#the victim as if that’s actually what happened

[be-not-afraid]

Listen, I promise you that someday you will fuck up in a way that feels unforgivable to you. You will fuck up in a way that feels unforgivable to someone else. It's a hazard that comes with being a human person. Just because it hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean that it isn't going to.

Not to be like "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," because ew what an oversimplification often used to dismiss the justified anger of victims, but it is a good summary of why retributive models of justice, while briefly satisfying, aren't actually good models to base a society on.

You are neither uniquely evil nor uniquely good! The standards you hold others to also apply to you! You are, morally speaking, just some guy! Think about the kind of world that you actually want to live in.

Truthfully, your guilt doesn't make things better for you or for the people you hurt. The only purpose that it serves as an emotion is to make you realize what you have done wrong, and to take steps to change. If you're already doing that, there's no reason to hold on to it any further, it may even hold you back!

the thing is, if your younger self was a bigot or an abuser, u can't make people forgive you. but you still gotta forgive yourself, like that's non-negotiable, dude. that happens before u can even ask the question of earning forgiveness from anyone lese

[tra-archive]

Please read this whole post and reblog it, radblr. I don’t want anyone to forget this happened to me and I also don’t want anyone to forget how disgusting the TRA community is.

Next month, it’ll be one year since I was harassed, doxxed, and targeted by a disgusting person and their sick followers. I won’t say their name because they still have a cult following, but if you need a hint, look up the drama with photomatt in February 2024.

On my old account, an anon told me about an account getting banned from tumblr and the ensuing chaos from TRAs. I answered the ask and posted a picture of the person’s new account so radblr could block if they needed to. I had no idea who this person was until I got that anon ask, just to be clear.

The person found the post and reblogged it, accusing me of being the one who led a “targeted harassment campaign” against them and got their account banned, and told their followers “you know what to do” or something like that. Keep in mind, I didn’t know who this person was at all so I obviously wasn’t the one who got them banned. I also *gasp* didn’t use their preferred pronouns, so that was a huge scandal as well.

After that, their followers began to harass me and send violent threats to my inbox. (Edit: oh and this evil person accused me of sending them to myself for attention, which is so fucked up and misogynistic I don’t even have words for it.) Here’s the worst one that I still have trauma from to this day:

My account was then termed by tumblr. I made a new account and called for radblr to report the account for sending their followers to harass me. Well, this made everything worse because the hate I got on this new account was a thousand times worse. This person’s minions created multiple posts about me (look up m3nrbad for proof, that was the account name). There were hundreds of comments calling me misogynistic slurs and calling for me to be doxxed and even lynched. They also found my Reddit account and harassed me there too. I even got a few text messages to my PHONE NUMBER. I have no idea how this evil person’s followers got ahold of it, but I changed my number and my mother took me to buy a new phone just to be safe. Here’s what one of them said about me, encouraging their followers to false report me:

A short while after this, the evil person’s blog was termed again and they were (I think) IP banned from all of tumblr. The CEO photomatt threatened to take legal action against them. It had nothing to do with me, but I can’t lie, it felt so good seeing that happen to them after the hell they put me through. Here’s me reacting to the news:

TRAs on tumblr of course threw a hissy fit and attacked Matt for months because their leader was banned. They also acted like this person was being systemically oppressed by tumblr of all fucking places. Keep in mind this person is white and born male, acting as if they were so oppressed by a website.

I eventually deleted that other blog and made this one. I spent hours and hours blocking every single person who reblogged, liked, and commented on posts about me, as well as blocking almost every one of a big tra’s followers. I was determined to stop being harassed.

Anyway, I know I shouldn’t be dwelling on this because it’s just internet drama, but people still worship this person and act like they’re such a poor victim, and in reality that’s not true. That month was hell for me and my actual safety was threatened. If it wasn’t for some of you gyns being so amazing and funny on here, I would��ve never come back to radblr.

Thanks for reading all the way through.

-Sirona

[lilybug-02]

I'm gonna THEORY CRAFT for a second about Animator vs Animation 11. Because there's something SUPER WEIRD I've noticed about the way camera shots are orchestrated in recent animations. Specifically about -

THE LAPTOP SCREEN.

And even more specifically what Alan (and the real world) may look like to the stickmen.

We've known for a while now that 3D space was possible outside of the Laptop since AvA 7 (March 11, 2019).

But the camera angle on the Laptop has always been in 2D space until very recently!

Our first introduction to a 3D environment in Alan's Desktop was Green's Influencer Arc (Uploaded Sept 7, 2024).**

(Look how insanely massive the inside of the laptop looks now.)

But throughout the entire Influencer Arc the camera was NEVER pointed towards the outside of the laptop, to the real world. It is always tilted so that we can't see it.

((And even more weird in this Green's video, is which the left most wall is covered a solid white, whereas, us - the audience - can see through this wall when looking through the screen. wth is happening))

--------------

Our most recent scene of a 3D Laptop space (as of writing this) is in AvA 11, where Victim is drawn and killed.

Again, the outside world, through the screen, is never shown. Although we do get extremely close with Mitsi's Creator. But it's coincidentally obscured by the internet explorer window.

--------------

And last of all- the thing that got me really questioning this camera choice - is something I noticed back in AvA 10 (Nov 4, 2023). When The Chosen One is having his memory scanned, he purposefully causes the screen to blur as he enters Alan's Laptop. (You have to put it in .5 speed to really notice.)

And guess what The Chose One does the second he gets to Alan's laptop. He stares daggers at Alan.

--------------

So what does this mean?

It means the camera is being specifically shot at angles to never address how the Stickfigures see Alan and the rest of the world.

And what does that mean???

I HAVE NO IDEA. But I kinda hope it's leading up to a scene where we DO see the stickfigures addressing it. BECAUSE HOLY HELL THAT WOULD BE SO SICK.

..........

Wait-**

Wait wait wait wait wait-

This ACTUAL SHORT from August 2023 shows the screen??? Are you fricking serious.

I am going to explode now <3. --------

Nah, in all seriousness, I would still LOVE to see the camera angle change for dramatic effect in the "main series". Because it just feels like the hints are leading up to it. ❤️❤️❤️ I'm really enjoying the series either way and was having fun theorizing here :)

_______________________________________________

And don't even get me started on why almost all animations/stickfigures are oblivious to Humans or strait up don't know about them. LIKE- wtf are all these posters

"Are We Being Watched?", "Tiles in the Sky", "What's Beyond Our World?", "Origins of the Stick Figure"

DUDE WHAT THE HELL. Are Alan's stick figures the only ones who've seen humans??? Do any other stickmen know humans created them? Ahhhhhhh

[annabelle--cane]

What are your opinions on Jonelias, if you have any? Not the community or w/e (although if you have any particularly strong ones, by all means) but the actual ship/dynamic itself

I think there are some somewhat erotic undertones to their relationship in the text, mainly with how elias continually tries to establish greater commonality and intimacy between them by saying he has a window into jon's True Nature and that he knows jon's mind, motivations, and likely future actions better than jon does. the "that's quite nice actually. tingly, but sort of freeing" and "agonized bliss" lines are fairly undeniably pieces of sexualized language, and the way jon kills elias is suuuper charged and is directly paralleled with martin's later explicitly romantic killing of jon.

elias's fatal flaw that he keeps repeating is that he underestimates people and doesn't even bother to use his mind reading powers when he thinks he's got someone sussed out, and with jon this means that he thinks jon's monstrous becoming has been all about him rather than all about the eye, so he thinks jon won't be able to bring himself to actually hurt him. he's right that jon is always a lot more in-tune with beholding than he'd like to consciously believe, but he is dead wrong that jon will ever see the people around him as objects to observe and discard.

elias is remarkably cruel to him; even beside the, yknow, manipulating him into fourteen distinct magical tortures, the way he talks to him in mag 102 is particularly callous, but it doesn't seem like he actually dislikes jon. his tone shifts completely for his mag 160 statement and he's quite transparent that none of what's happened has been jon's fault and it was instead all down to him, so one gets the impression that his s3 era turbo victim blaming was just part of his scheme to drive jon towards avatar encounters. which is kind of nice, if a little insane, though he does keep up the "we're not so different, you and I" thing up through his last appearance. I think he really believes that jon will eventually come around and see what he did was great, but alas, he doesn't realize that jon is hopelessly down bad for a shitty poet who smells like a beach and has callouses on his hands from his favorite tea mug.

for something community related, I always found it kind of funny that the 2020 tumblr teens were super hard set against jonelias, if you kudos'ed the wrong fic you'd end up on a blocklist, but the 2020 tiktok teens loved it. couldn't get enough. they were making lore-intensive vaguely gothic cult aus. every hannigram cosplayer duo doubled for jonelias and barely had to change a thing.

