#yeah. it's ridiculous how ableist people are about her (in and out of the show)

[td-brick]

The way the td fandom talks about autism/characters who show autistic traits* is literally ridiculous. some of you are so ableist even if you're autistic yourself. especially towards women who have autism (which is also misogyny, but that's not shocking coming from td fans). it's wild!!! because like. take Courtney for example. to me she can very clearly be seen as autistic (a few traits that come to mind for me are her constant list making, need for things to be exactly how she views them, "strong sense of justice" (as some say)/very set in her ways, super rule oriented, sometimes socially inappropriate/struggles with certain aspects of being social) but at least in my perspective of the fandom she's not widely viewed as such and instead demonized for a lot of her autistic traits. and this isn't to say that autism excuses all her actions but like. a lot of people's hatred for her autistic traits is clearly rooted in ableism/misogyny, especially when you look at a character who's autistic traits are similar to hers, Noah, and how he's treated by the fandom. he's widely accepted as autistic, his traits are made out to be quirky personality tidbits (which is ableist in its own right but. yeah), and he's generally not demonized for the same things Courtney is. I wonder why (<- its because Courtney is a woman and people can't fathom that autistic women exist)

Sorry if this isn't eloquent i'm basically just thought dumping here but. ugh it's just so weird to see idk

[crusherthedoctor]

It's really sad how people keep going after your group just because you defend yourselves

Apparently, the statements "I'm generally content with the quality of my personal stories" and "I spot many issues with this comic" justify getting spammed with graphic death threats and ableist insults

Yet it's insisted that you're the ones who are too harsh? It's straight up unfair.

Who would have thought that a group of people might occasionally get upset after being crucified and ridiculed by countless strangers?

Funny how they NEVER have a justification beyond "well shut up no one wants to hear you"

Somehow, it's always YOUR fault that a part of the fandom goes rabid whenever someone doesn't conform to the current "right" opinion, and YOU'RE to blame for THEIR ungodly behavior. That doesn't make any sense, does it?

This fandom is vain and abhorrent to the nth degree and y'all deserve better. That's all I wanted to say.

Par for the course, innit. They'll lash out at us. They'll hand out death threats. They'll make disgusting ableist comments about my autism, and similarly terrible comments towards my friends. They'll threaten to bomb SEGA HQ and stick Iizuka's head on a pike, among other wild declarations of violence. But don't you dare make a goofy meme about Surge not living up to her hype. And whatever you do, don't even think about criticising the unprofessional antics of the IDW crew. What are you, a monster?

They dismiss us as insignificant one minute, then fearmonger so hard that they see fit to give us a boogeyman-esque moniker the next. I'd be surprised if they could walk in a straight line without contradicting themselves.

As for "You talk so much about your fics!" ...No shit. I'm a guy with a blog. This isn't a movie production with a budget, I don't have a team or advertisements backing me up. And unlike fanartists, I don't have my own art to catch people's attention. I kind of have to talk about my writing in order to get it out there and inform people of its existence, and while I try not to sound too much like an unskippable YouTube ad, what else am I supposed to do? Upload them silently and then never refer to them again? How is showing passion for my work any different from official creators showing passion for theirs? Just because fanfic tends to get less attention on here than fanart doesn't mean it's not worth sharing, do they want fandom to flourish or not?

When I compare my work to a certain comic, I do it to highlight the dissonance. If fanfic writers - plural, not just myself - can understand the importance of keeping the characters recognizable, and making the universe faithful despite any necessary differences, then what excuse do official writers who have been involved with the series for over a decade have? If someone who doesn't even love Sonic that much compared to other characters, finds him annoying and unfunny half the time (no, not just in the Pontaff games, in general), and even finds it a pain in the ass to write for him at times and has more fun writing other characters because of this, can still attempt to write what made him appeal to fans... why do writers who supposedly love him so much keep fumbling so hard with him?

I compare for the sake of highlighting why these off-kilter portrayals are so easy to spot. If Sonic Twitter only gets "He's just stroking his own dick" from all of that, then they haven't been paying attention.

The most ironic thing about it all is that they've only gotten more vitriolic as most of us have mostly moved on from the height of IDW discourse (cause the comic goes in circles at this point, and is very likely to be running on fumes due to IDW's financial troubles, so there's no point). Yeah, I'll still criticise it now and then, and make a meme on occasion, but I rarely make lengthy ted talks about it or participate in ongoing Lanolin Is A Bitch/Silver Is Uwu-ified/Whisper Is Trauma Bait/etc back and forths anymore, because it's just tiring now. And since most current Sonic stuff has been putting me off in general, combined with growing fatigue and frustration at not being able to criticise certain games without people waving the finger at me (especially SA2, since the Year of Shadow has made it the center of attention yet again...), I've took a step back from intense Sonic discussion to focus on Stellar, as well as other fandom projects, like my recent brainstorming for Paper Mario or: How I Learned To Insert Eggman and Love The Vivian™.

In no way can you say I've been up in their faces as of recent. Yet they continue to cry otherwise, because they want people like me gone completely.

[amarriageoftrueminds]

#mcu #bucky barnes #um . . . how is wanting buckys autonomy and disability to be respected babying him? #no matter what ayo was feeling it was still a really shitty thing to do (cool motive. still ableist) #and saying it's because he's violent - he really isn't? - the scene in cw was him using self defense against people trying to kill him #(should his arm have been removed then?) how does that equate to him being violent? #there's multiple examples of him choosing to run away instead of fighting - given the choice he doesn't choose violence #(and if he is so violent and brutal how come in that scene with ayo he tried to talk to her while she attacked him?) #even as the winter soldier he would sit there calmly waiting for orders #after zemo triggers him the avengers attacked him not the other way around #and how is not telling him being kind? #that's something that could put him in a life-threatening scenario - what if its triggered while fighting someone or while climbing #they tell him they trust him and then he finds out they were lying the whole time - that's not kindness thats cruel #they're saying 'we'll respect you as long as you do what we want' 'you're not free your body still isn't yours' #and the idea that the wakandans can take his arm because they made it is so so creepy #if i designed and created a wheelchair for someone do i have the right to take it away from them if they do something i don't agree with? #and it doesn't matter that he can live without it as some people claim #it's his - a part of his body the only one who should get to remove it is him #there's fics where hydra or other bad guys remove buckys arm against his will - why is this a bad thing but the wakandans doing it is not? #the guy lost his arm more than once - why was it necessary to do it again from people he thought were on his side #and i hate the argument of 'oh well bucky didn't have a negative reaction so it's fine' #the show blames him for everything that hydra made him do #they refuse to admit he was a victim - of course they're not going to let him have a negative reaction to this #because why explore the trauma that surrounds an action like this when you can make a gag about it #'my thought is that the failsafe in the arm was justified and people need to stop coming for Ayo based on this ridiculous narrative #that Bucky is too traumatized and sensitive and too much of a fave to ever be challenged or he’ll explode into dust' #no it was not justified - it was gross (god this whole thing is so disturbing - all thanks to this awful show) #and it's also gross to suggest a disabled character can't have negative feelings about someone being ableist to him or he's 'too sensitive' #you can't talk about nuance when you pin all the blame on one character and refuse to admit the other was wrong #anti tfatws

(tags via @wewringmagicfromtheordinary)

I hardly know where to start so just a bunch of random points as they come to me:

*banging head on desk* Bucky. Barnes. was. mind-controlled! Totally different thing from brainwashing (he might also have been brainwashed... but we didn't really see evidence enough to suggest that.)

Small note: we did not see Bucky being a brilliant sniper in WWII either (even if he did later become one as TWS; debatable.) We saw him take like two simple shots.

CATFA only allows one non-Steve person to be good at anything and it's not Bucky; that movie would slit its own throat before it let Bucky look good!

The explicit implication in that stairwell fight scene in CACW is that Bucky (emphasis Bucky: not TWS) hasn't killed anyone, and doesn't intend to.

So even though - yeah, of course - those breezeblocks would be lethal weapons if you swung them around like that, in real life, comic book movie logic and the suspension of disbelief in this universe is that Bucky is behaving non-lethally by using them -- has even set up his apartment with non-lethal defenses.

Shittily-written Steve shrieking 'you're going to kill someone!!' has got nothing to do with what Bucky is actually is like and everything to do with how other people stereotype him (including Steve), just because of TWS. Which wasn't 'him.'

(Steve has been chasing Bucky and researching TWS for two years by this point; he should really know all this already, especially given that Bucky has already told him he's innocent of the bombing. But hey. Shitty writers gunna write shit. 🤷‍♀️)

We can't selectively apply real-world logic and say that XYZ is evidence of Bucky being brutal, when Steve & Co. have been kicking the shit out of things in multiple movies just like that.

Why aren't they classed as brutal? Either they and Bucky are brutal -- meaning, relatively speaking, none of them are -- or they all aren't.

Notice how police break into Bucky's apartment with an explicit kill order -- but if Bucky hits them non-lethally in the process of defending himself while trying to escape... he's the brutal one?

(But if Steve does exactly the same things in the process of chasing after Bucky… it's never Steve who gets called brutal, is it? Or T'Challa? Steve is fighting his way through people, after Bucky in his wake.

If Bucky had actually been brutal, by definition, there would be nobody left behind him for Steve to fight! He'd just be daintily picking his way over a bunch of corpses!)

Bucky in WWII was likewise not a ruthless stalker of victims like TWS.

He was a drafted man, trying to talk his friend out of going to war, using absolute minimal violence to see off bullies (doesn't even deck the guy!), so terrified of violent situations that he had to pause and have mini freak-outs mid-fight where no one else could see (which we see echoes of in CACW).

Bucky was never canonically ruthless and highly-skilled before TWS; he has been no more skilled than any other Howling Commando, no more ruthless than Steve. He did not do well in the war (as you'd thtink a ruthless man would). He had to be rescued more than once, and was not happy to be there at any point. Guy didn't even enlist. Hardly ruthless behaviour!

(And yeah, Sebastian Stan having the same face with which to do a limited range of 'I am sneaking along with a gun about to fight someone' faces with, does not equal = Bucky and the WS having the same skillsets, pre-Hydra slavery. Of course he looks the same, it's the same face!)

SebStan didn't do all that good work showing Bucky shitting himself and miserable in CATFA and CACW, but then completely cold and calm as TWS, just for you to pretend there's no difference between the performances!

In CACW, instead of standing his ground and killing everyone as they come, Bucky chooses to defend himself non-lethally (even the one near-miss is an accident) and run away.

Ditto when it's Tony attacking him; he only stands his ground to fight when Tony literally traps him there (...and is attacking Steve).

Then he chose a non-violent solution by putting himself on ice, to keep everyone else safe, and chose a non-lethal post-WS career for himself. (Even though Steve and the other Avengers are still going around out in the world, presumably fighting people, and Bucky surely would've been welcome along.)

And about TWS...

Even in CATWS, Bucky-as-TWS can't outright win a fight against Steve -- is losing when they grapple and has to play possum to get an advantage (and it's not his arm that subsequently makes him dangerous... it was Hydra-imprinted ruthlessness / dirty fighting combined with basic gun skill).

Even though he's framed as this Unstoppable Killing Machine, he has failed to kill both Nick Fury and Natasha-- twice!

