#so ymmv on how you interpret the character but this is just how I see him

[stardust-falling]

Having more thoughts about Shen Jiu because of course I am.

I don’t think he has the capacity for empathy or genuine selflessness.

He spent the entirety of his formative years deep in survival mode, and because of that, he evaluates people solely based off of how they might threaten or ensure his safety and/or comfort. As far as individual people themselves with their own perspectives… honestly I don’t think he even thinks of that.

Maybe a controversial opinion, but I don’t think even YQY is exempt.

Shen Jiu doesn’t have a moral code. When every day is spent on surviving, a moral code is a luxury.

And really, he just never got out of that mode. See, the thing is, once you’ve had enough adverse experiences it only takes a little bit to trigger you back into that mindset. Shen Jiu was used to being scolded and then beaten or abused, so for him, even a simple chiding is a precursor to abuse— even if he DOES recognize that nothing more will happen, his body and mental patterns will still go into that preparation time.

So of course he never left survival mode, because even if nothing is actively happening, your mind will keep reinforcing those patterns.

For someone with a normal upbringing, as far as I can tell, empathy is something you learn and develop from those around you. Many seem to think it’s something innate and natural and if you don’t have it then there’s something wrong with you from birth. I think Shen Jiu falls into exactly this category of thought— and so he doesn’t even consider that he could try to learn and develop it as a skill he can perform, even if it doesn’t come naturally.

Of course, would he even try? He hasn’t been given any incentive. Any time he has tried to do something good, he ends up getting hurt (saving Yue Qi leading to being taken by QJL) or misinterpreted and admonished (the well ghost incident, keep in mind my earlier point about scoldings perpetuating the same patterns).

So he stays in that same vicious cycle, perpetually in survival mode and unable to escape, even in a relatively secure position (see: his paranoia).

Now, this is all relevant to the discussions of SJ’s feminism, misogyny, and/or lack thereof. I feel like a lot of discussions aren’t really getting the full picture.

SJ sees people, no matter who they are, as solely how they can affect him. Just because this isn’t exclusive to women, or because if comes from a reasonable place, does that really mean it doesn’t play into misogyny?

Let’s take another angle.

I think his abuse of LBH and other talented disciples also is rooted, deep down, in this same issue. He’s not just hurting LBH only to hurt him, his aim is specifically to stunt his cultivation. There’s jealousy at play there of course, but there’s a bit more layers to it too— SJ doesn’t think he’s capable of goodness. So reasonably, he’ll be a bad teacher. He already knows what happens when someone becomes more powerful than their oppressor. LBH may be a child now, but a part of SJ whether he acknowledges it or not sees him as a future threat that needs to be treated as such.

It’s rooted in fear— because everything is with SJ.

So does that mean it’s not actually abuse?

No. The behaviors he shows are still abusive, the reasoning just gives a lens for understanding.

Now, with his views on women— I mentioned in the tags of my original post that I don’t think he views women as people. This is based in that earlier idea of how he interprets others based off their risk and benefit to him. For women specifically, though, there’s another layer.

Shen Jiu grew up in a society where women are inherently lesser— and he grew up in an extreme version of this. He saw women being treated as property firsthand(both as slaves, as well as QJL’s views on his sister). Your worldview is shaped by the world that you view during those early years. Whether he agreed or not, SJ would still take on the patterns of his environment. This, though, is just the same as general societal misogyny and ingrained bias. I don’t think he’s any different than anyone else in this way.

But where SJ’s particular flavor comes in is that to him, women are a source of comfort. For various reasons— positive past experiences, less threatening (or at least don’t carry the dangers men do). He craves comfort— needs it really, because he doesn’t get it and his cortisol levels are always so high they’re poisoning his body. Women are the best source of that comfort for him.

It’s not that he likes them— at least, not any more than someone would like drinking water, or a coat in the winter. They’re fulfilling a survival need for him.

That is what the objectification is where SJ is concerned.

So… is it misogyny?

I’d say yes, in a way it still is. It’s not violent, and it doesn’t come from some inherent sense of “superiority as a man” but at the core of it all, he’s still not viewing women as people, and he has no interest in changing the status quo, because it benefits him to be able to go purchase comfort at a pleasure house, even if it’s not what people usually do there. The picture is bigger than just misogyny, but the traits taken as themselves are misogynistic nonetheless.

I could go into his specific relationships with women and how that informs his character, but this post is already long enough. We know that he mentally divides people by sex, and that distinction has a lot of weight in his judgment of them. Even if it comes from a place of trauma, even if it comes from a general worldview that applies to everyone, he still views women as a commodity— so on some level, and from an outside perspective, he is misogynistic.

In the end, though, it still all comes from him being stuck in survival mode. His lack of empathy, his viewing others as risks and benefits— these things themselves aren’t moral failings— it’s just a consequence of his environment. He’s a bad person because he won’t confront this, develop a moral code, and act on it, not because he doesn’t experience empathy.

But in his circumstance, there’s not really a chance for him to choose to be good. Because he’s still trying to survive, and goodness is a luxury he doesn’t realize he can afford now.

He’s scum, but pitiful, you know?

#svsss #svsss meta #zhuixing meta #shen jiu #listen I’ve been through a lot of shit and I project on this dude a lot #so ymmv on how you interpret the character but this is just how I see him #and honestly that’s ok! characters aren’t people so everyone can interpret them differently and they CAN be different from person to person #but also… I think the ‘is sj misogynistic’ answer really comes down to what you consider misogyny #is it the motives or the actions 等等 #I think the way it affects those around him is most important and therefore yes he is #but others may say the source is too different and the motives are different #and tbh other views are valid #it’s a grey line area #anyway #none of the replies to my post really encapsulated the root to it as I see it #also before you come at me I literally AM the ‘no empathy and views people as risk vs benefit’ in the post #I just try really hard to have a moral code #and consciously think about not harming/helping others #sj is just someone who DOESNT do that

[americankimchi]

Do you have any tips for writing Obi Wan or any meta in mind with his characterizarion?

hmmm sure why not! i'll give a few tips on how i'd write obi-wan. mind you this is how i interpret the character, so ymmv.

i truly do not like it when fics have obi-wan voluntarily leaving the order. like it's so out-of-character for me in my head that the premise of the story + the writing would have to work triple-time to get me to stick around. now if he's been removed from it by an EXTERNAL SOURCE (not the order. i cannot stress this enough: the jedi kicking obi-wan out is so jarring to me i'll leave the fic in an instant) or somehow unable to return to the order for whatever reason, all is well.

not a prodigy, but a genius. obi-wan is an incredibly intelligent person with an absolutely staggering knowledge base in a wide variety of topics, but all that knowledge was earned through blood, sweat, tears, and time. he sat down with his game face on and put in the work. that's also why he makes an excellent teacher: he knows what most students will struggle with because he struggled too, and knows through experience how best to overcome them. i headcanon that it contributes to why he's such a good negotiator: he's really good at stripping down information to the essentials and communicating that information effectively and efficiently to others because of his intense study habits.

humble, but not ignorant of his skills. it's pretty impossible to fully divorce yourself from pride in your achievements, and i don't think it's healthy to not feel any pride at all, so i think obi-wan has a very clear understanding of his skillset and how best to use it. i don't think he'd be ignorant of how good he is at something, especially since the direct consequence of his aptitude led him to being a member of the jedi council. pretty hard to be blind to your strengths when you're being asked for your input on topics that directly draw from that knowledge.

