#this is not a negative post btw i do see the appeal

[lichenstone]

so sorry for how niche this is but Sabo x Lucci will never not be funny to me because it's a millitant leftist and wanted criminal getting with a literal actual fed, like cmon.

[wonder-worker]

“Studies of Elizabeth Woodville […] have been hampered by the continuing fascination with her brother-in-law, Richard III. The Ricardian [and Yorkist] apologetic is now largely dependent upon the argument that the Woodville family posed such a threat to Richard of Gloucester, and the kingdom as a whole, that Gloucester had little option but to take the throne from his Woodville-dominated nephew. Although this argument has [irregularly] been contested, a reassessment of the queen's role in 1483 has not yet been attempted. Michael Bennett, in his 1987 account [...] still dismissed her as `an inveterate intriguer, capable in her vanity and fecklessness of some remarkable shifts and turns'. But more often she is scarcely mentioned in general histories of the period.”

-J.L. Laynesmith, “English Queenship 1445-1503” (thesis for the degree of DPhil in Medieval Studies, University of York, Centre for Medieval Studies, April 1999)

[seoulmatez]

꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ 𝐻𝒪𝒩𝐸𝒴 𝐿𝐼𝒫𝒮

info ⭑ kaeya alberich x reader. 1.3k wc. sfw ﾉ fluff ﾉ a bit suggestive ﾉ actor + model!kaeya ﾉ photographer!reader

note ⭑ hi! so. . . i've never played genshin :3 just fell in love with kaeya and wanted to write him! so he may be ooc :p keep any negativity to yourself pls! the inspo for this came from a post by @tetsukei btw! 

when you learned that you’d be shooting kaeya alberich for his newly appointed role as brand ambassador for amber dew, an up-and-coming skincare and makeup brand, you were thrilled. the man is regarded as one of the most promising rising stars in the entertainment industry and you’ve been dreaming of having him as the subject of your camera since you first laid eyes on him.

now that the day is here, you’ll discover that this experience isn’t going to play out the way you imagined.

“hi,” you introduce yourself with a smile as kaeya walks onto the set, “i’ll be your photographer today. i’m looking forward to working with you.”

it shouldn’t be possible, but the man is even prettier in person. his warm, brown skin glows under the lights of the studio and his long, navy hair against the white of his shirt makes the garment appear brighter. there’s a sparkle in his eyes that turns his periwinkle irises into the backdrop of a starry night. you wonder if the pictures you take will do him any justice.

“as am i,” he mirrors your sentiment with a smile that pulls up higher at one side than the other. his grin and voice are a different level of charming that you didn’t prepare yourself for and you find yourself clearing your throat to keep your next words from coming out with a crack.

“shall we get started, then?”

in a way, kaeya is like some of the clients you’ve worked with in the past. he looks to you for direction, asking whether or not he’s posed correctly and easily adjusts himself in response to your guidance. though, as he grows more comfortable with your camera and your presence, he grows bolder, too, taking some creative liberties of his own.

you take a moment to survey the last several photos on your camera, tongue poked out in concentration as you analyze the lighting and angles. a few feet across from you, kaeya smiles. you look cute when you’re focused and, maybe it’s a little conceited, but pride sprouts in his chest knowing that you’re looking so intently at him.

when you look back up to continue shooting, kaeya’s in a different position than before. his elbow is propped up on the table, chin resting in his palm, fingers splayed out about the lower half of his face. his lips pull up playfully at the corners upon seeing the way your eyebrows gently raise at his new posture. “how’s this?”

despite being caught off guard, you nod, holding up your camera to capture his appeal. “that looks great! you really are a natural.”

the smirk kaeya wears is a genuine one. he doesn’t usually have much of a good time at these kinds of things; he considers them a bit of a chore and exerts minimum effort at best, but you’re different from the rest—you don’t take yourself or the job too seriously and he can see himself having a little fun with you.

by the time you finish picturing him with each of the products outlined by the company, there’s only one thing left on your agenda. kaeya’s away getting his makeup touched up as you set up your camera and the props for your final shoot of the session.

you’re opening a jar of honey when you hear the sound of footsteps approaching you. a shadow falls over you as kaeya comes to stand by your side, eyeing the sticky substance in your hands. when he sees you’re struggling with the lid, he takes the jar from you and pops it off himself, returning the container to you while asking, “what’s this for?”

you thank him for his help before explaining your concept to him. as amber dew’s brand uses honey as an ingredient in many of their products, you wanted to incorporate it into your photos.

“so the plan is to have you dip your fingers in and let the honey drip onto the packaging of the serum and moisturizer,” you tell kaeya, stepping back and grabbing hold of your equipment. “sound okay?”

he hums in agreement as he sits at the table with all the little bottles you so neatly arranged. he watched you from afar in his makeup chair as you set them up, cycling through a number of different arrangements before settling on the one in front of him.

“perfect, whenever you’re ready.”

just as you explained, kaeya dips his first two fingers in the jar of viscous liquid, pulls them out, and holds them above the amber dew products. gravity works its magic and the honey slides down his fingers, over his manicured nails, and onto the bottles below.

the rhythmic pattern of your shutter button clicking sounds throughout the studio, bright flashes accompanying each short noise. every picture you take captures a moment in the timeline, the packaging going from being pristine to being drowned in the golden substance.

you’re so fixated on the isolated shot that kaeya’s voice causes you to jump when it fills the air. “do you mind if i try something?”

you aren’t sure what he has in mind, but since you’ve got the photos you need, there’s no harm in giving him some artistic freedom. you shake your head. “be my guest.”

with your permission, kaeya’s fingers return to the jar of honey and he coats them once more. you follow his movements with your lens, even when they drag up towards his face. his head turns to the side as he holds his fingers over his mouth. just like it had earlier, the honey drips down the appendages—except this time, instead of landing on the products as you intended, it plops down in globs onto his parted lips.

for a split second—perhaps a tiny bit longer—you stare at the sight, starstruck. it’s as though melted gold is trickling down his bronzed face—off of his chin and onto the skin left exposed by the undone top buttons of his shirt. he looks more than an actor or a model, he looks like he’s meant to be housed in the clouds with celestial beings.

when you return to your senses, you focus your camera on the image kaeya’s created, capturing his likeness the best you can. despite his gaze meeting the lens, you feel like his lidded stare is burning into you, like those periwinkle eyes are really looking into yours. 

kaeya pops his fingers into his mouth once there isn’t much honey left to drizzle off of them. his eyes are turned up toward the ceiling now, but the continued clicking of your camera doesn’t go unnoticed by the man. he smiles around his fingers at that and only pulls them out when the sweetness on his tongue is no longer.

“those turn out good?” he asks with a smile much more innocent than his actions.

you had no idea kaeya could be so… provocative. you’re sure surprise is painted all over your face, so you dip your head down to examine the pictures in favor of meeting his eye. as shocked as you had initially been upon seeing the route kaeya decided to take, the photographs did turn out well. so, even though your cheeks are burning when you finally do look up at him, you tell him as much. “they look amazing.”

the session wraps up with those final shots. kaeya is stood next to you when he and his crew gather around to get a look at the results of his and your work. as the crowd “ooh” and “aah” at each passing picture on the screen, kaeya lowers himself so that his mouth hovers near your ear.

“do you have a business card? i’d love to work together again in the future.”

hey, it's manon :3 ! thank you for giving this a read! if you enjoyed, please consider reblogging and/or leaving a comment! much love from me to you ❤︎

[darcytaylor]

Hello! I’m relatively new to the polin environment and I love your blog! I have a question: why do people think Luke’s friend group is affecting him negatively? As far as I can see they look pretty chill, they don’t seem like party hard type of people, only going for spa retreats. But then again, I didn’t have the opportunity to make enough observations so I want to know your opinion. Thanks a lot!

Btw thank you for not spreading hate especially towards Luke, I’m mad at him too but I do think he is a nice person and at the end of the day he is only a human just like us.

I think that when you look at Luke's friend group and look into their social media they seem fake. Their posts are curated to look like they have the "perfect" life. That alone is off putting. They don't put things on their social media that make them seem grounded, they post to get likes. They want to be noticed.

It has been said time and time again (by influencers) that when you see things like that, a lot of the time it is fake. The "perfect" image is a persona that people are putting out into the world, and most of the time it's a lie.

When people do this it also screams of insecurity and immaturity. It screams that they aren't comfortable within themselves to post something real.