And he didn't win his earlier fight with Steve, either, he was definitely struggling! Ditto with T'Challa in CACW. Though in CATWS Natasha was running away from him in terror, by the time of CACW she's lasting a whole round with him one-on-one. As do an unarmed Tony Stark and Sharon (of all people?!). And that's against Beefy WS!

(And this is while TWS is... running away, again. Even though he'd just been triggered, TWS's first instinct always seems to be pulling a Batman and vanishing into the sky. Now that he is good at!)

Even within the crappy TFATWS show, which simultaneously flipflops between nering Bucky to try and make Sam look good, while simultaneously having everyone treat Bucky like a just-barely-non-rabid dog …Even in that show, Bucky is a man who has repeatedly chosen non-violence and 'peace.' For which he is shit on by his therapist, because the plot wants him punching things.

(Make up your damn minds! is Bucky so ineffectual it's funny to watch him lose, multiple times, or is he so dangerous he needs to be monitored constantly and go grovelling to all 'his' victims?? Can't be both!)

But the man who tortured Bucky the last time he was around also pickpockets a prized possession from him and mocks him for it, but if Bucky verbally tells him off for that (doesn't actually punch him or anything, mind you; like Arnie Roth got to in the comics! Just grabs him and takes his property back! Throws a glass and makes some noise!!) That's Bucky being 'violent.'

What a pussy cat!

And even those minor flashes of ineffectual temper from Bucky were, let's be honest, completely out of character.

Compare that to the movie-canon Bucky who has lived in quiet poverty for years rather than do any reprisals (violent or otherwise) against his torturers. (Even though there was a Hydra base like two countries away, as per AOU.) He has preferred to make journals, go to markets, and be a one-armed goat-herder who befriends local children, rather than be a fighter, and is seen as so harmless that the teenage princess can visit him alone. He is palpably miserable when asked to fight, and puts on a brave face to make Steve feel better.

Still has never so much as snapped at anybody, after everything he's had to put up with.

Compare him to every other 'currently ultra violent because of his Tragic Past' antihero, and so far from being innately violent, this man is practically Zen.

Yes Bucky can kill people, but so could any other person who's a threat to Wakanda, and canonically he's not more skilled at killing than, eg. Natasha or Clint, even including the serum and vibranium arm.

So this idea that he is some kind of already-violently inclined, gifted dispassionate killer outside of TWS is just… Fanon, tbh. Not canon.

And no you do not by any means 'got to hand it to' Zemo -- he is not right when he says “it didn’t take Bucky long to get back into form." He's wrong.

He's a creep, being a creep, with his creepy lies, pouring poison in Sam's ear (specifically to make him doubt Bucky.)

Bucky pretending to be like TWS is NOT proof that he really is; by definition. (🤦‍♀️) If he was really like that, this wouldn't be a 'sudden' change in behaviour in him, the way it is in the show -- like curtains up on a performance. If he was really like that, he wouldn't have to pretend at all.

Bucky is not and never has been a good man with a monster inside, the way Zemo treats him -- instead, the Winter Soldier was a zombie with a good man trapped inside.

People want Bucky to be a BAMF, because TWS is Badass, so being innately dangerous must be part of Bucky's traits, right?

And he can't be as soft and peaceful as he is in canon, cuz that's girly shit, right? Just us silly little women in fandom coddling fictional men, us liking their quiet decency just because they... uh... are quietly decent? Hallucinating peaceful cottagecore takes just because a man happens to be peaceful and live in a cottage. Delusions.

(Of course Bucky calls himself 'semi-stable!' A) he's joking and B) if he called himself 'stable' no doubt someone would scoff or patronisingly remind him, 'no, Bucky, you're a monster, remember? you need to voluntarily be put on ice for everyone else's safety because you're so evil and we're all fine with it.' 😔)

But BasicBro in TFATWS is... suddenly, out of nowhere... possessed of a temper he has quite-literally-literally never showed any evidence of before. (I'm assuming another Worf Effect gambit.)

Bucky's temper in FTATWS is not good, consistent, or even logical characterisation. Someone with a temper, a) wouldn't have chosen or wanted to do all the things Bucky has canonically chosen to do, sorry,

and b) physically couldn't have done all those things, either.

No way a man with a trigger temper could stay under the radar / out of trouble for years without being caught! Be trusted alone with a teenage princess! And children! Be given an arm in the first place!

Doesn't make any damn sense.

(Above poster is right, he can't be simultaneously safe enough to entrust an arm to, but too dangerous to have one without a switch / too untrustworthy to tell about the switch.)

But the shitty writing fairies struck again.

They only introduced a nonsensical temper in Bucky as an excuse to treat him like dirt / make whoever's standing next to him look like the 'calm' one.

Also... sorry to burst this bubble, but:

You can't use Bucky's interactions with Zemo in TFATWS as 'evidence' that he's dangerous and simultaneously claim that he isn't fragile. There is nothing more fragile than a man with a temper!

Just because the idiot writers think male anger = not fragile, doesn't make them right.

Ironically, in trying to de-yassify Bucky of his inconvenient canon characterisation -- that of a quiet, thoughtful, animal-loving, country-living hippie who does crafts in his spare time and would rather not fight -- they've actually just made him a different, more-annoying kind of fragile instead. More generic and toxic masc, and therefore 'relatable.' 🙄

He was always something of a snowflake (complimentary) but now he's a ...snowflake (derogatory).

Ergo, the idea that the Wakandans put this secret killswitch in Bucky's arm because... he's a threat?

Yeah, I know that was the script's intention, but in practise? Total bullshit.

A) as mentioned, Bucky just wasn't a threat the whole time Wakandans knew him (never left so much as a scratch on T'Challa. They have pet rhinos ffs, you think one sad hippie with a vibranium arm is a threat?! they have anti-vibranium mining tech!! the DM took down Killmonger in a full vibranium suit!!)

And B) Bucky was not being violent or dangerous when Ayo triggered the killswitch -- she was!

The Dora Milaje were the ones being a threat -- engaging in a fight -- and Bucky was trying to end the violence.

How dare he 'betray' them, says the people who were planning to betray him all along? Let us be violent or we'll cut off your arm? Like he's the danger in that scenario?! And if he non-violently tries to stop their violence, he's 'disrespecting' their country and its God-given right to be violent to people from other countries?

How American of them!

As soon as the DM are the violent ones, suddenly it's Bucky who's the brutal threat that has to be contained? Gimme a break!

(Never mind the ableism, it's the hypocrisy I can't stand!)

And Bucky didn't even want to intervene anyway -- he was fine letting the DM carry out their business and was even enjoying watching. It was Sam who nagged Bucky to jump in.

(Doesn't want to be Captain America, but still expects Bucky to follow his orders, and won't return the courtesy? Another one who needs to stop expecting to have their cake and eat it. Fantasising about the version of this scene where Bucky says 'sorry pal, I only take orders from Captain America.' C'mon guys, that could've been a turning point to make Sam pick up the shield! The Achilles reference was right there!)

Sam interfered and wanted to stop the DM being violent, and he used Bucky rather than do it himself. So where's the DM's reprisal for that? Their treatment of Sam as dangerous and untrustworthy, for ordering Bucky to interfere in their business -- 'disrespecting' their country, apparently?

Anybody could be mind-controlled; that which made Bucky kill could've made anyone kill, and still could. Sam is the Falcon! He flies! he has guns! he actually wants to fight people! So why is he less worthy of reprisal for interfering in Wakandan business, less dangerous (when he could be mind-controlled to turn his flying guns on anyone, just as easily as Bucky, now) than Bucky, who to this day has never harmed a Wakandan?

(Bucky and Ayo had already talked about Zemo and she was fine with him; it wasn't he who wanted to stop the DM taking Zemo, it was Walker, and by extension Sam. Bucky was just the poor shmuck who got caught in the crossfire, which no one will admit was there, and punished for facilitating other peoples' agendas.

So let's stop pretending this was all a 'safeguard' of 'dangerous' Bucky and a 'punishment' about Zemo… just to excuse 'Queen' Ayo's dick move.

Because even if it was (which it wasn't) that's still a dick move!

And the show treating that dismemberment as a gag was sick.)

Bucky has to make amends, for trying to enforce non-violence on others, by giving the DM Zemo back just like he promised he would (even though they've already dismembered Bucky and given away the fact that they were always planning to; their faith in him was a lie from the start. Ayo said 'you're free' but neglected to mention there was a caveat. Didn't know freedom came with a disclaimer. More American behaviour.)

...But Sam is the one who ordered that 'betrayal', and makes no apologies or amends, and still gets a new super-suit, no questions asked! Doesn't even have to show up in person to ask for it!

(Watch people claim this as a noble act from Sam but somehow simultaneously a 'betrayal' from Bucky.)

The double standard created by inconsistent writing is so annoying! Anyone else doing what Bucky is accused of is simply Too Special to be criticised!

Like: none of the countless other mind-controlled superheroes ever get treated as innately dangerous afterwards, such that treating them as an obviously untrustworthy potential-threat for the rest of their lives is acceptable behaviour, just a logical product of their inherent facility with violence... even if that alleged facility with violence wasn't actually there? Only Bucky.

(Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Clint Barton, Antonia Dreykov, Captain Marvel, Izaiah Bradley. Where's their state-mandated 'make sure you're not a monster' therapy for years? Why is no one booby-trapping their bodies for the greater good?)

Sharon turns into a crime kingpin and goes through her own minions like a chainsaw, but it's '#girlboss#badass' and 'poor Sharon' for what she's 'been through' ...after they just blithely threw in a reference to Bucky being raped!? 🤦‍♀️

But a thing can't be bad if it's happening to Bucky, right?

If a bad thing is happening to Bucky... well it must not be bad.

Ayo is doing it, Therefore it must be justified and understandable.

People can be more than one thing but She isn't; she is a Strong Female Character. So whatever she's doing, it's Good and Perfect. In fact, she's probably actually being even more Perfect by putting that booby trap on that disabled man and not telling him about it! It was for his own good, probably! Certainly her hurt feelings are more important than his silly bodily autonomy!

It's just a joke! A sign of Strong Female Character's perfect unimpeachable badassery!

Surely it's the guy being dismembered who is at fault? He must be dangerous! See how violently he stands there, looking sad about it and doing nothing! What a psycho!

Mustn't mention it at all. Mustn't say it's bad, or else I'm 'babying' that fictional creation. The creative choices surrounding him, which contradict one reading, can neither be referenced or criticised.

If Bucky is upset in the story... No he isn't. He is only allowed to be upset if it's in an acceptably Manly and more importantly Strong-Female-Character-Praising way.

He can't be a pathetic little bitch by acknowledging that something horrible is being doing to him by a woman, like some kind of disgusting "victim", because that would be unmanly and unfeminist of him (“oh no, my arm, how could you?? my TrAumA!") I mean... fragility? in a white man?! Wrong-doing? In a woman?!? Absurd!

And obviously his function in the story is to feminist-ly lose a fight against a woman, because how else will we know that Strong Female Character is perfect (ie. better than men) unless we measure her against a man?? Duh!

People are more than one thing - but these are characters, not people. They're not humans, they're fictional constructs, and what they are is what inept writers have made them.

