#where the protagonists' side is genuinely held accountable

[booksandchainmail]

Pale 10.4

oooh, I wasn't sure we'd get a Verona chapter this arc

“Can’t show you this one, Tash.” Tashlit, lounging on a beach towel, reached toward her waist and gestured. “No, this one isn’t rude."

I like the unstated "gesture"

Tashlit held up a finger.  One.  Then the ‘what?’ gesture. “The first most recent email is a reminder from Ding Phones that my prepaid phone account is almost out of funds, please visit the site to top up.”

I'm reminded of a great bit from Bloom Into You where the protagonist is eagerly awaiting a response from love interest, and when her phone pings it's an automated version update notification

“My mom tried to give me the dumbed down explanations but it felt a lot like I was in the way.  So I gave the excuse I had to get stuff sorted out.  And then we left a couple days after and we stopped in for a visit with her artist friend and I think that was meant for me.  Like, she thought I would be receptive and I’d get it and stuff, and it was cool to see the guy’s studio and stuff but like, I’m here and that guy’s alllll the way over there.”

I got to avoid this as a kid: if the people coming over for dinner were family friends who would want to talk with me I would stay, if not I could eat early and then just hang out elsewhere instead of having to stay at the table while conversations went over my head.

“Oh.  Disappointed, but not disappointed in me.  Maybe.”

disappointed in her own parenting skills?

Verona grabbed her book, flipped back a few pages, and found the image she’d drawn after Tashlit had insisted she would take every art critique seriously.  It was rude: a crude and rude drawing of a guy hugging a two-foot-wide boner that came up to the top of his head.

well if all else fails you have a career path on furry twitter

Jeremy replied.  I don’t know how to respond except pic just made my week.  Have some pics of Sir.

oh big mood, I also start messages with "I don't know how to respond" or something similar. If I wait to try and find words for a good response I just never send it.

“Is my dad going to jail?” The words left her lips before she realized she’d asked. “Is that another priority, Verona? That your dad be punished?” It was subtle. The tone a little cooler than before, less warm. Oh. She’d fucked it. She’d thoroughly fucked it, hadn’t she? Because now the idea was in David’s head. That she’d had an argument with her dad and things had gone wrong and now she was a manipulator or she was trying to get back at him and he was a tool for her to do that.

I can't tell if the child protective services guy is geniunely disapproving, or if Verona is panicking and reading too much into it. Because tone cooling here could mean a lot of things (ie David worrying that things were worse than he thought). If it is that says bad things about him! Honestly my first thought in this scenario (especially Verona was talking about not wanting to move) would be that she was scared of hr life getting completely disrupted by her dad getting arrested.

It's also sad that Verona's first thought on getting a (possibly) negative reaction to a genuine emotion is worrying that it makes her look manipulative or petty, because that is 100% what her dad has been telling her

The way he looked off to one side here and there made her wonder if he felt like his time was being wasted, now.  Or misused.  He kept taking notes when there wasn’t anything to take notes on.

I think "kid in a protective meeting visibly panics when told their parent won't be arrested" is something to take notes on!

“Sits in bed and sobs and tells me everything I’m doing wrong and everything he’s doing wrong and stuff about my mom.” “Okay. How often is that?” “Two to six nights a week, except when I’m away, or like, not nights but in the kitchen after he gets home from work, he’ll start telling me I didn’t mow the lawn or whatever and then it gets into how much his coworkers suck.”

... that is more often than I thought it was. Six nights a week at max, gods.

“Exacerbated by life circumstances?” he asked.  He started to take a note. “Not- no,” she said. She watched him continue to take the note, ignoring the ‘no’. She could imagine that penned down ‘life circumstances’ taking all the heat out of what she was saying.

I cannot tell if Verona is reading this accurately and this guy is going to be useless or not. Leaning towards not because I want to be optimistic.

“The third was- we went shopping and I got on his case, called him a bad dad and stuff. I pushed his buttons on purpose, because I could. And he freaked and stopped the car in the middle lane of a three lane road and made me get out. Cars were honking their horns and passing on the left and right. And I had icecream I’d bought for myself I was too full to eat and it melted while I walked home. I guess that doesn’t count when I think about it.”

I MEAN YOU'RE RIGHT THAT ISN'T TECHNICALLY BREAKING YOUR THINGS BUT IT IS IN FACT MORE WORRYING FOR DIFFERENT REASONS

“When was this?” “Christmas.”

winter in Canada? Admittedly I don't know that much about the weather but that seems hazardous

How could she even put it into words?  It was pressure and pressure over years.  It was telling her dad about her problems and it never mattering because he always one-upped her, and that added up little by little.

fascinated to see what people have done for Worm-style powers for Verona based on this as a trigger event

“Are you and your dad close?” “No. I think he wants us to be.” “How does he want you to be close?” “Hanging out, watching movies. He’d rather I didn’t see my friends and instead went with him. I think he’s lonely.”

I normally think of this as a red flag in romantic relationships, but it's even more one in a familial relationship

It felt like every time he was making notes, he was taking down the statements or arguments she felt were weakest and most unimportant.  Or stuff that made her dad seem more okay than he was. Dad’s lonely, wants to bond with shitty daughter.

I really don't think that's why he's taking a note of it!

And also wow does Verona place the blame on herself all the time. No wonder she has self-esteem issues as part of the Kennet Trio, if this is how her dad has taught her to think of herself

…She wasn’t even sure what she wanted.  She wanted to land this entire thing in the zone where she left her dad’s and went to Jas’s.  That was the perfect outcome.  It’s bad, gotta take this girl out of there, it’s crushing her and making her feel small and broken.  So we pick her up and take her… no, that’s too far.  Where’s a place we can put her that’s out of the house but not that super far away… Jas’s house!

yesyesyesyesyes. The guy mentioned temporary custody earlier, could that be this?

And even if it wasn’t impossible she couldn’t burden Jas like that, especially if Jas had a job she wanted and no time or money.

this has also been my concern with what is otherwise the perfect solution. Would the government provide a stipend for caring for Verona? It's not like she takes a lot of maintenance time-wise

“Almost died?  Tell me about that.” “At this thing I went to at the start of summer. I don’t want to get into it, it…

I think that's the kind of thing he has to follow up on, actually. Verona's dad not wanting more info on this was a red flag, and I don't think Verona recognizes how weird that was

I mean, she can probably pass it off as like an outdoors accident at summer camp (storm while hiking, bridge broke, etc etc) but she should have to at least come up with a story!

“Right now we’re in a middle stage, deciding what the immediate needs are.  It doesn’t sound like you need to be removed from the home, and it doesn’t sound like you want to be removed from the home.”

:(

“I want to leave that house.  I don’t want to go back,” Verona said.  “But can’t I go to Jasmine’s, instead?  Can’t- isn’t there a way to-” Breath hitched.  She was aware her mom was sitting next to her.  “Can’t we- you guys give money to foster parents, right?  So couldn’t I go there, and couldn’t, um, you could give her money and I wouldn’t be a burden, and she’s a really good mom to Lucy and she’s lovely.”

the degree to which Verona is breaking down in this conversation is distressing

Verona didn’t know what to say when what she’d already said and how she’d reacted had probably hurt her mom, and her mom didn’t say anything.

eh, deserved

“Is it possible?  To give Verona what she wants?  I don’t imagine the money from the system going to her would be possible, like she suggested, but if we could divert child support, maybe?”

surprising W from Verona's mom! I mean, it means she doesn't have to change her life at all to accommodate her own child, so low bar, but this is also what Verona wants

“We’d be looking at… the schedule’s tight.  This looks like, hm, three at-home visits over three months.  During those visits, I or someone else with access to the file would be checking in to make sure that all course participation is maintained, that the house is safe.  I would check in with Verona.” “Only three visits?  She’s so upset right now.” “Resources are stretched thin.” “You’re sending her back to that house?”

well fuck.

Lowering my estimation of CAS right back down.

Guess it's time to see if we can get Verona set up with a Demesne she can live in?

“I finished talking with David Williams.  Then I called Jasmine, and I called your dad, and I called Jasmine again.” Verona looked up. “She’ll take you until the end of summer. Your dad agreed to it.”

oh fuck yes

And one way or another, by the end of summer things will be different

She was going to Jasmine’s.  What came after could be saved for after. The headache was gradually easing.

:)

“So he gave my mom a preliminary plan of three visits from CAS over three months, right?” Verona told Tashlit. Nod. “And that’s now going to be twelve over six.” Double nod. “And originally, anger management classes and parenting classes.  Now it’s anger management classes and parenting and therapy.”

on the one hand, bleak that it took the drawing to get this boosted. On the other, good that this is happening, and specifically that when Verona felt she couldn't get meaning across in words, she was able to use her art to communicate

“I hate that we go off and do our own things and we don’t cross paths. And it is entirely my fault as the mom that I let it happen. A part of me hoped my situation would change or we’d grow into new interests that did have those overlaps… I did with my mom. It took until I was seventeen or eighteen before I could talk to her, adult to adult. But I screwed up.”

Yeah you did! I mean I also didn't have a lot of shared interests with my mother as a teenager, and I still tease her about saying "You know, I actually like you as a person" when I was ~22 (liking the person I was as an independent adult, as opposed to just loving me as her daughter) (english is my mother's fourth language so phrasing is sometimes off). But she still did her best to understand my interests, and was always engaged in my life. Adult to adult is not the only way to have a strong relationship with your child!

“Call.  Anytime, any reason.  I would move heaven or earth for you.” “But you wouldn’t move,” Verona said

ouch

“Want to turn in earl-” her mom said, at the same time Verona said, “Want to look at my art?” “I would love to,” her mom replied.

baby steps :)

“Boyfriend material?” “Blegh. No. Not what I’m after.” “A boyfriend? Are you-?” “Nope. No, I wish. It’d be nice. No, it’s not the boyfriend part of that.  It’s the material part of that.  I’m immaterial.  Maybe I’ll get there, maybe I won’t, but not right now.  Lucy and Avery keep saying stuff like ‘uh oh’, poor Jeremy.” “That doesn’t sound friendly.” “It’s sorta accurate.  Because we’re hanging out and he likes me and I don’t like anyone like that, so…”

aro Verona rights

A figure stepped out of darkness, and it wasn’t the local Others come to check in with her or welcome her to the area.

UHM?

“You tell me.  Look what I found, or well, look who found me while I was out there!” At that cue, Miss stepped out from behind the power pole. Wind picked up and dust from the roadside hid her face.

oh fuck yes

“A good one,” Miss said, walking past the girls.  She walked up to Rook, and the two of them hugged.  “Hello, it’s been some time.”

huh! Didn't see that coming, but potentially very useful if they have Miss bridging the gap between them and Crooked Rook

“I asked Rook to make sure you three were more or less alright until I could find my way back.  She has, I hope.” “She said she didn’t want to associate with us.” “Maintaining that position let Matthew, Edith, and the rest draw their own conclusions about my intents and goals,” Rook said. “And it helps keep this secret right here.”

clever clever clever! This completly changes the balance of power in Kennet. Miss back, Crooked Rook as an ally, by extension Nibble and Chloe...

“Rook,” Miss said, sounding more than a little upset.  She turned her head Rook’s way, and Rook adjusted the position of the mask perfectly, in accordance with that.

this is cute

“As long as Montague could seize control of the diagram at any time, on Matthew and Edith’s request… Miss can’t come into Kennet.”

good counter for Miss, but I think Montague might be recruitable? something to work on

“I’m thinking back to a few nights ago.  At the factory.  Edith pretty much sent Chloe right at us.  She was aggressive with the furs, she’s been testing the rules.  What if we dealt with her, like, right away?” “Let’s,” Rook answered.

OwO

[vampirehizzies]

Just curious but do u have a least fave care ship? (Aside from d*roline because that’s the obvious choice)

yeah lol when i saw this in my inbox i was JUST about to start screaming daroline XD but there are some other contenders like

after watching TO and klaus's superior anti hero/villain protagonist characterization and development I was obviously super excited for klaroline especially because of a.... overzealous fandom lol and klayley and klamille were such great successes despite their tragic ends since those dynamics worked SO well, where klaus was actually being held accountable and learning and growing and changing. even those had their problematic elements but klaus ships were the only enemies to lovers villain x protagonist pairing i'd ever actually liked (and the reason i began to like darklina) since IMO klaus was never mis characterized as a tragic good person without genuine change like the salvabros were, but then tvd kinda dropped the ball on what made TO klaus s1 such a great antagonist character that made it so easy to like him and the general woobie narrative abuse got old pretty quick after s4. s3 was in imo just the right amount of fucked up for klaus to be and then s4 went like wayyyy too far. so in a way even though obviously I'm quite a fan of fanon klaroline canon kc isn't a good friend of mine especially because their development came in super random bursts especially at the expense of an already established relationship and a character that had benefitted from that relationship (forwoood + tyler). klaroline is mostly just sad lost potential to me nowadays since klaus's relationship dynamics were always so fascinating to me and he and care have always been somewhat fascinating together.

there's also maroline even though Matt had his genuinely sweet moments. what makes the toxicity of this relationship much better than that of daroline and lbr even kc is that it's just them both being immature, not bringing out a good side in each other, miscommunication, insecurities, and jealousy.... So like more regular teen relationship issues that are natural and kinda a part of growing up as we learn from the mistakes we make as children as opposed to non-con or threats or coercion like d*roline was built on. and clearly CARING about caroline wasn't the problem here since matt was basically an endearing and sweet puppy before the writers just fucked up his arc and life completely, and he genuinely wanted her happiness... but it vexed me so much how he insulted her and belittled her insecurities and even talked about his ex IN FRONT OF HER. he openly preferred elena to caroline which would hurt anyone especially since caroline is super competition driven and the societal misogyny of the 2009 environment was a major part of her thinking process (which is clear in how she was always comparing herself viciously to other female characters). and yet she wasn't entirely innocent either, because her jealousy over amy who he expressed NO romantic interest in (which is different from care being annoyed by him and his feelings toward an ex) was pretty irrational tbh and perpetuating distrust on her part. everyone probably has to has a relationship like maroline at some point as a learning experience for what kind of partner is imperfect and inaccessible to them imo, so it makes sense from the perspective of her general arc, but it got to the point where I was not a fan lol.

anyways forgive me for that long ramble I'm on mobile and can't use a read more oops.

[sophsicle]

You are way too nice to Death Eaters. Honestly you should probably check on that. Like, canonically both Blaise and Pansy didn't take the Mark but were supportive of Voldemort's side and benefited from the blood purity thing and in your posts it's always "There's two sides to every story," and "Everyone has a different perspective," which is right! But one of these side is very much the Wrong Side and I'm not sure you see it clearly. (This isn't an attack, I love your fanfic very much but it's a genuine concern.)

So,

The point of saying that there are different perspectives is not to say that therefore everyone's actions are justified. It is to suggest that most situations are far more complex than we give them credit for, that it is incorrect to believe that your reality and my reality are identical. That is what is interesting about exploring a story from multiple perspectives, you get to see how it changes based on everyone's personal view of the world. That doesn't mean no one can ever be held accountable for anything. It simply complicates traditional narratives which usually have a singular voice (a protagonist) telling the story. The whole point of hlayk (where Blaise, Pansy and Draco are concerned) is to take a group of children who were raised in a bigoted environment, and in the middle of a war, and show them as adults, several years after that, trying to come to terms with what happened to them and what they did.

