#turning off replies and reblogs bc this is just a personal rant i don't want anyone to start disc horse

[euarchontoglires]

would've posted this on my twitter priv but i don't wanna feel stifled by the character limit so here it goes

i am fully aware of the controversy behind some of the amphibia staff being pr0\shitters. however i'm not letting that impact my enjoyment of the show because as an asian-american, the joy of seeing asian representation in a large-scale cartoon far outweighs the discomfort i feel about those who worked on it

that being said, i definitely believe you need to be wary about separating art from artist. but that entails actually thinking critically about which aspects specifically can't be separated, instead of just going "this whole thing is automatically Bad because a Bad person made it." in amphibia's case, it's the fact that so little attention gets called to how marcy and sasha, Literal Actual Children, are holding such high rankings in amphibian society. and ESPECIALLY sasha being employed as a literal child soldier.

to be clear, i do not think it is a bad approach. many children's cartoons have kids in empowered positions, and i think it's interesting how the calamity trio are being seen differently from actual frog children due to being physically bigger than even most adult amphibians. however, combined with the context of some of the staff's views, it makes me raise an eyebrow. amphibia isn't some magical fantasyland where kids can live out their dreams of being a watered-down TV-Y version of a knight or a king. it's a proper country with very fleshed-out worldbuilding, with its own share of heavy societal issues that parallel our world's, and the show is definitely not one to shy away from heavier topics

which is why the implications of 13-year olds being in the military and government almost never being brought up is so surprising to me. sasha didn't HAVE to be written as the co-leader of the toad military. marcy didn't HAVE to be written as the king's advisor.

but here's the thing. a lot of pr0\shitters don't see children's show protagonists as children, but rather people with personalities of vague maturity that can play any role and theoretically anyone can self-insert themselves into. usually with only slightly less maturity than the adults at the least. and in most cases, that's fine—protagonists like that can resonate with a wider audience than just little humans of a similar age. usually them doing adult things is all cool and good, and in the cases where they're doing something a child Really Should Not Be Doing there's commentary on it (ex. animorphs). but when it comes to particularly sensitive topics that regularly get defended by people in power in real life—i.e. age gap relationships and sexual abuse—it's hard to ignore the optics of putting a child character in such a situation, even if they're a collection of lines that acts simultaneously like an adult and a kid. and this is where the trope of putting kids and adults on relatively the same status level starts to break down. sasha being a child soldier just ever so slightly toes the line between "eh it's just a cartoon" and "what the fuck why is no one concerned about this", and that's why i think her being written as such is a direct reflection of Those staff members' attitude towards fiction.

additionally, the general vibe of the show just kinda. feels like a cartoon made by and for weirdo adults who complained that children's cartoons didn't cater to them enough. as much as i enjoy the internet/nerd humor, it's hard for me to not feel cynical about it. or about some of the more risqué jokes/scenes. or about marcy getting impaled in the chest at the end of s2. i'm sure it's just because disney's censorship toned down every other intense scene, while they couldn't with marcy's scene because it was both leaked beforehand and Plot Important, but it feels to me like it was included for pure "oh my god this show is so DARK and ADULT!!!" shock value. i'm glad i don't interact with the fandom because i'm sure if i took a drink for every person using those jokes and scenes to "prove" that the show was "really" made for older folks, i'd die from liver disease

also that one line of sprig saying "i can't believe we tried to kill each other over a piece of fiction!!! :)" in the ship war episode genuinely made me consider dropping the show

[readreactrant]

I couldn't help myself and send the person who harrassed you the following, lol

The ironic thing is that successful creatives being "freaks and weirdos" means they are normal people, and reserve their "freak" tendencies for fiction, like healthy humans do. Whereas those who cry and throw tantrums over "weird" fiction don't know how to be normal in real life.

AND THIS IS GENUINELY SO TRUE TOO!!!

A bit off tangent but also related, I'm gonna be a bookworm for a bit. So last night I finished reading Moriarty by Anthony Harowitz, I love most of his books, I'm almost done with the power of five and Alex Rider series, and in a lot of his stories even for the younger audiences there's still a good mount of death. "Moriarty" had a lot of death and gruesome scenes, and Moriarty as a character was genuinely a psycho who didn't have a problem with using and killing even those that helped him. It was genuinely so fun to read and even in the end notes it's told that the writer has written so many books and committed so many fictional murders in their time of writing.

