#you don't have to justify every bad thing they've done to like them

[jedi-enthusiasm-blog]

Jedi: *start training when they're fourteen at the earliest, don't have solo missions until they have several years of training in their shoulders and are Knighted/become socially adults in their early twenties*

SW Fandom: They indoctrinate babies and use them as child soldiers 🤬!

Mandalorians: *they actually indoctrinate babies into their culture after killing their parents, and finish training them at thirteen*

SW Fandom: They adopt and protect children 😍

JA series has the aging out at thirteen thing, but considering Ahsoka was asigned to Anakin at fourteen and he thought she was too young, that shows have canonity priority over everything but the movies, aging out at thirteen is not canon. Ahsoka in TCW is the same age Padmé is in TPM. The Jedi are unironically the ones who take child protection the most seriously in the GFFA.

Mandalorians take their children into warzones to train them at eight years old, and are considered adults at thirteen. This is in the Karen Traviss worldbuilding, which I'm sure most of us despise, but it has yet to be contradicted by new movies, shows or even books, so unfortunately it's still canon.

[thewistlingbadger]

idk if this is a 'hot take' but i see way too much of people lusting after Sevika only after erasing her less palatable elements. in headcanons she's admittedly tough and violent but wouldn't hurt anyone unless she had to (i've even seen one where she "only raises her hands in self-defence"). bitch one of the first things we see her do is attempt to square up to a bunch of teenagers for the crime of trying to free their dad! she's willing to kill children with her bare hands. she personally enacts the edicts of a drug kingpin. she taunts vi and jinx during their altercations with the most provocative, soul-destroying shit she can think of. she's the type of fighter who grins manically as she scalds her opponent's cheek. she is not simply someone who nobly sacrifices her own moral purity for 'the greater good' but is otherwise a soft loving Mama Bear™, she gets *nasty* with it! and don't get me wrong, i give enormous moral lenience to most Zaunite characters because the violence of the oppressed is by definition incomparable to the violence of their oppressors. there are myriad explanations and justifications for every single thing they've done. but beyond that, i NEED it to be ok to say that she's a fucking dick sometimes - both interpersonalliy, and on a greater ideological scale - because regardless of how justifiable we find her actions, we should collectively be in a place where we can thirst for Sevika without defanging her as a character. she's compelling and fascinating and attractive BECAUSE she's imbued with agency, which necessitates the capacity for genuinely immoral actions and unlikable behavior! i mean come on! if the white twitter lesbians can so eagerly embrace the moral greyness of their rich fascha femme, we can do it for our butch freedom fighter!! i believe in us!!!

anyway tldr i love Sevika warts and all and everyone do your thing but if you don't love her warts i think you're missing out

Valid valid and valid. Not a single thing you said was incorrect. Sevika is DEVIOUS point blank period. In season 1 she is a minor character so I can understand why she's overlooked a lot but when you actually do look at her she can be VILLAINOUS at times. "It's just a matter of time before you implode and Silco finally gets the hint that you're just about as good for our cause as you were for your family. Jinx." Like DAMN Sevika!! Okay it's like that!! This rudeness that she showed Jinx is a bit fascinating to me because the only other character in this show that is just about as rude as Sevika is in this scene is Mylo. I made a post talking about how she has some similarities to Mylo and someone responded to that by also highlighting that at least Mylo was a teenager beefing with a child, meanwhile Sevika is a whole ass adult beefing with Jinx. I just think that's interesting and funny.

You brought up something that truly is just a plague to all fandoms. Whenever someone says they like a character that has a negative reputation in the source material, everyone starts coming out the woodwork to say it's bad to like that character. People don't seem to understand that just because you like a villain and find their character to be enjoyable doesn't mean you actually condone their actions and would be ok with someone acting like them irl. There are many reasons to like a villainous character and sometimes one of those reasons is BECAUSE they're a villain. Sometimes you like that a character does bad things because it's interesting and entertaining, and liking that doesn't make you a bad person. You should be able to like antagonistic characters for their villainy. Do I understand what they did was bad? Yes. Do I still like them? Yes, and not in spite of it but BECAUSE of it. And you don't have to erase those parts of a character just go openly admit that. You should be able to openly like a character in their full extent. You shouldn't have to ignore certain aspects just for your adoration of a character to be accepted.

Sevika really always has been That Bitch she has no problem telling people how it is directly to their faces. She calls Vander weak in front of everyone. She tells Vi Vander "had his chance" knowing damn well what Vander meant to her. She calls Silco out on his bullshit SEVERAL TIMES in front of him. Sevika isn't restrained as a character at all she's always being her full self. I feel that season two has made Sevika more popular and because her screentime was limited and the writing was different in season two people have allowed her character to become warped. I definitely think that if someone is ok with justifying and excusing the actions of Caitlyn and/or Vi then they should keep that same energy when it comes to Sevika. Sevika is a tough, loyal lady that has a very fun personality and she's also a criminal who has done terrible things for the sake of the cause and most times? Most times she enjoyed doing those things. Most times she went out of her way to revel in instigating. Silco didn't even know Vi was back yet and did that stop Sevika from almost killing Vi? Did that stop her from whispering "who Jinx? She's like his daughter" and looking dead in Vi's eyes just to see her reaction? No. Sevika is a bit messy like that she likes to play with her food lol and honestly I don't blame her lol

[superectojazzmage]

I really dig Qimir's characterization. He's a Sith and a lot of the brutality of Sith culture is on full display, but he doesn't really come off as necessarily evil or even especially malicious, at the very least no the in the typical way Sith villains are portrayed.

Mae's hunting of the Brendok Jedi seems to have been more of a personal thing for her that he reluctantly went along with as part of her training, and Qimir himself is evidently more concerned with keeping his culture alive than perpetuating old grudges. He hates Jedi because of all the bad blood between them and Sith and the ideological differences and has no issue with killing them, but also mostly just wants to be left alone to practice his faith, use his powers, and rear his own students/children as he sees fit rather than being forced to follow the laws of the nation that destroyed his own.

