#trying to prove they're a thing with evidence that isn't actually evidence makes me think you've never had friends

[honeybeebaaz]

As a romance favored aromantic, I haven't had a "too aromantic for this shit" moment in a long time. But girlies trying to label every Jam normal-between-friends interaction as inherently romantic is causing me headache. I am indeed too aromantic for this shit!

[caffeineandsociety]

There's a specific genre of shitty antisemitic joke that I have seen fly under the radar (as it was designed to) a LOT more often lately - especially since Kanye started going full mask-off nazi - so I feel the need to issue a warning about it. Namely, the genre is jokes that get spread around by people who aren't willfully antisemitic because outside of conspiracy brain rot land, it appears that the point of the joke is absurdism.

As an example, let's examine the 23-and-me lizard DNA test that I've sadly seen floating around unquestioned.

Because, see, to the average person who isn't willfully antisemitic, this genre of joke comes off as nonsequiturs, or hilarious mistakes - you, as a person with some level of basic observational and critical thinking skills, living on Earth and not in whatever batshit mirror dimension conspiracy theorists think we live in, might very well end up getting a giggle out of it because, HAH, we KNEW those DNA ancestry kits were a scam! If you're not a deliberate antisemite but not really up on the dogwhistles, it doesn't scan as anything awful because you're put in mind of things like feeding a photo of something decidedly not human into that one selfie-to-anime neural net, which sometimes works and produces interesting results because the thing is looking for specific patterns and trying to make anything fit - not things like blatantly lying about doing something like that in the hopes that normies who see the absurdity and want to have a laugh at a scummy company's expense will pass it along to people who unironically believe that Jewish people are actual literal lizard aliens and the test proves it.

This is the same strategy that guy at the game awards pulled. You, a person living in reality where the main source of political corruption is just the basic consequence of an economic system that makes power pool in the hands of anyone willing to exploit enough people, a world of banal mundane evil, know damned well that QAnon-pizzagate-satanic ritual abuse cult conspiracy bullshit is, well, bullshit, if you're even familiar with the details of what they believe at all. When someone crashes the stage and thanks Rabbi Bill Clinton, you may very well laugh because to YOU it is a blatant absurd nonsequitur.

Problem is that to someone else, someone who's deep into that shit, it's either someone letting the truth slip, or someone backing the deep state into a corner - whichever is more convenient to believe.

This is one form of how the far right uses memeification (CW: the example discussed in the link is a rape "joke") - it means something totally different to the in-group than it does to the out-group. To you, it's funny because it's nonsensical; to them, it's fun because they think they're onto something huge and they're about to blow this shit wide open and it's going to be their great moment of triumph.

I cannot stress enough that no matter how absurd an antisemitic conspiracy theory sounds to you, there are people who believe it, unironically. There are people who unironically believe that Jewish people are very literally not human and no amount of evidence to the contrary will ever change their minds. There are people who believe that we're born with horns and tails and pointed ears and have them surgically altered to fit in with good Christian humans like some kind of extremely high-stakes game of Among Us. There are people who believe that we steal, ritualistically abuse, and kill Christian babies. These beliefs, while fringe enough that, yeah, most of you who this post is aimed at have never heard them in the wild before very recently, are not nearly as fringe as you probably think they are. Just look at fucking Kanye. This asshole has more fans than there are Jewish people in the world.

So I'm begging you to please, bare minimum, be careful of "absurdist" jokes about Jewish people, especially if they reference lizards, money, banking, or government power. Also, you may see Jewish people debating how religious laws may apply to fictional creatures, but outside of that context you should also be wary of any time Jewish people are mentioned in the same sentence as vampires, dragons, goblins, zombies, fantasy demons, or any number of other fantasy creatures known for greed, feeding on humans, or both.

If the reason it seems funny to you is because you'd have to be really stupid to believe it's true or makes any kind of sense - it's probably looking for you to spread it to people who are, in fact, that stupid.

[specialagentartemis]

We talk a lot about reading comprehension and misinformation on this website, but learning how to slow down, assess sources, and fact-check is a skill. A skill a lot of us have not been called on to demonstrate since high school, but a skill that's vitally important in the modern world.

I'm in graduate school for the social sciences (anthropology) - critically assessing sources is part of the skillset we are taught. I've had people ask on my post about historical misinformation, "How can I only reblog things that are true? How can I tell?" And it's a good and important question!

A couple core questions to ask, about history, science, or current events, are:

Who is saying this?

Where are you seeing this information? Is it a legal scholar, a historian with a PhD, a museum curator, an on-the-ground activist, a rando twitter poster, a Mormon conspiracy theorist? For scholarly questions, look for people with PhDs and published articles; for questions of current events, look for what people who are actually there are saying and showing.

Who agrees with them?

Can you find articles from other sources corroborating this, or is it just one guy who is saying this? Conversely, do you see anyone disagreeing and correcting this information? Who?

Does this person have an ideological bias that might cause them to discount conflicting information?

Everyone has biases, of course, but some are obvious. A lot of revisionist American history is put out by Mormon groups to try to prove the literal truth of the Book of Mormon; ditto for history that seeks to prove various things in the Bible. It may be easy for us to laugh at that, but a lot of tumblr revisionist history involves inventing gay historical figures out of flimsy sources because we want it to be true. Is there a reason that the person making this claim might want this to be true? This doesn't necessarily make it false, but it does mean you have to require more robust claims.

What sources do they cite?

Do they cite well-documented research or well-provenienced archaeology? Do they have photographs of what they're claiming happened? Or do their claims rely on nameless, dateless, "I can't show you my sources yet" or "I swear I heard about a guy..." Do they cite any sources or is it "just trust me bro"? Are those sources that they do cite reliable, or are they circular? Do the sources they cite actually say what this person is claiming they say? Are they cutting out half of a quote, or ignoring conflicting evidence presented in the same source?

Is this conspiracy theory thinking?

Is this making claims that an individual or a group is secretly hiding information from the general public? Is it blaming one individual or group for widespread societal problems? Is it claiming that the only reason this isn't common knowledge is because Somebody is suppressing it? Is it claiming that the solution to a complicated political problem is actually simple and everybody knows it but people just don't want to do it for nefarious reasons? That's conspiracy thinking, and it's almost never as clean or easy as the claimant wants you to believe.

Just because someone is saying something confidently doesn't necessarily make it true, but also, just because you don't like something doesn't necessarily make it false. Ask these questions when you see a claim that makes you feel angry - or makes you feel righteous. Look for journalists, scientists, historians, legal scholars, who present their credentials and their sources. Look for multiple independently verified news reports or scientific articles. Determining The One Truth about things is not always easy and sometimes not possible, but asking these questions helps you assess what you're reading critically and evaluate claims.

[voidedaurora]

hey! quartlez just posted a video “clearing the grooming allegations” on their pasqelz channel. which i find a bit funny cause if you’re so serious about clearing your name n ppl are lying grr 😡 shouldn’t it be on your main account??

they also said working on it stressed them out (poor them 🥺 /sar) so the video isn’t super long

they said “Originally had a longer video prepared but workin’ on it stressed me out too much and ended up not likin’ it later down the line so hope this one will suffice Apologizes on the wait but didn't wanna rush anythin out”

i hope that you n everyone else affected by them are okay! 🫶🏼

I'm aware of the video and have watched it, it proves nothing, disproves nothing, flat out LIES?, etc. Starting with the most blatant lie, around 6:42 I never posted her porn/Nsfw, I'm not evil and I have no reason to do so. She claims that I deleted it but I actually don't think I've deleted a SINGLE tumblr post I've made here, I've edited posts to correct spelling, censor evidence I failed to censor while rushing, etc. But I don't think I've flat out deleted any of them? After looking for a while to figure out what she was talking about I figured out the image at least, this is a flat out lie and her trying to twist the narrative. THIS is the drawing she is talking about to my knowledge.

