#down to earth critical

[genericpuff]

A while back you made a post mentioning Down to Earth is trash and I would like to here your take on it. No pressure on it I just like hearing your opinion on things. FYI I hate Kade lol

I did, and I've been meaning to post about it, but I've been taking some extra time to re-read as much as I can so that I could better collect my thoughts :' )

Now I will mention, I have not caught up to the most recent episodes. Most of my thoughts here will reflect the earliest parts of the series, as I didn't end up sticking with this one. So please take my criticisms as someone who just never got into this series for various reasons, not as someone who was incredibly into the comic and fell off it (like I am with LO). I will try to judge it and review it fairly based on that context.

Most of my issues with Down to Earth don't stem nearly as deep as my issues with LO, Let's Play, or even Big Ethel Energy. Frankly, I think the comic is 'fine', but I don't think it's necessarily all that good either, and the amount of attention it gets from the platform lends to the fact that I really think its success is due to a lot of generated hype. This is one of the other comics on the platform that gets a LOT of priority advertising, not quite as egregious as LO, but still a lot.

The short answer: I think the comic is just overrated and pretty basic in terms of its storytelling and art, and I don't think it's necessarily a good "romance" comic for some of the same reasons I don't think LO or Let's Play are good romance comics. I think the only reason I don't get quite as mad at it as I do with LO or BEE or LP is because (as far as I can tell) it's not really advertising itself as some feminist progressive piece of work. It's sorta just "what you see is what you get", and what you get isn't really all that great (for reasons listed below) but at least it doesn't try to sound smarter than it is most of the time. Read it the same way you would watch a fluff anime.

Moving into my long answer, I will say some of the things that were initially appealing about it: the art is very colorful and cutesy, the comedy (for the most part) is inoffensive and simple, and the story is really easy to pick up and get into.

That said, I do think some of those praises are also part of its weaknesses.

While the art gets better over time, there are certain aspects of its stylization that still feel very "baby's first webcomic" to me. Which is great if you're someone who's into that style, but when I read it, it never really stops feeling like a Canvas comic, if you catch my drift. Nothing really sets it apart from the flood of Merryweather-esque fan service comics that are in the Canvas section.

And boy, is there a LOT of fanservice in this comic. I think the main plot point itself is fanservice in and of itself - cutesy anime alien girl crashes on earth, and winds up living with the depressed NEET-like guy, shenanigans ensue from how "inexperienced" she is due to her alien status. Everything from the circumstances of this character's plot to how she's drawn screams "this is for people who like to read about small titty girls with big asses being put into a situation where they have to rely on a man". The comic takes many opportunities to draw the FL, Zaida, as wide as possible (and of course, the ML Kade loves this trait about her, it's one of the first thing he notices aside from the fact that she speaks an alien language and can do weird alien things like telepathy and flying).

Thankfully this does get a little better in the later episodes, you can tell the creator was struggling with anatomy in places and then honed their skills, but there are still times it regresses back to the extremely-pinched-waist-mega-badonker-hips look.

Don't get me wrong, having a protagonist with wide hips like this is all fine and dandy, but there's a point where you can tell it's purely for fanservice and that's definitely what the comic wants you to know from the starting gun. She fits perfectly into that "born sexy yesterday" trope that so many romance FL's do (cough Persephone cough) while also having that "uwu I'm so inexperienced :(((" vibe that you get from characters like Sam in Let's Play. Shit, Kade pretty much starts sexualizing her before he even knows what her deal is as a person. Does he even know how old she is? Is "she" even a "she", do these aliens have different concepts of gender identity or even different types of reproductive organs than what you would find on Earth?

Look, I get it that I'm probably WAY overthinking it, you can write comics about characters from other dimensions and planets without having to get into the nitty gritty of whether or not they have periods, that's fine. But the real problem is the fact that her being from another planet seems to be used purely for creating an infantilized character with extra steps who's easily laughed at for not knowing things (don't even get me started on how "alien" could be replaced with "someone who doesn't speak English or have access to modern devices" in a lot of this comic, but I feel like that's way too deep of a criticism to be pinning on something that's literally designed to be a quirky fanservice fluff comic.)

Like, you want an alien girl who looks human but still acts reasonably like an alien - while even tackling subjects that come with being an "outsider" - without making her act like a literal baby? Starfire from Teen Titans.