Like:

It was stupid of him to think they could make this work. Stupid of him to think that George would be able to forgive him. Most days he can’t forgive himself. How had he gotten sucked in? Why hadn’t he seen it sooner? The darkness, the violence, the hurt. Why hadn’t he stopped Theo? Or Draco? He had stood by and watched the people around him destroy themselves. Stood by and allowed himself to be destroyed. And he can say that he’d been young but so had George. So had Harry. So had Ron. And yet they managed to figure it out. To this day Blaise can’t come up with a satisfying answer to the question of why. Why his first instinct hadn’t been goodness and kindness and bravery. Why those seem to be things he has to work on, build up to. Why. Why. Why.

I am very much trying to deal with what they did. This whole story is about grief and healing and Blaise and Draco and Pansy trying to figure out how to live with themselves, is a huge part of that.

While on the topic of things I'm trying to do with this story. Another big part of this, is looking at the ways in which men specifically are radicalized. The ways that traditional conceptions of masculinity make men more susceptible to this kind of fascist rhetoric / thinking. Blaise, Draco and Theo are three boys all struggling with what it means to be "a man" and they're doing so in this very politically charged context. "Manliness" is presented to them, as it is presented to many people, as being about domination. You are the strongest. The biggest. The loudest. The most important. People serve you. You'll notice that, if you look at propaganda for things like empire (in the British imperial sense) the language is very "masculine". Colonizing people is a very "manly" thing to do, it will help you realize your full "manly" potential etc. etc. etc. Blaise's chapter in this fic deals a lot with the ways that these boys get sucked into this extremist group in an attempt to prove that they are "men". Another reason that I like to have different POVs is that I don't really believe in redemption arcs in the sense that, I don't think redemption is something universal, I think individuals decide whether or not someone can be redeemed. There is a moment in this latest chapter where Hermione and Draco have a conversation and he is repenting and he's changed etc. etc. and she's like "dope, sick, love that for you, but I don't forgive you" and he accepts that. Different people, in different positions, with different life experiences, will be able to forgive different things. However, not a single person in this story doesn't think that the Death Eaters were bad. I feel like maybe that also needs to be cleared up. Like I am not, nor have I ever, presented the Death Eaters as anything but morally reprehensible. All I have tried to do is show that the ways people (especially children) get sucked into these things can be very complex. And that, I do believe, that we have to allow people to grow. That we have to allow people the space to say "I did the wrong thing and I now recognize it was the wrong thing and I would very much like to stop doing it" because otherwise what is the point? Like literally what is the point. Blaise says some horrible shit when he's sixteen (hlayk is not canon compliant BUT if it was) and then he just never gets to grow from that? He doesn't get to try to be better? He's just stuck? Like what does that achieve? How is that good for anybody? For what it's worth, I do try very hard not to engage with serious subject matter carelessly.

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: Marvel What If’s Women Problem

Welcome back to the feminist rant!

I really didn’t intend to spend three weeks in a row writing about the Marvel animated series What If…? But I wanted to see this through.

Last week we talked about this show’s abundant use of the “fridged woman” trope. However, a show doesn’t need to kill its female characters in order to fail them.

Remember that time I made up a feminist movie test? I call it the “Want Test.” You can read the full explanation here, but here’s the summary:

This test requires that a film (or, in this case, an episode of a TV show) has at least one named female character. After watching the show, ask, “Does what the named female character want matter to the plot?” Then, score the movie based on the answer to this question.

If the answer is “Yes, what the named female character wants matters to the plot,” then give the movie a checkmark!”

If the answer is “Yes, AND this is true of multiple named female characters,” then the movie gets a check-plus. If these characters help each other get what they want, the movie gets a check-double-plus!

If the answer is “Yes, BUT her wants are an obstacle to a male character’s goal,” then the movie gets a check-minus. The woman may matter to the plot, but her importance is centered on her relationship to a male character and how much he matters to the plot. Often movies with a check-minus involve a male protagonist actively trying to stop a female character from getting what she wants; while she has an impact on the world around her, the movie isn’t rooting for the woman.

If the answer is “No, what she wants doesn’t matter,” then the movie fails the test. Give it a minus.

Okay, now let’s talk about Marvel What If. Once again, there are spoilers for the first seven episodes of this show below the cut, and some discussion of the plot points in the movies these episodes are based on.

When I compare the first seven episodes of What If to the Want Test, they each barely scrape their way to a check-minus (though after my rant last week, I’m tempted to edit my test so that a show that fridges a female character automatically fails). In summary, it does not matter what most of the named female characters want. Each episode has a single woman whose wants do affect the plot, but what she wants is always some kind of obstacle to a male character’s goal. Even when the women of What If survive the episode, the male characters’ feelings are the primary engine of the show.

As I neared the end of Episode Six, “What If… Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?” I said to myself, “Well, at least Pepper and Shuri aren’t dead.” But then, in the last minute of the episode, Shuri and Pepper meet and state their intent to take down Killmonger. And I said to myself, “Okay, so why didn’t we get THAT episode?”

Sure, it’s cool to see two smart girls teaming up, but they don’t get to do anything! This episode repeatedly puts Pepper and Shuri down. Every time they express suspicion of Killmonger, someone contradicts them. What they want does not matter. They are obstacles to the men, and they are easily pushed aside, and so all they can do is stand in the background and watch while the boys run around and play war games.

If your named female characters only matter in the last scene of the show, then they don’t really matter. This episode wasn’t about the women at all. It was about the men killing each other and making each other sad.

*

I really don’t want to say much about the seventh episode, “What If… Thor Were an Only Child?”

What I will say is, “Why, why, WHY is Dr. Jane Foster more concerned about hurting the hot guy’s feelings than she is about how the hot guy is about to cause the end of the world?”

And I will also say, “Why does Captain Marvel need to be nice to Thor at the end of the episode after he spent the entire episode being a jackass to her?”

And I will end this section of the blog post by saying, “Frigga deserves so much better than any man in her family has ever given her.”

*

The second episode of this show, “What If… T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?” might be my favorite episode. Mainly because it’s the only one I genuinely liked while I was watching it. It was fun, and I was happy to hear Chadwick Boseman’s voice one more time. Overall, it’s a lovely tribute to both the actor and his character.

But, for me, liking this episode required ignoring a big problem: Nebula and Thanos’s relationship.

We don’t know exactly when in this timeline T’Challa met Thanos and convinced him to give up on the “murder half the universe” plan. But we do know that even before Thanos collected the Infinity Stones, he was roaming the universe slaughtering millions. We know he committed genocide against Gamora’s people the day he “adopted” her, and it’s safe to assume he did the same to Nebula’s. We know that he raised Gamora and Nebula to fight each other, and every time Nebula lost a fight, he replaced a part of her body with cybernetics, constantly torturing her.

What If never tells us that that Thanos did not abuse his daughters. It never tells us that he did not slaughter millions, including his daughters’ birth families. But it does tell us that Thanos is Nebula’s father. And he wouldn’t be her father if he hadn’t been roaming the universe killing people.

In this episode, we see an adult Nebula who seems to think her dad is annoying, but any feelings she might have about how genuinely terrible he is – feelings she was freely willing to admit in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies – go completely unmentioned.

Thanos and Nebula’s relationship is played for laughs, like they just need to get over their past and hug it out. That bothers me a lot. It’s like the show is saying that Nebula’s pain doesn’t matter. What matters is that Thanos is sad she doesn’t want to hang out with him.

I should also point out that in Avengers: Infinity War, Gamora gets fridged. Her feelings are unimportant to the plot; her stated desire to die before she can be used as a part of Thanos’s plot is mocked and discarded. When she is murdered, the moment of her death is all about how it would hurt Thanos to kill her. Gamora’s death also serves as motivation for Peter Quill to sabotage the other heroes’ efforts to stop Thanos.

Gamora is nowhere to be seen in this episode of What If. The women that Thanos abused really don’t matter here at all.

*

I’ve been putting off talking about this show’s pilot episode, “What If… Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?” This episode was… You know, it was fun, in a very similar way to how the Star Lord T’Challa episode was fun. I can’t lie and say I didn’t like seeing super buff Peggy Carter beat the crap out of Nazis. That was a lot of fun.

But the thing I couldn’t stop thinking while watching was, “This isn’t Peggy’s story. It’s Steve’s!”

Peggy Carter may have gotten the super serum in this reality, but Steve Rogers is still the main driving force of the plot. Peggy goes to Germany to save Steve’s best friend. She works with Steve’s allies, the Howling Commandoes, instead of finding her own. Steve’s issues and emotions are central to everything Peggy does; she may say in dialogue that she wants to end the war, but what we see is that Steve is her motivation. In fact, he’s everyone’s motivation – in the scene where Peggy, Bucky, Howard, and the Howling Commandoes decide to go take down Red Skull, they all go around the table and say that they’re doing it “for Steve.” Not because ending the war is the right thing to do, not because they care about the millions of people murdered and tortured by the Nazis – but because they care about Steve.

When I first heard about this show, I thought that Steve was going to die, and that would be why Captain Carter would exist. The interesting/ironic thing here is that the episode pokes at the idea of fridging Steve, but it doesn’t quite have the guts to go through with it. Everyone thinks that Steve died on the train, but then they find him in Red Skull’s castle, and he’s totally fine! Killing off Captain America would have been an interesting, powerful new direction to take the story. But this episode doesn’t seem interested in taking new directions. It seems more interested in showing how things would stay the same even if Steve didn’t get the serum, even if Peggy switched careers from secret agent to superhero, even if Bucky never became the Winter Soldier, even if Red Skull decided to open a portal to tentacle hell. Things just stay the same.

And I don’t get the point of presenting us with a show where there are “endless possibilities” if things are just going to stay the same. If Peggy Carter will still be a side character in Steve Roger’s story. If Hank Pym’s grief still matters more than Janet and Hope Van Dyne’s lives. If Thanos will still never be held accountable for abusing Gamora and Nebula. If Doctor Strange is still an arrogant jackass. If the only realities we see are ones where men get to act and feel, and women get to be plot devices.

The truth is that the Watcher just isn’t interested in showing us realities where women live and thrive in their own right. For all its emphasis on how different decisions can cause dramatic changes to reality, the creators of What If have no real investment in making different decisions in how they portray female characters. It’s just more of the same.

I’m done thinking about this show. Let’s talk about something else next week, okay?

Be good to yourself, be kind to each other, and you’ll hear from me again soon!

[just-call-me-the-intrusive-thot]

Soulmate September - Day 6

Day 6 - When your soulmate is injured you will experience pain in that area

Pairing(s): Analoceitmus [ambiguous, can be read romantic or platonic, or a mix], QPR Royality 

TWs: Injury mention, swearing, Remus being Remus near the end 

–

“I’m going to sue him.”, Logan hissed, attempting to sit up in his hospital bed, “Soulmate or not, how can one man possibly be so irresponsible?! I’m definitely going to sue him.”

He winced as he tried to get comfy, but the tough mattress and uncomfortable bunching of the sheets said suffer. 

And boy, was he. 

Logan Sanders was an immaculate, careful man. Had been since he was a child. A neat and tidy lad who - upon learning of the rules of fate - made it his utmost mission to spare his soulmate any pain or anguish for as long as he could manage. 

His soulmate, however, didn’t seem to share that sentiment.

From childhood, Logan found himself with sudden knee pains from scrapes he never fell for, abrasions he had caused no friction to gain, and the occasional shoulder or back pain as if he’d been pushed over when he was standing perfectly upright. At least the universe had decided to spare humanity the anguish of leaving soulmates with the physical injuries that came with the pain, but it was only a minor comfort.

Logan couldn’t say he hadn’t expected a lot of rough and tumble from his soulmate after his elementary school years, but really; a broken leg, facial burns, and a splintered forearm? “This is absolute bullshit.”, he bitterly muttered, “Barely hours apart! How is that even possible?!”

His ranting went ignored by the nurse who came to administer his medication; thankfully science had worked out a wonderful little clear pill that could banish the pain from particularly debilitating soulmate pains. The little bastards were expensive - the true pain is always capitalism within the medical world -  but Logan’s job paid handsomely. Say what you will about computer nerds and whatnot, but programming for the right people lets you make some seriously high end bread. None of that homemade farmer’s market shit.

Unfortunately, he’d have to wait about a week for his pains to ebb gently into nothingness until the klutz of a man fate paired him with got into MORE trouble. Thus Logan couldn’t get back to his work. His leg was, for all intents and purposes, broken so the staff couldn’t let him go home. He couldn’t simply drive home himself either, his splintered forearm saw to that. And Logan couldn’t even ask his roommate Emile to bring him his work laptop to try and keep his workload at bay, his left eye was too cloudy and painful to concentrate on a screen. 

Yes; his soulmate BETTER be paying his hospital bills.

Realisation struck Logan; his soulmate is obviously just as injured, ergo it’s a high probability that he could be somewhere within the hospital too. Using his good hand to reach for a pen, and absolutely dreading adding to his pain, Logan poked the tip into his good arm, wincing as he first attempted to contact them with simple morse code, “My/ Name/ Is/ Logan. Who/ Are/ You?”

He waited for a response, fearing he would have to start scratching his name onto his arm when he felt the little jabs in response,  “Janus.” Great. He FINALLY had a name to put on the lawsuit. Logan, already wincing at the bee-sting pain from the pen, he jabbed out another message,

“Are/ You/ Currently/ Staying/ At/ Stokes/ General/ Hospital?”

The reply came cryptically,

“Yes / I / -”

Logan wasn’t sure why his soulmate had suddenly stopped replying. Had a nurse confiscated whatever his soulmate was using to poke himself? Either way, Logan would have to be content with the knowledge his soulmate was at least close by. He truly had no idea how close until two very disgruntled voices were within earshot of his room door,

“Brilliant, I just adore being ousted from my comfortable bed so I could spend even longer looking at your delightful face.”

“Oh, like you’re the victim here, asshole! You’re the one stabbing yourself and fucking up my unbroken arm!”

Logan watched them both argue outside of his room door. Both men were sporting similar injuries to his own; the first one that had spoken, refined looking gentleman with sharp features and neat blonde hair, had the left side of his face bandaged heavily. Meanwhile the other man, sporting raven hair and eye bags that could carry a month’s worth of groceries, was fitted with a cast on his left forearm. Both of them were on crutches, though Logan couldn’t see if either had a genuine cast.

“Ahem. Gentlemen?”

Logan called to them, watching as both turned to meet his gaze. He lifted the pen in his hand and asked, “I take it one of you is Janus?”

The man with the bandages over his eye, Janus, nodded, “That would be me.”

The man with the broken arm looked confused, “Wait, so, you’re the one who was ramming a pen into their arm? Damn.”, he turned, begrudgingly to the first man, “I guess I owe you an apology then.”

“Really you needn’t-”

“Then I shan’t.”

