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#I used to base my opinions and personality around these people-but now I'm realizing that nothing they said made sense
mrdrhenwardhykle · 1 year
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Was it like a common thing for Youtube animation and nostalgia reviewers to not understand the concept of voice acting? Like, I remember on multiple occasions where one would say something like "I want to like this character, but I can't because their voice sounds like *'annoying' character that's not actually annoying*-and I hate *character name*!"
Like, there's really just a collective group of grown men out there who really believe that voice acting requires you to sound like a completely different person-or even go as far as somehow using someone else's voice for your voice acting role. It's like being upset at an actor for looking and acting the way they do, and not completely disguising themselves just so they don't remind you of their previous role. Do we understand why these people were casted? Do you understand that they weren't just selected as a victim to fill voids in the script-and actually were selected because the producers and casters specifically wanted THEM?!
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Aroace Alastor
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Hoo boy here we go- This one might make some people mad at me, so I'll preface by saying I do not want to start a fight and as long as you respect my business, I'll respect yours. But let's get this over with-
First off, I genuinely don't understand how some people can see the Ace-In-The-Hole quote and still believe that Alastor is only intended to be asexual and not also aromantic. Yes, the term Rosie used for purpose of the pun was 'ace', but can we look at the context of that moment before jumping to conclusions?
Rosie, motioning to Charlie: "Oh, who's this you brought with you? Come now, Alastor, she's much too young for you! Oh, I'm just kidding. I know you're an ace in the hole!"
Her original statement implies nothing sexual, only that he's involved in a relationship with Charlie, and she follows it up with why she knows that couldn't be because he's an 'ace in the hole'. I don't think you have to read too far between the lines to see that.
I would also like to say that when Vivienne has spoken about his orientation before, I recall her saying that she didn't want to confirm him being aromantic so that she wouldn't 'ruin anyone's fun', which I just feel like is an odd thing to say if she wasn't already explicitly picturing him as aroace. If she thought he had romantic attraction, why wouldn't she just say that? What fun would that ruin? I also feel like keeping things like this ambiguous just to appease the shippers is a little weird, but I digress-
And to those of you who I know are saying "But aromantic people can be in relationships too!!" *deep inhale* yeah I know. I'm not gonna pretend you're not right about that, but there are also aroace people who have exactly 0 interest in romance or sex at all. This is the part of the post that really is based on how I interpret certain moments, but to me he is absolutely one of those people. I don't really know where people get any vibes of him being interested in that stuff. I have never once looked at him and thought "Yeah I could see him in a romantic relationship with *insert character here*". Even aside from attraction in general, since that's what we'd be talking about at this point anyway, he just seems like the kind of guy who'd rather work and live independently instead of relying on anyone, whether practically or emotionally (which is also probably part of the reason he never joined the Vees, but that's another topic entirely). Hell, I'm pretty sure he's in heavy denial about even developing any kind of care or friendship with the people at the hotel (ie. the episode 8 scene with him and Niffty).
The only ships I see him involved in with people he doesn't hate (so ignoring RadioApple, RadioHusk, and StaticRadio. But to be real, maybe the fact all his main ships are enemies to lovers coded says something about the whole situation, but that's just me-) are Charlastor - which I will not even try to discuss here, people aren't gonna like this post as it is - and RadioRose. Rosie and him would at least be fair, if it weren't for one thing (which is also personal opinion on my end), and I don't know exactly how to word it. I'm tempted to say she has wingwoman vibes? But she knows he's aro, so that's not the right word, but there's vibes of like, she probably did act as a wingwoman before she realized that about him or something.. There's also something about her joking around like "Oh this is the girl? You have a girlfriend and I'm only now meeting her?" is almost giving motherly behavior. Idk man they're just besties to me, I could see them in a QPR though (not that they'd probably label it that way, considering the word queerplatonic is likely just complete gibberish to Alastor lmao).
So to summarize: It feels incredibly likely, if not practically canon, that Alastor was written with aromanticism in mind, even if Vivienne refuses to explicitly state it. Subtext and not-that-subtle implications can say just as much about a character as word of God, especially when that God has explicitly told us why she won't confirm or deny this information. Do I think any of this will stop people from shipping him romantically with literally any other character? No ofc it won't, and that's okay, that's just what fandoms do. I do think there's something to say for the fact the one aroace (or even at the very least asexual) character gets constantly shipped with everyone else in the cast, but this post is long enough I think. The only point of posting this is that I wanted to get information out there in one post to say "Hey, let's look a little bit past the surface for a second before saying there's no proof of him being aromantic"
Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you at least took something away from this
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khaire-traveler · 4 months
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This is not an invitation for discourse. I am just stating my personal opinions.
I've been seeing some posts going around lately about myth retellings and wanted to give my opinion on something: I think the helpol community (maybe other polytheistic and pagan communities, too) is honestly too critical and intense about modern retellings (and even some historical ones as well somehow).
I know what it's like coming from that critical point of view. I used to be highly critical of certain retellings and stories that used Greek mythology. They used to deeply bother me, actually, but overtime, I realized that staying mad and fuming about these things I can't change - that will always be created - is really exhausting and even causes me to miss out on some truly interesting stories.
Also, seeing how intense some people can be about retellings has actively discouraged people in the community from writing them. How do I know this? I am one of those people, and I happen to know several others in the same predicament. Some people in the community will rip and tear and claw at retellings as if the retelling murdered everyone they loved. People talk about these retellings as if they're literally destroying the earth itself sometimes - like, seriously, y'all, it's wild.
Once, I saw someone post a short story they wrote - a retelling of a myth that I won't name, as I don't want to give the identity of this person away. This person posted this story with good intentions and was a worshipper of the figures depicted within the story, but still, they got absolutely dragged by larger Tumblr blogs and were torn into and literally chased off of Tumblr. This kind of behavior is not ok for multiple reasons, but the main point I'm trying to make is that we are actively making it harder for people within the community to write retellings. You want retellings from people who actually worship the gods? Then maybe make the community a much less judgmental place because sharing creative works takes a lot of courage as it is. Imagine building up the courage to create and share a retelling just to be ripped into by the very community you are a part of. I'm not saying you can't mention to someone when they've gotten something wrong or have written something potentially problematic, but I am saying that you shouldn't ruthlessly dissect someone's work and rip them a part if they seem to be well-meaning but misinformed (assume the best; not everyone is out to get us; easier said than done, I know). You can give criticism while still being respectful to the original author.
For many of these other authors, however, they likely don't even know that worship of these gods exists in the modern day, and even if they do know, acknowledging it may not be relevant to their story, or even their point. Sure, in a perfect world, these authors would acknowledge our little community and pay homage to actual ancient traditions/culture/etc, but we don't live in a perfect world, and that's ok. It is ok, y'all. Not every author writing a retelling is going to be a literal classics major or historian. Not every author writing a retelling is going to be educated on the actual ancient -or modern - worship of these gods. Not every author writing a retelling is going to pay homage to original source material. Do those things suck sometimes? Yes, absolutely. Do we need to lose our heads over it? No, not really. We can choose to focus on other things - on material and media that we actually enjoy and that do depict things how we'd like them to be depicted.
Now, none of this is to say that there are no problematic retellings or that speaking out on problematic retellings is wrong because hoo, boy, there are quite a lot of those. Some retellings claim to be historically accurate and are, in fact, not; some retellings are written by authors with less than ideal values and ideologies; some retellings are even based entirely on misinformation which can be frustrating to hear about. All of these things are true, but it's also true that not every retelling is out to get us. Not every retelling is trying to attack our small community and the gods we worship. As alarming and offensive as it can feel sometimes, it's important that we take a minute and realize that honestly, authors write stories, and sometimes a story is truly just meant to be a story. It's nothing personal. It feels like we, or our gods, are being attacked, but at the end of the day, we still have our own practices, and we are still allowed to engage with those practices. We are still allowed to worship our gods respectfully, even if others do not. And it is important to acknowledge here that others do not worship our gods. These authors are most likely not worshippers of the Theoi. They most likely do not have relationships with these gods as we do, and unfortunately, they may not have respect for these gods either. It would be ideal if they did, but they just might not, and there's no controlling that.
