#every time I see someone say they dislike an arc I’m like ‘why would they dislike— oh they probably watched it in the anime’ | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

linklethehistorian · 1 year

Note

Linkle, I must know, what are your thoughts on Mori as a character? His actions and motivations?? Id love to hear your opinion, btw that last chapter of cherish was great!! I loved it so much!!!

Ahhh hello there, anon, thank you so much! 🥺😭💕💖🥰 It’s such an honor to get a message like this from someone who is reading the fic. 💕🥺💖🥰💕🥺💖🥰 I’m so glad you liked Chapter 12; it definitely has one of my own personal favorite scenes, tbh (but I won’t take up your time talking about that right now lol). Having a fan base for Cherish is truly lovely; I’m so blessed by each and every one of you. 🥺💖

As for your question, I’m always happy to share!

Before I say anything at all on my opinion, though, I’m first going to make it clear that I am completely setting aside that one…particular matter that has been discussed to death by the fandom for the moment, because I fear far too many people tend to forget that it is entirely possible to make any remotely positive commentary on a fictional character without that actually somehow meaning you condone his alleged…preferences. For the people in the back that need to hear this out loud to be set at ease: I in absolutely no way do.

Now with that out of the way for a bit, let’s talk about the rest of Mori. I’ll throw it under the cut, though, both for length and for potential spoilers of multiple light novels (Dark Era, Fifteen, Storm Bringer, etc.) and obviously the manga up to his last appearance in current arc. Oh and obviously the typical Mori-related trigger subjects. Yeah.

Honestly, on a general note, these days I think Mori as a character is super cool; I’m not sure where precisely I’d rate him on the list of characters because I honestly like nearly every character in BSD and think they’re pretty awesomely written, but on a general scale of 1 to 10, he’s a very solid 8 or 9 for me.

My first introduction to him was…admittedly not at all the best possible representation of him.

When I first joined the fandom, I began my journey through the series by watching the anime adaption of Dark Era, at the behest of a dear friend who said I would be best off doing so before I watched the rest of the show (of which there were only two seasons at the time) and then reading the manga, in order to get the best and most meaningful experience; it is not something I remotely regret, and in honesty, I would probably wholeheartedly recommend any new people to do the same, if they intended to start with the anime. Regardless, though, this decision did have the impact of making me immediately strongly dislike Mori as a person from the very start, given what he did to the orphans, Oda, and Dazai by extension.

Really, I wouldn’t say that I came to see him in any particular shades of grey motivation-wise until I watched the episode titled Double Black, in which there was the first reference of what would have become of the Port Mafia and Yokohama as a whole had he not usurped the throne to the organization so many years ago.

After that, I began to look at him with a bit more understanding and curiosity, horrible and ruthless though his nature may still mostly have been. Fifteen (specifically the light novel, NOT the anime) — which it should be said, I think is the best existing canon representation of Mori in terms of giving us a good look at his thoughts and motivations — only amplified that outlook and interest for me, and I think it alone is largely to thank for why I enjoy him as a character as much as I do in current time.

Although he’s definitely not someone I’d feel particularly comfortable writing an entire story solely around — as I don’t believe I’m expert nor absurdly passionate enough to do so compared to some genuine Mori fans that I know are out there out there — I nevertheless really, really do enjoy writing him, especially in Cherish (which is only the second time I’ve written him, if I’m honest — at least, in anything I’d consider publishing, anyway).

There’s just so much potential in him plot and personality-wise; he is incredibly flexible of a person in terms of his thoughts, mannerisms, motivations, and actions, which makes it super fun to explore and play around with when telling a story. I’d say he easily has one of the most fun personalities among the BSD ensemble, purely because of utterly unpredictable it can be; on one hand, he has moments where (at least outwardly) is capable of being extremely friendly, outgoing, generous and unassuming, and yet on the other, he is very much always inwardly observant of all that is going on around him and capable of quickly switching to being cold, calculating, and openly cruel at the drop of a hat. But even then, usually, his cruelty doesn’t come in the form of physical violence; it’s often emotional manipulation, intimidation, taking your fears and weaknesses and using them against you to get him whatever he feels he needs in the present moment. Sometimes, it isn’t even outwardly visible that the switch of gears happened; he knows how to poison you in the sweetest and most unassuming yet effective way possible — whether that poison is literal or metaphorical. He’s definitely the kind of person who could sing you to sing to sleep every night and kiss your cheek every morning even as he’s secretly plotting your demise. lol

That being said, I think a lot of the fandom, in their hatred for him as a person, tends to mischaracterize him a lot, rather than looking at it objectively. I’ve seen a lot of fics and general fandom takes that portray him as a sadistic person who is cruel simply for the sake of being cruel and does terrible things to others purely for the enjoyment factor, but that is 100% not who Mori is; canonically, Mori does what he does mostly, if not entirely, out of what he feels is necessity as the leader of the organization. Now, I’m not saying there may not be parts of him that enjoy certain things he does — it’s certainly more than possible, and even highly probable — but his actions as godfather are driven by achieving what he feels is the optimal solution, not by personal pleasure and amusement; as a matter of fact, in Fifteen, he even made it clear when speaking to Chuuya that he fully acknowledges a lot of what he does is morally reprehensible — he just feels that it is his duty to commit these atrocities for the ‘greater good’ of the organization, and that the end therefore justifies the means.

The thing is, there is a character in BSD who is exactly the way this portion of the fandom characterizes Mori, and he was even a member of the Port Mafia, so if people really wanted to canonically explore this dynamic of a character who wholly gets off on tormenting people, causing suffering and probing others’ heads rather than doing it as just a business practice, they absolutely could still do it and be true to canon by writing about said other character; it’s just that it’s not a convenient truth that a lot of the fandom wants or likes to face — because that would mean acknowledging that it was everyone’s beloved Dazai and not the oh-so-despised Mori who used to think in such a sick and twisted way during his days in the criminal underworld.

