#izzy hands is a fantastic antagonist

[some-anonymity-preferred]

Izzy Hands as an Old Guard Queer (spoiler: no he ain't)

The discussion of Izzy Hands as an old queer who cares about his pre-existing found family and is protecting his safe space from suspected narcs has been flickering through my feed, and it just keeps going on, and I just keep going no.

I grew up in the 70s and 80s in a Mexican-American family that included a great uncle who was openly gay enough that he brought boyfriends to the asadas, and also an uncle who was so deeply closeted and self-hating that he made my skin crawl.

My family did not discuss any of this openly, and I was young, so there's a lot that I missed. I don't know how my great uncle evaluated any new people that other family members brought to the party, or what actions he took to protect himself and his "friends" if a newcomer's vibe was off. Having been a queer adult myself for going on three decades now, I have some educated guesses. What I do know is that my great uncle was a deeply loved favorite, at least in my branch of the family, and he for sure never freaked out and called the cops on us, nor did anyone in the family do that to him.

My uncle, on the other hand. Woof. He was not well liked. He was a walking, talking caltrop bomb. He both complained about racial discrimination and was a consummate boot-licker. He never called the cops on an asada, either, but if I had to choose one family member I would never put it past? It would be him.

Which of those people sounds more like the Izzy Hands we see onscreen?

My vote is for Uncle Bad Vibes.

I don't know my great uncle's role in the gay community he lived in, but he sounds a lot closer to the idea of an old guard queer who lives quietly and quietly protects his own, doesn't he? And not like OFMD Izzy at all.

There is one fic I enjoy that does cast Izzy that way:

Izzy is literally cast in an avuncular role here. He is older than Ed and Stede. He owns a gay bar. His partner is in prison due to a past raid on said gay bar. He is protective of his bar and community, and he is suspicious of Stede. He's bitchy to Stede, he discusses his misgivings with Ed, he's not nice about it. He tries to pull rank, and it works in the narrative of The Reno Cure because he actually does have a position of some authority, vis a vis Ed. Which he does not (except in his own mind; and, in the world at large, as a white man) in OFMD.

But you know what Izzy does not do in The Reno Cure? He does not call the cops into his own damn bar to get rid of Stede.

I really cannot stress that enough. Protective Old Guard Gays do NOT call the cops. No one who is part of a marginalized community and prioritizes keeping that community safe calls the cops on that community. They may engage in a kind of policing within the community, and that may cause conflict with others in the community who are sick of respectability politics. That happens. All the time. I grew up with it. People I loved and admired did it. Sometimes they directed it at me. I still see it, among my co-ethnics and among fellow queers. I've done it myself, and I work not to. I've worked my entire life and will continue to work the rest of my life to make my peace with it. It is not and never will be the same thing as calling in the literal fucking cops.

I told myself I wouldn't write a long post, that I wouldn't get too deep into this. Whoops.

Nearly everything I've already written ignores the racial dynamics at play in OFMD and in the fandom. And I just can't do that.

The thing that set me off this morning was a new argument that basically says, "Ed doesn't care about his crew and Izzy does." Using, as proof, Ed's line that dying is kinda part of the pirate job, in response to Izzy pointing out that crew died because Ed pursued Stede onto the Spanish ship.

Ed and Izzy are already in the middle of an Old Marrieds' argument that started with the frankfurters. Ed is being dismissive to bait Izzy. Later, he expresses the exact opposite attitude toward the crew to Stede, also to bait Stede. Throughout most of that episode, Ed is a deeply unreliable narrator, and on this point I think it's because he truly feels both. He expresses passive suicidal ideation throughout, which jibes with the "part of the job" line, and he expresses burnout under the pressure of being Blackbeard to Stede. He chooses which element of his complex emotions to share according to what will rile up his given interlocutor the most.

But maybe big scary brown men aren't allowed to have complex emotions? I dunno.

There's that. But what really got under my skin was then thinking about the contrast between how Ed treats Ivan and Fang, with how Izzy does. I think a lot about how, in the snail fork scene, Ed outsources the violence he wants to inflict for the French captain's racial slight against him to Fang. The even bigger, even browner, big scary brown guy. And Fang acts like it's NBD, happens all the time. That is a whole essay in itself; all I want to do right now is lay out there that I clock that. It's bad. It's complex. It's realistic. And it's just about all the abuse Ed lays on either Fang or Ivan. (ETA: That, and Fang’s puppy. Part of me asks, Did Ed say get rid of it, or kill it? And did Izzy relay the order as get rid of it, or as kill it? Because:)

But Izzy? Yanks Fang's beard, does it all the time. Calls Ivan and Fang "the boys." Acts like he's the only Competent Adult in the room in a room (ship) full of non-white people. Acts like he's Blackbeard's keeper and that Ed could not live or function without him. Wants Ed to be the Big Scary Brown Man Fucking Viking Vampire Clown, wants it so much that he's willing to threaten his captain's life if he won't fulfill that role. (Loyalty to your captain my ass.) Gets off on having forced Ed to fulfill that role. Literally buys Ed from the British. Calls the cops on a ship full of non-white queers who are in no way harming him, unless it's by keeping Ed from performing as his big scary racialized fetish object.

Just fucking fuck. Seriously.

Also, not one single thing Izzy does in OFMD indicates that he thinks Stede is a narc. Not one single thing. If that reading were intended, I'd expect these very skillful, very deliberate writers to fucking indicate that. They do not.

The rest of that, though, that I described a couple of paragraphs ago? The mediocre white man with a superiority complex shit? The things that make Izzy a hair-curling, skin-crawling, fan-fucking-tastic antagonist? (not the goddamn hero, what the fuck is wrong with people) That is all there on the screen. So don't at me. Fuck.

#ofmd #ofmd meta #izzy critical #ofmd fic #being a fandom is suffering #Izzy hands is an antagonist #izzy hands is a fantastic antagonist

[celluloidbroomcloset]

Man, I been writing quite a bit about Izzy Hands and toxic masculinity and his arc with that and here's the thing: the arc DOES NOT WORK if you just pretend he does not have a huge amount of deeply complicated internalized homophobia. His hatred of Stede and Lucius in Season 1 is about their masculine presentation and their not falling into and remaining in the correct categories and he makes that everyone else's problem because he's been warped by a painfully toxic masculine culture. The arc is about showing how horrific that culture is and how it nearly KILLS not just Ed, but the entire crew including Izzy himself, and how being freed from all those assumptions literally saves them. The whole dang thing is poison into positivity, but if you don't accept that the poison exists, that the gangrenous limb has to come off, then positivity isn't going to do shit.

I dunno, man, it makes me mad that such a fantastic and complicated arc has been just ignored or explained away by some folks because they don't want this angry, unhappy white man to be an actual antagonist who finds redemption.

#ofmd season 2 #our flag means death #ofmd meta #once again #i shall not tag this #because i don't want the shit #anyway i'm almost done #then i can think about stede and ed and class and see if i wanna look into that whole kettle of fish

[jaskierx]

I’m so sorry this is going to be a long one!

I watched season 2 all by myself, without dipping my toes in fandom spaces before I was done. It gets overwhelming, so I only look for fans perception after I’m done watching the whole thing because I don’t want to be swayed in my opinions. Can I say I was a bit shocked by the fan reaction to Izzy?

As someone who was distanced from it, this was my take on him.

I consider myself neutral-positive when it comes to him, I don’t hate him at all but he’s not my fav, and I appreciate him because I’ve always liked the unique energy he brought to the show. He was a fantastic antagonist in season 1, and whilst I like his redemption arc in season 2 as a narrative, I wasn’t 100% sold on it on screen because it felt a little too forced on the writers’ part and frankly felt a little too much like sweeping his past behavior under the rug.

Don’t get me wrong, it made complete sense that Ed’s erratic behavior was more of an immediate concern for the crew, but the lack of acknowledgement from Izzy, after things calmed down, of what he himself did to the crew and to Stede left me a little unsatisfied. He let Ed take the brunt of everything although he played a hand in it. He was aware of how he had facilitated Ed’s spiraling though, which I can appreciate, even if the apology came only at his very last scene. The crew didn’t realize what was happening between Ed and Izzy (Jim saying Izzy was Ed’s friend made me roll my eyes, I get it, but I didn’t like them talking about things they don’t see the whole picture of, but it does illustrate their obliviousness about the situation), and they didn’t know Izzy was pushing Ed’s buttons constantly prior to him snapping. They couldn’t have known at all. I guess Izzy decided to make amends through his actions rather than his words, which is great and commendable (although it felt a little like they glossed over said actions), but the lack of acknowledgment is still there.  

