#you probably shouldn't enable me like that

[iz-star]

About the latest polemic about Zayne and Sylus over twitter...

I left twitter for good. I'm honestly so tired of the drama that arises there everyday. I literally decided to log in today just to see some Arcane spoilers and the first thing I was hit with was with the most recent drama about CN players and specially Zayne and Sylus players having a heavy argument about plagiarism and how some lines of Zayne seem to have been copied onto Sylus' lines...

Firs of all, I don't know how the CN fanbase is, so I can't really say anything about that matter. From what I read, it seems things are quite complex there and arguments & harassment among LI's fanbases seem to be quite intense from what ppl is saying but, again, I can't really say too much on that matter cause I don't know how the fanbase is there, I'm not part of it neither I go to CN websites to look up for lads content. Most cases my experience visiting CN websites has been because of kind ppl that has respectfully asked me permission to repost my art and give me credits there, from that perspective my opinion about the CN fanbase has always been good and it still stands, I'm pretty sure that great part of the fanbase it's nice and it's only the small little toxic portion that is overshadowing the nice and chill part of the fandom.

My point here it's: Don't let yourself to have a tunnel vision about this situation.

You can probably see 10, 100 or even 500 ppl arguing and harassing others and even so it's not even a quarter of the whole total of players that belong to the fandom only in China, let alone global. To generalize from your point of view is not the objective take you think it is, talking from your experience doesn't talk for others experience, no one's experience here is universal. I read a lot of ppl trying to find someone to blame all the time "Zayne players started everything" "Sylus writers copied Zayne" etc and you know? Rolling this ball to one another is not going to lead us anywhere because as always, it's not acknowledging the true issue here: that is, us as players, keep enabling this kind of toxic behaviour if that means to stand up for or to 'defend' our main LI.

To try to portray one LI's fanbase as the guilty one is just creating more trouble than solving it and it's also not having a general understanding of the situation at hand and instead, encouraing biased opinions that only create more division and discrimination within the fandom.

And let's be honest, it's not the first time (and probably won't be the last, sadly) that drama arises within the fandom where we attack others LIs and their fanbase. This game is targeted towards adult women, we are not supposed to behave like adolescents making tantrums and messing up with our peers, yet here we are, enabling arguments, harassment, bullying or overall having an ugly and mean attitude in order to defend something that honestly, all the LIs would feel ashamed for if they were real. Like, literally all of them hate to be on the spotlight for the stuff they're good at, it would be even worse if the spotlight it's caused by them for all the wrong reasons.

I know lads guys are fictional, and I'm not going to invalidate people's feelings by saying that you shouldn't take it too seriously just bc they're not real -most of us find a lot of comfort in fiction, after all- but that doesn't give you the right to harass real people neither hurt their feelings [the same ways you feel when they attack your fav LI]. You are able to feel whatever you want to feel, however, you're still responsible for your words and actions. If this game is turning you into an awful person, then I'm afraid to say that you probably must step back and reconsider if your passion for it is healthy for you.

I know it's easy to get upset and sometimes we have the need to express it. However, to decide to be a part of a fandom is to accept that you are not going to always like what ppl say, let alone agree with them. Not everyone's opinions might aling with yours but it's enterily up to you the way how you take and respond to them. As I said before, I left twitter for good bc I found myself often wanting to be mean to others upon reading the negative stuff some ppl said about Zayne, especially in order to compare him with other LIs just to make him look bad. I would often felt so ugly thinking like that. Staying away from that drama has been super helpful and that's the best advice I can give for now: try and enjoy the game and your LI by yourself if the fandom is getting too much to handle.

Be careful about the discourse you support and always ask yourself if your words and actions will truly lead you somewhere good and healthy or it will only cause more chaos for you and others. Flammable opinions only light up and burn if we feed the fire, if there's no one to keep it alive, the flame will drown out very quickly.

[mysticcrownwolf]

I have not watched arcane but I follow enough people that do to have to general idea of what it's about and I am calling it right now the only reason this fandom demonize Vi is because they like Jinx and by extension Silco so all the bullshit ass enabling he did with Jinx for years will be forgotten because Vi punches her for killing everybody she ever loved and then the people in this fandom who don't have even a quarter of a brain cell to rub together will be like well Jinx suffered so much because of Vi because she had suicidal thoughts and see people meanwhile Vi deadass saw everyone she loved die in front of her, then lose her only remaining family to Silco and then spend her whole childhood in prison. Like the people in this fandom can't comprehend morally grey characters or even think that their faves can be complex people who can do bad things if the narrative shifts that way.

Look me in the eye and tell me these people have a single thought in their head while watching the show because the writers said these two seasons are the Jinx and Vi story. That they will probably make more arcane stuff but these seasons are focused on the sisters and so why do I see post like I wish Vi didn't have so much screen time or I wish Vi and Cait story wasn't the main focus here and the show focused more on "insert any background narrative they wanted to see" like bitch go fuck yourself.

Like I have never seen such a large group of people utterly incapable of media literacy it's like they need to be handfed concepts like:-

"A doomed narrative means no happy endings at most you get a bittersweet one"

"Your fave can be a bad person and still be your fave you don't have to justify them as a good or reasonable person (and demonize their equally traumatized sister looking at you weirdly purist Jinx fans) to continue liking them.

"Metaphors and parallels shouldn't be spoken or spelled out for you. You as a viewer are suppose to understand then yourself using your brain"

"Good people can do some bad things this doesn't make then irredeemable and bad people can do some good things this doesn't suddenly makes them fully redeemable"

"If a shows ending is ambiguous it doesn't mean the writers were too pussy to commit to a proper ending it means they purposefully made it ambiguous so their can be more than one interpretation for it"

"Not all good stories needs have good or even satisfying happily ever after usually in a doomed narrative you just survive to live another day"

"Just because someone's trauma manifest in a more visible way doesn't mean another characters didn't suffer at all (still looking at you Vi haters)"

To summarise do I think the people who can't see a nuanced story like arcane without generalizing everything in black and white and then complaining about how it's bad are all brainless idiots with the mental capacity of a third grader with no capacity for media literacy or reflection. Yes. Is it probably a baseless generalization. Probably. Do I care. No,fuck you'll and all your arcane hate post you all tricked me into reading by disguise them as actually analysis.

