes. Indra was taken back by her words, not understanding why she was being so keen and talking with him about how rightful his actions were.

"You don't usually speak like this...what's the reason Y/n' he asked. Deep down Indra was happy his wife was saying all the nice and encouraging words to him, but the seed of doubt in his heart and mind were not letting him accep those words, thinking she was mocking him or that she didnt mean anything she said.

"You know Indra...I was always wondering what happened to you that you suddently decided to leave your house and forget about your family. After what you told me, I understood how painful it was for you and how many hardships you had to endure yet you never complained and continued moving forward. As your wife, its my duty to remind you how amazing and strong you are for being able to witstand all of this pain. I want you to know that from now on you are not alone and no matter what you do or decide I will be next to you, supporting you and making sure to rmeind you how awesome you are.

His s/o's words touched Indra deeply. He would never expect to have someone so loving and caring, someone who wouldnt judge him and understand him no matter what. It felt like his soul finally had the chance to rest, something he longed for years.

His s/o kept her word and she helped Indra recover little by little thanks to her soft and encouraging words. She saw her husband change to better in front of her eyes. He was no longer as sad, depressed and anti-social as he was. Indra was able to bemore open with his subordinates which resulted in better communication. Her sotness and words of wisdom brought Indra the inner calmness he always desired to have.

[pinesfamilyguidetotheweird]

Ford and Trauma™ Part 6 (The Weight of Guilt)

Here is Part 6 of Ford and Trauma™!

Last time, I brought up how even what  can be perceived as the littlest of things can cause a bigger impact later in life. I’m sure there is a fair number of us still recovering from bullying.

For this part, we’ll be tackling something that had no doubt eaten at Ford’s psyche every now and again.

The feelings of guilt over his mistakes.

Mistakes are normal. It’s a part of life. Just some���make worse mistakes than others.

So, this was lightly tackled in Paaart…3, I believe? Harboring some flavor of survivor’s guilt during his travels.

There is more to it and it probably started not long after he learned of Bill’s true intentions. Once the realization set in, Ford placed blame onto himself for everything that led up to this.

The first was probably his treatment towards his friend, Fiddleford. Afterall, Ford needed help on rebuilding the portal and Fidds had the means. Ford had Fidds come all the way to Gravity Falls, leaving his wife and young son back at home, under the promise that he will return in a few months.

He never did, losing his mind. And while it was Fidds' choice to use the memory gun to erase his own memories, Ford was the one who drove him to it. Ford had robbed a brilliant man of his mind and family, a wife of her husband, and a child of his father.

This is all your fault, Sixer…

Furthermore, were there other victims of Ford's mistakes?

It is confirmed that to an outsider, the person that Bill is possessing can sound like the person. (To others, Bipper just sounded like Dipper and since we weren’t seeing from Blandin’s point of view, we just heard his voice rather than Bill’s)

The only sign of Bill possessing someone are the eyes. Yellow eyes with slitted pupils.

Had people lost their eyes because of Bill?

This is all your fault, Sixer…

Sure, the reaction could be just a product of Ford’s sleep deprivation, him hallucinating eyeless and bloody sockets on the faces of strangers, but what he is feeling is very real.

To him, people are suffering so Bill could get to him.

Let’s fast forward to when Bill has Ford in his clutches in the Fearamid.

I have very little doubt that while Bill administered physical torture, he also implemented mental torture and just because Bill couldn’t enter Ford’s mind, using his words could still yield a similar effect. Pretty much weaponizing victim-blaming.

This is all your fault, Sixer…

Now, post-Weirdmaggedon.

Stan had to lose his memories to save everyone from Ford’s mistakes, which only added to his feelings of guilt, especially when he remembers his treatment towards his brother since returning to his home dimension.

How could he have treated his brother so horribly after everything he has done for him?

How could he have let their father kick Stan out over a stupid science project?

