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effectingsomedragons · 2 years

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So I want to preface this with the fact that it is my opinion. But my brain's on a roll so here we go.

Periodically, the idea of adapting Mass Effect for film or television comes up, and I was thinking about that this morning. My thought is as it always is, of course, that being

DON'T ADAPT THE GAMES

but a lot of people take that to mean I don't want an adaptation set in that universe at all which is patently untrue.

My qualm, you see, lies with the particular material that gets adapted. I do not think the games themselves, following Shepard and the crew on a quest to save the galaxy from some extradimensional threat, lend themselves well to adaptation, largely because the games focus so heavily on player choice (or, at the very least, the illusion thereof).

What I do want to see is this: adaptations of the expanded universe material. Give me a show that instead focuses on Anderson's bid for becoming a Spectre. Adapt the books. Show us the conflict that left a chip on his shoulder, and drove Saren further into extremism. Give us material that explores the places we never got to go: the books heavily cover the Migrant Fleet. We would get the opportunity to see quarian life and culture up close, without seeing it through the lens of the Icon Of Her People Tali becomes over the course of the series.

Or let's go even further: explore earlier than that. Explore Jack Harper's rise to becoming the Illusive Man and the building of Cerberus. Set a series with all new characters in the context of the First Contact war, introducing us to both humans' first reach into space and greater turian culture. Let us see Palaven, not just Menae, not just what few turians we get exposed to that play major roles.

If you really want to follow the main cast, show what they were doing in those intervening two years Shepard spent dead. Adapt what we saw in the comics or heard from them directly. Show us Garrus's departure from C-Sec or Spectre training (don't even specify which, just have him say "left my old life") and his fall into vigilante tactics on Omega. Show us Liara's hunt for Shepard's body, but never reveal anything direct about Shepard themselves. Show us Tali, struggling to readapt to life on the fleet after seeing what the outside world was like and also dealing with her father's increased eccentric behavior, foraying out into space.

(An addendum: the reason I don't mention the Virmire survivor specifically here is that, like so many other things in Mass Effect, this is largely driven by player choice. And while I'd love to see what Ash or Kaidan was doing in the intervening years, it requires making one of their deaths canon and one not. And as I love them both a whole lot, I just can't personally be like "hey do this thing.")

It's such a huge universe with so much lore. We know Shepard's story. Folks in the fandom have their own interpretation of their Shepards, who they choose to romance, who they leave alive or support and even what ending they choose (or altered ending, if you're like me). Leave Shepard's tale alone and tell us more stories IN the universe instead.

That I'd pay to watch.

#bunny thoughts #mass effect #bioware opinions #I really want more of the universe but I really wish if they considered a series they'd do it like this #tho I guess if you really wanted they could do two episodes one focusing on Ash and one on Kaidan #making it kind of wishy washy who died??#idk it's a thought

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demented-dukey · 4 years

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“Reasons Why I ~Shouldn’t~ Ship RemRom” Masterlist

(Companion to: "Reasons Why I Ship RemRom" Masterlist)

After a year of shipping RemRom, I think I’ve heard every argument against it. I decided to compile a masterlist so it’s easier to copy and paste a link the next time I hear the same argument for the zillionth time. (Obviously some of the reasons and explanations overlap, but I tried my best to keep them separated and organized. Am I missing a reason? Shoot me an ask and I’ll add it!)

Some apply to me personally, some do not, but I will use the terms “I/Me/We/Us” interchangeably:

“They’re brothers.” Some people ship brothers. Some people don’t consider them brothers, or purposefully make them unrelated in their fic.

“It’s Incest.” All the sides are part of Thomas, all ships are literally selfcest. “It’s CANON that they’re brothers.” Whether or not we agree with you on what is and isn’t canon, people are free to cherrypick what canon they use or discard at will. Fanfic does not have to be 100% canon compliant.

“It’s Gross/Disgusting/Icky.” Some people don’t think it’s gross. Other people like it because it’s gross. Most people agree that sardines are gross, but there’s still people who like them. Eating Bertie Bott's vomit-flavored jelly beans is gross, but it’s still “safe” because it doesn’t carry the same risks and repercussions that eating real vomit in Real Life does.

“It’s Wrong.” Lots of things are wrong - Murder. Violence. Abuse. Drugs. Etc. People still write about them, even in a “positive” light.

“It’s Illegal.” Wait, are you talking about incest in Fiction, or in Real Life? Because incest in Real Life is mostly illegal (I say “mostly” because the specific laws can vary in different places depending on gender and degree of relation), but writing about incest is not illegal. It’s important you know that there’s a difference between fiction and reality.

“Fiction influences Reality.” But fiction is not the same as reality, nor does it have a 1:1 direct influence. Things like the Scully Effect and the Jaws Effect don’t apply here - fanfiction doesn’t have the kind of mainstream or widespread influence that a prime time television show or a blockbuster movie does, and it comes with tags and trigger warnings that those kinds of media do not.

“Shipping RemRom means you support incest in real life.” No, it does not. Shipping is not activism, and enjoying incest in fiction does not mean we condone it in real life.

“Shipping RemRom means you don’t have any siblings, or that you want to bang your siblings.” No, it does not. Many shippers have siblings, and our relationships with our siblings are platonic - we have no desire to bang them. See again: There is a difference between fiction and reality.

“Children will read this and think incest is Okay.” Children should be taught by their caregivers and teachers/mentors to critically examine the media they consume. It is not a fanfiction author’s job to teach children morality - we assume whoever is reading our fics already knows “Incest is Wrong” and is willing to suspend their belief for the length of the fanfic.

“RemRom romanticizes incest.” I mean, I guess yeah? But you should know that going into it? Oxford defines “Romanticize” as “deal with or describe in an idealized or unrealistic fashion; make (something) seem better or more appealing than it really is.” - isn’t that what most fanfiction does anyways? Do you also complain that apple juice tastes like apples? (Addendum 1: “Incest should not be Romanticized/Glorified.” Fiction is a safe space to explore taboo topics. It can be educational to see something “bad” (like abuse or incest) portrayed in a “good” light in fiction so that you can learn to recognize it and not get fooled by that kind of propaganda or situation in Real Life.) (Addendum 2: What counts as "Romanticizing/Glorifying Incest” can be extremely subjective, and is not universal to all fic and shippers. There are shippers who don’t write Roman and Remus as brothers, so their fic is not romanticizing “incest”. There’s fic that portrays RemRom as abusive or destructive, or portrays a realistic reaction to the others finding out about the relationship, so that fic is not “romanticizing” incest. But people who accuse RemRom of “romanticizing incest” don’t really care about these distinctions, they just want to condemn/exclude all RemRom fanfic and shippers.)

“RemRom normalizes incest.” It really doesn’t. That’s why we use tags and trigger warnings, because we know it’s not normal and can trigger people. Incest shipping will always be a minor section of fandom, and allowing us to exist in fandom spaces does not mean we’ll ever be a majority or “normal”.

“RemRom is triggering.” People triggered by RemRom can block and filter the tags to avoid seeing it. (Addendum: “RemRom isn’t being tagged.” If a post isn’t tagged properly, OP needs to be contacted directly so they can fix their error. Posting generalizing statements about huge amounts of RemRom going untagged smells like slander, and I’d like some proof before I’ll believe any more claims of this.)

“RemRom is harmful.” A fictional story in and of itself is not harmful. Any “harm” that it can cause stems from things like a lack of warnings (which is why tags and trigger warnings are important), a lack of personal responsibility (people who know they will get harmed not filtering it out or choosing to expose themselves to it despite warnings), a lack of morality/critical thinking skills (which it is assumed a reader has before entering into the fic), or a violation of the fic’s intended use (the “grooming” argument).

“RemRom can be used for grooming.” And a hammer can be used to bash someone’s skull in. That’s not its intended use, and taking away one tool will not stop a groomer from using another.

