#to ignore this part of him is to completely mischaracterize him

[astrowarr]

etho saying to grian "i think im gonna let you guys succeed this cause... it's you and cleo". even out of their presence, he defended them, insisted that his death wasn't grian's fault, told the other's pointblank he wouldn't kill cleo or grian.

he covered for both of them several times over, not only to his own detriment, but to the detriment of the entire server. because of etho, everyone failed. he would choose his teammates over anyone and anything, even the good of the many, even himself

[perilegs]

I finally got around to watching the Dragon Age - An Entire Series Retrospective and Analysis video on youtube, and i was enjoying it up until the point of origins companions being introduced and hearing "Zevran, the bisexual assassin, whose main personality traits are that he's bisexual and an assassin."

[kunikuyu]

"A reward for someone so good." Hashira Series!

Part 1, 2, 3, 5, 6

Obanai Iguro x Male! Reader

Warnings: Minors DNI, NSFW, Dom! Iguro x Sub! Reader, read as afab reader, jealousy, spanking, degradation, relationship of "enemies", mentions of blood (one, blood from the reader's lip), Reader is like a teasing brat here, slight mischaracterization of the character.

Summary: Pillar training has begun, much to your delight. Of course, as a hard-working and strong person, you can handle any challenge. Even if it's fighting a hashira. And in a way, they all see some value in you, and want to reward you for it.

Starting Mitsuri's training was easy, the difficult part was finishing it. But... Everything went wonderfully well, and you even got to sleep next to the girl. The next day, when you woke up, she gave you a basket full of sweets to eat on the way to the next pillar's house. "Just don't eat it all at once, save some for Iguro-san, okay?~" That's what she said, winking lovingly as she waved you goodbye.

And speaking of Iguro...

"You're late. And you came completely dirty, don't you have a shred of shame or dignity?"

Your mouth was only slightly pink from the Sakura mochi you were eating. For some reason, the other boy looked at your lips first before anything else. "Sorry, I guess." The truth was, you didn't really like Obanai either. The way he looked at you and cursed you made you simply not like him and even provoked him into a childish fight. But because he was your superior, you just ignored him most of the time.

He looked at you with an irritated look, before turning to enter his residence, which seemed dark, cold and silent, like a snake's habitat. It was calm, until your vision adjusted to the darkness and you realized that the hunters who were in training were completely tied up together, like a real horror scene (if they weren't just tied up with ropes, Obanai isn't so crazy).

"Your training is this, try to attack me without hurting any of these people. Hurt one of them three times and you become part of them." And so he says, already going after you.

.....................................

He definitely tried to hurt you as much as possible. Probably a cracked rib, a completely purple and swollen waist from so many bruises and an eye that was barely opening. But, to improve your situation, you were already approved on the first day, since you managed to hit Obanai on the hand. Stopping to think a little, Iguro seemed to be hating something, or someone. You might think he knows about your training with Miss Kanroji, but how could he know? Mitsuri definitely wouldn't tell anyone something like that.

And speaking of Kanroji, the food basket is still in the corner of the room where you and the other hunters are sleeping. You planned to eat everything yourself, but you definitely couldn't handle it all and Mitsuri made it for Iguro too.

After thinking very sadly, you get up and take the basket, silently leaving the room and walking towards the light emanating from the nearest room. You walk over and reluctantly knock on the door. It's late, but if you didn't do it now that you were in a good mood, you wouldn't do it in the morning when you woke up.

Some beats. All without success. He really didn't want to see anyone's face. "...Know that I'm only here because Miss Kanroji made these Sakura mochi for both of us, otherwise I wouldn't be disturbing your peace."

...

"Are you going to open that door or not?"

...

And when you had already given up and were turning around, Hashira wraps his hand around the back of your hair and pulls you into his room with an unexpected strength from such a small body. You can't even scream in pain, because Obanai is faster and covers your mouth as he throws you against the wall and pins you with all his weight.

"Do you think I don't know what you and Kanroji did in that training? I don't know exactly what you did, but in the letter she sent talking about you, she seemed especially happy. I don't like the idea of you being the reason for Kanroji's smiles." But you barely paid attention to what the shorter one was saying. You just looked at his uncovered mouth, which now showed a huge scar. You were mesmerized, but you would never say that you found him beautiful in that way, and that your bodies pressed together only increased the tension.

"... Look at my eyes when I'm talking to you." He says, without measuring his strength, he grabs your chin and brings your face closer to his, making you look deep into his eyes. For some reason this time, you didn't see hatred or contempt in his eyes. You still felt like he didn't like you, but you also felt a certain lust emanating from the depths of his soul.

And after a few seconds that felt like entire eternities, he did something you never imagined would happen. He can't resist, and pulls you even closer, pressing your mouths together. That whole kiss is extremely aggressive, he really wanted to take his anger out on you. His tongue moved nimbly, fighting violently against yours. He bit your lip so much that you even started to feel the metallic taste of blood.

The snake's Hashira wastes no time, and even begins to remove his white pajama. "Cute outfit, did you buy it in the children's section?" And you just get a slap across your face in response. Was the slap strong? Perhaps. Will it leave a mark? Obvious. Did you like it? Yes. You just let out a small laugh, face remaining turned to the left.

"I despise you. You have no respect for yourself. Gets slapped in the face and just laughs, you're definitely a sick guy." "You're the one who hit me, don't act controlled because you clearly enjoy it more than me." Another slap to your face is delivered, your hair covering part of your face. You had to confess that maybe being beaten by Obanai wouldn't be so bad. After all, you've been beaten by him before.

When Iguro finally removes his clothes, he barely waits for a comment from you before grabbing your neck and pulling you into his futon. He was clearly thirsty, and needed his relief, his hands shaking slightly as he took off your pants.

.....

"Hmm... I didn't expect someone so short to be so huge." Despite the mocking tone, you really didn't imagine that could be part of Obanai's body. It's just... He's too short and his cock is too big. In response, he grabs your neck aggressively while spreading your legs, making a light moan echo from your mouth. "Your ability to talk so much nonsense is incredible. Now, spread those legs and don't you dare tell me to stop." "I wouldn't do that, Obanai."