Janus glared at the other man’s snark, but Logan found it rather delightful. Clearing his throat once more, he breached the topic, “I take it that means we three are soulmates?”

“Four.”

Logan and Janus looked to the third man as he explained, “Your leg doesn’t have a proper cast on it, this asshole doesn’t have one either,”, Janus gifted the man a half glare and a middle finger before he continued, “And since I don’t have one, it’s pretty obvious there’s a fourth musketeer.”

Fair to say, Logan was impressed, even Janus was hiding the tiniest hint of admiration as he retorted, “And are we to call you Sherlock or D’artagnan?”

The man rolled his eyes, “Ha ha, fuck you. My name’s-”

“VIRGIL!!”

The man, Virgil, nearly lept out of his skin, jerking his arm and giving the three of them a jolt of pain. Logan felt relieved he’d only have to put up with it for a few more days once the medicine took effect. 

In the doorway stood a man who could only be described as unnecessarily handsome, clad in a burgundy bomber jacket and a Nightmare Before Christmas shirt that seemed out of place on someone who stood poised like the protagonist of a romance anime. Logan noted he and Janus both checked to see if his leg was broken; good to know they had similar tastes even if the man’s lack of a cast dashed their hopes. Said handsome man made a beeline for Virgil, only to receive a swat and a motion to back off, 

“Jesus fucking Christ, Princey, you nearly gave me a heart attack!!!”, Virgil hissed and took a deep breath. ‘Princey’ let out a fond huff, “You should be so lucky, Bring Me The Depression, do you know how worried Pat and I were when we couldn’t find you!? This, dearest Emo Nightmare, is karma at its finest-!”

“Yeah, yeah, shut up, Roman. Where’s Pat? He’s gonna wanna meet my soulmates.”

Roman blinked, finally registering Logan and Janus just watching the two of them reunite. Clearing his throat, Logan made the introductions, “I’m Logan Sanders, this gentleman is-”

“Janus Delgado. Charmed I’m sure.”, Janus butt in, “Really, Logan, I can introduce myself. Unlike some people.”

Virgil flipped him off just in time for Roman to frown in confusion, “And…. you’re all sure you’re soulmates? I mean, no offense but you don’t...”, he picked his words carefully, his face contorting at the effort, “....act like soulmates?”

The three of them looked between one another and shrugged, “To be perfectly fair - Roman, yes? - we have all literally just met today under…. Less than optimal circumstances. I doubt you and your soulmate, assuming you’ve found them, hit it off instantly.”

Roman blinked, “Kind of, we didn’t have any problems like this, quite honestly...”, he almost sounded guilty at that notion, “The worst we have to deal with is his cat allergies-”

Out in the hallway, a couple of nurses hurriedly walked past and allowed another man into the room who immediately lit up at the sight of Roman and Virgil, “There you both are!!! I got held up at the vending machine, but when I came back you were both gone!”

“Patton! How glad I am to see you once more!”, Roman beamed, pulling the taller man into a hug and planting a dramatic kiss upon his cheek, to which Logan, Janus, and Virgil simultaneously met with an ‘ugh’. Perhaps they were more alike than they first assumed. 

Patton turned to meet Janus and Logan’s gaze, looking back to Virgil who explained, “They’re two of my soulmates, Pat.”

For a moment, the tall excitable ball of sunshine looked like he was about to pop with joy when Roman held up a hand to interject, “Pardon me, but ‘two of’?”, and cast his confusion towards Virgil who explained, “Our last soulmate has a broken leg, it’s the only injury we can’t account for.”

Patton and Roman shared a momentary look, drawing Logan’s attention, “Roman? Patton? Are you both alright?”. The two seemed to play eye contact rock-paper-scissors to decide who would answer, with Roman losing apparently.

“When exactly did you feel the pain in your leg?”

“Couple hours ago” “Around three?” “Precisely 3:27 pm.”

Came the chorus of answers. Janus and Virgil both shot Logan a look, to which he quietly murmured, “It never hurts to provide a little extra clarity.”

“Apparently so,”, Janus began, before shifting his partial gaze to the couple, “So, are you lovebirds-”

“Qpp’s.”, Patton corrected quietly, to which, Janus did apologise, “Pardon me. So, are you queer platonic saps going to clue us in to why exactly you asked us such a specific question?”

Roman sighed, “I ask because my brother, Remus, broke his leg at that exact same time today. Pat and I were going to visit him right after we’d checked in with Virgil.”

The three soulmates shared a collective look, but the first one to pipe up was Virgil, “You have a brother?! Why am I only finding this out now, I’ve known you for 12 fucking years, Roman! What the fuck!?”

Logan exasperatedly ran a hand down his face as he tried to maneuver himself out of his bed and into one of the hospital’s wheelchairs, Janus offering a hand to him, “Virgil, as much as I would love to listen to you and Roman bicker back and forth, could we possibly save such trivialities for after we meet our fourth soulmate?”

This time Patton piped up, “Oh, um, you may not want to do that just yet-”

As if on cue, roughly six or seven medical staff rushed by, causing Patton and Roman to quickly look around the doorway, only to turn back to the others, “Well, no time like the present. Patton, if you help Virgil, I’ll help Janus once Logan can shimmy into that wheelchair.”, Roman assigned as he offered an arm for Logan to hold onto while he got himself in the chair. Noting the context clues, Logan was rightfully worried, especially as he felt a new pain in his hand, only to note that while Roman and Patton helped them move, Virgil and Janus seemed to be experiencing more pain in their legs than before. In the moment, Logan did feel a little bad that the pill he’d taken hours earlier was saving him from too much additional pain. Approaching the hospital room the medical staff had gathered within, the group were greeted with a wild scene.

A scruffy man strikingly similar in looks to Roman - albeit sporting a thin moustache and silver hair streak - wearing a leg cast was holding a crutch in one hand and an honest to god butterfly knife in the other, standing atop his hospital bed, raving like a lunatic and gesturing frantically to an empty space in the room,

“NOW WILL SOMEBODY FINALLY LET ME OUT OF HERE?! ME AND THIS BEAR WANNA GO CATCH HORNY FISH AND SHIT IN THE WOODS!!” 

Charming. 

Logan glanced over at Patton and Roman, the question clear on his face just like their answer. That was Remus alright. He watched Roman talk with a nurse trying to calm Remus, “We gave him some painkillers to ease his leg pains, but it shouldn’t be affecting him this much!”

“Oh, Remus has always been like this with medication, I should’ve warned the nursing staff.”, he groaned, “But that doesn’t explain-”

“He must’ve pushed the blue button behind his bed,”, Logan sighed, already anticipating Roman’s question, “The medical staff likely assumed Remus was coding and thus went into action. That’s why they’re here right now.”

Roman’s expression confirmed that was indeed going to be his question. As Roman went to help the nurses tranquilise Remus’ wild flailing, and while his other two soulmates stood by to watch the chaos - in varying degrees of worry and strange admiration bordering on attraction for his disregard for social norms - Logan tried to come to terms with the facts.

He had three very different soulmates, and by the looks of it? He’d have to get used to frequent hospital stays….

--------------

This one’s probably on the weirder side, but uh, yeah, I hope it’s still a good read! [Also sorry these have been a little late lately TTvTT] @tsshipmonth2020 Taglist: @somehow-i-got-an-account @cateye-glasses

[datesoma]

                   Why you should get into Black Clover.

I know some people are undecided on whether or not they should give Black Clover a try, so I came up with a list of reasons why they might like the series, and why I think it’s worth the time. If you have any to add, feel free to!

1. Asta is an amazing protagonist. He was born without magic in a world where everyone had it to the point that the only means of transportation are magic-based (spatial magic, brooms that you have to feed your mana to etc), and as an orphan in one of Clover’s outskirt villages to boot. Yet Asta worked hard every day anyway, and through his own efforts became the 2nd physically strongest character after Yami. Because of this, he got a Grimoire from which (so far) three swords can emerge, and which allowed him into the Magic Knights. Asta’s main sword cannot be held by anyone else both because of its massive weight (which Asta can easily endure because of his physical training), and because the sword sucks the person’s mana out of them (which doesn’t affect Asta since he has no mana).

Despite always seeming cheerful and headstrong though, Asta actually suffers from deep-seated insecurities and depression. Being the only person without magic in the world, he was subjected to ridicule, discrimination and comparisons ever since he was a young child; and in the beginning of the story he almost had his breaking point, had it not been for Yuno’s words helping him get back up, which is when he swore to never come close to giving up again, as well as made sure that his personal issues wouldn’t interfere with his self-image and relationships.

Asta also tries to understand his enemies, where they come from and what drove them to act that way, as well as tries to help them. He doesn’t like going straight into the fighting, and would much rather settle it verbally, since that wouldn’t result in any casualties. He values life, and doesn’t want to see others throw theirs away for something that could be easily resolved with words; so every time one of his enemies dies of their own volition, Asta is shaken by their actions. He also has respect for most of his enemies, and was even seen picking flowers and putting them at the enemy’s grave while being saddened by their death, even though he had no obligation to.

However, Asta does want to hold bad people accountable for their actions instead of symphatizing with their backstory right off the bat. He will understand their motivations, but if they’ve already done the evil deed, they’ll have to deal with the consequences and make sure they’ll never do anything like it again. Like I hinted above, by “consequences” I don’t mean death. Asta never stands for the death sentence, and instead tells his enemies that they’ll have to spend their lives making up to the people they’ve hurt, both by serving time in prison, and by apologizing and outright helping others. After they atone for their sins, Asta is also wholeheartedly fine with becoming friends with them and helping them be better.

Asta is a truly inspiring and refreshing character, and has come to be one of my favorite characters of all time, even though I don’t usually fall for the protagonists. He’s humane, kind and has a certain charm that drags you in; and he’s per overall a feel-good character who motivates you to be your best self.

2. Black Clover has the best fleshed out female characters in all of Shounen so far, and they’re not sexualized. It was made obvious in the latest popularity poll, where we had 5 women and 5 men in the top 10. The only issue I’ve seen from the fandom regarding Black Clover’s female characters is that “they all have a crush on someone”, but that’s wrong. Black Clover has some great female characters that don’t have anything to do with crushes and romance, and the most striking example is Mereoleona. Other than her, we also have Theresa, Puli, Dorothy, Fragil, Nebra, Grey, Mariella, Kahono, Charla, Elf Fana and the Witch Queen.

Noelle may have a crush on Asta, but it’s not her defining trait. She has her own personal issues that stem from her backstory, and she works through them as the story progresses. She gets plenty of character development, and a lot of screentime. The anime tends to exaggerate her crush on Asta for the giggles, but the manga handles it pretty well. Mimosa, Charlotte and Charmy are all strong women whose crushes only come in second place to their actual parts in the story. Their crushes aren’t there solely for the trope either, since they serve as one of the girls’ motivations to get stronger.

To top it off, the women fight on equal grounds with the men, and some of them are even stronger than the best male fighters in the series. Mereoleona for one, is done so well that even the men watching the show had to admit she’s probably stronger than Yami, who is one of the strongest people in the entire series, Asta’s mentor and one of the fandom’s favorites.

As for the sexualization, there have been three instances in over 200 chapters that I can think of, one of which was in the anime and I am fairly sure Tabata didn’t even want to add them in (I’ve read a post once that said Shounen Jump probably has an agenda of a minimum amount of fanservice they push onto all their authors, and it’d make sense if it's true).

3. Yuno is different from the typical Shounen rival in a refreshing way, the rivalries shown in Black Clover are generally healthy and the show makes a point of showing you’re always stronger when you’re supported by and working alongside your friends. Yuno doesn’t “turn evil” & isn’t on bad terms with Asta; instead, he’s supportive and genuinely wishes for Asta to thrive and become his best self. Their rivalry is based on mutual respect, friendship and trust, and they’ve known and lived with each other since their early childhood.

While Yuno does encompass the “gifted kid” trope, he never once thought he was better than Asta, and instead of gloating about his magic, he continued to work hard magic-wise and physically (which many wizards tend not to, especially the gifted ones). He holds similar values as Asta, and wishes to become the Wizard King to make the country more accepting, equal and overall a better place. Because of this, the end of Yuno and Asta’s rivalry could go either way, since both of them deserve the title of Wizard King, and there’s no way to tell which one of them will become the Wizard King for sure, even though Asta is considered the main protagonist (I sure hope Asta will, though).

Other important rivalries are Luck and Magna’s, two misfits who prank but nonetheless still respect each other and who would go to amazing heights to make sure the other is alright; Asta, Yuno and Leopold’s, which helped Leopold grow; and Nozel and Fuegoleon’s, who have a slightly more tense rivalry, but who have competed since their childhood and who care for each other despite some of their moments of animosity.

The Black Bulls are a prime example of the found family trope, and their relationships with each other played major parts in each of their character stories.

4. Black Clover deals with several issues we also face. One of the main themes of the show is classism, and the way the poor and the disabled struggle in the corrupt system made by the rich and abled. Despite being orphans from the country’s outskirts (meaning one of the poorest places with the least amount of magic in the entire kingdom) Asta and Yuno’s goal is to attain the title of Wizard King, who is the strongest and most beloved wizard in the entire kingdom. To do so, they have to gain the citizens’ support and approval, and tear down the walls that oppress the poor and uplift the rich; but because of several centuries of discrimination, most royalty and nobles believe they are superior to the peasants, and that’s painstakingly clear from the moment Asta and Yuno leave their village and head for the more noble-populated cities.

Family problems and abuse are present in a good chunk of the Black Bulls’ stories, but the blame is never put on the victims. Instead, each of them gets their own arc in which they deal with their trauma, and it’s all handled well. Their issues don’t magically stop in their respective arcs either, but rather that’s the starting point of the change.

There are also several instances thorough the show that deal with suicide (mostly from the enemy’s side), as well as Asta’s great distaste of it and attempts to stop his enemies from killing themselves for their cause. Asta’s speeches on this topic are always positive and motivational, and I like reading them since they make me feel better, too.

Another shared issue is the racism, which also delves further into genocide. I won’t say too much as to not spoil it for those of you who will read/watch Black Clover, but this theme is related to the humans and the elves.

5. On that note, there are several races in the Black Clover universe that we know of so far. They are the humans, who the series is mainly focused on; the elves, who play a very big part of the show’s first saga; the devils and the dwarves. It’s likely that we’ll also get introduced to more races as the story goes on, and so far all of them have been done nicely.

6. The art style of the manga is stunning and the anime is also getting good. Per overall, I’d say the manga has the better aesthetics, but the anime does come in clutch with some of the fights (a couple of them were also extended in the anime, which was great; and Black Clover is known for its use of different animation styles in fights), while the music also helps add a certain feeling to the scenes that didn’t hit so hard in the manga. The Black Clover anime’s openings and endings are by far one of the best in all of anime. Even if you don’t plan to watch the show, you should definitely watch those. Currently we have 8 ops & eds, and they’re all bops. They’re one of the many reasons why Black Clover has become famous, anime-wise. 