Which is why Bucky can be a semi-pacifist who can kill people, but no more than most superpowered characters can, and would prefer not to (in fact just wants to be left alone to keep goats), and yet still be treated like a monster because of what anyone could be made to do if he was mind-controlled... even though he can't be mind-controlled any more... (.... but for some reason? he then?? releases his own torturer from prison? as if they know more about his torturers than he does?? And nobody seems aware of the contradiction in all this??) And Ayo can be both a competent warrior who acts all warm and supportive one minute and be an ableist turncoat who needs to cheat to humiliate and win a "fight" against someone who thought she was a friend the next.

In good writing, these things would be acknowledged as injustices and concerningly bizarre alterations in behaviour, to be overcome (in Bucky's case), or a sign of interesting two-facedness and depth in a female character (in Ayo's case), who doesn't have to be a perfect paragon because woman are people not statues.

Ayo who can seem nice but is actually kind of a bastard is so so so much more interesting than Saint Ayo Who Can Do No Wrong.

Likewise, 'Bucky who's having some kind of aberrant personality break, perhaps because of prolonged brain damage, releasing his own torturer from prison and thinking he's one of the bad guys.' Is so much more interesting than the moronic 'Bucky who was a wrong 'un all along, actually... we just decided... who knows why he killed all those people for his enemies huh...? search us... maybe that guy just tortured himself??' 🤦‍♀️)

But The MCU has this serial problem of accidentally introducing interesting flawed character traits and then wasting them because protagonist-centered-morality means the writers believe the characters haven't done anything wrong. These idiots would be like 'yeah Hannibal Lecter eats people, but he's the Good Guy!!'

Wasted.

(And no, in this case the actors were not playing realistic human complexity -- 1-800-Come-on-now -- because no MCU script will acknowledge that there is any. A human being might know the cruelty of taking a disabled person's prosthetic IRL, but MCU characters don't give a shit. (see: Rocket Raccoon).

You could tell they were just panting for a chance to knock that arm off and get a cheap laugh at nerfed-yt-boy's expense.)

The problem isn't what Ayo did, the problem is the narrative treating it as if that was: a) consistent characterisation for her, and b) fine, and not ableist, and then dimwitted viewers actually swallow that in a fit of StrongFemaleCharacter=Good?? Brain Disease instead of employing critical thinking and being annoyed about it.

It's almost like there's a pack of bleedin' idiots pulling the puppet strings... 🤔

I think some people mad about the arm is not necessarily about the fact that Ayo disabling the arm itself, it's more of the fact that it was not necessary and the fact that Bucky had no idea they can do that. If I were to be honest, I think it was not that necessary because Ayo is well capable of taking him down without having to disarm him and she is definitely not threatened by him. I think what some people find upsetting about that scene is the fact that it kinda comes off as Ayo putting Bucky in a position where it would make him feel like he doesn't have full control of his own body after all. The Wakandans, especially Ayo, T'Challa and Shuri had every right to feel betrayed and upset but the point is they should have told Bucky about how the arm can easily be disabled like that, they didn't know Bucky was going to set Zemo free when they gave him the arm and regardless of the things they have done for him and if they were ones who gave him the arm, they should have at least told him about it, because it's connected to him, it's a part of HIS body. It doesn't matter if it was necessary to disarm him or not, the point is they should have told him about it because apart from the fact that it's his body and that it was a bit insensitive given his history, it's also a point of vulnerability, and the fact that she did it in front of Walker (and possibly Zemo) --- people who can easily turn on Bucky, could easily that to their advantage and attempt to disable it themselves. Just my thoughts on it.

Thank you for sharing your perspective, anon!

I’m going to use this long-ass reply to address this stuff with Ayo and also voice some thoughts I’ve had over the past few weeks seeing people paint Bucky into being this complete soft and harmless human that needs 25-7 protection which I don’t jive with — and this is me, a complete Bucky stan.

Many moons ago, I saw a post that compared 1940s Bucky moving with stealth and a loaded gun on the train to the Winter Soldier doing the same thing, essentially discussing the similarities and debating how much of non-brainwashed Bucky was in the Soldier. And I think the fandom forgets or chooses to neglect the following when painting him as this fragile, peace-loving guy:

Bucky was an incredibly skilled sniper in the United States Army. His job is to eliminate threats in the most efficient way possible, and he’s good at it. HYDRA gets their hands on him and + the serum, this gets magnified. It wasn’t like HYDRA turned him into someone with the ability and mental capacity to kill — that was already there. The brainwashing and torture just carved out the rest of him to leave those honed skills and an amplified ruthlessness with no moral issues, no sense of self to contend with. That ruthlessness is part of Bucky, whether people like it or not.

When Bucky is outside of HYDRA for the first time and hiding in Civil War and gets attacked, he’s so brutal in his actions that Steve Rogers, the man who literally was ready to die to save Bucky and free him when no one else believed in the good in him, intervenes because “Buck, you’re going to kill someone.” Bucky responds that he’s not going to kill anyone, but the fact remains: with or without HYDRA control, Bucky has a strong capacity for violence that hovers on brutality — again, what’s the most efficient way to eliminate or neutralize a threat? Like, I don’t want to kill you, but I’ll knock your ass out with cinder blocks to the chest.

Bucky has a good heart, he’s loyal, he’s smart, he’s caring, he’s the longest-standing POW in history and was turned into a slave for decades, put through unimaginable trauma and torture and horror with no escape. Bucky is also a strong and incredibly skilled super soldier who has a bionic arm, is a trained sniper, is unnervingly precise with knives, and self-describes himself as “semi-stable.” Zemo notes in the bar that “it didn’t take Bucky long to get back into form,” and he’s right because the ruthlessness and skill of the Winter Soldier is a part of him and always has been. We see it when he has his hand around Zemo’s neck and tells him he will kill him, when he rips the glass from his hand and throws it across the room.

And I’m sure the Wakandans know all this about Bucky, this light and his ability for hard-to-stop violence, whether from talking to Steve and Bucky or doing their own homework. And they still choose to help him out of the goodness of their hearts because he’s been put through hell and they believe they have the capacity to help him and it’s the right thing to do — they’re betting more on those positive attributes. And they put a failsafe on his arm, a literal weapon, and chose not to tell him. You know why I think that shows how much they did care about him? Because they could’ve blatantly come out and said “Hey, we don’t trust you,” and hurt him outright, but they didn’t because they’re betting on the light in Bucky to outweigh the dark or any future manipulation. That it’s a worst-case scenario function they hope to never have to use — so they’re prepared if shit hits the fan, and if it doesn’t, Bucky doesn’t have to be hurt feeling like he can’t be trusted. I see no issues here, they’re just being cautious.

Now coming to Ayo, my QUEEN Ayo. From that beautiful, beautiful opening scene, we get to see her support, her reassurance, her belief that Bucky will be able to work through this, even when he doesn’t believe it himself. She watches him fight and struggle and cry, and you can feel the hope in her and how moved she is when she gets to tell him it worked, he did it — he’s free. And she says it not once, but twice. And you can hear not just the comfort, but the PRIDE and warmth in her voice directed to him, who I’m sure she’s watched throughout the whole deprogramming process and gotten to know and is happy to see him work through the pain and come out on the other side.

And then she sees that same individual make a decision in freeing Zemo that she perceives as a “fuck you” not just to her country, but to her, someone who was charged with protecting her king. She could’ve just disarmed Bucky the second they met up, but she doesn’t. She takes the time to explain her side and her feelings, her guilt and her shame, and basically implies that she feels betrayed by Bucky because Wakanda helped him and now he’s doing something that’s hurting her country. And still, she doesn’t attack or just go get Zemo. She gives Bucky the benefit of the doubt and a whole 8-hour American workday to do what he has to do because again, she believes in the best of him. And then that time limit runs up, and he chooses to get in her way.

And that’s the final straw. She’s angry, she’s guilty, she’s frustrated, and she feels betrayed hurt by someone I think she did respect and care about, someone whom she worked with and helped and supported when he was his most vulnerable. Did she “need” to disarm the arm to fight Bucky? Probably not. But is she doing it in the heat of battle and adrenaline and a whole bucket ton of emotions, including what she sees as the White Wolf blatantly disrespecting her country and her as a person and even friend and she just says fuck it, I’m done? You hurt us and me, and I’m going to hurt you back? Oh yeah. And Bucky looks shocked, not because he’s a poor fragile baby and “oh no, my arm, how could you?? my TrAumA”, but in the dual realization of “oh shit, how’d you do that?!” and “oh shit, I think I crossed a line here.” And also, I don’t think a single person in that room would be able to recreate the disabling sequence other than Ayo — it’s way too targeted and specific for someone like Walker to pick it up in the whole three seconds it took.

People need to stop reducing characters to these black and white extremes of soft and hard, of good and bad. Doing so completely devalues and ignores the REALITY of the complexity of being human, and Bucky and Ayo are both great examples of that played by stellar actors who portray that range and depth extremely well. End of the day, my thought is that the failsafe in the arm was justified and people need to stop coming for Ayo based on this ridiculous narrative that Bucky is too traumatized and sensitive and too much of a fave to ever be challenged or he’ll explode into dust. Boy deserves a life of freedom and healing and mental health support, but he’s also still a formidable opponent with the capacity for violence and skillset to kill. People are more than one thing.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk!!

[danny-chase]

Cass stans hating Jason stans because of fanfic is ridiculous. As is Cass stans aren't equally bad of writing classists, ableist, mockeries of Jason in turn. Honestly each group is playing themselves the issue is never the characters its unimaginative writers and people being unwilling to allow characters to have arcs or change.

Look, I don't think you understand how much popular of a character Jason is at this point in time.

Now if you cross search for how many fics these two are in together, you get

Going based off the sheer numbers, I don't think these Cass fans are writing mockeries in return. And even if they were, Jason fans can go read the 36,440 stories about Jason that don't include Cass. Cass fans have 2,370 stories that exclude Jason - which is still big but also less than half of her stories.

Now another metric - if you filter by how many stories are solo stories (excluding all other batfam members you get the following results):

There are only 338 stories where Cass isn't attached to the batfamily. Of course her fans are going to be resentful. Especially if they see fics where Cass and Jason getting along as ooc for Cass. Why would they be busy writing mockeries of Jason when we already have so little Cass content 💀 that would be a waste of time and I've literally never seen it while reading fic. I have seen Cass show up in stories to go - "guys look how sad jason is" and then do nothing else the entire time multiple times - it's not just jason either and they literally did this in canon with Tim. I don't go out of my way looking for it.

Because there's not a ton of Cass fic (of the actually cool badass Batgirl 2000 Cass), yeah people are going to be resentful if they keep clicking into fics where their fave shows up as a human mood ring, despite that never being their canon characterization. And yeah, I'm sure good writers don't do that, but like 90% of the batfam fandom hasn't read her comic, so like what are they drawing off of to write her?

In happy land where Jason gave up killing and didn't commit any serial murders after coming back, sure they can get along. There's my imagination. Cass stans are just resentful that Cass's character is changed for her and Jason to get along in most of the fan works about the two - and that's completely reasonable imo (like wouldn't you be mad/resentful if Jason was a fluffy stuffed bunny hug monster in all fics about Cass), and is funny because it reminds me of a popular anti-Bruce rant where Jason stans were hating on Bruce because Jason always has to change for him. So like. Shouldn't be hard to see why Cass stans are upset.