If I can pick up on the subtle nuances and non linear narrative of arcane by just reading Tumblr posts and watching some clips on YouTube you people have no reason to have this shitty of an opinion when you actually consumed the full media.

[kanerallels]

Platonic sebezra, circus au?

Oh-ho-ho I did NOT expect this prompt to take root the way it did. Ahem. But here's a little ficlet that doesn't even begin to touch the depths of brain rot you've given me

“You’re the new tightrope walker, right?”

Sabine didn’t look up from lacing up her shoes as she replied, “Looks like it.”

This wasn’t where she’d expected to be— a circus in the middle of nowhere, barely breaking even. Clearly, it wasn’t as popular as it used to be. Everything made that clear, from the worn out waistcoat that the ringmaster had been wearing when he hired her and the threadbare costumes hanging on a rack near her, to the fact that the tent was still nearly empty, and it was fifteen minutes until show time.

But she’d gotten stuck, and she needed the money. And luckily, she was good at more than one thing. Tightrope walking would be easy.

Rising, she turned towards the arena— and froze, coming face to face with a lion.

Her instinct was to scream, her second to run or fight. But instead, Sabine deliberately tensed her muscles, feeling the panic race through her, silently counting to five. When she reached five, she let out a long exhale, then lifted an eyebrow at the orange clad boy standing behind the lion.

“Let me guess,” she said. “Lion tamer?”

He grinned. “How’d you guess?” With a quick whistle, he called the lion back, and it settled next to him, looking like nothing so much as an over large cat. “I’m Ezra, and this is Jasmine.”

“Sabine. This how you greet all your new coworkers?”

Shrugging, Ezra said, “Only the ones who can handle it. And it looked like you could. Besides, it’s a good test of who’s going to stick around.”

Sabine had no intention of sticking around. This job would, hopefully, get her enough money to make it to her next destination, and then she would move on.

But for now, she just nodded. “Looks like I passed.”

“Looks like it,” Ezra said with a grin. “Welcome to Circus Spectres.”

[sskk-manifesto]

(๑•́ω•̀)

[transhitman]

Yeah so like I think people trying to say whether Curly is like bad/good or like at fault/blameless are missing the point. Like 1) bad person is a term I have issues with in general (I don't believe a person can be ontologically evil and you shouldn't either, a three hour video essay) and 2) within Anya's story he is an enabler no question, but at the same time we don't really get to see what he would have done going forward and if he really would have taken responsibility or continued to let things go as they did. I think being in denial when your best friend is accused of something awful is an understandable reaction. Not that he did the Right Thing in the slightest, but his mistake is very human and probably meant to be sympathetic. Also, they were all gonna be trapped together for 8 months and we don't know the extent or timeline of what Anya told him so like. Who can say what would have happened. The whole situation is a time bomb whatever Curly might have done.

It is of course interesting to consider how much Curly is responsible for. Obviously he was supposed to keep the crew safe. If not for his overabundance of trust in his subordinates (because they WERE his subordinates, whether he saw them as friends or not), Jimmy wouldn't have been able to put them in that situation in the first place. But at the same time, the game is kind of screaming at us that Jimmy is responsible for his actions. Jimmy is the perpetrator. Jimmy did this to himself and to his friends.

All this to say that like... On a character-to-character basis it's interesting to consider all this, but the game is about Jimmy, at the end of the day, and his actions and his mindset. Curly made mistakes but Jimmy is unequivocally the bad guy in the narrative that has been presented. The story is not presented from Anya's POV, where Curly might be a villain, and Curly's POV segments are limited, meant to give us a more objective view of the OTHER crewmates that Jimmy dehumanizes in his narration, imo. And I find it fascinating that despite the game's insistence that Jimmy is at fault, and the way Jimmy constantly blames his actions on other people (look what you made me do type beat), we as an audience still want to consider that the blame could be split. Maybe it should be. Maybe it shouldn't. Maybe the question is useless, because it already happened. It happened, and it can't be fixed. And only one of these characters was able to actually show us how they would act in the aftermath.

[bougiebutchbinch]

I’m back to talk about transfemme Wade (who I think would refuse to go by Wanda bc “we already have one of them, don’t wanna confuse the fans!”) but in an embarrassing amount of thought so anon-

I feel like she has so many wigs that sit along the wall of their room, one for every occasion (Logan talked her out of getting a massive Miku length one bc she would never take care of it Well enough-), her favorite is the Barbie of just a cute blonde ponytail that sometimes she’d clip colorful strips into. Sometimes she showers wearing a wig for the Euphoria of her bf being pissed there’s a bunch of plastic in the drain- she goes through so many phases of what style she likes, their living room was full of amazon boxes at some point and Logan was ‘forced’ to sit through a fashion show and give his opinions, and while he doesn’t know the difference between Lolita (THE STYLE THE STYLE!!!!) and Harijuku, all he knows is his girl is beaming and rambling a mile a minute and he can’t make himself veto any outfit she shows off. Unfortunately his real favorite look of hers involves the same t shirts and boxers she wore before coming out, no makeup, no wig, face mushed into his chest and just Content as can be. He doesn’t care about her putting on a big effort to look femme (though will always lovingly praise looks so the RSD doesn’t trigger), as long as she’s happy and safe, he’s so lucky to have her 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷 anyways I go ESPLODE NOW thinking of my self ship with her-

WAILS AND RUBS MY FACE ALL OVER THIS LIKE A HAPPY CAT

AWHHHHHHH

she is everything to me. EVERYTHINGGGGG

[UNDER A CUT for discussions of bottom dysphoria - as well as related self-inflicted violence, but in a Poolverine way where violence is consensual and sexy and fun for everyone involved!]