He bears no delusions about the Sith's current predicament as a tiny husk of it's former self hiding in the cracks of a society dominated by ancestral enemies, like many of the Baneite Sith do. He isn't interested in fantasies of revenge and conquest. As he says to Sol, the only reason he kills the hunting party is because Mae has caused them all to discover the Sith, and if the Jedi Council and Republic learn about Sith still existing they'll default to slaughtering or depowering them all for being "tainted by darkness", the exact same way they've done after every prior conflict with the Sith.

And while he disagrees with the Jedi Code, he also despises when Jedi fail to follow their own stated principles and gladly points out when they're being hypocrites (like how he mocks Sol for being upset over Jecki's death because she's "a child", as if he didn't personally lead said child into lethal combat after rearing her as a warrior and as if the Jedi in general don't use their padawans as child soldiers as a rule). His obvious disdain Sol and the Brendok Jedi specifically over even the other Jedi seems less motivated by the Jedi-Sith feud and more by him knowing about the very bad thing they almost assuredly did on Brendok and being livid about them continuing to act like they have the moral high ground despite it.

In a lot of ways, he's in the same position as the Brendok Coven, someone who wants to be free to live their own way and not be bashed into line by the Jedi and Republic, which would certainly explain why he and Mae gravitated to working together. They see each other as kindred spirits, both people left alone and in hiding by the imperialism of the Republic and the Jedi's refusal to let anyone who challenges their view of the Force exist in the long term, if at all. And that also adds to his anger with Mae when she turns on him; she was trying to throw him under the bus so she can ingratiate herself with the people who killed both her and his people. Even in a culture that values cunning and deceit, that sort of betrayal would probably be seen as unimaginable, the kind of dishonor that can never be atoned for.

All in all, the show is such a nice throwback to the more morally nuanced and even-handed works you used to see more of during the Legends EU days, showing the flaws and issues with all the involved groups while not coming down too hard and deeming any one pure evil, as well as treating the individual characters within those groups as varied in nature but usually sympathetic or at least understandable. The Jedi as an institution and a part of the governmental system are deeply flawed at even the best of times, but most of the Jedi come off as decent folk who are genuinely just trying to do the right thing. The Brendok Witches had their issues, but also justified reasons for everything they did and at the end of the day they just wanted to be allowed to live their lives without fear of outsiders storming in to take their children away and forbid them from passing their ways on. And now, with Qimir, yeah, the Sith culture is shown to be very harsh, ruthless, or even downright savage by the standards of the Jedi (and our own real world values), but they're still people at the end of the day.

[duckiemimi]

jjk 261 leaks

i'm gonna ramble a bit here idk if it'll make sense.

i've always been the biggest advocate of not viewing things black and white in jjk, meaning everything is understandable from the readers' point of view, BUT that doesn't mean that the story itself doesn't have distinct boundaries between what's "good" and "bad" in the narrative. take geto, for example. great character, you can't help but like him, but even then you know he's an antagonist for a reason. the narrative says so, even the characters say so. there's a running theme in jjk where every antagonist (and antagonist-adjacent) character is motivated to control other people's bodies—geto and non-sorcerers (to a lesser extent), kenjaku and his CT, mahito and his CT, sukuna needing to have a host, etc. kenjaku, for the most part, has always been our point of reference when we talk about evil in the story. which is why it's so jarring to see yuuta, of all people, resort to the same thing. for the greater good? okay, let's talk about the do or die of the greater good in jjk.

the greater good in this arc is to stop sukuna to save humanity. but even then, this cause has always been eclipsed by less righteous, personal reasons, like wanting to save megumi, or wanting to fight sukuna. those are the reasons pushed for readers to see, to care about. while understandable (they are human, after all), compared to its contemporaries, jjk isn't really a manga where characters sacrifice their morals for the greater good. in fact (i've mentioned this once), for a structured organization with the goal to protect humanity, humanity itself isn't of much importance in the narrative. the story has always centered around the sorcerers. but that aside, in times of despair (like yuuji in shibuya), they've always shown remorse and regret for the things that they cannot control, hesitation. while there is no altruistic character in the series, no one has ever wanted or willingly suggested anything aligned with puppeteering. (why would they? isn't the cog mentality something we're trying to move past, especially with the machine now destroyed?)

to have yuuta be the first to suggest a plan like this is...jarring. from what's written, sure we can accredit it to his love and understanding for his teacher, but yuuta knows what happened to geto. the cast has seen what kenjaku can do and has done. you could say that yuuta has a history with control (rika, in a way), but i like to think that he's grown since volume 0. could this be a desperate last resort by a panicked child? yeah, maybe. but it barely reads that way. there are too many interpretations to call it that, it isn't convincing enough. this is also the first time we've ever seen gojo referred to as a "monster," despite being untouchable and revered as god-like throughout the manga. there are some panels earlier in the series of the cast being asked what gojo is to them, and most people answered that he's the strongest alone. i don't recall yuuta being asked, so maybe he's thought of this concept of "monstrosity" for a while, but it would've built up better if we were shown some sympathetic sentiments from him prior to this chapter. it would've tied everything together well. alas. thanks for the off-screen growths, timeskip.

while for different reasons (does the end justify the means in this story? what about geto?), the fact of the matter is yuuta has adopted kenjaku's methodology for the greater good. what does that mean for jjk's alignment and ideology? could this be commentary on the dreariness of teeth-gritting reality? maybe. i think this chapter alone has ultimately changed what morality means in the bigger story. after all, it's practically a lawless land right now with everything destroyed. but what kind of message will we end with? is there something that needs to be said, or is there nothing at all?

[brucewaynehater101]

I'm seeing a lot of asks about this and I want to give my two cents: I'm cool with Bruce being a bad father, but only if DC admits that he is a bad father.

You can't have him doing downright abusive shit only to never address it. The only character that consistently criticizes Bruce parenting is painted as entitled and vindictive. I genuinely think the reason why we can't have a decent Red Hood arc is because if you want Jason to make sense you're gonna have to admit Bruce is a fucked up father or rewrite canon.