[brainscrems]

Let me be very fucking clear. I’m a butch transwoman who looks indistinguishable from a cis dude abt 90% of the time. If y’all talk abt hating men, and, keep in mind, you can’t tell I’m a woman because I haven’t TOLD YOU EXPLICITLY I AM, then I WILL be a victim of your hate. Unless you go up to every person you assume is a man and ask them explicitly if they are or not, you WILL be misfiring your hate onto other trans women. And. I mean. For real. Do you actually walk up to people and go, “hey, sorry, are you a man? I wanna check if it’s okay to hate you.” And, even if you ARE doing that, which I point out as a ridiculous solution, you’re gonna still be causing harm to those of us in the closet. Do you have idea how much fucking dysphoria trans inclusive radfem shit gave me when I was in the closet? Cause, let me tell you, it’s very much NOT, “oh i know I’m a woman, so this is misdirected.” No. It’s, “I am being lumped into and being told I’m lesser for being part of a category I did not choose and desperately want to escape.” And, more to the point, the judgements on this issue are ridiculous. I had people act like I was suddenly different and had value in a way i didn’t when I came out. As if I was some different person from who I was yesterday. If your value judgements on someone change entirely because they share with you a piece of their identity, with no material effect on you, and change none of their actions or behaviors in response, then what the fuck are you doing? It’s fucking ridiculous. It’a a stupid thing to make a judgement on. It was fucking insulting seeing that happen to me. I was no different the day before I came out to those people and yet they acted as if I was someone entirely new, suddenly worthy of their respect overnight.

Now, let me be clear, radical feminism and other “all men bad” stuff is bullshit for other reasons too. Namely how it hurts people across the gender spectrum, the ways in which it intersects with racism, and makes a character judgement on a sense of identity that was fundamentally not a choice. But. Clearly y’all don’t care abt that shit, so I’m making the one argument you might actually give a shit about. That you make the world fundamentally less safe for GNC trans women, as well as for those of us still in the closet. You make our lives material worse with this rhetoric and you should fucking stop.

transgender women who have an irrational hatred of men you GOTTA get over that. Come on now

[daisybell-on-a-carousel]

When Superboy Prime accidentally resurrected Jason Todd, it was described something like the universe righting itself. And, from a purely physical point of view, Jason never died. It brought his body back to it's state before his death, his injuries there but with just enough he could still survive

So, now I'm imagining like. What if there was an au where it was more than Jason just physically "never dying," but it affected memories of those around as well

Joker not remembering killing him, Dick not remembering hearing the news, Batman and Gotham not remembering the 6 months between Jason's death and resurrection, but not thinking much if it

Its all as if Jason never died

[oceansarepink]

Stella - Fans give HelluvaBoss far too much credit.

When starving for rep, people will eat anything. The phrase goes, “Beggars can’t be choosers”. But stop insisting mud slop is chocolate cake.

Talking about Stella with the fandom is extremely awkward. Most hate her because of headcanons and projections. Those alone are why they claim she’s “scarily realistic”, not the writing itself. When you speak to them about the character they start talking about their own experiences as if those are part of the show.

When “Stella is terribly written” comes up, the fans love going into diatribes explaining what domestic abuse is to the audience as if we don’t know, and their explanations alone, they think, make Stella suddenly become “well written”.

You ask the fans, “how is she well written?” And they say “well, she’s a woman who is abusive to a man.” The fact female abusers are underrepresented in media means stellas mere existence alone is enough to warrant undivided praise. Standing ovations happen at cons where Bryce Pinkham cites his lines divorcing the character. Despite this conflict being completely shallow.

Stolas fans are extremely insistent that she must remain one note and pure evil. Because to them, in this “powerful story” she’s carrying the fate of male DV victims on her back. So if Stella is humanised, the fear is that male victims of domestic abuse won’t be believed, and their abusers have ‘apologist rhetoric’ (Stella being legitimately done wrong) may hurt them!…Despite “Stella” being nothing more than a cartoon swan. They give this webtoon incredible amounts of social power. And medrano I think, loves and relishes in that power. She doesn’t have to lift a finger and actually write a character, backstory, arc, relationships, likes/dislikes, a plan of villainy, a dynamic, or a story, the fact Stolas exists, is gay, and is a victim to a woman, is enough. Enough for a grand standing ovation.

Let me explain with an example

In this scene of Stella and Via where her mother takes her phone away. The sole dialogue to via is “sorry sweetie, no talking to that deadbeat” that’s all. But twitter users started saying - Via cries like stolas does, Stella hates that. Abusers sometimes bully their children for having traits of their victims. So via has to hide her tears so her mom doesn’t abuse her. They imply they have experience with it, which makes Stellas writing is so realistic.

…..That’s great and all. People are allowed to relate and have comfort characters. But none of that is in the show. Stella just took her daughter’s phone. That’s all she did and said to her. But when someone points that out, they get accused of doubting someone’s real life abuse experience. The one they’ve imagined as also being in the show.

[wandixx]

GIW made a lot of mistakes and the biggest one was going against Young Justice part 2

part one is here

@whimsicalchaosgarden you asked to be tagged, sorry it took so long

Trigger warnings: mentions of experimentation and dehumanization (tell me if there is more appropriate way of phrasing it)

“So,” Robin started, taking the voice recorder out of his utility belt. “It'll probably be best if we get an explanation while making an accident report. This way we get it all over sooner”

Everyone agreed with this idea, standing in the loose circle in the debriefing area to make it all feel more serious. They had limited time before the next batch of cookies needed to be taken out of the oven and there was no way they all wouldn't devolve into chaos when it happened. M’gann knew from experience. 

To make sure they wouldn't take too long and cookies wouldn't turn on the fire alarm (again) both she and Danny set a timer.

In the meantime they had to learn who actually attacked them earlier.

“Phantom do the honors”

Danny froze for a moment, looking like deer caught in the headlight before he asked in a bit squeaky voice:

“How do I make an accident report?”

“Just say what happened but make it sound fancy,” Artemis explained. 

“Make a mission report and we'll fix it along the way,” Kaldur proposed.

“Answer ‘When? Where? Who was involved? What happened? What have you done about it?’ without excessive use of puns to avoid Bat-lecture” Robin helped, already in handstand.

“Bat-lecture? Really Rob?”

“So it's like lab report lite” Danny said before Robin did anything more than squawk indignantly “Alright, I can do it. Do you have any set phrase to start? And which accident report is it, in the database?"

“44th… How about ‘[Hero name], report’? Sounds serious enough.”

Everyone agreed, so after a moment of silence Kaldur did the honors.

“Phantom, report”

Danny straightened, rolling his shoulders back and locked his eyes in the middle distance. It was a bit eerie how fast he went from relaxed and goofy to almost emotionless statue. M’gann wished to never encounter it again, thank you very much.

“Incident report no. 45 made by Young Justice member Phantom, regarding an attack from earlier today, 26th April 20XX. The Young Justice Team, later referred to as the Team, went on a trip to an amusement park staying currently in the city of Happy Harbour. It was an activity meant to strengthen interpersonal relationships within the Team, previously green-lit by Red Tornado. Every member was in civilian attire as per protocol. Around 3:15 PM, after two and a half hours, the Team were disturbed by a group of ten armed people, recognized by member Phantom as belonging to Ghost Investigation Ward, colloquially known as GIW or Guys In White because of their uniforms. Later in the report the organization will be referred to as the GIW. Two shots were fired by the assailants, targeting but not reaching member Phantom. Members of the GIW were hostile but with use of humor and threat of legal actions, the Team managed to diffuse the situation before it endangered passerbys. Despite direct attack, none of the Team members’ identities were compromised. Assailants left the confrontation with belief that Phantom left his ectoplasmic signature on an unrelated civilian. Agents refused to admit they were working for the GIW since its operations break a couple of laws of the state Rhode Island. Because of that, their appearance was reported to local law enforcement and taken care of. No injuries or damage to the city infrastructure were sustained other than two burns in the asphalt in the place of confrontation. Required follow-up with local law enforcement in civilian attire as victims of assault. End of report” Danny sighed, easing back into a more natural position. “This good?” he asked, with a sheepish smile.