(granted, the whole "smooching to transfer information" thing is definitely a little weird in hindsight, and there are definitely moments of fanservice, but that's about as weird as it gets lmao you don't see Starfire acting like a literal toddler, she is smart and capable, she just isn't from Earth, which is the whole point of her characterization being parallel to that of what foreigners experience ! She's not stupid or incapable of taking care of herself, she's just not accustomed to life on Earth!)

Like, this is in one of the newer episodes and I just-

(I suddenly have to throw up-)

It really dials the creep factor of this whole relationship dynamic to 100 when they drive home just how "babylike" she is through panels like this. It's not really her being unaware of customs around her, it's just her being written as babylike as possible with the fact that she's an alien being used as justification.

But it really makes you think about Kade's intentions when he goes straight to buying lingerie for the girl he just met who's been forced to stay with him in his home. He doesn't even really make efforts to help her get on her own feet, he just accepts this as his fate and goes "welp I guess I gotta make sure I don't get fired from my job" because now he has to support the baby girl that landed in his backyard. So Zaida ends up having no agency as a result. It just feels like a contrived situation meant to force an unaware, vulnerable girl into being taken care of by a guy who's, frankly, a creep.

And boy, Kade is actually kind of a creepy scumbag.

Kade makes for a really uninteresting and frankly pathetic character, he's just sort of a whiny man baby and you just know if Zaida was an earthling who had spent time on this planet longer than a few days, she probably wouldn't put up with this shit LOL Like, deadass he basically threatens to harm her within the first few episodes of the comic-

Like, this is after she's ruined his Playstation or w/e, and it's just like DAMN girl, this is a RED FLAG. But of course, she's an alien girl who's ignorant about everything, so it creates that power dynamic where he basically has full reign to take advantage of her at any time. Ladies, if a guy says you shouldn't trust him, take him at his word.

Zaida's characterization is also very inconsistent between her being an alien and her just being an "uwu baby girl". Often times it just makes the whole "alien" thing feel like it's only there to justify writing yet another "I'm babyyyy" romance. Sometimes she's WAY more privy to things than you'd expect her to be and then other times she's doing the dumbest shit for laughs.

Now to be fair, she DOESN'T put up with his shit here, but the fact that the writing for Zaida is inconsistent makes scenes like Kade being a creep being more about the creator realizing they're leaning too hard into her being vulnerable to abuse and so they quickly have Zaida combat it with some strange amount of awareness despite the fact she's only been living with him for a few days... but not enough awareness to maybe realize this isn't a good living situation. Like, again, she may be able to speak English, but that doesn't mean she's fully aware of what Earthlings are like, so she's suddenly really smart about what it means to be taken advantage of by a human man even though everywhere else in the comic she's written like a toddler.

And of course, like many of these webtoons tend to do, they don't linger on the implications of this scene too long, so they quickly turn it into a punchline to ease the tension. Audience comfort restored.

And that brings us to the comedy. The "jokes" in this comic basically boil down to, "haha, the alien girl doesn't know how to take care of herself on Earth!" , which frankly, I think is just a very thin veil for infantilization. I mean, really, the fact that she's an alien doesn't even really matter in the world of this comic, it takes a while for the comic to even really give us a glimpse of what her life was like off Earth so most of the comic is just typical slice of life cutesy moments you'd find in literally any shoujo or romance webtoon. You could switch out the fact that she's an alien with her being from another dimension, or turn it into an isekai where she was the female character in Kade's favorite video game who suddenly got zapped into the real world, and it would make fundamentally zero difference.

They even sorta lampshade this fact but swiftly move on from it.

There's nothing really that makes her an "alien" in any unique or consequential way, she's just a carbon copy anime girl with pointy ears who could be replaced with any other trope from other romance subgenres like this. She can eat human food just fine, dress in human clothes, and as long as she wears a hat over her ears, she's literally indistinguishable from the humans around her.

I will add as well that there are a lot of little ways they hint towards the implied dynamic between these two, at least in the beginning. The whole "second rule: obey" bit, while passed off immediately after as a joke, feels like it was inserted there JUST to create that imbalanced power dynamic that so many "romance" webtoons rely on, similarly to LO and Let's Play. The fact that he corrects himself from this just feels like, again, lampshading.

And again, after this we do see Kade legitimately acting like a creep and he DOESN'T DO ANYTHING to help Zaida get her footing beyond paying for her room and board and telling her to mind her vocabulary, so this seems more like him trying to create a situation that's beneficial to him where he's effectively trapped this girl into relying on him.

