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chatty-goat · 1 year ago

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Catching Up, Four Movie Special!

The Changeling (1980)

Tragically I know myself better than I used to. When my mental health is a certain sort of sickly, too much horror ends up making me feel terrible, and though it’s my favorite genre and the season is what it is, I’ve had to cut back. This was the Real One I allowed myself, it sounded familiar, apparently a classic. Later on Tubi recommended Burnt Offerings (1976) based on it, which I understand now but I greatly preferred the latter. I found out (while looking into it partway through, forgive me) it had some cult following, considered one of the most influential?? Canadian films?? Source?? I didn’t think it was terrible, but that felt like damning with faint praise. I do wonder if it’s the sort of thing where everything’s been influenced by it so it doesn’t hit like it used to for the modern viewer? Or maybe I just wasn’t in the headspace for it. Can’t really tell. Mildly enjoyed the protagonists, and the idea of the erm… I’m not sure what you’d call the senator here. Concept for the murder honestly wigs me out more now than it did during the watch, yeuch. My favorite scene took place outside of the haunted house, the main protagonist finally got Out There socially for the first time since his wife and daughter died, went horseback riding with the secondary protagonist, but when they stopped somewhere, something reminded him of his daughter, and he was about to cry, so out of sorts, very moving, except that the horse did not appear to be a very good actor and was chomping on the greenery voraciously just out of frame. If it was intentional then I think that is great use of tonally different elements to make the protagonist feel divorced from what’s happening around him, but it didn’t seem intentional, so I just had me a good laugh.

Victor Frankenstein (2015)

Tubi is my worst enemy but mostly my best friend. I’d never heard about this one, giving Igor the protagonist treatment seemed like just the kind of stupid I was in the mood for, and I’ve just loved every performance Daniel Radcliffe has given as an adult? He just decided to never be in anything normal again, and I love that for him. It scores pretty poorly it seems, and I get that, it’s not a Good Movie, but thoroughly enjoyable. Just hit me in most of my particularities regarding what makes “so bad it’s good”. Much more bisexual than I was expecting, made me cringe but mostly intentionally (not the bisexuality, the characters), somehow managed to throw in a love interest I liked?? The practical effects were lovely when we got them, the cg wasn’t too shabby, except in the editing, some of the editing especially in the circus was bad, as was some of the shit they made up for this movie, but for the most part those things were pretty funny. Almost completely skip over the grave robbing, give Frankenstein a sadboy reason for the obsession (my friend, when I talked about this, suggested they were trying to make him “a meowmeow”, yeah…). The worst part was this inspector character they threw in to shoehorn the affront to god thing, annoyed me every time that character came on screen because it meant I was about to listen to an atheist and a zealot be equally unbearable for a while. The guy who played Moriarty in that one Sherlock show was the inspector, shame he was so intensely unenjoyable whenever he wasn’t monologuing alone. All in all I really liked it though. I’m going to make my best friend watch it with me sometime soon, we’ll see if it’s Just Me or if the people of 2015 just weren’t ready to have a little fun.

Guilstein (2002)

It’s apparently just Frankenstein week for me. A friend and I were browsing anime movies and were intrigued by the promise of cg elements in this. It’s not a good movie. It’s not good cg. We watched it in pretty poor quality, looked like it had been ripped off a vhs, which honestly only helped it. The designs are like, godawful but in the way where I’m sure if I had watched it when it came out I would have thought some of them ruled. The tony hawk ass music was a highlight (I found an ost video on youtube, will be combing that soon), and honestly the main monster’s design grew on me by the end, but the real appeal has ended up being the process of digging up information about it. I often check out whether there was a fanfiction scene for anything I’m checking out, and I knew there was something about this when there was nothing to find. Silly monster stuff has a way of attracting attention, idk, something was up. From all I can tell, there was a Russian dub/sub?, but there were no English fansubs as late as 2020. The only people who saw this (there were not many) just like, either knew enough Japanese to warrant it or were the kind of people to watch any anime movie because It Was Anime, regardless of comprehension. Another era. Not that there was much to comprehend, but still. There are some very funny old reviews about it online. One called it a hipster movie and I’ll take it, there’s something special about getting to take a peek at something that just didn’t make the cut. And how lucky were we to find it so soon after someone finally made subs for it? It’s honestly not bad enough that I can easily pinpoint why, but such is how it goes. This was actually the thing that made me commit to the whole journalling thing, my friend said he was likely to forget about this one pretty soon, which I figured would be the same for me, but what a shame.

Other notes: one of the crew members looks like every human Equius ever, I will never be free. His girlfriend was cute (fucked up how shoehorned she was), and the monster design they made with her… Aside from the titty situation I like it a lot. I think there’s a lot to say about the designs of female monsters, how rare it is that they ever escape being feminine and sexy, but the way they do it in this one reminds me of a certain type of it that blends the human and the inhuman in a way I’m fond of. It’s just kinda fun. Reminds me of Andariel from Diablo 2 for some reason. Maybe it’s just Red Monster Lady idk. Something noted that it was “hastily” removed from potentially broadcasting, just so many funny little details.

A Wind Named Amnesia (1993)

This!!! This!!! Watched it after Guilstein with that same friend, we had spent the evening skipping through older things to avoid committing to a second movie (like an ancient toei Sinbad movie, gorgeous, a lovely musical that felt so of its time despite not being from the same place as the ones I’m familiar with, a chicken or the egg question I don’t feel like diving into right now), but I saw the poster and thought it looked fruity. Turns out that character was not an effeminate man but in fact a woman (the screen was far away and it was small…), but I was in luck anyway because I’m right and Wataru and Johnny were in love. What a treat! The only thing on this post that was both Actually Good and I Actually Loved. Imo it has the quality of a sci fi short story, something that just punches you with a premise and a thousand strange things you just have to get into so they can tell the story they really want to tell. And some of that stuff is Weird, but I was both in the mood for Weird and also it seemed like it was supposed to be making you uncomfortable? Or maybe that was just me projecting my sci fi brain onto it. Idk, some things just have the charisma to make it work. It was a joy, really tugged on the heartstrings and drew us into its little mysteries. My absolute favorite manga is YKK, and I have a soft spot for apocalyptic road trips and peering in on humanity. The love behind it, the aimlessness. Johnny’s contribution to why Wataru is the way he is hurt my heart in a unique way. Idk I’ve read a lot of shit like this in my day, but nothing that told the protagonist “Hey, there’s no Point anymore, I know you can’t be any kind of savior and don’t expect it of you, but I want you to live. You don’t have to do anything with that life. I just want you to be able to see what there is left to see, and if you happen to find out who did this, tell them the shit you’ve seen, and ask em to fix it.” Just. No expectations, and by god Wataru doesn’t pick up anything else. I really like that. The world truly cannot be his problem. A few misses to be sure, a racist design, the ending is divisive but I would have liked it were it not for the no-chemistry random sex, but overall this was endearing. Exactly up my alley. Another one I’m going to make my bestie watch.

About the short story comment: I was closer than I expected! It’s based on a novel by the guy who wrote Vampire Hunter D, which I’d heard of as a Big Deal but I’m not familiar with… But anyway, I read up about some differences between that movie and the book, and looked into the book itself… I have a little collection going of books I really had to hunt for. It’s just something I enjoy doing, and I keep independently ending up interested in things that are hard to find, and then when I talk about them it’s part of the story. Oh it took this long to find this whole series and I had to go to x and y place and I never would have even found out about it if I hadn’t picked the first one up in the dollar bin or seen a pretty small tumblr post or- ok so I’m a little book hipster I treasure the little things like that. But anyway this was apparently one of the less popular works of his, and also it’s a translated japanese novel from the 80s like, there’s not too many copies and they’re old but have a big name attached to them- what I’m saying is they’re too expensive for me, but I think I’m going to make it the target of my next hunt, keeping an eye out for them and seeing if it pops up locally and, christ, for less than 40 dollars. Or maybe my hunt will go on for so long that it’ll reach a point where I can justify that to myself. We’ll see. But it’s nice to have things to shoot for, and my last hunt was a great success so I’m eager to get on another trail.

Anyhow, those have been tumbling around in my head and I’m now free. Hopefully catching a few more z’s,

#movies #horror #<3

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carovieehaven · 2 years ago

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‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Chapter 3

After Jenny ran away in tears, Sophia set out in search of the Countess, the stepmother.

The Great Count was divided into several buildings.

Manicured garden, exotic trees, splendid structures, glittering roofs, and gold ornaments.

‘I can’t believe you gave your daughter an annex attic in such a large place.’

Sophia looked around the mansion and smacked her lips with disapproval.

Not yet familiar with the geography of the mansion, she suddenly entered a large building in the center of the mansion.

As Sophia opened the main building’s door widely, the eyes of those in the lobby were drawn toward her.

A reaction as if a Pierrot doll had jumped out of the surprise box.

However, the surprise in their eyes soon disappears, and annoyance lingers in their eyes.

“What are you doing here?”

One of the maids frowned like seeing a bug.

But Sophia asked for something regardless of the icy and poor treatment.

“Mother, where is she?”

“Mother? The Lady’s mother is dead, as you know?”

There was a clear light of contempt in the eyes of the maids

But even this was such a typical development that Sophia was not impressed.

“Not my late mother, but the Countess now.”

“Well…”

“Sophia!”

Then a sharp voice was heard from behind.

At the same time, the maids, who were standing with equal momentum, lined up against the wall and bowed their heads.

That alone gave a hunch about who the newly appeared character was.

‘Lucifer appeared in Satan’s mansion…’

Recalling a famous line from a certain drama, Sophia looked back.

With rose-red hair and a golden yellow glamorous dress. A beautiful woman in her early to mid-thirties.

‘That’s the Countess, Rubisella Frauss.’

The stepmother that Jenny spoke of.

And according to the diary, she’s the mastermind who kicked ‘Sophia’ into the attic.

She would have admired her astonishing beauty if she hadn’t raised her eyes sharply and glared at her

Sophia gazing at the Countess for the first time spotted Jenny behind her.

‘Did you tell her in the meantime?’

A rather triumphant look and cheeks filled with dissatisfaction.

‘I don’t like snitching, but it saved me a lot of trouble.’

She thought she would have to go through all of the Frauss’s huge mansion to find the Countess.

While Sophia was immersed in her own thoughts, the Countess opened her red lips.

“You said you’re sick but you’re going around well?”

Rubisella, the Count’s Madam, approached with an arrogant step.

Her long eyelashes fell down.

Wearing high heels, she was a little taller than Sophia.

“Did you pour soup on Jenny?”

“It was more like food waste than soup.”

“Food waste? Are you talking about the kindness bestowed by this Countess in another way?”

“Bestowed to me… I think the word is wrong. It would be better if you correct it as ‘screw you.’”

Rubisella’s lips quivered at Sophia’s point.

“And it is true that I was sick. How can a human body be healthy after eating something like that?”

“Something like that?!”

“Ahh, mixing soup with bugs. That is something that should never happen in a mansion full of elegance. Don’t you think so?”

Sophia said deplorably.

“Those who disgrace the family name for their senseless acts should be punished. Maybe the Madam brought Jenny here with the intention of scolding her?”

Sophia went on to say something bold. Then the face of the elegant and beautiful lady crumpled.

“Dare…!”

Ah, that ‘dare.’

Sophia took a deep breath as she looked at the distorted face of the Countess.

The pattern of the villain, in the beginning, is obvious.

“If I am uneducated, aren’t you going to slap me across the cheek?”

Sophia’s gaze was on the Countess’s hand.

Then, the hand that was about to go up high halted and began twitching.

‘The villains are…?’

Sophia shook her head.

The Countess’s hands seemed to be shaking.

She seemed at a loss when the only way to express her anger was obstructed.

Sophia, who moderately pressed the Madam, recalled the main point again.

There was another reason why she came to the main building to find the Countess.

“Oh, and I’m thinking of changing rooms. I lost my romance in the attic. It’s hot in summer, cold in winter, and there is also a lot of noise.”

Sophia surveyed the interior of the mansion while standing nonchalant in the lobby.

“Fortunately, the mansion is quite spacious. There must be at least one of my rooms among them.”

Then the Countess twists her lips and glares at her.

“You’ve become so proud because of your engagement to the Grand Duke of Rivelon.”

So proud?

“A Frauss person who wants to use a room in the Frauss mansion shouldn’t be so proud…? If you look closely, the person who does not have the blood of ‘Frauss’ must be the Countess.”

“What? After getting sick, you’re talking nonsense!”

“I know right. I should have said something even before I got sick.”

“Your room is enough for an attic!”

The Countess’s roar reverberated across the hallway, and the air instantly grew cold.

All the servants who had snickered at Sophia until now closed their mouths and lowered their heads.

Sophia sighed deeply at the unanswered response of the Countess.

‘Definitely, it’s impossible to come to an agreement through a discussion with the villain.’

The Countess will not give Sophia a good room no matter what.

The only option left for Sophia to get a room is through force.

“I will let people know that I am being treated with disdain if you come out like this.”

As Sophia spoke, the Countess let out a smirk.

“Sophia. Are you calling that a threat?”

The Countess, who had just been angry, regained her composure and raised her chin proudly.

Sophia is a shabby Lady with no management.

Even the Count couple didn’t properly give her debutante under the pretext of illness.

On the other hand, the Countess was already active and influential in social circles.

No matter how much Sophia talks, one breath of the Countess will cover it, and she will face a backlash.

But Sophia looked up at the Countess with a triumphant expression.

“Do you think I can’t?”

“Try it. Go out on the street, grab a beggar, and complain.”

The Countess laughed.

Clearly, no one will listen to Sophia.

‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ»»°˖✧✿✧˖°««

And exactly a week later. The following article appeared on the front page of a weekly tabloid.

[Exclusive! The Grand Duke of Rivelon’s fiancée, its identity is the Count’s maid?!]

It didn’t take half a day for the rumor to spread throughout the social circles of the system.

All Sophia did was send a letter.

And that one letter became hundreds of articles and spread out.

