#via tv tropes

[sunfireshards]

they WHAT

[melonthesprigatito]

I find it mildly hilarious that Black and White makes such a huge deal out of the fact N can understand Pokémon, like "LOOK! He can understand the hearts minds of Pokémon!" Truly a unique individual!" then you watch the anime and find out that talking to Pokémon is apparently an already established superpower that some people just have and that two Gym Leaders can do it.

Sorry, N. You ain't special.

[strangeauthor]

wow ppl really did bully aj beckles off twitter because he liked someone's harmless fanart. i hate anime fans

[autisticlio]

Yuuichi. That's it. That's the post.

[twinkpoll]

No Timothee Chalamet but what do you say about every character played by him ? Expect a lot of submissions when I have some free time, dear mod :)

We've already gotten three noms for Paul Atreides. But only three.

I feel like he's an honorary Victor-type twink. He's running around a worm-infested desert about to keel over. Truly the selective god-breeding didn't work.

[gailynovelry]

Agony and suffering. One of my favorite webcomics is obscure and generic enough of name that I cannot locate any fanart for it.

[just-jammin]

aight i’ll bite. what even. is. the vtuber meta? afaik theyre just anime mcyt

(disclaimer: this is just me trying to ramble abt vtubers; if this appears in the search tab, pls ignore it or don't harass me abt some inaccuracies)

well, it's... not that simple ig??

even i don't know too much abt the vtuber stuff bc i'm jus a newbie fan

buuut i can give ya the gist of everything in here first, then the most prominent groups in the second part! under the cut bc it MIGHT get long!

(also this is the FIRST time i've heard of that term... ik it's kinda like the world of vtubers or smth, but i tried searching it up and i either got a magazine or news of the meta being bad so i don't rly wanna dive deeper into that vtuber news shit—)

sooo vtubers are basically rl ppl streaming, but with the added façade of basically being some of sort animated character on top of that. they usually range from the usual anime character to something a LOT more bonkers, like a capybara or even, idk, an object?? though that's limited to like, lesser-known indie vtubers, so yeh :p

along with the drawn, animated, and rigged characters that they control using their body movements, the characters themselves have lore attached to them, kinda like the characters that mcyt ppl have when playing in smp's. the lore can range from just being a normal person/idol to an ABSOLUTELY nigh-powerful god or legendary creature, not unlike the fan interpretations of smp character lore. however, it only gets slightly alluded to most of the time in streams, as a lot of them still reference their personal lives quite a bit, sometimes even combining the two in a clever way.

speaking of personal lives, if they have any other ooc Youtube or Twitch channels to be noted about, they're usually treated as separate to the current character they have at the moment. this is mostly done as respect to the current character, but sometimes talking about those channels, or 'previous lives' as the fans call it, in the presence of the vtuber in question could get them doxxed.

also, you might notice that a LOT of vtubers are also prone to saying a bunch of Japanese terms. it's mostly bc afaik, they first became popular in Japan. they then spread internationally with the help of community captions, and later on, clipping channels that post snippets of their videos with subtitles helped with the popularity.

however, vtuber culture is kinda based off of Asian idol culture, with some aspects of it being carried over to vtubers as well. one such aspect is calling retirements 'graduations', which to fans is a catch-all term for 'leaving the character and pretty much blocking said character's social media & its contents away from the masses', leading to a usually MASSIVE wave of panic in the chat. terminations of contract are also there, but are mostly prominent in corporate vtuber groups as opposed to independent/indie vtuber groups.

so yeah, that's the gist of vtubers. i'll discuss abt the main competitors in the nxt ask—

[ceaselessims]

I see your point, but I don't think it's a matter of Octavia "taking Stella's side." I think she is aware of her parents situation and understands why they hate each other.

That doesn't make it hurt any less. That probably makes the abandonment feel worse. As far as we know, from her perspective right now, neither of her parents are paying any attention to her. We don't actually know what her relationship with Stella is like. There could be some serious manipulation there coming from Stella and Andrealphus, or also straight up neglect and ignorance.

Octavia is not 7, but being 17 is still an incredibly young age, especially for self image and self identity and realizing that you and your parents are separate, whole people with flaws. She's not a baby but she still very much is a child (a child who will probably face an attempt on her life as well if Andrealphus was putting that on the table with his discussion with Stella), and a RICH, privileged child at that.

Coming into this thinking there could be some kind of deliberate, malicious act of ignorance on Octavia's part if she gets angry with Stolas (and imo probably the entire divorce situation as a whole but we only get this one line for now) and has a break down about how she feels having been emotionally neglected by him as "taking an abuser's side" is, to me, completely missing the point. Octavia is a child who is probably going to see her dad chose to leave his family and get really fucking upset about it because he HAS been emotionally neglecting her for several months now, and maybe for longer judging by their relationship in Loo Loo Land and her genuine fear and doubts that he loves her.

Also this is a fictional show where Octavia is not a fully realized character (yet) and the scene will probably act as a catalyst for Stolas to get a wake up call for how his actions have been affecting the people around him. Because as much as i love my Owl dad, he really has a perspective problem and the people around him are finally calling him out on his bullshit. Octavia is the one person i think where he can't make up some internal excuse to ignore his how his actions have affected her.