Same reason for Tim "never aging", not so much physically but emotionally. Because to have the character establish itself like Nightwing did you would need to address at some point all the bullshit he went through. Even with Dick. Like sometimes it looks like they want to recognize how being raised by Batman fucked him up by they end up settling for "oh it's the pressure". Like that's the most DC will say "Batman puts his kids under a lot of pressure buuuuuut it's justified because they're fighting evil :)".

Not just the kids, I think Batman himself would be so much more interesting if DC was willing to let him confront these things. As a redemption arc or as a fatal flaw that keeps his family at arms length. But they want to have their cake (have Batman be edgy and give the Robins Character Development™ through good old child abuse) and eat it (have Batman be Dad of the year). And that's what doesn't work.

Batfam fandom is great because you have people making content for Good Father Bruce, Bad Dad Bruce (he's trying and it's a bit funny/tragic), Awful Father Bruce (with no intention of changing. Every option is way more interesting than DC's directionless mess. Like, we don't even need them to make Bruce Good™ we just want them to pick a side and stick to it.

Thank you. My gods that sums it up perfectly.

Like, I've got no problem consuming Good Dad Bruce content... if it's not the comics. The animated stuff is usually fine, and fanwork is also great. There's a ton to like about it.

Hell, I'm even chill if Bruce makes mistakes and errors and fucks up with his kids. That's realistic, as long as they address that he did, in fact, do that shit. They need to talk about how his actions have hurt his kids and his relationships with them. He can try to do better, or he can stay distant with his kids because of it (low to no contact). It's truly not that difficult to chat about.

Now, media that addresses all of the horrid stuff he's done and considers realistic reactions/solutions to it? Fantastic. I love that so much. It's so cathartic watching him get his ass handed to him.

It's not necessary, though. I'm chill with good dad Bruce.

Despite that, outright ignoring what he does or brushing it under the rug? That's horrific. That reads like a sickening cycle of abuse, and I can't stand it. It's the exact same shit an abuser pulls by harming their victim (psychologically, mentally, physically, etc.), apologizing (ish), finding a way to pin the blame back on the victim, and then love bombing. Like, my gods. Bruce will beat the shit out of Jason and say it's Jason's fault for killing someone... "I wouldn't harm you/take a machine to permanetly fuck up your brain if you didn't do that. It's not my fault that I decided to hurt you. It's your fault that I did."

I just fucking can't.

I think Tim, with his little statement of "I don't expect you to apologize" after Bruce caused him to have a nervous breakdown post 16th birthday, that's a close approximation to admitting that Bruce is a piece of shit that does tendencies like an abuser. No matter what someone's intentions are, they should still apologize if they've cause unjustified/unintentional harm. Only assholes who don't regret their actions or people who feel their actions are justified won't apologize. There's times when apologizing isn't necessary or desired. That's fine. I won't apologize if Comic!Bruce and I are in a room, and I "accidentally" set him on fire.

Yet, Bruce is out here fucking up his kids. At the very LEAST, they deserve a fucking apology. Maybe a restraining order.

I ranted a bit. My bad. Anyways, have DC acknowledge the shitty actions Bruce does or don't have him do them. It's simple.

[nickel156]

Lmao. YOU said you'd rather deal with an abusive situation (within a supposed loving and equal relationship, which you are actively choosing to downplay for your uwu tam tam agenda) over a different situation with an enemy. Not me. That's your brainrot. I can put all the characters on blast for questionable decisions they've made because I'm not a blind stan like you. You attempt to acknowledge that what tamlin did was wrong but in the same breath you say well at least he apologized and is actively trying to be better 🥺🌸🥰 lmaoooo smells like hypocrisy. And bet, you wouldn't give the same credence to other characters that have apologized for their actions because they have solidified themselves as bad people in your mind. But blondie gets put on a redemption pedestal because...you know....reasons??

You must have sawdust for brains.

I am not blind to what Tamlin has done, however you're very hypocritical considering your stance on Rhysand.

It's not hypocrisy it's literally facts. Tamlin had trauma from UTM and he handled the situation poorly. Which he admits and we see in ACOWAR he's actively trying to be better.

The difference sweetheart, is that Rhysand doesn't try to be better. Because everything he did was justified. He didn't apologize. He didn't change.

I'd love to see the quotes where Rhysand apologizes for UTM. Please enlighten me.

Or any of them for that matter? Where are the apologies Anon!!?? Because Feyre didn't apologize for destroying an entire court. Actually two because Hybern attacked Summer immediately after.

No one ever apologized to Nesta for anything.

For every one apology you may find. I could find at least 5 where they don't. If you wanna play, play. Because I can match anything you throw at me.

Also feel free to put every single fucking character on blast. I'd love it. Please look up every terrible thing each and every one of them has done. And maybe your tiny little brain will finally comprehend that Tamlin is the least problematic compared to the entire Inner Circle.

For one, he didn't kill an entire town but hey the bar is pretty low.

Xoxo

[tzilatza]

NATLA Review - spoilers

Woke up today still feeling annoyed after finished the Netflix ATLA remake last night, and I think I've figured out the core reason.

It's the fact that: If they had held truer to the original source material, we could have had a truly great show. I disagree with those calling it a complete disaster. The acting was good, great in some cases. The effects were very well done, the bending looked about as good as it can in a live action media. The scenery was lovely.

But what happened in the writer's room?! The way they just reveal all the back stories up front EVERY TIME is honestly insulting to the audience. It's like they're so terrified that smartphone culture has made the public so accustomed to instant gratification that they have no faith we will stick around and keep watching if they make us wait for anything.

They're also clearly terrified of complexity. One of my biggest gripes with this remake is Jet's story. They completely took out his plans to murder a whole town of innocents in order to get a few enemy soldiers. Now, Jet isn't my favorite character, but his story is so important. Because it is real. The world is full of people who have been so brought down by injustice that they lose their sense of right and wrong, and we need to see that on screen. If Jet is too complex for them, how will they handle Ba Sing Se in the second season.