So then you have Luke that hangs out with them all of the time and the conclusion that most people will make, is that he is fake as well. You are the company that you keep.

This is why I think that his friend group isn't doing him any favours in regards to public appeal. It is also the complete opposite of what Nicola and her friends represent and give to the public.

[mcytblr-archive]

Early MCYTblr Interviews: tack-tick

today's interviewee is tack-tick, a pioneer of the "phistin" ship and DSMP fan since before the first election! below is a transcript of the interview.

Q: What was your overall time in MCYTblr like?

A: I'd say my overall time in Mcytblr could be described as finding diamonds in the rough. This fandom is defined by finding your group, sticking to them and if you're smart not really looking beyond that. I did look beyond that and saw a lot of discourse and such. I had a good time with my friends but I did get negatively affected by the discourse at times. It was kind of a toxic shithole but by God mcytblr was our shithole lol

Q: Do you remember any specific discourse that affected you, or was it just the overall culture around you?

A: As a Technoblade main, it was the discourse surrounding his character that messed with me. At the time, I was mutuals (none in the phistin palace dw guys) with some people who hated his character. I, as an anxious teenager, was very worried it would cause drama if I unfollowed them and my dash became a lot of those long negative essays about how he was an awful person and yknow the drill. It was mainly my own fault and my dash became signfigantly better once I realized no one would be offended of I unfollowed, blocked a bunch of tags, started up my own discord server and focused more on writing fanfic instead of doomscrolling. A good lesson in curating your dash of anything else. (Btw those former mutuals are fine people, we just had radically different tastes in what we liked and disliked about the Dream SMP)

Q: You mentioned the "phistin palace"-- before we get into that, would you like to explain the "phistin" rarepair itself?

A: Now we are cooking! So, Phistin is the ship of Kristin and Philza. It's main focus was on the scraps of lore that we had about their relationship which was Kristin was the immortal goddess of Death and they couldn't really see each other often but loved each other very much. I'd say it's main appeal was being one of the few ships that was just really stable in the Dream SMP compared to the Karlnapity polycule and whatever youd call Quackbur. Fun fact, I can't find the post now but if i remember correctly me and tumblr user Demonadelem helped name the pair Phistin. Although, that was ages ago so I could be misremebering

Q: Was the ship entirely within the SMP, or was it just the general ship name for the real-life couple?

A: It was both. Since Kristin didn't really stream on the dream smp, a lot of her personality had to be based on what Phil said about her and her other streams. Basically, lore about the ship was pulled from the SMP but the dynamics and personality was from both. You could play around with the dynamic if you focused on Kristin being a goddess

Q: With that basic information laid out-- what was the "phistin palace"?

A: The Phistin Palace was a discord server I founded in August of 2022. Phistin was a ship that was basically a side thing I did in fandom because my main focus was Technoblade and emerald duo stuff. I think if you're a Technoblade fan you're legally obligated to be a Philza fan and vice versa. I don't make the rules. So Phistin was something I did when I wanted a break from Technoblade as a way to practice romantic shipping.

Then Technoblade passed away and I didn't want to do anything with his character for a while so I focused completely on Phistin. However, when I tried to find any fics they were either a background ship with only one line or Kristin was already dead from a tragic disease who's main symptoms were lying daintily in bed. While I was writing my own long form Phistin focused fic, Two Birds if anyone read it, I got a comment that complimented me for "giving her an actual charatcer" and maaaan that is a very low bar to be praised for. So, I started the palace as a way to find other Phistin fans who actually cared about them beyond Kristin being angst fodder for SBI.

Q: Do you have any fond memories in specific of the "Phistin Palace" discord server?

A: Oh so many. During the Syndicate finale, three of us all liveblogged and freaked the fuck out when Kristin showed up for the first time in a minecraft skin on the server. I made on of those AI chatbot things that was popular for a bit and the bot was supposed to be the Kristin character. I asked if she had a pet and she said she has a gecko named Tim. The entire server instantly decided they would die for Tim and he's now an emote. The general chat is also named Tim Time Fucker. A mermaid AU that was made that the majority of the server contributed a lot of lore to we named it the Communist Mermaid AU because the server collectively owns it now. Many good moments there

Q: Beyond the Phistin Palace, are there any large community events that you remember/took part in, or did you mostly stick to your friend group?

A: I remember The Penis SMP of course. I never really took part in large community events but I did watch them happen. I read the Passerine chapter where Tommy died becasue my dash flipped out when that dropped. I'd also try to watch Sad-ist animatics live when I could. At most, Id make a meme during a stream that would rack up a couple hundred notes or one thousand if I was lucky A thousand was like once or twice I think

Q: You mentioned that you were also a Technoblade fan before you became more focused on Phistin-- was your experience in that side of the fandom any different?

A: It certainly had more content than Phistin did lol. I was never really in any Technoblade discords or anything but back in the day it was focused on emerald duo and being funny. or angsty. Nowadays, it's way less lively unfortunately. It's not as bad as in 2022 but Technoblade fancontent seems to be less foucsed on the character and more on memorials/remembrance. At some point, you run out of things to say and not a lot of people wanted to stay in a fandom that just felt weighed down by it all. I did leave so things could perk up someday but I don't think that's likely

Q: We've talked about the fandom and how it responds to content-- let's talk about the content itself. What were some of your favorite moments from the Dream SMP as a whole?

A: The Red Festival Technoblade stream was the first one I ever watched live so that's a good one. The stream where L'manberg getting blown up at the end of The Manberg Arc is iconic for an underrated reason. I don't know how many people remember but Phil was highly speculated to be on the Dream SMP someday. On the day of that stream, he started on his hardcore world, then stopped his stream and did his dramatic switch surprise entrance to enter the Dream SMP for the first time. Also Technoblade escaping the anvil and then killing Quackity with a toothpick was great. I've never liked watching Twitch streams on my Ipad so most of my favorite moments come from YouTube

Q: Were you sad that Phistin wasn't a more popular ship, or did you enjoy the tight-knit community?

A: I was sad Kristin kept friggin dying, the poor woman lol. Sometimes I wish it was a bit more popular but the community was nice. The main issue is Phistin stuff started tanking hard on Ao3 in terms of numbers and tended to get misstagged quite a bit

Q: You've brought up a few times that Kristin was often fridged, disregarded, or replaced (on several notable occasions, by an actual Samsung fridge). How did you feel about it? Do you think there was any particular reason for it?

A: I mean, I really don't like it but I understand it. A lot of people loved that SBI angst but also wanted to write all the SBI. So the obvious solution is to kill off Kristin for free angst and keep all the SBI in the story. Passerine is a fic i respect a lot but it also kickstarted this trend to be honest. Kristin herself also didn't physically show up in the lore a lot so it was really tricky to write her. When I first wrote her, it was intimidating because I didn't have many fics to look at as good examples.

Was it shitty and a bit sexist? Yes but I don't think sexism was the only reason. Kristin's character was in a unique situation compared to the others. I have no problem with Kristin dying in a fic. The main issue is that often came with her personality being reduced to good mom and that's it. I'm not gonna call a bunch of probably first time writers evil sexists when I know what it's like to not know how to write her and being scared you'll get her completely wrong.

Q: Since it's come up, would you mind giving a quick rundown of what exactly the fanfic "Passerine" is? (As well as any memories you have relating to it!)

A: If i'm being honest, I only read the chapter where Tommy got murked. What I know from osmosis is it's an SBI royalty AU that had some kind of meta twist at the end and it was very sad. It also got a sad-ist animatic made out of it which jesus christ I'd give for that. I tried it but the writing style was too wordy for my liking. It's mainly important for Phistin history even though Kristin wasn't in it. No, The Fridge died in it but everyone just kinda assumed it was Kristin for long enough it got the ball rolling. Also I think Niki read it on a stream

Q: Before we wrap up, is there anything else you remember about MCYTblr/the DSMP that you'd like to talk about?

A: The DSMP sure was the minecraft server of all time that is defined as a server that was doomed from the start. Whoever makes a video essay on it is gonna have a hell of a job. 10/10 experience would not recommenced. Hello to the Phistin Palace if any of you read this :D

Mcytblr is getting more chill with shipping from what I've seen. Thank God, keeping making Philza Minecraft kiss those men and his wife.