The other man positions himself between your legs, slowly fitting into your soft, warm entrance. He closes his eyes as he blushes, not being able to handle the pleasure he felt as he entered you. Obanai begins to thrust into you slowly, his left hand gently squeezing your neck while his right rests on your waist. "O-Obanai... This is torture...! Go faster!~" But instead of listening to you, he just squeezes your neck tighter, preventing you from speaking. He seemed to like this rhythm, or he just wanted you to beg with tears in your eyes. That seemed to be the intention, since the whole time he was looking deep into your eyes, waiting for something to happen.

....

"...Please..."

.....

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to ask Obanai to go faster. He is a hashira after all. The man goes with all the strength and speed he can, thrusting into you brutally as if he wanted to take out all his anger on your cunt. Tears of pleasure, pain, and overstimulation flowed from your eyes, but you couldn't ask him to stop, could you? After all, you were enjoying this more than he was even. You could feel the tip of the other man's cock in the deepest part of your body, your legs were already starting to weaken. It didn't help that he didn't go easy on you in training.

Anyone could hear the noise you two were making. The sound of his balls hitting your ass every time he thrust, his moans and yours, the two of you weren’t exactly being silent. "Ah...~ so warm...~" That's what he thought every time he felt your wet walls squeezing his cock. He seemed strangely comfortable fucking his potential love rival.

When he felt that you were already close to your orgasm, he pulled out of you and slowly massaged the head of his member, cumming on your thigh. "...You're... fast huh..." You say, mocking the fact that he came before you. You can't even ridicule the other man for long, as you immediately feel two of Obanai's fingers entering you, while his thumb massages your clit. He did it brutally, almost hurting you in the process. Even so, it doesn't take long for you too to reach your orgasm in Iguro's hand.

He removes his fingers and lies down next to you, burying his face in your neck. "We will never talk about it." "About how cute your face looks while you cum?" And you get a bite on the neck in return. Is he really ashamed of having fucked you? Maybe, but he loved the feeling of burying himself deep inside your body. "It's okay, we'll never talk about it. Don't worry." You wrap your arms around him and lean his body against yours, making him blush slowly. "When did you get so muscular...?" "We haven't seen each other in a while. Now, stop talking and go to sleep."

"Are you really telling me to shut up? You piece of shi-" And you just kissed him to get your desired silence. Even though he doesn't like the way he look and is embarrassed by the scar on his mouth, he likes the feel of your lips touching his.

He still doesn't like you. At least that's what he'll say forever.

Author's note (me :p)!

My second favorite, and I don't even like Obanai ._.

[fllnrdr]

I would really love for the rdr community as a whole to stop trying, (and failing), to defend Dutch, and shift the blame entirely onto Micah. Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption II are both beautiful and well thought out games both in the gameplay and the storytelling. But I think a lot of people simply ignore those things, hence my long rant of a post.

TLDR: I think Micah was intentionally written to be one dimensional, and Dutch was manipulative from the start. Arthur is just a unreliable narrator.

We play through Arthur's eyes and see/believe what he does. We can see Arthur's loyalty blinds him (and by extension, us) to Dutch's behavior. I would know peace if some folks to took a media literacy class. Red Dead one & two are shining example of the bias in an unreliable narrator. Video games are not exempt from literary tools because you control part of the story. That control is limited to the actions of your bias protagonist, in this case John and Arthur.

The same applies to Micah. Arthur never trusts Micah from day one, and so we as the player don’t trust him either. It would be incredibly lazy on Rockstar’s behalf to created as one dimensional of a character as Micah. But the thing is, Arthur views him that way, a no good money-hungry thief from the start. Arthur is able to see through him, but he is blind to Dutch’s similar behavior because of his loyalty. It’s an incredibly smart tool to use in video games. Once you replay the game without the blinders on of your first playthrough, you’re able to see that Dutch has behaved the very same ways from Chapter One, all the way through Chapter Six. The only difference is that Arthur (and we the player) is slowly becoming aware of the patterns for the first time.

Now, for the blatant mischaracterization of Dutch entirely. To blame everything on Micah diminishes Dutch’s character to such an extent it completely disregards the decades long manipulation he inflicted on the gang, that is very real and very obvious. I won’t get into the way each individual character’s behavior was effected by this, but I will speak about Arthur and John briefly.

Dutch takes in people that are vulnerable and that he knows he can manipulate for his own gain. Children included. Multiple children, in fact. He always has a plan, not to keep folks safe, but to keep everyone comfortably under his thumb. It was always, "Are you with me, or against me" from the beginning. Everyone was either a means to his end, or they were worthless. The second someone did not agree, it was a betrayal, and an attack. I don't doubt he did some things out of kindness, but there's always ulterior motives. Dutch is nothing but a man of pretty words that hide his manipulation.

Dutch maintains an air of grandiosity amongst the gang. He obviously holds the belief that he is above them in all ways. He believes he is their leader because he is simply better than the rest of them. He’s smarter. He’s this god-like figure in his mind. He’s their savior. Hence his distaste for any doubt, or even being challenged.

Lenny and the conversation he has with Dutch about Evelyn Miller for example. Lenny indirectly call’s Dutch’s empty words out and points out that both Miller (Dutch’s idol) and Dutch himself hide behind their flowery words and phrases. Or Arthur and Hosea voicing their concern about robbing Leviticus Cornwall, it’s seen as a betrayal. Or when Uncle pokes fun at Dutch in camp and Dutch says to him, “I would really like to kill you right now.” Dutch may not be entirely self aware, but any attack at him does dig at him for a reason. And this is all from chapter two! There has always been a pattern.

Dutch says he "saved" them. He saved Bill, and John, and Arthur and Lenny and Javier. He saved all of them, and he is above all of them. Dutch sees people as nothing more as tools to meet his goals. There are instances where he does seem to genuinely care, but the ulterior motive is always there.

