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ino-tamukas-baggy-sweater · 4 months

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A Second Chance, A Father's Curse - Part 1 (Ryomen Sukuna X Reader)

This is part of my Royal AU, the first I'm writing for it, there may be inconsistencies between each different fic set within the universe including but not limited to which damn clan does Sukuna belong to, but I'm sure it'll be fine :))

also i hope the family tree kinda makes sense, i can make a separate post showing the different clans and their family trees if needed

Warnings: mentions of an affair, brief mentions of abuse but nothing explicit

Word count: 3.1k

When the boy first showed up everything had been good, a new son had been born into the Itadori clan, the royal family was stronger than ever. This boy threatened to bring all of that down simply by existing. Jin Itadori was not known for his mercy, often ruthlessly leading swathes of knights into battles and leaving none alive, but this boy was no ordinary enemy. His own son, illegitimate, but still his flesh and blood. His wife said nothing when he brought the screaming baby into the nursery that was only meant for one, placing him beside Yuji in his large crib.

Kaori Itadori simply accepted what had been given to her and raised the boy as her own, despite the neglect and clear favoritism shown from Jin to his alleged twin sons. The two were almost identical despite the fact they had different mothers, which was how the lie was able to be carried so easily through their lives. Ryomen knew, he had always known, and he’d hated almost everyone for it. The only people he couldn’t truly even pretend to hate were his adopted brothers, and he let everyone know this vehemently, shirking his duties and often hiding away from elaborate dinner parties or balls he did not want to attend.

Yuji’s heart broke for his brother, and of the five Itadori boys, only the eldest Choso knew of the predicament underlying the twins. The youngest, Eso and Kechizu, were born one after the other, three years apart, with significant health complications and therefore rarely appeared in public. The elder three were fiercely protective, especially Ryomen who’d had a taste of his father’s neglect and despised that Jin had turned it on his youngest sons. None of the three wanted to burden their younger brothers, they’d been told that the pair might not live to become adults, so they had always made sure the boys were well fed and happy.

Ryomen suffered in silence. His teachers could not quell his anger, the best sorcerers warned of his growing cursed energy levels, but nothing was ever done. Nothing really could be done. By the time he turned nineteen he was undoubtedly the strongest of the Itadori boys, and his father was adamantly trying to wed him off to a different kingdom. Ryomen didn’t care, the faster he got out of Khoccadia the better in his opinion. He spent his days training in combat with the knights, including the captains of both the Shadow and Blood units, Megumi Fushiguro, and Takuma Ino.

Megumi Fushiguro interested him, the man was his age, his twin brother’s personal bodyguard, and he had the inherited cursed technique of the Zenin clan, the royal family of a neighbouring kingdom. His unit, aptly named the Shadows, were a small close knit group of Shikigami summoners, led by a wielder of the undisputed king of Shikigami techniques. This made him both an outsider and a refugee, having been forced to prove his loyalty a thousand times over, including regaining the trust of the royal family after his technique was revealed during an attack on the kingdom where he had to unleash his power to protect Yuji.

The other captain, Takuma Ino, wasn’t as interesting or close to him, but still a formidable ally and opponent, having first trained under the royal sorcerer Kento Nanami, before his technique proved to be more useful on a battlefield than overseeing curses. Ryomen often found himself sitting with the pair post-sparring, looking out over the training grounds within the castle walls, and asking himself where he would go if he decided to run. He knew he wouldn’t get far, his cursed energy was much too unique, Nanami would be able to find him with no trouble. His only way out would be this arranged marriage, and he had to be sure it was far far away from here.

This is what eventually lead to Jin Itadori hosting a ball and inviting many of the leaders of nearby nations to attend with their daughters, royal, political, and otherwise. Few invites were sent out past the neighbouring nations, but Ryomen had to be sure, so he had insisted under the cover of lies that his father’s orders had the invitations sent further. When the day of the ball arrived, Ryomen was reluctantly dolled up in a luxurious maroon suit, his hair styled with earrings and cufflinks to match. When he met up with Choso and Yuji, he saw they were dressed similarly to him, but Yuji’s suit is a deep pink and Choso’s a dark purple.

“Don’t we just look a treat,” Ryomen huffed, reaching up and adjusting Yuji’s collar slightly. “They were chosen by mother,” Choso looks away and Ryomen finds himself almost apologising. It wasn’t her fault, she was a victim of the system just as he was, but he shakes it off. “You okay?” Yuji mumbles, giving his brother the same outfit once over. The twins had always known what would make each other look the best, Ryomen let him fuss with his hair a little before swatting his hands away. “I don’t think I’ve ever been okay, I can’t wait to get the hell out of here so I never have to see him again,” He growls. Choso checks his watch as they approach the upstairs entry to the ballroom, the laughter and chatter behind it dying down as someone announces their arrival.

“I hope you find someone,” Yuji squeezes his hand for a brief moment before Ryomen can pull away or protest, dropping his hand before the door swings open and the three of them are revealed to the eyes below. Choso in the centre with his brothers flanking, there are smiles of all kinds as they descend the stairs. Some genuine, some scheming, others that don’t quite reach the eyes of their owners.

Ryomen Itadori doesn’t get nervous, but in this moment he finds his eyes searching for Kaori Itadori. She returns his gaze from her place on the ballroom throne and nods once. This party is for him, it’s his ticket out of here, and it almost feels to him like she’s lending him her strength. The strength to do what she never could. When the three of them reach the bottom of the stairs, his brothers disperse into the crowd to find dance partners, and Ryomen finds himself alone surveying what he can see. The only clan tattoos he recognises around the edges are those belonging to the Zenin clan, the Gojo clan, the Kamo clan and that of the Creyarean district, which is a political power and not run by a royal or empirical clan.

There are a few tattoos he does not recognise, he assumes from further out on the continent, and one in particular draws his gaze. A kindly looking couple, king and queen, with matching filagree tattoos over their facial features, most prominent on their jawline, cheeks, across the nose and in the centre of their foreheads. No other family has tattoos that bold, the closest in comparison is the Kamo clan with a jagged X over the right eye, and he finds himself curious as to their origins. “Brother! I’d like you to meet someone,” Yuji’s voice suddenly cuts into his wandering thoughts and he scoffs, “Leave me alone Yuji,” He grunts, but his brother barges into his space, his mouth right next to his ear as he utters the words that could be Ryomen’s salvation.

“Her family comes from miles away, three kingdoms over!” Yuji hisses. His gaze flits to the girl who stands holding Yuji’s hand, looking like she’s just been dragged at a brisk Itadori walk across half the ballroom (Which she had been). His brother drops her hand as he steps back and presents her, “Allow me to introduce Y/n L/n, of the Iqorian Empire,” Unmarried, she does not bear her parents tattoos, but there are two thick black bands around both her wrists which could be a hint at early clan tattoos that don’t decorate the face.

She curtseys and he feels his demeanour soften slightly, taking her hand which still hovers unsure before her to press a light kiss to the back of it. He keeps his face painfully neutral as he studies her features, her e/c eyes traveling back up to meet his. “Lovely to meet you, Miss L/n, Ryomen Itadori,” He introduces himself politely, though he knows that she must already know who he is, given his brother has a tendency to babble. She uses her free hand to fix her h/c hair before giving him a polite smile, “Some party your parents cooked up, is the potential marriage for diplomatic purposes?” She asks. He clenches his jaw slightly, his gaze scanning the crowd as he instinctively pulls her slightly closer.

His father’s face is dark and sinister, his eyes locked on Ryomen but his mind elsewhere, “You could say that,” He replies, “But I would say it’s freedom,” Her eyes widen and he steels himself, she must be able to sense the years of neglect and abuse on him, he knows he reeks of it, but if she does she doesn’t mention it, “I see,” She murmurs, “Well, would you like to dance?” He looks at her like she’s grown an extra head for a moment, but Yuji punches his side and he blinks, “Yes yes, of course, that would be nice,” His words drift away and he becomes eternally grateful for the dancing lessons Kaori forced him to endure as he leads the girl out into the centre of the dance floor.

The night passes by quicker than he would have liked it to, despite stepping into the ballroom like a caged wolf with the taste of freedom on his tongue. He comes to learn from the girl his brother introduced to him that the royal couple he didn’t recognise, with the outlandish filagree tattoos, are her parents, and he is hooked from that moment on. You of course know there is something he is hiding, but his sudden interest in your clan tattoos brings a soft smile to your face as you look over to your parents. They seem to be overjoyed that you’ve caught the attention of the Itadori son up for grabs, but you know there’s more to it considering the fact that he should be the second in line, and yet is being married out of his family into another.

“I am certain we will be seeing one another again, Miss Y/n,” He murmurs as he presses one last kiss to the back of your hand, his fingers tracing one of the black lines on your wrist. You grab his arm before he can turn away, “Ryomen,” You murmur in response, “Sir, are you in trouble here?” He does not reply, his gaze is hard, but you feel a lack of response is enough for you to fill in the gaps.

He’s not welcome in his family, and you’re determined to get him out and then find out why, even if it means ruining any diplomatic relationship Iqoria could have with Khoccadia. You omit the fears you hold close to your chest when your parents demand to know how your night went, they were watching and already knew you were the only one Ryomen Itadori spent his night with. This is a golden opportunity, he is already well known throughout the continent as the strongest Itadori son, he would be a priceless addition to any family, and nobody else seems to be questioning the fact his father doesn’t seem to want him to stay.

A foolish decision, considering the fact his cursed energy swamped the entire ball from the moment he entered the room, just barely discernible from that of your parent’s royal sorcerer, Satoru Gojo, who came to meet with other royal sorcerers in attendance. You are reunited with Suguru Geto, your personal guard and the Captain of the Iqorian Guards, after conversing with your parents. He escorts you back to the room provided to you within the Itadori’s castle for the night, “I take it the night went well, your highness?” He asks as he follows you in.

You find yourself unable to respond, chewing on your thumbnail as you sit at the dresser, leaning your head on your free hand. Lost in thought you don’t hear him approach until his hand is on your shoulder, “What ails you my lady?” “He’s tormented,” You murmur, “Prince Ryomen, he’s trapped, and something is very wrong with this family,” His face reflected in the mirror is one of soft confusion, and you find you can’t hide anything from him. He’s trained you your whole life, and you trust him sometimes more than you trust your parents, he’s like a second brother to you, “I asked if he was in trouble, and I fear a lack of response or denial is enough to ascertain the danger, I must marry him if he is to survive with his humanity intact,”

Geto frowns and grips your shoulder slightly, “I will call for your maids, this stays between us,” He announces, “Sleep well your highness,” “Where are you going?” “To let your parents know I am in full support of this marriage, he’s incredibly strong after all,” His face is sly as a fox and you find yourself speechless, “He’ll be a great asset if we give him the chance,” Once he is gone you find comfort in the knowledge of his support, thus allowing you to slumber in peace.

When the morning arrives, you find yourself swept up in preparations for the wedding, which you find after questioning the closest maid is to be held that very day. His father must be desperate to get rid of him before he becomes a problem, and you’re more than willing to let Kaori Itadori and her maids along with yours fawn over you and dress you in the finest white dress you’ve ever seen. You’re understandably nervous, your parents dropped by only once that morning to tell you what you already knew about the conversation they shared with Ryomen’s parents, but they also said once the wedding was over you’d be leaving for home almost immediately.

This was, surprisingly, not the most shocking thing you’d heard all morning. It fell just behind the fact that it would be Geto and not your father who would be walking you down the aisle, a few of your closest maids acting as bridesmaids. This is to go along with a Khoccadian custom involving the parents of both spouses, while also incorporating the ‘giving away’ portion from Iqorian marriages. Ryomen’s mother wraps her arms around you quickly outside the throne room before she pushes a bouquet of red roses into your hands, tears in her eyes, “Take care of him,” She whispers, her eyes intense and so full of sadness you think you may cry too. You nod, words escaping you as you turn to the throne room, the music floating out at you different to the wedding music back home.

It dawns on you as the doors open to reveal you to the crowd that you don’t know Ryomen Itadori. You don’t know his favourite food, you don’t know his favourite hobbies, you don’t know what he likes in a partner, you don’t even know what his relationship with his brothers is like. It’s too late to wonder, as you clutch the bouquet in your hand and link your other arm with Geto who has just appeared at your side. His presence helps to calm your nerves, but you’re still antsy as you approach the front of the room where Ryomen waits for you, looking equally antsy but for a different reason.

You know he wants out, and you’re his ticket, you just have to get through the next hour of formalities. The crowd is never truly silent during your ceremony, there’s always a low hum of chatter, but it doesn’t disturb or deter the continuance of the ceremony. You can feel Jin Itadori’s eyes on you almost the entire time and you endeavour to ignore him as best you can, focusing on the feeling of Ryomen’s hands in yours. You take the time before and during vows to study his face, the way he scrunches his nose sometimes or crosses his eyes to make you smile. It works, and he squeezes your hands to add reassurance to the moment, until finally you’re pronounced as husband and wife, and without even a second thought or hesitation he pulls you into him, pressing his lips to yours.

You’re breathless, your hands clutching his biceps, barely hanging onto the threads of your discipline before he pulls you into him for a hug, “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” He mutters against your ear, kissing the side of your head as the crowd cheers and his words are lost in the cacophony of sounds. You let your eyes speak a thousand words as you meet his gaze, smiling softly before finally speaking, “You’re safe now,” His shoulders relax as the two of you turn to walk back down the aisle. Once out of the throne room, his brothers are there to greet him, and Yuji hugs him tightly, “Brother…” He murmurs, “Don’t forget us, you understand?” He grips the back of Ryomen’s head and presses his forehead to his twins, “Promise me?”

Ryomen blinks sadly, “I’ll come back for you,” He whispers. The two younger boys crowd between the twins and Ryomen holds them, the taller one seems quite physically weak, and the shorter one has not opened his eyes, but he holds them close. “How does Ryomen L/n sound?” He asks softly, “Fitting?” Yuji smiles, “For you? It’s perfect,” Just before the two of you can be whisked away by your maids, he grabs his elder brother’s hand, “Choso,” He forces the man to look him in the eyes, “Look after them, don’t let them end up like him, or me for that matter,” He growls, “Swear on your life,”

Choso nods, “I swear on my life,” Ryomen nods one final time, “I hope we’re all better people when we see each other again,” He says, words meant only for his brothers that you catch while ushering your maids away from the moment. His hand on your back is the only warning you get before he’s nudging you along the tidal wave of people who head to the main entrance.

A grand exit, the staircase long, carriages await at the bottom, and Ryomen’s freedom. A price paid a thousand times over, a dream finally allowed to come true, and a man desperately clinging to the bare threads of his humanity. The world gives him a lifeline in the form of a girl second in line to her kingdom’s throne, and he finds he remembers why he endured staying alive all those years. His real family, his only family, his brothers - and maybe even revenge.

twins sukuna/itadori lives rent free in my head because of this app so here's my royal spin on it :) I hope you enjoyed

part 2 here!

#jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x you #ryomen sukuna #ryomen sukuna x reader #yuji itadori #choso kamo #satoru gojo #megumi fushiguro #kento nanami #suguru geto #jjk x reader #jjk x you #sukuna x reader

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tyrantisterror · 1 year

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I Am A Shadow, the True Self: On the Complicated Relationship Between Two Wizard School Stories

Ok, so, I’ve joked about this a lot, explained a bit of it piecemeal over some trivia posts, and just danced around the issue in general, but the events of this month have made me feel it’s finally time to just address it outright and completely. We’re going to talk about the relationship between my wizard school novel series and the far more famous one written by the Trans-Hunter General of Britain. Along the way I’m going to talk about archetypes, formative fiction, being betrayed by the author of said formative fiction, and probably some petty jabs at the world’s favorite magical boy. So if you’re down for me rambling about Wizard School Mysteries some more, or just want to hear me be a bit bitchy about Harry Potter, read on dear friends - and fear not, I’m not putting any WSM spoilers in this one.

Why A Wizard School Story?

It’s a valid question. Wizard School Mysteries began life more as a Scooby Doo pastiche than anything - well, Scooby Doo, Persona 4/5, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer really. I wanted to do a story about teenagers solving mysteries, because that’s a fun genre that many of my favorite stories belong to. I knew that I wanted to have real monsters in mind, and, looking at most of the examples of the mystery solving teens genre that I enjoy, I noticed that the vast majority of them are contemporary - i.e. set in the present of whenever they were published. So it felt like a way to avoid covering ground that my most favorite examples tread would be to set it outside of modern times, and, well, I have this big medieval fantasy setting to play around in.

But that’s where the problem comes in. If you do a mystery solving teens story in a setting with monsters and magic from European mythologies, you’re going to get compared to Harry Potter. Hell, even fucking Persona 5 got compared to Harry Potter, and that was just because it had main character with messy hair and glasses. Harry Potter is such an omnipresent franchise in the current pop culture landscape, there’s no escaping it if you’re even the slightest bit in its orbit.

I don’t think this is fair, mind you. Contrary to popular opinion, Harry Potter did not invent the concept of a magical school. It did not invent the idea of using a magical school as a setting in a fantasy novel. It did not invent using a magical setting as the main setting of a fantasy novel. It didn’t even invent focusing on students at a magical school as your main characters in a fantasy novel. The only reason Harry Potter is treated as synonymous with magical schools is because it made a shitload of money. It’s popular, and so everyone assumes anything similar must be ripping it off, which likely scares a lot of people off of using the wizard school concept themselves for fear of being called a knockoff, which in turn perpetuates Harry Potter’s unofficial ownership of what was once a very common trope.

So what can you do? As I see it, I had three options. First, I could have just scrapped the idea and allow Harry Potter to continue its undisputed ownership of the magical school concept. Option two, I could have just written my story under the pretense that Harry Potter didn’t exist, never addressing their similarities in text, and likely have it be written off as a ripoff anyway.

But then there’s option three: take the fact that people expect a post-Harry Potter wizard school story to imitate Harry Potter, and use it to your advantage to anticipate what your audience expects and subvert it - which, when writing a mystery, is actually pretty useful. I like option three, and obviously it’s the one I chose, because I’ll be damned if I let Harry Potter own this trope, but I’m also mischevious, and if I can use people’s belief that Harry Potter owns the trope to fuck with people, then trust me, I will do it.

The Joy of Archetypes

One thing that my writing has probably made apparent by now is that I love archetypes. Just love ‘em. Love archetypes, love tropes, love stock characters and plot-lines and all these other recurring narrative ideas and tools that appear again and again in fiction. I’m fascinated by how these ideas are modified and repurposed by different authors, how the same basic character can become countless variants all with their own specific meaning and personality depending on who wrote them and what story they were meant for.

Retelling old stories in a new way is how fiction began and how it survived in the days before the written word. It’s a long and proud tradition of humanity, and I love how, if you chart the evolution of archetypes and the like, you can see a sort of conversation between different authors and even different eras of humanity.

Take Arthuriana for example. There are so many different takes on King Arthur just in the middle ages alone, and while the same basic plot beats and casts are retained between them, how those beats play out and the role those characters have to play change depending on which author is telling the story. Is Gawain Arthur’s best friend, or is it Kay, or Lancelot? Is Lancelot the strongest knight, or is Galahad? Is Morgan le Fay an ally or an enemy? Is Guenevere kind or a shrew? It all depends on who’s telling the story - what they liked from the versions that came before, what they disliked or wanted to change, and what they wanted their version of that story to mean.

As a writer, I want to join that conversation, to contribute what I can to it and see what others end up saying in response. And I personally feel that no author has the right to have the final word - there should always be room for more King Arthur tales, and by the same token, there should be room for other wizard schools.