“Thomas hates RemRom/doesn’t want people to ship it.” I’ve seen a couple people spreading this rumor, but there’s never any proof. Pics or it didn’t happen. (Addendum 1: Does this mean I think Thomas ships it? No, I don’t think he does. Considering his Catholic upbringing, he probably doesn’t like it. But he’s never said anything about it.) (Addendum 2: Does this mean I want him to say something about it, or that I encourage people to ask him or Joan about it? HELL NO. Leave Thomas and Co out of this, it is not their place to weigh in on fandom drama.)

“Joan said they were brothers.” Joan said they were “conceptually” brothers, like Patton is a Dad or Logan is a Teacher. Joan also said that they were not biologically brothers.

“Roman and Remus consider themselves brothers.” Patton considers himself the father of the others, specifically Virgil and Thomas. If you can accept one ship, you can accept the other. (Addendum: It is a common trope of romcoms for the female love interest to say that the male lead is “like a brother to her”, only for them to romantically end up together by the end of the flick.)

“Roman and Remus hate each other.” Feelings change. Roman didn’t like Virgil in the beginning either. Also, fic doesn’t have to be canon-compliant. Also also, “They hate each other” is the perfect foundation for tropes like “Enemies to Lovers”.

“RemRom is abusive because Remus knocked Roman out.” The sides are all imaginary, and Logan said that object impermanence renders him pretty unintimidating. Remus’s violence is as abusive and permanent as the violence in Saturday Morning Cartoons. Also, fic doesn’t have to be compliant to canon relationships.

“RemRom is disrespectful to Trauma Survivors.” No. Shipping fictional incest does not condone real-life incest, and there are Trauma Survivors who use proshipping to cope. (Addendum: “RemRom isn’t a good coping mechanism/Trauma survivors who proship are re-traumatizing themselves.” Falsehood. Therapists/counselors/etc. support proshipping as a coping mechanism. It’s not for everyone, but it can help people cope.)

“RemRom is disrespectful to Fictives and Kinnies.” No. My RemRom fic as no more to do with your Fictive than my Thomas/Jon Cozart RPS has to do with the actors themselves. It’s not about you, it’s about my version of this character. Also, there are Fictives and Kinnies who ship RemRom.

“Why can’t you ship any other pairing instead?” Because we like this pairing. Because this pairing has implications and themes that other pairings do not. If somebody is happily enjoying some durian fruit, you shouldn’t slap it out of their hand and demand, “Why can’t you just eat an apple instead?” (Addendum: Most people do ship other ships as well. But due to the wide practice of excluding/banning proshippers from large sections of Tumblr/Discord/etc., you won’t see your average Fander admit to also shipping RemRom on their main. This fandom shunning forces Fanders to set up secret RemRom-devoted sideblogs, which leads to a deceptive assumption that “RemRom shippers won’t talk about any other ship” without acknowledging that proshippers are often not allowed into other fandom spaces to talk about other ships because so many people refuse to interact with them.)

#masterlist #dd vents #remrom mention #remrom discourse #discourse #drama #tw remrom #poke the haters #there is a difference between fiction and reality #come at me bro #tw incest #tw incest mention #tw abuse #same shit different day #the conceptually dispute

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sternenteile · 3 years

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wrapping things up with some closure on the ty/cho situation. this is the last time i will be bringing it up. if you’re wondering what i’m talking about, you can see the receipts and the files here. massive content and trigger warnings here include, and are surely not limited to, gaslighting, abuse, sexual harassment, ableism, antisemitism, racism, and most damning of all, literal and actual rape. i’m telling you, it’s bad. take my word for it when i say to avoid ty/cho at all costs. this is not some meager drama; this is a legitimately dangerous individual. what’s worse is there are even more details i know now (not included in the callouts) that i cannot divulge, as they do not involve me, as if this scum of the earth could be any worse. just know that this is a very terrible person and to not read the receipts if you don’t think you can handle the contents. in such a case, please just take my word for it instead and block him, avoid him, all that jazz. he is an actual rapist. avoid.

that being said, the theme i’ve noticed with all of this tomfoolery of his and actual crimes and traumatization of people is the domineering of an entire group of rpcs using intimidation tactics, including over those he’s hurt the worst, in the most reprehensible, objectively inexcusable ways ever.

the rpcs tycho played prominent roles in are beyond just pokemon and sonic. the way i met him was through the smash brothers rpc (which, unlike the general smash fan base, is a darling and kind community). smash is rather all-encompassing for video games even outside of nintendo, and he is plenty aware enough of the fandoms within that umbrella. mario, zelda, fire emblem, pokemon, sonic, metroid, castlevania... you name it, he knows it, and he will therefore have association with it that makes him a danger to these communities as is. his influence cannot be understated. he was a huge influence for a lot of people and groups.

the way he weaponized anything he could get his slimy hands on left so many people fearful and in silence. the worst i’d gotten were some jitters about how... out there and volatile he could be, but i’d otherwise not been suspicious of anything too egregious, especially nothing like what has come forth. i really didn’t get the brunt of it. however, the subtleties were there, and they had unfortunately lulled me into a sense of security that he, in all of his flaws, was a fine person and an admirable man. of course, we all know now how horribly wrong that is... but it goes to show that his charismatic nature had been used expertly to harm many people for his own selfish gain.

he left entire communities and groups of people mum on the situation. no one, no one was able to speak up in fear of retribution, not to mention the fact that his smooth way of manipulating people made it seem like he was on this untouchable pedestal. it was quite the opposite, and we all know that now. the only reason he was on a pedestal was because he brute-forced everyone else away from his level, threatening the worst if anyone so much as dared to find stable ground with him. in reality, though, his pedestal was a farce, a pillar filled with cracks that was destined to fall. it didn’t just crumble, though, no. it collapsed and was promptly blown to smithereens. once that one hunk of rubble came loose from that pedestal, his world came crashing the fuck down. it was an inevitability, and i’m sure he knew it was.

why would i make a statement that bold? simple: when i caught wind privately of what had gone on, i’d blocked him on all fronts. it hadn’t been more than perhaps a couple of hours before i realized that i’d still had him on my twitter, too, but he’d blocked me already before i got to do so myself. it often takes some time to realize a mass-blocking has happened, at least from what i can imagine (as i’ve not been mass-blocked like, ever before in this rpc i think?), but ty/cho was on it fast. it was almost as if he was watching and waiting for the shoe to drop. it was like he knew. it happened so quickly that it gave me whiplash. he was waiting for this.

another fun little detail i found was that he, as he had done to many other people who treated him with nothing but kindness, shit-talk me behind my back. let me tell you that the smash fan base is a terrible place where you can be harassed just for liking your comfort character, thinking they would be a good fit to the roster, even if your behavior is innocent and without harm or annoyance to other smash fans. those who have been here long enough will know that i’ve undergone a lot of bullshit because of my love for geno, and so have other geno fans who have done nothing but innocent speculation. one person i know personally had even gotten his and his elderly parents doxxed with death threats launched his way. i’ve seen people state that they want to, ah... let’s just say knock the wind out of geno’s fans and cover them in flammable material. let’s just put it that lightly. it’s very bad.

ty/cho knew this. i’d vented to him about it once. i praised him for being a competitive smash player that wasn’t as vile as any of the trash in that community (an as an addendum, there are some good comp smash players! the bad ones are just very prominent and very loud!). i praised him for accepting people of their comfort characters, emotional support through way of a character i connected with, not to mention the cases for many other folk, as well.

turns out, he used that information to shit-talk me behind my back, whining and complaining about me daring to like a character that ‘nobody cares about’ as if i was some fucking smegma gremlin on the face of the earth. you know, ty/cho? he did that, yeah? the guy who played nack the fucking weasel? the guy who knew i was sensitive about this shit because of what the smash fan base put me through? the guy who obsessed over and loved his own comfort character, too, and should have understood what that felt like?

