#(they need antagonism. they need a villain. he becomes it) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

littledemondani · 2 years

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all mine

warnings: MINORS DNI! jealous!eddie, slight dom!eddie, possessive!eddie, unprotected sex, cheerleader!fem!reader, infidelity, reader and jason are together, creampie, dirty talk, mentions of drug use, jason is a douche, canon divergence, suggestive use of a lollipop

word count: 3.4k

a/n: this is just pure filth. i'm not even sorry. also, my requests are open! and let me know if you'd like to be tagged in my future stuff. you can read the prequel here.

“or a gaaame where you toss balls into laundry baskets!” eddie yelled, his hands cupped to his mouth to amplify the sound of his voice as he stood on top of the cafeteria table.

“you want something, freak?” your boyfriend, jason, said as he stood up from his seat next to you, glaring daggers at him.

you sighed, rolling your eyes in complete annoyance at jason’s incessant need to belittle eddie at any given chance he gets. it was a tired game he played entirely by himself, given that eddie usually didn't give in to his antagonizing bullshit. but lately, he had started to counter back, and, like he’s doing at the moment, hurling the insults without being provoked.

and you’d be lying to yourself if you didn’t think it had anything to do with you.

for the past few months you had been sneaking around with eddie behind jason’s back. you knew it was wrong to go out on your boyfriend. he treated you well, bought you everything that you wanted, flaunted you in front of the entire school. he was every girl’s dream guy, the one they all fawned over. yet, you didn’t feel that way about him - not after getting to know the real jason.

the one he kept hidden, save for the moments when he bullied anyone who he didn’t think was on the same level as him. he didn’t see you as his girlfriend, he saw you as a trophy that he had won. the most popular guy in school dating the most popular girl. before you became head cheerleader he hadn’t even bothered to say more than a few words to you, but like everyone else, you had fallen under his pretty boy spell.

until eddie munson came into your life.

all you had needed was something to take the edge off. the pressure your parents put on you to be perfect - the perfect student, have perfect looks, and get into the college of their choice - had started to become too much. you knew from talks around school that eddie was a dealer, so you sought him out after school on a cold, december day.

to say you were completely surprised by him was an understatement. the big, scary, metalhead freak was actually incredibly sweet, funny, and nothing like the villain everyone made him out to be. it was even more surprising when he said he felt the exact same about you. you hadn’t thought of yourself as being intimidating or scary in the least, but you figured being jason’s girlfriend probably had a lot to do with why he thought that of you.

the two of you hit it off right away, and kept seeing each other regularly after that day. you’d hang out every thursday before hellfire, then it became every tuesday and thursday, eventually turning into whenever you had free time. being around him felt like a breath of fresh air, like you could be yourself without fear of judgment.

your feelings for him developed naturally over time and you did everything you could to fight them off. having feelings for someone else that wasn’t your boyfriend wasn’t something you did. but on the night you were alone with eddie in his trailer, sharing a joint between the two of you, his big, dark brown eyes gazing into yours intently, you couldn’t hold back anymore.

when eddie leaned in closer, his lips dangerously close to your own, you didn’t stop him. when he kissed you, as if it had been the only thing on his mind for a long time, you didn’t stop him. when he reached his hand under your shirt, you didn’t stop him. you didn’t stop him from unbuckling your belt, pulling your shirt up over your head, or from fucking you multiple times. you wanted him, more than you had wanted anyone, and were relieved that he wanted you just as badly.

“jason,” you chastised, narrowing your y/e/c eyes up at him. “just let it go, please?”

he nodded, though he didn’t look away from eddie, and kept standing with his hands balled into fists at his side.

eddie stuck his tongue out at him, bringing his hands beside his head like the devil horns on his hellfire t-shirt. you couldn’t help the small snicker that escaped past your lips, and you covered it up with a cough once you realized you had done it out loud.

“freak,” jason mumbled under his breath as he sat back down, completely unaware of anything you had just done.

eddie’s hardened gaze fell to you, softening only when he made eye contact with you. you felt your heart flutter, and the familiar warmth that spread throughout your body each time eddie was around you. to keep from completely blowing your cover, you went back to sucking on the cherry-flavored lollipop perched between your fingers, like you had been doing before eddie’s public tirade.

he soon retreated to his own seat, but not before terrorizing some poor teacher just trying to leave back to her classroom.

jason shook his head, a look of disgust on his features as he turned to his friends. “which one of you is getting the beer for tonight?” he asked, once again oblivious to the apparent scowl on your face at the mention of alcohol.

“patrick and i are going after school,” andy said. “my brother is gonna buy it for us.”

you swirl the lollipop around in your mouth as you try to tune the boys out, completely uninterested in the conversation they’re having. your thoughts immediately go to eddie, of him glaring at jason not even moments ago, and how fucking hot he looked. you imagined how he’d be like in bed if he ever fucked his frustrations out on you. maybe he’d handcuff your wrists together with the cuffs hanging on the wall next to his bed, using you however he saw fit. and you’d gladly let him.

you'd let eddie do whatever he wanted to you if it meant you got to feel his long, thick cock deep inside of you.

which is what you currently craved at that moment.

you glance over at his table hoping to grab his attention. he was talking to those kids, nancy wheeler’s little brother, and his shorter friend with the curly hair - you couldn’t remember their names. mike? justin? or what was it dustin? you watched as he picked them both up by their hellfire shirts, whispering something in their ears before slightly pushing them away towards another table.

eddie waited for the two freshmen to sit with a group of other lonely freshmen before he turned to walk back to seat, only to notice you looking in his direction.

you run your tongue over the top of the lollipop in a suggestive manner, keeping eye contact with eddie as you do so. you noticed him swallowing thickly, letting you know your spur of the moment plan was working.

you wrapped your lips around the candy, bobbing your head subtly, not wanting jason to see just what you were getting up to. he was still going on with his friends and forgot you were even there - what else is new, though?

eddie watched you intently, feeling the blood rush straight down to his cock. he was shocked that you’d do something so bold, seeing as it wasn’t like you, but the mere fact that you were, with your boyfriend sitting right next to you no less, turned him on way more than he’d like to admit.

gareth called out to him, and for a moment he broke eye contact to whip his head towards his floppy-haired friend. he made a ‘what are you doing?’ gesture at eddie. only then did he realize he was still standing in the middle of the cafeteria, on the verge of a fucking hard-on. he made his way back to the table and grabbed his stuff. he looked over at you and signaled for you to follow after him: a simple brush of his hand through his hair as he eyes you up and down.

you both came up with signals for when you couldn’t be seen together. some for regular talks, when one of you had a bad day and needed the other, or, like in this case, a quick fuck.

you wait for eddie to leave the cafeteria before standing up from your seat and glancing down at jason. “i’m gonna head out,” you said, gathering your backpack from behind the chair.

jason doesn’t hear you over the loud chatter, too occupied with his friends to even notice you’d gotten up. you scoff, shaking your head as you push the seat in, and that’s when jason pays attention.

“where are you going?” he asked, turning in his chair to look up at you.

“if you had heard me the first time, i said i was gonna go.” you didn’t even try to hide the annoyance in your voice, but knowing jason, he’d be too clueless to even sense it.

“what? why? lunch isn’t over yet,” he said, brows furrowed slightly. just like you thought, completely clueless.

“i have that exam coming up in history that i have to study for, remember,” you lied, slinging your backpack onto your shoulders. “if i don’t at least get an A- you know my mother will kill me.”

he seemed to accept that answer, giving you a soft nod, and you leaned down to press a quick, chaste kiss to his cheek before walking out of the cafeteria.

you wandered down the desolate halls of hawkins high in search of eddie. all of the classroom doors were shut with the lights off, save for one at the end of the hallway. you recognized it as the one eddie used for hellfire, and you hurried towards it before anyone could see you. you knock once, twice, and wait for eddie to open the door for you.

he quickly closes the door behind you once you step in, making sure it’s locked so no one else can enter. once the coast is clear, and the two of you are secured inside, he turns to you with a lustful glint in his dark brown eyes.

“that little show you put on back there was definitely something. sucking on your lollipop like that, for me, in front of your boyfriend,” he said, emphasizing the last word with a hint of malice in his tone.

you pick up on it right away and it catches you off guard. eddie had never shown any disdain for your relationship in the three months that you’d been sleeping with him. he’d crack jokes here and there about jason not being able to satisfy you the way he could, which wasn’t a lie at all, he never made you cum whenever you fuck him.

was eddie starting to get jealous?

you couldn’t deny the thought of it added fuel to the already raging fire of arousal burning within you.

“i don’t know what you’re talking about,” you said, feigning innocence as you gaze up at him with your big, y/e/c eyes. you swirl your tongue around the lollipop for good measure, hoping to get yet another rise out of him.

it worked.

eddie hummed in appreciation, though the look on his face told an entirely different story. “you see, princess, i think you know exactly what i’m talking about.” he reached forward and pulled the lollipop from your mouth, smirking at the shocked expression on your features. he holds it up in front of you, brow raised as he waits for you to admit what you both know is the truth.

the pet name effectively kills any ounce of rebellion you had in you, rendering you completely blank. it was a main weakness of yours that eddie loved to use to his advantage, not that you were complaining.

he took your loss of words as a win, smirking slightly as he slowly made his way over to you until he was mere inches away from your face. “you did that to rile me up, didn’t you? you wanted this. want me to fuck you.”

his close proximity to you, the smell of cheap cologne mixed with the faintest scent of cigarettes, has your head spinning with lust. you couldn’t keep up the charade of innocence anymore. you just wanted him. needed him.

“yes,” you whisper, feeling a rush of heat fan across your cheeks as you meet his darkened eyes.. it never failed to amaze you how easily eddie could reduce you to practically nothing without really even trying.

“hm, who knew my girl could be so naughty,” he said thoughtfully, brushing his fingers down your cheek to your chin. he let his gaze linger on you for a moment longer, taking in your natural beauty before pressing his lips to yours. the kiss is a mix of soft, but needy. you could taste the remnants of cinnamon gum on his tongue. he broke away first, resting his forehead on top of yours. “if you wanted me to fuck you, all you had to do was ask.”

in a swift movement, he pushed your backpack straps off of your shoulders and hoisted you into the air, walking you back towards the D&D table. he carefully sat you on the edge, settling in between your legs as he leaned back in to kiss you heatedly. you both roamed your hands up and down each other’s bodies, needing to feel the other as close as possible. being apart from each other for majority of the day was frustrating for the both of you, and any time you’re together, you can’t keep from touching.

his hand found it’s way to your inner thigh, squeezing lightly before pushing up the hem of your cheerleading skirt to your pelvis. his fingertips toyed with the waistband of the spankies, groaning in annoyance.

“have i ever told you how much i hate when you wear these?” he asked, tugging the offending article of clothing down your legs and tossing them somewhere behind him.

“only every time i wear them,” you giggle, hooking your fingers through one of the belt loops on his jeans and pulling him closer to you. you make quick work of undoing his belt buckle and jeans, pushing them as far down as you could. “you know i have to. unless you want the entire school to see my goods?”

“noooo thanks,” he said, helping you in removing his pants. he takes his cock in hand, pumping a few times while he pulls your panties to the side. he rubs the tip through your soaked pussy, sucking in a sharp breath as he feels just how wet you really are. “i’d rather them not.”

he pushes into you with ease, and you let out a loud, drawn out moan, your head tipping back. he stills once he’s filled you to the hilt, giving you time to adjust to his massive size.

“eddie,” you moan, rolling your hips against him in an attempt to get him to move. “we don’t have much time.”

as much as he’d love to tease you right then and there, make you squirm and beg for him to fuck you, he knew you were right.

“tell me if it’s too much,” he said, thrusting into you with a fast, rough pace.

it was never too much any time eddie was concerned. in fact, it was never enough for you. you always wanted more than what he gave you. for it to be faster, harder, rougher. you wanted to be able to feel him for days after he was through with you. and he always gave you what you wanted, but not before making sure you were one hundred percent okay.

“oh fuck…!” you cried out, face contorting into pleasure as the tip of his cock brushed against your sweet spot. “mm..fuck, you feel so good, eddie.”

