#also he cant be truly redeem no matter what he does

[dottcre]

if it so happens that dottore does get a redemption arc, i will be inconsolable

#i mean id probably accept it in 2 days #but you know thats just so sad #he was an evil little spaghetti #also he cant be truly redeem no matter what he does #unless he brings all those dead children back and take back the years of trauma he gave them #and then do community service until he dies #maybe that’ll help a tiny bit #@ tearoom chatter !

[angrylesbianstereotype]

how do u feel about breaking bad’s ending? i love breaking bad to death but my hatred of walt cant accept felina. i kinda understand what vince was going for but for me it doesnt align with the actions have consequences philosophy of the show. he deserved so much worse. i hate that jesse’s life was still in his hands and his choice to make. the only choice jesse gets thats truly his own is alsaka. you hate walt as passionately as i do so i was wondering if u agree.

Heyy @axolotlv sorry it took me so long to get around to answer this but honestly I haven’t quite parsed my feelings ab Felina myself, which is weird to think ab bc BrBa has been my hyperfixation for like six?? Some odd years?? It’s been awhile and there is no cure in sight. However I do have to disagree w your opinion on Jesse’s ending, esp now that we have the added context of El Camino to go off of. I thought it was perfect. I talked before in my post on Todd and Lydia as character foils to Jesse and Walt ab how Jesse strangling Todd is him freeing himself from a prison of both Walt’s making and his own, seeing as Todd and Lydia are both responsible for Jesse’s imprisonment and how they parallel Jesse and Walt respectively. I think the Gilliverse in general does a good job of both holding Jesse accountable for his choices while cutting him some moral slack on account of Walter’s abuse of power towards him. Jesse’s life is in Walter’s hands because Walter has essentially kept him in a state of mental captivity over the last few seasons, but he is the one who makes the choice to end it, by refusing to do Walt’s dirty work for him anymore, by refusing to commit another act of violence on his behalf. By putting the gun down. And in El Camino, he chooses not just to go to Alaska, but to accept what he has done and redeem himself not through jail time, but through becoming a better person, becoming the kind of person who puts as much good into the world as he did bad. And as much as we the viewers might have wanted Jesse to shoot Walter in the dick, at the end of the day, Jesse loves Walt. Despite everything, because of everything, Jesse loves and hates Walter as much as one might an actual abusive parent, and I think actually shooting Walt would have followed him for the rest of his life, no matter how justified he might have been in doing so.

With regards to Walter’s ending… my feelings are mixed. I’m willing to accept it because I think it brought Jesse a sense of closure that a more fitting punishment for Walt might not have, which was maybe the point. That it’s not about Walter anymore. He’s dead, his story is done, and he was so far gone that the only thing he could do in the way of redemption was do right by the person he hurt and loved the most. He allows Jesse’s story to continue at the expense of his own, and it’s maybe the first selfless thing he’s ever done in his life. And maybe the only thing he ever really did for his family. And, maybe, that he got what he wanted was also the point. Because on the surface, he’s had everything stripped away, he didn’t get what he wanted at all. Everyone who has ever met him wants him dead, including his whole family, his empire has fallen as soon and as fast as it rose. But all of those things were just stand-ins for what Walter really wanted, which was some agency over his own death, because he felt as though he didn’t have any over his own life (good thing he didn’t project this lack of agency onto anyone else, huh). So it’s sort of a monkey’s paw thing, where he gets what he wants, a good, meaningful death, at the expense of a good, meaningful life. Narratively speaking, it’s brilliant.

But I still kind of wish Jesse had shot him in the dick.

#anti walter white #walter white hate blog #jesse pinkman #breaking bad meta #brba #felina

[destinygoldenstar]

Total Drama Danganronpa Island Chapter 4 Deadly Life Spoilers:

Tw: I talk about suicide and cancel culture in the story

I myself have never experienced having suicidal thoughts. The only time I can recall where I came close was getting braces. Yeah. So you can imagine the research I had to do, especially since in this very fic, I’ve been pretty dismissive of mental illnesses and disorders. That I apologize for and hope I can do better.

This was something I felt more than anything, I CANNOT dismiss this, nor can I sugarcoat it. I have to be as respectful to it as possible, and actively discourage the idea. Never know if there’s a crippled person out there that sees your work and takes it to heart. (That’s a nightmare for me. To have something I made be responsible for someone’s death)

I have a romantic partner with chronic illnesses for almost ten years now, and still no cure. Multiple times, they’ve shared to me their suicidal thoughts, thoughts that made me scared of losing them. They’re still alive, and they say over and over again it’s because of me.

I’m someone who has a hard time talking coherently. That’s why my social media presence is mostly text. So Bridgette’s speech here, I personally see it as me talking to the people struggling to find something to live for and never give up even where there’s literally no hope left. There’s always something, even when you don’t see it at the moment. Someone to love, someone who loves you, a book you like, a show you like, nice walks, whatever. There’s something. You can’t experience those good things if you’re dead.

There’s also some cancel culture commentary here. Everyone’s a part of it whether we consciously know it or not. It’s really sad.

I cant count how many times Ive said something whether in real life or online and I become self-conscious whenever someone has a certain response. One wrong word and a whole group of people can hate you. That’s all it takes.

In the realm of fame, either you’re a role model or you’re a disgrace. Nothing in between.

Total Drama isn’t any different from this subject matter with Gwen in particular. Something I feel a lot if people overlook.

There are some cases where it’s lies and the person is innocent, you may find a few examples of such, and that's just heartbreaking.

But what happens when you ACTUALLY screw up? Make a mistake? Make a fool out of yourself? Like humans do? (I.e, Gwen) Cancel Culture tells you you’re therefore an awful person with no redeeming qualities, and that one mistake suddenly becomes your whole life. It’s heartbreaking especially when the cancelled person WANTS to own up and be better, but the people just don’t have it.

Then there's the other side of cancel culture, which many famous people, such as Chris, use to defend TRULY terrible people and say the world is in the wrong.

Either way, Gwen was treated like dirt and sent to suffer for an old mistake, for so long until she lost hope altogether and bailed on fighting. The others could've helped her, but only Duncan took the time to consider helping, and he tried to commit suicide... so what other influence was there for Gwen in a world where she really needed a friend?

Does this mean the other campers are entirely to blame? No. But there is a lesson for them to learn here about empathy and redemption as a concept. Them hating her is understandable if you the audience want to see it as understandable reasons to hate Gwen, but did they go about it the right way? No.

Gwen Ellis is nothing short of a tragedy and a cautionary tale of a minor being a victim of cancel culture.

And the surviving campers want to make sure that her fate never happens to anybody else ever again.

And in case you’re wondering why Bridgette is the one who gave the eulogy, when Duncan and Courtney were right there, 1) Neither were very mentally stable at the time 2) Bridgette is one of the hosts with who WAS Geoff (And is now Leshawna. Platonically.), so she has the experience to give speeches like this in front of people. That and she has the calm agency to be mature about the situation, especially how she, more than anyone, feels like she HAS to own up to her mistake of being a part of the fuel that lead to the death of this girl.

And she didn't have to do that, and no one would blame her. Gwen killed Geoff, forced to or not, and Bridgette was understandably upset and could still hold that grudge even after Gwen's death, and no one would blame her. But the fact that she took ownership after realizing what's happened says a lot about her as a person.

#total drama #danganronpa #total drama danganronpa island #td gwen #td bridgette #tw sucidal ideation #tw s3lf harm #tw sui talk #td duncan #cancel culture

[aprito]

hello <3 since i got these asks at the same time i decided to combine my thoughts on them in this post. yet another annoying sjw essay from yours truly on this blog 

before i get into these i think i need to preface why im like. i guess overly hyperfocused on a certain unproblematic base (same age au / platonic canon) for them and avoid the ped0philic content like the plague lol

tw for pedophilia ment, rape ment if that makes you squicky. ALSO THIS IS LONG AND RAMBLY

as i’ve mentioned a couple times already, ive been into the ship since i was 12, back when it was very very common to not only post untagged (nsfw) canonverse content of the two in writing and in drawing but also non con and the like, so you can imagine how bad my first impression online was. thinking back on it ...as a child i found it disturbing but didnt really register how problematic it really was?? (i know, but i also lived in the middle of nowhere and had no one explain this to me) 

skip to 2014 aka me coming back to naruto at 17ish and i had kinda become hyper aware of the fact that there was an increasing amount of people online who had come forward with explaining how fictional problematic content, mostly pedophilia, had been used to groom them into starting relationships with adullts. it was also a time where a lot of people didnt believe these victims, not registering how common it was for minors to be online friends with adults who had no boundaries and no qualms exposing them such content. not gonna get into my personal life here but i was lucky to not having gone through this myself. like... it kinda was my first time truly realising how fiction can EASILY be used to manipulate others irl (and yes i will not argue this, if you dont think fictional media can form and manipulate people’s opinions on attitudes, countries, cultures and virtues, pick up a book about the effects of propaganda media at least once please) 

i, being young, still liking the dynamic but not really the romance, would point this out here and there in the fandom and get into fights with grown adults in their mid 20s who assumed i automatically hated the ship(s) and tried to restrict their freedom of speech or whatever, heard everything from the “age of consent doesnt exist in naruto” to the “sasori looks like a child what does it matter” despite people clearly playing on him being older and experienced. it made me so upset that people were just consuming all this content uncritically and exposing children to it tbh?? not really just sos but a lot of minor/adult ships in naruto in general. and thats where i sat down and thought, i do not want to be a grown adult talking down to children that point out how unsafe the fandom is. theyre absolutely right in drawing these boundaries and calling out adults who defend the uncritical consumption and creation of this content. i do not want to consume or create content that predators could use to groom minors, and i absolutely do want to let younger people in fandom know that i am respecting their comfort zones and want them to have a safe and fun experience. after all, naruto is not an adult show and i think a lot of people forget that!!!! i am not perfect in that regard but its something that i, at the age of 23, am very passionate about and strive towards to.

and i guess thats where same age au was born for me and i have been sticking to it ever since. 

so finally we can move to the first question 

aside from the fact that we both dont like canon sos, i dont think it would work out even if i wasnt prejudiced to it anyways. in all honesty, 35 year old canon sasori is not a redeemable character to me, given the fact that he’s easily amongst the cruelest villains in naruto (torturing and killing and taxiderming people for his own fun personal gain, never for a goal that served anyone but himself. how do you redeem having over 300 corpses in your backpack that you felt absolutely no remorse for killing). sasori was legit one of the only cruel villains that didnt had someone else pull the strings, which sends a clear message on kishi’s part, who absolutely loves to redeem villains LOL.

being that old, he obviously had already been very manifested in what he believed in, even if it was shakey, to the point where the first crack in that world view (sakura and chiyo protecting each other) immediately had him give up on his life all together. that, in my opinion, is not a man who’s going to know what healthy relationships would look like, regardless of it being romantic or not. 35 year old sasori to me has the same appeal as an expired can of tuna and he’s probably very happy 6 feet under. he’s supposed to be a failed gaara in that sense that he had no one to look out for him and therefore was never going to experience anything but a bad ending in life. its fine that hes dead honestly, it wraps up his short character development the best IMO.

adding to that, seriously, sakura was obviously interested in knowing why he was that way, and called him out for being seriously fucked in the head, but it’s weird to me that people assume she had any interest in actively rehabilitating him, let alone starting a serious romantic relationship with him. sakura who’s not only very, uhm, immature and straight forward when it comes to her romantic viewpoints also, as a big bootlicker, wouldnt soil her standing in the village by starting anything with a disgraced and far too gone criminal like sasori. shipping that version of sasori with sakura intimately is still going to set her up for a huge power imbalance that would be difficult to handle imo, even if she was the one in the fight ultimately exerting her power over him. i would still look at it and think damn she deserves better than having to play therapist for man like that lol.

additionally, even if you ignored all of this, you cant really ignore that sasori had already known her as a child, and that had been his first and most impactful impression of her. i dont think that sasori would look at 35 year old sakura and see her as a grown woman and not the little green girl she was in the fight. plus, you easily fall into predatory comparison territory between the “childish” and “womanly” and i have seen way too often in fic just being boiled down to her now being fuckable. a lot of of ships do this and i would just like to remind yall thats it not normal for adults to want to start relationships with children they have seen grown up or known as a child when they themselves were fully grown adults. therefore, maybe if sakura hadnt met sasori before it would be less of a problem? but that also obviously defeats the point of the dynamic and the reason he died in the first place. so yeah, it sounds kind of doomed especially if you were to make it romantic. 

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE SECOND QUESTION

let me preface this that im not fundamentally against age gaps, even if im not super interested in it. after all, colorblind had a 5 yr age gap (with sakura being 21), even if, say, i wrote similar fics today i probably would make it smaller lol. i think it can be handled well if both parties have enough life experience to deal with it, and the author is cautious of where the age gap starts, i think a 10+ year age gap would be fine in a scenario where the younger party (i guess sakura) was at least 25-27ish, meaning she has completed most of her most formative life stages and probably had been in relationships before, meaning she would be able to handle it without having to fear a huge power imbalance. the older the younger party is the less the age gap is going to matter tbh .TsukiHoshino and AngelOfDeath10 both handle age gaps in their fics really well imo, so i do not mind reading about them.

unfortunately, a lot of people in this fandom think making sakura barely "”””legal””””” (18, not even 20 which is hilarious to me because the source material is obviously japanese) because they both cannot stand her being past her “prime years” of being young fertile and fuckable to much older men as well as thinking a 20 year old is automatically old enough to handle that type of relationship. ive seen a lot of unironic takes that believe it will absolve them of callout posts if they throw around age of consent and “shes 18 now suckers!!!” enough lmfao. absolutely hilarious. aging a minor up without aging the adult down seriously reeks of predatory “cant wait until youre 18″ narratives and thats why i find it similarly disturbing as straight up pedo shipping.

ultimately, sasosaku is and will always be a inherently problematic ship in canon, which is why i think it should always be handled a little more responsibly in fandom spaces, ignoring or outright excusing the main problem factor, which is sasori, isnt going to convince anyone that the dynamic in itself is well written and interesting enough to explore in aus, like giving sasori the redemption most of us wanted him to have by aging him down to a point in time where he was still realistically going to allow being positively influenced, similar to gaara. 

so really, what i think is well handled age gap and how most people handle age gap in the naruto fandom are two different worlds at times lol 

tl;dr

canon shippers have never been anything but gross when i was younger and i didnt wanna be like that, even if youre “smart”enough to differenate, actual creeps dont really care and might use your content to blur the lines, sasori isnt rly redeemable so romantic canonverse realistically wouldnt make much sense and is still iffy, age gaps are fine if they are handled well, but given that the dynamic doesnt really need the age gap to still work im not that invested on making that an essential part of my shipping experience.  

thank you for reading and hope this makes sense!