Which is why I look at the discourse and I just laugh because hardcore Cass stans are probably never going to like Jason stans, or want to hear them out, so long as the version of Cass that's currently prevalent is the one showing up in fics/canon

[faelapis]

also the length / two-movie split doesn't really bother me. because there are a lot of things in the play - especially in the 2nd act - that are weird and rushed. or just plain bad. or only seem to exist to logic their way into a forced connection to the original wizard of oz story.

as an example: the whole "wicked witch of the east" sequence.

oof. all i can say is oof. spoilers, but in the course of like five minutes, elphaba visits nessa, we find out their dad died, nessa is governor, she's bad and mean, she removed the rights of munchkins to force boq to stay with her (?!?!), she angsts about being wheelchair-bound, elphaba gives nessa the power to walk, boq wants to leave to propose to glinda (who he had a crush on like 5 years ago), nessa curses boq so he'll Still stay with her, she IMMEDIATELY regrets it, crying and hating herself. then elphaba just leaves. end scene.

i'm sorry but that's way too much going on, in too short a timespan. it's rouuugh. and the whole thing where she feels cursed because she's in a wheelchair is just 😬😬😬

oh and did i mention elphaba magicking the shoes is how nessarose is able to walk. THAT's the origin of dorothy's shoes. AND her cursing boq makes him "lose his heart"... turns him into the tin man😭 so that's what i mean with going through like 3 different plot points JUST to tie in the original wizard of oz story. mess! it's a mess!

people will always stan the play because it "came first", but come on. you can't watch this in 2024 without admitting it needs like 5-6 changes to make it work as a modern film. it needs to be longer. it's WAY too "tell, dont show" with all the different plot points converging. everything surrounding nessa needs a rework.

nessa is basically every stereotype of a disabled character. so much of her story hinges on this ableist assumption that someone in a wheelchair is totally dependent and hates themselves every waking moment of their life. it's ridiculous and offensive. it's not atypical for a 00s play, but it would be embarrassing to put to screen in 2024.

so yeah. that's probably going to be heavily reworked in the movie, especially as nessarose is played by a real disabled actress. the trailers already have her be more independent / annoyed at everyone else babying her. which - good. that's a good change!

i don't have 100% faith in jon m. chu as a director (based on his prior work)... but i agree with him that there are things in the play that needs more exploration in a film. he wants this to be a living, breathing world. and i agree with that!

so for all those reasons, and the early positive reviews... i am giving it the benefit of the doubt. maybe i'm cringe, but i'm excited :)

is it cringe to admit i'm genuinely excited for the wicked movie

[ectonurites]

You know, I never thought much about how it was ableist when I head about Barbra getting the chip in order for her to walk again years back since the reasoning was along the lines of "With how advance the DC universe is, there's no reason why Barbra would still be crippled" with me just going "Yeah, it is always ridiculous when comic book universes have all this crazy tech and magic but can't heal people" but your post got me thinking about how I can see why having Barbra be able to walk again is seen as albeist. After all, by that logic, there should be no disabilities or sicknesses in the DC universe if the universe is so "Advanced" as whoever stated it.

The argument about that is already flawed tbh, because even within the context of the DC Universe, Babs' recovery is still seen as an oddity, it's something they show as literally being newsworthy and her ending up in interviews about it.

(Secret Origins (2014) #10)

It was an expiremental procedure, it's not like within the universe it was some commonplace thing that of course she'd be able to get, it was a super unique situation they created specifically because DiDio wanted her back as Batgirl, no matter what representation he had to take away to do it.

Not that it being a commonplace thing in-universe would be good either though. While the DC Universe definitely has advancements that just don't exist in ours due to aliens and magic and general advanced fictional tech, the stories they tell are still supposed to be something that readers can find themselves in regardless of the more fantastical elements. That's why representation is so important, why things like Jon and Tim now coming out are such noteworthy stories... even though we aren’t Superheroes in real life we can still have things in common with heroes and see ourselves in them.

So why should those in the real world with disabilities be made to feel like stories that represent people like them aren’t worth telling and can just get skipped over in-universe because of handwavey fictional science? I’m perfectly fine with some suspension of disbelief about what can or can’t be accomplished by a superhero world’s medical science if it means people can get better representation and feel like their stories are being told too.

[sepublic]

           To further elaborate, another reason why the idea of Marcy having to like, cut ties or separate from Anne and Sasha near the end, and why that makes me a little queasy, is…

           I guess it reminds me too much of some ableist rhetoric –which takes on a whole new tone with ND Marcy- that’s telling people that they need to be ‘independent’ to be mature? In the sense that they shouldn’t have a support system, that this is a ‘crutch’, and for this clearly ND kid, who struggles with loneliness and whose parents are probably neglectful… I dunno, man. 

          It’s Marcy’s coping mechanism, her friends are how she survives, and when you’re by yourself like that, when you struggle with social cues, if your parents are unresponsive; You NEED friends to survive! And Anne and Sasha were her only ones. It reminds me of the rhetoric that sudden separation and trauma can be ‘good’ for you, like how some parents force their kids to ‘grow up’ by taking away their toys and interests without permission. 

          Or how ND kids are ridiculed for needing certain accommodations, how they might find comfort in things like technology, so ‘for their own good’ they need to learn to live without it or whatever, which means rudely depriving them of that which gives them joy; Obviously Anne and Sasha are people and not objects, but you get the idea. It’s already nightmarish enough being a teenager, but one who has issues making friends, who’s about to be forcibly separated from them, due to a lack of agency?

           Which, I guess the show can still retain this message of needing friends, while having Marcy split off from the others, by having her make real friends with the other people in Amphibia, like the Plantars, or Yunnan and Olivia. I can actually see a scenario where Marcy ends up living in Amphibia with the Plantars, because her own parents are too negligent and emotionally distant; Or she moves in with the Boonchuys, maybe even the Waybrights. 

          If Marcy got the emotional support network she needs, regardless if it’s with Anne or Sasha; If her justifiable resistance to being isolated by her parents is ultimately validated and rewarded with people who WILL be there for her, always… Then I guess I could live with that separation, especially if it’s only for the foreseeable future- If the possibility for them to be friends again is there, I’d love that!

           But at the same time, I can see it working where; Anne and Sasha are no longer friends (but that isn’t set in stone either), but both are still friends with Marcy! I like the idea of Marcy as the sort of mutual, connecting and uniting point between the two; Which makes sense, she was always neutral in the Anne-Sasha conflict. It was Marcy who wanted to keep them both, and vice-versa, Anne and Sasha had no issues with HER… 

          Again, there’s the whole music box thing, but I think that’s arguably forgivable compared to, say, Sasha being a toxic friend to Anne for years, and then repeatedly betraying her trust even after she recognizes the harm she’s done. When Marcy realizes the harm she’s done, she immediately does the right thing; And she’s clearly more than suffered for it.

           That one mistake was obviously terrible, but it’s not really reflective of, say, a consistent flaw and toxicity of Marcy’s that has constantly plagued her relationship with Anne and Sasha beforehand, and afterwards… And, I’d argue that along with Anne, Marcy has arguably done the least damage to their relationship. Obviously it’s her fault for stranding them in Amphibia, but I doubt it was something she genuinely thought would work, nor is it, again, reflective of a repeating issue between the girls. It’s not like Marcy has regularly isolated Anne and Sasha to keep them to herself, this was a one-time incident she couldn’t have truly accounted for, in direct response to a VERY extreme situation; I think it’s the situation that needs the most fixing here, not Marcy.

           And if Marcy has done the least damage, then… I can see Anne and Sasha maintaining that friendship with her, even if Anne and Sasha, as a duo, is over for now. I think that could say a lot about how people can no longer be friends, but still be friends with the same people. 

          It means Marcy gets to be with the people she wants and needed to be with; Because unlike Sasha, I don’t see her betraying that sort of trust twice. She wasn’t someone who regularly exposed Anne to toxicity. It was a one-time, horrible mistake, but one Marcy clearly learned from, and it only came from a horrible, one-of-a-kind, desperate situation.

           It’s clear that isn’t how Marcy normally is, how she normally operates. In a healthy environment, I think she’s good for Anne, based on what we’ve seen; So it’s the environment that needs fixing. It’s kind of like how some people may be compelled to do terrible things to survive… But the real issue comes from them being placed in that danger to begin with; I’m sure a lot of people would do horrid things if their life was directly on the line, but that’s such a hypothetical, specific situation, that doesn’t really describe who they normally are; So nobody really has any issues with one another over it.

           So yeah; I think Marcy’s ‘flaw’ is more a one-time incident born from pure desperation and external forces, something one wouldn’t really expect their friendship to go through, nor would a reasonable person expect the friendship to endure that kind of trauma for the sake of ‘proving’ how strong it was or whatever. 

          And her second mistake with listening to Andrias and his deal… Again, Andrias spelled out for everyone in the room that he emotionally manipulated and took advantage of Marcy. I don’t think Marcy truly had agency in that, and again, she saved Sprig’s life, when Anne had a total breakdown thinking he’d died. That was, at the time, the WORST moment of her life, and Marcy saved her from that, and saved Sprig as well.

           I think Marcy being friends with Anne and Sasha, but Anne and Sasha not being friends with one another, would work to accommodate everyone’s needs and wants; And also open the door to Anne and Sasha making amends in the future, when they’ve had the time to develop and heal. Marcy can be the glue that holds them together, as she wanted to be, because I think Marcy was afraid she had nothing to offer to the dynamic, with Anne and Sasha doing all of the work in taking care of others. 

          There are still consequences, but with the girl that genuinely caused consistent harm and initially refused to learn from it, taking the others for granted; While I don’t think Marcy ever took anyone for granted, hence her desperation. Not to hate on Sasha or anything, but she is admittedly problematic.

[lonelier-version-of-you]

That was a very, very good episode. Very hard to watch, and it desperately needed a trigger warning beforehand, but it was very good.

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again: the Jacob and Tina storyline is carrying the show right now. It’s absolutely fantastic, and you can see the amount of effort and care and research that’s gone into it. It’s difficult to watch, but it needs to be. It’s difficult to watch, but in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s based in exploitation or sensationalism. It feels real. (And that’s the difference between this and, say, the gazillion abuse storylines Holby has attempted to do in the last 3 years or so, which all ended up being sensationalist, exploitative rubbish.)

Charles Venn and Adele James are both such incredible actors, they’re playing this storyline brilliantly.

And for once, I actually think involving Iain in a storyline has been the right choice. He does genuinely fit into this story very well, as the everyday bloke trying to help his friend.

The psychology of abusive relationships is being handled very well here, too. Tina trying to make out that Jacob was abusing her instead of the other way around, Jacob taking the blame because he loves her and didn’t want her to face consequences. It’s really good writing.

Of course, my usual complaint about the show doing a great female-on-male abuse storyline yet ignoring the abusive behaviour of a certain other character still applies, but I do not have the energy to get into drama about that yet again. (Really, the amount of people I’ve had get mad at me on Twitter for not liking a character who triggers me because she reminds me of my own abuser... it’s ridiculous.)