averse to healthcare. listen i enjoy obi-wan whump just as much as the next obi-wan stan (the desire to put him in the cosmic salad spinner comes with the territory, i fear) but as a character who grew up in an environment that deeply cares for the well-being of all, and knowing that you cannot help others unless you yourself first have the ability to do so, i can't really see him ignoring injuries outside of combat scenarios. like on the battlefield he's got more pressing concerns than a pesky little shrapnel wound or five, but once the battle's over?? he might not be first in line to the medics but i can't see him avoiding them entirely. an army without a general is working at a sharp disadvantage and i don't think he'd risk his men by neglecting his physical health in that manner. note that i said 'physical'. make of that what you will :)

duty. obi-wan is the definition of a paladin. he takes an oath and by the force he's going to keep it. train the boy? absolutely, qui-gon. whether or not anakin chooses to respect that training is another matter, but he did definitively get knighted! refuse to kill anakin? listen he's handed vader his own ass to him twice post order 66 and each time he did it he did it nonlethally. that takes skill. that takes dedication. exile yourself to tatooine for 19 years and then decide fuck it, we ball, and die after Once Again Deciding Not To Kill Anakin Skywalker? step aside casper, there's a new friendly ghost in town. every time obi-wan commits to something the man COMMITS. you GOTTA respect that grind.

flirty but in the sense that he's going to match the energy someone brings to the table. like he's a negotiator. he knows how to read people and figure out the Vibes. if he thinks the other person will be 1) 100% receptive and 2) will respond with a delightful wit, why the hell not? obi-wan's highest stat is charisma and he's got expertise in persuasion. whether they're allies or not does not factor into this equation. he can have a little flirtation with morally dubious and potentially hostile characters. as a treat.

this has nothing to do with his character but i firmly believe that he and quinlan vos had at LEAST a fling when they were padawans. there is zero evidence to back this up aside from a few comics where they were being goofy teenagers together but i stand by this. it is an unshakeable aspect of obi-wan to me that has only gotten worse with the kenobi show.

no matter what, no matter how terrible or devastating or downright apocalyptic it gets, obi-wan kenobi will never fall to the dark side. never. it won't be easy, but that is a line he has never, and will never cross. i will not hear any "obi-wan touched the dark side during the theed generator fight" slander. if that was true tell me why the force theme was playing during his moment of triumph!!! Would John Williams Lie To Us Like That?? to our face?????

anyways i could go on forever about obi-wan because he is My Ultimate Blorbo but this post is getting super long so i'll leave it there. hope this helped even a little or at the very least was entertaining for you to read <3

#anon #ask #star wars #obi wan kenobi #long post #THIS TOOK. SO LONG TO ANSWER IM SO SORRY LMAO;;;;;;;

[lurkingshan]

I Feel You Linger in the Air: Novel vs Drama 

gif by @wanderlust-in-my-soul

Happy IFYL special day! While I wait (not so) patiently for the special episode to become available for international viewers, I thought I would stop being lazy and get around to writing up my thoughts on the adaptation choices of the drama now that I’ve finally had a chance to read the original novel. 

First, let me just say: the novel is so fun. I’m so glad folks like @clairedaring and @pharawee talked about it on here and @waitmyturtles read it first and told me to jump on it, because I’ve had a really hard time with poorly translated y novels before and was definitely skeptical. But the story was excellent and the English translation was really solid, so a great time was had by all and I wasn’t even salty about spending eighteen American dollars on it. I didn’t think the novel was perfect (turtles can attest I had a few LOUD complaints) but it was a very enjoyable read. Shoutout to @bengiyo, @neuroticbookworm, and @wen-kexing-apologist as well for listening to me rant about Tee’s choices as I made my way through the novel. Bonus: if you have the chance to read this novel while vacationing in Thailand surrounded by plumeria trees and romantic scenery, I highly recommend. 

So, with that established, let’s talk about the adaptation! Adapting novels to a visual medium always comes with a lot of choices, and it’s not easy to make everything translate effectively. On the other hand, a live action drama can make some of what’s on the page feel even more vivid and new elements can be introduced that add to the canon. I’m on the record as both loving this show and feeling like there were some significant missteps in the writing, so I really wanted to understand the source material and how some of those choices were made. So here’s your spoiler alert for IFYL’s adaptation: it’s a real mixed bag of choices from our dear frenemy Tee Bundit, and all in service of one clear goal. 

I Feel You Linger in the Air, but Make It Sadder!

I’m going to break down the details below, but this is the TL; DR right here. Every choice Tee made in this adaptation was in service of transforming a relatively light and often comedic time travel romp into a story of deep melancholy and a thorough examination of queer pain. This is Tee’s whole schtick, so we can hardly be surprised; and yet I was kind of taken aback by how stark the difference in these stories felt even as a lot of the plot stayed the same. During the drama’s airing @respectthepetty talked about how this show was just too damn sad for her, and I gotta say, she was definitely picking up what Tee was putting down. YMMV on how sad you like your romance, but Tee Bundit is a very sad boy indeed.

Jom

gif by @junghaesin

Let’s start here, because this is definitely my biggest grievance with Tee: he removed most of Jom’s personality from the book in order to give us a flatter, sadder version of him that fit better with a much more melancholy vision for this story. As it turns out, Jom was originally written to be smart, sassy, and very funny (h/t to @stuffnonsenseandotherthings whose post on this really got me interested in reading to see the difference). Novel Jom is a smartass who never misses the opportunity to work in a salty comment or express his frustration when things aren’t going his way, and he’s such an active character. He does not just sit back and let things happen to him; he thinks and he struggles and he tries. By comparison, show Jom just feels… vaguely confused, mildly depressed, and wildly passive most of the time. This is by no means a knock on Nonkul, who is a fantastic performer—these are clearly writing and directing choices and he is interpreting the character as instructed.

And it’s not just the removal of his core personality, either. Jom in the book has emotional intelligence and a stronger sense of connection to others. For one, he actually cares that Eung Phueng is his sister! Throughout the book, we see him dedicate time and energy to finding ways to care for his sister despite their different social stations; this dynamic is completely absent from the show, where Jom doesn’t even seem to remember Eung Phueng has his sister’s face most of the time. This was a major hole in the show and I still don’t really understand why Tee dropped the ball on it when there was so much material to drawn from in the book.

Winner: The novel, hands down. If you take nothing else away from this post, please take it as a recommendation to read the novel so you can experience Real Jom in all his sassy glory.

The Mythology 

gif by @chickenstrangers

Now, I can’t really claim that either the novel or the show does a fantastic job with the mythology, because there’s a lot of hand waving in either case and some definite plot holes. But I will give the book credit for being upfront from the start: it didn’t really intend to explain it beyond giving us a little preamble about wormholes (yes, wormholes!) and for having Jom actually notice and care (and get very amusingly frustrated) that he didn’t understand what the wormhole wanted him to do or how to control it. He actually tried quite a lot in the book to figure it out, rather than just sitting around gazing morosely into the distance. In the end, the book tells us that Yai vowed to love Jom at first sight in every lifetime, which is a vow he made after the wormhole brought Jom to him but somehow affects the times that had already happened from our perspective. It’s a paradox that doesn’t fully make sense, but it is at least an explanation.

The show, by contrast, intentionally added layers to this mystery that it had no intention of resolving. The drawings opening up connections to the present, the ghostly visages haunting the characters, the glimpses of Jom in the future doing things we never saw in the original timeline, Mustache Yai kissing Jom in the water—all show inventions, and all setting up an expectation that some sense would be made of these clues. Which of course, never happened. Instead, these things were used to contribute to the spooky scary vibe and make everything feel sadder, and the show offered no explanation at all for why any of this happened.

Winner: It’s a draw since neither really did it well, but I’m staying salty with Tee for fucking with me.

Family Drama 

gif by @thii-nii

Here is where we get into some of the stuff Tee added to the story that actually worked pretty well. One very smart adaptation choice: he made Yai and Eung Phueng siblings so that Yai would have a reason to be more involved in their household and able to interact much more with Jom in the early parts of the story; in the novel there is no connection between the households and Yai and Jom barely interact for the first several months after Jom arrives in the past. He also added a lot of family drama in the back half of the show: the struggles with Yai’s father, the shady uncle, the plot to force Yai to marry, and the big confrontation over Robert’s misdeeds are all show inventions, likely added both to pad out the story and make the relationship harder and sadder, and because he was looking for an alternate source of conflict since he was not doing Part 2 of the book (which takes place once Jom is yanked away again and shot back to the Commander Yai time period). 