They even lampshade this as well so that leads me to believe they're fully aware of this dynamic and how creepy it is, so they try and play it off as a "haha so funny" joke to ease the tension or create suspension of disbelief.

When it comes to the actual execution of punchlines, again, 90% of the jokes in this comic are "haha alien girl so stupid!"

(I will admit this scene did make me laugh, but it's telling that it was the only one that stood out to me for that because every other joke in this series is very mid and resorts to the same type of "haha she's a stupid alien girl" punchlines.)

(omg mental illness! so funny! /s)

If you really want comedy written around aliens describing human things in weird ways, then just go read Strange Planet. They're actually aliens and they're consistently funny through much smarter writing that doesn't rely purely on "lmao they're stupid because they're not from here". If anything the aliens in Strange Planet are way more welcoming and endearing to the concept of being a fish out of water than simply making them stupid for a punchline.

(i swear to christ, "crisscross flop disc" and "prohibit anxiety" are lines that have lived in my head rent free for like 3 years now, it never gets old and THAT'S how you know it's a good joke LMAO)

And the story, as mentioned, is easy to get into, but ultimately that winds up meaning it's not really all that well done. Like, it's fine! It's a cute comic to read if you're into this sort of thing, there are a lot of sweet little moments that feel good to read between Kade and Zaida, but ultimately because of the focus on the fluff, that's all it ends up feeling like - weekly doses of fluff. Even when it tries to have some semblance of plot, it's quickly undercut by fanservice. So it's just kinda boring and vapid.

Case in point, one of Kade's observations of Zaida is that she apparently looks "just like his ex girlfriend" who he still clearly hasn't gotten over, but we don't actually see even a hint of what his ex-girlfriend looks like until MULTIPLE episodes later after the "sparks" have already started being formed between him and Zaida.

Um... she doesn't really look like Zaida at all aside from them both being generic anime girls, but okay lol by that logic the girl he served at the store in Episode 7 also looks like Zaida.

So it kinda makes the whole relationship feel superficial, like he's only interested in her because she vaguely reminds him of his ex, and it's taking so long to get through any amount of plot through all the fluff that I can't be sure if they ever actually address this. I'd like to think they do eventually, though from what I've heard of the later episodes after his ex-girlfriend makes an appearance, it seems more like they go the LO route of making the two relationship "choices" just be complete opposites where one is actually sweet to the ML and the other is abusive JUST to make the sweet FL seem like the "better option". IDK, obviously my criticism of this is lukewarm because I haven't kept up on this comic in ages, but I have the sneaking suspicion the whole ex-girlfriend-the-ML-can't-get-over plotline isn't gonna be used for his development, just to further propel him and Zaida into a relationship - and by extension, manufactured drama to make their relationship more "interesting".

Overall, I don't think Down to Earth is anywhere near as egregious as Let's Play and LO, but it's definitely cut from the same cloth, and that's why it frustrates me to see it - alongside LO and Big Ethel Energy - being marketed as "new voices in romance".

(also real talk, it's so disingenuous for them to include LO in this "new voices in romance comics" panel when it's been around for so many years that everyone and their grandma who uses WT knows about the comic, if they aren't reading LO by now they REALLY don't want to. It's not "new", if anything it's one of the oldest ongoing webtoons on the platform and it REALLY needs to end already lmao)

Far be it from me to gatekeep an entire genre, but this brand of romance comic isn't really "romance". It's vapid fluff loaded up with egregious fanservice that's meant to give you a hit of dopamine every week, while never lingering on serious scenes for too long because they don't want you to realize just how imbalanced the relationship is between the two main characters. It's not quite as concerning as LO or Let's Play, but it does have a vibe that's really uncomfortable when you start to feel it. So having comics like these held up as the "golden standard" of romance is just... it's really telling as to what WT's priorities are and how unhealthy "romance" has become in mainstream media.

And if I can get a little "old man yelling at cloud" for a second, I miss when romance was sweet and soft and earnest and heartfelt. I think the only mainstream and successful romance webcomic (and it's not even an Originals!) that I've seen in the last several years that isn't loaded up with these problematic tropes is Heartstopper. Heartstopper is sweet and soft and earnest and heartfelt. Heartstopper is way more of a pillar for a healthy romance than what any of these "new voices in romance comics" can provide. It literally couldn't function as an Originals series because the definition of a WT romance comic would undercut the actual point of Heartstopper.

