#this isnt a specific critique of the show's writing

[heteromerous-rhyming]

i think that i've figured out why i don't like show sally.

ok like don't get me wrong, virginia kull?? she ATE with that interpretation. her acting?? amazing. like i could truly get the core of her character.

it's just that i don't like the character the writers give us.

cw: discussion of abusive relationships, of toxic family dynamics, probably a good bit of generational trauma. I don't really get into details except with stuff shown on the show and written in the books but i wanted to be safe.

as someone from an immigrant household, as someone whose mom works a part time minimum wage job, as someone whose seen and been there as my parents fought, i just really really dislike sally's portrayal in the show. and it's partly because of poseidon and partly because of gabe (mostly because of her character in general but yeah, lets get the men out of the way first)

I feel strongly about poseidon in his relationship to sally very specifically. i don't mind his relationship to percy either books or show. but it's pretty damn clear to me that this show was written by someone who's never experienced sally's situation, of being the single working parent with an absentee partner (or in gabe's case a partner who literally ahHHHHHh). because from the beginning, from sally's reaction and snark to gabe, I felt like something was wrong or off, and it was Specifically the show because i read the books and i watched (some) of the musical and i never felt that way towards either of those. i'm not saying that my family situation is sally's (don't have a god for a father for one), but. by all accounts sally knows that this is an abusive relationship, the only reason that she's with gabe is because of the protection he offers percy. i have to assume that this is true because sally jackson turning gabe to stone is something i'm assuming is staying in the show, and i remember this being mentioned by grover? or someone in the first few episodes. and the cord that struck in me was not the traditional (that is, visible, defined, i don't like this word but i don't have a better one) abusive relationship but relationships in my community, of women staying with husbands because of their children, women outright saying this, women who know the world is cruel to single women and to single mothers specifically. sally, to me has never been under any illusions that gabe is any sort of relationship material. she has never been under any illusions that poseidon would be able to help in any way.

and that crux of sally's relationships made her first scene in the show all that more jarring. but it's not anything specifically that i can put a finger on. and maybe i'm wrong for this or maybe i'm expecting too much. but. sally doesn't have the resentment or the quietness or the bitterness or even the loudness that i expected. you have been the only true caretaker for your child, the only one in the house that really puts food on the table and on top of that is expected to do emotional labor? to cook and clean or at least pick up the food?

but she treats gabe like he's an annoyance. someone to brush off. and you see the manipulation tactics from gabe, you do, but.

its not that i want sally's spirit to be crushed. my mother's spirit wasn't crushed. the women in my community, they laugh, they cry, they watch silly tv shows, they have lives that they live, and in many cases they live well.

but the women that i know are also angry. they are either on fire or they used to burn. when they banter with their partners it often turns ugly because they are tired of the same damn argument day after day, because often the trivial things that are asked are compounded and compounded and compounded because you live in the same house, there is no escape, there is no private space, not really.

it's new york and sally works a job to support an apartment and her family. they are not well-off. sally has no support network we can see, and how could she? poseidon mentions that she has no one to talk to about these things, her parents are clearly out of the picture. all this to say. there is a certain understanding of class that exists within the books that was excised, i believe unknowingly, from the show, and it is the worse for it. there is a tiredness, a worn-down-ness from being low income that sally had in the books, but in the show i only see a struggling first time single parent. i don't see the complexity of a woman who literally gave up on finding a fulfilling relationship to be with a man for her child. i don't see the complexity of a woman working fulltime and still getting demanded from at home. and i didn't realize that I wanted to see that until I saw the show. i didn't realize that that was what i loved about the books.

i hate that they tried to bring poseidon back into sally's life as this perfect man who through cosmic forces can't help. i hate that sally calls him, i hate that he says he'll listen. but most of all i hate that sally just accepts him, falls into him. it's really hard to be a mother when your partner doesn't seem to help you parent in any way, even if he cannot help you. he's a greek god, there's no way in hell that he can begin to understand the lengths that sally has gone through to sacrifice and survive, the very human things that she's done. sally in the books thinks of poseidon as a sweet memory, almost a fairytale, and it's clear that this story is the one that brings her comfort. poseidon is a one night stand, a sweet stranger, she understands he's not coming back. but this poseidon comes when sally calls, and that i cannot believe. i cannot believe that she still thinks of him as the fairytale man, that she accepts him so easily if there isn't that distance. i cannot believe that there is no resentment, that she still puts faith in him as her god (the first episode when she talks about him just felt so wrong to me) if he's not a memory, but a recurring figure. this is not a story of star-crossed lovers, sally feels too real as a human being for that.

sally finds trust, finds contentment, in the books after percy leaves home, after she no longer has to put up with gabe for his safety. she does not find poseidon again. she marries a human man, a very ordinary human man who cares for her. poseidon visits after she is in this relationship and its an amicable one. he is percy's father but also distant memory all in one. sally has the strength to survive a terrible relationship and still find a way to heal and live fully after that.

but the anger. the fire was there. she turned gabe to stone. she reclaimed her life with her two hands.

you don't kill a man for no reason. you don't kill a man without emotion.

but it's that reason and that emotion that i don't get from the writer's room. and it just makes me deeply sad.

[milfygerard]

god its just so annoying and part of it is like yeah people are allowed to hate and critique and razz on taylor swift but everyone is like...bad at it?

Ok i've been thinking about this for awhile and the core of it is that taylor is the best example of a Sacrificial Bitch, or a woman who is bad or annoying or popular enough (or a mix of all 3 e.g. taylor swift) that most if not all misogyny and misinformation surrounding her is left unchallenged or directly supported by a group (specifically here I mean tumblr) or when it is pointed out and has to be acknowledged, it is acknowledged with multiple asterisks that the woman is indeed a Stupid Bitch and we Do Not Respect Her (the taylor swift AI rape art discussion from earlier this year, the stabbing at a tswift dance party/barely foiled terrorist attack at her vienna show)

The most annoying part of a lot of these is that they are usually a seed of truth (taylor over-pollutes by using private jets or makes an annoying amount of variants to hold her chart position) before spiraling out of control (the numbers on the jets pollution output being revealed to be massively overinflated because the people who did the math never actually researched what kind of jet she was using, 64 fucking variants come on guys) or just getting kind of weird and self aggrandizing (not giving charli the #1 album by releasing variants is antifeminist? what do you think feminism is?) and ends up coming off as taylor being more a useful figure of ridicule

Like I guess I am a fan which makes me a bit biased, but as has been discussed before, taylor swift has a weird sort of gas leak effect on pretty much anyone who thinks about her too hard whether they lover her OR hate her and at least I know im being supid and insane most of the time and dont think that enjoying taylor swift is some sort of moral high-ground that people treat loving OR hating her as. Shes literally just a celebrity and artist who writes songs and performs them! And there HAS to be constructive ways to discuss and critique her that dont turn into embarassingly obvious misogyny (people trying to argue she doesnt write her own songs as if being a songwriter isnt like the basis for her entire career and again being easily researched and debunked? Also less direct but very onvious slutshaming or treating her like a vapid idiot, also the people who were mad she was featured in the time POTY for metoo after facing a massive public court case started by the guy who groped her when she was like 20 dont think I forgot) or some insane reverse-swiftie hyper obsession that is unable to comprehend that shes like...a person who makes music and doesnt really do much else? She doesnt even have a makeup line or a memoir literally all she does all day is write songs.