JADE GOT SCENES, HELL YEAH. I’m convinced the quality of a Casualty episode is proportionate to how much Jade it has in it. I love her so much.

Her speech to Stevie about that patient’s girlfriend who was being ableist to her was especially fantastic: “You know, everyone would say “you can’t be sure it’s about your disability!” - except you can, because when you’ve heard it a hundred times, you know.” That hit so close to home. Very realistic, very relatable, very good writing.

Anyway, I’m afraid I have to officially disavow any prospects of liking Stevie, even on a “yeah she’s not a good person but I like her” level, if she goes after Jade. Jade is like, my second favourite character on this show (second only to Dylan), and I can’t stand anyone who dares to hurt her.

It was also nice to see some actual patient storylines tonight. Always neat when we get those.

[agusvedder]

I DON’T CARE if this doesn’t get any notes. I need to vent.

My name is Agustina, I’m 27 years old. I’m a nonbinary, queer, latinx person, parent of a 4 year old, non-verbal authistic child. I suffer from depression and anxiety.

I’m 9 thousand kilometers away from the woman I love.

I’m not a victim. I am a minority. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

I started watching Supernatural in 2015, you know, being a stay-at-home parent, who dropped her career and her job to live the first years of their child, there wasn’t much I could do in my free time but to watch a show. I caught a few episodes of season 11 on tv and then I decided to start from zero. I always acknowledged how problematic it was in terms of representation, but always saw small threads of light filtering in the message it sent, recognizing how its writers were trying to shed a little light, creating a jenga tower of storylines and new characters, only to be thrown away by poor, useless deaths and the erasure of said characters.

Since my first run on season 1 I related to Dean. I saw myself on him. (I will never be as brave and cool as him tho, never ever, but his personality traits, some of his family issues, his self worth issues, his loneliness, his unaddressed childhood trauma, his growth in a circle of violence, his reticence to address his feelings until he explodes?... Yeah. There are days where my girlfriend makes fun of me saying “Ok Dean”). I kept looking up to Dean in his geekiness, in his way he always put his life on the line to protect the people he loves and put them always first… even in the supernatural side of the storyline, he still was profoundly human and abnegated to the people in his life. Also because I’m deeply in love with Castiel but that’s another subject. Thanks to this show, I’ve found people in my own country who now I recognize as my family beyond SPN, who helped me accept myself the way I am, who are always there for me. My found family, my chosen family. Because family don’t end in blood, because family cares about you, not only for what you can do for them, because that’s what all of us have in common, and why this show resonated as strongly as it did for us. That’s why we found each other and ourselves in the process, in a circle of love, support, non-judgement and willingness to find a family in ourselves when our own blood relatives ignored us, abused us, refused to recognize us. We’ve found love and family. I’ve found the woman with whom I wanna spend the rest of my life with because of this show.

That’s the power of this story. I know my small circle is not the only one who lived this, who continues to live it.

I can talk about this forever, but there’s something I wanna talk about specifically here. When the ending aired.. what I felt was… like a bucket of cold water was thrown over my head. You know when your parents come home, or call you and give you the devastating news that someone you love died? that exact feeling. The adrenaline, the heartbreak, the feeling of loss. 

The whole season 15 and 15 years of storyline were completely overturned. The misogyny the writers tried so hard to erase, it was there again, in a faceless woman who was supposed to represent the person a lead chose to spend the rest of his life with, reduced to a lilac dress, a blurry face and a uterus. We never seen acknowledged the existence of Eileen Leahy, Sam Winchester’s romantic interest since season 11, his perfect partner whose disability wasn’t an obstacle for her to be a badass hunter. (BUT COVID!! <- No. Eileen Leahy appeared in two episodes this season without Shoshannah being on set: Last Holiday and Despair. If they wanted to include her, they would have. They didn’t because they don’t give a FUCK). Sam Winchester is an academic, a witch, a leader, a powerful hunter, a kind human being, and the ending that was given to him was living an unfulfilled life, dying at a ridiculous young age, having a son only to replace his dead brother? It was sad. Sammy deserved better. He always did.

My beloved Dean Winchester, who I love so deeply, who taught me a lot about myself, about life, love, family, about *ejem* VICIOUS CIRCLES and the power of breaking free from them, of learning to embrace one’s self, our real tastes, our real identity, to come out of a shadow of being reduced to someone’s caretaker instead of having an identity of our own, to spend life loving family the healthy amount.. well, he was killed in a ridiculous way, on a milk run of a hunt.  After being eager and ready to kill himself so many times. After all he’s been through, after saying he’s good with who he is, after considering retirement, after standing up to his dad, saying he already has a family, ready to cut the “I’m Okay” bullshit, address his feelings, his trauma, don’t letting those define him. He deserved better. He always wanted a family, he always wanted to break free from the version of himself he was created to be, “daddy’s blunt little instrument” (For fuck’s sake, he even said it in the same show 10’ before dying, man. If we don’t keep living, the sacrifice the people who died for us did, was for nothing). Are you telling me this man really would refuse his brother to call an ambulance? Refused his brother to get the first aid kit even knowing it was more serious than his brother thought? He was ready to live. He CHOSE life, and at the end his choice was stripped away from him. He clearly was a bisexual man and they never explored it.

Cas. The misfit. The fish outside of the water. Ambiguous gender and sexuality. Finally makes a homosexual declaration of love after all he’s been through. After being brainwashed, used, suicidal, isolated. After telling Sam and Dean he loved them more than once, that they meant everything for him. After confessing he’s been in love with Dean since he pulled him out of hell…. Was erased from the story. Erased, literally. Two emotionless mentions aren’t enough for a 12 year old family member who pulled both brothers out of hell, who died for them more than once, who until 2 seasons ago he didn’t even feel like he belonged there ‘cause he was never told he was loved. No one ever told him “I love you” back. Not Jack, not Sam, not Dean, not Mary. No one. Ever. And still, he died for love. And with his death, he was erased from the finale, being that the first finale Castiel wasn’t in since his appearance on the show. He deserved better. 

All roads lead to Rome and you know what we got at the end of that road? a bottomless pit of NOTHING. The building up towards a different end isn’t just in s15. It’s been there for years and years. And if you watch the show, you see it at plain sight.

 

Sam Winchester hurried to die to reunite with his brother in heaven EVEN WHEN HE SPENT 30 MORE YEARS WITH A WIFE AND A KID he only wanted to die to go back to his brother? it’s insane, it’s ridiculous. That’s not what the show has been about for seasons now. SEASONS. The road was paved towards a healthy brotherly bond, each brother living their future the way they wanted, finally breaking free from the curse John dropped on Dean that Sam’s destiny was in his hands. No no. What was that? Did it ever happen? Was it a fever dream? They really destroyed everything in 38 minutes of the finale? 

Stupid. 

Representation is important, stories are important. They change lives. You know how it changed mine? After I saw Jonathan Van Ness coming out as non-binary, I started to realize how I never called myself "a woman, a girl" or anything like that, how my "female presenting" aesthetic changes drastically depending on how I feel when I wake up  how I always called myself a "person", no gender involved. I realized I was a non-binary person even after becoming a parent. Thanks to Jonathan Van Ness. Thanks to seeing a person like her being unapologetically herself. 

Representation matters. 

It matters. 

It helped my mom understand me when I was 13 and had a girlfriend. It helped my dad educate himself about trans identities. It helped my sister understand about her demisexuality. It helps break circles of ignorance and stereotypes. It helps people process what these characters wanna tell, and realize they're human beings above it all. We suffer, we laugh, we grieve. We love. We exist. 

Supernatural missed a chance to be a historical show in terms of representation. And it breaks my heart.  I cant believe they decided to erase Dean's sexuality, to erase Castiel after saying loud and proud he's in love with a man, to erase Eileen whose disability only was a disadvantage when they KILLED HER in the most ableistic way in s11, to never show Charlie and her girlfriend again, that they decided to make God bisexual AND a villain, thay they decided to turn the only regular non-binary character of color into the villain too (Billie).

I'm still grieving.

This is why "a stupid show" is so important for me, and for lot of people like me. Cause representation can change lives. Stories can change lives. It certainly changed mine, and I'm not the only one. 

Don't let anyone tell you you're just a butthurt fan because you're suffering this ending. Every one of us have a story and this is mine. All of us are valid, our feelings are valid. And we'll get through this eventually

[horrifichoodedfigure]

Yo what the fuck is dsmp i am so ridiculously out of the loop it's not even funny anymore, if you've got the time

ofc i have the time! Dsmp stands for Dream Survival Multi-Player its a survival multiplayer minecraft server run by Dream, a youtuber known for his amazing skill at minecraft and its different elements, like goofy game mechanics, beating other players in pvp, and minigames, general good at games kinda dude

Dream has been exposed multiple times for being racist and albiest but keeps getting forgiven cause white neurodivergent people keep accepting his apologies or refusing to look at him with critical eyes. Yeah he has “apologized” but after tweets and tweets and tweets of him defending his shithole ideas for a week and a half until he realized it was easier to pretend to give a fuck

The server itself has mostly just been a large group of popular streamers and youtubers playing on the one server together and on occasion, staging a story based event with slightly planned out story beats and character arcs. One of these events include L’manburg, a “country” within the dream smp that wanted to succeed from dream’s rule, which was later destroyed by its original creator (way later after a bunch of other things), all for the lore and angst and such.

If I had to describe the dream smp story, I would say imagine you took the improv and character direction from HLVRAI, and the minecraft and bad writing from aphmau roleplays, thats dream smp (hopefully youve heard or seen hlvrai or aphmau lol) (this basically means that about 80% of all the “character” acting is just themselves, but the characters are still fake, like how if you and your friend faked an argument, thats how you would really act if you two were angry at each other, but you are pretending to be angry sorta thing, and aphmau stories were just meant for 12-15 year olds so i can’t totally fault her stories for not having the depth of an industry tv show or something)

The server is also notorious for including fucking weirdos like Schlatt, a man known for being bravely a racist, ableist, and homophobic fucking creep, one of callmecarson’s former closest friends, whose entire character on the smp was still being albeist and homophobic, but also a generally abusive alcoholic asshole to anyone near him.

Not to mention every person on the server is in love with calling any guy being affectionate with one another “sus” like its the early 2000s and homophobia is the funniest thing in the world, it just reeks of them wanting to say fag. And personally I think several of the cishet players playing gay and trans characters is fine, its just weird with how openly fucking homophobic they can be otherwise

It also just feels like no one is taking into account how often the adults of the servers act super fucking mean and creepy to the few minors on the server, being Tubbo, TommyInnit, and Ranboo, their adult friends have made way too many sex jokes around or about them, or just openly ridicule them with no hint of sarcasm.

And not to mention, none of the bigger sides of the streamers, like dream and his main group do nothing to actually help or talk about the communities they always say “___ rights!” for, it all feels really hollow for one of them to get a 5 dollar donation just to say it, and then that money just goes to them buying a fucking house instead of to a single organization or petition of that cause.