The social nobles most subscribed weekly magazine tabloid front page, a headline article.

The Countess was flooded with requests for visits from people trying to confirm if the rumor was true.

And the rumor is…

“Your Excellency! Your Excellency is on the front page of the weekly magazine…! Huk, you already have it!”

Naturally, it also reached the other party of the rumor.

The curly-haired knight who rushed into the office of the Military and Police Force Chief stopped walking when he saw Killian staring at the weekly magazine with a wrinkled brow.

A man sitting in front of a desk and pressing his temple.

He was called the ‘Guardian of the Empire’ to the good and the ‘Imperial Dog’ to the evil ones, the Chief of the Military and Police Force, and the only Grand Duke of the Empire, Killian Viffrons Rivelon.

“Why did my name appear in the weekly magazine without me knowing, Nic?”

“It was reported by someone anonymously.”

“Anonymously?”

Killian raised his eyes as he placed the weekly magazine on the desk.

The red eyes that had been concealed under the long black eyelashes slowly lifted up.

Nicholas, the Commander of the Military and Police Force and also Killian’s aid, nodded and smiled awkwardly.

“She received a report from an unknown source, why didn’t Madam Chanelia come to check on me?”

“I guess Madam Chanelia… likes issues and gossips.”

The Duchess Chanelia was the socialite queen who published the weekly magazine.

She also liked the gossip and rumors circulating in social circles.

She instinctively sensed that the anonymous tip would be a hot potato that would attract public attention.

Indeed, Chanelia’s weekly magazine sold like hotcakes thanks to this article.

It was enough for him to feel burned out from the mouths of people talking about this article since the morning.

“Publishing trashy articles without knowing whether they are true or not.”

“Haha… But after reading it, there is a basis…”

“Basis?”

This ridiculous rumor?

At Killian’s question, Nicholas closed his mouth.

But Nicholas was not at all wrong.

If it were a groundless rumor, neither would the Duchess of Chanelia have published it in the weekly magazine.

Even if she published an article, it wouldn’t have been such an issue like this unless it has validity.

However, reading the article, there was written down some plausible content.

[The eldest daughter of the Count of Frauss, hidden and not making a debut in the social world, has been our long-standing question.]

[My wife has actually seen Sophia, the Count of Frauss’s daughter; she appears to be a shabby person and noticed reading her unnatural countenance...]

[The fact that the Grand Duke, Killian Viffrons Rivelon, never went to see his fiancée is evidence of this.]

Actually, it wasn’t that no one remembered Sophia at all.

People knew roughly that Sophia was the Count’s eldest daughter, the daughter of his ex-wife.

However, the Countess claimed that Sophia was frail as an excuse hence she couldn’t show up in front of people.

Thus Sophia’s existence faded into obscurity.

A blurred presence in the social world.

A person that is so mysterious.

tl: caroviee

====================================== ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Previous | TOC | Next

#swwytv3 #swwytv

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leportraitducadavre · 3 years ago

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I honestly think the Hashirama speech to Madara “ I will even kill my own child for Village”, was Hashirama showing his true colors. That right there was his facade dropping and showing what he really was.

I apologize to those who sent these asks -I know you were expecting individual responses that tackle more thoroughly the characters I was asked about, but I decided to reply to all three of them because I’ll like to expand in a concept -the idea of contradictory traits in a character, and the three of them (Hashirama, Hiruzen, and Minato) are perfect to illustrate my points.

Now, I’ve said this before: characters having opposite traits isn’t a synonym for bad writing -contradictory behaviors and dogmas don’t -always- equal improper characterization, that’s not where the problem with them three rely on.

Readers are accustomed to linking particular behaviors/ways of being with ideals and positions in the narrative -for instance, a more stoic or cold demeanor is mostly tied to a villain, whose goals are individualistically driven; while smiling and being overall more emotionally expressive are mostly related to innocent/honest people, who seek communal achievements. It’s difficult for many of them to dissociate personality stamps with their overall stance in the plot: they’re used to being spoon-fed by the narrative which characters they should ally with, and to which oppose, and characterizations are often used by writers to distinguish both more clearly.

Kishimoto, however, isn’t exactly known for using this rule as clearly as other authors -he’s comfortable exploring characterizations that aren’t common and that break the reader’s expectations when it comes to his characters:

Sakura wasn’t created to be universally liked as most female main characters are -she brings an active libido and highlights frustrations to most of her interactions.

Naruto isn’t particularly nice either, he often insults people just because -often downgrading their traumas/feelings in order to lift himself up and to be put in a superior position. Naruto expects a reward for his actions: Acknowledgement.

That specific goal isn’t as common for a shönen protagonist, who most of the time looks for something else (like saving the world -Deku, BHNA, or to become powerful -Luffy, One Piece) and they end up receiving acknowledgment as a side-effect of their performance when looking for their main objective. Naruto’s objective, however, isn’t to become the most powerful of ninjas, but to be acknowledged -and in order to do so, he has to be the strongest.

Furthermore, Kishimoto excels in his work because it’s clear that those clashes are on purpose. He questions the reliability of those particular common traits and their associations quite often in the manga.

For instance, Hinata is shy and seems kind -while Neji is mean and rude, yet we learn that Hinata is his owner -and, therefore, he’s her slave. The reader is forced to confront a quite disturbing truth: the way an individual presents themselves has little to do with their core beliefs and/or background.

Hinata and Neji are a common example (her fans are quick to disregard the fact that she still owned Neji before being disowned just because she appears to be “well-spirited” -but she never questioned their dynamic as superior/inferior, she only seemed affected by it because Neji was “mean” to her).

Still, they’re not the only dynamic nor characters tied to such oppositions:

Naruto and Sasuke’s dynamic follow a similar path -where Naruto is considered the nice one in their relationship despite him being the sole reason why there’s a conflict in the first place. He followed and harassed Sasuke in order to “save him” from supposed darkness which premises were already questionable, and the only times Sasuke behaves mean towards him are as a response to that specific treatment.

Ino and Sakura’s “friendship” (and I’m being kind when using that word) differ however, Kishimoto made it quite clear that Ino (meaning, the side-character) wasn’t the one being mean to Sakura -yet for some reason, the fandom erases the flaws quite literally presented on Sakura's character, choosing to believe that that specific relationship was undermined by the author.

[Sakura and Sasuke’s interactions are also a contradiction to the prototypical mindset -where the man is usually the one sexually attracted to their female counterpart and behaves abusively. Kishimoto, however, made it to be the complete opposite -with Sakura being the obsessive one. Had their roles been reversed Kishimoto would be applauded for exploring a dark dynamic (or hanged if they still ended up together), yet the fandom still puts Sasuke as the victimizer -for no other reason that his personality clashes with the quintessential belief of how a victim is and/or behaves].

Like I said before, Hashirama, Minato, and Hiruzen aren’t exceptions, they present contradictory traits as any well-layered character can.

Hashirama out of all of them is quite remarkable as well because he truly is a dork -but he’s also the most powerful individual during his Era, and probably after as well; furthermore, even as an Ashura reincarnation Hashirama is different since (unlike Naruto or Ashura himself) he wasn’t given any help, he was born with the strength to fight against his Indra -Madara-.

Hiruzen is specifically well-written at that because while he is introduced as a kind old man, his "well-spirited nature" is constantly being questioned -not even by other characters, not many go out of their way to call him evil, yet we don’t need them to in order to notice his overall "nice" demeanor and how it stands in opposition to his actions as a politician.

His speech in the chünin exams is the peak of his presentation as a two-faced individual: Hiruzen isn’t stupid, he knows that he’s performing a part, that’s why he explains the true reason of the exams only to those who achieve the preliminary rounds -therefore, those who have the “material” to climb in the ranks of the military.

During the first part of the manga, characters and plot alike often questioned the system they moved through, even Kakashi (whose contradictions are less about plot devices and more laziness on Kishimoto’s part), agrees that he dislikes the concept of ninja that he lives for -a notion that is endorsed by Hiruzen’s realm. The narrative doesn’t try to shy away from those contradictory traits, it quite literally highlights them because it thrives with those oppositions: Naruto could grow to slice the dragon’s head.

For instance, and in the same manner, Dabi and Shigaraki from BNHA present the narrative with a similar contradiction: They are -by all means- villains, they killed innocents and they pursue an individualistic goal -yet it was their intervention that threw light in the flaws of the hero system that currently exists. On how in order to maintain a specific power balance, crimes are forgiven or ignored and children are recruited from a very young age through propaganda (when deifying heroes, particularly All Might). The problem in this particular case (although the manga hasn’t ended therefore I don’t know how it will be resolved), is that often when the villains are the ones who introduce the problems of the structure the hero moves through, is usually to downplay the issues presented: A villain is evil -therefore the problems he points out about the “good” side can be dismissed, even if what they say is right.

But Kishimoto didn’t do that exactly, he presented what seemed like nice characters with problematic/abusive/downright evil behaviors -so they weren’t intrinsically good as most were expecting. It was a well-layered issue, because the good side isn’t full of good people, and the bad side isn’t integrated merely by villains.

So which side is the good one? Overall: Neither, because is the same one -and that’s the thing, there aren't good sides or bad sides, just perspectives of the same structure -most of them being the direct result of an action performed by the so-called “good side”: and that “lack” of dichotomy is what later on presented a problem when ending the manga -because, technically, there isn’t an ending to the issues they introduced, not without dismantling all of it -but in doing so, it will shatter Naruto’s main objective: What is the use of gaining recognition from a system that lacks a moral compass and that they have to strip off any sort of power? Naruto could never become Hokage.

So in order to save whatever remained, they introduced a quick dichotomy: Evil side (Uchiha- Curse of Hatred) vs. Good side (Senju/Konoha -Will of Fire) -yet the exploration of that division was poorly done because it contradicted everything previously introduced, Wave Arc was an incredible pilar to work on -Naruto’s opposition to be seen as a mere tool, only to, later on, become what he claimed he wouldn’t be (and him transforming people like his twelve-old self into weapons, also).

Minato was similar to Hiruzen in the sense that he was presented as a kind individual who overall defended an oppressive system that had him on top -in that sense, he’s more like a copy-paste of Hiruzen’s characterization -he introduced no new things, really.

I also don’t think that Hashirama stating that he will kill his own child for Konoha is him “showing his true colors” -because they were always visible (he even threatened Tobirama before Konoha's foundation).

He just claims that he will do what he expects of those who compose Konoha: to sacrifice everything dear for them in exchange for a symbol (“of peace”) -he fails in understanding that Konoha is able to become a symbol because of those individuals that compose it, not the other way around. He, like Ashura, wants to both create and be at the head of the system he envisioned -other perspectives/leaders, aren’t allowed.

The problem isn’t characters with contradictory traits -who claim to defend something and then defend everything but. It’s how the narrative allowed those contradictions, seemingly giving not only its characters but also the readers agency to choose who to support, only to take them away -apparently thinking that, no, better spoon-fed the reader what to believe.

#anti naruto #anti naruto uzumaki #anti naruto ending #anti shinobi system #anti konoha #anti naruto fandom #anti tobirama #anti hashirama #anti hiruzen #anti hiruzen sarutobi #anti sakura #anti sakura haruno #anti sakura fandom #anti minato #anti minato namikaze #meta #anti hinata #anti hinata hyuga #anti hinata fandom

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measuringbliss · 2 years ago

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That post about Peter Parker's inconsistent (literal) ass during Civil War (ASM #532-538)

I won't take into account his appearance in the main event (because he doesn't appear much or at all as Peter, mostly with his costume as Spider-Man) but rather his appearances in Amazing Spider-Man #532-538, which ran parallel to the main event. Why? Because I just read those.

First off, let's talk about Spidey's ass from the runs I'm used to, which is years 1973-4. Here's ASM #132 from May 74. As you can see, he's well-muscled, he has meat in the legs, he's not *thin*, he has a healthy size. When other artists took their turn at drawing him, he became slimmer which I'm not a fan of but it was more of a general style thing and not specifically related to Spidey.

Anyway here's Peter out of his costume in ASM #532 (July 2006):

Let's not make a fuss about MJ and May's... awkward outfits.

Okay first off I'm not sure I'd let my step-aunt see my man in such a tight, revealing outfit, but then again Peter's features have been on display for about 60 years IRL and *maybe* 15 years in comics? So maybe they don't care.

Anyway, as you can see, Peter has a nice... everything. I'm just noticing now that his outfit has the colors of Iron Man's suit, which, oof. Considering they start as allies and end up becoming enemies in this arc... But this isn't an outfit analysis post (yet). It's about ARSES. Peter's ass. It is well defined. It's fair. You know, I think it's fair. It's not equal to female character's asses but it's... it's fair. I like it.

HOWEVER. Barely a few pages later, his ass already gets nerfed.

Naturally, the gaze is all about MJ's shiny buttocks and May's sexy legs.

Later, in Peter's costume, his ass is back in full force! Maybe Peter's suit pants have a conscience of their own and decide whether or not they're gonna show off.

It's volume 533 now and Peter wears simple pants. This seems to be a good day for butt afficionados, although there's clearly a difference of treatment between MJ's bubbly round butt and Peter's rougher, presumably manlier butt. It can't be too pretty to look at, now, can it?

Peter's ass at the end of ASM #534 is a mystery to me. How. Why. Who thought this was a good idea? It's not even flat; it's *blocky*.

The outfit that made me shout "THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE" is the next one though.

(Do note how the artist smartly avoids having to draw Peter's butt by cutting the page before the part in question. Outstanding. Truly audacious.)

The important part is that Peter's wearing *cargo pants*. And here's the thing: I've never seen a guy whose cargo pants didn't work in his favor. If you're thin, they have enough material that you don't look like a spaghetti. If you aren't, you fill these types of pants very nicely. And as we've seen, Peter has a tendency to fill his pants quite beautifully. Mostly.

THEN WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!

There's no way this is accurate. Of course, comics are stylized, but STILL. This makes no sense. His ass is flatter than crispbread, there's no juice, no muscle, it's flat as a pancake! With any kind of pants, it would already be ridiculous. But with *cargo pants*?!