Another major change from the novel to the show: in the novel, Yai’s plans to go study abroad were already set before Jom even got there, not something he won as a consolation in a negotiation over marriage. Which has some implications I’ll get into in the next section.

Winner: The drama, where the family dynamics were much more thoroughly explored. 

The Romance 

gif by @loveisactivated

As I mentioned above, Tee made a smart choice in bringing Yai more firmly into Jom’s orbit early in the story, but unfortunately, he didn’t do much with that advantage and actually failed to use some of what the novel gave him to work with. In the novel, Jom is much more aware of the attraction between him and Yai, very attuned to Yai’s flirting and their age gap, very aware of his own growing attachment to Yai, and thinking through the implications of all of it as it grows, which is a more natural and believable build up to their romance than in the show, where Jom seems distracted and unaware of Yai’s affections until they suddenly start jumping each other. That lack of romantic development in the show (which we discussed even as it was airing) was not because the material was not there for Tee to use in the book; he simply had other priorities and neglected to build it properly in show time.

That said, I have to give major credit to Tee for how he handled the romance once our leads were together and intimately involved. First, he really brought some of the scenes that were in the book to life in a way that still has me shook, like Yai’s drunken poetry recitation (credit must also be given to Bright for his eye work in that and many other scenes, what a stunner). And on top of that, the drama has some of the best physical intimacy scenes I have ever seen in any drama, full stop, and that is nearly all Tee and his creative team. He used elements from a few scenes in the book, but he remixed and amplified them to be a lot more powerful, and certainly much more artful and sensual than the sex scenes in the book. That olive oil masturbation scene? The show gets full credit, and the way the direction, editing, and performances so vividly painted their attraction to each other still gives me shivers when I think about it.

But anyway, back to bitching about Tee: one of the scenes that really stuck out for me like a sore thumb in the romance arc in the show was when Yai learns he will be going abroad and he and Jom discuss it in a curiously flat and emotionless way, with Yai acting like it’s no big deal for them to be separated for three years. I mentioned above that this was a change from the book: in the novel Yai was already set to go abroad before he ever met Jom, it was not a new surprise that came about after they were together. They discuss Yai’s impending departure twice in the book; once when Jom is still only Yai’s majordomo, and then once again when they are lovers. As you can imagine, the emotional tenor of these two scenes are quite different. And Tee used the wrong one for the show! I almost threw the book at the wall when I realized I was reading the verbatim dialogue from that scene in the show in the context of Yai and Jom hardly knowing each other yet, and then again when I got to the second conversation that was actually appropriate for two lovers who do not want to be parted. That has to be one of the most senseless adaptation mistakes I have ever seen. Tee Bundit, what is wrong with you!!

Lastly for this section, I will just note that the very long, drawn out goodbyes between Yai and Jom are also a show invention. In the book, Jom gets yanked to the next time period with no warning shortly after they get together and begins his next adventure with another Yai. Since Tee was ending the show here in this time period, he went in a different direction, having Jom and Yai much more aware of Jom fading and anticipating a separation so that he could (say it with me) make everything sadder. His choice to wallow for two entire episodes in sorrow and melancholy and to put much heavier focus on Yai’s despair was entirely his own, and so very on brand.  

Winner: It’s a draw. The book definitely writes the romantic arc more holistically and doesn’t have any of the missteps the drama does, but the show is so artful and the parts it gets right are so good I will remember them for the rest of my life. And I can’t pretend I’m not an angst monster at heart, so Tee’s sad af vision totally worked on me.

Sides and Queer Community

gif by @my-rose-tinted-glasses

Here is where Tee’s adaptation really shines, and I know others have discussed these changes before so I won’t go too deep on the details. But I absolutely have to give Tee props for taking tiny threads for these side characters in the books and building them into whole people that we actually care about. Especially in the case of Ming and Fong Kaew, Tee really made something of their extremely thin book stories to turn them into fan favorite characters with real growth arcs. I do think the book was better in the way it handled the fated connection between Fong Kaew and Khamsaen, but everything else about Fong Kaew’s story was deepened by the show. And Tee gets credit for adding so many meaningful stories for women characters in the first place, let alone developing a lesbian romance for Eung Pueng and Maey. He picked up on a tiny bit of subtext for underdeveloped characters in the book and ran with it, and it really enhanced the story. 

He also used side characters as a means to make this story feel all around more queer, not only by including additional queer romances but by building out a real sense of community and solidarity among the queer characters. Not only the addition of nods to real queer history, but the speakeasy, James’s explicit queerness, and Nuey the Green Queen are all Tee additions to the canon that really enhanced the story.

Winner: The drama and it’s not close. Well done, Tee!

That Ending

gif by @dragonsareawesome123

One of my biggest interests in reading the novel was seeing how the ending with modern Yai is explained in the original source material, because I found the drama version of that scene so lacking. Well, it turns out, the novel did pretty much the same thing! The ending sequence of the book is even shorter than the scene in the show and similarly offers zero explanation for this new version of Yai or how he knows Jom before they jump each other and the story concludes. The main narrative ends there and the book then tacks on an epilogue explaining who this new Yai is, and it reads like an afterthought. Honestly, it felt to me like the writer ran out of steam and just didn’t bother to finish the story, and Tee did exactly the same thing. Which is kind of infuriating, because being able to fix stuff like that is one of the best things about a good adaptation. 

Winner: Absolutely no one, my kingdom for a proper ending to this story.

gif by @pharawee

So, my conclusions? 1) Tee Bundit is the saddest creator in Thai bl, hands down; 2) It’s a draw between which version of this story is better. The novel and drama both have different strengths and significant flaws, but both versions are compelling and had me on the edge of my seat. I highly recommend the book to anyone who is missing the show and wants another chance to revisit these characters, plus the added bonus of seeing Jom wrangle Commander Yai, something we are unlikely to ever see on our screens (though hope springs eternal besties!). If you do decide to give it a read, come talk to me about it! 

#i feel you linger in the air #ifylita #shoutout also to all the excellent giffers for this show #the tumblr gif search is hopelessly broken but i wanted y’all’s beautiful work in this post anyway #thai bl #shan shouts into the void

[eisforeidolon]

Did you see the video of the answer? Did it change your opinion at all?

I did, and I'm not sure why you think it would? Here for anyone that hadn't seen it [X].

Both the transcripts and the video made it clear he was trying to be very careful about his phrasing. He still very pointedly changes away from the characterization of it being a confession. He still uses clearly platonic terms of friendship to refer to Dean's feelings about Castiel several times over. Not only that, but he consistently characterizes the angel as part of the larger group of people that are important to Dean - "one of" and "people" - rather than the kind of solo importance some people are desperately trying to ignore his plural word choices to interpret into what he said. I think it's also very clear from where his statement was going before and after the person yelling "subtext" got him off track, that Castiel's statement of feelings was what was "clear text" rather than "subtext" - not the ship. The statement he was in the middle of was that the feelings between them after that scene were understood and therefore did not need to be addressed or talked about in any way. You know, the scene where Castiel rambles about love he knows he can't have and Dean just stares at him like he was slapped in the face with a week old fish. Again, if Dean actually did feel the same (whether that's romantic lurve or I'd totally revolve my life around you and die for you love) despite all previous canon and everything Jensen has ever said on the subject, including all of this? That would very much require a resolution and something being said to contradict the part about it not being have-able, and trying to weasel around the specific words to imply otherwise is so obviously bonkers I just can't even. Like, hellers themselves obviously know this or they wouldn't have been whining for literal years now about how TW and any revival HAD TO give them a resolution to that scene where Dean reciprocated.