Honestly I watch dream smp from tommy, ranboo, and tubbo’s pov on occasion still cause the story lines including them and them alone actually seem kind of fun and cute but other creators like Wilbur, dream, quackity, techno, all of them seem either creepy or just not good people except for the camera

I know this is super rambly but this is what i have to say about it, i like SOME of the dream smp, and you arent a shit head for liking it, i just think you should stop being so fucking uwu about some dickhead strangers who dont actually care about you

[ashintheairlikesnow]

“ It’s Dylan who finally figures out it wasn’t a cult” can we get this as a Drabble? If not it’s fine but 🥺❤️❤️❤️❤️

CW: Referenced ableist language, referenced past head banging (brief), shitty language about the pet industry in a box boy setting

“Your stance on the human pet industry is pretty clear, obviously-”

“Obviously.” Nicole Berras’s voice is deep and slightly husky as she pats the thigh of the smiling, slightly blank-faced man who sits next to her on the plush red couch. 

Dylan has had a lot of nights he’s thought about the way it would feel to have the movie star’s voice against his ear like that. I mean, he feels pretty fucking ridiculous afterward, but once he’d seen her in that Marvel movie that was fucking it for him, slam-dunk, celebrity crush slot taken by one Nicole Berras, she of the wide, slightly almond eyes and soft lips worn over a black leather catsuit.

Even if the one time he’d tried to show Chris the movie (one more thing Chris hadn’t known about, and how do you not know about the biggest fucking franchise in movie fucking history, that cult must have been boring as shit), Chris had done nothing but bitch about how there’s no way Nicole Berras could do actual backflips like her character does in heels like that.

Of course not, weirdo, she has a stunt double for that. He’d thrown popcorn at Chris, who had caught it and grinned before popping it in his mouth.

Yeah, well. They, they, they-they-they still should have put her in-... in some, like, regular shoes or, or, or or or something. Chris had wiggled his toes under the blanket they were sharing. Or barefoot even would have, um, would-would... would be more realistic.

Nobody’s going to be barefoot in a leather catsuit, Chris.

Then why make, make her wear the the the-the catsuit?

... Chris, I swear to God-

That catsuit factors pretty fucking heavily into Dylan’s thoughts, too. In the interview, though, she’s just wearing like a regular white shirt and pants and even that looks amazing on her. Everything looks fucking amazing on Nikki Berras. 

Dylan checks his phone - an hour before Chris comes back so they can head to the dining hall together, which means an hour to daydream and watch Nikki’s mouth move.

“There’s a lot of Oscar buzz already surrounding your upcoming film, with celebrities as well-known as Vincent Shield speaking out and saying it ‘romanticizes a dangerous, damaging industry’. Do you have any comment or response to him on that?”

Nikki gives a brief, sweet smile. Dylan’s eyes, though, keep glancing over to the man sitting next to her, her pet. His name’s Yen or something, celebrities always give their pets ridiculous stupid names. Dylan wasn’t paying attention - the whole pet thing is kind of uneasy to think too much about, so he mostly doesn’t. Yen-or-Whatever is just... smiling away.

He looks fucking brainless.

“Vince and I have been in this industry a long time together,” Nikki says with a laugh. “And he’s always been kind of down on the industry, as long as I’ve known him. He’s of course welcome to speak his feelings, but I felt like there’s a lot of negative press out there about the system, and that really erases people like Yen-”

Oh, his name really is Yen. Yikes.

“-who are happy with the choice they made, well cared for, and just... you know, Yen and I talk about this a lot.”

“We do,” Yen says, and gives her a slight sidelong glance with a smile. 

“And we just... wanted to provide a little more of a balanced perspective. You mostly hear about the liberation movement now-”

“Yes, Shield produced a documentary two years ago that was very pro-liberation that received a lot of critical acclaim, as I recall. Is there a reason you chose a fictional feature film as opposed to an answering documentary?”

“Well, I am an actress.” Nikki flashes her impish little grin, but Dylan misses it. He’s stuck watching Yen, who is watching Nikki with perfect focus, sitting incredibly still. Like a statue next to her, with his head slightly tilted, chin down, looking up at her through his eyelashes even though he’s taller than she is.

Who has he seen look like that before?

Weird fucking deja vu has the hairs on Dylan’s arms standing up on end. 

“Feature films are really my wheelhouse, and I felt more comfortable working with a story that gave me a little more room to work multiple narratives into a single film. And Yen was so helpful, he really enjoyed getting to work with me on setting up the plot beats.”

“Right. So in the story, your character goes through the process of training after some serious life hardships, and things really kick off during that process. Can you tell us anything else about the story?”

“I can’t give too much away, Anderson,” Nikki says, laughing, leaning slightly forward. Dylan is still staring at Yen, whose eyes follow Nikki, whose empty little smile never so much as twitches, never fades. “But I can say... Yen helped me a lot with information on the training process! He was originally a demo pet with WRU so he had tons of inside information. The love interest-”

“Ah, right, played by... let’s see, played by Camden Oaks-”

“Right, Camden plays my love interest in the story - and Cam’s a big old sweetie, isn’t he, Yen?”

“Yes, he is,” Yen says automatically, almost before she’s even finished the sentence. 

“My love interest is actually a handler at WRU, so they meet early on but it’s not until much later that you see how that initial meeting really impacts my character’s story. Honestly, I’m really honored that WRU agreed to give me so much access to their methods! It was really great of them, and Yen came with me on every visit.”

Yen’s smile freezes, just slightly, but Dylan’s still looking right at him and catches the first flicker of a very different emotion on the man’s face. Even that seems familiar, the way that Yen’s hands twitch, just a little, and then he is very, very still. 

“Yen coached me quite a bit.” Nikki’s smile is all perfect straight white teeth. “Especially on dialogue, and how to get the expression just right. And all the work they do! Apparently Yen came with a pretty bad stutter, and one thing that they do is really give the pets individualized therapy that hits on their unique concerns to help them before they end up with an owner. So, like, Yen came with a bad stutter! So they really worked on that with him.”

Yen nods, slowly. “Silence is better than stammering.” His voice is perfect and even, doesn’t tremble in the slightest, has a hint of rote memorization that flattens the syllables and bleeds out all emotion.

Dylan jerks forward and rewinds a few seconds, then plays it again.

Yen, head cocked slightly to the side, giving a nervous, eager-to-please little smile. “Silence is better than stammering.”

Dylan’s breath catches somewhere in his throat, eyes widening.

Again.

“Silence is better than stammering.”

Again.

“Silence is better than-”

The barcode is visible on Yen’s left wrist, when Nikki pats his arm and he shifts a little, but if someone took that barcode off it’d leave a scar in the exact size and shape of the scarring Chris has.

The empty look in his eyes, like Chris gets sometimes if you yell at him or get into his personal space too fast. The hint of a slight smile, one that screams that he needs someone to tell him if he’s doing it right.

Silence is better than stammering. Chris had said that, when he was in the stairwell, rocking, hitting his head on the wall with tears running down his face, hiding behind his hands. Those exact. fucking. words.

Silence is better than stammering, stillness is better than what I do, silence is better than stammering-

“Holy fuck,” Dylan whispers out loud. “It wasn’t a cult. Oh shit. Oh fuck, shit, oh holy fuck he wasn’t in a cult.”

He’s going to be sick. He’s going to be so sick all over his fucking blankets.

“Chris was a fucking pet.”

His phone buzzes and he glances at it, feeling a wash of ice-cold fear straight down his spine when he sees the message. Chris’s class let out early and he’s on his way back, does Dylan want dinner early?

Chris isn’t even a fucking person. But he is, he’s definitely a person, he’s one hundred percent a person. But he’s not. But he is, but he’s a runaway, his name probably isn’t Chris, oh... oh fuck.

He really, really wishes it had been a cult.

Dylan swallows, hard.

What the fuck does he do now?

[suhmayzooka]

cursed child broadway, December 28, 2019

my sister (S) and i were fortunate enough to get tickets for the third row, right by the aisle, making us right in the center.  I was a bit worried about the seats being so close to the stage, but it was absolutely amazing to be so close to the action. it was immersive, and i felt like i was part of the action.

S is my polar opposite.  she’s not a potterhead, for starters, and likes to call me (and everyone else in the theater, especially those in cosplay) a loser.  she’s heavily involved with her school’s theater -- acting and stage crew -- and i call her a theater nerd.  she’s an aspiring actress, and almost gave my mom a heart attack when she announced her plan to study acting in college (they compromised, and now S intends to major in psychology in addition to acting).  i didn’t know she was interested in cursed child since she eschews all ‘nerdy’ things, but she said that she ‘wanted to see how bad it was.’

she’s been the only extrovert in our family since she was born. she’s a hatstall between gryffindor and slytherin (although she identifies with the lion).  if you’re reading this, i’m assuming you like cursed child and perhaps are involved with the fandom.  ever read the tea time series on ao3? S is lily luna.  she’s the embodiment of how everyone writes lily luna.  she cursed out our dad a few days ago.  she made me spend the equivalent of two hours of work on fucking soda and popcorn because she didn’t listen to me when i told her to pack a clif bar.  this is what i put up with.

she actually enjoyed the show!  i was shocked.  she loved the effects.

after part one, she turned to me and went, “please just tell me one thing: do albus or scorpius die?”

i was surprised by her question.

she explained: “because at this point all i care about is their romance, and if they don’t get together or if they die i’m leaving the theater.”

this is coming from someone who ranted to me about how she doesn’t understand why people ship non-canon pairings since ‘not every friendship has to be romance.’ and here she was genuinely invested in scorbus? my heart…

i’m a good big sister, so i told her really vague statements like “our heroes will find themselves in danger several times during this act...” “one person’s pain is used to inflict pain on the other” and similar things.  eventually, she became convinced that scorpius would be revealed to be voldemort’s son and harry would accidentally kill him. not sure how she came up with that.

i guess everyone caught the plague? the coughing would Not stop.  S started making fun of them. and it’s like...everyone was a-okay during wand dance.  there were no coughs in the opening choreography for part two.  no, everyone had to succumb to coughing fits during the quiet, emotional moments.

“i always wanted a best mate to get up to mayhem with--”

COUGHCOUGHPHLEGMCOUGHHACKHACKHACKPHLEGMPHELGMCOUGHCOUGH

“--you’re my best friend--”

COUGHCOUGHPHLEGMCOUGHHACKHACKHACKPHLEGMPHELGMCOUGHCOUGH

for every. emotional. scene. maybe they were choked up on their tears.

at the last minute we decided to do stage door.  as in, we had already left the theater, saw the line outside, and were like, “sure.” unfortunately we had left our playbills in the theater since my hands were occupied holding her soda and popcorn since apparently she’s incapable of doing so…

i’m using google and my shitty facial recognition to remember who was who.  we (she) spoke to zell steele morrow (young harry), karen janes woditsch (mcgonagall), nadia brown (rose), james snyder (harry), and nicholas podany (albus).  unfortunately, we had to catch our train and left just as jonno roberts (draco) came out :( i think he was S’s favorite.

anyway here are my (our) thoughts:

1. Characters

~nicholas podany is a really good albus! he’s very mischievous, and you can see the wheels in his head turning as he comes up with his (increasingly more ridiculous) plans.  whenever he comes up with an idea he looks at scorpius like :O and it gets funnier as the play goes on.