I need her to be happy and to find joy and to have a million wigs and for Logan to love her just as much with them as without them, while bitching something rotten while he pulls the gross wads of plastic faux-hair out the drain

I need her to drape herself over Logan's lap like a happy housecat only Logan's the one who starts (embarrassedly) purring as he strokes her because he's so delighted and comfortable in his life right now~ And Wade is just being VIBRATED by the very loud proof of her boyfriend's love of her.... And she is smiling the GOOFIEST grin while Logan turns bright red!

I need her to turn to Logan after a long day of murder and they start pulling voraciously at each other's clothes - only Logan freezes STARSTRUCK because. Damn. And Wade's kinda confused and a bit self conscious, but tries to hide it under jokes until Logan says in this gruff, choked voice - "You look so fucking good in red" and she looks down to see where she's pulling off her costume and she's just fucking covered in this glossy red satin dress of her own blood ❤️

(And Logan maybe buys her a long red evening dress that she's probably never gonna have occasion to wear, but he's flushing so much when he presents it that he almost matches the colour, and he wants to see her in it so bad, and whenever Wade wears it around the house just casually, she gets picked up and fucked against the nearest wall lmao)

I need Logan dipping her effortlessly in a kiss, and she feels so fucking weightless in his arms ❤️

I need them baking together before Laura comes around and they both keep burning shit but they're laughing and having a good time and there's a smudge of flour on Wade's nose and Logan is imploding internally over how cute she is

I also need her to casually say to Logan one day when the Bottom Dysphoria is particularly bad, 'hey can you chop off my dick while fucking me and then just keep chopping it off whenever it tries to grow back??' and Logan is like 'what the fuck babe' and 'I have a vague sense that I shouldn't enable this' and 'babe are you fucking sure' and Wade is like 'yeah I get off on pain and that would make me very very happy, plus it will do no lasting damage <3' and Logan is like 'OOKAY I GUESS' and then they have fun horrific bloody mutilation sex that would look absolutely awful to anyone else but is actually very tender and affirming and cute

[letteredlettered]

I'm sad about this whole culture in which readers on AO3 shouldn't put their real opinions about fics in the bookmarks.

Like, to me it's a dick move to put a negative opinion about a fic in a comment, because comments go directly to the author. While I would love for more comments to be discussions between readers, in the end I am getting notified about every comment and comments are the simplest and most direct way for me to hear what you thought, so yeah, I don't want to get bashed there. I'm not really here for critique, and unless someone says they're here for critique they're probably not here for it either.

But for bookmarks, an author has to go looking. And sure, it's easy to look, but in the end, bookmarks are a reader tool. And sure, there are private bookmarks, but then bookmarks can only be a private tool. Meanwhile, public bookmarks enable readers to find what other readers like or writers they like are interested in--or not interested in. That's what bookmarks are for. They weren't built to be places where authors can seek additional praise. If you, as an author, can't handle negative things being said about your work, maybe don't go looking in spaces that weren't built for you.

I feel like creating a culture in which readers can't put their real opinions about what they read in any public space on AO3 really restricts the already limited community function of AO3. And I get that AO3 is an archive, not a community space, but frankly I don't love the idea of an archive that isn't a space for readers as well as writers.

I know other people feel differently about this, and I'm not trying to say those people can't have their opinions. I just want to share my two cents.

[receivingtranny]

just saw a post saying that men shouldn't be allowed to become therapists because they *will* rape women/girls or at best... mentally ill women and girls *will always* catch inappropriate romantic/sexual feelings for a male therapist (not even gonna touch the flaming pile of internalized misogynistic shit lying within the later statement) and just...

what the fuck you guys.

like yeah fuck the "not all men" attitude that's just a fucking scapegoat abusive men love to say for why they never hold themselves or other men accountable, but actually *genuinely* saying all men will rape and abuse if they became a therapist does nothing to offer solutions that will actually make therapy safe for people.

because i'm sorry but i've had nearly 40 therapists in my life and unfortunately i've had a mix of really harmful experiences from both male and female therapists. the best therapist i had was actually nonbinary. the second and third best were male.

i've had both male/female therapists try to convert me to christianity and say my illness was god punishing me for sinning. i've had female therapists enable my father to continue being sexually/psychologically/physically abusive under the guise of "you're probably just being a dramatic teenage genderfuck" they didn't say genderfuck but they definitely thought my queerness had given some reason for why my dad should be the one to help "get me on the right track".

so i ask you radfem bioessentialists, in your utopia without male therapists, what's your solution for people like myself? multigender/nonbinary people who are seeking therapy, or *gasp* perhaps even schooling to become a therapist? do i get a female therapist because i was AFAB? or no since i identify as a man and have a penis now I must be planning on raping her so i'll need a male therapist. but wait, i'm AFAB and i identify as a woman so he must be planning on raping me. so another multigender AFAB person i'm guessing? wait but if i identify as a woman and a man... and they identify as a woman and a man... who's the one planning on raping the other in this situation? I just wanna make sure I know what to do here, being part man and all, is it in my nature to rape her? or is it his nature to rape me? or do we just rape ourselves all the time since we're both men and women simultaneously.

sorry not to sound like an asshole there at the end with the sarcasm, but like, i was human trafficked for several months and am now severly agoraphobic and even i'm not this terrified that everyone i meet is going to rape me. so idk man. get a grip? have some compassion beyond yourself? some critical thinking skills maybe?