needless to say, i’m pretty reviled about that. i entrusted him with this information, and he knew how much it hurt me... so he weaponized it. he specifically picked out what pained me and utilized it for harm when i trusted him. my case is a whole lot of NOTHING compared to everyone else’s, to be sure, but the core concept is chilling. he will find out what hurts you the most and attack you unprovoked with that knowledge. thank god it was just about my fucking comfort character and nothing worse, because others were unfortunately not as lucky. i got out totally unscathed by comparison.

the way he used puppet strings and played people like fiddles to keep his image pristine was beyond fucked up. he tarnished the trust of so many people. he made entire communities drop and leave because they were terrified of ty/cho ruining their lives even further. they felt unwelcome around excellent people who had done no wrong to them because of ty/cho, when said excellent people more than likely felt the same and feared them because of ty/cho. it poisoned the entire well for these communities and made everything go so quiet. the sonic rpc and smash rpc, in my experience, suffered the most. a lot of my sonic mutuals and sonic mutuals of friends either left or went awfully silent. the once-hopping smash rpc became practically like a ghost town. all. because. of. ty/cho.

he is a danger to both individuals and to entire communities alike. he doesn’t care about what we as people think, though, so how about i pull the nasty, petty card and hit him where it hurts? considering all that he did, i think it’s more than justified. ♡

ty/cho, you objectively will never live a fulfilling life where you make an impact on the world. you will never do anything medically if you can’t find it in yourself to empathize and care. you will never do anything for the people you supposedly ‘care for’ if you throw them under a bus at any and every opportunity. you will never do anything for racial justice if you use the movement and Black lives to abuse others, lie (nice to know that protest i feared for your life over turned out to have never happened in your area to begin with, LOL, i want my lost sleeping hours back) and better your own image. your image will never be a pristine, perfect image. you are not a god among men and never will be. you are not hot shit. you will not leave a positive legacy on the world. rapists don’t do that, you son of a bitch. go to hell where you belong and burn for eternity, where deviants like you become fucking rump roast. enjoy your unfulfilling life that will never amount to anything for yourself. :)

#★ ; ( ooc. )#negative /#get me off tycho's wild ride #heed the cws and tws.#i also get very nasty at the end. very angry. be warned.#love you all. please stay safe.#this man will not make anyone submit to fear any more.#i won't fucking let it happen ever again.

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cloudofash · 4 years

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Kingdom Hearts - Riku’s Possessiveness and Jealousy Part 3

The Counter Arguments

Please read Part 1 here.

Please read Part 2 here.

Please read Part 2 Addendum here.

So far I have hopefully connected some dots to build up to the claim that Riku was always in love Sora so no one can say I pulled this all out of my rump. While it’s obviously true that I am a HUGE Soriku fan, I didn’t come into Kingdom Hearts with the intention of shipping. Actually, I disliked Riku at first because I looked at him on the surface, but he's now my most favorite character in the series because of his development and I appreciate KH1 Riku now because I looked back and realized why he was such a brat. When I put together that he possibly had feelings for his best friend everything made sense. By KH2 I was like “Hm...Riku seems to harbor very strong feelings for Sora” and by DDD I was like “Oh hell, this boy is in love.” I know that my arguments will not change everyone’s mind, in fact I’m sure many read everything I said and came to the conclusion “Look at this crazy Soriku fangirl, reaching to make her pairing real!” I get it, such is the way in any fanbase. For this reason I would like to dedicate this part of my Jealous Riku series to counter some of the common counter arguments. I promise to shut up about KH1 Riku and his jealousy after this lol, I'll be focusing on current Riku and the series' future.

First and most importantly, how do we know Riku is possessive of Sora because he is in love with him? Couldn’t he just be jealous of others who claim his spot as Sora's best friend? If Riku was just possessive of his best friend in a platonic way then that would pretty much destroy my theory that he is attracted to and in love with Sora. I would say in Riku’s case, no his jealousy wasn't platonic. Riku’s possessiveness goes far beyond what is normal for a best friend. Let’s look back on the scene where he meets Donald and Goofy. If Riku actually bothered to introduce himself and be cordial with Donald and Goofy and Sora sided with Donald even after he refused to let Riku board the ship then I wouldn’t even be here writing this. Riku would have rightfully been angry with his best friend, angry that Sora chose to stick by a rude duck over his childhood friend of however many years. But this didn’t happen. Riku gave Donald and Goofy a hard look within seconds of acknowledging their presence. Though Donald shows that he’s a jerk Goofy was nice, but neither matter because Riku had already decided he didn’t like either of them. This is not normal jealousy, this is clearly a sign of extreme possessiveness. He doesn’t like ANYONE new to be around Sora or act friendly with him regardless of their intentions.

Some will probably claim "It's Kingdom hearts the writing is just bad". This is something I've seen before and I want to stress that this is not an argument it's an opinion. Some think the writing in the series is good, some say it’s decent, it's all subjective. For the sake of argument, let's run with the idea that someone claims "Nomura didn't know how to properly express Riku's jealousy which is why he seemed possessive" to branch off the "bad writing" idea. I have two counters for this: Sora and Isa/Saix. Sora says himself in KH2 that he was jealous of Riku which is why he always wanted to compete with him and hopefully beat him. Sora exhibited a far healthier form of jealousy, he didn’t care if Riku went off and made new friends, Sora never gave any hard side-eyes to Mickey when he found Riku had started hanging out with him. He didn’t start to hate or dislike Riku, he just wanted to compete with and beat him with his own strength. As for the case with Saix, in KH3 he told Axel that he was jealous of his relationship with Roxas and Xion. His jealousy compares greatly to Riku's, he saw someone he was once best friends with get close to someone else. But Saix specifically says:

This is where he differs from Riku, Saix isn't jealous of Roxas and Xion because he's possessive of Axel. Axel stopped hanging around with Saix, stopped helping him look for their missing friend and started focusing more and more on Roxas and Xion which occurred over a period of time not instantly. This goes back to what I said about rightful anger, Saix had every right to feel upset and abandoned by Axel. His jealousy was reasonable. Sora, at no point, alienated Riku the way Axel alienated Saix. Sora never took Donald's side when he said Riku couldn't come, Sora argued with Donald in Riku's defense. Even prior to that, Sora never abandoned or alienated Riku on the island and even when the darkness was swallowing Riku Sora tried to take his hand and go with him. Sora's and Saix's jealousy shows that Nomura/the KH writers (since they do change) know full well how to write jealousy in several different ways, therefore the argument that Riku's possessive jealousy is somehow bad writing is moot. I believe Nomura knew exactly how he wanted to portray Riku.

Another counterargument that I commonly see is “Riku wasn’t jealous of people close to Sora, he was jealous of Sora himself he said so in KH2″. First of all, Riku said specifically that he was jealous of Sora because he wished he could “follow his heart” the way Sora did and that could be interpreted in a NUMBER of ways that prove my point but I’ll return to that in a second. Some people took this as meaning Riku was jealous of Sora being a Keyblade Wielder but this isn't possible. Riku’s darkness began on Destiny Islands BEFORE Sora even obtained the Keyblade in fact Riku’s darkness is what caused Sora to obtain it in the first place as confirmed by Nomura.

“That part is also a bit vague. In the Destiny Islands when Riku is swallowed by the darkness, there's a sparkle of light, and next comes the scene where Sora first gets the Keyblade, right? In my setting, the darkness wrapping itself around those two is the darkness of Riku's heart. At the moment when Sora enters that darkness, the light you can see is the light of the heart. Sora, trying to help Riku, struggling in the darkness, touches that light and temporarily the Keyblade goes to Sora. “ - Nomura

Riku could not be jealous of Sora being a Keyblade Wielder if it’s HIS darkness, HIS jealousy that leads to Sora getting the Keyblade in the first place. This point has been debunked.