[karin-miyoshi]

I recalled in one of the WaSuYu movie, there was a Sonoko's Dream part (after Sumi tried to brainwash the 1st grade kiddos) where Aki-sensei wear what seem to be a villainous version of the suits that Sumi and Sonoko perform their Dance in. She was punishing the trio by forbidding udon for a whole week and Sonoko gets so scared that she woke up.

Aki-sensei in that suit look like she could be in a normal (traditional?) Mahou Shojo show villains group! She look freaking awsome and intimidating!

And that give me the idea of a yuyuyu au with a more... Pretty Cure liked vibe (I guess)? There'll still be gods and stuff but instead of being apocalyptic, things are more like a secret war of the Heroes and vertexes in an Earth that's still okay. Also Gin survived, just cursed badly by the Heavenly Gods (and kidnapped by their followers)

In this Au, Aki-sensei would still be the trio teacher, but secretly is one of the villains. After seeing her students got hurt so badly though, her redemption arc start by protecting Gin from her former allies. There're still so much to work with before I can finish this au and write a fanfic. But I'm curious to see what others would do with this ideas.

How would you build an au with this concept?

(sorry im late with this, was busy drawing!)

hmm, its an interesting concept for sure, but with that many changes its gonna be a whole new series altogether. i can see where youre going with the precure comparisons, seeing how much more easygoing the stakes are. some more ideas under the cut :9

first off, aki-sen in that outfit rocks i agree, there definitely needs to be more fanart of that. the world isnt post apocalyptic, so would that mean the nowayus "won" their fight? or at least brought it to a stalemate? did they retire partway through, or did they simply pass the baton on and went about their lives? not to critique too much but yeah unless youre specifically zoning in on one arc only, theres a whole can of worms youll end up having to open and patch up.

looking past that though, im sure theres a lot of fun to be had (though admittedly i dont write that much, so im not sure i can offer much here). id personally see a divide between the heroes and aki-sen with their identities. the latter knowing what she had done in the past, guilt with atonement, with plans to take that secret to the grave. on the other hand, the heroes going as far as to "reveal" their secret identities to her when the relationship between them reaches a boiling point.

how riddled with anxciety does aki-sen feel seeing gin get cursed? is this simply something that makes her feel really sick, or would it put her into grave danger? even if its not too serious, what if its something that lasts her entire life? how would sumi and sonoko react when they find out their teacher was the one for gin getting cursed? these might guide you a little further in your fanfic i hope, but with all those circumstances things might go a little darker than you first imagined

[magnoliamyrrh]

i guess. one of my genuine questions is (also bc i dont read or watch supppprr many things) can someone pls give some examples of western fantasy/sci-fi/nonrealism etc series which,,, are Both culturally diverse but aren't to be labled problamatic in one form or another?

like pls, i rly am curious. because generally novels and such while they tell a story in another universe or time, they are a critique and allegory for current things happening irl or that have happened irl. theyre inherently grounded in whats happening here

and yes, there is nonfiction/fantast/scifi/etc which is written from outside of the west or filmed from outside of the west and i think thats rly cool and i think those sort of media should be more widespread and commonly known and gain more attention and in the context of films and series and such given more of an opportunity to be adapted. this is the age old discussion around representation - its better to just get more diverse ppl in general to write things than have the same ppl write abt them more. fully agree

but im asking specifically largely in the context of western literature and media and such. when its fantasy, or scifi, or some combination of something, it is most often grounded in a)broadly focusing on things happening irl b)historical contexts (on the topic of dune, its set where and how it is bc the story is an allegory for and critisue of american and russian imperialism in a series of islamic countries). for a lot of them bc theyre made in the west, the most heavy infleunce is a western one - weather current western society or like western medieval histories. this shows in lore building, in costume design, in characters, in sets and designs and the world and a million other things

.but at the same time, people want representation. people want to see character and places which arent just that, right? people want to see a diversity of cultures and people?

... but then, many times whenever a place/culture/people are introduced which are clearly based on/infleunced by certain regions of the world or ppls (as the others are themselves clearly based on some western societies), people say this is inherently cultural appropriation. of designs, of language, of beliefs of this and that. even in the cases where i haven't seen ppl say its stereotyped or its harmful or orientalist or etc, its still cultural appropriation bc its showing things clearly infleunced by nonwestern cultures..... ... but then. im sorry this is what trips me up. if this is Inherently cultural appropriation and Inherently bad,,,, than,,, how do you have represention? how do you have a fantasy world which then isnt an entire globe or globes of western european cultures essentislly? because saying "well just invent wholly new things for everyone!!!" doesnt rly work. everything we create like that is inherently bound by a series of things no matter how hard we try to be "original" - and especially if youre trying to make it more grounded in reality that just.. doesnt work. these things inherently are using whichever western language as the set language, and a series of cultural and historical things to draw from...... so........ is it better to just,,, have a diverse cast but with no unique or other cultural infleunces at all, and just shove them all in a clearly western-based fantasy? but then ppl dont like that either... and if english and such and western infleunces can exist, why is it that it must inherently be bad or problamatic or stealing to adapt other cultures, places, regions, languages into that? to try to show and adapt at least to an extent the actual diversity of the world..?

and im really really not saying that there do not exist genuinely offensive and harmful and stereotyped and orientalist and noble savage and villainous and everything else ways that this has been done in. thats not what im saying at all, bc there have been and are and its an issue... im speaking and asking,,, more broadly. bc ive seen this be said plenty more broadly abt the adaptation of cultures in any way rly

[neithercrazynorfree]

Time to get WAY TOO DEEP about voltron and I'm only like 30 min in. I'm actually blown away by the writing like I'm actually so engaged and constantly entertained. This is such a good, fun, and exciting first episode. I'm also thinking about how this came out the same year as stranger things and how they were both huge pop culture phenomenons in their own respect (ig voltron is more niche but for the chronically online you Know), both with their own connection to the 80s and 80s genre fiction tropes, as well as this main cast of tropey friends whose bond you're immediately invested in. That's about all I have but I just find that interesting.