Also SUBSCRIBE TO TECHNOBLADE

[yellowhollyhock]

This gonna sound weird I know you haven’t watched helluva boss but there two characters who had a huge miscommunication which reminds me of Mikey and Raph because one of the characters snaps tells the other person they looked up to them. what if raph and mikey had the same issue the miscommunication i mean and mikey just looks up to raph thats why hes such a show off and annoying raph.

Ofkfjdjjrje literally. Yesssss

I think so much of the miscommunication between Raph and Mikey comes down to this.

Remember in the Underground City arc when Raph calls Mikey sensitive? And the flashback in the ninja tribunal arc when they’re kids and Mikey’s talking about how he gets scared even though his brothers don’t (don’t remember exactly how he phrased it). Anyway. Just like Raph helps Leo work through his fear (have I posted about that before? I think Raph is a huge catalyst in helping Leo become “Fearless Leader”) he also helps Mikey push past his sensitivity. Like kind of tries to help him toughen up? Which is, you know. Not necessarily always the best answer for sensitivity, buuuut it’s the answer Raph was always given so it’s sweet that he’s looking out for Mikey the best way he knows how.

And the thing is! Mikey does learn and grow from it. He and Raph both stay sensitive but Mikey develops a harder shell (ha) than he starts out with in that underground city arc. (No wait I’m wrong Donny called him sensitive but Raph called him odd and I still say it’s an example of Raph coaching Mikey how not to get hurt when your heart is soft as puffing because he knows firsthand what that’s like, while Donny’s more trying to keep the peace between them. If you watch the scene it makes sense trust).

So here’s what happens: Mikey’s sense of humor is protection. He likes showing that to Raph because Raph helped him build it. And also because Raph is the most likely to say something blunt and hurt his feelings, so he’s like, the ultimate test. Does that make sense? That’s why he’s always sharing his jokes with Raph, playing pranks on Raph, getting into Raph’s head to win a spar (I think he’d do that with any of his bros but I can’t actually think of any examples? Do we ever see Mikey sparring someone besides Raph?).

And of course that’s gonna drive Raph crazy. When he loses it he loses it big, but there is a lot of Raph letting Mikey’s comments go, or giving him a neutral answer (and having had crazy younger siblings willing to do almost anything for attention, or more attention if they were already getting some, I can confirm these are the things you try to keep yourself sane. Maybe if I ignore them—nope that didn’t work. Well I can answer calmly and hopefully they will follow that example—ah so now they’re making fun of me for answering calmly. Appeal to authority figure? Authority figure says I should ignore them they clearly haven’t tried this. It’s okay I can stay calm I can stay calm I can WHY ARE YOU FILMING ME RIGHT NOW). Anyways. Raph’s nerves are a little frayed I think from how often Mikey wants his attention and the avenues he chooses to get it.

From Mikey’s pov… I mean I have also been the younger sibling who isn’t even trying to be annoying, ya know? He wants not so much Raph’s praise as Raph’s time, which is why he will act out for negative attention if he’s not getting positive (as opposed to Don who just wants a compliment, maybe a hug, and then to be left alone, and btw gets along great with Raph). So from his pov, he is coming up with things to entertain himself and has chosen to share it with Raph. So it’s gonna sting when that’s met with indifference, disapproval, or (as it eventually does when he continues to needle) anger.

So yeah they have each other kind of stuck in this cycle. Which is super sad but also super normal for teenagers, especially teenagers who live together and cannot make other friends. And then of course there’s all the hullabaloo they go through that they have to focus on dealing with where at that age their energy should be available for growing and changing as a person. But anyway. I think a few years down the road they’d be super close. They would eventually have those conversations, about how much Mikey looked up to Raph, and how much Raph was using the tools he had at the time to try to take care of him. In my experience those conversations are less big explosions and more like “haha remember this? Yeah I didn’t realize it then but here’s how I was feeling at the time” and mutual understanding and mutual grace and agreement to change actions if it’s still needed etc. But considering all the crazy situations they’re gonna find themselves in I could see Mikey and Raph having something more dramatic.

Mikey: Raph—if we die—I just want you to know—

Raph: It’s okay, Mikey. You don’t have to say anything.

Mikey: No but I think you’re really gonna wanna know this.

Raph: … What did you do?

Mikey: I’m sorry I filled your pillowcase with cornflakes!

Raph: What?! Why would you—what the shell, Mikey?

Mikey: But I only did it because I wanted to spend time with you!

Raph: Well now we’re both gonna run out of time to spend!

Mikey: And we’re gonna spend the rest of it yelling at each other 😢

Raph: You just told me you put cornflakes in my pillow! I told you not to tell me. I don’t want to spend our last moments angry with you.

Mikey: Would it help to know that the reason I always pick on you is because I really look up to you and the one thing I want more than anything in the world is your attention? And maybe even for you to look up to me too?

Raph: … Wait, you look up to me?

Mikey: Yeah? You didn’t know that? You’re the nicest person I know who isn’t a people pleaser!

Raph: Wait a second. You know like six people and Leo and Don are people pleasers.

Mikey: Okay maybe it’s less about being nice—

Raph: Mikey

Mikey: I look up to you because you’re always trying to do what’s right and you don’t care if anyone notices. Unlike me! I care if people notice! Especially if you notice.

Raph: But I do notice. I know I don’t say it often enough, but I’m really proud of you, Mikey. I’m proud of how much you care for others and how you step up when the chips are down. And even though it drives me up a wall sometimes, I actually admire your optimism.

Mikey: And sense of humor?

Raph: Don’t push it.

Mikey: I love you Raphie.

Raph: I love you too.

Mikey: … Hey Raph

Raph: You should save your breath Mikey, the oxygen’s not gonna—hey wait.

Mikey: Yeah shouldn’t we be out of oxygen by now?

Leo, dropping down from a vent: Donnie hacked the system and fixed the atmospheric controls a while ago.

Raph: Oh. And you guys have just been hanging out in the vents waiting for us to finish our conversation?

Donnie: It seemed like you needed it

[phantom-chirp]

Oh sorry the last part was exaggerated as a joke I didn't mean it in like, a combative way? Idk if It came off that way I also like Crow btw fhfjdkfkf. But I mean I do strongly feel his det. Prince teen idol persona is nominally "supposed" to encourage the public to Support The Police's Valiant Fight To Capture Those Evil Phantom Thieves (TM)! (and increase support for shido but when the PT enter the scene those become intertwined). of course we later know that akechi doesn't really give a shit about the police as anything more than a stepping stone for his eventual revenge against shido (he calls them incompetent), but I mean, the public is supposed to think he earnestly believes in his justice as a police detective, aren't they? And he makes some comment in his first TV station appearance about how he's helping the police to capture the Phantom thieves because their existence is a threat to society or something (I'm sorry, I don't have the exact wording on me) and I dont think fact that he is technically using the detective position to cover up crimes changes the fact that it's his day job or anything yknow? But that's because they had to have made him part of law enforcement in some sense since he's joker's rival and at some point plays the part of an antagonist, and joker is a criminal rebelling against the justice system etc (even if akechi doesnt like that system in the end – the Detective Prince has to)

So I also do think that the police, who don't KNOW who akechi really is, are using him and his prettyboy persona to appeal to the public and to a teenage demographic in particular (though we know that some adults supported akechi as well, of course). The phantom thieves case IS a police case, after all. It's because they need to sway the public to their side and away from supporting their thieves – even when that stops being necessary after okumura, they can still take advantage of akechi to generate more hype for the arrest

W/ the romance thing, it makes sense to appeal to his fans there because it makes him sound like someone who’s knowledgeable about romance. I hate what im about to say but it feels like. Kind of supposed to mix the princely goodboy act with an undercurrent of like. "oooooh he'll play with your heartstrings isn't that spicyfjekgkfk I hate typing that I hate thinking about teen idol tropes /lighthearted. I mean I don't Think that to be clear that's the reaction I think the TV show is trying to provoke augh. But anyway I'm not trying to say this is the only interpretation or that he's not gay and sad 24/7 LMAO, it just works for me because especially after killing joker he has to establish himself as a hero and an icon and. The whole celebrity thing of a desirable/unattainable boyfriend to keep appealing to that audience... Oh my god is this too many words I'm so sorry

(ask related to this post and this post)

The amount of words is fine no need to apologize, honestly I like longer written things in discussions like this because it leaves less room for misunderstandings. I also write a lot often so I don't mind