“Perfect”

“How are you so good at reporting? You didn’t even know what to do a second ago? That’s just unfair”

“I used to write my parent’s lab reports. It’s pretty similar in form”

“Lab-”

“Follow-up to the report only, Kid-Flash,” Robin interrupted “Phantom. elaborate on who were the assailants”

Danny stepped back from himself again.

“GIW is a ghost hunting organization supported and accredited by the state government in Illinois, legally operating also in states Wisconsin and Ohio. Their goal is to catch and examine ecto-entities to learn more about their biology and ways to obliterate them. Obviously their plans for experimentation don’t include consideration of ghosts’ well-being”

“Damn, that’s messed up”

“They wouldn't catch a blob ghost if they tried,” Danny shrugged, though something was wrong with the gesture. She wasn't sure though, so she moved on.

“Then why were you scared?” M’gann pressed on instead.

“My parents… are, you know, prominent ghost hunters so when GIW opened we all got a tour around the whole building. The lab was… it made me imagine things I wished I had never thought about”

“They have labs? Like evil labs?” Robin perked up like a kid who just heard that Christmas came early. “How could you hide it from us?!” he added, falling to hang on Danny's shoulder. He twirled a bit to catch the left one even though before he stood on halfa’s right side. Dramatic as always “Conner, we have a birthday gift for you!”

“What does GIW’s lab have to do with my birthday?”

“The potential!” Robin yelled, straightening for a better effect.

Everyone started laughing. Well, everyone other than Conner who just looked at them confused.

“He probably wants to storm another lab, bring up nostalgia of our first meeting,” Kaldur calmed down just enough to explain.

“Tell me you wouldn't like to punch an evil scientist,” Wally added, almost dropping to the floor. 

“This does sound nice”

“And THIS is exactly the reason why I haven't told you all. Thanks for spoiling my surprise Rob,” Danny lied, though he did his best to sound truthful. He even projected some false mirth.

It would take much more to trick M’gann though. She abruptly stopped laughing.

“You're lying. Why actually haven't you told us?” she demanded maybe a little too harshly, but she was worried. Everyone froze for a moment, before turning to look at Danny.

“They're all bark no bite, and aim worse than Stormtroopers’, so I haven't considered them important enough to report”

Other's didn’t know, of course, but M’gann knew just how terrified Danny was during the confrontation and how echoes of that fear soured air around him even hours later.

Everyone did realize this explanation was a tone of bullshit though. 

Apparently incredulous stares were enough of the response.

“You and the Justice League have more important things to deal with than some shitty local laws”

“Bullshit again,” Artemis burst her lips “This is exactly what Justice League is for”

“I already found people to help me lobby against them”

“And why aren't we on the list?” 

Danny fell silent, not looking anyone in the eyes, which was quite a feat considering they had him in a half circle. M’gann considered moving to his side to show her support. Stare down like that had to be quite stressful.

Why not actually. She stepped closer, and drew him in the loose side hug. Danny tensed, which wasn't abnormal for him. He usually relaxed in about thirty seconds, if he didn't, she'd let go.

“I didn't expect them to breach the containment…”

“Each of these lies is worse, you know? Like, insulting our intelligence level of worse,” Artemis interrupted once more, pinning him with her eyes alone “Give us truth or stop talking”

Danny raised his head to look back at Artemis and mimed zipping his mouth shut and throwing the key away. 

“Really?”

Boy just shrugged, not breaking eye contact.

“Alright, let's move on to the next question, how did it get approved in the first place?” Wally interrupted, waving his hand between them. They both shook off like dogs fresh out of water.

“Couldn't you wait five more seconds until I won?” 

“Ha! You wish Artemis. Though you could give us a moment”

“I gave you literal ages”

Danny snorted “Sorry, I keep forgetting how impatient you are”

“Oh shut up, my brain is just faster than yours, you slowpokes”

“Sure, sure”

“He made a good point,” Kaldur said “This shouldn’t even pass. And even if, you’re legally a Meta”

“Normal ghosts aren’t and halfas being a thing is not exactly common knowledge among the living”

“I’ll never get used to this distinction”

“I believe in you, Rob”

“What about ‘Extraterrestrial, extradimensional and otherwise previously unincluded’ Optional Protocol to the ‘International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’?”

“Oh my god Conner, you’re the only person to say the whole name ever”

“Hey!”

“It all comes down to the definition of the ghost and the fact that Alien addition uses sentience and sapience as a ground to give anyone said rights. And also, US signed it but didn’t ratify it so…”

“Isn’t it same thing?”

“Nope. I thought so too, but apparently signing anything means nothing unless it’s also ratified, so I’m kinda fucked. Can’t even get the UN to frown at them disapprovingly, because officially, nothing was agreed to. And you know, even if they ratified it, ecto-scientists conducted enough research to prove we aren’t sapient enough to have these rights anyway. Just most of the states didn’t need to make a law out of it”

“That’s rough buddy”

“Are you really quoting Avatar at me right now? Really Artemis?”

“Yes”

“Wasn’t Avatar this movie with blue people? I don’t think they said that there”

M’gann wasn’t quite sure why human members seemed to be appalled by the question.

“We’re going to fix that later-”

“What exactly is there to be fixed, because I feel like we’re talking about to different things”

“- but for now can we go back to the whole ‘ghosts have no rights in Illinois’ thing” Robin continued, completely ignoring Conner’s questions.

“Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio. There are portals to the Zone in two of these states. GIW already tried to send nuke through one of them”

“How Americana of them,” Kaldur muttered.

“If you have another insane tidbit about them, please share it all now. My mind can’t utilize any more revelations like that”

“I handled it, don’t worry”

“Someone tried to nuke literal Afterlife…”

“Yup, get on the schedule Kid Flash. You’re supposed to be fast”

M’gann knocked her arm into his, kinda as a ‘don’t be mean’ message. Danny kinda tensed, but soon relaxed back and moved his head as if he wanted to lay it on her shoulder. Excitement of the day was clearly catching up to him.

M’gann wouldn’t be mad if he did laid his head there.

“Why do we learn about it just now?”

“I wrote the report, not my fault you haven’t read it”

“Can’t fault us for assuming we’d know every important thing from your endless bitching!”

Danny straightened and laughed, in this horrible humorless way that made M’gann want to claw at her brain until she couldn’t hear or sense any of it.

Instead, she brought her other hand up and just held him tighter.

Thankfully the whole spectacle didn’t last long.

“It’s cute that you think I bitch about anything important”

“Phantom…”

“Don’t Phantom me right now. Even if by some miracle they managed to send the missile to the Zone, it most likely wouldn’t have worked. They’re mostly just a joke.”

“They managed to shot you. Right upper arm or shoulder”

“Don’t deny it, we’ve seen you wince when I leaned on you and when M’gann hugged you”

Martian tried to let go hearing that, but Danny held her in place. She stayed where she was but carefully moved her hand away from the slightly damp area on his shirt. She suddenly caught on everything that was wrong with him, now that she knew to look for it.

“I got worse from the hand of my house’s security system”

“You… understand that it’s… like… way worse, right?”

“You don’t know life until you hear threats of dissection against your alter ego after stopping death ray with bowl of cereal,” he said, relaxing more into her side again. He sounded absolutely exhausted.

“Do you want to move in here? Until we deal with this whole GIW and assorted mess?” she said instead. Conner nodded, surprisingly eager to share the space that he considered somewhat sacred.

“Nope, I’m good, I’m needed there”

“You could Zeta- yeah, no, nevermind, it wasn’t good idea. But we could make it work”

“You still should-”

“It’s fine. I mean, I have it handled and it doesn’t affect that many people. And we’re working on it. It’s fine”

“It really is not,” Conner growled.