Shit like this can be said for Stephen King and so many others, their works and raw and whether people like it or not, it's fun to read and enjoy so many taboo themes in fiction that we cringe and detest in real life.

Because in real life people get hurt and it doesn’t end when we close the tab or turn the page, real people continue to hurt and feel. In real life things like empathy, consent and boundaries exist and normal people respect those and the obvious fact that real human life and emotions aren't to be toyed with.

Going around calling real people pedos, fetishiziers, murders and all sorts of names just bc of how they engage with fantasy and fiction ignores these boundaries and lowers the value of human life equating it to simple ink on paper or pixels on a screen.

If a taboo topic offends you or triggers some terrible emotional scar, I sympathize but just like you there are boundaries or themes even I wouldn't touch. But I don't shame the enjoyers, I block and move on. Your triggers in fiction are yours and yours alone, close the page, block and move on with your life. Name calling won't save future victims, educating and stressing the differences between irl and fiction will.

Ugh I already told myself I wouldn't use this account for discourse but the last few hours have been so laughable to me. Accusations don't faze me but I'm very argumentative which I'm trying to curb. I want to spend more time on things that make me happy and excited to know more, not fight 18 yr olds and minors struggling for financial dependence and relevance. Y'all do you 😘

Thanks to anon coming to my aid I appreciate it and I hope they don't start bothering you too. It's best to ignore these people.

Which is why I turned off reblogs, if you wanna rant abt me, take screenshots I won't know abt or scream in my replies so I can block you. Peace and love ✌

[ghosthalfa]

「 GET TO KNOW YOUR RP PARTNER! 」

( repost, please don’t reblog )

「BASICS」

▐ NAME: perseus (percy) ▐ PRONOUNS: any ▐ SEXUALITY: girls! ▐ TAKEN OR SINGLE: single ▐ FIVE FACTS:

i really love animals! in my life i've owned cats, dogs, turtles, lizards (bearded dragons and skinks), snakes, hedgehogs, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, fish, frogs, snails, tarantulas, ducks, chickens, lovebirds, and parakeets. currently i own several dogs, two cats, a turtle, three ball pythons, a boa constrictor, and a brazilian rainbow boa. ask me about them if you want to see 8 billion pictures.

throughout my childhood and adult life i've lived in five different states, all up and down the east coast! despite this though i have never visited a state outside of the east united states.

archery is a big hobby of mine, even if i don't have nearly as much time to do it right now. i started out using a child's fiberglass compound when i was a kid, but grew out of it within a couple years and now use a wooden recurve bow. it's for this reason that actors holding bows incorrectly in movies makes me go on unhinged rants, sorry anyone who's friends with me.

i'm a big dnd player! i started out playing with friends i met in the rp scene (shoutout to mod mimosa you a real one) and now have a dedicated in-person group with my friends who play weekly or bi-weekly. and despite always saying dnd we actually play mostly pathfinder, mostly 1st edition but we've been dipping our toes into 2e recently. pls ask me about my characters i would die for them.

i'm like. a huge nerd, traditionally speaking. i am a fountain of useful or useless information about comic books and stars wars. i've been following both marvel and dc comics since i was in middle school, and in high school i added star wars to my list of nerd obsessions. the batfam and young avengers are beloved to me, and my favorite star wars characters are ezra bridger, ahsoka tano, and cal kestis!

「EXPERIENCE」

▐ HOW LONG (YEARS/MONTHS): 13-ish years? give or take? maybe a little longer even, i'm not 100% sure ▐ PLATFORMS USED: mostly tumblr, but i started out forum rp'ing on a super old website. i've dabbled a little in discord rp'ing but it didn't really stick ▐ BEST EXPERIENCE: oh geeze uhhh. it's really hard to pick when you've been at it so long. tbh tho if anyone was in aod at the time and remembers, the gnome wars really stuck in my head. i don't think i'd ever had so much fun roleplaying before, it gave me such great and super fond memories

「MUSE PREFERENCES」

▐ MALE/FEMALE/OTHER: i tend to have mostly male muses, but when i do muse a female character i cherish her a lot ▐ FAVORITE FACECLAIM: i've never really needed one before. if i'm doing a mun post i just kind of scroll through my icons and pick a sacrifice ▐ FLUFF, ANGST, OR SMUT: i'm not one for smut at all, but i do very much enjoy angst. fluff is also good but i'm a sucker for angst in general