These unhealthy standards and dynamics that we've set in the romance genre have been so pervasive for years now and I really just wish they'd go away.

y'know what, this whole essay is really just a promo post for Heartstopper now, go read it-

#just go read heartstopper #webtoon critical #down to earth critical

[puppyeared]

Atla live action 😐

#thats my honest reaction 😐 #to be fair ive only seen 20 minutes of the s1 finale bc my parents are watching it but. mmmmm kinda mid #like. the casting is definitely an improvement since the last time they tried a live action but it feels like the writing falls flat #or maybe im being harsh bc ive only heard negative criticism on it beforehand. but fr anytime u bring up the original its already #good and not just because its the original. so much fucking detail went into it to the point of someone noticing azula wielding mai's knive #to how well thought out irohs character is used as a way of uniting the cast especially as zukos foil #i heard that sokkas sexism was toned down and i have to agree that feels like a cheap move. like i get WHY they think it would be better #but its not about how that reflects on real world its about how it affects the story. sokka starts out as a misogynistic asshole because #it makes it that much more impactful when he changes. toning that down makes it flatter and makes his character development weak #and someone pointed out they didnt even make him wear the kyoshi warrior uniform and i know it feels like such a small detail but #come on man. they did that in the original because not only does it help him really walk in their shoes - wearing 'feminine' clothing and #makeup and having suki explain its significance but it also ties in with the shows theme of harmony and intersectionality #i was also disappointed when they had the fire sages explain how the water tribe draws power from the moon because in the original it was #IROH who explained it to aang and everyone else BECAUSE we as the audience is under the impression hes with the 'bad guys' #and it builds up to how he learned from the other nations which reconciles his past as a war general and his character overall #AND its an excellent starting point for the cast and audience to understand how the nations arent as closed off as you would think #plus you would think its only fire nation doing propaganda but they expanded on that with earth kingdom censorship and it WORKS #a lot of things in the live action also feel arbitrary like. they gave momo a near death experience for 5 minutes for no reason #im firmly on the stance of bringing back filler moments instead of putting major events right after each other so that u give your #audience a sense of time passing and to really absorb the story. but i think thats more like shock value than filler and yeah its a small #thing to gripe about but those things build up and its really annoying. the thing abt avatar filler moments is that however small #its at least meaningful. hell even the beach episode emphasizes how isolated zuko and his friends are as child soldiers #i also swore to never watch the first live action since it was that bad but i really liked the stylized tattoos they used for aang #anyway. those arejust my thoughts. im not gonna watch the rest because im a ride or die for the original aftr growing up and #rewatching it at least 20 times as a kid. but theres definitely room for improvement and i wish ppl wouldnt take it as 'better' just cuz #netflix is adapting it. i wouldve killed for them to just reanimate the entire avatar series and touch NOTHING ELSE no redub #no changes to the story. just reanimate the thing and leave the rest alone and youd make easy money just the same #ALSO its very jarring not hearing jack desena and dante basco voicing sokka and zuko cause their voices were the most recognizable to me #i get that its because its live action but im allowed to feel a little sad abt that. and uncle irohs accent was really soothing #yapping

[aeoris4lovers]

liam and laura experiencing the full spectrum of human emotion during the "he's my boy and i keep him safe" speech

#they're expressions are so GOOD #i too was experiencing the full spectrum of human emotion #sam is so good at creating moments that just absolutely slap you in the face with emotions you didn't know you could feel #GOD im obsessed with the idea that they're all having this deep conversation about caleb and he's down in the basement talking to a skull #like he really has the most earth shattering shit up his sleeve just. ready to go at all times huh #c2e13 #c2 rewatch #cr liveblogging #cr table #liam o’brien #laura bailey #critical role

[hauntingblue]

Oden's prophecy of young pirates coming to save wano becoming yamato's hope for his freedom.... and him becoming oden because of it.... it's just so good... on the other side luffy taking ace's spot for liberating yamato... I think I hauve covid