“You need your arm patched up” M’gann demanded, ignoring previous conversation, with eyes still fixed on the blood that stained her forearm. She should’ve destroyed at least Operative K.

“I bandaged it up”

“It soaked through then. Let’s go to med–”

Loud shrill interrupted her, because of course it did.

“Oh, look, convenient distraction! Let’s take the cookies out before they get burned!”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” M’gann stated in a way that allowed no argument “You’re getting away for now only because I’m holding most of your weight right now”

“Sure we will. And I can stand on my own, thank you very much”

“I’ve heard many lies today and this might be the worst of them. We’re going to Medbay as soon as the cookies are out”

“You’ve got it boss”

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

Finally got to see “Nosferatu” (2024) and what a masterpiece. Peak gothic horror, my teenage self came alive with this film. This is truly for the gothic horror, history and folklore enjoyers.

Eggers brings the audience into the Victorian era; not only visually but on the storytelling itself. There are so many layers happening here. This film is a meditation on sex and death, modernity and spirituality, science and superstition. It’s set in the 19th century, at the dawn of the modern Western world; and as Europeans move towards technology and science, they drift away from folklore and pagan religions. It’s no coincidence that Orlok comes into Germany to terrorize a city, the ultimate symbol of civilization.

Our protagonist Ellen is a seer, a medium, an “enchantress” like Orlok calls her, and even Von Franz recognizes she could have been a “Priestess of Isis” had she been born in pagan times. Unfortunately for Ellen, she was born in the “wrong era” and she’s brutally medicalized for her gifts, being diagnosed as a “melancholic hysteric somnambulist” aka hyper-sexual depressive and suicidal. She’s able to see beyond the realm of the living, which causes her to summon and awake Orlok from his centuries old nap, at the beginning of the movie, and develop a psychosexual connection with him; which is, indeed, what separates this story from the other “Dracula” adaptations.

Count Orlok is the archetypal Death, here; which culminates with the “Death and the Maiden” motif at the end. This was a very popular Art History archetype around the so-called “Plague years” (14th to 16th century) in Europe, and it’s often connected with other motifs like “Danse Macabre” and “Memento Mori”. It has several meanings depending on the author intent, usually a reminder of our mortality, but also a meditation on sex and death, as in the French “la petite mort” (“little death”), the post-orgasm sensation, sexual release potentially causing temporary loss of consciousness (fainting) or dizziness. In the Medieval Ages, physicians believed orgasms could lead to death because they drained the “life force” from the body. This was when the term “petite mort” was created, and this belief persisted into the Renaissance and beyond. In “Nosferatu” this probably translates in the sexual pleasure that Orlok imprints on his victims as he drains their life force.

Thomas is a ambitious young man who marries Ellen, and he craves the status and the money his long-friend Friedrich Harding has. At Thomas’ side, Ellen “gifts” appear to have been blocked, and she’s able to lead a “normal life”. This caused her to developed a somewhat co-dependent relationship with him. And this makes me ask: does Ellen truly loves him or does she loves the idea of herself with him? Ellen profound need to feel loved also extends to her friendship with Anna, and she even thanks her for loving her. This is also a desire she expresses to Orlok, as she accuses him of being incapable of loving her (in the human sense), this being the reason for her resisting to succumb to his offer (Thomas loves her, he doesn’t).

Many interpretations have been brought forward about Ellen story (abuse, grooming, etc.), personally I disagree. I see it as a metaphorical story of depression (Ellen not only gets diagnosed with “melancholy”, the Victorian equivalent for “Depression”, but she also presents a lot of synonyms of Bordeline Personality Disorder), and how it can wreck havoc on the lives of those around us when the proper medical treatment is not available, and it culminates with Ellen joining Orlok/Death = committing suicide. Like Orlok himself, she can never be satiated with the world of the living, and finds fulfillment in death, and him as a “past lover” can be interpreted not only with suicidal ideation but actual attempts.

The influence of Grand Guignol theatre is also visible in some scenes, where horror and comedy are blended. Some scenes are indeed very theatrical and this seems intentional.

Personally, I didn’t find this film scary (as in terrifying). It’s macabre and eerie, for sure. Visually, it’s stunning. Amazing cinematography, very atmospheric and dream-like. Customs and sets are incredible. A feast for historians like myself. I was gushing over the medieval architecture of Orlok castle because of course I was. The attention to detail in this film is incredible. I absolutely loved Orlok character design as the “Renaissance plague carrier”.

[haveuevermetme]

twitter makes my blood boil. i feel like i live in a psyop.

i see so many MEN posting angry tweets about that case with pakistani grooming (rape) gangs in britain, they condemn british government and british police, they ask everyone how could this happen, how could police do nothing about it. it almost seems like a completely normal reaction to these news, what other emotions you could have except horror and anger, right? the only thing, men still slip. they write their posts and they say “the most horrible thing in all this is not the rapes, but police inaction”. oh really, the most horrible thing about rape is not rape but police caring about certain men’s feelings more than girls and women’s wellbeing? wow, such a feminist king, justice in human form. they question, how could britain let those barbarians do that to their girls? probably the same way they let their own barbarians do it to the girls??? they ask, what other country would try to kill itself by ignoring such terrible grooming and sex trafficking crimes? ehm, every single one???

their “sincere” surprise and fury and curses amaze me to such a degree, i almost believed they actually cared about those british girls but of course, they don’t, they only care about their property being damaged not by those who this property is intended for but by some other. this is the only reason for such outcry and it angers me so much.

i see their talking points, and obviously they’re right in questioning why the police and government ignored these cases over the years, why nothing was done, why girls were put to the altar of “keeping peace”. however, this is not the first case. this is not the first rape or first sex trafficking or kidnapping or murder getting ignored, victims blamed, criminals forgiven. and this is not the last. and every time these crimes are discussed, every single man whose opinion i see on every single social media platform defends the rapist, the murderer, and never the victim. they curse her, blame her, shame her, silence her.

they never defend women, they never defend girls. the only time they will do try to show their empathy to women’s pain is when what they see as their property gets damaged by someone else. they pretend to care all of a sudden, it’s such a cruel and horrible act. they will simulate being protective and righteously angered, only because they want to be the ones doing that, not some pakistani muslims, it should be them, in this case white and british. and when that happens, when the perpetrators will be the “right” ones, they will not mutter a single word of remorse and understanding for the victims, quite the opposite, they will condemn victims and praise the perpetrators.

the only good (or not so much) thing i find in these posts is that they still lack real empathy, they show they’re men and they have no idea what they’re talking about, they never understand the whole problem and their ignorance is easy to spot.

[margolithic]

If I ever saw you in public I don't think I'd be able to stop myself. There's just something in your eyes that screams perfect victim

I'd drag you into some dark alleyway that smells like piss and throw you onto the ground and kick you.

Over and over.

Until you're curled up into a ball sobbing and begging for mercy. Then I'd give you a choice: "either my knife or my cock but one of them is going to be going in you tonight."

Of course it doesn't actually matter what you choose because at the end of the night you'll be covered in blood and cum either way.

see now this is a good rape threat!!!! made my stomach drop just a lil ehehe I think my only criticism would the line "either my knife or my cock but one of them is going to going in you tonight" I feel it's a bit wordy and kind of breaks the flow of the rest.i think something like "if you're real good you'll only have to take my cock tonight" would flow a bit better, the rape is inevitable it's going to happen there's nothing I can do to stop it, so might as well just lay back and take it otherwise I'll get hurt so much worse. that way it keeps that threat up and doesn't give me a option for an out!!

other than that tho seriously good job!! really loved the descriptors of the alley way smelling like piss that was a good addition and added to the gross factor of it! and the kicks god... excellent fucking choice, beating a victim before you do anything else so they're already weak and mentally helpless,,.. good stuff! I also really loved the line about being a perfect victim! that's a high compliment ehe I'm a sucker for that kinda stuff!

solid A- I think! there's some room for improvement but shows a really solid understanding of the material!

[naamahdarling]

I agree. I've been thinking about this so much, and I'm so frustrated with it, because there's a point at which I have to concede that when it comes to some things, there is no answer that lives up to my ideals.