Thank you for clarifying. Specifically in relation to the Phantom Thieves it makes more sense to me what you were getting at, I see. The distinction between the Detective Prince and Goro Akechi is important here, because personally those wouldn't be his motivations and his personal feelings regarding the Detective Prince thing play into his childhood and such so that's why I had a more negative reaction to that part of your original ask so I apologize for that

With the romance thing, again I can understand that reading of those lines but it still isn't an interpretation that fully makes sense in my brain? The idea that it's intentionally meant to play more into the... as I can best word it right now, badboy-esque behaviour (I understand anon I hated even typing that lmao) but that's also never really an aspect of his Detective Prince persona that he ever actively played into before I don't think? Might be forgetting and even if I'm not it doesn't mean it's impossible for him to ever actively do so, but still

The public opinion of the Phantom Thieves had already gone basically fully down by the time that interview happened so I just don't see how likely it is for Akechi to play into an aspect of his fame he himself didn't even seem to like from what I recall since I feel like it would be easy to get the public back on his side and all that without doing so. Though Akechi's emotions were probably all messed up after killing Ren so it's hard to say, Akechi is a real difficult character to try to look at analytically because we get very little insight into some of the aspects of his character and he's really complicated

As I said in the tags of the original post I do have an interpretation of it that I think somewhat works and can explain why he made that connection but I do worry it could just be because I'm biased towards shuake. Despite all I've said I will say that your interpretation does make sense as a way to view why he said that, especially with the added information from this ask, but personally it just doesn't click with my brain for some reason

[armonial]

❕Hello Lucemond Nation❕☕️

— I know sometimes that the days can be rough. Especially when truthing such an amazing ship, right? I know mine can be haha;

But won’t you look at that that.. only 58 fics until we hit 2000 Fics!!! Authors who see this give yourself a Pat on the back for me, and readers kiss your palm and place it over your lovely hearts for any charming comments you have left and kudos you have gifted to our Lucemond writers.

In every writer, there is a reader. So we know how amazing it is to read an updated fic. Getting a new chapter in can be a real chore and can exhaust the mind. So readers, be considerate of the authors perspective on the demand of an update!

New chapters take time. Deciding where to go that is appealing to yourself and the audience takes time. The wait can be so rewarding! Do not discard a work or talented author just because it has been a while since the last updaaattee. Have patience because guess what? The author is human too, with a life outside the little fairy box known as a phone (or computer for some folks). And as a writer myself(+from my perspective), we can’t wait to get a new chapter out. Its so lovely to work on something others can enjoy while also being able to enjoy making a story. Plus it is actually pretty difficult to fit in the shoes of a character who is not an OC to make a fic pov sometimes. So be mindful of that if you would be so kind!

There are so many lovely and eye catching stories in our not so little nation we have here. But there are times where I see hateful comments before deletion or the mention of them being received in notes of updated works. My dear Writers, it is so Ok to delete hateful comments! Please do! Don’t let that negativity stick and btw Ao3 has a muting option; so mute that commenter then delete whatever you received from them! Do not respond, don’t give their negativity that satisfaction. As for Readers, don’t be that person. If you don’t like something, don’t continue to read it and do not leave a rude comment that can be hurtful to the author who is certainly trying their best.

I’m the kind of person who just loves leaving comments, replies, and posts. I like to voice my passion, thoughts, and feelings on something but only if it is positive or simply full of curious questions. And I do not however expect my questions to receive an answer in any other form than the chapters that are brought with updates. But questions always reveal that you are interested and your mind is really wrapping around the plot of the story. I loved seeing questions in my comments because it will be so lovely to answer them with time!

I also aspire to be the commenter, when you see them, you recognize that little name and wonder what I left this time!. It’s nice to have a constant. Sureee sometimes I feel a little awkward being the first to like posts/tweets/blogs, reply, and comment on updates- stuff like that but I do it anyway because I will be doing so eventually! This is mostly to relieve any one of your anxieties you may have regarding this topic. Or thoughts they never really considered when looking at things a certain way. Don’t be scared to give that poster some love!!!

Let us ALL respect each other yea? I hate to see arguments. There is no need for them honestly. You either agree or you don’t, we can be civil in our discussions. It doesn’t have to lead to a true argument. Also don’t stand idly by and watch a discussion get out of hand, help distinguish it. We are all here for the same thing aren’t we? Try not to allow any toxic vibes in because at the end of the day what was the reason for your fight? A ship that is literally problematic enough on our hands, we don’t need much more than the dynamic itself.

The only Fated Feud we should be having is the one in the dialogues of our lucemond fics, nothing more my dearest loves.

Leave a reply to this blog of mine if you have something you wish to say, vent/rant about; or simply go to my profile and ask me something. Might I remind you that you can Anonymously because it is enabled for my ask box, or you can as your profile I don’t mind.. It will be responded to no matter what and you can have your own privacy if you so wish! <33

Now.. Without Further ado, I wish everyone an oh so very Happy Thursday! ❤︎︎ Sit down with a cup of tea or any beverage of your choosing, put on something good to watch, and maybe even read a little.

I recommend a fanfic(whatever kind it may be, we all have our Vices) or just a book. A personal favorite of mine is to read some Edgar Allan Poe, reading some of his poems is where I’ll be!

Yours faithfully,

Tealeaf and River🍂

꥟

For a bonus: Look what I got for my daily Masterpiece. It’s called Forest by Bokuyō Katayama, 1928. Isn’t it beautiful?

[0pawprint0]

Fickle Fandom

Warning: crass language (I have no filter)

I need to rant about something I’ve noticed. Unfortunately, I deal with a person like those I’m about to talk about in real life and it’s not fun. This essay/rant is extremely informal and just me getting my thoughts out there, so please excuse the text talk, slang, shortcuts, etc. I am also very tired when typing this, so please cut me some slack if I don’t say what I’m wanting to in the most eloquent way!

I’m sure a lot of people have noticed that fandom spaces have become incredibly toxic. What used to be a fun place for weirdos (/pos) to feel safe and accepted is now being torn to shreds by people who can’t stand others having fun. TikTok is a great example of how a safe place for fandom behavior quickly became a cesspit of negativity. This post mostly focuses on cosplay. TikTok was basically built on cosplay. That used to be the main thing you’d find on the app! As more and more people started using it, it started to have different kinds of content, and now cosplay tends to get shoved down in favor of something more appealing to a wider demographic. Unfortunately, this means a lot of mean-spirited people have too much to say about a community they are not even part of.

The hate for cosplayers is unreal. Cosplayers aren’t doing anything wrong. We are dressing up as characters for fun. It is not hurting you. If you see something you don’t want to see, it is not hard to swipe past it. Ignore it. Interacting with it will ensure more content like it will reach your fyp. But some people just want to be mean and love the chance to get to do so. People make fun of cosplayers now like it’s their job. They insult them and throw fits like toddlers the moment they see them. Most hate for cosplayers is rooted in ableism, by the way! Fun fact! The word "cringey" has been twisted by sad people to target neurodivergent individuals. Many cosplayers (not all, but many) are neurodivergent. Many cosplayers are lgbt+, too. And you bet homophobia and transphobia is rampant in fandom spaces, too!

The hate doesn’t stop at people who don’t have nerdy interests, either. Oh no. Even people from fandoms are rude towards cosplayers! People will complain about "cringey" cosplayers "ruining" fandoms. Spoiler alert: there are cosplayers in every fandom. Kindly, get over it. People enjoy their fandoms in different ways! Some people write fanfiction and draw fanart, some consume fanfiction and fanart, some only interact with the original media, and some cosplay. All are valid ways to enjoy it! Hating on others for how they interact with their fandom is ridiculous, to say the least. The people ruining fandoms are the ones who can’t stand seeing others have fun. I’m sorry your life is so boring you can’t stand seeing others being creative and having a good time. However, that doesn’t give you the excuse to be a dickhead. Policing how someone expresses their love of something is not cool. Anyone who does this is actually a pathetic little weenie.

Let me get into my personal experience! Remember how I mentioned I have someone like this irl? Let me tell you about the interaction that spurred this rant! I am preparing for a con at this very moment. This weekend! Some context here: I am a cosplayer. I have been doing it for years and it’s a hobby that I love and don’t plan on giving up on anytime soon. I am also someone who is very inspired by drag and I enjoy doing my makeup inspired by cartoons and drag queens. This person absolutely cannot stand it when I decide to even put on a little makeup for the heck of it. Oops, I’m also someone who does my makeup occasionally outside of cosplay! The incognito nerd saw me carrying some of my makeup to my bag and stopped me to go, "You’re not gonna dress like a CLOWN, are you?" This could be taken literally, but I’m pretty sure it was meant to be an insult. This person insults my makeup often, claiming I don’t do it right (there is no right way to do makeup, btw). They also generally insult the way I dress. I told them no, but why would it matter?