“you feel so fucking good, too,” he moaned, gazing down at you as his bangs fell in front of his eyes. “best fucking pussy i’ve ever had.”

he brought his hand to your cunt, and began rubbing fast, tight circles against your aching clit. he smirked as he watched you writhe beneath him, the way you clutched at him like your life depended on it, using your ankles to push him even further inside of you. he loved knowing he was the only one who could make you this way, reveled in it even, and a part of him wished he could have you like this all to himself.

“tell me, princess,” he said, leaning forward slightly so he could angle your hips a little better. “who do you belong to?”

the words are right there on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t find the strength to say them, not when he has you right there on the brink of your release. he senses your dilemma without you needing to say anything, and he slows down the speed of his thrusts, but not the intensity.

“y-you,” you mewl, brushing his hair out of his eyes. you make sure he knows you mean it. you kiss him deeply, bringing your hand to tug on his hair. “i-i’m yours.”

“that’s right you are,” he breathes against your lips, resuming his previous fast pace. “all. fucking. mine.” he accentuated the words with his thrusts, each one significantly harder than the last.

you nodded rapidly, peppering kisses along his jaw down to his neck. you gently nipped at his sensitive spot, feeling him shiver a bit against you. you kept going, licking and sucking his skin until a soft pink mark appeared. you admired the way it looked in contrast with his light skin tone.

eddie’s cock twitched, signaling he was closer than he had anticipated.

“are you close?” he asked, cupping your face in his large hand as he gazed down at you. the metal of his rings felt cool against your heated skin, and you absentmindedly leaned into his touch.

“yes,” you moan, bringing your hand to cup his cheek as well. “are you close?”

“fuck yes i am,” he groaned, chuckling breathlessly. “you feel way too fucking good.”

his fingers found their way back to your clit, determined to make you cum before him. “let go, baby. cum for me.”

the white hot pressure building up inside of you finally burst with a few more thrusts and swipes of his fingers, and you cum with a loud cry of his name.

he held you close to him to keep you from slumping over, pressing his lips to yours in a heated kiss. “cum inside of me,” you moan into the kiss, tugging on his long curls.

“are you sure? i will if that’s what y—,”

“it is,” you cut him off. “please…i just wanna feel you cum inside of me. please…”

eddie groans loud, giving one more heated kiss before pulling back. he grips your hips tightly, and chases his own release. it doesn’t take that long, and he shoots hot ropes of his cum deep within your walls.

you wrap your arm over his shoulder, holding him the same way he held you during your release. you press soft, soothing kisses to his cheek, your free hand resting behind his head.

once you've both come down from your respective highs, eddie reluctantly pulls out of you, groaning as a drop of his cum leaks from your entrance. “fuck that’s so hot,” he muses, bringing his finger to run through it before trying to push it back inside of you.

you chuckle in amusement, shaking your head lightly. “only you would think that’s hot.”

“any guy would agree that it’s pretty fucking hot to watch his cum spill out of a girl’s pussy,” he says matter of factly, though a smile tugs on the corner of his lips.

he pulls your panties back over your cunt, patting it twice to make sure they stay in place.

“dear god.” you hop off of the table, holding onto eddie’s arm for balance. he picks up your spankies off of the floor and helps put them on you, giving you a tender kiss once he’s done.

“it’s even hotter knowing you’re gonna go back to your boyfriend with my cum inside of you.”

that shouldn’t have made your cunt throb the way it did, but then again you shouldn’t be doing anything you’ve been doing the past three months.

“and it’s really hot knowing you’ll be walking around with that hickey i made you,” you said, smirking as you gesture to the now reddened mark on his neck. “good luck trying to tell everyone how you got that.”

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson smut #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson oneshot #eddie munson fanfiction #stranger things #stranger things 4 #stranger things imagine #stranger things fanfiction

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rejectedfables · 6 months

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While the source material clearly intends Xue Yang to be read as an orphan (perhaps orphaned so young he has no memory of his parents), I think it’s underexplored in fandom that he never ACTUALLY SAYS that his parents DIED, but rather that he was a child without parents.

"He had neither dad nor mom nor money" (via the official english translation)

I think there's something in here worth exploring about the possibility that Xue Yang was abandoned by his parents.

Perhaps he remembers one or both of them and/or the event, perhaps he does not but just has a sense of it having happened, perhaps he has no memories of it at all but it still psychologically impacted his development.

Just about every character in the story can be better understood by looking at how they were raised, and Xue Yang is CERTAINLY not an exception.

There are myriad ways to interpret his childhood (though none of them stable, safe, or cared for), but I have been thinking a LOT lately about how being abandoned by his parents could have shaped him into who he later became.

His behavior in the Villainous Friends extra (wherein he, seemingly arbitrarily, breaks things and antagonizes people and then specifically challenges Jin Guangyao about paying for damages) COULD be interpreted as acting out in a way that's common for children and teens with a history of abandonment who are testing the waters of just how much their new guardian/s will tolerate. This sort of behavior can be a self fulfilling prophesy as well as an attempt to prove to themselves that their expectations of rejection or punishment are correct.

If Xue Yang has only ever known the world to be a painful place where people reject and abandon him, then that's how he expects the world to continue behaving. If suddenly someone defies this expectation, it is simultaneously a fascinating and wondrous thing, and also a threat to his worldview. After all, if THIS person can be kind and care for him, then why didn't anyone else?

If JGY, who at this point is essentially just his handler, can be unconditionally patient with him... then why couldn't others have been patient with him over much less? And why couldn't his own parents, who had considerably higher responsibility to him, be as patient as JGY?

It's much easier to push and push and push until you break the patience and prove your cynicism correct, than it is to grapple with those painful questions. And after all, Jin Guangyao had an exterior force (Jin Guangshan) requiring him to show patience. And once that force was removed, so was Xue Yang. This, perhaps, felt as much like validation as it did betrayal.

There might be a parallel to be made here, too, about how JGY was and felt betrayed/abandoned by his father. This in common might be something that they bonded over.

And of course, as always, there's Yi City.

Xue Yang expects Xiao Xingchen to abandon him, and his elaborate “revenge” was at least in part in preparation for that anticipated betrayal. He "knows" he will be betrayed and, perhaps unlike what happened with Jin Guangyao, he intends to be ready for it this time. Ready to punish Xiao Xingchen the MOMENT it happens, or ready to convince him not to betray him after all (what is "We're not so different, I'm not uniquely evil, you're ending our life together because you think you're better than me but look! Look! You and I are the same now" if not a deeply misguided and utterly desperate plea?).

At some point he starts hoping it just won't happen, and stops needing the “revenge” plot. When it starts unraveling before him, he tries for understanding first. What is "Hear my story, THEN decide--" if not begging to be understood?

Of course it doesn't work.

Xiao Xingchen doesn't even kill Xue Yang, either; he goes Away. Goes where Xue Yang can't. If Xue Yang is read as having this particular trigger, Xiao Xingchen's suicide may feel like abandonment all over again.

Perhaps Xiao Xingchen NOT killing Xue Yang becomes a parallel to Xue Yang's parents abandoning him to suffer alone instead of keeping him or killing him. Or else maybe Xue Yang's mother DID try to kill him (drown him or left him out in the cold) and he just managed to survive, in which case Xiao Xingchen NOT trying to kill Xue Yang puts him a cut above even Xue Yang's own mother/parents.

Final thought:

While I find Xue Yang's lack of familial connection to the rest of the cast compelling, I also find "what if" scenarios fascinating to explore, and "Xue Yang was abandoned by parents who might still be around during the story" does create some fascinating opportunities for fic.

Such as:

What if Xue Yang was yet another illegitimate son of Jin Guangshan? What if he knew but Jin Guangyao didn't? What if Jin Guangyao knew but Xue Yang didn't? What if Jin Guangshan himself knew? That would really put the insistent protections into a very weird light (is there a heart in there? Or did he think he could string Xue Yang along like he did Jin Guangyao? Or was Xue Yang blackmailing him?)

What if Xue Yang was the illegitimate son of Chang Cian? It certainly puts a spin on that entire scenario. Little Xue Yang has another reason to want to please this man, and a further reason to feel betrayed by the abuse. Chang Cian not even recognizing him. Xue Yang taking revenge on the entire family because they ALL wronged him in a way he can't articulate. Because they got to live the life he could have if he'd been wanted.

Certainly none of this is canon, but it's not TERRIBLY far beyond the bounds of canon either, and makes for some juicy food for fic.

#Mdzs #mo dao zu shi #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #the grandmaster of diabolism #Yi city #Xue yang #mdzs meta #yi cheng #xue chengmei #xuexiao

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bookshelfdreams · 6 months

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do it. gimme the Izzy straight-coded meta 👀

I feel like I need to preface this by saying that Actually, Izzy Is Straightcoded would be the inflammatory clickbait title I'd give this if it were written to draw traffic & ad revenue to my shitty website. So don't take that term too seriously.

There has been a lot of ink spilled about Izzy thinking he's in a story where one can only be subtextually queer. Some even by yours truly, but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. What would be the purpose of queercoding Izzy?

In general, villains* aren't queercoded to show that men being attracted to other men is bad. It's often the outcome; but it's not why the trope exists. It exists because cishet people tend to be (and are encouraged to be) profoundly uncomfortable with gender nonconformity, and so, making a character gnc becomes a quick and easy way to make him appear twisted and untrustworthy. If he** can't even obey the fundamental rules of his own gender (rules that are inherent and unchangeable!) what other rules does he disobey?

Or: If a man is insufficiently masculine, he can't be trusted to have morals. The villain isn't gnc because that's an evil trait to have; rather, the gender nonconformity is a symptom of his evilness. Being evil is what enables him to embrace his feminine side, and embracing his feminine side is what others him and marks him as a villain.

This only really works when he's contrasted with a hero (or heroine) who is Doing Gender Correctly. The villain is foul to highlight how good the hero is. The Hero will be honest and straightforward, brave, physically powerful; the Queercoded Villain treacherous, cowardly, and physically weak. The hero is a Proper Man, a Good Person. The villain an Improper Man, and therefore, a Bad Person.

Of course ofmd fundamentally rejects this. The shorthand wouldn't work, because ofmd simply doesn't think effeminacy is creepy. It's uninterested in moralizing self-expression; it just lets people be how they are. There's a wide range of expressions of masculinity on this show, and none of it is inherently bad. People are allowed to be hypermasculine, flamboyant, and anything inbetween, can express their gender in whatever manner they want, and it's all fine - as long as they are authentic about it. Be however you are, but be yourself, and this is what Izzy fails at. The repression marks him as a villain. The strict adherence to what he thinks a Real Man Pirate ought to be like. He's very preoccupied with enforcing a traditional (and toxic) masculinity on himself and others. It's no coincidence the characters he antagonizes the most - Stede and Lucius - are also the most effeminate ones. And I know, I know anglophones have a much more casual relationship to twat and cunt, those don't nearly feel as uncomfortable for y'all as they do for me, so I don't want to assign too much significance here, but he is the only character who constantly uses this kind of language, and also the one who uses the most gender&sexuality based slurs (as far as I remember).

All of this while being clearly, obviously queer himself! I do not feel like I need to explain this; his flustered reaction when Lucius asks him if he's ever been sketched speaks for itself. The fact that he meets Stede and immediately slices his shirt off of him, speaks for itself. And so on.

Izzy isn't straightcoded in the sense that the story wants us to believe he's exclusively attracted to women. Much like a queercoded villain doesn't need to be shown to be attracted to men (and can even be shown to be attracted exclusively to women!) to still be queercoded. He's straightcoded in the sense that he's a stand-in for restrictive and toxic gender roles that society enforces on people. He buys into the idea that there's a way of Doing Gender Wrong, and this is presented as a tragic character flaw. Something he has to overcome to be able to do the thing that actually marks a hero in this show: express himself authentically.

Part of why I found his death so moving is because it enables him to set right the toxicity he spread. His rehabilitation arc was about himself; about finally allowing himself to be, accepting love, accepting community. His death was about taking responsibility. About fully recognizing the hurt he caused. Looking death in the face enables him to finally abandon the last shreds of that toxicity, to apologize and be granted forgiveness. In the end, he was not beyond saving, and the harm he has done will be healed.

*Izzy is introduced as an antagonist to both Stede and the central romance of this romcom. I'm not gonna debate this; if you disagree, fine, but you clearly have such a fundamentally wrong different view of the show that it's pointless for us to try and convince each other.