I also think the rejection of the word "reform" in favor of "abolition" is partly due to how we have seen efforts to "reform" things go absolutely nowhere but to the bank with taxpayer money to cut a fat check to police departments that they use for "training" and body cams that then do fuckall. If that's reform, I want to kill that, too.

I am in favor of making prison as we know it (a locus of abuse and injustice that is in no way oriented towards helping anyone at all, as well as a source of legal slave labor) go away. Forever. So I have asked people the prison abolition questions. I have never gotten an answer beyond "we will support victims and with the measures we want to put into place there will be fewer offenders." Good. Okay. I want that, for sure. You have my full support. I get lost when I run into "That's a distraction." It isn't. I'm not saying we refuse to work on this until every bit of it is hammered out. I'm saying it very much is something we will need to grapple with, and it's actually a major thing because how we handle extreme cases of ANYTHING is THE purest form of principles.

It isn't a gotcha to say "if you do not have a plan for non-lethally dealing with people like Jeffrey Dahmer, because people like that exist and will continue to do so, you do not have a fully realized plan, you have some really good ideas that I already support."

"I don't know, we are working on that, it's an issue, we have a lot of ground to cover before then, and some of that ground will undoubtedly point us at some of those answers" is kind of where I fall, and it is a lot more honest than what I usually get, which is "Well, YOU need to imagine what that looks like, what do YOU think? This is for YOU, and all of us, to come up with. But don't ask about extreme outliers, that just shows you support the status quo and want alternatives to fail."

That isn't an answer that goes anywhere. Because I have thought about it extensively. And my answer is "putting them someplace pleasant that they can't leave, where they can't ever hurt anyone, and caring for them, all the while watching them like a hawk for the rest of their lives, because they simply cannot be allowed what we would call true freedom".

No community I know of is capable of managing someone like that while allowing them to go free, nor should the burden of that risk be placed on any community. I wouldn't consent to having someone like that living in my community, and one dissenting vote should be enough to keep them out, shouldn't it? And if they just cut and run, well. The next community maybe won't even know they're there until they do something that could have been prevented. Whose community in the first place? The one where they offended? Because that's...that's actually not okay. Which one, if there were several?

Outliers exist and have to be considered, because if you don't, you wind up with vigilante justice out of self-defense, or a string of inexcusable, monstrous acts continuing unopposed until the person dies, but the victims, or whoever is left who loved them, at least get "support."

I don't want to say "I support reform" because my god does that ever sound lukewarm at best. But I don't have a plan for the parts of abolition that don't already overlap with reform.

I want a word for "reform" that means "we are incredibly pissed off and we do intend to tear this apart beyond the point of recognition and make something new" but that can't happen in one stroke. At the very least, there are going to be long transitional periods while we restructure shit and get people used to the new ways of doing things.

I don't like all my answers, but I haven't been presented with anything better. I want to be. But some people get really pissed when I genuinely ask them to please show me a better way that I can actually believe in.

The other reason I'm generally annoyed with the "Abolish X" crowd who actually DO mean "abolish X" and not a watered-down version is that ime they very rarely have fully thought out the implications of what they're demanding and then get angry when other people ask about it.

"Family abolition means completely removing legal ties for family units and allowing all children the choice of where they live" okay. So if I see a three-year-old throwing a fit because she doesn't want to leave the park, and I go over and tell her if she comes home with me she can stay as long as she likes and then we'll get McDonald's on the way home, that three-year-old should have the ability to make that decision? The parent or guardian has no legal recourse to stop me from taking her? Cause if the answer's no, that's not abolition, that's reform baby!

"I'm done talking about what we'll do with rapists and murderers after we abolish prisons, it's all anybody ever wants to talk about!" Well yeah man! 98% of people just interpreted your words as "we're going to let murderers roam around killing people at will"! You need to explain very clearly what plans you have that will stop them that aren't incarceration or you're not going to make any headway! And if your answer involves any form of "well of course SOME people can't be allowed total freedom" - that's not abolition, that's reform baby!

I'm not even gonna touch the number of people who think we should abolish the police and replace them with what are essentially roaming squads of vigilantes dispensing "community justice", whatever the fuck that means.

Like these aren't "gotcha" questions, they're legitimate problems you're going to have to contend with. And if you wave away all these questions with "you're just making up ridiculous scenarios" and "we'll think of something to fix that once we destroy the current system", then yeah actually, I DO think you care more about sounding radical than about making any kind of change.

[damnfandomproblems]

About 6988: (TW for sexual assault, pedophilia, death threat mentions, and zoophilia)

You got brainwashed by antis. Antis have been the ones being exposed as pedophiles and even defended them. The anti lolicon people have stuff behind EDP445 because he said lolicon is pedophilia. For those who don’t know, EDP445 is a disgraced YouTuber who was caught TWICE trying to meet up a minor for sex. Once was a guy pretending to be a 13 year old girl, twice is where he tried to meet a real life 16 year old and sexted her. He SOMEHOW got a platform again.

There are actual pedophile rings on Twitter with adults meeting actual minors and using codes and emojis to hide what is actually happening, a proshipper pointed this out, and an anti was actively looking the other way and instead focused all of their attention on what the proshipper liked in fiction. Imagine that someone points out a pedophile ring and you see someone looking the other way because they saw someone’s taste in fiction and instead put 100% of their focus on that and not children being groomed and social media.

I have seen antis get caught being creeps. One anti was sexually harassing an ex partner while they were 18 and she was 15. Another anti who is a horror themed lewd V-Tuber (ironic) interacted with minors from ages 14 to 17 years old. Idc if you knew the minors as friends or if you’re 18, you should not be interacting with minors as a NSFW account.

I’ve also seen antis ENCOURAGE proshippers, who they THINK are “pedophiles” to go hurt real children. I’ve also seen them tell people to kill themselves over fiction. I’ve seen an anti tell a recovering self harm addict to “relapse.” I’ve seen too many antis tell sexual assault victims that they “deserved their abuse,” or they invalidated them.

Antis were also the reason why a non-binary artist I liked get ran off the internet all over what? A yucky incest ship? Seriously? THAT is the reason why they get ran off the Internet, meanwhile actual pedophiles still have platforms or have been given platforms?

Antis are also the reason why most fanfic writers quit because they don’t like the content they write.

Antis have been racist to said fanfic writers. Particularly, a south Asian writer who wrote dark fetish content who used dark content as a coping mechanism.

I’ve also seen an anti who is another V-Tuber get exposed for being a rapist, as they repeatedly attempted to have sex with an ex partner against their will while they were drunk and they ONLY stopped when their partner started crying. They also got off to their ex’s photos without their consent as well and cheated on their partner by sexting a minor.

Also, antis were strangely very quiet when it came to infamous zoophile Kero the Wolf coming back as a V-Tuber. For those who don’t know, I’m sorry for the horrors I’m about to tell you. Kero the Wolf was a part of a few zoosadist and zoophilia rings and even sexually abused his OWN DOG. Then, he made a half-assed apology (like that will ever reverse the damage he did to those poor animals and his own dog…) went into hiding for a very long time, then came back as a V-Tuber model and used a voice changer. Antis have not talked about this guy, and yet it’s the people who can separate fiction from reality (aka, proshippers) who spoke up about him.

THE LIST GOES ON. Do you STILL want to paint Proshippers as the “bad guys” and Antis as the “good guys” here? If you still think Proshippers are bad even after I tell you all of this, then idk what to tell you.

I don’t label myself as a proshipper. Because I think the label is stupid. Back then, we called it, “mind your own business,” and “Don’t like? Don’t look.” But hey, because of the state of the internet from 2016 to now, those labels and the ongoing “proshipper vs anti” discourse will still continue because we’re gonna keep letting it continue.

Posting as a response to a previous problem.

[calsappstore]

COLUMBINE ICEBERG (PT 2)

Suicide photos: If we were to name the most well- known pictures of the tragedy, the picture of them in the cafeteria with the guns would be probably number one. A very close second, however, would be the picture of the dead bodies in the library (which were moved after they searched the bodies for any potential threat). These pictures were taken as crime scene evidence, and were not leaked until three years later, when someone sent them to the National Inquirer, this magazine, of course, made the pictures the centre of that particular issue. Who leaked them remains unknown to this day.