Honestly, most authors are trying their best. They're trying their best to write an interesting, authentic story that will capture the attention of their intended audience. They want to tell a story based on a mythology that inspired them so deeply, so carnally, that they felt the need to write a whole ass book or create a whole ass game about it. They see stories of tragic heroes, powerful gods, and all those caught in-between, and they think, "This is fucking epic; I'm gonna do something with this." Greek mythology is fucking cool. There's absolutely no denying that, and the fact that so many creators of all kinds continue to create retellings based on the love and passion of a mythology from over 2,000 years ago is pretty damn awesome, actually.
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(I'm writing this after painting for 10 hours straight, so I hope it makes some sense, lol.)
I've been thinking a lot about My Stand-In while painting today, and how I have different expectations of this story than some comments I've seen here and some reactions I've watched on YouTube (I've learned my lesson to avoid MDL like the plague, so I, fortunately, have no idea what's going on there). But I especially thought about why I don't particularly mind some of the things that have happened or haven't been addressed in the series so far. And I realized it's just a part of who I am and what I'm used to.
As someone who was raised on Days of Our Lives (which is weird because I'm not American), I don't mind things like the kidnapping or the transmigration in My Stand-In (and that the transmigration might never be addressed or explained).
I mean, I'm used to kidnappings, people being possessed, and long, lost, dead people coming back to life. That's just a normal Tuesday.
I don't need a revenge plot to be satisfied with the series. I don't even want a revenge plot (it would be very out of character for Joe). Fortunately, I'm pretty sure this isn't the story they want to tell.
Furthermore, in my opinion (colored by being raised in the delulu land of DOOL), I don't even need the transmigration to be addressed or explained for me to enjoy the series. I don't need Joe's feelings about what it's like for his soul to live in a new body. I don't need him to deal with the repercussions of being in a new body (that might not even be the story they want to tell). I don't need any of that because I'm used to ludicrous shit (especially the fun ludicrous shit). And I'm used to ludicrous shit that doesn't always get addressed or explained.
(I get that not everyone was raised on DOOL, and good for you if you weren't. So if you need to have the transmigration addressed, that's great. Be disappointed if it isn't. You have every right to be. Don't mind me and my ridiculous soap opera preferences.)
That's not to say that My Stand-In is ludicrous, because it isn't. It's a pretty normal story for someone like me who was raised on soap operas (and whose tolerance for ludicrous stuff is pretty high).
I mean, even if Joe is kidnapped for the umpteenth time and kept in a golden cage (yes, Stefano and Marlena, I'm looking at you), I'll have a blast with it. But I'm pretty sure this will never happen in My Stand-In.
Even if May has drugged Tong to get herself pregnant with his child (and that being the reason they get married) only to find out years later that it's actually his brother's child (btw, does Tong even have a brother?) (Yes, Sami, Austin, and Lucas, I'm looking at you.), I'll have a blast with it. But I'm pretty sure this will never happen either.
And even if Ming's dad turns out to be a Stefano DiMera-esque character and Sol turns out to be Joe's half-brother (because shit like that is normal in delulu Salem), I'll have a blast with it. But, again, I'm pretty sure this will never happen.
My Stand-In is no soap opera (unfortunately). But I enjoy the heck out of it as it is right now anyway. And I would enjoy the heck out of it even if it became completely ludicrous.
The only thing that disappoints me at this point is that Joe 2.0 doesn't even have white eyes even though he's possessed by another person's soul... (Yes, Marlena, I'm looking at you again.)
On a more serious note, though (let's see if I can pull this off, lol).
Based on what I've seen so far (and since I'm only on chapter 41 in the novel, which is around the end of the 4th episode, I don't know much else about the source material), I feel like the story they want to tell us is more about Joe's role as a stand-in in all the different parts of his life, about how unfair life can be, about grief, second chances, and an obstinate refusal to giving up.
I still don't think they will give us a revenge plot. I feel like the farthest they will go is for Joe to resist Ming and make him grovel for as long as possible (as he should!). They might address parts of the transmigration later. But, again, that's not really important to me.
I'm more interested in Joe mourning his old body/life rather than figuring out how his new body works. But that's just me.
I'm more interested in Ming losing his shit in his grief, repeating old patterns, and (hopefully) breaking those patterns when he gets his shit together. But that's just me.
I'm more interested in the chaos (more catfighting between Ming and Sol, please). But that's just me.
Hell, give me more of the blind shaman, who evidently sees clearer than Ming does (why did that idiot take off the glasses he wore before he left the country?! He clearly needs them...). He is more interesting to me than whatever Joe might be feeling being in a new body. Please, oh wise man, tell me more about what you see! And speak in riddles because I love a good old mindfuck. But, again, that's just me.
If a golden cage shows up or Joe 2.0's eyes start to change color or children show up claiming random people as their parents, I will probably start talking about how ludicrous this series is (but I'll still have such a fucking blast with it). This will never happen, though, because My Stand-In isn't a soap opera.
Do I need My Stand-In to be more unhinged to enjoy it? No, because I already enjoy it as it is. Do I mind if it gets into ludicrous territory? Absolutely not. I'm raised on that shit.
My Stand-In can practically throw whatever it wants at me (or not) and I'll just sit back and enjoy the ride. Because I already do.
(Btw, I Googled the cage in DOOL and I can't believe I remember that it was golden! That storyline was from 1996?! I was around 10 years old when I watched that shit (since my country was 3-4 years behind in the release of the episodes). It must've made a real impact on me, lmfao! Also, I love that when Supernatural fans raved about Jensen Ackles, I just knew him as Eric Brady, lol!)
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solunstell · 6 months
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List of bsd headcanons
Dazai:
Has bpd. A lot of his traits remind me of my friends with it
He some kind of trans. Nonbinary. Transfem. Transmasc. Idk he's megender lmao
He's described as appearing very youthful in the first two light novels. I imagine that once the events of the main timeline start picking up though, with all the time stopping or slowing abilities that *dont affect him*, he actually ages faster than the other characters. I draw current dazai with small wrinkles, which also hints at stress and stuff
Also, I imagine current dazai getting tanner as he works in the light, as well as getting more prominent freckles.
Round/doe eyes because that is part of his appearance in my opinion. Seeming unsuspecting and innocent, especially during his mafia days
Bad eyesight in his right eye from being under the bandages for so long. Saw this headcanon and loved it
Similarly, beastzai has bad vision in general
I always call No Longer Human an anti-ability in my head, fun fact
He loves to touch other people. Not a fan of being touched by others unless asked
I draw him with red eyes in color, and usually black eyes in ink (inconsistent artstyle my beloved)
Aroace spectrum
heavy sleeper. Very
Chuuya
FRECKLES and tan from sheep days
He likes to be close to other people more than actually touching. Presence over contact
That shade of eyes that changes colors in the light (but I use a grey base lol)
Also some sort of trans, but in a different way than dazai
Brownish red hair. Not blazing, not just brown
That man is AUTISTIC
One time instinctively kicked a friend with his ability active, expecting them to dodge cuz he's used to dazai easily dodging. They did, but they were SO CLOSE to getting hit. Imagine a confused face like wtf why you try to kick me
Light sleeper, but every now and then sleeps like he just learned how to close his eyes
A lot of his jokes go over people's heads because they expect him to be serious and his voice just doesn't change between serious and not serious
Ranpo
Autism plus adhd ftw
Aroace spectrum
Poe
He/they vibes
Anxiety
Gay af
I can 100% see him being into knitting. Imagine the guide plus ranpo all in matching sweaters
Loves baking. Sooooo bad at it
Lucy
Bi (with a lean towards girlies) she/it
VERY good at baking
But she won't share :(
Atsushi
Anxiety, so much anxiety
Aroace spectrum vibes
Very easily idolizes people and then gets surprised when they actually like being around him
Akutagawa
Aroace spectrum
Autism cuz he is so mecore sometimes
Very trans vibes from me
(I like to imagine him having tourettes cuz I have tourettes and I am Not projecting)
Atsushi (special kitty hearing) and jouno being the only ones who can hear some of his tics. He will be horrified that anyone notices them
Wait no actually I'm gonna incorporate that into my belief system. That's canon now
Mori
Genuinely cares about a lot of his workers, but not all of them
He gives great bonuses for birthdays
He absolutely loves vtubers if bsd were in a modern setting. Rip mori. He'd have also loved vocaloid lmao
Ozaki
Masc energy. Fem energy. Ooh I can see ozaki with any pronouns and identity
Kinda person to accidently either overpack or underpack. Always has painkillers, never has a pen
Ridiculous memory. Incredible gift giver. Would get someone something months or years after overhearing them say they wanted something once
"Whyd you get me a hairdryer?"