Dutch and Micah were written with the idea that we see the story through Arthur’s eyes. Arthur is blinded by his decades long to loyalty to Dutch and slowly coming to the realization of the truth. Micah is incredibly one dimensional cause Arthur sees through him and views him as a rat from the start. The truth of the story can be seen through repeated playthroughs. Dutch’s paranoia from the start, questioning Arthur’s loyalty from Colter. Micah sniffing around about the Blackwater money from the beginning. Arthur’s journal entries about the his biased version of the truth. Media literacy is necessary even in video games. God.

[the-invisible-foe]

what are some common misconceptions about pathologic characters that ur sick of seeing in fandom spaces

anon thank you for blessing me with this wonderful ask this fine day

i'm gonna keep it pretty short for daniil because i don't want this to become a defense post about him and i think i've already said all there is to say but literally can we stop mischaracterizing him to this degree? it's very obvious that daniil does care about the town and the people around him given that he keeps trying to help in any way he can even when he has nothing to personally gain by doing so. and unless you're going for all the 'i'm an asshole' options in his dialogue he's actually polite and even endearing at certain points? especially that considering that during his own route he's pretty much thugging it out on his own, if anything helping the other two playable characters instead of the other way round, but in the haruspex and chageling route he's the one you turn to for help when stuff gets tough. here's a post that includes some of his lines that illustrate this point. also the implication that he's some clueless asshole that doesn't know what he's doing while artemy is The Good Doctor That Saves Everyone TM is a horrible misreading of the story and the framing of the plot. the bachelor's route is specifically a story about a person who finds themselves in such a hostile setting that, despite their best efforts, is unable to find their footing and ultimately fails at everything they try to accomplish. by interpreting this aspect of the game as daniil himself being incompetent you have missed out one of the most major points this game is trying to make.

as for artemy, i partly blame this on the developers themselves and how they handled his p2 characterisation but i dont like how the grittier aspects of his character are ignored in favor of a loving father persona. artemy can be a huge dick in classic, as can all three playable characters and a big part of why i like his and daniils relationship so much is because they're both these cold, reserved, introverted guys but allow themselves to enjoy an easier dynamic between them. i think that aspect of their relationship doesn't really work if you hc artemy as someone who is kind and cheerful from the get go.

in a similar vein i also don't like how perceptions of clara often boil down to silly teenage girl who makes meta jokes when her character is so much more than that. people completely ignore the unflattering aspects of her character, like how self-righteous she really is. i mean she's literally making it up as she goes and yet she feels so confident in herself and her methods that she finds it acceptable to trick the only two doctors into a rivalry (and then sell them out to each other for supplies despite fully believing that they intend to kill each other). also, most of the time she is not as silly and impish as people make her out to be- that's mostly the changeling. in the moments when she is herself, clara is pretty depressed.

i also dont like anna angel slander because, is she a child murderer? yeah. was she also abducted as a child herself and found herself in an extremely difficult position at a very early age? also yeah. iirc correctly shes 18 in the game and the ace of diamonds events happened years prior so basically she was a child herself. not that its wrong to criticize child murder because obviously but the way some people speak about her is insane.

also this is completely hc based and of lesser importance than everything else but i have difficulty getting behind anything remotely kinky when it comes to burakhosky because to me they will always be the kind of couple that read in silence next to each other before falling asleep at the late hour of 10:30 pm.

[juliettedunn]

Do you think Belos is not as complex as his fans makes him out to be?

I don’t think it’s a case of more or less complex, it’s that a lot of Belos stans mischaracterize him to the point they make him a different character. The stans ironically completely erase what makes Belos, Belos.

The “Belos” a lot of Belos stans present is the guise he wears to manipulate others and himself, hiding his actual character and nature beneath.

Belos is one of my favorite villains, because he manages to be a truly reprehensible villain with no redemption in sight, while also having a lot of layers to his psychology. He’s a villain whose thought process/general psychology I find fascinating to think about, as I think it’s quite well-written and reflective of people like him in real life.

There’s this perception that in order to be interesting, a villain has to be sympathetic or redeemable in some capacity.

It’s popular to give villains sympathetic motives or backstory, and even redeem them, to avoid the simplistic “I’m doing evil things because I’m evil” type.

And this type of villain can absolutely work, it’s just not necessary for every story, or for a good villain. You can have a complex, layered villain whose psychology is fascinating to think about, without them actually being sympathetic in any way.

Belos doesn’t think “I’m doing evil things because I’m evil.” He justifies himself with a twisted line of thought built around his own selfishness, insecurities, immaturity, and possessiveness, as well as the Puritan ideology he embraced.

A big part of his character is that he warps reality in his own mind to suit his needs. That’s why his mindscape is literally layered, with the beautiful, heroic paintings at the start hiding the true, ugly memories. He isn’t just lying to other people; he’s lying to himself. He’s so caught up in his own delusions and persecution complex, he’s lost sight of reality and starts to be confused by his own lies, built into the very structure of his mind.

The show makes it clear how his view of the world, that he is an oppressed victim, is delusion. It shows Caleb embracing his brother warmly in the Boiling Isles, despite the aggression he displays. It shows people were friendly and trusting during the time period he arrived, and only lashed out at him once he began to kill and oppress, like the demons avenging their brother Blue Fang. His fake child disguise used to manipulate Luz is shed to reveal the true sinister man underneath as his real inner self.

His misery is of his own making. He killed Caleb, he refused to change. Even after four hundred years, he refuses to do anything but whine about what witches and demons took from him, despite the fact he was always the aggressor.

Belos’s story is the story of a man driven by an extreme selfishness, a desire for coddling and protection, to have everything revolve around him and his needs, at the same time as he claims to want to purge the sins of others for being selfish and evil. A man who is so caught up in his layers of lies and manipulation, he himself loses sight of what he believes, and eventually descends into crawling, whining slime. It’s a pathetic end that is his own fault.

But Belos stans want to ignore the story being told in favor of believing the simple narrative he presents at face value - that he was a mistreated kid whose brother abandoned him to cruelty and persecution on the Boiling Isles. They take the story to be a simple “tragic orphan was wronged and now he’s bitter” instead of an exploration of the psychology of this kind of truly reprehensible human being, who absolutely does exist.