"Because it’s embarrassing! Don’t embarrass me!" Babe, YOU embarrass ME tbh! I literally told them straight up, "This place is going to be filled with cosplayers and people like me. I don’t know what to tell you." If you are someone who gets embarrassed of cosplayers, a con probably isn’t the place for you. What used to be a safe space for cosplayers is now overrun by people who don’t know how to have fun. I should not have to worry about being harassed and made fun of at a place where people like me are supposed to thrive. Please, loosen the stick in your asshole ever so slightly so you can see that cons are meant to be fun! If you’re easily overloaded by "cringey" stuff, please stay home. You sour the mood and suck the life of everyone around you. Okay, sponge mop?

I can’t even get into how some other cosplayers treat cosplayers. That is a whole other can of worms I simply cannot get into right now. We will be here all night. Cosplay is not a clout contest. It is not about who is most accurate to the character. Cosplay is supposed to be FUN! And it is for everyone! No one is too old to cosplay. No one is too fat to cosplay. No one is too skinny to cosplay. No one should feel restricted because of skin color. No one should feel restricted because of gender. No one should feel restricted because of money. No one should feel bad about cosplaying, ever. People can stylize characters. People can make closet cosplays. Cosplay is for everyone. If I see any more cosplayers bringing other cosplayers down, I’m gonna lose it.

My point is, fandom spaces aren’t as fun as they used to be. I miss when I could walk into a con with a barely recognizable Juuzou Suzuya cosplay and still get complimented for trying (real experience! Those cosplayers were so kind!). I miss when I didn’t feel like I’d be judged for entering a space I should feel safe in. I miss when I could drag up my cosplay as much as I want without someone telling me the makeup is too much. I miss when fandom spaces were fun. If you can’t handle fandom activity in a fandom space, you should reflect on why you don’t like it. Most likely, it’s jealousy others can enjoy themselves so freely. Let others have fun. Just because you’re miserable doesn’t mean everyone else has to be.

[alo-piss-trancy]

Btw even if I don't check in here as often as I used to, I really do appreciate all of you who stick with this blog anyways c': Especially since I barely post anything 'kinky' myself anymore. So this is mostly just a gaming/media rant and personal blog now oops

In some ways I'm definitely better off than I was a few years ago, but I've also been dealing with a lot of chaos in my life and household and it doesn't look like it's gonna get fixed very soon. Mix of financial, physical health of me and family I've been heavily assisting, house things in desperate need of repair...

On top of that I've been starting to realize I might actually have developed some form of Agoraphobia from all that time I was housebound before... and other stuff, but I think that was probably the main contributor. I'm still looking into it but with how a lot of the other things I've tried to cope haven't helped, meds don't seem to touch it much, and it seems to be getting worse, it's looking more and more likely than I'd like to admit. Which sucks bc it's also going to be hard af to keep up with working to treat it with Exposure or smth if I'm buried in all the above stuff/have limited transport/places to even go. It's really freaking hard when I do rarely go out and the anxiety/illness makes it so much worse. There've been times I've had to give up and go back early after like, an hour bc I was vomiting/crippled with pain/on the verge of fainting... and that's been happening more often. Like 1 in every 3 times, and I may only get out 3 times a month at the worst points.

Idk. I'm trying. I'm keeping up with the bare minimum rn and that's all I can really say lol

Also the only problem that's actually relevant to kink blog: my drive is still at 0 or even the negatives bc I can't get my medication sorted out bc my appointments got pushed back AGAIN ☠️ So yeah. That's why there has been no writing or hc posts and will not probably be for a WHILE. On God, it's about as appealing to me as eating dry cardboard 😔 Trying to write or draw anything fun is like pulling teeth and if I won't enjoy the end result then I'm not gonna bother RIP. When I get that sorted out maybe I can finally touch my poor WIP pile again 😭

Uh yeah so. That's why I've been so absent for like... forever. I do miss checking in here but I also get in my own head sometimes about posting when I'm not 'providing' anything this blog was intended for. Which I realise is dumb bc it's MY blog and if I want to rant about video games only for like a year straight then I'm allowed to. But brains are Fun like that 🥲

For what it's worth I'm not in like, a fullblown mental crisis so please don't worry about that! I'm not in any immediate danger or smth! I do have some other hobbies I've been keeping up with and socialising in other spaces. And I've been reading. So I promise I'm not in a complete isolated depression pit 💛 Life could definitely be better and I def have some rough days, but I have been trying to take some baby steps to either fix things or keep myself sane at least lol

Idk I just felt like I should explain why I've been mostly gone for ages off and on. I do lurk here sometimes to peek at things even if I don't have the energy to show myself. But I do really appreciate anyone who sends asks or comments on my ao3 or just reads my ramblings lol 💛 Even when I can't respond immediately I still treasure the gesture and it makes me happy to see some of the same names around in my notifs/dash c': So thank you~

[marciabrady]

explain to me the heteronormative angle of tngled in particular, sounds fascinating. i thought by their narrative structure most disney films were hetnorm in nature due to the inclusion of a love story, sometimes unneeded. you see it most in movies where the romance plays secondary like fox and the hound or jungle book.

While I have a different take, I can definitely see where you're coming from! From my perspective though, none of the original four princess movies had forced "obligatory" straight side-ships or main ships (I think they all develop in a way that makes so much sense) and the models of all the characters- from the Princesses to Sebastian to the fairies to the Dwarfs and beyond- offer so many different perspectives and methods of expression and identification. I think the relationships all the characters have regarding their gender is healthy and varied. They're all nuanced individuals that are distinct and different from one another, with some productions even having gay coed characters (Triton and Ursula are the main ones that come to mind- I'm not including the remake btw because that's been so straight washed it's sad). The women in all these films can be themselves openly and freely (more on this in the next reply I'm about to post to another question, because it's pertinent to my opinion on Tangled).

Tangled, to me, reads differently and just reeks of an all straight writer room and such a lack of diversity of thought. With the earlier princesses, they all had something different to offer and were unique flavors, for lack of a better word. By the time we got to Tangled, Disney had been so self-conscious of how to portray a Princess and had essentially reduced their leading ladies to women that held their own against contemporary, live action counterparts to...baby sitters for children and creating, explicitly, what they thought would be a good role model for children and aging the prime demographic drastically done? ALSO I think, by this point, they only knew how to portray a female character in one way because they were so weighed down with the overwhelming criticisms against Disney Princesses. (Which, btw I think it's fine that they're taking into account how children are going to perceive the character but like when the character is mostly only written to appease straight suburban moms who find anything to complain about, it's creatively stifling and results in a lack of art and more of a commercial product in my opinion; it robbed these characters of being natural in their depictions, in my opinion). And I think, also, the way the characters of Rapunzel and Flynn are treated, even Mother Gothel, it just. Yeah it feels like a straight person's fantasy lol

I'm sure you've heard of the "hot guy meeting" where straight women were asked to come in and pitch the most desirable features, in their eyes, of what a man should look like and how that ultimately resulted in Flynn? One of the features mentioned was thin upper lip...yeah lol and also just like. I think Rapunzel is so limited in her portrayal. She's meek and submissive and feminine enough to appeal to the traditional quotient of the audience, and doesn't really do anything to move the needle one way or the other, but she has specific things stated in the narrative to appease the angry mothers ready to condemn Disney (she's turning 18 so she's legal!!! if Flynn met her a day prior she won't be, but they intentionally made her right at the legal age of being an adult. Not 19, not 20, not 25, but 18) while also still giving her attributes that would check off the "feminist approved list" that every female character is subjected to now (she runs! she's barefoot and active! she has hobbies, as evidenced in her opening number, though not many of them ever really get brought up later in the film). And it just rubs me the wrong way that she has to quantify all of her character traits that are "flaws" or "negative"- if she's emotional, she has to look silly so it's funny to the audience because nothing's off-putting like a woman just candidly showing emotion from what we've seen regarding the reaction to Snow White! (like I've seen people try to say that her whole monologue between "I am the worst daughter ever" and "THIS THE BEST DAY EVER" is coded in itself and super realistic but please be honest with yourselves and acknowledge that it's showcased in the film as part of her being zany and we're meant to laugh at her, especially when you take into account the way Flynn is responding to her). She's naive and sheltered and innocent, but guess what! She can save Flynn from the ruffians and thugs who were ready to stab them because they'll listen to her!! Yeah, she's the same Princess who's been trapped in a tower but GUESS WHAT. She can do karate with her hair! She can fling it around like a lasso and toss herself around huge landscapes and breathe under water for periods of time even though she's never left her tower! It's so funny to me that people are so openly misogynistic in their critiques of the classic princesses, when they were human characters. I think the princesses, starting with Rapunzel on, show us how ridiculous our society has gotten with the expectations they've placed on women. Princesses went from being realistic women whose stories were allegories for finding your place in the world and they took these characters and turned them into superheros? Rapunzel's magic hair and healing incantation, Elsa's ice powers, Moana's connection with the ocean. It's not enough for women to just be themselves anymore- in order to have any value, they literally have to be superhuman. And if you doubt this point at all, just look at the difference in reception and popularity between how the public and children perceive the character of Elsa (magical) and Anna (more human).