I acknowledge the pain of actual irl DV victims, especially when children are involved. I want to make it clear that my original post was more so about Octavia's relationship with Stolas and how strained it has become between them because of their own interpersonal relationship and how Stolas has not been attentive to her, and how Octavia (a plot device) will internalize that. This is not me comparing this fictional relationship to anyone else's situation but my own personal one with my mom, because i see a lot of 17 year old me in Octavia.

octavia and stolas's future conversation is probably going to kill me

i think Octavia is such an interesting character because she reminds me so much of my younger self. I think her line in the trailer is probably going to be a scene that resonates with me to an uncomfortable degree because of my relationship with my mom.

My parents never fight, but i know the teenage pain of feeling like your parents don't make time to truly understand you as a person and only love you out of obligation, whether that's true or not. The feeling that your parent only tolerates you to gain something or because they "have to" is invasive.

I saw someone say that her line needs more work in the story to feel "earned" but i think it's perfectly reasonable for Octavia to feel that way. She can acknowledge that her dad is doing his best AND still feel like she is an afterthought to him. Learning that your parents have flaws SUCKS and sometimes that feels like they never cared about you.

I'm sure there will be a lot of build up and i'm thinking that maybe the build up will be stolas agreeing to banishment or something in order to be with blitz, and Octavia will read this as a complete abandonment of her, bc honestly what else is she supposed to think?

In the episodes that she has been central to, Stolas has been explicit and partial to Blitz IN FRONT OF HER. He does not hide his affair with Blitz, which makes Octavia visibly uncomfortable in all of the Loo Loo Land scenes. Not to mention that in Seeing Stars, it's not lost on her that Loona is the one to find her while her dad is (again) with Blitz after he forgot a date that was important (from her pov) to their relationship. She forgives him in the moment for that episode, but it could be another factor.

We, the audience, know that Stolas would do anything for Octavia, that he genuinely loves and cherishes her, but Octavia does not know that. Octavia left with Stella on the weekends even before the divorce was officially in motion, and i wouldn't be surprised if later in the season we find out that Octavia has been living with Stella since/or soon after Seeing Stars (since Stolas had an assassination attempt.)

From her perspective he has been distant with her, openly hostile to her mother, and openly having affair with Blitz (there can maybe be a little bit of classism in there from the fact that she might find stolas's affair with blitz is especially scandalous bc blitz is an imp/lower class as well but that's a whole other thing.) If you were a child who was already feeling insecure and emotionally neglected, if it came out that your dad was going to chose to run away with his affair partner, that would probably fucking SUCK !! it would fucking KILL ... and Octavia will probably think that she is the problem, that she is not worth staying for.

All this to say, Octavia, my girl, i will probably cry when you cuss your dad out in front of the entire goetia court :-)

[misscammiedawn]

Thinking about We Know The Devil and Heaven Will Be Mine today. A duology. WKTD the tells the story of accepting you're queer, framed as a horror story of 3 repressed teenagers at a christian summer camp fighting off their inherent queerness and HWBM tells the story of how one accepts their place in society after embracing their queerness.

WKTD uses magical girl tropes in a fairly grounded Midwestern teen experience.

Magical girl stories often involve the struggle of the forces of Good and Evil. Purity and Impurity. Corruption often being a core theme of any girl squad facing down the nightmarish forces. This can be seen from Madoka's approach to the concept which is often referred to as a deconstruction. The Pink Opaque from I Saw The TV Glow overtly uses these themes in the exact same allegory as WKTD with the evil forces attempting to suppress the queerness of the protagonists.

HWBM uses mech anime tropes in an allegorical wonderland where the setting fades away to have the audience engage with the ideas at play rather than the lore. Mech anime often uses the giant robot duels as a method of visualizing ideological struggles. Too often in these shows beam sabers will cross as the pilots yell at one another to embrace ideas of how the concepts of war and prejudice can be battled out of existence.

In HWBM the "war" in play is humans versus space... or more accurately humans versus those who are not of Earth. Versus those who are alien. Versus those who are not human.

The dominant culture versus queer culture.

WKTD frames its tropes via the dating sim mechanics popular within its visual novel medium. But rather than choosing which of the 3 girls the player wishes to romance you must choose which of the 3 you wish to exclude. The idea being to scapegoat one's struggle with queerness by attacking outward, blaming the other, by shaming others into the closet to keep yourself in there.

Lashing outward to prevent reflecting inward.

The only good ending of the game is to accept a polycule dynamic where everyone is seen, accepted and embraced for who they are unconditionally. God's love, in this world, is conditional and one must always be excluded. The devil has room for three.

There is no room in normal society for a polycule. It is inherently queer. The dominant culture is binary and there's no version of a polycule where only a 0 and a 1 are represented. The binary is incompatible.

I recently told a friend that the duology tells the journey of a thousand miles and how it begins with a single step. WKTD is the story of that first and all too important step acceptance.

HWBM is the story of what comes after acceptance. After that first step.

It tells the story of the thousand mile journey.