Now if we look at what Riku says about being jealous of Sora because he’s able to “follow his heart”...I don’t know about you but doesn’t that seem like Riku’s admitting that he’s jealous that Sora can follow his heart to Kairi? Sora literally spent all of KH1 following his heart, searching for his crush. Even before that Sora was constantly thinking about Kairi and sharing a papou fruit with her even going as far as to draw himself feeding her the fruit. Riku would only be jealous of this if he was in a position where he couldn’t follow his heart. This point about Riku being jealous of Sora actually backs up what I said about Riku being attracted to Sora and learning that Sora is attracted to Kairi, Riku literally can’t follow his heart to his hetero (hopefully bisexual) crush. This would yet again explain Riku's initial descent into darkness - he had everything he wanted, the strongest, the smartest, the admiration of the other Island Children, the only thing he didn't have is Sora himself and he grew jealous of Kairi, of Sora's feelings for her. Now I’m not saying this is true, because Riku could also be jealous of Sora’s ability to follow his heart to his friends in general and not just his romantic crush. You know, the whole platonic thing which is the most likely meaning behind Riku’s words because KH is all about friendships which is why I did not use this as proof in my essay because I have no way to prove or even show evidence of which way Riku meant it. I’m just saying it is still possible Riku was referring to the romantic side of “following one’s heart”, he could have even meant both.

Now that we have established that Riku’s jealousy was definitely possessive, let’s head to some of the other arguments. There is usually the “Riku is straight argument” which runs along the lines of "Riku said he wanted to share the paopu fruit with Kairi so the one he is in love with is her." Or "Riku is about to be paired with Naminé , he is attracted to girls and is therefore straight." I already addressed Riku’s feelings about Kairi in the 2nd Part, there isn’t really anymore left to add. Namine is also easy to debunk. Nomura confirmed in the KH3 Ultimania that Riku only helped Naminé obtain a Replica body to act on behalf of Repliku’s feelings. In other words, as of now there ain’t nothin’ between them. Riku’s only reason for ever interacting with Namine was to help Sora retrieve his memories and he hasn’t really interacted with her too much beyond that. Not to say Square couldn't pull this pairing out of their ass but it would leave much to be desired since this ship doesn't have the buildup that Soriku has. I hope they never go down the route of throwing random pairs out for the sake of pleasing het shippers.

The final common argument that I see literally EVERYWHERE, in just about any fandom, is the inane argument that “You fangirls just want to make everything gay. Such-and-such is a Japanese work and the Japanese put a higher emphasis on male bonding and intimacy and friendship but it’s not gay, these two characters could never be gay. Japan doesn’t accept homosexuality - blah blah blah”

And wheeeeeew chile, there is so much to unpack here. I honestly didn't even want to touch this but since I see it so much in the KH fandom I felt compelled to address this. First of all, it irks me when people act like homosexuality doesn’t exist at all in Japan. Statistics from 2018 claim that about 8.9% of the Japanese population identify as LGBT+ between the ages of 20 to 59. That’s 1.1% away from being 10% of the ages 20-59 population, that is a significant number. It is incredibly ignorant to claim that Japanese people do not accept homosexuality, they are all individuals and naturally there will be close-minded people who don’t but there are many who do. The conservative Japanese politicians don’t accept it, but then again neither do most American politicians. Don’t mistake the views of the politicians as the views of the people.

Now, while it is true that those in Japan have different views on masculinity than some in America (ie: men soaking in a hot springs together, touching or even sitting on each others laps isn’t incorrectly labeled as “gay” like it most likely would be here in the States) this doesn’t mean that Japanese people don’t know the distinction between platonic intimacy and romantic intimacy. They know full well the difference between the two, it’s awful to claim with such arrogance that they don’t know as if they’re clueless. Even within the anime/manga/videogame industry Shounen-Ai and Yaoi exists with men kissing, hugging, touching romantically. As a matter of fact, the Kingdom Hearts novels themselves heavily imply that there is more between Sora and Riku and that Riku does have romantic feelings for Sora. There was a scene in the KH2 novel where Axel asks Riku "What is Sora to you?" Riku is lost for words, instead Namine answers that they're "best friends" for him. Read it for yourself below:

This is the official Kingdom Hearts novel by the way, the writer and artist (Tomoco Kanemaki and Shiro Amano) are both Japanese. Not a random "fangirl's fanfic". And let's not forget that Nomura approves these novels and the manga. They seem to have no problem writing/approving of Riku being canonically gay. You can dislike it all you want but it’s here to stay so get over it. Don't be the person who makes this horrible argument.

The one last counter I want to make is this: If you are against Soriku ask yourself if you would accept the pairing if Riku was a girl.

This Jealous Riku series focused heavily on Kingdom Hearts 1 but there is content across the entire series which could also act as strong evidence for Riku’s feelings. I could go on for years about how much evidence there is in this series. You can find such evidence plastered all across the net, I will probably touch upon some of it myself. This marks my series' conclusion, I hope the evidence I provided and the counter-arguments I’ve made show that Riku is truly in love with his best friend and that it’s not impossible that Riku could love Sora in a romantic way. Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this!!

#kingdom hearts #Riku #Sora #Kairi #soriku #Possessive #Possessiveness #jealous #jealousy #counter-arguments #jealous riku #riku loves sora

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nrgburst · 4 years

Text

Podsa Ship Manifesto

I know, I know, there's like three of us that ship this and I'm probably gonna get anon haters in my askbox for the trouble, but here's my reasoning for thinking they could still be endgame post-canon, and it's not just because they're both still alive! (Which is totally reason enough, but I have like, actual reasons beyond NOW KISS.) This meta is based on Game of Thrones the TV show, not the A Song of Ice and Fire books. The canons have diverged pretty starkly (hehe) and both characters are much younger in the books as well, so while I know there is also supportive evidence in the books, I'm not mentioning it on purpose, though feel free to add your own addendum with book evidence! GIFs were all made by me.

I like that both Sansa and Podrick started out as Bad Minor Players: Pod's a bumbling squire; Sansa is a spoiled nobleman's daughter. And yet they both learned, through painful mistakes and persistence, how to get to their Ultimate Goal by series end. Character parallels abound; they're both idealists who have to learn to be pragmatic, endure abuse and disrespect, having hidden skills and strengths, flourishing once learning to both play within and outside The Rules), their trajectories crossed a bunch of times and while I know D&D threw in as many red herrings as actual foreshadowing details, this was their Meet Cute in 3x08:

Tyrion is supposedly talking about himself, but do you see who else is framed in that doorway, literally entering her life?! Combine this with how intensely Sansa grows to regret this particular statement from 1x06:

and what kind of person Podrick shows himself to be, and I'd argue that seeds for this ship were subtly planted waaay back when.

After Joffrey's murder, they're both hustled out of King's Landing, and they don't share screentime again until 5x02, although they don't actually meet or speak in the scene. However, Pod recognizes her voice from across a tavern and sees right through her disguise of dyed hair, identifying her from behind via a single phrase and her face turned in profile once.

I'm sorry, but that kind of instant magnetic knowing is Romance Tropey AF and I'll be forever disappointed at fandom for not going off about it. Siiigh.

They don't meet again until Sansa finally escapes the Boltons in 6x01. And when Brienne offers her sword and service again (and by extension, Pod's), this time Sansa replies like a true lady and accepts. She starts off her vows correctly, but she's been ripped from the life of knights and ladies for so long that she falters partway through. Podrick's gentle assist to jog her memory, right after winning a swordfight to protect her clinched it for me: that was her brave, gentle and strong man, right there. (That scene was such a huge highpoint in all of their arcs, actually. *sobs* THIS SHOW WAS SO FREAKING GOOD.)