Granted, some people do write both characters very well and very accurately, and I applaud them, but I do find it frustrating when the fandom reduces either Mori to this purely evil, sadistic villain who is bad just for the sake of being bad, because he is so much more interesting as he truly is in canon.

It’s this dichotomy where his dedication to the overall well-being of his people and company is admirable and even understandable, yet at the same time his individual actions when you look at them from a moral perspective are pretty much all morally reprehensible in some way, shape, or form — if not in every way. The same is true of his time in the army; as a general concept, his desire to protect Japan during the Great War was on the whole admirable and understandable, we know that he was well-meaning about it, but at the same time, no matter how desperate the situation was, what he did to Yosano and his entire army was absolutely disgusting and unacceptable — especially because it came so easily to him to do it and he made no apologies for it nor expressed any guilt over the suffering he caused later on.

Do I think Mori is, on the whole, a good person? Absolutely not. Do I think that he sometimes has the best of intentions in mind with his schemes? In the grander scheme of things, yes; it’s just that he mostly doesn’t care who or how many he has to hurt to achieve that so long as it’s slightly less than his net gain from doing it, which in turn cancels out things enough to prevent him from ever being labeled as being or acting as a “good person” at any moment.

I think the best, most objective description of him is to say that he’s pragmatic and ruthless.

…And then obviously there’s the part that everyone in the fandom discusses to death — about the main universe version of him being into little girls. Not a whole lot to say about that; it’s gross, it’s wrong, it’s unforgivable, it’s morally reprehensible, and it’s chilling and disturbing and it definitely completely disqualifies him from being labeled a good person even if he had been able to earn that title from something he did somewhere along the way.

That being said — and I know this is probably going to be controversial to a lot of the fandom, so let me say upfront that I’m not saying that that isn’t 100% a valid and understandable reading of who he is and the way he feels based on all the evidence throughout the series, nor am I trying to convince anyone otherwise — purely because it is fiction and therefore all made up to begin with, at least for my own personal comfort, I typically choose in my own personal readings to just look at him as someone with a particular weakness for little girls because he’s fatherly — although I make no effort to claim that to be the objective truth, nor does such interpretation affect or influence any of my writings in any way; it’s simply the way I prefer to engage with BSD on my own personal time — outside of my writings.

As a matter of fact, in my one fic, Bittersweet Belief, he was intentionally written with the intention of being portrayed as a groomer, and in Cherish, his ‘tastes’ will be portrayed no less nor more suspicious than how they are in canon, and therefore it will never be fully, directly addressed, but may be interpreted however you wish.

I do not need people coming to me providing evidence of why they believe there is no way to look at it differently, as again, I am not arguing that it is objectively untrue in any way that Mori is written to be a pedo in BSD, and when in public spaces among other people talking about it I don’t even try to say otherwise, much less convince anyone of it. I understand fandom etiquette and I am not trying to erase anything about him from others’ perceptions in order to make him more “likable”. I am just engaging with BSD, whenever I am personally reading it and watching it, in the way that is more comfortable for me. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anyway, yeah, Mori’s a super fun character to write and observe in the BSD world! I think there’s a lot of depth to him and he’s very well-written — probably among my top past antagonists purely for the super interesting personality and the purely pragmatic outlook to life and business.

33 notes · View notes

cloismami · 1 year

Text

*sigh* no one dislikes Lana more than me but that doesn’t stop my ability to realize that she was, at many times, a victim. Yes, she treated Clark like the anti-christ. Believing others before she believed him, running back to him when other relationships didn’t pan out, lying to him when they supposedly came to a point in their relationship where honesty should’ve been a priority. There are so many other issues. But people often forget that Clark lied to her as well (understandably so bc his secret is quite literally larger than life). It’s not going to be easy for her to believe him when he’s like that and it’s not going to be easy for Clark to trust and really love her when she acts the way she does. That’s why his relationship with Lois is more special and deep bc DESPITE his secret, she understood him, she TRUSTED him, and CHOSE to love him knowing he was keeping a secret from her. Clark does the same thing in return. But this post isn’t about clois so let’s move on. Yes, Lana is annoying, repetitive, and can be so wrong that you just want to physically remove her from the show at some point. She can be considered a “villain” under the notion that she held Clark back for so many years, becoming literal poison, therefore demonstrating how useless and detrimental that relationship was. This, I agree with. But that also isn’t her fault bc Clark chose not to see beyond his nose for so many years, he chose to stay comfortable, even in a situation that he wasn’t completely happy in. But for anyone to say that she is worse than Lex, simply bc he is a better written character, to me, is dumb. Because at times, I believe the writers were very much intentional with their portrayal of her. Yes, they ran out of ways to make her actually relevant to the story that stays loyal to the comics post s3, but that doesn’t mean that the way they portrayed her was unintentional. They time and time again showed us who she was, her flaws, her questionable character which proved why she and Clark were never a good fit and also showed that their love never went deeper than the surface, because they never truly knew each other. So chalking Lanas character and characteristics to bad writing all the time diminishes her satisfying s8 arc where she literally becomes the poison that she is to Clark ( I hope that makes sense lol). I’m not saying that she was perfectly written bc again, there were times where it was so obvious that the writers/producers were trying to fit her in at all costs even when she doesn’t need to be there. An example of this is her s4 storyline. Her most popular I believe bc aesthetically, it looks amazing. Who doesn’t love witches??? But logically, what does a 16th century witch have to do with scientific artifacts that were planted by Jor-el or whatever kryptonian. That’s right, nothing. It’s one of those plots where you’re scratching your head asking what does that really have to do with anything. BUT, the plot gave room to explore her flaws and once again showcase not only why her and Clark are incompatible but also why they don’t really love/trust each other. I always found it very telling that she told Lex that she “killed” Jason’s mom and not Clark, because although Clark would’ve been put off, he would’ve understood bc she was possessed. But instead, she never told him and ran to Lex. As she always does. Which shows that as much as Clark never trusted Lana, she most importantly, which people tend to forget until s6, never trusted him. It’s always been like that with her, right from s1 which brings me back to my point that she believes others before believing him. So, no Lana is not an all around bad written character. Was she squeezed into every single plot line? Yes. Was it meaningless? No. I do agree that if the character were written today, she wouldn’t come across so helpless and relying on men all the time, but I do think that she would still be portrayed as someone who doesn’t trust and really know/love Clark, which to me is the whole point.