#the spades pirates in wano to save children... omg... deuce.... i have heard so much of you.... #yamato complaining about how eveyrhing is his father's fault and ace getting violent... #it is so sad that in the end it was (partially maybe) his father's fault... if not roger then whitebeard..... maybe both #the hibiscus flowers..... rouge.... #yamato telling ace he talks too much about luffy.... omg..... #NAMI TELLS TAMA LUFFY LOST ACE TOO!!! AND LUFFY CAME BACK TO WANO BC ACE SAID HE WOULD!!! OMG...... THE LINGERING..... #talking tag #watching one piece #episode 1014 #pink haired samurai is still alive and kicking... hell yeah.... #ODEN WAS THE SECOND COMMANDER FOR WHITEBEARD??? OMG??? #whitebeard dealing with his rebellious son ace akshaksjak..... #ace wanting to save wano for his husband and child but wb wouldn't let him bc he is still caught up about his ex husband's death... complex #TEACH GO TO HELL!!! FUCK YOU!!! DIEEEE!!!! #they can't put luffy crying about ace dying here again.... tama feeling bad about yelling at luffy.... #YAMATO KNOWS ABOUT THE D???? #big mom wants robin.... i mean of course.... curious about pudding and her third eye.... we will meet again i guess... #PONEGLYPH!!!! kaido little borther to mom...... god valley.... rox.... i remember.... she gave him his power omg... #episode 1015 #ace face down smiling after whitebeard beats him up reminded me of ace dead smiling. hell on earth this is my last straw. goodbye. #the animation <3 ace i love you <3 yamato you are great <3 #omg... little ASL with the big pirates saying he will become pirate king omg... #PAUSE!! ACE HEARING GOOD THINGS ABOUT ROGER AND SAYING HE SOUNDS NICE THIS IS CRUCIAL TO MY ACE LORE OMG #yamato didnt say who it was... did ace really die not thinking his father was good this is my roman empire... critical hit to my brain #yamato made aces vivre card.... should i end it all for realsies this time.... #his cunty skate boat 😭😭😭😭 i could cry #he really is looking like a beautiful dead wife this episode.... yamato......the vivre card omg..... NOT THE FLASHBACK ENOUGH #THE TRANAITION BETWEEN ACE FALLING OFF LUFFY AND HIM FALLING TO THE GROUND OMG AKFBSKDNDKSKLWKWNSKWK NOOOOOO #OH FINALLY THEY ARE ALL THERE TO FOGHT BIG MOM AND KAIDO!!! FUCK YEAAHHHHHH a good drag for the mugis for good measure #episode 1013

[embrace-your-inner-kid]

No, but... the exhale that Imogen lets out while Laudna tells her that she'll always be there for her no matter what she chooses, and the even greater exhale she lets out when Laudna adds on that she doesn't have to make those choices alone.

Imogen's been keeping somewhat of a distance since getting Laudna back. I don't know if it's out of fear of revealing her true feelings or not wanting to burden Laudna with her own problems after witnessing Laudna's traumas. Maybe it's a combination of both, but those words of unconditional support broke through all the tension that has been building up in Imogen, and she finally allowed herself to melt into Laudna's support and vocalize her love.

Imogen has just seen her father, who has distanced himself from her, and had her mom confirm that she's willingly working with a cult trying to release a God eater on the world. Her and Laudna have also had their relationship tested and gone through a lot recently. Her foundation has been rocked, her tether hanging by frayed edges. That conversation and confirmation of the unconditional love Imogen craves was everything to her and desperately needed. Laudna mended that fraying tether... their tether. We'll see how well in the battle ahead. It's going to be a rough one when it comes to Imogen facing her mom. Not to mention having to face Otohan again, and God forbid anything happens to Laudna.

#that whole imodna conversation was beautiful #but I keep coming back to the moment Imogen exhales and visibly comes back down to earth a little #the tension has been building up unbearably in her #imogen temult #imodna #imogen x laudna #critical role

[nomercifulpercival]

I think the weirdest part of watching @strange-aeons new video about Cult Leader andy blake and Bit of Earth is going Oh My God i saw this guys posts when i was in the SPN fandom. OH MY GOD i remember this guy from CritRole fandom. Oh Holy Shit.

#thanfiction #bit of earth #andy blake #supernatural #critical role #strange aeons #yes i just went fully all the way down the rabbit hole #fully recommend watching strange's vid and following that up by reading all the crazy train posts on abbeys blog #gotta read the comments too the comments are important to your understanding #jesus fucking christ tho #i knew i recognised the name #i used to read his INSANE destiel metas #it was TJLC level #lost track of him for a bit and then he popped up in CR fandom several years back although #thank god #he did not manage to start a critical role cult #i can only imagine he wouldve committed soul suicide again and gone on with liam obriens soul

[mytardisisparked]

"I'm a hater." "I love hating things." Cool. Good for you. I'm a lover. I love finding the simple joy of life. I love being caught up in the whimsey. I love laughing at dumb jokes and smiling when something even vaguely cute happens and telling people I love them as often as possible and reading dumb books with a lot of heart and eating fun food for the simple change of pace. I love engaging with things critically but, ultimately, still finding the wonderful, happy, lovely things about it. The world can be cruel and dark and mean and hateful and, doggone it, I am going to mine every ounce of joy out of it that I can find and then I am going to inflict that joy on other people.