The thing they portray is fine for a character story, but it’s not Belos. It’s so blatantly missing the entire point of his character, that they might as well just create an oc.

We have to shed this idea that a complex villain means a sympathetic one. You can have a rich, layered character who has basically always been a piece of shit, and remains so. Sometimes those are the best villains out there, depending on the themes of the story.

So no, Belos isn’t less complex than they make him out to be. He’s just a different character entirely.

[ptoodle]

Very rarely do I see people ship Fern and Huntress Wizard but when I do I can’t help but feel like they have a fundamental misunderstanding of both Huntress Wizard and Fern’s nature. Like on the surface it’s “haha!!! Plant boy and plant girl!!!! Huntress Wizard likes Finn and Fern is Finn but a plant so they’re perfect for each other!!!!” which just like, completely ignores everything core to Fern’s existence and Huntress Wizard’s complicated feelings toward love.

Fern is just more than just “Finn but plant”. He is LITERALLY Finn, but tainted with a curse. He is built out of fucked up evil twisted magic. Fern spends his entire existence finding his own identity and trying to reconcile Finn’s natural desire to do good with the corrupting nature of the grass curse. Fern’s struggle is internal, and he don’t have the emotional capacity for romance until he sorts his own shit out (which unfortunately due to the curse, he’ll never be able to do).

There's also the matter of the huge gap in emotional maturity between Finn and Fern. The Finn inside the Finnsword missed key moments of emotional development that our Finn experienced from season 6 to 8. Fern wasn't molded by key experiences like The Visitor, Crossover, Hall of Egress, Flute Spell, Don't Look, or The Music Hole. In particular, the massive emotional growth Finn underwent in Flute Spell is what allowed him to start a functional relationship with Huntress Wizard, and Fern lacks that growth. Fern is essentially a version of Finn stuck in season 6, and lacks the emotional intelligence to properly handle a relationship with anyone, let alone somebody as emotionally sensitive as Huntress Wizard.

But enough about Fern. I’m not a Fern expert, and this is only my B-rate interpretation of his character. The REAL egregious mischaracterizations of a Fern x Huntress Wizard ship lay in people just not understanding Huntress Wizard properly. For starters, you have to understand that both Fern and Huntress Wizard are two very magical beings, but their magics come from different sources. Huntress Wizard is a wizard (surprising, I know) and Fern is a CURSE. Fern is an unnatural, malicious magical force. Huntress Wizard would be off-put by Fern’s existence because he is a perversion of the natural world that she ties herself deeply to. Huntress Wizard assumes the role of a sort of “keeper of nature” in the forests of Ooo (as seen in her quest to slay the Grumbo for being invasive in The Wild Hunt), and Fern is a disruption to that natural order. A relationship between the two would never work because Huntress Wizard would be uncomfortable with Fern’s very existence.

There’s also the matter of why Huntress Wizard is attracted to Finn, and how Fern lacks many of the qualities Huntress Wizard likes Finn for. For starters, there’s the matter of emotional development I talked about before. Finn is extremely well-put together during the time he spends with Huntress Wizard in Flute Spell, and it’s easy to see how deeply he respects Huntress Wizard and her objectives. Finn isn’t determined to help Huntress Wizard with her mission to talk to the Spirit of the Forest out of a blind infatuation for her, but out of his natural drive to help people. Finn is very in-tune with his emotions (and can handle rejection like a champ), and Huntress Wizard can see that in him. This emotional in-tuneness is part of why Huntress Wizard so deeply respects Finn. Huntress Wizard seems to value her ability to stay true to her feelings (which even she struggles with; see my Flute Spell megareview for more) is drawn to his honesty and selflessness. Unfortunately for Fern, whether it is because of his lack of emotional development or because of his curse, cannot handle all his conflicting feelings inside him and doesn’t have the same kind of emotional stability that Huntress Wizard is attracted to Finn for.

I could go on and on and list even more reasons to why Fern x Huntress Wizard wouldn’t work, but those stray further into the “headcanon-ey”school of thought and I’m trying to be more objective with my character analysis as possible. I know being complexly objective is impossible and you have to leave a little room for individual interpretation but overall the entire ship is built on a very flimsy basis of “what if the two plant people liked eachother” and that’s it. There’s way more to these characters that make them special, and reducing them to just their visual similarities does a disservice to their character depth and creative potential.

[wc-confessions]

Nightcloud, Crowfeather, and Breezepelt are one of my favorite family dynamics in these books and they are so fun to analyze (I also did that one bluestar analysis lmao. I love character analysis <3)

You have:

-A depressed man who witnessed his first love sacrifice herself to save him and their friends/the tribe, was left my his second love and was blatantly not told that he was the father of her children, took another woman he didn’t love as a mate to not be scorned by his Clan, and was told that he was the father of these grown warriors in a very traumatic way (for everyone involved, not just him)

-An older woman who became mates with a man she didn’t even like, let alone love, because she feared becoming too old to have children and who constantly butted heads with her husband and was possessive and jealous despite this (which even led to her putting her claws on him in an attempt to get him away from Leafpool)

-A guy who grew up in the middle of his parent’s horrible relationship and was eventually influenced into training in hell and fighting against his home

This family requires a level of nuance to look at that a lot of the fandom just sort of lacks. Everyone did bad things here, that's the point. They're an incredibly messy dynamic and only victimizing one of them to the point you ignore their involvement and put all the blame on the others is silly.

Crow was absolutely a horrendous father to Breeze and used Night for the sake of looking loyal to their Clan.

Night was too overbearing of Breeze and convinced him that his father did not like him (which is false, there's scenes that prove that. Him being a bad father doesn't mean he hated his kid). And she did use Crow in the sense that she only got with him to have children because she was getting older and feared not having any when she could have declined being his mate.

Breezepelt was a victim of his parent's bad relationship and constant arguing but he still attempted to take down the Clans and tried to kill a blind medicine cat and a pregnant woman.