“Hey Dylan”: This refers to a very specific exchange between Dylan and John Savage. This story behind the latter gentleman is like this: John Savage needed to pick a place to study for an upcoming test (if I’m not mistaken it was a geography test) and chose to do so in the library, meaning he would be there in the thick of it, when the tragedy was going down, Eric pointed a gun at the person who was under the table, which happened to be John, he asked him to identify himself, and when John did so, Dylan was called over. John and Dylan had theatre together, so they knew each other a little bit. At this point,John said to him “oh hey Dylan, what are you doing?”. To which Dylan responded “just killing people”. Ultimately, Dylan let John go.

OKC bombing plan: In 1995, Timothy McVey, tired of the government plans and doings, planted a bomb in a car outside of Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 169 people. This attack remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S History. This incident became known as the Oklahoma City Bombing, and a few people draw parallels with both Eric and Dylan. He wanted to join the military, much like Eric; and he was a computer wizz, much like Dylan. Now, the real interest that these two had on the OKC Bombing is unknown, but Eric was said to be somewhat of a fan. Both boys wanted to surpass the number of victims that McVey had. Actually, the original date that the Columbine was planned was April 19th (same day as the OKC bombing) , and it was going to be initially a bombing.

The 11K: The 11K is a loose term for all Jefferson County reports on the case. There’s closer to 27,000 pages, pictures, CCTV footage and everything else you could imagine on the case. Most known information on the Columbine case comes from the 11K. This has everything, ranging from school records, interviews with students and staff, copies of Eric’s webpage(s). It was released in portions between 2000 and 2006. Everything that is not included in here was said to be destroyed in 2011.

Brooks Brown: Brooks is one of the most famous people who survived the encounter. Eric told him that he liked him now, and to go home. Brooks and Eric used to be friends, but they had some not-so-nice encounters. They used to carpool together, and Brooks began being late many days, which as you can guess, Eric was not happy about. One morning, Brooks overslept again, and as he was getting ready, Eric called him, but Brooks ignored him, which caused Eric to need his dad to give him a ride. Everyone was mad in the situation. Dylan was friends with Brooks, so the fallout between Brooks and Eric was very awkward for everyone involved. Take everything Brooks say with a pinch of salt, because he is known for altering the truth for his own benefit. (allegedly)

Eric’s website: In his free time, Eric was known for raging and raving online about the things that he hated the most, he would also post lyrics he liked (specifically kmfdm’s songs). The website has screenshots of it plastered online, and it is absolutely unhinged. The irony of it all, is that wether he did it on purpose on not, he might have thrown jabs at Dylan in a few instances.

Eric and Dylan’s journals: Another rather (in)famous piece of the case would be the journals that both of them wrote. Although, only Eric had an actual journal, Dylan’s “journal” was a bunch of individual papers scattered among his school papers. Let’s do a brief analysis of their similarities and differences. Similarities: they both had a “unique” way of writing, which means, they very much ignored grammatical and spelling rules they English language has. Dylan would straight up make up words, and Eric liked to spell it how it sounded (he would have loved English in the 10th century). Another similarity is how both of these boys viewed themselves as “godlike” and better than anyone around them (although Eric wished he was God, while Dylan thinks he is a God). Both have a sense of superiority. But also an inferiority complex (in Dylan’s case this is super obvious, Eric conceals it a bit better, but it’s still there if you look deep enough). Another likeness lays in “death wish”; Eric’s approach to this lays more in him not really caring, he just wants to be free and is willing to die in the process, he thinks he has realised too much, Dylan, however, just plain expresses how his life is a mess and how he wishes he could die and not have to live his life anymore, he feels like everyone leaves and he truly has no one there for him. He prefers death to life, thinking it’s the solution for his problems. Now, let’s see the differences: Eric wrote to an audience, given he likely started writing once he knew the plan was going to take place, or at least when their plan started taking shape. Dylan started writing about a year before they planned NBK. Next difference is composition, Eric opted for a more straightforward approach, which he also adapts in his schoolwork. I might make a post on this, because there is so much, but, Dylan’s journal is not very cohesive. It starts making sense, but he derails into madness (for a lack of a better term), and the more you read, the less sense it makes. Eric mentions Dylan quite a bit, while Dylan does not mention Eric as much.

Eric was a psychopath: The FBI was quick to analyse both of their journals. The conclusion they reached from Eric’s journal was that Eric was a psychopath; he was a narcissistic, control freak. He displayed emotional shallowness, the need to “keep up a mask” etc… Take everything with a grain of salt, because Eric did write the journal for it to be read, so he wanted to be seen this way, wether or not this was his real self, that’s for you to decide what you choose to believe. Another case that leads people to believe Eric was a real psycho is, well, in the shooting itself. Eric was quite calm and focused, he killed more people. But, he also expresses lots of regret to what the shooting is going to do to his parents, and recognises that the shooting will be emotionally taxing on him. He also was a fan of animals, and loathed those who abused them (funny because guess what many copycats did?).

Klebob was self-loathing depressive: There is not much to add here, Dylan is known for being shy, quiet, depressive, overly independent, he was also irritable (which is a sign of depression), he hated himself and even partook in parasuicidal conducts (aka self-h4rm). Another disorder he was thought to have was Avoidant Personality Disorder (with schizotypal traits), again, take this with a grain of salt because these analysis were made after he killed himself.

15 crosses: After the tragedy, there was a memorial made for everyone whose lives were taken in this tragedy, and I mean everyone, Dylan and Eric included. This was highly controversial, as many people held the belief that the shooters should never be remembered in the same place as the victims, so the crosses were removed.

This post is for educational purposes only.

[exhelluvafan]

I've been into internet culture since I was like 10 and I dont think I've seen a fandom come even CLOSE to the Hellaverse fandom if we're talking about how bad it is

Was in the Super Smash Bros fandom back in 2020 - 2021 and that was extremely toxic (Lots of fighting, harassing the creator for small things and had a pedophile problem)

Then in 2021 - 2023 i was into Friday Night Funkin. I quit that because harassment, bullying, death threats, and even rape threats and doxx threats all because I liked this one mod. And (supposingly) I heard this fandom bullied somebody into suicide.

But Hellaverse? It's way worse. It's these 2 fandoms combined. This fandom goes apeshit if you even ask a QUESTION about the shows or Viv, and their racist, transphobic and pretty much every form of discrimination :/

But seriously, I dont know why Hellaverse is like that but its so horrifying. With what happened to Shay and that Charlastor fan, Im horrified for what this fandom could do next. An actual murder breaking out? Wouldnt be surprised :/

Hard same here, Anon, I've been on the internet for quite some time and I can confirm, without any shadows of a doubt, that the Viv fandom is the most batshit insane and unhinged fandom I've ever seen in my entire life, also, calling it a cult is more than appropriate because it fits the criteria for one, like I'll be showing underneath.

Reasoning behind the check marks:

The Viv stans always see Viv as the "peak" and unquestionable.

Pretty self-explanatory, given how Viv and her standom are terminally allergic to criticism whatsoever, even down to basic world-building questions.

This one is tricky, but the fact that Viv keeps dropping merch sales almost the very second an episode drops and the fact that Viv never is transparent about where the merch money is going exactly exemplifies how Viv never discloses about it.

This one involves the stans blaming the critical / anti community whenever something no ideal happens to Helluva / Hazbin or Viv gets exposed once again as a monster to the whole internet.

The stans actually have made it pretty clear that they don't actually know why the Viv fandom is actively hemorrhaging members, blaming the critical / anti community for it, while the very same stans have harassed countless ex fans into silence and eventually forcing them to leave the cult fandom.

The Shay / Charlastor incidents and how the standom pulled that under the rug, and how Vivziepop refuses to step in about it.

The vast amount of evidence against Vivziepop and Spindlehorse, that keeps piling up to this very day.

(actually 9.) The stans never question Viv at all, and they either work as their attack dogs or yes men.

(10.) Viv always makes sure to feed her unhinged attack dogs through liking / retweeting their post, and the stan proudly proclaims that Viv has noticed and validated them.