Also, since I’ve seen a lot of complaints about Asta’s voice in the earlier episodes, it does get much better. The VA was new so his voice acting wasn’t too good, but it’s really come a long way since and it now fits Asta’s character perfectly. You should give it at least ten episodes before you make an opinion on whether to continue or drop the anime version (although I’d say it gets really good after thirty).

7. The series lets you choose what kind of pace you want. If you’re into faster paces, then the manga’s the perfect fit for you. Some people complained that the story moves too fast in the manga, but I personally like it. If you’re into slower paces, you can try checking out the anime. Since Black Clover’s an ongoing anime rather than one split into seasons, Studio Pierrot had to try and stall for time so the anime wouldn’t close in on the manga too soon; meaning the original content got stretched over a couple episodes, but nothing too bad.

8. Black Clover doesn’t have many fillers. People complain that it does, but it doesn’t. As of right now (ep. 96), there have been 5 purely filler episodes, out of which some were recap episodes. Other episodes have had some filler mixed into them, but it’s not obvious and it does add well to the story. We also got Yuno’s first mission (ep. 13) and the Light Novels animated (ep. 55-56 & 85-86), and those are to be considered canon.

9. The mystery of Asta and Yuno’s backstory pre-canon. The series takes a different approach with the protagonists’ backstory, and instead of telling us everything outright, it only shows Asta and Yuno as babies, left at the door of a church in Hage village at around the same time, 15 years prior to the story. At the time, they only had their names written on their clothes, and Yuno also had a necklace. Right now, we still don’t know who their parents are, what were the circumstances of their birth, if they’re blood related or not, and how come they were both left in the exact same spot, nor why there out of all places. I’m assuming this will be important later on in the series, since one of the arcs has already teased a possibility that was denied by the end of said arc.

10. The story mainly takes place in the Clover Kingdom, but there are three others that will become a focus later on. Diamond Kingdom, a hostile country that deals with black magic, human experimentation and wars; Heart Kingdom, a neutral country rich of mana that prefers to remain unseen and whose citizens use an unique style of magic; and Spade Kingdom, the most massive of the four, and also supposedly a militant country of winter. So far in the story we have learned several bits about the Diamond Kingdom, while the information on Heart and Spade is still very new and brief. This does for a nice change of settings. 

Also, since I’ve brought up the ‘unique style of magic’, Black Clover has a great power system, based on the elements and their subtypes, and even the most bland-sounding magic you never even thought of, can do wonders.

11. Black Clover is a funny show and it has various types of humor. Not only does it have comedic relief, like with Sekke, Yami and Gordon, but in the anime we also get Petit Clover, which is a short and usually amusing chibi-styled moment at the end of each episode. This was derived from the manga’s omakes in the same style and I’m guessing it had some success, since earlier in the year we also got an entire Petit Clover-styled series, named Mgyutto! Black Clover.

I’m a fan of both the manga and the anime, so I’d recommend reading and watching the series, but it’s fine no matter which you choose, and I hope I convinced at least some of you to get into this great show!

Credits for some of the points: 1, 2 (spoilers), 3 (spoilers), 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

[thegodofnightmares]

What makes a character a komaeda please I’m so out of the loop-

heres a quick check list for the komaeda requirements but under it im copying from an indepth post about it if you want more info cause komaedas break me. putting the giant wall of text under a read more tho 

What Defines a Komaeda Archetype?

A Komaeda archetype is based mostly on a character’s role in the plot, and how said role is received by the fandom. Even without interacting with a fandom, it is possible to infer if a character is a Komaeda archetype based on the fandom’s forecasted response. For a character to truly be a Komaeda archetype, they must possess ALL these characteristics. Due to this, these traits are based on the following criteria:

Widely applicable: Traits are not exclusive to one medium nor superficial characteristics. These traits can be found in video games, books, and movies, and apply to characters regardless of gender, species, race, etc. If a plot exists, a Komaeda archetype can exist within it.

Cohesive, but not restrictive: Critical thinking may be required but the traits are, for the most part, clear-cut. They should not be so specific that it becomes difficult to find characters which actually have said trait.

Play a large role in the story

They are not a side character and are integral to the plot. They may not be the most popular character, but are very high up there.

Play an antagonistic role, but are not originally presented as such

The character is not originally presented or treated as a “bad guy”, but they need not be a “good guy” either; they may be suspicious or disliked, but the other characters do not acknowledge them as the antagonist nor have solid reason to believe they are. Later in the story they are explicitly treated as the antagonist.

Are morally grey; have a justification for their actions and/or reason for redemption

Legitimate arguments can be made which put the character in the right or in the wrong, but it is not possible to make an undeniable conclusion. The character can be relieved of blame, commit justifiable actions, or provide reason to believe they regret what they’ve done and will change for the better. Typical examples include a character suffering from mental illness or emotional trauma, “the end justifies the means”, or are forced by things beyond their control.

The character must also be held accountable for their actions even if they are at someone or something else’s mercy. They may still agree with their own actions, go above and beyond what is asked of them, or ignore chances to defy authority and/or act righteously. Whatever the reason, the character is not a helpless puppet.

Split fandom which woobifies or demonizes them (ig their intentionally grey morals are only seen in black or white)

Despite being morally grey, members of the fandom lean heavily towards defending them indiscriminately or demonizing them. Those who love and defend them will woobify them and act as if they are incapable of doing wrong, while those who hate them will demonize them and act as if there is no possible way to rationalize their actions. While this is limited by one’s exposure to different kinds of fans, it is guaranteed that if a character is morally grey, the fandom will treat them like this.

What is Komaeda Energy?

Having Komaeda energy is based mostly on the character and how the fandom treats said character. These characteristics are more subjective and also more superficial. Make no mistake: being a Komaeda archetype and having Komaeda energy is NOT mutually exclusive, but they are also not part and parcel. Perhaps they are a side character, or are undeniably being free of blame, yet still garnar the kind of popularity and arguments a Komaeda archetype generates. It can also be that even without knowing anything about the plot, a character gives off vibes which makes someone think “Yeah, they’re a Komaeda”. That is Komaeda energy. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list. These are a select few characteristics which are common among characters with Komaeda energy:

White or similarly colored hair

White, silver, grey, pale blond… it all counts. It should be noted that blond hair that is not particularly pale doesn’t. Additional points for being on the longer side.

“Edgy”

The character is disheveled. has a dark color scheme, baggy eyes, or emo hair. They hide their neck or face (such as by wearing a scarf or a high collar), like knives, are violent, sadistic, sarcastic, or an asshole… the list goes on. However, they are still generally considered attractive.

Is male

“Komaedas” are most commonly male This is both a result of complex and morally grey female characters being much less common, and that a lot of their hate is from straight male fans (this is related to the next point).

Young/not traditionally masculine

They may be thin, short, have feminine hobbies (such as enjoying art or fashion), and are generally difficult for straight males to project onto. In turn, their devotees are often women and/or LGBT and the criticism these characters get may be redirected misogyny and homophobia. However, these characters are usually still deserving of genuine criticism.

The following characteristics also contribute to having Komaeda energy, but are much less superficial and require a person to actually consume the relevant media. These are more important than the former characteristics due to the fact they relate to the character’s role in the plot, but I believe including them into the primary category would make this checklist too restrictive.

Has gay subtext, or are blatantly gay

Typically associated with male characters but not exclusively. May also include a disinterest in, if not dislike of characters of another gender. Includes any character that expresses attraction to the same gender, not just homosexual ones. Usually their feelings are used to show that the character is not heartless or incapable of connecting with others, or to exemplify that the character feels remorse when they hurt the one they love. Although rarely treated as a negative thing, don’t expect a happy ending.

Protagonist has a “soft spot” for them despite their objectionable action

Related to the previous characteristic as the protagonist is often the love interest, although it does not have to be romantic; it can stem from platonic, familial, etc feelings as well. The protagonist may refuse to believe the character is truly the antagonist, gives them the benefit of the doubt, or forgives them after the fact. The protagonist may genuinely hate them at one point or another, but typically believe “the Komaeda” is not fully to blame.

Actually hiding the true antagonist

The character may be doing this intentionally or not. Regardless, this is usually where they are given a justification or reason for redemption: maybe they were just a pawn, or were trying to protect everyone from the true antagonist, or whatever.

Physically weak/chronically ill

This evokes a sense of sympathy for the character. Although it typically involves being physically weak or suffering from a physiological disease it can include mental illnesses if they also make the viewer pity the character; for example, having panic attacks, anxiety, or trauma-induced nightmares. If mental illness is used to demonize a character or primarily justify/excuse their actions without evoking sympathy, it does not count as this.

Unhappy childhood

Maybe they’re an orphan, were abused as a child, picked last for dodgeball, or grew up poor. Whatever it is, no kid should have to suffer through that!

[aspoonofsugar]

Hello! ^^ So I was just scrolling through a couple of analysis post on the difference between Pieck and the SC's mindsets on how to deal with the world and bringing them into realizing the fact that Eldians deserve human rights too. Some say Pieck's morality is better since she's loyal to her friends while the SC wants to bring force and fear among the rest of the world. Honestly, I think had the SC never had to deal with saving Eren's ass through the Liberio attack, they might have had

(Same anon) a chance to have diplomatic relationships with others, but that invasion has left them with no other choice than getting aggressive. What do you think about it? Do you think there’s any way left for them to deal with the rest of the world in a not forceful way (which is using the rumbling)? Sorry for the long ask and thanks in advance! 

Hello anon!

Tbh it really depends on who you mean when you talk aboutthe SC since it is clear that the corps are basically in pieces right now.

As a matter of fact a part of them betrayed the others andjoined hands with people from other corps to form the Jeagersists. They haveshown to be ready to kill former comrades since they are the ones who gaveLevi’s group the wine and they knew about the whole plot to begin with. Theirobjective seems to be to use the rumbling in order to protect Paradis andprobably some of them, like Floche, would be happy to create a new EldianEmpire. Because ot this, I am not sure they know about Zeke’s euthanasia plansince it seems to go against their wish of conquer and of power.

Then there is the old guard composed by Hange, Levi, the104th and generally speaking the older generation since it is emphasizedseveral times how the Jeagersists are mostly made of young people like the newSC recruits. These “old guard” of which several of our protagonists are a partof had no intention to start a war with the world as it has been underlinedseveral times. However, the problem is that they could not come up with analternative and ended up being caught up in Zeke, Yelena and Eren’s plans.

Finally, when it comes to the Warriors, I wouldn’t say thattheir morality is better or worse than the one of our protagonists at leastwhen it comes to the point you underlined aka the idea of imposing on the restof the world since that is what Marley has been doing for the whole time.Moreover, the chapter doesn’t really add anything new about how each side wantsto deal with the problem of having the world accept Eldians. As far as we knowPieck has been doing nothing really different than Reiner i.e. she has beenworking for Marley in an attempt to protect the people she cares about. Thischapter simply underlines how Pieck, differently from Gabi who honestlybelieved in Marley, has a more realistic prospective and doesn’t believe thepropaganda. That said, she has grown to care for the people she has beenworking with being them Eldians or Marleyans (as her reaction to her squaddying clearly shows). This might suggest that in the long run a way out will befound in people’s ties, but as for now, nothing has really changed. Even ifMarley, under Magath’s leadership, will be revealed to have started workingtowards a more fair treatment of Eldians (and even then it is going to be avery long and difficult road ahead), this won’t change that they will be ableto do so only by painting Paradis as the land of devils and this is false.

In short, Pieck showing to care about her comrades isbeautiful, but doesn’t really change anything when it comes to the greaterconflict. This doesn’t mean it is not important for several reasons.

1)    Gabi’s development. As a matter of fact Pieckplays the part of a role model in this chapter. She shows Gabi that, simplybecause the world they are living in is complicated and not as black and whiteas Gabi thought it doesn’t mean that there are no bonds or people Gabi cangenuinely trust.

 Gabi’s change is underlined by the whole scene being aparallel to the fight at Fort Slava with which the Marley arc started.

As a matter of fact Gabi is once again in shackles becauseof a strategy and, just like then, she is being protected by Galliard.Moreover, Reiner is ready to launch himself from an airship just like he did inthat battle.

Generally speaking it is probable that this parallelism willbe used in order to highlight the growth or lack of growth of the Warriors.

When it comes to Gabi specifically, the beginning of theMarley arc has her as an idealistic child who strongly believes that her peopleare good and the people of Paradis are bad and that she can be recognized byMarley if she tries hard enough.

Since then, she has been challenged non-stop. Now Pieckseems to offer a point of view which partially solves Gabi’s conflict and hercontradictive feelings.

As a matter of fact let’s remember that Gabi starts the arcthis way:

However, she keeps finding people who are willing to helpher.

-Kaya helps her despite knowing that she came from Marley.This is something which goes against the fact that Gabi has been discriminatedall her life for her Eldian heritage.

-The Braus, Armin and Mikasa protect her despite Gabikilling Sasha. This goes against the fact that Gabi has been held accountablefor a sin made by her ancestors.

Finally she is being protected by Pieck despite the womanmaking clear that she doesn’t believe in Marley.

This journey for now ends the way it began, but Gabi’schildish white and black vision is substituted by Pieck’s more nuanced andadult one. Who knows? Maybe Gabi will adopt a vision which is similar toPieck’s. It is a point of view which gives a lot of importance to personalrelationships and this has always been a defining trait of Gabi and a redeemingone since it has always contrasted with her fanatism:

In this panel you can clearly see how her expression softensand appears less chilling and less fanatic when she talks of her comrades.

These two sides of Gabi are underlined also through thesymbolic use of the shackles.

At Fort Slava Gabi tricked her enemies by acting as aprisoner and when she attacked she took her (fake) shackles away. That scenewas perfect to introduce us to Gabi, her love for freedom and the belief thatfreedom could be obtained through violence (the explosives).

Here, her shackles connect her to Pieck who uses them toprotect Gabi. If in Fort Slava Gabi was concentrated on her idealistic pursueto the point that she did not even realize that Falco had run towards her tosave her, here she is smiled at and physically reassured by Pieck before theattack commences. This contrast might underline how Gabi’s arc is not aboutpursuing an abstract ideal, but about realizing that there are people aroundher who might think differently, but still care about her.

Gabi is a child and has still to develop into an adultwoman. The chapter gives us two possible future versions of herself:

Will she treasure the people she meets or will she keepembracing an extremist prospective?

2)    Pieck’s prospective offers a contrast to thebehaviours of Yelena and the Jeagersists.

Pieck doesn’t want to give up the people she loves for agreater cause and her words suggest she believes she can do something bystaying by their side. On the other hand the Jeagersists did not hesitate tokill and poison people who trusted them and Yelena kills comrades whenever theybecome a problem. They also justify their actions by saying that they are inorder to reach a great objective.

This different prospectives are interesting especially whenone tries to understand where Eren currently stands:

It is probable that both Connie and Jean are right here inthe sense that Eren might have his reasons to hurt Mikasa and Armin, but thatsaid reasons don’t justify his actions.

This is why the fact that the whole situation is presentedas an inversion and a parallel to the Liberio attack is interesting.

After all, the attack on Liberio starts with an adultbetraying a child, whereas this attack starts with an adult reassuring a childscared of having been betrayed.