So, whats the conversation I wanted to have with Harry Potter?

Harry Potter Gallant

A part of me wishes I could be one of the cool kids who never liked Harry Potter and always knew JKR was a piece of shit, but alas, I, like many in my generation, was in fact a fervent and passionate fan of it. It wasn’t just a popular thing when I grew up, but a popular thing that was tied to so many deeply personal memories. I remember my mom giving me the first book when I was in sixth grade and encouraging me to read it because I’d relate to Hagrid (I did). I remember my dad taking me to see the movies and loving them so much that he’d initiate marathons of them at home with me during the holidays. I remember brainstorming Harry Potter fanfic ideas with my sister. I remember having long conversations with cute older goth girls in Slytherin ties in high school because they wanted to talk about Harry Potter with someone. And I remember big midnight release parties at Barnes & Noble, where people cosplayed as characters and I got to wander around a bookstore after hours with a dragon puppet on my shoulder. A great deal of my adolescence was shaped by this series - it is, to an inextricable degree, a part of me.

And while I come to bury Harry Potter, not to praise it (for the evil that children’s book authors do lives after them, oh how it lives), I would be dishonest if I didn’t admit there are parts of it that I still find laudable. It had this setting where all these creatures from different mythologies existed at once, often residing in the countries their myths hailed from, and that was neat and clever (I mean, she fucked this idea up royally in execution, but the concept is still fun). There was some very snarky narration and fun humor, but it also had enough flexibility to make things feel real and perilous when the need arose. The Hogwarts house system is this ingenious toyetic idea, and I was far from the only person who liked mulling over which house I thought I’d belong to - and this idea was so good that countless other young adult novels tried to cram it into their story regardless of whether it made any sense to *cough*Divergent*cough*.

It had characters I loved, like Luna Lovegood and Hermione Granger. Remus Lupin was one of the reasons I entered the teaching profession. There’s the subplot of saving Buckbeak, a big friendly monster who is wrongfully written off as a dangerous creature and sentenced to death, which tugged at my monster-loving heart, and the scene where they set the dragon loose to destroy capitalism in the last book. And there’s Hagrid, the large, oafish, cumbersome man who nonetheless has a soft spot for weird animals that other people write off, and who I related to on all those points. A lot of things I loved and maybe could still love... in isolation, at least, from the rest of it.

Perhaps the most important thing about it was the fact that Harry, ostensibly at least, was a pacifist. The seventh book makes a big deal of the fact that Harry’s signature combat spell is the one designed to disarm people rather than hurt them - I’m pretty sure I’m paraphrasing the book when I say Harry is defined as a person who prefers to make violence stop rather than inflict it. That was huge to me at the time.

I was very tender-hearted when I was a little kid. I didn’t like violence most of the time, and preferred thinking of stories where heroes help and befriend people rather than hurt them. I had to create my own, mind you, because when I was a kid there weren’t any stories aimed at boys where the heroes solved their problems with something other than violence. A male hero, pop culture told me, is someone who yells and frowns and beats the shit out of people.

My fellow boys agreed with that, and when they found out I wanted to play pretend about characters who act friendly and try to take care of each other, well, I got bullied to low fucking hell for it. The tenderness was literally beaten out of me over the course of several years, and eventually I learned to stop worrying and love violence, because I might not survive if I didn’t.

Harry Potter didn’t come soon enough to reach me before I grew my callous, but deep beneath it, hidden from the world, what remained of that tender-hearted boy finally saw a hero who reflected himself. Here was a boy hero who stops fights rather than “wins” them, a boy who just wants to be nice.

We later got characters like Aang and Steven Universe, quite a bit after I had grown out of being a boy and a teenager and into adulthood, but Harry Potter was the first of them. And even now there’s a part of me that gets really pissed at how people hate these characters specifically because of their pacifism, because HEAVEN FORBID a male hero doesn’t want to kill people.

...

So yes, Harry Potter affected me in some positive ways. It left a deep impression, one that even now I can’t fully shake off, and one I can’t deny has impacted my own writing. I mean, it was so important to me once that when I wrote my first book, I specifically compared its word count to the first Harry Potter book - once I reached/exceeded that book’s length, I knew I had actually written a novel instead of just a big short story. Loathe as I am to admit it now, I wouldn’t be here without those wizard books.

...but all this said, there’s a reason I’m loathe to admit it. Quite a few of them, in fact.

Harry Potter Goofus

I’m not going to list all of Harry Potter’s sins here, both because it would take way too long, and also because a bunch of other people have done it already. I mean, just check out that video by Shaun that people paraphrase whenever the topic comes up - no, seriously, check it out, I think it actually teaches a lot of lessons on how to do world-building by showing how Harry Potter fucks it up. And if that’s not enough for you, there’s a truly exhaustive 10 hour breakdown by Lily Simpson that’s also well worth a watch if you’ve got the time.

Or read that famous 4Chan greentext:

Harry Potter is filled with all sorts of bad, problematic shit because (spoilers for the next section) its author is a massive closet-fascist bigoted shithead. And because I’m American, she can’t sue me for writing that! But in addition to all its far more serious problems, there are some, well, quibbles I have with the series, some of which I had even when I was a big fan of it.

One of my first issues stems from the toyetic four houses, because even as a kid - in fact, especially as a kid - I knew that if you put a bunch of kids into arbitrary groups and tell them that those groups are going to be their friends, the first thing those kids are going to do 90% of the time is find a kid in one of the other groups and be friends with them instead, because kids don’t like to be assigned friends. If teacher puts you in a group, it’s because they want to keep you from the people you’ll cause a ruckus with, and kids LOVE to cause a ruckus. Yet rule-breaking Harry Potter doesn’t make a single friend outside of Gryfindor until book fucking five? Bullshit, says I! Absolute bullshit!

“But TT,” you might say, “The common rooms only allow students assigned to those rooms in! How can they hang out with friends from other houses if their teacher-assigned hangout location is gated off?” Kids don’t stay in assigned locations! Those little fuckers would be camping in stairwells, hiding in basements, going on the roof, and generally getting in places the staff would rather they not know about, much less explore. Why are Hary, Ron, Hermione, and the Weasely twins the only young people with the desire to get into some shit in this school? Where’s the spirit of youthful rebellion? Are British children actually this fucking domesticated?

And let’s expand on that, actually. Our main trio go on adventures, sure, but where are the fucking shenanigans? You’ve got a bunch of pubescent kids in a location where they outnumber the adults several dozen to one, and they’re also all gifted with the ability to warp reality to their will, albeit imperfectly. Why don’t they do more stupid shit? As my sister once pitched to me, there should be, like, scenes where wizard teenagers enchant shopping carts to fly and ride them off the roof, except one of them fucked up the charm and just plummets straight down. Remember how the Prisoner of Azkaban movie had those wacky little mini-scenes of kids, like, eating candies that made they make animal noises? Shit like that would be so damn common in a wizard school. Where are the fucking hijinks?

Well, part of the reason there’s so few is because Harry Potter is a very focused narrative. That’s generally considered a good thing - if a story meanders too much it risks losing the audience’s interest, especially in this day and age where we try to binge long-form stories as quickly as possible. Audiences don’t like to have their time wasted, and the less focused your story is on its main conflict and characters, the more it risks people tuning out because they feel the story has lost its plot.

Harry Potter is structured in such a way that makes meandering difficult - from top to bottom, its setting and conflict are shaped to serve one character and one character alone, that being Harry Potter himself. Voldemort, the main antagonist, is inextricably tied to and obsessed with Harry Potter, as the plot heaps reason after reason for him to need Harry Potter’s death before he can do anything else. And Harry is tied to Voldemort in the same way. And because the other villains work for Voldemort, their plans revolve around Harry as well, and when other characters get caught in the crossfire, they flock to Harry, because circumstance has built things to make him the one to solve everything. By building everything so thoroughly around the protagonist, you make it very hard to diverge into things that are irrelevant to his journey.

But the downside of that is that, well, the setting and conflict revolve around the protagonist, and as such they break down when you analyze them outside of his story. Why is every player in Quidditch basically just buying time until the Seeker gets the snitch? Because Harry is the seeker and has to be most important always. Why is the conversion rate of wizard money so fucking stupid? Because the books were meant to grow with Harry, so in the beginning the world was whimsical and nonsensical because that’s how it feels when you’re eleven, but then as things got more serious we were just kinda... stuck with those bits. Why is Hermione, a person defined by her intelligence, not in the house whose whole thing is about being smart? Well because we need to keep her and Harry on the same team so Harry’s victories are hers too, obviously! It’s Harry, Harry, Harry, all the time, forever, to the detriment of the world he lives in. There’s a lot of reasons the Fantastic Beasts movies are shit, but one of the big ones is that the wizarding world of Harry Potter just... can’t support stories that aren’t about Harry Potter, by design, because there’s all this baggage built into it purely to facilitate the story of the world’s most special wizard boy. And it’s why Harry is impotent to correct the systemic justices in this poorly written world he inhabits - because those injustices don’t revolve around him, and, being in a focused story as he is, he can’t meander into them like other heroes might do. He’s got a wizard hitler to stop, after all.

One more quibble before our next section: Hogwarts is, like, one of the most hideously ill-managed schools in all of fucking fiction, a nightmare for students and teachers alike. I’m not just talking about the fun life-threatening peril, which is obviously bad for people to live through but is required to have a fun adventure story, but about how teachers like Professor Snape can openly abuse the students to such a degree that one of them fears a teacher more than the witch who tortured his parents into insanity. But it sucks for teachers too - poor Hagrid, a man with the wizard equivalent of a GED who’s been forcibly kept from using magic most of his life and treated as a second class citizen because of his heritage, is thrown to the fucking wolves as a first-year teacher without so much as a unit plan to work off of, and given no support or safety net when the dickwad parent of one of his students decides to sue him for a problem that was said dickwad’s shitty son’s fault. Each year a new charlatan or murderer is hired to be a defense against the dark arts teacher because the position is cursed and no one gives enough of a find a way around that. It’s a nightmare, an absolute nightmare, and as a person who works in the education profession I cannot think about Hogwarts without shuddering in secondhand anxiety.

JK Rowling Is A Bitch-Ass Motherfucker Who Pissed On My Fucking Life

I’m thinking about those nostalgic memories I had, specifically the older girls in the Slytherin ties. You know why they liked Slytherin? Not because of the characters in the books, that’s for sure, every Slytherin in Harry Potter is a fucking asshole. But you know what Slytherins are? Goth-coded. They live in the dungeon, their symbol’s a snake, they like dark magic and skulls and everyone else in the school hates their guts. The characters as written may act like snobby rich pricks (because they are), but they has the aesthetic of the freaks and the geeks, the social misfits, the goths, the punks, the oddballs.

That was a point of appeal to Harry Potter. It had something for the kids who felt weird. I mean, that’s the escapist fantasy of being Harry Potter himself - in the mundane world, he’s a mistreated kid with a shitty life, but then he’s whisked off to a fantastical world where he’s powerful and important and all the bullies who picked on him were wrong. People love Hogwarts - enough to make it The Only Magical School 90% of People Know Of - because it’s a haven for misfits.

Or it was, anyway, until its creator pulled off her mask to show her true TERF colors.

Again, I’m not going to list J.K. Rowling’s sins here, there’s a billion youtube videos for that if you really need them litigated for you. The cool kids who always hated Harry Potter can point to the ansemitic caricature goblins, the sheer fuckery of the race of elfs who are genetically predisposed to enjoying being slaves, the racist names given to non-white characters, the clumsy and poorly thought out way Rowling handled non-European mythical beasts, et fucking cetera, and say, “You should have known! The signs were there!”

And yes, hindsight being what it is, they certainly were there. But it didn’t make the turn less of a shock, unfortunately, and it doesn’t make it sting any less to see her sink further and further into frothing hatred for groups of people who are majorly oppressed. It doesn’t make it hurt any less that last week, when a trans teenage girl was fucking murdered, the New York Times decided to run a piece on why Rowling’s transphobia is, in their view, unjustly maligned. It doesn’t make the audacity of this fucking monster claiming she’s the real victim when the people she maligns are getting fucking murdered while she faces no repercussions beyond people rightly calling her a bigot.

Rowling’s most famous villain, Professor Umbridge, is a woman who believes in strict social hierarchies and orders, refuses to bend for others, and is utterly self righteous about it all. As the story progresses, she ends up unwittingly becoming a staunch ally and servant of the rising fascist movement in her government, helping the forces that earlier she claimed to oppose because they happen to hate the same people she hates. If you read Rowling’s books, you can feel the sheer hatred she has for this bigoted character she made.

And now Rowling tells us that the social construct of gender is universal and inescapable, that anyone who steps outside of it is a criminal and a monster, and she literally thanks people who fucking openly identify as fucking fascists because those people agree with her when it comes to hating the people she hates. Rowling has become Umbridge.

I adored her stories. I looked up to her. The betrayal cannot be understated. I’m furious. I’ve been furious about this for years, and it feels like every week this bigot does some new horrible transphobic thing just to remind me of how utterly she has turned against the freaks and the outcasts to whom she once gave shelter.

Harry Potter is a big part of me and it is poisoned. I can’t enjoy watching those movies with my dad anymore - not without Rowling’s bile seeping in the back of my mind. I can’t enjoy the story of the boy wizard who refused to kill without seeing how he also refused to help, how the world around him paints non-white people in racist caricatures, how the gender essentialism of its creator peeks through cracks in the wallpaper and exudes toxic spores of her malign influence. I was molded by this story and the parts of me it made are now broken beyond repair.

I can’t let that fucking woman have wizard schools. She doesn’t get them. Not without a fucking fight.

In Closing

My goal in writing Wizard School Mysteries was not to make a Harry Potter parody. It was always the intention to make my own take on a mystery solving teens story, one that you should be able to enjoy if you’ve never read, seen, or even heard about any Harry Potter bullshit of any kind. But I knew the comparison would be made - that, whether I liked it or not, Harry Potter owns the concept of wizard schools, at least for the time being.

But it might not own them forever.

And even if it does, well, fine! So be it! Perhaps my story will never escape Harry Potter’s shadow. Who cares? Hell, why not use that - why not poke a little fun at the cultural monolith, and maybe use its own well-known narrative as a way to give my own a little punch?

I’m under no delusions here. I’m a self-published author. I’ve sold about a hundred copies of each book I’ve made, give or take, and suspect less than half of those sold copies were read. I won’t be dethroning Rowling in my lifetime, if ever. This isn’t David vs. Goliath so much as an ant vs. an industrial lawnmower. But if Wizard School Mysteries is doomed to be Harry Potter’s shadow, then let it be a shadow in the vein of the Persona series (which, honestly, WSM takes a LOT more from than it does Harry Potter). It is the shadow, the true self, and it aims to give Harry Potter one hell of a tough and thematically potent boss fight before its work is done.

#Wizard School Mysteries #That fucking wizard series by the fucking terf

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loveyougoodbi · 3 months

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Hamilton to Ferrari and Charles Leclerc

I promised a post with my opinion on this move (specifically how it affects Charles) and honestly I'm still undecided but I thought it's best to sit down and put my thoughts in written form and maybe post later as well.

First of all, what my problem with Lewis moving to Ferrari was. Ferrari had gotten my hopes up in the few weeks prior to the announment in the sense that they want to focus on Charles and that they will give Charles the treatment he deserves. The news of the move shattered all that to pieces in my eyes. To me all it meant was that they are not planning to win the championship with Charles. They are again not giving him the support and trust he deserves. And that hurt.

If you read my thoughts when Charles signed the contract I kept saying one thing: this announcement has changed nothing for me. Ferrari has to prove to me that they are serious about Charles and that Charles' role in the team is the role they claim to have given him: a leader. There are 3 things that (to me) would make me happy about the contract extension and I will now look into each of them separately and how they relate to Lewis joining under the cut.

1. They have to give him a competitive car suited to HIM, not his teammate. ✔️

This is still possible. Charles is the undisputed leader of ferraris car development for 2024. That is more than clear now. 2024 (and probably 2025) cars will be done with charles' feedback.

However, 2024 and 2025 do not matter from a championship perspective. They are still Red Bulls year. And I find it highly unlikely that any team would be able to come close enough in these regulations to even fight for a championship with red bull. The year that matters from a championship perspective is 2026. The car that will be built in 2025 aka the year Lewis is joining. I'm not saying Lewis will automatically take over everything (charles IS ferrari after all) but it's also safe to say that having a 7 time champion with the rank and reputation of Lewis Hamilton would sway the cards to a more equal playing field. And this would happen for the car that matters. But Lewis is a great driver who can drive any car as long as its fast (unlike some people iykwim). So is Charlrs. So this is not a huge concern in terms of them having to slow down the car like they did in 2022. Check

2. He has to have a teammate that will not sabotage him ✔️

Listen im not saying Carlos ever sabotaged Charles but im also not NOT saying that. The impeding (frankly he does that to everyone), the preferable strategies, the purposefully trying to prove he's better (he's not), the whining on the radio, Silverstone, Singapore, refusing to help at any given moment. You get it.

I do not see Lewis (yes I know I called him half of brocedes just yesterday but I was in shock ok? Look away) doing any sort of thing like that to charles. Mostly because Lewis has nothing to prove.

Am I sad and dissapointed that once again Charles has to fight tooth and nail to get that n1 driver position? Yes. Would I have preferred Ferrari to give him a teammate aware of his role (the role being fighting for Charles)? Yes. Do I think Charles can beat 41yo Lewis? Yes I genuinely think he can. I still wouldve liked it if he had it a little bit easier for once in his life but we work with what we can get.

What will happen in 2026 if they are somehow competitive and the team has to choose who to help with the wdc fight? They will probably choose Lewis. Unless Charles is far ahead in points. I am still pissed that they made him have it so difficult and in the end he still might end up having to help someone else get a wdc. I will never not be bitter about this. But I'll move on cos I am not a bitter person (she said lying like a liar).

All in all anything is better than what he had the last 2 years (and probably this year) so I gave it a check just for the fact that it's not Carlos.

3. Ferrari has to want to do it with him, not anyone else. ???

This one im not so sure about folks. If this was true they would not sign the biggest name in the sport who is chasing a record breaking title. They simply wouldn't. A team that believes in you believes in you. They do not bring you competition. They bring you help. Like Christian brought Max help. Like Toto Wolff chased Lewis' help away in 2021 which ultimately led to Lewis losing (yes I do think he would've won 21 if Toto had not chased Bottas away when Lewis needed him most)

That leads me to my final point (more like a question): Why did Charles sign The deal if he didnt feel like Ferrari wants to win with him? I dont think he would do that. What if Lewis IS the help Fred is bringing Charles? I personally would love to see Charles and Lewis bringing Ferrari back to its glory days together. Lewis by bringing in the team and reputation, Charles by being a generation talent, Il predestinato my beloved. Either Ferrari lied to us (and Charles) or Fred is COOKING!!! Honestly now that we're in this, it all comes down to: I'm just waiting and seeing what will happen and I trust Charles immensely which means I also trust him to leave if he doesn't feel like his dream is being taken care of. That is it.

#f1 #charles #f1 analysis #honestly when i started writing this i was way less positive than by the end of it #if you ever have difficulty processing something just sit down and write it down #i know reading it from someone else is encouraging but nothing is better than coming to a conclusion on your own #frankly now i cant wait for what 2025 and fred and charles have in store for us in the future #charles leclerc #lewis hamilton

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padraigshomebrewworkshop · 3 months

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D&D Ramblings: Dragons Part 1 (Chromatic)

Hello, It's been a little bit so I thought I would do something a little different. This was mostly brought on by Pointy Hats recently started dragon series over on their YouTube channel. Specifically with how he is dissatisfied with the typical Metallic/Chromatic/Gem split and how it doesn't offer much story potential beyond a big boss fight sort of encounter.