[spinningwebsandtales]

Imagine Reminiscing With Hunter

Hunter X FemReader

Rating: G

Warnings: Angst, all the feels, fluff

Word Count: 930

(A/N:) Okay I gave myself some major feels in this one. As I have gone through a lot of loss within the last 3 years this helped me heal just a little bit. I hope this helps bring a little bit of closure to the series. Though I loved the final season I was a little bit disappointed in how fast the ending came. It ended a little quickly (or I just didn't want it to end) but I'm so glad they got the ending they deserved. Until next time happy reading! ~Countess

It wasn't unusual for Hunter to disappear during the night, you had grown used to his disappearances during the waning hours of the night. As a soldier, created for one purpose in life, it wasn't unusual for his senses to overwhelm him. So in moments you would give him his space, but other times you would search for him. You had a way of telling whatever Hunter needed. As a leader, he had to be the guidance and rock of the team. Now he didn't have to worry about such things, but it had still taken it's toll over the years. This moment, finding Hunter's side cooling and him nowhere in the room and the solemnness that had overcome the tightknit family, you knew that Hunter needed you this time.

Searching for any signs of the aging clone, you noticed Batcher's absence as well. Normally the loyal creature was holed up with Omega. But even the younger girl's room was barren of her presence. That's when you knew, she was making good on her argument with her brother's this evening. You sighed deeply, breath hitching as your heart cracked. Passing by Wrecker's open door, deep snores echoing out into the hall, you knew Hunter needed you now more than ever.

Pabu was silent as the town slept on. You sat on the stairs a hot cup of caf in hand as you waited for Hunter's return. The stars above glistening brightly before a ship crossed over above your head, and you knew the blonde haired girl was making her own way in the galaxy. Batcher's padded steps alerted you to the return of Hunter. The Lurca snuffled your hand before heading inside. Though happy to see you, you could tell the creature was saddened by her body language. Hunter sighed deeply and you gave him a sad smile.

"Caf," you asked holding out the cup.

He nodded and took your offering, then took a seat as you patted the spot beside you. You had the uncanny ability to know just exactly what he needed. And caf answered a lot of life's more problematic issues. Though it warmed his body and alerted his senses, it couldn't heal the fresh wound in his heart.

"I take it she's gone," you sniffed, fighting back the tears.

"Yeah," he answered, taking another sip. "I couldn't talk her out of it. I didn't even try."

"She wouldn't have listened. That's why she try sneaking away," you replied. "She can't just sit by and do nothing while other's suffered. It's never been in her nature and," you nudged Hunter with an elbow, "she learned it from you."

"Doesn't make it any easier," he chuckled. "I still remember the first time I saw her on Kamino. I never understood why she was so drawn to us."

"It's because you guys were different," you paused. "Like her."

"Tech taught her a lot too. He was the best out of all of us."

You smiled, wiping a stray tear, "He was definitely a rebel. You probably shouldn't have let her spend so much time with him, he clearly influenced her."

Hunter nodded, grinning to himself behind the mug of caf, "I wouldn't change a thing."

"I wouldn't either," you agreed. "But you know Tech wasn't the only one she learned from. Echo had a lot to do with her to, Wrecker was a total enabler, Crosshair too when he wanted, and don't even get me started on you. You were like a father figure to her. You protected her and you taught her in your own way."

Hunter leaned his head back, taking a deep shuttering breath.

"What I'm getting to is," you grabbed his hand giving it a gentle squeeze, "she had good teachers in her brothers. In you guys. The Force is with her and her other brother is out there watching over her too. Tech is all for this and you know it. He goes with her wherever she goes and so do you, Wrecker, Echo, and Crosshair. She is a part of you and her you. It's a cycle we must live. We have them and then we have to let them go, whether that is in something they must set out to do or they end their race of life."

"That's the only reason I let her go," Hunter replied.

He finished his caf and set the empty mug aside. You held your arms out offering him the comfort he needed now more than ever. Hunter tugged you towards him setting his chin on the top of your head. His beard catching a few of your hairs. You cried softly, letting yourself free yourself from emotions, and Hunter wiped at a few stray tears. The galaxy such a vast place, you meet so many people and they make you into you. He never regretted for one moment having Omega in his life and that's why it hurt so much in letting her go. With one final squeeze Hunter let you go, wiping at wet eyes and cheeks.

You laughed wobblily, still drying tears. "Now this just raises the question. Who's going to tell Wrecker?"

Hunter shook his head, grabbing both of the empty cooling mugs, "I'm not."

"I'm not either," you argued.

He paused for one moment and you both stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Crosshair," you both said in unison making you both laugh.

With sorrowful but light hearts you both went back inside the warm home, hand in hand. Ready for whatever the galaxy threw towards your way next.

[praetorqueenreyna]

well i AM asking for the essay on modern ACOTAR fandom please🙏😩

YOU ARE ALL ENABLERS!!! FINE I SHALL WRITE MY ESSAY!!!!! I'm putting it under a read more because I'm embarrassed of how long it is.

ACOTAR fandom is strange in a fascinating and NOT FUN way. Fandom has gotten SO restrictive recently, it's suffocating. And idk what it is about ACOTAR, but its fans are among the WORST. Whatever discourse you've seen in other fandoms, multiply it by 10 to get the experience of being in mainstream ACOTAR fandom. It is an unchallenged belief in this fandom that writing, drawing, or consuming any kind of content that isn't 100% healthy in the real world means that you - YOU!!!!! - are a danger to real life human beings. Criticizing a character's choices and the author's writing decisions is warped into you being an abuse apologist and also you probably yell at abuse victims in real life. A drawing of Tamlin and Elain sitting in a garden is now a disgusting acceptance of real life abusers and you're traumatizing every abuse survivor.