The only explanation is that somehow Peter has a quantum-esque ass. Is the ass flat or well-defined? Well, open the box and see for yourself!

Okay but seriously he's such a babe in that first panel at the beginning, what the hell. He has something of a stubble in a few panels and let me tell you, it works wonders for him! We need more stubbles and beards. Also I guess we know what type of underwear Peter wears now??? Yay?

#peter parker #spider-man #long post #as an aside tumblr posting kind of really sucks? i've had issues with EVERY picture. what do you mean #it failed???? what does it mean. this is ridiculous. actually I'm annoyed about a lot of things. that's just the last straw. or something.#sexualization of men in comics #if anyone has insight or papers on this topic i'm interested #I hope you liked those passionate ramblings. Peter's ass is a very important subject. Not as much as Blaine's ass in Glee seasons 4 and 5 #since Blaine's ass became downright a main character. whereas the male comics character you most associate with a nice behind is Nightwing.

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choicesarehard · 4 years ago

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I keep my streams about Wolf Bride light-hearted. It’s been a hell of a year, and I think we all need a space where we can laugh together. But part of responsibly consuming problematic media is being aware of where it fails. And that’s why I think it’s important to talk about Morgan, and Wolf Bride’s troubling depiction of blindness.

Morgan is one of the first Love Interests in Choices to have a canon disability. She is representation many players with disabilities, like myself, are eager for. But like any form of representation, writing a blind character requires research. A quick google search will lead you to numerous visually impaired voices who outline the tropes and stereotypes that harm their community. Wolf Bride has included nearly all of them.

signal boosts are appreciated

Not All Blind People Wear Sunglasses

Morgan is shown wearing dark sunglasses from the moment she appears on screen. And there are certainly blind people who wear sunglasses — particularly those who (unlike Morgan) can still perceive some degree of light and dark, and experience painful light sensitivity. But no context is ever giving for Morgan’s use of sunglasses. In fact, they aren’t even addressed for four chapters.

[ID: Two screenshots from Chapter Four of Wolf Bride. The first features a text box over a forest background, and reads “You glance at Morgan, and are surprised to see the dark glasses still covering her eyes.” The second features a labeled image of her sunglasses, placed over a black background, with a selectable button that reads “What does Morgan look like without these?”] What follows is a scene Pixelberry could have used to provide insight into an assistive device the sighted community may not be entirely familiar with. They could have touched on degrees of visual impairment, or why some blind individuals need dark lenses while others don’t. They could even have explained that for some individuals with visual impairments, dark lenses make tasks like reading or navigating dimly lit spaces harder. Instead, and far more troublingly, MC is given the option to ask Morgan not to wear them anymore. And depending on your choice, the book is coded to remove the sunglasses from her sprite in future scenes. This reduces an assistive device to a fashion choice, something our MC can wish away if they don’t find it attractive. And that isn’t okay.

Unusual Eyes

[ID: Two side-by-side screenshots from Chapter Four of Wolf Bride. The first features a text box placed over a forest background that reads “With a start, you realize her pale eyes aren’t looking at you, aren’t seeing you, aren’t seeing anything.” The second features Morgan’s sad sprite in the same forest setting, and a text box that reads “...I’ve been blind since birth.”] Morgan has a customizable sprite. But regardless of the ethnicity you select for her, she is depicted with pale blue eyes. And that troubles me. Because the stereotype that all blind individuals have cloudy, distorted, or unusual eyes is pervasive and harmful.

Even when it isn’t tied to another harmful trope — the blind character as mystical seer or psychic — this stereotype create an expectation that blindness is something that always manifests in a visible way. And for millions of blind individuals, that isn’t the case.

And while cataracts, trauma to the eye, and corneal infections can all cause the clouded effect most of us recognize from media, none turn your brown eyes into blue. Heightened Senses

Another common stereotype in media is the blind character who’s remaining senses have become heightened as a compensatory mechanism, often to a supernatural degree.

[ID: Two side-by-side screenshots from Chapter Four of Wolf Bride. The first features Morgan’s surprised sprite in a forest setting and a text box that reads “I guess I sort of...feel things. Like the place on my cheek where the branch blocked the wind.” The second features Morgan’s neutral sprite in the same forest setting, and a text box that reads “I can smell the dew on the leaves, and the moss on the bark. Can’t you?] Individuals with visual impairment may learn to rely on their other senses to navigate the world around them. But they do not suddenly gain the ability to sense the location of a branch based on wind patterns, or to accurately throw a dart at a carnival game ballon based on its smell.

[ID: Two side-by-side screenshots from Chapter Eight of Wolf Bride. The first features a text box placed over a carnival background that reads “Pop! Pop! Pop! Three darts fly through the air, striking their targets.” The second features the white MC with straight blonde hair. Her sprite is surprised, and beneath it is a text box that reads “So you did that by smell, too?]

This trope may seem harmless — after all, it gave us Daredevil, a beloved blind superhero — but it contributes to the unachievable expectations we often place on real-world individuals with visually impairments. And that isn’t fair.

Of course, we all suspected Morgan’s abilities were due to something other than heightened senses. And that in and of itself is a problem.

Magical / Supernatural Abilities

To the surprise of no one, Morgan exhibits these unusual abilities because she is a werewolf. But choosing to give a blind character magical abilities should only be done after asking yourself some challenging questions. As visually-impaired Tumblr user @mimzy-writing-online explains:

Your blind characters don’t need a magical ability that negates their blindness. [Ask yourself why it’s so important to you to give them one]. If it’s because they can’t do all the things you want them to do without it, then should you really have written them as blind in the first place?

And that’s the thing. Morgan isn’t actually written as a blind character, not when it counts. Morgan shoots bullets with accuracy, runs through unfamiliar terrain, and navigates moving objects with ease. She doesn’t use common assistive devices like canes or screen readers. Her sunglasses are discarded at MC’s request. The scientific papers that fill her research facility are not digitized for accessibility or written in braille.

Even her dreams, which should be reflections of how she perceives reality, look identical to Bastien's — which makes no sense for someone who has been canonically blind since birth.

[ID: Two side-by-side screenshots from Chapters Five and Eight of Wolf Bride. The first features a scene from Morgan’s lucid dream. Set in a glamorous hotel, it includes visual details like twinkling lights, and patterned carpets. The color is tinted a grey-blue and the exposure on the image has been increased to an unnatural level. The second features a scene from Bastien’s lucid dream. Set in a forest, it shares the same tinted and over-exposed qualities as the first.]

Her blindness isn’t an integral part of her character. Instead, it’s a narrative device, paraded in front of the reader when it can further a central — and deeply disturbing — plot point. [content warning: discussion of discrimination and child abuse / abandonment ahead] Morgan Was Left to Die Because She Was Blind

And Jesus, what a plot point it is. In Chapter 11, we learn that Morgan was left to die in the woods because she was born “wrong, sickly, blind.” But the only canonical disability or illness she is ever shown to have is her blindness.

[ID: Three side-by-side screenshots from Chapter Eleven of Wolf Bride. The first two feature the white MC with straight blonde hair’s shocked sprite in front of a forest background. The first text box reads “I don’t understand...” followed by two dialogue options “Why was Morgan abandoned?” and “Is that what you do to full moon babies? Kill them?” The second panel’s read box reads “Just because she was blind?” The third panel features the old woman Noemi’s sad sprite, placed over a forest background. Her text box reads “If we know an infant will not survive, it is best to let it die quickly.”]

I...am frankly having a hard time thinking through the screenshot-induced fury to make a coherent argument here. To imply that blindness is an impairment so limiting that death is the only foreseeable outcome? That being born blind somehow makes a child “wrong”? The ignorance and prejudice shown in this scene is staggering.

But equally troubling is the response of the main characters to this revelation. Yes, in fiction, bad people sometimes do bad things. But Noemi isn’t shown to be a bad person. Neither is Bastien, who knew what his pack had been guilty of in the past, and even seeks to justify it to a limited degree.

Most shockingly, Morgan herself, who in the second screenshot below has just overheard that she was left to die as an infant because she is blind, isn’t angry or upset. She’s almost apologetic, still seeking a place within the pack.

[ID: Two side-by-side screenshots from Chapter Eleven of Wolf Bride. The first features Hispanic Bastien’s sad sprite in front of a forest background. The text box beneath him reads “It doesn’t happen often, Clara, but...” The second features white Morgan’s sad sprite in front of the same forest background. The text box beneath her reads “I didn’t mean any harm. Especially after...what I just overheard.”]

By introducing the idea that a child born blind cannot survive, let alone thrive, without superhuman abilities, and then failing to soundly and thoroughly refute that idea through the characters we identify with, Pixelberry is unintentionally perpetuating the same false beliefs that have led to real-world instances of infanticide for centuries. And that isn’t okay.

I don’t know where Pixelberry will go with the story from here. Perhaps in today’s chapter some of these concerns have been addressed...but I doubt it. In the meantime, I’ve also written to their support staff to express my deep concern and disappointment in the treatment of Morgan’s character. And I’d encourage you to do the same.

Will I continue to keep streaming Wolf Bride? For now, yes. My VIP subscription is already paid for, and frankly, I want to see Morgan’s arc through. I guess the small part of me that was excited for the representation is still hopeful the narrative can be corrected.

But I’ll be adding a content warning at the start of each stream for ablism, and that’s something I never thought I’d have to do. Screenshots courtesy of CrimsonFeatherGames on Youtube

#playchoices #pixelberry #choices vip #wolf bride #choices wolf bride #cw: child abuse #cw: ableism #anti-wolf bride

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walker-extended-universe · 3 years ago

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Walker v Walker, Texas Ranger

After having watched two episodes of watching Walker, Texas Ranger at the request of my dad, I wanna make a post comparing my experiences watching both that show and the current run of Walker. I’m gonna try not to make any sweeping judgements on the original show as a whole as I haven’t seen nearly enough of it to justify that. I’m just going to make some comparisons based on the what I observed in the episodes that I watched.

Comparison 1: Cordell Walker

It should come as no surprise that one of the biggest differences between these two series is the title character: Cordell Beauregard Walker.

Walker, Texas Ranger presents a man who is a Ranger first and foremost. More than that, he’s a man with a wide range of martial arts skills that can beat every man he comes across, even when multiple come his way at once. He can dodge and block any punch, kick or weapon that comes his way and disarming his enemies comes with ease. This Walker is also a Ranger first and foremost, as the majority of his scenes feature him solving a case or chasing a suspect. That being said, he does have people around him that he cares for and always has words of wisdom to offer to. But more than being an action expert, he is a good investigator what always catches his man and criminals never lie to him. He’s confident and self-assured but not arrogant, although he does get a bit cocky when it comes to kicking ass. He rarely uses his sidearm, preferring his excellent martial arts skills.

Walker, on the other hand, gives us a family man that is still dedicated to his job. The majority of his scenes take place with his family or friends and he spends more time at home than than the office. That being said, he always answers the call when needed, even if he seems to prefer being at home. This Walker is not a martial arts expert and seems to prefer using his gun over hand-to-hand combat. While he is confident in himself, he experiences doubt over his skills as a Ranger from time to time (likely from all the people talking down to him).

Comparison 2: The Genre

Arguably the biggest difference between the two shows is the genre they exist in, which mostly explains the other differences.

Walker, Texas Ranger is an Action Procedural. Every episode has a case (or two) and most of the scenes of the show involve the investigative process or the legal system in some way. There are emotional beats but they are not the main focus of the episodes and they largely exist in their own bubble.

Walker is a Family Drama that contains some Procedural elements. Not every episode features a case, but the ones that do usually make it the main focus of the episode or they use it as an analogy for whatever issues the main characters are currently facing. This changes the structure of the show a bit and it allows different episodes to put more or less focus on certain characters.

Comparison 3: The Cast

Again, the genre of the shows being different has a big impact on other things. This includes the size of the regular cast on both shows.

Walker, Texas Ranger appears to have a small regular cast, focusing mainly on Walker’s core social group. There are some characters that appear in recurring roles but the overall size of the main cast is about 3-4 people. This also means the episodes are usually split into only A and B plots that get approximately equal treatment.

Walker, on the other hand, has a much larger regular cast at 10 people. This includes Walker himself, his family (including his children, parents, and brother), his work partner, and his friends. This can sometimes make the episodes feel a bit bloated as nearly all the regular cast will appear in each episode, which will usually involve A, B, C, and D plots, oftentimes on top of an overarching season plot.

Comparison 4: Presentation

Going a little further than a mere difference in genre, the way the shows are presented and how they’re structured differs as well.

Walker, Texas Ranger has a short theme song for its title sequence, sung by Chuck Norris himself. It’s a small snippet of a hero’s ballad, likely a call back to the days when songs were written about the heroes of the Old West, among whom were early Texas Rangers. Another thing worth noting about the presentation is how the fight scenes are done. I hesitate to call it “overediting” but there are a lot of cuts, which makes it hard to keep up with what exactly is happening in the scenes. On top of that, the sound effects used are just a few steps to the left of realistic, though not quite to the point of cheesiness. The show also seems to have a penchant for repetition and slow motion, as almost every fight scene ends with the last blow being done a few times, hitting the slow mo button for the last run, which does slip into cheesy territory at times.

Something else of interest is how the procedural element of the show is handled. In this iteration, we see from the beginning who the bad guy is and why they’ve done the deed. The excitement comes with seeing how Walker is going to figure it out and what the final battle will look like.

Walker seems to take itself a little more seriously. There is no theme song as it wouldn’t fit the genre and the action scenes are mostly fought with guns. All the action scenes are also cut in a way that you can generally follow what’s going on, again fitting the more serious tone. The sound effects are a bit more “real” and the slow motion shots are used more sparingly and added for dramatic effect.

Here, the procedural element is handled very differently. We are just as much in the dark about who committed the crime of the week as Walker and his partner are, assuming there even is one. We get to see how they solve the case and also try to do a bit of mystery solving ourselves. However, this can lead to an episode feeling a bit slow with long stretches of time with false leads or no information until suddenly the case is solved and the chase is on. Walker also tends to rely on guns for their action scenes, which makes things both more and less intense than the hand-to-hand battles of its predecessor.