"You said you needed one. I saw it and thought of you."
"...that was months ago. I got a hairdryer already."
"..." *takes hairdryer back* "sorry wrong person. I don't have my contacts in my bad"
She has perfect vision
Kunikida
Trans vibes. In any and every direction
Adhd af
Will always conveniently have room in his schedule when Aya wants to go do something and needs someone to go with her. No, he's TOTALLY not frantically writing and erasing things, get your glasses updated
You can usually count on him to continue the bit cuz he won't realize there is a bit occurring
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commandermahariel · 9 months
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doc from swtor is arospec. here's why.
disclaimer: obviously this is a headcanon. i consider it based on canonical stuff, but there has been no in-game or in-lore mentions of doc's romantic or sexual orientation. i'm also basing this on my experience as an aromantic person, which may not be the same as your experience as an aromantic person. it's also perfectly fine to disagree as long as you're not a fucking dickhead in my notes.
now to the actual reasoning.
he does not get into serious relationships until he meets the knight. there's that story with the twi'lek woman and him abandoning her at their wedding, but we don't really know how that happened. this does not make him less of a dick for doing that, to be clear -- in the context provided by the game there isn't any evidence to support he was justified in doing that. at the same time though, there is very little we know about the whole situation. was he pressured into it by his or his fiancee's relatives? did he not want to be in a relationship, but agreed to it to not hurt her feelings and didn't have the guts to end it until it was too late? was his fiancee just unhinged and organized a wedding without getting the groom-to-be's consent? is doc just an idiot with commitment issues? we don't know. i mean, we do know that he is an idiot (affectionately) with commitment issues, but whether that was the reason for the failed wedding is unknown. i'm kinda derailing, but the point is, the only serious relationship we know of was a disaster and it's not even known how it came to be like that. his romance dialogue also suggests this is the case, from him thinking he's going crazy for actually falling in love with someone, to saying stuff like "normally, i'd kiss you for talking like that. but i'm trying to do this right", which is, again, not definite proof, but substantial evidence for me.
also based on his dialogue, he finds the concept of non-casual relationships weird. "...wookies mate for life. that's not normal!". of course this can just be him being the whore he is, but i don't think your average "sleeps around with everyone" character would find the concept of marriage for life abnormal. not fit for them, sure, but not an insane thing either.
his opinion clearly changes when he is in a relationship with the knight though. he goes from being the guy who thinks marrying for life is insane to being the only romance option in the game to have an on-screen marriage ceremony and even referencing the wookie thing in a positive context this time: "i want us to be together. like the wookies". he also stays completely faithful despite what some people in this fandom try to claim. you know who you are which is admittedly an incredibly low bar to have but it's not like it's completely unprecedented in bioware games sealene please stop the salt and he is still just as madly in love with her as he was seven years ago.
considering his bafflement with what (i assume) is a normal human romantic experience and literally thinking he's going insane for falling in love with someone, i think it's safe to say he could very well be demiromantic. i don't identify as demi myself, so please correct me if i misrepresent the experience, but the definition for demiros is "describes people who do not experience romantic attraction until they have formed a deep emotional connection with someone" which checks out, it takes him about a year and a half (according to the "1 chapter = 1 year "thing) to get to the point where he realizes he has feelings for the knight. checks out.
so yeah. diversity win! the womanizer guy is queer.
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kyluxtrashpit · 2 months
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Hiya! I hope you're doing well. I made the Hottest Star Wars Man Poll, so when your posts about it were brought to my attention, I felt I should probably reach out.
The polls are just for fun. I make them with no agenda, and I run them with no agenda. I've received messages talking about bots before, but I never wanted to get into the weeds about it.
However, as the discussion about bots is bigger than I realized, I guess now is as good a time as any to speak about it:
My opinion is that the spikes in Hux votes are a mere side-effect of the poll being passed around the internet and bringing in new voters in droves. As your Anon mentioned, @tomatette's edits might's also pulled in waves of people who voted for Hux out of fidelity to her.
I'm fine with the campaigning. As long as the vote is ultimately achieved by a human clicking on the vote themselves, it's alright by me. Hell, I always reblog 'propaganda' I particularly like, and I even requested some Anakin propaganda when he was in his elimination round. It's all fun and games to me.
However.
If anyone is using bots, I'm asking nicely for them to please stop. I'm going to pull the 'I'm not mad, I'm disappointed' card on anyone botting. The polls are all strictly unserious things, so I hope that nobody is taking them too seriously.
Hi there! Sorry the nonsense has reached you, honestly lmao. I just wanted to make a post cause I was upset about the possibility (and, as I've said, I don't have rock solid proof, just suspicions based on observations by myself and others, so like. If people don't agree with me, that's fine, it's all good - I just wanted to speak out in case it was happening like, as a kyluxer, I don't want people to think that if someone is botting, that's something we as a fandom are chill with). I honestly didn't expect it to get quite this much attention either but here we are. I also want to make it clear to both you and my followers that I don't put any blame of anything on you - you're just making fun polls and that's it, you're not responsible for what people do or what drama may arise
I do agree it's possible someone just got a bunch of people to vote within a small window of time, like anything is possible, always is. I just feel like some of the increases I saw, observations from others, and things I've heard are enough to warrant suspicion. If people do or do not agree that there's a reason to think it happened, that's their choice and I'm not going to insist that my word is law and they have to believe me. I don't have receipts, I was just expressing myself and I do appreciate amicable discussion even if my mind has not been changed as of yet
But yeah I agree, propaganda and making funny edits and posts - that's not at all what I was referring to in terms of 'cheating', but somewhere it seems that got mentioned in the discussion? (3 separate people have brought this up to me lmao, like thinking I'm accusing them but I am NOT and no one better be out there accusing them either without actual evidence beyond 'oh you posted about it' cause that's a shitty thing to do) and I also want to make it clear I am not against propaganda fun. That's all just part of it. If people are mad about that, that's their problem and they should use blacklist more liberally. And if people are saying I'm saying that, then those people are either lying or are at 'how dare you say we should piss on the poor' levels of reading comprehension lmao
But yeah, I'll post this publicly, but let me know if you want it taken down and I'll delete it - I appreciate you reaching out and I'm sorry you had to deal with this, that was definitely not my intent when I made the post. I just wanted the botting, if it is indeed happening (and if it's not, all the better, I am just not yet convinced it didn't happen), to stop
And lastly, because of some of the DMs I've received: if you, the person reading this (not you the asker), are sending hate or harassment to people based on my post, FUCKING STOP IT RIGHT THE FUCK NOW, you're no better than the bad actors I was initially referring to
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amerricanartwork · 2 months
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Part two of this! Felt like I should get around to finishing these. I've already answered the second, but a lot of my thoughts for these go hand-in-hand so I'll kinda answer them as one here.
Also, I apologize if these seem a bit scattered. The questions are pretty broad in their interpretation, so I'm more just using this to get out some loose character thoughts I probably won't end up saying in other posts I plan to make.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
8. What are your opinions of Looks to the Moon (character)?
9. What are your opinions on Five Pebbles (character)?
To summarize what I said about Five Pebbles last time, I basically see him as another example of what I find to be a fascinating kind of tragic villain, where their bad environments combined with their own major character flaws essentially create a vicious cycle undermining all of their successes and worsening their failures more and more until they meet their demise in some way. But like I said before, I stated I also like the idea that Pebbles's own personality flaws and bad decisions, while still being the ultimate problem, were not the only things to blame for what happened to him, and as of now I think Looks to the Moon takes 2nd place in making the worst mistakes when dealing with him, only topped by Seven Red Suns.