Her flaws and unfortunate characteristics would still be portrayed at some point but the grooming and pregnancy storyline were completely out of pocket and unnecessary, although it did show the kind of monster that Lex is, leading up to the fact that he is worse than his father. So because of this, it unfortunately serves a purpose even though it’s disgusting on the writers part. (I hate this subplot btw, she deserved better).

The writers did a terrible job writing her to be a strong woman who doesn’t need to rely on men. She wasn’t really independent or an independent thinker (she had her moments, like when she was actually genuine about the Isis foundation). They also did a terrible job trying to paint her as some saint bc she was not (but I also think it was intentional bc it showed how everyone else viewed her, as some innocent butterfly who needs to be protected and can do no wrong). But they did a good job showing her flaws and characteristics and how that affected her relationships, especially with Clark. A comment was made that it’s bc KK is a woc, I can agree with that bc if Lana was played by a white woman, they would’ve taken more care to make her independent (like Chloe, she never really relied on a man to make her way in the world. And also, post s4 her story didn’t revolve around Clark the way that Lana’s did. She was able to help him and still be independent) BUT that would not have stopped them from showing the audience and Clark eventually what kind of person she is. It didn’t stop them with Lex and Chloe so why would that be the case if Lana was played by a white woman? Also, that does not defeat the fact that she was very much a writers/producers pet (yuck). Someone on that set was obsessed with the character which is probably why, aside from contract issues, she wasn’t written out earlier.

Now the reason why I brought this up is the recent debate on whether or not she is the real villain, compared to the likes of Lex, Lionel and even Chloe. (yes Chloe so definitely the real villain of the show, she’s an underdog in the situation if you will but I will reserve my comments for another post). Under no circumstance is Lana a bigger or more real villain that Lex when she was literally abused and groomed by him. The only thing Lana is a villain of is stealing screen time and plot lines (she should’ve had less episodes than Lois s5 onwards). People have argued that she is the real villain bc she was badly written, which i’ve already contradicted. People also think that she’s the real villain because of how she treats Clark and being with Lex and trying to get back a Clark. Now, I completely understand that perspective. But one thing I will always stand on is that Lana is a victim. Yes, she decided to be with Lex and I don’t care for her reason bc at the end of the day, she’s not dumb. She saw how Clark and Lex’s friendship diminished into thin air, she saw the problems they had, how they fought. Let’s not forget the episode where her and Clark sleep together for the first time (another huge sigh) he came to her apartment, straight from the mansion, injured. He was bloody. A baby would be able to put two and two together that “hey, maybe this Lex guy is shifty if he had that bad of a falling out with Clark after years of friendship). Lana even had her reservations about Lex herself. But because of her issues with Clark, she still CHOSE to run to Lex, despite the warnings from all sides. Maybe she feels safe with him bc they’re both fighting the same thing, Clark’s secret idk. I will never defend her in that right. But let’s not act like Lex hasn’t had his eye on her for a very very long time. We also cannot move on from the fact that he made her think she was pregnant just to trap her. Which is funny bc at that point of their relationship, she wasn’t going to leave him. She literally chose him over Clark, but Lex had to manipulate her to stay. I also think he manipulated her in the earlier seasons by always helping her, whether it was teaching her self defense or taking on the Talon. Making her feel comfortable with always running to him, and not looking for any other solutions. Because what does a 15 year old have to do with that old man?? Almost everyone knows that nothing comes from the Luthors for free. You will end up paying a price. She unfortunately payed that price. With her sanity, her time. She literally went through depression bc of the miscarriage. What happened to her is cruel and inhumane whether you like her or not. She is in fact a victim, and therefore can never and will never be a bigger villain that Lex. Lana made mistakes. And when she did things intentionally, they were misguided, out of anger, or simply immature. But after everything she’s been through with Lex, I simply cannot say she was worse.

Also, calling lana a slut isn’t the flex that you think it is. She isn’t and it’s weird when people say that. I don’t like her but you don’t have to lie please 😭.

#smallville #clark kent #lana lang #lex luthor #it’s super long but i just had to get this rant out 😭#i hope it makes sense #my thoughts

19 notes · View notes

moosecow · 1 year

Text

UNPOPULAR OPINION TIME!

Ten things I wish would just DIE already…

10. Miraculous Ladybug

Before you sharpen your pitchforks! Hear me out! I actually REALLY like this show…but GOD It is the BIGGEST tease I have EVER seen! Marinette and Adrien should have gotten together at the end of the first season, and maybe we could have explored their relationship, given them more depth? Raised the stakes instead of the CONANT. ENDLESS. FILLER. Of absolute nothing that is this show. We all know they’re going to get together, just rip the bandaid and let us move on. I’ve never seen a show jerk its fan base around so much!

9. Avatar the Last Air Bender

Again, I LOVE THIS SHOW, SO, SO MUCH! But I can tell that they’re now turning this into a cash cow. I don’t want to see another avatar show, especially after what they did with Legend of Korra. What made Avatar so special was that, yes there was a lot going on in their world, but it never stopped focusing on the core cast, their development, their relationships, and their reactions to the world they live in. Korra just gave us more and more characters instead of focusing on the ones we had, and it lost me with its overcomplicated plot, and I fear legend of Genji, AND the live action remake (which already has alarm bells going up because it’s live action and when has worked out well?) Can we just…revive an old gem on Nickelodeon? Or make something new and substantial instead of relying on SpongeBob reruns?