#nonitxt #meta #another hot take from me #but seriously if you're offended over these #unfollow me lol idc #defending predatory content is not a hill im gonna die on in this life

[writingquestionsanswered]

i kinda,,,, dont really like one of my characters. and usually id totally revamp him but hes got two other characters heavily leaning on him [one is his brother and the other is a love interest.] and ive just slowly realized even though it wasnt intended he turned out to be a not great person. nowhere near a villain but i feel like the love interest deserves so much better, especially since theyve been thru so much already in the story and i think giving them another arc of (1/2)

realizing this dude isnt good for them or working through it would be a bit too much. but i cant just take away some of those traits that make him like that bc then his brothers story and actions wouldnt make sense since he heavily influences them. but i also cant just take him out of the love interests life altogether bc a large part of their story depends on him. so im really just, think ive written myself into a bind. any tips???? also sorry if this was way longer than it needed to be.

Important Character Turned Out to Be "Not Great”

(And a Refresher on Plot, Subplot, and Character Arcs)

You’ve definitely written yourself into a bit of a bind, so let’s take a look at some possible ways to get out of it. But first, let’s do a quick refresher on plot, subplot, and character arcs...

“Subplots” Not “Arcs”

I want address this first because it’s important to my answer. When you say you don’t want to “give them another arc,” that doesn’t actually mean anything. Because when you’re writing long fiction, such as a novella or novel, there are only two kinds of arcs: the story arc (aka the plot) and character arcs. Anything that could be considered a story arc within the story is called a subplot, not a story arc. And this matters because if you want to learn how to use subplots, you need to call them by the proper term. 

Plot vs Subplot vs Character Arc

Plot is the arc of your entire story from beginning to end. It’s what the story’s about and how that manifests from beginning, middle, to end.

Subplot is all the little side stories that take place within your plot. Subplot helps to develop characters and your story’s world, and it can also help line up the pieces for the main plot. Subplots should always compliment the plot and tie back in at some point.

Character arc is how your character changes (or doesn’t change) over the course of the story as a result of the story’s events from beginning to end. This change is largely internal but also often relates to an ultimate change in the character’s external circumstances as well.

Back to the "Not Great” Character

What you haven’t addressed is what this character does that makes them "not a great person” and how they treat the love interest. Those things both matter...

Define “Not a Great Person”

“Not a great person” can mean a lot of things. It could mean someone who treats everyone badly, it could mean someone who does immoral things, or it could even just mean someone who’s a little bit of a jerk and kind of selfish.

Take a close look at this character and consider the ways in which their attitude, behavior, and actions impact those around them. Would any of that truly impact their ability to have a healthy relationship with another person?

What Matters is How They Treat the Love Interest

Being “not a great person” doesn’t mean you can’t love someone and treat them well. Someone could be kind of a d*ck to most people, hate children, and be against most charity and volunteer work, but still be capable of having healthy personal relationships.

What matters most is how they treat the love interest. If their attitude, behavior, and actions don’t have a negative impact on the relationship or on the love interest, and if their relationship is healthy, there’s no reason they can’t be together. Unless the love interest is so opposed to the way the person treats other people, in which case you just have to make a decision: either the love interest decides they’re okay with it or they decide they can’t be with them.

Options for the Love Interest to Stay with Character Anyway

Again, assuming this person is able to have a healthy relationship with the love interest and generally treats them well, there are two possible reasons the love interest might choose to stay with them despite their qualms about how they behave toward others:

1) They have some redeeming qualities. So, maybe this person is generally a d*ck to others, hates kids, hates most charity and volunteer work, but maybe the one exception is that they love animals, have rescue pets, foster when they can, volunteer at shelters and trap-neuter-return programs, and give lots of money to animal charities. And maybe, for the love interest, that’s enough.

2) They have a “positive change” character arc. Character arcs can be positive, negative, or static. A positive character arc means that the character starts out in a negative place and is transformed to a positive place through the events of the story. If it’s necessary for this character to be “not great” through most of the story, that doesn’t mean you can’t find ways for them to strive to do better as the events unfold. You just have to find an event in the story that makes them realize they need to change, then show them trying to change for the better--even if they continue to screw up from time to time--they just have to make the effort. Find a redemptive act they can do to make up for all the bad stuff they did. Then, have them end up in a better place. That way, you can continue to have this character interact and be with the love interest throughout the story, even if there are a lot of ups and downs.

I hope that helps! Let me know if you have further questions!

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[mousehole5000]

wow i made this draft on november 1st i really took a break from this huh anyway tgcf chapters 121 - 142

i realize now this coffin scene was inevitable. feel kinda weird about hua cheng  back and forth from Teen to Big Man but it is very funny that theyre having their “dude dont look at my boner” moment while in the jaws of a water dragon

pei ming: why didnt you guys make a bigger coffin so you didnt have to squish together like that? xie lian: haha yep!! anyways what brings you here?

“In the grand, spacious centre of the entrance hall sat a person. And this person, dressed in all black, its face snow-white—was a corpse! Instantly Xie Lian shut the doors soundly.” - king of minding his own business.

okay this is where i stopped putting notes here for a while but i did save some in my e-reader so here’s some of the highlights

“Guzi used to have a good sleeping form, but perhaps with his cheap dad’s bad influence, now he was also spread out on top of Qi Rong’s stomach like a dead fish. Lang Ying himself was curled neatly in the corner, and was covered by a few shirts. Xie Lian lifted the blanket covering Qi Rong, suppressed the urge to smother his face, and covered the two small children.” - xie lian funny moments. also it would be really funny if qi rong redeems himself by learning love through these misfit chiildren and it might actually endear me to him but i hope that doesnt happen

Every heavenly official was yelling, and even Ling Wen was throwing a fit. “DON’T THROW EVERY BIT OF USELESS INFORMATION MY WAY, HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK I HAVE TO GO THROUGH EVERY DAY? DON’T YOU ALL KNOW TO USE YOUR BRAINS A LITTLE BEFORE ASKING ME?!” - ling wen marry me right now

“An expression like “seen a ghost” that only mortals experienced was now showing on his face for the first time. Shi Wudu’s pupils shrank to the smallest they could, and he blurted, “You’re still alive?!” “I’m dead!” He Xuan said coldly.” - okay everythings going tits up rn but i did laugh

i did see spoilers re: ming yi/he xuan reveal + shi wudu’s fate beforehand so i dont have a genuine reaction other than oh shit

“He slowly enunciated each word. “I won’t touch your fate. But, here in this place, chop off your brother’s head for me.”  CLANG! He threw a rusty blade onto the ground. Shi Qingxuan stared at that blade, his eyes wide. He Xuan continued, “Then, never show yourself before me again, and I will pretend you’ve never existed in this world.” - okay idk what else is going to happen but rn im concerned that this is like the 2nd biggest ship. i guess we’ll see?? i mean i am really curious whats going to happen to them. shi qingxuan keeps calling he xuan “ming-xiong” and i... sad

shi wudu im not really invested in you as a character but these next two bits... interesting

“If I don’t die but have nothing, then that’s truly a fate worse than death. If I’m not the Water God, I can’t take care of you. I won’t even be able to protect myself. I’m scared that we won’t even last two days…TAKE IT!” - damn. something about the wealthy losing everything and not knowing how to live without it bc thats their entire life and identity

“EVERYTHING I HAVE TODAY, I FOUGHT FOR MYSELF. I WILL FIGHT FOR WHAT I DON’T HAVE. I WILL CHANGE FATE I DON’T POSSESS. MY FATE IS UP TO ME AND NOT THE HEAVENS!” - okay so the whole committing spiritual fraud by tormenting a man and his family to get your brother a cushy title thing aside this was kind of badass. heretical? possibly. but still. also is he intentionally riling up he xuan so sqx doesnt have to kill him? if so damn...

also okay as long as im here im just gonna say it. the choice that he xuan gives shi qingxuan is fucking brutal but i actually think its probably as fair as it could be. sqx didnt know about or participate in what happened to hx but they did benefit from it greatly while hx lost EVERYTHING and i can understand he xuan’s thinking of “if you really feel bad for what happened to me then you have to make a sacrifice and understand the suffering and this is as clean as its going to get” and theres a bit where sqx is trying to beg for mercy but cant get the words out which im guessing is bc theres no good argument!! what happened was fucked up!!

“When Pei Ming saw that reinforcements had arrived, he didn’t appear particularly delighted; instead he threw the sword into the ground, then rubbed his nose and said, sounding grim, “You all just had to come just as I finished making these, what the heck.” - pei ming making coffins chopping down trees with his sword i love it #wastehistime2k17

“Xie Lian brought that basket of eggs along, and gave them away as souvenirs from the mortal realm. Many who received the eggs were overjoyed; some deciding to eat it along with their own blood, and some proclaiming they would hatch an eight-foot monster.” - GHOST CITY GHOST CITY

“Placing the brush down, he blew lightly at the ink and smiled. “If I like something, then my heart will not have room for any other, and I’ll always treasure it. A thousand times, a million times, no matter how many years, this will not change. This poem is the same." - thats nice and all but king... get therapy. i actually have further thoughts but tbh i dont want to put them into words bc they are simply too personal! moving on

didnt take any notes but somewhere in here was the bit with mount tong’lu opening and hua cheng losing it and kind of um. hm. that scene. thats another trope i really hate tbh i dont care for it as a way of including physical intimacy between characters and idk if it really ever adds anything but whatever moving on

The Half-Maquillage Woman - kind of interesting monster idea bc women and aging…. yeah. however i think this would be a lot stronger if there were a) more girls and this was b) discussed or illustrated at all prior to this moment. still interesting that its included knowing the author is a woman tho and there’s been comments on how ling wen is perceived vs pei ming. this book does keep giving me hope for interesting female character arcs i really want it to deliver something

quan yizhen..... i get u

lmao i have a note on a bit with lang ying that says “please dont be hc in disguise” and..... my clown nose was on but at least i knew that. for real this is bothering me how much he’s just. always. there. i know he’s a lead but we didn’t really need him around for a lot of this. oh well.  okay now to my current notes

“Yet it was precisely because it wasn’t cooked that it had to be eaten quickly. Once Xie Lian cooked it, it wouldn’t be edible anymore” - fucking fantastic

“Xie Lian hugged his belly. “Of course! Only after having met you did I rediscover that it’s such a simple thing to be happy, hahaha…” Hearing this, Hua Cheng blinked. Xie Lian’s laughter quieted a bit, realizing what he just said was a little too revealing.” - okay i know i said what i said about being tired of hua cheng being everywhere but... the line…. the fact that theyre laughing together…. :pleading:

“It’s not,” Ling Wen said. “At least, I believe, there will definitely not be another in history who can create a dish called ‘Incorruptible Chastity Meatballs’” - and truer words were never spoken

“I, DO NOT WORSHIP GODS. “I, AM GOD!” - this was every bit as badass as i hoped but no one told me it was immediately followed up by a little bit of the ol dinner theater fjalkdsfjsd. also puqi shrine noooooooooo

“Xie Lian sighed as he thought, “Qi Rong has taken Guzi away, who knows if the poor child was eaten or abandoned. Wind Master...... ..... who knows if Black Water took him away. Pray they’re both safe.” yeah hey are we going to fucknig. find out what happened to the child???

and yeah i dooooont really care for the age regression? thing thats going on. i just dont like that trope tbh. but tiny hua cheng whipping out his fat ghost king wallet in the store was funny tho. it is really funny that hualian are just like wandering around some random towns while the heavens are in an uproar. i guess theres not much else to do but its funny

“Me too, me too. You all know of my shixiong, right? Talented, with an infinite future! He only had one small vice: he loved playing women. Decades ago, a little prostitute ghost seduced my shixiong and sucked him dry into human jerky, and that Hua, Hua, Hua, that ghost king dared shelter her.” - yes omg give me the forbidden hua cheng lore i love this for him for real it goes along nicely with xie lian’s principles about giving another cup. god i love shared values

“Hua Cheng poked again, and a small hole appeared on the wall, as if the wall was made of tofu.” - how’d he do that. why is this a ghost king power. its useful tho

*me shaking qi rong when he pops up* WHERE IS THE CHILD

mu qing fu yao is here okay im happy now. once again no one has a good grasp on their secret identity and i love that. this inn has descended into chaos and im delighted and im glad lan chang is back

“The good ol’ kitchen was suddenly squished and crowded, loud and noisy. Fu Yao was chasing that fetus spirit leaping up and down, Lan Chang was chasing after Fu Yao like she had gone mad. Half of Qi Rong’s face changed shape by the way Xie Lian was pressing him down on the chopping board, his back turning into a target for those yellow talismans Fu Yao hurled while being observed by a crowd, and Lan Chang would step on him from time to time.” - this is pure chaos. i love that mu qing was in that room when the mob checked and he didnt say a word didnt open the door just sent out a talisman as a warning. king your disguise is transparent