I have to admit, I am dissatisfied with these categories, mostly because they are very flat in motivation and theme. Until very recently, it was assumed that all chromatic dragons were evil because they were evil and metallic dragons were good because they were good. And even after this was slightly mitigated with recent books like Fizban's, they are still very flat in their motivations. As for gem dragons... I don't have much of an opinion, and that might be a problem in of itself. Beyond their aesthetic and unique elemental breaths, they have very little that sticks them together and in the mind.

Now, why make this post? Well, I have my own thoughts on how these three groups could be changed to make them more interesting, at least for me. These changes may not work for you, and that's fine. These are just my thoughts on them. Now then....

To start...

Lets discard of the Evil/Neutral/Good split. Yes, like quite a few others, I hold umbrage with using alignments. Specifically, I dislike it when an entire group is evil or good just because they are, with no real reason or explanation beyond some metaphysical something or whatever. Now, what do I propose instead? Well, I believe using a different sort of trinity of ideals would work better, specifically using Past/Present/Future as a base for them. Let me go into detail for each.

Chromatic as "The Past":

So, for the past I chose chromatic dragons. To start, aesthetic wise they have the closest connection to the primal elements (as far as D&D is concerned), that being acid/poison/fire/cold/lightning. They also look the most natural out of the three groups, having scales that are merely different colors instead of being made of metal or gemstones. Now, what kind of ideology can we give them that aligns with the past?

To start, lets look at the typical story dragons as a whole are given in various settings. More often then not, dragons are described as one of the first powerful creatures to come into existence. As such, they dominated those below them, often forming an empire with dragons at the top. Also, more often then not, this empire comes to ruin in one way or another. This gives us a good first step. Perhaps a majority of chromatic dragons yearn for a return to the previous majesty of dragons, when they were undisputed rulers of the world. However, let's add on some more. Perhaps this version of chromatic dragons have an exceptionally close connection to the natural world, or at least its "Primal State". They have a distaste for those who try to change the natural world, which they see perfect as is. As such, they have a distaste for most humanoids and their cities. This also extends to their horde and lair, preferring naturally formed structures such as cave networks and natural treasures such as uncut gemstones and unrefined ore. If this version of chromatic dragon has a patron deity, it would be a god of nature and the primal state of the world, perhaps acting more like a fickle force of nature then like any known humanoid deity.

Story Potential

With this new ideology, lets see what stories can be made using this version of chromatic dragon. Obviously, we can have the typical big boss fight, but the fact they now have more potential as NPCs can be quite obvious. Perhaps a green dragon is acting as a leader to a druid grove, granting them greater connection to the forest they call home with the dragons inherent connection to it. Perhaps a red dragon is apposing a large scale dwarven mining operation near its home, not out of greed, but due to it seeing such an operation as a plundering of the natural world. Perhaps a black dragon kills any who come into its swamp, trying to protect the endangered plants and animals that reside there. As for a yearning for their ancient majesty, this can be tackled in different ways as well. Perhaps a dragon watches over a tribe of humanoids with a condescending, almost parental attitude, seeing itself as guiding hand for these "weak and childish" creatures. Or maybe a group of dragons try to perform a ritual that will turn back time to when dragons ruled over all, hoping to change the path of history so that their empire never collapsed. I honestly believe that this is a far more interesting version of chromatic dragons. One that grants greater story potential and far more interesting NPC dragons.

#d&d #dnd #ramblings #ideas #storytelling

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cynosra · 2 years

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King of the cockroaches

Warning: This post contains some close-up images of cockroaches. Be mindful of that, if you’re afraid of these insects.

Introduction

If asked which animals they’re primarily associating with Tomura Shigaraki, most people would probably be immediately thinking of moths. After all, in the manga, he has been depicted with mothwings on more than one occasion.

Moths, however, aren’t the only animals that can be used as symbols for Tomura. In fact, there is another species of insects that, in my opinion, fits him just as well: cockroaches. And before you come at me with torches and pitchforks, please hear me out.

Tomura is, by far, my favorite character in BNHA and one of my favorite characters of all time. So, this is definitely not a post à la “Ugh, Tomura is so gross. Just like a cockroach.” Rather, my intention is to point out what cockroaches are symbolizing in general, explain some of their – well – quirks, and try to establish a connection between those aspects and Tomura’s role in the story and – literally – some of his own quirks.

So, buckle up – this is going to be a long post.

Cockroaches in the manga

As you all may remember, cockroaches were alluded to on at least two different occasions in BNHA.

In chapter 220, Spinner mentions how some people hate chocolate and some love cockroaches.

Honestly? I would be lying if I told you I had an undisputed answer on what this statement truly means. I can only give you my personal interpretation of it: We know that Spinner is recounting the events from the Meta Liberation Army arc (from the killing of the CRC to the encounters with Gigantomachia and Ujiko up until the confrontation with and eventual victory over the Meta Liberation Army) only after all these things occurred. After Tomura’s defeat of ReDestro and his gaining control of the Meta Liberation Army.

Thus, at the time of retelling this tale, Spinner had already become Tomura’s most loyal follower. Even without wearing my Spinaraki-goggles, I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to say that Spinner loves Tomura. And I don’t even necessarily mean that in a romantic sense. After all, love doesn’t always have to be of romantic nature. (When thinking about how to characterize the nature of Spinner’s feelings towards Tomura, I can’t help but think of Philip Pullman’s description of Roger Parsley’s feelings towards his best friend Lyra Belacqua, the protagonist of His Dark Materials: “He was her devoted slave by this time; he would have followed her to the ends of the earth.” (Though, the slave part might be a little exaggerated on Spinner’s part. Probably. Maybe…))

However, fact is that at the time of his narration Spinner had already become completely devoted to Tomura. At this point, he had also been witness to some of his leader’s – let’s call them cockroachesque – peculiarities on various occasions. So, at the time of him reflecting on the events of MVA, Spinner might have already been subconsciously associating Tomura with cockroaches. Hence, him telling the reader about some people’s love for cockroaches. (But again, that is only my interpretation.)

The second reference to cockroaches in the manga is the title of chapter 223 – “Cockroaches”.

Yet again, different possible meanings are hiding behind that title. To Gigantomachia, whom the League was fighting against during that chapter, Tomura and the others probably felt like nothing more than a bunch of annoying little roaches. And then, there is also the Meta Liberation Army who saw the League of Villains as nothing more than some insects that are continuously stealing their thunder and therefore need to be squashed. However, this chapter was also yet again another reminder of Tomura’s inhumane durability (having fought against Gigantomachia for one and a half months, only being able to rest every 48 hours, with those breaks only lasting for about three hours – in fact, no normal human being should be able to survive such an ordeal) and how you just can’t get rid of him. No matter what you’re doing. No matter what you’re trying.

And with that out of the way, it’s time to list some of Tomura cockroach-like qualities.

Tomura’s cockroach-like abilities and peculiarities

1. Outward Appearance and Posture

These points might be a little superficial (especially compared to the points yet to come), but I would like to include them, nonetheless. As we all know, Tomura predominantly dresses in black with some red accents here and there.

Black is also the color commonly associated with cockroaches. However, taking a closer look at the American cockroach, one of the most well-known species, one can see that its wings have more of a reddish-brown color rather than being pitch-black – a shade of color that isn’t all that different from the dark red color of the capes coats Tomura’s been wearing lately.

Then, there is also his posture. Tomura has the tendency to sit and walk around with his back almost as crooked as a question mark. Okay, this might be a little exaggerated on my part, but fact is that his posture is definitely not the best.

When I look at manga panels with his back bent like that, I’m kinda reminded of how cockroaches, at first glance, also seem to have a stoop. (Though, in their case it’s, of course, part of their anatomy.)

Tomura’s penchant for crouching down on all fours is not helping matters, either.

2. Speed

His manner of dressing and posture combined with his inhumane speed makes it hard for me to get the cockroach image out of my head when thinking about Tomura.

Speed-wise, he may not be on par with All Might (at least he wasn’t before the surgery), yet he has always been one of the fastest characters in the story, being almost too fast for the naked eye – just ask Midoriya, Asui, or Re-Destro.

Being too fast for the naked eye would most likely also apply to cockroaches if they were the same size as humans. Their erratic sprints are already hard to keep up with, even in their regular size. (If you’ve ever seen a cockroach sprinting around, you know what I’m talking about.) But now, try to imagine a human-sized cockroach sprinting around. Many scientists are sure that it would be much faster than a cheetah (the fastest terrestrial animal there is), maybe even as fast as a Formula-1-racing-car.

However, I think it’s not too unreasonable to believe that Tomura post-surgery is just that fast, if not even faster.

3. Tomura’s room

Now, let’s take a look inside the room Tomura was living in before All For One got arrested.

One of the first things you’ll notice is that it’s full of trash. Leftover food on the floor. Trash bags as far as your eyes can see. Moreover, there seem to be no windows in his room either. It’s always dark, even in the middle of the day.

All of this makes Tomura’s room pretty much a paradise for cockroaches. (Though, I doubt that there is any way that a cockroach would ever find its way into All For One’s skyscraper, let alone be able to reproduce in there.)

It looks as if Tomura hasn’t cleaned up for months, maybe even years. Yet, since he never showed any real sign of discomfort during the League’s time of homelessness, apparently having no problem with dwelling in abandoned warehouses and factory buildings or run-down cabins, I don’t think that he had any problem with living in a room peppered with trash, either. I also have no doubt that he wouldn’t have minded sharing his room with dozens of six-legged little roommates. Tomura really doesn’t strike me as someone who would be afraid of roaches or bugs or spiders. (Though, even he might find it a little irritating, if cockroaches were to nibble on his toes or stuff like that.)

4. Adaptability

This brings us to another important aspect: adaptability. Roaches are said to be very adaptable. It is no coincidence that they’ve been living on this planet for more than 300 million years without changing their anatomy all that much. Moreover, roaches can be found pretty much everywhere on earth – minus the Arctic and Antarctica. They’re able to quickly adapt to new environments.

In the last point, I’ve already touched on Tomura being mostly unbothered by the League of Villains’ state of homelessness after the Kamino arc. In fact, I would say that all things considered he deals with this new situation surprisingly well.

Of the six core members of the League, (most likely) only Dabi, Himiko, and Twice have had some experience with longer periods of homelessness. That is not to say that there is no way that the same might apply to Spinner and Mr. Compress as well, but unlike Twice, Himiko, and Dabi, those two were never hinted to have lived on the streets for an extended amount of time. Additionally, they appear to be the ones most bothered by the League’s situation after the defeat of Overhaul.

Compare this with Tomura – probably the most “sheltered” out of all the League members. Unlike Mr. Compress and Spinner, however, Tomura is never shown complaining about their situation at all. This is actually kind of surprising when you remember that at the beginning of BNHA Tomura was very prone to complaining. Furthermore, I assume that while being under All For One’s “care”, Tomura probably never had to lift a single finger to do stuff like procuring food etc. But with All For One and Kurogiri gone, there is no one left to “baby” him. The other League members may be his subordinates, but they’re not his servants.

What’s more is that without Kurogiri and All For One, he can no longer rely on his caretakers to bail him out, if his plans go south. Even after the events of the Kamino arc, he is, admittedly, not completely on his own all of a sudden. He still has the remaining League members. But whereas before he could count on the guidance of All For One and Kurogiri, now it was him who had to guide the other members.

With both All For One and Kurogiri in prison and their hideout destroyed, Tomura was thrown in at the deep end. The life he had been living for the past 15 years suddenly came to a very abrupt end. And so, he had no choice but to quickly adapt to his new life.

And all things considered, I would say he did a pretty solid job. He takes the League’s state of homelessness completely in stride. And even more importantly, he’s now getting along with people he would have killed without a second thought only two months prior. He’s able to work with people that, in one way or another, are fixated on his nemesis Stain. Moreover, he has no problem with people questioning his goals or even outright telling him to his face that they don’t care about him or his plans. A far cry from the Tomura we’ve met at the beginning of the series.

Apart from that, Tomura was also able to secure his first victories in the story: first against Overhaul and then against Re-Destro. (This means that he achieved his best results while being (mostly) cut off from All For One’s “protection” and resources. How ironic…)

With the imprisonment of All For One and Kurogiri, Tomura was forced to adapt to a completely different life and (somewhat) grow into his own. Yet, at the same time, at his core, he didn’t really change. He is still hell-bent on destroying everything that rubs him the wrong way. And he is still very much under All For One’s thumb.

In conclusion, just like a cockroach, he adapted to his new life without really changing who or what he is. He still stayed true to the person he has been for the past 15 years.

5. Durability and Resilience

Durability and Resilience are probably the most impressive qualities cockroaches possess and, by far, the most important parallel between them and Tomura.

Here is a list of some of the most remarkable feats of durability and resilience cockroaches are capable of:

- Even though they’re only weighing about 1 gram, their bodies can be burdened with weights up to 100 grams without the cockroaches getting hurt.

- They can devour pretty much anything. If there’s nothing else to find, they will even eat scraps of wallpaper or the rubber coating of postage stamps. There are even reports of cockroaches feasting on secretions on human bodies that had succumbed to very dangerous diseases. The pathogens of these diseases, however, can be easily handled by the immune system of a cockroach.

- Cockroaches are able to survive more than a week without a head – before finally succumbing to thirst as they need their head for water intake.

- Contrary to many rumors, cockroaches lack the ability to survive an atomic war. They are, however, still able to survive ten times the radioactive radiation we humans can handle.

- Over time, they have developed immunities to many different insecticides. Some scientists are even convinced that there will come a time when cockroaches are completely immune against any insecticide there is, even against combinations of different substances.

Let’s continue with a list of some of Tomura’s most impressive showings of resilience and durability:

- Putting up with bullet and stab wounds as if they were nothing more than a side note.

- Shrugging off an explosion point-blank to the face completely unscathed.

- His struggle against Gigantomachia. Fighting against an all-powerful giant for one and a half months straight, only getting to rest for three hours every 2 days.

- Being pushed into a fight against an army with more than 100.000 members without having had a proper rest for more than a month, surviving somehow, and killing a good chunk of the enemy fraction. (Kudos to all the members of the League for going through this insanity and living to tell the tale.)

- Getting three of his fingers squashed off completely but, in the end, shrugging it off as if it was nothing.

- Undergoing Ujiko’s torturous surgery and somehow surviving three months of hellish pain.

And these were only his showings pre-surgery. Tomura’s feats post-surgery include:

- Getting his skin and a good chunk of his flesh burnt off by Endeavor and being completely unimpressed, even before his new regeneration quirk kicked in.

- Again, shrugging off one of Bakugou’s explosions. This one, however, being much more powerful than the last one.

- Tomura’s body literally falling apart, but him being more concerned with the current date than anything else.

- Tomura (more or less) shrugging off getting kicked and punched around like a ragdoll by Midoriya using 100 percent of One For All which among other things resulted in Tomura’s lower jaw almost falling off.

- Even though he had sustained very heavy injuries during the Paranormal Liberation War arc, by the time of his fight against Star and Stripe, his wounds had completely healed. Moreover, he had arguably become even stronger than he was during the War arc.

- Surviving being in an area where the atmosphere has ceased to exist.

- Getting shot with a dozen lasers and shrugging it off as if it was nothing.

- Surviving being in the immediate range of the BNHA-equivalent of an atomic missile and getting pretty much all of his flesh burnt off.

- After successfully stealing it and killing its former owner, Star and Stripe’s quirk New Order was more of a curse rather than a blessing, acting like poison destroying his body from the inside. Tomura, however, was able to survive until the quirk had completely faded away.

- Getting electrocuted during the current battle, but, just as usual, shrugging it off like it was nothing.

- Even though New Order had destroyed some of his most valuable quirks, Tomura’s body, thanks to quirk singularity, has evolved to such an extent that you really have to ask yourself how the heroes are even supposed to defeat him.

A monstrous cockroach that can’t be killed?

Some scientists claim that if cockroaches had the same size as humans, they would be pretty much indestructible. One could argue that from the heroes’ point of view Tomura is just that (turned up to eleven): A monstrous cockroach disguised as a human which they just can’t kill no matter what they try. And even if they succeed in killing him, he will just pull himself back to life, more powerful and angry than before – and, worst of all, even more determined to destroy everything the heroes have been building up for decades.

I know that many people hate this development. They hate how Tomura is completely over-powered now. They think that Tomura willing himself back to life is cheap writing and that his fight against Star and Stripe was totally redundant. However, I completely disagree with these sentiments. These story beats are Horikoshi’s admittedly very unsubtle way to tell us that Tomura indeed cannot be killed. It is pretty much impossible. It is the wrong way to deal with him. It’s just as futile as trying to kill a human-sized cockroach by throwing a leather boot at it. Many readers have actually already figured that out. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for most of the heroes. Best Jeanist and co. have proven that they have learned exactly nothing from their last encounter with Tomura and the other villains, neither from Tomura’s monologue in chapter 281 nor from Dabi’s revelations about Endeavor and the abuse and neglect he put his family through, etc.

The heroes’ refusal to learn from their mistakes and the way they are dealing with villains are big reasons why their society has gone to hell like that. The story has presented more than enough opportunities for the heroes to learn and to reach out, but they wasted. Every. Single. One of them, with the two most egregious examples being Endeavor’s non-reaction to Tomura accusing heroes of hurting their families to save complete strangers and Best Jeanist, after Dabi’s broadcast, being more concerned with the public losing faith in heroes than the Number-1-prohero being an abuser.

In fact, the only hero who appears to have somewhat changed his mindset about the villains is Gran Torino of all people – by going from seeing Tomura as a monster which needs to be put down to the equivalent of a rabid dog that is too far gone to be saved and should be mercy-killed. Glorious.

It’s quite sad that the only ones who truly seem to have thought about what the villains were saying and are starting to actually question things are two sixteen-year-olds.

But how does the saying go? An old dog can’t learn new tricks. For decades, heroes always dealt with villains the same way: Beat them up and then wait for the police to arrive and arrest them. None of them seems to have ever paused for a moment to think about the origin of villains. Why do people become villains? The answer, proheroes and most of hero society have come up with, is that villains are inherently evil. They’re just being evil and doing evil things for evil’s sake. Case in point: Even after learning that Tomura is Nana’s grandson and that he most likely was groomed into villainy by All For One, Gran Torino rejects All Might’s wish to do something for his master’s grandson and insists on treating Tomura like any other villain.

Naturally, this black and white thinking is completely wrong. Villains aren’t born. They’re made. And hero society plays a big role in creating them by letting individuals fall through the cracks.

But that’s not all: Hero society also plays a big role in further radicalizing its villains and making them more dangerous. Case in point: Hawks’ murder of Twice may have neutralized the immediate threat of Twice using his Sad Man’s Parade to turn the tide of the war in the villain’s favor. Yet, in the long run, it also further radicalized Himiko and Dabi, with them being more in line than ever with Tomura’s belief that everything should be destroyed. And now, Dabi even made sure that Himiko is able to do a Sad Man’s Parade (or a Sad Girl’s Parade) of her own, so what exactly did Hawks truly accomplish with his murder of Twice?