8. Dragon Ball

Yes, another show I like! But MAN! How many power-ups can we go through before it gets old! Even ASH finally reached his goal in pokemon! There’s so much content here, and I’m grateful for that! I don’t mind more games and merchandise, but enough of the show! It’s clear that only Goku and Vegeta are the only characters capable of beating the big enemy, and no one cares much for the younger characters taking over. But at this point their not that interesting. ESPECIALLY Goku. He’s just a guy that likes fighting. Vegeta was more interesting with his reformed villain arc, but he is constantly overshadowed by his dumber super-saiyen. It feels like they’ve exhausted all their stories….

7. Velma

I’m gonna barf. Seriously, all people do is complain about this show. Can we just, STOP? Review bombing it, complaining about it, making reaction videos to it, is just…feeding it at this point. If all of us hate so much! So many shows that deserved to be watched and enjoyed were completely ignored and faded away from the public consciousness, but not this one, at least, not yet. I see video and video about it! Ignore it. Let it die like it’s supposed to! And now I will never mention it again, and neither should you!

6. Marvel

It’s not so much as I want this franchise to die…more like…I think we need a break! It’s been like 20 years of non stop Marvel and I feel like we already peaked with the Avengers Endgame. Besides Moon Knight and Wakanda Forever, all I’ve seen is general dislike of all the new stuff coming out. I know that Disney is a big conglomerate and they’re going to milk this thing for all it’s worth…but wouldn’t people enjoy it more if you let it simmer for a bit, let the ideas come back after some rest, and then get back into it?

5. 13 Reasons Why

This show should have stayed a book! Oh. My. God. As someone that struggles with mental illness, watching this get sensationalized and reduced to nothing more then teenage angst for badly written teenage characters is so gross! I don’t have much to say about it. It just makes me so angry! How do people actually like this and continue to watch and recommend it? It’s basically the same as every other “dramatic” teen show out there, but uses suicide as a hook to draw people in, which is so disrespectful! You want a show that is more mature then this and actually handles mental illness well? Watch BoJack Horseman.

4. Grey’s Anatomy

I don’t care about the relationships in this show. I don’t who broke up with who, who died, who couldn’t have a kid, who cheated on who. I cared more, in the first season at least, when they were just young surgeons, and they were dealing with the struggles of that. BUT MAN! This show quickly became a soap opera! I mean what did I expect from an ABC show. Just end it already! If you want a good show about doctor’s that focuses on their personal growth and the difficulties of the job watch House, or better yet, watch Scrubs.

3. Kingdom Hearts

This hurts. This hurts. So. Much. GOD! I love these games…but I REALLY hate the direction they’re going. KH3 was such a red flag! The story was complicated enough with time travel, the whole foretellers things, how we keep adding characters instead of focusing on the core Destiny Islands Trio, how Kairi is basically a plot device where, EVEN IN HER OWN GAME, she has to be rescued by Sora. And now, KH4 is on its way and Nomura is basically turning it into versus 13….I don’t even know anymore. Things were getting real dumb in Dream Drop Distance. I’m just going to pretend thee series ended at KH2, where the emotions were there and the story wasn’t derailed and removed of all the charm it had…Either end it…or do something actually good with it, because at this point, it’s just getting ridiculous. And this is coming from someone that loves this series with every fiber of their being.

2. Stranger Things

Yeah, Netflix will cancel actually interesting things like Inside Job, Dead End National Park, I’m not okay with this, Sense 8, and introduce stupid ideas such as removing password sharing (EVEN AFTER RAISING THE PRICE BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE PASSWORD SHARING) but they will keep things like Cuties and…this show. At this point, Stranger Things is a shadow of its former self. Not only are there no stakes, because everyone has plot armor, but it’s basically just teenage drama at this point. Remember how in Season 1, the demagorgan was actually scary? Remember how going into the upside down had health consequences? The characters just walk around now without a problem. But this show is just drama filled enough to keep the attention of the masses without actually having any substance. It makes me sad that it followed the pattern of the first season being the most interesting season and then everything going down hill from there. How did THIS show, of all shows…make me not care? What could be worse then this?

Well…

#1. Harry Potter Series

I loved this as a kid. I read this thing so many times…but now…I’m past it, and JK is just. A. Terrible. Terrible. Person…the fact that it doesn’t end with her words, that she actively gives money and supports hate groups, kind ruins the messages I learned in HP. As a kid, I thought part of the point was to be inclusive, and to make life better for people that are mistreated by the mainstream. But no. Not only were the last few movies terrible, but Rowling keeps digging that hole. Even if I wanted to, I just can’t enjoy it anymore. So, even if not everyone will. I’m going to let it die. We need another book series to inspire a generation…I just can’t with this anymore…

#harry potter #jk rowling #stranger things #Alta #avatar the last airbender #dragon ball #kingdom hearts #grey’s anatomy #13 reasons why #marvel #Disney #netflix #velma show #velma #miraculous ladybug #unpopular opinion #unpopular take #so many great shows are cancelled while garbage gets pushed forward #or great shows get beaten down into cash cows…

16 notes · View notes

smilehoya · 1 year

Text

Okay so spoilers under the cut for AIB s2 things that I wish they had added / I have a problem with / I liked !

- SPOILERS -

* I honestly liked that Niragi didn’t have a ‘redemption’ arc, not really. He was a little more toned down then how he was at the beach, but also maybe that’s a mixture of he wasn’t killing people every two seconds like he was when they were doing the witch game, and also maybe because we didn’t see him a whole bunch? But yeah, i’m all for letting bad guys be bad guys.

* also I CACKLED at how within two seconds of Niragi and Chishiya seeing each other again, Niragi shoots Chishiya and tHIS MOTHERFUCKER proceeds to then lie on the ground in a ‘pose’ and complain ‘you didn’t even hit me anywhere vital on purpose’ while looking wholly unimpressed and then thru started bickering like an old married couple.