The ideologies at play are the concepts of assimilation, activism and separationism. In the allegory Earth/Humanity represents the dominant "straight" society and the three characters represent each of these ideologies. Assimilation is to return to Earth, to integrate into the dominant culture and lose some of the inherent joy and "otherness" that being queer brings. It's no coincidence that the character representing this path is a trans woman who is known for defecting from her faction and crossing over to every other side while repeating the mantra "I've never betrayed anyone in my life", it is a coincidence however that her faction's war efforts are lead in part by God's Strongest Chaser herself (as far as I'm aware the Halimede Twitter Account is not affiliated with the game, but I find it funny that the assimilation path is represented by someone who a character whose gimmick account argues "t4t is incest"). It is a life of peace. But it is a life of compromise. Of giving up humanity's dream of the stars. To be grounded and tethered to Earth forever.

The Activism Path represents the idea of staying in Earth's orbit but never surrendering even an ounce of the queer identity for the sake of acceptance. Forcing the dominant culture to argue with us on our terms. Accept us on our terms. It is a life of constant battle but in that battle we will save those on Earth, invite them into the stars, embrace them with acceptance and love. Let them join us or remain where they are. This is a life of constant war, knowing that until all are loved and accepted, no one is and so we continue fighting. Letting people change sides. Nothing changes but maybe it's better that way.

Separation is the idea of abandoning Earth entirely. To become so incompatible with the dominant culture that we are no longer "human" to those who remain tethered. We are unapproachable. Separate. Unique. Other. Queer above anything else and incapable of creating a rational dialogue with the dominant culture. It is picking up your toys and walking away. Going far enough away from the culture war that it will never be able to reach you.

The author of the Halimede account once wrote, while in character, that this is the saddest ending of them all because it's unsustainable and that it does not address the inherent intersectional fighting between communities, allowing wars to simply break out further away from our blue marble in the distant stars. It is a life of abandoning war without embracing peace. To live separate in bubbles apart.

The ending of the game forces you to pick. There is no existing outside of these options. Maybe one day we'll find other ways to be but within the view of this game they are all we have. Embrace Earth, declare war on Earth or abandon Earth.

Choose.

I admit. Since the pandemic and coming out as trans, I've favored Saturn's ideology more than others. Completely giving up on "humanity" and only working within circles of those whose acceptance of queer culture is baked in. I fought so hard to accept who I was and "know the devil", so to speak, that I pulled back and withdrew.

Both games have a lot of themes about the demons ones must face within queer culture and outside of it. The way we hurt ourselves, hurt our allies and how the world outside societal, structural and individual will force us to compromise, to cut away parts of ourselves.

These games are masterpieces.

I wish I found them earlier in my life. I want everyone able to read these words to find them now.

[katerinadeannika]

Notes after watching the full Behind the Scenes of Agatha All Along posted on Nov 13th 2024:

There was no way they could have written an ending for Agatha that did not involve death.

I have been saying this to all the naysayers from the get-go, to all the people making posts about being done or fed up or angry about the ending, or how it makes no sense, or how they should have could have done something different and been fine story wise. The behind the scenes confirmed my point.

The main through line for the entire show was the theme of Death; of Agatha never being able to escape it. Where she both loves and hates death and Death, the concept and the woman. Where she's been running from Death for centuries, but Death came for her son and was always coming for her the second she slowed down.

Every completed trial meant someone would die. Billy created the road based off the rumors and witch lore. And the only rumors out in the witch world were that someone knew someone else's aunt/relative/friend who had undertaken the road and never returned. In reality, that was Agatha's doing. But to Billy, it meant that somehow, the Road took its toll on them. And when the coven traveled it, the Road exacted the same price that Billy expected it to. Death or near death at every trial.

The first trial killed Sharon. The second gave Alice her power back and then Billy almost died (and probably would have if Agatha hadn't pleaded with Rio on his behalf, if the coven hadn't worked together, and if Billy hadn't made the Road with his own powers. Some interesting combo of the all the above). The third trial killed Alice who was trying to save Agatha. And the fourth trial killed Lilia and the Salem Seven.

Jac said she intentionally wrote it where Death was a very real thing that everyone in the show had to come to terms with.

And for Jen Kale, her gift was already dead, and she was supposed to resurrect it and take her own power back. She escaped because after Agatha's trial, the fifth one, someone DID die.

And this time it was Agatha.

Agatha had avoided it every other time by either being saved, or having the rest of the coven as fodder for death.

But in the end, when she could have left once again, she must decide who has to pay the final price for her invention of the Road. The Road that she has used to kill and lure countless witches to their doom over the past few centuries.

She can save the boy she has come to love and mentor after the loss of her son. Or, she can leave once again. And so she makes the final moment of self sacrifice, and chooses the final victim of the Road: Herself

She has been running from Death for centuries.

For Agatha's story to have a thematic ending that wasn't cheap or manufactured, she had to stay true to that through-line. That's how writing works. You find your themes. You write about and explore them. And you have a final consequence that determines if it's a positive arc or a negative arc for your main character.

They chose for Agatha to have a positive arc. A moment of final growth. To end the show on her finally making the right decision, even at the cost of the life she's sustained through countless centuries and via countless deaths.

There was no way the show could have ended any other way.

PS: There is no excuse to hate on it. At all.

It doesn't meet any of the criteria for the 'Bury your gays' trope. It doesn't even end Agatha’s story. But it does provide expertly written, well thought out, thematically poignant endings for all the characters in a way that satisfies their personal journey—throughout the show and the centuries.

And I am so glad they made it, and that it ended how it did. I wouldn’t want it any other way. As a writer. As an editor. As a viewer. And as a lesbian.