Back to what I was saying though, where Rapunzel has to be Jesus incarnate and all things to all people, Flynn is allowed to be a bad person. Imagine if the story was reversed and she was the thief that lied and stole and he was the sheltered good boy whose tower she snuck into and he was the one that beat her with a frying pan. It would never work and that shows how straight it is imo? Because honestly, say what you want about the original princesses, but their stories work if you flip the roles. Cinderella being a Princess whose Mother put on a ball so she could meet a suitor? Snow White searching through the forest for her lost love? Aurora working with the fairies to escape being entrapped by a fairy, to awaken her love with true love's kiss? Ariel and Eric essentially have the same storyline, but in reverse. Meanwhile with Rapunzel and Flynn, it's so uncomfortable...the way she hits him with a pan and threatens to keep doing it if he doesn't listen to her gives me the ick. BUT IT'S CUTE WHEN SHE DOES IT! Because she's a short petite straight woman! It's so annoying to me too to see straight ships, or even straight couples, where the men are essentially programmed to believe their wives always know better than them and they have to listen to them and, in order to keep peace in the household, they have to just agree with whatever their wife is saying because it just feels SO disingenuous on the men's part (the whole happy wife, happy life principal). This would never work in a non-straight dynamic because it's so unequal. And just like...again, the fact that a naive, sheltered, short woman is hitting a man- a dangerous criminal who never strikes back and just takes it and seems afraid of her is just soooo unrealistic and lowkey dangerous to depict to me? And the whole, how she's good and responsible and he's suave and charming and he's the bad boy that she turns good just UGH I hate everything about it, get me out of here!! Ultimately their compulsory hetero dynamic is "the cute quirky responsible good petite girl who's the embodiment of the "x3" face turns a bad guy good and she wears the pants in the relationship!!! being too much for me. Even the ending where he's joking that she asked him to marry her and she has to correct him from lying...no.

[hermitcraftjoel]

i have this thing in nearly every fandom im in hahahhahahah (cries)

could it be desert duo for chance? i disliked them enough to block both duo and ship tags, and ive never blocked anything like that before (now i do tho, because it's actually kinda freeing, i have seen the light)

its not like its for no reason, its just my reasoning would make me sound kinda insane. I would say its mostly fan perception that ruined it for me, because i actually quite liked them for my first 4 months in fandom. I think I started having a "bleh" somewhere after Last Life. Its got bad to the point i started feeling sick in a stomach when i watched their interactions, so now i mostly skip when those two are alone (its somehow fine when theres at least some 3rd person with them, anyone really).

funniest part, that doesn't really stop me from from making them besties in nearly every au i have in mind and honestly just actually liking the dynamic lmao. However, yeah, i would rather die than see any content related to them (that is not from me, because im based about them) /lh

YES OH MY GOODNESS THIS (it is indeed desertduo)

I love love love blocking tags it's soooo freeing. (I could go into a whole rant about blocking tags and how irritating it is when people don't tag things properly but that isn't the point of the post.

I totally get the fanon interpretation ruining things, because it's very similar for me too. I think I just... got sick of them? I never watched 3rd life, (& even if I did watch it I doubt my opinion would be very different) I joined the fandom when Last Life started but honestly I was just sick of seeing them.

This is not meant to be any hate directed at people who enjoy them & make content for them btw!!! You guys r like. the backbone of the Traffic fandom. This is just me & my personal take on the ship & why I don't find it appealing. My aim is not to spread negativity with this post!

[but-thats-its-own-story]

I posted 2,695 times in 2022

494 posts created (18%)

2,201 posts reblogged (82%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@princessfanonanona

@pokemon-cards-hourly

@sukabu89

@tsukinoinaba

I tagged 2,687 of my posts in 2022

#references - 1,692 posts

#anime - 691 posts

#toonami - 690 posts

#pokemon - 230 posts

#one piece - 195 posts

#magical girls - 134 posts

#pokemon tcg - 109 posts

#marine biology - 105 posts

#art - 98 posts

#assassination classroom - 92 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#but the consistent use of certain type combinations allows fewer card types to represent a broad range of pokemon types from the videogames

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Before people inevitably forget that this happened, I should point out that all four books of Infinity Train were billed as 'Top TV Shows' on the iTunes store the other day.

CaN't ImAgInE wHy 🙃

22 notes - Posted August 22, 2022

#4

Oh man that dream sequence and the intensity of Chat Noir's pain upon realizing it was what they both wanted but it wasn't real...

😨😭

23 notes - Posted October 24, 2022

#3

You know what?

Hey New Tumblr Users TM

(and everyone else here btw)

Feel free to not reblog anything.

Heck you don't even have to like anything.

Lurk all you want. The worst someone can do is block you.

It's perfectly okay if your blog doesn't exist for the sole purpose of supporting each and every artist of every single post that appeals to you.

Your blog doesn't belong to them.

And I'm saying this as a blog that primarily actively reblogs art and only uses likes for organization.

People get so hung-up over reblogs being better than likes.

Like it's such a necessity for all the new users to "learn how tumblr works"...

Do they stop to consider that maybe someone just wants to exist on an anonymous public platform without a stranger on the internet telling them what to do?

If new users care about tumblr etiquette they can learn it easily enough without 'Well actually' posts talking down to them.

Y'all seem all too quick to blame the people who barely just got here for not supporting artists enough...

Just a suggestion,

but how about you blame platforms and their exploitative marketing and censorship practices for screwing over the content creators they depend on to keep their companies afloat,

rather than random individual users with new accounts who, contrary to popular opinion, still don't owe you a thing?

25 notes - Posted April 1, 2022

#2

After watching Risk/Strikeback for the who-knows-how-many-nth time, I just noticed something.

So Nino doesn't believe Adrien doesn't want to go because he figures his best friend would tell him, right?

Well that's good logic, except this is after Rocketear, where Adrien saw Nino react negatively to Cat Noir, the version of himself where he gets to actually express his feelings.

Even with the misunderstanding with him and Alya, it had to have hurt to see how Nino really felt, just like it was with Kagami.

So of course he doesn't tell Nino his true feelings. After what happened this season, he feels like he can't trust anyone (he even considers it a risk when he tells Marinette).

***

This makes it even worse that it becomes increasingly apparent to him that Ladybug doesn't trust him. Because she's the only one he feels like he can be himself around.

He's felt more alone than ever this season.

But then Ladybug has a full-on panic attack right in front of him, and because he's Adrien, he finally gets to see past the brave face she puts on, and her constant frustrations with Cat Noir, to the incredible pressure the girl he still loves is under.

He's never seen her fall apart like this. He immediately snaps into focus, talking her through it. And when she realizes she lost and collapses in despair, the look on his face when he decides to go in and comfort her says it all.

He was right to be upset at how she was treating him, and finally she acknowledges this, but he'd never abandon her. And now that it's just the two of them against the world all over again, his unwavering support and devotion is what finally gets through to her.

33 notes - Posted March 12, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

@stalkerkyoko

It's only Teenage

Cartoon Wasteland

39 notes - Posted April 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[theamityelf]

I read your post about how Audrey and Evie are portrayed when it comes to girliness, and I just want to ask: Why must you and so many other people blame all the problems in Descendants on racism? BTW, I'm black, and I'm only letting you know this because I feel like I can't send in a question on race on anon without people assuming I'm white.