~bubba weiler is a lot of fun. he’s very physical actor, and he really hams it up.  his scorpius is meant to be seen rather than read.  most of the comic relief is written for scorpius, and there seemed to be roars of laughter after every other line.  he shook his hips at “MALFOOYYYY THE UNAANXIOUSSS” and (exaggeratedly) pretended to march in place for “MY GEEKNESS IS A-QUIVERING!!” he purred at rose.  he flailed his entire body around when he was crucio-d :( one thing i noticed was how he carried himself.  scorpius spent a lot of time sitting hunched over, rocking slightly back and forth (most noticeable when he was introduced, but he hunched over and rocked on the staircase several times as well). when he stands he’s rubbing his thumbs or the hems of his robes.  his leg was bouncing nonstop in the library scene.  anyway what i’m trying to say is scorpius malfoy is neurodivergent. ableists don’t interact.

~for some reason S says that both scorpius and albus are unlikeable, but they’re cute together.  she was very proud when scorpius yelled at albus for being “the most terrible friend.”

~the chemistry between scorbus is There. it’s clear podany and weiler are close friends irl; they’re extremely comfortable together and play off each other really well.  

~matt mueller is great as ron. he works well with what he’s been given...not his fault thorne/tiffany decided to make ron a caricature with very little resemblance to canon ron...but that’s a rant for another day :] he’s delightful on stage.  he’s funny and charming.

~i’ll admit i wasn’t really feeling jenny jules as hermione, at least in part one.  she’s really playful, especially in the scene in her office where she offers harry a “to~fee~!” she was really great in the dark timeline, however.

~my romione heart

~the man himself, james snyder as harry potter!  was um, very shouty? very angry all the time.  he’s under a lot of stress.  his son disappeared in time.  i’ll let it slide.

~jonno roberts was literally draco malfoy.  his sneer, his swagger, everything was absolutely as i imagined draco 20 years in the future would be.  he’s so protective of scorpius...when the adults travel back to 1981 to find their sons, he picks scorpius up as they hug? and then instead of breaking apart, he sort of...put one arm around scorpius’s neck? like a backwards neck travel pillow thing. scorpius held his arm as draco looked around behind him for any danger.  it was really cute.

~diane davis was a really protective ginny.  all the fiery ginny from the books that was absent from the films made its way into her.  

2. Scenes

~one criticism i have is the fact that everyone speaks really quickly.  it’s a five hour play and i get that they’re trying to contain all the dialogue within that time but like...it’s a dialogue-heavy show.  i knew what was going on since i’m familiar with the script and the story, but there were parts when S and other members of the audience were confused. this was especially noticeable during the trolley witch scene.  literally nothing could be heard over the music and the sound effects, and several people around us were audibly confused and asking each other what was happening.  i mean, it doesn’t make a lot more sense with the dialogue, but at least let us hear what the characters are saying!

~podany, snyder, and (at times) weiler were the worst offenders.  weiler’s good at physical comedy, punctuating his iconic lines with clownlike movements for laughs since no one would know what he’s saying otherwise.  e.g. “we stand over the baby and scream” was almost inaudible, so we just heard “HEEELLLPPP HEEEEELLLP!” it was effective since the whole theater laughed, i guess. take this with a grain of salt; we were only a few feet away from the stage, so maybe our audio wasn’t the best.  

~roberts was crystal clear at all times

~S fell in love with scorbus during the staircase ballet.  if you’ve seen that one clip from this cast you know why.  the YEARNING.

~the LIBRARY scene! i reblogged audio of this a few months ago. oh my god, it’s perfect.  it hits the emotional highs and lows.  when albus said, “i wasn’t a loser before i met you,” there was a collective gasp and we all “OOOOOOOOOOH”-ed.  everyone was invested in this. weiler’s performance is really emotional, he’s holding back tears, i’m holding back tears. podany’s gets so soft when he talks about how kind he is.  i actually clenched my heart. “friends?” “always.” audience: “OOOOOOOOOH!”

~i can confirm that myrtle’s “girls...AND BOYS” is directed straight at albus.  his eyes widen, and he sheepishly shrugs his shoulders and is very excited to change the topic.

~scorpius’s imaginary friend was named hector.  idk if he improvises it every time, or if he decided to change it to hector from flurry, but his delivery was great.  sweetly: “oh, i had one of those too!” scathing hiss: “HECTOR.”

~the biggest jumpscare of the play was when scorpius emerged from the lake at the end of part one.  it was all dark, and then he shoots out of the water, gasping. i jumped.

~voldemort walked down the aisle right next to us.  S was terrified that he’s jump or touch her, so she curled up next to me.

~i was interested in how the penultimate scene would play out, since i heard that weiler and podany really play up their relationship, but scorpius had spent every scene with rose purring at her.  she came and imitated a scorpion when she said “scorpion king,” curving her hand and making a hissing noise, which elicited a few “oohs” from the audience.  then the Hug...the “new version of us” line is said as they hug, and they just. stood there for a few moments, hugging.  when albus goes “you better ask rose” scorpius looks up at him and blinks, goes, “.........uh oh yeah, rose….” and goes off stage.  right before he exits he looks at albus, and albus keeps watching him after he leaves. uhh anyway scorbus is canon and so is pollyrose

~“dad...i don’t want to be a wizard anymore.” (dead silence) “i want to go into pigeon racing” *breaks into the biggest shit-eating grin and cracks up*.  the last shot is harry holding albus as he silently weeps.  Ookay.

~due to several instances of childhood trauma, my sister’s biggest fear is birds (especially chickens, ostriches, and...pigeons).  she didn’t know why people laughed at harry’s confession that he was afraid of pigeons, because to her that’s a valid fear.  we saw a pigeon in the train station and she almost cried.

3. Stage door

~S did most of the talking.  she told everyone “so sorry we don’t have our playbill! you did such a great job!” and then struck up mini conversations.  i stood nodding like “good job!” looking like this :]

~first up was (i believe) zell steele morrow! he’s so cute and was really upbeat.  S finally found someone shorter than her…

~karen janes woditsch asked what houses we’re in.  S was like “gryffindor!” and she smiled, i told her “ravenclaw” and she was like, “well...i love all my students equally….”

~i didn’t recognize james snyder since he was dressed like he was in the arctic.  neither did S.

~nadia brown was so sweet!  you could tell she really loved seeing fans.  there was a group behind us in line who apparently were here for their third viewing, and they conversed like they were old friends.

~nicholas podany came out wearing a t shirt. in december.  i was cold because i forgot to wear gloves and he came out in a t shirt.  the group behind us asked if he was cold and he said that he was hot from running around the stage.  S told him that he did great, she asked how long he was performing (ten months since february) and her response was “oh, that makes sense, you were good!” he went on about how he loves performing, how each night is different based on the crowd and how we were such a great crowd, and i could feel S like. sinking into the sidewalk. i just nodded at him and went “good job.”

~he’s my height, maybe slightly shorter (i’m 5’6/167 cm) and very pale.  i think S has a crush on him since she wants to go back to “apologize for being so awkward.” growing up she had a crush on daniel radcliffe, too, so i guess she has a thing for potters.

~the group behind us went on about how much they loved harry potter, had been fans their whole lives, etc. podany’s apparently a huge potterhead, but not the biggest in the cast: they all came together to see who was the biggest potterhead, and the answer is the actor who plays cedric (forgot his name and the internet isn’t helping, sorry!) -- his tv (?) remote is in the shape of a wand! the rest of them are nerdy enough to fact-check the director lmao

~we didn’t get to actually speak with jonno roberts, but we saw him interacting with other fans.  he seems like a cool guy.

[bogprincess-kira]

Skekso!

Most of these are gonna be old news for you, but I haven’t shared p much anything on this blog yet, so I’m just gonna go over the basics if that’s cool. Anyway,

SkekSo the Emperor

Why I like them

Honestly, a lot of my opinion of him is based on headcanon and rewrites, as with most TDC characters. Canonically, he's supposed to be an old coward who thinks of nobody but himself and doesn't care about his Court, much less the Gelfling... And that feels kinda bland to me. A good baseline, yes, but that can't be all there is to it - which is why I liked him a lot more after we learned about how strong his fear of mortality is, even compared to the other Skeksis.

I like seeing the personal side of villains, probably for the same reason I like redemption arcs. I know the Emperor and the rest of his Court are doomed, and with their track record, there's nothing personal stopping them from scorching every last inch of the continent - but knowing that there's something else fueling their actions gives that little bit of hope. People learn to face fear every day... Which only makes seeing how badly they've fucked up even worse.

He's the Emperor, the leader, the head honcho, all that stuff. It makes sense that he'd play a narrative role as the perfect example of why the Skeksis are dangerous as their echo chamber stands. I'm definitely in the camp of "they could try to be better", but they're not going to, and skekSo shows us exactly why... Not to mention, all the conquest they've already wrought. 

Why I don’t

Same reason as all the evil Skeksis: we already know how this ends, and there's no chance for them to turn back now. Even if they did, it wouldn't save the Gruenaks, or protect the Makrak, or free the Podlings.

In some ways, that's a positive, because it gives us a clear villain and an obvious theme of tragedy and inevitably, but... I dunno, I just wish there was more variation in the Lord-Mystic dynamic. Even if things continue along their path to the movie, it would still make things a lot more interesting in the meantime, and give the Twice-Nine more of a chance to clean up the mess they've made.

Favorite episode (scene if movie)

The moment during the Battle for Stone-In-The-Wood, when he tries to use the Darkening to strike down the Resistance, only for Deet to lightning-bend it back and unleash hell on the Lords. (RIP Lach though ;-; )

Favorite season/movie 

... Season 1 of AoR, I guess? There's not much else he's appeared in for big chunks of time that I've already seen... Or read, I suppose.

Favorite line

"We know the torments that lie behind us, but what torment awaits beyond this existence? All the more reason to hold onto life, with all claws... No matter the cost."

Favorite outfit

... I would just say his usual outfit, but the deathbed scene in the movie had some beautiful set design, so I'm gonna count that whole situation as skekSo.

OTP

SoVarZok, with Var as his and Zok's partner, and Zok as the Emperor's closest friend. It's not terribly popular, sure, but I talk a lot about it on Discord. (You already knew that though so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

I imagine that he and Var's relationship was a lot healthier before Essence, but that's mostly AU territory.

Brotp

Again, Zok's definitely the Skeksis I would interpret as skekSo's greatest ally.

Head Canon

SkekSo was, by far, one of the weakest Skeksis, long before the Darkening came into play. He has almost no physical strength or above-average intelligence to speak of, nor does he have much beyond his status as Emperor to leverage against others; SoSu became a de facto leader because of his looks, emotional "control", and ability to act like he knows what he's doing.

All three of those, uh... "Positive" traits were caused by his lack of strength, in some way, shape, or form. Urskek society places a ridiculous amount of weight on beauty and conformity, often to the detriment of health, both physical and psychological; SoSu was born "blessed" with good looks, and was trained for most of his life to embody that belief system. It certainly didn't help that he, like most Urskeks, was desperate for attention and validation.

He learned leadership on Thra, but before he figured it out, he relied entirely on keeping up an attentive, calm persona. Even after the Split, both the Emperor and Master have held onto this, for the most part.