I can think of countless examples off the top of my head of real life human beings being harassed and bullied and called all kinds of nasty names for the fictional content they create about fictional characters. Like, I cannot stress enough the irony of these puritans spouting off in woke-enese about how "dangerous" certain fans are being incredibly verbally and emotionally abusive to people in this fandom. A fanartist on Instagram was painting portraits of each of the ACOTAR characters, and as a fun framing device, each painting was meant to be a painting that Feyre would make, and the captions talked about how the artist thought Feyre would paint this character. A charming and delightful series taking advantage of the fact that the main character is a painter, right? WRONG!!! This artist did a painting of Tamlin, and she was raked across the coals for DARING to even IMPLY that Feyre ever even THOUGHT about Tamlin or could even CONSIDER forgiving him enough to paint him. She was accused of "forcing an abuse survivor to think about her abuser." Like, do you see how absurd that is?? Feyre isn't real!! Nobody forced anybody to do anything! That's the kind of batshit insane nonsense we're dealing with.

Not to mention any depicition or joking about the series' villains is seen as you endorsing REAL LIFE VILLAINY!! me and my friends are constantly under fire for DARING to enjoy villainous characters or dark content. I feel like I shouldn't even have to say it, but the content that you create and consume doesn't say anything about you as a person. People who are very well adjusted, kind, and happy will engage with dark content for a variety of reasons. Some use it as a coping/healing mechanism, some just find dark content fascinating and worthy of exploration, and some people have dark fantasies. This fandom behaves as if the things you make and consume are examples of what you consider "healthy" and things that you want to do to real life people. It's INCONCEIVABLE to them that you could enjoy something in fiction and not endorse it in real life. INCONCEIVABLE!!

Aside from the irony of people claiming to battle against toxicity screaming violent insults at real life people over fictional characters, this is very very funny. Those of us that have been in the rarepair trenches in other fandoms can't help but laugh at these grown ass women losing their minds because somebody drew a blonde man. The culmination of this has been the runners of Elain Week refusing to even SEE characters they don't like. The visage of Tamlin will shatter their fragile minds and send them to their early graves. And this isn't even TOUCHING how their standard for which characters are Acceptable and which ones aren't is almost solely decided by what the author has explicitly stated and not based on any critical thinking or analysis.

The sheer and utter absurdity of this fandom in particular being SO hung up on canon should be studied. SJM is such a poor writer that she contradicts canon within the same book. I am firmly convinced that nobody actually reads her novels all the way through before they are published. This canon is bad. Which is why it's so baffling that this fandom in particular is so obsessed with canon and what the author has stated both within the books and in interviews. SJM says this character is bad, and so they are BAD!!! This character is good, and so they are GOOD. Oftentimes if you see people try to tear down Tamlin, they'll bring up SJM saying that he's abusive in interviews, talking about how she doesn't like him, and bringing up that she put a hotline for abuse survivors in the back of one of the books. SJM has said that he's an abuser, and so therefore he IS, and there is no further investigation.

Again, a kindergarden concept I didn't think I'd have to explain to a bunch of grown adults on the internet, but a creator's intention is not the end all be all of discussion. It's certainly a part of the analysis, but it is also up to the reader to determine if the author has convinced you of the story they're trying to tell. For example, the creator Joss Whedon clearly created Buffy the Vampire Slayer to be a feminist, empowering show for women. However, the viewer can watch the show and point out areas where he failed in this intention and allowed misogyny, racism, and homophobia to seep into his works. Imagine if every time you tried to criticize a "feminist" show made by a man, the fans screamed at you that the creator said it's feminist, and so therefore it is, and that's the end of that.

This is PARTICULARLY galling with SJM's villains. A lot of them are just...not written well, or convincingly, or realistically. BUT a lot of them are sexual predators, and so any discussion about them and their character is cut off at the source. SJM tells you that these people are BAD GUYS and you have to accept it, otherwise you're defending r*pists. It's especially hilarious because a lot of her "good" guys also commit many horrible acts. Part of the hilarity of the Elain Week nonsense is that the man that the creators ship Elain with, Azriel, is a PROFESSIONAL TORTURER. But SJM says he's good and sympathetic, so therefore, he is. And it's an entirely different essay to go into how SJM portrays her female villains, and I got Cancelled for it last time I tried so NO YOU CANT MAKE ME!!!

Lastly, I'll mention the bloated victim complex of people that like popular things. Again, not unique to ACOTAR fandom, but certainly very prevalent. The people who are in the majority NEED to feel like they're the underdog, fighting the good fight. Hence having the people who like one of the MAIN CHARACTERS and one of the Top 5 Most Popular Ships acting like they are Jesus on the cross for shipping Elain and Bland Dude #4. They work themselves into a paranoid frenzy, feeling attacked at every twist and turn. I would bet my LIFE that the people that run Elain Week have never even seen Beron/Elain content, let alone had it submitted to their event. But they got themselves all worked up about the Evil Tamlin Cabal RUINING THE EVENT that they made these rules that are simply ridiculous. And it backfired on them. Me and my friends have been accused of ruining other character weeks for making content for ships that WE like but the moderators don't. They'll see one single Rhysand/Tamlin drawing and act like you've fucking shot them. They genuinely feel like nobody likes Feyre or Rhysand, the most popular characters, and everyone supports Tamlin. It's insane and they need to get offline. I've seen people wearing Night Court merch in real life. Trust me, you won. You are not the victim.

[aruanimess]

You should totally do HCs for AOT characters. I know you want to😎

🌟

The gender/sexuality HCs? Oh, anon, you shouldn't be enabling me like that... (pls continue)

Okay, so the reason I was hesitant to do this is that I'm usually a "bi until proven otherwise" type of person, but here we go-

Before I begin, disclaimer 1: I consider pan and bi to be very similar sexualities, being bi doesn't mean you're not attracted to nbs (at least imo). The difference lies in whether or not the gender of your partner factors in the attraction you're experiencing (again imo).