Hero society is a little like a beautiful house with large rooms full of light, antique furniture, expensive paintings on the wall, charming knick-knacks everywhere, lovely hosts, and walls decorated with pretty wallpapers where thousands of cockroaches are hiding behind. Whenever the hosts notice a cockroach getting into one of the rooms, they’re quick to squash it with a boot or kill it with a potent insecticide. Unfortunately, this won’t solve the actual issue of thousands of cockroaches living inside of the walls. Even more unfortunate is that more and more cockroaches are finding their way into the rooms. As if that wasn’t enough, it’s also getting harder and harder to kill them. Over time, they’ve become immune to the trusty insecticide the hosts have been using for decades. These days, even crushing them under a boot is often not enough to kill them.

Furthermore, they’re getting more aggressive, trying to defend themselves instead of fleeing from the hosts. And now, to make matters even worse, there appeared one monstrous cockroach which not only can’t be killed but is actively hunting the hosts. Suffice to say, the hosts are pretty much screwed and all of the house’s beautiful rooms will soon be infested with thousands of cockroaches.

If you’re asking yourselves, how I came up with such a freaky comparison – well, it was actually inspired by how Tomura himself sees hero society, more precisely, by his descriptions of hero society in chapters 88 and 281.

“All these vague things have kept the lid on society’s filthy underbelly. We’re smashing through, though. And to do that, we’re removing you from the picture, All Might.”

“You Heroes pretend to be society's guardians. For generations, you pretended not to see those you couldn't protect and swept their pain under the rug. It's tainted everything you've built. That means your system's all rotten from the inside with maggots crawling out. It all builds up, little by little, over time. You've got the common trash, all too dependent on being protected. And the brave guardians who created the trash that need coddling. It's a corrupt, vicious cycle. Everything I've witnessed, this whole system you've built has always rejected me. Now I'm ready to reject it. That's why I destroy. That's why I took this power for myself. Simple enough? I don't care if you understand. That's what makes us heroes and villains.”

By continuously ignoring people that have fallen through the cracks and beating down villains without ever questioning how they came into being, hero society has created a filthy underbelly festering with rats, maggots, and cockroaches beneath its shiny façade. The continuous rejection and beating down of villains have accumulated over time, with the dark underbelly and the filth inside growing. And now, hero society, with the friendly assistance of All For One and Ujiko, has finally succeeded in creating its own worst nightmare: a villain that’s hell-bent on destroying everything and that can’t be defeated by the heroes. Congratulations, everyone.

Or rather a person that can still be saved?

I’ve spent a long time ranting about the parallels between Tomura and a cockroach, but I’d like to end this post by pointing out the one key difference: Tomura is a human being. He is not an insect. He is not an animal. He is neither a monster nor an “it” no matter what heroes like Gran Torino or Mirko think. Tomura is a person. A person that’s been needing to be saved for almost his whole life.

At this point, saving Tomura is the only way for the heroes to save themselves, their loved ones, and even the whole world.

Yet, the only person to at least consider attempting to save him is Midoriya. With that, Midoriya has already proven that he is a better hero than people like Gran Torino, Hawks, Endeavor, Best Jeanist, Mirko, and even All Might himself. However, as long as Midoriya doesn’t reject Gran Torino’s mindset in its entirety, he won’t be able to save Tomura, let alone save the world. And he’s still not completely there yet. He’s still clinging to some of Gran Torino’s beliefs. Hence, why he’s still wearing Gran Torino’s cape and hasn’t completely rejected the idea of having to kill Tomura.

But, to save the world he has to save Tomura. And to save Tomura, he has to wish for it with all of his heart. There won’t be room for doubt or hesitation or loopholes à la “if there’s no other possibility to save everyone, I am ready to kill him”.

It won’t be enough to reluctantly approach Tenko and maybe try to reach out a hand with sparks of Gran Torino’s beliefs still lingering in his heart and mind.

Midoriya will have to put out every last spark of Gran Torino’s mindset and his own doubts regarding whether someone like Tomura can and should be saved, and walk over to Tenko without hesitation and with his hand truly reached out. In other words: he has to approach Tenko with the same fierce determination to save as he did with Bakugou.

Otherwise, he won’t be able to stop the rot which is slowly decaying the world.

#shigaraki tomura #bnha #shigaraki meta #midoriya izuku #league of villains #bnha spinner #dabi #toga himiko #hero society #gran torino #cockroaches #it's tomura's birthday #and i'm posting a meta comparing him to a cockroach #i'm the worst shigaraki stan ever #bnha meta

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a-room-of-my-own · 4 years

Note

Have you read "An Apology to JK Rowling" by Petra Bueskens on Areo? I'm pathetically grateful to read something so clever and well articulated on the subject after the amount of abuse JK has been subjected to

It's a great piece so here it is, thank you anon!

Rowling recently published an eminently reasonable, heartfelt treatise, outlining why it is important to preserve the category of woman. There’s only one thing wrong with it: it assumes a rational interlocutor. Rowling outlines why the biological and legal category of sex is important: in sports, in rape crisis shelters, in prisons, in toilets and changing rooms, for lesbians who want to sleep with natal women only and at the level of reality in general. Rowling marshals her experiences as an androgynous girl, as a domestic violence and sexual assault survivor and as someone familiar with the emotional perils of social media, in ways that have resonated with many women (and men). Her writing is clear, unpretentious, thoughtful, moving, vulnerable and honest. At no point does she use exclusionary or hostile language or say that trans women do not exist, have no right to exist or that she wants to rob them of their rights. Her position is that natal women exist and have a right to limit access to their political and personal spaces. Period.

Of course, to assume that her missive would be engaged with in the spirit in which it was intended, is to make the mistake of imagining that the identitarian left is broadly committed to secular, rational discourse. It is not. Its activist component has transmogrified into a religious movement, which brooks no opposition and no discussion. You must agree with every tenet or else you’re a racist, sexist, transphobic bigot, etc. Because its followers are fanatics, Rowling is being subjected to an extraordinary level of abuse. There seems to be no cognitive dissonance among those who accuse her of insensitivity and then proceed to call her a cunt, bitch or hag and insist that they want to assault and even kill her (see this compilation of tweets on Medium). She has been accused of ruining childhoods. Some even claim that the actor Daniel Radcliffe wrote the Harry Potter books—reality has become optional for some of these identitarians. Rowling’s age, menstrual status and vagina come in for particularly nasty attention and many trans women (or those masquerading as such) write of wanting to sexually assault her with lady cock, as a punishment for speaking out. I haven’t seen misogyny like this since Julia Gillard became our prime minister.

The Balkanisation of culture into silos of unreason means that the responses have not followed what might be loosely called the pre-digital rules of discourse. These rules assume that the purpose of public debate is to discern truth and that interlocutors on opposing sides—a reductionist bifurcation, because, in fact, there are many sides—engage in argument because they are interested in something higher than themselves: an ideal of truth, no matter how complicated, multifaceted and evolving. While in-group preferences and biases are inevitable, these exist within an overarching deliberative framework. This style of dialogue assumes the validity of a persuasive argument grounded in reason and evidence, even if—as Rowling does—it also utilises experience and feeling. By default, it assumes that civil conflict and opposition are essential devices in the pursuit of truth.

Three decades of postmodernism and ten years of Twitter have destroyed these conventions and, together with them, the shared norms by which we create and sustain social consensus. There is no grounding metanarrative, there are no binding norms of civil discourse in the digital age. Indeed, as Jaron Lanier shows with his bummer paradigm (Behaviours of Users Modified and Made into an Empire for Rent) social media is destroying the fabric of our personal and political lives (although, with a different business model and more robust regulation, it need not do so). The algorithm searching for and recording your every click, like and share, your every purchase, search term, conversation, movement, facial expression, social connection and preference rewards engagement above all else—which means that your feed—an aptly infantile descriptor—will quickly become full of the things you and others like you are most likely to be motivated to click, like and share. Outrage is a more effective mechanism through which to foster engagement than almost anything else. In Lanier’s terms, this produces a “menagerie of wraiths”—a bunch of digitised dementors: fake and bad actors, paid troll armies and dyspeptic bots—designed to confect mob outrage.

The norms of civil discourse are being eroded, as we increasingly inhabit individualised media ecosystems, designed to addict, distract, absorb, outrage, manipulate and incite us. These internecine culture wars damage us all. As Lanier notes, social media is biased “not towards the left or right but downwards.” As a result, we are witnessing a catastrophic decline in the standards of our democratic institutions and discourse. Nowhere is this more evident than in the contemporary culture wars around the trans question, where confected outrage is the norm.

This is why the furore over Rowling’s blog post misses the point: whether we agree with her or not, the problem is the collapse of our capacity to disagree constructively. If you deal primarily in subjective experience and impulse-driven reaction, under the assumption that you occupy the undisputed moral high ground, and you’ve been incited by fake news and want to signal your allegiances to your social media friends, then you can’t engage in rational discussion with your opponent. Your stock in trade will be unsubstantiated accusations and social shaming.

In this discombobulating universe, sex-based rights are turned into insults against trans people. Gender-critical feminists are recast as immoral bigots, engaged in deliberately hurtful, even life-threatening, speech. Rowling is not who we thought she was, her ex-fans wail, her characters and plots conceal hidden reservoirs of homophobia and bigotry. A few grandstanders attempt to distinguish themselves by saying that they have always been able to smell a rat—no, not Scabbers—and therefore hated the books from the outset. Nowhere amid this morass of moral grandstanding and outrage is there any serious engagement with her ideas.

Those of us on the left—and left-wing feminists in particular—who find trans ideology fraught, for all the reasons Rowling outlines, are a very small group. While Rowling is clearly privileged, she has also become the figurehead of a rapidly dwindling and increasingly vilified group of feminists, pejoratively labelled terfs, who want to preserve women’s sex-based rights and spaces. Although our arguments align with centrist, conservative and common sense positions, ours is not the prevailing view in academia, public service or the media, arts and culture industries, where we are most likely to be located (when we are not at home with our children). In most of these workplaces, a sex-based rights position is defined a priori as bigoted, indeed as hate speech. It can get us fired, attacked, socially ostracised and even assaulted.

As leftist thinkers who believe in freedom of speech and thought, who find creeping ideological and bureaucratic control alarming, we are horrified by these increasingly vicious denunciations by the left. The centre right and libertarians—the neo-cons, post-liberals and the IDW—are invariably smug about how funny it is to watch the left eat itself. But it’s true: some progressive circles are now defined by a call out/cancel culture to rival that of the most repressive of totalitarian states. Historically, it was progressives who fought against limits on freedom of speech and action. But the digital–identitarian left split off from the old print-based left some time ago, and has become its own beast. A contingent of us are deeply critical of these new directions.

Only a few on the left have had the gumption to speak up for us. Few have even defended our right to express our opinions. Those who have spoken out include former media darlings Germaine Greer and Michael Leunig. Many reader comments on left-leaning news sites claim that Rowling is to blame for the ill treatment she is suffering. Rowling can bask in the consequences of her free speech, they claim, as if having a different opinion from the woke majority means that she is no longer entitled to respect, and that any and all abuse is warranted—or, at least, to be expected. Where is the outrage on her behalf? Where are the writers, film makers, actors and artists defending her right to speak her mind?

Of course, the actors from the Harry Potter films are under no obligation to agree with JK Rowling just because she made them famous. They don’t owe her their ideological fealty: but they owe her better forms of disagreement. When Daniel Radcliffe repeats the nonsensical chant trans women are women, he’s not developing an argument, he’s reciting a mantra. When he invokes experts, who supposedly know more about the subject than Rowling, he betrays his ignorance of how contested the topic of transgender medicine actually is: for example, within endocrinology, paediatrics, psychiatry, sociology, and psychology (the controversies within the latter discipline have been demonstrated by the numerous recent resignations from the prestigious Tavistock and Portman gender identity clinic). The experts are a long way from consensus in what remains a politically fraught field.

Trans women are women is not an engaged reply. It is a mere arrangement of words, which presupposes a faith that cannot be questioned. To question it, we are told, causes harm—an assertion that transforms discussion into a thought crime. If questioning this orthodoxy is tantamount to abuse, then feminists and other dissenters have been gaslit out of the discussion before they can even enter it. This is especially pernicious because feminists in the west have been fighting patriarchy for several hundred years and we do not intend our cause to be derailed at the eleventh hour by an infinitesimal number of natal males, who have decided that they are women. Now, we are told, trans women are women, but natal females are menstruators. I can’t imagine what the suffragists would have made of this patently absurd turn of events.

There has been a cacophony of apologies to the trans community for Rowling’s apparently tendentious and hate-filled words. But no one has paused to apologise to Rowling for the torrent of abuse she has suffered and for being mischaracterised so profoundly.

So, I’m sorry, JK Rowling. I’m sorry that you will not receive the respectful disagreement you deserve: disagreement with your ideas not your person, disagreement with your politics, rather than accusations of wrongspeak. I’m sorry that schools, publishing staff and fan clubs are now cancelling you. And I’m sorry that you will be punished—because cancel culture is all about punishment. I’m sorry that you are being burned at the digital stake for expressing an opinion that goes against the grain.

But remember this, JK—however counterintuitive this may seem to progressives, whose natural home is on the fringe—most people are looking on incredulously at the disconnect between culture and reality. Despite raucous protestations to the contrary, you are on the right side of history—not just because of the points you make, but because of how you make them.

#Jkr #Team jkr

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vietzuko · 3 years

Text

if we used to share a discord server, this post is for you!

hello! i am going to try to do this as anonymously and non-confrontationally as possible. i do not want this to be a spectacle or call out post, but i will say that i am quite disturbed by the way situations have transpired on the server.

in case you didn’t notice, i left! when i left, i wrote a little goodbye post in #general, which has since been deleted. either the mods deleted my goodbye or they banned me from the server (which automatically would delete my message). in case you didn’t see it, here was my goodbye message:

hi everyone, i’m leaving the server. if you’re a POC who is interested in joining an ATLA server where POC can talk about ATLA and critically discuss race, feel free to PM me for a link! otherwise, this is goodbye. see you all around.

i won’t rehash everything that happened in the events leading to this, nor will i name names in this post. if you were on the server, you probably saw what happened publicly or you can message me personally, either here or on discord. if we know each other through the server and you want some clarity over names/events in this post, please PM me.

if you are a POC in the ATLA fandom who is concerned by the events of this post and you would like me to clarify which server i’m talking about, please PM me.

i just wanted to share the very long message that i sent to the mods (on their prompting!) because i feel that it shows my perspective on what transpired. unfortunately, this message did not result in any meaningful change, except for me getting banned/my messages removed from the server. i suppose that’s a type of meaning! haha.

anyway. here’s the message. cw for racism, yellowface

hi MOD 1 (and presumably the other mods who will read this message)! thanks for reaching out. i’ve had some time to dwell on the situation and discuss it with other people in the server who witnessed it and reached out to me personally. this is going to be an unbelievably long message, so i apologize in advance and thank you for your time in reading it.

i think the first thing i’d like to do is give some context for the incident and to give my perspective on why i said the things i said.

i have PMed a mod about a racist incident in the server exactly once. it was when i first joined, and i saw a picture of a white person in yellowface in the cosplay channel. i didn’t know any of you personally yet (and this was before some of you even joined on as mods). i have since told SERVER MEMBER 1 about this incident and i’m pretty sure they mentioned it to you because i noticed you’ve changed the yellowface rule. but i think that the context of me pinging a mod about a racist incident and then witnessing another (although less egregious) instance of racism by the mods might explain why i am, in general, hesitant about talking to mods about racism on the server. i am just trying to live my life and experience as few micro-aggressions as possible.

i also think the fact that i regularly educate and push back against white people’s racially harmful messages in the server is also important context. i realize none of you likely know this, but about every two weeks i receive an unsolicited PM from a different white person apologizing/asking for forgiveness/asking for reassurance/asking further questions about their racism on the server. i’m glad people are learning from me, but this is a huge amount of emotional labor that i put into the server and its members because of course i have to reply and explain things and tell them not to worry and thank them for apologizing, etc. i know that these messages aren’t your fault, nor am i asking you to do anything about this. but it feels important that you know the price that i (and perhaps other poc in the server, although i can’t speak to that) pay in order to share space with you.

MOD 2 has even messaged me personally to thank me for educating people in the server and responding to racist messages, saying: “really appreciate how much effort you put in and everything, i was trying to type something up but floundering badly.” it was a nice message, and i appreciated it a lot! it also led me to believe that the mods would prefer if i engage with racist messages myself, rather than ping them, because it felt like i was just going to be more able/willing to articulate a response anyway.

so when SERVER MEMBER 2 messaged the zukka channel “thought that lives in my head rent free: Sokka's hairstyle in canon is just a warrior's hairstyle and has meaning because of that. Sokka wearing the same hairstyle in a modern AU is undisputably queer-coded” and nobody replied for a while, i assumed that it was because they had seen what i had seen-- a racially insensitive message that totally ignores sokka’s indigenous heritage and the history behind indigenous hair-- so i decided to step in with what i thought was a balanced response.

SERVER MEMBER 2 then replied with a cheery “Fair enough! I will defer to your greater knowledge,” which i couldn’t tell was sarcastic or not, but i decided to be generous and to believe they were genuinely thankful for my reply, so i responded with a “you too can have great knowledge. i only know things because i read things. anyone can read things and learn,” which is something i firmly believe and also a way to divert the conversation away from SERVER MEMBER 2’s mistake, which i felt was the most dignified solution for them. i suppose this message could be read as aggressive because i didn’t use exclamation marks? but that feels unfair and ungenerous because i genuinely did not mean this message in a harsh way.

then SERVER MEMBER 3 jumped in and asked a few questions, which i read as a request for clarification, so i tried to continue to explain my point. it felt like SERVER MEMBER 3 wasn’t understanding what i was trying to explain, or at least i wasn’t able to articulate myself well enough, which was making me a little tired and stressy (and i was also thinking about my own race and queerness in stressful and triggering ways), so i decided to tap out of the conversation.

me: dude i love u and i respect u and i truly believe that u are trying very hard to understand, but this conversation is making me kinda heated

SERVER MEMBER 3: I’m gonna step back from it because it’s not my conversation to insert myself into, which is what I did initially and apologize for

me: i think it's so important to engage + ask questions & i appreciate that u respect my opinions on these things, but i think i'm just. i have said what i need to say and now must sleep. much love to all.

to me, this felt like me expressing that i was feeling tired and upset and leaving the conversation, while still attempting to reassure SERVER MEMBER 3 that i still admired him as a friend. i felt like the conversation had ended peacefully!

i hope this helps explain why MOD 3’s message came as such a surprise.