This is obviously NOT NSFW, Suggestive at worst. She's honestly just trying to make me look bad I guess? I've never posted cropped NSFW of hers, I don't have a reason to. Additionally, just gonna point out since she has a caption at the bottom left saying she looked for the post, I have good reason to believe SHE never looked for anything according to her own words as shown here.

Screenshot was taken on the 22nd of October

This obviously isn't groundbreaking or anything crazy but it's definitely something to note since she's making this "response" based off of things her friends have told her and interpreted from posts online At around 1:11 she talks about how she "didn't want to treat Khai differently than how I acted towards any of my other friends so they didn't feel left out" and pretty much tries to justify the way she acted around her with the fact it was how Mel and I had acted to eachother and sometimes with Khai as a group. This does NOT excuse anything, despite what she believes, acting a certain way around someone or letting certain things slide that you wouldn't "normally" would be considered SPECIAL TREATMENT and isn't ok. Letting Khai in her server early is special treatment It's fucking insane that even after your friends told you not to let khai in you'd let her in anyway Additionally she mentions briefly the "shit talking" I did about her around 0:34 and shows screenshots (i'll show them below but in higher quality + more context bc she paints em in a certain way with how they're displayed

For this one I was talking about how she was treating me throughout surgery, not shit-talking to shit talk

Again, this isn't shit-talking, this is me being upset she was treating me like caca

THESE aren't shit talking either, sure they may have been rudely worded but the context of this was when kiwi, another friend, Mel, and I were all playing monopoly and Mel had been being really mean to everyone else involved and pushing everyone's boundaries (not in the "monopoly divides friendships" trope way either)

Now this one is definitely fair, it was worded quite immaturely/meanspirited but I was just being honest with Khai at the time, Mel would constantly shit-talk about Khai to me :/

#1 is fair TO AN EXTENT, she took what I'd said as some deep dark threat, I was extremely upset at the time and DID INDEED have alot of things she'd done bottled up for her, and to me it had felt extremely unfair that I'd kept shit secret and had THAT much care for her and her career to lie for her only for her not to give less of a shit about me when I needed her, additionally I was also in the middle of a long bpd episode fueled by stress, the surgery, narcotics, and general mental illness. She took this and tried to frame it as me "blackmailing" her. Not to whip out definitions but-

By definition, blackmail is basically when you hold information above someone's head as a threat to get something else either OUT of them or force them to do something for you. This was NOT blackmail, if ANYTHING it would count as a threat, but I didn't even say this directly to her so I'm just??? For that second set of screenshots I was definitely being an ass about her, but again, all of this was out of frustration of how I WAS BEING TREATED by her All in all, all of these screenshots are WILDLY cropped and get rid of other bits of context that are honestly pretty important when viewing Moving on to the next point

She mentions how the "whole grooming thing mainly comes from the Just Dance VR video I did with Khai" this is not true and you know it! I guess she's just ignoring this whole stream

ADDITIONALLY, she mentions that I "was just mad that Kai's character looked similar to voided character because they were both blue and had antenna" no, this is not why I was upset. Sure, I was uncomfortable with the two characters looking the same, and WHEN Kaia was made initially, it was during a point of time when Khai was at her peak for copying pretty much everything I'd do, down to ocs, artstyle, ways I spoke, etc. (she doesn't do this anymore so this absolutely is not to shame her <3) It made me uncomfortable knowing that Kaia was 1. based off of Iris 2. was drawn EERILY similar to how Mel drew Iris before (even to the point where when I'd ask other people to spot who's who THEY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO TELL) 3. The character that looked like Iris was now being shipped with the EXACT SAME one she was etc. all of those together, coupled with the apparent special treatment Khai was being given made me extremely uncomfortable, and worried. My primary concern was NOT the fact Kaia looked like Iris, its the fact she was clearly being used to fill the space where Iris USED TO BE, and was using Khai as a sort of replacement for me. Next. I think its loony that Mel is complaining about people thinking she's still obsessed with her ex as if there isn't REASONS we all think this, you redesign their characters to use as your own, flat out have stolen a couple, talk about them ALL the time in private, the first thing people get to know about you is how much you fucking hate your ex, theres the whole Honest video, the shit-posts about them, etc. There's other things I'll mention at a later date once they're public additionally. She also mentions how the "characters arent even alike anymore" but they really are still the same characters but in a different font. Not to mention the fact you've recently literally stolen 2 characters (Bronze and Frostbite) which were never yours to begin with. wild At 10:47 she says she's surprised people are shocked when she vents about her EX, OFC they are. It's been what 7 years? since yall first dated, and ANOTHER 2 years for you to move on, at least publicly. People are upset you still SHOW people these vents then rant, rave, and shittalk them as if they're still here actively doing you harm, you wish DEATH upon them to this day, aswell as any other people who wrong you. There's a difference between venting to get out feelings and venting to ""cope"" with your ex not liking you anymore and then showing these vents to people around you. The fact they were your "first love" doesn't excuse anything either. "im not friends with any minors" Highly doubt this, only reason you aren't now is because they all left you Around 12:51 she touches on the fact she's shit-talked people in her server, and possibly her friends aswell. She blames this on her old friends and people around her, while this is partially true, there have been MANY instances where she was NOT influenced or told to make fun of these people, i've shown these before but I'll show them again Randomly dming me about fanart someone made, poking fun at it

Randomly dming me about fanart someone made, poking fun at it pt.2

you get it

more

As you can see in these screenshots she's actively making fun of fanart just RANDOMLY, every single screenshot is from a different time aswell. so this behavior was ISOLATED and un-influenced at that moment. Pretty much everything past 14:30 is just her going on a weird ego stroking powertrip about people speaking out about her, you can SMELL the stick rammed up her ass just from her tone alone, she doesn't care, she never will. All yall praising her for this "response" are honestly pretty crazy and your standards are BELOW the floor atp, the glazing is insane ☹️like be so so real, she doesn't even TALK in a serious manner in the video, she starts it off by YELLING Anyway this ENTIRE video was a nothingburger, she proves nothing, she disproves nothing, there's absolutely nothing new brought to to table. Just 17 minutes of excuses, lies, and "nuh uh" Also to anon, I agree 100% she should've posted this on main even if it was absolute dog water, I dont care if you're family watches your videos, the thrusting furrys and suggestive videos were fine but the one supposedly "clearing your name" was too much, awesome Sorry about the formatting being bad, I'm tired of this girl

[thisismyname43]

So I decided to do more research on Tsunderes...

As someone who really likes SMG3 (and is also an active SMG34 shipper) I wanted to see if SMG4 was onto something when calling SMG3 a Tsundere.

Immediately this reminded me of IGBP. You know at the end where everyone is standing next to the pit and SMG4 says, "Nah I'd do anything to not lose my friends". SMG3's reaction was EXACTLY this. "I'm not your friend, baka!". But instead of buying SMG4 lunch, SMG3 risked his life and safety for him, knowing full well he could die he still went to save SMG4 because he loves him. How would you risk your life to save someone elses and NOT love them? And even after all of that SMG3 still denies the implication that he even slightly likes SMG4 to "save face".