I plan to go into it more later, since it's pretty crucial for an iterator off-the-string AU story I've been working on for a while, but I basically believe Moon's biggest flaw is being too selfless and making decisions based solely around what others seem to need while neglecting herself. In this regard Pebbles could actually be seen as more virtuous than her, because he's extremely committed to doing what he believes is right and follows through pretty much unconditionally, whereas Moon can only pursue her goals if it doesn't appear to do anything bad to other people.
Again, I'm gonna go into this more later, but for now I wanna give some out-of-universe thoughts and say that I would like to see more content showing off Moon's flaws and Pebbles's virtues. I feel like both of them can be a bit flanderized from time to time, with Pebbles being portrayed as overly mean or uncaring and Moon being cheery and caring with no flaws. So to help balance out their sibling dynamic better, I'd like to explore the idea of Moon making her own big mistakes, yet hiding it behind politeness and selflessness, and her eventually having to realize that Pebbles has some merits she could probably learn from!
Even despite that though, I really like Looks to the Moon as a character, and she's probably one of my favorite female characters in any story thus far! Firstly, I really feel for her struggle, not just in being collapsed by her own brother, separated from her friends and drowned constantly, but in (at least my headcanon idea of her) how much she enjoys in the world around her, yet doesn't feel like she can enjoy it fully. I get the sense that because of how old and broken down she is, she feels like "her time has passed" more-or-less, and it's no longer her right to exist for much longer. And that's just so sad! Like, poor girl's gone through so much and doesn't feel like there's anything she can do about it!
But on a more positive note, I think Moon is conceptually a really cool character, albeit in a different way to Five Pebbles. Rain World has always seemed to be largely about the feeling of existing in a strange world with a lost history far older and more complicated than you can ever understand, and I think no character symbolizes that idea of civilizations being lost to time than Looks to the Moon. Her primary utility is giving the player lore about the world, and with her broken down state and age old enough to probably have seen a good deal of Ancient society change over time, it feels all the more like I'm talking to one of the last remnants of a lost civilization. And on top of that, she literally is a broken down massively complex artificial structure, the pinnacle of Ancient civilization slowly returning to the natural ecosystem. And I especially mean that last part! Submerged Superstructure is one of my favorite regions conceptually because abandoned architecture being reclaimed by the wilds is a trope I find so beautiful and poetic, and I think it makes this region speak to that theme of Rain World even more so than Five Pebbles's Metropolis. Whereas Metropolis is still relatively barren and unchanged besides the dust, scavengers, and other occasional creatures, Submerged Superstructure is almost entirely flooded, filled with all sorts of flora and fauna, and yet you can still clearly see the identifying architecture of old sections like the Memory Conflux and Abstract Convergence Manifold. Looks to the Moon, both as a region and a character, is just so cool and beautiful in her ability to evoke such sadness to see this strange and fascinating world be lost to time, yet also a deep love of nature knowing that life goes on anyway!
Lastly, I just wanna mention how I love Five Pebbles and Moon's relationship and how central it is to the "story" of Rain World. As much as I love good romance, deep sibling bonds can be so heartfelt too, and it's continuously fascinating and melancholic and beautiful to see these two mechanical gods get humbled from their high status endure so much tragedy, yet still reconnect with each other in the end, if not physically then by mending their relationships and forgiving each other. Throughout everything we see happen to them they seem so interconnected, and yet, at least in my interpretation, they eventually come to learn that isn't such a bad thing after all! Once again, it serves as a reminder than even in this seemingly hopeless and dying world love goes on, like a great cycle! This is honestly part of why I've been hesitant to write my thoughts on this, because their story's ending in Rubicon threatens to make me cry every time I think about it because it's just so poetic!
So, in short, I like the idea that Looks to the Moon is pretty flawed as well as Five Pebbles, I empathize with her a lot, I adore her symbolism as a fascinating relic of a lost civilization, and I honestly think the story of her and Five Pebbles is perhaps one of my favorite parts of Rain World!
Thanks again for the questions, @tanyabadtime159!
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Brainrot Housekeeping: A little note about Dorian
This is my heads-up that I've decided to try messing around on their platform and translating some of my headcanons into the Arcana's visual novel format.
This is not a promotional post. (hence why you won't be seeing any links, story titles, or profile handles)
It's mostly so that if anybody sees something posted by an author over there using my ideas/moniker, it's probably me and not a thief. Also, this blog is far and away my priority over that - if I start to feel overwhelmed or burnt out, that's going to be the first thing I stop doing. Not this :)
I'm putting more thoughts below the cut since the main point of this post is to be transparent about my activity to avoid misunderstandings:
I've been in conversation with plenty of people about Dorian. I've heard from people whose lives were transformed for the better because of it, I've heard from people with mixed feelings, I've heard from people whose lives were wrecked by it. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who's been on my page for a while that I'm fairly skeptical of them myself and don't always see eye-to-eye with them on how things seem to be run.
Anybody who's talked to me personally about it knows that I have boatloads more opinions, but I realized that those are based off of what I've heard much more than off of what I've experienced. So for transparency's sake, here are my reasons for trying this out:
First, the most important thing I've learned to do is to try encountering something for myself when I keep hearing and developing strong opinions about it. Sticking to this personal value is what got me out of Rai's server and influence (if you don't know and you want to know, read my pinned "to the arcana fandom" post) and ultimately what helped me get the resources I needed to help my friends get out of serious danger too. If I want to join the conversation about the clear divide between Dorian's vision for the Arcana and the fandom built around the original game, I have to try both sides out for myself.
Second, I'm a curious person and it seems like a new way to fuck around and find out (something I do constantly, though I rarely show it on here :P). I'm a creative, I love these characters, and the chance to see my own words in the original format sounds like fun.
To finish off, these are the goals and parameters I'm setting myself when it comes to however active I end up being over there. I'm putting them here again for transparency, but mainly to help me keep myself accountable:
My main goal is to try a new experience and have fun in the process. To do that, I'm going to keep my mind open without losing critical thinking and only make what I feel like making and when I feel like making it
Nothing I create is going to be motivated by a desire to be "successful". I'm already successful - I have a steady job IRL, a group of amazing friends, and this gift of a page that lets me be creative and find joy with other people around one of my many interests
Being active over there is going to be a bottom priority. If my tasks are getting to be too much, that will be the first to go because the only value I place in it at this time is experiental
If I find I can't stick to these goals, whether it be motivation, mentality, or just a loss of interest, I'll stop my activity over there and re-evaluate what I'm doing vs what I want to be doing and why
If I encounter something that's deeply concerning to me, I'll attempt to address it proactively through the proper channels available to me. If those concerns remain unaddressed and I think people need to know about it, I'll talk about it openly and honestly
I won't use my blog or server to promote any work I publish over there. Concurrently, I'll do my best to avoid any promotion off of the Dorian app
That's all from me for now about this! I'll be linking it in my pinned post so people who want to know more about me can look at it, but I won't be putting it on the arcana tag because I don't think it's relevant at this time.
Cheers!
brainrot
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aerodumb · 1 year
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Wade/Nancy is an artist who's been surrounded by negative opinions. She currently works under the username Grisgrisdoll, but she's widely known as the name that haunts her past, Kastoway.
I've seen many, many accusations being thrown online against this artist, but I noticed that for many people spreading them this knowledge is secondhand. I found her Deviantart account some time after she changed her username to Kastoway in the beginning of 2014 due to my hyperfixation on creepypastas at the time. I never actually followed her, but I visited her account every now and then, so if I missed something important, it was because of that and I will be glad if you tell me. In this post, I'll list the incidents in chronological order *with evidence* and then give my own opinion at the end.