Agatha All Along is a masterpiece in TV writing. And I can’t wait for more.

PSS: Watch the Behind the Scenes on youtube that Marvel just posted. It’s super good and includes all sorts of info to help with fic writing and just general understanding of the writing and show creation. Also lots of Kathryn Hahn and Aubrey Plaza in interviews!

TLDR: Quit complaining and griping about the ending. It was written beautifully. The reason you got so invested is because of all the heavy death elements throughout that made things mean something. Embrace it. Or find media where you were the target audience. Cause if you couldn’t handle something well written that ends like this, you weren’t the target audience. And that’s okay. But move on before you keep griping and causing issues with the community and the cast.

[firstkanaphans]

people act very highty and mighty when it comes to JBLs and KBLs and undermine Thai ones to favor the other 2 most times and this adaptations highlight it with people acting like a thai adaptation is always gonna be inferior to the original one often without even watching the show

Dr. Thomas Baudinette actually has a fascinating thread about this on Twitter that I will link in its entirety below, but here are some highlights.

(via)

(via)

I want to be clear, however, that at least in the case of Ossan’s Love specifically, most of this backlash is not actually coming from Japanese fans, but rather foreign fans of the original. The Thai version of Ossan’s Love has continually topped the charts on the Japanese streaming apps where it airs and I believe they just got news recently that it’s about to start airing on TV over there as well.

But this is definitely a problem, even here on Tumblr. Thai productions are held to a higher standard than their Japanese and Korean counterparts and you will often see posts critiquing individual shows that mention things they perceive as problems within the Thai BL industry as a whole (sound effects, tropes, plot structures) without accounting for the fact that tastes vary between countries and suggesting that your personal taste is the only one that matters is, well, xenophobic.

Personally, I find it very difficult to follow BLs outside of Thailand live simply because the fandoms are so biased against Thai BL. I remember when Love for Love’s Sake was airing, my posts would frequently be reblogged with things like “Thai BL could never.” It’s very frustrating and is one of the reasons I tend to stay in my little Thai BL bubble most of the time.

[brucewaynehater101]

Tim finds tv tropes, Tim starts to notice some patterns popping up in his life, Tim gets genre savvy

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, Tim is now constantly comparing his life events to genres?

When he's undercover in a female persona and, during a fight scene, his dress rips, does he mutter curses under his breath about tropes?

When he notices the only way out is via air vents, does he roll his eyes?

When Red Hood continues to dance on the periphery of the Bats, does Tim mutter about "aloof allies"?

Is the TV Tropes wiki website his holy text that he scours nightly?

[blorger]

I call this meeting of the Hagrid Haters Society to order. I move that, as part of today's agenda, we discuss just how much he sucks. In order to facilitate this, I have prepared the following

ULTIMATE ANTI-HAGRID MANIFESTO

HAGRID AS DESCRIBED IN THE BOOKS

Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of the keys and grounds at Hogwarts and also occasional Care of Magical Creatures teacher, is introduced to us thusly:

Hagrid's character is mostly a beat-by-beat rehash of the "gentle giant" archetype; as per TV Tropes :

He's big, muscular, and angry-looking. He might even be an actual monster. People are often fearful of him. But he's got a heart of gold. He loves children and puppies and frequently abhors unnecessary violence. He is often rather intelligent, level-headed, and analytical, a voice of reason in the group. He probably has a few unexpected hobbies. He's the Gentle Giant. However, when push comes to shove, he's great to have on your side in battle.

Hagrid appears beastly but also IS beastly, both literally (he is a half-giant) and figuratively: He lives in a wooden hut* at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, his possessions are "very dirty", his best suit is hairy and brown. The things he builds are ragged and haphazardly put together (he makes himself a mourning armband for Aragog's funeral that is just "a rag dipped in boot polish", the flute he gifts to Harry in PS is "roughly cut" and "obviously" hand made) and, similarly, Hagrid's food is dubious at best: his beef casserole has a large talon in it, his rock cakes are notoriously inedible and his toffee needs to be softened by an open fire in order for it to be edible.

Interestingly, though jkr goes to great lengths to point out that Hagrid is a giant with a heart of gold, she still wants us to know that he's capable of great violence:

(from OoTP)

Hagrid is resisting an unjust arrest here and is responding in kind to his dog Fang being Stunned and still jkr goes out of her way to show that his friends are scared of him (because Hagrid is only likeable for his half-human part).

Another facet of the Gentle Giant that Hagrid embodies is the lack of smarts for Hagrid is also a kindhearted simpleton: he is never shown speaking standard english (which, in jkr's world, is a shorthand for dumb/uneducated), he cannot spell "Voldemort", he's routinely outwitted by literal children and he is remarkably gullible.

In keeping with jkr's theme wherein a man cannot express sadness via crying unless in moments of great loss and the characters who do cry are described mockingly, Hagrid is also a big fat overemotional crier. Hagrid and his tablecloth-sized handkerchief make multiple appearances throughout the books, often to comedic effect.