I hate the part of the fandom that portrays Nightcloud as sad that Crowfeather didn’t love her because it feels like such a gross mischaracterization. She was angry, she was mean. She wasn’t crying over Crowfeather. I love how spiteful and bitter she was towards Leafpool and the three despite Crow having literally no idea that they existed and even denying them as his children at first.

I love these three and their dynamic so much. I love how messy they are. I completely understand why people hate Crowfeather and I also understand why people would hate Nightcloud and Breezepelt. I just can't, I love them all.

.

[keyslox]

have you ever noticed how part of c!jack’s character is he is obscure and nobody really knows him and how in the fandom he is also obscure and nobody really knows him

Jack Manifold was never really given the time of day. Sure, he had a small part in the server (ultimately the one who ended the whole thing), but his presence was not respected all that much. Placed into the lowest rank of L’Manberg’s cabinet, killed by Wilbur Soot for ‘not being seen’. He never got a REAL apology for that, by the way. I will stand by the fact that Wilbit’s apology to Jack was manipulative, half-assed, and more for himself than Jack’s wellbeing. It was well before the ‘Apology arc’ and THAT IN OF ITSELF shows just how little it actually meant to Wilbur. He was just doing it to make himself feel better and didn’t actually have Jack’s feelings in mind.

The biggest thing I see going around is Tommy being excused for what he did to Jack. Killing him when Jack went to visit him in the Nether during his Exile. Tommy has trauma. We all know that. He was a victim to extreme manipulation and abuse and a slew of other things. Yet he blatantly ignores every attempt, denies and/or doesn’t fully grasp that he did what he did. Which I can understand because the dude went through severe trauma, but that’s not an excuse. He still needs to take the accountability for his actions.

Jack deserves so much more than he’s ever gotten and it SHOWS. He literally wants friends. That’s it. He wants friend and companionship and he wants what he THOUGHT he had. Because he never actually had it. If he had it Wilbur wouldn’t have killed him, Tommy would actually listen, and he would be shown an ounce of respect for his own traumas and hardships when he tries to talk about it all. All everyone does is dismiss, downplay, and invalidate c!Jack’s pain. That’s a big reason why he’s the way he is! Every other attempt to let himself express his issues ends in him feeling worse about himself.

And we’ve seen time and time again that everyone else Jack tries to talk to and vent to takes Tommy’s side! (Ex: Puffy) There’s bias that Tommy can do no wrong and is the ‘savior’ of the smp. But even if he’s the ‘main protagonist’ doesn’t diminish he causes pain.

They give the excuse that Tommy was a child, that children should be protected and yada yada. Jack was more-or-less a child when he first joined, too! He should have the same excuses, the same treatment as all the other kids on the smp but he doesn’t because he was left alone and had to grow up faster.

He didn’t have anyone to lean against, so he just never let himself fall. And when he inevitably did no one cared or batted an eye because no one was there. He died 3 times and no one batted an eye.

The fandom is so bias sometimes. I’m not huge on DAMP fanfics that involve Jack because they mischaracterize him so much. Put him as a bully in School AUs, make him mean and rude for no reason. The reason in canon is because no one gave a single fuck about him. (not including Niki) Jack had a reason for being ‘cruel’, no one else did. It comes with the fact that Jack’s POV just isn’t as watched, so people don’t know his side of things. But what bothers me is that it feels like fans don’t even try to see stuff from his point of view. He was abused, manipulated, killed, and used in his own right. If everyone else gets excuses for the shit they did, he deserves it too.

Below is how I interpreted Jack’s ending, and how, despite everything he’s gone through, his character gets some sort of ending that isn’t completely angsty. I acknowledge that Jack isn’t the morally-perfect character, that he was fueled by anger and rage. He had a slight victim complex. But from a more basic pov, and for the fans who don’t really understand his character, I think he was redemptive. In his own right.

REDEMPTION:

From its literal definition Redemption is “An act of redeeming or atoning for a fault or mistake, or the state of being redeemed. deliverance; rescue.” The state of being redeemed comes in many shapes and sizes. Actions and words big and small. For some it may take great showings of purpose and selflessness. For others it can be as simple as “I’m sorry.”

Someone can go their whole entire lives fighting with something they ultimately in the end agree with. A lot of it is a matter of perspective. Jack only had one perspective.

Jack was alone for most of his life on the dsmp. Yes he had friends in the beginning but wars and betrayal had him distancing himself and trying to find ways to fix it. None ever worked. Because he was alone. When you only work with one perspective you don’t understand the other side, and how it might actually clear things up and switch your own views.

It only took Jack a matter of minutes after arguing with Tubbo for him to realize he didn’t have the whole picture. Someone so close to Tommy, someone who WAS there to see the other side of things. Someone Jack trusts and respects, who’d he call a friend, to listen and then fight him on his thoughts even if it was in the form of an argument. Though he fucked up and killed everyone, I think his actions of still attempting to save Tommy with Tubbo have given him a bit of redemption. Not all, everyone has faults. But he was on the path to healing when he died. If only for a few minutes.

Jack died by his own hands trying to right his wrong. If that’s not a symbolic Jack ending I don’t really know what is.

[blackbullet99]

Zutara-Stans aren’t real fans of Katara*

*Disclaimer: I don’t mean all fans of Zutara, I’m sure most Zutara shippers actually do like Katara. I’m talking about a very annoying, very stupid vocal minority of Zutara-stans

These Zutara Stans will preach about Zutara like it’s some kind of feminist ship that women should naturally like, whereas Kataang is somehow misogynistic because it was written by two men?

Zutara Stans aren’t real fans of Katara or even A:TLA as a whole, they only focus on Katara’s character in relation with Zuko, they think the hostile, anger, grief stricken Katara who use blood bending and was rather harsh to Sokka is the REAL Katara and that Aang is a bad person for questioning Katara and being concerned for her wellbeing if she were to kill somone, they invalidate Katara’s relationship with other characters especially Aang, a character who objectively supported character throughout the entirety of the show and whom Katara objectively had feelings for and chose to be with, but that doesn’t fit the Zutara’s agenda, so they re-write Katara’s relationship with Aang as toxic, invalidating Katara’s feelings for Aang and her compassion for him specifically which they call “emotional labor”. They invalidate Katara’s feelings and even her trauma by comparing her to a 25 year old and Aang to her 8 year old child. They have no respect for Katara’s feelings or choices.