Unpopular opinion

This isn’t quite an “opinion”, but... Still.

He didn't know how disturbing it would be for Seladon, to be "exiled" the same way a Skeksis would be.

Doesn't make it okay, and definitely doesn't mean he wouldn't be fine with her suffering if he did know, at least in this stage of Essence addiction, but he legitimately has no concept of... What that looks like. She wanted them to think of her like a peer to the Skeksis, so he punished her like one. That’s all there was to it in his mind. Honestly, I feel like that makes it a lot more unnerving, but that’s just me.

A wish

I want him to get sober at some point and acknowledge what he’s done. I want to see him mourn his Empire, especially in regards to the Gelfling.

An oh-god-please-don’t-ever-happen

Don't. Hit. Shod. Again. Or I will hurt YOU, Bird Palpatine.

And also, don't be quite as much of an ableist piece of shit when he comes back to the castle, you genocidal jackass. Just do one acceptable thing. Please.

5 words to best describe them

Regal / Frightened / Destructive / Pitiful / Draconian

My nickname for them

... So? Yeah, I pretty much just use So. Does Emperor on its own count?

[zutaralesbian]

Fiona Gallagher and/or katara for the character ask if that’s okay!!

Fiona Gallagher:

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life 

I love Fiona so much and I miss her. Despite how much the show dipped in quality, I think Fiona is one of the more complex female leads that I've seen. And I wish Emmy Rossum had gotten more accolades for playing her.

hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang

Fiona is waaaaay to messy of a person for me to ever want to get involved with her lol. But physically? Gorgeous.

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

I honestly have a really hard time sorting the Shameless characters for some reason so I'm shaky on this answer lol. But I think Fiona has a lot of fire in her and tends to feel things very deeply. She's also impulsive and doesn't handle disrespectful well, whether towards her or someone she loves. I thought about putting her in Slytherin but idk. I don't really see her as cunning. But like I said, I'm unsure about this.

best quality: She's a hard worker. In the early seasons she was working multiple jobs in order to support her family. And while she ended up sadly spiraling and losing almost all of it, she worked hard to get to the position she was in during S8 and the beginning of S9.

worst quality: Her taste in men. I also think she's a bit ableist. Between her attitude towards Ian's illness and the fact that it's canon that she see's Monica's bipolar as one of her biggest flaws (since she brings up during the court hearing in S3)....yeah. I do think it stems from her trauma over Monica's abandoment but it is something she should work on.

ship them with: Vanessa, Angela, Jasmine...women basically

brotp them with: All of her siblings. But I have a special soft spot for her relationship with Lip. Emmy and Jeremy had good onscreen chemistry and they're both great actors, so their scenes were always A+. Also V of course.

needs to stay away from: Shitty men

misc. thoughts: Fiona was initially my favorite Shameless character before Mickey took my heart in S4. I respected her a lot for what she did for her siblings and the way she kept pushing through despite her circumstances being, well, shit. Her characterization got really shaky in the later seasons and she frustrated me a lot. But to be fair, that was the case for most of the characters lmao. There are plenty of reasons to criticize her but some of the hate she gets from the fandom is frankly ridiculous imo. Overall I think she's a great, complex, and very well acted female character. And I miss her.

Katara:

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life 

Katara is such an amazing and powerful character! I could go on about her forever.

hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang

She's a kid

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

I think Katara is a Gryffindor for a lot of the same reasons I think Zuko is one. She has a lot of fire in her, is impulsive, very brave, and never gives up. She also has a heroism about her that just screams Gryffindor. Motivating the trapped earth benders to escape their prison. The whole Painted Lady thing. She's a textbook Gryffindor imo.

best quality: She's a very kind person but at the same time, does have her limits. She only gives her compassion to people who truly deserve it but she also has a large capacity for it.

worst quality: Idk??? I don't think there's anything I dislike about Katara. I think she does sometime become a little too impulsive when she's upset but that doesn't really irk me. Most of the time she lashed out, I thought she was justified tbh.

ship them with: Zuko ofc. Zutara...the greatest ship that never was. The fandom has also made me dig the idea of Katara/Yue.

brotp them with: Every member of the Gaang. But especially Sokka.

needs to stay away from: NA

misc. thoughts: I didn't fully appreciate Katara as a kid for some odd reason. I liked her but she wasn't one of my faves. But when I started re-watching the series as a teen....oh boy. She quickly skyrocketed to my second favorite ATLA character behind Zuko. She's so powerful. The "you can't knock me down!" will forever be one of the most iconic ATLA scenes.

Thanks! :)

[hamliet]

(1) Janos Slynt was a baby killer who deserved to die long before Jon Snow executed him. Randyll Tarly was a terrible person. I never cared for him. Dickon, however, seemed like a decent man. That’s why I took issue with Daenerys burning Dickon alive, especially since he was the brother of the same man who cured one of her closest friends.

(2) I’m surprised Jon didn’t make a bigger issue out of that with Daenerys. If Sansa and Arya found out about that as well, then I would understand their refusal to trust her. However, the writers just make the Stark sisters seem xenophobic and ungrateful toward the woman who helped ensure their survival against the White Walkers.

(3) Then, there’s the hype around Daenerys becoming a “Mad Queen” similar to how her father became the “Mad King.” Do people realize how prejudiced that is toward people with family histories of mental health issues?

Well, I do think that it’s worth noting that Dany did not know Sam had cured Jorah at that point--she and Jorah did not reunite until later that same episode. She’d have no way of knowing Dickon was a decent man (and he did seem to be) and he was supporting someone who was not (his father). 

That said, I actually completely agree that her burning them was stupid strategically and bad morally, but I don’t think Dany realized just how bad it was and people forget that just because we the audience knew, she absolutely did not. I do appreciate that the show shows consequences for her for that though and actually think Sam’s mistrust was justified.

But exactly like you say, Sansa and Arya’s mistrust is ridiculous. If they’re playing Tyrion and Varys like they played Littlefinger I can forgive a bit though it’s still, just like the Sansa vs. Arya plot last season, just plain bad writing, but if not... like #yikes. You can’t have your heroes say the exact same thing your villain said (”she’s not one of us”) and frame them as right for it. You just can’t. And they forgave Theon and Sansa gave Littlefinger chance after chance after chance and doesn’t give that to Dany... why exactly? We’re never given a concrete reason and it is just so out of character. It also doesn’t play well when such a statement is coupled with the blatant and deliberate displays of racism in the North. You really wanna endorse the racism which at least several leaked possible endings would? You sure, HBO? D&D can kiss Star Wars goodbye if so. 

YEAH. That’s a big thing with the ableism. Racist, misogynistic, and ableist, what a winning combo. Like, really HBO? Really? Even if this is just baiting, and I have to believe it is because I can’t fathom the show putting her down as a mad dog (yes I’m up to date on leaks and the confusion continues), it’s irresponsible of the showrunners to set it up like this and to (apparently) actually hire people to drop half-true half-false leaks (according to a reliable source--Javi) so no one knows what the truth is. And they’ve yet to show us any kind of evidence she’s unstable and not just, idk, experiencing emotions like a normal person going through loss. At this point it’s too late for them to pull it off in a believable way; even if the story does go there, they will be rightfully excoriated for it, for sending the message that if you experience just enough tragedy even if your motif through 7 seasons has always been bringing life from death, you might just go insane. 

We know Dany has a good heart. IF she goes mad, it’s not her revealing what she’s always been deep down. It’s her breaking after so much tragedy. That’s not a villain; that’s a tragedy. And it isn’t Shakespearean either because Shakespearean tragedies rest highly on the characters’ choices and Dany’s... would just be literally manipulating rules of reality to take everything from her to drive her insane (sorry, Euron’s fleet taking Rhaegal and capturing Missandei was unrealistic AF). The next person I see disrespecting the Bard by comparing this mess to him... For tragedy to work, it has to not feel forced. This feels so forced I can only hope it’s baiting instead of lulz look at the mad dog queen. And it would also make Missandei’s death be like... even more pointless because why establish Cersei as Bad Bad Bad (like we didn’t know) if Cersei will just be another victim of Mad Dany? 

Sigh. I’m anxious rn. I wish I had something else in life to distract me, but I kinda don’t right now. My highs come from fiction, which is rather sad. Life, have mercy. 

[ragnarssons]

Actually can we stop calling Daenerys “mad”? That’s again some shit narrative pushed by D&D who apparently don’t know anything about what kind of real madness had destroyed Aerys. Daenerys on ep5 no matter what she does, is in no way portrayed as how her father was when he was screaming “burn them all!!!” all around, laughing about people burning, and convinced that from the ashes of King’s Landing, he would rise as a literal dragon. Yes, the scaly creature with wings!  Nop, Daenerys isn’t mad on ep5 she’s become evil. She’s become nothing but a villain, with nothing from the narrative to back this up: it’s a turn, just coming out of nowhere. And D&D have no ground to make this storyline stand on, so they’re acting as if Daenerys was “crazy” all along, because “of the Targaryen gene”. Bitch, if that was the truth, then we should have seen Daenerys talking to trees, hearing voices or whatever, or Daenerys mumbling about how she should herself become a dragon and being paranoid around everyone surrounding her. But nop: actually there is literally no foreshadowing for “Mad!Queen” Daenerys. None. Don’t come and say “she crucified the masters!!!!” because that’s not a sign of madness in the sense of Aerys-Targaryen-like Madness (as implied on the show). Daenerys isn’t like her father because the writers have decided to make her into something else. Something that is not victim of some mental illness running in her family, but someone who just flips a switch and goes from saving the world on 8x03 to literally wanting to burn the world on 8x05 with no justification, no reason, no explanation. All in all, D&D didn’t turn Dany into a “Mad Queen” and I’m tired of people saying that as if she was in any way like her father. Her father was mad in the clinical sense. Daenerys IS NOT. That’s the problem with that storyline, she isn’t schizophrenic, she doesn’t hear voices; nop she just goes straight up to “murder mode” without any explanation or reason, while remaining sane. So stop calling it “madness” because that’s some ableist shit! And D&D using “she’s a Targaryennn!” to justify how much they ruined her character, are them using some kind of fake excuse to hide how much they just wanted to get rid of her because they couldn’t handle her ending on the Throne, as a hero. This isn’t about how “Dany’s coin has flipped” or whatever, because it’s never flipped on the mad side and it still hasn’t to this point! That’s why having Varys and Tyrion and whatever to throw that now to justify them turning on her is just shit storytelling! It’s just D&D destroying her character and everything she’s stood for so far. Why? Well I’ll let you speculate why, I mean, idk, let’s look at how they’ve been writing female characters so far I guess? And yeah, ofc anti Dany people and misogynistic a-holes who always hated her will totally stand by this storyline. But the rest of the fandom’s reaction just proves how ridiculous it is, and how they had to turn GoT into a joke of itself, just to "trigger” this turn in Dany’s character. This story isn’t about how “oh tragic, Daenerys turned mad right at this moment!” it’s about how they made her turn EVIL for the sake of it, to justify getting rid of her at the end of the show, and refusing her what she’s been fighting for her entire life- the Iron Throne. Again- why? Idk I feel like they’ve talked about cocks quite a lot, regarding “legitimacy” to the Throne.