“Xie Lian remembered the way Feng Xin laughed until he was hoarse when he first heard that verbal password all those years back, and couldn’t help but feel nostalgic, even though it wasn’t the right time.” - awwwww omg im emotional about this... faithful friend feng xin laughing at xie lian’s stupid joke password and remembering it!!! ;_;

“They have, but they’re not effective,” Feng Xin said. “Usually they’re the most diligent in scorning the Palace of Ling Wen, like they could do the job way better if they had the position. Now that we need them to take up the task, not a single one can do even half of what she does.” - typical... typical typical typical

also emotional about the fact that feng xin contacted xie lian at all.....

also!! emotional about lan chang as a mom and wanting to help out sick lil guzi.....

xie lian forcing “fu yao” to let him help “his general” is making me.... what is friendship if not playing along with your buddies little shenanigans while also making them accept your help

“Someone like Mu Qing, even though he’s narrow-minded, petty, sensitive and skeptical, has a bad personality, constantly guessing, doesn’t say nice things, likes to nag, always offending people and has a lot of people who dislike him, has no friends, can remember small, unimportant details for a long period of time…” ”Xie Lian went on in one breath with a straight face, but in the end he concluded with, “...But I’ve known him since we were kids, after all, he’s still got principles.” - XIE LIAN PLEASE AFJDLKSFJDL omg ive seen this quote before but i figured he was talking to someone else not actually to mu qing himself fgjasdkfjsl. god thats amazing. hey im gonna help you out because i care but i will roast you first <3

waaaaaait so is lan chang aka jian lan that girl from book 2 we took a page to talk about and then disappeared? that has to be it why else would we have stopped to discuss her

“Jian Lan spat on his face, then choking his neck, she slapped him twice again. “WHAT SHITTY SUPREME! YOU SURE KNOW HOW TO BLOW YOURSELF UP! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, THINK YOU’RE EVEN WORTH TO BE THOUGHT OF AS EQUALS WITH THE OTHER THREE SUPREMES? WHAT ARE YOU EVEN GOOD AT? YOUR THICK SKIN? OF COURSE I DARE HIT YOU!” - oh this feels so good i cant lie. YES GET HIM!! CHOMPING AND VIOLENCE YES!!!!

okay this description of cuocuo.... im... that sure the hell is a creature

this book is so entertaining bc i already saw spoilers for the feng xin/jian lan/cuo cuo reveal and yet i could never have predicted the circumstances that brought it about. imagine being feng xin. the heavens are in an uproar and your only friend/enemy has been jailed for possible fetus spirit-related crimes but he escapes along with this female ghost who keeps causing problems. you figure “fuck it lets see if dianxia kept his old phone number” and he has but then he hangs up on you. you’ve got fuckall else to do so you go find him. mu qing is there but he’s in his disguise the two of you were using so you could watch over his highness while staying aloof. you think you see hua cheng only he’s a chiild for some goddamn reason but who knows at this point. the female ghost is also there and theres a fetus spirit climbing trees and biting your arrows in half. you realize the female ghost is your ex and the little demon is your son. it bites you. what do you do

amazing that despite everything going on everyone is still playing along with the “fu yao” persona when it would probably be easier to drop pretenses at this point. then again tbh if i could explain my actions to my friends while pretending to be a third party.... i probably would so.. carry on

“With all his devotees gone, only Feng Xin still treated him like the Flower-Crowned Martial God and His Highness the Crown Prince. ” “...his protection charms were all seen as trash. However, Feng Xin was still determined and tireless in handing them out; telling Xie Lian, look, you still have devotees.” “After all, he was the darling of the heavens since birth, high and mighty. Feng Xin so naturally spun around him like he was the world, so how could he possibly have his own life, his own heart” “Whether or not that fetus spirit was Feng Xin’s son, if it was that period of poverty that made Feng Xin lose the girl he loved, Xie Lian wouldn’t be able to forgive himself no matter what." ohhhh my god this relationship i. im...

oh my god i still have 30 more chapters until book 4............ its naptime now i think

#tgcf liveblog #so close and yet so far...... #i keep hearing tell of this fabled book 4 i must press onwards...... #but now im sleepy..... #mouse mumbles

[aizawashairtie]

I saw the post you made on the newest chapter for mha on dabi from like 2 days ago and I really wanted to talk about this cus no matter how much you like endeavor or how much you like his redemption arc or whatever

You cant deny that what dabi is doing is completely valid for HIM

With the way we saw shoto being treated as a kid we can only imagine how much worse dabi/touya had it as a child as well (especially with baby touya being the center of attention and then being tossed to the side when his quirk didn't turn out the way endeavor wanted it to)

You can say what you want about endeavor and his progress to be better as a hero and a dad but I think this experience and how it can negativly affect endeavors hero status and family dynamic was crucial to show how difficult it would be for the todoroki family to grow and heal from what had happened in the past

i partially agree with you. I think it’s important to distinguish between feelings and actions. 

dabi’s feelings are completely 120% valid. being the eldest kid, having the greatest expectations placed onto him, fighting for his father’s approval for his entire childhood and then leaving and watching the public praise and worship him as their #2 now #1 hero... that’s painful for him. so any anger, hatred and frustrations he feels towards endeavor is absolutely valid. 

dabi’s actions, however, are questionable. it’s one thing to get revenge against your abuser but it’s another to kill 30+ innocent civilians who have done nothing wrong and even worse to just dump this onto his siblings and mother who are victims just as much as he is. i fully agree that endy’s actions needed to be revealed publicly in order for his family to actually be freed from his abusive past and for endy to truly atone (different from redeem) for his mistakes. 

but the way that dabi revealed this without even considering the consequences of how this will affect rei, natsuo, fuyumi and shouto, shouldn’t be applauded. his mass murder spree should not be praised. he is literally perpetuating the violence and abuse that he learned from his father becoming the exact same person his father used to be. 

and also, take shouto’s case. he does not like his dad. he’s very hesitant to forgive him and he avoids him as much as he can. but look at his actions. he doesn’t go around repeating his dad’s errors. he’s actively making a change to be a better person and end the cycle of abuse. 

i think people often forget that every single person has agency. yes, endy’s abuse plays a huge role in dabi’s present state and actions but it’s not the decide all factor. he didn’t HAVE to kill all those people. he didn’t HAVE to hurt his innocent family members. but he did. and while i acknowledge and fully believe that his emotions and feelings are valid, his actions should be called into question. 

[blacknpurplewarpster]

[IDW Skywarp Headcanon]

More about his awful comments/attitude towards others

I know I’ve written about this before but I cant seem to find it anywhere on my blog. I was rereading the original comic series and thought I’d elaborate a little bit more than what I had previously wrote. I was going to include a snippet from Unicron #2 

Skywarp: “Among others. Could you try bumbling into trouble a little closer to the mainland next time? This was decidedly inconvenient.”  Helix: “I think he means ‘Glad you guys are okay. Sorry it took so long to reach you.’ Isn’t that right, Skywarp?” Skywarp: “I suppose. I would have been more annoyed if we had come all this way and they were already dead.” Helix: “Do you actually know when you’re being awful?” Skywarp: “Almost always. Fortunately, showing up and being remarkable are more important to being a G.I. Joe than unnecessary human pleasantries.” 

Skywarp mentions that he knows when he is being awful with his comments and just overall to others when Helix calls him out on it after just saving part of his team. This team he has been with for a few years and is close to them, even Rock. Going through the comments, he makes snarky ass comments towards Rock and doesn’t give a shit about what his friend thinks either. I’ll come back to Rock in a bit here. Some of his comments towards Rock are rather hilarious in the way Skywarp is portrayed doing them. Not to say Rock deserves his shitty attitude. But later on, they become better and closer friends. 

Even though he is no longer a Decepticon, he still puts duty above everything else, even if it means stepping on others toes or hurting others feelings. Thing is, Skywarp doesn’t care. He feels being blunt is better than beating around the bush or sugarcoating things. He will tell others straight up what he feels and doesn’t give a shit about what it might do. 

Another example is he even says this to Thundercracker, whom he hasn’t seen in a decade or more. 

Thundercracker: “Last time I saw you, you shot me in the face.” Skywarp: “Eh, you deserved it.” 

Like jeezus straight to his face. I think it was like the second sentence he said to Thundercracker after not seeing him for YEARS. Like harsh much? 

So pretty much no one can hide from this. The one thing I have noticed, his snarky comments seem to back off once there’s a tighter bond between himself and whomever else. This happens once Skywarp has a change of heart once he realized how Rock and himself are a lot more similar than he thought. Rock repeatedly tells Skywarp about being alone but he finally realizes this at one important moment. Rock decides to own up to his mistakes of paralyzing Grand Slam and wants to sacrifice his life to blow up the Fatal Fluffies in hopes to get rid of his guilt but its also a sense of pride from him. Skywarp decides to stay back with Rock and decides to stay even when the detonator goes off--surprise surprise, he saves Rock and their bond grows close. 

Here’s some of their conversations between one another just to show you: You can skip all the way down to see my final thoughts. 

---------------------------------------------------------------- GI Joe #1: Rock: Hey, uhh, Skywarp… I was wondering… seeing as we’re teammates… you think I could ride back with you? Skywarp: Are you asking me…to open up my cockpit… and allow you to climb inside of me? Rock: Umm.. yes? Skywarp: Jets off Rock: Looks like I’m with you again.

GI Joe #4

Skywarp: “Look at them. Squabbling in the dirt like… like insects! They can’t do anything. They can accomplish nothing… without me!” Rock: “Hey Skywarp… Instead of waiting for transpo, I was thinking that if you don’t mind, maybe we could.. you know.” Skywarp: Squints hard and jets off Rock: “Jerk.”

Gi Joe #5 Skywarp: “Tell me… you geeks got your data…?” Skywarp: “This isn’t working! I’m tired of you insects leaning on me! Why am I the only one— GAAAH!” Covergirl: “Don’t worry, Skywarp…the calvary’s arrived!” Skywarp: “Now you cowards show up, after sending me ahead.” Rock: “Hey now… I offered to ride with you.” Skywarp: “You know my feelings on that.” Skywarp: “Are you even helping at all?!” Rock: “Honestly? Not really. But if you’d let me ride with—ooofh-!” Skywarp: “Gahhh!” Covergirl: “Skywarp! Come in! Do you read us?!” Skywarp: Khhkkthhhkkt Rock: “Skywarp! Are… are you ok?” Skywarp: “kkhkt No…But I will be there once we will that thing. Were you getting emotional, you sentimental insect?” Rock: “What? I was… No…”

GI Joe #6 Skywarp: “Hrmph. I’ll be the judge of that. Crude ugly thing. If this is the best you can do, no wonder you can’t fix me.” Roadblock: “Four Joes. Skywarp counts.” 

Rock: Turns into this monster from the Fatal Fluffies Skywarp: “I know what this is really about...” Rock: “Hunh?” Skywarp: “...You’re sad I wouldn’t give you a ride. But don’t worry, you’ll get what you want...When i carry you out in pieces.”

GI Joe #7 Skywarp: Is fighting mega-Rock and knows to be gentle and junk. “You are as arrogant as the rest of them! Even enlarged! even with horns and claws! You are nothing but an insec--Urlkh--!” Is being choked out.

Skywarp: “Hey! You watch your mouth!”

Rock: “I know. That’s why I’m volunteering. I’ve done enough damage more than enough. Let me redeem myself please.” Skywarp: “Sure but you aren’t going alone. Someone needs to defend your position while you set up the bomb.” Rock: “But I.. I threw you into the mole pod. the explosion was..” Skywarp: “Yeah, so another one doesn’t scare me much, besides...as soon as the bombs in place, before you hit the button... I”m getting out of here.” 

GI Joe #8 Rock: “Almost read! You gotta jet!” Skywarp: “You’ll be overrun before you can hit it! Besides...It’s an honor to stand by your side. You are a true warrior.” Rock: “No...I’m a Joe. We both are.”  Skywarp saves Rock by letting him ride inside of his cockpit in order to get away from the blast.

Gi Joe #9 Rock: “He wouldn’t let me use the radio.” Skywarp: “You haven’t earned the privilege!” Rock: “Whatever. You ready for the blast beat?”  Skywarp: “Do we have to call it that?”  Skywarp and Rock: “Yoooooooo Joooooooe!”  Rock: “Thanks to Skywarp! Hes letting me ride with him!” Skywarp: “Once! Only once!” 

GI Joe First Strike #1

Skywarp: “You need to get him his own jet!”

Scarletts Strike Force 1 Rock: Skywarp, I”m serious! Seriously! Doc: You know he’s the only one who can put up with your grouchy metal butt.. Skywarp: I thought you liked-- Doc: Nope Skywarp: .... Fine Rock: Hey! Piggyback ride! Skywarp: Start using that shotgun or I’m doing barrel rolls!

---- This is where Skywarps attitude really changes. -------

Rock: And they were chanting this name...glub? golob..goolub? Hey! Are you even listening to me? Skywarp: Its a boring story about something that didn’t actually happen! Why would I listen to it?! Rock: Because it’s stressing me out, man. It felt...different.. Skywarp: Different from your other dreams? Rock: Yeah dude Skywarp: Different from your Jem dreams? Rock: Come on man.. Skywarp: A holograms fan. You’re not metal. Rock: They have some serious riffs, alright!?

Scarletts Strike Force #2

Skywarp: Can you fix my teleportation? Or are you techgeeks just as worthless as everyone else in the Lemuria? Rock: Dude, I’m standing right here. Hey man can I help? Grand Slam: I’ve got it Rock. You only ruined the bottom half of me. Skywarp: Getting m teleportation fixed is the only reason I threw in with you insects! why havent you fixed it yet? You’ve been trying and failing since the EDC!  Grand Slam: Like I told you: We don’t have the tech, or the knowledge. or the materials.