“the escalation to defensiveness and accusation regarding the original (relatively benign) statement was unnecessary and exaggerated. There’s an atmosphere of purity policing that’s been growing, which is why I took away the squick channel, as I assumed that a space that encouraged no repercussions was facilitating irresponsibility aggressive arguments. “

i truly didn’t believe i was being defensive. i was very careful not to accuse anyone of anything. in fact, i tried as far as i could to coat my language in “i” statements-- “i would personally not choose…”, “i would just. stay away from…” in order to avoid “accusations.” i was also trying very hard not to be aggressive, and i (and other poc that i have spoken to about this) believe that the idea that my messages were aggressive is racialized. just because a poc is upset about racism, it doesn’t mean they’re attacking you personally!

i feel so hurt that my messages were wilfully interpreted in this way, instead of being read generously and from a more compassionate perspective, especially since i voiced my own upset and discomfort during the conversation. it distresses me to think that me expressing negative emotions is seen as aggressive, rather than a cause for empathy or care, and i do believe that this is because of my race.

if a mod had asked me to take the messages to the DMs or to squick or even just let me know that someone was interpreting my messages as aggressive, i would have changed my behavior. (like i said earlier, i spend a HUGE amount of energy coddling white people on this server. i am very used to it.)

instead, i got the shock of 45 minutes after the fact, being publicly chastised and labeled as aggressive and being told that my conversation was “something nasty or unwanted.”

the idea that SERVER MEMBER 3 was de-escalating a “clearly escalating situation” feels untrue to me. i was ready to move on after i sent my message to SERVER MEMBER 2, but he kept engaging me on the subject! (no hate to SERVER MEMBER 3 on this.)

i think one of the most painful parts of this whole situation is the implication that i was attempting to “purity police,” as though i am a person who picks fights just because i want to feel good about picking fights?? or to act holier-than-thou???? i do not do this. if you have witnessed ANY interaction i’ve had with a racially insensitive white person on the server, you will know this.

i am simply a person of color trying to live my life. i do not want to fight about racism. i want to chill out and watch my cartoons. unfortunately, sometimes, someone will say something that i consider racially insensitive and i will do my best to engage and explain why i find this insensitive. that is all. (it is important to note that most of the time, when i see racially insensitive things on the server, i do not say anything because i am tired and it is a lot of effort to engage. i truly only engaged this time because nobody had replied to the message and i was just like, oh, fine, i guess i’ll educate, since no one else has!)

this whole incident has honestly made me really hurt and disrespected. i have enjoyed my time on the server and i have made some good friends there. however, it feels clearer and clearer to me that the server is a space where white feelings of safety (not being criticized for their racist content) are prioritized over poc’s feelings of safety (not having to witness and experience racist content). i sincerely considered myself to be an active and enthusiastic member of the server, maybe even friends with some of you, but it feels to me that all of our previous positive interactions have been displaced by this idea of me as an aggressive, overzealous purity cop who calls things racist for fun.

i don’t even know how to repair my relationship with the server after this because i really do feel horrible and sick about the whole thing. i have spoken to other poc who also expressed their concerns about the way the mods handled the situation, even if these other poc weren’t directly involved, and some of us are considering leaving the server, if we haven’t already. (i would also like to note that these people reached out to me, unprompted, to make sure i was doing okay after what they and i interpreted as a micro-aggression by the mods. like, we independently read the situation in this way.)

(also, not sure if this matters, but i talked to SERVER MEMBER 3 the morning after the incident because i wanted to make sure he was okay, and we both ended up apologizing to each other and having a really good and productive talk.)

thanks again for reading this. i hope that you’ll be able to better understand my perspective on what occurred. i truly appreciate the work that you put into the server (especially as someone who also puts work into the server lol), and i know it’s difficult to mod a large server (i also mod an atla server!), but i continue to feel hurt about this. i know it’s hard to read tone over server messages, but i really wish that my (and SERVER MEMBER 4′s and SERVER MEMBER 5′s ) server messages had been read with greater compassion.

...

and that’s all folks! i’m going to be remaking my blog soon, partially because this whole experience has exhausted me and partially because i have been meaning to anonymize my internet presence for some time.

#felix.txt

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debbiechanclub · 3 years

Text

Pete Dunne Imagine

Here’s some Pete Dunne enemies-to-lovers action for you. I was going to do this yesterday after FREAKING OUT at his return at Halloween Havoc... but then BTOOT took over my brain. My b.

Anyway, this was inspired by Pete’s return and his long-term feud with Undisputed Era. And now that I’ve written it I think it would make a good angsty fic. Also, as you can see I’ve changed from calling these more narrative “headcanons” to “imagines” because that’s really what they are. Enjoy!

Find more headcanons/imagines here.

Tag gang: @freshlysqueezedmox @gabbynorth98 @librathepheonix13 @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @exe-sadboi-exe @comeasyoudar @unabashedwrestlefics @what-does-mine-say

> You and Pete have always been enemies by association. Why? Well, Undisputed Era has been a thorn in Pete’s side for years, ever since Roderick turned on him to join UE at TakeOver: New Orleans - and Kyle O’Reilly just so happens to be like an annoying older brother to you. So, honestly, you can’t really blame Pete for not trusting you.

> But you don’t like that he doesn’t trust you. Because you like Pete.

> You can’t put your finger on it... you’re just drawn to him. His aloofness intrigues you. His stern, silent confidence attracts you. His ruthlessness in the ring excites you. It all makes you want to figure him out. Learn what makes him tick. And, above all else, you want him to know that you’re not your friends. You want him to see you, not them.

> So, you tried to be nice to him. But he didn’t buy it. And the more UE messed with him, the more suspicious he became of you.

> Things got their worst in the lead-up to TakeOver: WarGames. UE would not leave Pete alone. They interfered in match after match, attacked him for no reason other than their own egos and childishness; and, eventually, you got sick of it. You told off Kyle and the rest of UE backstage at Full Sail, loudly and angrily for everyone to hear - including Pete.

> But if that changed Pete’s opinion of you, you didn’t get the chance to find out. He left NXT for NXT UK right after WarGames. Seven months passed before he returned - and he picked right back up with UE where he’d left off, eventually beating Kyle and Bobby to win the NXT Tag Team Championship with Matt Riddle.

> However, even though what was old was new again with Pete and UE, it wasn’t with Pete and you. He didn’t seem to scowl at you like he used to, he didn’t seem to watch you with suspicious eyes like he was questioning your motives anymore. And you started to hope that maybe, just maybe, you finally weren’t guilty by association.

> But then Pete returned to the UK again. Fucking pandemic.

> However, he didn’t completely disappear that time. He started interacting with you, subtly. He would like your Instagram posts and your tweets, he’d watch every one of your stories. But he’d never say anything. It was frustrating - you wanted him to say something. But then, late one night, he liked a selfie of yours from months ago. He’d done it on purpose, you knew he had. It only made you ache for him more.

> Seven months went by like that, teasing each other. And then, unexpectedly, Pete returned. At Halloween Havoc. Looking like he’d rowed himself across the damn Atlantic Ocean to get there. Your heart threatened to beat out of your chest as you watched him come to Kyle’s aide against Pat McAfee and Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch.

> And then he hit Kyle in the back with a chair.

> You were stunned. And then... you weren’t. Kyle had been nothing but awful to Pete; why would he return out of the blue to help him? So even though Kyle was your friend, you couldn’t blame Pete. Furthermore, even though Kyle was your friend, you were still drawn to Pete, like a moth to flame. In fact, you felt more drawn to him now than you’d ever been before. And you decided it was time you finally did something about it.

> You found him backstage; no else was around. And before he could say anything, before you could lose the nerve, you walked right up to him and kissed him. You couldn’t believe you’d done it. But you were glad you did when he kissed you back.

> Your cheeks were flushed when you pulled apart. “I’ve wanted to do that for seven months. Longer, probably,” you admitted.

> And then, for the first time ever, you saw Pete smile. “Me too, probably,” he said, and he kissed you again.

#pete dunne #pete dunne headcanon #pete dunne headcanons #pete dunne imagine #pete dunne x reader #pete dunne fanfiction #nxt fanfiction #nxt imagine

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46ten · 3 years

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curious as to your take on the current debate going on in hamiltonia re: hamilton a slaver vs hamilton not a slaver?

Whew, this is going to be a long answer. Since Jessie Serfilippi’s “As Odious and Immoral A Thing” was first published (I posted a few brief quotes here), likely as part of an ongoing interest in the Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site with the subject of the Schuyler and Hamilton families and slavery (see here for blogposts labeled ‘slavery’ including a couple about AH specifically), there have been three versions of a rebuttal by Michael E. Newton and some people calling themselves Philo (”Love”) Hamilton, one of whom is Doug Hamilton*. The ongoing engagement on this topic also brings up issues of historiography and hagiography.

In this whole discussion there is only one new piece of evidence that Serfilippi has referenced on Twitter but is not part of her article - I’ll get into that below. Everything else is a re-analysis of known and fairly popular sources, so I don’t think going through it point by point would be helpful.

But let’s be clear about something. This discussion around AH is in large part because of this Chernow falsehood: “[f]ew, if any, other founding fathers opposed slavery more consistently or toiled harder to eradicate it than Hamilton.” Chernow also calls AH a “fierce abolitionist” and a “staunch abolitionist” because Chernow doesn’t know what abolitionism is. This lie got tons of mileage with Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose musical character AH may have personal moral defects, but not blind spots as huge and disastrous to a modern audience as a lackadaisical approach to the owning of other human beings. (That Miranda’s approach totally riled some Black artists and scholars is well-known, and I wrote briefly about it here.) Serfilippi’s article doesn’t get the media play it does without the popularity of the abolitionist Founding Father myth that Miranda put on stage. So this conflict and news-cycle interest arose from Chernow’s need to give AH the moral high ground by claiming that he was the best best best abolitionist because Chernow is interested in hagiography, not biography. Unfortunately, Newton-Hamilton seem interested in the same thing.

A brief note on word usage: an enslaver, in most current usage, is defined as someone who participated in any aspect of the slavery enterprise. Considering AH’s undisputed role as money-handler (or the more laughable ‘he was a banker’ assertion in the Newton-Hamilton essay) for members of the Schuyler family acquiring enslaved persons, AH was an enslaver.

In my opinion, on the issue of slavery, AH is damned by his extensive ties from 1780 onwards to the Schuyler family. There’s nothing that can explain away the fact that AH at times lived with, visited, and sent his wife and children for extended stays and to be educated by his slave-owning in-laws. AH did not somehow become innocently involved in slave trading and ownership. Rather, he knew what he was doing when he married into the heavy slave-trading and owning Schuyler family and when he engaged in business acts for that family, including helping them to acquire/sell enslaved persons. These were morally weighty - and abominable acts, argued even in his day - and he did them anyway. There is not any record that remains that he had a problem having his children reared within an abhorrent system/household where people were enslaved and served them; in fact, given the number of times he sent his children to his father- and mother-in-law’s home for extended periods, it could be suggested he found nothing morally objectionable going on there. Philip Hamilton even thanked his enslaver grandfather for his advice on how to “be a good man.” P. Schuyler’s wealth and trading was through the slavery economy. Moreover, AH’s economic concerns were also inextricably tied to slavery - keep in mind that every mention of tariffs on sugar is connected to the slave trade. Almost everything led back to that evil institution.

During AH’s lifetime, a number of white AND Black persons articulated that all enslaved Black and Indigenous persons should be freed, that the practice of enslavement was a grave moral failing. AH was well-informed enough to know that Black Americans were articulating how freedom should be applied to them - indeed, many of the manumission policies of the original states arose from these efforts. So AH was fully aware of the arguments. (His son was involved!) Maybe this helped inspire him and his slave-owning friends and political colleagues to form the NY Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves, although none of this group agreed to give up their own enslaved persons as part of the organization of this group.

Or, as Newton-Hamilton audaciously state, “[AH] was more involved in building a nation” sotto voce based on enslavement and racial distinction than he could be bothered to care about the lives of enslaved people. This shouldn’t be a surprise when it comes to AH’s major moral failings/blind spots - he didn’t care about the lives of the people affected by his whiskey tax either. If one wants to nevertheless call this a “good man,” we’re probably looking at each other from across a void.

But this is well-trod territory. Several articles post-Chernow have evaluated and summarized positions on AH and slavery that I share:

“Hamilton's position on slavery is more complex than his biographers' suggest. Hamilton was not an advocate of slavery, but when the issue of slavery came into conflict with his personal ambitions, his belief in property rights, or his belief of what would promote America's interests, Hamilton chose those goals over opposing slavery. In the instances where Hamilton supported granting freedom to blacks, his primary motive was based more on practical concerns rather than an ideological view of slavery as immoral. Hamilton's decisions show that his desire for the abolition of slavery was not his priority.” Michelle DuRoss, “Somewhere in Between: Alexander Hamilton and Slavery,” Early American Review, 2011 [part 1, part 2]

“But it does illustrate something that his primary modern biographers have been reluctant to concede: Hamilton routinely subordinated his antislavery inclinations to other family and political concerns, and he did not ever approach even a modest level of engagement on the issue in his otherwise voluminous published works.” Phil Magness, “Alexander Hamilton’s Exaggerated Abolitionism,” 2015

“He was not an abolitionist...[h]e bought and sold slaves for his in-laws, and opposing slavery was never at the forefront of his agenda.” Annette Gordon-Reed, “Correcting ‘Hamilton’,” Harvard Gazette, 2016.

Serfilippi extends this:

When those sources are fully considered, a rarely acknowledged truth becomes inescapably apparent: not only did Alexander Hamilton enslave people, but his involvement in the institution of slavery was essential to his identity, both personally and professionally.

I have no objection to her statement. We simply have no record of AH strongly challenging the institution of slavery, while several of his colleagues and friends most certainly did. Instead, we have the financial transactions, the possible use of enslaved labor, and the possible ownership of enslaved persons, alongside his strong personal, professional, and political ties to owners of enslaved persons. And the new evidence: the inclusion of the following in a list of persons dead of Yellow Fever in NYC 1798, “Hamilton Alexander, major-general, the black man of, 26 Broadway” An Account of the Malignant Fever, Lately Prevalent in the City of New-York, 1799. We cannot know if this was an enslaved man or a free Black man who lived and labored for the Hamiltons, but it should eliminate anyone confidently stating that the Hamiltons did not own enslaved persons.

Thus, Serfilippi has successfully accomplished at least one important goal: bringing to the forefront the names (as we have them) of persons, servant or enslaved, connected to the Hamiltons.

I wrote above that part of the problem here is hagiography. If his concern is with the truth, I certainly look forward to Newton’s chapter-by-chapter repudiations of books written by Chernow, Brookhiser, and Knott on AH and the AH/GW relationship.This leads to the second issue that has arisen: the unprofessional, and frankly gross, glee in trying to punch down on a young female scholar. In my own field (an ex-partner is a military historian so I’ll speak for their field too), the approach when one believes a colleague is publishing in error and one has additional information that could illuminate the issues is to contact them and seek to work together to analyze and draw conclusions. Newton and the anonymous Love Hamilton clan didn’t treat Serfilippi as if she were deserving of this respect. Moreover, Newton has never, to my knowledge - and I purchased his books! - gone this hard after Chernow, who certainly deserves it even more.

But Newton-Hamilton betray their own concerns here: “Considering the era in which Hamilton lived, the challenges he faced, and his accomplishments, it is not difficult to understand why Hamilton did not make opposition to slavery his primary focus. His attention was on building a nation.” And what kind of nation was that? At the Constitutional Convention, AH’s lengthy speeches on the formation of the government have been recorded. There is no record of him offering any statements about the slavery issue, unlike his friend Gouverneur Morris.

Newton-Hamilton continue: “Unfortunately, that meant neglecting other important matters, not just slavery but also his own financial well-being.” Wow, a comparison is made between AH’s personal finances and the ownership of human beings. Could these authors be any clearer that the slavery issue is an inconvenience that they are ultimately unconcerned about? I’m unsure if Newton-Hamilton realize just how gross their attempt at addressing this issue has been, and that it’s hard to take their interpretation and analysis of the evidence seriously when these are the kinds of statements making their way into the rebuttal essays.

Now there is an interesting discussion about how even later abolitionists did not see a conflict in the employment of enslaved labor, but that too isn’t something that Newton-Hamilton show interest in. Instead, their approach seems to be that AH needs to be celebrated at all costs, and thankfully, those days are passing into history.

*It’s ridiculous that a group of people have given themselves a stupid pseudonym to avoid attaching their actual names to a so-called scholarly article. And I’m aware that I’m writing this anonymously, but on tumblr where maybe 5 people have made it to the end of this (I’m not publishing it on my real blog).

**I will not link it, but it can be found on Newton’s blog discoveringhamilton.

#Alexander Hamilton #Chernow #slavery #Philip Schuyler #Michael E. Newton #Serfilippi #historiography

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niteshade925 · 3 years

Text

The Thunder Concluding Thoughts

So I finished watching The Thunder (《破冰行动》) in about a week. I have to say this drama is definitely NOT the disappointment that people say it is. It's pretty good. I’m recommending it to the cdrama fans out there who like crime dramas with a dark and serious story. Just be aware that it does not have an official English subtitle or fansubs (so far as I know).

Anyway, this post will be very very very long (4500+ words, in fact), filled with spoilers and my opinions. If you are planning on watching, please skip this post. I’m hiding everything else so this post won’t be hogging space on anyone’s dashboard.

Storytelling

Considering the story is about an operation to raid a whole village involved in drug trafficking (inspired by real events of Boshe village/博社村) and bring the criminals to justice, it is bound to be dark and gritty, filled with tragedies. But it’s also surprisingly not very gruesome.

The entire plot is separated into many different storylines, which merge and intersect with each other at different times throughout the drama. Here’s the main four:

The first (main) one follows the main character Li Fei/李飞 as he tries to avenge his friend and partner’s murder by finding evidence to bring down the big bad, with help from Chen Ke/陈珂, Ma Wen/马雯, and numerous others.

The second one follows Li Weimin/李维民 and Zhao Jialiang/赵嘉良 (real name Li Jianzhong/李建中), who are the two most experienced people on the law enforcement side in dealing with drug traffickers. Since the former is a director and the latter is an informant/undercover agent who reports directly to the former, their individual story lines only merged after the midpoint.

The third one follows the third branch of the Lin clan (mostly Lin Zonghui/林宗辉) and how it was half destroyed by the main branch and second branch, which culminates in Lin Zonghui’s decision to turn informant.

The fourth one follows Ma Yunbo/马云波, the Deputy Director of Dongshan City Police Department, as he slowly realizes the error of his ways and tries to earn his redemption.

There are other more minor storylines, but I won’t be listing them all out since this isn’t a wiki article lol. Anyway there are a lot of different storylines in this drama, and the ways in which they intersect are interesting, though rather predictable. These intersections also roughly separate out the drama into a few sections, which allows the drama to have a good pacing overall.

However, the way this drama establishes the backgrounds of the characters and storylines is slightly problematic, since nearly all of it is done with flashback sequences. Flashback sequences are a staple in crime dramas of any kind, because it satisfies the viewers’ curiosity, but the constant sudden scene changes were disorienting and broke the flow of storytelling. I guess flashbacks are an easy way to stick to the “show, don’t tell” rule, but I do think some flashback sequences can be told by characters in the “present time”, and this may even help to flesh out those characters more, depending on how they “tell” viewers about the past.

Another thing that was noticeable was amount of closeup shots used, especially in the interrogation scenes in the first half. They do give actors the opportunity to use micro expressions and their eyes to convey the characters’ true emotions. On the downside.....too many closeup shots tend to make me uncomfortable, so......I guess I both liked it and disliked it.

-----(this is the divider because I don’t know html lol)----------

Characters and Acting

Hoooo boy, where to start. I would say this is the best thing about the drama overall. The characters are what really drove me to sacrifice sleep just to binge the entire thing in a week. These characters aren’t exactly unique in the genre, but they made up the heart of the drama, no questions about that.