Conclusion:

Both shows have their pros and cons. They were made in different eras of television and entertainment and speak to different audiences in different ways. I love watching Walker every week and speculating about what’s going to come next. I also liked watching Walker, Texas Ranger as it was entertaining and let me shut my brain off for a while, though I don’t really feel the urge to go watch more of the show. It’s all about preferences.

#walker #walker texas ranger #cordell walker #comparison

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yuexuan · 3 years ago

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Fiction recommendation 21

Time for some more fic recs because its been awhile since I did them!

1. 幻想农场 (Fantasy Farm)

Author: 西子绪

Farming/slice of life, food fic, supernatural, mythology

Summary [taken from novel updates]:

After being fired, Lu Qingjiu finally decided to return to his hometown to farm.

At first, he started raising a pig, and then he found that the pig could solve more high-level math questions than he could.

After that, he started raising a flock of chickens, and then he found that his own fighting ability was one-tenth of that of a single chicken.

Finally, Lu Qingjiu finally realised that this old home wasn’t quite right… Especially a certain person by his side who constantly stared at him day in and day out.

Lu Qingjiu: “Are you drooling because of the spicy stir-fry I’m holding or because of me?”

Bai Yuehu pointed at the stir-fry.

Lu Qingjiu: “Then can you let go??”

Bai Yuehu reluctantly glanced at Lu Qingjiu’s arm, before loosening his teeth.

Comments:

My first thought is: don’t read this fic when you’re hungry. Every chapter is filled with delicious descriptions of food that’ll make one’s mouth water. The novel makes a lot of references to creatures from the Classics of the Mountains and Seas, which is a delight to learn about. An easy-to-read, fun novel.

Novel | Novel [Eng] Translation

2. 全球高考 (Global Examination)

Author: 木苏里

Infinite flow, suspense, action

Summary [taken from novel updates]:

One day, You Huo and his famiIy was puIIed into an exam caIIed the GIobaI University Entrance Examination. Going through exams together with other unfortunate examinees, their Iives are put at stake and they can only Iive by passing each exam. However, something about these exams and the system controIIing it didn’t seem right — lt seemed to be trying to trap the examinees with ridiculous ruIes and strange questions…

There, You Huo meets lnvigiIator 001 who seems to hoId a key to the past he no Ionger remembered and, together, they go through the exam, unravelling the mysteries behind their past and the system.

Tldr: A pair of chaotic madmen work together to go against the examination system while feeding the readers dogfood.

Comments:

I admit that I didn’t like the story when I first started reading it. But as the story progresses, the rules of the examination fall into place and the different examinations got very challenging and interesting. The whole power couple and stranger-to-lover tropes are an added highlight.

Novel | Novel [Eng] Translation | Audio drama | Manhua

3. 全球上线 (Earth Online)

Author: 莫晨欢

Infinite flow, suspense, survival, action

Summary:

Six months ago, tens of thousands of huge towers appeared all over the world, floating over cities. No one could do anything about them.

Half a year later, people are used to the towers and learned to ignore them.

One day Tang Mo saw a bug fly towards one of the towers and hit it.

The next day, a child's voice announced to the entire world: Ding dong! 15th November, 2017, the earth went online.

The three iron rules of the towers: (1) The towers shall explain everything. (2) The game time starts from 6:00 - 18:00. (3) All players please try their best to attack and defeat the towers.

Comments:

Another suspenseful infinite flow stories. I love the smart power couple dynamic, how the two of them become powerful when they collaborate, but are also equally capable of defeating the towers’ levels by themselves. Moreover, all the characters don’t have your typical “oh let me be a hero and save everyone” complex. They all weighed the benefits and costs at each turn and are capable of making decisions that best maximize their chances of survival - whether that is ruthlessly killing other players or extending a saving hand. All the powers and items that the players received and the world-building are very unique (especially Tang Mo’s and his book haha). This one is gonna challenge your brain a bit, but definitely worth a read.

Novel | Novel [Eng] Translation

4. 不要在垃圾桶里捡男朋友 (Don’t pick up boyfriends from the trash bin)

Author: 骑鲸南去

Infinite flow, transmigration

Summary [from novel updates]:

Chi Xiaochi: fourth-rate citizen at birth, three-time award-winning film emperor, second-rate temper, first-class looks. He crawled his way out of hell on hard mode to become a winner at life.

Then, he was smashed into a vegetative state by a chandelier.

061: Hello, here’s a brief rundown on the scum gong reconditioning system. This system measures the regret level of the scum gong. Every time their regret level reaches one hundred points, you will be able to leave the current world. A friendly tip, usually, through dedication and self-sacrifice, our employees slowly foster a sense of dependency in the scum gongs, gradually making it so the scum gongs can’t live without them.

Chi Xiaochi: How many regret points is a complete loss of reputation and standing worth? How about a fall from grace? Or wanting something but never being able to obtain it?

061: ……

Comment:

Don’t let the title fool you. I entered the novel thinking it’s some meet-cute modern-day slice-of-life comedy, but it turns out to have some really good angst and adventure moments in there. Heck, it’s been awhile since I cried for a novel. :’)

There are ten arcs (i.e. worlds) that the protagonist enters, each with its own backstory, so this novel might feel longer than the usual danmei. Nevertheless, I enjoyed all the details placed into each world and all the side characters. I also like that the protagonist is very smart and cunning and he grows throughout the different worlds. The only con I’ll say to this is that everything proceeds a bit too smoothly, especially with the golden finger of 061, so the protagonist can come off as being too OP. Nevertheless, the ending and last world are just huge tear-jerkers.

Novel | Novel [Eng] Translation

5. 迪奥先生 (Mr. Dior)

Author: 绿野千鹤

Comedy, fluff, romance

Summary [from novel updates]:

One day, Zhang Chenfei met a car accident. Fortunately, he didn’t suffer any serious physical injuries. However, due to the impact of the car crash, his brain’s perception of the real world had turned into that of the novel that he was reading prior to the accident. The thing that horrified his wife, Jiao Qi, was… the Smart Brain, Louis XIII downloaded a series of books which meant that his husband would turn into a different character each time!

How will our adorable little wife deal with this kind of husband who seemed to suddenly suffer from multiple personalities?

This novel’s plot focuses on Zhang Chenfei’s changing personality based from the characters in the books, and how his wife, Jiao Qi, deal with every character as he will have to act in sync with whoever his husband’s character is. This is per the advise of the private doctor since treatment of this special condition was still under research.

As they act out their roles, they will gradually discover and learn more about the other, which they’ve never known in their seven years of living together.

Comment:

The amount of second-hand embarrassment and cringe I got from this novel is huge and I love it lol. If you are curious about how cheesy and cliche Chinese romance can get, please do try reading this. It includes some of the worst and most dog blood tropes in a comedic and satirical way, while advancing the main pairing’s relationship at the same time. Truly a fun read!

Novel | Novel [Eng] Translation | Manhua

Other quick links:

Fic tag guide

My previous recommendations (mostly danmei + fanfics)

List of novels/fics that I have already read

#recommendation #danmei #danmei recs

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dadolorian · 4 years ago

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Seven Days of Valentines, (Diamonds and Daddies side story) Whiskey x F!Reader CH 4

A/N: Thanks to @talesfromtheguild for Beta reading and helping me with many ideas for this! This will be a weekly series leading up to Valentines Day

I try to keep Readers physical appearance as open as possible for this story, but please note in these chapters shes going to become more of a ‘character’, some specific interests of hers are going to come into play.

This is canon to the main Diamonds and Daddies story, but i am uploading as its own thing. You do not need to have read Diamonds and Daddies to read this, just know its a fic about Jack ‘Whiskey’ Daniels being a Sugar Daddy and the reader is a professional Sugar Baby.

Fandom: Kingsman the golden circle Ship: Jack ‘Whiskey’ Daniels x Cis F!reader Warning/tags: established relationship, P in V sex, fingering, Oral ( F receiving) , multiple orgasms, over stimulation, dirty talk, Daddy kink, DD/LG/BDSM style relationship, creampie, unprotected sex (wrap it up irl) checking of safe word, possessive language, aftercare, toys, squirting, pussy slap, nipple/clit pump, some mild fluff

Let me know if i forget anything

Word count: 6K +

My master list Seven days of Valentines masterlist AO3 LINK Buy me a Kofi

Summary: Whiskey whisks his Sugar baby away for a romantic Valentine’s getaway. Day four, jack gift Honey Bee a special gift.

Thursday 12th of February

As promised, you were left with a very sore and tender pussy.

You awoke in uncomfortable pleasure with Jack's face buried between your legs, devouring you as if he hadn’t had his fill of you less than eight hours earlier.

Lazily, you tried to push him away with your hand, in a feeble attempt to fall back to sleep, however thanks to your lingering sensitivity and the skill of his tongue he managed to coax you to orgasm despite your meager attempt to recede back into sleep.

You whimpered, grogginess clear in your high whines, as Jack lapped you up, savoring your taste before beginning to kiss his way up your body, pushing up his t-shirt you still wore to kiss at more of your soft skin. He gravitated towards your lips finally, lazily melding his mouth to yours. You tasted yourself on his tongue, alongside that taste you couldn’t describe as anything other than Jack. You moaned together, as if relieved to be connected once again finally.

Strong, familiar arms wrapped around you and lifted your hips to his, he hissed into your kiss as your soaked core rubbed up against his erection through his sweatpants.

“Is your sore pussy up to taking Daddy this morning?” he asked when you finally separated your lips from one another. His voice was raspy with sleep and need.

“If I'm not too sensitive for you to eat me out before I’ve even woken up, then I’m sure I can take your cock Daddy,” you cooed, giggling at the way his eyes darkened and the hungry look he gave you as he quickly hooked his sweats under his cock and balls.

“If you can still take me after last night, then clearly I didn't do a good enough job,” he teased before he pushed himself inside you with a satisfied groan.

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

Even with Jack’s morning distraction he had the two of you out the door, before noon, dressed ready in warmer clothes than usual due to the reported snowfall.

He took you to Piazza Navona, it was beautiful, even with the overcast gray sky, thanks to the cold February air it was not as busy as you expected, giving you and Jack plenty of space to roam about the decadent square to observe the beauty of the architecture and fountains.

Snow covered the ground, which did not dampen your experience in the slightest. Jack promised to ‘make up for it’ in the future by taking you back in warmer months, but you silenced his worries with a kiss.

“I am thrilled we are here, even if it's cold, I don't need blue skies and sunshine to appreciate any of this Jack.”

He gave you a soft smile in return, feeling some of his worry lift.

“I still want to take you back here Sugar, one day.”

“I would love that, I just don't want you thinking I'm somehow disappointed because you took me here in late winter. I love it Jack, thank you.”

You shared a deep kiss in front of one of the fountains, as the only two people in the square.

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

You were equally as excited when Jack took you to your next location for the day, and found it was just as empty as Piazza Navona. Trevi fountain was covered in snow, the blanket was growing steadily thicker as snow began to fall, Jack was grateful he had the foresight of an umbrella that day, opening it up and pulling you to his side as you both made your way over to the famed fountain.

“This is amazing, that we get to experience such a place, just the two of us” you whispered, leaning your head on his shoulder, huddling closer to him against the cold.

“It seems surreal Darlin,” he hummed beside you, kissing the crown of your head. “It’s like we’re the only two people in the world.”

You giggled. “Hmmm, and is this what we would do? If we were? Travel around, seeing the sights?”

“If it were just the two if us, I would want nothing more than just to explore the rest of the world with you, Honey Bee,” he smiled.

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

You flipped through photos you had taken that morning on your phone as you sat in the passenger seat, Jack beside you holding your free hand as the driver took you to wherever he had planned for your lunch.

You giggled at one particular photo, Jack was pulling a face into the camera as he would often do when in a playful mood.

“Send me them when you get a chance Darlin,” he said warmly beside you, smiling at your smile. You gave him a nod before swiping through more.

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

Lunch, as it turned out, was very similar to yesterday's lunch, as Jack had surprised you with another workshop. However, this time you were taking a pizza class.

Your stomach growled as you entered the warm Pizzeria, shrugging off the thick winter coats you wore and hanging them up. You were grateful for the change in temperature as you both cleaned off the snow clinging to the rest of your clothes before joining the small class.

You decided to spend the time this lesson enjoying the experience more than teasing Jack, who seemed just as agreeable to the notion as you stood side by side at your station, listening to your instructor.

You had a lot of fun, Jack kneaded the dough for you as you stood to the side, admiring his arms as he rolled up his sleeve and got to work. As the dough was stored away to rise, you cleaned your station together, sitting down to decide what toppings you each wanted.

Your pizza base was an uneven circle, Jack rolling it out once they were all deemed acceptable. You giggled at the lopsidedness of it, taking a quick photo of Jack’s pout as you giggled over your lumpy pizza base.

Together you made the sauce and spread it on your base, before you were finally allowed to decorate it with toppings. Before you could start, Jack made an equally uneven heart shape out of your shredded mozzarella, and with sauce bottle in hand, he managed to write a very messy “JD ❤️ HB”

You ‘awwed’ at the gesture, quickly snapping a picture of Jack next to his creation, smiling proudly.

“How very ‘cheesy’ of you,” you joked lamley, making Jack groan.

You finished putting the rest of your toppings on before you were finally allowed to deliver your pizza to the pizza oven. Jack was thrilled to get to use the large wooden pizza peel, and you made sure to take a video of Jack putting your pizza in the large oven to cook with help from the instructor.

While your lunch cooked you cleaned everything up, leaving your station as spotless as you found it. When the food was ready you and Jack sat at the tables, alongside other couples, chatting away happily as you all ate together, his arm around you lazily.

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You were surprised when Jack led you back to the hotel much earlier than you expected, having just finished lunch and bundling back up in your coats to brave the increasing snow.

You weren't complaining though, as you entered the lobby just as the snow had started to become a blizzard, more than happy to escape the cold for the rest of the day.