Apart from this main gripe, I still liked his arc this season, he made me laugh, I felt for him at times, and I was bummed that he died. But most of all, I didn’t linger too much on Izzy when watching the season because his presence didn’t feel that big to me. He was nicer, had some great and funny moments but still very much felt like a supporting character popping up here and there.

So, you can imagine how surprised I was when I started seeing so many posts about him, what these were about, and certain things have since then kind of stuck with me.

The one I’ll talk about here is how bizarrely nerfed (as in blander) AND buffed Izzy is in a lot of takes I’ve seen. Like… Izzy is manipulative and twist things around a lot to make himself look better (we’ve seen him do that with Stede so many times). Like when he mentioned Ed cutting his leg off because he said he loved him. I don’t remember those things happening as he told them but go off Izzy. Interesting how Ed pulled the trigger but is considered to have cut Izzy’s leg off himself (when we know Jim and Archie did) but Izzy triggering Ed constantly until he snapped to the point of trying to take his own life multiple times is nothing at all in the mind of some fans, don’t you think?

It’s not a bad thing for Izzy to be manipulative at all, I genuinely think it’s great that he has this trait as a character, but takes after takes willfully ignore that and take his words as face value (but in the same breath ignore when Izzy used the shark metaphor to recognize that he fucked up and deserved to be confronted with just how much he fucked up). It’s such a disservice to Izzy. Let him be manipulative! Stop making him out to be this great guy who does nothing wrong! Is it this much to bear to acknowledge that he does shady things? He’s a pirate! Not a precious angel. That’s one of the best part of his character!

As for the buffing part… I can’t lie, I’m bothered that the show planted the seed that Izzy was the brain behind Blackbeard and taught him everything he knew, especially now that I see fan reactions to it. I don’t think this was what they meant to do at all, but it felt like a way to make Izzy this selfless hero which he never was. I think Stede was trying to butter Izzy up so he would help him, and about Izzy being the brain of the operation, who gives a fuck what Rick thinks? Izzy certainly didn’t take the bait and didn’t give a shit, but some Izzy fans took it very seriously apparently.

If anything, it reeks of racism because in his mind of course a brown man can’t think for himself and needs his white first mate to come up with plans for him. It’s really insulting, and I’m really annoyed when I see that some fans ran with it, rewriting Izzy has this badass pirate when his ego and condescending attitude actually exposed him to be the opposite (being outplayed by Stede in 102, losing the duel on a technicality, but still losing it in 106, being such a terrible captain that he gets mutinied right away in 110). It’s been established very early on that Ed is an amazing sailor and a really competent one at that! His instincts are top notch and he’s a great fighter! I don’t know, this rubs me the wrong way. Seeing his accomplishments brushed aside in favor of making Izzy look better is not it. Let Izzy's ego and rage be an obstacle to his growth!

I don’t know, I feel bad for on-screen Izzy. He’s an interesting character but the way people overinflate his importance in the story and turn him into something he’s not, is sad to see.

I’ll stop there because this ask is way too long already and I’m sorry about that. All this to say, I think the writing on Izzy was a little dissonant in some parts, with some attempts at making him more likeable that were successful, and others that could’ve been less shoehorned. For a supporting character though? I’m happy with what they did with him, just bummed out that his fans don’t really want to see him as he is.

don't apologise for sending long asks. i love getting a lil essay in my askbox have no fear

i agree entirely about s1 izzy vs s2 izzy. in s1 he's a great antagonist. he's in the wrong genre of show, he's incredibly repressed, he gets off on being forcefed his own toe, he has bad middle manager energy, he is the human incarnation of wile e coyote, his entire life goal is to split ed and stede up but he's absolutely incapable of stopping himself from accidentally helping them get together. he fascinates me. terrible person. i hate him. great antagonist

and your perspective as someone who did not spend significant amounts of time reading the worst takes you've ever seen during the hiatus is really interesting! like it confirms stuff that has been brought up before about how for example the season feels incredibly izzy-heavy if you're e.g. me but feels a lot more balanced if you're watching without any kind of fandom-related brainrot.

he's an unreliable narrator. we know this and we've known this from day one. the show makes a point to show us that when he's telling ed that stede didn't want to meet him and he misrepresents what he told stede. and yet the lengths some people in this fandom will go to to insist that everything that comes out of his mouth is gospel. like people just accepting at face value that 'izzy has always managed ed's erratic moods' etc when the only evidence for this is [checks notes] izzy himself making that claim. people will go as far as to handwave and assume that things must have happened off screen in a way that backs up izzy's account.

and your point about how all of izzy's flaws and harmful actions get dialled down while he also gets credit for all of ed's successes is spot on. everything harmful that izzy does is handwaved away as 'oh he was acting in ed's best interests' 'he thought he was doing the right thing' 'it doesn't matter that he threatened ed bc what ed did in response was way worse' etc. and then everything that ed achieves is attributed to izzy having taught him all he knows, having been the brains behind the idea of the blackbeard character. and these are inextricably linked - because in this wild fanon version of the show, izzy is fully responsible for all of blackbeard's intelligence and skill, and he and the crew's ability to earn a living completely relies on ed continuing to be blackbeard, so as long as izzy is supposedly acting with the goal of ed continuing to be blackbeard, he's actually being benevolent and looking out for the crew. even if he's selling them out to the navy. even if he's telling ed that he's better off dead than pining for stede.

btw the way folks go on about the duel in s1e6 is the funniest fucking thing. 'but stede cheated 😤 here's a 20 page essay on why izzy actually won' bestie it's a pirate ship not the supreme court, the winner is whoever the crew decides is the winner. (also stede won based on duel rules so. go off i guess)

but yeah i completely get what you mean. and it's a very common feeling. there are plenty of people who liked canon izzy and really want to be able to enjoy him but that enjoyment gets overshadowed by the amount of shite that comes out of the canyon that completely woobifies him and restructures the entire story to fit around their idea that izzy is the protagonist and a longsuffering victim

anyway. if you agreed with this post please send takes to @canonizzyhours 🌻

#asks #anon #ofmd #izzy hands #fandom critical #izzy critical

[chocolatepot]

izzy hands for the bingo

I knew if I did this the first one would be Izzy! You're trying to get me killed!

I don't think there's any opinion you can have on Izzy that isn't like hitting a wasp's nest, but I'm in the middle so it's like two wasp's nests.

So my thing is that I think Izzy is great for his purpose in canon - someone who's Ed's subordinate/ally but also his and Stede's antagonist. He's the vinegar that makes the pie crust flaky (or whatever it is that the vinegar is doing in my grandmother's pie crust recipe). I would not want to know him IRL but as a fictional character he's fantastically horrible. He hates himself and he takes it out on everyone else, but I can't hate him because nobody takes him seriously in the show. I love his constant unforced errors, and I love writing him making more of them or just generally being kicked around by the narrative, because it's very funny.

At the same time, I do think the show is going to do something meaningful with him, because he is so twisted up inside wrt toxic masculinity. The whole point of the show is that these standards are bad, so I just can't quite see them not having him learn that lesson. Also, Con O'Neill deserves the challenge and fun of acting such an arc. Izzy will probably never be a Nice Man but I suspect that by the end he'll still be kind of a hardass but one with some ability to relax. Redemption arcs are great for me in fic, but I avoid fics where he turns out to be misunderstood or he's sick and needs attention, etc. - the fic has to accept that he's done bad things and would continue to do them if unchecked, and needs to get better.

I dislike basically all the Izzy ships, though. The kink meme is so overloaded with Ed/Izzy and Steddy Hands and I just have no interest. I don't even look at fics on AO3 that contain them. Izzy/OC is where it's at for me for the most part (it's no secret that I love @mottlemoth's John Bryce as someone to willingly deal with him and help him work through his issues), maybe Izzy/Lucius.

Especially controversial take, maybe? Izzy correlates a lot to Snape, and I always wonder how many people's opinions of both fall on the same lines.

#I consider myself the platonic form of Izzy ENJOYER #in that I enjoy him very much but am not exactly an Izzy FAN #I find his fuckups so so funny #please let me remind you again that I wrote Ed wagering him on a knife-throwing contest in order to win Stede #and it was NOT dramatic it was a snap decision because Ed's heartstrings were tugged by Stede #(this was an AU where they'd never met before) #but I worry that this makes people think I want to just write him getting punished because I hate him and it's not the case #ofmd #ofmd meta #ask meme

[alex51324]

Our Flag Means Death and the Appeal of Izzy Hands

This is a thing that came up in the comments of my new fic, and I’m bringing it over here for a wider audience.  