Scarletts Strike Force #3 Skywarp: Yeah. Me. And you’re welcome. Don’t act so shocked. you insects think a giant robot doesn’t know his way around a rudimentary geothermal generator? You’ve been recruited. We’ll rendezvous in DC. You have three minutes to find yourselves a ride before surveillance is back up. Helix: Aren’t you letting people ride inside of you now? Skywarp: Only Rock ‘n Roll! 

Unicron #2 The first set of quotes goes right here in events wise. 

----------------------------------------------------------------

This is the end of their interactions. I know I didn’t show everything but it shows a huge chunk of how you can see how Skywarp is only “nice” to Rock really because in his optics, he isn’t respected by some of the others, especially Grand Slam. So in his mindset, why does he have to be nice if he doesn’t have the respect? 

He figures he lost his respect towards Thundercracker (or rather TC lost respect for Skywarp) because of what he’d done to him so he resets back to being an ass. He thinks their history doesn’t matter anymore, so he resorts to just tell him straight-up. Perhaps he was always straight up before their meeting with Starscream and he’s resorting back to his normal or preset attitude/maturity. That all of what has gone on from him shooting TC out of the sky onwards, smacked him so hard it woke him up from this “fantasy.” If that makes sense?? I’m tired and rambling. 

Deep down, I truly believe he cares but he isn’t going to show that side. He needs to put duty before anything else because that’s the motto Skywarp lives by. You can see a lot of this change in him throughout the entire series but it really sets out from AHM series onwards. His whole attitude flips and starts to really develop his character and we see this. I have a feeling he didn’t used to be like this but what he’s done in his life has shaped him to act in this way. Perhaps its a way of not letting others get close to him. It might very well be a defense mechanism. Who knows, we truly won’t know canon wise since the series ended. 

THANKS FOR BEING HERE FOR MY HEADCANON AND RAMBLE OF THOUGHTS. 

#[IDW Skywarp Headcanon] #//beware long af post

[zepdeans]

there’s not a lot I can say about s3 that hasn’t already been said (and articulated 200x better) but! here are some of my (albeit dumb) thoughts :~)

ep1 -isak leaning against the bathroom wall gets me EVERY time its such a powerful scene esp introducing you to s3 and tarjei..... spare some talent for the rest of us please -LiTeN gUtTeN fRa StRaNgEr tHiNgS -isak rly ties his pants w a shoelace...... -isak noticing even for the first time bc of his laugh.. whew.... also. i love this intro SOOO much bc its so non-monumental? theres no dramatic music or whatever but its not subtle.... like you know right away o shit love interest!! hello sir!! bc isak’s expression watching him :’) i could go on -isak is a bad liar HOWEVER this only applies to stupid nontrivial things e.g. the black sweatshirt. but when you look at him lying about like, his sexuality, he hides that shit well -”c00l” isak. i hate u so much -honestly all u have to do is look at even for .2 seconds and u can tell this boy has had a crush for a solid month bc he just looks awestruck (HOWEVER henrik’s acting is *chef’s kiss* bc its subtle enough to go undetected b4 you actually know eVEN SAW HIM ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL) -even isak and emma all sitting on the bench together is funny enough on its on but then a song called threeway comes on and like. julie sdshjsfdjfkjskd ep2 -there’s something so endearing about even’s handwriting idek what -i LOVE even’s video w mikael it reveals so much about him to us- how weird (ok we saw how weird he was w the paper towel thing but) and dorky he is? and his love of film! his view on love stories and how he sees the world :( but it also shows a lot abt isak because he saw even making stupid jokes about vladimir putin and was like yeah we about to fall in LOVE love -isak not using headphones to watch even’s video or r+j?? bde or general incompetence what’s the verdict guys -the isak watching r+j scene hits so hard like yall ever think about isak lying in bed at 3am staring at the ceiling probably thinking about how he’s never gonna get a beautiful world-shattering romance like that like ..... also him changing positions skam get out of my life go away ur too realistic -not to make this even more self-projection-y but isak simultaneously being the least emotionally vulnerable person ever but crying during r+j > -i made a post abt this already but even’s INTENSE staring vs isak’s “i have never looked anyone in the eye in my life” gets me it says so much about their characters -even said i see your bde move (asking me to buy you beer) and i raise u with my own (inviting you to my house after faking not having my id) -”if you listen to music” even is such a dick fsdjhsdff -when the message comes on...... i rlly do owe julie my life huh -”have you heard about my rapping?” “I have actually” have we talked about this enough????? 1. isak finally feels comfortable enough w even to flirt and his first move is to RAP for him jesus christ. keep in mind this is the same man who pulled that smooth af ibuprofen line w emma like...... 2. even has heard about isak’s rapping. either this means im-not-on-social-media even went out of his way to go thru homeboy’s instagram OR isak’s rapping is actually talked about. i- -the group chat messages. cant believe i forgot about the 2016 clown epidemic

ep3  -mahdi is a good friend and i love him. thank u -even wearing isak’s cap until he chucks it at him sjksfjsdjsd -how much yall wanna bet isak’s been listening to illmatic on repeat since last friday thinking abt even (even tho meeting sonja shattered his heart a lil) [also kinda an aside but i think a lot about how isak n even bonded over rap and how some homophobic lyrics in 90s etc rap might have impacted them? or how that little detail ties into julie’s story? e.g. halftime by nas, which is on illmatic] -whats worse. even staring into isaks soul wearing a size xs see-through white t shirt or isak staring at even for five (5) seconds before chugging his beer and immediately making out w emma. OR even crashing that party before it can start “i think you guys are bonding too much” cheesy ass shjhfsdhskdf -yall act like evak didnt invent hands. did even shaking isak’s shoulder telling him his apartment is nice mean nothing to u -im convinced robyn wrote call your girlfriend for this scene specifically bc how could anything fit so perfectly by coincidence -is anything better than egging isak on- even bech naesheim (2016) -idk if yall have read the scripts but i love the sock thing so much bc its soo true to how isak thinks and it makes everything so much more interesting and !!!

ep4  -i will never get over even sending isak bad seinfeld memes -even smacking open isak’s locker. first of all whew second of all u think as soon as he got into the stairwell he lowkey cried bc ow -parallel of isak saying “it’s 2016, why are you religious?” to sana vs. emma’s “it’s 2016, get out of the closet” to isak anyone :( -”takk sanasol!!!!” thank u isak for my life -I wanted to be with you aloneeeee -even’s face when he sees the pool like we get it youre a director -how many times do i need to say even is such a dick sjkfsd “does it look like i care about my hair?” “usually but not right now” like this would only work on isak i love soulmates!! -even just.. fully choking isak out ssdhgfd got em -when the first notes of im kissing you start ooh boy -even going in for the kill kiss and isak going from huh to oooo shit and pushing his lips out at the last minute. phenomenal 

ep5 -ngl as soon as im not in love comes on my heart goes uwu bc like!!!! that song the meaNING.... them......... i jus love this scene sm like theyre in their own little bubble and they both feel so comfortable and at peace :((  -even leaving isak comics about an inside joke of theirs like yall mind if i scream -isak feeling left out from the conversation and his friends whew i felt that... and having them talk about how gross it is to makeout with a girl w facial hair?? blease :( -taking stock of isak’s nicknames: issy k, isabell, izzy, baby jesus, -im not even gonna bother trying to articulate thoughts on Pause bc it’s a literal masterpiece. thank u tarjei henrik and julie for inventing television with this one  -MAGNUS SDFKJSDFJKDSHK "oooh my name is Jonas and I love idealism and reading klassekampen and I don’t like plastic and I skate on a skateboard made of sustainable wood and wear old clothes because new clothes are bad for the environment and I only drink recycled water” screAMMM -what i said abt pause also applies to pride ugh its such a powerful scene and!! the beginning of kicks to isaks stomach. honestly what i fucking love about this episode is how it goes from hell yea best day w even ever to crying in the street within one week (s3 had the best balance of angst and payoff thanks) -even’s Soft Party Flannel... forever tainted by this scene rip -not knowing why even kissed sonja keeps me up at night -speaking of. how used and stupid isak must’ve felt when he saw even completely unbothered, hooking up w his ex at this party?? whew :( -bros is one of my all time favourite clips solely bc of the music?? lift me up gives me chills and when hold my liquor starts i LOSE it -ep5 and 6 remind me of that quote “to see what your characters are really made of you have to break them” because julie rlly goes all in and god it hurts so good

ep6 -never have i ever seen insomnia portrayed as accurately as tarjei did here and i remember when i first watched the cantina scene i was like. winded bc its SO true to sleep deprivation whew -i really like that isak wasnt together with even when he reached out for help and came out to jonas. bc it was him, on his own, being strong enough to talk to his friends and then eventually he was confident and secure enough in himself to be in a good place when even started reaching back out!! -i have no idea what its like to come out to someone, to be afraid of your friends rejecting you, everything isak went through. but tarjei’s acting of when, like, you have something you KNOW you have to tell someone, and youve put yourself in the position where youre going to have to tell them, but youre terrified and eventually just force yourself SAY the words??  -and isak’s smile when he realizes jonas is gonna be his bro no matter what :’)))

ep7 -weirdly one of my favourite isak looks (black t-shirt grey snapback c-c-c-combo) -”what’s your name again?” have i mentioned i love sana and isak bc i love sana and isak -jonas truly is the best friend oh man. perceptive, thoughtful, loving, laidback, a friggen BRO. tbh i was wary of him in s1 and thought he didn’t treat eva well (tho I recognized he loved her a lot, he was just bad at being a boyfriend) but jonas in s3?? just goes to show how powerful your perspective of someone can change viewing them in a different role!! because while jonas was a crappy bf, he literally is SUCH an incredible friend and his actions and words and just! him! in s3 completely redeemed any illwill I had towards him :’) -maybe im a little gay (up there with other s3 comedy classics such as “thats a boys name”) -mahdi season WHEN ugh a legend -’when someone asks isak if hes going to a family party’ literally what other reason for living do i have if not to read the boy squad text convos -isaks locker finally opening and his smile at evens drawing whewwwwwww!! also even rlly is that guy who wont text you back but will leave hand written love letters in ur locker -also. another stellar look from valtersen -slutt a meld meg is a whole masterpiece like what other piece of media has the RANGE -eskild: play hard to get. jonas: no smiley!!! isak: nah fam im good B)

ep8 -this episode is BEAUTIFUL bc you feel practically euphoric?? like hell yeah theyre finally together!! isak is out and accepted and even is done with sonja! but theres also this unsettling undercurrent of worry bc you know deep down something isnt right? why is sonja calling isak? why is even acting kinda strange? whats going on? yknow?? -literally never going to get over 5 fine frokner :~) even is such a goddamn nerd and he’s the man of isak’s dreams can u believe!!  -sana’s little speech is SO important in so many ways ooo i love her so much -also have we discussed eskild making evak do a photoshoot for him. highkey those are my favourite pictures of ALL time u can tell even was like hm strange but im down while isak was more omg guys stop🙄 omg haha eskild i cant believe youre making me cuddle with even for a photo🙄 i cant believe ur making me snuggle this dude for a pic!!!! definitely would not have done this otherwise!!! -magnus only realizing it’s THAT even after seeing how isak looks at him. whew -isak is so brave i rlly love that kid! his text to his mamma <3 -no r*make will EVER nail text conversations like mari/julie did w evak’s this week thanks for coming to my ted talk. i'd quote the best ones but it would literally double the length of this post (ok ill cave. “hahaha shut up❤️” GETS me) -you dont know whats in store but you know what youre here for. hallo -isak running around oslo with even’s clothes looking for him :( his heart is so big he cares about even so so much -when Part II (on the run) comes on in the credits its like a kick in the teeth honestly

ep9 -ive already screamed enough about cherry wine but god it fucks me up -cannot put into words how much I love eskild and how good of a person he is, he just has so much love in his heart  -”wait they have waffles here? see ya” -this convo is why i love skam so much!!!! magnus giving insight and good thoughtful advice to isak was such a brilliant move by julie (also truLy heartwarming) bc like. magnus is a flawed layered character! he’s dumb and ignorant and not very careful with his words BUT hes also such a sweet guy. i genuinely dont think he would hurt a fly and him talking about vilde (in ep10) is ;-; bc he really likes her and respects her and wants to be a gentleman! hes so loving and just. yeah. also i wonder if isak and magnus (and vilde) ever talked about having mentally ill parents and lent on each other for support bc like....<3 [sidenote- this is why i HATE b***** like they absolutely massacred magnus’s character and magnus did not deserve that!] -det er bare slutt........ very cool of tarjei to invent acting here. also the character development makes me WEEP like at first isak lied and told his pappa it was over bc its easier to brush stuff off and say you were joking than be vulnerable especially about 1. having a boyfriend and 2. saying youve already broken up?? but then isak was like hey im done with lying about who i am bc i want my life to be REAL and he told his dad the truth even if it was hard and even if he was trying rlly hard not to cry  -isak reaching out to even<3 standing up for even<3 -o helga natt. another scene i genuinely cannot comment on bc u cant really put into any written language how magical and breathtaking and heartbreaking and powerful and brilliant this scene is. so. -jk. obvs i cant say anything intelligent enough to give this scene justice but probably the most stunning piece of television i have ever had the privilege of watching. even’s text breaks my heart every gd time (esp since we never really see this side of him before finding out he’s bipolar? his guilt, insecurity, feeling like a burden, being scared of losing everyone in his life because he thinks he’ll hurt them). the music is SO beautiful i cry real tears as soon as the strings start. also the brilliance of JUST o helga natt playing and no dialogue except for isaks one line? isak’s realization when he sees the cross. him RUNNING across oslo to go to even. the FLASHBACKS all going backwards in chronological order until them smoking on the bench. isak looking at the bench and not seeing even and u can feel his heart breaking and urs breaks too! but then he remembers the bathroom and he turns and theres even and whewwww. du er ikke alene<3