**of course Queercoded Female Villains exist s well, but they are a whole different can of worms and less relevant to this discussion

#okay now that i typed this all out i realize that i just basically keep writing the same izzy post over and over sorry for that #but i spent too long on it not to post it #i do not remember who said it but i saw a post a few days ago along the lines of #izzys death reads like the fantasy of a repentant abusive parent #and i think theres truth to that #may also read like the fantasy of the kid of an abused parent #finally the person who hurt you is able to apologize and you can part on good terms #but also wont have to deal w the fallout #i write as my grandmother who doesnt speak to us is probably dying idk #anyway!#i hope this is somewhat interesting #our flag means death #ofmd s2 spoilers #izzy hands #thoughts #anonymaus #message

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theromanticscrooge · 2 months

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The Shipping Corner: Voxman, A Balm for Capitalist-Induced Angst

Note: I'm sorry this took as long as it did. I've been in a pretty bad slump recently and am just now coming out of it.

Lord Boxman is the black sheep among his peers. This is first established with Professor Venomous' initial distaste towards him and the later reactions he gets when he unexpectedly shows up at Billiam Milliam's villain yacht party. The only kinds of relationships Boxman has with other villains amount to strictly business transactions to create their robot minions. The shareholders that directly fund Boxmore are especially skeptic of Boxman's destroy the Plaza side venture and see this as a misguided, Snidely Whiplash-esque escapade. He's just a Saturday morning cartoon villain and they're the respectable big leagues. When Boxman funnels so much time, effort, energy, and resources towards the Plaza attacks, it takes precious time away from robot production; the one thing he does they consider valuable or worthwhile. They threaten to cut off their support if Boxman's production doesn't increase and then gladly replace him with Darrell when the opportunity arises. Darrell fits the exact mold they need for a CEO: he focuses exclusively on production.

There's no respect. There's no interest in or concern for Lord Boxman as an individual. The dislike is mutual. Of course Boxman doesn't get along with other villains. Most of the known names and faces on screen hold the purse strings and by extension, the fate of Boxman's entire operation. He feels like he has to put on his best face and performance to keep his business afloat. Without Boxmore, he seemingly has nothing and loses everything material. After Boxman was fired by the shareholders, he becomes absolutely depressed and floats around for awhile until Venomous finds him in his trash can. As much as he hates answering to corporate interests, he's locked in as a "robot manufacturer" as much as an Average Joe is stuck at a 9-5 job because of bills, a mortgage; and most frustratingly, how easily someone can fall into the trappings of letting a job define their self-worth or sense of self.

When Professor Venomous gets introduced, he's partly in Boxman's mental bucket of shareholder/necessary business relationships. Boxman goes to great lengths to hide K.O., Rad, and Enid after accidentally booking his business dinner on the same night as an antagonize the Plaza event. He's scared that his 'hobby' would dissuade Venomous from buying any more of his robots and break their already tenuous business deal. Instead, Venomous starts to see Boxman through literal rose-tinted glasses and becomes interested in Boxman's ongoing Plaza rivalry but uses the robots as a continued excuse to check in again on this weird, intriguing man.

Another interesting precedent is that Boxman is more fond of Venomous from the jump. When interacting with other business partners, Boxman is over-the-top and eager to please in video calls and plays the oblivious idiot in casual settings, but behind closed doors, he's bitter towards them. Boxman won't hug his own children and scoffs at open displays of affection. Yet he wants to touch or hug Venomous as often as he can reasonably get away with. Part of his behavior is the same eager to please facade he gives other interested business parties, but the bigger part is a legitimate interest in developing a more personal relationship with Venomous.

The pink shoujo sparkles and elevator eyes Boxman has for Venomous are a blatant indicator he finds him attractive. That's a surprisingly huge part of what kicks off his interest. Look at how he reacts to Dr. Blight in the Captain Planet crossover. Boxman initially shows skepticism and disinterest towards her crazy plans, but the second she flirts with him, the flip switches. The promise of romantic interest grants her access to the full power and force of Boxmore. When she leaves at the end of the episode, Boxman is disappointed. He wanted to continue their partnership, especially their potential interpersonal one.

In Venomous' case, he gets extra points for joining in the fight after the Plaza brats interrupt dinner. He asks about the design and Lego brick-esque connectivity of the Boxbots. He's not above participating in the Saturday morning cartoon skirmish. Rather, he misses that kind of fight and yearns to experience more exploits like it. Venomous is the only on-screen character outside of Boxman's kids that shows a willingness to listen to, try to understand, and engage with Boxman in a more personable, intimate way.

Professor Venomous fell into villainy after he lost his powers and realized how overbearing he found the moral code heroes have. Being a villain comes naturally to him; he likes the fruits of his labor in the vast amounts of wealth, prestige, and material power that he could gain. Fast forward to present-day in the series and he's the picture of a successful villain. He figures out the easy button for amassing stupid amounts of money by threatening a Congresswoman with a death ray. He's sought out for deals involving his scientific prowess. He's respected and liked among other villains to the point he's invited to Billiam's parties. Though while he has a comfortable position, he's become jaded.

Enter Lord Boxman. Compared to the villains Venomous is used to, Boxman dances to the beat of his own drum. He's more interested in defeating the Plaza than an endless vie for prestige, wealth, or power. He says he doesn't care what the other villains think of him and how he does things. No matter what happens, he's going to carve out his own path as a villain and do what he wants to with his life. Somehow, Venomous got tied up in a new, different kind of bureaucratic process as a villain. As a hero, he felt like an outcast and a loser everybody looked down on without super powers. As a villain, he has everything he thought he wanted but it was more of a means to make up for what he lost. It was more compensating and filling in an existential hole vs actually taking meaningful control of his life. In stark contrast to that, Boxman knows exactly what he wants and puts his all into every pursuit, consequences and obstacles be damned.

Collaborating with Boxman is an epiphany. Dreaming up new schemes and plots to challenge the Plaza is fun. It's fulfilling and satisfying to Venomous in a way that heroics and solo villain ventures weren't. There's one scene in particular after Boxman and Venomous join forces for the first time and lose spectacularly. Both of them are smiling; it's joyous. Boxman was down and out without Boxmore, but building Fink's attack trike was a spark of hope that he can rebuild even if its from the ground-up. Venomous just lost his nice house and all of his current material possessions because Boxman blew everything up. But then Boxman turned around and presented the exact existential solution Venomous didn't know he needed by suggesting attacking the Plaza. It's the dinner party attack, but this time, Venomous was a full part of the planning phases. He gets to share in and fully experience the devil-may-care and more whimsical parts of being a villain he thought were long gone.

Venomous offers to buy out Boxmore and root out the shareholders. Finally, Boxman is free of one of the bigger obstacles between him and his all-time favorite venture. Not only does Boxman have free reign, but also the equal partner he so desperately desired; someone that's on his same wavelength and as invested in his kind of villainy as he is.

Another important dimension to Venomous' character is his destructive spiral as Shadowy Venomous. Finding that 'missing piece' in Boxman and Boxmore respectively isn't a magic solution. There's significant baggage in how much emphasis Venomous placed on his need for power. This was such a huge quest and chunk of his life that its difficult to give up on the idea entirely. Its similar to how some people spend so much time chasing after a specific job title or promotion that this elusive thing becomes an important part of what defines them or contributes to their sense of self worth. Venomous left Carol because of a gross misunderstanding that she saw him as weak. He was missing the value he assigned to super powers for so long that every new solution was always a band-aid or a stop gap.

Someone can find a thing or circumstances that significantly improves their life, but they need to see and recognize this psychologically too for it to be completely effective. In other words, Venomous needed to recognize the real-time changes and results from joining Boxmore, then figure out how to weigh those continued changes with his own self-discovery or improvement.

Boxman started improving on being a more proactive parent. Unfortunately, Venomous started getting lost in his own head and pulling away from his other responsibilities or general life. A change as big as a new partner, surroundings, and blended family would be enough to kickstart depression; especially because Venomous hadn't appropriately addressed why he needed this abstract concept of what it meant to be the 'most powerful being.' Success and self-actualization weren't included with the previous accolades he achieved as a villain. It wasn't obvious and forthcoming with Boxman either. The lack of introspection and vulnerable talks with Boxman or anyone else is exactly what led to the wind-up and eventual "I'll destroy everything if it means getting rid of the years of resentment and frustration."

Both Venomous and Boxman have some sort of adult trapped in the shitty corporate world element to their character writing. In a nutshell, Boxman struggles with the existential threat of losing who he is to one specific job he performs; Venomous finds villainy gratifying as more of a hobby or extracurricular activity vs a full-time job. He's successful at it but the version he's successful at is more of a distraction or a means to fill in a missing part of himself than true interest in his corporate role. Boxman's approach to villainy is considered juvenile and worthless. Venomous still loves villainy but he wants the freedom to have fun and go all-out without worrying about reputation or meeting the specific standards that comes with his current position.

In 2024, after the various rise of corporate buzzwords trying to guilt employees back to pre-pandemic work standards and inflation vs stagnant wages, there's new weight to the Boxman and Venomous character allegories respectively. These two are that success story of Boxman giving the middle finger to a crappy boss and Venomous making that leap of faith from an empty, soul-sucking job to the more wild, out of pocket thing. Venomous' ill-obtained funds becomes that treasured pile of "fuck you" money that so many people dream about having and using to take a risk on something personally, meaningfully valuable to them. Or just having a window of opportunity to enjoy life the way they want to without having to worry about bills and necessities.

More importantly though, while they describe themselves as business partners, it's two single, lonely men building a life and trying to healthfully blend their families together. Part of this life is making space for someone new that makes the other man want to work on becoming a better, more thoughtful person. Regardless of where a person sits in their job hunt or even at the height of personal achievement, the most important part is the support network they come home to or regularly interact with.

Thematically, Boxman and Venomous are the opposite side of the coin to the more straightforward found family K.O. builds and maintains. It's a reminder that no one has to be lonely. They can and will find someone that brings meaningful, valuable things to their life; someone that makes them want to change and grow. While this is about an explicitly romantic pair, the message applies whether that hypothetical person and relationship is romantic, platonic, or a new addition to a found family.

#voxman #ok ko voxman #ship analysis #ok ko let's be heroes #ok ko #ok ko professor venomous #ok ko lord boxman #character analysis #ship discussion #shipping analysis #shipping #the shipping corner #theromancescrooge #i'm back bitches

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electric-friend · 26 days

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wait hang on 😭😭 are people seriously debating “he’s a complicated man” right now??

i agree that izzy’s an unreliable narrator, and i think that some of the things he’s said about ed aren’t necessarily true, much as many other things he’s said are also not necessarily true. he’s not really aware of the full picture the whole time, poor duck, as much as i adore him.

but like… besides the fact it really doesn’t have anything to do with wether or not you think izzy’s doing complex evil shit to ed on purpose, and people seem to be making it about that…

ed is VERY MUCH a complicated man. as someone who relates to ed probably more than stede or izzy… he’s absolutely a complicated man. ed can be violent, and suicidal, and he clearly experiences some form of emotional dysregulation, and he’s done things to people that weren’t justified. the crew was traumatised by ed’s behaviour and how much violence he placed them in a position to commit.

the way ed responds to rejection is so violent and out of proportion, his consecutive raids, his suicidal antagonism towards the crew… and for me and my personal issues, that’s extremely relatable… but it is NOT mentally well behaviour.

ed also exhibits patterns of disordered alcohol use, and his anger often causes him to lash out (yes, often at izzy who pushes his buttons, and yes, izzy’s behaviour is a factor in this. but it’s also worth noting ed has agency as a character and his violence is still violence, provoked or not) and one of his most integral traumas is how an act of violence saved him from the violent alcoholic who was his father.

there’s nothing about ed that’s not a complicated man. he’s done bad things that weren’t justified. that doesn’t make him a bad man. it makes him a complicated one. it’s very clear he knows how to be a better person. and that he can be. that the show left out a lot of that journey is really disappointing, but ed feels like he’s a monster and he does bad things to become the villain he thinks he deserves to be treated as, you know?

he is SUCH a complicated man. that doesn’t mean he’s irredeemable or bad, it doesn’t mean there’s a moral obligation to dislike him either. none of that’s the case. but izzy got it right when he called ed complicated. i think in some ways izzy had finally realised that he wasn’t always going to understand ed because ed wasn’t always going to think the way he did, but he was coming to accept that he didn’t need ed to be someone he could understand as long as ed was happy? does that make sense? i know that’s a sappy outlook on a canonically toxic relationship but i just cannot believe that there’s a genuinely widely accepted take going around which boils down to people thinking it’s wrong to call ed a complicated man. like, huh???? girl….