Okay guys the amount of times SMG3 has called SMG4 "baka" is insane. And remember, he only calls SMG4 that. SMG3 is constantly annoying SMG4, which causes problems in their relationship just like how the image says. This specifically reminds me of the episode "Christmas Wars" when SMG3 mocked SMG4 saying, "Aw are you a little mad I took all your friends?" trying to hit him where it hurts. SMG3 tries to make it seem like he hates SMG4 by saying these mean things to him even if he actually doesn't.

This right here is very SMG3 core. He is always talking about how much better he is than SMG4, going extreme lengths to try and prove it. (Personally I think this is to help him ignore his feelings of low self worth but that's not what we're talking about rn). SMG3 makes it seem like he firmly believes he is above SMG4 in every way even if evidence says otherwise. This causes him to put SMG4 down to make SMG3 feel better about himself. I also think in some cases SMG3 says these things to try and convince himself that he actually dislikes SMG4 (he doesn't).

THIS RIGHT HERE. This is EXACTLY how SMG3's character has progressed with SMG4. SMG3 hated SMG4 with a passion back a couple of years ago. Even trying to destroy him and his friends while taking over his channel. But after some time you'll see SMG3 getting less murderous and more chill when it comes to SMG4. It got to the point where now they're pretty damn casual with each other, frequently asking for favors and even hanging out. This is a huge change and improvement to SMG3's overall attitude and can be perfectly summarized in this image here.

So overall, what does this tell us?

Final thoughts:

SMG3 is definitely a Tsundere and SMG4 is 100% his love interest. The overwhelming amount of evidence is crazy, if SMG3 really is a Tsundere there is absolutely NO way SMG4 ISN'T his love interest.

My mind is not being changed 👍

[wordy-little-witch]

Also, anon from before but relating to a non agere thing this time… but a while ago you did a supportive Papa Roger with transfem Buggy an you mentioned him wearing a gaudy dress to prove a point and I can’t stop cackling and thinking about this scenario:

You’re an average upcoming pirate on a ship. You’re not a big deal, your bounty’s not particularly high, you fly under everyone’s Radar. Suddenly your buddy in the crows nest is screaming frantically down at you. They spotted a ship! And it’s the fucking Oro Jackson. Your captain grabs his binoculars to confirm that they are telling the truth… and suddenly is stunned into dumbfounded silence. You grab the binoculars out of his hands to have a look as well and the reason for his confusion soon becomes evident.

There, one foot propped up on a barrel. Stands Gol D. Roger himself. He’s wearing the ugliest dress you have ever seen in your life, a hell spawn somewhere between a twelve year olds Sunday best and your grandmas bathroom rug that smelled like mothballs. He’s beaming with confidence, smiling and having his eyes set on your ship, while this sin against fashion is flapping majestically in the wind. Something else is also flapping a little in the wind. Apperantly the most feared pirate of the seas has decided to go commando today.

About half an hour later your entire ship is destroyed. Miraculously there are no men lost, but you feel like that was more to make a point and to make sure you carry the very important message to the next shore when you get there:

You do NOT make fun of Gol D. Rogers daughter.

This. This right here is the EXACT vibe I was going for. Someone look me in the eye and say Roger WOULDN'T pull smth like this. You can't. It's definitely canon compliant.

Bonus points, while Roger WOULD do this in response to a literal slight against his baby girl, he would also try smth like this to a perceived slight.

Buggy isn't even all that bothered by some guy saying she doesn't have the figure for that skirt or some shit, but Shanks is FROTHING. how dare this ingrate approach his Buggy, his Blue, his best friend with anything other than absolute WORSHIP in their souls-?!

Buggy shrugs it off, grabs her book from the stall and drags Shanks with as they continue shopping at the market. Honestly, she forgets about it. She's heard far worse.

Shanks though? He's telling captain. He's telling Roger, and Rayleigh, and everyone who will listen to his livid retelling bc this guy quite literally called Buggy's ability as a PIRATE into question because of her clothes, because of her build. He's so angry.

Roger is equally angry.

Roger might be angrier, actually.

Rayleigh and Buggy are both pointedly Not On Deck during the following events because they cannot, Do Not See. Out of sight. Out of mind.

They're both praying to get the mental image of Roger in that dress out of their brains without resorting to bleach or an ice pick.

[sandrayofsun]

I may be Team Top??

As promised in my last post, I'm making a diary entry for TopMew!

I'll start by saying that I have not been a fan of this couple throughout the show, but I did like their characters separately. Something that I felt a lot throughout the series was the lack of chemistry and awkwardness surrounding TopMew. Mind you, I've watched "A Boss and a Babe," I KNOW ForceBook has chemistry.

In saying that, episode 8 has officially changed my mind on the TopMew train hehe.

Specifically this scene

Mew's revenge era is honestly what made me like him the most... Unpopular opinion maybe, but I found it really relatable that he is doing things he normally doesn't do and becoming someone different. Top did a really shitty thing to him. Despite him being "perfect," being a virgin, having good grades, and being respectful, Top still cheated on him. It opened his eyes to the fact that no matter how "good" he is, people are still capable of doing shitty things to him.

So why not do all the things you've never done in the name of being hurt. No matter who he is, people can hurt him no matter what, might as well go out with a bang.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bathroom scene was interesting because it's the first "civil" conversation they've had since the whole fight blew out. and Top is now seeing the effects of his affair with Boston reflecting on Mew. Even with Mew rubbing Ray in Top's face, he still is only worried about Mew and what is happening to him.

It's honestly slightly refreshing that Top isn't taking the jealousy approach because he knows that at the moment he's lost that right. He can't blame Mew for running to Ray because Top set him on that path.

Top was presented to us as a selfish character, one who is used to getting what he wants, and not having much to work for (a little bit like Boston). Him going to Cheum and voicing his concerns for Mew, even taking a little bit of heat from Cheum (you go girl), shows character development on Top's part, and honestly gives me a little bit of hope for their end game.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I want to touch on Mew for a sec, and his "relationship" with Ray.

I think it is so intentional the way that they have framed this phrase for Mew and Ray. How Ray is someone that Mew "should" love, but obviously doesn't, because Mew loves Top and knows deep down that Ray will never fulfill that role in his life (the same way Mew can't fulfill that role in Ray's). Even hesitating to kiss him when they are alone is evidence enough that Mew is pretending.

Curving Ray's kiss and saying they should go and have fun is ultimate "get me out of here" behavior. Mew doesn't want Ray. Simple as that.

I also need to call out the fact that the next time we see RayMew kiss is because Mew is trying to prove a point to Top. Only then does he use Ray to make him jealous, but isn't actually willing to do it in private.

Top's face during this whole scene made me sad tbh. I really felt for him, he was manipulated by Boston and thrown under the bus by Nick. Overall, he did a shitty thing, but that doesn't mean he didn't love Mew or want to be a better person for him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This scene called to action the fact that Mew is still jealous over Top. Calling him and Boston out for sitting next to each other and telling them they're free to hook up again was funny but also important to TopMew's relationship.

Top still being there for Mew, helping him when he was throwing up and then sitting next to each other on the floor gave me MAJOR SandRay Episode 1 parallels. But also look at Mew :(

He's asking Top why he has to be an asshole because he still loves him. He is in love with an asshole :((((( and I'd like to point out that this scene was the MOST chemistry that I have seen from these two thus far.