ep10 -minutt for minutt is THE most healing clip im telling u. and like.. seeing even depressed really is hard and as someone who was very very depressed for 4-ish yrs of their life it rlly hits me? like when youre in an especially bad funk and you cant get out of bed and youre just numb and exhausted and feel so shitty and u want to be alone but you really dont???? could go on but literally i owe henrik holm my life for his portrayal of even  -not to be a soft bitch on main but when isak tucks the blanket over even and it keeps getting pulled off his back so isak just. covers that spot with himself? -i do love that call between sonja and isak bc once again! a flawed (realistic) human being -and isak thinking its his fault even is depressed? it means a lot that sonja told him its no ones fault, even is just bipolar. and i wonder if isak felt that way about his mamma as well, guilty for her being ill, and if what sonja said made him feel better about that situation too :( -lowkey random but when isak is rambling really fast and he goes “maybe we’ll get bombed tomorrow and talking about all this is a waste of time” it continually punches me in the throat bc that is /exactly/ how i ramble and think like tarjei........ pls -like eskild said. there really is so much love in isak’s little grumpy teenage body<3 -isak no longer just passively accepting life as its given to him, now he fights for him and even!!!!!  -isak is such a forgiving person and seeing him able to just accept things and move on? incredible -i remember when i first watched ep1 i was like oooo even and isak are gonna be kosegruppa partners and thats when theyll first get together, cooking food or smth!! but lmfao after episode 3? kosegruppa whomst???? also hilarious vilde thought isak of all people would willingly sign up for kosegruppa just to go to revue parties -even and linn friendship!!!! -cannot articulate how mf heartwarming it is to see even smiling and being more himself after being depressed (also thank u julie for having ups and downs coming out of his depression- its so true to life having one day when youre feeling awesome and then the next you feel awful again for no reason and its SO frustrating) -I had to stop watching passe pa meg cause it made me toooooo crazy! it would just be like: “I like seeing you laugh” and I was like: *SCREAMS* -im the fucking master of lying 😤 -literally don’t know why isak and even ragging on kosegruppa is so funny but “did you think I joined to have fun” gets me every time -I SAW YOU THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL -also even literally radiating love @ isak watching get snarky w vilde on the phone bc it reminded him of the first time he saw him! even rly is that boyfriend who thinks isak being pissy is the Best Thing he has Ever seen -halla boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiz -literally the glo up of isak telling his friends the order in which he’d bang them -No filter! wow I love symbolism -so nice to see the girls together for a lil bit :) -the boys hyping up mags while also telling him to be respectful awwwwww -take desperate to a whole new level- Confucius  -who’s going to show isak how to properly hold a beer can -literally evak banter gets me thru the day. thank u tarjei and henrik for having phenomenal chemistry + improvisation skills + making isak and even the dumbest nerdiest boys i have ever seen -biology partner. and friend. ;-; -even literally is the biggest stoner blease -isak’s talk with eva is just sooooo<3 and not to be emo on main but every single word of the last few sentences he says hit me so gd hard because i feel the exact same way in my BONES -livet er nå 💛

final thoughts :( <3 -this season is so special. it feels like one really long oscar-worthy movie or smth?? i cant even exblain, its just magical. ALSO very dear to my heart. -julie really said you guys have seen isak sad and alone and repressed for the past two seasons so heres him falling in love with the best person in the world and coming to terms with who he is and being brave and opening up and finally being happy and living a real life -this season definitely feels different from s1/2/4 to me editing or production or music smth wise? as in, its got a lot fewer aesthetic shots and the cinematography seems a bit different if that makes any sense???? I also think this is the season most focused just on the main (i.e. not many- if any? sideplots going on) -literally will never get over the thought, love, and detail put into this season. when i say there is literally nothing i would change about it, i mean it and coming from my nitpicky ass??? means a lot lmfao. the acting, directing, music choices, symbolism...... sublime -s3′s cold rainy autumn aesthetic makes me ACHE for fall and also nostalgic for a highschool experience I never had lmao?? also. all the nighttime clips >>> -don’t know what else to say except thank u skam for my life

#take a shot every time i say whew #fully put more effort and time into this than most of my uni projects xx #its super rambly but thats bc its mostly just my direct stream of thought #also super long! and probably still missing things i wanted to say #AND like 3 weeks late fshfjjkdjkfsd #skam #clownfest 2019 #blabbey

[dazaiapologism]

1/Uhh my bsd fave is actually dazai? I mean he’s both adorable and hot as fuck and mamo does way too good a job with the voice acting and ive always had a weakness for genius characters who fail at basic humaning? And whenever he’s being a magnificent bastard mastermind or just a regular garden variety bastard harassing his coworkers I just find it awesome &/or hilarious? And then theres the fact that he genuinely doesnt care one way or another about morals but still joined the “good” side

2/for oda and the #aesthetic? And his very obvious chronic depression that I painfully identify with? I dunno he’s just. So interesting. I adore him. And of course I love chuuya too because I have eyes and a pulse and he’s just the coolest ever, no contest. So I ship them bc I love them and their weird-ass relationship to pieces. And like people are entitled to their own opinions but it kinda makes me sad and a bit confused tbh that so many skk shippers apparently hate dazai but still ship him   

3/with their fave. So when you say you hate dazai do you mean that in a “he’s trash but he’s my trash” way or just like straight-up hatred? im very bad at detecting sarcasm so this is a genuine question             

oh wow this ask is the complete opposite of the last time someone sent me a long ask about hating or not hating dazai on this blog. dazai maximum polarizing legend.. i feel like i have very complicated feelings on the matter but i havent summarized it in a minute so here is my answer:

i do legitimately have beef with the real author dazai because i genuinely truly respect his talent but also he hated women so hard he died of it. like no longer human articulates a lot of really personal and complicated feelings that hit real fucking hard for me personally but at the same time often in the same breath he throws in just a really exceptional amount of misogyny and i get real mad about that. so sometimes that leaks thru to bsd dazai who i tend to see as like, an adaptation of the protag of no longer human.

when i say i hate dazai i think what im saying is that im watching him make obvious mistakes in the way he relates to other people and many of them are mistakes i also find myself making. completely separate from that he was real bad to akutagawa like theres no getting around the fact that while he was already an unstable kid dazai full on fucked him up. he is also just kind of a huge bitch.

i think i do actually very much like bsd dazai but i actively refuse to let up on calling out the ways he fucks up bc at the end of the day i really want to see him be if not 100% redeemed then at least i want him to get some peace. bc if the edgy terrible anime boy can do it then of COURSE i the real human person who has not done a lot of murder can as well. probably. but you cant just like sweep the bad shit under the rug you have to like. tackle it head on and shit.

DAMN that was so many words when i couldve just said no he’s very close second fave in bsd bc i am to some degree kinning but i didnt want to say that. now ive gone and said it anyways lmfao

#bsd tag #this was a yes or no question and i wrote a fucking essay fdkjghsdj

[nightcoremoon]

I think part of the reason why I hate horror movies is because of the overreliance on jumpscares and shock value and BWAH SUDDEN LOUD NOISES rather than on atmosphere, believability, tension, fear.

here's a list of horror movies from google and the reasons why I hate them, or why I love them, or that they're not actually horror movies.

A quiet place: haven't seen it yet but it's a thriller more so than a horror. thrillers can be scary though but then again so can comedies. and romances. 50 shades is definitely scary: it is psychological abuse after all.

Halloween: slasher film, automatically boring and shit. I'm including the entirety of the franchise here, by the way, and I'm also gonna be including Friday the 13th, nightmare on elm street, etc. They're all the same brand of sensationalist garbage. maybe the very first in each series could be redeemable but the mass volume of shitty and terrible CGI gorefests have ruined them forever. "oh no the scary unkillable monster is coming after us and he's gonna kill us in overly violent ways" 💩

Hereditary: I don't even give a shit it looks trite EDIT maybe it's okay but I don't give enough of a shit to bother to ~give it a chance~ because hey. that's what fucking horror games are for.

Insidious: boring, not scary, 0/10

Get Out: haven't watched yet but will because it's a cinematic masterpiece that defies genre conventions

Bird Box: IM SO FUCKING SICK OF HEARING ABOUT FUCKING BIRD BOX SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BIRD BOX HOLY SHIT. It's just the goddamn happening by shyamagofuckyourself and it's an excuse to profit off of sensationalist suicide. oohh so spooky. eat my ass, boggart

It: too much bad cgi makes it a comedy. plus a bunch of kids say fuck a lot. good movie that's technically horror I guess but is it scary? nah.

Suspiria: I've never heard of this movie

Annihilation: same

Split: M NIGHT SHYAMALAN IS A SHITTY FILMMAKER and also it's ableist as fuck so

Mandy: google you suck none of these movies have any mainstream appeal

The Conjuring: 💩💩💩

Hush: ??? you know what fuck it I'm skipping the ones that don't matter

The Vvitch: 🙄 my mom's a witch, my best friend's a witch, I'm a witch. hey yeah maybe let's not buy into christian colonialism please? scary witches are boring as shit. gimme something actually scary. like Catholics.

The Nun: wait shit not like that! and by that I mean BORING AS HELL aside from the jumpscares. which are shit

The Babadook: clearly an LGBT movie, not horror

Cabin in the Woods: a parody and an excellent one at that. at least the gore is in homage, or hilariously over the top

Sinister: the fucking epitome of shitty jumpscares and shock value and lack of atmosphere and bad acting and bad plot and jesus fucking christ this is one of the worst and most boring movies I've ever had the misfortune to see DONT WASTE YOUR GODDAMN TIME

Saw: it's actually a thriller with Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Michael Emerson, and Tobin Bell. it's a campy cheesy low budget true to form horror film with adequate writing, good acting, AMAZING MUSIC BY CHARLIE CLOSER, and isn't over the top with gore considering it's all practical effects. top fucking notch but spawned a dozen terrible sequels.

Shaun of the Dead: it's a touching and heartfelt romantic comedy... with zombies, EXCELLENT CINEMATOGRAPHY, excellent acting, and sad parts that will rip your fucking heart out, stomp on it, and grind it to dust. literally one of the best movies ever made of all time, eat shit tarantino.

The Ring: eh, the original Japanese was better (Japanese horror is its own genre and not a part of this criticism, I actually really like original Japanese horror unfucked up by american audiences as long as it doesn't just gratuitously glorify suicide as Japan does), but this was still a really good mystery thriller with some really cool effects, and is the only movie that has ever actually scared me for real. even now I hate that there's a tv with a vcr right at the foot of my bed.

The Sixth Sense: shyamalan made a couple of good movies. this was one of them. but it wasn't a horror movie and if you didn't know the twist IT WAS A FUCKING AMAZING ONE. like, goddamn empire strikes back levels of supreme and god tier plot twists. it went a little overboard on shock value but compared to the rest of the COMPLETE BULLSHIT on this list (AND IN HIS OWN MOVIES) it really could've gone way further.

The Descent: goddamn claustrophobia. too much horribly cgi'd gore and terrible decisions to be truly enjoyable though. would've been a much better movie without the mutants and the middle finger to physics throat stabbing and the JUST FUCKING KICK IT YOU GODDAMN IDIOT and oh yeah the subtle misogyny. the first half was good tho

28 days later: shitty remake of a merely ok movie EDIT I was thinking of 28 weeks later, 28 days was actually okay I guess

Scream: did not age well but it's okay for being meta, despite the fucking torture porn of drew barrymore at the beginning. allowed for scary movie 1 though, so I'm glad it exists.

Paranormal Activity: PARANORMAL FUCKING ACTIVITY CAN EAT MY ASS, ITS SUCH A SUBLIME FAILURE OF EXECUTION. I WANTED IT TO BE GOOD BUT IT WASNT. oh well at least it inspired five nights at Freddy's. I'll go ahead and throw all shitty found footage movies under this one, including unfriended.

Blair Witch Project: a fucking pioneer of its time. a genre definer. truly scary. good movie. I'll go ahead and throw all good found footage movies under this one, including cloverfield.

The Shining: a thriller, not horror. but goddamn is it the scariest not horror movie ever made. Stephen king you magnificent bastard

Alien: goddamn fucking alien. science fiction masterpiece. director's a little creepy but eh, sigourney weaver kicks ass, and alien isolation is such a good game (despite its many flaws), and it's just so iconic in terms of sheer scope of concept. it's the same horror movie as anywhere else but in space, and I still can't fucking believe this was made in the 70s. this and Star Wars were FUCKING AMAZING, and the xenomorph? THATS ALL PRACTICAL EFFECTS BABEY. NO OVERRELIANCE ON CGI GUTS AND SHOCK VALUE HERE, ITS JUST PURE HORROR AT ITS FINEST. good movie. aliens was better. everything else... eeehhh...

The Thing: same as the descent but with men instead of women, and EVEN WORSE DECISION MAKING. IT IS UNBELIEVABLE JUST HOW GODDAMN STUPID EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM COULD POSSIBLY BE. and in the remake yeah the practical effects were mind blowingly fantastic and inspired dead space which I believe is one of the best horror games if not just best games or horror pieces of media if not just best pieces of media constructed. but the prequel? 🙄 no thanks

The exorcist: masterpiece of practical effects without an overreliance on jumpscares and gore

Jaws: it's Stephen fucking Spielberg in the 70s and one of the most influential horror films and just films in general

Hellraiser: okay I'll give all works by clive barker a pass here because goddamn is he a demented fucking genius if ever I saw one. if only Jericho was actually a good game, it could've been the next doom 3

Poltergeist: an actually good horror movie that depends on atmosphere and effects more so than jumpscares and gore? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP

Evil Dead: campy but misogynist. the sequel was a comedy so it's okay. the next sequel is also a comedy AND ARMY OF DARKNESS IS ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES EVER FUCKING MADE. FIGHT ME. and fuck the remake. sam raimi should've retired after spiderman 3. maybe even before that.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: honestly not bad. it was actually freaky and believable. rednecks really are fucking scary with all their inbreeding and terrible music and hatred of black people. I refuse to acknowledge the original and the sequels.