I also noticed how characters refer a lot to "energy" like keith does it twice and haggar does it once, also Lance is shown to receive psychic downloads from the 5D (the blue lion's consciousness). There is something fatalistic about the boundaries being set by the show. Like I'm getting astrology vibes from the way Allura is describing how the lions choose their pilots based on personality traits. Then she straight up says this

I'm poking holes in a kids show for babies there is literally a fart joke in this episode but was this just a cop out so they dont have to explain what quintessence is? Bc just because "science" can't explain it doesn't mean it can't be explained, I think. Or like, why is something mystical ultimately shrouded in mystery. If Alteans have this super advanced technology figured out and were able to create voltron in the first place shouldn't they understand and be able to explain what is happening. Idk I don't even mean to critique it for something that ultimately actually doesn't matter bc they actually just dgaf about the specifics and are trying to move the story along but I have a theory that the downfall of vld was so traumatic in part bc all of this talk about destiny and the "universe" (quintessence, which really isnt the same but its like this vague mystical concept) choosing these heroes was an extremely comforting concept and then their ruin felt so pointless and empty

[hauntsthenarrative]

trust me i completely understand ur point of view (sorry for the consistent yapping LMAOAOOAOA)

which is why I emphasized that i UNDERSTAND shipping them but that people have to keep everything else in mind. i wasnt exactly saying their dynamic is cute, rather it was understandable in terms of why people would like them together (ex. the interaction they had with the night time window screen, which is of course dark as fuck but also shows how, at least to curly, similar interactions with anya were a normal thing, proving them to be close (intimate) which i didnt mean in a romantic way necessarily but rather in a platonic way trust).

i understand how this could undermine the point of the game (and in a LOT of content with this ship IT DOES. AND IT PISSES ME OFF. A LOT.) but im just defending it bc ive seen some writing and art that does incorporate the more complex aspects of their dynamic and what happened in the game into this 'relationship'/pairing, and work out how exactly they might go about dealing with everything in alternate scenarios.

I say this in the sense of a lot of them acknowledging what Curly could have done better, which in my opinion wasn't much due to the fact that any incident would lead to a massive paydock in everyones check. reminder that anya was the one who needed the most money compared to the rest, and as they were all getting laid off, curly took this into account in his decision. the game isnt soley critiquing rape culture, rather capitalism, as chances are curly would have taken more action and restraints against jimmy if it wasnt going to harm anya (again, he was probably going to deal with things in a legal way getting back, and knew that if anya wanted to sue him/the company she wouldnt be able to with the lack of funds from reporting the incident on the direct mission, which is something he was aware of, as you said, because of his closeness to the company).

The whole point of the game was the kind of environment and situations capitalistic companies put ppl in (ex. the pay dock that would deadass fuck up everyones life). this put curly in a situation where any normal person wouldnt do anything IN THAT SPECIFIC MOMENT. the point of the game is all of us are curly. capitalism is bad yadayada i could go a lot more in depth but i lowkey dont have that much energy rn. there are some rlly good posts about it though (a lot of marxist views. they are super interesting to look at fr i highly recommend)

I also think that angst pairings works in this particular situation, which is mainly how i personally view it. also im pretty sure i saw a lot of people say some of the game makers have reposted stuff w the pairing, which is also why im defending it a little, since even the creators dont think its completely messed up, meaning it could have, or might have worked, and isnt wrongful to promote as long as people keep curlys shitty actions in mind.

but yeah other than that stuff ofc i agree with your view and am glad you answered me w that, its def a lot to think about!

...aaaaand i think that if someone liked the pairing it would have to be within very specific circumstances/contexts that deal with the actual tricky stuff, but that its not completely fucked up.

Caught her just in time

(This is for the Anya x Curly shippers out there)

Song: Ladyfingers - Herb Alpert

[hasarjunadoneanythingwrong]

Sakurai's writing oftentimes feels like I'm reading a fanfic. That isn't always a bad thing, because Shimousa was alright (save for getting wordy in places), there were things I liked about Lostbelt 2 I liked (Napoleon was a major focus but at least he was a lot of fun!), and so far Heian-kyo is reading like *good* fanfic. I actually like how it touches on things like Nursery Rhyme's shapeshifting and having a specific form for this chapter, for example. The repetitive-ness and over-explaining is still her biggest problem in my book, and I feel if someone could critique/edit her scripts she could revise them to be less so.

On the other hand, everyone complains about the Edmond Dantes cameos but as for me, I don't care. Heck, I kind of enjoy them. Sincerely I want Edmond Dantes to appear randomly in everything Sakurai writes from now on. I'm hoping he just randomly shows up in Heian-kyo for no reason at all. He just walks on set and calls Limbo a little bitch and then leaves.

gonna be 100% honest i dont even clock her as being more wordy than other fate writers like why would we play the fate game if words werent something we could handle. i agree editing would help but it really isnt just for her. like has anyone who thinks she 'goes on and on' or whatever read any other chapter when the writer gets really into a bit they have An Opinion on. or are being dramatic. or chuuni. or horny. like ??????????

and honestly if shes the only one whos gonna use dantes then fucking let her. it harms no one and i like seeing him show up for 30 seconds to give us a thumbs up its not like it messes up immersion to say 'the guy that lives in your head sometimes....shows up in your head' especially when its like a dream sequence like why are we mad at that. does that not make sense. i thought people got mad when stuff happens to the mc mentally and none of the servants who are allegedly watching out for that sort of thing do anything if anything we should be asking why tf beni enma and merlin and any of the other servants who can dreamwalk arent also there helping out.

[leviaana]

sorry I’m not really familiar with specific writers of ML, what are your critiques of jeremy zag’s writing??

no worries, im not sure how much criticism I can share because my brain is tiny and i dont properly remember what was told to me in private and what is common knowledge.

but to keep it simple, his writing is usually one dimensional with your average white male lead (see zak storm, power players, ghostforce) and really lacks any substance that isnt just "have this kids show, I want to sell toys". hes been criticized for whitewashing his characters (like marinette and originally fei too, an issue that thankfully has been fixed but...eh). hes ignored the criticism of brazilian fans who felt misrepresented by "lady butterfly", an OC that hes now just shoving into the miraculous universe because hes incapable of writing a successful show, which led him to rely on spin offs. theres muuch more but im going to stop here because i dont want to overshare lol.

if you watch any zag show other than ml and it feels like it hasnt been made by the same creator, its because yes, its hasnt.

cause the entire concept of ml that made ml great to begin with was created by thomas astruc. zag bought himself in on it and now, hes pushing the narrative of being *the* creator of miraculous. (even spreading lies on how he "came up" with the idea to create miraculous in an interview)

im not trying to cancel him rn or anything and funnily, i really WANT to love and enjoy awakening. im just scratching the *surface* of my concerns with this man.