Both of them are hurt, and are hurting for the other. I think deep down, Mew wants to make amends, but also he needs to do this for himself. He needs to spiral a little bit to realize where he is headed. he needs to make Top hurt a little (as sad as that may be).

Top on the other hand is hurt because he did this. He caught feelings, and then messed up the person he loves. He doesn't know how to fix what he broke, but also knows that they are meant to be.

This is what really changed my mind on them. Before it felt like both of them had masks, and didn't really see each other, but now they're both at low points, and seeing each other for the first time. But still loving each other from afar despite the turmoil they're going through.

Top taking care of Mew after everything at the end of the night was so heartwarming. A man who probably has never been one to take care of others, spending what little time with Mew he can get.

I'm really looking forward to seeing where these two go, and huge props to ForceBook for the amazing acting job they're doing!

See you guys next week!!

[aleeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

What do you think would happen if AGS got transported back to the jurassic period? 🦖

You guys are really making it incredibly hard for me to shut up about dinosaurs I was trying to keep the obsession to myself/lh

• the Jurassic period was around 190 millions of years ago, the golden time for dinosaurs, the period right before Cretaceous period(when dinosaurs said bye-bye). Climatic and geologic changes allowed a lot of flora and fauna to develop in the ambient, the flowers started to bloom more often and thanks to this you could find more species like Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus(🦕)

• As soon as they get there, they find themselves confused, thinking they just got somehow teleported into a random forest, yet the ground starts shaking, and all three of them get ready to fight whatever that big monster is... And they find themselves with a diplodocus coming over to eat some leaves at the top of a tree. As soon as they realize they're being surrounded by gigantic lizards who can easily kill them by accidentally stepping on them, the three decide it's a good idea to search for a place where they can hide.

• a few hours pass by and they're exhausted, the ambient being humid and hot it's only making the suffering even worse, specially considering that the only fruits they could possibly eat are either probably poisonous for them or at the top of the trees. Yet in the middle of the night as they're walking, a bit Allosaurus stands right in front of them.

Genesis, who's read the Jurassic park novels before watching the movies to compare how faithful they are to the original, confused it with a T-Rex and stands in front of both Angeal and Sephiroth

Gen: "stay still, I've read about them, it's vision is 'based on movements'..." He said as if he was Robert Muldoon

Seph: "isn't that pure fiction? I don't believe those novels actually provide scientifically proved evidence and facts about-"

Gen: "shut up! You're just an ignorant who can't comprehend the educational value literature can offer!"

As soon as he says that the Allosaurus simply goes straight up to try and eat them, clearly not giving a shit if they're moving or not, and even if his vision was "based on movements" he could still smell those stinky men and hear their stupid banter.

They're all eaten up by the dinosaur, the end.

• Sephiroth enters the lobby at the Shinra headquarters next morning, searching for the rest of the first class. Apparently, it was a weird dream that somehow all of them had the same night.

Sephiroth: "I don't usually have dreams, but last night something really weird happened-.... What's going on with Genesis?"

Angeal: "don't even bother to ask, you're just going to alter him even more."

Genesis, who's sitting on a chair, hugging his legs and swinging back and forth like a maniac: "it was... So gross.. that smell makes me nauseous just by thinking about it... That thing didn't even bother to chew on us.."

[heinzpilsner]

Hmm, while there is a grain of truth in the popular zutarian take on "Southern Raiders" ("Aang is preachy and Zuko cares for Katara's feelings"), reading this episode as an evidence that Zuko is a right partner for Katara still doesn't sit quite well with me (and I'm a zutara trash, mind you!)

The problem with this ep in general is what it mixes too many complex topics together, and it becomes difficult to entangle the mess.

Basically, Aang was wrong talking in terms of "revenge" and "forgiveness" and "Jet" and "Appa" instead of "Katara's mental health", but he was right in his general concern. Hatred is not some precious right a person needs to hold on. It's a destructive feeling which is better to manage adequately for the sake of a person's own well-being.

But wait, someone may ask, isn't that exactly what Zuko was offering? To help Katara manage her hatred?

Well, yes and no. Yes, he was trying. No, this wasn't a good way to achieve it.

What many people don't seem to understand is that you don't need to confront the actual physical person you hate to deal with your hatred. Quite the opposite, actually. It's the person's imprint within your psyche what keeps destroying you from inside, and facing the person himself doesn't dissipate this imprint magically. It will only make things worse (*the only exception is when the both sides are genuinely interested in fixing things between them). You need to work with the imprint, and it's much easier to achieve when an object of your hatred is physically distant. No matter what kind of person you are, or what your moral/religious beliefs are, this is universal.

(It's a complex psychological topic I'm not really an expert on, so I'm not gonna go into much detail here. I'll just say what therapists have their ways to work with it).

I suspect Aang intuitively realized the problem, but with him being a 12-year-old monk and not having the needed skills or categorical apparatus, "forgiveness" was the best approximation to a right solution he could think of (I have no way of proving it though, so take it with a grain of salt as well as this whole post in general, lol).

While some idealization (and a lot of preaching) on Aang's part may have taken place, he saw "Katara's inner darkness" for what it was - a self-destructive tendency. She may think confronting Yon Rha is what she needs (although before Zuko introduced the idea, she didn't even think of the possibility), but it wouldn't be good for her. Sometimes, your loved ones are not right. Sometimes, they're about to hurt themselves. And it's not disrespectful to try and dissuade them from this (You'd think post-redemption Zuko of all people would agree with the sentiment).

Now, Zuko. While it's not his fault by any means I'm looking at you royal family, the way he dealt with the problem wasn't exactly the healthiest (or most selfless, as some people insist). He meant well, but offered a wrong method, and held on this specific method because it was something he personally could help Katara with. "It's the same as doing nothing!" - these are the words that kinda gave him away. I suspect it's not Katara's revenge or justice he was so passionate about, but his own chance of action. He was desperate for it. He didn't even stop to listen to her brother's and best friend's perspective, because it was interfering with his opportunity to be helpful, to be on the same side as Katara. In general, when your partner is too eager to side with you against your loving family, it's not a good sign, even when the family isn't perfect. (Well, okay, Aang's spectacularly poor choice of words had something to do with it as well. And where were you, Sokka-with-the-beard, when you were most needed?)

No one really offered a better practical solution to Katara's problem than Zuko though, that's the sad truth. And to be fair, after Katara had agreed to his plan enthusiastically, where was no better option for him than to go with it, I guess.

But... The bar was so low that offering nothing in the first place would be a better solution than this, honestly. Because no matter what the actual script of the episode says, I don't think this "life-changing field trip" would realistically do much good for Katara and result in her forgiveness. I think it would only hurt her more and would add to her list of irrational reasons to hate Zuko.

It may hurt, but as Katara herself made clear, there was nothing Zuko really could do at this point to help her or earn her forgiveness. It was something out of his control. He had to accept this and keep trying to do the right thing, simple as that.

I'm still a zutara trash, but not thanks to their interaction in this episode, I have to conclude.

(I guess what I'm really saying is that all those kids just need their therapy, lol)

Still typing on my phone and ignoring tumblr notifications. I wonder If anyone reads this at all lol

[acourtofthought]

I'd love to hear your take on the frankly alarming degree to which e/riels seem to perceive Elain as if she were real person who needs all this protection and defence from """antis""" (adding three quotes on that because I find the term hilarious, honestly). Maybe it's just what the algorithm is showing me but it seems to me that this rampant, aggressive, near feral attitude of e/riels trying to prove they're the only ones who care about Elain and everyone else is, in their eyes, almost an evil caricature out to hate on her is so prevalent these days? I see plenty of rational ones too, but the vocal ones (that I see) seem to have lost their grip on reality vs fiction.