* Chishiya’s game with what’s his face (the 2nd leader from the beach don’t remember his name) was everything I ever wanted, literally. I remember reading that in the manga and being like holy fuck this is intense but amazing and they rly managed to pull it off just the same in the live action.

* on another note, I really wish Akane wasn’t sexualised as much as she was. I know at one point it says she’s a senior in high school, which would make her around 18 in Japan but like … I kept being so fucking aware that she’s soooo much younger than Arisu and Aguni who she kept flirting with and I just - it made me uncomfy. Plus ALL the panty shots????? There were SO many!! If they were gonna do that (which I still wish they wouldn’t but this is an example) why not do it for one of the older woman whose ya’know an actual adult?????

* I really dislike the trope of like … forgetting something that had happened as a plot device, so the ending irritated me. It’s written the same in the manga, so it’s not even that they changed it, I just hate that trope all together because it kinda just feels lack lustre once they’re all back that they don’t even remember each other properly they just have a feeling ‘they’ve met’ and we don’t get like … that big emotional re-union ya know?

* speaking of re-unions though Kuina’s broke me. Her dad finally being supporting of her! I cried.

* also love that Kuina and Chishiya stayed bsf all thru the borderlands, even in the gap between s1 and s2 and all the time in s2 when they were separated the first thing Kuina asks when she sees Arisu again is where Chishiya is and how he’s doing.

* someone correct me if I’m wrong for this one but - in the manga, don’t they explain what happens now that the game has been concluded? Like yeah they explained that people can choose to stay or go, but they left out the part where the people who stay get to take over whatever bosses game they won!!!! So like, those two motherfuckers from the prison game now get to stay and continue being the boss same with a ‘new’ Mira or whatever; isn’t that something that happens? That the games just … keep going with a new group.

* upset also that they left out Chishiya’s relationship with his dad because that explains his personality a LOT for people who may be confused why he acts like he is / why he’s so logical. It’s because his dad didn’t give him the emotional / love when he was a kid so he became cool calm and calculated. I don’t wanna say the guy he was calling ‘Sir’ in the LA was his dad, but I’m pretty sure in the manga is dad is some higher up in the hospital too??????????

* I NEED / NEEDED more of Usagi + Ahn + Kuina being best girlfriends like … ugh, their friendship. I want them to go on cute fashion trips together, get manicures or w/e, braid each others hair and tell each other secrets just ugh gIVE ME GIRL BSF.

That’s it for now but I’m sure I’ll think of more and add to this thanks !!

#alice in borderland #aib #Alice in borderland season 2 #aib s2

17 notes · View notes

bklynmusicnerd · 11 months

Note

These sm streets be brutal sometimes. Not for the faint of heart that’s for darn sure. I just find it sad how some can’t recognize where their dislike of Trina is really about. I mean I know characters are not gonna be liked by everyone, I get that but some of the comments make me question people true reason for hating on her. I saw a comment about how she doesn’t have what it takes to be a leading lady, she can’t carry the show be a main character that’s why tptb keep going slow with Sprina and why tptb don’t have them having sex everywhere like Jex. I’m like are we watching the same show. I hate it even more when they are quick to say they are black so they’re not being racist like that makes their comments any less problematic. I’m like what makes her not leading lady material? This is why I hate when they do propping duties because people act brand new, like they don’t see it for what it is. They twist the narrative to they’re less than that’s why they’re not getting certain things. Instead of what is really happening, that they are indeed the draw, they are leading things which is why they’re used to try and give shine to others

SM is honestly what you make it and this is why I'm a firm believer in the block button. I am not interested in unproductive debate that's a waste of time. The only quality that makes someone leading lady or main character material is can they make the audience invested in what happens to that character?

Tabyana's first arc as Trina was a summer long storyline that centered on her being arrested and tried for a crime she didn't commit. Damn near the whole town was involved in that story in one way or another. Demo stayed stable and solid through that entire story arc which went on for months. No one seriously believes that TA's Trina can't carry story, especially not the writers. They wouldn't have put her on that boat with Spencer, as the stowaway if that was a serious belief.

If anything, there is a clear recognition that there is investment in Trina, and so her big milestones are dragged out as a result. They saved her paternity reveal and first kiss with Spencer for February sweeps because they knew people would be invested. Joss and Dex have sex everywhere and whine about Sonny because that is quite literally the only two beats that an entire writers' room could come up with for them. They have done a disservice to both characters by not writing them more nuanced, layered or fleshed out but that's where we are.

The idea that all that is required of a soap opera leading lady is having lots of sex scenes is so wildly offensive and sexist to every leading lady that made their mark in that genre, that it's not even a claim worth taking seriously. I think a quick glance at social media makes it very clear which characters the majority of the audience is invested in and which characters...need some help. Trina is not in the latter group.

#gh #trina robinson #block em and keep it movin anon #we know the truth #so do the writers #remember when they latched that serial killer story around trina's neck to get ppl invested in it?#exactly #they are very clear on who ppl care about

6 notes · View notes

magicofthepen · 2 years

Note

top 5 gallifrey quotes!!

oh I am terrible at picking favorite quotes because I don’t remember individual quotes that well, but I’ll try? (this will probably be biased towards popular ones and audios that I’ve relistened to recently though.) I feel like I could pick favorites in a number of different categories, so this’ll be the “gives me Feelings” version

1. “I will never betray those I love.” this line punched me in the heart as I sat in a car on March 1, 2020 and tried to pretend I wasn’t being emotionally devastated by the characters in my headphones. this scene is so tragic in so many ways, but amidst that darkness, you have the character who was so resistant to calling people friends in the beginning of the series fully, truly admitting that she loves her friends and I am Emotional about it!!