This goes along the same lines as removing Sokka's sexist moments. They felt they had to do it to make him more 'likable.' Yet the writers themselves went full sexist on Katara's character. They've taken out so much of her spark, her righteous and justified anger, and they've done it because even in 2024, people expect women to be more passive to be palatable. Enough people have already commented on them removing Aang's choice to run away. Heaven forbid the main character not be an absolute paragon. Did y'all notice that they even made Hahn likable? Hahn?! What reason do you have for making Hahn likable Netflix?! His role in the narrative is to be an example of toxic masculinity that is clearly the bad choice compared to Sokka who has learned and grown out of his own.

Don't even get me started with what they're doing with the fire nation family, I'm not ready to tackle that. In general, I have no problem with Azula getting a little more backstory and humanizing, but why season 1? Throwing in all these extra scenes just sacrifices screen-time where they could've actually fleshed out the real season one plots instead of rushing through things at breakneck pace. (ex: Aang escaping Zuko's ship in about 2 minutes flat)

At the end of the day, the scenes I most enjoyed were those that held true to the original like the Blue Spirit sequences. They could've easily done more of this, held onto the important plot points and even more important character complexity, while maturing it for an adult audience. I'm not disagreeing with every change they made. Go ahead and take out the silly Nickelodeon gags, add cussing and more realistic violence to get your mainstream viewers. Go ahead. They could've easily made a darker more mature version of the show and still held onto all the old fans in my opinion. But claiming that you're making a 'more mature' version and then removing the complexity and subtlety because they didn't think viewers could handle it...

What makes me most sad is that there are a lot of people who will experience ATLA for the first time through this show. There are a lot of adults who are not willing to watch original ATLA because they refuse to acknowledge an animated series can be anything other than a kid's show. Those people will watch this and think it's the real deal, and that just makes me sad.

If you've read this far, a very sincere thank you for listening to my rant. If you're an OG fan who enjoyed it, I have no problem with you. It was a fun watch, I was just hoping for more. If you are a new viewer who has never seen ATLA before, I sincerely want to hear your opinions. Is it a great show to someone who isn't holding it against the context of the original? And do you plan to watch the original now?

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Avatar: The Last Airbender Live Action Thoughts!

-First of all, ya'll need to leave those child actors alone, they are babies and they didn't write the show, nor was it their idea to do it. I have seen way too many people body shaming children; leave them alone they all did well!

-I think Gordon makes Aang just as cute and small and powerful as I always saw him as!! He manages to joke around and be fun even when the storyline is a lot darker and more serious.

-I really wish Sokka was able to be more of his goofy and silly self. I understand why he isn't, and his humor is more sarcasm and dark jokes, but I saw glimpses of him in there! His excitement when he was with the Mechanist, engineering and getting to do something other than be in charge. Also when he has any older brother convo with Katara or Aang. I'm hopeful with time he'll be able to loosen up!

-(Speaking of the Mechanist, my boy Danny Pudi was SO GOOD, I love him, him and his little son).

-I wish Aang would practice waterbending with Katara :( those scenes of them practicing together were always some of my favorites in the series. Just beautiful kataang moments. I'm glad they addressed it but I missed those moments.

-I don't understand how you guys can't be having fun watching this, I get so excited waiting for little moments of lore, or when Jet and Katara were fighting in the forest I was sitting in front of the TV like "WHERE'S SMELLERBEE AND LONGSHOT. OH MY GOD NO IT'S PIPSQUEAK!" It's just so much fun! The colors are beautiful, the effects are gorgeous, and the plot and characters are entertaining. Think about the piece as it's own thing and enjoy it!

-Adaptations are just that; adaptations, and things will be changed! I think so far I haven't minded their changes, I understand why they've been made. There are things to criticize, but I think this is pretty well done.

-Zuko is fantastic; I think all the child actors are fairly good but Dallas' pissy attitude and the faces he makes are so so fun! I feel for Zuko and I'm scared of him when he shows up, and he's just as annoying and bratty as ponytail Zuko should be. His physical motions are fantastic!

-TEO WAS SO LITTLE?? Oh my god, like as a kid I thought the cartoon version of him was kinda hot so when they wheeled that tiny baby in I was HORRIFIED.

-Idk why YOU ALL weren't scared of Lizzy Yu's Azula, but her little smile in her intro scene gave me a lil chill. Maybe it's because I was away when the show first came out so I saw post after post about how bad she was, but I just.... Thought she'd be worse?? She did really well! Ya'll better be careful though or Gaten Matarazzo will come for you, that's his girl.

-So far the mushing of plots has made sense to me. Yes, I miss the silly filler episodes and the traveling the Gaang did, but it allows us to sit in a scene longer, and to colorize the world better, when we're in one place and one plot for longer. I think that's important for this type of medium and this amount of episodes. They might be able to justify more next season if this show does well enough.

-I am OBSESSED with Zuko and the 41st division oh my god, what a fantastic and well thought out addition. The reveal, and they're bowing for him when he comes back was DEVASTATING.

-They we're GIVING us Sokka and Katara best sibling moments, I loved all of them. They are so cute, they just mean so much to me.

-I don't feel Appa or Momo as characters like I did in the cartoon. I'm hoping this can change, because rn they surprise me every time they get on screen. I'm like "WHAT- oh it's Momo, he's here." How are we going to feel Appa's loss as much as we did in the cartoon if they continue to like barely be in it.

-Ken Leung SLAYED as Admiral Zhao, I watched him go literally insane as the episodes went on.

-Aang's imposter syndrome and feeling of failure being focused on I will always enjoy, even if I hope he can be silly next season too. His entire character arc this season just made me want to cry.

-Bro the coloring during the the Siege of the North was A M A Z I N G. The way the color faded in and out with fireballs and the monster koi passing nearby, just so pretty. It looked awesome.

-Making Yue a waterbender? The best. Her freezing Sokka in place so he can't stop her? Heartbreaking.

-Iroh and Zuko paddling off looking for bestie Lt. Jee?? Okay.

-They really grew this show up for us adults that watched it in 2005 and focused in on the really painful moments, themes, and details.

