#this show is like. incredible so far

[loverboybrightsideghost]

that's?????????????? episode 3??????????????????????????

[theerurishipper]

Local bat vigilante tries not to admit to caring about father-figure, fails

[afterlife-2004]

[ongsasuntilt]

There’s just something about this poster and the detail that Ongsa is as close to Sun as she possibly can be WITHOUT touching her.

She admires Sun from afar, but she can’t help the need to be close to her. However, she’s afraid to touch Sun because of the damage that would cause. The Earth orbits the Sun, always keeping its distance. If they were to collide it would be catastrophic not just for each other but for everyone else around them too. Yet, Ongsa is holding onto the edge of the desk, because despite her fears she wants so desperately to be close to Sun and maybe just maybe that’s stronger than her fear of the consequences…

And also Ongsa keeping her eyes on Sun the whole time to clock her reaction. If she were to open her eyes, then the veil would be lifted and Sun would know not only about her feelings but also that she’s Earth.

[caeslxys]

Something I think is extremely interesting thematically when it comes to connecting what Downfall and the ideas it tackled to the overarching narrative of campaign three is that the things Downfall made a point to showcase of Aeor—Cassida, Hallis, the visual of an aeormaton proposing to her partner, the specific and intentional decision to shed light on a far from insignificant amount of the population being civilians or refugees—is that it plays in perfect parallel across from what is happening (and, really, has been happening) to the ruidusborn on Exandria in present.

Bear with me for a moment. Aeor is ultimately a city that was collectively punished for the decisions of its leadership. We could (and, judging by the amount of discourse around this particular topic already, probably will) argue about what the Gods’ motivation for all of this was—whether it be that they could not, in the end, bear to kill their siblings or that they were terrified at the prospect of mortality—for me it is a very healthy dose of both—but for this I am much more interested in the latter. They were scared. That, really, is the driving force behind both this arc and their role in c3 as a whole.

Why I point this out is: It is far more interesting to me, especially as we go back to Bells Hells this week, to dissect the Gods and their decisions not purely on sympathetic motivation alone but as beings in the highest seat of power in the highest social class in Exandria.

So, having established that the Gods (in relation to mortals) are more a higher social class than anything we could compare to our real life understanding of divinity and that Aeor was eviscerated largely because of their fear—what is the difference between those innocents in Aeor caught in the trappings of their autocratic government leadership and a divine war on the ground, and those of the ruidusborn being manipulated both by Ludinus and by the very thing that inspired such visceral fear in the Gods to start with. I would argue very little.

I think of Cassida, doing what she genuinely thought was right and good and would save people, her son, and the object of her worship—and how that did not matter enough to any of them to spare her because of the fear they held at the very concept of mortality. I think of Liliana and Imogen, one of which we know begged for the gods to help her or send her a sign for years on years, and how every single one of their largest struggles could have been avoided had the gods loved them, their supposed children, as much as they feared what they could be. I think of how the thing that did save Imogen, in the end, was a woman who herself existed in direct defiance of the gods will. I think of that young boy, sixteen years old, that Laudna exalted on Ruidus.

I think it’s completely fair to judge Aeor’s overall society as deeply corrupt—it was!—but its leadership and police force are not a reflection of every one of its citizens. Similarly, it is fair to judge the Ruby Vanguard as corrupt—it is!—but its multiple heads of leadership and even the god-eater further are not a reflection of every one of its members.

Notably, and what I think the Hells will latch onto, this did not matter to the Gods. It did not matter that Cassida was trying to help. She was still too much of a risk. Will it matter, what Imogen does? Will it matter, if that young boy is in the blast radius when they decide to take no further chances?

I’ve seen a lot of people say that the Hells will side with the gods and I don’t think I agree. Especially as Imogen has been scolded and villainized over and over for daring to try and save her mother—who herself has been seen by some as an irredeemable evil in spite of her drive being the exact same—her family—but when it’s the Gods it’s justified? When it’s the Gods, it’s sympathetic? Too sympathetic to criticize further than “they’re family”?