I'm not going to post more opinions on this because I want my blog to stay un-salty, also i dont want to ruin anyones fun and anticipation!

feel free to send me other asks though♡

[uselessheretic]

It’s really unnerving to see people still subtly pushing the conspiracy theory that guz khan leaving is linked to Palestine, especially since it will just casually be dropped in among sentiments that TW is anti-Black, as if it’s some inherent quality of his rather than specific criticisms of RD. Do anti-semitic assumptions just somehow not exist when when we’re talking about fandom bigotry?

oh my god the way people talk about guz khan is sooo weird. like i LOVE ivan i ADORE ivan and i LOOOVE guz khan but theres zero reason to assume that a side character being cut is tied to a racist decision on the creators part especially when we already know that s2 has received budget cuts.

like guz ending his tweet threat by going back to his activism just doesnt read as him subtly trying to signal to the fans that he was cut for advocacy. people were trying to tie this to con too which?????? why would he have a say and also he seems friendly with guz???????

or trying to say its proof that taika is pro israel with "you can tell bc taikas never spoken about palestine" when honestly? i think taika is one of the few celebrities where he probably should not talk about palestine! i think it could potentially be detrimental where people would go hard on him being an antisemite and itd take focus away from palestine. like honestly him being quiet on it is fr for the better? and i dont see why we would assume the worst in him when his politics around indigenous activism would point towards him more likely leaning toward being pro palestine like id be shocked if he was a zionist.

also reservation dogs being used as proof that taika is antiblack is soooo wild because 1. the way people talk about RD is literally so overblown because i think it can be improved and theres legit criticisms around the lack of lack of black native representation, but overall its like? fine? people make it sound like its built on constant antiblackness and it just isnt. the main issue is fr a lack of diversity which isnt the worst thing in the world and is not bad enough to encourage people to not watch the show because RD is a reaaaally good show 😭 but its also funny bc for the critique its also something that like... isnt even taikas fault really lmao like its his show too but that responsibility imho lands a lot more heavily on the co-creator where taika has said that he took a step back from writing to leave it to the indigenous american writers to portray their experiences. idk like i think ppl overstate his culpability in that when its more accurately his co creators responsibility who has like? gotten black native rep in the writers room in response.

anyways reservation dogs is really good and people need to chill with guz khan because i think the fans are making it worse bc its always possible he could come back for a third season but that gets less likely w the way fans are reacting like this :(

[i-am-extremely-mad]

When you realize that this is a reaction to Lily Orchard's post, which is just a small example of her blatant media illiteracy, lack of any critical thinking and lack of reading comprehension, the disturbing fact that she is still popular in certain fandom circles despite the numerous controversies surrounding her:

"Anonymous asked:

If you could put the problems with Legend of Korra into microcosm, how would you do that?

lily-orchard answered:

Korra, an adult woman and the fucking Avatar, makes a decision about her own training that she is well within her right to make, and her father steps in to overrule her while Tenzin glares at her for speaking.

And the only one who sees a problem with this is the season's villain."

Otherwise, a good response to that from your side, I really have nothing to add:

"#well like yeah. that was the point. thats like. why he was the villain.

#he was manipulating her and playing her off her overbearing father and teacher who were obviously being frustrating/inadequate

#the existence of this in the show isn't misogynistic imo lol. the fandom response ? now the fandom response was misogynistic

#like Unalaq isnt the villain for being on Korra's side here he's the villain because he doesn't care about her one iota outside of how he

#can use her to gain power 💀"

On the other hand, I would disagree with this:

"#I think you can make some very valid critiques re: how this kind of makes strawmen out of some of the villains

#(cough red lotus cough) and how it wasnt executed perfectly but. THIS SPECIFICALLY is always so misrepresented like 😭 yall…

#tlok"

This post almost perfectly describes and answer what is the problem with Red Lotus anarcho-primitivist politics:

https://www.tumblr.com/jennawynn/737396673430618112/a-little-advice-from-someone-studying-extremist

Anyway back to what the problem is with Lily Orchard, there are many people who have problems with her, from very bad made reviews to her bad writing tips:

And if this is true, she's a disgusting person in real life too:

avatar fandom will watch Korra and go "this villain makes some salient points... which means the point of the show is that everything the villain says is wrong 😟" like. no... the point is that people who make very salient points dont always have the best of intentions, or your best interests at heart, despite saying/doing things you agree with... close enough though... I guess....

[justanotherpersonsuniverse]

Cap rants about Thomas Astruc without any direction or point

I love Alix being Aro, however it fucking bites to me cause

okay- it doesn’t bite because I ship Alix with people- like- all of those ships? Those are self indulgence and in specific aus where I acknowledge the fact it’s an au where she isnt Aro and I love to write Alix as aro in my fics too (And I write her demi-romantic when I don’t)

but its just that- the same guy who said she was Aro

also said Alix was her own Grandma which is how Present Alix got her watch which is like dude

Of course, according to Thomas this is just a misconception which, great! No incest.

I love the idea of Alix adopting a bunch of chaos children from like the 1700s! i wanna see that! Show me that! Show me Bunnyx with a duckling line of rascal children!

However I guess my main issues are how he treats the fans who like- misinterpreted his very Vague answer- and calls them “Toxic people (who) like to invent reasons to hate” and this extend to people who hope Chloe gets a redemption arc- and so on and so forth. 

He’s biased as hell, when people give him critique and questions he says it condescendingly or implying things that never come to fruition and then shuts it down later when someone asks about it.

He could’ve clarified Alix adopted kids. But he didnt, and he judged people for the misunderstanding very very harshly?

Thomas just, doesn’t like being wrong I guess. Which is, an ugh trait for a director to have. This was a weird rant-

I like Aro Alix, wish Thomas wasn’t weird about how to give representation! And his own characters!

Fuck man,

[antiloreolympus]

16 Anti LO Asks

1. Listen, i know it may hurt to get criticism, but both Rachel and her fans need to realize that’s just part of life, but more so it shows a really bad side to them in how defensive and irrational they get when it comes to critique.

If they’re genuinely proud of their work and stand by it, then they should allow it to be interpreted and dissected on its own merits, not her going on instsgram or twitter to complain people “don’t get her work” and all criticism is unwarranted (which some is, but the vast majority isn’t). Once you put something out into the world, it’s not wholly yours anymore, and I don’t think Rachel gets that. I’m not saying she has to love every critique she gets, but the reactions to get defensive and hostile over it shows a lot more about them than they seem to realize. Critique can be a good learning experience to change what you can in your current project and not carry those mistakes in your next work, not double down you have “haters” and say you’re work is perfect as is. Creating that bubble around yourself is bound to burst at some point, and it won’t be fun when reality pops it. 