Moreover, in Liberio the Warriors were betrayed by Zeke,acted separatedly and lost. Rigth now, they seem ready to act in an unitedfront, whereas Eren who in Liberio was helped by the SC has now closed in ajail the people who used to always come to his rescue.

Of course Eren can’t lose or at least he can’t be eaten here,so I am sure his side and current allies will manage to help him. Who knows?Maybe Zeke will come and they will trigger the rumbling or some similarphenomenon, but I doubt Eren’s treatment of his comrades won’t catch up to himin the end.

So, in order to answer your original question, thedifference underlined by the chapter is not one between Pieck and the SC, butone between Pieck and the Jeagersists. Moreover, it is not one about twodifferent ways to make so that Eldians gain rights, but rather it is aboutchoosing between a greater cause and one’s loved ones. This is a recurringtheme within the series (think about the serum bowl, but also about Erentelling Mikasa to go help the Garrison at Trost). Sometimes it is right tochoose the greater good, other times it is right to choose one’s loved ones. Here,I think Pieck’s pov is more sympathetic especially given the fact that theJeagersists’ greater cause is framed as wrong and Yelena’s attitude to killcomrades is just chilling and extreme.

As far as the last part of your ask goes, I think Eren’s side by this point can’t hope to deal with the rest of the world peacefully (and they don’t seem willing to), but if some Eldians of Paradis were to leave his side and to create a third party in this conflict, then maybe.

Thank you for the ask!

[sirithromen]

Alternate Approach to the basic premise of Season 15 of rvb

There is a fair bit of personal favorite stuff in here. You are very likely and perfectly welcome to disagree. I just think this might have been a smoother piece given all the excellent analysis I’ve seen from multiple authors. This is just my opinion after some thought about what could have been involved and the kinds of things I like to see in stories.

Main: While on the moon, every so often either Wash or Carolina will make a discreet run to Chorus to pick up the next round of food and get looked over by Doctor Gray (their implants are old, after all, and AI based brain damage doesn’t magically disappear). When on these runs the Freelancer in question is to check in after a certain amount of time has passed. If they can’t for some reason they are to get back to the team within three hours using a code that explains the delay (anything from ‘traffic, sorry’ to ‘need help, hurry’). When it’s Wash’s turn, he fails both check-ins. The team calls Doctor Gray, only to find out that she got a message saying shenanigans have delayed him and he couldn’t make it ‘til later in the week. They head out to find him, Blues determined not to lose another leader, Reds because Blue shenanigans are always interesting and often informative (no clear opinion here on whether Grif should still stay behind. He had good reason to do so canonically, but I don’t know if the different start would change that). They can still pick up the reporters on their way, and this may be when (and how) they find out about the fake Reds and Blues. Tucker rides herd on the team while Carolina orbits between her people and the next new lead (in Chorus trilogy Tucker was basically heir apparent/apprentice/right hand, so in Wash’s absence he gets Wash’s job, while Carolina does well as a scout who isn’t tied to a group’s pace while still being able to fall back on group support when things get dicey). As such, he’s in charge of corralling the Blues and Reds, while she’s the one to discover the Murder Fridge. Between the fact that she’s been learning how to live at peace (rather than as a powerful extension of the UNSC or Freelancer) and her worry for her teammate, when she sees him she moves immediately to help, and the area of effect freezes her.

Divergence: In this, Temple’s abilities and motives would be...a little different. He isn’t focused on a grudge against any particular Freelancer so much as against the Project itself and the UNSC that sold him and his people to them. He has cycled back round to the point where he believes the best way to spite the Project is to destroy the people they were made fodder for, the ‘valuable ones’ who were worth something to the Director if only because they were the ones that qualified for AI use. He has no real knowledge of Alpha Team except that many of them were able to kill each other before he could find them. There is evidence (though I’d have to look it up) that for a soldier to lose a brother in arms is as devastating to the human mind as losing a spouse of several years. The UNSC, when it conceivably needed every bit of help it could find, chose to sell his people to Project Freelancer as canon fodder for a bunch of experimental assets with no guarantee (or even necessarily high probability) of success. He saw his friends die for someone else’s mindgames, someone else’s farce, and became determined to destroy the people he sees as responsible. The thing is: the Reds and Blues are not exempt from his disdain. They adopted Freelancers, after all. They were friends with the AI, and founded by Florida himself. Because they chose to acknowledge that the Freelancers were just as badly treated (albeit in very different ways) as the Sim Troopers, and show mercy, even compassion to them, he doesn’t really separate them from Freelancers proper in his own mind. He is careful not to raise the groups’ suspicions since he understands he can’t take them all, or all at once, but he holds the Freelancers accountable for the Director’s and Counselor’s decisions (since they were the ones on the ground, the ones he saw) and doesn’t choose to distinguish the Reds and Blues from the Freelancers. Primarily: He has a valid issue with the UNSC (they sold. their people. into slavery. During a war of attrition where every life counts. Both in Halo base canon and in rvb. I’d hope a lot of us have valid issues with the UNSC). He just handles it wrong (which actually...kinda parallels how season 6 Wash handled things, only he went for the AI/records instead of the humans).

(This also means that if you do have Reds and Blues joining him, it’s not that they’re idiots or traitors. They’re just exhausted and want some real justice for a change.)

Main again: He’s laid several false trails of which the Blues and Reds are only the latest (where he couldn’t find analogues he found someone able to play the part), and there is the implication that he’s been doing this for long before the protagonists became aware of it (the same way it’s implied for Hargrove with Chorus, or the Director with...everything really). He proves generally able to play them off of each other (working at the cracks that no one was mending in war that only showed now they were at peace), and is a competent, serious threat.

Still, his biggest mistake comes from underestimating those he’s against. I’ve always been fond of the headcanon (not sure how popular it is) that Grif is canny, sly, and very aware, even if he usually can’t be bothered by what he notices. But (at least early on) he was also very careful with family. And this guy may have been able to cause trouble for strangers without it affecting him greatly, but now he’s targeting Grif’s (found) family. That is not acceptable. He is motivated, and he undermines Temple pretty effectively. Tucker’s main obstacles in this would be trying to handle the whole group at once when they saw him as a rookie and can’t always remember that he’s earned his leadership, even when  he doesn’t really want it. Caboose would be a little more angry, and a little more focused. This guy isn’t offering a chance to reconnect with First Church, he’s taken away Third Church (the first one who was openly friends right back with him). I don’t have enough of a handle on the others to be sure of what (if any) differences would result for them, but the premise is the same: The Reds and Blues are much farther and better than Temple (if that’s even his real name) assumed, and their loyalty, determination, and luck win out. They defeat him, save their Freelancers, and prevent him from starting a new Insurrection fiasco via terrorism. Wash does still have to get medevacced because he spent significantly longer (like days longer) than Carolina in armor lock (and she’s mostly scraping by on short bursts and leaning on the walls in between). They fix things as much as they can, acknowledge where they can’t, and try to establish a balance between being crazy/danger magnets and having a real life. Ideally, this puts them in roughly the same place (story-wise) as at the end of season 15 canonically, but in a way that may be a bit smoother or more sensible.

[driftingglass]

You: I want to protect Deku from all the harm in the world!! / Also you: *ships him with the very person who caused him suffering for 10 years*... huh, okay

I actually kind of want to thank you for being cordial about this instead of just… insulting me anonymously like others. 

Granted, I just ignore them/delete them, but still. It’s appreciated.

Since you honestly seem a little bit curious and confused, I want to answer this with a more specific response! So thank you for being reasonable about it. 

There are some things I want to clear up first.

You’re completely entitled to your opinion on a ship, my anonymous friend, and I also respect and understand why people hate the ship and even Bakugou as a character. 

Do I share the same feelings? No, not at all, but I definitely understand it. 

It would be dreadfully boring if every human who experienced the same artistic medium had the same exact opinions and points of views on a character/ship, no? 

At least, I would think so. I love the variety in opinion and watching different people fall in love with anime/books/movies, whatever, in totally different ways and coming out of them with multiple conclusions is wonderful to witness. 

It… almost feels similar to getting angry with someone for picking green as their favorite color, and because it’s not your favorite color you argue about how the different shades don’t make sense and shouldn’t be acknowledged as a favorite.

(Not you, specifically, Anon, but more of a general “you,” if that makes sense.)

Alright. So.

What draws me to the the Bakugou Katsuki / Izuku Midoriya ship, and the two characters individually (as well as their canon dynamic) is based on the concept of healing, forgiveness, growth, redemption, understanding, mutual respect, and genuine deep-rooted pain and realistic acknowledgement of the gratuitous and toxic elements of their relationship. 

And this only scratches the surface, believe it or not.

Yes, Bakugou Katsuki treated Izuku horribly while growing up (hell, he’s still an egotistical asshole). The infamous line in the manga/anime with Katsuki suggesting Izuku “find a Quirk in the next life” is inexcusable, and he should be held accountable for this. 

We’ve been allowed glimpses of their dismantled friendship at Katsuki’s doing, and Izuku’s equally flawed and dangerous perspective in placing Katsuki on a pedestal for his admiration. 

Before I go further with this, I want to touch on things about how I view Izuku as a character, since something in your anonymous message struck me, with the quote you had written: 

“You: I want to protect Deku from all the harm in the world!!”

The thing is, when it comes to characters, and Izuku in particular… I don’t think I’ve ever adopted the mindset of “must protect the precious baby,” because I personally view Izuku as a very relatable and human character. 

I know that this doesn’t cancel one idea out from the other, since many wonderful authors/readers/viewers/consumers, whatever, who like BNHA have this same viewpoint. Clearing this up so that nothing is miscommunicated.

So.

This may seem strange, and a bit… actually yeah this is a little weird, but as a viewer, I see him as someone who strives for an incredible goal, is very determined, much stronger than he appears (and believes) both emotionally and physically, and it’s slowly becoming a surprise to both himself and everyone around him. 

But I see him as not just a character, per say, but a definite reflection of the other side to his dynamic to Bakugou Katsuki. 

(Will touch more on this later.)

He’s been acknowledged as a beloved presence, and I actually don’t like viewing Izuku as a “precious cinnamon roll,” because he’s so much more than that. 

QUICK NOTE HERE: I do not think it’s wrong to think of him this way. This is how I personally think, and how I want to hopefully portray the character in fics I write, or just in a general acknowledgement of him. 

He’s a character that thrives on a complex personality and series of motivations that make sense for a character his age, with his history, and with his flaws and strengths as a protagonist. 

Izuku being “adorable” falls to the very bottom of my list of reasons why I love and relate to him as a character, and when he engages in horrible situations that challenge him, I live for those moments. 

(I know I’m not alone in this. Bear with me.)

I love seeing characters like this suffer and get thrashed and struggle in the face of their darkest times. It shows depth, and a sense of darkness that defies the overly comfortable image that comes across in an anime that is, quite objectively, a bit less of a risk-taker in the earlier arcs in comparison to others.

So, with that in mind… it makes sense why people can’t stand Bakugou Katsuki as a character for treating Izuku like he does, and it also makes sense why Izuku is shipped with just about anyone who can grant him that feeling of “must protect.” 

Again, there is nothing wrong with this. 

In fact, I want to point out, for the sake of people who can’t stand BakuDeku and enjoy other ships, that I see, respect, and completely understand why you feel the way you feel. 

There’s even a strong sense of admiration for it, because you wonderful people are coming from a place that wants Izuku Midoriya to have a stable dynamic. 

This is an incredible, awesome, respectful thing, and shows so much love for Izuku as a character. 

So at this point, it may seem that I’m arguing against myself. That I’m shoving my own argument into the ground for why BakuDeku is my Number Two OTP, and how I’m arguing for its validity.

But, this is where I want to put some light onto the perspective that I have for this ship, and I don’t think I’ve ever gone this deep before on Tumblr.

I mentioned a little bit earlier that part of what makes Izuku shine as a character is how he affects other people. He brings out elements of characters that they won’t even realize themselves. (Todoroki Shouto, Shinsou Hitoshi, and All Might are both huge, and popular, examples of this, even though they’re not the only ones). 

His drive and his motivations are directed towards an incredible goal that is founded in the roots of his passion. And this aspect of Izuku? This passion, this drive, this embodiment of equal strengths and flaws balancing and cancelling each other out as he grows and learns? 

They are reflected in none other than Bakugou Katsuki.

I’m in love with the depth to this dynamic, with the potential that’s built on what they could accomplish together. 

Izuku cares deeply for Katsuki, and admires him and respects him, but even with that in mind he knows that Katsuki is an asshole. It’s important to acknowledge this, that Izuku will not let Katsuki take advantage of him in any way. 

And Katsuki, quite evidently, hasn’t attempted to take advantage of Izuku at all; in fact, he’s been only focused on what he wants to accomplish, and is overly obsessed with Izuku potentially surpassing him and “looking down on him” (as confirmed in the story.)

Katsuki is dreadfully immature in a lot of ways, but the fact that they contain so many similar ambitions, balanced on top of a quite impressive tower of flaws that parallel each other perfectly… this, is what draws me to them. 

Izuku and Katsuki are both incredibly ambitious and determined. They both work exceptionally hard. 

I wrote a list awhile back that needs to be updated again anyway, so…

Here are some general contrasts/parallels to them:

Izuku is humble, while Katsuki is egotistical.  

Katsuki is prodigiously talented, while Izuku had to go the extra mile, despite them both being hard workers.

Izuku lacks self-preservation, and Katsuki looks out for himself, first and foremost, and how he will accomplish his goal.

Katsuki exhibits elements of both an intense superiority/inferiority complex, while Izuku… doesn’t. 

Katsuki is more instinctive with his actions, while Izuku is analytical and a definite planner. 

Izuku’s Quirk is more focused on the all-embodying element, like a supercharged mechanism that can both protect and damage in spurts. Katsuki’s Quirk is designed as more of a shield for himself only, and can release constant bursts of power. The more they develop, the more similar their Quirks can become in terms of balance.

Katsuki is exaggeratedly egotistical and lacking humility, pushing others away and immediately accepting himself as the greatest priority. Izuku is the exact opposite, but with a quality just as exaggerated and vast: his anxious hesitation and lack of confidence in himself and only believing that he can succeed with others. 

Izuku’s struggles in confidence is mostly internal and how he thinks of himself. Katsuki’s confidence is both too bloated for him to handle and in the exact same plane as Izuku’s.

Izuku admires All-Might for being the ultimate protector and savior of lives with a smile on his face. Katsuki is focused on the idea of winning, and how heroes always prevail in the end. 

I could go on and on with this… but yeah.

Something I noticed, as well, while writing this, is that Katsuki and Izuku’s contrasts, while very prevalent, are often rooted in similar, if not the same, bedrock of emotions that affect them differently because of their personalities. 

Sometimes their points of views and emotions are so balanced and imbalanced at the same time that it takes awhile to look back and think through all of those individual moments.

And so, before this gets too unbearably wrong, I’m going to bring this home with emphasizing the main point of why I love writing this ship: it’s a challenge. 

A huge. Fucking. Challenge.