Also, Anon, you're not too far off from that murder thingy, sadly, it has been reported that a Viv stan actually doxxed a person and literally went to crash a car against their workplace in an attempt to kill the victim's relative, so yeah, I'm not doubting that the Viv fandom will keep increasing in kill count as time goes on.

[whtybsshe]

I can tell their whole rant is not worth reading by the fact that

:they can’t properly see that Hinata was NOT the one said “Be at peace!” It was Neji.

If you can’t read the notes I made, everytime when Neji or Hinata speaks, the speech bubble either has a little pointer at him or her. Even if the panel shows Hinata, it doesn’t mean she’s the one saying it. Two, even if it’s a translation, it does not make sense for Hinata to say“But you need not suffer any more. Be at peace! But you’re wrong cousin Neji…I can see it now even more than me…” does it now?? Like can’t you figure out that contextually it sounds weird!

The other points that they make sound like “Guys, well yes she did experience abuse but IT WASNT THAT BAD😅😅GUYS she smiled like two times so IT WASNT BAD AT ALL GUYS😅😅😅 trauma is bad 😅😅but well assume she doesn’t have it😊😊😊because it serves my personal narrative☺️☺️☺️☺️”

But I as a Neji Stan, should be the bigger person here and actually logically explain to the ENTIRE SEVEN HUNDRED NOTES that Hinata neither conformed to system, or fought the system.

The hate Neji fans have towards Hinata (idk if OP is a Neji fan so scratch that, any fan in particular) comes mainly from his death as a side branch and we all hate that, im gonna agree with you there. But I think the entire thing got twisted to the point where everyone has this misguided narrative that “Neji actually tried to fight the Hyuuga system whereas Hinata didn’t, she’s a privileged princess that took advantage of Neji.” Which, it’s totally wrong because truthfully? Neither of them did. Well yes Neji might’ve made Hiashi acknowledge him but that was ALSO because 1) Hiashi felt a responsibility to his late twin brother. 2)It is constantly repeated that Naruto had a huge impact as well. So it wasn’t just the effort of a young fourteen year old no matter how much of a genius he might’ve been. Later in Shippuden we never see Neji against the clan, in fact, in SD, in Ninja Storm (I think) Neji is always portrayed to be prideful of his herritage no matter the shitfuckery that goes on and even if he’s a side branch in the eyes of the clan, he keeps it as a badge of honour and status to anyone else. And one can argue that him being against the clan but also prideful of it can exist as two mutually exclusive truths , yes. But they also can’t. We don’t see Neji actually challenge the system again, because the writing doesn’t allow for the Hyuuga subplot to develop, plain and simple.

Now everyone will agree with me on this paragraph, why can’t anyone agree that the same exact case IS for Hinata and pull out the dumbest shit from the asses to justify this twisted vision that they have of Neji and Hinata.

Now I got sidetracked a bit so im coming back to OP post and some interesting points that they made.

-She did have a carefree childhood thanks to her friends and teachers. The last words are what people should focus on. The happiness she might’ve felt during her childhood does not clash with the battered relationship she had with her father. Now according to Naruto Shinden: Parent and child day, Hinata could only remember the smell of blood and kunai. She as trained from day 1 to be a clan head. Thats exploitation, abuse, both physical and mental . Even if she doesn’t piss herself from fear seeing him, it’s sure as hell mentioned that Hinata still dreads him from underneath. All the good things happened outside of her home. She did experience trauma. Her behaviour as a “weirdo” at first, and everything I said in the above paragraph is TRAUMA. You can’t zig zag your reasoning trying to question her every step. That is TRAUMA, point blank period.

And then the all famous as the OP quoted: “It's correct to point out what she had to go through, surely having such enormous pressure on her shoulders at such young age and not being able to deliver is harsh on everyone, but pointing out her position as a victim is often done either to dismiss her implication and endorsement on her clan's slavery system and/or to downplay Neji's own experiences with the abuse of the Main Family. Not only did he have to endure a similar type (meaning: worse) of degradation from Hiashi, but also had to experience the threat of physical torture and/or murder shall he disobey, something that Hinata canonically never was hinted to suffer from.” End quote.

It’s the all famous Struggle Olympic no jutsu!!!!!😍😍😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰🥰😘😘😘

As I mentioned above, Hinata did suffer from physical abuse. Even if it’s in the guise of training, that’s things she did not have a good experience to say the very least.

I think we keep downplaying the fact that Hinata got kidnapped by foreign ninjas way too fucking much. They would a) murder her b) train her to be a weapon and pair of binoculars c) rape her (shes young then, but what if they kept her for more years?) to get Byakugan individuals afterwards

By using the Hyuuga affair example:

You don’t endorse the Hyuuga system by defending Hinata, along with Hizashi and Neji that have been quite literally the actual victims from start to finish of the entire Hyuuga affair.

Most important point: Don’t compare the suffering of two charachters!!! “Oh Neji has had it more difficult than Hinat therefore I reject the validity of all her struggles!!!”

Neji ACTUALLY recognising her pain (I want to discuss about this in a separate post but just keeping this here for now), he actually says he” to be at peace “, he does say that as well in the anime (although worded differently cause interpretation and translation and all of that)

It’s true that Hinata has not experienced what Neji has, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t been abused by a clan that glamourises power and birthright status over anything else. Why is it so necessary to compare them in this way, rather than capture their differences and nuances in actual meaningful way.

First point of the last point: The Hyuugas system was never mentioned or properly addressed in shippuden (not filler episodes) LET ALONE BORUTO. We can’t conclude whether they actually abolished the system, but neither can we claim that they didn’t. The Hyuugas are only mentioned as a “changed clan” and Hiashi “a changed man” so the abolishment does happen in some way.

Second point of the last point: We have absolutely no clue of how the seal is practiced or applied. The only thing we know is that Hizashi got it as the younger twin. That doesn’t mean that it’s the standard practice used to decide who gets the seal and who doesn’t. The reason is that it is never even mentioned, the seal itself is barely brought up after the chuunin exam.

Also on an interesting note: somebody pointed out that since Hiashi and Hizashi were twins, both had the automatic right to be clan head no matter who was born earlier (this according to inheritance law I don’t have enlightenment of) hence the seal was used to settle the place of the clan head beforehand. I think it’s a pretty solid and logical reasoning which also proves the point of what I said above.

I know it sucks for Kishimoto to end it this way without putting an end, but that’s basically what happens.

Idk if I’ve put my thoughts well into this, but to conclude this entire post: it’s the writing, not the charachter. That goes for both Neji and Hinata.

Shyness, a scapegoat.

Or, Hinata endorses slavery -but she's cute so who cares?

There’s something quite incredible that happens with Hinata as a character and her loyal stans who fiercely defend her actions. There're a few things to point out about this particular topic and I can't start anywhere but on the main reason as to why she's left off the hook.

Let's establish this: Personality traits aren't synonyms for someone's ideology.

Let me expand on this: Hinata is shy, mostly quiet, and superficially "nice" to the people around her -therefore, her mannerisms clash with (or rather, disguises/downplays) her actions and/or what she supports. No one denies Hinata is soft-spoken, yet she downplayed the psychological and emotional trauma that Hizashi's torture at the hands of her father brought on Neji, putting herself as a victim of the same level as her cousin (the "be at peace" line she says during the preliminary rounds become particularly malicious when you have this specific context, because how could Neji be at peace with his role after such cruelty?)

Over and over, her stans use two specific arguments to defend her behavior, so I shall try to break them down:

1- “She was disowned and/or was too young to do anything”: While both of these statements are true, particularly in the first part when this issue is introduced, and I’m sure many anti-fans complain about her inaction, the fact that the only thing pro-fans take for “action” is to specifically stand (meaning, rebel) against Hiashi is very telling of their bias.

Hinata taking a stand against the slavery of her clan is just as easy as showing uneasiness with the situation (something she did not, never, at any point), or understanding Neji’s resentment. Instead, she acknowledges Neji’s anger only to quickly brush it off: paraphrasing, it will be something along the lines, “Oh, you’re annoyed because you’re a slave, you should get over it because I had it rough too” -the fact that she canonically knows the problem it presents to enslave people (let's remember: she witnessed her father torturing Hizashi as to "remind him" of his place), yet believes it to be something to “be at peace with”, it’s the thing we’re pointing out when saying she endorses her family's, let's call it, tradition.