Psycho: eh, hitchcock's worst is still better than most of the shit on this list.

The Wicker Man: OH GOD NOT THE BEES! AHHGUBLAHH MY EYES! AAAAAHHHHH!!! fucking excellent comedy. but it doesn't have any naked ladies in it like the original did. oh well, can't please everyone.

Night of the Living Dead: THOSE ZOMBIES ARE BULLSHIT. ZOMBIES CANT USE WEAPONS AND THEY SURE AS FUCK CANT TURN YOU INTO A ZOMBIE BY STABBING YOU WITH A TROWEL. THEY HAVE TO BITE YOU. FUCK YOU GEORGE ROMERO. Also, dawn of the dead was just sensationalist garbage. "They tore apart a real pig carcass tho so it looked like real intestines" what? the fuck??? who gives a shit????? I watch movies to escape from reality, dumbass. I don't beat off to chopped up human carcasses. If I want a zombie movie I want the walking dead sans the soap opera bullshit and the racism and then "no one is safe and everyone will die" boring mentality propagated by twd and got and other things I used to like but no longer care about (because why should I give a shit about it if everyone could die? I can already be sad enough about all the real people I know who die. enjoying the pain of the deaths of those important to us is a privilege the cishets have). the walking dead seasons 1&2 was pure horror and the very best kind. don't give me boring contrivances. "but sheena, night of the living dead was a trope definer! everything in it was original!" yeah, you know what else is original? *farting noise* George Romero is just rob zombie without a rock band. his best work was fucking call of duty. that's pathetic. "maybe you just don't like gore" HEY YEAH SURE I DONT WANNA SEE UBER REALISTIC INTESTINES AND ORGANS IF THEY ARENT PART OF A MEDICAL DEAL SO IM JUST A BIG DUMB HATER. I'm the one in the wrong. fuck me, right?

Don't Breathe: A FUCKING TURKEY BASTER FILLED WITH SEMEN. THATS SO STUPID I FORGOT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SCARY. BEST CRINGE COMEDY OF THE YEAR :D

Tremors: legitimately great movie with a hundred shitty sequels. like saw but your faves win so you walk away filled with determination rather than sad and disappointed. enjoyment of tragedies are a privilege awarded to those who are neurotypical.

Zombieland: gore done right. the only casualty is mindless zomzoms and bill murray. good. granted it counts as a romance and a comedy but honestly last time I watched it I cried at the part where you find out buck isn't tallahassee's dog. god I love that movie. AND FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS IS THE MOST BADASS MOVIE OPENER EVER.

The Fly: Jeff fucking goldblum. amazing effects for good reasons. need I say more? the original doesn't exist because 1950s horror movies are all bad because all 1950s movies are bad. the 1950s should just be purged from america's records except for pleasantville.

All other Stephen king movies: hit or miss but mostly still good. although very few are actual horror.

10 cloverfield lane: more of a thriller like above's misery but still an amazing movie.

Peeping Tom: literally a movie about how creepy it is to fetishize the deaths of women WHILE LITERALLY FETISHIZING THE DEATHS OF WOMEN. like, come on man. how do you miss your own point so completely?

Invasion of the body snatchers: it's not horror and if it's made to be horror using gore it's shit. the whole thing is just an allegory to the joe mccarthy communism witch hunts anyway.

Cube trilogy: the ultimate b movies. so bad they're good. and it's such an interesting concept too!

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: fucking alien clowns come to earth to turn us into cotton candy by killing us using carnival fare. THIS IS THE GREATEST BAD MOVIE EVER MADE.

All horror movies based on horror video games: either irredeemably bad, or action movies

All creepy Netflix horror movies: wow any idiot with a camera and basic cgi skills can throw shit together to make a movie these days, huh

The Slender Man: I am literally too pissed off about this movie to insult it.

Marble Hornets, Tribe Twelve, the Slender Man movie on YouTube: triumphs of meta, editing, found footage, proof of concept, and story. Slenderman is such a malleable entity for a perfect horror experience, HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY FUCK THAT UP? YOUD HAVE TO BE INTENTIONALLY SABOTAGING YOUR WHOLE MOVIE TO FUCK IT UP AS BAD AS SOMEone who exclusively directs remakes... oh... oh no.

Wrong Turn: one mediocre movie and a dozen loathesome snoozefests coasting by on shock value

Troll 2:

oh god

they're eating her

and then

they're gonna eat me

...

oh my gooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

(Troll 2 is literally the worst movie ever made and I have to respect it for that at least)

but yeah, horror is just bad for movies. but for video games, though...

#long post

[thoughtfulpaperback]

In defense of Reylo shippers

Ok so I read a lot of stuff from the antis and I really don’t care that they don’t ship Reylo, but I do not like some of what I have read suggesting that Reylo shippers are ok with abuse or are being gaslighted. I, for one, am 100% against abusive relationships. I have also pointed out to many people how romantic comedies and dramas often reinforce/romanticize bad behavior in relationships or in general, so I am not ignorant. I would like to address these accusations not because I need to defend myself, but so my fellow Reylos can see some of the reasons why I ship them.

Abuse/Gaslighting

I agree that the “you are nothing. . .but not to me” line was manipulative, as well as a declaration of feelings. He obviously wants her and would say anything to make her stay and he “knows” her weakness, so he tries to use it. Other than that moment (which to me seemed more like a child throwing a fit than an abuser keeping someone on a short leash), I do not see signs that Solo/Ren is an abuser.

“What about the mind rape seen in TFA?”

1.     It is a method of information extraction (doesn’t make it right), but they are on opposite sides of a war. He is not necessarily cruel to her in his interactions although he does “what needs to be done”. When she flips it on him, he goes to Snoke recognizing her strength and her need for a teacher, not to kill her or force her into submission.

2.     Then in the TLJ he thinks about doing it again to get Luke’s whereabouts and then stops saying “another attempt might kill you” (paraphrasing) so obviously he isn’t trying to be cruel and doesn’t enjoy the mind prodding.

“What about him refusing to put a shirt on, that is manipulation/abuse?”

1.     IMO, if a force connection was forced on me and I had no control over it and said connection is with a girl who hates me, called me a monster, and assumes she knows everything about me, I would say “Hell Nah!”. So now I have to change my habits? He refuses with such indifference, I don’t think it is manipulation. Yes, he is shredded, but why is a shirtless man automatically sexualized? To me, he just didn’t care to accommodate her. Which isn’t abusive, just asshole attitude.

2.     Once they start opening up to each other I truly believe that he truly means what he says and that he does care about Rey.

Weak Complex Character Defense

I do not defend Ben/Kylo’s actions based on him being a complex character. Nor to I think abuse is ok if the character is “deep”. As I said before I don’t think he is abusive, but at the same time, I don’t think he is good enough as is. He—as Snoke mentions—acts like an angry child, but at the same time is capable of being a gentle human being. He has lots of issues to work through and I don’t believe is Rey’s responsibility to change him, nor do believe a relationship between the two will solve the problem. Reylo could go horribly wrong. Which is why I am glad that she leaves. If she had stayed (one these would be very different films and what a twist) I would not have liked it. I would have complained that this was reinforcing the bad belief that relationships can fix behaviors and that people can force change on others. I disagree with these ideas completely. I do believe that the people we care for do shape us, so I am a fan of the idea of Kylo Ren being into Rey and that shapes his actions and desires moving forward (hopefully culminating in a redemption, but I do like a tragedy as well).

Kylo Ren is a broken human being who hasn’t fully grown up yet. I think many people can relate. I appreciate this about the character. He lashes out at others, he has a hard time letting go, he feels very deeply. He is not an emotionless thrall who loves violence and cruelty. I would even argue that he doesn’t really care about power that much. I believe he and Rey act as mirrors. That is he sees what he wants for himself in her and vice versa. He has a place in it all and she sees that and wants it. He wants to be rid of the past and the sadness and he sees that in her past. He doesn’t see power or strength. He doesn’t kill Snoke as a power grab, he does it because he is emotional and acts on those. Ben has been manipulated all these years and he recognized it and all he wants is to move on from everything with an equal who understands his pain.

1.     Do I think that his complexity means that they should be together right now? Hell Nah. I see a relationship/connection to be explored by a strong woman who will not be manipulated, but at the same time be a role model and equal to Ren. Although I think we all have a lot of fun on the Reylo ship, I for one do not think any of us are pro a Rey who throws herself at Kylo and promotes his behavior.

2.     There are moments where Rey is being manipulative as well like in the elevator, if we are going to say that understanding someone’s weakness and trying to use it to convince them to come with you (my parents are manipulative and abusive bastards who owe me two trips to Disney [they took me to the doctor instead]).

In my opinion, there are a lot of reasons to be antis like :

1.     Believing Kylo Ren is irredeemable. I totally get that. It took me forever to feel that Anakin was redeemable after watching the prequels. I still have a hard time with it and I don’t feel that he is completely redeemable, or at least forgivable. Children, women, and other civilians are often casualties in war (I don’t have to like it or accept it), but going in and killing children who trust you with your own hands is completely unforgivable, but Vader does try do a final good getting rid of the emperor. Again, I cant forgive all the past actions, but I don’t wish him to burn in hell. Kylo killed people. War. I don’t know if he killed any children with his own hands (I shouldn’t matter as far as redemption goes, but It makes him more forgivable than Anakin in my mind). If you don’t that is ok and we will only know what happens when it ends.

2.     Believing Kylo Ren is too immature. I agree. I see potential, but I am also more patient due to having so many siblings.

3.     Not liking Kylo Ren’s character. That’s ok too. There are a number of characters in the star wars universe that I don’t care for.

4.     Being a Damrey/ Finnrey shipper. We all have our preferences. I would adore any combo, although I am first and foremost a Reylo shipper.

At the end of the day, I probably won’t convince any antis, that is fine. I just want my Reylo shippers not to feel as if they are promoting abuse or to be ashamed of their ship. Maybe there are some of us out there who like Reylo for “the wrong reasons”, but we all are aboard for different reasons and It is great to share the love of something with others. Spread love, not Hate!

`

#reylo #reylo fam #reylo trash #star wars #the last jedi

[jynersoandtonic]

Hidy ho you guys, time for this Luke Skywalker stan to make a post all about him in TLJ. i suggest you read this post too, a spoiler free review.

Non spoiler summary is that the execution of these bat shit wild crazy plot points are better in context in the film, and i feel that Luke’s character isn’t betrayed any more in TLJ that TFA already did to him, and they almost 100% redeem it, in my eyes. There are also so Iconic™ Luke Skywalker moments later in the film that are really great.

Spoilers under the cut.

really on the spoilers though. like full scene descriptions coming. i wouldnt read this if i havent seen the film or have no plans to beecause you think rian johnson has fucked it all up. i may change your mind.

ok yall i thought this film would fucking betray me, luke skywalker, and mark hamill, based on the shit i had read about it. But, honest to god, it genuinley wasnt terrible and even vaguley on the good side.

in tfa they already fucked up his whole character by making him loose hope, abandon his friends, and blame everything on himself. i really do think that in tlj they sort of redeem him. its the kind of redemption that if the character was actually properly written, WOULD have, COULD have, and SHOULD have taken place about a month after kylo betrayed him. yoda coulda talked to him ages ago about how its not all his fault, and he would have happily trained rey, with his ever present hope. but you know what, that possibility was already shit on with tfa, so im not even gonna go there.

my biggest issue with his redemption in tlj is that it happens so slow, and is kinda half assed. he sees r2 play leias original message and slowly agrees to train rey because she wont stop bugging him about all the shit that has hit the fan in his absence. rey has a fight with luke after he finds out shes talking to kyle ron through the force, who claimed that luke tried to kill him after he sensed the darkenss in him. luke clarifies that for a breif minute he thought about it, but didnt act on it. similar in a what to in ROJ when luke cuts of darth vaders hand and then looks at his own mechanical hand, i think. kyle ron didnt know that (cos he was asleep and all of a sudden saw luke with his lightsaber lit above him) and burned the motherfucker down. rey goes and finds kyle ron and leaves luke. 

time for luke redemption part one. yoda talks to him after rey leaves and convinces him that the jedi (as a religion and fancy text book teachings) really must end. rey knows what she needs to know. yoda and burns down the tree with the texts in it, i think luke (and rian johnson) FINALLY get it. it kinda goes back to ESB with luke being like yoda and thinking he cant ever train anyone because theres too many rules and whatnot, and yoda is like luke, saying no, rey has hope and feels the force and thats what really matters, not these jedi texts honestly, this scene is really good, and it took me back to the pure times with luke and yoda on dagobah.

anyway, lukes absent for awhile and shit goes down with kyle ron and he kills snoke to save rey but neither will turn sides for each other so rey goes back to the resistance. blah blah reylo nonsense, back to luke.

as we know, luke fuckin astral projects himself across the galaxy to help the resistance. i thought this was gonna be bat shit crazy, but it was surprisingly ok? he goes out and faces this whole fleet of first order ships firing directly at them and then comes out perfectly fine, just wiping off his shoulder like the intergalactic icon he is.  kyle ron is fucking pissed and goes down to meet him. the resistance and realises that hes doing this all to buy them time to escape. oh boy does my son dunk on kylo so fuckin hard. like damn son he is slick as FUCK and beats down kyle ron in tru luke fashion, without actually hurting him. its fucking glorious. i wont reveal all, but fuck, is my boy on FIRE with them obi wan vs vader one liners. kylo realises that luke isnt actually there and he cant kill him. get fuckin rekt haters. this scene is honestly so satisfying it nearly makes up for the bullshit the writers did to luke previously.

well, we flashback to reveal that luke was actually just projecting himself and he poofs away like obi wan. even though this is already spoiler central, i wont tell you my exact emotions about the death scene, because its such a beautiful cinematic moment you have to feel for yourself. i think his death was fitting in context, because he really does save the rebellion and give them hope as luke should have. leia and rey do make points that he didnt die is sadness or pain, but at peace. it isnt a cheap shot death like hans was. i like that he was the one that gave them hope, even after leia herself admits there was no hope left for the rebellion, being gone except for about 50 people. luke really embodied what he TRULY stood for in his final moments, being ‘a new hope’.

honestly my only problem with the stuff in TLJ is that now theyve killed han and luke, and carrie is no longer around,  it feels like the ot is gone. i think if luke had his ‘redemption’ in TLJ and then this death in 9 it would have been a perfect send off. but that being said, mark hamill loves luke so much, and they made it really fucking clear that luke dosnt fuck around when it comes to force ghosts, that he will be back.

well, that about sums in up in terms of 1 hour post movie thoughts. i really do think you have to see it for yourself and have hope in episode 9!