It begs the question: how can you make this ship work? How can you make their potential dynamic come together and brush through those layers of misunderstandings and reckless emotions? 

How can Bakugou Katsuki pull his head out of his ass and realistically come into his own while learning to appreciate the person who’s respected and admired him for so long? 

How can Izuku Midoriya learn to stick up for himself when it comes to Katsuki and allow them both to be on equal ground, rather than Izuku always chasing the other? 

How can they get over their differences, and develop something beautiful and, dare I say it, healthy, after a possible length of years and years of mending?

For me, this ship demonstrates the gray areas of relationships, and the possibility of redemption for even the vilest people. 

For me, this ship revels in the depths of Izuku’s character as well as Katsuki’s, and how their dynamic can develop into something founded on equal respect, grounding, and healing. 

For me, this ship focuses on the damaged elements to both characters and embraces the toxicity to their current circumstance, as well as the awful and wonderful elements of their relationship down the line. 

For me, BakuDeku | KatsuDeku focuses on drama, realism, emotion, and the ultimate idea behind rebuilding, protecting, forgiving, and learning to pick up the pieces from one person to another.

There are no excuses for the damage done between these two. 

But there is something really beautiful, and tragic, about the potential in the horizon. 

So those are my thoughts. 

Thank you for inboxing, Anon.

[rheanimalsachikokassielynn]

Major Essay 2

Rheanne Harkness

Professor Timothy Greenup

English 112

28 November 2017

Aspects of the Self: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Over this last month, if there’s anything I’ve taken away from our rather in-depth class-wide examination of the concept of bildungsroman and how it forms the backbone of works like Mariko Tamaki’s “Skim”, it’s that the influence of external forces on transitional periods in young adult lives shapes everyone a little differently. However, the emotional upheaval such forces put us through often comes into conflict with our identities, calling who we are and what we stand for into question so much that it results in we ourselves needing to reestablish a more permanent sense of identity altogether. Sometimes though, this type of conflict can constitute a rift between how we carry ourselves in the public eye verses the private eye depending on the kinds of impressions we want to give off so that others may see us in a certain way. A lot of this is true for the character of Skim as it is for so many of us, she herself is trying to figure what kind of person she is to the point where there is a rift that was brought to my attention very clearly during group presentations between how Skim acts around others verses when she’s alone, yet her public and private selves always feed into each other. This got me thinking: if Skim’s goal as well as the audiences’ is to take stock of who she is based on how and why she carries herself at different times, then what is it we learn about Skim from her diary entries (the main manifestations of her private self) compared to her conversations with other characters (the main manifestations of her public self) and how do both sides serve to paint a picture of Skim’s true identity at its core?

It’s a bit ironic that the entire story of “Skim” is told from the main protagonist’s point of view mostly by way of her diary entries because most people who’ve never read it before would probably take this to mean that Skim is giving the audience a first-hand account of all the turmoil that’s befallen her life along with her reaction to it. (See for example, a broken arm has hindered Skim’s ability to write, her dad nearly died twice due to heart attacks, there’s a lack of any genuine support coming from her mother and supposed best friend, etc.) Now Skim does do this, but only on a very base level, summing up her thoughts and feelings with equal signs rather than full statements such as when she’s describing herself and her parents in the most dismissive black-and-white manner possible - “Mom says the heart attacks have turned my father into a cream puff...My dad says my mother is a cold cynical women who has no appreciation for a broken heart...My parents = serious issues...My dad signed my cast with an ugly happy face that I am scratching off. Me = serious issues” (Tamaki and Tamaki 10). From this and other snippets of her diary, whether paired down by shorthand or not, it’s easy to gather that Skim is feeling depressed, angry, even confused about all these sudden changes that’ve soaked up all the attention in her life and are putting a damper on who she is. The irony? Even though the whole point of having a diary in the first place is to be able to have something to bare your soul to without fear of being judged by anyone else for the way you think and feel, Skim writes about what she’s feeling but keeps vague as to the reasons why. It’s almost as if the character herself was aware that the diary would be published and read by millions in real life so here she is making a last-ditch effort to save face!

In all seriousness, Skim in a sense really is trying to save face through the act of ”self-censoring”, as put so eloquently by Margaret Lang in our first group presentation. Much of this can be cited in the comparatively detailed commentary Skim makes that is laced with more overtly irrational cynicism than usual - think of when the whole school is hung up over John Reddear’s death and Skim is treated by Mrs. Hornet and Julie Peters as a premature suicide statistic just by virtue of being associated with goth culture, to which she wrote this in response: “Truthfully, I am always a little depressed but that is because I am sixteen and everyone is stupid (ha-ha-ha). I doubt it has anything to do with being a goth” (Tamaki and Tamaki 22). Additionally, there are many times throughout the story when Skim writes a complete thought that would give everyone, including herself, some proper insight as to why she feels the way she does if it wasn’t, say, followed by a question mark or delayed with an ellipsis: “Things That Make Me Sad - Love. Things That Make Me Happy - “Love?” (Tamaki and Tamaki 67). Perhaps most striking though, are the thoughts that Skim crosses out (as Luke Langton called particular attention to in the second group presentation) and sometimes replaces with other deliberately less direct comments which at best reveal half-truths in place of whole truths: “I didn’t know what to write. Because...I’m not sure. I didn’t know what other people would think about my answer. It’s a stupid question” (Tamaki and Tamaki 61).

All the above examples to me suggest that Skim not only has trouble being honest with herself, but is also afraid of offering any outright explanations as to why she’s been so depressed, even in her diary. This is because doing so might make her appear too vulnerable on top of already being unsure of who she is as an individual. Consider Skim’s pentacle, a doodle of a star that shows up quite a few times throughout the book. We see it drawn twice on Skim’s list of things that she still needs for her altar, Skim paints a tiny star on her face (but washes it off) right before the Wiccan AA meeting, there’s even a pentacle drawn on Skim’s cast. We find out towards the end of the story through a conversation Skim has with Katie Matthews that the pentacle is meant to protect her from “everything” but “It’s mostly just symbolic” (Tamaki and Tamaki 109). I think the pentacle has held more significance to Skim than she’s actually letting on at this point. It’s shown up enough times that I can’t help but deduce it is meant to be a safeguard, a way for Skim to protect herself against obstacles she’s having a hard time overcoming or things she’s feeling uneasy about (like a casted right arm and the strange Wiccan meeting). This is especially important because up until the end of the book, anything having to do with Wicca, as the star does, is a huge part of the new identity we see Skim trying to forge for herself. It’s only after Skim talks to Katie about it and later signs her cast with a pentacle “for good luck” does the star take on a meaning for Skim that really is just symbolic and nothing more, since by then, Skim has grown confident enough in herself that she no longer needs Wicca or the star doodles to feel validated.

But while we’re on the topic of conversation, I notice a correlation between the most positive and negative interactions Skim has with other characters at the beginning of the book and the diary entries that are written about them after the fact. When Skim tries to speak her mind towards her “friend” Lisa, she is often shut down and insulted for it. In those situations, the best thing Skim can do to vent her frustration is insult Lisa back. Not surprisingly, these scenes in themselves tend to make it even more clear as to why Skim feels so dejected whenever she’s with Lisa than the diary entries do. The ramifications of such a relationship where Skim is almost never allowed to get a word in edgewise (and when she does, Lisa verbally abuses her for it) center around a lack of confidence Skim has in her ability to channel her thoughts towards other people and herself simply due to the fact that Lisa has never given Skim the option to do otherwise. However, Skim’s first meaningful conversation with Ms. Archer really puts things into perspective for the audience, as not only is she the first character in the story to let Skim speak freely without any fear of a hostile response, but she also asks why the students call the central protagonist “Skim” when her real name is “Kim”, to which the latter answers: “Because I’m not” (Tamaki and Tamaki 27). This little exchange here conveys by far the most important thing we ever learn about Skim as a person throughout the entire story - she does not think of herself as a light or superficial individual, (as two separate dictionary definitions of the term seem to allude). I dare say, that serves to make her nickname quite a contradiction to what I would claim the character of Skim is really like in spite of the confidence lapse she has to wrestle with for so long in public and private!

Yes, Skim most certainly is quite the introspective and layered character. Thus the climactic pay-off of when she is finally able to express herself, (effectively giving the GCL members a piece of her mind in defense of Katie and John Reddear without any care as to what will come of it afterwards) is made so much sweeter. Though please do not take this to mean there’s a great discrepancy between the Skim we get to know while writing diary entries and the Skim we get to know while interacting with others. Skim’s fear of appearing weak in the eyes of herself and of those around her was always present until we saw her get past that fear at the end of the story by standing her ground against unfair treatment instead of just blowing it off in the first respect, and by slowly becoming a lot more truthful and censoring less as she writes in the second respect. Neither of these public and private sides of Skim are any more in line with who she truly is by themselves because, to put it simply, you can’t fully understand one side without the other.

Works Cited

Lang, Margaret, et al. "Skim: A Social Commentary." English 112 Group Presentations, 16 November, Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane, WA. Student Presentation.

Langton, Luke, et al. “Skim.” English 112 Group Presentations, 16 November, Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane, WA. Student Presentation.

Tamaki, Mariko, and Jillian Tamaki. Skim. Groundwood Books, 2008.

[jamisonpro]

“It” (2017): My Viewing Experience and Why I’m Glad Cinemas Still Exist

I finally got around to seeing It, close to a month after it came out -- and it’s just as good as many have reported. 

As a twenty year old, I haven’t been watching horror movies for very long, and the first Conjuring is actually responsible for hooking me on the genre. Since, I’ve consumed horror ravenously, and as much as I enjoy getting spooked, I also consider myself pretty desensitized at this point. Of course jump scares can be effective to even the most cynical viewer, but I found Pennywise and the accompanying horrors genuinely unsettling (the opening scene of the movie was particularly horrifying, along with the portrayal of most adults in the film -- but I’m not here to spoil the movie). This movie actually freaked me out like few other horror movies have recently. Usually too, the films that are most effective are the totally subversive, and completely focused on tone and tension (a la It Follows, Goodnight Mommy, The Witch, etc.) -- slow burns and the like.  

It was unique, in that it actually held to a lot of conventions while simultaneously subverting small cliches that in turn make the conventional techniques far, far more effective. Little things like having a door creep open, only for the monster to appear from another angle. This happens in almost every encounter in the film, and it totally keeps the viewer on their toes -- you end up just as clueless as the characters you follow. This is also probably greatly attributable to the cinematographer as well. 

But the subject of this writing is to not praise the already well-received movie further, instead I want to focus on the experience of seeing the movie, in a packed, crowded theater. In fact, I’ve seen it twice in the past two days, once in Times Square in NYC, and once in the suburbs of New Jersey. These two movie going experiences could not be more different. It is worth noting that both showings had a number of children who looked to be under ten, under twelve at best, brought by their parents. I would just like to say that these parents are reprehensible and seeing this film at that age would’ve totally fucked me up -- just my two cents, but if you wanna emotionally and mentally scar your children, take them to this hard R, gore-filled, sailor-mouthed, fright-fest. It’s glorious, but it is not a kids movie, do not let the age of the protagonists fool you.

First, the New Jersey viewing, my second time seeing It, this time with family. The Regal theater was made up of recliners, grouped in pairs and the screen was small. The whole theater probably fit three dozen viewers, max. I had already seen the film, so I knew what to expect but it was overall still pretty scary and engaging. However, the audience did not seem to share the sentiment. Reactions to some of Finn Wolfhard’s incredible lines were muted if not totally absent, and the same could be said for the jump scares. Perhaps it was due to individuals like the person next to me, who was on her phone for about half the movie. (Side tangent: if you can’t focus on one thing for two hours at a time, please don’t waste your money to see a movie and affect other viewers’ experience.) Overall, based on the reactions of people walking out, the audience enjoyed the movie, there were just no violent reactions in the midst of viewing it. Good experience, but made mediocre looking by my viewing in NYC. 

To follow, with the non-chronological, non-linear account of my viewing experiences, is my first viewing in NYC, this time with a date. The theater in this case was huge, with probably at least 150 people packed into standard theater seats. The seats were worn back so that putting up the arm rest was more inconvenient than anything else. So already, far less comfortable than recliners. However, this audience was engaged in a way I don’t see very often. 

To put things in context, I grew up watching movies in Los Angeles, where the movie watching culture is ingrained early, and is taken seriously. You’ve got to have real nerve to disrupt a movie with a phone or talking, or to sit in a seat that isn’t the one you chose when buying your ticket.

This sounds strict, but it elevates the movie watching experience in a way that is hard to articulate -- it has to be experienced. Sure, there are the odd assholes in the bunch, but it is far more consistent than anywhere else I’ve watched movies. However, the audience here was engaged. As in, those cheesy Paranormal Activity trailers where they put an infrared camera in the theater to catch the totally played up reactions of the audience to make it look “scary”. Except, these reactions were genuine. I was in total disbelief when, the woman next to my date and I screamed so loud at one of the jump scares, that she freaked us out worse than the considerably scary movie in front of us. This continued throughout the whole film, scares illicited truly fearful reactions, and the amazing comedic writing landed every time, triggering belly laughs from what sounded like every person in the theater. The creepy, lecherous adults in the movie prompted groans, and other cringing sounds, very appropriately. 

To be clear, this wasn’t obnoxious or disruptive. Everything felt appropriate and justified, because the movie was always that scary, or that funny, or that creepy. This wasn’t someone playing up their reactions, trying to be annoying, it was everyone genuinely emoting and sharing the experience.

As side commentary on the experience, seeing with a date or close friend will significantly improve the experience. There’s just something about holding hands or just being generally close to another person and feeling them mirror and parallel your reactions that just adds a lot to the viewing experience. Though I could be conflating the experience of generally being around a person you’re into (romantically or otherwise) , and watching a movie with a person you’re into. I guess your mileage my vary. 

Today, there is some justified discussion as to whether movie theaters are becoming obsolete. Home TVs are getting larger and flatter, surround systems are getting better and easier to install, and it’s easier than ever to set up a home projection system. However, for the forseeable future it won’t be realistic for most people to have the scale of a real movie theater in their own home but even more importantly, you cannot recreate the communal experience of watching movies in your home. It is both the best and worst part of seeing movies -- other people. They can make or break a watching experience, as I’ve recounted here.

It’s the experience of being in a room with a bunch of total strangers, but you are all experiencing the exact same reactions and emotions. All of these things are felt simultaneously without any exchange of looks, words, or touch. And then everyone leaves, unlikely to interact even in the lit halls of the movie theater. Everyone goes their separate ways, after sharing such a harrowing experience. Even if you see these people again, you won’t recognize each other.  Somehow, it doesn’t feel like a disposable experience, especially with a movie as fantastic as It. There’s a nigh imperceptible bond formed between you and those who just happened to come to the theater at the same time as you. There’s something oddly beautiful about that. 

[96thdayofrage]

In George Orwell’s 1949 dystopian novel 1984, the protagonist Winston Smith’s job was to delve into The Times of London archive and rewrite stories that could cause trouble for the totalitarian government ruling Britain. For instance, if the government made a prediction of wheat or automobile production in their five-year plan and that prediction did not come true, Winston would go into the archives and “correct” the numbers in the article on record.