[thirteen-jades]

Finally got around to playing Armored Core 6 (thanks @self-loving-vampire!) and I’m loving it so far. The movement is a hell of a lot of fun, which is a good sign as movement is usually the first thing I start complaining about in a game (this is mostly a me thing, I just like being fast and zippy and it’s very easy for games to start feeling sluggish if they have fairly normal movement). The weapons feel nice, I’m getting a feel for how it plays, and I quite like the aesthetics. Mechs are cool!

I had some vague knowledge of the game before playing but even so I wasn’t really prepared for just how blunt and on the nose it is about the fact that you’re the bad guy here. In one of the early missions, you come upon a pack of trash mobs and a radio line plays of some guy talking to his comrades. He says something to the effect of "there's just one of them, we can do this!" in the wavering voice of a man who has never fired a gun before trying to find any amount of confidence before he puts his life on the line for his home. And then you unceremoniously blow him and all his friends straight to hell and move on. It doesn’t even tell you which enemy was talking, he’s just another faceless mook for you to brush aside on your way to destroying the objective.

Every now and then one of them will ask why you're doing this, and there's literally no answer to give them even if you could. The game doesn't even pretend that you're fighting a ~just war~ or something, they're just like "yeah, these guys are the Rubicon Liberation Front. They're getting in the way of our corporation exploiting their world, go destroy them" and then you do. And it's not even very difficult. They've got terrible equipment and no training whatsoever and just don't stand a chance. But you keep getting to hear their comms, and those comms keep painting an ever clearer picture that you’re not a soldier fighting a war so much as a grown adult beating a bunch of children to death. Nobody tries to justify what you're doing in any way whatsoever, your handler in the intro makes a comment like "y’know, if we make this job work then we'll strike it rich and you can buy your life back" and that's it. Regardless of what “buy your life back” is referring to here, it’s plain that you’re in this purely for selfish motives.

And that’s to the extent that 621 is even deciding to do this at all. So far it’s also done a great job of dehumanizing the main character completely, and you never really make any decisions beyond which of two missions to do first and how to build your AC. People keep referring to them as their handler’s dog, nobody expects them to have anything to say or any opinion whatsoever, and that’s great because as a matter of fact they don’t have any opinion about any of this. They’re just here to blow up whatever they’re told to.

The most memorable instance of this so far, and what really made it clear that this isn’t just the game not wanting to voice the MC or something, was one of the early mission briefings. You’re tagging along with some ACs from one of the corps, and the guy in charge of their in-house fighters at the end of the briefing says something to the effect of “now sound off!”, followed by a beat of dead silence. Then he says “eh, good enough” and ends the call. This makes it clear this isn’t just a pre-recorded message; it’s someone talking to 621, expecting a response, and not getting anything. It’s a little detail that I laughed about in the moment, but I really like how telling it is about your character as a person.

[weaselle]

my mother, bless her soul, is a genuinely good person who has literally saved many lives, but she does not understand what internalized bigotry is.

like she'll say "i'm so glad you kids didn't turn out to be racist" and I'll try to explain why that's wrong (i am racist, actually, and worse, i am racist in ways i don't recognize because i was so smothered in racism by my culture that there are parts of me that are racist but don't register as racist to myself when i think those thoughts or do those things, and the MOST important part of changing that about myself is knowing that it's true) but she just doesn't get it

so i'll have conversations like that one i just had, where she's like "i don't mind gay people" (which is true, right, she is totally good with gay people when they are a human person in front of her existing as a human who is gay) "BUT i don't like how all the TV shows i watch are turning into shows that are basically all gay people now".

smh. Like, c'mon ma, i know you're better than this. Be better than this.

and i was like "okay name a show" and she named a law enforcement show (whole other problem) and i was like "how many main characters are there" and she was like "about twelve" and i was all "okay probably about half of them are men?" and she was all "yeah" and i'm like "okay the, whatever, chief character, that's probably a man right, is he straight or gay" and she was like "straight" and i was like "alright and there's probably a tough guy character is he straight or gay" and he was straight and we established that it was half straight guys and half gay guys

so then she's like "but i don't like how in my face it is there's all these sex scenes" and i was like "okay so the sex senes are all gay sex?" and she's like "no but there's so much sex now and these shows used to be about the who done it and the action" and i'm like "okay so your issue is there's just, too much sex in the show" and she's like "yeah!" and i was all "okay so that's not a gay issue that's a sexual content issue, you should probably not conflate those two things" and she was like "but there's so much gay stuff" ...

(please keep in mind this is a woman who would take in a gay runaway cousin without a second thought, votes for candidates that support gay rights, etc, she really is a mostly good person, she's just a product of her generation and doesn't understand things like intersectionalism and internalization or see how problematic this point of view she's having is)

anyway we go round and round like this and she's getting more and more agitated because she wants to say she's bothered by gay lifestyles being featured on TV shows she likes, but she doesn't want to admit that this is a homophobic reaction, and since it's impossible to say those two contradictory positions are simultaneously true i'm easily making it impossible for her to justify.

Finally when i can tell she's had enough and will take any out offered, i tell her "i'm just saying, it can be easy to feel like a normal amount of gay representation is an unreasonable amount when what you are used to is none." and walked out the door. Hopefully that gets through to her.

But it's frustrating how many fundamentally good people there are who are still part of the problem because they've spent so long equating bigotry to pure evil that they can't contemplate the possibility that they, a good person, have bigoted thoughts and reactions to things.