I guess I’ll start with the main cast here and ramble talk about both the character and the portrayal together. Because this drama had a rough “cops vs. criminals” setup, the main cast was sort of “locked in” to specific character archetypes, and that left little space for the actors themselves to perform freely. Despite this, most of the main cast were able to do pretty well:

Li Weimin/李维民 (portrayed by Wu Gang/吴刚):

In my opinion, Li Weimin was the best portrayed character out of the main cast. Some people said that Wu Gang overacted in certain scenes where Li Weimin got upset or displayed his eccentric side, but to be honest, I don’t think it’s bad at all. I'm pretty sure the dramatic approach is due to Wu Gang's acting style and training, since he was a theater actor first, and transitioned to an actor for TV/cinema later in his career. Wu Gang’s constant little physical movements-- whether it was fidgeting with something or playing hopscotch with his feet--gave Li Weimin a certain air of eccentricity that I liked. Li Weimin wasn’t without his faults, of course, he’s rather quick-tempered and was too eager to see results, which Wu Gang illustrated with his dramatic line delivery in the scene where he was furious at Ma Yunbo for not ending all drug trafficking in Dongshan city in 3 years. The most noticeable flaws in Wu Gang’s performance (to me) was his salute (seriously can he just straighten that wrist lol) and his voice, because his voice had that smooth quality of a documentary narration, so occasionally it felt like he’s just flat out describing things. Not that I’m complaining, his voice is very pleasing to the ear, but it just doesn’t fit the scene sometimes. His best scenes for me were: 1) when he stubbornly refused Li Fei’s offer to buy a hoodie for him because it made him look too young (can relate because I have an older relative who’s exactly like that lol); 2) when he was questioning Cai Yongqiang while nonchalantly playing with his shoelaces; 3) when he had a sorrowful inner monologue about how he would be all alone if both Li Fei and Li Jianzhong died like all of his other comrades; and 4) when he suffered the loss of his friend during the climax, and had to try hard to stop himself from losing control to grief before the operation was over, because he was the frontline commander and was thus responsible for all of the agents.

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Lin Yaodong/林耀东 (portrayed by Wang Jinsong/王劲松):

Wang Jinsong never disappointed in any role he’s been in, really. He’s the actor who played Marquis Yan Que in Nirvana in Fire and the unforgettable eunuch Yang Jinshui in Ming Dynasty in 1566. I don’t think Lin Yaodong was his best performance (the best had to be Yang Jinshui in Ming Dynasty in 1566, hands down) but it was still very good. The way Wang Jinsong played Lin Yaodong (especially the even line delivery and the deliberate body movements) gave him a dignified air befitting a powerful elder. It was also thanks to Wang Jinsong’s great performance that I realized what Lin Yaodong was: he wasn’t just a drug lord, he was a hypocrite. He kept stressing the importance of clan and family, yet he was the one of the people responsible for deaths of half the third branch family; he kept reiterating that he brought wealth to Tazhai village, but what he did was slowly eroding the villagers’ motivation to do any honest work; he kept emphasizing the need to protect the Lin clan, yet the drug trafficking he introduced to the village literally ruined the young people of the village. To Lin Yaodong, the clan was nothing but a means to an end that benefits him, otherwise he would not be exclusively using members of the second branch family to do all the dirty work.

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Li Fei/李飞 (portrayed by Huang Jingyu/黄景瑜):

Li Fei is apparently quite controversial despite being the undisputed main character of the show. A lot of people think his character was “unnecessary”, “badly written”, and there were even gossip floating around about how the character was just a way to “get Huang Jingyu onboard”. Seeing all of those comments made me pretty confused, because I thought Huang Jingyu did a pretty good job for someone who didn’t have a lot of experience in acting. Before anyone says though, I am not a Huang Jingyu fan, just want to get that out of the way first. This is literally the first drama I’ve seen him in. I think his portrayal was easier for younger audiences (by that I mean early to mid 20s viewers like me) to relate to. Li Fei’s outpour of grief upon seeing his partner getting murdered right in front of him, his clever interrogation of drug dealers, his goofy little tricks that outsmarted the criminals, his dejected disregard for his own life when he expressed desire to go to Tazhai village alone; his shock and anguished headbanging on the car window upon seeing his father getting murdered (also right in front of him); and finally his emotional numbness while saying goodbye to the father he never got a chance to know.......all of it was done convincingly. I’ve laughed with him, I’ve cried (a little) with him, and for me that’s good enough. There were other comments about how Li Fei was too hot-headed to the extent of being frustrating, but I think that’s just how the character was meant to be (Li Fei was supposed to be in his early 20s). That said, I do think Huang Jingyu needs work on two things: enunciation and facial expressions. He did well when a scene required him to convey a particular emotion, but he wasn’t able to convey a mixture of different emotions (I will give an example later). If he could make improvements in these two areas, I’m sure he would become a much better actor.

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Now for memorable supporting characters. In my honest opinion, the supporting characters are the ones who really made this drama good. These actors’ performances regularly steal the limelight away from the main cast.

Lin Shuibo/林水伯 (portrayed by Qian Bo/钱波):

Lin Shuibo was a once-respected teacher who became addicted in a desperate attempt to save his addict son, and was thrown out of Tazhai village for being an addict after his son died from overdose (was revealed to be murder). Later he devoted his life to take care of a homeless drug addict teen he met on the streets. I have to say, Lin Shuibo was the first supporting character that really caught my attention and made me cry. Qian Bo nailed this character. The dejected slump of his shoulders, the hopelessness and anxiety in his darting eyes, weeping for his son with tears leaving tracks on his dirty face, explaining that he tried drugs so he could set an example of successful rehab for his son......this character may not be more than just a plot device, but he actually tore at my heart. Teaching was a highly respected profession in China, so for a teacher to fall into addiction and homelessness, resort to picking garbage for a living, that’s literally falling out of paradise and straight into hell. Despite this, Lin Shuibo never lost his kindness or capability to love, and that's what saved him in the end.

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Ma Yunbo/马云波 (portrayed by Zhang Xilin/张晞临):

Originally I was going to put Lin Shengwu as the second of the memorable supporting characters, but then Ma Yunbo’s best scenes happened and made me change my mind. Ma Yunbo was a pretty interesting and complex character, since he started the drama as a “good guy”, but as the story went on, it was revealed that he was the corrupted cop. Then as the viewer learned more about the character, we started to see that he was not simply in it for the money like Chen Guangrong (another corrupted cop). He was more or less coerced into it by Lin Yaodong because of his wife’s debilitating chronic pain, which was in turn the consequence of taking a shotgun blast meant for him. Before the start of the story, the pain had grown too much for his wife to bear, so she turned to heroin for relief, and Lin Yaodong took the opportunity to become her supplier. This was a major problem for Ma Yunbo, since he was seen as a hero who served justice to drug traffickers and was the pride of his shifu Li Weimin. Here, both the drama and many viewers say that Ma Yunbo’s greatest weakness was pride, and that was why he became corrupted, but I disagree. I don’t think Ma Yunbo’s most important trait was pride, I think it was love. I think he loved his wife deeply and that was the only reason why he started dealing with Lin Yaodong. If he was as prideful as people say, I think he might refuse his wife's request instead. In fact, his wife's suicide was what finally unshackled him from his constant internal conflict. Thus, his internal conflict was really a three way conflict of pride vs. love vs. doing what’s right. Zhang Xilin’s approach to such a complex character was subtle, conveying most of the internal conflict with facial expressions. The way he could seem to make his face age instantly with an expression was brilliant.

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Lin Shengwu/林胜武 (portrayed by Zhao Xuan/赵煊):

First, this character was pretty much a plot device. Lin Shengwu really only served 3 purposes in the story: to delay the video evidence from getting to Li Fei until the time is right (to manage pacing); to cement the people from the main branch and second branch of the Lin clan as the big bads of the drama; and to serve as a reason for Lin Zonghui’s eventual decision to become an informant. The first one is pretty straightforward, but the second and third purposes require acting skills to achieve, because the audience needs to be able to pity Lin Shengwu. And boy did Zhao Xuan deliver. Lin Shengwu’s death was the second time I got emotional while watching this drama (first time was that scene of Lin Shuibo I mentioned). The scene where a wounded Lin Shengwu called asking Lin Zonghui to take care of his children and telling him “if there’s a next life, you will still be my Uncle Hui” with a quivering voice just straight up broke my heart. Lin Shengwu was certainly not a good guy (he was the one who destroyed the evidence at the very beginning, and probably participated in drug dealing), but he really did love his family and tried to protect them, unlike Lin Yaodong. Unfortunately, his family was already in the grips of the devil from the very start, so he was destined to lose everything.

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Lin Zonghui/林宗辉 (portrayed by Gong Lei/公磊)

Of the two most conflicted characters in the drama, one is Ma Yunbo, and the other is definitely Lin Zonghui. As the family head of the third branch in the Lin clan, he was forced to watch as members of his family died at the hands of his relatives, but because he tried to stay out of trouble, he could neither say nor do anything about it. Plus, like most other members of the third branch family, he was a person who actually cared about the clan. As time went on and more people close to him died, his internal conflict changed from self preservation vs. avenging his family to protecting the Lin clan vs. doing what’s right. I don’t feel that his death at the end was really necessary to the plot (it was probably done to further expose Lin Yaodong’s hypocrisy), but given everything his cousins Lin Yaodong and Lin Yaohua have done, he’s more than justified to confront them. Acting-wise, like Zhang Xilin, Gong Lei also conveyed Lin Zonghui’s internal conflict mostly with facial expressions and body movements. There was always a slump in his shoulders, and the way his eyes alternate between looking powerless and burning with fury was really great. However, I didn’t quite like his approach to the climactic confrontation scenes, because I felt that he was a little overdramatic there, especially the line delivery, which briefly broke my immersion.

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Lin Can/林灿 (portrayed by Song Hanhuan/宋撼寰)

If I’m only talking about the acting, then I might rank Song Hanhuan’s performance as the second best in the supporting cast, right behind Zhang Xilin. I do admit that I’m rather biased towards the good guys and complex characters, but no matter which way you cut it, Lin Can deserves a mention. The first time I noticed him was very late in the story, right at the climax where Lin Can and Li Fei were both threatening to kill the other’s father. Huang Jingyu was not able to convey Li Fei’s emotions well enough (again, his facial expression needs work), but in contrast, Song Hanhuan really conveyed a wide range of emotions just in a few seconds, from fear to desperation to even a little hint of regret. In fact, he looked as if he was on the verge of total mental breakdown. That scene prompted me to go back and revisit his other scenes after I finished the drama, and that was when I realized Lin Can actually cried a little bit when Lin Shengwu died. At the time when I first saw the scene, I thought Lin Can was just shocked to see Lin Shengwu commit suicide, but now, thinking back on Lin Can’s lines about how he and Lin Shengwu grew up together as playmates, I think Lin Can actually felt sad there, however briefly that emotion lasted. That single tear was a very simple (and easy to miss!) gesture that added a whole other dimension to what would otherwise be a rather flat henchman character.

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Cai Yongqiang/蔡永强 (portrayed by Tang Xu/唐旭)

I do wish the writers could have given Cai Yongqiang more scenes, because the few scenes he appeared in were all great. The scenes where Li Weimin questioned Cai Yongqiang were the among the best in the entire drama. At the time in the story, Cai Yongqiang and Li Weimin didn’t trust each other (although it was later revealed that they were both good guys), and were both trying to see if the other person was corrupted. This led to a few interesting exchanges between them filled with quotable lines, but the best part has to be Cai Yongqiang’s answer to Li Weimin’s last question about Cai Yongqiang’s evaluation of himself and the drug control division. The way Tang Xu delivered these lines (his voice was quivering with emotion almost the whole time) was really touching:

“For drug control officers like us, there’s two dangers. The first is mortal danger, because our opponents are people who would bid their lives for money. It’s not just our own lives in danger, but also the lives of our partners, our families”......”The second is temptation. Money making is easy for drug traffickers. To save their own skins, they would try their damnedest to bribe us. Tens of thousands (yuan), hundreds of thousands, even a few million at a time. For them, a few million is the profit they earn in a few days, but for young officers who earn a measly 2-3k per month and has to pay mortgages and raise children with it, this contrast is too much. Not being tempted is impossible. But every officer in my division has overcame the temptation, and for that, I think they are all terrific. All of them are admirable.”.....”When you’ve been on the force for a while, you start to develop a deeper understanding of human nature. A lot of bizarre things happen every day. Sometimes, not being able to see them is a real blessing.”

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Thoughts on Theme

The message of a story like this is obviously “drugs are bad, kids, it ain’t worth it”, but I would say the theme is conveyed pretty well here, because the story gives us all of these characters who are examples (some of which I’m sure are inspired by experiences of real people) of what may happen once you start to do/sell/make such addictive controlled/prohibited substances as crystal meth.

First is the effects of addiction on users. This part is pretty obvious, and we have many examples throughout, though there were a few different reasons for each of them coming into contact with the drug in the first place. Zaizai (Lin Shuibo’s son) was a representation of teenagers who became addicted because it’s seen as “cool” and “everyone was doing it”. Wuzai became a drug dealer, because it gave him better profits than working entry-level jobs, and eventually he became an addict as well. Then there’s women who became addicted due to severe emotional stress, like Yang Liu and Cai Xiaoling (it was hinted that her addiction may have been a major factor in her miscarriage). Of these people, Lin Shuibo was a special case, as he apparently tried drugs out of a desire to help his son quit, but became addicted as well. Out of these characters, most died either due to overdose, continued drug-abuse, or murder (from being in close contact with dangerous criminals). The only two who got a good ending were Lin Shuibo and Wuzai, since both were able to quit and earn an honest living. Of course, this could not happen if they weren’t supporting each other through the rehab process.

Second is another type of effect that the drugs had on those who made/sold them, and that is greed. The reason Lin Yaodong had so much power over everyone else in the village was because he could give them the money they desired. According to Lin Yaodong, the village used to be dirt poor, but ever since he led the villagers to manufacture crystal meth, everyone there quickly became wealthy, and all that easy money gave rise to greed. Lin Yaodong then used a combination of his own status in the clan and the greed of the villagers to control them, thus satisfying his own lust for power:

“I know whether the people of Tazhai have had a change of heart just from sitting in this car. At this hour, adults should be leaving work, and children should be leaving school, all of them going home, even the elderly lady selling produce. The fact that our car can drive forward so smoothly on this narrow road means the people of Tazhai haven’t had any change of heart.”

This lust for power was also the reason he described his goal as to build the biggest, most beautiful ancestral shrine for the Lin clan. He saw the ancestral shrine as the seat and symbol of his power, and this was apparent when the three family heads gathered there like a panel of judges at a court to announce Lin Shengwen’s punishment.

Lin Yaodong’s image as the great provider for the village then began to corrupt the younger generations of the village as well, since they all looked up to Lin Yaodong and hoped to become his henchmen. This began to destroy the real familial bonds between people in the clan and replaced it with simple trust and blind loyalty, which effectively turned the clan into a sort of mafia. Even though almost everyone in the main branch and second branch still talked about what’s good for the clan and seemingly tried to contribute in their own ways, when one compared what these characters say versus what they do, then their true motivations began to show. There’s Lin Yaohua and his two sons, Lin Can and Lin Tianhao, who would maim, torture, and kill members of their own clan just because trust was broken. For them, there’s not much real familial bond to speak of, there’s only loyalty to “Uncle Dong” (Lin Yaodong) and "Uncle Hua” (Lin Yaohua). They may still call each other “brothers”, “uncles”, but these words contain more indications of power than affection. At the same time, the blind loyalty eroded away at the humanity of the younger members of the Lin clan, and this was perfectly demonstrated with Lin Can’s sudden decision to kill Zhao Jialiang at the climax, an act that disturbed even Lin Yaodong.

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My Criticisms & Other Thoughts

Finally, criticisms.

I agree with other people that the writing for the 3rd and 2nd to last episodes (ep 46 & 47) did not seem to have the same quality of writing as earlier episodes, but I am of the opinion that it wasn’t a huge problem. What was a problem was the overacting from some actors at the climax. Again, it wasn’t that bad, but it was enough to briefly break my suspension of disbelief. Also, the last episode was among the best in the drama.

About the complaint that Zhao Jialiang’s death was unnecessary and forced into the script, I disagree. I don’t think Zhao Jialiang ever went into Tazhai village expecting to come out alive in the first place. Dude’s there to avenge his wife and that was it. On the other hand, his death also highlights how far Lin Can had fallen. Point is, his death might feel abrupt, but it does make sense if you think about it.

About the “plot holes”. I agree with one comment I’ve seen that many of the “plot holes” people pointed out were actually explained in later episodes. They probably commented pretty early on in the drama, so that’s why certain things seemed like plot holes to them.

As for Chen Ke, again, I do agree that she may be the weakest character in the drama, but unlike some have said, I don’t think it was 100% on the actor, and I’m pretty sure it had something to do with the writing. This drama clearly aimed to be realistic, so almost all of the characters expressed some sort of shock upon seeing another character get wounded/killed, and I think that’s the reason why Chen Ke panicked when Ma Wen got blasted with a shotgun. Chen Ke was just a normal civilian who happened to be a nurse, she’s not a nurse in the army or something, of course she would be shocked if the event took place in front of her eyes. Seeing the aftermath and witnessing the event first hand are completely different things.

Everything else about the drama, cinematography, music, etc....were all ok. Nothing bad, but also nothing notable. I did like the theme song though.

(Bonus little rant about all those cdrama scenes where a character is severely ill or wounded or killed..........can we stop having all of them spit out mouthfuls of blood???? When a character got stabbed in the guts or shot through the heart, they should NOT be spitting blood, unless they are also wounded in the lungs or stomach or mouth, then ok fine, but it’s still more of a situation of coughing up blood. Seriously. When Zhao Jialiang got shot through the heart and immediately started spitting blood, I actually burst out laughing. This silly shit needs to change.)

And that is it! All in all I liked The Thunder, and I may watch it again later.

#the thunder #cdrama #破冰行动 #conclusion post #thoughts #interpretations #my translation

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haiky-u-lously · 4 years

Text

King Kuroo and the Red Knight (8)

Summary:

A Camelot AU where King Arthur is Kuroo Tetsuro, and the Knights of the Roundtable of characters from seasons 1-4 of the HQ anime. Eventual Kuroo X Reader.

Themes:

Action/fighting/killing, dead bodies, Fluff, Angst, Humor, Eventual Romance

Warnings:

Mentions of stalking and abuse of power, Language, Angst in feelings, Gore and fighting, mention of explosion, mention of seeing dead bodies

Word Count:

For Chapter: ~2700words

Questions/Comments/Concerns/Ideas welcome as always.

So let me just say, I am an actual idiot. Like, not only are the twins not third years, but neither are 3 of my favorites to write for in this story. Like Futa, Teru and Aone are all actually second years as well as the twins! And, this, this was facts that I knew! How ridiculous is that, huh? I just deemed 5 second years third years in my mind in order to include them. Oh well though hahah.

I'm not changing the characters. I just changed the descriptions hahah.

Anywho, Hope you all liked the random/differentness that was this chapter.

Let me know your thoughts and such, i love getting comments on this and have been trying pretty hard to respond every time (whether on AO3 or tumblr).

Enjoy!

–Admin Red

Chapter 8: Enemy Meeting

Daishou stepped away from the slain body, a smile on his features as he moved towards the main hall of the castle, to await meeting with the King and others.

He’d passed a few windows overlooking the front square and did a double take at the amount of bodies littered on Camelot’s grounds.

‘This can’t be!’ His thoughts shouted at him. Looking over the fallen he counted less than twenty palace guards. Not a single knight of Camelot, nor the Red Knight or their squire. ‘What happened? We had surprise on our side! How did none of them die?!’

Daishou, in his anger, flared his hands and mini explosions were heard as his power crashed into the sides of the wall near them. He took a few breaths to calm himself before moving on, readying his mind to take the idiotic King’s prideful boasting and his knights’ encouraging about the oh-so-great power of Camelot. Gagging a bit, he made to the room he’d intended to reach from the get go.

Not seeing any sign of his actual enemies having failed in their defenses on his trek to the center of the castle made the Lord’s mood sour further, but when he entered the War Hall to see it empty he’d regained some confidence. “Mayhaps the idiots needed help in the South. Hopefully a few were cut down.”

Hearing some scuffle, Daishou stopped speaking to himself and cursed a spell on the door to see who passed, listening in on the conversation held by the approaching group.