Briefly, the appeal of Izzy Hands is that, if this were a hetero show, he would be the queer character (hat tip to kitewithfish for this phrasing).  

Decades-if-not-centuries of media where queerness can only ever been subtextual have taught us to look for our stories around the edges of the main plot.  And Izzy’s unspoken, queer-in-multiple-senses devotion to Blackbeard is exactly that type of story. 

Izzy Hands is obsessed with Blackbeard in a way that, if the plan was to steer this ship towards heteronormativity, absolutely has to also be either villain-coded or tragic. In a "straight” (in multiple senses) narrative, the only two ways the story can end are if he either becomes the antagonist and is defeated, or accepts that the protagonist's relationship with the love interest is more important than his feelings, happiness, or (often) life, and sacrifices himself so that the object of his devotion can ride off into a sunset of (heterosexually) married bliss.

“That, but the love interest is also a dude!" is okay, but it's not what my soul wants.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic that we get to see same-sex love as central and celebrated, but I still want to know more about the guy whose feelings the story itself tells us are weird and unacceptable.  What compels me to get into the sandbox and dig around is trying to find a way that the ending can be happy for him, too.  

If this were, say, 2003, and the canon romance arc was between Ed and, like, Stella Bonnet or whatever, Izzy/Ed would be the slash ship, and we'd all be writing fix-its where Ed takes the relationship skills he learned from Stella and applies them to his relationship with Izzy. I can see the fanart now: Izzy in the outfit Ed wears to the fancy party, Ed leaning toward him (and/or actually kissing, depending on rating) and the caption, "You wear fine things well."

Granted, this would all have an undercurrent of misogyny that I'm just as glad we can dispense with (and even gladder that we are sometimes managing to avoid even in fandoms where the canon love interest is a woman).  And, repeating for emphasis, the actual, on-screen representation of healthy, happy, queer love is genuinely great.  But, y'know, you can be nostalgic for a thing even if you wouldn't necessarily want to actually go back to it.

#our flag means death #ofmd #izzy hands

[notebooks-and-laptops]

a study in kisses

I have 6 days until my deadline and I should be doing work, but alas, the gay pirates dragged me out of bed at 2AM to write this. Hopefully getting this out will tide over my fic writing cravings until I have time to sit down and write the dozens of long fics I have planned for this pairing. Stede/Ed/Izzy, but Stede/Izzy centric. As always, you can also find this here on my AO3!

-///-

The first time Stede Bonnet kisses Israel Hands it is a show. A fuckery, though with slightly more emphasis on the fuck than normal. The aim is quite simple and it sits in the form of the noticeable bulge in Edward Teach’s leather pants.

Their arrangement is still new, and the fragility of it is not to be underestimated. But it is Izzy’s job to make sure that Edward is content, and it is Stede’s job to make sure Edward is happy and the math was really always going to equate to three rather than just two. Just like Edward Teach was always going to be the pieces of ‘Blackbeard’, ‘the Kraken’ and ‘Ed’.

Their lives are lived in thirds that built wholes. But after a little explanation from Lucius, and a conversation that went as smoothly as pulling teeth with Izzy the arrangement has been formed. New. Fragile.

Beautiful.

When Stede kisses Izzy, in the captain’s cabin with Ed watching, it’s spur of the moment. Their current dynamic involves sharing Edward and doing their best not to break out into open fights on deck. But there was mischief tonight, open in Stede’s eyes and buried in the crook of Izzy’s smirk, and somehow it all came out in this.

Izzy is the third person that Stede Bonnet has ever kissed and he is just as unique in his approach to it. He does not kiss like Mary, whose lips were always chaste and closed. He does not kiss like Ed, whose passions are loud and deep. Izzy kisses with teeth. It’s a biting thing, there is a leather gloved hand fisted in Stede’s hair and a hand running like claws down his back. It is like their bickering, but there are no words needed. More efficient, Stede thinks, and almost has to break the kiss to giggle at the thought.

Edward actually moans watching it. There is no question as to if he’s enjoying what he sees.

When they finally break apart, Stede’s lips feel kiss bruised.

Izzy himself is red faced. There is something Stede can’t decipher in his eyes before they turn back to Edward. After a further moment of staring at that little ‘x’ just under Izzy’s eye, Stede turns back to Edward too.

“Good?”

“Fucking fantastic,” Edward breathes, like he’s just seen a holy miracle performed and not the two most antagonistic men on board the vessel (and the loves of his life) make out, “get the fuck over here both of you, now—”

Their attentions break from one another, then, and focus instead on Edward.

But afterwards, when everyone is sated and curled in the bed, Ed in the middle, Stede can still feel that kiss on his lips.

 -///-

 The second time Stede Bonnet kisses Israel Hands it is to save his life.

For all he’s been a pirate for nearly a year by that point, Stede had yet to face a storm of such magnitudes. The ship feels like it will be broken apart by the water that thrusts it high in the air with every crest. Everything that they are would be lost to whatever creatures live below, and nobody would ever find them again.

A likely outcome if they weren’t sailing with Blackbeard and First Mate Hands.

They are like nothing else, in this particular element. They are not Edward and Izzy, two individuals, they are Blackbeard. They are the singular legend born from a tempest’s lightening bolt. The rain spits on them in disgust but they are not deterred. They do not give in. They shout orders to a terrified crew and in their silhouettes, there is the promise of survival.

Stede is still not the best at hands on labour, though he’s better than he was. He’s helping Lucius secure the doors and trying not to feel useless. At his left, Izzy makes his way towards the anchor at the prow of the ship.

But even the best of sailors are servants of the sea.

Stede watches it happen almost in slow motion; he watches Izzy trying to put down anchor with Black Pete. He sees the thrust of the wave as it batters over the brow of the ship. Lucius screams Pete’s name, but Pete has found his gripping.

Izzy has not.

There is panic, deep and utter panic, like how he felt when a dozen English men stood before him as a firing squad.

Stede is already pulling off his jacket and stumbling forward.

“You’ll fucking die!” someone shouts. Jim, maybe. Buttons? It is so hard to hear anyone out here, the clouds overhead are too angry to let anyone’s voice be heard—

Besides, he’s not really listening.

There is a hand on his shoulder though, tugging him backwards. He wants to throw them off. That is a member of his Crew that just went overboard, and while many pirate ships might see their crew as collateral that was not how they did things on the Revenge. But the hands were insistent and firm and… Edward.

Edward with a rope in his hands.

It’s tied around Stede’s middle quickly. He might not be trained in most things where the sea is concerned, but he is at the very least a strong swimmer. He’s had private lessons since he was a boy, and most of them took place in the ocean, another one of his father’s brutal methods at training him to be a ‘real man’. He used to get sand in his hair too often, a texture that he didn’t enjoy at all.

But right now, he sends a ‘thank you’ to his father’s soul in hell that he gave him this one skill.

Stede trusts Ed is holding on tight to one side, and jumps in.

It’s cold. That’s the first thing. It’s fucking freezing. Chilling enough to kill. And the damn waves keep coming, blocking his vision. He could very easily die out here, and if the rope snapped he’d be gone for good.

But Izzy only just went over.

It’s a blur. A blur and he’s not too sure he’ll survive it, but eventually he’s got his hands around Izzy and he’s being pulled up. Izzy is heavy, and waterlogged, and it’s difficult to get a firm enough grip on him, but with the crews help they eventually are on the deck again.

And Izzy isn’t fucking breathing.

Edward is there. There is panic in Edward’s eyes. But Stede knows this one too, and so he’s already trying to breathe air into Izzy’s mouth, before he’s regained his own, following the rhythmic beats to Izzy’s chest that he vaguely recalls being taught at boarding school after one of the younger children fell into the lake and almost drowned.

There are ten seconds where it does not appear like anything is going to happen.

They are a dreadfully long ten seconds.

But then Izzy coughs, splutters.

Stede feels relief course through him.

“Get him into the cabin, now,” Stede sits back on his heels. The storm is still blowing, unrelenting in her assault.

“Stay with him, Stede. I’m needed up here,” and Edward looks, for a second, not like Blackbeard in command of the storm, but like a man who almost just lost the love of his life in a damn predictable boating accident. He needn’t have been worried; Stede is pretty sure that someone as annoying and stubborn as Izzy Hands will only go when the devil himself comes to collect him.