#izzy hands #ofmd critical #i mean the thing is that often when people point out how ed has moral complexities he’s done bad stuff #that he wasn’t necessarily justified for but he’s ultimately a sympathetic character #who can be a much better man than his father made him feel like he could #they’re often criticised for that #and particularly for the use of the word “violent” given ed is a man of colour #even though ed does do violent things onscreen #but the people who believe racism is holding ed accountable for his own actions #and suggesting he has agency outside of responding to izzy or being infatuated with stede #start to say it’s wrong to call ed a complicated man… dude.#WRONG TO CALL HIM C O M P L I C A T E D #i’m just saying 💀💀#how are more people not deciding that THAT is racism actually #why are we dehumanising ed by insisting he doesn’t have complexity and hasn’t done bad things ever #like guys. why the fuck are we doing that???

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armageddon-generation · 14 days

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Improving Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

Frozen Empire has some neat ideas (Ancient ghostbusters, Phoebe & Melody, the Possessor, everything Dan Akroyd, Paul Rudd, James Acaster & Ernie Hudson do) but it’s bogged down by far too many characters and slavish fanservice. Afterlife was meant to pass the torch, but Frozen Empire is stuck replaying the greatest hits.

OPENING AND CHANGED VILLAIN

Instead of firefighters, we open on a 1900s team of ghost-hunters locking the villain Garraka away, led by Nadeem’s great-grandmother

Sealing Garraka away causes a huge explosion, and as we pull out of the burning building, we see a new ghost fly away. This is Melody, the ghost-girl, paralleling Egon’s ghost leaving his farmhouse in Afterlife's opening

Melody’s family were cultists who tried to summon big-bad Garraka. She’s the one who called the ghost-hunters to stop them, but was killed in the confrontation

Garraka tells Melody that her ‘unfinished business’ is summoning him to this dimension—the ritual she stopped her family completing. The only way she can be free is freeing him.

This establishes Melody’s distrust of ghost hunters, because they killed her

CUT CHARACTERS

Venkman and Janine don’t need to be here at all, they’re gone

Cut Podcast. Ray wistfully watches the opening car-chase alone, out-of-the-loop. He seizes on the arrival of the Orb as his chance to get back in on the action. Podcast's absence also heightens Phoebe’s isolation

Cut Lucky. Her only real moment is defending Phoebe from Garraka, which itself was cut down from the trailers

THE AQUARIUM & COMMUNING WITH GHOSTS

‘Garraka wants to free the ghosts in the Firehouse’ is yet another reused plotpoint in a film full of them.

Instead the (much bigger) property damage in the opening chase loses the team the Firehouse completely, increasing Phoebe’s guilt and isolation

They’ve already been moving ghosts into Winston’s Aquarium lab, so go straight there

They’re testing new technology- think Ghostbusters (2016)’s ghost-chipper, proton-gloves, proton-grenades etc. Callie tests this stuff (bc she has nothing to do otherwise), bonding with Winston as the table uncle-figure she never had.

James Acaster's Dr. Lars is trying to communicate with the caged ghosts, to learn about the other side- he tries to interrogate one to no avail

The idea of someone volunteering to go on 'expeditions' as a ghost via the Spirit Extractor, like an abassador to the Afterlife, is brought up- both Phoebe and Ray are tempted

This makes Phoebe talking to Melody an incredible discovery- a sentient, talking ghost who apparently fully retains her humanity.

MELODY’S FAMILY

When Phoebe finds Melody in the diner, it’s because that's is where she was killed- where her family tried to summon Garraka.

Now the Orb is uncontained her family’s ghosts have become active again, and descend from the upper floors of the building to attack the diner.

Melody’s family are a Cluster Ghost- an amorphous blob of limbs and heads bonded by the sane traumatic cause of death, tripping over itself to get to her. This physical manifestation of her family trying to drag her down parallels Phoebe’s conflict about hers.

Phoebe now takes Melody on a tour of the Aquarium and they bond there, rather than the Firehouse

TREVOR

Finn Wolfhard's Trevor had fuck-all to do in this movie lmao

Replace his pointless sublpot with Slimer with him bonding with the Possessor ghost, which communicates through switching TV stations/radio channels.

The Possessor would probably need some kind of cute visual manifestation to sell this. Think Mogwai, Lilo and Stitch etc Slapstick antagonism turned genuine fun, games of catch etc

With Podcast gone, Trevor accompanies Phoebe and Ray to the library. When the Possessor tries to steal the chant recording he tries to reason with it- c'mon, man, I thought we were bonding, this isn’t you, Garraka’s controlling you, only to get absolutely dunked on

Ray’s research reveals that Garraka’s horns- the 'object' that allows its apparition to manifest- were hidden away separately from the orb

NADEEM'S GRANDMOTHER

To build on the theme of communicating with and humanizing ghosts, instead of pyrokenesis (which felt a little out of place) Kumail Nanjiani's Nadeem is literally possessed by his estranged grandmother.

The idea Nadeem was 'haunted' is already suggested, but by making it explicit we get the slapstick of her puppeteering his body and chewing him out for neglecting his family legacy- arguing with the same mouth etc

Swap Venkman questioning Nadeem with Callie, holding a comedic seance. This gives her a much-needed emotional beat bonding with him over their baggage with their ghost-hunting relatives (Egon vs Grandma). Callie expresses how it feels to reconnect with her dad's legacy, which Frozen Empire never gave us.

She then replaces Podcast helping Nadeem try to hone his powers- in this case, help him and his grandmother work together

GARRAKA THE GHOST-EMPEROR

Garraka can't manifest as a full apparition without its horns.

It's more like the Mind Flayer from Stranger Things, a hive-mind that works through other ghosts. When the ancient ghost-hunters banished Garraka to the Other Side it took over, and has ruled there ever since. This is the 'frozen empire' he's looking to expand

In this way ghosts are shifted from no longer strictly antagonistic, but victims of a cruel tyrant

When Melody tricks Phoebe into freeing Garraka, it tries to take Phoebe's ghost as a vassal, but Melody volunteers herself to save her. Phoebe returns to her body just in time to see Melody be possessed.

Now Melody is more directly involved in the climax, giving the antagonist a complex, sympathetic face

Dr. Lars replaces Lucky trying to stop Garraka. It kills him to up the stakes

FINALE

Garraka takes Melody to the Diner, where she joins with her family’s Cluster, spreading its supernatural winter as it goes

Change the Death Chill so everyone Garraka chills has their spriti pulled out of them, to join it army of spectral drones. Everywhere it goes it's recruiting, getting stronger. If it finds its second horn it will be able to 'recruit' all of New York

Expand on the Possessor using the Ghostbusters’ own gear to fight them. It steals the Ecto-1 and all the old Proton packs

The new generation of Ghostbusters have to use the new tech they’ve been developing to defeat the old stuff.

Nadeem and his Grandmother finally call a truce and work together to play defence bending the proton streams. She grumbles about how bad this generation of ghost-hunters is

Trevor's bond with the Possessor causes it conflict when it tries to kill him- it fights itself, the equipment it's possessing self-destructing

From here it’s a race to stop Garraka collecting its horns. Garraka successfully finds the first, increasing the scale and power of the big freeze

In the final confrontation Phoebe lets Garraka pull her spirit from her body to loosen its hold on Melody. Melody lights her match: Her unfinished business wasn't to summon Garraka, it was to finish destroying him as she tried to when she died. Nadeem and his Grandmother incinerate the thing.

Again taking a good idea from Ghostbusters (2016), Phoebe is given the choice go to the Other Side with Melody, to finally discover and understand what happens next. Her family ask her to come back, hold on. Melody says that Phoebe should accept their love and support, as she was never loved or supported by her own family

Melody kisses Phoebe goodbye, because not following through on that (when we’ve seen ghosts make similar physical contact with people before) is taking the coward’s way out. They should've cast a minor!!

Nadeem's Grandmother gives her blessing to the ghost-hunters who inherited her family's responsibilities. Then she leaves his body and offers to guide Melody to the Other Side, apologizing for her death on her mother's behalf

We end with Podcast and Lucky finally arriving in New York for a summer internship with the Ghostbusters.

Dr. Lars has returned as a ghost to be an 'ambassador' to the Other Side (playing a ghost would really unleash James Acaster's weird and whacky side), and the Possessor is even working with them as a new team mascot.

Ray has settled into a role as the team's full-time researcher, rather than working in the field

#ghostbusters #frozen empire #ghostbusters frozen empire #ghostbusters afterlife #phoebe spengler #ray stantz #winston zeddemore #trevor spengler #callie spengler #phoebe x melody #chessmatch #melody ghostbusters #james acaster #mckenna grace #finn wolfhard #paul rudd

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 3 months

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Psycho Analysis: Seto Kaiba

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Every good anime revolving around a game, sport, or competition needs a great rival to antagonize the main character. A rival is a character who helps push the protagonist to their limits, and forces them to apply what they’ve learned in order to beat them. Now, a rival like that typically isn’t someone who is going to get a Psycho Analysis, as most rivals are just garden-variety jerks at worst. For instance, Gary Oak is a bit of a snot, but he’s literally a child and he turns things around and becomes a decent guy relatively quick. Or hell, look at Miles Edgeworth; he spends most of the first Ace Attorney butting heads with Phoenix Wright in court, but he’s pretty quickly shown to be far more concerned with finding the absolute truth than any truly nefarious purpose. Ultimately, most rivals end up being genuinely decent people who just take competition a little too seriously and eventually develop into staunch friends and allies.

But imagine a rival who never changes. A rival dead set on being the most antagonistic douchebag possible, one who is driven solely by the sheer spite and hatred they feel at being second banana to someone else, someone who can’t bear that their massive ego is even slightly bruised. A rival who may help when the chips are on the table, but who is only doing so for their own selfish and self-centered reasons. That’s a character I could reasonably review on Psycho Analysis! And if ever there was a character who fits that bill, it’s Seto freaking Kaiba.

Now, to be clear here, Kaiba isn’t a villain. He’s an antagonist, he’s an anti-hero, but for about 99% of his screentime he’s not technically a villain. But just because the series is called Psycho Analysis doesn’t mean I’m literally only reviewng psychos, and it’s about time I broke out a bit and experimented in this new year by looking at characters who aren’t totally evil, but maybe are a little bit. And as you’ll soon see, no one is a better choice to break the mold than the second best duelist in Domino City.

Motivation/Goals: To put it simply, everything Kaiba does is motivated by his ego or by spite. This is a man who has done genuinely great things, from dismantling his father’s bloodthirsty legacy of profiting off of war to opening theme parks and creating new technology to make Duel Monsters more fun and engaging for all players. All of this on paper makes him look like the most ethical animated billionaire this side of Scrooge McDuck, but there’s one little issue: Nothing he does is out of the goodness of his heart.

Do you think Kaiba actually gives a shit about anyone affected by his father’s business? No, he just dismantled it out of sheer hatred for his adopted father who, to be fair, really was a massive cunt. Do you think he went through all the trouble to make massive strides in Duel Monsters technology just so people could have fun? No, he did it all so he could exploit it in some way to defeat Yugi once and for all.

And that’s one of the biggest things that drives Kaiba: His unquenchable desire to defeat Yugi and be crowned the true king of games. The thing is, every time they have a fair fight, Kaiba gets his ass handed to him; the one time he won was by essentially threatening Yugi with suicide. His sheer petty desire to one-up Yugi extends far into the future, where he names the loser dork house of the academy in GX after Yugi’s Egyptian God card Slifer, while the ultra-cool prestigious house is named after the God he got, Obelisk. And in one possible end of his story, he goes to the most insane and ultimate extreme to try and settle his grudge (but more on that shortly).

Performance: In English, there are two main voice actors of note who have portrayed Kaiba. The first is Eric Staurt, who outside of Kaiba is best known for his Pokemon roles of Brock and James. It leads to a bit of whiplash hearing someone who sounds so similar to the affable yet horny Brock be an absolute arrogant prick, but I definitely think Stuart is able to pull it off.