Personally I think Misha's final speech as Castiel was an embarrassingly transparent, disingenuous, insincere cash grab that came out of nowhere to betray the character's entire previous story to bait shippers while leaving it ambiguous enough to ignore for the rest of the audience. But from the start, Jensen has treated it as sincere and praised Misha's emotional investment. Whether he really buys into that or just realizes the optics would be terrible to criticize an interpretation of supposed representation so many people are invested in? I mean, personally I thought the video made his description of the scene sound a lot more rote, like 'yeah yeah, whatever' than the transcripts did. But that is pure interpretation, not words he actually said, so YMMV, and obviously I am very biased on that subject.

#destihellers #convention drama #anti Misha

[laufire]

although I've enjoyed stories that went down that route before, I can't see jason & talia's relationship in the comic as surrogate mother and son. I don't think the reading came completely out of the blue (I still have this edit of the pietà cover in lost days #2 as my background pic lol. that's some culturally ingrained imagery! although given the issue it precedes, I wonder if it was more of a hint to antichrist!jason lmfao), and can see how lost days #1 would inspire it (although the same events in batman annual #25 end with talia kissing jason after the pit... and I read that first because lost days wasn't out yet when I was catching up in my jason reading, way back when. lost days erases this moment and I do prefer it that version though. that moment, at that time, made no sense).

but after that first issue that's not what I see in the run. jason's certainly not in the market for a parental figure, and he wouldn't have responded well to talia, had she approached him as one (and at this point, talia was very much about finding the right approach to manage jason... because jason had attempted to kill bruce -the comic attributes this to temporary psychopathy but winnick and I differ on this one-. and this didn't happen only because jason decided not to go through his plan at the last moment. ymmv at to why). this reading comes from a mix of things in fanon, but one of them is literally "well she's bruce's love interest and he's bruce's kid sooooo", and I just don't vibe with that, basically.

reading talia's first appearances and realising she's meant to be close to dick's age also compounded my own interpretation of talia's dynamics, sometimes for the worse sometimes for the better, but it's a canon detail that just feels so fitting for the talia comics I've read that now I'd struggle to see her differently, when beforehand I really hadn't thought about her age. this way, they're not exactly peers (dick seems around 4-6 years older than jason in new earth, ymmv), and I usually land on talia being a couple years older than dick. but this colours how I interpret their dynamic, too. how I think they'd see it, in particular.

since I'm talking about the nature of their relationship I do have to mention That Scene. very contentious and I do get why (I do not care for any m/f/m triangle dc has ever tried to pull with the bats, especially bruce vs. dick-slash-jason). but fandom either sees this as "talia, a much older woman, statutory raped jason, a teenager" (jason in the last issue of lost days and in utrh looks very much in his twenties), OR "I've decided talia is jason's mother figure, and I'm -with good reason!- tired of how often she's villianised, so I just Don't See It" [insert mariah carey's i can't read suddenly.gif], as thought there's no other possible interpretation.

and the way I see it is. it's not a Good Thing to happen, nor is it written with that intention! the characters are NOT in a good place and they're NOT making wise, healthy choices lol. and it's something that sidetracks what could've become a really interesting, closer friendship & alliance (I want them to be friends and allies sooooo badly lol. I think they'd work so well!! there's reblogs in my queue about it!!). but I don't see it as something to completely handwave if I'm writing new earth canon; just something to tackle head on, if I ever write about them after this period beyond having it as a secondary dynamic (which I plan to do, but that's another story).

ironically, these ramblings came to me because I'm developing their dynamic in a WIP for a different canon (the young justice cartoon. for reference, the ages there are: Talia, 1984; Jason, 1999; Damian, 2018), and rn if you asked me if they have a surrogate mother-son relationship in it my answer would be a solid... maaaaaaaybe? LOL. if they end up like that, it'll be with MASSIVE ammounts of spousification, though. which is how I see any parental relationship involving jason going, outside of 80s!bruce & jason, to be honest.

#bruce already parentified one robin*. now it's talia's turn #*i've seen posts saying this about tim too but i haven't read enough about their dynamic to be completely sure #(most of what I've read with tim is with bruce very much elsewhere lol. absent deadbeat if you will) #talking to the void #my thoughts #man this post has so many parenthesis... i'm not looking through it again though. i'm tiredd #dc #dc thoughts #dc comics #red hood: the lost days #jason todd #talia al ghul #jaytalia for ts #since i mention That Scene #anyway. cancellable offense number 3192 etc.

[sandalwoodbox]

Vidder asks: 12, 21, 27?

Thanks for asking!

(This is part of the Get to know the Vidder ask meme. See all my responses here and feel free to send me asks!)

12. Most underrated vid that you wished had gotten more views?

I'm going to say Stray Italian Greyhound for Dear Missy. I really like this vid because I think it most accurately summarizes what I see as the plot of the actual series - Lu Ke's journey to recognizing, accepting, and ultimately living her feelings for Shen Siyi. I'm pretty proud of how it turned out, and it can still fairly reliably make me tear up to watch. It's a really great show and more people should watch it! Even with the weird canonical straight ending it's pretty good tbh 🤣 it has things like men and women dating and breaking up and still being part of the same friend group 🤯 what a concept!

But personally I always advocate for just ignoring the heterosexuality in the last six episodes & just watching them for the bonus Lu Ke / Shen Siyi fluff.

21. How would you describe your vidding style?

Answered here with bonus "what is your vidding process" because I got distracted 😅

27. Advice for anyone just starting their channel?

I'm interpreting this to mean "advice for anyone starting out making fanvids"?

I'd say do what you want and don't expect anyone to see it. Exchanges (like Festivids) and cons (like VidUKon, Fanworks, or WisCon) are a great way to "force" people to watch your vids and not get criticism unless you want it. (YMMV - I am not sure what the experience of submitting to AMV contests is like, for example.)

I'd recommend using a modern fully-featured video editing program like Da Vinci Resolve from the beginning rather than something like iMovie - DVR is more complicated but makes it very easy to separate the vid itself from the source files. That is, you can move the files from your hard drive to a backup drive to free up space and work on something else, then put them back later if you want to go back to a previous fandom!

That said, if a low bar of entry is important, iMovie is also fine. Whatever works for you!

Bonus question 1 (from replies): How do you get ideas for vids?

It depends! Sometimes it comes from blorbos or otherwise loving a show such that I want to share it with other people. Other times it comes from frustration with something not being done the way I wanted in the show, or drawing out a theme that I think the show didn't fully explore. A large chunk of my vids are from Festivids, which is great because I can see what ideas other people have and then make treats for them if I'm excited about what they've suggested and think I have time to pull it off (which is usually only possible for movies and for shows I've already (mostly) clipped, in my experience.) From time to time I'll hear a song and think it's perfect for some character or concept, but I'll generally still end up spending a fair amount of time searching for other potential songs before I actually get started on the vid. More often I'll hear a song and think, that would make a fun vid but I don't know what for, so I stick it in a playlist that I go through every time I'm looking for potential vid songs.

If I have an idea for a vid, I write it down in a spreadsheet. I'll never make most of those ideas, either because I've moved on from the fandom or because I just ended up not liking it as much later. Here's a snippet of vids I will probably never make from my spreadsheet in case it's interesting:

Bonus question 2 (from replies): What makes a vid you're working on feel done to you?

I'm a bit of a perfectionist with my vids, so this can be tricky. I think I would say: Once I am satisfied that the clips on the timeline are doing what I want and there are no clips that I believe would be strictly better, I try to stop.

Overall my process is: I'll generally make a first draft that doesn't have things that feel obviously bad (but I might still have things I'm not satisfied with but don't know how to solve). I send that out for beta and work on other things in the meantime. Depending on how much I care about the vid / how uncertain I am about it, I might do multiple rounds of beta or send it to multiple betas at once.