For these people Katara’s relationship with other characters, be it Aang, Toph or even Sokka don’t matter, only Zuko. They want Zuko to be the only one who supported Katara, so they actively ignore the others’ support towards Katara, by making her this overworked girl who never speaks up for herself, who literally needs Zuko to be her Prince Charming, even though he supported her less than the others, only became friends with her recently and initially caused her the most harm out of The Gaang, that’s all irrelevant, because all that’s forgivable, people like Aang who were supportive and kind for the get-go can’t make mistakes, Zutara is clearly a feminist ship.

They completely ignore all of Katara’s accomplishments in LOK, who cares if she was the world’s greatest healer, taught the next Avatar waterbending, helped rebuild her tribe, outlawed blood bending and had a happy marriage and family. No, to these people, Katara is nothing but The Avatar’s Wife, her husband is all that defines her, her healing means nothing unless she heals Zuko, she should’ve became the Fire-Lady and becoming part of the nation that colonized her tribe, she should’ve embrace blood bending even though it was traumatizing for her because she did it in front of Zuko, she’s a baby-maker because Aang apparently forced her to have kids until he got an Airbender, despite her clearly wanting to have children. They act like her ending up with Zuko suddenly makes her story more empowering and would erase any issues they have with her character in LOK, literally making Katara’s story all about a man.

Zutara shippers like these don’t care about Katara, don’t believe their lies, they don’t appreciate Katara, the only like their self-insert of Katara who’s nothing like the three dimensional compassionate, heroic, strong woman we all know, this Katara’s story is literally built around Zuko, and even then this Zuko is super mature, empathetic and was always a good person, not the initially antagonist Zuko who is quick to anger but gradually becomes kinder and matures over time. That’s not even getting into mischaracterizing and villainizing Aang, invalidating his and Katara’s relationship. Romanticizing Zuko capturing and attacking Katara, invalidating Katara’s understandable initial hatred of Zuko and the less I say about the r@pe and sl@ve fics, the better. Long story short, screw these Zutara shippers, you know who you are, you ain’t real fans of Avatar, you aren’t real fans of Katara, just delusional moronic shippers who honestly don’t deserve to have an opinion.

Goodnight everybody. 😁

[emoangel44]

the thing that i think trips a lot of people up about silver and makes them wildly mischaracterize him is that they mistake his traits of childishness and social ineptitude for innocence. people only accept the good parts of these traits and completely ignore the just as if not more present negatives (like as an example people using his lack of social skills only to make him clueless in a cutesy way, completely ignoring how it often makes him act incredibly rude). silvers childishness and social ineptitude make him very brash, single-minded and aggressive. he isnt actually all that nice, which contrasts how kind he is and how he always puts others over himself. this is what makes him an interesting character. if you only show the good parts of silver it completely removes what makes him compelling.

[yakool-foolio]

what would you say are the traits to keep in mind for preventing mischaracterization of Yuma?

It's worth clarifying before I go into this that these are traits I personally look out for whenever I plan to write for Yuma. This isn't a targeted critique at anyone else's interpretation of Yuma. Writers are free to write however they want for a character, and I just happen to stick closer to canon while still taking creative liberties with elements that I believe can be expanded upon. If anything, this is just a nice reminder for myself, while potentially giving advice to those looking for it. Anyways, I gotta actually answer the question!

I haven't written as much with Yuma as I've done for Vivia, Yakou, Yomi, and even Shinigami (I really need to write more for Hitman Zilch too augh). But I still like to have some things in mind just in case I ever decide to write for him. The main aspect of Yuma's characterization that I try not to slip up on is his amnesia! From what I've noticed, Yuma remembers what things are, but doesn't remember any experiences he has with those things. For example, he knows what detectives are, but he doesn't remember ever working as one, which extends over into all memories of the WDO. He knows what cooking is and remembers the basics of how to cook, but he can't remember any actual recipes that he's read, so he ends up making horrible food. In essence, it's like if a phone wasn't factory reset, but the photo album and downloaded apps were completely wiped, and only the basic apps automatically on the phone remain.

This next element isn't necessarily for Yuma specifically, but it's a very important part of his arc: don't forget Shinigami! She's here, she's there, she's everywhere! While she can turn invisible at will (as shown by chapter 0's aftermath), she's still chained to him throughout the entire game and loves to comment about almost everything going on around them. They tend to bicker in their shared thoughts, which is fun to capture when thinking about scenes for them. This is something that matters to me a lot since I'll be writing a lot of Shinigami for my Death Knight Yakou AU. I always want to keep in mind that Shinigami will most likely have something to say at anything that catches her eye, and whether Yuma (or Yakou in my case) ignores it, replies to it, or turns it into a full-on conversation depending on what's called for and if it'll add anything small to their characters or have some entertainment value.

Last but not least, Yuma isn't wholly innocent or exempt from indirectly killing culprits. Yuma actively decides to access the Mystery Labyrinths as a sort of self-defense mechanism. When he or his allies are at risk of being hurt or killed, he calls upon Shinigami, despite knowing that the culprits will be killed and that it won't ensure their safety. The only reason Yuma and his allies weren't killed in chapter 3 and 4 was because of good timing from others intervening. He may have killed in an act of self-defense and to better understand the conflict, but it doesn't mean he's clean of any blood on his hands, especially when he wanted to kill Icardi for the murder of Shachi. When he's angry, he's angry. He has shown that he can be enraged enough to want someone to die, so I like to have that stored in the back of my mind if ever I need to write for a wrathful Yuma that can and will choose violence if his back is to the wall and his allies are in danger.