2. “I was so alone in the world of dreams when you left. The wildlands were dark and so quiet. I do not wish to be alone.” / “There will be a place for you with me, for always. Whatever face I wear.” I obviously have to include one of The Romana/Leela Quotes, but I felt like I shouldn’t list both this one and the Enemy Lines one, and this one is my favorite of the two. They’re both being honest about their feelings! Leela’s naming her hurt—loneliness, fear of people leaving. And Romana is so clear about wanting Leela at her side, making her a promise that she doesn’t live up to in every timeline, but one she genuinely means when she says it.

3. “You would really give up your lives for her.” / “I’ve done it once. It was somehow easier the second time.” / “I could never have divided you.” possibly I’m biased towards this one because I just relistened to Time War 2, but you know what. it gets me. Narvin not just running away from the possibility of getting his lives back, but planting his feet and standing by that decision and standing by why—yes, Romana is more important to him. of course she is. and Mantus, who has believed that Narvin could be bought, finally truly sees him and the strength of his loyalties.

4. “They made a mistake, you know. Leaving you alone with me like this. They can’t conceive what I might be capable of. But after everything I’ve been through, thanks to you—two decades of uncertainty, twenty years of my life not knowing if I’d survive to see tomorrow, the things I saw you do on Etra Prime! I think you deserve this.” I mean, everything she says to the Dalek really, including the bit where she insists on being named as herself and not a number. But I’m highlighting this section because this scene is the one time we get to see her really truly be angry and hurt at how she personally has suffered at the hands of the Daleks—and this quote is the heart of it. She gets to name her pain. She gets to unleash the personal anger she’s bottled up all these years.

5. “The CIA is in defiance of its president.” “Well, someone needs to be.” again, my “I just relistened to tw2″ bias is showing but Narvin!! the one who once grudgingly devoted himself to serving the office of the president no matter his personal dislike of the occupant of that office blatantly running an unauthorized operation. actively working to save civilians threatened by Time Lords instead of being the one to threaten them or dismiss them as unimportant, as he started out. the anger of this quote! the way it stands as a marker of Narvin’s character arc!

#thanks for sending this!!#trailmixtime #asks #gallifrey audios #romana #leela #narvin #ramblings

13 notes · View notes

bluetomorrows · 3 months

Text

My Extensive Thoughts on Sailor Moon SuperS

Something I don't do a lot is extensively talk about things I dislike. There are plenty of things I dislike and I'll mock and complain about them, but when I write long essay-like reviews, it's usually for something that I really like. I don't usually have the energy or passion to write about things I hate. Even if, just for example, it was a sequel/new entry in a series I love. Beneath the Planet of the Apes is one of my least favourite movies in large part because it's an atrocious follow-up to a movie that's very dear to me. But I don't think I could make a big write-up about how much I hate it. I can't bring myself to care that much about it. Which is what makes me feel weird about this, because I did not care for Sailor Moon SuperS, and by God I have a lot I want to say about it.

Maybe it's because it's bad in a unique way. Maybe it's cause it's a 39-episode season and not a 90-minute movie. Maybe I'm just in the mood to be a hater. I don't know why I want to write this, but I really do. This time it's cathartic.

Let me just start with what I actually did like. The animation is still on par with the previous seasons and seems to be of somewhat more consistent quality (some stuff like Sailor Moon S jump around with the quality). The watercolours are still beautiful, all the colours still really pop both in the backgrounds and the cels. One thing I really liked about this season was the music. It might be the best in the series so far, it’s at the very least on par with the previous seasons. The outro theme is super catchy J-Pop and some of the battle music, specifically in the last few episodes is really spectacular. I’d recommend checking out some tracks.

Alright, enough cushy praise let’s get straight to disappointment. I thought about structuring this review by going from what I thought were the smallest to the biggest flaws, but I think it’s necessary we start with the biggest flaw of this season right out of the gate because almost every other issue stems out of this one major problem:

Sailor Moon is not the main character of Sailor Moon Super S.

Usagi Tsukino is not even remotely the main character of this season, the protagonist is her time-displaced daughter Chibi Usa. This is a point I don’t think even this season’s most adamant fans would argue with. It’s hard for me to really hammer this home as much as I can as someone reading this may think I’m exaggerating. I’m not. If you don’t believe me simply read the episode descriptions of the season. Chibi Usa is at the center of every plot, and as such the show closely follows her. The protagonist we have followed for the last 3 seasons, really is nothing more than a side character for this entire story. Since this is my biggest sticking point with the season I want to try to approach it from a place of good faith. I want to try to understand why this is the way that it is. I want to see why this decision was made, what the creative team hoped to gain from it, and why I think it doesn’t work.

I want to talk about Chibi-Usa as a character. In the 30th century when the whole world was at peace and everyone could live forever in a utopia, Usagi and Mamoru had Chibi-Usa. She’s a little girl (in the manga she’s actually very old but not physically aging, an aspect I’m actually glad they changed for the anime) who for plot reasons has to go to the past and get the sailor guardians help in the second major arc of Sailor Moon. Chibi Usa initially bumps heads with the guardians (ESPECIALLY Usagi who she has to live with under the guise of a cousin) but eventually comes to appreciate and respect them, as they grow fond of her. Eventually, they defeat the big bad and Chibi Usa is able to go back to the future and reunite with her future family. In Sailor Moon S she shows up yet again, returning to the 90s so she can train to be a sailor guardian, this is kind of a flimsy stupid reason but I won’t harp on it. She continues to fight with Usagi but her prominent role is in befriending Hotaru, and her kindness to her ultimately being what saves the world.

Chibi Usa consistently ranked high if not outright first in Sailor Moon popularity polls at the time but if you were to ask Sailor Moon fans how they feel about her you’re most likely going to get incredibly negative responses. If I were to compare her to another fictional character I would choose Scrappy Doo. They’re both essentially child versions of the most marketable character in their series, introduced partway into its run, who most people believe disrupted the original beloved group dynamic and shoved the other characters to the side so more focus could be put on them. And they’re annoying. Similar to Scrappy Doo, I think the hate for Chibi Usa is pretty overblown in online circles. Not to say I don’t think any of the criticisms against them are valid (Unlike Chibi Usa, Scrappy pushing the other characters out for the sake of focusing on him is objectively true. Fred and Velma just straight up stopped being in the show), I just think people just have a lot of blind hatred to things aimed at children, and also mostly get their opinions from other people online rather than forming their own.