And then comes his rash proposal towards Dipper, asking him to stay and become Ford’s apprentice. Sure, it was Dipper’s choice to accept it, but the fact remains…and it inadvertently caused Bill to finally get his hands on the rift and set a course for the end times.

Plus, Ford had learned about Bill possessing Dipper during Sock Opera.

His young niece and nephew had to suffer because of Ford’s actions.

Sure, things have gotten better, now that Bill was gone and Stan got his memories back. But, thoughts remain. Emotions remain.

This is all your fault, Sixer…It’s because of you that Bill was able to get here…It’s because of you that all these people got hurt…It’s because of you that the world nearly ended...

You brought Bill here...You broke Fiddleford...You killed people...

You hurt Stan…you hurt Dipper…you hurt Mabel…

You have no one to blame…but you.

You deserve it...

Those...never go away.

[presidenthades]

Rhaenyra and Daemon's wedding (show and fic) is where I feel conflicted with Rhaenyra's character. Her kids had just lost a dad (two on the show) and she's too busy planning her dream wedding to even care if her actions hurt anyone. Her children needed their mom's comfort more than ever and she not only blatantly lied to them about her plans but took the girls away from their family. I'm normally an Nyra apologist but I always hated how selfish she was when she married Daemon so quickly, at least they should have waited for the kids to recover from Laenor and Laena's death...

I'm not surprised when some authors write Jace with some very deep hidden resentment towards his/her mom, she's lucky that her firstborn loved her so much because this was reason enough for a big fight with very serious results (Rhaenyra and Jace's bond breaking indefinitely) I don't include Luke/Luce in this because even if Luce is the most vocal of the girls to show her displeasure over the wedding, her anger is explosive but short-lived. She could never spend much time angry with her mom, especially since they both have a very similar character. Luke is even softer, he sees his mother as perfect and I doubt there's anything Rhaenyra can do that will change that perspective.

Jace/Jacaera, on the other hand, suffer from the curse of the eldest daughter. They know the best part of Rhaenyra but also her lowest points, fortunately they love her too much to use it against her and they value the well-being of their family more than anything so they keep all their opinions and emotions to themselves. Lowkey wondered what would happen the day Jace/Jacaera decided enough was enough and broke out, the fight between either of them and Rhaenyra would be wild and I bet even Daemon wouldn't want to put himself in the middle of those two 🫠

I think people are allowed to (and should) acknowledge the flaws and bad decisions that their favorite characters make! And vice versa, one is allowed to enjoy or appreciate certain qualities of characters they otherwise dislike. A completely perfect hero is boring, just as a completely evil antagonist is boring. GRRM’s big message in his universe is that everyone is some shade of gray.

From Rhaenyra and Daemon’s POV, they’ve waited years to be together, and now they finally have their chance. But their kids don’t see it from their parents’ view, and I think that shot in Episode 7 of the kids looking unhappy at the elopement is very telling. HOTD characters don’t have access to therapy or modern psychiatry, but there’s a reason there’s a lot of advice and best practices for parents who plan to remarry. If there are kids involved, they need to be considered.

The girls aren’t opposed to their mother remarrying. As Jace and Luce say, the problem is that Rhaenyra does it so hastily. And you have a spot-on read of the two girls. Luce is very vocal and dramatic about her protests, but she quickly tires herself out and is eager for a semblance of normalcy/comfort. But Jace is stewing over the matter more quietly, and it’ll boil over one day.

Rhaenyra and Jace do end up having a very huge fight about it in Chapter 6 of the Handbook. Daemon decides to sleep through it. 😂

[smokeygrayrabbits]

OK SO REWATCHING BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES AGAIN AND y'all remember how coryo and sejanus had that lil confrontation right after they got to twelve over sejanus hanging with billy toupe and coryo was all 'you have to learn to make the best of our lives and roles here or have your father buy you a discharge and do something' and we as the viewers (idk about readers bc I have yet to read the book 😭 but movie anyway) can see the spite he says that with because sejanus is there willingly and coryo isn't. coryo had everything taken from him by being sent out as a peacekeeper. sejanus gave everything up to do the same.