[sanjisblackasswife]

i just want to comment on your post about the jjk fandom and just…. yes. like let’s be honest, yuta is NOT dating anyone! rika wouldn’t even let maki, inumaki, and panda get close at first, what makes people think he’s going to be able to have a relationship??? and gojo, i love my white haired silly man but he’s not this sex god that everyone sees him as. that man came out of the womb and the world was AGAINST HIM. ik this is about jjk but it just reminds me of when people see law or zoro as these mean dominant men. like they probably could but let’s be honest, you stare at zoro and he gets flustered!! like ugh i get that it’s fiction and everyone can paint a character how they want but when it’s so fucking far fetched i just can’t anymore. sorry for the rant, you can completely ignore this

no no

i agree with the first part tho i will say

I think yuta and maki are cute together whether they are canon or not jdksjskns

but as for the gojo thing he’d be canonically very good at sex because he perfects anything he tries but ik he isn’t a damn player and gets pussy a lot. I KNOW THAT MUCH

nOw as for law/zoro agree 1000000%. Law can’t flirt worth a damn n i will stand on that let alone be some kinda mean man to his girl same w zoro.

he got flustered over the smallest things….a literal himbo.

i feel like u can mischaracterize a character to an extent. i understand some ooc hc/fics but some are so bad i wish i could sue for defamation of character cuz wtf is that.

[ooglywooglies]

FINE, LILY ORCHARD DUNGEON MESHI RESPONSE POST I GUESS

im just going through all the video points and making oppositions to them based on what i think, thats it.

laios useless in the red dragon fight: this is setting up the premise of the story where laios is spacing out because he cannot strategize on an empty stomach which is why the party loses.

there is no urgency to rescuing falin after everyone escapes the dungeon: thats to show that all the adventurers are so used to the dungeons immortality that theyve forgotten about the consequences of death (and also they are not thinking straight bc they are hungry)

dungeon meshi is not slice of life in the traditional low stakes way a slice of life set in the real world might be. the entire premise is about making a fantasy dungeon crawler and its heroes more grounded and showing things that aren't shown in video games, eating, sleeping, bathing, etc. a major theme is life and death, what is needed to sustain life and how death is a necessary part of it.

the tone of the show is not meant to be serious/silly/serious/silly, its not supposed to be wholesome, fun, and heartfelt, though it can be those things, its supposed to be weird and demystifying because its about real life (though a fantasy lense) and real life doesnt adhere to tone either.

resurrecting falin, having a bath and dinner, and then thistle coming to collect her happening in two episodes is not crazy thats almost an hour of runtime

MISGENDERING THISTLE

some of the problems with this video are just the anime format which i cant completely fault, i think the manga is better paced and the humor lands better ill probably ignore those points going forward. but i feel like if you dont watch anime very much you probably dont really know them the common genre tropes, like i certainly dont.

the reason marcille is "infinitely more popular than the rest" is a) lilys girl bias b) everyones girl bias and thats it, a lot of people like decently written generically good looking female characters. but thats not even true laios is probably equally as popular as marcille is and senshi is VERY close behind both of them.

laios is literally only generic in looks and if youre going to bring it up you might as well mention how marcille is therefore EXACTLY as generic as laios is, they are some very regular white people. in terms of looks.

laios only cares about monsters and is an asshole: this is an intentional mischaracterization the OTHER CHARACTERS IN THE STORY make about laios, which is a result of his real flaw which is struggling to connect with other people. this is a character flaw, which is intentional and something laios himself is aware of and tries to overcome, it is part of his character arc. laios is also heavily autistic coded, im not sure if ryoko kui is even aware of it or if she herself is autistic and just wrote a bit of her own struggles into laios's character but this reading is widely recognized by people who are autistic so. like its hard to argue with a mass of people who see their disability in a character. (me included)

comparing his deadpan affect to lloyd (i dont know him tbh)s intentional controlled one makes no sense bc i assume lloyd is yknow a super secret agent who IS a super secret agent because of his self control or whatever. laios is just a guy. literally just a dude, who is autistic.

marcille and laios react to falins resurrection differently because they are different characters, showing different ranges of emotion are part of their characterization. having a limited range of expressed emotion in serious situations where emotion is expected of you is also a commonly recognized autistic trait (see me not crying at the airport when my now husband had to go back to his side of the planet when we were dating)

falin is also autistic coded and shares a lot of traits with laios because its supposed to be funny that everyone thinks falin is so talented and brilliant and lovely when she yknow picks up a bug or something but they think its annoying when laios presents the same traits.

refer to point 10 again

they are literally moving through the dungeon as fast as they can. it gets brought up, laios feels guilty about it but hes not indulging in his special interest as opposed to rescuing his sister, the adventure is enabling it. whats he supposed to do brood the entire way? do you think anyone would be physically capable of doing that? see points 1-4 again if not.

just because a different character would do something different doesnt meant the story would be better, the point of THIS story is an exploration of THESE characters

this is retreading a point but "marcille is the only character who feels like a human being" .... girl the ableism - it can be argued that marcille is a bit ND herself but she is laios's neurotypical foil, the entire point of their dynamic is she is the normal person to compare him to, to act like shes the only character that matters because shes the only one thats normal has some nasty implications.

"you or i would-" thats making some assumptions

marcille is tormented the most by the show because the show is about exploring a dungeon, a major character trait of hers is her inexperience, shes squeamish shes young and naive because she has EXCLUSIVELY studied dungeons in books she has only seen the dungeon in person for like a year or two (i dont remember the time frame but we know how time works for marcille anyway). senshi by contrast has been surviving exclusively off the dungeons resources for like 60 years. you mention that marcille grows a lot by the end but its not just about eating food she learns survival skills, she learns ecology.

sorry i need to take a break to just rant, isnt this woman a writer? i feel like all she can only see characters through common media tropes and so dungeon meshi is just breaking her brain because all of these characters are written from a strong foundation they all have roots that inform all of their flaws. i feel like she isnt willing to see them that way because she assumes that because this is an anime the author didnt put any thought into the characters beyond their designs and gimmicks, thats just speculation obvs its just the impression im getting

but like i see the way people talk about kui on here how she feels like one of us because the dungeon meshi characters are her ocs. how theyre not just characters for a story. its like imagine someone talking this way about YOUR OCS, your babies, the characters you put your heart and soul into and especially for someone like kui who has created so much depth for her characters for someone [who also calls herself a writer] to brush it all off bc it got an anime adaptation and anime has tropes.