I think Chibi Usa can be an effective foil to Usagi when she is allowed to respect her. I believe what they were going for is the idea that Chibi Usa is a faster learner and generally more capable with tasks, but Usagi is more emotionally intelligent, secure in herself, and mature (at least where it’s important). That dynamic challenges both of them and exposes their strengths and weaknesses. Where the show usually goes wrong is downplaying Usagi’s strengths and portraying Chibi Usa as an all-around better person who does not and has no reason to respect or admire Usagi. In SuperS specifically she gets really overly mean to her but I’m getting ahead of myself.

What bothers me about the use of Chibi Usa in the show is that she is rarely actually part of the group dynamic. She’s almost always sectioned off in the plot to go do her own thing. I don’t really understand the point because they never tell interesting stories with her. She doesn’t have unique allies to bounce off of. She doesn’t have any interesting internal struggle to overcome. She doesn’t have any of the traits that make someone like Usagi a great protagonist.

There’s no point in using Chibi Usa to tell a story about a young inexperienced girl trying to grapple with being a Sailor Guardian and grow stronger because that’s what the show was already about before she was introduced. What’s the point in trying to pass on the torch when Usagi is like, 16 years old? Chibi Usa just wasn’t made to be a protagonist. She was designed as a supporting character and that’s fine! Let her grow in that role. If you’re going to make her the protagonist at least expand her character and personality. I think it’s possible that the creative team was scared of altering her in a meaningful way in the event it upset her fanbase. Chibi Usa is an empty character and it overall makes for a show that lacks interesting conflict and growth.

But to be fair to SuperS, they do have someone for Chibi-Usa to bounce off of, and receive her love and respect; that being the new character Pegasus. If I were to describe Pegasus in a single word it would be creepy. He’s like a grown-up horse man and he and Chibi-Usa clearly have a thing for each other. Later when we see his human form it’s clear that he’s closer in age to Chibi-Usa but still looks too old for me to be comfortable. He’s also just a wet blanket of a character. He and Chibi-Usa rarely have any conflict (and when they do it’s forced and irritating) and get along perfectly which kind of just leaves their relationship pretty boring despite how much emphasis the show puts on it. I just struggle so much to describe any of Pegasus’ personality traits aside from “He’s nice” which just doesn’t make for an interesting and well-rounded character.

I’m getting a bit irritated right now because Pegasus is such a big part of the show and such a big part of why I find it so boring and frustrating yet despite that I’m struggling to write much about him. He’s just a completely nothing character. He isn’t even bad in an interesting way he’s just so damn bland. I just want to make clear that he’s a very important character to the narrative and story I just can’t bring myself to write anything more to him. The bad guys want to kill him and take his MacGuffin. Like that’s the whole conceit of the season.

I suppose I should also talk about those bad guys. The Dead Moon Circus are the antagonists this season and they’re… okay. The individual members actually have a lot of personality even if I don’t think they’re all amazing characters. Everything is circus-themed and it leads to some really great designs, with the caveat that it feels like they ran out of ideas after the third monster of the week (Some of those guys are REALLY stretching the theme but it’s unintentionally pretty funny). My biggest problem with them is that they do feel underdeveloped despite some interesting personalities and their motivations aren’t even clear until the last few episodes (It’s not an exciting twist. It’s not a twist at all really). They have the potential to be interesting but the show drags its feet in giving me any reason to really care about any of it.

Sailor Moon is a show about hope and love. Sailor Moon SuperS is a show with no Sailor Moon that’s about nothing. I’m sure they thought it was still about those things, they certainly try to push that in Chibi Usa and Pegasus’ creepy relationship, but the show is ultimately more focused on making Chibi Usa seem cool or cute than telling any interesting stories. When the previous seasons focused on lighter material, it still served to explore and develop the relationships among the sailor guardians. In SuperS they’re just not allowed to do that because anyone other than Chibi Usa is a non-entity who is undeserving of the audience’s care or attention. This isn’t even mentioning cutting the outer senshi out of the show which was a move so obviously terrible that they immediately walked it back for the next season (Chibi Usa and Sailor Pluto’s relationship still has so much more you can add to it! It could have been great if she was here!).

At the end of it all I just feel empty. It’s an incredibly empty show with incredibly empty characters. It doesn’t make me feel anything other than apathy now. It’s a bad season of TV and I’m glad to be done with it.

#sailor moon #sailormoon #review #anime #90s anime #classic anime #retro anime

0 notes

filipinoizukuu · 3 years

Note

hello mr simp do you have any thoughts on the leeks 👀

FIRST OF ALL. THEY CAME SO FUCKING EARLY??? BRO I WAS ASLEEP

SECOND OF ALL

holy SHIT YALL

Okay, it's no secret that I'm an All Might stan. I LOVE All Might. Very very much. Not just as a simp, but genuinely, I enjoy his character SO MUCH.

--And unlike what some people may think, I'm not totally blind to his flaws. I know he sucks as a mentor and that he's done way more harm to Deku than good. He's.... not perfect. in every sense of the word. The whole point of AM's character is that he is a DEEPLY FLAWED individual— but at the end of the day, still good.

This new chapter gave me SOOO many new feelings. I'm not gonna lie to y'all and say I was a Stain apologist beforehand because I wasn't. I disliked Stain to a certain degree, but I also knew he was morally grey enough that I was able to still quite appreciate him as a character. This chapter was about EVERYTHING to me because I honestly did NOT expect Hori to go in this direction and for things to happen the way they did. It was too good to be true! Too fanfic-y! The disbelief I felt when I read what happened was on par with when Bakugou and Deku had that apology and kinda-hug in the rain!