Disclaimer 2: This is all in good fun, not meant to be taken too seriously, and obviously if you disagree that's all right 💕

So without further ado:

Eren (he/him): Heteroflexible, but also demisexual. Boy needs a strong bond to penetrate the wall of tatakae and get him to feel attraction. His implied but not canonically explicit crushes on Annie and Historia, only confirm this for me bc he only became interested in them after he learned more about the way they think. Mikasa is obviously his best friend, and Armin, his other best friend, puts the flexible into the heteroflexible.

Mikasa (she/her): Pansexual, also demisexual. She doesn't care about her partner's gender, only about their heart. She has trouble getting attached, but once she does she's ride or die!

Armin (he/they): Bisexual. You know the meme that goes, "I'm probably nonbinary but I don't have time for that"? Yeah, that's Armin. He do be fighting demons, and the demons are his relationship to masculinity. They like macho dudes (the ones they envy/they eeeenvy 🎶) and people who intimidate them.

Annie (she/they): Bisexual. Unlike Armin her nonbinary inclinations are not over some angst with womanhood, she simply sometimes wishes not to be perceived in any particular way. She likes boys if they're nice, girls if they're cool and nbs... nbs are just hot.

Jean (he/him): Pansexual. I don't think gender matters to him, he judges people through their actions, though, and oh boy... he's a harsh judge!

Connie (he/hee): Pansexual aromantic. Sorry, this boy is all about friendship, the other thing he just doesn't get. His friends will be his family, not his future spouse. He still gets around though 👀

Sasha (she/her): Demisexual, demiromantic, straight. Niccolo. Need I explain more?

Bertolt (he/him): He thinks he's straight but he's actually bi.

Reiner (he/him): Homoflexible. Mainly gay, but an exceptional woman can make him change his mind.

Historia (she/her): GAY, GAY, HOMOSEXUAL, GAY. Les-be-honest this woman is a lesbian.

Ymir (she/they): c'mon, she's a giant lesbian!

Pieck (she/her): okay, I know it's a hot take, but I think she's straight. Like who in their right mind rejects Hange? Clearly straight. (And I don't want to hear about Yelena because, again, who in their right mind rejects Hange but wants Yelena?? NO) She's polyamorous though.

Hange (they/them): Pansexual. Canonical crushes involve Keith Shadis and Pieck. They clearly don't care about their partner's gender, only their levels of weirdness. Their gender is mad scientist.

Levi (he/him): another hot take, I think he's aroace.

[idlenight]

I'm curios- what are the reasons from the demo that you like hg? It can be under the cut if you want to avoid people getting spoilers!

I will use any excuse to blab about HG, you are an enabler anon.

WARNING: Public Revelations Demo spoilers (for route 4.2) under the cut

Secondary warning of a LOT of text lmao.

hgsib variable.... i am obsessed w/ u.

You are Hollow Ground. You wake up in the middle of the night because you're a little parched. You untangle yourself from your polycule to go to the kitchen and get a drink.

There, sitting on your kitchen counter, is the villain that had previously refused to show up to the meeting you invited them to and send their assistant instead. They are in full armor, you are in your robes (a little underdressed for this meeting).

They offer you a cup of your own coffee that they just made.

Personally? I would be alerting my bodyguards polycule to the intrusion. But no HG just, rolls with the punches. I respect that.

But to get into the actual nitty gritty and the Connections(tm) to sidestep, focusing on the friendly + mind conversation because that's what I saw in my run.

In the friendly conversation where sidestep takes their helm off you get so much insight into HG's relationship with their sibling.

"Believe it or not," you start, *if ((suit_terrifying) or (hgterrified))   realizing how absurd this must sound, "I do believe it will be more advantageous to work together than be enemies." "You have certainly proven that you would be a bad enemy to have," Hollow Ground admits. *if hgreveal   "And I'm glad you're being sensible about this." The smile is real, as is the relief.   *if hgmind     "I wouldn't want us to be at odds. Not now."

a boss or hunter also gets this piece of dialogue that im unwell about:

  "Oh I know exactly who would," Hollow Ground says, voice sharper than it has been so far tonight. "Lord Ember. That San Francisco fuck has been making moves on my territory. I wasn't sure if you were one of his plants until tonight."   *if hgreveal     ${hghis} ${eyes} meet yours. Certainty. You're on ${hghis} side in this.

'Certainty. You're on [their] side in this.' <- homie immediately willing to believe step is on their side because they're probably his sibling, why wouldn't they be?

With a thief step, this dialogue comes up

  "Sometimes I can't be bothered though." You stare ${hghim} down, seeing how much leeway you have with your little stunt. "With the whole research thing. Is that going to be an issue?"   "You..." Hollow Ground groans.   *if hgmind     "You really haven't changed one bit, have you?"   *elseif hgreveal     "This feels far too familiar."

and the mindtalk + being defensive:

    "So what?" Your tone matches ${hghis}, because you have never once backed down from an argument. "Are you seriously surprised?"     "I shouldn't be, you always were a little shit." The words are out, flat on the table between you, coins not heads or tails but on the edge, spinning freely.

HG's youngest sibling confirmed to have been a little shit. (this dynamic was made for River 'born to be a shithead little brother' Becker fr fr)

Although my favorite part of the mind talk is this:

  *selectable_if (protected) #"You saved me," I gasp, focusing on that. "Why?"     "You saved me," you gasp, trying to swallow the taste of blood and drowning. "Why would you do that?" $!{hghe} must have known what you were trying to do. You're not sure if Hollow Ground is a telepath, but there is some form of mental powers at play here, that you could feel. Something...     "Hell if I know," ${hghe} @{hgsv lies|lie} and you know that now. Can taste the lie, not because your minds are entangled but because you can see it in ${hghis} eyes.     *if hg_relationship = "dangerous telepath"       "I should have let you drown like last time."       "But you didn't," you retort, wiping your mouth. "You know something."     *else       "Liar," you retort, wiping your mouth.