It's always "we care what Elain wants and Elucien's don't" isn't it?

So what they're saying is they are happy for Elain's character to end up with a guy who hasn't thought of a future with her beyond his sexual fantasies, called her a mistake before Rhys even spoke to him, can't admit to being over the female he loved for centuries, doesn't think Elain can handle the trove, gave her zero credit for her part in the war and felt a spark in his chest over the thought of another females joy simply because "it's what she wants" (though we actually don't have canon evidence that what Elain wanted from Az was anything more than a hookup).

These are books so what she wants honestly doesn't matter because her arc isn't over and SJM has the final say on what she wants (something that she has proven to have no issues changing up for her FMC) but say she was a real person. Say your best friend wanted a guy who felt better after spending time with a different girl, who wanted a guy who didn't think of a future with her beyond a night of hooking up, and they'd be completely supportive of that simply because "it's what she wants"?

My sister WANTED to stay married to a guy who was verbally abusive because she has low self esteem issues. While we accepted that it was her life and therefore she made her own choices we weren't required to be excited about it. We were allowed to see how unhappy the situation made her despite her inability to leave at the time, we were allowed to acknowledge how bad he was for her. We were allowed to hope that someday she'd meet someone who was better for her.

To me it's a very immature frame of mind to think that the people who care for you, truly care for you (and are not just motivated by their own desires) need to be happy with what you want when those people often are able to view how those things are unhealthy for you. We are at times our own worst enemy and when we're struggling with things like trauma we don't always make the best decisions. Elucien's are able to spot this behavior in Elain right now especially when she herself confirmed in SF that she still has trauma despite her attempts at find some sort of purpose in the NC. We are able to clearly see how she's choosing to avoid her real problems in favor of fixating on something that gives her a shot of dopamine which, while understandable after great change and loss, is not the way to go about having real character growth.

Does Mor not also have purpose in the NC? But is Mor making the best decisions for her own personal life at this point in the series? The same can be said of Elain's character.

We've all witnessed how Sarah writes a FMC wanting one guy only to start the deterioration of his character so that her eventually wanting another makes sense to us.

Feyre loved Tamlin to the point she was willing to die for him in book 1 but the author hammered home the red flags in book 2 paving the way for Rhys.

Aelin loved Chaol in book 2 of the TOG series only to for Sarah to write his later actions as being something she was unable to forgive, paving the way for her to eventually fall for Rowan (after having no romantic interest in him at the start).

Lucien was introduced as a possible love interest for Elain when the author mated them in book 2 (a very simple fact that proves that if they do end up together Sarah went the route of what SHE wanted and not fanservice since mates getting together is the hallmark of a fated mates author). But instead of ruining Lucien as a possible love interest for Elain, instead of writing him as doing something problematic that makes us understand why he's not the guy for Elain, she has continually written him to be supportive of what she wants, going out of his way to do what is best for her, has him acknowledge her bravery in the war, has him meet her father and realize what a good man he was, has him stare at Elain and only Elain with longing two years after their bond snapped. A lot like what we saw with Rhys for Feyre or Cassian for Nesta, where they longed for the females despite them pushing them away.

If Sarah did not want Elucien's to have hope that they might overcome any current obstacles she would have gone out of her way to show us exactly why he's not the right guy for Elain despite what anti's claim Elain wants right now. Because again, what Elain wants can change and precedence shows us what a FMC wants often does. Not to mention we don't know the exact reasons Elain has withdrawn from Lucien meaning there might be some deeply meaningful explanation for it in the same way we saw with Nesta for Cassian.

You know whose character she did begin to tarnish though? Az when it comes to Elain. He looked sweet towards her in ACOWAR and FAS but in SF he was petty, childish, jealous. He went off half-cocked at how he'd easily defeat Lucien (who is most certainly a future HL and by default will automatically have more power than Az will ever have once his powers manifest, Lucien who controlled the fiercest warrior of the Illyrians with a single word), she wrote him as never once acknowledging how Elain also saved him in the war, how she saved Cassian and Nesta during the war, how she saved Briar during the war. Sarah wrote Az has never having thought of a future with Elain beyond his sexual fantasies. She wrote Az very quickly moving past the events of Solstice with Elain and showing admiration for another female, believing in that females ability to take care of herself, having that female spark something in is chest that is a thing of secret lovely beauty.

It's fine if some people still like the idea of Az and Elain but let's not fool ourselves, it's clear that the author is not writing Az as being the good guy when it comes to her. She gave him the Tamlin treatment when it comes to Elain and we all know what that spells out.

I think the most amusing thing for me will be hearing what anti's have to say when / if Elucien is written as endgame after years of telling us that we don't care for Elain. When the author herself decides Lucien is the best thing for her, when the author herself decides to have them fall in love, when the author herself has left us those clues all along, are they going to accuse the fated mates author who created this world and these characters of not caring about a character they themselves had zero part in bringing to life?

[thislittlekumquat]

Right but they have a point in regards to the belief in this figures not being based in any sort of fact or evidence,

That’s the difference, the atheist worldview is by far more accurate

We mock flat earthers for being wrong but not other provably false beliefs?

With all due respect, and I mean that, the concept of any sort of divinity is by definition unprovable. Modern science runs into the issue of unprovables quite often. When I was in college, my professors all worked quite hard to ensure that we understood that there are very few absolutes even in science. Many things that we take for granted as "laws" actually have the formal title of "theory", because they haven't been proven, but there's so much evidence in favor of them and the way we operate under the assumption of their truth continues to provide results, that they are essentially, but not truly, laws. Evolution, for example, is not a law as defined by science, but rather a theory.

So, that's one thing to consider. Another thing to consider is that there is not only value in things we can prove or disprove with modern science. I can't scientifically prove that my spouse loves me. I can't scientifically explain why I like my favorite band, or my favorite novel. And yet these are things I know, and they're true in the sense that they form my world, my experiences, and my life. If you try to prove every single thing you believe in, or that you prefer, or that you experience, you'll never be satisfied. To practice science and to live life ethically and happily, you need to understand what science is, what its limitations are, and how to prioritize it as a concept and as a way of knowing. Science, nor indeed any system of knowing, cannot be the be-all, end-all of your thoughts and opinions. I am a scientist and a historian by education, and having both allow me to understand that many of the conundrums we face today are not unique to us, and many of the things we assume our ancestors did not know, they did in fact know (Ferdinand and Isabella and basically all of Europe knew that the world was round. They even knew that Columbs' calculations were wrong about the size of the sphere. They gave him money for other complex geopolitical reasons, and they were his last ditch effort, since every other wealthy patron he approached knew he was wrong and turned him away).

I suspect that the impulse to deny divinity derives in the majority of cases from a sense that the human institutions of religion are frequently abusive and cause as much suffering as they do comfort to their adherents. This is a fair assessment, and you're not wrong to make it. But on an individual basis, there is nothing less intelligent or foolish about feeling that a divine something exists. I am not arguing that religious people are better than atheists. Speaking as a former angry teen atheist myself, I am simply commenting on the fact that it has been a facet of the formal atheist movement for centuries to assume that it's more rational to be atheist. Even if it were, who is to say that rationalism makes one a better person? You're on tumblr, so I assume that there's something here that moves you. Is it a fandom? Is it photography? Is it art? Is it music? None of these are rational pursuits.