#so sick of the eternal pessimism some people have about stuff #think critically and be a thoughtful person yes #but also don't let it bog you down #and if you really have your heart set on being a pessimist about everything at least don't bog other people down about it #we all have a limited time on this earth and with the people around us and i literally don't care I am going to find as much joy as I can #I simply don't have time to hate stuff all the time

[quickhacked]

he's written several books about outer space after his thesis btw. most of them discuss popular theories and try to form a clearer understanding of every one of them + their origins + how realistic they are without roasting the original author to hell and back

#personal #one thing about rome he LOVES discussing things and all he wants is to Understand #other academics in his field would be very competitive and they're all constantly biting each other's dicks off #but he's simply breaking theories down in bit sized pieces to see how far they can be proven through science #other than that he would be critical of humanity's role in space because he believes they're not being careful enough (which is true) #they wanna use deepspace acceleration as a way to generate power but with the cold war going on and everything it's like #a rat race to the moon to build the facilities necessary for it to be the first nation to get the technology finalized etc etc #one of rome's most famous theories about the empty earth ends up being true because of humanity messing up deepspace acceleration #his sister and her crew were zapped there :( leviathan's influence #not going too deep into that right now i need more brainpower for that later but it's very scary and very cool

[wowitsverycool]

Well you see, the characters actually care about each other a lot and are willing to forgive mistakes, as well as never resorting to assaulting one another instead of talking things out like.. Ya know. Adults. Clearly baby stuff right there! (this is sarcasm, and frankly i like both games too. still a silly comment tho)

i can't play this game there aren't any edgy teenagers in it

#TO BE CLEAR i immensely enjoyed omori as well. #its atmosphere and emotional significance would be almost impossible to ignore regardless of some criticism i have for it #but that's definitely not because it was somehow realistic and grounded LMAO #that's what i find most bizarre about that #omori's appeal is not how realistic or down to earth its story is. at least for me. #and that's in stark contrast to the naturalistic and believable dialogue of ISAT so it just!!! boggles my mind!!! #how can you come to that conclusion!!!!

[navree]

under the weather and re-reading his dark materials, never gonna understand how tf certain religious people get so mad at the critique of the organizations of religion in certain fictional works

#personal #not to get like religious on here and whatnot #but like when a writer makes an allegorical criticism of the catholic church for example #it's rarely a criticism of catholicism as a religion #there's very rarely any actually finger wagging at the concept of believing in a higher power or the structure of the religion #the criticisms often come down on the bureaucracy of the church #and a) that's more than fair ESPECIALLY when it comes to the catholic church and criticizing bureaucracy≠criticizing faith #b) as a faithful person how do you NOT want the bureaucracy to do better #the church is the intermediary between god and the people the pope is god's representative on earth #how do you NOT want that organization to be good and godly and doing well #how do you NOT want to be able to have it free of corruption and abuse #like the church itself has a long history of trying to fix its bureaucracy that's the entire reasoning behind the council of trent #and the counterreformation #the existence of the jesuits as a holy order with vows of poverty and instructions to always help others first #exists as a way to reverse the image people had of priests at the time as moneygrubbing selfish decadent asshats #who only cared about getting richer at the expense of others and never actually doing anything for the people #how does someone as a faithful person not look at critics and go 'yeah obviously they need to be listened to' #'so that we can have a better system to participate in when engaging in faith' #like i'm catholic i would LOVE to be a part of a church that doesn't abuse children or hate gay people #it's why i'm always so stoked whenever pope francis gets on his liberalism box and tries to fix it #it's why i'm always happy whenever father martin (if you know you know) gets prominent placements in certain vatican conferences #cuz hell yeah i want the church to better hell yeah i wanna hear criticisms and see how the church can be better #and make up for the horrible things it's done in the past #you're not faithful to a system of offices you're faithful to like god and jesus #and as such you should want the people representing them to be on the up and up #idk i woke up early and i'm on adderall as i said but i'm too sick to go to class today #so have this

[breathalyzerfail]

WAIT! Wait wait wait.