I obviously do not think the Gods should die or be eaten or what have you, and I certainly don’t agree with Ludinus (though I find him much more compelling than just a variation of hubris wizard), but when talking about the Gods in Aeor and in present it isn’t really at all about their motivation or their family. It can’t be. Too many people, including our active protagonists, lives have been effected for it to be as cut and dry as “they’re family”. These are your children. They are your family, too.

[littlefankingdom]

"Tim's brothers check on him often to be sure he didn't became evil/insane."

Wrong. Tim is the one checking on every other batfam members to make sure they didn't became evil or insane, because that's always been his role. And also, y'all are really overestimating Tim's "craziness" in comparison to his siblings. He tried to make clones of his friends in his grief, okay. But like, the other shit isn't that more insane than any shit the rest of the Batfam has done or gone through. Even in Red Robin, he is acting very much like Bruce, but Bruce has done crazier shit.

Jean-Paul has done a ton of unhinged shit and being borderline evil (tried to murder Bruce multiple times, Dick and Tim) and Tim was in charge of monitoring him. Dick often switches fast from fine and cool-headed to angry and jumping into a fight, and Tim is often right by trying (and failing) to keep him in check. When Bruce is a fugitive for murder, when Tim tries to explain why he thinks Bruce could have done it, Dick loses his marbles on him, yells at him that he doesn’t deserve to be either his brother or Robin, and has to leave because he was ready to hit that kid (he confesses to Barbara that he wanted to hit Tim). And there are all the time they think Bruce got killed, where Dick jumps to attack like a rabid dog, totally forgetting about the people around and Tim, who has to try to stop him and save the situation. And Tim checking on Bruce. And Tim checking on Jason and Damian is less commun, but it does happen. And Tim not being able to handle Cass too.

That meme of the guy struggling while holding multiple people with leashes? That Tim with the Batfam.

Nobody is thinking Tim is going to become insane, he is the one supposed to stop them from becoming insane.

[aliferousdreamer]

so that's it huh

[leslieseveride]

tim "i'm not trying to be romantic" → gets his girlfriend a 1st place trophy before she even takes the detectives exam because he believes in her so much, and then writing in a little '7' next to it after she notified him that she didn't do as well as she had hoped SEEMS PRETTY FUCKING ROMANTIC TO ME.

[loptrcoptr]

The blue eye samurai fandom, for some reason

[eduobsessed]

maybe it's just me but i found the optics of "abled man tells disabled man he shouldn't try to overcome the difficulties put in his way by a deeply ableist context and should just 🌈love himself🌈 instead" a bit weird ngl ((and i say that as someone who enjoys viktor and jayce equally i'm not a jayce hater))

[verrixstudios]

What’s this?? A sneaky peaky?

Oooh man I am so proud of this so far I can’t wait to finish it :))

[elizabethrobertajones]

jump scared by the 4th Doctor saying "well" with an uncanny intonation to how 10 says it, except I thought that was just a David Tennant-ism considering he does it in everything eventually, like, that CAN'T have started with him copying this cadence and absorbing it into his being? Right?

[infizero]

btw i fucking LOVE that little part from gerald's journal where he says that some of the researchers dont think maria's even actually ill because she looks fine physically. them acknowledging the kind of ableism that comes with invisible disabilities really caught me by surprise and i love it

[hauntingofhouses]

Seeing fan discussions about Blue Eye Samurai and especially Mizu's identity is so annoying sometimes. So let me just talk about it real quick.

First off, I have to emphasise that different interpretations of the text are always important when discussing fiction. That's how the whole branch of literary studies came to be, and what literary criticism and analysis is all about: people would each have their own interpretation of what the text is saying, each person applying a different lens or theory through which to approach the text (ie. queer theory, feminist theory, reader response theory, postcolonial theory, etc) when analysing it. And while yes, you can just take everything the authors say as gospel, strictly doing so would leave little room for further analysis and subjective interpretation, and both of these are absolutely necessary when having any meaningful discussion about a piece of media.