One thing to know about Wade is that she has had many different names and usernames throughout her life. In addition, she is comfortable with people using either "she", "he" or "they" to refer to her. I'll be alternating the pronouns and using both her names.
He was 13 when she created Ticci Toby [1]. He posted her first drawing of him on the 19th of November 2012 on DeviantArt [2] and Toby's origin story one year later on the 23rd of May 2013 [3]. Wade changed the personality of Toby to make him less upbeat, more tragic and more scary. One of the first instances where he showed discomfort with how people portrayed Toby that I remember was in a publication she posted on the last day of 2013 [4]. This situation ended up with a small redesign of Toby on 5th of February 2014 [5].
She took a short break from DeviantArt around July [6]. It was this year when her creepypasta blew up out of proportion. Previously, she had expressed her desire for Toby to only be shipped with another creepypasta character called Clockwork. However, many people didn't like Clockwork and didn't respect this wish, leading her to further getting tired of the creepypasta community. By october of the same year, her Deviantart bio said: "Most people know me as the creator of the creepypasta story "Ticci-Toby"-- which yes I am, but I prefer not to be constantly called out for it nor only recognized or appreciated for it. I do not contribute to the creepypasta fandom anymore so please don't ask me about it. Thank you" [7].
One issue that is frequently overlooked when discussing Wade's actions is her problem with impersonators, as she stated on a status in November [8].
On 14th of December 2014 he made a post trying to solve all the turmoil that had formed because of shipping [9]. He stated that he had asked people not to ship Toby with anyone but Clockwork because that was what he was comfortable with, but he realized that decision was pointless and didn't care at this point. The situation had gone out of control and there were people bashing creators who shipped Toby with others or with their own characters. He apologized to the hurt and asked people to stop the white knighting. In addition, he recognized "I wasn't prepared for my character to become popular on the internet. I really wasn't. I never thought it would happen and I'm still not good at dealing with it. In fact I suck at it, it's true". He was 15 at the moment.
In 2015, they got into Marvel, even having a tumblr blog where she drew Deadpool replying the asks of her followers. At the end of their bio, it could be read: "I will not reply to notes or comments regarding Ticci-Toby or anything Creepypasta related, sorry." [10]. This message was deleted months later, so their profile didn't mention Toby or creepypasta anymore. They kept the folder for her creepypasta drawings in their gallery tagged as "old".
In April 2016, he had to warn the general public that Toby wasn't real and that he was his creator [11]. People had been spreading misinformation, saying that Toby was real or was based on a real person. Wade feared that something like the tragedy of Wisconsin could happen again, it was a serious concern.
In May, Nancy made a post saying that people could still ask her about Toby [12], but later in June that year, she decided to step off the internet with the purpose of trying to improve her life, archiving the majority of her work [13]. Later in 2017, she updated her bio to let people know about her new instagram account where she mostly posts original art. It was at this point when I stopped checking her content completely, as this account, called bonejars at the beginning, was private for a while. She hasn't been very active on DeviantArt apart from the times she announced her podcast.
On the porch: Episode 2, 16 April 2020, started a wave of negativity against them. I didn't watch it at the time and it is now private so I can't say much about it, but they did some clarifications on her instagram stories later. Many users took screenshots of them and they can still be read [14]. In them, Nancy says that they came to terms many years ago with the ships, that they left the fandom because all of the drama made them miserable and that they'd wish Toby to no longer be associated with the creepypasta fandom. Despite this, they don't want people to stop doing what makes them happy, they said they're ok with headcanons and people reinterpreting the character, that they like the fanart as long as people don't profit from it. They said "I know what escapism is like and using fiction to cope with life. I would never wanna take that away from anybody". Later, they had to make further clarifications because people accused them of wanting to take Toby away from the fandom.
On 25 abril 2021, Nancy posted a new redesign of Toby on his Instagram account [15]. This version of him was significantly different from the last one. The character is older, wears different clothes and looks more realistic due to Nancy's art style development. With this design, he looks like a character from a slasher.
Many people weren't pleased with the redesign due to thinking the reason for it was to invalidate the previous one. Consequently, they brought to the surface controversies from the past. Nancy was accused of having supported two controversial figures in the creepypasta community: Laughing Jack's creator Steve Aikins (Snuffbomb) and Sally Williams' creator Shilo (la_mishi_mish).
Steve presumably harassed his ex-girlfriend and talked indecently with several young girls back in 2014 [16]. I haven't found evidence of Wade supporting him and I can't remember exactly what she said. If someone has screenshots of it, I would be grateful.
Shilo used to draw NSFW art of Sally [17]. This character is canonically 8, so she usually aged her up in this kind of content. However, she posted a compilation of sketches depicting Sally and Jeff the Killer having sex in 2015, stating it was ok for them to have intercouse because they were both 13. Shilo was 22 at the time. Several sources indicate that she stopped drawing mature content due to social pressure. Nancy and Shilo follow each other on instagram to this day.
There haven't been more references to Toby on Nancy's part since then.
◇ Ok people, get the pitchforks because now I'm gonna give my opinion!
So, what can we accuse Wade of? Of being an idiot and a hypocrite when he was a teenager, of having bad companies and managing fame poorly. I don't think we can blame them for anything else and feel that a big part of the hate they receive is undeserved.
I think she was a hypocrite because she got angry with an interpretation of Toby that she had at the beginning. What's more, Toby's story uses an interpretation of Slenderman that was invented by the fandom, proxies are not canon. It's like a fanfic of a series inspired by just a couple of photos.
Still following Shilo is yikes. However, we don't really know if they're still close and I'm personally gonna give her the benefit of the doubt. Defending Steve was a bad move, but, as some people have pointed out before, he was a teen when that happened, way younger than Steve and she could have been convinced to think he was innocent. Shilo is older too.
Being that young, she wasn't prepared for facing the bad sides of fame. Ignoring stuff, going radio silent and then saying things in the heat of the moment didn't help her a bit, but it was all that occurred to her at the time. She's tried to explain things in more detail in recent years just to go back to saying as little as possible because at this point, people get angry for whatever she says.
People say they're homophobic. Their instagram account refutes it.
People say he was mean and insulted the fandom. I remember reading a couple of statuses on DA that I thought were insensitive, but that was a long time ago. People grow and he's changed his mind a lot as you can read in his instagram stories. If you say these things referring to the post where he told people Toby wasn't real, I'm sorry, but I think he had all the right to be harsh. People said Slenderman was real, it ended up in a tragedy and now the same things were being said about Toby. Can you imagine how it's to feel you're responsible for someone's death? He was trying to protect people.
People say she went after artists that portrayed Toby in a different way than hers, yet every time she's said something that ended up hurting people, she took responsibility and apologized for it. I don't believe this person could go and directly hurt someone. Remember what I said before about her issues with impersonators and people white knighting? That could be what's happening. Even now she has problems with people pretending they know her, so be careful!
People say they have abandoned the character many times. It's true they've said they didn't want to talk about Toby on four different occasions, but I don't think they did it with that intention. Why did they redesign him then? The design we all know is inevitably tied to the creepypasta community and they want to move on from it, that's why they didn't want to talk about him. Now they made a version of the character that isn't tied to that world, so we have two Tobies, one for them and one for us. I think that's cool!
Many don't like that they can't use the old version to earn money, but I want them to understand that this is a really particular situation. Usually, people making commissions of characters that aren't theirs isn't a problem when the creator is getting money on their own (unless you're Disney, Disney has no chill). This isn't Wade's case, she has never been monetary compensated for creating or drawing Toby and she has the right of choosing not to allow the commercial use of her characters. "Give for free what you were given for free" is a rule that makes sense in this case.
I don't expect anyone to stop disliking Wade, you're free to feel whatever you want, but at least I hope that this post helps people to see that all of this is more dimensional than just "kastoway is evil". At the end of the day, she's just a dude that fucked up many times and I think her experiences can help us to not commit the same errors.