Depending on the vid, I might do a pass specifically looking at clip timing or motion or color correction (for example, making sure dark scenes are possible to parse), or anything else that I particularly want to work well for the vid.

Once I have something that feels "final" I like to let it sit for a week to a month, then come back to it to see if there's anything else I notice that I'd want to change before calling it done.

But a lot of times I'm working on a deadline for an exchange or a con, which means that at some point I just have to stop and call it good enough.

By the time I'm done with a vid, I often no longer feel like I can tell whether it's good or not because I'm too deep in it, so I see things nobody else would. I can't necessarily tell how satisfied I'll be with a finished vid until 6-12 months after I've posted it. (So I try to keep that in mind if I'm agonizing over whether people will notice a cleancredits glitch that's only visible in the lower left corner of a clip for like 4 frames.)

I have a vidder friend who I can show things to at that point not for beta but just to ask, is there anything obviously wrong with this? Any reason I shouldn't post this? (The answer is usually: It's fine, just post it!)

#dear missy #ask meme #my fanvids #my posts #vidding

[wellship]

Sanuso fanfic. hurt/comfort, romance, comedic, whatever. what are ur top 3-5 fave fanfics for Sanuso pairing?! (looking for recommendations)

BUDDY I WISH I HAD MORE 😭

For real, I actually find looking for new fanfics quite daunting - my brain tells me I can't afford to get invested in a story I might not like, even though I've wasted time on much worse things lol. So I rely on fic recommendations from other people. And I haven't really had many for SanUso!!

Ok, let's see what I do have:

One of the first SanUso fics I got recommended to me was Breaking Through Walls by Astral_Writer (NSFW but only in the last chapter IIRC so you could safely read up until that point if you're not interested in that). This is a fairly old fic, so it's interesting to see how their relationship is portrayed versus what's become more prominent now as the series has continued. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure about this fic when I first started reading it; I don't really vibe with interpretations where Sanji starts off legit hating Usopp, since I think it's pretty clear in canon that they're friends! (Though I also think Sanji himself might deny that if asked, so I get that YMMV.) But it won me over in the end; the characterisation was really good, and there's some imagery in it that I found really beautiful and striking. Sure stuck with me even though I read it a long time ago!

Ginger_snappin on AO3 has written a lot of great ZoSanSopp fics, so if you're interested in that angle, I highly recommend you read more of their stuff, but the fic You, Drowning Between My Arms is just SanUso and is a really great exploration of Sanji's hangups that would realistically get in the way of a relationship between them while still having a happy ending.

On the other end of the spectrum, hongmunmu writes such good SanUso with such a robust understanding of both characters' personalities and flaws that it makes me want to throw up because THERE IS NO HAPPY ENDING. THERE IS NEVER A HAPPY ENDING IN HONG'S WRITING. I AM PROMISED ONE BUT IT NEVER COMES!!! Everything they write is worth a peek, but if you're in the mood for horny angst devastating in its accuracy for both Sanji and Usopp's most toxic traits then you can read two birds with one stone (NSFW, and CW for discussion of self harm) then join me harassing them into writing something nice for once. And if you want an equally horny but now happy/romantic palate cleanser after that, go read One Month-iversary by leghair on AO3 (also NSFW).

I don't know why so many of these reccs are NSFW. Sorry. That's genuinely not what I go looking for when I read SanUso fic lmao. But that's what I've got! If any other readers here have SanUso fic reccs then feel free to add them in the replies!

#sanuso

[milo-the-professional-yapper]

Hello! about your malevolent ask

[long ass answer- many apologies]

its a slightly goofy, sort of horror soap opera, in the vein of call of cthulu/tma. I dont find it Super Scary, but idk what your milage for horror is.

The overarching plot is drivin by the patrions (sp sorry), in the style of a choose your own adventure novel- you can usually tell where the choices are; it'll be something like 'omg arthur, we're at a crossroads- do we go left, to the evil cavern (where the horrors live) or right, to the evil woods (more horrors).' You can also hear more overt RPG stylings in the beginning- dice roll sounds for perception checks, etc. These do fade out after the first season.

Rough outline (some spoilers): John (a spirit/demon type guy) possesses Arthur (a detective from Arkham MA) and, in doing so, takes over his eyes. Now Arthur must navigate the world with only the guidance of the voice in his head. Horrors unfold, walls are walked into the boys are in their get-along consciousness. Think venom, if both of them were way bitchier and prone to swearing. and also eddy was blind.

IS IT GAY: Yes and no. If its a friendship, its really intense- but cannonicaly it has been very firmly stated that they are just friends. However, the relationship is intertwined and deep enough that many people consider it to be queerplatonic- Arthur being aromantic is a very popular interpretation, if that sweetens the pot for you (idk how loosely you're using gay here). Glib answer: its pretty queer, but no kissing.

COOL STUFF:

-A dramatic, intense relationship between a guy and the dude who lives in his head. They argue ( my god how they argue) they make up, they argue again.

-The saddest little english man (arthur) gets chucked off cliffs multiple times. Do you like men whimpering? This is the podcast for you!

-Very impressive voice acting: the writer voices absolutely everyone in the podcast (yes. everyone) and its genuinely almost unnoticeable. You really do have to have it pointed out to you.

-Fun, slightly campy (in the way of an rpg campaign) Lovecraft style horror

-Lovely piano soundtrack

-A gentleman called the butcher shows up in- what season 3? maybe?- and I adore him. Go singing irishman go. You get that violent homoeroticism.

Drawbacks:

Again, I don't really know your taste, but these are some of the things that might turn someone off from listening. YMMV etc.

-LOUD. If you dont like gentlemen yelling DIRECTLY AND ANGRILY INTO THE MIC then this is not for you. If you do like that, then you are about the have the time of your life. There is also just. An incredible amount of panting/heavy breathing. Also directly into the mic, and at length. Like, an 'i am secretly watching gay pornography' amount. I had it going on a speaker once and my roommate had questions, kind of amount

-Almost no women characters: understandable, since a dude is voicing Literally Everyone- but it is something of a sausage fest. Women exist in universe, they just tend to move in the backround/be unvoiced. Lots of 'oh heres whats happened to her' sort of describing around the 'I can't voice a woman' issue. One old lady has a few voice lines and thats it.

-Kind of a soap: This is a draw for me ngl, but if you are looking for TMA 2: the magnusing- she isn't it. Its a LOT lighter than tma, writing wise, and isnt exactly hitting any crazy new twists in its plot (if you've read Any lovecraftian stuff you probably wont be super surprised by anything)BUT. Its still very fun. Two dudes sharing a body, detective roadship shenanigans. They might kiss! Might see some skinned bodies or something.

The dynamics can be a lil repetative (wake up break up back together) and the plot can be a little- ehhhh. due to it being yk, patrion controlled- but that can be fun- it's pretty heavily a choose your own adventure story at heart, so if your down with that (and the sillyness that comes with it) then you'll like it.

-Gore: pretty gory. I enjoy that sort of thing/ am not really effected by it BUT if that not your cup of tea, then you might wanna skedaddle.

🤠 thats all. Again, apologies for the very long answer.