“I will be telling our King about your recklessness, let him deal with your stupidity.” The silver haired guest said, anger clear on his face as he walked in front of the Red Knight. “That was actually the worst decision you could have possibly had. Jumping into the middle of the fray from a hole in the third story. Are you that much of an idiot? That eager to fight? Idiot. Absolute imbecile and the undisputed champion of stupid decision making. You will not receive breakfast tomorrow either. Take that as a punishment. See if I leave you any chocolates in your baggage either.”

Daishou watched as the Knight was clearly displeased with the stolen sweet comment the most as he reached out and stopped his companion directly in front of the mirrored door the Lord had generated.

The squire turned once he was brought to a halt. “Fine, I won’t take your stupid chocolates. But I will come up with two additional punishments to your not getting breakfast.”

Nodding in acceptance, the Red Knight motioned for his squire to continue moving.

“Actually, I have a question.” The King’s servant faced the pair, letting Daishou continue his eavesdropping as none moved from his portal view. Futakuchi faced the pair, “You agreed to participate in the festival the King proposed as a make-shift apology. But didn’t speak to your squire before accepting to be fighters. Which really does make it seem like you may just be impatient to fight, but here is my question. And, I hope you take no offense to it. But, is it really enough that he put on a tournament to appease the grievances done against you?”

Though he only had a slight understanding of what the servant referred to, Daishou was honestly awaiting an answer as well. If the actions towards the pair were so unjust that they’d considered leaving their mission unfinished, why could something so simple turn the tide.

The squire looked to his Knight before facing the servant once more, apparently answering for the pair. “Though this is the first I’ve heard of it, I can tell you now that Yomimasu’s intentions are not about the fighting aspect. Though I guess I am the one who just said they were eager to fight…” He seemed to think a moment before continuing, “After we left the dinning hall and returned to our current rooms, we discussed things. And, we came to the decision that you all had just as much a point in being upset with us as we’d gotten with you. We are guests of Camelot, despite any pretense of our mission or who we are in the Red Knight Order, that is who we are here. Guests. And, upon our arrival we gave demands with hardly any explanation. Then continued to demand privacy for our belongings. Having wanted to keep a secret the lineage amongst us. Since we were as much to blame about a bad start, the two of us determined the best course of action was to make amends first thing in the morning. Neither of us expected tonight’s outcome. And if given the chance to rectify our initial opinions of one another so soon, I can see why the Red Knight would agree without consulting me.”

Apparently Futakuchi accepted the explanation, because Daishou watched the three leave his field of vision and no longer heard their conversations.

He cursed that the pair obviously helped in the fight, and cursed further that someone had fired a shot warning those inside to the attack earlier than had they just stormed the castle as directed.

_______________________________

“Kuroo, please excuse my sudden shift in decision, but I’ve just been called by another Lord to assist with a problem down south. My journey will not permit me to be here for your tournament.” Daishou commented to his half-brother amidst the celebratory drinks the Knights of Camelot were having in the War Hall.

The King just smiled at the Lord, “Of course! Do you need anyone to assist in your journey, brother?”

Smiling over a thinly veiled scowl, Daishou shook his head, “Thank you for the offer, your Highness. But recusing myself from the tournament could already be a slight towards your guests, and I’d hate to make it worse by taking some of your best and most entertaining knights.” The pair of men laughed at the joke before the Lord continued his practiced lie, “Besides, Camelot is just coming off of a strong win in defending her walls. Let the men enjoy themselves.”

“Your concern for their happiness is well noted, and much appreciated, Daishou. I’m just sorry I didn’t think to send someone to you in the heat of the battle. I never thought they’d stray to your part of the castle.” Kuroo seemed to be thoroughly apologetic, but he quickly resumed grinning and held his goblet up to stand for a toast, “Men! Let us cheer! To the power of Camelot’s forces, to your power, and to the prosperity of a great tournament to come!”

“Yes!”

“CHEERS!”

“To Camelot!”

“To victory!”

“To the fight!”

“To the King!”

Different shouts were heard across the room. But once someone shouted to the king, the rest followed. Until Daishou whispered under his breath, in a way only he could hear himself amongst all the joyous rokous, “Yes, to the true King of Camelot.”

_________________________________

Days later, Daishou was facing the ruins of a century old castle atop his perfect steed.

The horse whinnied at the overwhelming dark presence before it and reared as he took a few paces back. Obviously fearful of the unseen energy before him.

Dismounting and tying his steed to a post, Daishou made his own way into the castle’s grounds.

“You’re late.” A voice called to him from the shadows of the interior square.

Facing the caller before responding, Daishou smiled, “Yes, well. You couldn’t very well expect me to lead the men the King had following me here, could you?”

“Does the idiot King actually have a brain cell to distrust you?” The man commented back, sticking to the shadows until hearing a preferred answer.

Camelot’s Lord laughed out towards the sky, “Never, he wanted me to have extra protection as I have gone to help our ally.”

“He really is the stupidest King to take Camelot’s throne,” The male voiced as he finally stepped into the light shining into the square. “I take it you bring news too delicate to message?”

Nodding, the Lord motioned for his companion to lead them somewhere they could sit comfortably while they spoke.

__________________________________

“Daishou, I thought only one Red Knight and a squire came to Camelot?” The light-brown-haired male questioned, “And, you said Ushijima and Asahi, two of Camelot’s strongest, were not there. We held the element of surprise, and yet only twenty men made it back to the strong hold. Twenty, out of eight-hundred. What the hell happened?”

Daishou winced at the tone he was being addressed with, but recovered quickly as he’d expected the reaction, “One of the men ruined the art of surprise by blowing a hole in the castle wall directly in view of the square where the main forces were targeting. I imagine only three-hundred ever made it inside the castle from that poor decision. And the knights had been spread out, the fight became child’s play to them.” He scowled as he recalled the bodies littered in the front of Camelot’s main gate and thought of the guests who fought in Camelot’s defense even after being scorned by the so-called-King. “The Red Knight and his man were the most bothersome though. Killing nearly a third of forces between just them two. How is that possible? You didn’t tell me they’d be that strong.”

The partner’s eyes blew back in surprise, hearing how many men fell to the hands of his old home’s people, getting a strange look on his face after he thought for a moment. “What can you tell me of the Red Knight? Or rather, his squire since I assume he hasn’t revealed much of anything of himself yet.”

“May I, Oikawa?” The Lord questioned, hand already reaching for the head of the person sitting next to him.

Nodding his allowance, the male kept his head stationary, as to accept the visual memories of his companion.

Daishou whispered a phrase beneath his breath and Oikawa’s head shot back as visions filled his mind of just who had attended Camelot as a squire to the Red Knight in visiting Camelot.

When the pair separated, both had heaving chests, as they were trying to regulate their breathing after an intense trade of magic.

“No, it couldn’t have been…” Oikawa whispered to himself.

“You know him?” Daishou questioned as he scooted further in his seat away from his supposed companion.

Oikawa shook his head, “I knew him when I lived with the Order. But he’d never left his cousin’s side. I can’t imagine who'd he follow out to Camelot. And to have him, one of the smartest Knights in the Order regulated to nothing but a squire, must mean this Red Knight is in a class of their own. I can’t imagine who it would be though.” The circling thoughts seemed to attack Oikawa’s mind as his eyes moved from side to side in his confusion, his voice dissipated into nothing as he spoke in circles, and he fell deaf to Daishou’s calls.

Before he let the confusion last too long, Daishou leaned in and captured Oikawa’s lips with his own, kissing the man back to his own self. When the Lord felt the kiss being returned with twice as much force, he pulled away. “I don’t mind, whatever the issue. Just let me in on it so I can help. We want the same thing. You to be knighted in Camelot, and I to sit upon the throne. These things will only come to pass if you let me in though.”

“Yes, you are correct.” Oikawa recognized before sighing deeply and explaining to the best of his ability. “Before I was exiled from the Order, that man, the squire, his name is Sugawara. He was on a fast track to become the youngest Red Knight since the King’s grandfather. Everyone praised his intelligence, ability to stay calm, and to keep others refreshed in the heat of battle. But, his downfall is that he wouldn’t leave his cousin’s side. She was the Princess, and for a time we were all close. But, when my mother tried to assassinate the King, and she just happened to get hurt playing with me the next day, the King took it to mean I was trying to kill her. She didn’t believe that was the case and convinced her father to exile me instead of killing me, but in my rage I attacked Sugawara. I left with everyone believing I was a traitor. But no one held more control over Sugawara than the Princess. And her father was adamant she’d never be a Red Knight. I recall that in journeys, the one presented as the Red Knight is supposed to be the strongest, while the one presented as the squire is still technically a Red Knight, just not as strong. With all their rules about not talking and such, it makes sense to have someone free to discuss openly with others. If Sugawara is demoted to squire for this journey, I have no clue who could be marked as the Red Knight. Had I known it was Sugawara fighting, I would have drastically changed things, maybe as far as recalling the attack order.”

Daishou had to take a few moments to process everything he’d just heard. He’d try to start a comment back multiple times, but every one of them failed as the words got caught in his throat or his mind wandered to trying to prioritize a different idea. It was a full five minutes until he’d responded coherently.

“So, these Knights could prove to be worse adversaries than anyone in Camelot?” He asked tentatively.

“Yes.” Oikawa responded matter-of-factly.

Daishou shook his head, and stood to pace a bit, “If Camelot ends up reconnecting with them, and gets the Order on his side, things would be even harder, wouldn’t they?”

“Yes,” Oikawa repeated in the exact same manner.

“Then we have no choice,” Daishou turned to face the sitting male, “We must rebuild our forces, and come up with a plan that will utterly destroy each the Red Knight, his squire, and Camelot’s Knights before the King gets his wish of reuniting with the order.”

Looking up at the smiling face of his companion, Oikawa thought he saw the outline of a horned serpent. The evil thoughts protruding from his mind clear for anyone to see, just as his own once were.

“Agreed, but for now, we should take the time provided to us by your deceit to Kuroo. How long can you stay this time?”

“Perhaps a week.” Daishou answered off handedly, already thinking through different attack strategies. “Do you think we could call upon the Sphinx? He owes us for getting his stupidly simple riddle correct last time. Mayhaps he would devour the idiots of Camelot for us.”

Oikawa shook his head before he went to the side of his companion, wrapped his arms around the dark-haired male’s waist and whispered in his ear, “Mayhaps, it is time to retire this line of thought for another day and to go relax and...catch up.”

Daishou half turned to face the smiling light-haired man leaning against his backside. He grinned back, “Agreed, we can discuss Camelot’s and Kuroo’s downfall tomorrow.”

The pair entered the passages leading inside the castle’s ruins, neither male regarding the rolling dark clouds approaching their hideout as they ignored the outside world for a few hours.

_____________________________________

“Oikawa,” Daishou called his retreating partner from atop his steed, “You harbor no feelings towards the members of the Order, correct? Because if you do, all of this is for naught. Tell me now, was all this for nothing?”

The light-haired brunette thought of his old home, everyone he knew as a young boy, and how his life progressed since being exiled. “The only person I would ever listen to from the Order would never leave. There is no doubt in my mind, when we strike Camelot next time, they won’t stand in our way. You will be King, Daishou.”

“And you, a proper knight. Until we meet again, Oikawa.” The Lord responded before kicking his horse in high gear and dashing deep into the forest, returning at once to Camelot after more than a week gone.

_______________________________________________

Table of contents:

Chapter 7 Chapter 9

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f1chronicle · 3 years

Text

The Lewis Hamilton Fallacy

With Lewis Hamilton setting a new FORMULA 1 win record, and closing in on a record-equalling seventh World Championship, the vitriol on social media has been increasing, causing many to no longer wish to participate in Facebook groups that tolerate driver-bashing and hatred.

So how did we get to this point?

There are many factors at play here such as most drivers having a big presence across social media, but a key premise is we all have a different model of the world.

How you see things is completely different to how I see things, and generally speaking, this is a good thing for society as we can all bring our different points of view to a scenario and find a way forward.

Sadly this is not the case in the comments of nearly every F1 group on Facebook, where people are adamant that their point of view is right, yours is wrong, and you’re an idiot for thinking the way you do.

Let’s take a look at some of the common arguments in F1 groups, and see if they hold water…

Driver X Is The GOAT!

The GOAT argument isn’t specific to the world of F1, just look at the NBA, where LeBron James fourth NBA title stirred great debate as to whether or not he takes the mantle from Michael Jordan.

In F1 we have Lewis Hamilton vs Michael Schumacher, 93 race wins vs 91, six championships vs seven.

So how do we work out who the GOAT is?

Well, we can’t.

And even when F1 and AWS put out their ‘Fastest Driver’ analysis it still didn’t appease people if their guy wasn’t deemed the fastest.

Different drivers, different competition, different cars, the list goes on.

What we can have though is our favourite, and our own criteria for choosing a GOAT.

Personally, I didn’t much enjoy the years where Schumacher and Ferrari dominated. However, he has the most titles so to me he is still the greatest.

Some say the best of all time is Jim Clark, some say Fangio, some say Ayrton Senna. But unless they have seen them race, how can they compare?

Because if they’re using statistics, well the numbers don’t add up.

If they’re using stories and YouTube clips, then they’re comparing some drivers highlight reels against other drivers careers.

The passing of time plays an interesting trick on the mind, where we often forget the flaws, the disappointments, and the losses, remembering only the triumphs and victories.

And that’s ok.

You can have your GOAT, I can have mine, and neither of us can (or should) try to convince others that their GOAT is wrong.

Lewis Hamilton Has The Fastest Car (Or Best Car)

This one is odd, as I’m yet to see a car that wasn’t the fastest win a race.

When Pierre Gasly won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, on that day, his car was the fastest.

Maybe there is something in the air in Italy, as in 2008 Sebastian Vettel won in a Toro Rosso to claim his first win in F1. Funnily enough, on that day, his car was the fastest.

You wouldn’t think you’d need to explain how motorsport works, but what happens is the driver who crosses the line first, ie completes the race distance the fastest, wins. It’s that simple.

These ‘fastest car’ or ‘best car’ arguments add to the Lewis Hamilton Fallacy.

Formula 1 is a meritocracy, and as such, the best drivers usually find themselves into the cockpit of the best car.

From 2010 to 2013, it was widely acknowledged that Red Bull Racing were producing the best cars, as they powered Sebastien Vettel to four consecutive World Championships.

Today though, people are rewriting history as they claim Hamilton has ‘always’ benefitted from being in the best car.

So which one is it?

Because clearly it can’t be both.

The Good Old Days Were Better

This one is always fun, and is something that likely happens to all of us as we get older!

I’ve found myself opining that the English Premier League was better in the 90s and 2000s than it is now for example.

Often, the ‘good old days’ coincide with a time in history where our favourite teams and stars were winning. Funny about that.

Have you ever met a Ferrari fan who thinks the current era is better than the 2000-2004 period?

No, you haven’t.

However, where this one gets really interesting is when people argue that the drivers no longer drive the cars, and that everything is controlled by engineers sitting on a pit wall.

The problem with this is the Williams FW14B, built in 1992, is still considered the most technologically sophisticated car in the history of F1.

It’s 28 years old.

The FW14B had semi-automatic transmission, active suspension, traction control and, for a short time, anti-lock brakes.

It also had Adrian Newey in charge of aerodynamics.

In fact, Williams found the FW14B was proving so successful that when the FW15 was ready half-way through the 1992 FORMULA 1 season, it wasn’t used.

The argument (often made by people who reach their limit reversing out the driveway) that Hamilton turns up on a Sunday, plants his foot on the accelerator, and drives into the distance is disrespectful of the amount of work he puts in to keep his body and mind at peak performance, as well as the staff at Mercedes who put in countless hours perfecting the car.

Mercedes Should Get Max Verstappen, He Would Beat Hamilton

This would be a terrible idea for Mercedes, so it’s a good thing they don’t listen to public opinion on social media.

First of all, it sends a message to drivers in their development program that even if you progress through the program the seat will go to the big-name with more runs on the board.

Second, do you recall the Senna v Prost years?

Sure, Ron Dennis had two prodigious talents at his disposal, but the infighting, egos, and crashes out on course disrupted team harmony, causing factions in the garage and distrust at all levels.

Mercedes currently have the perfect set up, and it’s obviously working, as they pick up championship after championship.

As we’ve seen throughout history, having a genuine #1 and an able deputy leads to both Driver’s and Constructor’s Championships.

During the aforementioned ‘Schumacher Years’ of 2000 to 2004, he was the undisputed #1 and teammate Rubens Barrichello understood his role and performed it admirably.

Lewis Hamilton Doesn’t Have Competitive Teammates

Former Formula 1 World Champions Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, and Nico Rosberg would probably all argue that they are competitive drivers, capable of going wheel to wheel with Hamilton.

And they would be right, because they have the race wins and championships to prove their credentials.

When Hamilton joined the grid in 2007 as a teammate to Fernando Alonso, the belief throughout the paddock was that Alonso was #1 and Hamilton would be there to learn the ropes in F1.

In reality, it didn’t work out like that.

As Hamilton performed well, taking podiums and race wins, tensions mounted, and boiled over at the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix, where in the final qualifying session Alonso deliberately delayed Hamilton in the pits, ensuring he wouldn’t be able to get in one last run.

The pair didn’t speak for weeks after the incident.

At the end of the season, both drivers secured four race wins and 12 podiums. Clearly they were allowed to race each other, there were no team orders.

Funnily, after tensions thawed, in 2017 Alonso said “[Hamilton] was able to win with a dominant car, with a good car like 2010 or 2012, or with bad cars like 2009 and 2011. Not all the champions can say that”.

Is Alonso suggesting Hamilton hasn’t always had the best car?

Facebook commenters would disagree with the two-time World Champion…

In Jenson Button’s book ‘Life to the Limit’ Button goes into detail how competitive Hamilton was, and makes it clear that he too was there to win, not just to act as a rear-gunner for Hamilton. An interesting fact Button points out in this same book is that when Rubens Barrichello was his teammate at Honda, Barrichello had it written into his contract that they were equal drivers, he was not to be a #2…

When Hamilton moved to Mercedes for 2013, a move derided by many given Mercedes lacklustre performance in previous years, it was Nico Rosberg’s team.

There is evidence that team orders were used on at least one occasion in 2013, where at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix Rosberg was ordered to stay behind Hamilton in the closing stages, rather than fighting for third place. Hamilton felt the call was wrong, and that Rosberg should have been allowed to race.

During the 2014 Formula 1 season tensions again boiled over for Hamilton and a teammate, as several early exchanges throughout the season threatened to compromise both drivers title aspirations.

The pair had a wheel-to-wheel battle in Bahrain, a down-to-the-wire tussle in Spain, and made contact in Belgium.

In 2016, the year Rosberg won the championship, the two came together at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, in a move that infuriated Niki Lauda, as both drivers crashed out of the race.

The duo came together again at the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix, however both drivers could continue, with Hamilton taking the win.

Nice Rosberg went on to win the 2016 Driver’s Championship, which gives Hamilton detractors a curious dilemma.

On one hand they laugh, saying he was beaten by Nico Rosberg, yet on the other, they say he has never had to race against competitive teammates.

So, which one is it?

Lewis Hamilton Needs To Prove He Can Win With Another Team

This one always brings a smile to the face 😊

I have no problem with fans being new to F1, it’s great! The sport needs more and more fans to keep it going.

The issue is people forgetting that the sport was going before they saw it on Drive to Survive, then commenting on Facebook posts.

For the record, Lewis Hamilton won the 2008 Driver’s Championship with McLaren.