With that being said, when discussing Blue Eye Samurai, and Mizu's character in particular, I always see people only ever interpret her through a queer lens. Because when discussing themes of identity, yes, a queer reading can definitely apply, and in Mizu's story, queer themes are definitely present. Mizu has to hide her body and do her best to pass in a cisheteronormative society; she presents as a man 99% of the time and is shown to be more comfortable in men's spaces (sword-fighting) than in female spaces (homemaking). Thus, there's nothing wrong with a queer reading at all. Hell, some queer theorists interpret Jo March from Little Women as transmasc and that's totally valid, because like all analyses, they are subjective and argumentative; you have the choice to agree with an interpretation or you can oppose it and form your own.

To that end, I know many are equally adamant that Mizu is strictly a woman, and that's also also a completely valid reading of the text, and aligns with the canon "Word of God", as the creators' intention was to make her a woman. And certainly, feminist themes in the show are undeniably present and greatly colour the narrative, and Episode 4 & 5 are the clearest demonstrations of this: Mizu's protectiveness of Madame Kaji and her girls, Mizu's trauma after killing Kinuyo, her line to Akemi about how little options women have in life, and the way her husband had scorned her for being more capable than him in battle.

I myself personally fall into the camp of Mizu leaning towards womanhood, so i tend to prefer to use she/her pronouns for her, though I don't think she's strictly a cis woman, so I do still interpret her under the non-binary umbrella. But that's besides my point.

My gripe here, and the thing that spurred me to write this post, is that rarely does this fandom even touch upon the more predominant themes of colonialism and postcolonial identities within the story. So it definitely irks me when people say that the show presenting Mizu being cishet is "boring." While it's completely fine to have your opinion and to want queer rep, a statement like that just feels dismissive of the rest of the representation that the show has to offer. And it's frustrating because I know why this is a prevalent sentiment; because fandom culture is usually very white, so of course a majority of the fandom places greater value on a queer narrative (that aligns only with Western ideas of queerness) over a postcolonial, non-Western narrative.

And that relates to how, I feel, people tend to forget, or perhaps just downplay, that the crux of Mizu's internal conflict and her struggle to survive is due to her being mixed-race.

Because while she can blend in rather seamlessly into male society by binding and dressing in men's clothing and lowering her voice and being the best goddamn swordsman there is, she cannot hide her blue eyes. Even with her glasses, you can still see the colour of her eyes from her side profile, and her glasses are constantly thrown off her face in battle. Her blue eyes are the central point to her marginalisation and Otherness within a hegemonic society. It's why everyone calls her ugly or a monster or a demon or deformed; just because she looks different. She is both white and Japanese but accepted in neither societies. Her deepest hatred of herself stems primarily from this hybridised and alienated identity. It's the whole reason why she's so intent on revenge and started learning the way of the sword in the first place; not to fit in better as a man, but to kill the white men who made her this way. These things are intrinsic to her character and to her arc.

Thus, to refuse to engage with these themes and dismiss the importance of how the representation of her racial Otherness speaks to themes of colonialism and racial oppression just feels tone-deaf to the show's message. Because even if Mizu is a cishet woman in canon, that doesn't make her story any less important, because while you as a white queer person living in the West may feel unrepresented, it is still giving a voice to the stories of people of colour, mixed-race folks, and the myriad of marginalised racial/ethnic/cultural groups in non-Western societies.

[robotpussy]

it's so funny to me how Tumblr fanbases of these shows that are catered for cishet white men are.

do I blame it on some of you having fanfiction brain and conditioning yourselves to rewriting everything you consume so it can fit your personal interests? perhaps but like when ppl on here are surprised when the creator or writer of said show comes out and says "hm this character would be a bigoted piece of shit today" I just laugh because it's like. you guys have rebranded this show to the point it's almost unrecognisable to the actual source and now YOU believe the world youve created for them is the real one and then when other people actually tune in they get disappointed because they're expecting some show about old white men being gay and not them... saying and doing racist and misogynistic things

[criscura]

Not apologizing for the meme made on my camera app LITERALLY i can't focus on any of his scenes because of this

Why. Why is he Like That. Why did they draw him like that. Why in 30+ episodes has it never been addressed ONCE