#star wars #spoilers #luke skywalker #tlj #the last jedi #my life

[medschoolash]

I never said that I was the best person here, in fact your answer tries to see that you are the best person because you can understand and sympathize with all the people apparently. you are right to compare the situation of storm trooper with kylo is impossible, because unlike kylo, the storm trooper knows nothing different, they think that what they do is the right thing to do, because it is the way they have trained them all their lives, unlike kylo who had the opportunity to see both sides,

“who had two parents who actually fought on the opposite side of the story, but decided to change sides because he felt lonely, unloved, betrayed, his actions were based on his personal feelings, and all his old colleagues, his family and millions of people suffered for that, he could have got his revenge by killing his uncle, but instead decided to join a side that destroyed the life of a whole galaxy , what defines you is not the pain that you have experienced but what you decide to be after”

“holding this belief doesn’t make you morally superior”/= “my opposite belief is the true morally superior one” 

again, you’re making an intellectually dishonest argument here and attributing beliefs to me that I never voiced and do not hold. I never said I was morally superior for being able to sympathize with the past lives of people who do evil, what I said was YOU are not morally superior because you have this odd ranking of abuse that pits the trauma of two people aganist each other for the purposes of making it seem like one is more worthy of sympathy than the other. You did that and I challenged that Idea, I never made any assertions of my own moral standing in this debate.

It an easily be argued that if Finn can break away from his conditioning and was able to tell right from wrong then why can’t the rest of the storm troopers break way despite going through the same thing he did? I don’t personally think like this but I’ve seen people who tackle the idea that stromtroopers are human beings who maybe don’t deserve to be blown to pieces by the resistance with this logic and I don’t think there is a flaw in the question even if I don’t personally agree with the line of reasoning.  I think it opens the question of what is truly righteousness in the Star Wars Universe and disrupts the idea the just being aligned with the “light” makes you inherently righteous and being aligned with the dark makes her inherently unrighteous. I’m sorta off topic now but my basic point is, one again I feel like  this weird moral line is being drawn and making so many things super black and white when it’s absolutely not. 

you say Kylo knew the right way because he had his parents for example and just turned away as if it was actually easy for him and something he did with zero outside influence or attempts to resist. This is what I mean when I say people dismiss Kylo’s trauma because it doesn’t mirror the way other more redeemable people handled their trauma. According to Leia Snoke had been targeting Kylo from infancy and yet Kylo didn’t completely fall until he was a teenager. That means Kylo had to fight off Snoke’s tormenting emotional abuse for YEARS before finally giving into it. He didn’t just wake up one day and say “fuck my family I want the darkside”. He struggled with his upbringing in the light and the manipulative voice in his head telling him the complete opposite for all of his most crucial developmental years. Kylo was with Luke for over 5 years I think before he destroyed the temple and killed his fellow students. That’s 5 years of learning the jedi way and resisting the darkness that was building inside of him. There are people who grew up with loving perfect parents and still end up a hot all emotional mess because something parenting and your environment cant compensate for the messed up shit going on in your head and in Kylo’s case the messed up shit was Snoke who preyed on all of his most negative feelings and impulses. 

You say that Kylo’s actions are motivated by his personal feelings like that’s now how most human beings are naturally wired. Most of our actions are motivated my our personal feelings. It only takes on look on tumblr to see how much loneliness, betrayal, feeling unloved, etc motives people to so and say things and effects the way they develop into adulthood and beyond. THAT’s exactly why understanding Kylo and having his character in existence is such a good thing to so many people, it actually explores the nuance to human behavior and psychology instead of sticking to this false black and white dichotomy fiction likes to force feed us. Sure Kylo decided to deal with his issues in a very destructive, unhealthy, and at times unnecessary ways no one is denying that and you aren’t obligated to accept that but ultimately I’ve never asserted that you had to accept it so I’m not sure what else you want from me on this particular subject. You’re also conveniently moving the goal posts of your original l argument which that you can’t understand murder, now you say kylo should have just targeted Luke for murder instead of everyone else as well and that’s just what’s unacceptable to you. 

The quote about how pain doesn’t define you but what you decide to be after does is nice and inspirational in theory and might be perfectly applicable to emotionally healthy people. I hate to break it to you but for some people, for a good portion of their lives their pain DOES define them, it defines them in very profound ways until they find a way to break away from it and cope with it in a healthy way. Some people never do, some people do after a long process.The decision of what you want to be after pain isn’t always that easy when it has been such a large part of your life for so long. Does that mean that a person who takes a little while longer than other to disassociate from their pain and does some pretty terrible  things during that time doesn’t deserve any sympathy or compassion ever because they made the “choice’ to let their pain define them? . People can feel however they want about Kylo but it’s canon that he has been torn apart and conflicted for a long time now, hell part of the reason he killed Han was because he was foolishly convinced that killng his father would put an end to the conflict that has been within him for as long and his can remember and end his pain, he learned the hard way that his ideas was misguided but not before he did something terrible that he can not take back no matter how much he regrets it. We don’t have the end of Kylo’s story yet so we don’t know if his ultimate fate is to continue to let his pain define him and continue his path, however there are some people who chose to be hopeful and see that in many ways Kylo does deserve sympathy and can disassociate from his pain eventually. You can chose not to but as I said before, it doesn’t make you “right” or superior here which is what most people who go on and on about these things feel about their beliefs. 

#answered #kylo ren commentary #star wars commentary #Anonymous

[violetflowersandflames]

for the dark starters, "you belong to me" with togaocha (hc that toga sometimes has flashbacks to when she was a villain and cant focus properly so she gets possessive)

Ahh thanks Mel!

- Toga keeps running into Ochako in battle and develops a crush on her, and she starts to question her decisions and choices. She decides to leave the League of Villains and enter UA to become closer to Ochako and to figure out these feelings of hers 

- Ochako is hesitant at first but then realizes Toga really does want to change, and she decides to help her enter UA 

- Most of the class, teachers and students are nervous of Toga and unwilling to approach her. Mina is one of the first aside from Ochako to welcome Toga and Toga enjoys Mina’s company and she’s her closest friend besides Ochako

- Jirou, Momo, Tooru and Tsuyu also warm up to Toga. It takes Tsuyu more time because she’s scared of Toga at first but when she realizes Toga won’t hurt her and has changed, she becomes her friend 

- To everyone’s surprise and shock, Bakugou develops a sort of friendship with Toga? At first he was furious at UA letting her in, but after Ochako talked to him, the two started to warm up to each other 

- Kaminari and Sero are terrified of her yet decided to prank her once. She was furious and tried to get revenge, and Ochako had to calm her down. Now they have a tentative friendship. 

- Kouda was nervous to let her near his bunny at first, but it turns out Toga loves cute things and animals and refuses to hurt them. Now they text and send pictures of cute animals to each other 

- The only person in the class aside from Mineta she absolutely hates is Midoriya. Toga is jealous of his friendship with Ochako and the fact Ochako used to have a crush on him. He also doesn’t trust her and dislikes her. 

- Toga killed Mineta. Jk. But she did once whip out her knife when he made a rude comment, and Aizawa gave her a warning but decided to turn an eye to that misbehavior 

- Aizawa is probably the teacher closest to Toga. He has to keep an eye on her, and he’s a bit suspicious of her, but he also does see that she has changed and pairs her and Ochako up together usually since Ochako is one of the few people she can work with 

- Toga still has flashbacks of her time as a villain and fears she might revert back to who she was. She’s very clingy to Ochako and can get possessive at times, but she’s trying to work on this. She’s also trying to open up to more people in the class and the girls added her to their group chat 

Toga was waiting for Ochako in the common room. The two were planning to watch a movie tonight. After hearing that Toga hadn’t seen any Disney movies, Ochako decided she had to show her all of them, and so they’d meet up every few nights in the common room to watch one.

Sometimes some of the other kids would join them, but most tended to stay away. Toga didn’t blame them or care. After all, she was a villain. Or had been a villain. It shocked her that Ochako of all people had befriended and then even agreed to date her - and sometimes she feared that the other girl truly didn’t care for her, that the other girl only stayed with her out of fear.

But Ochako was always there for her. Even when the others hadn’t trusted her resolve to change her ways, Ochako had. She’d paired up with her during class, helped train her after hours, and spent time with her doing enjoyable if not frivolous activities like this.

Toga picked at her nails. Ochako should be here soon. The clock under the TV read 6:58 PM, and the two had planned to meet at 7:00.

She was sure Ochako would be there soon. She was probably caught up with something, that was all.

Ochako walked into the common room, chatting with someone and laughing at what they said, and Toga tensed as she saw who it was.

Midoriya was walking aside Ochako, his hands gesturing, deep in conversation about something or other. Ochako laughed at whatever he had said. Toga tugged at her sleeves, envy boiling up within her.

She shouldn’t get possessive. She shouldn’t allow this to take over. Ochako was allowed to have other friends beside her. She was the only one Ochako truly loved, after all. So what did it matter if she had decided to meet up with Midoriya beforehand?

Midoriya stopped talking mid sentence. He froze as he caught sight of Toga. She glared at him, bile rising in her stomach.

I won’t get possessive. I won’t get possessive.

“Hey Toga.” Ochako ran over to greet her, and Toga stood, embracing her hug. After Ochako pulled away, she grabbed the other girl’s arm, her nails digging into Ochako’s skin. Ochako winced slightly, but Toga found herself unable to loosen her grip. Midoriya was still staring at them as if unsure how to react.

“Should I go?” Midoriya asked, looking as if he didn’t want to go but also wanted to get as far away from Toga as he could.

“I’m sure it’s fine-” 

"Yes.” Toga frowned, and her voice came out like a hiss. Midoriya looked taken aback. Ochako furrowed her brows, looking at Toga concerned.

“Toga?”

Toga could barely hear her. All she could think about how this was supposed to be her night with Ochako, and this boy who had known Ochako longer than she had, who Ochako had used to like and he no doubt liked back because who could not like Ochako, who was a hero without a dark past unlike her, had been hanging out with her Ochako. No doubt spreading lies about her. Trying to persuade Ochako to leave her. For him.

Memories of her life as a villain flooded back. All she had ever been was abandoned. The League had been nice to her, nice enough, because she was useful. She served a purpose. But she’d never had anyone she was truly obsessive over.

Stain perhaps. She had loved Stain. But she’d never met him, just admired his work.

And she found herself infatuated with those covered in blood. But that was some kind of sick, twisted lust she felt. Not anything like her feelings for Ochako.

“Toga? Toga?” Someone was calling her name. She felt herself shaking. She blinked, trying to clear her thoughts. Where was she? Where was that boy? And most importantly, where was Ochako? She couldn’t remember anything. For a moment, she had felt that she had been warped back to that time before, that none of this was even real. That she was still in the League, still one of them, and all of this had just been some fantasy. 

“Toga!” Ochako shouted her name this time. Toga blinked. She was sitting on Ochako’s bed, still clutching the other girl’s arm. Startled, she let go.

Toga looked down at her nails to see blood on them, and she winced. She’d hurt Ochako. She’d done what she sworn not to do.

Ochako didn’t even seem to notice. She had placed a hand on Toga’s shoulder, looking at her with concern in her eyes.

“Toga, are you alright?”

She shuddered. Midoriya was gone. All the class, the teachers, the League was gone. It was only her and Ochako.

“You’re mine.” She was speaking before she could stop, unable to stop the words. “You don’t belong to anyone else.”

“Toga, I love you. And I wouldn’t choose anyone over you. My classmates, they’re my friends. You’re so much more.” Ochako had grabbed Toga’s face in her hands, her eyes brimming with tears. “But you can’t act like this.”

“You won’t leave me? Like all the rest have? You aren’t just using me?” Toga tried to demand, but her voice came out weak and desperate. And she hated it. If it had been anyone else, she would’ve killed them for seeing this weak side of her.

She’d been used too much in the past. Always serving a purpose. Never having anyone to love her, never truly loving anyone.

She couldn’t lose this. She didn’t want to lose this.

Her cheeks flushed as Ochako leaned in and kissed her. Toga kissed her back, tears streaming down her face. Then, they pulled away. Ochako stroked her face and lightly twirled a strand of Toga’s blond hair with her finger.

“Toga, I won’t leave or lose you. You’ve come so far, and I’m so, so proud of you. I swear I’ll always love you.”

“I’m sorry.” Toga clenched her fists around her sleeves. “I love you more.” Ochako laughed, the sound bringing a smile to Toga’s tear stained face.

“I love you most.”