So I reject the idea that divinity is demonstrably fake, because it isn't, by definition, and I reject the idea that even if it was demonstrably false, it makes one a better or smarter person to be an atheist. I think it's completely fine to be an atheist, but one must temper one's sense of self-importance with the experiences of others.

P.S. I screenshotted the post because I found it ironic that OP used the word "stigmata", which is a very particular devotional concept and image in Roman Catholicism, among other Christian sects, and a very mystical one at that, in their username, while simultaneously professing to find people who are religious to be stupid and backwards. I think there's something going on there, and it amused me. But I did not bother OP or the person who reblogged it onto my dash, nor did I tag the post in any way to lead people to my post. So I wonder why you, anonymously, felt as if their point is any more valid than mine.

[incesthemes]

houses of the holy makes me totally crazy so here have more thoughts on this episode. when dean suggests a seance to confirm whether the angel is real or not, he says this:

it feels startlingly similar to gordon's words way back in 2x03:

this strikes me as thematically odd because by the time houses of the holy comes around, dean has seemingly denied his father (represented by gordon) and refused his fate (also represented by gordon) in favor of his complete devotion to sam. since croatoan, dean has been working on sam's behalf and only sam's behalf; everything else is unimportant to him now. he made his decision, and his decision was sam.

but for him to be echoing gordon's words would indicate quite the opposite. to me it sounds like he's internalized gordon's mindset and even if he's not conscious of it, he is walking in the footsteps of his fate through gordon's influence. gorden is an allegory of dean's fate: if dean is mirroring him in any way, that should set off alarms. it means he's not as directly opposed to destiny as he claims to be.

(a side note: this actually fits very well with sam's character arc throughout the season, because he's doing the same thing. he claims he's chosen dean and refused his fate (or is trying to at least), but he is also the one who keeps pursuing it by chasing after john (a symbol for their fate) and continuing to hunt (which is what azazel wants him to do). he thinks he is opposing fate while dancing right in the palm of azazel's hand. so, cool parallel here.)

this line also pops up in the midst of a pretty wide ideological gap between them—they're opposed on the grounds of faith and the very existence of a god, and this conflict drives the story forward. interesting then that a line that is so similar to what gordon told dean is nestled so neatly within this conflict—it seems to prove the point that whenever sam and dean are in conflict, whenever they're not choosing each other, they are inevitably choosing their destinies. they can't fight because it will drive them apart and the only other direction they can go other than toward their brother is toward their fate.

but what dean is doing with this line, functionally, is making an attempt to comfort sam.

don't you want to know for sure? dean isn't saying that sam is wrong anymore; he's giving a concession by way of offering a solution to their conflict. he's offering sam something real, whatever that reality may turn out to be, and he's letting sam be the one who decides whether he wants to cling to faith or know what's really going on. this gets through to sam, and they go through with the seance.

and sam does see that dean was right. at the end of the episode, he adopts dean's pessimistic view of god and admits he was wrong. there's a slight theme here, too: when sam's worldview is shaken and he is given evidence that he can go dark side, he assimilates to dean's worldview.

this happens in season 1, also. dean is the one who originally asserts the idea of "saving people" as part of their job. dean is the one who looks for hunts and advocates for saving as many people as they can, even while sam is rather content to leave people to die to the monsters they know are out there (the most illustrative examples of this being 1x01, 1x02, and 1x11). this only changes after 1x14, when sam is shown a mirror version of himself in max and has to confront the reality that he might be going down the path to evil. the demon wants something from him, and from max, and now he can't ignore it anymore. and for the next several episodes, it's suddenly sam who is seeking out hunts, sam who is trying to save people, even when dean is reluctant to take a case.

what happened here? it's a sudden and stark change, and it's reminiscent of what dean told sam back in wendigo; it's reminiscent of how dean carries himself. sam is, perhaps, modeling himself after dean—he sees dean as someone to look up to, as someone who is worthy where he is not, as someone good where he is not. to sam, if he can become more like dean, he can be saved. he can avoid the fate that fell upon max.

and so we see this again in 2x13: sam has been presented with evidence that there is no god, that no one is going to save him, that he's damned and forsaken. and he copes with this by admitting he was wrong and immediately adopting dean's ideology as his own.

dean is good, dean is right, and if sam can just be a little bit more like his brother, he can avoid the horrific fate lying in wait for him.

and he all but confirms this pattern in 3x07, too:

but herein lies a danger, which brings me back to my original point. if dean's line here parallels gordon, if dean is voicing the echo of a man who embodies his fate, then what does this mean for sam? if sam is so quick to change his beliefs and behaviors based on his admiration for dean, that puts dean in a difficult and tenuous situation. because now, at a time when dean is supposed to be solidly dragging sam away from his doom, he's backsliding toward his own—and he's taking sam with him.

y'know, like:

[majaloveschris]

I’m not going to discount the article and many people aren't either. The reality the relationship narrative started with unknown publications and articles such as this. Also the engagement articles came from this site too. It's crazy to imply that people are doing this to prove they're right at any cost, especially when the writer has other works there as well.

No, the relationship narrative started with them following each other and with the whole LV thing. It didn't start with a random person writing an article. That article probably was written because a lot of people think she's not wearing her ring (before that one video came out of her actually wearing it, but on most videos she still didn't wear it) and they're not spending VT day together, which means they are separating. I doubt that that person would have any information or evidence, if they did, I'm sure they wouldn't have gone to a relatively unknown page to publish an article. They thought and wrote that because others thought the same.

You said they have other works as well; yes, they have two other articles published, but their very first one was the one about Chris and Alba, so it's not like they'd uploaded millions of articles prior to this one, which would make them more reliable.

My comment about people doing things and writing articles just to prove their truth wasn't actually aimed at that specific article, but we shouldn't act like there aren't people (from both sides) who wouldn't do anything to prove their truth.

You do, and if you want to believe they are separating, good for you. If others want to believe, it's up to them. I, however, would rather wait for something more reliable (People or their own mouth) and something supported by evidence, and yeah, I will continue to encourage people to do the same. That article doesn't mean anything. If they end up separating, then yeah, maybe it did, but even then, I would doubt it actually did. But until something official doesn't come out, I don't think anybody who wanted them to divorce should start to celebrate. I think no matter what side you are on, it's important to try to be as neutral as you can. I get that people want them to divorce, but I wonder if that article would've said she is pregnant, would people still believe it or call it fake.

You know my opinion about this relationship, but I can't believe this article. It doesn't seem legit, reliable, or anything like that. I think that article isn't worth the disappointment or the hurt some people would feel if they ended up doing something again. I'm all about honesty here, and that article for me doesn't mean anything. And it's not about me wanting to discount an article or a person, that site has no "relevance", for probably obvious reasons.

[hellameyers]

S1E2 - "Second Chance at First Line"

This episode picks up right where the first episode ended. Scott walks into the locker room in a daze because he just found out the hunter, who shot him with an arrow the other night, was Allison's dad. He freaks out, but Stiles snaps him out of it and gives him a bit of a pep talk to focus on Lacrosse for now. One thing at a time.

At practice, Jackson continues to antagonize Scott and knocks him down, bringing him down a peg. Jackson is trying to assert his dominance, tries to proves that he's the big man on campus because he can't handle not being number one, especially to someone he considers to be beneath him, like Scott. But Scott gets back up. Coach makes him do it again, provoking him by teasing him. So the wolf comes out a bit and he takes Jackson down, hurting his shoulder.