You were taken back to your room, and perhaps a little disappointed as you entered the bedroom, finding no gifts laid out.

Jack took notice, chuckling and kissing your cheek.

“Later Honey, we’re only stopping by to get rid of our winter gear,” he said warmly, shedding his coat once more and changing into some comfortable lounging clothes. He encouraged you to do the same, so quickly you dressed into a large baggy sweater dress, warm leggings and soft ugg boots. He took your hand once you were ready, and just as quickly as you had arrived to your suite, you were swept away to some unknown part of the hotel.

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You were delighted when you passed through two large glass doors to what you could only describe as a mini spa resort.

The air was warm and misty, smelling vaguely of vanilla and pine, tiled floors made shoes click as they passed over it, the walls were gray, with a large mural walk behind the tall reception desk. The hotel's logo stood out on the mural of trees, and sitting underneath, behind the desk were two petite young women who greeted you with a smile.

“Mr Daniels?” one of them asked in a strong italian accent.

Jack smiled and nodded, pulling you with him as you were led down a short hallway to the side, and then into a changing room where robes and towels waited for you.

You both undressed in your cubicles, putting on the towels and plush white robes provided for you. Jack took your hand back once the two of you were ready for whatever treatment you were about to get.

As usual, Jack had spared no expense, and the two of you were treated to a full spa experience. Jack had even gone the extra mile to give you a full beauty treatment as an added bonus.

You were able to relax in the Sauna together, your head resting on Jack’s shoulder as the heat sweat away your stresses. That was followed up by your beauty treatment. Mani and pedi, facial, exfoliation, face mask, eye mask, you experienced the full works, all while Jack cooled off in an Ice bath.

You enjoyed your pedicure along with a small sample of fruits and sandwich , followed up with a delicious slice of decadent cake, and a glass of champagne.

And the entire spa experience was topped off with a couples massage.

Jack reached across the small gap between your tables whenever he could to hold your hand in his. Any tension you had in your body melted away thanks to the expert hands of your masseuse and the scented oils coating your skin.

Sighing, you closed your eyes, trying hard not to fall asleep due to your extremely relaxed state, waiting to enjoy the feeling as much as possible by not drifting off.

You giggled, along with your masseuses when Jack's steady snore revibriated along the tiled walls, his hand relaxing in your grip as he drifted off, completely and utterly relaxed.

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By the time your massage had ended you were feeling more loose and relaxed than you had ever felt in your life, you rolled your shoulders with a content sigh, loving how loose your muscles felt.

“Damn Darlin, I didn't even realize my back was hurting so much until the pain went away,” Jack sighed beside you, taking your hand as you made your way back to the changing room to shower off the oil still coated to your skin.

“You enjoy your beauty treatment?” he asked, taking your hand in his once you were dressed, inspecting your manicure and affectionately stroking your fingers with his.

“Yes,” you nodded smiling at him. “Thank you.”

He smiled back and kissed your forehead. “Not that you need a beauty treatment Darlin, you’re already stunning,” he said, making you blush.

Washed, dried, and dressed you made your way back to your suite together.

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As he had promised earlier, gifts were now laid out on the bed, you bounced over to them excitedly, making Jack chuckle at your eagerness. Three boxes, with no clothes set out that evening, which surprised and intrigued you. As expected, one of the boxes contained a lingerie set, red and lacy, but unlike the other set the had bought for you so far, they were not intended to be practical, usable underwear as well, as the cups of the ‘bra’ were not there, the lace would perfectly frame your breasts, leaving them exposed for Jacks viewing pleasure. The ‘panties’ were matching, crotchless, this set was purely to wrap you up nice and pretty leaving everything open to Jack so he would not have to remove a single piece from you to get what he wants.

He growled softly behind you, wrapping his arms around you to kiss at your neck. “Gonna look so good in that Darlin,” he said, voice deep with lust already at the thought of you wearing it.

“Open the others”

You placed the first box down back on the bed, reaching for the next closest box and lifting the lid. Instantly you felt yourself growing wet at the sight of its content.

“I hope after last night you won't be too sore to play with these tonight,” Jack’s teasing voice tickled your neck as you stared down at the toys in the box.

So far, in the short time you had been together you had experimented with toys only a handful of times, and so far, they had been simple bullets and vibes. Evidently tonight, Jack wanted to be a bit more, experimental.

One simple, silver bullet vibe, a finger vibe, a silicone egg attached to a silicone string you could only guess vibrated, and the largest dildo you had ever seen in person. Your heart was beating fast in anticipation, and you were sure Jack could feel it with his lips latched to your pulse point.

“Open the last one,” he rasped.

You almost dropped the box as you opened it, overwhelming anticipation making you shake as you stared down at a toy you had only ever dreamed about being used on you.

Nipple and clit pumps, you were certain Jack was planning on a night just as intense as the last night, and you were more than looking forward to it.

“Go, get changed, I’ll be waiting for you.”

You were quick to change in the ensuite, touching up your hair in the mirror and re-applying Jacks favorite mascara. When you came back out to the bedroom, dressed in the exposing red number, Jack was laid out on the bed, even more exposed than you, completely nude as he lay back with a cocky grin, slowly pumping his hardening cock.

You feigned feeling bashful, hiding half of your body behind the door frame and avoiding his eyes. He chuckled, becoming you over with his finger.

“No need to feel shy Darlin, you look good enough to eat,” he hummed, still stroking his cock slowly with one hand while the other was open to you in invitation. You padded over the soft carpet, still pretending to feel shy. As soon as you were in reach he pulled you to the bed, pushing you onto your back and bending over you to give you a kiss.

“I really could eat you up, you sexy little thing,” he teased, his fingers dancing across your skin to the lacy edges of your ‘bra’, the pads of his fingers brushing against your bare breasts as he played with the lace.

“These,” he said, squeezing your breasts, weighing them in his palm. “A meal fit for a king,” he continued, growling before dipping his head further to mouth at your breasts. He lavished attention to them, making sure to toy with the one not currently in his mouth with his hand, squeezing, kneading the flesh in his large calloused hands, and tweaking your nipple while he licked and suckled on the other one.

You moaned, already aroused just by looking at the toys he had selected for that night, but even further so now. You felt your arousal leak out of you, with no barrier to hold it thanks to the lack of material covering your centre.

Jack switched, making sure each of your breasts felt the attention of his mouth, you looked down at him, and found him staring back at you with intense, dark eyes, watching your every reaction, every gasp and moan.

“Fuck, I love your tits,” he moaned agaisnt your skin, placing a few soft kisses to your peaked nipples before pulling away. His hand stroking the flesh of your thigh as he sat up, erection proudly twitching against his stomach.

“Which of those toys caught your attention most, baby?” He asked, positioning you gently further back on the bed.

“T-the pumps,” you answered truthfully, rubbing your coated thighs together in anticipation as Jack got up off the bed to collect the boxes.

“Yeah? You want Daddy to torture your nipples and poor little clit?” he asked, setting the boxes beside you on the bed.

You nodded up at him eagerly.

“Daddy will do just that,” he promised, picking out the finger vibe from the box and sliding it over his index, switching it on so it buzzed lightly. “But I want to try them all out on you baby.”

His finger started at your nipples, trailing slowly down your body until he reached your clit, circling it gently so the vibrations barely tickled you. You whined, lifting your hips , trying to gain more pressure to your clit, but Jack slapped your thich in warning.

“You take what Daddy gives you,” he reminded you, torturing you further by rubbing his vibrating finger over your clit directly, so lightly you could only just feel the promise of the vibrations against your swollen bud.

“Daddy please,” you whined, pouting when he chuckled at you, not taking pity on you.

“Patience is a virtue sugar,” he teased, leaning over to rasp in your ear. “Daddy will will make you cum so hard so much it fucking hurts if you be good for me.”

You moaned, knowing full well Jack always kept his promises if you behaved for him.

“Imagine that big one inside you,” he continued, knowing full well his words could turn you on just as much as his touches. “I wanna see your sweet little peach of a pussy stretch around that, your hungry little hole taking that massive cock, fuck, I bet it would hurt to cum around that thing, your cunt stretched so much and tightening around that, fuck I could cum just imagining that.”

You moaned again, nodding your head and silently begging for just that, wanting to please him, wanting that painful pleasure.

Your eyes were closed, imagining his little fantasy, how good it would feel when he surprised you by pushing the vibe right onto your clit, making you yelp.

“We’re gonna start small, and make our way up,” he said, sitting back up to watch you writhe under the pleasure of the vibe. “It’s going to be another long night Baby girl.”

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Jack had successfully made you cum with the finger vibe without ever sliding anything inside you, and had slowly worked you open with the small silver vibe, pumping it in and out of you slowly, bringing you back to the edge of pleasure before abandoning it to the side. You whined in frustration as he took his sweet time picking the next toy, much to your annoyance. There were two toys left in that box and you knew he was going to end with the larger one. He was simply trying to rile you up.

Deciding you were being just a bit too bratty with your complaints, he gave your pussy a harsh slap.

“Patience Baby,” he warned with a growl. “That's your second warning!”

You bit your lip, trying to silence yourself as he pretended to decide which toy to use.

Eventually he picks up the silicone egg and returned to his previous position between your legs, laying on his stomach so he could watch up close.

He turned the egg on, feeling it buzz in his palm before slowly pushing it inside you, cooing gently about how good your pussy looked, framed by your panties as it stretched around the widest part of the egg. Shoving it inside you as deep as it could reach he watched with fascination how slick leaked from you with each powerful buzz.

“Remember, you can’t cum until Daddy says you can,” he laughed before licking up your arousal with a moan. You heard him whisper against your folds how you tasted so good.

You were focusing hard on not cumming until he said so, but that was made far more difficult when he took a hold of the silicone ‘string’ attached to the toy, slowly pulling it down your channel and stretching your hole again.

You keened, arching your back and trying so hard to wait for his permission. He repeated the action, pushing the vibrating egg deep inside you before slowly pulling it out, stopping when you stretched around the widest point. He watched entranced, growling hungrily every time your entrance stretched around it.

He kissed your clit, circling his tongue around it, drinking up your moans.

“Fuck baby, watching my sweet little cunt stretch like this, just makes me want to see what else I can fit in you,” he moaned, lapping up at your folds now. “Im gonna buy the biggest fucking toy I can find when we get home, we’re gonna find your limit one day.”

His lips latched onto your core, eating you out vigorously, and still playing with the toy with his hand, he was struggling to grip it securely with how much you were leaking.

He shoved the toy back inside, pushing up right against your g-spot as he began suckling your clit.

You shrieked, trying not to wriggle too much as you begged, helplessly, for permission.

“Daddy! Please! Please! Pleasepleaseplease!” You wailed. Looking down at him, between your legs, eyes watching you intently again, you saw him nod.

Permission.

You thanked him with a cry as you arched further off of the bed, pushing your hips up into his mouth as he drank down your release, tongue lapping at your hole beside the silicone still hanging out of you. You clenched down around the toy, shaking as your walls contracted around the vibrations.

“Daddy!” You whined, slowly rocking your hips into his face as you rode out your orgasm. As the waves of pleasure washed away, Jack ever so slowly pulled the toy out of you, kissing your clit in praise as he did so. You whimpered, sensitive as he kissed you there.

He cooed again as you stretched around the toy, watching as he pulled it out at a snails pace, enraptured at the sight.

“My pretty little pussy,” he praised, diving to lap up at you again once the toy popped out of you. You mewled, lazily trying to push him away, but he wouldn't be denied his sweet treat.

Jack tossed the toy to the side and crawled up your body, lifting your thighs around his waist. Teasingly, he rocked his hips so his cock, now leaking pre-cum onto your skin.

“Daddy wants to be inside his pretty little pussy,” he rasped. “I know you’re sensitive baby, oohhh but daddy wants to make you a creamy mess before you take that big one, I need you slick with both our cum before I stretch you out with that thing.”

He was rambling, but watched your expression carefully as he lined himself up with your hole, smearing his pre-cum around your folds, waiting for any kind of refusal before pushing his hips forward and filling you easily thanks to his attentions with the egg.

“Fuck, there we go,” he groaned when the flesh of your ass met his thighs. Bottoming out inside of you. You moaned loudly as he filled you up, feeling his tip meet your innermost wall. “I aint ever been in a pussy this good Baby.”

Having neglected his cock for so long, choosing to pleasure you ahead of himself, Jack didn’t bother wasting time building up a slow and steady pace. He pounded into you hard and fast as he always did when chasing his own release and slaps echoing in the room.

He crashed his lips on yours, noses bumping together as the taste of your cum flooded your mouth. The kiss was sloppy, and messy, but Jack desperately seemed to need his mouth on yours as his hips rammed yours. You could tell by his desperation he would not last long, he rarely did when he had aroused himself so much by pleasuring you.

Once, twice, three times he bucked into you hard before warm cum flooded your insides, he pulled your bottom lip into his mouth and bit hard, but not hard enough to draw blood, groaning loudly.

You didn’t complain about the fact that he had sought his own release as he lazily pulled out of you, pushing his seed back inside you with his thumb, knowing full well he intended to make you cum at least once more that night.

“Baby,” he sighed, licking his thumb clean of your combined releases. “What's your color? You still good to try take that big one?”

“Green Daddy,” you sighed, settling into the pillows comfortably, preparing yourself for the challenge.

“My perfect girl,” he said proudly, kissing your cheek and retrieving the toy.

You knew there were larger toys out there, but this would be the largest you had ever taken personally, it was bigger than Jack, who was already an impressive size himself. He placed the toy beside you on the bed before opening the bedside drawer for a bottle of lube.

“I know you’re wet Darlin, you’re always wet for me, your horny little cunt’s always up for more, isn’t she? But we still need to prep you” he said, coating his fingers in lube and putting two in you straight away. The artificial lube, mixed with both of your cum made obscene noises as Jack pumped his fingers and stretched you open.

“Daddy can get hard again on that noise alone Honey Bee,” he chuckled, laughing harder as your eyes widened as you glanced down at his spent, wet cock that was already twitching with interest.