The other VA of note is Martin “Littlekuriboh” Billany, creator of Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series and the man who voices about 90% of that gag dub’s cast. His take on Kaiba is pretty much what happens if you cross Stuart’s performance with Solid Snake, and it works very well for a Kaiba who’s weirder and wackier yet somehow even more insanely egotistical.

Final Fate: Kaiba, seeing as he’s just a douchebag and not a truly evil person, doesn’t get any sort of major comeuppance save for constantly getting his ass handed to him by Yugi. There are really two possible endings for him, though if you want to be charitable they’re not necessarily mutually exclusive. The first ending is, of course, that he eventually goes on to found the Duel Academy, which means he helps kickstart the events of Yu-Gi-Oh GX in a way. Anyone even partly responsible for the rise of bisexual monsterfucker king Jaden Yuki is getting high marks in my book.

But the much more notable ending for Kaiba comes from Dark Side of Dimensions where, so consumed by his desire to duel Atem one more time despite the pharaoh finally being at rest, he leaves his company in the hands of Mokuba and goes to the fucking afterlife to challenge him. Whatever way you want to read it—that he actually used science to travel to the great beyond, that his tech killed him and he’s not coming back—Kaiba really cements his legacy as the most insane, obsessive rival ever created. If he still feels like he has something to prove by beating you, you ain’t getting your eternal rest; he will bust down the barriers of life and death to have a chance of whooping your ass. Absolute madman.

Evilness: So in this new segment, I’m going to establish how evil any given villain is and rate them on it, separate from how I rate them as a character overall. This score is basically just a reflection of how evil their actions are, with a 1 being “Barely a villain at all” and a 10 being a “Complete and utter monster.”

As we’ve already established a bit, Kaiba is more just an egotistical asshole than anything. In his early appearances in the manga you could definitely say Kaiba was a villain, and his first appearance as the starter villain of the anime definitely paint him as a dick… but after his mind crush, he definitely veers more into anti-hero territory for the rest of the series.

Normally, this would net him a solid 1, but that’s the thing. Despite the fact Kaiba frequently does genuinely good and helpful things and despite constantly aiding the heroes, he only ever does it because he feels like he has something to prove. For instance, look at his handling of the Big Five as he dismantled his father’s legacy; do you think he tore down the military dealings KaibaCorp dealt in out of the goodness of his heart? No, Kaiba did all that out of sheer hatred and spite, negative emotions that motivate just about everything he does no matter how nice it seems. Even if he isn’t actually evil by any stretch and even though he’s undoubtedly bettering the world with what he does, he’s doing it for impure reasons that mainly revolve around reasserting his own superiority. The only genuinely selfless things he does are for the benefit of his beloved brother Mokuba.

So for the first ever Evilness Score, I think Kaiba is going to score a 2/10, which denotes being a huge dick but not neccesarily evil. He’s not actually evil enough to warrant anything higher, but he’s too big of an asshole to get a 1.

Best Scene/Quote: Abridged!Kaiba gave the world “Screw the rules, I have money,” a line that perfectly summarizes a good chunk of Kaiba’s character in both the main and the abridged version of the show. But his best quote (and his very best scene) come during his duel with Ishizu in Battle City, where he decides to give fate the middle finger and beat Miss Ishtar despite her clairvoyance while giving her the following speech (in the dub):

“Hear me now! I won't be controlled! I decide my future! So now, I sacrifice my monsters! Obelisk and Gadget Solider, I send you to the card graveyard! You're so quiet, Ishizu. Where's your magic now? Or have you realized that there's no such thing as destiny? Now observe as I summon my Blue-Eyes! Show yourself!”

And more than anything, this sums up Kaiba: He has the most massive ego in history, the strength and cunning to back that ego up, and a steadfast and stubborn refusal of destiny. He plays by his own rules and follows his own path, and nothing will stand in his way. Not Egyptian gods, not prophecies, not magic or shadow games or what have you. He is unstoppable, implacable, and he won’t be denied that duel with Yugi no matter what anyone says. Not even the barrier of life and death can stop him.

Final Thoughts & Score: Unsurprisingly, as someone who grew up with Yu-Gi-Oh, I fucking love Kaiba.

Going into this, I knew he wasn’t going to be a straight example of a villain, because his evil is mostly relegated to the early parts of the manga and the start of the show, with his post-Mind Crush self being more of an anti-heroic jerkass with a heart of gold. But I think he’s just enough of an asshole to be worth talking about, and talking about antagonistic jerks opens the door to talk about characters like Toy Story’s Sid or the more hostile Pokemon rivals like Silver, Blue, and Bede here. It would have to be Kaiba blazing that trail, though; there’s no jerk more perfect to open the door to discussion of other jerks.

Kaiba is just genuinely fascinating in that, despite being incredibly static as a character, he never really feels shallow. Sure, he steadfastly refuses to change and never really becomes on the best terms with the Yugi squad, but his interactions with them are still fun to watch and he never gets flanderized to the point of being obnoxious. It’s honestly extremely impressive they were able to walk that tightrope of him never really progressing past being an asshole while still remaining a fun, likable character who it’s fun to see in action. I suppose it helps they gave him the most ludicrously badass backstory where he as a plucky little orphan boy manages to beat a businessman in chess to get adopted, fleeces him out of his entire fortune and company, and then dismantles said company’s military division to focus on gaming. And if that’s not enough, they have him do stuff like throw trading cards to jam guns!

Of course, his most appealing aspect is his single-minded obsession with defeating Yugi and proving himself as the superior duelist, a character trait for which there is quite simply no heterosexual explanation for (I’m half kidding). With most rivals, they don’t really get so consumed by their desire to defeat their opponent that they essentially kill themselves just to get another chance at beating them, but most rivals ain’t Kaiba! Really, I think the only rival I’ve seen who’s close to being on his level is Vegeta. Once again, they found a nice balance, keeping Kaiba from being too obnoxious even with his single-minded obsession with one-upping Yugi.

Kaiba is really a character who so easily could have been obnoxious or insufferable, but instead he quite honestly stole the show. Yes, Yugi and Atem’s trials and tribulations are crucial and all, but seeing the insane lengths Kaiba goes to ensure he gets another chance to summon his Blue-Eyes against Yugi’s Dark Magician is just a blast. You’re always wondering what insane rich guy nonsense the man is going to pull off next, and he rarely disappoints. Kaiba may not be evil, he may merely be an antagonistic rival, but I think he still deserves a 10/10 for being the egomaniacal asshole opponent every arch-rival should aspire to be.

#psycho analysis #Seto Kaiba #Eric Stuart #martin billany #littlekuriboh #yu-gi-oh

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picturejasper20 · 25 days

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So, i was trying to think of the strange connection that there is between Danny Phantom fans and Steven Universe fans, aside from SU being a show that was very popular on its moment. Like one show is from 20 years ago and the other is from last decade, both with different executions and genres.

...Which lead me to write a whole essay no one asked for, so here you go:

One of the first things that comes to mind is how the main leads are hybrids- Danny Fenton is half human/half ghost, Steven is half human/ half gem. And like both series give an idea that they are pretty unique in their experience as hybrids and they both belong to both worlds yet not fully to either of them.

Danny has a lot of issues with having to hide his part of himself from the world, his parents included. Meanwhile, Steven doesn't understand certain social norms and can feel disconnected from other teens around his age, having lived a somewhat recluded childhood from his peers. (This gets more explored in Future)

Aside from the struggles that being an hybrid it brings to them, they have episodes about learning new powers or learning how to control them. You see them start rather powerless only to become pretty OP on the long run. -Steven getting tired for summoning one shield to being able to do it without sweat-Danny having his powers glitching at the start to gain a power like Ghost Wail later on, etc.

Another thing that Danny and Steven share in common is that they want to help and be useful. In Steven's case, he wants to help people with their problems or "fix" them. Over time Steven starts to define his identity around helping others a little too much to the point that he doesn't know who to be outside of that.

A pretty common headcanon for Danny in the DP fandom is that his ghost obsession is about having to protect everyone he can, something you can see in the series in a way. After Phantom Planet, Danny doesn't know who to be outside being the hero and feels that people don't need him anymore in the context the world having being saved after the series finale. ( A Glitch in Time)

Both try solving problems talking it out if possible, if it is a misunderstanding or they think the antagonist can be reasoned with.

With Steven, he doesn't need an explanation as most people know his personality, for Danny- it depends on the situation and his mood, sometimes being kinder and other times more violent. I would argue again that he still tries to talk things out when he sees that violence isn't necessary -just not the same as Steven

That's not to say their characters are the same, in fact their personalities are pretty different and their ways to approaching problems differs too. They do, however, share some parallels in their character arcs that i already discussed.

Another aspect are the main antagonists, both Steven Universe and Danny Phantom have their antagonists have motivations outside of being evil for the sake of being evil.

In Steven Universe this is a main theme and i don't think it doesn't need much introduction. Antagonists (most Homeworld gems) have been taught and were socialized to act in a specific way in the totalitarian society they were born into. Examples of this are: Peridot, Jasper and Lapis- these motivations can be mixed with revenge or similar things as well.

In Danny Phantom the main antagonists are Vlad Masters/Plasmius and Valerie Gray, both characters who aren't evil by nature and the series leaves clear that their antagonism comes from what happened to them and the decisions they took in result of that.

Vlad Masters role as a villain comes from the insolation and abandonment issues that came from the Ghost portal accident in college caused by Danny's father, Jack Fenton. Vlad became obsessed with getting revenge on Jack and believing he "stole" a family that should have been his.

Valerie comes from her blaming Phantom for (accidentally) ruining her life and trying to get revenge on him, becoming a ghost hunter. Valerie's role is a mix between anti-hero and antagonist since she wants to protect people but opposes Phantom at the same time. Eventually she becomes a bit of a friendenemy to Phantom over the course of the seasons.

Other recurrent antagonists have their own motives to do bad things ( Sidney, Desiree, Ember) while others are more naturally classic evil (Ghost King, Spectra). It depends on the character one is talking about.

Diving more into Vlad Plasmius, both series have this idea of "legacy", as like protagonist having to deal with what their parent/s "left behind for them".

For Steven is a huge deal for him since many of the antagonists who attack him are for things his mother Rose Quartz did, having Steven deal with all this issues and believing he has to fix them, blaming himself for what how Rose hurt people in different ways.

As for Danny, Vlad Masters' antagonism comes from the portal accident caused by Jack, Danny's father, when Vlad, Jack and Maddie (Danny's mom) were still friends in college. In a way Danny has to deal with something that was caused by his father. It isn't something he choose to but yet still brings him a lot of problems to his life.

I'm not sure which character from SU Vlad could be compared to, but i would say that Spinel is the closest one, since Spinel was abandoned by Rose Quartz (as Pink Diamond), who was her best friend, similar to what supposely happened between Vlad and Jack after the ghost portal accident.

Other theme is the idea of redemption, or how you can be your worst own enemy. As i mentioned, antagonists in SU usually get redemmed and change their ways from the systematic ideas they were raised in. There is this idea that people have the capacity to change if they propose themselves to.

In Steven Universe Future, Steven is "his worst enemy" as he has to deal with his own demons he has been avoiding for years for trying to repress them or being too busy helping other people. He goes through a negative corruption arc because of this, ending with him realizing that he can't hiding his issues and needs help with them.

In the Danny Phantom series, this is very important theme in "The Ultimate Enemy", where Danny is confronted by the possible evil future version of himself, called Dan Phantom in the DP fandom. Danny battles against this version of himself and tries to fix his mistake, proving that he can avoid that future from happening.

Danny also meets Vlad Masters in the dark future timeline in this special, who regrets his actions after so many years passed and how he accidentally helped with creating Dan in that timeline.

A Glitch in Time expands on this theme further by exploring Vlad and Dan's motivations a lot more and giving them second chances. The novel itself shares parallels with Steven Universe and SU Future in multiple ways.

Back to Dan Phantom, he shares quite a lot of things in common with Malachite to the point people have pointed out these parallels.

In Steven Universe, gems can fuse with other, creating more powerful gems. A fusion's personality and manners are determined by the relationship the partipants in the fusion have and a combination of their personalities.

Malachite is the fusion between Lapis Lazuli and Jasper, two characters who hated each other and carried lots of personal issues the moment they fused, resulting in a fusion that is unstable. Malachite represents the toxic codependent relationship between the two characters.