Another thing of note, albeit one I don't quite know how to interpret, is the use of Hagrid's name. His friends (Harry&co), his acquaintances (like Arthur Weasley) and even his colleagues at Hogwarts (who, by the way, call each other by their first names) all call him exclusively by his last name, Hagrid. The only times his full name is mentioned are:

when he introduces himself to Harry

when Ollivander recognizes him as he takes Harry to get his wand

when Dumbledore officially announces he's been made professor

in Rita Skeeter's hit piece on him (the fittingly titled Dumbledore's giant mistake)

when his escape from arrest is mentioned in Potterwatch

Harry mentions is full name only once (when introducing him at the beginning of HBP) but there is only one person in all of the books who ever addresses Hagrid by his first name only and it's not him: it's 16 year old Voldemort (in the memory Harry sees of Hagrid bring framed for Myrtle's death in CoS).

*= Hagrid's house is mostly described as a hut and occasionally as a cabin by the narration/Harry. Hagrid calls it a hut in PS and a house in CoS (when trying to chase Lucius Malfoy out of it) and Dumbledore also calls it a house the only time he refers to it (in GoF, when he's instructing McGonagall to go fetch Fang) but Harry only does so during exceptional times (when it gets burned down by death eaters immediately after Dumbledore's death in HBP, during Buckbeak's rescue in PoA and when it sits empty and sad after Hagrid's been taken to Azkaban in CoS).

2. REASONS NOT TO HATE HAGRID

I would like to take this moment to point out that all the shitty descriptors and stereotypes jkr uses for Hagrid are not actually why the Hagrid Haters Society finds him to be unlikeable.

Similarly, his half-giant status is a non-issue, though the same cannot be said for how the in-universe characters view him after his origins are revealed (most notably Ron). Hagrid himself seems to have a somewhat low opinion of them and even Hermione (our moral compass) can't come up with anything better to defend giants than "they can't all be horrible".

Still: Hagrid is not a full giant and the only full giant we do meet (his half-brother Grawp) is not described like what Ron tells us is a typical giant, namely:

Sure, Grawp is violent but not maliciously so (though he does behave rather King Kong-like with Hermione, which isn't great) and even if the books are judgy towards giants, there's no reason for us -the readers- to be (and for us to judge Hagrid unfairly by extension).

Another very bad reason to dislike Hagrid is his simple mindedness. jkr does seem to associate low intelligence with unlikeability/evil (see: Crabbe and Goyle) but she appears to make a not like other girls-style exception with Hagrid; regardless, I'd like to think we can all agree that jkr's shitty worldview is shitty.

3.HAGRID IS SOMETIMES OK

I'd be remiss not to mention that Hagrid is a generally helpful and friendly character who is well-liked by all Good People. One of his most admirable traits is definitely his loyalty, something which both Harry and Dumbledore are shown to believe unquestionably in and value immensely.

(from PS, Dumbledore entrusted Hagrid with the newly orphaned Harry)

(from DH, Harry suspects Hagrid may have let some information slip but is immediately prepared to forgive him)

Unlike Dumbledore, (whose motives I question, there's a great meta I currently can't find about Dumbledore's tendency to collect misfits, if you can link me to it please do) Harry genuinely loves and cares for Hagrid, which in my opinion goes a long way in rising his likability.

(from PoA, Harry recalls Hagrid's Azkaban stay)

Hagrid even gets the Ultimate Seal of Approval by being deemed brave, something both Harry and jkr value tremendously (in jkr's books brave=Good and coward=Evil).

Something that is perhaps more universally praise-worthy is Hagrid's steadfast faith in Harry

An especially notable instance comes from GoF, where he is shown to believe Harry unquestioningly when even Ron doesn't ( a big reason for his certainty seems to be his blind devotion to Dumbledore but I'll let that slide for now).

4. ULTIMATELY, THOUGH, HAGRID SUCKS

Why does the Hagrid Haters Society dislike Hagrid then?

Hagrid is surprisingly prejudiced

(to Vernon in PS)

(to Magorian the centaur in OotP)

(to Filch in HBP)

When it comes to humans (and human-like creatures), Hagrid does not seem nearly as open minded as he is with venomous beasts. Let's not forget that Hagrid is the one who introduces Harry to the all slytherins are evil concept

(from PS, Harry is introduced to the concept of the four houses)

This, while very much in line with jkr's views, is not a particularly popular opinion within the fandom on account of its black and white nature so I'm counting it against him.

Hagrid consistently shows disregard for his students' safety

Hagrid's love of dangerous beasts is described as a charming quirk in the books but it must be noted that, as an unnaturally big strong and burly man, he does not have much of a reason to fear them himself. The same cannot be said for his underage students, who are thoughtlessly put into harm's way time and time again (yes, this is when I bring up the Buckbeak Incident).

(from PoA)

Draco is undoubtedly in the wrong in this situation as he wilfully disregarded the instructions given to him but he is also behaving very much like your average shitty kid, something even a mildly competent teacher might expect (and, ideally, adjust their lesson accordingly). Draco's wound gets downplayed in all its following mentions and it's all but outright stated that Draco is playing up his injury in the weeks that follow but this doesn't make what happened to him right (even if in jkr's world bad things are only bad when they happen to good people).

(from GoF)

Here we have an injury not five minutes into the very first lesson on blast ended skrewts. Oh and by the way, those skewts? They are a delightfully illegal Hagrid's Original:

(also from GoF, Rita's hit piece is quite illuminating)

They are literally so dangerous that they're used as an obstacle in the Triwizard Tournament's third task.