First off- don’t apologize! This gave me everything I needed- thank you for the detailed answer to my question! Looks like I’m giving this podcast a listen- everyone wish me luck 😭

#malevolent #malevolent podcast #you said qpr and I was all in #I’m aroace so I’d love to see better rep of that kind of thing #even if it’s not explicitly stated that it’s a canon qpr

[sirenalpha]

ok I keep seeing this in the tags on my post and in other posts and so on with regards to Sokka's misogyny

but I need people to stop bringing Sokka's early opinions on Katara's waterbending into it as if that is also something in need of updating in the live action

it's not

the reasons literally upon character introduction that Sokka doesn't care for Katara's waterbending are that he is a skeptic and so is mistrustful of magic water and that he always ends up wet which is a legitimate concern as he could end up with frost bite if he is wet in polar weather

neither of these reasons have anything to do with misogyny, there is no reason for any of this to change if you adjust Sokka's misogyny to be more realistic for the setting, it's all fine, you don't have to make Sokka super supportive of Katara's bending to make him not misogynistic

in fact I would argue that changing this and making Sokka supportive of Katara's bending from the get go would change more of his character than adjusting his misogyny

Sokka's skepticism lasts for more than four episodes, but more importantly when Sokka is complaining about Katara's bending how he does it demonstrates his lack of traditionalism, he speaks dismissively of bending as a cultural art, preserving it doesn't matter much to him despite its ongoing loss than the practical concerns right in front of him, he's not spiritual, it takes him a little while to accept bending as a fact of life in early s1, he is forward looking and an inventor interested in science and engineering which is a series long interest, he even wants to go to a library for a vacation to gain knowledge and then is dismissive of and breaks the rules of the spirit that keeps that library for another example

it would be out of character for Sokka to be supportive of Katara's bending from the get go with these characteristics alone, but depending on audience interpretation

Sokka can justifiably see Katara's bending as the reason his mother is dead, he may logically understand that it's not Katara's fault the Fire Nation attacked them, but that doesn't mean he's emotionally absorbed that and doesn't resent her bending or see it as a threat to their collective safety

but that's huge ymmv as I don't believe that the show is at all consistent with how Sokka relates to and feels about his mother compared to his father

still, I see no good justifiable reason to just have Sokka start the show as supportive of Katara's bending if you're trying to keep him true to his original characterization

#sokka #atla #atla la #adaptation #meta

[thisisadonaldduckblognow]

i wish i had the energy and eloquence to fully and properly get into the family therapist mikey thing tbh it’s so hard to just. explain what i MEAN. 

(ftr i am an adult who does regularly touch grass. i understand interpretation and ymmv on characterization. i understand the catharsis of vent art and vent fic and projecting issues onto characters to process them. i don’t read through stuff i’ve found issues with and then seethe about it, i keep scrolling or hit the back button and find something else. 

i am still gonna talk about trends i’ve noticed and things that i don’t get or that rub me the wrong way. please don’t come into my posts about my personal thoughts and opinions to, however well-meaning or politely, judge me for expressing them. consider doing what i do and keep scrolling. i won’t engage with that. i would ask that no one else engages with that in replies or comments.

i also legit don’t Get tone indicators just ftr. they elude me.)

bc so much of the draxum moral realignment stuff was mikey being motivated largely by what mikey wanted. he wanted to see barry as family, he wanted barry to become part of the family, he wanted the story of their mutation to be less uh. objectively crummy.

now, mikey’s wants in that area served as a CATALYST for other development, him pursuing that (often very hamfistedly and despite many objections) wound up paving the way, but it was ultimately in the spirit of his personal desire. which ftr im not criticizing that’s very much part of the character.

he brought draxum to the big hidden city day out because it was a Family Event and he personally considered draxum family. splinter and draxum kinda coming to a truce, splinter reconciling that his mutation (despite the horrific trauma and long-lasting impact of it) was still what gave him his sons who he loves more than anything, that was all splinter and draxum. mikey’s action of bringing barry along was a catalyst, he was able to speak to his own feelings about it to splinter when it came up, but he wasn’t sitting there going “tell me how that makes you feel and we’ll talk through it” yknow?

and it’s the same with the dr feelings thing with donnie, which is arguably as close to Playing Therapist as mikey gets on screen. bc that was just a very Extra way of confronting donnie about the shelldon stuff. like. that was mikey inserting himself into the situation so he could give his personal opinion about how donnie was messing up, just with a sweater and a powerpoint. like. an intervention i guess. if donnie hadn’t gotten the picture from the slides he was probably all lined up for a dr delicate touch meeting.

which like, was also not being donnie’s therapist as much as a once again very hamfisted way of addressing something that mikey felt in the right about?

i’m wondering if maybe what i picture when i hear about a child having to play therapist for the family isn’t the same as what modern fandom means by saying it. because i picture like, what steven universe went through. which was practically singlehandedly, as a child, walk a bunch of adults through their own grief and insecurities and shortcomings with unending patience and support, to a point of pushing all his own needs and emotional issues aside.

where steven seemed convinced there were things that he wasn’t allowed to express or outright things he never got to learn to express, mikey is probably the most emotionally open and honest of all the brothers. he feels more outright sheltered. 

especially where his big brothers are concerned. the entire episode about his first solo mission he was chafing about being unnecessarily overprotected by raph. there’s a lot tied up in his relationship to raph if we take what the creators said about them growing apart as they’ve grown up into account. 

so i guess for me, in my understanding of the trauma of playing therapist at a young age, i can’t really reconcile what canon gives us with the idea of any of the other brothers or splinter (who is notably emotionally disconnected from his sons at series start) genuinely dropping their issues on his lap. 

but in that vein, for as much as he’s emotionally open and honest, i’m sure there are also insecurities and issues that mikey doesn’t express. or. that canon for some reason just decided to not dig into in any of the episodes that actually got made.

but ohhhhh that’s a whole separate can of worms.

#rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt mikey #rise mikey

[spindrifters]

Hello! Ok so I’m here to tell you that I’m obsessed with wolfstar and have read so much so far but I’ve never read a harry potter book.

I’ve obviously known about hp for decades but the size of the series intimidated me. A year ago I decided to watch the movies (the books were too big a commitment at the time) and I really enjoyed them. I remember instantly falling in love with professor Lupin then by the end of Prisoner of Azkaban having the biggest crush on Sirius Black, but I never thought of the two of them together for some reason. (Although now that I think back, I remember being unsettled by the presence of remadora)

My golden trio phase only lasted weeks before I found myself on marauders tiktok and I heard about wolfstar. For some reason it just instantly made SO MUCH sense and from there I jumped head first into fan fiction.

I never felt that I was lacking any info about these characters and their personalities, even after I came to tumblr and met people who have read the books. Maybe I got lucky and read the right fics first?

I tried picking up the books to read but I honestly couldn’t be bothered to finish one when there were a thousand fics focused on my favorite characters waiting for me.

But now that I see your shock at how can someone ship wolfstar without having read the books, I’m intrigued to give them another shot.

hello!

I mean I feel like all I can really do here is say yes, read the books!! there's so much there that the movies left out!! especially in book three, which is (in @soloorganaas' words) an accidental love letter to sirius and remus, both together and individually.

but also, I'm now just fascinated in all of these ways people came to and are interacting in fandom that literally. never occurred to me before. maybe. idk. maybe it's because as a writer I'm like.... right so you can have information about characters and their personalities, but the ways in which they actually exist in context is something else entirely? and for me, personally, I so so hated the movies that I don't consider them canon because I don't at all agree with their interpretation of the original text. also they feel wildly incoherent -- I have no idea how you could watch them and know what's going on without having read the books, but also maybe that's just because I've read the books and know how much richness is missing there. but also I definitely had friends watch the movies without reading the books and they did not understand what was happening so. ymmv on that.

but also! I think I've always known there are people in fandom who had only seen the films, so... yeah idk I'm still working this all out! because at first the idea of people writing fic based on someone else's canon interpretation in their fic did not compute. but I always see fanfiction as inherently folkloric, and isn't that just what folklore sort of does anyway? hm. much to think about.

[gideonisms]

andrew garfield sex pal anon, my problem is i really feel like john boyega would make an excellent babs. like i already imagined the twins and babs as black and john boyega has the flare needed to be babs. this fandom is so fun to me tho bc i know theres like a tasmuir list of how she sees characters out there but ive never seen it and i know most of the fandom have wildly different interpretations on the characters. its very fun i think. i do know that the one consitent thing i see is gideon and harrow are both always maori which is super cool and really defined how i read these characters.