◇ Here you have all the evidence
[1] Wade's age (look at the replies)
[2] First art of Toby
[3] Toby's Origin on Kastoway's DA
[4] Post where Wade complains about the difference between fanon and canon Toby
[5] Updated Toby design
[6] Wade's DA on hiatus
[7] Wade saying he doesn't want to be known just for creating Toby
[8] Wade complaining about impersonators
[9, 11] Nancy clarifying the issues with shipping and people saying Toby was real (look at section "Kastoway and his creation")
[10] Nancy saying he won't reply asks about Toby
[12] Nancy apologizing and saying ask about Toby are welcomed
[13] Nancy announcing her departure
[14] Nancy's deleted instagram stories
[15] Toby's new design
[16] About Laughing Jack's creator
[17] About Sally's Creator
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Ok so I have had the self imposed misfortune of witnessing some of the "very missed the mark" takes on Nine or just the show's character portrayal in general and, how can someone be...so mISGUIDED. OUGH!!(snapcube sonic 06 voice)
I do realize that no one with these opinions is probably gonna read this (I mean. I am the Nine The Fox blog basically, what are you doing here if you hate the guy) and also won't change their minds but, I don't care. I'm not making this for those people, I just enjoy writing about this guy and been given the prompts to do so. You may enjoy my uncontrolled ~1,500 words long midnight rambling (yea that's like, a whole one-shot what the fucck)
I should wait until morning to edit this before posting but I just need this out there now I cannot argue with a tired self
> So as I've come to find out, people hate Nine because
A) no drip (he's 8, leave him alone <-summary of this whole end of year middle school essay btw)
B) for "betraying Sonic"
And C) for "being a selfish asshat" (paraphrased from one of the tweets I've read)
> Point A, is one that I agree on just cuz I can. But I find him.much easier to draw than Tails so there's that his overall drip I'd say is 6.3/10 (I do not need to bother with the leg placement just draw the pants!! Three rectangles for the base of the body wohoo) And as said, he is a child. Show me the clothes your 8 year old self was wearing and than we can talk.
As for actual character design aspect (which is something I know nothing about so I'm definitely an authority on this subject /lh sarcasm) I think it conveys the basics of him being a moraly gray character by being literaly dressed in gray. His gloves are black and white with his shirt having small splashes of yellow god damn it. He's not nice or a selfless hero type but also not rotten to the core
> moving onto point B because I really do not want to embarass myself by not knowing caharcter design color theory 101. 🅱️oy oh boy I find it so goddamn silly the more I think about it because Nine is literaly the only character from the entire shatterverse cast that has not used or deceived Sonic once for his personal gain.
All of the characters used Sonic to some extent (exept for Nine, my perfect little guy). The resistance tried to recruit Sonic because he's "fast strong and hates the egg", but they did so out of desperation to save their city. Thron used him to get the shard to "protect the jungle" and Prim sent him after Thorn because she probably didn't enjoy starving to death.
But than you have a certain other character that yall conveniently forgotten about, you know, the one that actually in 4k got caught and displayed openly on screen betraying (using the actual definitionnof the word) Sonic because of nothing but pure selfish greed, and for some reason got away with it.
Dread? The one who figuratively spat in Sonic's face just to get the blue shard for no other reason other than having it in his possesion? He had absolutely no quams about throwing his own crew under the bus (or water ig) lie and manipulate them, death threat and blame them for any of his own mistakes and than abandon them when it was the most convenient for him. (How in the ever loving green hill forest did all of this selfishness get redirected at Nine I cannot—)
Nine did not ever betray Sonic for any reason, actually. Instead, he was the only one to genuinely compliment him (even if not to his face or even in his presence but it was said out loud anyway) and If anything, he made constant little sacrifices in the hopes that once Sonic is done playing around a hero they could finally chill at the Grim.
Nine genuinely admired him (were that opinion stands as of the first teaser of the third season is probably not as high as it used to but it still might be burried under all that percieved betrayal) and felt the affection given was genuine as well. He cared enough about Sonic to offer him a place in his own paradise in making ffs, he also cared anough to leave him to the decision whether he wanted to stay or not (until his better judgement got a bit clouded with all the sudden love Sonic kept throwing his way but more on that later)
So no. I have literally no clue how y'all arived at the conclusion that Nine was only using Sonic for- what exactly? To steal the shards? I guess? But that was never his end goal. Sure he needs at the very least one from the Grim but it was Sonic that wanted the rocks in the firts place, and Nine merely helped him get them. He willingly played prisoner so that they could snatch all the shards at once together likenwhsghsgd how do y'all act as if the finale of the second season was some sort of Nine's evil Master Plan to make Sonic cry huh.
And I've been going on for two and a half hours and should probably sleep so point C) Here's where the gray part of his character comes in again because for people who's only expectation for such characters is that they commit crimes but are hot, when that is not the case it becomes a struggle to comprehend an actually moraly ambiguous character that isn't a generaly nice person that cannot be sexualized (because he's eight goddamn years old)
I mean, he is a complete selfish asshole for abandoning the rebels that weren't even there for him to begin with, seeing as Renegade went on attack before Nine himself stopped him. And he is also an irredeemable monster because he didn't care about finishing a fight in a city that he later and multiple times over made abundantly clear he doesn't care about, obviously, the most selfcentered ass there is. /sarc
I guess those weren't the nicest things he could've done but it were definitely the most logical ones from his perspective.
Was it selfish? Yea, and kinda sorta no? Most of his actions in the show were taken because of or for Sonic, in blind faith maybe, but by definition it's not selfishness if you're considerate of another person's interests and feelings
And the fact he took the shards at the end of season two is a completely different story
Just ough, putting one's self in Nine's perspective. Your whole short life, that also just so happened to be in a tyrannically ruled and industrial hellhole, you've been both physically and emotionally tormented and ostracized for being Different, to which you learn that lashing out and then self-isolating is the best defense you can fall back on. Some time passes and a random blue guy breaks into your house, calls you a slur, talks the most out of pocket shit youve heard but for some reason is also the first person to treat you nicely (+saved you from certain death).
Then one thing lead to another, you end up discovering a void and in it an entire empty universe; a plain desolate desert, but to you and the brand new powers in your possesion, it's a blank slate, new start, a safe heaven you fantasized about since you could remember. All the room and power to create anything that your broken child heart could desire, the wildest shit you could think of, whatever you want, you could make it happen, never having to look back ever again. And for an even better change of pace, maybe even have your first friend around as well. It almost doesn't feel real, but it is.
But uh ohs that very tangible fantasy is threatened(was it real after all? Were you?), suddenly you could loose all of it and be miserable again and by god do you not want it to happen, will you not let that happen, will you snap and bite an anything anyone daring to pose a threat to it. Even if it's that suposed friend that served as a catalyst to all of this.
And wanting to defent the little solace you've finnaly found is somehow.. a betrayal on Nine's part.
And I could do a whole another book on Sonic and Shadow's perspective but it's way too late and I have school in three hours so adios
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archivalofsins · 9 months
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It's ultra funny because I try not to get too serious. However, I'm sure people believe I'm just rather opinionated and a downer, but I am trying to be better at letting stuff be. Because I recognize it's not that serious to people. However, I also understand that for some, it may be difficult to understand where people who consistently vote and want Amane innocent are coming from.
It isn't nice to have ones whole point boiled down to so you support cults. Yet, at the same time, I have to wonder if people realize how boiling it down to that sounds. Firstly, just because someone uses the buzzword cult to elicit a kneejerk response and delegitamize the religious beliefs of those different from them does not change that what the person they are referring to is actually practicing are their religious beliefs which I believe should generally be respected regardless of one's own personal feelings.
There are a lot of mainstream religions, if not all of them, that have been referred to as cults at one time or another. So, to me, this always comes off as someone genuinely asking,
"Oh, you support someone's right to follow and believe whatever religion they wish?" To which my response would be, "Yes, within reason."
Literally, the response to the previous statement should always be yes. Unless someone's beliefs are literally killing people, which is not a part of Amane's teachings or the rules she listed. Something illustrated well in Purge March, considering Amane punishes her mom for killing the cat, and Amane's mom punishes her for saving the cat.