The problem is Scott can't control his shift, so Stiles ushers him to the locker room while the others check on Jackson. Scott attacks Stiles, but Stiles is able to hold him off before stopping him with a fire extinguisher. Scott asks what happened, too lost in his wolf to be present. Stiles tried to reason with him after Scott tried to kill him. He says that Scott needs to work on his anger. It's a trigger, it raises his pulse, and it leads him to shift. But that's what Lacrosse is all about. So Stiles argues that Scott can't play the game.

He's still hung up on playing, though. He's convinced that if he doesn't do one thing, like play the game, he's going to lose Allison and this perfect life he created for himself. And he keeps finding evidence to support his own misbelief.

Lydia threatens him after hearing the rumor that he's sitting out. She dangles Allison over his head and manipulates him into playing by saying she'll introduce him to all the hot players and he'll just be a loser in comparison.

His mom says she's taking off work to go, so he feels guilty because they can't afford for her to take the time.

Derek even sneaks into Scott's room and threatens Scott not to play in the game. Because if he shifts and hurts or kills someone he runs the risk of exposing not only himself but Derek. Then they won't have to worry solely about hunters because everyone will want to kill them. So, if he tries to play, Derek will kill him.

Lots threats, but nobody gives him any solid advice or help. So, Scott takes things into his own hands.

After he finds out that Derek gave Allison her jacket back, Scott freaks out. He tells her Derek isn't actually his friend and asks her a million questions. She walks away from him, upset. Maybe she thinks he's being jealous and controlling. I think that's a safe assumption. Anyway, she's not having it.

Scott goes to the Hale House and warns Derek off Allison, says she doesn't know anything. Whether he meant about werewolves or about hunters, or even about everything,  is not explained. Derek suggests that maybe she does. Derek tries to level with Scott, says he's looking out for him, and Stiles can't just Google all the answers for him, he needs actual help. Unfortunately, Scott and Derek haven't talked about actual solutions. Derek is trying to scare him into compliance, but Scott is a teenager who wants to rebel against the person who tells him he can't do something. It's clear, to me, neither of them really know what they're doing or how to move forward.

While he's there, Scott smells blood and sees disturbed earth behind the house. He's determined to get Derek out of the picture so he can play in the game, so he enlists Stiles. They go to the hospital, and Scott gets a sniff of the other half of the body so he can be sure it's the same. He's convinced and also disturbed by the wounds.

In the meantime, Stiles tries to chat up Lydia but fails because she's actually on her phone's headset on a call and wasn't even listening to him. An interesting illustration to show how far apart they are in status, sure. But Lydia is seen as this unattainable girl. And she's carefully put herself there on that pedestal. In my opinion, Stiles, in a way, is actually better than her in that moment, in that he's actually being completely himself and being vulnerable. While she's got a long way before, she's even on his level.

Stiles stops Scott and makes sure his friend is doing this for the right reasons. Is he trying to stop a murderer, or is he stopping Derek because he told Scott not to play in the game? Scott tells Stiles what he found, and that convinces Stiles he's serious about stopping a murderer.

Which, side note, neither of them actually know to be true, they're both just going on Scott's mistrust of Derek here.

While I do believe that Scott cares about stopping who he believes to be a killer, he's still a typical teenager, and he wants to do the thing that he thinks will win the girl, and make him cool, and make his life feel normal. So it's a definite win-win for him.

They go to dig up the body, but Scott senses something has changed. There's a joke here from Stiles that if Derek catches them, they run in opposite directions, and whoever he catches, oh well. It's funny because it illustrates that they still haven't planned any of this out other than catching a scent and grabbing a shovel.

They don't get caught by Derek, but they find the body is actually a wolf. Stiles, with his keen eye, sees Wolfsbane flower that he recognizes from all his research and realizes it's tied to a rope that creates a spiral around the gravesite (we get insight on the spiral in later episodes). They remove it, and the body changes to a woman.

When the cops come and arrest Derek, Stiles sneaks into the cop car when they're occupied with the crime scene. Stiles asks him about the girl, how she was able to be an actual wolf. He's clearly fascinated by all of it.

May I add the body language and the looks scream that something else is going on there. Whether you read into that, like some have, that Derek and Stiles are attracted to each other is one thing. Maybe that's possible. I feel that Derek is getting a read off Stiles, his scent, his heartbeat, etc. He's looking between his eyes, his mouth, his chest, and he's analyzing him. I'm curious to know what exactly he senses about Stiles there 🤭

Anyway, Derek, once again, doesn't deny allegations, which makes him look suspicious to Stiles and the audience. Although, why would he need to prove himself to a couple teens who already made up their minds about him. Maybe he's too exhausted, or he doesn't care enough or trust them enough to be vulnerable with them.

Derek redirects the conversation and tells Stiles he shouldn't be worried about Derek. He should be worried about Scott and what will happen if he shifts on the field. Derek can't stop Scott from playing, but maybe Stiles can.

It's short lived because the Sheriff pulls his son out of the car. As he questions Stiles about how they discovered this whole plot, Stiles inadvertently admits he lied and Scott was with him the night of the search when Stiles was caught. His father, exasperated with his son, this seems like their normal dynamic, he let's him go, for now.

Scott makes a point that Stiles is liking the werewolf stuff way too much, and Scott can't even stand him saying the word anymore. Sure, he was affected by the wolfsbane that Stiles kept in his backpack, but they're good points.

Stiles just discovered something new to hyperfixate on, which he is wont to do. So that's valid, but also unfair. Although he's enjoying everything he discovers, he's using the knowledge to help his friend. But it seems Scott is unable to see this yet.

Scott clearly hates being a werewolf, which is understandable, so far it's been dangerous and an inconvenience to Scott, plus he never asked for it. That's valid. Then again, he does love the effects when it suits him. Until he's rudely confronted with this reality, seeing his wolfy reflection in Allison's window.

Argent hits Scott with his car in his retreat from Allison's house. He's incredibly apologetic but also a little skeptical that Scott isn't more hurt. The wheels are turning. Allison comes to his rescue, and Argent is suspicious for another reason. He realizes his daughter likes this kid and goes full father mode, promising that he's going with Allison to the game.

At the game, Stiles tries to reason with Scott that nothing will fall apart if he misses one game. He's not going to lose Allison, he can play again once they get things figured out. But Scott is determined to play.

Throughout the whole game, Scott is constantly triggered into anger. Jackson with his plan to keep the ball away from Scott, frustrates him. Lydia using Allison to help her hold signs cheering on Jackson pokes at Scott. Even Jackson at one point slams into Scott to catch the ball. The team is losing but Jackson has ordered the team as their captain not to pass to Scott.

Scott has gotten under Jackson's skin so bad that Jackson has deluded himself that he could win even while injured without Scott, even with clear evidence that they're going to lose. His desire to control Scott and make himself better than Scott is stronger than his own drive to win.

Scott gets so mad that he steals the ball away and ends up scoring the last 3 points to win the game seconds before the buzzer. The problem is that he can't pull the shift back again. He runs off to the locker room. Allison comes to him and we find that Allison is the key to calming Scott. They kiss, it's sickeningly sweet.

Then Stiles comes in, but he tries to duck out when he finds Scott is alright. He tries to give Scott a moment, with "we'll talk later", but Scott insists he talk to him now. Stiles drops the bomb that the evidence of the case shows bite marks and wolf hair. They determined it was an animal that killed the girl, not Derek. Derek is free. And the girl, yeah, she's Derek's sister Laura Hale.