(from GoF, Hagrid did not think about possibly making a group of children light-headed when deciding where to store the horses' whisky)

Hagrid repeatedly shows poor decision-making where the safety of his students is concerned; in a further show of less than stellar risk assessment, Hagrid assigns a biting, somewhat cannibalistic book to his 13 year old students (they are shown fighting each other viciously in their natural environment, a bookshop). Not a single one of his students (not even Hermione) figured out that they needed to be stroked in order to be opened; to quote Voice of Reason Draco Malfoy:

(from PoA, Hagrid's first ever lesson does not start well)

As an aside, though we're not supposed to agree with him, Draco is consistently the only person shown having reasonable reactions to Hagrid's classes. Even Hermione secretly agrees with him when it comes to the dangers posed by Hagrid's beasts:

(from GoF, Hermione literally made some shit up in order to defend Hagrid, blast ended skrewts are functionally useless)

This allows me to segue into the next section, aptly titled

the Malfoy section

Building on this theme, wherein Draco is an unrecognized truth teller à la Cassandra, I present to you a compilation of his greatest Care of Magical Creatures hits:

(from GoF, spoiler alert: there's no point to the skrewts)

(form GoF, Draco is reasonably risk-averse)

(from GoF, the inevitable conclusion to the skrewt saga)

Draco is vilified for hiding from a group of rampaging beasts (again, because coward=evil even when it's reasonable) even though he's not the only one who hides away (most of the class does) and it is generally implied by the narrative that Draco only criticises Hagrid because he's evil (because villains aren't allowed to be reasonable, even when they're right).

At this point I'd be remiss not to mention that, while Draco has some perfectly valid opinions regarding Hagrid's teaching skills, he at the same time also holds some truly shitty opinions on Hagrid as a person, some of which are no doubt courtesy of his father:

(from PS, Draco is speedrunning all the ways to get Harry to hate him on their first meeting)

Draco constantly refers to Hagrid as an oaf, like only evil people the likes of Filch, Riddle and Umbridge (and Phineas Nigellus's portrait, whose alignment is neutral evil at best) do.

(Interestingly, Hagrid is also the only person in the books to get the oaf moniker but that is neither here nor there.)

Of further note is the fact that Draco's relatively neutral opinion of Hagrid changes once Harry decides not to befriend him so some of his attitude could very well be caused by pettiness in a very "how dare you choose Ron Weasley over me" kind of way. Hagrid, after all, even gets a special mention in Draco's very first villain monologue

(from PS, Draco's very reasonable reaction to Harry's handshake snub)

Interestingly, Draco's opinion of Hagrid's half-giant status mirrors Ron's quite closely:

RON'S

DRACO'S

Ron doesn't seem to have terribly flattering views of magical beasts in general (in keeping with his everyman status, his opinions often mirror the general public's) but I still find it interesting. Also, note how ambivalent Draco seems to be about Hagrid's possibly dangerous nature, choosing to focus on likely reactions from the parents rather than on his own feelings.

In conclusion, Draco contains multitudes: he is often right when discussing Hagrid's teaching methods but he is also a dick and that lowers his general credibility. Speaking of teaching:

Hagrid is a terrible teacher

Non-Draco Malfoy people think Hagrid is a terrible teacher as well, though they are quickly shut down by Harry & co, (loyal to a fault even if they secretly agree) whenever this is mentioned:

(from GoF)

(also from GoF, though it's a sentiment Hermione expresses several times)

(from OotP)

Remember how I said that Harry and Ron themselves dislike Hagrid's classes? They (+ less unexpectedly Hermione) end up dropping the class as soon as they're able to, as apparently does the rest of their year:

(from HBP)

Hagrid, it seems, is such a bad teacher that he scared all the students from Harry's cohort off of the subject.

Hagrid can be surprisingly mean spirited

EXHIBIT A:

(from PS, during the Forbidden Forest scene)

Hagrid here is demonstrating a delightful melange of the reasons the Society dislikes him:

by choosing to take a bunch of ickle fristies to the Forbidden Forest with him (a forest he himself has called dangerous before, a forest he also described chasing Ron's siblings off of) Hagrid is showing his terrible risk assessment skills, which end up putting Harry (and Draco but mostly just Harry) in danger; Hagrid may not have known that Voldemort-as-Quirrell was gallivanting about the forest killing unicorns but he definitely knew someone was.

by behaving antagonistically towards Draco, an 11 y.o. he just met, Hagrid (the adult in a position of authority) is showing his tendency to see things in black and white. Draco is a Slytherin ( = evil) and also Lucius Malfoy's son (double evil), nevermind that Draco is actually in detention despite having followed the rules (in that he reported someone for having an illegal Dragon).

Speaking of, Hagrid knows there really was a dragon on Hogwarts grounds on account of he's the reason it came to be at Hogwarts in the first place. Harry & co. got in trouble for helping to rectify his mistake (and, in Neville's case, for trying to do Harry a solid) yet somehow he has the gall to say "yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it". I immensely dislike this, even if this is directed solely towards Draco, whom we're not supposed to like.

EXHIBIT B:

Speaking of incredible feats of inappropriate behaviour from Hagrid (an authority figure) towards Draco (his shitty student), here's this gem:

(from GoF, Hagrid's very reasonable response to Draco's understandable hesitance to spend his leisure time attending to the dreaded skrewts)

I know that Hogwarts teachers in general are not exactly known to be beacons of professionalism but that doesn't make Hagrid's threat un-shitty, it just puts him on the same level as noted bully Severus Snape (and also Fake Moody but at least he's got the Death Eater excuse).