coryo told sejanus not to throw his life away because he had the means and opportunity to make a real difference, and what did sejanus do? he turned straight around and threw away all of his power inorder to become a peacekeeper medic out in district twelve. as far as possible from the capital and any real position of power to make the change he was always talking about. and the reason that coryo told sejanus that in the first place? he was forced to risk his life to go and get sejanus!

sejanus had everything that coryo was working so hard to get a scrap of and threw it away on a whim, right after coryo was forced to risk his life to save sejanus.

coryo was exiled. forcefully placed in the military by highbottom with the goal of taking away any future power that coryo might have had. and sejanus, who already had the money and power that coryo was being kept from, threw it away! sejanus volunteered for the job that was meant to replace coryos death sentence. and then he starts running around doing illegal shit, dragging coryo into it by association, meanwhile coryo is doing his best to get back to his family and NOT GET KILLED. CORYO BASICLY ALREADY HAD TWO STRIKES AGAINST HIM WITH THE CAPITAL, AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SO EASY FOR THEM TO KILL HIM OFF IN THE DISTRICTS, LEAVING HIS FAMILY ALONE AND FUTURELESS. AND HE KNEW THAT. HE KNEW THAT EVERYTHING HE DID WAS BEING WATCHED AND SEJANUS JUST KEPT PUTTING THEM AT RISK! ID BE PISSED TOO.

BUT SEJANUS DIDNT KNOW THAT. HE DIDNT SEE IT THAT WAY BECAUSE HE DIDNT KNOW ABOUT CORYOS SITUATION WITH THE STARVING FAMILY AND THE DEATH SENTANCE AND THE TRAUMA FROM THE WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH AND HIGHBOTTOM WANTING HIM DEAD. GOD IF THEY HAD JUST TALKED ABOUT IT THEN I SERIOUSLY DOUBT THAT SEJANUS WOULD HAVE KEPT WORKING WITH BILLY TOUPE,

seriously! from coryos perspective everything sejanus did was basically a slap in the face to everything he was struggling and suffering for! but sejanus probably just thought coryo was blind to the capitals cruelty because sejanus was always trying to do what he thought was the right thing! but coryo knew people who had been labeled treasonous rebels for doing less than sejanus, and since they were friends and squad members coryo would have been blamed too. and unlike sejanus coryo doesn't have a rich dad to save him. he also had people relying on him, unlike sejanus, who only thought he was risking himself.

BUT ALSO coryo saw everything sejanus did as a wasted opportunity. and he was kinda right! sejanus had the money and the platform and the future to make real change if he would only spend some of his father's money and play the game. but just like coryo yelled at him in their fight, sejanus was too blinded by his own guilt over his father's actions and how they benefited from the war to actually do anything. which while moral and kind and very sejanus of him, was also such a wasted opportunity!

and then later at the jabberjay collection part where, before turning on the recording, coryo told sejanus to stop his sketchiness and sejanus was all 'YOU told me I could make a difference! thats what I'm doing!' and coryo makes that frustrated pissy face but doesn't really say anything he was totally thinking 'YEAH BUT THIS ISNT WHAT I MEANT!' when coryo told sejanus that he could make a difference back in the arena he was talking about sejanus using his familys wealth to make large scale change in the system, not risk his life on some asshole like billy toupe. but he doesn't say that because that's treason and he never says stuff out loud like that because he actually has people to protect. AND THEN SEJANUS GOES 'i can't stay here I wont!' SAYING THAT HES CANT STAY IN DISTRICT TWELVE ANYMORE AND CORYO MAKES THAT FACE AGAIN CUZ SEJANUS YOU SIGNED UP FOR THIS YOU VOLUNTEERED!!!!!!! GOD! I CANT!