And he continues to serve her right up to the end of the series, when it's shown that he's become Bran's Kingsguard, which opens up so many delightful possibilities at last. Like I love this cleverly edited GIFset from 8x04, but since Theon had just died and Pod was still in her service, nothing could have happened?

Politically, they aren't a good match, but only on the surface: Podrick is a distant cousin to Ser Ilyn Payne, who was responsible for executing Sansa’s father. (House Payne is a vassal house to House Lannister, and he comes from a lower branch of it.) However, Pod helped Brienne rescue Sansa from the Boltons, trained soldiers and fought for the North in the Battle For the Dawn. He earned his knighthood with his own merit, and he continues to serve her brother. He is still an unlanded knight (and there's this pesky vow not to marry or father children that may still exist) but Sansa's no longer waaaay out of his league now that he has a title and battle experience. And actually, the fact that he's an unlanded knight is actually a good thing. (More on that later.)

As for why Sansa might find Pod an attractive prospective for her consort beyond the fact that he's you know, attractive and rumored to be fantastic in bed (and I think she would consider how to get herself a Stark heir very pragmatically now): he's still one of the people she trusts absolutely, who was there for here at every stage of her journey, even the worst bits, and he was loyal and supportive throughout. He's of noble blood and well-educated, but he has no power base, so no army will swoop in and claim her throne/lands by deposing her in favour of their child. (She's seen this happen too many times now; she is NOT going to let it happen to her.) He has no political ambitions and his defining character trait is loyalty- he's always just wanted to be a knight, and to serve somebody worthy. And yet he's not just some grunt in armor either- he's well versed in the politics of “which House married which and who hated who,” he speaks up when he doesn't think something is right, and they actually have similar interests: they both like to sing.

All in all, I think they'd make a sweet couple post canon. I also think there's a kind of delicious irony in Tyrion's former squire ending up with the child bride he didn't want.

Fic recs:

The first time I actually saw Podsa in the wild was in @scrubclubwrites's amaaazeballs Gendrya HP AU fic love, war and a few things in between (M, 52884 words.) Pod and Sansa aren't just in the background here, they have a sweet, slow burn relationship in this and if you don't scream when they finally kiss, you probably aren't human.

I've already recced my own fic, The Watcher, which is a Podsa pre-ship fic. (It’s more of a Sansa deals with her trauma fic, and there’s explicit Gendrya sex in it, although it’s not meant to be a shippy Gendrya fic. E, 6833 words)

Also love this young Pod/Young Sansa fic by bryndentully, which shows how they both started out as romantic idealists perfectly: i loved a maid as white as winter

I'm still trawling the archive (the pain of shipping a rarepair means they get tagged in lots of fics that they are barely mentioned in) but I will add to this post as I find more fics I love! Or if somebody else could do a rec list, that would be wonderful!

#podsa #podrick x sansa #podrick payne #sansa stark #meta #ship manifesto #game of thrones #I'll add the last GIF tomorrow I need to sleep not photoshop #and it's still yesterday in most of the rest of the world #podsa appreciation day #mine #myedit #got #omg something happened to the original post and it got deleted somehow?!#but i've rewritten it thank goodness i had it drafted on my computer originally

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frumfrumfroo · 5 years

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I'm more of a casual fan and I've massively stepped away from Fandom because it's become too toxic for my mental health (only writing fics and throwing it into the void now), but even before that I never understood these long arguments about wether or not a ship is (going to be) canon? Perhaps it's because I happen to be more interested in ships that aren't canon are where the relationship hasn't gone all the way in canon (think Aliens Ripley/Hicks or Furiosa/Max where it COULD have happened 1/2

2/2 but didn’t for whatever reason) I don’t mean that as a criticism of the shippers who do find it important that their ship be canon. It’s just strange to see so many Reylos lose their heads one way or another because it goes against everything I know/expect from my ships. Idk, just my thoughts on it. Ultimately we all have to wait for the next SW movie to come out to know what happens. Personally I think they’ll be more romance between Ben and Rey but even IF it’s not who cares?

I care. And the problem with your argument is that it’s not a shipping thing, it’s not about the ship war (although obviously I’m human and do want to see the incredibly smug people who spent the entire TFA-TLJ hiatus being huge assholes proven wrong) and it’s not about needing all my ships to be canon. I have non-canon ships. I tend to prefer canon or canon-adjacent (where it’s implied but never definitive), but I’ve had totally not canon ships and I do know the difference. I have no problem being happy in fandom and writing fic for never-gonna-happen pairings. I don’t expect something to be canon just because I ship it, I expect it to be canon when the writing sets it up to be.

I’m not going to sit here and say it doesn’t matter and TRoS will be great either way because, imo, it won’t. Because Reylo isn’t a ship at this point, it’s the plot of the sequel trilogy. To me saying it doesn’t matter or people shouldn’t care is exactly the same as saying Luke’s relationship with Vader doesn’t matter and it wouldn’t have made any difference to the story if he didn’t decide to forgive him and show him unconditional love. This is the A plot, this is the ST incarnation of the salvific love at the heart of Star Wars, this has been promised. The fact that it’s a romantic relationship doesn’t make its plot relevance inherently trivial.

Their arcs are married together, his redemption is the resolution of the entire Skywalker saga and she’s the hero here because she will help bring it about. Why can’t it be platonic or ambiguous? Because it’s already romantic. It was romantic in TLJ and that already romantic arc needs resolution. Because the character arcs demand something other than a platonic relationship. Both characters. Platonic love has failed them both.

I should probably say, as an addendum to my previous asks, that I don’t mean the people who genuinely like to meta/discuss/analyse if something is going to be canon and where the story will go (I don’t do or like it myself because some of the “meta” is unfortunately more “stuff I pulled out of my ass” or “stuff that is projected”, but generally, have fun) but more the people where it is taken a little too seriously, where it’s the end of the world when Reylo doesn’t become canon & create drama

I don’t write ‘reading tea leaves in the curtains’ style meta. I’m not here talking about Jungian symbolism that may or may not be intentional. This is basic storytelling structure and thematic unity. The existing structure allows for two options a) Ben dies and all nine movies are a nihilistic tragedy wherein the Skywalkers were a curse enacted by a malevolent Force and their suffering was futile (and Rey comes of age by giving up on the idea of belonging rather than finding it). Magic and greatness pass away from the GFFA, cynicism triumphs. or b) he survives and is redeemed through Rey’s intervention, he takes redemption further than Anakin was able and fully reconciles the family legacy allowing lasting peace to finally come to the galaxy, hope and love are vindicated, and there is an implied next generation who can carry on. Needs to be definitive about those things because this is supposed to stand as the ending of the whole saga for least a considerable while.

2 of the 3 trilogies so far have ended the second way.

#reylo #GO BIG OR GO HOME #also just... melodrama #if you are genuinely interested I have written many many words about this #but I'm not going to hedge: if Ben isn't redeemed the ST was a mistake and I will disown it #if reylo doesn't happen that is terrible writing at this point #I won't create drama unless you consider bitching about it on my tiny private blog 'drama'#but I would definitely be angry and I don't apologise for that #there is no good movie now where they don't follow through on this stuff #it can't be done #not within genre constraints #not without shitting on everything SW is about #a 2/3 written story is not wide open to go anywhere

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fortunatelylori · 5 years

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Hi! I apologise in advance if this question comes off as antagonistic, because I'm worried that it will, but please know that I'm genuinely curious. I've been reading some comments by you and @nothinghappensinalstonville and noticed you're both very critical of Sansa during her arguments with Jon, and seem to think he was absolutely right and she was absolutely wrong. (part 1 of 2)

My question is, can you elaborate on why – if you believe she undermines him and her advice to him is always wrong – you think she’s a good match for him, why you think they’d be a good team, why she’d be a good queen to his king? I’m sorry, my question sounds petulant even to my own ears, but I don’t mean it that way, I promise! I truly would like to hear your thoughts on why she’s good for Jon when you seem to think she’s been so wrong in all their interactions. (part 2 of 2)

Dear nonnie,

…..