But still, the relief leaves a taste at the back of his mouth, it’s a physical thing, and it doesn’t leave him until Izzy is snapping at him about debts and stupidity and training the crew to manage a fucking storm right.

 -///-

 The third time Stede Bonnet kisses Israel Hands it is of his own volition and this time, there is no audience but the stars.

Stede has always associated moonlight with Edward. He associated it with the night they’d spent becoming a lighthouse when the moon wasn’t full enough to bring Edward’s original plan to pass. He associated it with the night Edward had let him hold the soft red square of fine silk in his fingers and Stede had put it in the lapel of his jacket. He associated it with the evening that Edward had confessed he’d been planning to kill him in a bathtub and watching it set that night while pinned to his ship’s mainsail.

Tonight though, there was no full moon. The moon instead was new. But the stars were much brighter, and they framed Israel in quite a gorgeous light. Easy to miss, at first, stars. At least, when you weren’t adept at navigating by them like those who had grown up on the sea. But no less beautiful than the moon. There was a metaphor in there somewhere, but Stede had more important things to do than find it.

“Fuck off, Bonnet,” Izzy had muttered, but there had been no heat to his words so Stede hadn’t bothered.

He’d been practicing with the sword. Stede knew what it was like to be on the end of that blade. He knew how skilled Israel was.

Apparently, it was because he practiced late at night. It was almost…romantic. Like a knight out of one of Stede’s books. Only with far less manners.

“Remember when I slapped my sword on your arse during our duel?” Stede asked, after a while of just watching.

Something passed Izzy’s face that might have been amusement. A raging success if ever Stede were to have one.

“You were a fucking imbecile,” Izzy concedes.

“Were?” Stede’s voice is teasing, “oh, Izzy, I didn’t know you—”

“Shut up,” Izzy responded, rolling his eyes.

“Make me.”

And the sword was put back in Izzy’s scabbard.

And then, Izzy did.

It was…unexpected, Izzy’s lips on his, but not unwanted. Whatever the fuck their relationship was, it wasn’t conventional, but Stede quite liked the freedom in ‘anything goes at sea’. It had given him Edward. It had given Edward Stede, and Izzy without guilt or need for classical monogamy. And it had apparently created…. this.

Izzy Hands was annoying, rude, stubborn and quite often mean. A Complete and utter arsehole, Stede would stick by that. But he was also…well. He was rather fetching with a sword, and Ed was gloriously possessive over him, and he had the driest sense of humour that Stede had ever encountered but it was there. Underneath it all.

Izzy kissed no less like a bite this way, but this time it wasn’t for anyone’s eyes but their own.

“I still fucking hate you,” Izzy muttered, against Stede’s lower lip.

“Liar,” Stede murmured back.

#steddyhands #ofmd #izzy hands #stede bonnet #stizzy

[chuplayswithfire]

scrubs hands with face

cant believe i wrote over 6k of meta regarding izzy and it WASNT my end all be all take on izzy (it really is primarily a study of izzy's actions/impacts on others and ways fandom engagement serves to minimize his impact and engagement.

someday.... i'm going to have to write my actual perspective on izzy beyond his narrative role as a minor antagonist/badminton helping to drive conflict and navigate ed's arc, because i really think he's a fantastically interesting and fucked up little man of a character, deeply tragic in his own ways and rights, and the way the narrative uses and positions him both in his status as an unreliable narrator who's twisted and twisting perspective offers real and valuable insight into not just the world but the characters, and in his status in his status as the insider-outsider, the pirate who has made it in the "real world" and yet failed in the show world, where his impact is felt the greatest but with the least affection

but man. its gonna be after i do everyone else 🤣🤣🤣

#lil ramble bc i woke up at half past 2 #i dont hate the character beyond the fact that i do think he makes everything worse but you know what is a plot if not in NEED #of those who help drive it forward #izzy is necessary to ed which makes him necessary to the plot and a driving factor of what makes ed the way he is #it is not izzy's FAULT of course that gives him too much power #he gives a push but ed makes the plunge #what makes izzy so fascinating to me is the ways he is the architect of so much misery especially his own and the ways that he i #impacts ed because its very fair to say that izzy stede and calico jack are the characters that have the greatest impact on ed in the show! #so in understanding them we understand ed and why he lets characters like that do what they do

[booksoanahasread]

Elias și Spioana Cărturarilor by Sabaa Tahir

This is a truly fantastic book, interesting and funny, suspenseful and surprising.

The characters are very well described and thought-out. The characters are complex, with multiple motives and different facets of emotions and points of view. It was truly fascinating to see how they all created this incredible story and a plot that had numerous plot twists that I never expected. 

I love the way the author described the settings of each scene, enough so that you could imagine it clearly, without being overbearing and sounding monotone. The setting, a kingdom in a different universe where some people are slaves and others are the rulers, is quite well constructed.

The action of the novel is palpitating with numerous changes in the way some characters see the world. Some decide to close their eyes and ignore all the wrong doings ordered by the Empire, while others are enlightened and they find out who the antagonists really are.

Elias Verturius, oh my goodness, I love him. Such a complex character, making it easy to relate to him. There are things he doesn’t want the world to know, such as the way he wanted to escape from Blackcliff, his need to do the right thing, even if it goes against the academy’s rules. He is sarcastic and as emotional as he could possibly be in his situation. The bond he forms with a slave, Laia, is surprising due to the nature of his upbringing and his education. He truly knows what is moral and what isn’t. 

He refuses to kill innocents unless absolutely necessary, it tortures him to know what he had done in the third trial. His remorse and regret isn’t something we see in any of his competitors, none of them actually care about the people who surround him. 

Laia is such a good person as well, although she is constantly tormented by the guilt of having left her brother at the hands of a Masked man. Her only hope to keep the one person in her family that hasn’t died is to save her brother from the prison the Warriors have thrown him in. She is desperate enough to go into Blackcliff Academy to spy on the headmaster. Something that is dangerous beyond measure, most certainly deadly. 

She also tries her best to not implicate anyone in her acts of treason against the Empire, so as to save them from the fury of the commander. She sparks sympathy in the hearts of readers and she doesn’t know what to do. Besides all that, she is a seventeen year old who falls in love easily and sometimes not wisely. She trusts too many people she shouldn’t trust and yet that I wouldn’t see so much as a defect, rather a way in which the world is cruelly pitted against her. 

Perhaps the scene I found the most fitting and interesting was the Festival of the Moon, or something like that. When Laia and Izzi (Laia’s new friend) sneak out of the academy and go to the festival, Elias follows them to see what they were up to. Laia goes to see Keenan and talks to the Resistance, meanwhile Izzi dances with whoever asks for her hand, since she has never been to such a festival before. Elias dances with the leader of and important tribe and she tells him that he can ask her for a favour if he deems it necessary. Afterwards, Elias dances with Laia and it’s as if the two of them were meant to dance together. They both start to fall for each other in that moment which was sweet. It was this one moment where they could just be free, even if it didn’t last long. The Empire decides to send raids to end the festival. 

I loved the fact that Izzi told Laia to stop feeling sorry for helping her escape and see the festival, even if it meant putting her in danger. She said she wouldn’t have changed any part of it for the world, especially since it was the most fun she’d had that she could have remembered. 

To conclude, this novel is incredible and deserves to be read. It teaches lessons like how to not be afraid of the consequences when you know you are doing the right thing. I loved this book and I can’t wait to read the next one!

[I borrowed this book from Biblioteca Judeteana Cluj-Napoca, filiala Zorilor]

#elias si spioana carturarilor #elias #an ember in the ashes #sabaa tahir #aeita #young adult #book review #books #fantasy #ya

[yourhealthmattersblog]

The most considerable aspect

Personal Thoughts:

Tale: 7 (CAUTION: SECTION 1 SPOILERS).

I would certainly pick to not disclose info that is a lot of concerning this otherworldly evil monarch, but its poor explanation recommends some rate of interest.

Witchhunt starts having a youthful, battling youngster called Gawin getting in a new professors. He needs to situate herself within the "common" scenario (I Will preserve that in thriller), but discovers an odd female that prevents the remainder of her pals. While all his good friends keep, Gawin finds this woman has great forces as well as go back in to the university. The story unravels to reveal the lady, "Izzy Jang," isn't whatsoever what Gawin (or site visitors) has her developed out to end up being, which you will find greater causes in the world that typically dwarf the character.