AND THEN SEJANUS SAYS 'im just doing what you told me to do back at the arena' AND CORYO SAYS ' I WASJUST TRYING TO SAVE YOU THE FIRST TIME YOU DID SOMETHING STUPID ENOUGH TO RUIN MY LIFE' AND HE MEANT THAT BECAUSE WHAT SEJANUS DID PUT CORYOS ENTIRE FUTURE AT RISK BUT HE DOESNT KNOW THAT AND THEN SEJANUS SAYS 'its worth the risk to do the right thing' ANF THATS WHERW CORYO FINALLY GETS OUTWARDLY MAD AND SAYS 'ITS WORTH THE RISK FOR YOU. YOUR FATHER WILL JUST BUY YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS LIKE HE ALWAYS DOES BUT ILL BE HUNG JUST FOR KNOWING YOU' BUT SEJANUS DOESNT KNOW HOW TRUE THAT IS BUT ALSO HE SHOULD HAVE BECAUSE CORYO FULLY TOLD HIM AND HE JUST DIDNT GET IT! AND ONLY THAT DAY CORYO HAD LEARNED THAT HIS FAMILY WAS EVICTED AND THEY LOST HIS CHILDHOOD HOME AND HE WAS TRYING SO HARD TO SAVE THEM BUT SEJANUS WAS GONNA GET CAUGHT AND GET HIM KILLED AND GOD

[thevelaryons]

Did you see the news that the Sea Snake show is going from live action to animated. HBO had to make the changes because they’re going broke and don’t have enough to make another live action show.

Well, I wouldn’t say HBO is “going broke”, though yes there does seem to be some kind of financial issues happening with how the company is outsourcing its shows to other streaming platforms. Changing the medium for a show, from live action to animated, would help to cut down the potential costs associated with it.

Though the people behind the Sea Snake show’s development might also be considering whether it would be a good investment or not. The idea was put forward around the time HOTD first aired. But as of yet things have been mostly stuck in limbo. Personally I have my doubts whether this show will be made at all.

In order for HBO to believe a travelogue show will be a success, it would need to have enough of an audience interest behind its lead character, which as we see, it does not. I mean, when was the last time you saw any fan content for show!Corlys? Although he may be one of the 5 main characters in the story of the Dance of the Dragons, his presence in the fandom is kind of nonexistent if you think about it. Whenever some post on twitter or wherever goes viral, it’s always about some other character not Corlys. While book!Corlys does still get content that hones in on his characterization, the majority of the content made for the show version of the character isn’t even about Corlys but just him being used as a prop for other characters (and tbh that is almost how the show presented him so you can’t even really blame fans for having that interpretation).

Especially when you take his show characterization into account, there’s very little to like or even make sense of: he’s shown to be quite politically incompetent and also someone who abandons his family every chance he gets. Apparently doesn’t care enough about his own son being murdered (meanwhile book!Corlys wanted vengeance for Laenor’s death and refused to allow any harm to come to Addam). Not to mention, HOTD does tend to suffer from a “tell, don’t show” problem so while we do get characters referring to Corlys as a great seafarer, what we’re shown is quite the opposite: in the Stepstones episode we get Corlys fighting on the ground like a foot soldier while his fleet is burning in the background. Tbh his presence in that battle was not even needed because it wouldn’t have changed anything. Meanwhile, in the book, Corlys was credited with 50% of the victory through the effective command of his ships. In the second war in the Stepstones (which didn’t even happen in the book), he ends up nearly drowning. I blame that heavy, impractical armour he wears. Not sure why he’s even depicted as such (the books even have some quotes about the impracticalities of armor at sea). No wise sailor who’s spent so many years of his life at sea would wear such heavyset armour that increases the risk of drowning but show!Corlys apparently does.

Even in the bts material, it’s mentioned that the other nobles look down on Corlys and don’t really want him around due to his lowly background. Whereas book!Corlys was described as a man who was well respected even by his enemies. While many of the writing choices made in HOTD are highly questionable, for Corlys specifically, it does shortchange him because he is supposed to be one of the main characters. It’s hard to see him as a character for whom a standalone show, whether live action or animated, would be a big success.