I’m trying very hard to contain my frustration right now because you seem like a very nice person. However, I spend a lot of time and energy writing my posts and comments. I try, to the best of my abilities, to be fair and as objective as I possibly can and explain my point of view in detail. That takes quite a bit of thought and effort on my part so to know that, in your case at least, all of that was an utter and complete waste of time is a deeply disheartening feeling.

To make it clear, I have no issues with people disagreeing with me or having different interpretations. Nor do I have issues with people sending me asks where they challenge my views. What I do take issue with is when my opinions are misrepresented or I’m accused of saying things I didn’t say.

If you’re genuinely curious to find out my opinion, you could have checked out my blog before sending me this ask. I have a meta page all set up for anyone to go through and see what my opinions are.

There is a tendency in the GOT fandom to believe that stanning a character should mean that you believe that character is above reproach, is never wrong and anyone who might disagree is not a “true fan”. By and large, the Jonsa fandom is more open to debate on the nature of characters than other groups but even in our little corner, there is a tendency to try to protect the character of Sansa from any and all criticism, mostly in relation to Jon.

I understand the impulse to a degree. Sansa has been my favorite female character since season 1. I’ve gone on the bat defending her time and time again and I understand people being protective of her because Sansa is very much a maligned character in the rest of the fandom.

However, the way I stan characters doesn’t conform to this approach. To give you a clear example, my favorite literary character of all times is Scarlett O’Hara. That’s not because I believe she is perfect and beyond reproach but rather because of the complexities of her character that include both positive and negative traits. My liking of Sansa Stark is the same.I like characters, flaws and all and I have no problem discussing those flaws and I don’t think I should stop doing it just because fans in general are unfairly criticizing Sansa. That is not a valid argument to me. I would find it completely disingenuous and hypocritical on my part if I spent my time criticizing every other character, which I do, but stopped myself from doing it with Sansa because my opinion does not conform to the general consensus of the Jonsa/Sansa fandom or because she’s already unfairly criticized in other places.

So, let’s get this over with:

seem to think he was absolutely right and she was absolutely wrong

you seem to think she’s been so wrong in all their interactions.

I never said that. In this post I said the following:

My problem with the way this whole thing is presented in the fandom is that it’s taken as a very black and white issue and people feel compelled to either defend Jon or defend Sansa.

The discourse is either:

“OMG! Look! Sansa is undermining Jon! Dark Sansa is coming, people! Alert the presses! This episode … this season … in 2035. It’s coming!“

“Sansa is right. Jon is stupid. He makes decisions with his heart, instead of his head.“

Except that things are never as simple as that and it’s this type of decision that could cost you in the larger scheme of the game of thrones. Deciding whether to pardon the child of a bannerman that betrayed you could go many different ways.

And also:

So to say that Sansa was right in this situation and Jon was wrong is oversimplifying things. It’s those kinds of decisions that a medieval king/lord is always struggling with and there is no 100% guarantee that you will make the right choice. Jon and Sansa are very young and they have a huge responsibility on their shoulders. There’s a lot you need to learn in order to be a successful ruler, and that goes for Sansa as well as Jon.

In my addendum to that post, I also said:

I have also talked in the past, on several occasions, about Jon being a poor communicator, acting like a lone operator and blindsiding Sansa with his decisions despite them needing to act like a united front.

In a post I wrote just yesterday, I said this:

Since season 6, Sansa has been frustrated that Jon doesn’t listen to her:

1. When she argued that he shouldn’t take Winterfell until they had enough men.

2. Before the battle of the bastards, when she warned him about Ramsay and felt that he wasn’t taking her opinion into account

3. In season 7, when she argued against his decision regarding Alys and Ned.

4. In season 7, when she felt he was paying too much attention to the NK and not enough attention to Cersei.

5. Still in season 7, when she told him not to go to Dragonstone and he blindsided her by announcing to everyone that he was, in fact, going.

So this: “this is the way he is, the way he’s always been. he never listens to me” business is a standing issue between them since the start of their relationship in season 6.

I didn’t find it strange that she would say that. She was angry and venting and she’s frustrated with Jon always doing things without talking to her or taking her opinion into account.

if you believe she undermines him

Except I don’t believe she’s undermining him which is why I wrote an entire meta attacking the “undermining” argument that you can find here.

In case you don’t want to bother reading all of it, here are a few excerpts:

Now people have pointed out that, as one of his vassals, Sansa has every right to question him publicly. The problem is that’s not how Jon sees her. He very distinctly separates Sansa from the rest of his court. And since we already had the “we need to trust each other” scene at the end of season 6, I think it’s safe to assume that he sees the two of them as a unit that is supposed to be on the same page so the fact that Sansa speaks out against him in public, instead of privately, feels like a betrayal.

However, if there’s one thing you learn sooner or later, is that there are two sides to every story. That’s why it’s never a good idea to side with one party whenever couples fight.

Because if we look at things from Sansa’s perspective, you can see how she might feel dismissed. The fact of the matter is Jon isn’t the world’s greatest communicator and failed to talk his decision over with Sansa before announcing it to the Council, which in turn makes Sansa feel sidelined, hence her aggressive snark and Joffrey digs.

And that’s because the audience support is very much skewed in Jon’s favor. Being on tumblr, sometimes you forget that the Jonsa fam is very much the minority and that exclusive Sansa fans are the unicorns of this fandom (#love4unicorns). The vast majority of this audience will not look at Jon as an unreliable narrator, as every character in this show is, but as the ultimate authority on how this scene should be viewed.

If he says he feels undermined, then it must be because he’s being undermined, which by extension means that Sansa will betray him.

I simply believe that just like Jon, Sansa makes mistakes not only in their conversations but in her approach to certain issues, like the Alys/Ned incident. Jon and Sansa’s arguments, in my opinion, are not clear cut or black and white. There are points to be made on both sides of the debate and pretending like Sansa is completely correct and Jon is wrong is oversimplifying things, as is the reverse. I’ve already talked ad nauseam about the Alys/Ned situation. So here are a 2 other examples:

Sansa warning Jon that they don’t have enough men prior to the battle of the bastards:

She is correct in that they don’t have enough men. That doesn’t change the fact that they’re stuck in the middle of freezing, wintry terrain, a fact that is brought into the plot by Davos who says Stannis lost the war primarily because of the weather, which is in fact correct. In addition to that, by that point they’ve already tried to gather up more men and were denied at almost every turn. It’s not that Jon can’t count, it’s that he doesn’t see any possibility of getting more men and is afraid that he’s going to lose the men he has if he waits. That is a valid argument.

The reason why Sansa is so resistant is because she knows there’s the possibility of getting more men but dreads having to resort to calling the Knights of the Vale because Littlefinger comes attached to that particular deal. Jon can’t really be blamed for that since he doesn’t know.

Sansa warning Jon that Ramsay will try to trick him:

She is correct in her assessment of Ramsay. However her: “Don’t do what he wants you to do” isn’t going to help Jon much, is it? What does that mean? How do you build a strategy around that? She doesn’t know either. Saying that Jon should have listened to Sansa in this instance is … I mean, listen to her about what? He can do absolutely nothing with the info that Sansa provides.

Her being angry that Jon doesn’t specifically ask for her opinion in a meeting where she is present is also, quite frankly, debatable. Could he have asked? Yes. Could she have just said what she thought instead of taking her frustration out on him in private? Also yes.

That’s about it … These are the instances where I kind of lean towards Jon’s point of view more than Sansa’s but also acknowledge the fact that she has reasons to say the things she says, thus making it a more complex situation than one of them being wrong and the other right.

For those 3 instances, I am now stuck writing another extremely long post trying to defend what are not, as far as I can see, opinions that should garner this amount of controversy.