However, It’s not only with Neji Hyüga with whom she displays no discomfort about their situation, the same happens with her interaction with Ko Hyüga during Pain’s arc; he expressively tells her he will be "never forgiven" (implying that he will be punished) should she get injured; yet, despite knowing this, she jumps in to “save” Naruto, fully aware of her incapacity to fight someone who literally destroyed Konoha by himself and not caring about Ko’s destiny at the hands of the Main Branch. [If this doesn't show how Hinata is, quite literally, not even minimally capable to be a commander in any single spectrum of the title, then I don't know what will. She's literally prioritizing her own feelings and/or desires over the lives of those under her command. It's true that she's not the heir of the Hyüga clan during this time, yet she's still in a superior position.}

In regard to this specific argument her stans use in her favor, let’s add something else to question it: Ko would have been punished non-other than Hiashi and Hanabi Hyuga, he specifically mentions both of them; which means that her sister, who is five years younger -eleven/twelve years old at this Arc’s time- acknowledges her position and the branch family members' (lower) place and takes immediate action over that difference. So either Hinata's [young] age has nothing to do with her (in)action on the matter of her family's enslavement practices, or Hinata isn't even as smart as Hanabi to understand how her clan works. So under this premise, she's either endorsing slavery or incredibly moronic, your choice.

[And to those who might want to use the "she knows how her clan works, she just never wanted to use her privilege to hurt lower members": There's not a single panel to support this. Not a single one. Furthermore, Ko's situation and her speech to Neji during the Chünin Exams point out she did nothing on the matter because she simply didn't care about them, too preoccupied with Naruto and feeling sorry for herself for not being acknowledged the way Hanabi was. Hinata is, simply, bad at fighting. She isn't squandering her potential for her sister's benefit, she is, simply put, bad.]

The argument “Hanabi and Hinata were raised differently” has no hold other than in fandom mentality, for they differed at the beginning simply on their training:

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Hiashi trained Hanabi whilst Hinata trained with Kurenai, but that only seemed to happen after her graduation as gënin, for all we know, and for what is pointed out in Hanabi's entrance in the First Databook, Hinata was raised as the Hyuga heir until her first graduation when she proved to be not in the standards expected for an heir her age. Even back then, Hanabi wasn't "officially" Hiashi's successor.

2- “She was afraid of Hiashi since he was/is her abuser”. While it’s true that Hiashi downgraded her and psychologically mistreated her when constantly demoting her value and, in exchange, raising Hanabi’s, there are few things to say about this:

a- It’s established in the Databook that she had a pleasant childhood, and while having carefree infancy doesn't exactly contradicts the idea of Hiashi being verbally abusive to her, it does clash with the idea of her being absolutely (that is, completely) scared of him rather than sad for the degradation.

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b- The relationship between Hinata and Hiashi dramatically changed during the second part of the manga (after the Chünin Exams, she’s seen smiling and bringing tea to both Hiashi and Neji), to the point where even when “disowned” she got no Cage Bird Seal (meaning, she still was part of the main family and therefore still possessed the privileges that came with it) and how Hiashi, even when away, went out of his way to ensure her safety (such as forcing Ko to protect her). To claim that she was “still afraid” of her father when there’s not only a single indication of her uneasiness but there’re quite obvious displays of their good-terms relationship it’s grasping at straws to defend something that doesn't exist. And while it's true that trauma can't be easily overcome, there's no indication of Hinata experiencing such a thing (claiming "internal struggle" is not a valid counterargument because, while plausible, is not canonically established during the second part of the manga).

c- It’s correct to point out what she had to go through, surely having such enormous pressure on her shoulders at such young age and not being able to deliver is harsh on everyone, but pointing out her position as a victim is often done either to dismiss her implication and endorsement on her clan’s slavery system and/or to downplay Neji’s own experiences with the abuse of the Main Family. Not only did he have to endure a similar type (meaning: worse) of degradation from Hiashi, but also had to experience the threat of physical torture and/or murder shall he disobey, something that Hinata canonically never was hinted to suffer from.

It could be reasonable to spare Hinata from any responsibility on the matter during the first part (I, personally, since she displayed enough knowledge about the matter and what it entailed, don’t think so), but during Shippuden -when she’s not young anymore by shinobi standards and her relationship with Hiashi is shown to be better, the arguments in her favor collapse completely.

Are we forgetting that those who see abuse/harassment and do nothing about it might as well be endorsing it?

To simply claim “oh, well, the real villain is Hiashi because he’s the one actually enslaving people” without taking into account those who are in power and decide not to intervene (every single Hokage, including now Kakashi and Naruto, who changed nothing), and those who know what the system entails yet also display no discomfort/do nothing (Hinata might not have “real power” but she still is part of the Main Family and keeps quiet when she could easily reach to her sister and speak about her discomfort with the matter), it’s simply looking at the superficial reflections of the issue -instead of taking care of the roots.

And truthfully, the fact that somehow Hiashi is the villain for enslaving his people (as I’ve said, they put the entire weight of the Hyuga clan’s problems solely over his shoulders despite the existence of a political system that supports him), yet his words during the war are taken by Hinata's stans as inexorably proof of the change that apparently her (alongside Neji) brought it’s quite… striking, to say the least. More considering that he was a character already proven to lie/hide important truths from (cadet) clan members before.

In addition, the Branch Family still possesses the Cage Bird Seal, while the main branch doesn’t: which means that, first, there’s still a distinction between both families that goes beyond political positions inside Konoha and goes into a physical difference: ones are marked while others aren’t -and second, whether Hiashi still performs torture or not doesn’t deny the quite real possibility of him re-incurring in such behavior, the threat of physical violence still stands for the branch family.

Taking care of the seal is also a task quite easy to do, should they truly want to take care of it, I’ll put here some ways to resolve it at the top of my mind:

1. There’s no canon proof nor mention that the Cage Bird Seal can’t be removed. Neji states that the seal disappears when those with the mark die, yet, he might not know if it can truly be erased or not, since with that knowledge many branch members might seek freedom.

2. Even if we take Neji’s words as truthful, and we believe the Seal can’t be removed, there’s absolutely no evidence to state that the seal can’t be counteracted by another seal (a technique similar to the one Orochimaru used against Minato’s seal).

3. The main family could easily get the seal so the Byakugan gets sealed when any member dies and the threat of someone torturing another member through it gets “nullified”.

Nothing of this is shown in the manga nor brought up by these individuals.

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Why is Naruto claiming this, if the Hyuga changed already? It's true that he was away for a long time, but are the changes Hiashi spoke about so little or subtle that Naruto wasn't able to see them during the duration of Shippuden? Which character are we calling a liar then, Hiashi, or Naruto?

And I’ll add this here, for good measure: Hinata might as well be endorsing slavery (she is, in fact, canonically endorsing it), and it will be fine from the narrative’s point of view because the manga ended with these issues not only not resolved, but accepted as the “lesser of all evils”; the problem here are her stans trying to save her from the implications of condoning such actions -when there’s no substance for their claims.

She either agrees with the Hyuga practices or she doesn’t, in this specific case, there’s no middle, no gray areas, because even ignoring the matter (despite knowing its existence), makes her an accomplice. You can still like her and very much enjoy her, but that doesn’t mean she’s free from problematic characterizations, as every single character introduced by Kishimoto. Edit to add: I received long ago an interesting ask that said: "You want Hinata, after everything she got through, to get the Seal?" and while that wasn't my point it further proves my point of view: if her stans are aware of what being marked implicates why are they looking the other way when it comes to the branch family situation? Why are they specifically ignoring Hinata's very purposefully dismissal of the matter? Why is Hinata the only character who needs to be spared? Her stans excuse Hinata's inaction because she was "too young", but condemn Neji, who's just a year older, for lashing out at her because "she's shy and nice" without minding his background and how Hinata is the embodiment of the Main Family that tortures him and he loathes.

Hinata's background allows us to understand where she comes from and why she's the way she is, yet it does not justify her behavior.

Context is for understanding, not condoning.