2. was christmas shopping today (yay capitalism) and i saw an LO stan on the amazon reviews saying LO is a worldwide hit because its "number one in romance graphic novels" and i really dont have the heart to tell them being number one in those very specifics categories isnt actually very good. to get even on the amazon bestsellers list you need to sell thousands of copies an hour, to get on those very specific lists you need to sell like ... five copies. i doubt LO fans know that though.

3. I wish LO focused on other characters not just because of its title but because I feel like it’s what hurting the story.

Yes Persphone and Hades are the main characters, but too much time is dedicated to them where the built up meant nothing to a lot of fans. And it’s because it’s too centric around them. For plots I feel like characters follow a plot but LO the plot is all the characters but because no other character is developed it’s all HxP

I think we would benifit Hermes and Aphrodite talking without HXP around or more Hestia and Poseidon and the other traitors interacting. Because the story tells us that Hera Hestia and Demeter are close but Demeter keeps them at arms length because of Zeus mostly, but what is their releationship actually like. Does Hestia know that Persephone is a feeling goddess and trying to protect Persephone and Demeter or she doesn’t know because “she’s a snitch”. Why don’t hades and Demeter get along? Is it cause he’s a drunk? What about before that? When he was that shy nervous guy? What’s Poseidon’s relationship with the ladies? Poseidon and his wife?

What about the three furies? I loved their art when they attacked the photographer and they had a set up to being interesting characters but RS kinda buried them in blindly supporting Persephone so now they don’t need to be a character just a side line space filler.

Like I feel like something what I wrote was what RS had in mind but she keeps going back to HXP because she has these plot points that she likes about them more but if she spent more time developing her characters instead of the week by week moon I bet it would improve. Idk if there will be a way to make me like HxP but I don’t think it’s out there door to like LO

4. RS has done nothing to show us that Persephone has grown up at all during this. She looks the same and acts the same. Other than her outbursts that she tried so hard to hide from her life in the mortal realm I honestly feel like her character has learned nothing. She’s still naive, she still looks like a sexualized teen but not even just that RS tries to make her look like a “wife” with kids with hades or the Jackie Kennedy look but I think all it does is write “baby bride” on her. It makes hades look bad Persephone look bad. If flash backs or anything had consistency I think it’d be better but they don’t. 

5. (for anti lo ask) prev anon mentioned short haired perse and rs looking the same and yeah, if u go to rs interview with webtoon (on the air), the thumbnail with the pink lighting on rs next to short haired perse just made me go 😟😟

6. i agree w/ that one anon it seems maybe RS might try and "redeem" demeter (why she needs "redeeming" is beyond me but w/e) but i just dont buy she will do it well given her track record (demeter will likely just have to bow down to hades as her "redemption") but also i just know the fans wont accept it. theyve hated demeter for far too long and always side with hxp no matter what that now finally giving demeter even a little nuance just wont work. theyll still see her as evil in the end.

7. i think the thing too with lO underperforming in sales is because for the most part people want more general mythology, not single relationships or hymns unless its very specific under what context theyre in. like TSOA is still under the Iliad, Circe is still under the Odyssey, PJO is more general myth, Hadestown is under Orpheus and Eurydice, etc. Like the concept of LO would be fine as an anthology series, not trying to be about one relationship and forcing every other myth into it.

8. LMAO im glad im not the only one who finds it lowkey insulting rachel just throws in food she found off a greek food google search and thinks thats all she needs to do to make it "greek". like honey, no, it's still a deeply american-praising work set in NYC with american characters with neon colored skin from a bad 1980s comedy/drama who just happen to have greek names. ive never seen something claiming to be greek so far removed from greece, and percy jackson literally takes place IN america.

9. if artemis ends up a late game ~shock twist~ villain i might actually lose it, especially if it comes along with redeeming a r//pist.

10. considering rachel thinks baklava and loukoumi are greek origin foods (over turkey and syria) she probably also thinks fortune cookies and eggrolls are originally from china too instead of the chinese immigrants in california, or that german chocolate cake is actually from germany over some guy from texas with the last name german.

11. i legit do not understand why there is such a heavy 80s and 60s nostalgia in lo when its like?? rachel your demographic is almost entirely born after 2000 why would any of them care about 60s fashion or references from the 80s?? also isnt it supposed to be modern anyway? why is the timeline and aesthetics so jumbled? what purpose is there to that exactly?

12. "Olympus Guardian" has an episode surrounding Hades and Persephone and although there are still creative liberties with how the myth is retold to keep it palatable for the target audience, all of the gods (especially Demeter and to a lesser extent, Zeus) are portrayed in a much more respectful, likable and nuanced manner than what LO is trying to tell and it's just one episode and yet it's written much more better! Also, a webcomic I would highly recommend in regards to HxP would be "Mythos Redone" by @theatomicboom. It's a very new and refreshing take on the couple.

13. idk why yall are shocked rachel once again did no research and slapped in completely wrong food/items/aesthetics in this comic. a whole big "moment" in s1 was persephone beating hades at chess. you know, a game that doesnt exist until 500 AD at the earliest in INDIA, which is a shocker, i know, NOT ancient greece! wow!!

14. I saw some people in the comments of the newest episode give an analysis saying that the loukoumi was supposed to be a metaphor for Persephone’s body and that by spewing all that she was trying to indirectly ask if he would be “disappointed” that she was “not what he was expecting (i.e. a virgin)”. Meanwhile I’m just sitting here thinking that the dialogue was just unrealistic as hell. What’s your take on it?

From OP: I’m not sure since I also saw someone else interpret this as having to do with people’s perspectives of her (Persephone) in general. I think it can be interpreted in different ways but I mostly just saw it as a way to distract Hades by moving onto a different subject tbh. Especially since people do it all the time without any meaning behind it.

15. if demeter is abusive then hades is a million times worse than abusive. he oversteps any boundaries persephone tries to set up, he objectifies her, he forces her to admit things to him she isnt comfortable with, he controls where she lives, her money, and now basically controls her freedom, belittles her choices, and he screams at her at even the tiniest bit of pushback. how is demeter being a well meaning if not flawed mother "abusive" but hes "romantic"? make it make sense, please.