Although itis correct that areas of the tale are fairly terribly spaced, these "developments" are usually not inexcusable. They maybe, are excellent in achieving the facility of the account quicker and also, do not have an impact on account.

Real SPOILERS !!!!!

Additionally, the story obtains favorable elements for that narrative style. Gawin is this sort of straightforward yet substantial individuality. He shows us the world by means of a person's eyes, aiding us recognize just how otherworldly evil monarch's disorder overviews expertise as well as his viewpoint of the earth. The closing reflections about the story of Gawin offer suggesting towards compromise as well as the attrition of Suri, that understands that "fate" isn't anything away from deal with, however something which you approve as well as willfully guide the current to.

To Suri, the "major character" component quickly conform in the centre of the story. The modification in point of view is well-done stimulating and also.

Looters more than!!!!!!!!

Art: 8. yaonie jiaozhu kuai tang xia is the art if there is something relating to this manhwa that is global. Manhwas, for me, have truly clear art work when contrasting to mangas. It isn't constantly the greatest artwork, however the identification styles are remarkable and also as a result are mainly ideal (using the evident exception of Pamela). However, I must observe that most of the "villains" or hostile forces (if there really are any type of) within this account are fantastically attracted (10/10).

Figure: 9. Variants or what features develop a "good" character right into a "exceptional" one? It is hard to state, however after checking out Witch-Hunt I Have recognized that the link in between numbers is possibly in choosing that the most considerable aspect.

Alone, a lot of the numbers in Witch-Hunt fail, utilizing "Izzy Jang" or perhaps Gawin's exemption. Why is this manhwa excellent might be genuine great and also honorable intent versus intent as well as the blurred lines in between evil. The uncertain nevertheless greatly considerable communications in between antagonists and also the protagonists within this manhwa really made me offered me recognize the condition and, care I say, really feel anything. I, with aspect within this tale, might understand for just one.

The reason I can not provide a five to this is because of several side numbers slackly tossed in with small enhancement.

Pleasure: 10. It is a wonderful research. I finished it each day ... Exactly what do I say. Thereis motion, thereis remarkable pressures, thereis ridiculous animals, thereis turns, and also thereis master suggestions!

Total: 9. Although Witchhunt consists of a couple of imperfections connected with account and also art work, the amazing numbers and considerable calls within this manhwa develop its errors all look trivial. It is a delightful and also potent research that might genuinely educate you anything significant as well as heavy concerning private living and also "fate." Regarding the hand, you have the ability to merely take it face-value and savor legendary activity scenes as well as the seems. In either instance, enjoy this read! If you 'd like to read manhwa online, check out to locate your favored!!! For further details, go here: https://bestlightnovels.site123.me/blog/very-finely-sliced-swiss-cheese

[oncethrown]

We! Are! Family! (2x16 Review)

Building on last week’s awesome character stuff, this episode also did a lot of deep character stuff, did a fantastic job of using it’s ensemble cast to explore the same topic in different ways, and then offered us a lot of drunk Clary nonsense as a palate cleanser between scenes of actual substance.

If palate cleansers tasted overwhelmingly of garbage.

Alec Learns About Black White and Grey

Setting Alec against Robert for this whole episode, particularly given the hints we currently have about the upcoming episode, was masterful writing. Robert’s disgusting corruption against Alec’s naivete. Robert’s decimated morality against Alec’s barely challenged innocence.

And Robert’s dead marriage vs. Alec’s brand new love.  

Alec and Magnus’s relationship has faced very few internal challenges. Alec and Magnus are very firmly in the honeymoon stage, and the previews are hinting that may not be the case next week.

Enter Robert. Robert has been half of a complicated marriage for decades, and is currently married to a woman he no longer loves, and presumably hasn’t loved for a long time. We know Maryse and Robert were fighting last season, and in the books Robert cheats on Maryse sometime around Isabelle being either conceived or born, I don’t remember.

I’m not condoning cheating, but adult relationships are complicated, and I believe Robert when he says “It’s complicated”. There are thousand things going on in his and Maryse’s marriage. Maryse’s ambition, her dedication to the Lightwood legacy. Their shared past as members of the circle. Their shared exile from Idris, their shared scapegoating of Hodge. These are two people who, when they were young, fell under the sway of a madman, and then betrayed him and ran from their homeland with their baby and probably weren’t the same people any more afterward. Were not the same people who had fallen in love to begin with.

But Maryse said in the last episode that they weren’t going to get divorced because there was the legacy to think of. The two of them have probably had that legacy conversation a thousand times. They’ve probably loved and hated each other, tried to convince themselves they could get divorced, then ultimately decided that they couldn’t over and over again. And kids make everything a nightmare. They probably both love the kids, but disapprove of the way the other loves them, (and let’s be honest, they both abuse and neglect the kids, and probably only think the other does) and we know that neither wanted to hurt the kids by saying anything too true about the other. These two people are genuinely caught in this impossible, ugly snarl.

That ugly snarl is similar to Alec’s political position. He wants to run an institute, but it’s difficult to follow Clave orders and still be the leader he wants to be. He wants to move up in the Clave, but knows its rife with corruption.

It’s nothing like his relationship status though. He and Magnus are firmly ensconced in the honey moon stage. There have been challenges and problems, but nothing that changed the fundamental internal ease of the relationship. They haven’t had a conflict that wasn’t solved with love and honesty.

But that doesn’t last. And Robert is standing there in Alec’s office trying to explain to his incredibly black and white son that grey sometimes shows up when you aren’t expecting it. And Alec is going to understand that when it means how to discuss the whereabouts of the soul sword… but it’s going to be a lot more complicated as a lie of omission to Magnus. Being the head of the Institute and sleepin in the High Warlock’ bed every night doesn’t stay easy. In a way, Robert is a harbinger of doom for Alec’s story.

But Alec is also a grown up, and he has to accept parts of his father’s grayness as their story moves forward. He acknowledges that his father is right— he has to stay in the institute even though Jace is in trouble. He has to acknowledge that his deeply imperfect father does care about him, and is using the influence he has to try to protect him.

But he also has to acknowledge that his father’s influence has a dark origin and that his father has done a lot of bad things.

Which is a super awesome story to pit against Sebastian and Valentine.

Sebastian and Alec actually have very similar statuses in these two plots. They are both sons whose fathers have failed, and they are both struggling with that failure. Alec’s is corruption and infidelity, and Sebastian is evil and being sent to hell… so they are… ya know. Wide parallels. But parallels nonetheless.

Sebastian almost gets to be the emotional outlet that Alec will never be allowed. Sebastian and Alec are equally angry with their fathers, but Sebastian is the one that gets to scream and threaten and let loose on his. Sebastian could be Alec’s Anger Translator. It also gives us an inverse of Alec’s storyline. Robert fucked up and Alec didn’t. Robert is indisputably the bad guy in that pairing. And then in Sebastian and Valentine’s story, it’s not that easy. Sebastian murdered people. Because of what Valentine made him. Valentine was afraid of Sebastian, because of what Valentine made him. Sebastian is a monster because of Valentine’s fear, and Sebastian is demanding retribution because what Valentine did is unforgivable. It’s Alec and Robert’s storyline with the brakelines cut, and it’s a really well done emotional compliment to that story line.

What makes Simon’s entry into this Sons and Families storyline so interesting is that it’s so thematically similar, while every other element of it is wildly different.

The only person Simon has to forgive in his storyline is himself. On a day of atonement, Alec and Sebastian have long lists of the sins of the father, but Simon is angry with himself, and… in the end forgives himself (Neither Alec nor Sebastian forgive their fathers). Simon clearly blames himself for his mother’s drinking.  He blames himself for worrying his sister with the blood thing. He doesn’t hear Bubbie Helen’s criticism of his not going to temple, but it’s clear that he would blame himself for not going.

And none of them place that blame on him. Helen sort of hand waves not going to temple, his mother blames himself for the drinking. His sister seems to blame the other band mates for the weird blood gimmick.

Maia echoes this when she talks about her family and says that it’s not anger that keeps her from reconnecting with her family, it’s guilt.

And then Simon almost lightheartedly accepts blame for not knowing more about Maia’s hopes and dreams. He admits that he’s been self-centered, but they don’t agonize over it. Also, everyone apologizes to Maia when Helen assumes she isn’t Jewish.

It’s also worth mentioning that Alec and Sebastian deal with antagonistic father/son relationships, but Simon is in a scene with four women.