They process this. I feel Scott surely still thinks Derek is the murderer but is trying to work out why or how Derek would kill his own sister. While it's likely Stiles might be rethinking Derek as the murderer. But that's my own speculation with knowing Stiles fairly well. But he did say, previously, there might be a whole pack of werewolves out there. Just because they've only seen Derek doesn't mean he's the only one. Maybe Stiles is starting to think that way.

The episode ends with Jackson finding Scott's discarded glove. He notices the claw marks at each fingertip. As he tries to wrap his head around what this can mean, he sees Derek watching him from the treeline. It's all very ominous.

Derek knows that Scott played the game, yet Scott is still alive. Perhaps because Derek's threat was empty. Maybe Derek let it slide because Scott didn't hurt anyone or expose their secret. I don't know if any of these thoughts truly get an answer, but I feel they're good questions. And we know Derek will have his eyes on Jackson now to make sure he doesn't talk.

[mdhwrites]

Hi, its been a while since I sended an ask, hehe, I hope you are doing okay.

So, maybe this is a weird question, but, what advierte would you give me to do a good analysis? Story, character. I feel I should be able to analyze well other stories and not just repeat what other people say.

Be willing to ask yourself why and be ready to be wrong.

I've talked about it before that the worst version of analysis is when you have already come to a conclusion and then you look for evidence that says you are correct. A better way to put it in example form is the difference between:

"Why is it that I find this character entirely repugnant?"

"I find this character entirely repugnant. What are the actions that make me hate them?"

Because all analysis is biased. My questions about TOH start with "Why is this bad?" where as other people who do analysis may start with "Why is this good?" but the idea behind more objective analysis is that by requiring proof from the same set of data, we should be able to come to a conclusion that resembles each other. NOT that we'll agree mind you. Analysis of media at the end of the day is still just opinion after all. However, we should be able to both look at each other's argument and go "I disagree with you but you make a lot of fair points. I can see how, with a different point of view, one could think this. Thank you for the chat."

And the reason I depict that final part as cordial is because, well... You started with having to have this conversation with yourself. You had to look yourself in the eye and ask if you were being fair. If you were reviewing all of the facts that you could. If you had double checked the places your memory was hazy to make sure you weren't replacing the correct version of a scene with one that comes from a biased, emotional place. You made sure to eliminate excuses where they may crop up and at least attempted to judge the work on its own merit. If you were willing to ask yourself such questions, why would you get mad at someone who raised such questions to you later?

This is much of why I say I am here to teach, not to force my opinion onto others. I want to present my conclusions to my peers and hope that they make sense in a way that may add to someone's perspective on the media I critique, or even the media I like. My goal is not to win, it's to share. To try and have an open and honest dialogue about our thoughts on a work as it is.

Which probably doesn't sound entirely true due to the fandom talk I've done in the past but the thing is, most of the time when I talk about such things, I talk about excuses. About ways that someone warps what is actually on screen so that it fits within their conclusion. That will always be the end point for the opposite of how I try to do my analysis after all. If you are unwilling to ask yourself why you believe something and just look for the evidence that proves you right... You'll find it. You'll also come across like a conspiracy nut but you will find your evidence.

BIG CAVEAT

I do this shit naturally. Analysis just works with my brain. Everything I have described here though is why we have professional reviewers because it's a lot of fucking work. I keep who I like to watch review wise pretty strict because most people, especially who are just analyzing a piece of work they like because they're passionate about it, do not want to put up with all of this. They want to say how much they love the thing they do and there's nothing wrong with that. They are putting joy into the world after all with it, far more than I ever have on this blog.

But in that case, before you ask why, as yourself who. Who are you trying to be with this? Someone just sharing their feelings or someone trying to knuckle down and do some proper analysis? Just so long as the first question you ask isn't what, I think you're starting from a much better place. See you next tale.

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A final note on not repeating what others say: I have been thanked for helping put into words the frustrations people have with things. Sometimes it can just be incredibly difficult to know why you feel the way you do, even if you poke and prod and scrape at something for an answer. I mean, it's not what we think of when we consider what good writing is but again: We have professional reviewers for a reason. They theoretically should know how to put their opinions and emotions into something that can be more logically understood and debated with and that does take good writing skills, especially to do it within the word counts that professional journalists/reviewers must.

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[fleetsonourgecentral]

ugh all I can think of lately is Fleetway!Sonourge. good job on spreading that to me

also thinking about the Freedom Fighters protecting Scourge from Zonic when he shows up. like, him trying to arrest all of them for hiding and protecting a criminal and all. how do you think the FFs would overcome him?

:3 it's spreading as planned

It would take a while for the zone cops to even come to the conclusion Scourge is hiding in the fleetway dimension, tbh. He's good at running from the cops, and knows lots of places to hide. It's difficult to track him down when he's not actively causing trouble, and the fleetway universe is quite a ways away from the dimensions he normally hangs around in. The zone cops are expecting him to show up in Moebius, or try to take over the Prime dimension again. They aren't going to be looking in the dimension with the evil Super Sonic that's thousands of miles away, because why would he be there? Even once they do investigate there, they're probably initially be inclined to take Sonic's word for it when he says Scourge isn't there. Zonic knows this Sonic hates lookalikes, after all. It would take a while for them to genuinely suspect the fleetway universe

Usually when Zonic shows up, the first thing they do is hide Scourge, which can range from hiding him elsewhere in the dimension (special zone included) or finding a way to get him out altogether, and he'll find somewhere else to hide until they leave again. The zone cops can't actually arrest him if he isn't there, and they can't prove the freedom fighters have been hiding him, since, well, he doesn't legally exist in the fleetway universe. The best they can do is ask around to see if anyone has seen him, but Sonic is always quick to point out that anyone could be a green hedgehog in a leather jacket. Metamorphia did turn into a green hedgehog, once. Without seeing Scourge with their own two eyes, the zone cops have no way to prove the green hedgehog in a leather jacket is Scourge and not someone else.

"Everyone around here is an idiot," Sonic will sneer if Zonic tries to point out that he showed a picture of Scourge to some civilians and they said they recognised him. "They'll mix any hedgehog up. Someone mistook Amy for me, once."

Technically, the circumstantial evidence is enough to bring Sonic and the other freedom fighters in, but there's always the risk of him turning into Super, if we pick the part of the timeline where they're one person. He's harmless if they get the collar around him, it's just getting the collar around him without being vaporised that's the tricky part. Even if they're separate people, well, if Sonic is gone, who will stop Super if he goes out of control?

If the zone cops decide to bring them in anyway, well. The freedom fighters are freedom fighters. They're going to fight, and they're going to fight dirty. Sonic alone is a pain in the ass (and, again, a huge risk if he and Super are one person) but everyone else will make it even worse. The cops could subdue them eventually, but... ultimately, I think they find it more trouble than it's worth to bring them in, especially when they have no surefire way to prove Scourge has anything to do with them. And if the freedom fighters were arrested, Scourge would work his ass off to bust them out. It could be a good way to trap him, but Scourge has escaped from prison once before, they don't want it to happen again

Ultimately, I think they decide to bide their time. There are other criminals to take care of, and they can't really spare the resources to go hunting for Scourge when he isn't even causing any trouble aside from "already being a wanted criminal", so they decide it's better to periodically check in to see if they can catch him unaware or wait until he causes a big enough problem to give them justification to go knocking on the door and arrest the lot of them. Unfortunately for them, the freedom fighters are protective, and will make sure that never happens