16. i just dont want rachel even looking at another mythology story, i dont want her depiction of herakles, i dont want to see how she'd mess up orpheus and eurydice, i dont care about her thoughts on helen, circe, and clytemnestra, i dont want her trying to depict the trojan war and the odyssey, i just dont want it. what little she's touched in LO is so wrong and downright insulting that i want her to go buzz off with some OC fairies she makes up than touch another cultures' stories ever again.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

What are you talking about when ATLA dropped on Netflix on May 15, the same day She Ra season 5 dropped, ATLA became the #1 show in the USA, leaving She Ra to its dust XD Plus in the ATLA fandom we all agree the disability rep is excellent while in She Ra I see that everyone agrees that it's ableist written by neurotypicals.

Yes, but ATLA didn't come out like this year, it came out way back in the 2000s and built a cult following over a long time.

(Having both shows come out on the same day seems like a DELIBERATE ATTEMPT to crush She-Ra's viewings, I'm not going to lie.)

The disability rep in ATLA is a blind person who isnt actually blind because she can see with her feet. And I can say with certainty Toph was not written by blind people. There is one other disabled character in the show, but he is a very minor character in one or two episodes.

The disability rep in She-Ra was, as misguided as it can sometimes be, written by at least some actually disabled people, for an actually disabled character, not a character who subverts their disability with some magical superpower.  

(EDIT: Toph is actually disabled, and yeah, there are points where her blindness causes her a lot of issues, and these moments are well handled. However, I don’t think people can relate much to the whole seeing-the-area-with-magic thing, and nobody bothers to commit to a realistically disabled character who hasn’t got these exit routes.)

I’ll always appreciate that She-Ra took that risk by actually deliberately writing an autistic character, and telling everyone when the show ended that yes, she has always been written as autistic. It exposes them to a shit ton of criticism, especially because of some of the sloppier ways she was handled (mostly how other characters treated her). However, they had the balls to go through with what they started, and even write autism-specific stories.    

This is, unfortunately a million light years ahead from when people write characters “inspired” by autistic people but backpedal enormously whenever anyone asks if the character is autistic, because the show writers had been treating their characteristics like a nuisance or a gag the entire time and didn’t want to face critique because of it.     

Sheldon from Big Bang Theory was celebrated as an autistic character, until the creators “retconned” that out of him as soon as people noticed he was a pretty debasing character.  Sherlock Holmes in BBC is massively coded as autistic but in such a meanspirited way, and once again, BBC decided to Word of God him as Allistic.  Lemongrab in Adventure Time, and Peridot in Steven Universe, are two primary examples of characters who were inspired by autistic people, written to have specifically autistic characteristics, and then word-of-godded as “definitely not autistic, there’s something else wrong with them”. 

[misterbitches]

wait honsetly i do not give a shit if u like couples that i think are dumb or poorly written so if u get offended by this it’s ur fault

but im confused

am i stupid for not understanding the relationship between that high schooler and the old man? like....what am i missing here? it’s not healthy, or right, and it doesn’t really matter. it doesn’t mean no one can like it but i’m like confused at pretending that it’s like positive and healthy or whatever like at best it’s embarrassing and fucking stupid at worst it’s uhhhhh gross and probably illegal (not that it matterse bc crime is BS and this person wouldnt be persecuted anyway so)

like i know these writers don’t care, can’t write, think writing “shocking” things that everyone else has already done is like a big deal but they are doing the exact thing like with every ~pRobLEmAtIc~ storyline—which btw we need to start calling it what it is: misogynist, patriarchal, capital inducing, transphobic, toxic, fucking strange and also just a stupid way to get people to absorb information. like being specific about the actual problems not just atlking around it and alos breaking it down—it’s coercing people into liking it because it’s not about the content in their differences. they barely take that into account. i’m kind of surprised at the idea of longterm positivity in a relationship that cannot withstand that. and people do grow up and realize. 

i get their existence, i get why people would like it, but i don’t think you can sort of project positive things onto a relationship that is simply not positive and is not intended to be by the writers nature. even if it is accepted because harm is the norm, it upholds whatever power structures, so it’s like well fighting against that is the real story. like they exist but it’s not some statement about the lgbtq+ community particularly because that sort of relationship is common (in all communities) and uh not very good like i said and it NEEDS to be saved because that’s what these structures rely on it relies on being beholden to someone that you have no chance in matching at any point. it’s honestly a literal drag!

they dont hvae to break up or whatever but i kind of don’t get removing that reality from them. i mean i do because again this is what the writers do which is why it isnt effective, transgressive, or particularly fun (to me) and it’s so fucking common. it’s just like this IS the norm so it kind of needs to be pushed against.  i know they donnt give a shit but some of the comments im like.... am i imissing something did he like time travel to be an acceptable age or are we gonna accept he was lurking around a fuckin (immature as fuck) teenager. 

there’s def things that i like that i am also like “wow this is so gross” lmao there’s this brazilian movie about two brothers in a rship and they have an age gap and terrible parents and me and my best friend watched it when we were younger so we have like this place for it in our memory but we knew, and ofc back then, the immensely fucked up thing we were seeing. i can only stomach itif im extremely bored and it’s few and far between because IT IS S OFUCKING WEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD but they have good chemistry but it’s not like i dont see it. the film exists in a fake world too but idk enough about the background of the film and the filmmaker to know what their point was but i do know that it was a huge deal ther ebc gay and also the taboo nature and it was like. u know. bonkers lmao. also they were just two white brazilian dudes with money, probably some missing class commentary. in its nature everything about it is not something that i like (not reality of brazil idc abt white brazilians) and ummmm being fucking related. but look you know it was fucking fukced up and weird and the dudes did have chemistry. like seriously that movie so gross lmao so like we all have the capacity but im not gonna pretend it fucking makes sense like EW AND i wanted them to end up togehter but i still yell “EWWW NOOOOO NO NO but theyre so hot they have good chemistry OH NO NO NO NO NO NO NO THIS IS OS BAD OH NO WHY IS THEIR DAD OKAY WITH IT OH NO WHAT AM I WATCHING?” and theyre so close it is SINCERELY creepy and the movie is like HERE U GO GUYS and u absolutely do not feel comfortable. it’s actually uncanny because everyone is comfortable with it in their lives that it makes it even more weird. it’s like picking at you consistently, you can’t ever forget. i don’t like that these shows make you forget. they allow you to remove this fucked up background and history and/or traumatic shit from your memory SIMPLY for enjoyment. and that’s not how life works, nor art. it isnt just there. and they say this has meaning. 