And it's difficult to keep having these conversations (which i feel are necessary to have if we are to change as a society) when every time you try to explain it they react like you are calling them literally Evil Bad People.

but you gotta. you just gotta

[lemonpixycat]

There was a really great post that came on my dash on White Guilt and how white people are so terrified of doing a racism tm that they will, like, avoid people of color altogether out of fear and I wanted to expound on it more because as a white person, i have good further insight into this. I don't want to do it on the post itself because I think it's a bit of a derail of the point, though. White guilt has a LOT to do with white people's immense fear of being racist or fucking up in a racist way yes, but there's also another layer to it. White people, especially white Christians or white people that have grown up in a culture drenched in white Christianity and concepts of sin, have 100% created this culture where if you are a 'bad person', you deserve punishment first and foremost and you don't deserve rights and they no longer care what bad things happen to you, and there's this inability to ever do enough to atone for it. You are forever marked as a bad person. This makes white people that ascribe to this belief system TERRIFIED of being a 'bad person'. And if you rightly believe racism is wrong, then you believe doing a racist thing makes you a racist and that means you are a bad person and as a bad person, you no longer deserve rights, empathy, and all you deserve is punishment and vitrol. And nothing you can do can EVER make up for your transgressions. So white people will 100% rather A) Avoid people of color altogether B) Grovel and plead for forgiveness for any transgression B) Deny they did anything racist rather than accept they did a bad thing because only bad people do bad things and they aren't a bad person In order for us white people to truly address racism and be proper allies, we need to also address this culture we've created where we're focused on punishing bad people and think that you can never atone for being a bad person or doing bad things. And more importantly, this culture we've created doesn't just backfire on our own ability to experience growth and be proper allies. Black people have been talking forever about how this culture we've created affects them. The prison industrial complex is BUILT on this culture of justifying atrocities against inmates, a high number of which are black, because they are "bad people so who cares what happens to them". Anytime a black man is shot by the police, somehow every bad thing they've ever done is used to justify why it's actually okay that they were shot. It's unsustainable. And it's untrue. Doing a bad thing does not make your irredeemable and the vast majority of people of color I've met do not believe that everyone whose ever done a racist thing deserves to be ostracized from society and punished forever. in fact, most people of color I know are people who ALSO believe in reformation over punishment and they believe in the ability to be a better person rather than the belief that people are forever tainted if they do a bad thing and can never be redeemed. But it's on us as white people to solve this belief system AND our white guilt, as the original post was talking about, in order to be better allies. And everyone, (including us) will be better off.

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME. the update is, we have finally started enterprise. here are things i knew about enterprise before starting:

set 100 years before tos (i was close, it's more like slightly under 100 years after first contact and a hundred and change before tos)

hoshi sato apparently dies on tarsus iv

INSANELY sexy chemistry between t'pol and trip tucker every gifset i have ever seen is bananas but they have a love triangle with archer, who is a bitch

they have some kind of baby in an au or something

MIRRORVERSE

vt'pol pon farr episode

lots of sexism everybody is mean to t'pol bc nobody likes vulcans

riker cameo at the end and everybody hated that and also a bunch of people die in badly written ways in the finale

theme song controversial.

prior to starting this i was like this is sttill technically kinda 90s trek it's got the riker cameo like 2001 isn't so far from the 90s and immediately we got hit with the theme song and the weird sexism and MAN what a downgrade from voyager. this is post 9/11 trek baby. we are in a different world now. i will miss ds9 and voyager so much

i was...honestly kind of bored by this. it wasn't as bad as the tng pilot but nowhere near as good as the voyager or ds9 pilots, the latter of which is high art. i did not find myself especially endeared to anyone except poor hoshi sato, who did not ask for this and reltably jumps at her shadow at every opportunity. i know it isn't t'pol's fault she's writen that way, and i feel certain i will be very endeared to her by the end, but in this episode she just kind of annoyed me.

as for the men, no one really stood out to be except trip and archer (i'm not even sure of everybody else's name yet, except dr phlox, whose freaky smile did make me scream aloud). as stated, archer is a bitch. he is mean and yells for no reason because of like...daddy issues that don't feel like they have any real weight. i don't like his acting and he has evoked no emotional response from me except annoyance. i like trip a little better! while i'm not losing my mind over him or anything he is fun, and i do like that even though his accent is fake (said "can't" instead of "cain't"), he did remember to change the end of "thursday" to "thursdee." that is how we say it yeah

the time period we're in did seem neat to me at first (you have to appreciate them not having gotten the transporter working on people yet and warp 4 still being fancy to them lol), but i don't really understand why the vulcans have been the boss of these guys for 90 years or whatever, have they just been saying "space is dangerous don't go" for that long and all of humanity listened? i think narratively they exist to be rules, and the rules exist to be bucked by captain archer, because he's an AMERICAN, DAMMIT. post 9/11. i get there's no federation or whatever yet, this is the wild west, but jesus fucking christ. also i hate that cochrane came up with the fucking speech. fuck that guy! rapey ass tos episode. anyway speaking on the time period i also liked the gravity thing. very fun

but like...the dinner where she was cutting her breadstick and talking about human barbarism for eating animals?? what even was that. we've had this philosophical discussion in trek a thousand times already. we KNOW humans aren't going to become brutes because this is a prequel. nothing in here was meaty enough (sorry) to justify retreading those points.

i did like this new race of bend shapeshifting guys. like, i miss odo, but also, whatever they've got going on was really fun. and the language barrier with the klingon at the end DURING the fight was also entertaining. i did also wind up liking the extremely gregarious scene with the decontaminating gel or whatever...at first i was very annoyed (you can see her nipples! give this woman some dignity! they could have done this separately!) but 1. trip was a perfect gentleman and 2. when she was like "turn around" i knew in my heart she could give him the strap.

other than that, very little to be compelled by, but at least i don't hate anybody except archer and the fucking subtitles. the subtitles on this were so so so so so SO bad. straight up disappeared at one point. i hate paramount plus so much <3

TONIGHT: ent's "fight or flight" and "strange new world."

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Something I dislike about Chloe’s damnation is how her good actions never have that “selfish” part of them

My main examples is Zombisue and Queen wasp

She sacrificed herself to save ladybug and apologizes at the end, saving ladybug is selfless since she genuinely trusts ladybug will save them all (LIKE CHAT NOIR DOES, she’s doing the same chat does and is meant to and she doesn’t gain anything from apologizing since she already looks good in ladybug’s eyes for saving her

And in queen wasp she knows she’ll won’t be getting the miraculous back but she gives it up because of her devotion to ladybug

If the writers wanted to make her seem evil and selfish they would have given her something to gain out of this situations like money or fame, not the sympathy of her idol, is like the writers don’t know how to make actions have a selfish intentions to them and it shows with Marinette

Marinette has done this multiple times (for example she goes to Shanghai under the excuse of following Adrien which is extremely selfish) and the writers never seem to notice

I once read a fanfic called “bad for business” about a side villain of a show (which show ain’t important) not joining the main villains which invade he’s territory and basically plan to destroy the whole place.