In writing a response the other day to a critic of my recently published book on Hillary Clinton’s electoral defeat, I was researching how the U.S. corporate media covered a 2016 British parliamentary report on Libya that showed how then Secretary of State Clinton and other Western leaders lied about an impending genocide in Libya to justify their 2011 attack on that country.

Using a combination of different keywords, I searched The Washington Post archives but came up with no story on the parliamentary report at all. A search of The Los Angeles Times archives likewise came up empty.

The New York Times had a dispatch from London. But it laid the blame entirely on the British and French governments, as if the U.S. had nothing to do with the devastation of Libya on false pretenses. The U.S. gave the same false war rationale as the British and French did. But The New York Times never held U.S. officials to account for it.

Ignoring or downplaying a story is one way U.S. corporate media deliberately buries news critical of American foreign policy. It is often news vital for Americans to understand their government’s actions abroad, actions which could mean death or life for U.S. soldiers and countless civilians of other lands.

British newspapers widely covered the story. As did the International Edition of CNN, which has separate editors from CNN’s U.S. website. An online search found no domestic CNN story. There’s also no video online indicating that CNN domestic or CNN International television reported the story.

The Asia edition of The Wall Street Journal had a story. It’s not clear if it appeared in the U.S. edition. Newsweek ran a story online. But it does not mention the United States even once.

It is a black mark on the Congress’ two foreign affairs committees that neither undertook a similar inquiry (although congressional Republicans did obsess over the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, which occurred about a year after the Obama administration facilitated the military overthrow and brutal murder of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi).

Voice of America, which broadcasts outside the United States, ran a story on its website about the British parliamentary report, though the article confined criticism of the U.S. to not being prepared for the aftermath, not for the intervention itself.

A thorough online search shows that The Nation magazine and several alternative news sites, including ConsortiumNews and Salon, appear to be the only U.S.-based media that accurately covered the blockbuster story that undermined the entire U.S. narrative for leaving Libya a failed state.

Rationale for an Attack

The United States peddled its false story of a coming genocide in Libya under the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect to justify military intervention. On its face R2P appears to be a rare instance of morality in foreign and military policy: a coalition of nations with U.N. Security Council authorization would take military action to stop an impending massacre. It would have been hard to argue against such a policy in Libya if indeed its genuine purpose was to stop a massacre, after which the military operation would withdraw.

But that is not where it ended. While arguing that intervention was necessary to stop a massacre in Libya, the real intent, as the British report says, was regime change. That’s not what American officials said at the outset and what corporate media reported.

“In the face of the world’s condemnation, [Libyan leader Moammar] Qadhafi chose to escalate his attacks, launching a military campaign against the Libyan people,” President Barack Obama told the nation on March 28, 2011. “Innocent people were targeted for killing. Hospitals and ambulances were attacked. Journalists were arrested, sexually assaulted and killed. … Cities and towns were shelled, mosques were destroyed, and apartment buildings reduced to rubble. Military jets and helicopter gunships were unleashed upon people who had no means to defend themselves against assaults from the air.”

Hillary Clinton, who according to leaked emails was the architect of the attack on Libya, said four days earlier: “When the Libyan people sought to realize their democratic aspirations, they were met by extreme violence from their own government.”

Sen. John Kerry, at the time chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chimed in: “Time is running out for the Libyan people. The world needs to respond immediately.”

Mustafa Abdul Jalil, head of a transitional council that the U.S., U.K. and France recognized as the legitimate Libyan government, pleaded for a no-fly zone. The University of Pittsburgh–educated Jalil was playing the same game as Ahmed Chalabi had in Iraq. They both sought U.S. military might to bring them to power. He said that if Gaddafi’s forces reached Benghazi they would kill “half a million” people. “If there is no no-fly zone imposed on Qadhafi’s regime, and his ships are not checked, we will have a catastrophe in Libya.”

Report Tells a Different Story

And yet the summary of the September 2016 Foreign Affairs Committee report says: “We have seen no evidence that the UK Government carried out a proper analysis of the nature of the rebellion in Libya. … UK strategy was founded on erroneous assumptions and an incomplete understanding of the evidence.”

The report further said: “Despite his rhetoric, the proposition that Muammar Qadhafi would have ordered the massacre of civilians in Benghazi was not supported by the available evidence. While [he] certainly threatened violence against those who took up arms against his rule, this did not necessarily translate into a threat to everyone in Benghazi. In short, the scale of the threat to civilians was presented with unjustified certainty.”

The committee pointed out that Gaddafi’s forces had taken towns from rebels without attacking civilians. On March 17, two days before NATO’s assault began, Gaddafi told rebels in Benghazi to “throw away your weapons, exactly like your brothers in Ajdabiya and other places did. They laid down their arms and they are safe. We never pursued them at all.” The Libyan leader “also attempted to appease protesters in Benghazi with an offer of development aid before finally deploying troops,” the report said.

In another example, the report indicates that, after fighting in February and March in the city of Misrata, just one percent of people killed by the Libyan government were women or children. “The disparity between male and female casualties suggested that Qadhafi regime forces targeted male combatants in a civil war and did not indiscriminately attack civilians,” the report said.

How then could The New York Times and The Washington Post, the most influential American newspapers, either refuse to adequately cover or not cover at all a story of such magnitude, a story that should have been front page news for days? It was a story that undermined the U.S. government’s entire rationale for an unjustified attack that devastated a sovereign nation.

There can be only one reason the story was ignored: precisely because the report exposed a U.S. policy that led to a horrible crime that had to be covered up.

History Spiked

Defending U.S. policy appears to be the underlying motive of U.S. news coverage of the world. The Libya story is just one example. I’ve had personal experience of editors rejecting or changing stories because it would undermine U.S. foreign policy goals.

I twice pitched a story about a now declassified Defense Intelligence Agency document warning of the rise of a U.S.-backed Salafist principality in eastern Syria, intended to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, that could join with Iraqi extremists to become an “Islamic State,” two years before it happened. My story was twice rejected. It would have undermined the entire American narrative on the War on Terror.

On another occasion, I wrote several articles about the lead-up to a U.N. vote to grant Palestine Observer State status. In each article I mentioned that 130 countries already recognized Palestine as a state and many had diplomatic relations, including Palestinian embassies in their capitals. That essential fact in the story kept getting cut out.

Another story I wrote was spiked about the position Russia, Syria and Iran took on who was responsible for the chemical weapons attack outside Damascus in August 2013. The story also included an interview with a Congressman who demanded to see U.S. intelligence backing its accusation against Assad.

Telling both sides of a story is Journalism 101. But not evidently when the other side is a perceived enemy of the United States. There are only interests in international affairs, not morality. A journalist should not take sides. But American journalists routinely do in international reporting. They take the “American side” rather than neutrally laying out for the reader the complex clash of interests of nations involved in an international dispute.

Downplaying or omitting the adversary’s side of the story is a classic case of Americans explaining a foreign people to other Americans without giving a voice to those people, whether they be Russians, Palestinians, Syrians, Serbs, Iranians or North Koreans. Depriving a people of their voice dehumanizes them, making it easier to go to war against them.

One can only conclude that U.S. corporate media’s mission is not to tell all sides of an international story, or report news critical of U.S. foreign policy, but instead to push an agenda supporting U.S. interests abroad. That’s not journalism. That’s instead the job Winston Smith did.

Joe Lauria is a veteran foreign-affairs journalist. He has written for the Boston Globe, the Sunday Times of London and the Wall Street Journal among other newspapers. He is the author of “How I Lost By Hillary Clinton” published by OR Books, from which part of this article was adapted. He can be reached at joelauria@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @unjoe.

[roxilalonde]

[S]:Collapse

mayhaps im just repeating what someone else has already said and said better but [S]:Collide needed to be way smarter than it was 

like. i genuinely think hussie wrote the scene and its prior framing around the striders, terezi, vriska, and john and/or roxy, and then tossed in the rest w/o regard to what could reasonably be deemed a satisfying ending to their arcs.

here’s what could have been tighter:

jake and karkat

so we get jake and karkat in what is ostensibly the most disappointing of all possible ends to their character arcs as people who idolize & emulate their cultures’ respective cults of war - neither a) recognizing that said cult is bullshit, a la the infamous Dave vs. Heteronormativity pesterlog, or b) fulfilling the ideal, i.e., actually doing something heroic requiring combative/physical strength. they take out the Felt. which, ok, sure, but there’s a narrative misstep in pitting your two characters with most aspirations to prove themselves in the field of battle against your weakest enemy for their final portrayed conflict.

put it this way: when karkat talks to meenah he’s clearly still putting a lot of onus on being The One, the guy who fights the big bad, so he can justify his own existence to himself. this is a big problem for karkat - he perceives himself as weak, because of alternia’s unreasonable standards of strength and bravery, so to face LE is to prove his dead planet wrong. he makes a point of it. and then, right before he’s supposed to - nope! he’s fighting a bratty green smuppet. or jake: built up as ultimate superclasspect, in the game-over timeline the big powerhouse in the session: also fighting a bunch of green smuppets! 

and yeah, you could blame it on vriska, but her rant was never narratively treated as bad strategy. even though your most powerful classpect is hitting your least powerful enemy. 

vriska

first of all, see previous: vriska isn’t a good strategist. she puts her weak players (which is vriska. vriska is a weak player, compared to the other people on the battlefield) against the strongest enemies, and her strongest players against the weakest. her arrogance gets in the way of critical thinking. nobody has a problem with this. 

she and terezi don’t get a resolution. vriska isn’t held accountable for the shit that she’s done to the other members of her party. she’s not held accountable for her relationship with terezi (how did that evolve? what changed about them? is she less reactionary? the wonders of a retcon that makes defunct three years of character development) the only place she gets closure is in a dream bubble, and even then, that’s (vriska).

finally: vriska deploying the weapon against lord english is interesting. it fits her, as the person who’s always trying to shove herself into plot developments headfirst. on the other hand: vriska shouldn’t have succeeded. it validates her previous efforts to shove herself into the action - it’s like the narrative is saying, “yes, vriska is so good at this, look at how successful she is when she tries to be the protagonist.” ignoring that a critical part of vriska’s character is that whenever she tries to do something like that, people get hurt. because vriska’s mistake is assuming her importance comes prior to others’ safety. throughout the story we’ve been told “vriska should under no circumstances be allowed to play protag,” and here she is, successfully playing protag.

jane

i would probably have written some pretty scathing analysis here if there was anything involving jane to fucking critique

in all seriousness: jane is sidelined (big surprise) and gets a brief, decent moment with Nannasprite about her issues adjudicating how passive/active to be in her own life. it’s a good moment for the Jane Collective. 

but she doesn’t kill the condesce. i can see why - she’s needed to run around healing people. but if nannasprite can do the exact same thing, there’s no reason that jane, who has the best reason to resent the condesce, shouldn’t be the one to fight her. and yet here we are. jane is the “main” of the alpha session. why is her “big moment” having another version of herself telling her how much cooler she is and then going off to be a passive aid? shouldn’t jane’s conclusion be, “wow, I should involve myself in battles that have personal value to me,” and go off to fight up the condesce?

then dad comes back. which, for a story about growing up - the point is that the kids are learning to live without their parents. there are a lot of allusions in homestuck to the game accelerating maturity: forcing them to “parent” a new world, develop extraordinary skills, growing as a person in accordance with the demands of their classpect. dad coming back alleviates jane of the need to do that: every other parent in homestuck dies. let that sink in. jane’s dad is the only parent who survives, and it’s not clear why. jane should be allowed to mature with the rest of her friends. it’s a feel-good moment, of course, but it’s a regression. what’s driving jane is no longer her dad’s welfare (we should hope); it’s the fate of the new universe. jane’s father should not be her reward. jane’s reward should be her friends’ safety, and the ability to progress as a person - i.e., leave the game. 

kanaya

the thing about strife animations is that we don’t have much time to actually see what’s going on. so for all i know, kanaya and rose were really critical to that battle. and it was really lucky they were there. but for the most part, they were side characters in an animation that concluded with roxy’s triumph. 

kanaya is interesting because the bounds of her mortality are not established. she survives eridan’s blast to the torso but not an incinerating laserbeam, so where does that line fall? pitting her against the condesce is on the one hand, a good decision, narratively (condesce comes from kanaya’s planet, kanaya’s problem; also, it’s clearly established that the condesce is capable of killing kanaya, raising the stakes); on the other hand, it’s hampered by the format. the GO timeline was told mostly in panels. that way, we felt the emotional impact. in [S]:Collide, kanaya could have come close to dying multiple times! as could rose have! our only definitive moments are her pausing in the middle of a battle to apply lipstick or read a book. which is, y’know, pretty funny, i admit! but also not conclusive.

meh, but not critical flaws:

rose: rose’s main power has always been as a strategist, informant, and manipulator of outcomes, and even though she’s formidable in battle, her time to shine should’ve been negotiating how things worked out. which is why i’m baffled that of everyone on that meteor, neither of the seers was the one managing strategy. amazing

terezi: her one-sided pesterlog with vriska was good in the same way the striders’ was good, but unlike the striders’, it’s never resolved, because it’s one-sided. the subject of her idealization is not there to disconfirm her idealizations. she also should have taken over strategy, she is far better than vriska at it

jade: i wish jade had a better-built arc. i’m not saying jade is unlikable or even a bad character it’s just that she does not have notable internal conflict or any struggle against societal norms to motivate her. her main problem is loneliness. but does she discuss that? does she get a resolution?? does she have personal problems derived from loneliness as a child that make her struggle to interact with people in person??? who knows, not the reader

here’s what did work:

roxy vs. the condesce. the condesce is the one who screwed up roxy’s planet; the condesce fucked with roxy’s friends in the GO universe, which only roxy remembers; the condesce subsequently killed rose, right before roxy’s eyes. roxy has reason to be in this fight. we establish early on in her story that roxy and the condesce are direct antagonists to each other and here we close that arc. good writing!

the striders. their chatlog was a detailed and satisfying ending to the strider brothers’ struggle with heteronormativity and flawed role models. “fuck being too cool for that” is a beautiful line in the context of their stories and their affirmation of being awesome without being ‘cool’ is fantastic. the way they work together in the last battle is touching and nice to watch. good writing! could have used more of it.

john. john’s role all along has been to be a friendleader, not a warrior. his minor role in the fighting coupled with his (debatably successful) speech prior makes for a decent finale. (later then we get john ft. Depression in the credits, but i’m not tackling the credits). i have no objections, but maybe that’s because the audience is never supposed to care about john’s development in the same way we care about the strilondes’ and the patron trolls’.

does it matter?

there’s an answer to all this that goes along the lines of “homestuck always defies convention, that’s why it’s lovable,” and while i can see the argument, a) this is really just me outlining why i, personally, am annoyed as fuck, which is to say that i, personally, do not always find it lovable, and b) convention exists for a reason. “convention” isn’t always an antiquated set of constraints aiming to to weigh down fresh creative thinkers; it can be a useful framework for building a good story. and if you reject that framework without maintaining some of the fundamental parts, you get a sloppy narrative. parallels, story cycles, foreshadowing: all of these things should be used conjunctively to set the stage for your conclusion. the stage was not properly set for [S]:Collide. i’m all for subverting obvious foreshadowing, but there’s a difference between “maybe this character will do X in the future, the text alludes to that possibility” and “it would make logical sense, given this character’s current development, for them to do X in the future.” subverting the former is fine. subverting the latter is messy.

and:

claiming dramatic realism does not alleviate you from the restraints of narrative structure and general good writing you shit

then the writer tries to subvert/avoid critique by giving dave’s spiel on “we aren’t characters, rose, we’re people, we don’t have arcs.” but. i’m sorry, but yes, they are characters. yes, they do have arcs. dave’s declaration of “we’re people” is made obsolete by the blatant falsity of what he’s saying - it’s more darkly funny than a legitimate response to criticism. so, yes, the author has a responsibility to tell a coherent narrative within the confines of his chosen medium. which means that yeah, maybe it’s “realistic” to leave their development dangling somewhere in the middle of Act 6, but that doesn’t mean it’s good.