idk anyways that’s just how i feel cos i only thought whatshisface was like idk 5 yrs older than him and that wouldnt be better to me but i was rly like this nigga is 12 yrs older than him? bitch that’s literally r. kelly like im not joking LMAO im just like how r u pushing thirty dating a teenager my nigga i cannotttttt lmaoooo like ARE U NOT EMBARRASSED HOMIE? also like on a sociopolitical level this message actually fucking sucks like their marriage is shitty tbqh  lmao it took forever for taiwan to get to where it is and there’s still massive issues with their marriage laws (and what is afforded to people with marriage; just like eveyrwhere. marriage is important because of so many laws and rights and that is why it is necessary not just in the ceremony) so it’s like flabbergasting frankly people hav elike actually isssues or like papa+daddy about taiwan and these bozos are getting married like it’s boring at this point my god

idk

go back to film school lmao

imagine if this world gave a shit about  minorities and poor people even it’s literally just ......fuck man lmao i just cant let things rest. i didnt get this stupid degree and also just live 29 yrs on this earth to be able to like.....watch garbage without a critique so the garbage can continue meanwhile artists who give a shit have a harder time making things like listen kid. WRITE YOUR SCRIPTS. THESE FUCKERS CAN, YOU DO IT. look at this garbage! u can!!!! this is the advice i do not take myself

[n-ugg]

I didn't expect to get tagged but here we are. As you all will be able to tell in a bit, I am a massive Quackity fan

Thank you for tagging me @skeetlehands!

who is your favourite member on the smp?

Look, I love them all but these have a special place in my heart.

Quackity, Slimecicle (I am fully aware he just joined but I still love him), Schlatt, Tubbo, Eret, AweSamdude, and Ponk.

They're just great in and out of character and just have comforting vibes.

when did you first start watching the smp and what made you get into it?

I gotten in during the Pogtopia era since it took me a while to get access to the streams.

I mainly gotten in with the Sad-ist War animatics along with me trying to catch up on Quackity's VODS. Just someone that I was already familiar with being an easier shift into story and learning others through him

what is your favourite part about watching the smp?

Just watching everyone interact with other and just seeing the plot progress in real time. Its literally just dnd but with extra steps but I enjoy it so much

The improv that they all do is amazing and how everyone have different approaches to their characters makes my writer's side so happy with dissecting everything.

What piece of cursed lore is your favourite

That Wilbur canonically fucked a fish and Philza canonically fucked a Samasung fridge and just seeing the fanbase try to change into something that will at least make a bit more sense.

Im included in this, I basically joined the side that has Sally being a mermaid shapeshifting pirate. Mainly because of pirate Fundy

Who is your favorite duo on the smp

Slimecicle and Ranboo: They're the same person but in different fonts, you can convince me otherwise

Schlatt and Quackity: They managed to be super funny together with all of the jokes and balanced with making a very realistic abusive relationship work. It was always fun seeing them flirt with each other for a joke then get hit with whiplash when canon comes in to remind me that this isnt healthy

Tubbo and Tommy: They're two dumbasses who share the same braincell but then they constantly lose it and Tubbo mainly has custody of it

Wilbur and Schlatt: I just enjoy seeing Schlatt messing with Wilbur and occasionally flirts with him to get Wilbur more pissed off

Who are your comfort streamers

Quackity and Slimecicle are comfort streamers

Eret, Fundy, and AweSamdude are my comfort people (meaning I dont watch them as much but I find comfort in their presence. And the other two are also under this category)

Who is your favorite character

Quackity due to how complex his character is and yet how it looks so simple

Schlatt because is just a villian who knows how to play the game without getting caught

Tubbo, watching him trying to be hopeful with everything destroy around him and he just slowly become used to everything going wrong

AweSamdude because he is just trying his best to be a father figure others and I just got family issues

Who do you think the best actor(s) on the smp

Imma skip over the ones that we all already said and get into the ones that dont get enough praise

Quackity: Just how he managed to make his character seem so basic but in reality its really complex. And just seeing the shift from him being a chaotic force of nature to being a serious character that is trying his best to reach something that has been hanging over his head is just *chefs kiss* and he always delivers amazing lines on the spot.

BadBoyHalo: He is doing great right now, even though he is a bit rusty with starting he still manages to get into character and stay in character the entire time. When slowly easing in, you can tell its a bit forced but once he finds his footing, he knows how to deliver his lines.

AweSamdude: His entire bit where he was getting rescued from the egg fucking hurt. How he sounded weak from the entire thing and tired to where he just wanted to rest was so well. And I know he can act more energetic when he was accidentally dragged into playing a cop during Quackity's and Bad's date

Fundy: You guys need to give him more praise for his acting because he is fucking amazing at it. The little touches to how he voice when speaks is so good along with his body language in game. He knows what he's fucking doing and I love him for that. And when he snapped, it made complete sense if you payed attention to his character

I didnt add Ranboo because he's automatically at the top section due to him being a dnd player. Same goes to Slimecicle even though he hasnt acted yet. I dont make the rules. You play dnd, you know how to act

What are your favorite quotes

I dont have favorite quotes, just dialog heavy scenes.

Before Doomsday, Quackity going to take his horse far away from L'Manberg, it being the one thing he cares about. It was just so good

The entire Schlatt and Quackity argument in front of the white house

The meeting between Schlatt and Quackity with Schlatt yelling out to him in a taunting way to where Tommy and Quackity are trying to figure out what happened to the tnt. I constantly rewatch it to feel the adrinaline pumping to feel something

Wilbur's slow descend into insanity and talking to Tommy. Just showing his paranoia and fears consuming him, him projecting his fears into Tommy as an attempt of manipulation, and his hero complex shift into villian one

Schlatt's winning speech of him projecting it as something that was bound to happen no matter what. The amount of charisma and confidence that was in his voice as I was watching Tommy hiding underground in fear was just a perfect scene

Tommy's argument with Dream when everyone is protecting Tommy. Its the small details of Tommy taunting Dream to kill him, knowing he wont no matter what. Him telling everyone to protect Tubbo and everyone listening without hesitation.

The debate that Quackity and Dream had for like 11 or 14 minutes. All of that was completely unprompted unscripted, it was just so satisfying seeing someone stand up against Dream for the first time and actually beating him. Sure it was in a verble conflict but it still counts as a defeat

Be honest, who do you simp for? (Ayo if anyone says Tommy or Tubbo I will🗡)

Schlatt, Quackity, and Slimecicle

Its pretty obvious, I dont really try to hide it

Whats your favorite stream

Uhhhh I dont exactly have one so none I guess

Whats your least favorite streams

Im sorry, but all of the Jackbox stream. You need a specific group of people to play together in order to actually make it funny and keeping the energy throughout the entire thing.

After a bit later, everyone has a tendency of pandering to the audience and repeat jokes. They managed to beat jokes to the ground faster than Tiktok AND Twitter.