▐ PLOTS OR MEMES: plots! memes are nice but they can burn me out if i do too many of them. that's why i tend to only participate in meme day once every couple of weeks or so ▐ LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: long replies bc i'm apparently not capable of controlling myself or my writing. i like short replies too but it seems no matter what i do they turn into long replies eventually ▐ BEST TIME TO WRITE: at night in my room, with a show (a lot of times from the muse i'm writing for) playing in the bg for white noise ▐ ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSES: sometimes yes sometimes no. i definitely feel like i have a type, but also a lot of times i wildly veer off from it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it really depends

[spaceinvadeeer]

didn't think i'd have to do this one day, but that was the last straw. please read the entirety of this post before interacting with it in any way.

for context, a day ago i stumbled on this post that was last reblogged by a mutual, whomst i decided to dm after reading all of it.

since the screenshots of our dm convo are very long, here's a link to what i sent and here's the response i got.

while i absolutely get why those people were upset about non-americans making ignorant takes on their country, i didn't understand why the need to lash out at europeans like we're all some kind of heartless monsters. i could at least understand if it were about things we are to be held accountable for, but as far as i'm aware all the arguments mentioned in this angry rant could also be said about americans. i dm'd that mutual to try and point out that the lashout was a bit unecessary and that it was just harmful to let out your anger on a specific group of people (regardless of who they are) you are not a part of. but since they decided to block me after replying instead of hearing me out like a grown-up, i'll have to address this publicly while of course keeping them anonymous.

so let's address this point by point...

1- i did not say that i never witnessed hate, nor that it'd never happen for whatever reason. i pretty much did say that i'm aware of the assholes out there making fun of horrible events. however, if you chose to focus on all the negativity instead of all the support non-americans are willing to give, then it's your problem not ours.

2- if you find it so outrageous and uncalled for that europeans speak about america and its citizens like they know everything... then don't you think it's fair that we also get pissed when americans post hateful rants about europe that hold no factual value? what do you, an american, know about europe? about its inhabitants? certainly not more than me, who pretty much was born and lives in western europe and sees fucktons of europeans everyday and know what the overall opinion is over here.

3- so your only examples of haters are to be found... in YouTube/TikTok comments? this is just lazy. i could also say that mean americans trash-talked the hell out of my country in comment sections, but i won't ever do it bc firstly, i have no way of knowing where commenters are actually from and i don't care enough to dwell on it, and secondly they could just be trolls waiting for someone to give them the attention they're seeking.

4- while i do 100% agree that whoever puts the blame on individuals for not being able to change their government is wrong bc it's much more complex than that, by saying "i bet that if i open any post about the current events there'll be nasty comments about americans" you are choosing to focus on the negative. because negativity is not all there is, but it seems like it's more convenient for you to turn a blind eye on all the positive messages so it fits your biased opinion.

5- the entire bit about how someone is not a good person if they refuse to help after being insulted for no valid reason makes me laugh. just think about it for a moment... would you personally be willing to support someone after they got angry at you for making gross generalizations, without seeing you as a person but rather as part of a "mass of brainless insensitive people"? if the way you already blocked me after i tried to have a calm discussion is any indication, i'd say no. you just wanted to feel like you had the last word, you do not care to tell me (and by extension, other non-americans) how they can help best nor do you care to hear me out. i guess my pov doesn't matter, so you shouldn't have to hear it...

6- "if it offends you, it likely struck a nerve" says the one who went off in the first place about how europeans are big bad insensitive meanies and the like. i do not stand hearing uneducated takes on my continent, and i do not stand being belittled based on bullcrap nonsense. i don't think this is a very european-exclusive thing though, and it's got nothing to do with white fragility or toxic masculinity either. it's simply called the wish to be respected as a human being.

7- "if they did genuinely care, they'd read up and educate themselves" then i strongly advise you to read and get educated about europe, because clearly your surface level of understanding is not even accurate. europe is not a monolith, no country is perfect, no country is heaven on earth, not all countries are as well off as others, heck not all countries are even at peace right now. but if you still think the united states are merely laughing stock for the rest of the world's amusement, then i would suggest you put your superiority complex away for a moment and take a look at a few (of many) non-americans voicing out their support for all afabs in america who are being discriminated against:

Laura Calu (French) Neil Gaiman (English) Georgia Tennant (English) Aksually (Estonian) Kurtis Conner (Canadian)

if you're an american reading this, know that i do not hate you. i will never assume the worst of you just based on your nationality; i will respect you as long as you show the same respect for me. all the crimes and tragedies taking place in the united states are not deserved, and it's certainly unfair that middle- and lower-class citizens have to suffer from a system that is fundamentally faulty and hard to change. however, if you're looking for an outlet for your anger and/or if you think i'm less valid than you for being upset when someone spreads unprompted takes about the place and system i live in without knowing shit about it, then you can go elsewhere.