"You don't know?" You can sense the disbelief, ${hghis} eyes narrowing. "Fuck. Of course. That makes sense. Too much sense." "No it doesn't," you protest. "Do you remember anything?" Hollow Ground leans forward, too insistent now, almost reaching out to touch. You lean back, putting space between you despite the protection of your armor. "About what?" Why are you the one being interrogated? What did you see in there? What did you feel? "Your childhood." The words land heavily, and you almost laugh. As if you were ever a child.

The way that i am obsessed with ["dialogue" he lied] in texts. ALso ugh, HG leaning forward, wanting to touch sidestep. To make sure they're real? to comfort them? to comfort themself? They want sidestep to be their sibling so bad, need it to be true.

In fact is sidestep dismisses it (our memories got entangled. it's nothing more than that), then HG begs them to answer the question anyway, and are very clearly unwilling to let it go even though they won't force the answer because they're at a disadvantage.

  #"No," I say, which is technically not a lie. "Why?"     "No," you say, which is technically not a lie. No childhood unless you count being newly decanted, fumbling your way through the world before your memory implant. "Why?"     "Because you remind me of someone." Hollow Ground looks directly at you, eyes narrowing. "Someone who I thought I had lost long ago. Someone who should be dead."     "Some people don't stay dead forever," you joke with your grimmest smile, but ${hghe} @{hgsv takes|take} it the wrong way, eagerly leaning forward.     "Could it be...?" A pause, ${hghis} fingers tapping nervously against the table. "You would have been in your early teens. There was an... attack. They called it an accident, but nobody was fooled. You had been arrested, they said you suffered an overdose. They never let us claim the body, so I always figured it was police brutality. Didn't want us to see the evidence. I never thought there was a chance that you were alive?"

You can feel the hope radiating from ${hghim}. An old wound, reopened. Someone who loved ${hghis} *if afab   little sister *elseif amab   little brother *else   younger sibling and is now hoping that ${hghe} had been wrong all along. That there is a chance there had been no death. No body. Just someone disappeared into the system for whatever nefarious purposes. Someone who might be sitting at the table across from ${hghim}. Maybe. Hope. The most powerful and addictive of drugs. *if (((amab) and (gender = "woman")) or ((afab) and (gender = "man")))   You know in your heart that it is wrong. Not just because you are a Re-Gene and never were a child. But because the child you saw in ${hghis} mind had been a @{amab little girl.|little boy.} And you never would have been. Not back then.

Hollow Ground loved their younger sibling, Hollow Ground hopes that they are wrong. They want to be wrong, they need to be. For a chance that their sibling can still be alive, sitting in front of them now, breathing.

I could go on but this is already long enough lmao. Thanks for coming to another one of my TEDtalks ✌️.

[eroticcannibal]

Okay so this is entirely separate from your discourse but I HATE when I'm calling out a pedophile, a real life pro contact minor attracted person who BRAGS about it and because I say "I think pedophiles should die" suddenly everyone is like "but it's a mental illness!! They need HELP!! (And also so what if they're talking about a real child?)" fuck OFF. and they're like "I don't AGREE with them, obviously, but you shouldn't say they should kill themselves!" So many people are pedophile defenders it's fucking sick. No, I'm not talking about Loli or bullshit I'm talking about a REAL person.

Yeah like obviously there's some nuance around the term pedophile but like. IN CONTEXT I think the meaning is pretty clear there (esp with the term having different definitions in different context and it sounds like you aren't using the medical definition there!)

It does deeply frustrate me when ppl coddle and excuse the pro contact and offending lot with "but it's a mental illness" like I'm sorry but everyone else who is attracted to someone can manage to not rape them, your """mental illness""" doesn't make you a rapist, that's a choice, stop making excuses for them! And honestly while I guess *technically* suicide baiting is bad, but if someone is at the point where they think it's OK to rape kids, idk probably better hills to die on than protecting their feelings. It would certainly solve the problem if they did kill themselves.

There has been this weird tendency in progressive spaces, in the effort to extend sympathy to non offending pedophiles, to go a bit far into enabling and coddling and I'm very much not a fan. I'm honestly not a fan of the attraction itself being considered a mental illness or the idea it inherently means someone needs help to not offend. Like. U can have your thoughts in private and not act on it. Maybe someone might need some help dealing with shame but if you think u "need help" to not molest a kid maybe u should be thrown in the ocean. It just removes responsibility from the offender. That's a choice they make.

And DISCOURSE ASIDE, if ur calling out a fucking predator, pushback is derailing regardless of the reason. Just fucking. Let someone metaphorically maul a nonce in peace. There is a time and place for pedo discourse but what u describe aint it.

[niuttuc]

I bequath upon ye mine gal. The goal is to use her ability on a spite damage creature like brash taunter, with a damage multiplier like city on fire in play to one-shot opponents

Ah yes, indigestion as a deck strategy. Mmmmh.

The first suggestion to take a look at depends on how important the fact the damage is done by Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar activating her ability. I'll start with a new thing you probably noticed, but also include two older things.

The Ride is a source of damage for your spiteful creatures AND a damage doubler all rolled in one, assuming your deck can enable Delirium fairly well (shouldn't be too hard if you already have discard to be able to cast Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar and the Cookbook too.)

Those are just X removals, though they have some more text, the important part is that they come pre-doubled, adding a layer of damage multiplication before you even start!

The next one is more specific to the exact situation your deck aims to engineer, and a bit more niche!

While there are no lessons in commander, Learning still allows you to rummage... Which discards a card and allows you to cast Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar. On its own that's pretty meh, but the card is also very useful once on the battlefield, granting lifelink to any of your spite creatures. This causes you to not only gain life when they hit people, but since Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar makes them hit themselves, you also gain life for that. A simple activation on a spite creature gains you 12 life, and with a simple damage doubler you immediately go up to 36 life.