Anon, I respect your opinions, but to me those people are the color of mayonnaise I say this as someone who is also that color. However I do think Muir could have incorporated more black characters who weren't A) trying to kill a protag B) strict supporters of the military C) possessed by an rb or D) dead for most of the series, so ymmv on this. I'd enjoy art of nonwhite coronabeth & ianthe certainly. I would be sorry to see john boyega get eaten so soon, so if the goal is for babs to be sympathetic, you may have a point. But on the other hand, I'd be sorry to cast john boyega and then only have him around for a short while. problems of the newest star wars trilogy

There is canonical basis for reading gideon and harrow as maori, and I tend to side eye white gideons in particular because while you COULD have read harrow as white pre ntn, gideon is related to john who is canonically not white in htn, plus her skin tone seems darker on the cover of the book (depending on the cover you've seen). Just my two cents!

#replies #i hesitate to completely invalidate people's readings unless they involve scarlett johannson #this doubles as a warning: if you unironically suggest scarlett johannson for any role in tlt tonight i will be invalidating you

[majorbaby]

re: the tv tropes page it is SO bad. full on fanon being included in the character page (not even the ymmv page), like y'all. have your headcanons but please stop forcing them on everyone else

yeah in most cases i’m skeptical that ‘forcing headcanons’ on people is actually a thing that happens because 99% of the time that grievance could be sufficiently addressed if people would only curate their feeds so they see the content they wanna see, but this might be a legitimate example of such a thing. 

it is annoying because tvtropes is a great tool for understanding the technical aspects of storytelling and getting a general overview of a show and how content-making techniques can help deliver messaging (e.g. lighting, sound, sfx, camera angles). i’ve been using it for that purpose for years and i’ve found only recently that i’ve been encountering this problem more and more. 

it’s been a while since i looked at the MASH page because i’ve basically written it off, but if memory serves the character pages were pretty unreliable. it could be that people have are projecting their personal interpretations/feelings on the show (any reading will have some amount of this) but some of the reaches on there are dishonest about the text.

MASH is a show that lacks continuity and is full of gags. it is also a show from another completely different era of television and the world. without some knowledge of that time, your interpretation might be lacking. many episode titles are puns or a play on an existing piece of media from the first half of the 20th century - but you rarely see that addressed nowadays in the fandom because we’re (mostly) a different generation. there’s a difference between saying ‘radar is psychic’ and ‘a running gag on the show is that radar is psychic’ - does that mean MASH has a canonical magical realism aspect to it? no, of course not. but i sure as hell could find a way to make it seem that way to a person who has never seen it just by being a bit creative, telling half-truths and remixing things i know to be true about the show - aka, writing an AU. it’s like that “mash is haunted” post floating around on tumblr - it’s great in the format that it’s in, but on tvtropes, production flubs need to be called what they are - flubs - and not “trapper is haunting the OR” - those are the rules of engagement on TV tropes. 

the rest under a this cut because i talk specifically about one of my most be-loathed myths that the MASH tv tropes page seems to want me to believe: hawkeye the “canonical” CSA/rape survivor 

i say ‘let me leave shipping out of this’ a lot because i do get the sense that if i don’t give non-shippy examples of this happening that it’s valid for people to think i’m projecting a shipping bias onto my argument because a lot of fandom discourse is frankly, about shipping. so here: something I remember really rubbing me the wrong way about the MASH tv tropes page was how much it seemed to insist that Hawkeye was a CSA survivor. 

i am not saying that this is not viable or that it is a bad reading or even that i disagree with it as an interpretation of the source material, but framing it like it’s an undeniable part of his character that other characters acknowledge is just - it’s not there! and if canonical portrayals of survivors are important to you, I don’t see how pretending that Hawkeye is a CSA survivor and trying to convince other people of that before they’ve even watched the show is “good representation”. 

it gives way for all sorts of other misunderstandings of the show, for example, his “loose morals” around sexuality which are first and foremost about his being anti-establishment, that is something which is key to his character and tbh if you subscribe to the HC that hawkeye is a survivor of abuse then his being a scrappy, unconventional male lead who turns his nose up to traditional masculinity only enriches that HC in my opinion. 

#csa mention #rape mention #mash #tvtropes #hawkeye pierce #replies #sorry for the essay i just was using this to work out my feelings about the whole thing #anyway - i agree with you anon #i just have specific complaints about this practice #majorbaby.txt #re: mash

[marinecorvid]

In measurement of Bitch where would you rank each ranger villain

Given the lack of formal measurement for Bitchness (neither derogatory nor affectionate), ranking itself will be vague; flying quick n fast here!

ALSO this turned out to be a really good exercise in figuring out character … design? Development? Like I really had to think about some character personalities and it was fun + satisfying to do, so extra thanks for sending this

(as standard putting everything below the cut)

RANGER THE FIRST (it’s been a while since I’ve actually played thru this one so YMMV)

Billy – Uhhhhhh yeah sorry I don’t remember much of him :[ I’m gonna say he’s low on the Bitch ranking, mostly because I remember him as being the eldest brother of the four more than anything else. Sorry Go Rock fans who have put lots of thought into character interpretation

Garret – Via Bulbapedia: Garret is a smooth, polite person that can "put people down with the simplest of words". I’m gonna say he’s not a Bitch all the time but when he is. When he is. High on the Bitch scale

Clyde – I remember him getting angry a lot, so not too high on the Bitch ranking, but at least medium/mid ranking on the jerkass scale? Bulbapedia says a he’s a very "cool" person that likes to "stay with the trends" so I’m gonna say he’s alright

Tiffany – Top Shelf Bitch here, but in a way that’s like. You know how you see articles about celebrities who have like… the weirdest and craziest drama with each other that really hammers home how the more rich you get the more wildly disconnected you get from general society and have REALLY weird notions about how the world works?? It’s like that. Spending time with her is like depending on the day it’s either incredibly entertaining, fascinating, or irritating. Sometimes all three at once

Gordor – Medium on the bitchness, high on the jerkass?

Again sorry it’s been a LONG time since I’ve played though Ranger The First I don’t really have extended thoughts/impressions. I’ll play it again soon and maybe get back to this

RANGER THE 2OOST

Ice – Not too high on the Bitch scale, but has about equal standing on the Jerkass scale. Low + low = medium Bitchness? Bitchness Main Game + Jerkass DLC?? IDK but he called me a n00b so I want to see Kate shove his head in the toilet. Give him a swirly

Lavana – This is The Bitch of Almia. THE high school mean girl in every early 2000s coming of age popcorn flick. The kind of girl who would’ve probably bullied me on the playground in school for being undiagnosed autistic + closeted queer + got most of my clothes from Goodwill. Girl who thinks she is All That but is at best Incredibly Basic. Heather Chandler kind of bitch. Contender for the most Bitch of all the PR villains

Heath – Not actually that much of a Bitch or a jerkass. He does his job well and has the confidence to go with it! Good for him

Kincaid – High on the Bitch scale. He’s that One Fucking Boss/Teacher we’ve all had who was born with a stick up their ass, who knows how much of a position of authority he has over you and lords it over you. Hypocrite central. Ranking him somewhere just below Lavana though

Wheeler – low on the Bitch scale, but makes up for it by being high on the Annoys Me and Is Generally Offputting scale. Probably has little concept of personal space

Blake Hall – self absorbed Bitch in the way standard CEOs are (see above: celebrities/rich ppl disconnected from reality), probably paid an exorbitant amount of money to keep some company drama from reaching reporters. Nothing too fancy to see here

RANGER THE THIRDST

Red Eyes – I’d say he’s pretty low on the scale of pure Bitch, but he’s medium to high (depending on the day) on the Jerkass scale, so that makes up for it?