[buckys-metal-arm]

Alright, look. Because of the truly exorbitant amount of Bucky/Sebastian Stan content I put on this blog I'm gonna make one post re: the most recent controversy because I feel it important to do so. Just bc I like him and the character he plays in the MCU does NOT mean I think he's immune to criticism. That said, reblogs and replies are turned off because I'm saying my one piece on the matter and have been having a string of real, genuine good days recently which even on meds doesn't happen often and I don't owe a single one of you on either side of this my mental health over a subject matter I really just don't want in my head any longer than it needs to be in there tbh

Also I'm doing this in bullet points bc that makes sense in my head and also am on mobile so can't put a read more on here so I'm sorry in advance for the wall of text. Without any further ado, let's unpack this.

Full disclosure: I am a 23 year old individual who did watch the series not knowing until after that it was made without Pamela's consent, only watched it bc Seb was in it, and was only tangentially aware of who the titular characters were (like I knew Baywatch and Motley Crüe and had heard Pamela's name before but like I knew nothing about any of it). I was born like 2 years after everything with the tape in question went down and really knew nothing about the situation with it. Thats not me trying to defend anything, I'm just laying everything out ahead of what I'm about to say.

So like most people at this point I read his insta post and I personally, GENUINELY think he did write it with the best of intentions. I don't think he was trying to be outwardly malicious or drag Pamela into it or invite harassment of her or anyone tbh. And like, dude got nominated for an Emmy, odds are he probably wrote it the midst of or coming off of a lot of excitement and probably wasn't thinking clearly. God knows I wouldn't be if I was in that situation

HOWEVER

This is NOT me excusing it as "well we all say dumb shit sometimes". Because that would be bad imo. Actors are not infallible or immune to criticism just because I like them imo. I'm currently going through a similar thing with my feelings on John Mulaney but that's a rant for another day and another blog.

Like I said, I don't think his intentions were anything other than good, and that he was trying to be genuine

That said I am a firm believer in the idea the Road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and that when you are a part of that you do need to own up to it.

His tagging Pamela (and Tommy for that matter, but for different reasons) was definitely a bad move, and the post overall read as extremely tone deaf. Like. Royally so.

And I definitely think the response to it, while a little harsh in some cases, isn't undeserved. What he said was a bad take and really poorly worded, and he needs to be called out

And I do hope he addresses it and apologizes in a meaningful way and does some introspection. But also I know there is a crowd that no matter what he does they'll say it's not good enough because there always is.

And that's NOT me saying every time a celebrity apologizes and people say it's not good enough it's undeserved (if I had a nickel for every Notes App Apology™️ one has made that was DEFINITELY not enough I could pay off my student loans)

And it's a valid take, people can do what they want. I don't expect to sway anybody.

But also I dunno. I don't think he's exempt or immune from criticism because he's famous or my celebrity crush or anything like that and I do think he needs to be held accountable for what he said and needs to address the backlash

But also he is a human being and human beings fuck up sometimes.

Both of these things can be true and not cancel out the other imo.

I do think the 'if you still support him you support abusers and seb needs to be blacklisted in Hollywood' takes are a little fuckin much honestly

But also the fans who are just sweeping this under the rug and dismissing it as 'everyone hating for no reason' also need to take a long hard look at it because what he said is kinda messed up seeing as he was talking about consent and exploitation whilst profiting off of a show made without consent about a victim of exploitation is Not Great

And like. You can like someone and acknowledge that they did a shit thing. These 2 things can coexist.

But also this isn't me trying to be some faux intellectual claiming moral superiority because I'm in the gray area or anything

I'm a Literally a 23 year old barely out of college person on the internet with limited life experience who likes the MCU and majored in theatre, I'm not going to pretend I'm some final authority or expert on this

I'm just one (1) person saying I see both sides but also maybe both sides need to calm down a bit

I know I'm just a drop in the ocean of discourse and I'm fine with that

Basically tl;dr: I think what Sebastian said and that he tagged Pamela was messed up and Hope he apologizes in a meaningful way but also know that means different things to different people, I am the farthest thing from an authority figure on the situation and just decided I wanted to say at least something based on the content of my blog.

I'm never sure how to end of of these but this is the end