One of the rules is basically do not interfere with the fate of other living things whether you are healing or killing and Amane breaks it while killing her mom by using the fact her mother broke this rule as an excuse to now punish her mom and relishes in doing so saying,
"You're sorry I don't care. Please go ahead and die already." - "Tis ordained, thou shall stay thine course, then perish."
One of the rules literally amounts to stay in your lane, and yet it was still interpreted as what exactly? Like how else was this interpreted, I'm not understanding. To me, this literally reads as "You will live your life and your life only then die". This is the rule I interpreted both Amane and her mom breaking by intervening with the life of the cat in different ways, which was not them "staying thine course". The life of the cat was neither theirs to save or end because its life is not their course.
Amane's belief amounts to setting boundaries in what she wishes to have done to her and around her. It is not her fault she's currently in an environment where she is consistently forced to engage with and be around people who do not respect her beliefs. Her whole point when boiled down amounts to going have Shidou stop doing this thing that makes me uncomfortable and is antithetical to my personal values in my vicinity.
Does Amane need to learn that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and faith? Well, I could see how some could believe that, but personally, I don't think so. Because she literally came in here saying that if you do not judge her for her faith or what she has done, then she won't judge you. She has shown that she is capable of dealing with others living differently than she does, but she is more than willing to meet intolerance with intolerance.
Again, something that fits with that fourth rule, since we are not staying our course, I believe we are in a way giving Amane permission to leave hers and interfere with the courses of others. Just like she used the rule to excuse attacking her mother. For me seeing Amane's character be boiled down to her beliefs and her dedication to said beliefs ignores the fact that the people who fostered this environment of intolerance and hostility that she is reacting to was us through our previous verdict.
It's also just quite odd because, like, do people not understand what a slippery slope persecuting someone based on their beliefs alone is? Who decides what religions/beliefs are right and wrong? How do they judge which ones are wrong or right? What precedent does stating that judging someone off of that alone is okay set, and who can it harm/has harmed in the real world before?
Then even if I was afraid of Amane starting a cult when she literally only consistently speaks to one prisoner alone by choice, why would my adult response to that be to literally create a religious confrontation with a child? When I could simply be like, okay, those are your beliefs, and I accept them. However you have to do the same for others not everyone is going to agree with you and that's fine.
Not everyone follows your religious beliefs or subscribes to your teachings about medicine, and you can not force them to. Just as I can not force you to change your beliefs. Society should be built off of a mutual respect of people's cultures, religious practices, and boundaries. If one is unwilling to give that to someone else, they can not expect it to be given to them.
It's just that simple. In my opinion, and that's why even judging Amane for her beliefs alone wouldn't make me think she's guilty. Not because I support cults but simply because I'm not going to persecute someone solely due to the fact they have religious beliefs that differ from mine. Because I personally believe doing that is a slippery slope.
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greenerteacups · 10 months
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Hello! I wanted to let you know how amazing your fic is, it seems my life now revolves around Friday mornings. I think it may be one of my favorite series ever, not just fics, your stuff is better than most published works I have read. I really could go on and on. Suffice to say, thank you x1 million for just putting this out there for us.
I had a couple curiosities! Is it ever hard to restrain yourself and just post 1 time per week? Or is that necessary for your creative process?
Also, your fic is rapidly growing in popularity, do you ever get worried about how that might change your audience?
Thank you again for the amazing thing you've written, I feel super lucky to be reading it in real time because I know this is going to be one of those legendary classics.
Thank you so much! You're wonderfully kind, I really appreciate it, and I hope I can live up to your expectations!
Weekly posting: Posting once a week is actually something I started for my own sanity — posting it regularly/serially is better for audience response, so there's a natural incentive to do it, but it also gives me more time to write ahead. And having all of a book prewritten in advance is really important for me creatively, not only so as to avoid the possibility of cliffhangers, but also to feel immune from the pressure to change the story based on what audiences want.
Growing audiences: Oof, it's been wild. I've been sort of boggled by the response to my little fic; it was entirely unexpected and the most I can do is work hard to deserve it. For the most part, an increasing audience has been a wonderful, wonderful thing, and I've been so grateful for everyone who's been offering support and praise. I'm seriously insanely lucky. My only point of frustration is that, in general, as a fic grows, readers seem to perceive increasing distance between themselves and the author. For instance, people in my comments have increasingly started to address each other instead of me, or have left comments seemingly without the expectation that I'll read them. But when someone comments on the fic, they're still sending that message directly to the author, and I think that some people might... well, they either don't know that, or they don't care. Like, the audience/author distance might be greater than it is for a fic with only 300 hits, but it's not like I'm a showrunner, or some other media production bigwig who'll probably never see 99% of the feedback generated by fans; it's still my pet project that I read basically every scrap of feedback for.
And sometimes (rarely — most of my comments are just so wonderful, and I don't want to sound ungrateful, but) people do say weird or unnecessary things. One comment for the last chapter read, "if krum dies im gonna drop this fic ngl," and that just irritated the hell out of me. Like, if that's your opinion, cool. Your reading habits are none of my business, and I sincerely encourage everyone who needs to take a break from Lionheart — or, hell, even loses interest — to go find something that sparks joy instead. Reading fic should bring you pleasure. No hard feelings, swear to God.
But my frustration with that comment, in particular, was: you do realize that you've sent that message directly to my inbox, right? You realize that was the first thing I read when I opened my comments section after a long afternoon of writing? Someone directly informing me, the author, that a narrative decision (which, either way, I already made about 4-5 months ago) will lose me a reader? And how does this person expect me to react? "Oh, no! I have to go back and rewrite 90,000 words of the story — God forbid I lose you, Single AO3 User Who Left No Other Comments! How can I live with myself if you're not here??"
It's just a bit frustrating. And, to the point — I say this politely, with respect — but if you seriously can't handle seeing characters die, then maybe don't read the fanfiction that's rewriting a series where very many characters die. Just a thought.
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nanjokei · 7 months
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ok heres what ive been thinking of recently
honestly its just raw emotion, i dont really mean to upset anyone or say that they're consuming anything wrong. i'll try to word things as carefully as possible (or ill mince meat as much as possible idk) because i really do not like when people assume ill intent in my words just because i use blunt language at times. (sorry its just how i talk. im not mad at you. im not yelling at you online)
but honestly i have had a long thought about it.
i'm incredibly tired of the lack of curiousity a lot of new vocaloid fans have towards the culture.
statements like "boomers expect me to know songs from 2007" or whatever. i mean, no, no one is Expecting anything from you, that is absolutely a strawman you have invented based on someone merely being surprised (often in jest even), but it's also like. you, who actively identify yourself as a big fan, have never even thought to look back? there are so many playlists and medleys you can consult. it is a few searches away, i don't care. you are not five years old. and if you feel lost you can always ask people there are always so many people just waiting to introduce someone to even one or two old songs they like.
like is it bad that i think you should be a little more passionate if you consider yourself a geek?
what is wrong with me being surprised if you don't know sakura no ame or saihate or whatever. what is wrong with me thinking that it's weird that even with the biggest producers in the world, you have 0 curiousity to look into their old works?
it's not me being old and cranky, i just think it's a little bad and disrespectful that a lot of new fans just see older songs as inherently worse or not worth their time and use them as a strawman to invent some kind of boomer boogeyman who is going after them for not knowing shiningray or celluloid or ikelenka or whatever. even though honestly you should know them. even if you only listen to it once and decide you don't like it, or hell even just know they exist without listening.
like, songs with millions of views on nnd, i want you to at least familiarize yourself, especially if the producers are still active! at the very least!
whats wrong with me wanting people to enjoy amazing music that built up an entire subculture? made by passionate people who didn't even know the scene could last as long as it did? what's wrong with wanting to share my love with another generation?
i'm not denying that there may be outliers who are rude to other fans, but come the fuck on, stop acting coy about it. you should at least be able to recognize one of either the title, sound or thumbnail of the top 100 songs from 2009. not even KNOW them, just recognize, like is that too much to ask?