Although they had a Mercedes engine at the time, they were indeed their own team then, as they are now.

And that is a different team to Mercedes.

Hamilton has won championships with two teams.

Before the 2008 season Felipe Massa of Ferrari was the favourite to win the title, and Ferrari did indeed win the Constructor’s Championship, however, in a thrilling finish to the season Hamilton won the title by one point.

His teammate Heikki Kovalainen finished seventh.

But wait, doesn’t the best car always win the Driver’s Championship too?

Well now I don’t know what to believe.

Put Lewis Hamilton In A Williams, Let’s See How He Goes

If Hamilton was to drive for Williams, we already know how it would go – terribly.

Why?

Because it is a poor car that has suffered at the hands of bad management and a lack of finances for several seasons now.

Fernando Alonso drove a horrible McLaren from 2015 to 2017.

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello had a terrible Honda to drive in 2007 and 2008, and not just because it had a map of the world painted on it. The aerodynamics were poor from the start, and the car just wasn’t competitive.

Does this diminish any of these drivers achievements before or after?

Does it prove their car is what won them races?

No, what it does prove is that Formula 1 is a team sport, and that it takes everyone rowing in the right direction together to deliver a package capable of competing at the front.

If Lionel Messi signed for Newcastle they still wouldn’t win the league. Likewise if Lebron James joined the Knicks, they wouldn’t win an NBA title. The teams they would join are still terrible, but having a champion on the team would improve them and make everyone life their standards over time.

Hamilton wouldn’t win in a Williams, just like Raikkonen can’t win in an Alfa and Vettel can’t get near a podium in a Ferrari this year.

However, the one thing all these drivers have in common is the ability to wring every ounce of performance out of a bad car, and Williams would expect nothing less if they had Hamilton in their race seat.

Politics Don’t Belong in Sport

As a middle-aged white man, this one makes me cringe the most.

Middle aged white men on Facebook, telling a black man what he should and shouldn’t do, how he can protest, and how he is ‘ruining’ the sport for them.

Yikes.

The purpose of a protest is to bring issues to light, to have people questioning their attitudes and beliefs.

Telling someone how they can protest against their perceived suppression is, er, suppressing them further.

You may not agree with ‘We Race As One‘, the BLM movement or drivers taking a knee before the race, but that’s the point. An issue being highlighted is an opportunity for you to question your thinking, to reflect, and possibly make changes. There is no harm in admitting that at one time you held beliefs that you now feel are wrong.

While we’re on the topic of politics in sports and how the handful of minutes it takes to show drivers supporting the ‘End Racism’ message ruining peoples enjoyment of Formula 1, what of other sports?

The ‘Old Firm’ derby is one of the biggest rivalries in sport, and it is founded on religion and politics. People are born into a side based on which side of the clearly divisive line they fall, Catholic vs Protestant, British vs Irish Scot, Conservatism vs Socialism. People have been killed on derby days, and violence in Glasgow increases any time the two clubs play.

Politics don’t belong in sport though, so they must be fighting over something else.

In 1967 Muhammed Ali refused to serve in the US Army during the Vietnam War, uttering the famous line ‘I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong…no Vietcong ever called me nigger.’ Since then he has, rightfully, been lauded as a hero for his stance.

The Vietnam War probably wasn’t political though, was it?

Even the sport of Bandy isn’t immune to politics!

Norway declined to take part in the 1957 Bandy World Championship because the Soviet Union was invited, due to the Soviet invasion of Hungary the year before. The country made a similar protest for the 1969 Bandy World Championship because of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia that year, handing over the hosting of the 1969 event to Sweden.

Indeed Formula 1 itself is no stranger to politics in sport, with the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix cancelled due to concerns over human rights protests led by Avaaz.

You may not agree with the stance Hamilton has taken, you may not like it, but you do have to respect that in a free society he can use his platform however he sees fit – he built it.

What To Make Of The Lewis Hamilton Fallacy

Now I’m not naïve enough to think that the words on this page will make everyone stop arguing on the internet, that will never happen.

What I do hope though is that it has loosened the grip for some people, and will help them take the blinkers off.

We’re lucky enough to be living in a time where each Sunday, one of the finest Formula 1 drivers the world has ever seen jumps into his Mercedes and puts his life on the line to win trophies, and entertain us.

I’m lucky enough to have seen this level of performance twice, once with Michael Schumacher, now with Lewis Hamilton.

Should I live long enough to see Hamilton’s records beaten, I won’t waste time arguing over who is the GOAT, who had the best car, or why this bright new talent needs to jump through made up hoops to prove themselves to the folks in the bleachers.

I’ll simply be grateful to have witnessed three drivers at the absolute peak of their powers, doing what they love.

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#Formula 1 news

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thebubblemaster · 4 years

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Its midnight and I gotta wake up at 5am to go to work tomorrow but I've been thinking about this for a while and I gotta get it off my chest!

Yall are always complaining about how english teachers find meaning in literature that isn't there and then go off and try to analyze media like youre writing a dissertation. And i can always tell which one of yall actually pays attention in English class bc some of yall don't understand what makes a good analysis! Some of yall just list evidence and expect it to stand for itself and some of yall just go off on explanations without providing any examples. Half the time i ask myself if the person even watched/read whatever it was in the first place! And this applies to both positive and negative analysis. Either way yall have to learn how to analyze things well bc sometimes I see a post I do not agree with but it's well written so I can see where they're coming from, but other times I'm just angry bc its obvious you either didn't pay attention in class or had shitty english teachers.

As someone who considers herself very good at writing analysis essays I can't just stand by and watch yall make fools out of yourselves. Not to flex but, ive been getting As on my last minute essays since freshman year of highschool, so you can be sure that that this advice isn't coming from an amateur.

Anyways, here's my tips on writing an adequate and organized essay for all of your academic and fandom needs.

Forget about the intro. Trust me. I've heard so many people say they get stuck forever on their introductions and it's heartbreaking. If I'm not writing something in class, I always write my introductions last.

Start with your thesis. This is the last sentence of your intro, and really the only important part of that whole paragraph. The basic formula for a thesis is something like, "In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, he shows that the American dream is futile through his use of symbolism of the green light, Gatsby's idealization of Daisy, and Gatsby's eventual death." Havent read the book in 5 years but you get the idea. You state what it is you think the author is doing and 3 ways you think you can prove it.

The first sentence of each body paragraph will introduce one reason and briefly elaborate on what it is about the reason you will focus on.

Gather evidence. Pick out exact quotes that appear to support the reasons you've provided in your thesis and separate them by each reason. Even if youre going to paraphrase or cite a scene as a whole as evidence, it's good to have the exact words recorded so you can reference them easier when you go back to actually write the essay. Dont forget to record the chapter and page number each one appears on so you can cite it later on. I usually gather more than I think ill need so I have options when I'm writing my analysis, but you'll need at least 2 per reason.

Explain why you think these quotes or scenes support the reason you gave. Why does the light represent Gatsby's unattainable goals? How does his perception of Daisy and her reality differ?

Connect it all back to the original point of your thesis. How does Gatsby's unattainable goal of a relationship with Daisy compare to the unattainable goal of the American Dream? How does America's perception of this dream and the realities of it's futility reflect in Gatsby and Daisy's relationship?

Repeat 3-6 for every body paragraph and you've got 60% of your essay done.

Conclusion. Restate the thesis. Give brief, one sentence summaries on how each of your paragraphs connect to your overarching point. End it with something like "It is due to Fitzgerald's use of symbolism and characterization that the message of the American Dream itself being an illusion throughout the novel is successful." Praise the author or something along those lines. Dont bring up anything new that you didnt talk about in your previous paragraphs.

Ok, back to the Introduction. The introduction is there to provide context for the analysis. Youre always supposed to write as if your audience has never read the book youre writing about. Introduce the author and the specific work your essay is about. Use the authors full name the first time you mention them and then just the last name every time after. Only mention things that are relevant to what you will be talking about. Keep it concise and build up to your thesis. Introduction paragraphs for analysis essays Do Not have to be long. In fact, it should be the shortest paragraph in the essay. 4-5 good sentences should be enough.

Now here are just some basic tips everyone should know

Book titles are typed in italics: The Great Gatsby. Poems and short stories are written in quotation marks: "The Raven," or"The Yellow Wallpaper."

Never use contractions. Ever. The only reason an apostrophe should be in there is if it's there to be possessive.

Don't use a thesaurus. Seriously. If you're not entirely familiar with a word, don't use it. It's obvious when someone has filtered their essay through one because they're usually unreadable. You don't have to use long words to get your point across.

DO NOT WRITE IN THE FIRST PERSON! There is no "I am going to write about" in a formal essay. This is obvious to anyone who is reading it. Dont say what you'll write about, just write about it!

Don't use words like "attempts" or say things like "this might connect to this" or whatever. State everything as of it is an undisputable fact. Be assertive with your points. It makes you look more credible and like you know what you're talking about.

Write in the presnt tense always even if the author is dead: "Fitzgerald uses symbolism." As well as about a character's actions of the book's events: "Daisy crashes the car and runs over the woman," "Gatsby throws lavish parties."

When teachers say avoid passive voice they mean the noun goes before the verb. "Nick drives the car" not "The car is driven by Nick."

It doesn't matter whether you agree with what you're writing. If you see evidence for a point and its the easiest thing to write about, just do it. No one will care or notice if it's not your real opinion.

If you can frame something in a way that will help your point, then do it. Even if at first glance its not exactly relevant.

You can make anything into an argument if you try hard enough. Which is basically what youre doing when writing an analysis essay, arguing that your interpretation is the right one.

Be as concise as possible. Avoid all tangents to your main point and stay on topic 100% of the time. This will help you keep your essay organized and your reader convinced that you have a solid grasp on the text.

Now go forth and make convincing arguments! Even if they are about weeb shit.

Thank you for your time.

#english #literature #english class #writing advice #analysis #academics #the only thing i cant really help with is grammar #i always get points off for bad grammar #but like #who cares #grammar is but a guideline i have and will continue to ignore for the foreseeable future #anyways its 1am now and ive spent an hour writing this #ha #edit: up an hour later fixing my mistakes #this is what happens when i wake up at noon on my days off

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vader2279 · 4 years

Text

I FIGURED OUT WHAT IS FUNDAMENTALLY MISSING FROM TRUMP SUPPORTERS!!!!!

I’ve spent the better part of four years asking myself how anyone can support Donald trump? He constantly lies, posts racially divisive videos and remarks, deregulates climate protection laws, been accused of over 27 incidents of rape or sexual misconduct, broken the hatch act at least a dozen times and has refused to own up to it, has been impeached for helping foreign powers to interfere In our election, has destroyed our world view with foreign leaders (except dictators), and finally destroyed the economy and killed an estimated 100,000 lives by not responding quickly enough to a pandemic that is still being mismanaged to this day.

So why do they keep supporting him?!?!..... I have 3 explanations....

1) they are willing to ignore all of his illegal behavior and decisive redorick because they support his corporate tax cuts that are making the rich richer

2) they support is attempts at dividing the country because they, themselves are racist, or misogynist, like to insight violence, or all of the above?

3) they are people of unwavering faith who believe everything they are told by him and his administration and ignore all other views, regardless of proof, facts, data, or even sometimes what they see with their own eyes?

It is this last group I wish to address.... you are people of faith... people of belief.... you were raised to believe that through faith and prair, things will get better, people like trump will see the errors of his mistakes and elevate to the man you think he is capable of... the level of a president.... and while I respect you and everything about your beliefs, for trump to change even in the slightest would take a faith he does not have.... he is a faithless man who only believes in himself and is power, which he tries to overreach the limits of daily... allow me to give you just a few examples you can look up yourself (many with video proof) of the godless heathen he is:

1) ordered teargas and shooting with rubber bullets of peaceful protestors so he could get a photo opp with a bible infront of a church

2) has 5 children with 3 different women, all of which he has cheated on several times.... specifically he cheated on his first wife with what eventually became his second wife, cheated on his current wife with a playmate and a porn star... both have documented payoff prof for them to keep quiet

3) admitted on audio about regularly grabbing women inappropriately

4) walked through the underage girls dressing room for the miss teen universe pageants seeing them all changing and naked (this is considered undisputed petafelia by law)

5) he has been sued over 20 times alone for refusing to pay contractors then eventually settling for pennies on the dollar

6) pardoned convicted felons because of their business partnerships with the trump organization

7) on air, when asked several questions concerning the Bible, could not name a single fact from it... not even a single chapter, verse or passage, or even a story he could connect with...

Meanwhile Biden is a catholic and a man of strong moral and spiritual faith, who has never divorced, and has a strong connection with the church, his family, and his faith.....

To you trump supporters who plan on voting for trump because of any faith based reason, I implore you to seek the truth... faith in a higher power does not need proof... faith in a man to do the right thing does require proof, not blind faith.... and the only proof trump has given us is that he supports racism, sexism, anything that causes divide in this country, cause that is the only way he has to keep control...

Seek the real truth... read many articles from various sources from both sides... form your own opinions, find the true facts, piece together the real truth (hint you will never find the whole truth from the far right or the far left)

I have faith that when you piece together the truth and weed out all the lies, you will join the fight to unite this country, and oppose those like trump who fight to divide it!

(PS, for those of you in group one and two who ARE racists, bigots, sexists, or just plain old CEO’s who want that extra fat bonuses because of his corporate tax cuts and environmental deregulation’s.... you have no place and no future in this country... learn to adapt to the equality we are fighting for, or become an extinct relic of a past future generations will look back on in shame for what you supported)

#fucktrump #fuck trump #trump lies #trump POS in chief #dump trump #against trump #trumpsupporters #president trump

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

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yeah if you wanna talk realism then there's no way jason and tim got to bruce's and dick's levels so quickly. especially jason. bruce trained for most of his life and dick was raised as an acrobat and then spent the rest of his life training martial arts. tim and jason couldn't have reached that in the few years they spent as robin. so lets not bring realism into it cause then we all come off as asshats and it's not nice.

I mean, its just so dumb to me. I’ve never once been tempted to try and diminish Jason or Tim’s skills compared to Dick by citing the time frames their training took place in….especially given that those time frames IMO were basically random numbers writers with no real experience with any of those skillsets themselves just pulled out of their asses, because they honestly didn’t care whether it was believable or not. Like sure, one could feasibly make that argument if they really wanted to, but….why? What’s even the point? At the end of the day we’re still talking about child superheroes the entire DC fandom just accepts as being able to outlast, outmatch or outperform every child superhero with actual superpowers, just as their dad can do the same with literally every adult superhero, as far as most people are concerned.

Realism is just such an absurd argument to bring into this IMO, whether its in the name of propping up a character or diminishing a character, because like….by all means, I’m right there with anyone who wants to argue real world implications or ramifications to comic book stuff, because as long as a comic book is a mirror of our world to any degree, those things don’t go away just because something happens in a comic book instead of real life.

But its an entirely different thing when you’re trying to argue real world logistics as applied to comic book stories, because the very nature of the medium is a kind of absurdism. Like, its literally the point? Its larger than life, four color shit from the bottom to the top, solely for no other reason than it CAN be, that the medium ALLOWS for it to be. Superhero comics are literally the place where anything goes, so long as you can justify it in-story. Absolutely I think you still need to have internal consistency. The things you claim happen in a story should make sense according to the internal logic or rules set forth by that story, otherwise its just…plot holes. But that’s got nothing to do with realism, its purely how….storytelling works.

Like, I use the “Dick started as Robin at eight” timeline for literally no other reason than its the version of events that gives him the most time with Bruce for the much talked about and always referenced strong bond they have to form, and it gives him the most time and experience as a trained vigilante, which in turn, to me, accomplishes the far greater task of justifying Dick’s extreme and undisputed competence in the eyes of basically the entire superhero and supervillain communities, by the time he’s an adult and Nightwing.

I mean, that’s literally the only reason I go with that, and the reason I prioritize ‘what age he debuts as Robin makes Dick’s reputation and experience as an adult hero seem most plausible’ over ‘what age he debuts as Robin seems most plausible’…..

Is because there’s literally no childhood age where if you ask me, the things that are expected of and taken for granted with any and all of the Robins in either the comics or most fics…are remotely plausible.

Like, it doesn’t weird me out to write Dick starting as a costumed vigilante at age eight, because…..if I’m honestly viewing things through that lens…..then….him, any of them, starting at age ten isn’t any less ridiculous? Starting as a vigilante at age twelve isn’t any less ridiculous to me? Fourteen is barely plausible but stretching it, and still would require leaning heavily into the idea that the teen vigilante still had a literal lifetime of training under their belt in at least one of the relevant skillsets like acrobatics or martial arts….I mean ‘realistically,’ if we’re really trying to play that game, I would have trouble taking literally any story about any Robin ‘seriously’ unless they were at least sixteen or so….

And if you have them all start out as Robin at age sixteen or more, then….not only does that put a serious cramp in how much history/bond/partnership Bruce can develop with any of his Robins and y’know…family….in a comparatively vastly reduced time frame….but also, that pretty much negates the entire premise and point of Robin in the first place. Seeing as how IMO Robin basically exists as the quintessential youth empowerment archetype, heavy emphasis on youth….as well as at least in its early decades, doubling as the embodiment of childhood joy/innocence/potential as superpowers unto themselves.

*Shrugs* Bottom line is I honestly don’t think any one of us would be here if we were really dependent on viewing any of the Bat characters through any kind of ‘realism’ lens. The very nature of Robin’s existence kinda expects a suspension of disbelief regarding a child’s ability to go toe-to-toe with skilled foes with powers, resources and experiences far beyond anything he can comparatively match….and yet still walk away or come out on top most of the time anyway. And again, you ask me, the second you buy into that premise to any degree, you’re kinda sacrificing your right to play the ‘but realism!’ card, no matter what age we’re talking about specifically, so like….I honestly have trouble seeing where one specific ‘c’mon now, seriously?’ age is any more or less believable than any other.

And this actually really ticks me off, lol, even though its not that deep, because like…..the fact is I fully believe anyone who is able to conceptualize and word things as well as I know the particular poster whose post annoyed me is in fact capable of….like, they damn well know this themselves, and is just willfully pretending otherwise for the sake of making a bullshit argument they know is bullshit and yet are still making anyway because it suits their bullshit agenda….which in the context of an argument like that, like…it isn’t even “oh I don’t like this character or his stories and here’s why” which I mean, I get….but instead this kinda thing is “and also you shouldn’t like this character and his stories either and here’s why, even though I absolutely would never apply this same logic to any one of MY faves.”

I mean, I know its same shit, different fandom, and a lot of this is just carried over irritation after six years in TW fandom where people like…fucking ran strategic military campaigns committed to making sure as few people liked the main character as possible, lmfao….but its just, nothing about this kinda thing is remotely novel or original and I’m soooooo tired of people being so blatantly fake about their intentions, when its like….who even fucking cares?

Did you win a prize for pretending you didn’t hate that character you actually hate? Did you score all the points by being so slick that nobody caught on that you SOUNDED like you like this character even though you actually only posted to drop in these five different reasons people should actually hate that character instead? Is literally anything anyone gains from this kinda fake BS worth the time and effort they put into pretending they have a different opinion than the one they want people to actually internalize and agree with, because the fake opinion they’re pretending to have is actually one that they hate?

*rolls eyes so much they fall out of skull*

LMFAO, sorry, you didn’t set me off, just…..this kind of behavior is just such a pet peeve of mine. Its like hearing nails on a chalkboard for me, just gets under my skin, lolol. And also its lame and boring and dumb and what if people didn’t work so hard to be so fake all the time, I’m just wondering. For like. Science and stuff.

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