[elizas-writing]

Spoilers Galore: Thirteen Reasons Why

If you’re curious on my thoughts of the show as a whole, check out here for the review.

So there were a lot of... interesting scenes in the show. And while I still believe the producers were well intended for the messages they wanted to get across, unfortunately a lot of these things just don’t work. What did they get right and what did they get wrong?

Warning: Mentions of rape and suicide

Let’s start with Tyler. What the actual fuck, Tyler? Everything about this character bothers me not because he’s a creepy stalker, but how everyone treats him confuses the anti-bullying messages. Tyler is without a doubt an irredeemable character, but it’s so confusing how the rest of the characters on the tapes know what he did was true and constantly toss him to the side while still doubting everything else Hannah said. This amount of hypocrisy is ludicrously painful; no one is this dumb, even teenagers!

And then Tyler has his own bullying from the people who listened to the tapes and threw rocks at his window, and to top it all off, Clay took a naked photo of Tyler and sent it to his classmates. How in the fuck does that make you any better than Tyler? If you’re trying to have an anti-bullying message, don’t promote it with your protagonist engaging in more bullying, especially taking naked photos of someone underage without their permission. That. Is. Considered. Child. Porn. You can’t always fight fire with fire.

Then the series just ends showing Tyler’s whole freaking arsenal which can very well imply he’ll shoot up his school. WHAT?! So am I supposed to feel sorry for him because he still endures bullying even though people have reason to not like him because he’s a stalker and isn’t being held accountable? I have no idea what angle they were trying to go for with this character; it’s a fucking mess.

While I like Jessica much later in the series, she was one of the few reasons Hannah listed that also really confused me. Yeah, Jessica slapped her out of a major misunderstanding, but then a couple episodes later they still seem buddy-buddy and going to parties and talking like nothing happened and just like bygones be bygones. So were they friends or what? It’s another relationship I can’t for sure what was the intention.

There is a major dive into talking about rape culture and consent, especially around Jessica and Hannah as they were both victims of Bryce with unfortunately Hannah taking her life soon after. It’s a lot of content I’ve heard before with the subjects, but it’s always good to hear them emphasized. But my big problem is that Jessica is never included in these conversations. I know she’s sorting out her own problems and struggling to accept the truth, but why does she not have a voice here? Doesn’t what she have to say also matter? Listening to the survivors is the number one most important thing when it comes to rape culture, and while they’re not obliged to share their experiences, they deserve an environment where they can have a voice if they choose to share.

But the scenes that actually do give focus to Jessica are done very well. Dumping bottles of alcohol into the sink is such a cliche but in context with some great acting without dialogue, it’s powerful. And I really loved when she finally mustered the courage to tell her father even though she’s breaking down. It’s one of the ambiguous endings I don’t mind because it does leave a lot of speculation as to what she does after she tells her father, but it’s one of the few moments of hope that she can get the help she needs. And thank God, she was not letting Justin have any of his excuses for defending Bryce. I can’t help but appreciate how they hit the nail on the head that it’s just not okay to defend a rapist period.

But another loose ending that just doesn’t work is Alex. I really felt for him as he did genuinely feel sorry about what he did to Hannah, and he grew quick to call others for their hypocrisy. But in the end he’s so depressed that he ends up attempting suicide and is at the hospital in critical condition. Again, if you’re trying to go for an “it gets better” message, it doesn’t work when you just throw your characters in more misery and leave their fates up in the air like that, especially when their symptoms of depression and suicidal thoughts were so blatantly obvious and for even some of the people on the tapes to not catch on that Alex wasn’t in the right head space is astounding. Clay is among the few who believes Hannah, and he goes on through the show about his regrets of what he didn’t say or do to comfort Hannah in her time of need. What about Alex, and hell, quite a few other characters, who are displaying similar symptoms like Hannah? Instead of wallowing in regret when you can’t change the past, take action now and prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

It would have been much better if Clay were to catch Alex attempting suicide and stop him just in time, and then comfort him through his emotional problems. It would provide real life examples on how to talk to a suicidal person (especially in contrast to someone like Mr. Porter) and offer help where you can. That would be way more effective than leaving us wondering if he’ll live or die. And I know they’ll probably try to shoot for a second season to wrap up loose ends like Alex, but how much do they plan to milk this show since it would run at the risk of straying so damn far from the book? And how long do audiences have to wait, especially those looking for a way to cope with such problems? They really couldn’t wrap most of this up in 13 episodes?

Speaking of Mr. Porter, good God do I hate this guy way more than I think I should. I know people bash this character for not recognizing Hannah’s signs of suicide and doing nothing to help her, to which I answer, when was the last time you were around high school faculty? Again, I was a teenager once too, and heck, even way back in elementary school I’ve seen so many adults who really needed another career path that didn’t involve working with kids or teens. I can buy his incompetence, however I just can’t buy his straight up negligence which really pisses me off.

There’s one scene where Clay ditches school with Tony in full view of Mr. Porter. What does he do? He waits until God knows how long until Mrs. Jensen arrives to discuss about the law suit and just drops that her kid ditched oh so casually. What kind of school doesn’t immediately contact parents when they see kids ditch? No fucking wonder you’re getting sued. This probably just drives home close to me since my high school went through severe changes in attendance policies after a girl went missing and her parents didn’t know she was absent the whole day until 6 in the freaking pm, but you’d think after, oh I don’t know, two deaths among your students from a car crash and a suicide, in that order only weeks apart, that these teachers would try to be more attentive to the mental well being of their students especially when a few end up becoming violent. It doesn’t have to be much, but again, there’s a fine line between incompetence and negligence and, ugh, that scene irritated me way more than I should but just the little implications behind it got under my skin.

There’s also a lot of other little things that bugged me like wondering why all these teenagers have tattoos, why Clay’s hallucinations are never brought up again, why is Skye way more bitter than necessary, etc etc.

Again, like my spoiler free review, this is a bit all over the place and that sums up my feelings towards the show. The scenes that are handled just right are amazing, and there are good intentions, but the overall execution just doesn’t work and little inconsistencies just pile up in the long-run and confuse the themes so much that I can’t recommend it as a good source for anyone with similar struggles. If the graphic content won’t trigger you, I’d still say check it out to form your own opinion, but don’t let the hype cloud your better judgement.

[theconservativebrief]

BoJack Horseman is not a good person.

That seems self-evident. Over the course of his show’s first four seasons, he’s nearly slept with teenagers. He’s been privy to the overdose and death of a young woman who looked up to him. He’s drank and caroused and just generally burned his life down, over and over again. But he’s rich and powerful. He has money. He has fame. He has excuses, like the undiagnosed depression, or the chemical dependencies, or the shitty childhood.

But he still does bad things. And yet he is not a bad person, necessarily.

He does care for people, and he occasionally thinks beyond himself to care about them on a non-superficial level. He’s helped out many friends, and in the show’s fourth season, he was a surprisingly stable rock for the woman eventually revealed to be his half-sister, who found herself trying to track down her roots (she was given up for adoption) and instead found… BoJack.

The gap between BoJack as he wants to be seen and BoJack as he actually is has always driven BoJack Horseman. It’s one of the reasons I suggested, back in the show’s second season, that it would be a successor to Mad Men, and I’m astonished at how the series hasn’t really gone wrong since. It just might be the single best TV show in production right now, with great laughs but also rich, thoughtful character depth.

And in season five, BoJack Horseman brings all of that character development down around its ears, in a stretch of episodes that represents the most precise dissection of BoJack Horseman yet — and perhaps the first truly sustained artistic response to the #MeToo movement, albeit one that was largely crafted before the fall of Harvey Weinstein (though Mel Gibson was on the show’s writers’ mind).

Look out, folks. Major, major spoilers for season five follow. If you haven’t seen it, look away!

If you’ve seen the entire fifth season of BoJack, then you’ll perhaps recognize that my attempt to frame him as neither a good nor a bad person is deliberate. That is, after all how Diane — perhaps BoJack’s truest friend in the whole world — explains her friend to himself when, in a fit of self-loathing, he asks her to essentially destroy his career by writing the sort of exposé of his terrible deeds that has taken down so many other Hollywood bigwigs, in our reality and his.

But Diane refuses to do that, telling BoJack that he’s not a good person or a bad person — he’s just a person. (Or, rather, a horseman, but you get the point.) Yes, he’s done all of those terrible things, and yes, his career might end because of them. But she’s not going to be the one to set that outcome in motion, because it would, on some level, be doing him a favor. It would be indulging one of his self-destructive impulses, and she’s not going to let him commit career suicide by journalist.

As I watched this sequence unfold, I wondered if I would end up feeling like it was a cop-out, if I would grumble to myself at how creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg and his writers had tiptoed up to the precipice of holding their main character accountable in a forum larger than his own mind, then tiptoed right back. In the season’s last section, BoJack checks into rehab to work to contain his latest addiction (to painkillers). The show he was on gets canceled. The reset button is hit.

But the more I think about this sequence and the many leading up to it in season five, the more I think Bob-Waksberg and company haven’t avoided holding their protagonist accountable. After all, if any showbiz satire on television could plumb the depths of its main character being held accountable for past misdeeds by a #MeToo-esque movement, it’s BoJack Horseman, which is as haunted by the past as any great ghost story.

BoJack has an idea — sort of. Netflix

It’s easy enough to imagine BoJack’s ghosts stepping into the light. It’s easy enough to imagine the rest of the series taking place in a world where BoJack keeps fighting to get his career back, only to realize that the meaning of words like “redemption” and “forgiveness” has to be more than skin deep. And it’s easy enough to imagine these writers finding a way to make that battle resonate with our current era.

But that is also, on some level, too easy an answer for this show. BoJack wants Diane to write an article taking him down, because he wants to punish himself. He doesn’t believe he’s worthy of love or admiration or anything good, because he’s done monstrous things. He wants someone to slot him into the role of villain, because he knows that he has acted like a villain and might still do so again. And once he’s accomplished that, he can finally drift away, secure in having isolated everyone he cared about.

BoJack Horseman has always been about how our worst impulses feed into each other, all of the ways that mental illness can feed addiction, or that addiction can feed doing terrible things to other people. (BoJack physically assaults his female co-star and lover this season, in an on-set stunt that goes horribly wrong partly because he’s so high.) And the show concentrates on this theme not to excuse bad behavior, but, instead, to try to help us understand how it can be better combatted before it happens, how self-loathing becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of destruction — I am a shitty person, who does shitty things. Well, what if you’re not?

Yes, there are monsters in the world. But there are also so many people like BoJack, who have done monstrous things — perhaps many monstrous things — but who are not beyond redemption, who might yet be forgiven. What does that look like? And how do we find our way there? Answering those questions is the work of the rest of this remarkable series, I suspect, but it’s also ground zero for season five.

The role BoJack plays in season five is that of a disturbed and distressed detective named Philbert, in a series named Philbert (just as BoJack Horseman is named for BoJack Horseman). Run by the self-proclaimed genius Flip McVicker (a very funny Rami Malek), the in-show series allows BoJack to lampoon just about every trend of dark cable and streaming dramas, which leads to some of the season’s best jokes.

But it also adds a surprisingly important thematic underpinning to the entire season, as these sorts of dark dramas are often about those who seek to skirt responsibility for terrible things they’ve done. When Philbert suspects that he might be the one who killed his wife (the crime that haunts him), his show lets him off the hook by inventing a twist that proves he didn’t do it. It’s indicative of a culture addicted to pretending responsibility is a joke, that if you really try hard enough, you can absolve yourself of bad deeds without having to work at redemption.

These ideas course through the season, with each and every character longing to avoid responsibility for something they’ve done — be it playing a part in a crumbling marriage, not breaking up with someone who’s not going to be a good long-term partner, or the darker deeds of BoJack.

Don’t worry. Everybody else is back too. Netflix

But the series also twins that idea with the idea of blame, the idea of finding a scapegoat and sometimes even a completely justifiable scapegoat. The most daring episode of the season is its sixth, which consists entirely of a single long monologue delivered by BoJack, a eulogy for his recently deceased mother. (If Will Arnett doesn’t win an Emmy for his voice performance, it will be a bigger travesty than usual.) It’s a full episode’s worth of grappling with what it means to be someone’s child and maybe someone’s parent, with how hard it can be to have traumas you weren’t privy to visited upon you by a parent, with the challenge of accepting that you might have inherited their damage, might literally be carrying their time bomb in your genes.

But even as the series insists we can inherit damage, can have trauma visited upon us, it doesn’t let those who pass along that trauma to others get off easily. If there is a reason BoJack can remain our protagonist, it’s because he, however fitfully, makes a few steps forward every season. Season five might feature his blackest pit yet, but it also features genuine moments of kindness between him and his friends, and what might amount to his most successful relationship yet on the show — before he destroys it with his actions, that is.

I realize this makes the series sound a little like Philbert, at least in the sense that it’s a self-important slog. And the construction of season five might be a little less cohesive than the show’s gorgeous, devastating season four. (I will have to watch it six more times to be sure.) But the series remains as winning and funny as ever alongside all of this, and possessed of a confidence in its ability to do whatever it likes — including staging an episode where two characters who seemingly have nothing to do with the main plot fill us in on the other characters’ adventures anyway. There’s also side story involving a mad sex robot who ends up running the series’ version of Netflix. What’s not to love?

And yet it doesn’t matter if season five is BoJack’s best season yet or not quite as good as last season or [insert your ranking here]. It feels ever more like a miracle that this show exists and that it refuses to give lazy answers to complicated questions. There is no show as effective at plowing this particular ground and at finding answers that are at once satisfying and elusive. It is a beautiful show, and one that constantly finds new ways to surprise me.

Long may it run.

BoJack Horseman’s five seasons are all available on Netflix. Did I forget to mention that BoJack is a literal horse man, and the show takes place in a world full of bipedal animals who live alongside humans? Well, it does, but you probably knew that already.

Original Source -> BoJack Horseman season 5 is a bold, bracing look at a culture that shirks responsibility

via The Conservative Brief