like, it's something i personally struggle to understand in general when it comes to interests i'm passionate about. i'm not a pushy person by the way, i don't go around heckling people not even as a joke, so i am not even letting anyone put me in the box of "probably acted pushy and didn't realize and is now mad at the other party". like, this is not directed at casual fans. i am just thinking stuff like "why are you hostile towards the idea of learning more about your interest?" and "why are you hostile towards passionate people who want more people to get into what they like?" and "why pigeonhole yourself? learning more means more fun for you."
because what bothers me the most is that eventually it turns into accusations of "gatekeeping" and "elitism" if anyone voiced their opinion about things. i know how im wording it makes it sound like it personally happened to me but it hasn't it is just what i have observed over the years as someone who gets super into stuff and tries to immerse myself and sees other people get into fights whether its the """elitist""" or the """casual""".
why is it like this? i cannot see why wanting to share is elitism or gatekeeping. maybe elitism sure if the other party feels like they're being targeted for no reason (and im not saying it does not happen). but gatekeeping? why is it gatekeeping? wanting to share what you like with others is gatekeeping? isn't that if you told people NOT to get into it and hid it away?
like, im saying it properly so no one misconstrues what i am saying, but i understand not everyone wants or has the energy to become a big fan of something. there are so many things where i am a very casual fan!! but even then i respect the thing i am into by also acknowledging its history at the very least even if i might not ever play/watch/read/etc all of it or at all.
so like... is it bad? is it bad that i think others should have this respect too? i know this is an issue of low empathy or whatever. i have to run around in circles to understand others. i "get" it, but im also like, why cant they be like me? so i want you to know in no uncertain terms that I GET IT. I GET PEOPLE'S POSITIONS HERE. i have been thinking about this general topic my entire life
so in the end it just turned into a general sort of thing. but yeah, i don't understand why people get so defensive and act so persecuted. am i wrong in my point of view? am i just being an elitist after all? like i simply see it as "i want people to enjoy it too."
like, i thought about this stuff after seeing how passionate ado is about vocaloid. like, she is only 21 years old. she is as old as or slightly older than many new fans (though she had liked vocaloid since elementary school). she is the biggest pop star in japan right now and yet her passion has not waned. not to mention so many younger fans that do have that curiousity too. i used to think its not possible, but i see them in the YT comments, going "im 16 but i really like this era of music" and such.
like, please just open your heart. ignore the boogeymen you're hallucinating and just enjoy slowly... it doesn't have to be a study session. naturally you will just discover more songs you like from those eras
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menlove · 9 months
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hi there, i don’t see many people studying religious studies so i’m intrigued. what drew you towards it? what’s your favorite thing about it? id also love to hear your opinion regarding the discourse of one religion being inherently better than the other. also, do you have a favorite religion to learn about?
thank you for the ask!!
honestly a lot of things haha. it was always a special interest growing up. in college I initially went for early childhood education (& that's what my associates is in) but I took a world religions class as an elective and the special interest just Peaked. but I never thought of majoring in it bc I didn't see a plan with it. embarrassingly the next phase of my Special Interest came with good omens in 2018 when I did a bunch of research for a role reversal au.
and I also was dicking around at the bookstore one day a few years ago and picked up a book called "a history of god" by karen armstrong (a good starting place if ur curious- terrible as far as an actual source goes). super super interesting book that sparked a lot of Thinking
skip ahead a few years and I had transferred to a 4 year university and worked the worst childcare job ever and realized I did Not want to be an early childhood teacher. and I said fuck it why not do something I'm passionate about?
my favorite thing about it is just....... getting to Discover things. I love unearthing new (to me) facts and making sense of religious and human history and piecing it all together to make sense of the fucked up and beautiful world we live in. I love looking at various cultures and religions and seeing all the ways humans like to make our lives meaningful (and on a personal spiritual belief level, the ways in which various people and cultures have interacted w the divine, whatever they may call it). I'm getting my minor in history so in general I just really love the history of religion it's very fascinating and illuminating
the discourse on any one religion being better than the others is wild to me. especially when you know the history of especially christianity bc im always like. discovering new ways in which it's entirely constructed. but in general I think every religion has its positives and its negatives and its good and bad people and no one is any better than the other. now some are certainly Worse in the historical sense esp w their impact (im looking at u christianity), but that is the fault of the people upholding those structures and not the religion itself. And Also back to the og point I think basing ur judgement of ppl on religious belief or lack thereof is wild (and that includes anti-theists)
and lastly!!! yes I love love love learning abt judaism and especially ancient israelite religion it's immensely interesting to me and I'm doing my capstone on the connection between the ugaritic texts and the tanakh. but if I'm going Outside abrahamic religions (sorry ik it's a hotly debated term it's just still used academically and I haven't seen a good replacement but anyone else lmk if u have one) I really enjoyed learning abt religious history in china.
sorry this got long but I love to infodump so thank u for asking!! 💖
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adhd-trademark · 1 year
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⚠️💥ATTENTION💥⚠️
Do I have your attention?
Hopefully.
This is a message to hellcheers, steddies, anti-hellcheers, anti-steddies, and anyone who attacks grace van dien online.
I might be a hellcheer myself, but trust me hellcheers, that does NOT mean you are safe from this either whatsoever.
I dont know about you guys, but I am sick and tired of all the toxicity all of us are spreading. Actually, not all of us. There are people in each of these groups (except those of you who attack grace online, I have a message for you later) who are amazing and kind and genuine pleasures to talk to and be around. I'd like to think that I'm one of them, but I'm not going to make that decision. But back to the earlier topic: there are good people in these fandoms/groups. Which brings us to my first point. We need to stop assuming the worst of each other. There are so many stereotypes of each of us, and usually they are just based off of the actions of a few people in the fandom. Example: one person who ships blahblahblah is racist/homophobic/etc, and now the people who ship lalala think all people who ship blahblahblah are racist/homophobic/etc. Now I'm not saying there arent bad people who just say genuinely terrible things in all of these fandoms. Fellow hellcheers directly, specifically the ones doing these things (you probably know who you are), you make me embarrassed to be in the fandom. Honestly. It doesnt matter who said what first or what someone's opinion is, dont be like that, period. This applies to everyone, I just wanted my fellow hellcheers to know that they arent entirely innocent either. No one is. Unless you are one of those genuinely nice people. If you are, I love you guys, no matter which ship you like. But seriously, we can all be better. We are all probably about 14 and older. We're practically adults, almost. We should act like ones. The way you SHOULD talk about an opinion in ships is with respect for the other person's opinion. It's supposed to be sharing points of view, not telling people they are crazy or weird or homophobic or racist or anything else like that if they like something you dont. If we cant act like adults, I think our best option is to simply ignore each other. Get out of each others tags for good. Stop looking for fights. To sum this first argument up, respect each others opinions, act like adults, dont assume something about someone based on what a minority (or even if it is a majority, it doesnt matter) said or did. If we cant do that, we just ignore each other. Leave each other alone. Thank you.
If you are a hellcheer, anti-hellcheer, steddie, anti-steddie, basically anyone who hasn't ever in their life harassed or said something bad publicly about grace van dien, i love you guys! You can go. Have an amazing day. 😊
If you are the people who sit on the safety of their stained futons furiously harassing and talking bad about grace online, publicly, I'm addressing you now.
It's ridiculous. Grace played a character for 14 minutes on a show where all she did in the end was die. Why do you care so much about ruining her career and hurting her? For those of you who like Joseph Quinn and are here, you realize if you said any of this crap about grace to him he would hate you, right? Hes been her number one supporter since all of you started and since the on set harassment issues. And the fact that you can find nothing better to do other than sit on your phone and try to ruin the life of an actress who never hurt you whatsoever is absurd and mildly hilarious, honestly. You guys are adults too. Grow up. The fact that a 16 y.o girl has to come on this app and tell you how to be decent human beings is really, really sad. Reflect on your actions and do better, people.
Have a nice day.
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