Dan Phantom is the fusion between Danny and Vlad's ghost halves, Phantom and Plasmius. Dan was created in a timeline both Danny and Vlad had a lot of issues, with Danny having to deal the lost of his family and being left traumatized. All this trauma along with Vlad's mental state went to Dan, turning him into a destructive ghost.

These are the elements i see that Danny Phantom and Steven Universe series share in common to explain why fandoms often overlap, i'm not sure if there are more that i'm not able to recall at the moment.

#steven universe #danny phantom #su future #danny fenton #steven quartz universe #Su fandom #Danny phantom

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look-how-they-massacred-them · 10 months

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Preliminary Poll

Ronin

Submission reason:

Ronin is initially introduced as a bounty hunter who cannot be trusted. However, over the course of Ninjago's fifth season, he becomes a tentative ally. Throughout most of the main series, any actions he takes that don't exactly align with the main characters have an actual reason and are not meant to be completely villainous. When he steals the Sword of Sanctuary, it is because his soul has been cursed and he needs to pay a debt. When he is told that he needs to put the ninja in mortal danger, he refuses because they are his friends. When he helped round the ninja up and arrest them in season 6, it is because he is given the opportunity to start over with a clean criminal slate. When things get tough, he helps to save the ninja and stop Nadakhan. In season 7, he is entirely an ally and fights alongside the ninja until his leg breaks. In season 8, he helps defeat the Sons of Garmadon when the ninja return to Ninjago. However, suddenly, in the miniseries The Island, all of this development is thrown away. Suddenly, he is carrying out a massive smuggling operation and actively antagonizing the ninja. He shows hatred for the people who are canonically supposed to be his friends. In season 15, Crystallized, the ninja briefly meet with him in prison and he holds this same hateful mindset against them. This massacring is only "undone" in a later episode in the season, where Ronin manages to convince a bunch of villains to turn to the good side and even helps save Zane's life and defend against the Overlord. The blatant disregard for his character arc from earlier seasons during The Island is entirely uncalled for still, though, and that is why I would like to enter him into this tournament.

Propaganda:

He may be a dirty rat man but he's MY dirty rat man. Love him

#look how they massacred my boy #ninjago #lego ninjago #ronin ninjago #ninjago ronin #ronin #look how they massacred them poll

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loopy777 · 6 months

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Spoiler Thoughts & Reactions: Azula in the Spirit Temple

This is the stuff I had to leave out of my other post because it's spoilery, mostly concerned with Azula's character arc. It seems the fandom is having mixed reactions to this, but I think it moves Azula forward in a big way as a character, even though very little changes about her general situation.

The thing I'm most struck by is that this thing has the exact same character arc as the 2-chapter vision question I sent Zuko on in Traitor's Face, complete with the protagonist seemingly rejecting redemption at the climax by attacking the spirit in what is actually a symbolically self-destructive reaction to becoming consciously aware of the abusive they experienced from Ozai- an awareness that may lead to better choices in the future.

I love that Azula actually talks about Ozai here, and the flashback to her discovering her Firebending is perfectly illustrative of her dynamic with her parents. During her spirit visions, Azula claims to no longer support Ozai because he failed and lost his Firebending, which seems to be a change from how she was still taking his orders in 'The Search.' After 'Smoke & Shadow' was loudly silent on the matter, we see that she's truly taken a step forward in her characterization and is no longer consciously trying to win his approval. I had suspected as much, considering her obsession with Zuko, but it's good to see it given confirmation and focus.

At the start of this story, Azula is definitely diminished, though, running around the fringes of the Fire Nation committing petty acts of sabotage, no longer attempting any grand plans to manipulate Zuko but rather just generally antagonizing him. This is a change from her professed mission in S&S to supposedly make him a better Fire Lord by teaching him the power of fear over love.

My own speculations are that that she either wasn't serious about her true motivations in S&S (which I think would be a retcon), she's now lashing out at him in revenge for his rejection of the lesson, or she's just taunting him with her own continued survival and freedom in order to show him that his belief in love can't accomplish everything.

Getting back to Ozai, I was stunned to find that this comic actually has her admitting that her father abused her and she feared him. That is a huge step forward for her, acknowledging the part he played in her troubles. And yet, at the story's climax, when she goes to attack the spirit who has been troubling her and giving her visions, she proclaims herself the daughter of Ozai (not Ursa, unlike Zuko at the climax of 'Zuko Alone,' despite Azula also admitting some real truths about her mother), gives him the title of the Phoenix King, and uses it as proof of her claim to the Fire Nation throne. That seems to be a huge reversal from the earlier acknowledgements, and she explicitly frames it as a rejection of the possibility of redemption- a rejection even of the need.

This would seem to be a rather meta sign of what we should expect next for Azula, that there will be no Redemption Arc and she will remain a villain. But I'm not so sure.

Because Azula is not being honest.

The spirit, after it takes its final monstrous bug-like form, describes itself as a mirror of Azula's inner-self, a monster just like her, and the consequence of rejecting redemption. Azula attempts to destroy it with her lightning, a symbolic act of self-destruction. She seems to once again be embracing Ozai's worldview that human connections are a weakness. And the symbolic self-destruction seems to indicate that this will not end well for her.

But I would say that the final pages are not definitive about what is next for her.

For one thing, the spirit is not destroyed. When Azula continues her journey through the forest where she found the spirit temple, the first panel puts an insect of the same type and color as the spirit's final form in the foreground. So she's mistaken about that, and if we continue to say that it's a symbol of her inner-self, she didn't succeed in destroying it.

When she finds the Fire Warriors -- who she initially said she would hurt for leaving her to go rescue a captured member she had given up on -- she observes their close friendship and chooses to walk away. She covers this by saying, out loud to no one, that they are unworthy of her leadership. Who is she trying to convince? This directly parallels the feelings about Ty Lee and Mai that were explored in her visions. So clearly she's in denial about what she's feeling, attempting to talk herself into a more palatable justification, and has grown from wanting to hurt the Fire Warriors for their disobedience and having what she wants.

Then, interestingly, as Azula walks away, she says she'll find a new place to rule and new followers, and that she always does. This is despite her earlier talk about being the rightful heir to the throne.

I've long said that the dumbest, least interesting way to use Azula in any AtLA sequels (including fanfic) is to have her trying to usurp the title of Fire Lord from Zuko. It plays into the rivalry taught to them by the way Ozai played them against each other, but in the context of the setting, it's a fool's errand. Even if the Fire Nation accepted her, the rest of the world wouldn't, not if she's going to antagonize them. Restarting the war is a no-go, as the Fire Nation has lost its colonies and captured territory in the Earth Kingdom, and now it no longer has a military or technology advantage. I can't buy that someone as smart as Azula would want to put herself into an career dead-end like that.

But it seems, thanks to those final pages, this comic has advanced Azula enough that even though she wants the throne, she recognizes that it offers her nothing in either real power or personal satisfaction. If she really is looking for somewhere else to rule, she's no longer interested in fighting with Zuko over a token that their father had dangled over them all their lives. She doesn't even care what Zuko does with it.

(That's not to say she won't fight with Zuko over other things! Which I would be fine with.)

And she's off to find something worth fighting over, even though she's still very flawed and in denial about a lot of it.

So I think this comic opens up a lot of possibilities for Azula. Maybe she'll continue being a villain, but for smart stakes. Maybe she'll eventually work her way to a true redemption. (I especially like that the dialogue ties redemption with apologies; it's not enough to stop being bad, a true redemption requires acknowledging past wrongs and attempting to make up for them.) Or maybe the continuing AtLA story will do what I like to play with when I write Azula:

Just find a way for her to achieve peace with herself.

Anyway, the more I think on this comic, the more I like it. I'll be crushed when the animated Aang movie makes her a generic villain again. XD

#azula #azula in the spirit temple

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aroacettorney · 3 months

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re: moriarty purposely antagonizing casey and posing himself as a villain as his method to draw public attention.

the more i think about it, the less it makes sense to me.

according to ludger, he wanted to use caseys solid reputation to expose the secret crimes committed by the highups in the kingdom of delica. but if we review his actions, they actually went entirely against his goal since he ended up killing every witness and burning every physical evidence leading back to the real culprits. not to mention, he also decided to take all the blame to himself.

caseys reputation throughout the continent was an independent variable to his villainy. she was already the messenger he needed — who everyone would be forced to believe. there was literally no need for him to become the public enemy if his goal was simply to expose the secrets of delica. he could have worked together with her. heck, he could even have secretly leaked all the clues he had found to her if he preferred them working independently. but of course, we know why that didnt happen.

ludger had another goal: to avenge arte's death. it's unlikely that he could assassinate his targets discreetly, given their important positions and the scale of this operation. casey tracing their murders back to him would only be a matter of time. as there is neither legal nor moral justification for him to commit mass murders even when his only targets are the scum of the earth, there is no universe where he could remain in a positive relationship with casey after becoming a known criminal. perhaps his crimes would have been understood if he at least told her the truth about arte, but why should he? he must not be perceived as a victim by casey. ludger becoming a murderer/criminal was a choice that he had already made without hesitation — there were people who needed to pay for their deeds. but, at the same time, he also understands casey well enough to know how important the value of justice is to her.

how cruel would it be if he were to make her choose between a friend and her own principles? how brutal would it be if he were to put her in a situation where she was forced to stop a friend's revenge instead of consolating him over his grief? how could he live with the knowledge that he might become the one who makes her compromise her sense of justice? her purposes of life?

for that reason, ludger alone must pose himself as an irredeemable evil.

She immediately overcame the sadness of betrayal and ignited her sense of justice as a righteous detective.

She possessed a heart as strong as steel.

"James Moriarty. I will arrest you here and now!"

Contained in her eyes was the sublime determination to definitely exterminate the evil in front of her.

"By all means."

By all means.

James Moriarty finally smiled.

for that reason, casey had better never know the truth.

“Maybe she found out the truth about Mr. Ludger by chance.”

“...What difference does that make?”

“Hmm. But wouldn’t it be better than not knowing?”

“It’s better not to know.”

He doesn't know how Casey found out the truth about the past.

Knowing doesn't change anything.

The past is the past.

It had already happened, and the spilled water could not be collected back on the plate.

“Because knowing doesn’t change anything.”

for that reason, casey should never forgive him even if she finds out about the truth.

“Are you pitying me?”

Casey didn't bother to deny it.

“You’ve changed. Casey Selmore.”

“Everyone changes.”

“But because you are like that, you shouldn’t forgive me even more.”

“……What are you talking about."

“No matter how good one's intentions may be, if it is an evil act, you should not stand by and ignore it.”

“That…”

Casey was about to say something but pursed her lips.

“Don’t forget, Casey Selmore. No matter how much there was a misunderstanding and no matter how good the circumstances were... In the end, I am a villain with blood on my hands. It doesn't matter if your intentions are good. Everything is proven by the results.”

for that reason, nothing will change: in the end, he is a villain that casey must defeat with her sense of justice.

“What are you trying to do, Casey Selmore? What are you here for?”

"Shut...up...”

“Didn’t you say you would bring justice? Didn’t you say you would eradicate evil in the world?”

Casey bit her lip. There was no way to refute his words.

“Stand up.”

Ludger's voice was filled with disappointment or perhaps anger.

"Stand up!"

Casey clenched her fists and strengthened her trembling legs.

The body that seemed like it would stumble and collapse stood tall again.

“I’m still here!”

#academy's undercover professor #academy's undercover professor spoilers #selmore's undercover husband #aro ludgercasey propaganda #caseys final problem #but entirely in ludgers pov #now with extra angst!!!!#this could have been a tldr but yall know how i like my essays

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the-sinful-voice-witch · 5 months

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Things I love ❤ or I hate 💔 in Powerpuff girls fanfics

Important, this is completely written with my personal preferences and individual taste, is not meant to attack anyone so remember: If you love what I hate is ok and if you hate what I love is ok too. Let's respect each other's individual preferences in fanfics and characters 🫂, also I admit some things that I might dislike are justified to happen depending of the gender of the story whether is dark, or just a bit serious but with comedy, slice of life... Or if the author simply wants to change some aspects of the characters and be creative, no one is obligated to indulge my preferences. (By the way this things could be something I have read so many times in lots of fanfics or it could be something I only read once, either way they're going to the list) :

Bubbles reaching a point she snaps and becomes hardcore and maybe a bit sadist. Love it, the trope of being the cutest🥰 character until you get crossed 🤬 is one of my favorites, all cuteness has its dark side😈. I love part of Bubbles point in fight is being dismissed by villains only to make them strongly regret it later.