This is the kind of thing I really wanted to see Shadowhunters start doing, and they really hit it out of the park. Those parts of this episode were cohesive and important. They built on each other, echoed and contrasted each other and gave us this super solid thing about sin and forgiveness, father’s and son, and how complicated family can be. They also fleshed out our characters, telling us all kinds of things we didn’t know about Maia and Sebastian and gave us peices to keep the plot going forward— like Robert’s mysterious (and crazy gross) backchannel with Imogen, the real location of the soul sword, Sebastian having Valentine and why he took him. Simon and  Maia chemistry.

And Then there’s Clary

I’m actually getting exhausted with hating Clary, but the writers won’t cut me a break. Not every plot has to be on the same wavelength, it’s completely fine that Clary’s story line just dipped it’s toe into the main theme with her wide eyed “My brother is alive” shit at the end… but this plot line was a disaster, and should have been given half the time it was given. This plot accomplished 4 things:

1. Showed us that Clary’s Super Special Powers! Are so Super Special! That she is the only non warlock who can do the portals. 2. Taught us that Lake Lyn exists (probs important later) 3. Tried (and failed) to create post incest Jace Clary lost when Jace’s Super Special Powers! Save Clary from Lady Madness 4. Let Clary know that she still has a brother.

And like…from a writing perspective, I’m sure those things are important for something they are building toward, and it’s not their fault that I already know what it is because I’ve reading the steaming horseshit pile of source material.

But they have written 26 episodes now where Clary has no goal. No motivation. And yet another episode where she’s weak and pathetic and has to get rescued by whoever wants to put his penis in her the most.

She shouldn’t be the main character if she’s just a battleground for dick-wetting.

And like… an hour mystic drunk in the woods is the closest she’s come to experiencing consequences the whole time, and it takes two people to rescue her.

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Seventeen I don’t want to watch the main female character cured of hysteria by the right dick. I hate everything about it, and that makes me hate Clary and I don’t want to hate Clary.

And the writers have restrictions placed on them by the fact that they are adapting from a book… but compare Shadowhunters to something like True Blood? The books True Blood are based on are impossible to read sober, and the True Blood abandoned them by like episode 9 of the first season.

If you want me to give a flying fuck about Clary “Blink at You Until You Love Me” Fray you have to give her a story. You can’t rely on shitty storylines from a decade ago (and a tumultous decade at that) to make me give a damn about her and frankly I’m offended that the writers are lazy enough to think they can. They’ve been coasting on Clary since day one, and if that’s all they can do… fine. But then Clary can’t be a main characters. Maia can be the main, Izzy can be the main, and Clary can just show up in a wet dress from time to time with her crusty eyelashes, and eventually get killed off.

I haven’t quite hit the point where Clary is just the irredeemable nonsense that I forward through… but I’m getting damn close.

Live Reactions:

They have to do something about this fucking intro. 

It is impossible to watch this show in a room that isn’t black out dark. We’re not all rich enough for TV rooms or curtains, Shadowhunters. Turn on a fucking light on set. 

Simon and Maia also have chemistry. Alisha and Alberto could have chemistry with moldy bread. 

Gross. Robert. 

This father son conversation about where the black and white and grey go is interesting. And it’s fascinating to compare Alec and Maryse’s interaction to Alec and Robert’s. Especially because Maryse was terrible to Alec… and Robert was terrible to Maryse. 

Fuck you, Clary. This isn’t Jace’s fault. You could have not fucked your best friend when you weren’t sure what you wanted. You are the worst. I hate that they keep pretending you’re the lead. 

I kinda doubt you need to fake Magnus’s hand gesture. 

You are very pretty, Sebastian

You sent him to Hell? What the fuck are you going to do?

After 90 seconds of Show Sebastian, I am totally invested in his story. I cannot wait to see what he does and I need to have him be a main character. 

UUGGHHHHH Clary, our female lead, is now helpless and falling down in the woods. FFUUCCKKKKKIINNGG Shadowhunters

Under enough stress to scream at a 9 year old until he won’t leave his room? Cheating? Existing? I want Robert dead by Mid Season 3. 

Listen to Izzy. She’s smarter than everyone you know, and the Inquisitor is obviously dirty. 

Emeraude is the only one who says “by the Angel” like it’s a real phrase she has used before. Official award for this to Emmeraude. 

I would care that you found a pile of Jace guts… but I’m sure that you’re just hallucinating or some shit because you are the weakest character on the show and women aren’t allowed to succeed at anything on Shadowhunters. Maybe, despite the cold, you’ll be in a wet white dress by the end of the episode. 

Wow. Okay. Will and Alisha are now the stars of this show. They would be so good in a scene together is the writers could possibly write a scene good enough for the two of them to be in. 

Gross. Robert. 

This is just so much Clary being on screen with no drive. I’m super frustrated with how Clary doesn’t have to have a story to be the lead. Everyone in this episode wants something and has multiple layers of want and opposition. Clary is lake drunk in the woods. That’s not a plot. That’s halfway decent weekend. 

Oh no. Not lose her mind forever. They might have to put her in the gard. We might never hear from her again. Oh no. 

You know… Valentine deserves that. I’m on board. 

Izzy could also be the lead of this show. She stuck to her beliefs while the Clave threatened to derune her. She actually gives a flying fuck about downworlders and has repeated it with fewer lapses than everyone else. The downworld respects her. She overcame being forcibly addicted by a superior who wanted to rape her. She’s the best shadowhunter in the Institute. She’s smarter than everyone. Izzy is the Hermione Granger to Clary’s Giant Squid. 

Boy-magic saved her. Girl magic got her in that mess to start with. Thanks Shadowhunters. 

This dialogue made me throw up my wine. 

Gross. Robert.

Yes! Stand up for your baby brother Alec. 

There is no way Robert threatened to do anything to the Clave. He’s lying. He’s always lying. 

Feeling bad about sending your son to hell doesn’t make him less sent to hell, and he still doesn’t see you as a son, Sebastian. Just an experiment.  Kill him, it’s fine. 

Maia and Simon, you are the best. Please be one of the most important parts of the show. 

Is Maia and Jace fucking ever going to come up again? If not what was the point?

Careful Clary, he’s sexy reading and you are but a wee pathetic lass

That is the most obvious chain they could have possibly picked. Why not just tape it to his forehead?

Clary’s desperation to find her brother had better be linked to her mother’s death. The writers have got to be able to make that teeny tiny leap.

#shadowhunters #Shadowhunters meta #shadowhunters 2x16

[some-anonymity-preferred]

Relatable and Resonant Characters

Fictional characters can be relatable and resonant in various ways. For me, OFMD's Ed Teach cuts straight to my heart, and an insult to him is an insult to me. I identify with him.

I don't identify with Stede. He does have some characteristics I share, it's just the overlap is not nearly so overwhelming. Even so, I love him. He reminds me of people I know and love, and I treasure his learning and growth and trying and backsliding. He is relatable and he resonates.

I neither identify with nor like Season 1 Izzy, but boy does he resonate. He is identifiable, he is understandable, and I love to hate him.

Season 2 Izzy is a disservice to the great character he was in Season 1. The redemption arc is flimsy as fuck, Izzy is a woobified Baby Queer, and he's just so terribly flat for me. Even though Con O'Neill is still acting his ass off--the thinness of Izzy's narrative in Season 2 is a disservice to a great actor, too.

The three posts that underlie this:

My own about how Season 1 Izzy reminds me of an uncle who was so deeply closeted and self-hating that he was nauseating to be around.

#ofmd #ofmd season 2 #izzy hands is a fantastic antagonist #or at least he was #ofmd meta #my meta #edward teach #stede bonnet #izzy critical #not actually critical #but ya know

[some-anonymity-preferred]

Also, that person keeps using the term "riot queer" and then describing something completely different. Do you think Marsha or Stormé were also the kind to police other queers' behavior at the Stonewall Inn? Do you think they called for the raid? Do you think they liked the people who did?

I don't.

I also object to the characterization of everyone else as Love Wins Queers, versus Izzy's Riot Queer (or Old Guard Queer, or whatever that person is actually trying to argue, bless their heart).

It at least shows, though, that we agree that everyone besides Izzy is of some kind of piece, and Izzy is somehow different. I can work with that.

Everyone else is some combination of Riot Queer and Love Wins Queer.