You bit your lip and wiggled slightly, stopping when his eyes cut back to your face in warning.

“Are you going to take me again Daddy?” You asked as a third finger pushed inside you.

“Ohhh, you can bet on it Baby,” he moaned, watching your hole stretching around his fingers. When he managed to fit a fourth, large finger inside you, he stretched you wide open so he could stare into your hole, groaning at the sight.

“My perfect little cunt,” he whispered before spitting into your hole, giving you an obnoxiously cocky grin before pulling his fingers free and shoving them in your mouth to clean.

Obediently you lapped them up, cleaning your combined cum and lube off of his fingers while his free hand opened the bottle again. Once he deemed his fingers acceptably clean he pulled them out of the hot cavern of your mouth and picked up the toy, coating it generously in lube.

“You sweet little pussy’s gonna look so good taking this,” he growled, shoving your legs apart as wide as they could go and lining the tip of the toy up at your entrance. He was extremely careful, as he pushed it forward, watching your reaction carefully for any sign of discomfort. Even with the stretching and copious slick from the lube and cum it was a struggle to take, the stretch was burning and so far he had only pushed the tip in. Jack paused, waiting patiently for your face to relax as he slowly pulled the toy out, then back in, pushing just a little bit deeper each time, pausing, waiting for you to adjust each time you grimaced.

It took a lot of hard work, but with both your efforts the toy was eventually pushed as deep as it could go. You both moaned in unison once the toy could go no deeper. Jack laid down on his stomach, between your legs, staring longingly once again at the stretch of your pussy.

“Baby,” he cooed in adoration, running this finger around the toy where your hole stretched around it, making you whimper. “Look at that, fuck, just imagine how much we could get to fit in you with practice. Your sweet, tiny little pussy’s stretched so wide, Can’t wait to make you cum on that, bet it’s gonna hurt, make you cry, sweet thing.”

You were stretched so wide that the arousal you felt at his words could not escape, simply filling you up further, making you whine.

“Wait here, hold your legs open,” he ordered getting up off the bed, you noticed he was hard again already, having worked himself up watching you stretch around the new toy.

He picked up the last box.

Oh.

You had forgotten about that.

Jack gently picked up the pumps before returning to you, gently attaching the suction cups to each nipple and your clit. He loved how your breasts look, framed by the ‘bra’, pump attached to your nipples.

“Gonna make you cum so hard, it’ll hurt so good baby,” he rasped, voice deep and gravely with lust.

He squeezed the pump gently in one hand, watching how you would react with fierce intensity and hunger. The first pump was just enough to feel a slight suction, a mild sensation, but he continued to pump away slowly, watching the way your nipples began pulling up into the clear cups. He groaned at the sight, and once your nipples and clit started to feel the tight suction you whined loudly in both pain and pleasure, unintentionally squeezing around the large toy inside you still.

Without warning Jack repeatedly squeezed the pump hard and fast, startling you with the sudden, constant suction.

“Ahhhh! Daddy!” You yelped, struggling to keep still for him.

“You know your words,” he reminded you. “They’re there if you need them.”

You shook your head no, wanting that painful orgasm he promised you and was intent on giving you.

You were sobbing as he pumped away, clit and nipples red and raw as they were pulled up into the cups, there would be marks in the morning, no doubt about that.

It was painful, but incredibly arousing at the same time, they had never been this sensitive before, this abused and your head was swimming in the delirium of it.

Jack jerked himself off with his free hand above you, as you squirmed beneath him, the painful, burning stretch of the toy, and the constant and the arduous suction on your most sensitive parts were driving you insane.

To torment you further, Jack placed the pump down but did not release the suction, instead, grabbing onto one of the cups on your nipples and tugging at it. You cried, the pain agonising but it just made you anticipate your orgasm all the more.

Proud of the reaction he pulled from you, his hand moved to the suction cup on your clit, repeating the action. You shrieked, louder than you ever had before and Jack abandoned his cock to cover your mouth, as he repeatedly tugged at the cup, muffling your shrieks.

“Normally I love your noises Baby but we don't need people coming to investigate that now do we?” he teased. “Now I'm going to let go and you’re going to cum for me. You understand?”

You nodded into his hand.

“Good, you need to scream like that, do it into the pillow,” he said before pulling his hand from your mouth to grip the toy filling you up by the base and jackhammering it inside of you, still tugging at the pump on your clit.

It was instantaneous, and as painful as he had promised. Your hole was stretched as wide as it could possibly go right now and gripping hard on the toy that was stuffed inside you. Jack growled, watching with rapt fascination as your poor abused hole rhythmically clenched around the artificial cock.

You didn't shake as much as you thrashed, pulling the pillow to your face to scream your voice hoarse as tears escaped your eyes due to the pain you were drunk on.

Wet squelching, screams and Jack’s praises and curses filled the room as you came and cum gushed from you. Your body was both trying to milk the toy and push it out of you at the same time, and you realized the toy was being forced from you because you were squirting around it. Jack seemed unaware given how big the toy was, but he was preparing to enter you the second he pulled the toy from you, the hand previously tugging at your clit pump was stroking his cock while the hand still on the toy quickly pulled it out of you, coating him in the cum still squirting from you.

“Fuck Baby!” he shouted, surprised for just a moment before he growled and quickly shoved himself in your gaping pussy before you finished. Pounding into you at a brutal pace, unintentionally but happily massaging that spot making you squirt, drenching his front in even more cum before your body could take no more.

“Fuck I didn’t think this would be how I made you squirt the first time, but Im not complaining,” he groaned in your ear, ripping your pillow away from your face and pounding into you, holding your still thrashing body tightly to him, ignoring the pump still on you as his cock destroyed your hole. Over and over again.

His pace was brutal and you cried, from the intense pain and pleasure of your orgasm, from the suction still on your nipples and clit, from the overstimulation of him pounding into you before you had even finished, how tender and swollen your sex was that was continuing to be abused, and the words that dripped from his mouth.

“My fucking pussy, this is mine,” he growled, his voice sounding feral and animalistic. “No ones ever going to please you the way I do, fill you the way I do, every inch of you is mine!”

“Y-yours,” you eeped out, voice faint after screaming so loud.

That was all he needed to push him over the edge, shouting his release as he pulled you up into him and he pushed in as deep as he could go, ignoring how the pump dug into both of you, hitting your cervix, making you cry out as he came.You felt it leak out of you, your abused hole unable to hold it in as he pulled out. Pausing a moment to free you of the pump, making you hiss in pain and relief before Jack collapsed on top of you with a groan, resting his head between your breasts and wrapping his arms around you.

You weren't sure how long the two of you lay there, clinging to each other, hearts and breath slowing down and sweat cooling from your skin as you stroked his hair.

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Eventually, once he was no longer panting, Jack sat up, hair clinging to his sweaty forehead as he took survey of the mess on yourselves and the bed.

“You good baby?” he asked, the need for sleep clinging to his voice.

“Yeah,” you whispered. “That was…”

“Intense?” he supplied with a weak chuckle, getting up off of the bed. “Come on baby, let clean up and get you sorted.”

You whined in complaint, rolling to your side, back to him.

“I know you’re tired,” he cooed, gently picking you up and carrying you to the ensuite. “But you’ll regret waking up in a wet bed, covered in cum and sore as all hell.”

“Fine” you sighed, wrapping your arms around his neck, more than happy to let him do all the work, and you knew he was more than happy to do it.

He took extra care with you that night, cleaning you up, removing the lingerie from your body, soothing your sore abused nipples with ointment, changing the bedsheets and praising you as you snuggled to him every chance you got.

You were already asleep by the time he put you to bed and tucked you in beside him.

Taglist:

@thats-one-tender-foot @luminescentlily @nuttybeardetective @ishqinbbc @ben-is-a-hoe @calamity-queen @phoenixhalliwell @talesfromtheguild @the-arctic-violet @jeeperky @mando-amando

#jack daniels x reader #agent whiskey x reader #jack whiskey daniels x reader #my fic #Seven Days of Valentine's #DIamonds&Daddies #SugarDaddy!Whiskey #thots #smut

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yamayuandadu · 3 years ago

Text

Wikipedia troubles, or “Father Enlil, (...) don't let your precious metal be alloyed there with the dirt of the underworld“

clarification regarding my post about troubles with a certain site i’ve been contributing to a lot for the past few months. To preface this with a mythical metaphor: in Inanna’s Descent, when Ninshubur pleads with the other gods to save Inanna, she uses the formula “don't let anyone kill your daughter in the underworld. Don't let your precious metal be alloyed there with the dirt of the underworld. Don't let your precious lapis lazuli be split there with the mason's stone. Don't let your boxwood be chopped up there with the carpenter's wood.” Currently this is what is happening to the Inanna article, I am afraid.

So, long story short, as most of you probably have noticed I am contributing relatively often to wikipedia as of late, starting with the creation of a Matara-jin article a few months ago. Among other things I wrote, rewrote or at least significantly improved the following:

articles about Mesopotamian medicine goddesses:

Ninkarrak from the western frontier, Nintinugga, who was associated with funerary offerings, Ninisina, who took over Inanna's gimmick in Isin, Bau, who became a healing goddess by chance, Gula, who eclipsed her peers - as expected from someone named “the great” articles about Inanna's courtiers and associated goddesses:

Ninshubur, her sidekick (my best work overall imo, the one article I wrote which I think fully deserves the “good” badge but I am not vain enough to apply myself), Ninegal, a goddess turned into her title, Nanaya, just the horny part distilled (bought a book just for this one!), Irnina, inexplicably cthtonic personified victory

articles about Mesopotamian gods too insignificant for anyone else to care about them:

Tishpak, a god so foreign nobody knows where he came from, Sebitti, seven warlike brothers, Enmesharra, Enlil's evil uncle, Urash, not the earth goddess – there are two... Urashes, Ningishzida, Dumuzi but with a snake gimmick, Zababa, a war god who's NOT Nergal, Ninimma, Enlil's court scribe, Gatumdag, popular as ersatz mom among kings of Lagash, Manzat, the rainbow

articles about Mesopotamian goddesses whose main trait was being someone's wife: Marduk's wife Sarpanit, Adad's wife Shala, Shamash's wife Aya

articles about Hurrian gods: Alalu, primordial vanquished king of gods, Kumarbi, his son, divine Saturday morning cartoon villain, Ninatta and Kulitta, a pair of divine musicians who always appeared together, Allani, oddly joyful queen of the dead, Šauška, who was so firmly genderfluid there's two of them in the most famous image of the Hurrian pantheon, Lelluri, a mountain goddess, Kubaba, who isn't Cybele, Goddess of the Night, who has no proper name despite being a case study in important religious rituals, Belet Nagar, who was like Ashur before Ashur got popular, Nupatik, who was important but we don't know why

articles about Eblaite gods: Ishara, “independent lady of love associated with scorpion and cannabis” popular everywhere where she went, Aštabi, a war god who really wanted to be like the weather god, Hadabal, who used to be famous but vanished out of blue, Kura, whose mask had to be renewed each year, Adamma, who left her husband to hang out with Kubaba

articles about Elamite gods: Pinikir, sort of like a bootleg Ishtar and an international sensation, Jabru, who exists only in Mesopotamian texts about Elam, Humban, mandate of heaven personified, Ruhurater, oddly obscure creator of mankind, Inshushinak, the underworld judge and his Akkadian helpers Lagamar and Ishmekarab, and Simut, the “strange star”

articles which were borderline unusable before due to low quality of sources:

Astarte, who was much more than vintage Bible scholars might lead you to believe (but not a fertility goddess), Dagan, who wasn't a fishman, Qetesh whose existence proves that Egyptians were fond of making ocs for their favorite foreign franchises

assorted articles about general topics pertaining to Mesopotamia:

Sukkal, Hurrian religion (ongoing project), List of Elamite gods; also a much needed overhaul of List of Mesopotamian deities (ongoing project)

and, last but not least, a solid chunk of the Inanna article.