Professor Utonium being an overprotective dad and intimidating to the RRB. Hate it, more like hating it is more like if you exaggerate with his overprotection is annoying 😑😑 and the situation where he is able to intimidate the RRB is just hilariously ridiculous and impossible to me🤪😬... Like if he can intimidate the boys what are the girls for in the first place why do they need them then? 🤷‍♀️ It doesn't make sense, also the Professor is a very sweet accepting person and also he has some sense of guilt towards Mojo Jojo who is the responsable of the RRBs, he would probably want to help them going to the right path rather than trying to antagonize them being an "intimidating" Dad.

Bubbles being a weak pushover who is constantly compared to her sisters and needs another character help to get stronger because otherwise she is useless. Hate it, as if she was less than her sisters, I just can't take it if she gets dismissed or bullied and she just accepts it and somebody else has to defend her 😤😤(not in all escenarios thought, I mean certain situations specifically). Bubbles is sensitive but she has a temper, she won't take bullying just like that, she can fight her two sisters at the same time and they never hesitate to call for her help if they are overpowered. There's a fanfic where they have to give up some classes to watch over the boys and Bubbles got the worst part having to give up something she loves, Blossom not bad intentioned but still thoughtless and insensitive says that because of her good grades and Buttercup being a sport star they give prestige to the school unlike her🤡🤡 and Bubbles just accepts this, she never speaks up against this or complains! 🤬🤬What she renounced to caused other students to bully her and she still doesn't stands up for herself, she doesn't even tell her sisters and someone else has to defend her WTF, excuse me?🤬🤬 Nope. Or other fic where she and Butch have a relationship and the whole premise is how useless she is in battle, being compared to Buttercup all the time and needing Butch to teach her how to fight... HELLO??? NOPE.🙅‍♀️

Butch's multiple nicknames for Buttercup. Love it, honestly Buttercup has the biggest amount of nicknames, mostly given by Butch : Butters, Butterfly (they could name their daughter that), Butt-Cup, Butterbitch, Butterbabe, Bitterbitch, Butterbutt... lol 🤣🤣🤣

Buttercup being the sister with the most experience in love. Love it, seriously I just love the irony and contrast of the puff that was the most grossed out about romance and kissing, the known toughest fighter being actually the first one having deep serious romantic feelings and relationships and being first experiencing heartbreak. 😭😭😭

The Blues always having the easiest love story or starting a general RRB-PPG story with them already in love. Hate it, seriously whether you chose to make Boomer a jerk or a super sweet guy you shouldn't make that easy a relationship, I mean where is the good juice? This two get lovey dovey two fast and easy like they can't have a decent funny banter like their siblings!? 😫Trust me they can and they should otherwise is too boring. I specially dislike it when at the beginning of the story they are already in love or even in a relationship, where is the juicy process?? 😐

The greens starting with violence a lot of banter only to become bros, (yes, Buttercup is a Bro) and besties and eventually falling in love and taking a long time to accept it. Love it, oh boy I LOVE it, the only time I like a slow burn is when the characters are like this, the greens are just so entertaining,👌👌 so aggressively in denial and it can get so deep a wholesome! My favorite is in that fanfic where he actually starts obsessingly lusting over Blossom in such exaggerated way that when he starts to fall for Buttercup it created a marvelous deep contrast between the shallow attraction and the hopeless deep feelings of love and is just so beautifully written (even though the reds are terrible and the blues are bland in that fic) , seriously you can feel hard the difference of how he sees the beauty of Buttercup in the simplest and most meaningful way full of feeling😭💗 compared to his constant obsessed shallow remarks towards Blossom's "hotness". It was just too good, I don't know if I ever going to read another fic with the Greens being that good again. 🥺💚💚

Bubbles being the one with the most emotional intelligence. Love it, is just the best when characters around her are used to her being slow thinking and having her head in the clouds to suddenly realize that she picks up instantly others people feelings and understands them perfectly. After all Blossom is the mind 🧠, Buttercup is the body 💪and Bubbles is the heart 🫀of the group.

Butch getting a kick out of fighting Buttercup. Love it, a classic Butch being a masochist per usual, never gets old. 👊😂😂

Boomer being a clumsy macho tsundere. Love it, I'm weak with tsundere characters and I think it fits him, he trying to act all macho but ending up being super clumsy making Bubbles think he is cute. 🥰

Buttercup being described as someone always dressed with chandals, hoodie and baggy clothes... Ect and specially making her wear that kind of clothes because she is ashamed of her femenine attributes. Hate it, because I don't see Buttercup as that kind of tomboy 😕, she would wear skirts or dresses as long as they suit her style (like of course she would hate a princess tutú duh! but denim skirts exist ok) and also I just can't picture her being ashamed of the femininity of her body,😤she is only shy about feelings or intimacy but if she has a worked out body with muscles to show, boobs or not she WILL show off to brag.

Buttercup being popular with girls while being straight. Love it, I like girls fangirling over a good tomboy but I also love that you don't fall in the stereotype of the tomboy having to be the lesbian, lesbians can be also femenine and girly ok?💅💄💋 I also like the jokes about her being a lesbian, because of course if she was actually one then it wouldn't be a joke. 😇😂

Blossom being: too correct, entitled, Mary Sue, cold, party pooper, too serious, too mean, too bossy controlling, too victimitist or sacrificed, too perfect... All this not as a puntual moment in the story but she being like this all the time. Hate it, but ok to be fair is true that Blossom has a lot of attributes that can make characters be obnoxious but I swear she also have other attributes that make up for it and create a good balance: yes she is self-centered, but still caring and supporting to others,😌 yes she is prideful but when her pride is hurt she pouts and that's cute🤭, yes she is bossy but she also knows she doesn't have full control on her sisters and she can be a cool girlboss😎, yes she can be serious...sometimes because mostly she is really silly and likes to have fun🙃🙂, yes she can be all about following the rules but we all know she always ends up breaking them when is convenient to her🤫, she can be selfish or mean but that is not her everyday, she studies a lot but likes comics and video games too... She is a good 3 dimensional character.

Also Blossom being humble and modest like for real not pretending to be. Hate it, she humble?😂 Ja, NOPE. Following my previous statement, she is a bit full of herself despite having insecurities but writers tend to make her modest because loving too much your appearance and brag about it it's seen as a bad thing but there are plenty of pleasant characters that brag a lot about their looks and are lovable like Stella from winx club or Rouge the bat. I like Blossom to be that character that once she notices her beauty gets good reactions she is going to own it and walk through the hall like in a catwalk with her chin up 💅😎(only to more likely crash into a closed door or something because she was so busy enjoying that she didn't pay attention). Trust me, most of the time the excessive modesty ends up being extremely annoying. Example, beach day scene I have read that made me roll my eyes hard: RRB, PPG and some of their school friends, here Blossom is uncharacteristically antisocial and prefers to hide away and read a book while covering herself as much as she can (because of course wearing a swimsuit being attractive is such an indecent thing to do 😑) Instead of playing with her sisters and friends, but at some point she decided to play volley and OMG she uncovered herself and showed her swimsuit!😱 Only to cover herself again fast...😐 Bricks legs wavered like he almost faint... The boys gasp Butch feigns a heart attack blah blah. This was just so meh🙄😬! I would have liked it more if she made a sexy stunt purposely to provoke Brick who is a big jerk here so she could gloat on his reaction without any shame about her body. In fact the opposite when Brick took off his shirt was better and funny, he did it to scape from his brothers who where dragging him and then a horny Buttercup destroyed it to shamelessly look at his abs 🤣🤣(that was a lot funnier than Butch reaction to Blossom) ,I guess is because Brick was only annoyed and grumpy but he wasn't ashamed or uncomfortable with the attractiveness of his body. I'm am being a sexist bitch? Nah, 🤷‍♀️a girl who is uncomfortable with being pretty(with her specific background) and is a teenager acting like a entitled prudish bitter adult lady at the same time😬 is just not my cup of tea... Not my Blossom, this Blossom gives hard slut-shaming vibes😒.... Ok ok I know I roasted her way too much, but I can't help it! Blossom is supposed to look up to miss Bellum and Wonder Woman and I totally think this one would disapprove them showing legs and Cleaveage 😫 DISHONOR that's something only the garbage Blossom from the Garbage 2016 bullshit reboot would do, don't make your fanfic Blossoms do the same!! 😭😭

The boys playing affectionately even as teens or adults. Love it, people don't give credit enough to this kind of scenes and they are so wholesome, I remember one fanfic that had a chapter where Boomer and Butch became dogs 🐶🐶and Boomer jumps on Brick and they start wrestling and the Butch jumps in too! 🥰And they were having fun I almost never get to read this kind of things because they usually write Brick like too cool, grumpy and wannabe a serious adult for this kind of thing.

Brick being a hot eye candy with so much bad boy aura and his brothers being jealous of that. Love it, ok when its about the girls I hate when there's only one super popular so I have to admit I'm being a bit sexist but i can't help it! the bros being dramatic because they don't get the same reaction as Brick from the fangirls is funny😆😆, they are handsome too 😍but Brick has the best brooding bad boy aura, like I can forget Brick being too much of a jerk if it gets me an emotional sibling conflict,👌👌that way I can dislike him but I can like his brothers development. Brotherly jealousy like this gives good boy drama.

Butch being kind of a pervert or a manwhore. Love it, specifically when is the kind of comical pervert that like in the animes gets bonked or smacked or punched in the face any time he tries to be flirty funny and says something gross. 🤣🤣🤣

Buttercup being a tsundere. Love it, just like with Boomer it fits her, we all now she is shy with sappy stuff, scared of having feelings, being defensive, blushing hard... I'm sure Bubbles thinks her sister is cute when she is like this 😍😍

Bubbles being innocently eager and Boomer being too awkward to handle it. Love it, you know that thing when a boy gets cocky and so sure of himself with a seemingly innocent pure girl and when he finally conquers her unexpectedly she gets forward and eager and suddenly the boy loses the confidence and gets awkward? Oh that's a good juice 😏 🧃

Making Brick doing everything Blossom does but better. Hate it, ok like I already said Blossom is so cultured and good at school because she works hard for it and likes studying😤, of course Brick would be as smart and cunning as her but making him out of the blue a genius that gets just as good or even better grades as her and also be so cultured too while being nonchalant about it is a huge NOPE for me🙄🙄, I accept something like Blossom roasting him because of his grades at school and he getting pissed starts to study to get better grades just to get back at her (making her be impressed, but pissed) 😂😂but I need to see the effort and the reason of motivation!😤 Because I don't see him liking studying and I won't take a genius that achieves that just because. The thing they could have in common I could believe are comics and playing guitar, let brick get turned on with her guitar skills please. 😆

Brick having a breakdown and crying. Love it, normally this guy is always the grumpiest or coldest or the most jerk jackass asshole in fanfics so when he actually has emotions and he displays them, and cries is just so satisfying... Love it. 🫶😃

Blossom being always the one sacrificing herself. Hate it, i see this way too often, writers tend to do it because she is the leader and because she is seen as the big sister (that's another one I hate, they popped to life at the same time there's no big or little sister😤) but I'd like to see the other sisters doing the sacrifice and see how it affects Blossom more often, give leader girl a break.