I forget, were Deni$e and Dariax involved with the Clasp?

And Ashton has a Clasp symbol on his pants?

#critical role #cr spoilers #cr speculation #mona cr #ashton greymoore #dariax zaveon #deni$e cr #i would actually like a very down to earth thieves guild story #after the elven ruins from the other guys

[genericpuff]

this just in on "three voices you absolutely should NOT listen to especially when it comes to romance and relationships"

literally all of these comics are dumpster fires (*tho I will say Down to Earth is the lesser of the three) and i'm genuinely concerned for the people who are being raised on some of this shit 🤢 can we please just be over this garbage collectively as a society already, jfc

#none of this brings me joy #webtoon critical #big ethel energy is GROSS #down to earth is OVERRATED #lore olympus is PREDATORY

[porcupiney]

okay like genuinely these past few days the only stuff that seems to be coming my way on tumblr is negativity towards, and moral condemnation of, characters i like. and at this point i’m like two steps away from biting peoples heads off. like i think if i see one more shit take about a guy i like i’m going to start ripping people apart limb from limb im not even joking

#get this bullshit off of my dashboard it’s so fucking obnoxious #the most recent one really fucking got me though fucking condescending ass post about dan vs #implying that if you’re not critical of dans actions you’re like celebrating an abuser? #firstly have you watched the fucking show? secondly you know it’s a fucking kids show from 2011 right? #no one is using fucking dan vs as a bible for their morals. no one on earth is looking at dan and saying ‘i’m gonna live like him’ #dan is a popular character because he has fucking redeeming qualities that make him complex and dimensional #not to mention trans coding neurodiverse coding and relatability #i personally like him and relate to him because i also often feel like everything is against me or someone like me #and i find it really comforting that dan fucking breaks rules and trashes shit in the name of personal justice especially when put under- #-the light of being a trans person. what other character faces miserable adversity and destroys shit about it to get what they want #you cant boil it down and assume that any fan of the show is fucking JUSTIFYING the more questionable stuff he does okay? #no one was on board when he poisoned chris. no one is trying to say that was okay. what’s your fucking problem #sorry for the rant. i am so sick of this. it’s day fucking three or something of just being spoon fed negativity about my favs. #negativity #discourse #tuesday talks

[actuallyinvisibleninjah]

Thomas Sanders is still out there not making a season 2 finale . . . .

#like i don’t expect him to do it #which is why I unsubscribed ages ago #like it’s been over a year #since I unsubscribed #but dude #if you just wanted to dress up #and make silly one off vids #WHY #why on earth did you make #big complicated plotlines #your audience got genuinely invested in #you’re letting everyone down #more so by not owning up to it #ts criticism #i think Thomas is a dick

[shepherd-tothestars]

What pokemon am I and why is it Salandit-

#down to earth ;; ooc #salandit is the best i dont take constructive criticism- #i know nami would say a rat but #none of the rat pokemon really match my energy like salandit does #that or morgrem #i dont just enjoy morgrem but i look like one too-

[oatbugs]

why is it that issues west asians face are only talked abt in the mainstream(ish) because of and in context of A Video Game . why does it take ur fav coroporation making characters too pale to even think abt our existence .

#this is not even white ppl or westerners btw its everyone except west asians . including other asians. mein gott #i think this is mostly americans too but the way they fucking render Everything and i mean everythinggg down to skin colour as if there #arent other issues . USA americans specifically . ugh #and the absolute INSULT to NA ppl and west asians . why is it that u care abt MENA cultures (dont like that term v much but w/e) #when it comes to . im not joking . A VIDEO GAME . #personal #like yh media is a reflection of real life and can and does always have consequences and bad representation can be very harmful #but come onnn dont pretend like you cared abt persian culture or the amazigh people before or that ur criticisms of the sparse media #representing them doesnt end at skin tone too light . i am so annoyed by the collective everywhere ever #just ignoring west asians too . like literally u guys do not even acknowledging us !!! u dont consider us a part of asia ! you dont look at #us and consider us people with some of the oldest most historically civilisations on this earth ! #you dont even TRY to understand what US+UK have done to us and then proceed to confuse #iraq and iran and call us terrorists. fuck you !!!! #A VIDEO GAME ???? #historically rich**