While I'll generally assume you know your spite creatures better than me when making this deck, I'll single one of them out because she was easy to miss and a bit misleading...

Donna Noble not only can turn any regular creature into another spite creature (perfect if you initialize with a damage board wipe or similar), but also can keep making more to shoot one at a time as they die, acting a bit like one of the indestructible ones.

Something else that's important about her, is that unlike every other Soulbond creatures, Donna doesn't rely on being soulbonded to have her ability herself. You can just have her out alone and she won't be a vanilla creature. This is very easy to miss given that literally every soulbond creature except for her doesn't do that.

[deluweil]

Something that doesn't fit, besides that God awful plot of grandbaby kidnapping and the whole fucking enabling of a stupid teenager to be away from his dad,

These people are old, like older probably from my own parents and I'm over 35 okay?

My mother, after watching my sister's kids for a few hours is freaking exhausted, and even when she was younger, me and my sisters were horrible teenagers, like seriously.

On what premise is TM going that they can raise a teenager, any teenager and will have the patience and the skills to manage a teenager long term.

And when I say teenager, I mean grown fucking men over 25, that shit ain't getting grown out of that stage quickly or easily.

These people are old, maybe Helena has the strength still to raise Christopher, but Ramon is old, he looks old and he has a weak heart.

So what the hell? Did they bring him to Texas so that he can watch Ramon die? Or maybe so that he will be the one stuck nursing them when they get to the point that they can't look after themselves?

And when will Eddie fucking say enough is enough and tell his parents that they can go suck an egg and to leave him and his kid alone.

And to that awful teenager to remind him that he is still a fucking child and he can be as angry as he wants, at home, with his father who is not perfect or indestructible but he loves him more than his own life, and that Christopher will hear him out and then he can get over himself in his own time, at his home in LA, with his dad, because you don't just get up and leave just because your dad made a mistake.

And maybe send both of them to therapy, it can be good for them.

To be completely honest, I don't think Eddie is at the point where he needs Chris back, he has his own journey, and if his old vice and guilt are back he will revert back to ghost Shannon and finding that crappy teenager a mother again.

Eddie needs to figure himself out first.

The storyline is one of the worst written in 911 history and after the sperm donor storyline that should really tell you something.

Clearly all the writers are either terrible parents or dead single and terrible at their jobs.

Also basic human interaction, learn it, these are people you're writing.

I want Christopher back (I also kind want to shake him awake from that entitlement he's sporting), but right now, for Eddie’s development sake, he shouldn't be back yet, Eddie is not ready to face his parents with the calm finality needed and he is no place to confront Christopher, because that kid is like his daddy he is stubborn and pig headed and with him Eddie will have to "go to war" to make peace with his stubborn and resentful son.

Which I gotta say, Eddie is nothing like Ramon, and those old enablers are doing more damage than good, Eddie, on all his mistakes, and parents make mistakes, didn't deserve this particular God awful storyline.

Not only because it is hideous and so not in conformity to S5 5x17, but also kind of far-fetched, there is no rhyme or reason here. TM is mostly just winging it, badly.

[matan4il]

911 ep 702 first watch reactions

Man, IDK. Maybe I shouldn't be writing about this. I'm an Israeli. I'm currently living a continuous trauma. The end of 701 already felt a bit difficult for me. The start of 702 was even more so. And maybe I don't have the right to speak about this, being Israeli and watching a show that is American.

But then I think... yeah, it's an American show, but it is made knowing it will be aired internationally, including in Israel. It's an American show, and plenty of American Jews have family and friends in Israel, maybe they had a similar reaction to mine. It's an American show, and I am not American, I am probably not someone they keep in mind when they make it, but I am a human being, and as such, I have the right to share my experience. Even if it is unique, and not one single other viewer felt the way I did when watching 702, even if no one else reads or gets this. We are all valid as human beings, with our unique experiences, and that does include me.

It was hard for me, seeing civilians being held hostage at gun point, when 134 of our hostages are still kept in captivity, and when I heard so many testimonies from people about the many hours they spent staring down the barrel of a gun, or being under siege.

It was hard seeing people made to kneel with rifles pointed at their heads, then Norman, a character we've gotten to know more than the average vic on this show, being shot. There's a specific vid from Oct 7 that this made me think of. It was CCTV footage, showing a girl who was fleeing Hamas terrorists, and they ended up with one catching up to her, she was on her knees, the terrorist was aiming his rifle at her head, and she was begging for her life. He let her go on like that for several long and excruciating to watch seconds, where it was like... maybe it won't happen, maybe he won't shoot. Then he shot her anyway, and her body fell back from the impact of the shot, and then to the ground.

It was hard seeing Hen's decision in the field being questioned, by others and at times herself, while thinking of all the soldiers and commanders who are being questioned, and are questioning themselves, on whether they made the right calls on the day of Hamas' massacre, and the days leading up to it, which enabled the brutal, torturous murder of so many. I've even seen civilians do that, like Rami Davidian, who's being interviewed by many for being a hero, driving into the scene of carnage repeatedly to save others, most of them strangers, and at least once I heard him saying he feels guilty and sorry for all the people he failed to save.

It was hard watching Bobby and Athena saying their last goodbye to each other, when I have spent almost half a year listening to people sharing their last conversations with their loved ones, and watching too many saying their last goodbye at funerals. I just recently wrote about Libby Cohen Meguri's last phone call to her family, when she had already been shot, and all she wanted was to tell them that she loves them, but her mom was too in denial.

I feel like I should say something about the storytelling, about how great the show is again, how this is a multi-ep disaster done right, with the correct balance between the regular emergencies, the big one, and the personal lives of our protagonists with their familial love for each other, with a great build up, both from one ep to the next, and within the eps themselves... A part of me does notice and is happy about that.

But most of me just can't. That's trauma for you, I guess. And to borrow the words of one Eddie Diaz, I'm scared that I will never feel normal again.