Buttons: in love with the sea, talks with birds, speaks in riddles; a pretty competent pirate helmsman/first mate, yearns for human flesh, bites

Ed: big soft goofy goth theatre kid, musical, fancies a fine fabric; is, ya know, Blackbeard

Fang: even bigger, even softer, goofy goth; Blackbeard’s main heavy

Frenchie: weird witchy musical fic-writing twink, sews, is into interior design; will scam you and spill your darkest secrets, has knives in his feet like a cat

Ivan: is Fang’s literal shoulder to cry on; wastes nothing, especially not the gold teeth

Jim: loves Olu, mourns their birth family, has a complicated relationship with their mother figure, gives the rest of the crew more chances than Jim feels they deserve; is Jim

Lucius: our favorite bitchy femme gay polyamorous relationship counselor; will humiliate you to death, can also whack you uspside the head if needed

Oluwande: quiet, caring, most frequently in possession of the show’s one brain cell, loves Jim; loves Jim, will scam you, can bash heads, coldly dismisses Izzy’s plea not to let the crew throw him overboard

Pete: poor dim baby, thespian, loves Lucius; full of braggadocio and really into mutiny and the violence of pirating

Roach: doctor, proud chef, sews, juggles (maybe); knives are knives, meat’s meat, finds torturing prisoners relaxing, provokes nazis for the sake of punching nazis

Stede: soft goofy theatre kid who just tries so darn hard, loves Ed; ran away to be a pirate, is a master of posh passive aggression, and in his hands, the stun move is overkill

The Swede: voice like an angel, blushes, gets the zoomies and a glow-up; is a pirate, might marry Jackie (Honestly, The Swede is the closest we come to a pure Love Wins Queer.)

Wee John: makes dresses, into interior design, has a drag persona; lives to set things on fire

Izzy: repressed and repulsive; a skilled swordsman, an abusive middle manager, and a narc

One of these things is not like the others, as they say.

Izzy is neither Love Wins nor Riot, and he’s not really Old Guard, either. He’s repressed and dripping with toxic masculinity. That’s his character, it makes him an antagonist—and it makes him someone I want nowhere near any place that bills itself as a safe space.

It’s worth noting that everyone else largely directs their violence outward, away from the group. That’s what makes them Riot Queers. And regardless of where their violence is directed, it’s often in self defence/preservation (whether justified or not).

Izzy is the only one we see making a habit of violence against those around him, and it’s for the sake of enforcing his own idea of his authority. I’d also say he inflicts more intentional psychological damage than any other member of the crew. And, thinking back on my recent rematch of the series, I’m not sure I remember seeing Izzy physically assault anyone in authority outside the Revenge (I’m not sure of that, but it’s my impression at the moment; and I will watch for it when I sit my polycule down for one last rewatch before Oct 5). And he always has at least a civil mask on when speaking with them. (Lord help me I won’t bring race into this post.) So yeah.

One of these things is not like the others for sure.

#ofmd #ofmd meta #izzy critical #izzy hands is an antagonist #izzy hands is a fantastic antagonist

[yourhealthmattersblog]

The story gets positive aspects

Personal Thoughts:

Story: 7 (CAUTION: SECTION 1 SPOILERS).

I would certainly select to not expose info that is a great deal of about this ive been killing slimes for 300 years and maxed out my level manga, however its bad explanation recommends some interest.

Witchhunt starts having a youthful, struggling child called Gawin going into an all new professors. He requires to situate herself within the "regular" circumstance (I Will maintain that in thriller), but locates an unusual woman who stops the rest of her close friends. While all his close friends keep, Gawin discovers this female has terrific pressures and go back in to the college. The tale unravels to subject the lady, "Izzy Jang," isn't whatsoever what Gawin (or site visitors) has her built out to come to be, which you will certainly find greater reasons on the planet that typically overshadow the character.

Although itis proper that locations of the tale are relatively terribly spaced, these "advances" are typically not inexcusable. They possibly, are great in achieving the center of the account quicker and also, do not have a result on account.

Actual SPOILERS !!!!!

Additionally, the story gets positive aspects for that narrative style. Gawin is this sort of basic yet substantial individuality. He shows us the globe via a person's eyes, helping us understand exactly how ive been killing slimes for 300 years and maxed out my level manga's mayhem overviews knowledge and also his point of view of the world. The closing reflections about the story of Gawin supply implying towards compromise and the repentance of Suri, who understands that "fate" isn't anything far from manage, but something which you accept and also willfully guide the present to.

To Suri, the "primary character" part conveniently conform in the centre of the tale. The modification in point of view is well-done stimulating and.

Spoilers are OVER!!!!!!!!

Art: 8. read manga is the art if there is something connecting to this manhwa that is universal. Manhwas, for me, have really clear artwork when contrasting to mangas. It isn't constantly the best art work, nonetheless the identification styles are interesting and as a result are generally appropriate (utilizing the noticeable exception of Pamela). However, I ought to observe that most of the "antagonists" or hostile forces (if there really are any type of) within this account are superbly attracted (10/10).

Number: 9. Variations or what attributes develop a "excellent" individuality right into a "outstanding" one? It is challenging to state, however after reading Witch-Hunt I Have recognized that the link between numbers is probably in determining that the most substantial aspect.

Alone, most of the numbers in Witch-Hunt fall flat, utilizing "Izzy Jang" or possibly Gawin's exclusion. Why is this manhwa excellent may be actual fantastic and honorable intent versus intent and also the fuzzy lines between wickedness. The uncertain however profoundly substantial interactions between villains as well as the lead characters within this manhwa genuinely made me offered me comprehend the problem as well as, treatment I say, feel anything. I, with aspect within this tale, might understand for just one.

The reason I can not give a 5 to this is due to a number of side numbers slackly tossed in with small improvement.

Satisfaction: 10. It is a fantastic study. I finished it daily ... Exactly what do I say. Thereis movement, thereis fantastic pressures, thereis crazy animals, thereis turns, and also thereis master suggestions!

Overall: 9. Although Witchhunt includes a few shortcomings related to account and also artwork, the fantastic numbers and considerable contacts within this manhwa develop its errors all look insignificant. It is a delightful and also powerful study that might truly educate you anything substantial and also heavy regarding specific living as well as "fate." Concerning the hand, you are able to simply take it face-value and delight in epic activity scenes as well as the appears. In either case, enjoy this read! If you would certainly such as to check out manhwa online, have a look at to discover your preferred!!! Kindly visit this link https://joaniekurtzer5998.wixsite.com/mangaandcomics/post/du81l3x8gnlu8bli6f7r01621597121 for more useful reference

[yourhealthmattersblog]

The story are fairly severely spaced

Individual Ideas:

Tale: 7 (CAUTION: SECTION 1 SPOILERS).

I would certainly pick to not expose details that is a great deal of concerning this okusan manga, yet its poor explanation suggests some passion.

Witchhunt begins having a younger, having a hard time youngster called Gawin entering a brand-new faculty. He needs to situate herself within the "typical" circumstance (I Will keep that in suspense), however discovers a weird woman that avoids the remainder of her friends. While all his buddies keep, Gawin locates this woman has fantastic pressures as well as go back in to the college. The tale unravels to reveal the female, "Izzy Jang," isn't whatsoever what Gawin (or visitors) has her built out to end up being, which you will discover greater causes on the planet that usually tower over the personality.

Although itis proper that locations of the story are fairly severely spaced, these "developments" are frequently not unpardonable. They maybe, are great in accomplishing the facility of the account much faster and, do not have a result on account.

Real SPOILERS !!!!!

Additionally, the story obtains favorable elements for that narrative design. Gawin is this type of straightforward yet substantial individuality. He reveals us the world using a person's eyes, assisting us recognize exactly how okusan manga's disorder guides understanding and also his viewpoint of the planet. The closing representations regarding the tale of Gawin provide meaning towards compromise and the repentance of Suri, who recognizes that "destiny" isn't anything away from manage, yet something which you accept and also on purpose route the current to.

To Suri, the "primary character" component quickly conform in the centre of the tale. The adjustment in perspective is well-done stimulating and.

Looters more than!!!!!!!!

Art: 8. read manga online is the art if there is something relating to this manhwa that is universal. Manhwas, for me, have actually clear artwork when contrasting to mangas. It isn't always the absolute best art work, nonetheless the identity designs are fascinating and also therefore are mostly ideal (using the apparent exemption of Pamela). Nevertheless, I need to observe that most of the "villains" or hostile forces (if there really are any) within this account are magnificently attracted (10/10).