Dont get me started with DreamTeam being in there. They're funny in thier own rights but the shipping jokes get so unfunny so quick and they dont know how bounce off of others well. The only exception to this is when Quackity, Velvet, and Ant were playing with Sapnap and Dream. And thats because they decided to mess with the straight white guys into accidently saying offensive shit and seeing those two suffer with trying tiptoe around was so amusing

Whats something about the smp fandom thay makes you sad

This doesnt get me sad, just frustrated and its mostly towards dsmptok and dsmptwt but sometimes this fandom doesnt fucking know how to analyze characters. Like when everyone jumped on Tubbo on being the bad guy when he was a kid trying to use old tatics that knows that worked before and stand up for himself

How when one person decides to do something that they believe is right, everyone just throws the term villian arc around

When one person does one good thing the suddenly everyone accepts into them being good and not ever looking into it.

For fucks sakes, I saw people keep saying that Quackity was turning into Dream or Wilbur and I just sat there being confused on how they conntected those dots that were in different books.

Its so frustrating to read through. But here on dsmpblr, you guys actually understand character analysis, are able to critique them and able to love whoever you enjoy.

Another thing is how this fanbase really puts everyone on a pedestal or objectify them. Just completely forgetting that they're human and treat the streamer as a character. Like, yeah they're playing up a persona whenever they're making content but theres a difference and you shouldn't hold them up like that.

You cant use the argument of "They're young, they dont know any better", when I first entered my first fandom (I was like 11/12), I fully understood that theres a boundary between me and the creator. What they are on screen is a persona but they're still human and I should treat them as such. Its just something that bugs me and its unnerving to see whenever people start getting wierd about it

Final bit is just how the twitch chat acts. They all force the streamer to follow the 'main' plot of it being Tommy or Techno or whoever the fandom chooses to have a favorite, completely ignoring the fact that they are their own character. No one wants to meta game because where is the fun in that but the fucking chat gets so annoying when the streamer goes against fanfavorite of the week. It drains the fun of it being multiple pov's and different characters.

When Slimecicle was barely starting stream I saw so many people spam "Go with Ranboo" and not let him even get into lore first. I hated that I knew it was coming but it was still so fucking frustrating seeing them try to boss him around. Please just let people live outside of the 'main' plot, not everything revolves around your favorites. Now shut the fuck up and let them play

What about the smp fandom that makes you happy?

The people that create art, animatics, theories, playlist, or write oneshots

All of you creators are great and deserve so much more respect then what the fandom gives you because jesus fucking christ they're all so fucking rude. You guys are the ones that are carrying this fandom on your backs and I fucking respect yall for that

________________

Time for da spead: @nixavia @dambette404 and @mocha-is-lost yall dont need to join.....unless😳😳😳

[agent-cupcake]

can i ask what kind of person the reader in the story w claude is supposed to be? im pretty sure this was just me misreading stuff but at first i kind of got the image that they're like a competent assassin kind of person (like really unlike how it usually is in reader inserts) but then they were so devoted to claude and in the second part at first i assumed they were like, smart or cunning enough to keep up with yuri at least but then they seemed shy around him and there were also implications that claude manipulated either the reader or the reader and yuri as well but i didn't fully pick up on that and still cant really see it? which btw isnt bcus of the way u wrote it at all, im pretty sure its deadass just me being socially inept but like idk the readers personality to me seems pretty hard to nail down, esp because initially i thought they were maybe just more vulnerable around claude but when yuri showed up later on they also seemed kind of 'weak' around him so i think i might've just gotten a wrong first impression, or was this on purpose? u dont have to answer this ofc if u don't want to!! i think its really just me being kind of dumb but im kinda having a hard time with it lol

No!!! You’re not dumb at all! I will willingly admit that you’re right in saying the reader’s personality is dreadfully inconsistent, that’s on me 100%.. you don’t need to put yourself down to feed my ego, what you’re saying is a totally valid critique!

So now that I’ve so graciously accepted your adorable criticism, I am going to make excuses... Sorry... Anyway, the best one I can muster to explain the inconsistency for that is that I wrote the first part last... January? I think. I was working on it last Christmas. I mentioned it in an ask before, but Alethia was very specifically a one-shot, I had no follow-up plans and honestly, I didn’t even mentally structure any ideas about what could happen afterwards. Generally, that’s how I write because I don’t think even a half step in front of myself. So, because of that, when I was writing Dolos, I didn’t really go in with the intention of writing with the same character because that “character” was never meant to exist outside that particular story, I was using a reactionary stand-in to suit the story I concocted and some vague ideas I had about how what Claude did would have affected her. 

If I wanna start pulling some even cheaper excuses, I can try and say that Claude’s horrible breach of trust made her far more insecure than she would have been beforehand. Trust issues, insecurity, emotionally unstable... Basically, just a lot more vulnerable. He kinda destroyed something she saw as the measure of her self worth and weaponized her loyalty and affection for him, destabilizing two key components of how she defined herself. Yuri’s arrival made it worse because he and Claude are pretty similar. My thought process was that if there was one other person that would have seemed like a threat to her at that moment, it would be Yuri. Both positively and negatively, Yuri represented the flip side of what Claude was to her, so that’s kind of why I played up her nervousness/insecurity/doubt around him? But you’re still right because I don’t really know if that’s how the character from Alethia would have reacted, that’s the character I found interesting for this story. 

As far as the manipulation game, the idea was that Claude also viewed Yuri as the flip side of himself. Or, like, his alternative counterpart. Yuri’s the one who wears eye makeup and listens to alt pop punk music. Their dialogue in the DLC when they’re standing in Abyss together is one of my favorites because they’re both sneaky secretive sneaks who have a weakness for friendship monologues, drawing a pretty easy parallel between them. The reason I retconned that reader had carried a small torch (a match, if you will) for Yuri when they first met, before she and Claude were a Thing, was to set up the dynamic of possible interest. Not so much jealousy, but a precedent that the reader would already have a weakness for Yuri that Claude knew about. The whole situation was convoluted, I know, but basically, Claude was all-in betting on the fact that reader would fall prey to Yuri’s charms only to get fucked up guilt about it because, surprise, surprise, he’s not above weaponizing her emotions against her. You know, again.

Ultimately, I wouldn’t say most of the things I do with insert characters is on purpose, I create a personality to fit within the story I want to write without much interest in how they would exist independently. I will be the first to admit that it’s cheap and kind of lazy, so I’m sorry for confusing you. But... at the same time... I’m probably not going to stop. 

To me, reader insert fanfiction is like the dark rides at Disneyworld. But, like, with more dicks and fewer scary animatronics. 

I hope this cleared things up for you, or at least does a good job explaining why you’re not dumb, I’m just a hack fraud