Blossom's sisters seemly being psychological unable to disobey her orders as if she was indisputable and if they disobey is seen as a terrible or stupid thing to do always. Hate it, sorry but that situation fits better with the RRB given Brick's intimidating nature, Blossom leads hers sisters and can get bossy but her sisters will never obey her if they don't agree with her,💪 they won't blindly do whatever she asks always and she doesn't have the right to forbid things to them, no like they will listen just because.😌 Remember the sisters aren't afraid to call her out, their relationship has a more love and trust nature, with the boys is ok because they probably think family love and trust is for sissies. 🤐

One of the girls being the most popular girl in school without a understandable justification. Hate it, in general I don't like when is only ONE of them because the three girls (aside being literal superheros) have enough traits to have their own individual fans but more importantly I need popularity to have a proper believable reason🧐. For example, PPGZ Bubbles isn't at all what I expected for an anime Bubbles but her popularity with boys at school was at least believable🤔, she was a lady like elegant girl, really kind and friendly with everyone, cheerful and that cares a lot about her appearance and that's exactly what you see in the show, for how simple the anime was you could see that she wasn't popular just because "cute". In contrast there is a fanfic Blossom is said to be top most popular girl in the school and the reasoning is: "she is so hot and has good legs"😬 because she dances (there's like an obsession about her legs) but then she has a really repellent insufferable entitled personality 🤬and is not really nice... I mean she is cold polite but not nice nice ☹️☹️(she is even cold and a bit thoughtless with her sisters in general) and apparently doesn't care too much about her appearance, mostly only worries about showing skin...🙄🙄 Someone like that is the most popular girl? I just don't believe that popularity statement. (By the way, I found weird that she was the only puff with good legs when the other sisters also do activities that can get you nice legs too, like being a cheerleader or playing every fucking school sport, so Buttercup's body is all cut and toned everywhere except her legs? Yeah I know I'm being a picky bitch🤐 about this but you get what I mean?)

Blossom being a funny drama queen. Love it, ohhh I love it,😆😆 she often overreacts over not big deals in the show, so seeing her being dramatic because she didn't get a A+ on every subject, or because she lost her favorite bow, or because she laughed so hard drinking a smoothie the drink came out of her nose🤣🤣 and then suddenly is the end of the world is just the best👌. I mean the other sisters are dramatic as well over silly things too but I think Blossom is funnier. But careful because depending of how is written it can backfire and she could become too victimist. 🙅‍♀️

Blossom and Bubbles being sassy bitches (the funny kind). Love it, usually is Buttercup the one who gets to give more comebacks and picks up a fight first and also play pranks but the other two usually have good behavior but then there's those precious moments when they are mischievous and get sassy and savage 😂😂 (remember in the show how Blossom messed with Brick in the boys are back in town? 🤣🤣 or there were moments where Bubbles innocently roasted Buttercup 😂?)

One of the RRB or the PPG overdoing the fight and getting all bloody and banged up and the other worried sick. Love it, oh boy I'm addicted to this kind of thing 👌👌 the bloodiest the better, I think the best one I read was one with the greens that ended with them sleeping together in a stretcher in the professor's lab😫😫😫😭 I'm dying! 💘

CPR situations. Love it or hate it depending of how is written, whether is drama or comedy.

Sick day plot. Love it, just like when they get injured, viruses and fevers are also welcome!😆👌 I prefer the boys getting sick over the girls because boys tend to act like soft big babies 🥺and crave attention and comfort🥰 (sometimes without noticing they are doing that and getting embarrassed later...), I'm so weak for this.

Beach or lake or swimming pool plot. Love it, classic anime episode that is always horny comedy. 😎👙

Bunny being alive. Not completely hate it but is just not my cup of tea, Bunny's existence is one of the few angst things I can take and I do love fics where she is mentioned or where she appears as a ghost or spirit... Those are tears I don't mind shed. 😢😢

Mayor character death. Ok, I'm not going to say I hate it... But most of the time I can't take it, like I become irrational and wish for a deux ex Machina🙃 so the dead character is resurrected... I once read two angst fics, in one brick slowly dies from a cancer and in the other buttercup is dead and butch is mourning her in a extremely mentally painful way for me...🥲🥲 I regret so much reading that, it completely destroyed me. Normally is only if is one of the RRB or the PPG that I can't endure it.🥲🥲😭😭

Sex. Love it or hate it depending completely on the writer skills on this matter. 😏

Princess Morebucks being obsessed with Brick. Hate it, like... I know she thought of them as cool and wanted to join forces but I think after how they treat her she must have a forever super grudge against them😬😬, and she probably looks down on men, being crazy about one of the dudes who belittled you and also get to have superpowers you want and don't have is not believable to me🙅‍♀️, I mean they hurt Princess pride and ego, she is not going to put that behind to pursue Brick, besides is a kind of plot drama that usually is only pointless and annoying soooo... Nope.

The girls being affectionate with each other. Love it, the warm wholesome sisterhood moments are beautiful let's see😫👌🥰, Bubbles sleeping in Blossoms lap, Buttercup accepting Bubbles affection after she did something for her, Blossom crying in Bubbles arms, Buttercup hugging Blossom from behind while she is having a breakdown and one of my favorites was the one that they are teens and sleep in separated beds but because Blossom had trouble sleeping Bubbles joined their beds and later Buttercup joins too! So beautiful! 😫😫👏👏👏

The Ruffs being friends with the Puffs that aren't their love interests. Love it, because they can have interesting relationships, honestly Brick and Bubbles is an underrated friendship, I'll love if she was able to terrify him to defend her sister and boyfriend 🤣🤣👌👌. Butch could ask Bubbles for love advice, Boomer could ask Blossom for help with Homework... Stuff like that 😁.

Girl... That's a lot of text between statements... I'm so sorry 😅😅 who knows if I'll think of more things and make a part two... 😅😅🙃

#ppg buttercup #ppg blossom #ppg bubbles #ppg #rrb #rowdyruff boys #the rowdyruff boys #the powerpuff girls #powerpuff girls #brick #boomer #butch #ppg x rrb

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kitkatopinions · 3 months

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So, do you think Whitley should've acted more as an antagonist, corrupted by his father's morals and environment before Weiss could get through to him and help him?

I believe Whitley is great, and that's the problem.

Hmm, I'm not sure whether I'd say I want Whitley to have acted as more of an antagonist, but I would say that I wish that the level of antagonism he did have had been explored a little bit more.

The thing about V8 Whiltey is that it's a fine characterization! Whitley is a child and isn't set in his ways yet, the idea that once Jacques is out of the picture, Whitley adjusts to that newfound freedom by dropping some of the emulation of his father he'd picked up (as a means of survival) and letting himself be more kind and do what he thought was right is a great concept and honestly is a much smaller leap in characterization than people sometimes act. After all, Whitley is hardly Emerald, Mercury, Adam, Ilia, Cardin or any other villain teen we see in the show. Whitley's biggest crime was not seeming to like Weiss and Winter and acting pleased about Weiss being removed from a position he wanted. He was less of a jerk than V1 Weiss was with her incredibly anti-faunus ranting. There was no reason to believe that Whitley was really like his father, no reason to believe that Whitley wanted to hurt anyone, no reason to believe that he wouldn't be better when separated from his bad environment and isolation.

However, because I think that Weiss needed a lot more focus in the Atlas arc especially concerning her connection to her family, I do think that her and Whitley's strained relationship should've been more prevalent and garnered more attention from the team (who should have varied reactions to Whitley.) And I also think that the change from V7 to V8 did deserve a little more focus because of that too. Not only do the RWBY writers need better time management, but they also need to give their characters more time, and also need to pack way less into their show so that the story beats they do introduce have more time to breathe, and Whitley is no exception to that. Him being this annoying roadblock that Weiss is clearly frustrated with that's acting like he wants nothing more than to be the socialite eventual CEO that his father wants him to be is more than good enough for me and I don't need him to be some evil conniving mini Jacques. And him then turning out to be at heart a kinder and braver person than Weiss had assumed once Jacques was out of the picture is also great. I just wish that it all had been more explored and gone into - specifically in how it makes Weiss feel and what lessons and growth she can get from it and how it'll impact her own personal arcs from here on in (with care towards Whitley becoming a primary motivation.) Like most things in RWBY, the problem is the execution, not the idea.

Also, equally important is that Whitley's characterization of conforming to what Jacques wants and his ambition to take over the SDC... That feels like it was meant to be a threat to Weiss because the writers wanted us the audience to think that the role of CEO and heading the Schnee Dust Company was something Weiss deserved and should get. If Weiss was everything she should've been and deserved to be as a character, she would either already be on her way to no longer wanting that sort of thing and re-thinking her idea of the homelife she'd had and her rich billionaire mentalities, or V4 should've kickstarted that. So by the time V7 rolled around, although Whitley still should've been an annoyance and a frustration for Weiss... I think also that Weiss should've been more aware of Whitley being in an unsafe position and how that affects him and Weiss should've been at least thinking about whether or not she can help Whitley. So I guess if anything I would've wanted him to be less of an antagonist in V7. XP

I mentioned in another recent Whitley post that he and Weiss's opposite ways of reacting to their abusive and controlling household were fascinating and should've been gone into, used as a way to speak to the fact that abuse victims don't all react to their abuse in the same way and still deserve help and sympathy. And imo it would've been really good as a way to help establish Weiss as a considerate and compassionate person, learning and growing and able to put aside her own hurt feelings. Idk, I just think that it would've been good.

#rwde

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utilitycaster · 1 year

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A lot of people who try to analyze religion in Exandria need to watch the Adventuring Academy episode where Brennan and Matt talked about worldbuilding, specifically when Matt said “In a game like dungeons and dragons, or a lot of role playing games where ultimately part of the game is to overcome villains and rise up and become a hero, there has to be some level of universal antagonism… there is a pure and defined entity or force that is evil, it may not be realistic to some stories out there, but that’s [how it works in DND].”

This is true, and it's really interesting to watch this happen because Matt will make a huge, unambiguous evil like Lucien or the Vanguard, or Brennan will do so with Asmodeus and people will do everything they can to try to come up with reasons to woobify them or argue why they're justified...but I haven't seen this happen in most of the D20 seasons, and I think it's because the villains in most D20 seasons have been things that reinforce people's beliefs, namely, capitalism and abuse of religious power. And to be clear, capitalism and abuse of religious power fucking suck, but it's telling that people assume the villain is capitalism in places where that doesn't apply on a wide scale, or in some cases, exist (EXU Calamity, Neverafter); or that the Ruby Vanguard or Tomb Takers, both of which have pretty much every single hallmark of a cult but just aren't affiliated with the main pantheon, are actually the good guys.

Incidentally: this is like, quite literally how people get sucked into cults. One of the leading cult researchers in the world, Janja Lalich, is a survivor of a now dissolved explicitly leftist/anti-capitalist cult. Abuses of power, which is, ultimately, what both Brennan and Matt lean on as their Universal Antagonist traits, rely on confirming people's existing biases and exploiting them - even if those biases are broadly good! This is in fact why I can get so fucking adamant about what is mostly silly fandom shit, because I do, on some level, look at some takes that completely lack critical thinking and am like oh you'd 100% buy into all kinds of dangerous patterns of thought if someone packaged it nicely; even something as stupid as the Caleb Werewolf Theory relied on circumstantial evidence and false information that you could easily verify was false. And it's annoying but mostly harmless in the context of fandom, but it always makes me wonder - does this person do this with political posts on social media?

Anyway getting back to the main point, I think watching/listening to Brennan commentary on Adventuring Academy is generally a really good idea because he is a very smart guy with a philosophy degree and has a strong grasp of the genres in which he works as well as TTRPGs as a storytelling medium, and talks to other people who also have a good understanding of the morality of fantasy stories. And if you listen to this, you will in fact get that the basis of evil in these stories is not something as specific as "capitalism" or "religion"; it's quite literally as basic as "exploiting other people simply because that is an option available to you and you don't care about them." And obviously that's the whole basis of capitalism, and it's a serious problem that exists within organized religion, but like...not to repeat myself from this weekend but I keep thinking about the "Suvi without the imperialism" and it's like...she is a 20 year old woman whose parents died for a cause and we have had ONE episode with her as an adult. We know nothing about the Empire except that it's an empire and it is at war. Like, can you look at imperialism and understand why it's bad? Can you separate the concept of imperalism - which, to be clear, is based on power structures - from say, your 21st century understanding of empires in the real world? Or do you see the word Empire and go "Bad Thing" without any capacity to analyze because that's how you end up looking at two flawed things in a story (well, if we're lucky; see the middle paragraph) and deciding one is perfect and correct for no reason other than because it opposes the thing you think is worse. And Brennan is REALLY good at skewering that, and Matt is REALLY good at portraying multiple complicated and flawed perspectives, but you do have to like, use your brain slightly.

#answered #Anonymous #i'm having flashbacks to when people were like The Dynasty (theocracy ruled by the same person for a millennium) is perfect no notes #simply bc the dwendalian empire was ALSO bad #cr tag #long post

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