5. CONCLUSION

A big reason why I find myself disliking Hagrid is that he's a perfect exemplification of jkr's shitty worldviews. As an author, she does this awful thing wherein a character's actions are only ever truly reprehensible if they're committed by a Bad Guy and I hate it in every single instance: Snape's treatment of Neville is just as bad as his grandma's, Dumbledore's shitty handing of Harry is not excused by his noble big-picture intentions, bullying is bad even when it's people you like that do it and femininity doesn't cease being problematic (jkr's worldview, not mine) when it's the not like other girls who practice it.

Ultimately, while I do acknowledge that there's nothing truly awful about Hagrid's character I still find myself disliking him, be it from irrational reasons (he's a Dumbledore fanboy) or from the reasons listed above. Still, I can't be the only one, right?

right?

[late-draft]

I want to know all of the details of the scifi au like right now, I'm so hooked instantly

Okay let me set the stage!

This is a sci-fi AU, leaning onto (what I've read) the first idea of ATLA; however unlike how it had Aang be from an ancient technologically advanced civilization waking up in a technologically regressed world(?), here the tech that Air Nomads had was forgotten and new one was created and it proliferated.

An important thing to keep in mind is that I intended this AU to be literally made up of iconic, primeval tropes of young audience's shows. I'm currently in a phase where I test how well I'm able to incorporate tropes and make the best use of them, so for this AU, expect it to feel EXACTLY like the thrill of running at 10 PM up to your grandma's CRT TV to watch that amazing series on Jetix you can't get enough of!!!!

~~~

First thing to notice here, the world has a Key Holder for every bending type. Keys are your magical symbols. It's the standard trope in these types of shows, think of them as kids who represent the absolute core traits of their element. Because Aang has to find specific individuals now rather than arbitrarily choosing a teacher, we have a tighter narrative although more trope-y. Aang is the Key holder for Air - every Avatar is always a Key holder for their native element, but can be taught other bending types only by respective elements' Key holders.

As expected, the world is ruled by the Fire Nation's strongest corporation, led by Emperor Ozai. Most of the setting is skyscrapers, huge power cables and mazes of pipeworks. Hakoda is the leader of resistance but he had disappeared two years ago, leaving his two children with a warning to stay hidden and safe below ground. Their secret hideout is pretty safe and cozy. Of course Sokka and Katara would not sit idly forever! Wandering through the underground they discover an ancient cryo pod, the only active one left. When he comes to himself, Aang realizes that he's the last airbender in the world for the past 1000 years.

The Avatar is able to operate ancient spiritual machines that the Air Nomads tended to. Once he learns all bending types, he'll be able to return airbending to the world through a Harmonic Convergence event by activating a huge lionturtle machine. The problem is - nobody knows where this machine is, but the Avatar is able to "listen" for signs of keyholders and machines through an ancient leftover network. Katara and Sokka swear to aid Aang in achieving this goal and restoring balance to the world. Ever since airbenders disappeared, there had been heavy dissonance in the spirit world, creating terrible natural disasters that altered the face of the planet. They're having difficulty finding the Key holder for Water.... the first one they find is Toph for Earth! She joins the gaang in late season 1 :)

In this AU, there's a tradeoff where the element of kungfu fights is reduced in favour of high-speed chases through the metropolis. Aang (14) moves quickly through the city using only his airbending, by running or speeding on his air sphere. The only piece of new equipment he wears are clear plastic goggles that Sokka (18) gave him. And while you might expect Zuko (19) to be chasing them on a red motorbike, no! It's in fact Katara (17) who's a super-skilled bike driver while Zuko and his entourage are on ROLLERBLADES SKATING ACROSS WALLS AND PIPES. Propulsion via firebending! (same thing Azula does in canon, just elevated to skating). Iroh waits for his nephiew to fail each chase and offer him tea, he's just wearing black dress pants. XD Sokka is Katara's genius engineer brother who constantly grumbles and throws sarcastic remarks because he has to fix her bike after every. single. chase! In this setting, Ozai is specifically looking for the Avatar because he could, using unethical means and technology on a trapped Avatar, be able to grant all bending types to whoever he chooses. This would spell disasteeeer. However, it's also implied that in a similar way, he could "fix" anyone...

Some notes:

You can probably feel the conclusions of many things I left blank. This is on purpose.

Zuko absolutely must have to be motivated by a desire to win his father's approval and love, this must not change. I'll introduce Azula in a later post.

The lionturtle as a concept and its effects are made clear and setup from the get-go. The spiritual machines are just a background element that doesn't affect the plot, it's just a goal.

Aang still has a crush on Katara! And it would be brought up a bit more frequently, in order to serve the plot.

Ozai is doing something concrete that's directly related to Avatar's bending, tying him closer to the Avatar as his antagonist.

This AU's setting is as you may have sensed, more mellow at first. It doesn't have a currently active war.

The characters are older because that feels more fitting to me. (I was investigating W.I.T.C.H. show and saw they were basically all 13 and dating and I was like. "Yikes. No")

Help me dig out any VISUAL references you might remember, from shows of the similar vibe. The goal is not to mimic but to add to the characteristic genre.

These screenshots are from OBAN: STAR RACERS and are what I'd associate with the old Air Nomad technology!