#Boku no Hero Academia #BNHA #Fanfiction #TogaOcha #Melemillion

[ruffoverthinksthings]

There's something I have to ask you that has some of its roots far before Descendants, but seriously....wtf is up with Frollo?! I'm interested in his character because of his deep complexities for a Disney Villian (never mind the Hugo novel), but why cant he get a grip on raising children and building a healthy family? Even as a product of the medieval era , that can't be an excuse for his dysfunctional relationships with others(progressive people like Esmeralda and Phoebus existed back then 1/2

Mymain question to you is ,what do you think it is about him that cantsee the pain he causes to claudine/ not esme and the entire HONDcast? What ever happened to him in his childhood ( nature vsnurture), that makes him nearly impossible to reach past his veil ofdarkness. Even in his attempt to redeem himself in the eyes of hisLord, with Claudine, is he forever delusional? Can he change in thisuniverse and what would it take? 2/2

There’sthree key concepts that explain why Frollo still can’t redeemhimself, see the pain, the suffering, the wrongdoing he’s causingin the name of God and his ideas of what is “Good.” These are:

CognitiveDissonance

TheMyth of Redemptive Violence by Walter Wink, and

SexualSuppression in the Catholic Church, and the ideas of ReligiousLeaders being beyond the common man

Allof these are actually easily explainable using the lyrics ofHellfire:

BeataMariaYou know I am a righteous manOf my virtue I amjustly proud

BeataMariaYou know I'm so much purer thanThe common, vulgar,weak, licentious crowd

Thentell me, MariaWhy I see her dancing thereWhy hersmold'ring eyes still scorch my soulI feel her, I seeherThe sun caught in her raven hairIs blazing in me outof all control

Here,we see what Frollo thinks of himself: a saint among sinners, a man ofstrong faith in a land of unbelievers, someone who does Good whereasthe rest fall into Temptation and Sin.

Likemajority of the leaders of the Catholic Church, and especiallybecause it’s in the Medieval Era, he is seen as someone who isinherently above his fellow man, better, purer, more virtuous, whichis why he deserves to hold his position, and use all the power andinfluence that affords him.

Butthen, Esmeralda comes along, he is tempted by her beauty, and herealizes that he is not as invulnerable and incorruptible as hethought he was.

Unfortunatelyfor all of us, he refuses to take responsibility for it.

It'snot my faultI'm not to blameIt is the gypsy girlThewitch who sent this flameIt's not my faultIf in God'splanHe made the devil so muchStronger than a man

Here,he refuses to believe that there’s any fault in him, that he isstill prone to temptation despite his beliefs; rather, he engages inwhat is called “Scapegoating,” putting all the blame inEsmeralda, going so far as to irrationally cast her as some wickedenchantress with powers that he doesn’t stand a chance ofresisting, than just a woman he is fully capable of getting over.

However,that involves him admitting that he was wrong about his belief thathe is incorruptible and “holier than thou,” and he wants toprotect that idea, more than he actually wants to be it, simplybecause it’s less distressing for him.

Thisis called Cognitive Dissonance, the stress someone experiencesfrom having a belief or more than directly oppose their actions andbehaviours.

Otherexamples of Cognitive Dissonance are:

Someonewho believes themselves a healthy person despite having a pack-a-daycigarette habit;

Someonewho buys a product or a service and it doesn’t turn out nearly asgood as they thought it would, so they make all manner of excuses andjustifications to make it better (in their minds); and

Someonewho stays in a relationship that has long past its expiration date,because they don’t believe themselves to be someone who gets it“wrong” with something as important as romantic relationships.

Peoplesuffering from cognitive dissonance often find ways to “spin”things and defend their original beliefs, rather than reevaluate whatthey thought was true and their identity. Rationality, logic, orconsistency ceases to matter to them; sparing themselves from thedistress that they were wrong or are acting against their beliefstakes priority above everything else.

Withthe above examples:

Thesmoker convinces themselves that cigarette smoking isn’t reallythat bad for their health (it’s actually worse);

Thatthe price, the manufacturer, or some other quality of the product orservice automatically makes it better despite the reality of it, likewith the exploding Samsung phones incident, and people refusing toreturn them in spite of the danger to themselves and everyone else;and

Thatthey can still salvage the relationship, that all the problems andissues are not nearly as bad as they are, and that they simply haveto try harder.

WithFrollo, he chooses the Myth of Redemptive Violence.

Inits essence, it’s “Good Vs Evil,” “The Final Clash,” theBook of Revelations where the forces of the Righteous do battle withthe Wicked, purging all that is unholy and ushering in a new, betterworld, or bringing all those deserving into heaven.

It’sinteresting because you see this constantly with all of Disney’sfilms with a classic “Villain” antagonist: there’s PrincePhilip slaying Maleficent; Tiana and Naveen outsmarting Dr. Facillierand letting his Friends from the Other Side do their thing; andTarzan doing battle with Clayton.

Theymay or may not have a direct hand in bringing about theirdoom—Clayton accidentally hung himself because of his refusal toaccept Tarzan’s help, for example—but it’s always VERY clear tothe audience that A) the protagonists are “good” people, B) theantagonists are “evil” people, and C) there is no redeeming the“villains,” there’s only killing, jailing, or trapping them inan enchanted lamp, because they will never turn to good.

Asstated above, Frollo believes himself to be a righteous man, theepitome of goodness, the Holy Servant of God, and people that don’tfit into his worldview are declared “Wicked” and must beslain. He has killed numerous gypsies, has been responsiblefor the death and/or suffering of numerous innocent civilians, andalmost drowned Quasimodo in a well, if it weren’t for the ArchDeacon warning him of his hypocrisy.

Inhis views, there is no salvation, no forgiveness of the sinner, noramending for your wicked ways—there is only judgment, and yoursentence is death.

Protectme, MariaDon't let the siren cast her spellDon't let herfire sear my flesh and boneDestroy EsmeraldaAnd let hertaste the fires of Hell!Or else let her be mine and mine alone

Here,Frollo shows just how extreme and devoid of nuance his sense ofmorality is—either you live, or you die. He also shows more of hisCognitive Dissonance and Redemptive Violence once more, where hepleads that—against the customs and the traditions of the church,and the scandal that would erupt— Esmeralda be “given” to him.

Thisis especially poignant as the Catholic Church has a massive,well-known history of suppressing sexuality and policing the sexualbehaviour of their followers and especially their ordained leaders,usually to disastrous results.

Insteadof giving them a chance to it in healthy ways, or to treat havingsexual urges as a natural thing, the Catholic church paints it asweakness, a flaw in you, a sign that you have failed and that you areshameful, awful, and a sinner for having them in the first place.

“Shaming”someone is the BEST way to get someone to do the thing you’reshaming them for—as you cut their self-esteem, and make thembelieve that they are weak and deficit in some manner, the morelikely they will be to do the vice or the crime because they want tofeel better, and the more likely they will accept that they truly AREbeyond saving, that there’s no hope for salvation, so fuck it,let’s do the thing.

Itgets even worse in the ending of Hellfire:

HellfireDarkfireNow gypsy, it's your turnChoose me orYourpyreBe mine or you will burnGod have mercy on herGodhave mercy on meBut she will be mineOr she will burn!

Here,Frollo shows the depths of his hypocrisy and the amazing mentalacrobatics he’s performing, saying “God have mercy” whilstpromising the opposite of mercy: death, or enslavement.

Here,Frollo shows that he’s no longer following the doctrines, the laws,or the traditions of the church, what God decreed or Jesus relayed tohis followers.

Here,Frollo shows that all he truly follows is what he believes to beRight—what is Right for him.

Iassumed that this behaviour follows him onto the Isle, where he has avery warped sense of religious morality that is really just hisselfish desires, being justified in his eyes by tacking the name ofGod onto it, much like Richard “Rick” Ratcliffe.

Whycan’t he get a grip on a loving marriage, relating in healthymanners to people, and building a loving family life for Claudine?

Because,like the rest of the Villains, he wasn’t marrying and having kidsfor unselfish reasons, he was using his ex-wife Salome to satisfy hissexual needs, is still using Claudine as a means to fulfillhis broken dreams and ambitions, and is unconsciously using them bothto serve himself first and foremost.

Thesexuality that was Frollo’s downfall has not disappeared—it’sstill there, and I’d argue it’s actually stronger consideringthe constant state of stress and despair in the Isle that forcespeople to resort to their basest instincts, and engage in whateverwill give them some measure of relief.

However,instead of going the healthy route of acknowledging that he isflawed, and that he should return to attempting celibacy in spite oftemptation, Frollo merely twists his lustful desires into somethingthat would be acceptable in his beliefs, and that of hiscongregation.

Howdoes he achieve this? Marriage, with all the intercourse for thepurpose of reproduction, and reproduction only.

I’dimagine that, after becoming the only Catholicreligious leader alive or not yet renouncing his faith, and thedeplorable state of everything and the VKsbeing raised, he sees himselfas some kind of New Adam,meant to be the progenitor of anew race of “Good, Christian People” who would eventually becomethe inheritors of this wretched hell, take it away from the hands ofthe Demon Queen that rules it (Maleficent), and rebirth it as aparadise.

Beforeyou ask, yes, he could be the CELIBATE steward of this new world,taking care of his non-ordained congregation’s children, but thatwouldn’t let him satisfy his sexual needs, and is thus not anoption in his mind.

Andbefore you ask why he doesn’t get flack about this, all of thepeople on the Isle are criminals, and if you weren’t living in thedeplorable conditions they were BGU, you learn to loosen yourstandards right quick here.

That,and they can be manipulated easily and lead to believe that undercertain circumstances, marriage and sexual intercourse with Judgesare possible—a lot of these people can’t read, and have noconcept of critical thinking.

Whyis he like this with Claudine, raising her up to be an ideal ratherthan a person?

Becausehe know he’s old, he knows he’s weak, and he’s essentiallytrapped in his church and a small area around it in Temple Way—he’sunable to bring the fight to the Islanders (not including hiscongregation, because they’re obviously theexception), be it ideologically or especially physically, so he hasto raise an army to do it for him.

Claudineis not just his daughter to him, or his Flock—she is a Messiahfigure to them, the “child that will lead them” as the actualJesus Christ was, the true successor to Frollo’s church when heinevitably passes away.

Sowhenever she starts to deviate from his ideals (i.e. growing up to beher own person, independent of her father’s desires), he doesn’tsee it as cruel and manipulative to mess with her emotions likethis—he sees himself as a sculptor making sure that this livingclay does not end up malformed, that she is completely, absolutelyperfect in every waypossible.

I’dalso be remiss not to mention that poor nutrition, dementia, and oldage have taken a serious tollon him.

Ishis being a product of the Medieval Era an excuse for hisdysfunctional socialinteractions?

Itis, actually!

Phoebusand Esmeralda are shown to be progressives in the movie, but theproblem is, they’re still the exception,not the rule; the world ofFrance in 1482 is nowhere NEAR the level of multiculturalism anddiversity we see today.

Mostpeople of that erawill never even leave the towns they live in, let alone be able tohave the means to travel vast continents and entire oceans to meetpeople unlike themselves—and as European Spice Expeditions haveshown, the interaction is more likely to be lethalto the natives than friendly, let alone romantic.

There’salso the fact that if a foreigner lives in France, it’s usuallyfrom a slave trade of some sort or as part of a roving band of apersecuted minority, like Esmeralda and the rest of the Romanipeople.

Thetimes they live in are very xenophobic, with very black and whitemorality—there are only sinners and the faithful, and again, withFrollo, there is no room for outsiders like Esmeralda and the Romanipeople, whom he believes only deserve death.

Andagain, there’s also the fact that Frollo is a Judge, and alongsidehis religion and his authority, believes himself to be inherentlyabove and better than people, and that he cannot do anything wrongbecause he is of that high position, as only a “Good” person canhold that office.

Tohave a wicked, sinful man capable of cruelty and madness would beparadoxical, and would absolutely never happen! (/sarcasm)

Thisis why he can’t see the pain and the suffering he inflicts onothers with his actions—he simply believes himself to be BEYOND andincapable of doingevil.

Withthe question of nature and nurture, I won’t headcanon aboutFrollo’s childhood, since the Nurture has the lion’s share ofblame here.

He’svery old, he’s obviously a very senior member of the church, andhas a lot of respect—he has spent almost all of his life beingtreated as higher and better than his fellow man, he has massivepower other people, and the beliefs of his church (and consequently,himself) is that he is a reliable, infallible authority for what is“Good” and what is “Evil.”

Andas the saying goes, power corrupts.

Mostpeople behave in fear of some higher authority, be they the police,their parents, or that of your superior at work. Unfortunately forall of us, Frollo only really fears two people: the Arch-Deacon, andGod.

Thewords of the “commoners” matter not to him. Maleficent has longknown that these people are beyond reason or are not worth it, sodoesn’t exercise her authority. And even within hiscongregation—more of a cult, at this point, really—dissent isimmediately silenced, murmurs that “Father Frollo” might not beas virtuous and holy as they think he is shushed like a motherreprimanding her child during Sunday mass.

Toend this rather long, lengthy tirade, can he ever break free of thedelusion, and can he truly change his ways?

Realistically,no, and no.

Unlikeactual dogs, you can’t teach Frollo new tricks, especially onesthat contradict his worldview, and he’s already shown time andagain that he won’t accept any objective evidence that he’swrong—every action of his is justified to him, and that subjectivedecision is what makes it “Right.”

Itdoesn’t help that, as I’ve said in other headcanons and mentionedabove, the people of the Isle of the Lost tend to be the ones whohave lost all hope, and are desperately clinging onto whatever it isthey can for comfort.

Ifyou bring him to Auradon, and have him meet up with the (much sanerand reasonable, but not entirely) congregations of Auradon, it’dlikely end in shouting and claims of heresy and going against God.

Havingyour everything pulled out from under you and getting throwninto the great big unknown is terrifying and painful.

Andfor many people, they’d rather be wrong and not realize it, thansuffer that—thus, Cognitive dissonance, and belief in RedemptiveViolence, with both exacerbated by the Catholic Church’s stance on“deviant” sexual behaviour.

#Descendants #Disney #headcanon