Two guiding principles of these ventures were the following:

people who cannot access academic resources or don't know how to use them and as a result rely on wikipedia aren't any less deserving of receiving up to date, credible information

Wikipedia's mode of operation isn't flawed in itself and the only problem is lack of will to edit it

I think I did a pretty good job at these two things, honestly. I made sure to rely on rigorous, credible, and, if possible, easy to understand sources, and removed the horrors which sometimes were hidden in bibliographies: a book written by a hate preacher who believed Bush didn't start enough wars; 1930s race science; what I can only describe as a hybrid of Woman's Encyclopedia and a bdsm manual; a fringe book asserting that Minoan palaces were graveyards and that Egyptians only learned mummification from superior Minoans; etc. Of course, it’s a thankless job, but as long as I could make the site more credible undisturbed, that’s fine by me. I even got some help in a few cases, most notably that of the god list, indicating that the work was on some level appreciated. The only problem I've encountered prior to today came from editing the Ereshkigal article – I've removed the claim the Burney relief depicts “Lilith”; this edit was however undone. I left a message on the editor's page, complete with links to articles about the Burney relief AND about the possible Mesopotamian forerunners of Lilith (who are undeniably not depicted on the Burney relief). They're responded rather dismissively to it, and asserted that even if unproven, a connection existed, so I pretty quickly gave up, as they relied on sources which were outdated or fringe. I focused on fixing two long, important articles instead: the god list, and the Inanna article. Some parts of it were alright, but there was much work needed: fringe theories trying to assign greater antiquity to relatively late myths, and frankly insane hyperdiffusionism, had a prominent place in the article, while well attested association between Inanna and similar deities from cultures closely associated with Mesopotamia wasn't, much of the info was outdated, scandalous hot takes about Dumuzi's treatment were all over the place, the section on Inanna's descent favored Jungian confabulations over credible research, etc. My progress on fixing that had been slow and steady. However, today the aforementioned person intervened when, in between editing the Inanna article and the god list, I reverted a dumb, brief , unsourced edit – made by a third party - which asserted that Inanna's descent is “similar to Persephone” which it isn't – if anything is similar to Persephone in Mesopotamian mythology it's Nergal and Ereshkigal. They pretty clearly didn't take it well: not only the unfounded speculation went back up, but they also added a “source” affirming it, from a controversial -medical- author, not an Assyriologist. They also added Persephone to the list of Inanna equivalents in the infobox, removing any credibility whatsoever from it. The author of the claim this is all about relied on sources so antiquated that they interpreted Inanna's sexual character as her being a child-snatching boogeyman. Inanna's primary connection to boogeymen is that she was invoked, alongside Nanaya whose sexual connection is even more blatant, to -ward off- child-snatching boogeyman Lamashtu (whose character was not sexual, because sumerians and akkadians weren't victorian aristrocrats and weren't paranoically afraid of sex - and why would a demon representing death in infancy be sexual in nature, anyway?). Simply put, the book in mention is worthless as a source. Of course, I reverted that; when it went back up (despite a justification being included in my reversal) I edited the Inanna article to remove this outlandish claim (you have a limited number of possible reversions per day for some arcane reason), also adding other information about Inanna I had prepared: a few tidbits on Assyrian royal inscriptions which involved the warlike and erotic aspects at once, suggesting that transgressors should lose both potency and bravery in battle, some info on love poetry about her and Dumuzi, that sort of stuff. The weird person reverted my edit – removing valuable info – and reinstated the claim. For a moment I lost my cool and reverted this edit, which sadly put me in the reversion overuse danger zone, but which was a necessary sacrifice to save the credibility of article I put weeks of work into. See the edit history here. As you can guess HaniwaEnthusiast is me. I left messages critical of this decision on the talk page of the article and on the talk page of the outlandish editor. Sadly, they responded rather rudely, and basically declared Wikipedia isn't meant to be credible, and that favoring academic sources over random crap is an “ivory tower” approach and should be discouraged; they also insulted me but that's much less relevant and much less hurtful than their desire to spread lies. If you ask me it's more of an ivory tower attitude to say people who cannot access or don't know how to use academic sources do not deserve equally credible info and need to be at the mercy of weird wikipedia editors. What's the main problem here, though? That person is a mod. Not a random user. They have 16 years of Wikipedia experience. They spread fringe, pop-spiritual claims about Lilith and the like, so I assume they have an ulterior religious agenda of some sort, which they seem to actively encourage judging from these ventures. I'm not sure if the Inanna article is a lost cause yet but I do think the weird addition of Persephone they made is a step into some hellish direction, and I am entirely certain I cannot win this conflict. Simply put, I think that if this is the sort of staff the site has, this is a lost cause. I am not sure if I will go back to editing.

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keyofjetwolf · 3 years ago

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What was your first?

So a horse walks into a rehab and says “ouch”. And not a lot. Then a great deal. While also saying nothing. It’s BoJack, in rehab, and going about as well as you might think!

“The Stopped Show” may not have been much about BoJack, but “A Horse Walks Into A Rehab” makes up for it by being 99.9% BoJack, setting aside the brief appearance of the other characters to set their stages for when we get back to them. Diane’s in a shitty motel, Todd’s in a seedy alleyway, Princess Caroline has her porcupine baby, and Mr. Peanutbutter continues to deliver cheer while everything around him burns AND drowns. I’ve now touched base with them about as much as the season premier, and we’ll get busy ignoring them.

As I said, BoJack is the star today, and we continue his quest for ... what, exactly?

Trying to pin it down, that “what is BoJack looking for” question, it’s a lot harder to answer than I expected, which marks another instance of me fucking myself, GOOD JOB ME.

I initially said “punishment”, but that isn’t true, or a least, is too easy. BoJack wants accountability for his actions -- which is a very different thing than punishment -- but he wants it in a way that also absolves him from having to do any work to rise above it. So you’d think he’d love this, the constant claim in rehab that he’s powerless. It seems like the answer to everything, a blanket pass to excuse his behaviour because he’s powerless. Why doesn’t he? I’m not sure I’m entirely clicking with the heart of that, so come with me as I have a poke at it.

For one, I doubt very much rehab would begin and end with “you’re powerless, oh well”. Addiction is some nasty business, but in and of itself, it’s a symptom, not the problem. That in mind, we swing back then to BoJack having to put in the work, only now it’s with the removal of his favourite coping mechanisms.

I think what he was hoping to get out of rehab was more along the lines of “Vodka is a naughty irresistible siren who topples even the most noble of men, but if you cross your eyes and click your heels, you’ll be free from her spell forevermore.” And yeah, no.

I think we get some of that in how, for a while, rehab seems to suit BoJack.

To the point I very specifically said to Doc as I was watching this, “Oh shit, did BoJack just become even MORE insufferable?” He’s okay so long as he has the comfort of the scripts and the regimented plant therapy and the same hike every day. When he starts to get fucked is when he has push further, when he has to work harder, when the treatment demands MORE.

“I notice you tend to deflect when I ask you about the source of your addiction,” his therapist says, causing BoJack to immediately deflect, first with a joke and then, when that doesn’t work, attacking the entire system. Getting to the root of his problem is the last thing BoJack wants, to the point where the entire episode ITSELF is one giant deflection. I made a joke in passing up there about our passing moments with each of the other main characters, but that’s actually it, that’s the heart of this episode.

Each of these are efforts by the episode to deflect what’s going on NOW, tempting us with something shiny and interesting, if only we’d take the bait. I ONLY JUST MADE THIS CONNECTION WELL FUCKING DONE SHOW

And of course, there’s Jameson’s story, which is part deflection, part contrast. She’s intended to appear at first like someone BoJack can relate to, a Sara Lynn Pt. 2 that he wants to save and in whom he sees so much of himself. In equal parts, he’s the adult trying to guide her and the force enabling her, and I’d have to do a bit more thinking on whether I thought his success with her was about him walking both sides of that line, or Jameson just, at the end of the day, being lucky. Either way, it’s also not really about her, so much as BoJack talking a really good game at her, while giving her all the tools to make the worst choices.

Which is, I think, where the episode finally settles. BoJack’s choices have been his own, but they aren’t made in isolation. Throughout this episode, we get moments, presented in reverse chronological order, that could on their own answer that key question: When was the first time you drank?

To settle your nerves to get through a scene everyone was counting on you to nail?

To fit in with the cool kids at high school?

To win your father’s approval?

What’s brilliant to me about each of these flashbacks is that the further into the past we go, the more willing we are to absolve BoJack. In the first, he’s a professional actor required to kiss an attractive and consenting fellow professional in the course of a performance. Nervous? Makes total sense. Getting plastered to do it? LESS SENSE.

The high school one is the most damning, which I adore. BoJack’s the butt of some light bullying by the jock, and I don’t mean to completely dismiss that it sucks, but the remainder of events before he starts in on the beers shows he’s hardly an absolute social pariah. And even if he were, once he begins to drink, BoJack doesn’t just become the life of the party, he becomes cruel (demonstrating quite well that jokes aren’t his only tool of deflection). Worse, that he KNOWS he’s doing it, but cares more about his positive attention than their negative. Still, BoJack’s a kid and peer pressure is a hell of a thing. This isn’t a good look, but it’s also not damning, if he’d come to learn from it.

Now we jump the line to, I’d guess, ten or eleven year old BoJack, who walks in on his father having an affair with his secretary, but too young to recognize what he’s seen. Butterscotch can’t take the risk though, so he effortlessly manipulates little BoJack into getting drunk and passing out, then uses BoJack’s shame about it to keep him quiet on the whole evening. UNDER THE GUISE OF BEING HIS FRIEND AND DOING HIM A FAVOUR BY THE WAY. No question, Butterscotch is a son of a bitch, and the only thing BoJack did wrong here was crave his parent’s love.

Even with the high school one being a little more grey, they’re all pretty cut and dry. Remember that we’re following the thread of “When was the first time you drank?” and to land on the answer “When my unrepentantly dickish father lied to me to save his own ass” puts a pretty solid punctuation mark on the whole affair. Addiction may not be at fault, but Butterscotch Horseman is. Case closed, we can go home.

BUT WAIT WHAT’S THIS

Right at the end, when you think we’re done, there’s one more flashback. A party of some sort, possibly New Year’s. The house sounds empty, there’s only the looping of the record player, stuck repeating the same five seconds again and again and again. Butterscotch and Beatrice are passed out drunk, judging from the empty bottles around them. Was it a good party? A bad one? She has her back to him and they’re about as far apart as they could get while still remaining in the room, but also, nothing’s broken? It’s impossible to know.

What we do know is that BoJack, aged about where we saw him in the “Free Churro” flashback so maybe seven or so? Very young, at any rate, and he’s alone. There doesn’t appear to be anything in the room for a child, so it’s probably fair to say he wasn’t included in the festivities. Did he have something to do instead? His own party maybe? Friends to play with, someone to watch him? Did he even get dinner? From what we’ve seen, “no” is a much more likely answer to any or all of these.

AND NOW THE FIRST TO PUNCH YOU IN THE HEART

Tiny BoJack knocks back several gulps of vodka (like a fucking pro, may I add), then crawls onto the couch next to his unconscious mother, pretending for just a few minutes that she’s cuddling him until he, too, will fall into a drunken slumber.

RIGHT SO WHAT THE FUCK DO WE DO WITH THIS JESUS WEPT

Had you told me “Just wait, seven year old flashback BoJack is going to muddy the hell out of this” I wouldn’t have ... okay, well, I know the show, so I probably would’ve believed you, but I would’ve been preemptively grumpy.

This isn’t his fault! But it is! This isn’t his parent’s fault, but it super super is! Nobody MADE BoJack drink the vodka, as the scene goes to great lengths to show. There is nobody to tell him to do anything at all. Beatrice is three fucking sheets to the wind, she has no idea he’s there and he could have pretend cuddled all night AND stayed sober. Did baby BoJack, like adult BoJack, take the drink to calm his nerves for an expression of physical intimacy? Would baby BoJack have even known that was an option? Remember, this is framed as the answer to the question “When was the first time you drank?” Not “took a drink”, but “you DRANK”, the phrasing of which I think is important. It’s all about the root of the problem. What I get out of that question is then is “the first time you drank to numb yourself”.

Baby BoJack is looking at this disaster, this mess that is his every day no matter how many party hats and streamers you stick on it, and he wants anything else at all. So he turns to the easiest thing he knows will take it away the fastest. The situation isn’t his fault. The opportunity isn’t his fault. But the response IS, in a way that EVEN AS I SAY IT, makes me feel shitty.

CONGRATS BOJACK HORSEMAN FOR MAKING ME SEE A LITERAL CHILD SLAMMING BACK VODKA STRAIGHT FROM THE BOTTLE AND MAKING ME GO “okay, but”.

SEASON SIX SHOULD BE A WALK IN THE PARK

#jet wolf watches bojack #it’s no wonder the answers for bojack are so hard to find #when even the goddamn QUESTION requires a dissertation and three hundred caveats #oh i didn't have a place for it really in this essay #but i love the use of the space/planetarium overlay when bojack is really wrestling with his urges

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blogsanscontext · 4 years ago

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A Closer Look at: Momoe Sawaki’s character arc; by a nonbinary (trans) viewer.

CW: Major spoilers for Wonder Egg Priority + mentions and discussion of sexual assault, transphobia, lesbophobia, self-harm; please proceed with caution.

Wonder Egg Priority came as a relatively pleasant surprise for me; I heard about it some time after the first few episodes aired, but I never actively went out of my way to ever try to watch it myself until, that is, a few days ago. I must say, I’m glad to have taken the initiative to experience such anime on my own.

With a stunning animation to accompany the heavy subjects this work touches on, I quickly fell in love with it; all the characters feel very grounded in reality, with their struggles (even someone like Neiru’s, who is a literal genius and CEO of her own company) feeling relatable in one way or another. Episode 7 became my favorite due to this very thing, Rika’s problems were things that not only have I seen in other works before, but that I know exist because of the stories told in the news every so often. It only helped, in my opinion, that they gave a character with her background such a hopeful ending.

That being said, Wonder Egg is not a perfect anime, and though I didn’t expect it to be in the first place, I do think talking about why some of the ways it handles a specific character of the main cast are problematic are worth the time. When I mentioned that “all the characters feel very grounded in reality”, I actually only meant three of them, a.k.a.: Ai, Rika and Neiru. The reason Momoe is not included in this group is what I will be discussing in the next paragraphs.

This anime lets you know, right off the bat, that it will not stray away from heavy subjects throughout the duration of its runtime; the show deals with suicidal idealization (and actual suicide as well as its aftermath; in fact, “female suicide” is at the very core of the show and is what essentially moves it forward), self-harm, sexual assault, same-sex relationships, transphobia, and being a gender noncomforming person in a society that punishes you for not adhering to the roles it has imposed on you since childhood. The last points are the ones I took issue with, however, and though they are mostly the show’s fault, they also took it upon themselves to make Momoe be at the center of all three.

See, when we are first introduced to Momoe, we can guess by context that she is a girl, however, the other characters aren’t aware of this fact yet, and so they seemingly go out of their way to call her a boy, which makes her deeply uncomfortable, and this (ie. her reaction to be treated or perceived as a boy) is a running theme throughout her arc. This, in itself, isn’t really the worst creative direction to take with a character, it’s a story that has been told time and time again, but there is a problem with the way Wonder Egg Priority specifically deals with it: Momoe is cisgender, and so far, there hasn’t been a sign of this changing whatsoever, so she will most likely remain cis until the show ends. Normally, a story about a gender noncomforming cis person wouldn’t be seen as anything out of the extraordinary, as I’ve mentioned before, but it seems that they wanted to… “innovate”, so to say, with her character. And it’s this innovation, in my opinion, that which makes Momoe’s struggles miss the mark for me.

Momoe is perceived, almost ridiculously so, as a boy by whoever even so much as stumbles upon her; her followers on Instagram most likely worship her because they’re under the impression that she’s a bishounen, and yet the show goes out of its way to deal with just how uncomfortable this makes her. This is the issue I take with her and her arc: the show has a keen awareness of AFAB people’s issues, and treats them with the respect they deserve (which is not to say some jokes at their expense aren’t made, but in general this tone is kept throughout the duration of the story), and yet the tone-deaf manner in which they deal with her issues feels… disappointing, to say the least.