Shape Da Future from Jet Set Radio is precisely what aligned perfectly with this AU.

I'll be sharing more details about this AU in future posts, and everyone is welcome to add their ideas and thoughts on it! I wonder what I forgot to mention here…

[chaifootsteps]

https://www.tumblr.com/chaifootsteps/774187706168360960/im-really-surprised-they-didnt-go-for-a-stolas

honestly I feel like the fandom is in real denial about this. I've deadass seen a fanfic or two that uses this exact premise that came out before Sinsmas where Stolas is still depressed but is grateful for what Blitzo does for him and is at least somewhat aware of the fact that he is a financial burden on him and does say something nice to Blitzo once in a while

then the episode proper comes out and Stolas never says a single nice thing to Blitzo, never says thank you, never shows any self awareness about what a financial burden he is and how he's never worked a day in his life. even when Blitzo gives him a job to do to earn money, Stolas immediately messes it up both accidentally and completely on purpose when he's rude to the client, tries to trash the office and ditches to go try and make up with Via after a month of doing nothing (none of which he's ever called out for)

I can only think some of the fandom is just engaging in a never-ending game of kicking the can down the road - they still believe their sweeter fanon Stolas who actually is flawed but somewhat redeemable (if you take their reading of murder family just being questionable and not obviously coercive like it was in s1) is going to show up any second. and when anyone points it out they just say 'it'll come next episode! it'll come this season!' even when we've already seen from s2 that the show has little interest in addressing Blitzo's issues with Stolas because they've decided they're done with that and Blitzo just loves him now despite there being no chance on his part re: the classism

alternatively they just love the show they've made up and not what it actually is.

it really says something to me that even the defensive fans on TV Tropes have an Abandon Shipping entry for the central relationship of the show. deep down I think they're realizing this is a very bad idea of a relationship even if they want to argue all day that Stolas isn't 90% of the problem here

I wish more of them realized that there's absolutely no shame in saying "Fuck this nonsense and fuck canon, we're giving them the story they deserve." A lot of them act like it's a betrayal of Viv and the canon story, and putting aside whether Viv deserves betraying (she does), it's not one. It's the entire point of fandom. It's why we're all here.

[starstruckbyacomet]

Tevan, Buddie, and the Diversity Quota

This is a speculation about the reason behind Tevan's break-up:

9-1-1 show was launched in 2018 using racial & gender diversity to differentiate itself from other procedural shows, However, majority of audience are white cishet men & women, who are probably conservative leaning. Thus, the show's been trying to balance the casts, to make all groups within the audience happy. Most movies & TV shows, whose target market is the general audience, operate in similar manner. They include diversity in their shows to attract liberal-leaning audience, but within a certain quota, to prevent upsetting the conservative-leaning audience.

It seems like the quota of queer diversity is one representation for each queer group per show. For example: Lone Star has one queer couple (Tarlos), one bisexual (Nancy), and one trans (Paul). Other shows like Spartacus, Game of Thrones series, even Grey's Anatomy also seem to maintain one queer couple most of the time. If there are more than one queer couples, the situation is usually temporary.

In 9-1-1, there has been one established queer couple since the beginning: Henren, but the show hadn't had any bi/trans representative yet until Season 7. To attract new audience, Buck came out as bisexual on 7x04. Luckilly, this move garnered positive response from the general audience. Yes, Oliver gave a speech about how humbled and proud he was to play a bisexual character on a national TV channel. But he gave his speech AFTER the rating/viewership number came out, not before.

To draw as many viewers as possible, Tim made Tevan's love story like a romcom, a genre which has been proven to generate massive loyal audience (see Bridgerton and other Shondaland's works). Tommy is also made very likable, and welcomed by the rest of 118 family. This to make the General Audience symphatizes towards Buck and is willing to follow his journey in nursing his brokenheart. The show also put a lot of signs that indicate the possibility of Tevan reunion, to keep audience curious enough with a 'will-they, won't they' trope. How about Tevan shippers? The show expects Tevan shippers to behave like Buddie stans: watching the show religiously week after week, while searching for signs of Tommy's return. The show has been stringing along Buddie stans for 6 years and counting. It seems about to do the same to Tevan shippers. Alas, by saying that Tommy could show up in the future, Tim has dropped the first crumb, which Tevan shippers ate so eagerly.

Does Tim actually wants Tevan to be end game? After the break-up on 8x06, I doubt it. It looks like Tim genuinely likes Lou, but his hands are seemingly tied to the quota: one queer couple for every show. The queer couple spot has been occupied by Henren, that's why Tevan has to break up. And that's why Buddie will never happen.

Our only chance for Tommy return is if RATING/VIEWERSHIP LOW ENOUGH to push the show to pivot.

This is hard to happen if you keep watching via the official channels, live or streaming. Submitting complaints to the show also only worked right after the break-up episode (8x06) on air. Posting comments after 8x07 indicates that you keep watching, even after the show shattered your heart to pieces. Similarly, it's better to refrain using 911 hashtags, except to post critical pieces like this one. You are promoting the show for free, exactly what they have expected. You can use Bucktommy or Tevan hashtags instead.