The villain constantly makes deals and promises with selfish goals knowing full well most of he’s Allie’s might end up weakened, in Jail or dead at the end, and everything he does is selfish even if they aren’t flat out evil (I will help them in this turf war so they will help ME in this turf war, I will give them valuable information so they will destroy our mutual enemies for ME, I will kill this terrorist so I can frame it for the murder of another goon I murdered)

And the fan fic makes this clear every single scene, he does have good traits like caring for he’s partner and trying (emphasis on trying) to console a girl (which would have been he’s enemy in the canon show) after the two think a friend of hers died in front of their eyes but even till the end it’s shown how he’s never done a single selfless thing in the whole history and that’s why despite everything he did on the fic and what he wanted to achieve and by the means he did, he still rooted for him, because he was evil and nothing was hiding it (specially not the writer)

Meanwhile miraculous doesn’t know the difference between a selfish and selfless action, a fanfic does something better than miraculous, a fanfic of a series far worse than miraculous is more aware of good and evil than a children’s show

God I love ranting about miraculous mistakes and double standards

I feel like the writers have no idea what an anti-hero is, because characters are either completely perfect and can do no wrong, or they're complete monsters who are pure evil.

The show tries to write characters like Chloe, Gabriel, and Felix in a morally gray light, yet the writers always try to either downplay their actions or act like they've been good from the start.

The whole point of writing an anti-hero is that it allows you to explore stories in a way that differ from the usual moral paragons people are used to seeing in superhero media. These kind of characters usually find ways to accomplish their goals that don't allign with the beliefs we have. It makes us think about whether the ends justify the means, or how thin is the line between being a hero and being a villain.

But this show doesn't do that sort of thing. When a character does something, it's either good or bad, no matter the consequences it has. I'm not saying we need complex writing on the same level as Breaking Bad for this show, but if they're going to try and discuss topics like redemption for past deeds, you need to draw a line and show what kind of things are okay to do, what things aren't okay to do, and why actions are viewed in a certain way.

[vyingeyes]

I believe in my heart of hearts that there are five clones per squad in Star Wars. Yes, I am using Domino Squad as my lone supporting evidence. They are arguably the most definitive example of a standard CT squad we get (at least in the TCW show).

According to Wookieepedia, though, this does not add up. The wiki claims that each corps had 36,864 troopers to be led. This, notably, does not divide by 5. It does divide by 4, but why would Domino Squad be the outlier? I find it much easier to justify why the canonical 4-trooper squads (specifically the Bad Batch and Delta Squad) would have 4 members rather than a "standard" 5. And contrary to all of this, the wiki purports the idea of each squad having nine members. Which... Yes, that adds up, but the idea of ALL THREE OF THE AFOREMENTIONED SQUADS being outliers somehow drives me up the wall.

Instead, I propose a corps of 40,960 troopers. Each corps has 16 regiments (each being 2,560 troopers). Each regiment has 4 battalions (of 640 troopers), and each battalion has 4 companies (individually 160 troopers). This is where we get into the units that we're more familiar with—such as Ghost Company and Torrent Company. Breaking the companies up gives us 4 platoons, such as the one headed by Waxer. Here is where I step out again from the trenches of division and multiplication.

I want a division between Platoons and Squads. This is where my "Units" come in. A unit is two squads squished together. Unlike a squad or a platoon, which are static, a unit might be a combination of clones best suited for the assignment at hand. Units would be referred to as their squad names combined (ie "Green-Crown Unit", "Orbit-Nexu Unit") and the mix-and-match nature would allow skills to be better distributed for the needs of the clones within. You could pair a squad with a medic with a squad that's going to be under heavy fire, or a squad with a heavy gunner can be put with a squad that needs to be covered while they try to help retrieve the wounded from the field.

There would be two "heads" of a unit, since each squad would have a single squad lead. Rather than pick between the two, they would be expected to work together and coordinate their squad members together.

A platoon would be 4 units, or 40 troopers in total.

EDIT 8/27: This just got reblogged again and for anyone interested I have made a few tiny changes based on some reblogs (which I did not see soon enough to reply to meaningfully). For one thing, I agreed with the comment that it's stupid to not have something between Corps and Regiments. In come Divisions. As far as I can tell (from Wookieepedia and memory, because I'm not going through every episode to fact check for a niche military unit type) Divisions were Not really used consistently in TCW era. For my worldbuilding purposes, a division is 1/4 of a corps and composed of 4 regiments. Every day George Lucas makes me do more work. Someone needs to pay me for doing math in my free time.

Also, I think there's been a good bit of critique on my idea of units having two leaders. I use the term "leader" very loosely. In terms of actual power, they have none. They're in charge of keeping their squads on task and coordinating with each other; some squads will naturally have chemistry with others, especially if they've worked together before, but for squads that don't get along, think of them as supervisors connecting two different work branches. Their only special job is to make sure the ACTUAL jobs (determined by higher ups [Lieutenants, Captains, Commanders, etc etc]) is done.

I liked the bit of commentary on backend workers (In TCW, this would include the troopers we see on the bridge of the Venators or in the security rooms in prison, etc) but I do think they're just specialized squads/platoons/etc. I do not have the willpower to give them any sort of special category in my already incredibly twisting Obsidian vault.

Also, the question of "how long did this take?": I am an English major :') Math is hard. Many hours. Many separate days. I am still changing it when it seems unrealistic. I have no actual military experience so a lot of research is involved. I THINK my numbers are approximately comparable to Life but I may be wrong. Sometimes I'll be writing and go "wow, this is bad" and then have to clarify ANOTHER section of unexplored worldbuilding. Why did you do this to me, George? Save me Dave Filoni.