Sure, yeah, I have nothing against you stating your race.

The disconnect I think we see here is that people who ask this question seem like they're operating with a misunderstanding of what is meant when we say that there is a problem of racism in the franchise.

I think a lot of people interpret that as an accusation that, in the writers room, someone had the idea to insidiously plant negative depictions of black women. Which isn't impossible, but I wasn't in the writers room, I don't know anyone who was, and I don't necessarily care what they were thinking. They could have been twirling their mustaches thinking about how much they hate black women, or they could have been happily scrawling out the movie of their dreams without a single thought given to race. It doesn't matter, because we're referring to racism as it manifests in the finished product, not the imagination of the creators.

I say there is racism at work because the observable narrative components of the series trend more negatively for black characters. Even if the screenwriters had the most innocent of intentions, the product they created has an observable bias against the black characters.

Why are Audrey and Uma treated as villains while Mal is treated as a misguided/misunderstood hero despite having no moral high ground over either of them? Because the series isn't very well-written. Because the series has protagonist-centered morality. But the effect of that poor writing is that racism was done. Every black girl in the series is written as a villain. (Celia is the weirdest case, because she doesn't do anything wrong in the whole movie, but she's still painted as a trickster, marketed as a potential main antagonist, and gets introduced BY MAL with a line about how she could use Remedial Goodness.) Every white girl in the series is written as a hero. Even though Jane and Lonnie (Lonnie is not white, but she's relevant to this conversation) were as prejudiced as Audrey in the first movie, they are treated as friends to the VKs and Audrey is treated as an enemy. The black girl villains only cease to be villains when they befriend the white protagonist and stop holding any of her actions against her. Mal being passive aggressive is charming; Audrey being passive aggressive is proof that she's a villain. Mal teasing Uma is funny and heroic; Uma teasing Mal is mean and menacing.

Why is Audrey's girliness vilified and Evie's girliness celebrated? Because they decided early on that Evie is a protagonist and Audrey is an antagonist and were operating within that cognitive dissonance that anything Evie enjoyed should be celebrated and anything Audrey enjoyed shouldn't. Because they want to appeal to the girly-girls by giving them Evie to emulate and buy merch of, but they also want to use the narrative trope that mean girls wear pink and girls who wear pink are shallow and vain. But because they made those choices, the effect is that non-black girls in the story have their interests celebrated and black girls receive scorn for the same interests. That is contained in the product they made.

Prejudice of any kind is a passive filter on one's perception of the world that requires activity to overcome. If you're writing something without giving thought to race, racism will likely appear, because history, and the history of filmmaking, is full of so many racial stereotypes that taking a mental shortcut has a good chance of veering you right into them.

(Also, people's tolerance for meanness from black characters tends to be lower than their tolerance for meanness in white characters, and writers are people. The Black Best Friend trope and the Magical Negro trope creates an expectation that black characters should be selflessly loving to white characters, and there is discomfort when they aren't.)

Arguing whether or not racism is to blame for the problems in the franchise is, in my opinion, a pretty tedious choice of argument. It isn't a question, because racism is there as an observable effect of either an active malice or a passive prejudice or just carelessness. The series treats its black girls poorly in very cut-and-dry ways; each of them is pretty much a carbon copy of a lighter-skinned character, but with less sympathy given to them. Uma is an altruistic version of Mal, treated with less sympathy. Audrey is more privileged Evie, treated with less sympathy. Celia is Dizzy, but a tRIcKsTeR!! Treated with less sympathy. I enjoy the characters, and I enjoy the movies, but the dissonance in treatment for these characters is obvious and the effect is racism.

[writterings]

In light of the new Owl House episode, I have some THOUGHTS about its excellent writing.

So, first things first, I wanna state something that everyone knows but we also kinda forget sometimes; TOH is a kid's show. Yeah, yeah, that's obvious. But also, that GREATLY impacts its writing. However, it also balances this type of writing PERFECTLY with the adult perspective on the world which ultimately does make it great for all ages. And "Yesterday's Lie" is the ULTIMATE example of this.

Luz's story fits the typical isekai plotline - but it also is an example of what real-life kids in Luz's positions want. Like think about her life in the first episode - she had no friends, she wanted adventure and fantasy and magic, and her mom and she weren't seeing eye to eye. She then got whisked away to a magical realm full of adventures, magic, friends (and a girlfriend!), and a mother figure who tries hard to understand her and loves the fact that they're both weirdos. The Boiling Isles is heaven for Luz, just because it's fulfilling all her wants and needs that she wasn't getting in the human world.

As someone who is going into the professional writing field and spends a lot of time in and out of class thinking about writing rhetoric, I've taken one or two classes about writing children's stories/media. And, obviously, children's media is written differently than adult media -- but specifically in the idea of values. Kids value different things than adults because of their perspectives on the world. Hell, the whole reason "whisked away to a magical fantasy world" is so popular in kids' media is because so many kids find themselves in that position in wanting that to happen to them. I sure as hell did when I was Luz's age.

Stories like these essentially are wish fulfillment for kids. And since they are wish fulfillment, that typically means that more real-life concepts such as abandoning family, missing the "real world", or any negative consequences are either conveniently written out in a satisfying way or are left out entirely. (Think how in Harry Potter, he's able to escape the "real" world without negative consequences because his family's abusive.)

(Also, fuck JKR btw but just using this example because this is the example we used in my one children's lit class.)

And what I'm about to say next also explains further how TOH is wish fulfillment, but it starts as a bit of tangent first. Just bear with me, it'll make sense.

Anyways, I've seen a few MP100 posts around that praise the show for having an adult "step in" and tell the child protag that they don't have to fight the villains because they're just a kid. And to me, that shows how MP100 is an adult-focused media -- because a piece of children's media would NEVER do something like that. That's not to say that children's media encourages kids to do dangerous stuff that harms themselves, but it's just not appealing to kids. Kids want to be the ones going on adventures and saving the day. They want to be treated with respect and be trusted as capable as the adults around them. And who can blame them? We all want that - it's just that kids hardly get ANY respect or autonomy. That's why kid's media where the kids are allowed to fight, be the chosen one, or go on adventures is so normal and popular: it's what kids want!

And that, again, is how TOH is wish fulfillment. Luz is allowed to go on adventures, do dangerous and stupid things, and she still kicks ass! Sure, Eda might express concern for her or say she doesn't want her doing something dangerous -- but Eda trusts Luz and is never angry when she goes someplace dangerous (think how she acted in "Separate Tides" when she found out Luz was also there in the cave).

So, ultimately, this is all how TOH's writing reflects its status as a children's show. Which is totally fine! And it's brilliantly written!

But as for the more adult-focused parts of its writing -

To state again, adults value different things in media than kids do. We (since I'm an adult) typically do want to see the more nuanced and darker side of things. We want the complexity. We want subversion of genre. We also want things that reflect our experiences. And TOH does this by addressing realistic negative consequences.

Camilla was upset that Luz left her. She cried and got mad, and even asked the questions of "Were you trying to live out some witch fantasy? Did you hate living with me that much?"

This is a genre subversion because we usually don't get this kind of confrontation in a kid's show. Typically, our plucky young protag who chooses to stay in another world faces no negative consequences for this choice (except for Marcy in Amphibia but for different reasons lol). But here Luz is, watching as her mother cries all because of her choices. It's not explicitly adult and tbh isn't mature - but it's still a level of nuance and character complexity we don't typically get in a kid's show/media. Honestly, it's most likely that adults are the ones identifying with Camilla instead of Luz in this situation - even if we don't have kids. Camilla, essentially, feels abandoned and rejected by her daughter. While some kids might be able to sympathize, it's probably mostly adults (and older teens) who have been through similar situations and emotions. And, in that, shows how TOH can also appeal to audiences in a more "adult" way as well.

But, despite that, it's still not a polarizing scene. It may frustrate some kids watching (or even teens/adults who identify strongly with Luz), but ultimately Camilla's words and actions are still understandable. She's not being evil or mean; she's just hurt. And that's clear! Even Luz sees it! But it doesn't harm the narrative appeal of the show being kids' wish fulfillment because Camilla can't do anything to take Luz away from her amazing life in the Boiling Isles. While she did make Luz promise to find a way back and to stay for good, she ultimately has no power to do anything. The status quo of the show is not changed and it is still wish fulfillment -- though, now, it just has some complexity added to the situation, plot, and characters.