But since now I must also atone for those opinions by proving just how much I love Sansa, here is the list of reasons why I believe they’re a good match and she’ll make a good queen to Jon’s king:

1. She is more politically minded than he is. Their debate on trusting Tyrion is proof enough of that. She also has experience in dealing with an extremely treacherous court in King’s Landing and that will prove very useful in managing their future court. An experience Jon completely lacks.

2. He has a tendency to be impulsive whereas she is more controlled and strategic. They balance each other out. Jon is a big picture thinker which is fine but that can cause him to miss details that might turn into huge conflicts later on whereas Sansa is much more aware of the subtleties of situations and can identify potential risks.

3. Jon has a hero complex and a self-sacrificing streak, where he wants to save and protect everyone. Sansa is more willing to accept the possibility that you can’t always do that. But Jon will continue to try to protect people so he needs someone to protect him, sometimes even from himself which is what Sansa can do for him.

4. In my post regarding the alliances that Sansa and Jon can make, I called Sansa the most eligible match in Westeros. The amount of allies and strategic power she can bring to the table is undeniable and will be among the main reasons why they end up king and queen.

5. They’re both humanists. Despite Sansa’s more calculated temperament (something she learned, btw because naturally she’s not a calculated person), she would have given a mob of people that attacked her and almost raped her bread if she had had it, she takes charge of calming the spirits of the women during the Battle of the Blackwater and as Jon’s regent, she supervises the food storing and preparations for winter. They both have the same view of what leadership is and the kind of leaders they want to be. They both very much see leadership as a duty and want to do right by the people that they govern.

6. On a personal level, they’re both romantics who dream about a quiet, domestic life. They want to have children and raise a family. So their personal goals and temperaments are aligned.

7. Jon is insecure, particularly when it comes to how other people view him and since the moment they have been reunited, not only has Sansa understood that but given him the validation he needs to feel secure, content and happy. In turn, Jon can be the brave, gentle and strong man that Ned promised Sansa and that she’s always dreamed about.

8. They fight a lot, they both make good and bad point along the way but at the end of the day, their fights are constructive and lead to both of them growing and developing as people. They push each other to be better.

There are probably many more reasons that can be added but this is all I can come up with at this time.

One more thing I’d like to add before I finish this:

I was under the, perhaps mistaken, impression that people sending me asks or reading my blog were interested in my honest opinion on topics and not just in answers and posts that validate their pre-existing views. If that is the case, I don’t think my blog is for you. I will never shy away from expressing my thoughts on a subject, even when that might be controversial. So if that bothers you, I understand. Please unfollow me, block me or otherwise scroll past me if you feel leaving a comment disagreeing is not enough. I don’t want to make anyone’s fandom experience anything less than a happy one, if I can help it.

So, in an effort, to keep the Jonsa fandom experience a positive one for myself, I’d like to let everyone know that this will be my final answer on this subject. If you’re ever tempted to send me an ask telling me that I don’t think Sansa is entitled to voice her opinions, that I think Sansa is undermining Jon, that I’m trying to steal her agency in order to prop up Jon or that I think Sansa is always wrong and Jon is always right, please know that I will delete those asks and not answer them. I really don’t like doing that because I love talking to you guys and I really appreciate your interest in my blog and my opinions but at this point, if you still believe all of those things, there’s literally nothing I can say that will change your mind. Thank you for understanding!

Have a nice day, nonnie!

#jonsa #jon x sansa #i don't really know how to tag this to be honest #I don't want t add fandom wank because it kind of isn't #i guess it's about jon and sansa to a degree

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sol1056 · 7 years

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hi. i have a quick and possibly dumb question but i'd like to know your opinion on vld+racism. fandom has claimed several times keiths and allura's relationship is written in a racist manner. i don't agree with that claim but i do think voltron's writing can get borderline(???) racist. how? in the way they write the alien races that have been oppressed by the galra empire for the longest time. something in the way they are all... mentally weak seems off. what do you think about this matter??

(sorry for the delay, lots to unpack here)

Okay, so there’s several issues. One is the way Allura is written, and the way the narrative treats her, when it comes to her (completely justified) distrust/hatred of the Galra.

The second is the political aspects of the alien races. I’ll just say… this is bad writing. You’re right (in postscript to the ask, not quoted here) that ‘mentally weak’ is kind of a loaded term, but I would say the formerly subjugated peoples are… insipid.

Part of the problem in writing a really smart or competent character is that you have to be fairly good, yourself, at figuring out what defines being ‘smart’ or ‘competent’. For Hunk and Pidge, it’s pretty straightforward; we give them hard problems to solve, a smattering of quasi-technical lingo, and then we have them solve it. For more complicated matters like diplomacy and warfare, it takes a really analytical (and savvy) mind to come up with a solid ‘third way’ that will strike the reader/viewer as ‘smart’.

But if the writers can’t think up something brilliant to put in the characters’ mouths, there are a few tricks they often fall back on, to compensate. One, they stack the deck so the only resolution the writers can think of is, in story, the only possible resolution. Two, they can either make sure no other character questions or devils-advocates, OR if that would be wildly OOC, they find a reason that character isn’t present, OR they bypass the whole thing by stacking the character deck.

(An example of the last is when Keith says in S3, “we need to go after Lotor, now”, and Shiro insists on an alternate plan – rather than debating which is better, the rest of the team simply falls in line with Shiro, and Keith’s plan is overridden. The writers just bypassed having anyone say, “hold on, which of these is really better?”)

So when it comes to the aliens, to make Allura seem like a politically savvy character (which she patently is NOT), and to make Kolivan seem like a militarily savvy character (which I’ve come to realize he also is NOT), either we give them really good ideas that show their competence… or we make sure everyone else around them is just that much more ignorant.

Parallel to this, if we want to show that Allura is bringing people together, then either we show how she does that (yet another complex and difficult skill set) or we have her say something moderately acceptable and stack the deck, there, too. Writers do that by removing all possible agendas or conflicts from the listeners. The aliens are basically just place-holders, timed to cheer on cue.

If the writers were certain Allura’s or Kolivan’s words would be convincing in their own right, then we might see aliens raising questions, or pushing back with their own agendas – and yet we viewers would remain in Allura’s or Kolivan’s corner, as a convinced audience. Instead, the writers are relying on those insipid aliens to be the plants in our audience.

On a cynical day, I might be suspicious that the EPs/writers actually lack the imagination to realize they’re even doing this. If they think already that Allura or Kolivan are that smart and competent, and see the written words/actions as the Best Course of action, then it might not even occur to them that anyone would protest. Of course everyone would go along.

But even on my cynical days, I can’t help but think that even bad writers have to have at least some awareness of humanity. Put nine people in a room to decide on something big, you’re probably going to end up with at least two arguments and seventeen opinions. Even with Keith’s outburst (which was neither full argument nor alternate option, in the overall scheme of things), the kind of meeting we saw in S3 with the aliens just never, ever works out that smoothly. Never.

tl;dr: they made one character look extra-smart by writing the rest as stupid.

As for the first question, about Allura and racism… @stitchomancy linked to a post I can’t find right now, but there’s a trope about the Racist Black Woman in Space. And the only thing I can say is: this writers’ group is predominantly white, and predominantly male. I get they’re trying to address an elephant in the room of the racial conflict between Alteans and Galrans, but they’re badly equipped to handle it. They’re writing from a position of privilege, and it really shows.

They skipped the massive emotional beat of the reveal, they did it on the tails of hugely swinging audience sympathy towards the poor kid who just discovered his hidden ancestry, and they isolated Allura as the only one reacting so badly (Coran, for the most part, is neatly kept in the background, so we don’t really know what he thinks). So instead of seeing Allura’s distrust as entirely justified, the narrative supports that we should see her as behaving like, well, an irrational racist who’s hating on Keith solely because of something outside his control and boy isn’t she just nasty about it.