Number: 9. Variations or what attributes create a "good" individuality right into a "superb" one? It is challenging to state, but after checking out Witch-Hunt I Have recognized that the link between figures is most likely in making a decision that the most significant aspect.

Alone, a lot of the numbers in Witch-Hunt fail, utilizing "Izzy Jang" or possibly Gawin's exemption. Why is this manhwa excellent may be genuine wonderful and also honorable intent versus intent and also the fuzzy lines in between evil. The vague however greatly significant communications in between antagonists and the lead characters within this manhwa really made me offered me comprehend the problem and also, treatment I say, really feel anything. I, with facet within this tale, might understand for simply one.

The cause I can not provide a 5 to this results from several side numbers slackly tossed in with tiny enhancement.

Enjoyment: 10. It is an excellent research study. I completed it each day ... Exactly what do I claim. Thereis activity, thereis wonderful forces, thereis crazy animals, thereis transforms, and thereis master concepts!

Total: 9. Although Witchhunt includes a few shortcomings related to account as well as art work, the amazing numbers and also substantial calls within this manhwa produce its errors all look unimportant. It is a pleasurable and also powerful study that may truly inform you anything substantial and also hefty concerning individual living and "fate." About the hand, you have the ability to merely take it face-value and delight in impressive action scenes as well as the appears. In either case, enjoy this read! If you would certainly like to read manhwa online, check out to discover your preferred!!! You may also visit http://joaniekurtzer5998.wixsite.com/mangaandcomics/post/yqeso1m3ctfm2hhwao7nl01618909606 for more related info

[yourhealthmattersblog]

The uncertain nevertheless

Individual Thoughts:

Story: 7 (CAUTION: SECTION 1 SPOILERS).

I would certainly select to not expose info that is a great deal of concerning this ushio and tora manga, however its bad explanation suggests some rate of interest.

Witchhunt starts having a youthful, struggling kid called Gawin getting in a brand new professors. He needs to locate herself within the "regular" scenario (I Will keep that in suspense), but locates a strange lady that prevents the rest of her friends. While all his good friends keep, Gawin discovers this lady has terrific pressures as well as go back in to the college. The story unfolds to subject the woman, "Izzy Jang," isn't whatsoever what Gawin (or site visitors) has her built out to become, which you will certainly find higher reasons on the planet that typically dwarf the personality.

Although itis right that locations of the story are rather severely spaced, these "developments" are typically not unpardonable. They perhaps, are excellent in attaining the center of the account faster as well as, do not have an impact on account.

Real SPOILERS !!!!!

Additionally, the story obtains positive factors for that narrative style. Gawin is this type of easy yet significant individuality. He shows us the globe using a person's eyes, aiding us recognize exactly how ushio and tora manga's disorder guides knowledge as well as his viewpoint of the world. The closing representations about the story of Gawin supply implying in the direction of compromise and also the attrition of Suri, that comprehends that "destiny" isn't anything far from take care of, however something which you accept as well as willfully guide the current to.

To Suri, the "principal character" part easily conform in the centre of the story. The modification in point of view is well-done stimulating as well as.

Looters are OVER!!!!!!!!

Art: 8. hiraheishi wa kako o yumemiru is the art if there is something associating with this manhwa that is universal. Manhwas, for me, have actually clear artwork when comparing to mangas. It isn't constantly the very best artwork, nonetheless the identification designs are remarkable and also as a result are primarily ideal (using the noticeable exception of Pamela). Nevertheless, I should observe that the majority of the "antagonists" or hostile forces (if there actually are any kind of) within this account are fantastically attracted (10/10).

Number: 9. Variations or what features produce a "good" personality right into a "excellent" one? It is hard to state, but after reading Witch-Hunt I Have acknowledged that the connection between figures is possibly in determining that one of the most substantial component.

Alone, the majority of the figures in Witch-Hunt fall flat, making use of "Izzy Jang" or potentially Gawin's exemption. Why is this manhwa excellent might be actual excellent as well as worthy intent versus intent and the blurred lines in between wickedness. The uncertain nevertheless greatly considerable communications between villains and the protagonists within this manhwa really made me served me understand the condition and also, care I claim, really feel anything. I, with element within this tale, may understand for just one.

The cause I can not give a five to this is because of a number of side figures lazily threw in with little enhancement.

Pleasure: 10. It is a fantastic study. I completed it each day ... Exactly what do I say. Thereis movement, thereis remarkable forces, thereis outrageous creatures, thereis transforms, as well as thereis master ideas!

Overall: 9. Although Witchhunt includes a few imperfections related to account as well as artwork, the outstanding figures as well as significant calls within this manhwa develop its mistakes all look trivial. It is an enjoyable and also potent research study that might absolutely educate you anything significant as well as hefty regarding individual living and also "fate." Regarding the hand, you have the ability to just take it face-value and also enjoy epic action scenes and also the appears. In either case, enjoy this read! If you 'd like to review manhwa online, look into to discover your favored!!! To get additional details, view here: https://themangaguide.wixsite.com/manga/post/9q7ia23ds3xf98jbbbc6b1615246000

[yourhealthmattersblog]

Gawin is this type of basic yet substantial personality

Personal Thoughts:

Story: 7 (CAUTION: SECTION 1 SPOILERS).

I 'd choose to not expose info that is a lot of about this legend of the tyrant empress manga, yet its bad description suggests some interest.

Witchhunt starts having a younger, battling youngster called Gawin entering a brand-new professors. He needs to locate herself within the "common" situation (I Will maintain that in thriller), yet locates an odd lady who protects against the rest of her pals. While all his friends keep, Gawin finds this woman has fantastic pressures and dates back in to the college. The tale unravels to subject the woman, "Izzy Jang," isn't whatsoever what Gawin (or visitors) has her constructed bent on end up being, which you will locate greater reasons on the planet that typically overshadow the personality.

Although itis correct that areas of the tale are fairly severely spaced, these "developments" are often not inexcusable. They probably, are good in attaining the facility of the account faster and, do not have a result on account.

Genuine SPOILERS !!!!!

Additionally, the story gets favorable factors for that narrative style. Gawin is this type of basic yet substantial personality. He shows us the world through a person's eyes, helping us know just how legend of the tyrant empress manga turmoil guides expertise as well as his point of view of the planet. The closing reflections concerning the tale of Gawin provide implying towards compromise and the repentance of Suri, who comprehends that "fate" isn't anything away from manage, but something which you approve and also on purpose direct the existing to.

To Suri, the "major character" component easily conform in the centre of the tale. The modification in point of view is well-done stimulating and also.

Spoilers more than!!!!!!!!

Art: 8. It orange yane no chiisana ie manga is the art if there is something connecting to this manhwa that is universal. Manhwas, for me, have really clear art work when contrasting to mangas. It isn't always the very best artwork, nevertheless the identity designs are fascinating as well as for that reason are primarily suitable (using the obvious exception of Pamela). However, I need to observe that the majority of the "villains" or hostile pressures (if there actually are any type of) within this account are wonderfully attracted (10/10).

Number: 9. Variations or what attributes create a "great" character right into a "superb" one? It is hard to state, however after reading Witch-Hunt I Have acknowledged that the link in between numbers is possibly in deciding that the most significant aspect.

Alone, most of the numbers in Witch-Hunt fail, using "Izzy Jang" or possibly Gawin's exclusion. Why is this manhwa exemplary might be genuine terrific and noble intent versus intent as well as the blurred lines in between wickedness. The unclear however greatly significant communications in between antagonists and the lead characters within this manhwa truly made me served me comprehend the condition and, care I state, really feel anything. I, with element within this story, might empathize for simply one.

The reason I can not supply a five to this results from numerous side numbers lazily tossed in with small enhancement.

Satisfaction: 10. It is a great research study. I finished it daily ... Exactly what do I say. Thereis movement, thereis fantastic forces, thereis outrageous creatures, thereis transforms, and also thereis master ideas!

Complete: 9. Although Witchhunt includes a couple of drawbacks associated with account and also artwork, the impressive figures and considerable contacts within this manhwa produce its mistakes all look trivial. It is a delightful as well as powerful study that might truly enlighten you anything significant as well as heavy about individual living as well as "fate." Concerning the hand, you have the ability to merely take it face-value as well as delight in epic activity scenes and the seems. In either situation, appreciate this read! If you 'd like to review manhwa online, look into to find your preferred!!! For more related information, please visit https://yourhealthmattersblog.my-free.website/spr7k67hvp1xgjubvxg81603543952