Momoe’s struggles, though they are valid on their own, are not a societal issue, no matter how one may look at them; if she were a trans person (either a trans girl, boy, or nonbinary), the strong emphasis on her discomfort at being misgendered would have made so much more sense. The reason why ‘switching around’ the stereotype of a tomboy falls flat on its face is that there is no real pressure from society to present feminine, it’s what they want you to, or more accurately, force you to do if you’re perceived as being assigned female at birth; however, this is not where my issues with Momoe’s arc and character end.

At first, I imagined a variety of (albeit vague, still reasonable) reasons as to why this show couldn’t have just made Momoe be trans, and semi-understanding of this decision; that was, of course, until I watched the actual episode mostly focused on her struggles, and that’s when I got slightly mad. Being honest, I still think it was a good episode, and it definitely made Momoe seem way more sympathetic than any of her past appearances, but it also perfectly highlighted my problem with her, and subsequently, the show itself: using queer people’s actual, realistic, problems in order to push her, a cisgender character, forward.

The thing with Wonder Egg Priority is that I love how, despite all these girls literally risking their lives to save a specific person, they still seem to have conflicting feelings about them (ie. Rika’s mocking of Chiemi, Ai’s frustration towards Koito, etc.) but I also take issue with this when it comes to Momoe specifically; Haruka is very much intended to be seen as gay, yet when push comes to shove, we are supposed to be taking Momoe’s side in this conflict. We, the audience, see these events from her point of view, and are therefore made to feel, in one way or another, uncomfortable with Haruka’s attraction for her. Yes, Momoe has worked hard to bring her back to life, but the fact that she’s cis and heterosexual stands; this isn’t just exclusive to Haruka, however, but every egg she’s had to save in order to get her friend back. All of them express a clear attraction for Momoe, “despite her being a girl”, and it’s just very easy to read these attitudes as wlw-phobic, extremely so.

My biggest issue though lies within the very existence of Kaoru’s character, the trans boy she has to protect in the episode mainly focused on her; while he is an endearing and sympathetic character, and I like that despite him presenting ‘majorly female’, Momoe never misgenders him. The thing is: he’s made out to be almost a “parallel” of her own gender-related issues, and this is just a very tone-deaf statement to make; trans people fighting not to be misgendered, fighting to be called their chosen name (something Momoe, while being cis, can just freely enjoy) - trans people’s pain is very much real, which the show is aware of, but Momoe’s is very much an individual’s problem rather than the way society actually works, which Wonder Egg is seemingly unaware of, for whatever reason.

Before I arrive at my last point on why this comparison doesn’t work, I would like to quickly point out the fact that most, if not all, the eggs the girls have had to save until this point were specifically meant to be girls, in one way or another. Therefore, taking this into account, Kaoru makes me feel… a lot of things, the more time I spend thinking about it; the show acknowledges he’s a boy, though not cis of course, but still very much a boy, yet also places him in this very much ‘female’ space; no matter how I looked at it, I could find explanations both for an opinion in favor of this decision (the way a lot of trans men’s problems are defined by our patriarchal society seeing them as women) as well as some for an opinion against this decision (the fact that it could be read as the show ultimately deciding he’s ‘female-aligned’, etc.) and though I won’t be discussing this decision in-depth, I still possess that it’s an event worth examining from different lenses.

Now, onto the actual element that got me heated about Kaoru serving as a parallel to Momoe’s struggles: Kaoru was not only sexually assaulted by a man who’s always thought of him as a ‘pretty, delicate girl’, his death directly relates to the fact that he was abused and then impregnated by this man for not living up to his gross ideal of what a man and a woman are; contrast this to Momoe, who pretty much gets the treatment Kaoru would love to have: she’s pretty much right off the bat seen as a guy, she’s fawned over by women because of this fact as well, they literally call her ‘Momotaro’, etc. Taking all of this into account, it’s simply impossible for me to be okay with a comparison that ultimately decides a cisgender person’s discomfort is, in any sort of way, on equal grounds as a (might I remind you, dead) trans person’s basic human rights.

All in all, though her episode made me take a bigger liking to her character, it also served to almost perfectly highlight the very problem of her existence, as well as the “struggles” she’s intended to represent; I don’t hate Momoe in any sort of way, and though I know there must be someone somewhere who relates to her, I also think that they could’ve done something way more meaningful with her had they just made some changes that made her more realistic (as in, make her at least be LGBT rather than just cis and heterosexual); I will be patiently waiting for the finale, and who knows? Maybe something does change about her in the end, that would be even more of a pleasant surprise.

#wonder egg priority #meta #momoe sawaki

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jenniferstolzer · 4 years ago

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Babylon 5 rewatch Episode 2.22: The Fall of Night

Babylon 5 is at the center of not one but three conflicts as John Sheridan agrees to shelter a wounded Narn cruiser. The Centauri don’t like this. Earth doesn’t like this. The Shadows don’t like this. But Sheridan has a strong moral compass and what he doesn’t like is how much the institutions around him are willing to sacrifice in the name of forging some kind of cursory peace.

Things I liked about The Fall of Nighit

1, Lennier and Vir’s friendship. If you ask me Vir, could be friends with literally anyone. He’s such an understanding soul. Lennier is by nature a little judgey. More closed off. So when they sit down next to each other and discover how much they have in common both of them look at each other like “hello what” and automatically agree to meet again. But even this exchange is done almost like spies meeting and I don’t think we stop to think about that very often. These are the attaches of two ambassadors for two of the most powerful races in the galaxy… they could very well be exchanging state secrets instead of expressing solidarity for their equally frustrating jobs.

2, The Centauri are apparently willing to put their ships on autopilot and black out from g forces if it means when they come to they’ll be in a better firing position. This seems extremely reckless and VERY Centauri. It is the spacebattle equivalent of the hair. Big. Flashy. Not well thought through.

3, In the wake of the mass driver bombing, Sheridan gives Londo an opportunity to speak and Londo is like “NOPE” and jets before he says something that’s going to get him and his whole race in more trouble than they already are. Garibaldi then reads Londo like a literal book, delivering one of my favorite analyses of the character. Everyone thought Londo was a clown, indulging in opulence, going into debt at the casino, drinking himself to a stupor in public, but Garibaldi was his friend and knows that Londo’s not dumb, he’s actually very smart and his mind moves really fast. His error is in his judgment and priorities and he’s currently in waters he did not expect to tread. He’s scared, and he’s going to keep darting in and out of cover until he feels like he has a handle on things or he gets picked off by a hunter, whichever comes first. Also a very classic JMS line “He’s a pain in the butt, but he’s our pain in the butt.” Hunt for that or similar lines in other JMS stuff, he loves that line.

4, The ache of watching McCarthysim at work is very effective. Zach knows the guys he’s ratting on don’t deserve to be ratted on and even says so. “They’re just fooling around” but we can tell by the level of interest and tone of the Nightwatch captian’s voice that they’re gonna get blackballed. Zach can’t deny that they said what they said, but can tell that ratting them out is the wrong thing to do. In the end he relents with a bunch of qualifications but the Nightwatch doesn’t want qualifications. They want names. Thank you for your service.

5, I love that the guy there to ally with the Centauri is from the Ministry of Peace. So poignant. They’ll get peace all right, by paying off the aggressors.

6, When the Narn ship was coming under threat by the Centauri warship, Sheridan opened a line to Londo just to spit in his face and hang up. It was amazing. Also during this crisis, Sheridan whips out a law book to smack the Nightwatch guy back in his hole. Sinclair would be proud.

7, Watching B5 come under attack is so emotionally stirring. Even on a rewatch, I don’t want to see it hurt.

8, We have arrived! The scene where Kosh reveals himself. I love that G’Kar is hiding in the plants – like he’s not a huge gecko man who people are going to notice. I also love how plaintiff his voice is, thinking if he speaks on Sheridan’s behalf it’ll help him in the political shitshow he’s currently in. I mean he’s issuing this apology for helping a Narn ship and G’Kar is very very very grateful for that. Also B5 blew up a Centauri warship so he’s pretty grateful for that too, I mean come on… I like that B5 has like a standard subway system in the middle of it and that they let the Puppet Friends ride. I miss the puppet friends. I love that the rotational gravity system means there’s a weightless portion in the center of hydroponics and that we used that to our advantage in this story. Also the vorlons in their native form play on the perception of the lesser races. They are light beings, and humans see them as angels. The rest of the races see them as prophets or gods, but none of these perceptions are perfect. We see wings and white robes and think Angel, but Kosh didn’t appear like a rennaissance painting. He’s got a butterfly look to him, too. The face he wears is a facsimile of a human not an exact human. He’s not perfect, we’re just in awe. Love that.

9 And finally a lot has been said about why Londo doesn’t see anything when Kosh appears. He’s been touched by the Shadows, so he can’t be converted by the Vorlons b/c we’re playing a game of Othello today I guess. Maybe because he doesn’t actually believe in his pantheon of gods so he doesn’t have any deities to witness. Maybe he’s lying because what he saw was his own greed and vanity. The general consensus is the first – that he’s incapable of seeing the light because he’s in the dark. For a fresh take on it, let’s look at the Vorlons through this lens. Kosh said before that if he revealed himself everyone would know him… I take this as being a side effect of being Vorlon. Vorlons are a feeling not an image. Like Magenta. Magenta’s not a real color, it exists on the color wheel because something has to connect red and purple on the color spectrum… but the spectrum of visible light is actually a straight line. The wavelengths for red and purple are far from touching, but our brains can perceive when they’re both present, so Magenta occurs. It’s imaginary, but we see it for real with our eyes. That’s Vorlons. Perhaps Londo saw a shapeless light thing in the sky, perhaps that’s what Vorlons really are… or perhaps they have no visible representation at all until they hit our brains. Our eyeballs behold something, but our brains have to construct it out of pieces. When the rest of the galaxy looked at Kosh they used the color wheel to construct him, but Londo was only given the wavelengths. He saw nothing, because nothing was there to see. I really wish there was another Centauri there to be like “I saw the goddess Li welcoming me to her arms!” and Londo’s over there like “I’m the problem” instead of not really answering that question. Maybe it’s answered in season 3, I don’t know. Did Vir see anyone up there? He must have been on break.

What I like Less about 22

1, So here’s where I’m going to talk about Keffer. I know the origin story…. that he was an unwelcome addition to the cast added per network request, but who the hell is he other than that? I think its remarkable how he slips right out of my head the minute he is off camera. We know he’s a pilot, that he was close to Carlos (whose story/death you may recall I was laughing at in a previous episode because its significance ALSO came out of nowhere), and that he made friends with the GROPOS grunts (who we incidentally learned to care about enough in that one episode that we were sad when they died…. Awkward considering Keffer’s contribution to this episode…) Honestly the most interesting thing about him is that he’s got an old-timey fighter pilot scarf he wears and he believes in ghosts and I bet you all forgot about the ghosts. Honestly, the most interesting thing about Keffer is how he’s a lesson in how not to write an interesting character – and no shade on JMS for that, I know he did it on purpose. Significant things happening to a character does not automatically make them a strong character. Keffer experienced loss, came face to face with the shadows, got in fights… a lot of stuff happened to him, but he was almost always the only named character in those scenes. We cared about the GROPOS because they cared about each other and we responded to that. Keffer was there to play cabbage head and ask questions. He’s not tight with any of our main cast who we’ve had tons more time to grow attached to, and dies for plot reasons without leaving an impact with his loss. Heck, you can see the value of interpersonal relationships on character development in action when the show used a shoehorn to try and force some in in context to Carlos a second and a half before he died. We had him drinking at the bar with command staff suddenly, we had him die as a result of a flight mission Sheridan was part of to make Sheridan feel guilty about it. Everyone was standing around going like “No, Not Ramirez” and if you recall on my previous episode writeup I was LAUGHING at how tortured this sudden human connection was. Keffer could have been made interesting. Follow me on this.

My treatment on how to make Keffer interesting:

Let’s say Keffer was introduced as an old friend of one of our characters – Fraknlin let’s say. He was a friend from the Minbari War days that helped him sneak behind enemy lines. Perhaps he was complicit in the covering up and destruction of Franklin’s notes on Minbari anatomy. As a result, the two hang out in medbay sometimes, talking about old times and comparing the current war to the one they fought together. We learn that Keffer has a fire for justice. Hates bullies. Sees the strong as absolute defenders of the weak and that any stronger race picking on a weaker one is a bigger coward than the unvierse can hold. Then when Carlos gets killed by the ghost he starts researching what it could be. Kosh and Delenn tell him to stay out of it. The audience assumes he’s going to uncover something and bring Franklin and other characters into Delenn and Sheridan’s confidence about the shadows through curiosity and honor, but we’re learning through the episodes that the Shadows are IMMENSELY powerful and have no patience for flies. When he breaks off from his squad to go have a looksee at what he suspects led to his personal friend Carlos’s death, we know this is going to kill him. He ignores the warnings of those who have more awareness and dies to bring back evidence of the Shadows to the station. Sheridan recognizes how Keffer’s curiosity and sense of judgment led to recklessness, something Sheridan himself is prone to. He vows not to let Keffer die in vain, but also states that the proof he got has changed everything… and that Sheridan would have done the same. Killing your men in the name of a mission is never the goal but there’s a line everyone crosses when the safety of the universe is at stake and sometimes things are worth dying for. Franklin walks into medbay, casts a look to the counter where Keffer used to sit all those nights, and turns away.

But that’s not what happen. Keffer’s dead now and I don’t miss him. Glad he emailed the Shadows to ISN five nanoseconds before he died.

Babylon 5 is now the last best hope for victory because sometimes peace is another word for surrender and because secrets have a way of getting out. On to season 3!

#Babylon 5 #babylon 5 rewatch #season 2 #episode 22 #babylon 5 spoilers #art #jenstoart #kosh #john sheridan

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