(I’m not even getting into the agonizing cringeyness of watching a WoC apologize to a coded-white-guy about her – totally justified!! – hatred for a race that systematically destroyed her people. Just no.)

If they had done it right, and given us a narrative that actually supported Allura, it could’ve had a powerful impact. It could’ve also laid the groundwork for why Keith (in S3) wouldn’t actually care if Allura lost her way and got left behind. She threw him away, in a sense, and whatever loyalty lies between them is still somewhat damaged, as a result. But again, since the narrative continues to affirm Keith’s POV, from the outside Allura just looks kinda irrational, and biased without reason.

And that dynamic does come across as racist, as a result, and that’s entirely the fault of the writers for the way they established, framed, and carried through the emotional beats (or lack thereof). In a way, I don’t see downgrading the alien races into insipid head-nodding puppet characters as anywhere near on the same level as their treatment of Allura, but it does kind of stem from the same place: something is holding the writers back from digging into those opposite points of view, that might contradict or undermine the direction they want the viewers’ loyalties to lie.

As an addendum, it’s entirely possible the writers might want to be exploring these deeper questions, but keep in mind: Dreamworks and Netflix are both US-based companies. Americans historically have a very, very, very difficult time talking about race. Remember, this is a show ostensibly meant for kids (cue think of the children), for an audience that unconsciously has swallowed the notion that ‘the only ones who talk about race are racists’.

It might not be far from the truth to say any exploration the writers do write (or suggest writing) is getting shut down from on-high, and the result ends up being an emotionally-truncated and emotionally-incoherent result.

#voltron legendary defender #voltron meta #voltron critical #sol thinks about stuff

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snailkitfilmreviews · 7 years

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Iron Man, 2008 - ★★★½ (contains spoilers)

This review may contain spoilers.

This isn't a Proper Review but honestly I just don't understand how people put up with the current MCU output when this film exists. Nearly every film that followed it in the series is such a step down and it's baffling to me.

With the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy, which was above-average, I stopped watching the MCU films entirely after Iron Man 3. (Which, incidentally, is also great—why does this series' fandom hate its best films??) I just couldn't put up with this situation I was in where the hype for these films was basically making me dissociate. Seriously. You can only read so many glowing reviews for such overwhelmingly successful mediocrity before your brain gets to wondering whether its perception of reality can be trusted in any way. You're honestly telling me that it is a universal truth that the next bloated overlong undercooked visually incoherent focus-tested to hell et cetera et fucking cetera superhero film is good? Really? I'm not even picking on superhero films here, either. I think if a film succeeds at being what it sets out to be—provided that what it sets out to be is not inherently a harmful thing—it has some serious potential to be great. The reason The Incredibles is kinda a masterpiece is not in spite of its genre, but because of how it accepts and engages with it. Same with this film. And yet, and yet, the rest of the MCU gets to ride with the fucking training wheels on. You see it in how they try desperately to ape other genres in every damn film, in that implicit addendum to every fucking pull-quote: "...for a superhero movie." It's infuriating because when I was younger I was happy to believe (quite naïvely, in retrospect) that we were beyond this. I grew up learning that some of the best films of all time are genre films: horror films, film noir, etc., and it was nice to believe that the art world had moved on from such elitist posturing.

Instead, especially with superhero films, it's flipped. You see critics—real critics, good critics, critics I otherwise really truly admire—falling over themselves to prove how biased they aren't, and it begs the question: does anyone really, truly, seriously, honestly, legitimately, hand-to-god, swear-to-fuck believe that Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a good political thriller? Like man, I get it, they hired Redford. There's a shocking conspiracy. Whatever. It's no Parallax View, though, and what's more, the Russo brothers know it. I could go into the formal aspects—while a "political thriller" doesn't have to walk and quack like the grainy paranoid ducks before it, the film fails on a basic level at being an effective thriller beyond its lack of ducklike features (it's a good thing for the Russos' sake that the film very much doesn't come across as a political thriller in any way other than the most superficial elements, or this would be damning)—but honestly, I shouldn't have to, right? We should be able to talk about these films honestly, right? Because I'd be happy to engage with the cultural conversation about tentpole superhero movies if we could all start from the position that hey, maybe the serial nature of these films could mean that they have a third act problem, and hey, the mandated look and feel from the studio might lead to inherently less-satisfying experiences. That's all I'm asking here. I'd like to not dissociate when engaging with pop culture, thanks.

Is this harsh and hyperbolic? Sure. Is it unfair? Maybe, although I'd argue the MCU can probably take the vitriol of some fuck on the internet. (Incidentally I cannot believe that I'm actually Angry Internet Critic-ing right now. I really do not like that trend. Fuck.) Let me put it another way. You ever seen that tweet where some clickbait food site tweets out the headline to an article, something like "We're spreading peas on everything" and the guy quote tweets it with "No the fuck we're not"? That resignation to the inevitability of something that is by no means inevitable?

That's what the MCU is like for me.

It sucks, too, because I really like to see good popular art succeed. I want these films to be good. Some of them are, as this film in particular proves, but...look. I actually have a much longer essay rattling around in my head about the role of camp in popular art, and how that makes most of the MCU films except this one feel empty to me personally (see: unearned breeziness and "quips" distracting from the fact that these films desperately want you to take them "seriously" and that they've mistaken this "seriousness" as the mark of good art when really the best crowd-pleasers are consistently and unapologetically ridiculous, taking their "seriousness" from emotional stakes that have been properly set up. The inherent absurdity of Darth Vader isn't a liability, it's actually important to the character. And so on.). I guess I should write that instead of complaining for another couple paragraphs.

Anyways Iron Man is great I guess

(In all seriousness, some things I love about this film:

> Jon Favreau knows the value of cutting to an "objective" view (i.e. a wide and/or a verité-style shot) for a laugh. Even though you basically know it's coming, the suit testing mishaps are hilarious purely because of this. It's a foundational element of filmed physical comedy and it's distressing how little it shows up nowadays, so it's nice to see it here.

> There's some great setup and payoff, and it's doubly impressive coming from a film which was largely improvised. Pay attention to how the first arc reactor's established as a plot device. First Pepper removes it from Tony's chest and urges him to keep it as a memento. Then, she gives it back to him as a gift. Finally, when Stane removes the newer arc reactor from Tony's chest, the audience has already been given the stakes, a time limit (two, actually, as Stane has previously established how long the paralysis from his Tinnitus Weapon lasts and Pepper and Tony's scene established just how little time Tony has sans-arc reactor before he's dead), and a clear mirror to the first scene with Pepper, so that they can figure out what Tony has to do before he does. What I like the most about this particular throughline is just how much it interacts with every other running theme in the film. I mean, for fuck's sake, he has Pepper destroy the huge Stark Industries arc reactor in the fight with Stane because he's created one that's more personal, that essentially functions as his "heart", even as it's failing—which is a satisfying climax to his "I want to use my resources to help people on a personal level, instead of 'helping' my country on a global level" arc.

Wait, do the various arc reactors seriously represent his character arc? Fuck me.

> I don't think you'd see a latter MCU film pulling that offscreen execution of Raza's men. That was horrifying in exactly the right way. Well-executed on a formal level, too. Obadiah walks right to left (the "wrong" direction) through the camp and is at a seeming disadvantage in the situation, and then he effectively incapacitates Raza, turns around, and walks left to right past his men, who have subdued the guy's entire force. It's a really economical way to establish just how fucked up and amoral Stane is, and makes the "Stane contracted Raza to kill Tony" reveal hit way, way harder.

(Incidentally, someone smarter than me should write up an article about how this film handles US war in the Middle East, because it's...complicated, and not in a good way. Though I will commend the film for being pretty directly critical of the machine of war while getting the requisite funding from the DoD.)

> That smash cut to Rhodey's "unfortunate training exercise" press conference is such a good gag. I don't have anything to add, I just really like that gag.)

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