In that sense, the scene where Camilla confronts Luz can still appeal to kids and doesn't make the show unenjoyable for them despite it being a more "adult-focused" scene. Sure, it adds complexity, but it's a type that kids can understand.

And that, basically, is just brilliant writing. It's such a perfect balance of adult and kid-focused,m and the writers definitely understand the values that both children and adults have when approaching media. TOH is definitely one of the best-written cartoons of this decade, and I'm so glad it exists.

Anyways, here's my essay. Thanks for reading if you got this far!

[avenger-hawk]

Why do you like Kakasasu?

I waited to reply to this because I wanted to be sure it wasn’t a troll and it wasn’t a drama starting attempt (like this or this, gems found in the sasuke/KS tag) since it’s a subject I am very interested in.

I replied to Kakashi/Sasuke related asks, shippy or not shippy, here, here and here. More about them here, here and here. Put yourself comfortable cause this is gonna be long. Not putting it under a readmore cause I remember ppl complaining they coulnd’t open it on mobile phones (?). Also, moralists who are lurking: don’t interact, get out of my blog. Youll be blocked on sight.

When I started reading N*ruto I was into Bleach a lot, and the fact that the characters were a little older and looked older made me not get into Nar that much at first, because they looked like kiddies lol. I didn’t care about Nar as a character and his initial rivalry with Sas was cute but not enough to get me interested. Only when Kakashi got closer to Sasuke I started being veery interested in the story and in the characters. What I found intriguing was that Kakashi was older and an authority figure, but also someone to look up and who helped his students, BUT at the same time he wasn’t exactly a father-like figure or a big brother-like figure, because he had his dark side, that back then wasn’t well flashed out but that nevertheless showed a closed-off person who kept everything inside, not letting others get too close to him.

(then I started liking N*rusasu mostly because there were so many cool doujinshi especially Emi10/Rankai and Engawaken, while KS doujinshi were so meh, kinda in old yaoi style like Loveless, with tiny Sas who looked even younger hahaha, not my thing)

As those who know my blog and/or my writing know already, I am not interested in healthy, cute, positive dynamics in fiction. I might enjoy them, I might be happy when there are such moments, but I can’t like a whole relationship/dynamic/story only like this because I like to explore complicated ones in fiction.Because fiction is very useful for this, it makes you explore dark, taboo things, without affecting reality (no matter what idiots say), it’s cathartic, it’s a way to do, see, experience things without doing anything.

Back to topic tho, I found their initial dynamic very intriguing. A broken, traumatized yet extremely driven Sasuke, acting as confident and strong as he can, but showing his trauma in various occasions, otherwise being mostly aloof, lost in his own thoughts, and a differently broken Kakashi, acting chill but at the same time always ready to act when needed, yet always kinda distracted, aloof, lost in his owh thoughts (and later we’ll know he took Obito’s mannerisms because he was a stickler to rules). The way Kakashi takes a special interest for Sasuke, clearly the most driven, the best of the team, with whom he holds back much less (when he trains them, like when in the beginning, during the bell test, he fights with Sas and seeing that he almost took it, he overpowers him) while he is different with the others (Nar will have Jiraiya later). The way he protects Sasuke during the chuunin exams, while he’s in the hospital and Kabuto is trying to kill him.

Mostly, the controversial moments...like I said I live for these kind of things. where he both protects and threatens him...like when he does that seal to Sasuke, for his curse mark, and he tells him that if that curse mark takes over he’ll kill him. Or when he ties Sasuke up so he won’t join Orochimaru.

Before someone says bs like *you’re not Sas fan if you like that scene* (I know there are many like this and I want all of them out of my blog btw) uh, it’s not how it works guys. You can support a character and still be intrigued by scenes where said character is tied up/in a forcibly submitted position and so on. Guess what, some of those scenes are made for fanservice even (and Sas has many of these, so if you don’t see the appeal/refuse to admit that there is appeal, it’s you who have a problem). So even tho I disagree with Kakashi not wanting to listen to Sasuke’s reasons for revenge (and later supporting SHikamaru’s, I replied to this in one of the asks I linked) I do find that scene interesting...I mean Sasuke tied up in a very suggestive way and yet defying him and threatening to kill his loved ones and Kakashi opening up in a very weird way vaguely replying that he lost those ppl already? It shows a lot about them, their personalities, everything.

I am sticking to part 1 because there are more meaningful interactions between them, I wished there were more in part 2 but kishi shifted Kakashi’s ‘interest’ to Nar, making him one of Nar’s followers...even so, the intractions they had were very interesting. Their fight after Sasuke fights Danzo is one of my fave moments in the whole story tbh, much more than the later confrontation with Nar. Kakashi for the first time has an inner only, yet strong, emotional reaction, having to fight and supposedly kill his former student who became a rogue with a death sentence on his head...he realizes this is how Hiruzen felt against Orochimaru. It’s a strong realization from someone like him who was always so closed off and aloof that he totally lacked empathy.

On the other hand Sasuke is in a different mindset. He’s sort of high for having succeeded in eliminating the one who made Itachi suffer so much, he’s thinking about killing the elders and destroy the village, so he’s basically lost in the recent past of Danzo’s death and in the future plans he’s making, he’s not in the present moment almost...but he has to fight anyway, and it’s a cool fight, also because he’s weakened already and Kakashi is strong...and then he gets blind, totally, and it’s an amazingly intriguing moment, the kind of controversial stuff I’m interested in, because that’s when he could be totally overpowered by Kakashi, if the story didn’t have other priorities (putting Nar in the center of attention with their confrontation).

Their later moments, like during the war, are meh cause the interest shifted already completely, but their moments in jail (anime only ofc) and their Shinden interactions (only through messages) are interesting to me. Very much so, because they show power dynamics very well, with Kakashi as THE authority and Sasuke as the one submitted. In jail it’s even more evident with him looking down at the younger tied up and blindfolded...like, wow. It’s like fanfiction material (in fact I wrote one (ff.net/a03) and there was the coolest fanart inspired by it! here..there were more but this came on my dash today so).

You mentioned power dynamics...their dynamics are all power dynamics because Kakashi was never at Sasuke’s same level and he never acted like he was, and when Sasuke was stronger, during the war, they basically didn’t interact, and when the war was over and Sasuke was brainwashed and tamed into submission the power dynamic remained the same.

The difference imo between them and other power dynamics based pairings is that they are closer than what could be defined rare pairings such as Obito (they had a very interesting one tho, if only it was developed), Madara (the story was already developed in a pro Konoha-anti Uchiha way but it would have been so cool to have the 2 Uchiha interact more), or other older and stronger characters, so the dynamic could be written in a cool way in a fanfiction but in canon Kakashi created it already. So, while I can imagine something like Shisui/Sasuke, Obisasu or more, in my head, and I can come up with some AU or canon divergent/canon behind the screen (like when Sas stayed with Obito after the transplant), Kakashi and Sasuke had canon interactions that showed power dynamics already.

(Then there is Itasasu, which is a huge power dynamic based relationship, that also had amazingly strong feelings though, and those who know me know that for me Itachi will always be Sasuke’s most loved person, and that he was the same for Itachi. So ofc imo IS is a much stronger bond compared to KS but still. Also I remember in the beginning how many fics I read where Itachi was abusive to Sas and Kakashi stepped in lol. And it’s not a mystery that even though I think the IS bond is the strongest I find other pairings and character dynamics very interesting, so much that I like to explore them even more than IS, which, imo, is almost a given fact so I don’t always feel the need to explore it)

Another thing I find intriguing is that Kakashi always saw Sas at his ‘worst’...in Konoha’s terms I mean. When he wanted revenge in pt 1, after he killed Danzo and he was weak and so desperate and hysterical that they thought he got crazy, when he was jailed. It’s a big power he has, to be able to see someone like this.

Tbh it’s a pity that there were no post war moments (B*ruto shit doesn’t count) where they interact ‘normally’ cause I would have liked to see them, both as normal interactions where they get closer again, now that Sas is older, where they train and they get physical (and Kakashi has a lot of repressed anger, jealousy and possessiveness to let out on the one who betrayed his sensei and went to another...not my opinion but it could be Kakashi’s pov) because I think power dynamic would come up a lot, even from apparently cute moments.

I’ll end this super long essay hoping that you didn’t fall asleep lol, and adding that Kakasasu was the first Nar pairing I shipped, which it speaks a lot about why I get so irritated when someone mentions it negatively.