i really dont like people who approach media from "ive seen this before" and i mean im a little guilty of it but its kind of a useless thought isnt it, for the most part things get made because someone wanted to make it not because it needed to exist. i guess its a hard thing not to think when theres just SO MANY shows and stuff out there but idk, i dont think its a healthy perspective most of the time.

chilchucks a bitch you cant listen to what he says and be like "the narrative is bullying marcille" chilchuck is bullying marcille, chilchuck is a bully

(oh it seems the numbers have reset, oops)

shes talking about why anime sucks again, i havent seen spy x family and i dont care to it doesnt appeal to me

retreading points but i forgot which ones laios thinking falins dragon form is cool is another example of how laios's character essence is that he doesnt think like other people. and i have to imagine that if not for the mind control aspect falin wouldnt be horrified by her dragon form either. neither of them care about the "obvious" socially expected reaction of "horrified" theyre thinking about a) what they like to think about which tends to be ooh monsters are cool and then b) whatever is most practical at this moment - i think its not just lily that struggles with this i think its a lot of people who follow social scripts tend to follow what the main cast of dungeon meshi is thinking so theyre horrified/confused by whatever laios is doing but he just intuits what actually materially matters and what doesnt. him thinking falin getting to have a cool dragon form has NOTHING to do with his feelings about saving her.

"your experience with autism isnt universal" neither is yours???? isnt that kind of the thing about autism (this is from her comments not the video but thats kind of her point about this point in the video is that she doesnt relate to laios's autistic traits) - guys shes saying sheldon cooper gets called out on his shit and grows as a person but laios doesnt... guys i dont even know what i can specifically say to make someone stop believing that because i dont know why anyone could believe that in the first place.

i dont want to write this point bc i dont want anyone to think i dont have any concept of like pervasive preferential trends in media but i think she specifically hates laios because hes a white man with autistic traits. i think if laios was a woman those traits would be not as bad (which is kinda funny bc i was talking about that being a joke with falins autistic traits earlier)

laios is funny to me :) (in the manga mostly)

i think she shouldve read the manga instead of watching half the anime but i guess thats it. if you (anyone reading this) see this out in the wild please dont make assumptions about me based on this post, it doesnt really tell you anything about me or my wider opinions.

i guess you can assume im autistic i did say that part, go ahead and assume that i suppose.

i think i have some clarifications i was gonna make but i got tired so i cant remember where they go or what they are, this isnt really meant to be a discussion its just me writing down some thoughts indirectly bc i didnt want to comment on her video. but its in response to a video so its only fair i guess if anyone wants me to clarify i can try my best to do that

[sagesilentfire]

I saw your opinions regarding Morningmark and I wanna ask, how do you feel about his Ship War Au and Starco Citadel stuff?

Personally, I never cared for it because of how starco biased they bother were. But I did like the concept of a fankid multiverse.

No opinion. Not really invested in any fankids, they always felt like cheap attempts at shipping fodder for me. (And not even good shipping fodder. Just blatantly shoving your OC into things and pretending it makes the story any better? Where's the themes? The status-quo breakage? How does it affect the world?)

Honestly, basically the only fankids I like are the Pines triplets (children of Mabel and an OC) from Gravity Falls' Transcendence AU, because they fit with the story's themes of growing older, and how Dipper will never be able to do that again. They are characters in their own right, but more than that they are excuses to see how the main characters deal with parenting, and where their flaws and weaknesses translate to actual parenting issues that make sense for them. Their personalities are mirrors to which we can understand the main characters better, and their arcs follow the story's themes. (And I was introduced to them when I was young and wasn't immediately turned off by years' worth of fankids just being fun mix-and-match OCs with no connection to the thematic part of the stories they came from. I do admit bias.)

I suspect JessTheVampire's fankids are similar, but I have untreated attention deficit problems and no free time, so I've never actually read her story.

But I did read the Citadel comics; it was impossible not to be active in the svtfoe fandom and not read them, after all. And they... were more of the same. The Citadel itself was far too sci-fi and had no connection to the story of the actual show, the main, non-fankid characters of svtfoe were non-entities, and the story was basically an excuse to dick around with characters the creator was clearly enamored with but that I didn't care about.

And the Ship War comics... *shudders* They somehow outdid the show for stupid shipping nonsense. I don't know how that's possible, but they did it. But even worse, they mischaracterized just about everyone, especially my fave, Toffee. I've gone over this already. I've talked about this already. But it still stings. Man.

I know fankids don't have to be that deep and it's completely fine if people ignore my thoughts on what makes a good fankid and just do what they want. But it's also perfectly fine for me to bitch about it.

Anyway, yeah, don't like fankids. Sorry.

(Also from now on I'll be tagging it #morning mark salt because I suspect his fans are looking him up and then seeing my posts and getting mad at them.)

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

I ship zutara and call the people who ignore canon hate on aang/mai and insist katara is a MOM and zuko is DAD. Fantara shippers i didnt ship zutara just to ignore the whole rival part but a lot of these fantaras share do plus as a zuko fan the whole softening of his character angry traits kinda felt like ableism

Oh it is absolutely ableism. "Of course he can show signs of mental health issues! But only the ones we can romanticize and he has to magically be healed by hearing 'I love you' and getting a hug, otherwise he'd be a lunatic like his sister!"

I get extra annoyed at people using "Autistic Zuko" as a headcanon to infantilize him, because I'm autistic myself - and I know that just a decade ago, the one getting labelled as autistic would have been Azula so people could completely mischaracterize "low/lack of empathy", just like they use the diagnosis of schizophrenia, ASPD or narcissim to go "See? Azula can't ever be redeemed, she has the Evil Serial Killer Disorder(s)!"