[catgirlmissy]

I'm putting this under read more bc it's stupid

that being said the second u arent on ur lil corner of the internet and u realise what it looks like when u have a favourite character that isnt conventionally attractive/is non-human its like. Oh

i am a fan of nuance as well but it feels very normal when there is a big thread on why putting a magic equivalent of a shock collar on your child and banishing them to live in a dirty sewer for eternity does not count as child abuse actually and was done out of love actually and it feels very normal when people will bend over backwards to minimise or even justify the part of the narrative where someone hurts them despite the game basically screaming at you that it was a wrong doing regardless of if you even chose to engage with that part of the quest

"um mohg still killed people so actually u cant feel bad for him whatsoever" me when i open a killing people game and characters kill people: no.... that can't be..... i have never seen anyone act that way around let's say messmer but okay . i wonder why that is /s . Going to start commenting um actually he killed people under every cute art of him I see and see how annoying that gets quickly

it is not that deep but you guys need to understand how deeply annoying this is to me, it feels like people are reading him for a beast and not like. a character. which like. narratively he is literally just a guy. I know if u don't give a fuck about a character ur not going to engage with the text the same way as someone who does especially when it's this specific type of writing to asks of you to do a certain amount of gap filling work (it's written like this on purpose) BUT I beg of thee he's not. An animal 😭

escaping a system which mistreated me but i cannot imagine one which functions with a different structure so i am just rebuilding it with myself on top - oh mohgys also so much like his mom actually. no but like... a palace really, and a set of appointed nobles and a very persistent focus on knight culture... okay silly. sure thing. creating my own thing (it looks very much like the thing that should've been mine by birthright but i was denayed)

Is he not the funniest nepotism baby of all time. The fact that his great rune is completely soaked in blood but he still /has one/ is like an equivalent of taking your family's money only to start a rival company . Is he not hilarious that way

He should've been accountant he's so good at streamlining blood sacrifices, getting war surgeons to basically pay blood taxes to you, not that I support kidnapping and blood rituals but that's clever you have to give him that. Can you imagine you are just vibing and suddenly there is a diety above your head like hello. You are under my patronage now. Welcome. No you cannot opt out.

Also this

And the fact that he's wearing a fancy little robe with such detailed embroidery whilst ruling over 2 piles of rocks on fire and 14 people is also just incredible . And he'd name everything after himself if given a chance he's so funny I love that guy

Sorry chat for rambling but like there isn't a bond greater than a random guy and a souls boss with 4 lines of dialogue that you meet in game long after they've lost themself in one way or another I have like 1928181 thoughts at all times he lives in my head rent free and so do sir ansbach and the rest of the mohgwyn npcs and his much less attractive twin brother but I also have a job. And therfore. I ought to go. Blowing a kiss to my beautiful wife

[hyperlexichypatia]

Hi there! Your post about brain age stuck a chord with me; I got significant brain damage in an accident when I was 20, and I've been struggling to take control back from a bunch of well-meaning and overprotective people, ranging from my neurologist to my siblings. So thank you for that. I do have a question for you. I've found a lot of the people who use the brain development age are the people who (idk what word to use for this) self-infantilize themselves. Why do you think people do this, and how can we combat this? I find that it's harder to argue against when they want to be protected, and that they think I need to be protected.

This is a great question. I have some thoughts on why people tend to self-infantilize. If people think of something as desirable for themselves, it's harder to convince them that it's wrong to do to others. Theoretically, even if people infantilize themselves, we should be able to tell them that it's wrong to do to other people without their consent -- but since the root of infantilization is the premise that the subject is incapable of meaningfully consenting to things, that doesn't necessarily work.

So anyway, I have some theories. I think there's significant overlap between this worldview and the medical model of mental difference. This is specific to a U.S. Cultural context; other people can weigh in on how this does/doesn't apply in other places/cultures.

Our society is obsessed with blaming people's external circumstances on their "bad choices." Underpaid? Your fault for not choosing a better job! Abused? Your fault for being so abusable! People will comb through every bit of struggling/oppressed people's history to find something they "did wrong" that would justify whatever bad thing happened to them or was done to them. In particular, there's tremendous emphasis on "bad decisions" in youth (if you skip algebra class, it will go on your Permanent Record and your life will be RUINED!). In this context, it can seem liberatory to counteract that narrative with "My problems aren't the fault of my bad choices; I'm a child much too young to be capable of even making choices."

Similarly/relatedly to the above, in the age of mass incarceration, trying minors as adults, and a general pattern of incarcerating marginalized young people to long prison sentences for relatively petty crimes, pushback to this policy heavily centers the idea that the wrongness of this cruelty is rooted in young people being essentially incapable of making choices and therefore not being truly responsible for their actions.

Young people (meaning both minors and young adults) are relentlessly sexually objectified. Obviously, most people don't become comfortable being sexually objectified just because they turn 18, but some young adults contextualize this as "It's wrong to sexualize me because I'm A Child" rather than "The way people sexually objectify young people is dehumanizing and harmful."

Relatedly, because young people are often disempowered, and it's socially acceptable to treat young people like garbage, young people are often targeted for abusive/exploitative relationships, financial arrangements, and other abusive and exploitative situations, and this targeting often kicks up when young people come of age, because they then may have resources they can legally access and sign away. People victimized by this are encouraged to see the problem as "I am a child and they are a child abuser" rather than "I was/am denied social and economic power and was put in a desperate situation, which they exploited.

People who grew up with unsupportive parents may conceptualize that lack of support as "I'm an immature child, and they've forced me to grow up too soon, but if they recognized that I'm still a child, they would take better care of me."

Basically, short version: I think young adults are encouraged to self-infantalize, even though I think it's contrary to their long-term interests (not that they asked me), because young people are treated like hot garbage, and young adults are encouraged to frame this problem as "I'm being denied the protections that children get," but I think they're mistaken, because children are absolutely not protected in the first place.