Blue Eyes – I’d say her perceived bitchery is around Medium, but in actually is pretty low? I feel like she just has a lot of conflicting emotion and no good outlet for it, so she ends up lashing out and making some less than great decisions at times. she’s consistently shown to be genuinely concerned for the people under her care, and you get glimpses of her nicer side under her tough front a handful of times, so while she gets bonus points for having a cultivated Bitch front, I’m putting her on the lower end on the Bitch scale

Purple Eyes – You know, as much as I deeply want to say he’s high on the Bitch scale, I don’t actually think he ranks that high. Like, DEFINITELY through the roof in other categories, definitely petty n spiteful, a little judgy, but all around … he’s just Not at the top of the Bitch ranking. I’ll put him around medium, with the caveat that he is simultaneously beating out everyone else in other categories (dramatic, sadistic, etc) EDIT: yknow i keep thinking abt this one and i'm resorting the blorbo to medium-high on the scale, as a treat

Arley – putting him a few notches above Hocus only because he verbally states he has grudge against you when you go up against him in the Sky Fortress, something like “if I’d known you were going to be such a problem when we first met in Rasp Cavern, I would’ve crushed you there” so I’m going to say he can be … unfortunate to deal with if you’re an enemy, but most of the time is just a mild-mannered to mildly grumpy old man

Hocus – least Bitch of the Societea, and just in general; I think he’s a decent guy who doesn’t hold too many grudges, but does like to mess with people’s heads, friend and foe. Gaslight gatekeep girlboss and all that. I'd say he and Clyde are the least bitchy out of the whole listing

Kasa – I think I’ve said this before in tags or something, but Kasa moving to Aqua Resort was like dropping a lionfish in Florida waters. Highly invasive predator who dominates the ecosystem. Queen of backhanded compliments and passive-aggressiveness. Average rich old lady who has her finger on the pulse of the gossip in her small shoreline New England retired neighborhood (based on the neighborhood my grandmother lives in). Contender for the most Bitch of all the PR villains

Edward – Ranking him a few notches above Hocus but not at Kasa’s level. He states that despite thinkin about crimes most of the time, he wants to do a little good in his life (being a doctor). Generally nice guy, but DID blow up an island. Kicks Purple Eyes to the curb in spectacular fashion, but deeply distressed when friends went MIA?? Actually you know what probably has very specific rules about what kinds of tea you can drink when and with what. Medium-low Bitchness but excels on the Typical Old Rich British Man Behavior scale

Sabios – WHOOPS I forgot this guy existed for a minute. Hold on let me go find Youtube videos with his scenes. OKAY I’m back. Verdict: No bitches? Low on the Bitch ranking, high on the Evil Advisor ranking

#pokemon ranger #grammar mistakes abundant. sorry my sleep's been realllllly weird lately and i don't have the brainwaves to care rn #*don’t care abt grammar mistakes #i'll most likely come back and edit this later #im not gonna tag everyone in this post because. oof that's a lot of characters #anyways. enjoy

[flightfoot]

Good news for the TvTropes anon! I'm not affected by salt, so I did a quick sweep of the ML TvTropes page and it looks like all the salty entries have been cleared away! I couldn't find anything that was obviously biased or fanon-influenced (the mentioned "Alya as a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing" entry has definitely been removed), and there's even a few entries talking about the fandom salt and admitting that it affected the show's TvTropes' page at the height of the post-Chameleon salt craze. There ARE some entries going into detail about said salt craze, so if you're avoiding any and all mention of salt tropes, I would avoid the YMMV page specifically. Other than that, it looks like the page has been purged of unfair interpretations and/or allegations toward any of the characters!

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YAY thank you! Ok good, I might actually look at the main page, and just avoid its YMMV pages and the ones devoted to specific fanfics. I hadn't remembered about the "Alya is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing" entry, though it sadly doesn't surprise me, that's how the saltdom tends to see her, and they often portray her as being something even worse than that.

#ml fandom salt #leave alya alone challenge #tvtropes

[nativehueofresolution]

@wizardysseus tagged me to do my ten favorite movies. ty! 💕i've done top movie lists a couple of times and to be honest my picks never really change or become more interesting, so i put my own little spin on it and decided to do my ten favorite films that i either watched or rewatched in the past year. (ish. i wasn't super strict about if it was exactly within the last 12 months.)

in no particular order...

ten favorite movies i watched within the last year

1. a girl walks home alone at night (2014): as one or two of you may have noticed, i got really into iwtv last year, and so i decided to expand my horizons and make an effort to watch more vampire films to get more familiar with the genre/lore. this was the first film i watched and it was a great introduction. the visuals and music were captivating. skater vampire girl you will forever be in my heart.

2. let the right one in (2008): this one has been on my to watch list for ages, and i finally got around to it thanks to my vampire kick. i have to say it did not disappoint. the story, the cinematography, the performances... all were top tier. the bond between the two leads was fascinating, and it's a great monstrous love story.

3. tàr (2022): i hadn't planned on seeing this one - i find cate blanchett tiresome a lot of the time (still defending woody allen in the year of our lord 2018!) - but i heard some pretty rave reviews by folks whose opinions i generally agree with, so i decided to give it a try. and i think it had a very fascinating script. i really appreciate a story with a lot of ambiguity to it, where you can have several strong interpretations of what's happening that are rooted in the text, and this film definitely has that in spades.

4. nope (2022): the fact this got no love during award season has me scratching my head. while it's not my favorite jordan peele project, the story was very fresh and keke palmer in particular i thought gave a really stellar performance. my main hang-up was with the monster... the non spoiler version being i just found some aspects of it didn't really work for me. but it was still a very solid film.

5. blade runner (1982): i watched this with some co-workers at the place i interned for the summer; we got a giant projector and got to watch it after-hours at the library where we we working and basically take up half a floor with snacks and such. so part of my enjoyment just comes from the fact it's linked in my mind to a nice day that i had. but as a sci-fi fan it was neat to see something so influential to the genre and see how much it had been drawn on. the treatment of the female characters left much to be desired lol, but the grimy future visuals were great, and i can see why it became so iconic.

6. the batman (2022): a superhero movie with actual cinematography, memorable performances, and a killer soundtrack? in this economy??? obviously i'm biased, i'm a huge batman fan and i enjoy robert pattinson, so i'm not exactly the hardest audience member to win over. but there have been so many terrible superhero movies in the past several years, and so seeing one that felt like an actual noir detective story and not just a bunch of quips in front of a greenscreen was a relief. the cast was great, and as a batcat fan it was really great to feel like i was actually being catered to with all focus on their relationship both in the film and all the promotional stuff like the photo-shoots and such. not normally the case in this genre lol.

7. everything everywhere all at once (2022): i don't know that i have anything to say about this movie that hasn't already been said better. it's fun, it's out of the box, michelle yeoh is a treasure, it does a lot with the multi-verse concept. i will say at times the film did feel a bit saccharine, particularly towards the end. ymmv when it comes to sappiness, but it overdid it for me. even so, it was a good time, and i'm very happy for attention it's brought michelle yeoh, who is so phenomenal.

8. turning red (2022): i watched this on a whim after seeing some folks online talking about it, and it was very cute. it reminded me a lot of what it was like to be a weird middle school girl. i don't really feel nostalgic for that part of my life at all, but this did have me thinking of my past self with some affection.

9. coded bias (2020): i believe i watched this after a discussion in a grad school class about racial bias in ai/algorithms. i enjoy a good documentary and found the film quite interesting and informative.

10. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (2004): this one is one of my all-time favorites. i watched it again not long ago and it really holds up. i love non-linear storytelling and playing with the subjective/fallibility of memory, so this film is really just right in my wheelhouse. thanks to sailor moon, i also am obsessed with stories about whether the same people will fall in love again if they don't have their memories, so again. like catnip to me. the circular nature of the story, the way love is futile in this never ending circular story but still worth fighting for. i will be thinking about this one forever

#kaitlin speaks