But this disbelief is not because it was a bad thing.

I think the writing in Chapter 326 is phenomenal. The moment that All Might was really beginning to lose hope in not just himself as a hero, but himself as a PERSON... we finally hear the opinion of someone who would abso-fucking-LUTELY make or break the last of his spirit.

Stain is, as much as his views are pretty agreeable and his label is that of a vigilante, still a pretty shitty guy. He's tried to kill literal kids who got in his way, even if said kids made pretty dumb decisions. AM hearing what he has to say is absolutely mind-boggling to him because he knows all of that. He knows Stain is a shitty person and that his worldview is perhaps terribly skewed. He knows Stain has spent a hot minute frying his brains down in Tartarus and isn't good at making judgment calls. Knows that for all intents and purposes, Stain's opinions are not to be trusted.

But the thing is... Toshinori also knows that Stain, regardless of the soundness of his mind, is telling the truth.

Regardless of how fucked-in-the-head Stain is, we as readers are able to acknowledge that he isn't blinded by hero worship. Sure, he's bitter, cynical, and quite the absolutist--but Stain is still clear-headed enough to be able to see AM's flaws for what they are and accept them, ultimately proving to Toshinori that the power of All Might was never his own but rather the legacy that he inspired.

The society MHA takes place in is flawed. We all know this. Heroes, as a concept, had been corrupted into being purely about good and evil. Purely winning fights for money or fame or the abstract concept of victory (coughs Endeavor and the no.1 spot coughs), making heroism as we know it about flashiness and power instead of mercy and the desire to help others.

All Might symbolizes the ideal version of the Hero Society. He represents doing the best you can. Being a hero until you reach your limits, and then going even past that. He symbolizes pure intention and the desire to be a hero not for material gains but because of the pure want to make society a better and safer place. Stain refers to Kamino Ward and the statue as a "holy land" because he believes that through and through, AM's only had the purest of intentions and morals. To him, Toshinori was like a deity that had no fault in making society what it was in the present because that accountability fell on the generations of heroes that failed to fulfill his legacy.

The point being, Stain understood that All Might was fundamentally not about 'being there' for everyone 24/7, but rather the message his presence had sent.

All Might's monologue at the beginning of the chapter essentially boiled down to the ideas that:

A. He regrets not being there properly for Deku

B. His image was a delusion that ultimately led to the downfall of hero society.

To break this down, his problem with Deku is his inability to be a competent mentor. It shows that he has led him down dangerous and horrible paths (Deku's stubbornness to do things by himself and his 'dark' arc post-war), and is unable to bring him back into the light even if he tries. It was only when Class 1-A had intervened that they were able to get Deku to rest and let people tag along, after all, which is why Toshinori was far too embarrassed to follow him into UA's walls even after everyone had come out with umbrellas.

Stain disproves this in two ways.

First, he says that it was never about All Might's ability to actually be there for people. The whole point of what inspired Deku to be the inherently good-hearted "true hero" he is today is because of the values that AM's brand had instilled in him as a child. AM's biggest positive impacts came from behind the screen where he was used as the proof that true heroes can and do exist. Deku does want to be exactly like All Might, yes, which is why we see Toshinori leading him down the same path that he walked--but the underlying message of this is that the very first thing All Might gave him even before OfA was the courage to help fix society.

I do believe Deku is an innately compassionate person. Most people in the series are. However, what makes All Might's smile so uniquely impactful to what it did to Hero Society is the way it gave people courage to help people. Less hesitation. Less bystander syndromes. The ability to move without thinking. Because you can feel the want to help a person, but the courage to be nosey and actually do it? That's portrayed as something AM's image teaches people.

The second way he disproves AM's insecurity of dragging Deku down is that he makes it clear that this pain is somewhat of a necessity in reforming society. He says, interestingly enough, that this is but the 'middle process' in reforming society. This spills over to how he addresses Problem B, but what Stain is essentially saying here is that this sort of brutality and isolation that Izuku faces is impermanent. A phase. It implies that even if Deku is struggling and Toshinori is unable to help him, it is something that needs to happen before they re-realize the ideal heroes All Might's image is meant to create.

The second problem in regards to how All Might feels about current society (how it's collapsing because of him, etc. etc.) is more interestingly addressed. There are many things that Stain says--like how Toshinori doesn't need to actually be the one to fix society with his bare hands. The current society is not his fault because of the fact that it is not finished developing. I'm not sure if I can go so far as to say that Stain means this in the sense of the Scorched Earth method of tearing everything down to build it back up better-- but I can say that Stain still has faith in society to rebuild after this period of chaos.

This rebuilding starts with the old generation of heroes correcting what they messed up (i.e. Endeavor v Dabi) and more importantly, paving the way for a better generation of heroes that was inspired by All Might's image. Heroes that are led by people like Deku, who is defined by his proclivity to help without thinking. The violent deconstruction of society is about exposing society to the raw truth of All Might's image that not everybody can be as strong as him-- which is why we have to take care of each other.

When the lady comes in to remove the sign and start cleaning the statue, it's symbolic. It's a clear metaphor that the past few chapters are the turning point for society as a whole, and how people are starting to remember what real heroism is. From the distrust that was seeded in society ever since LoV had surfaced, we are seeing that trust being returned TEN-FOLD now that people can see not only the mask of a hero's smile, but also the person underneath.

I think it's some really neat symbolism here too about how Deku, who's metal mouth guard was literally all about representing All Might's smile, is shed.

This is hero society dropping their masks. Letting people see them for as they are. Toshinori revisiting the statue in this form makes all the more impact because he shed his mask ages ago during the Kamino Bust, so this is him coming face to face with the image he's created and seeing the differences between them, and how his image continues to live on even after he's almost completely Quirkless. The lady cleaning the All Might statue shows off the fact that things can be repaired again--that society can be clean (hehe stain pun) again.

It's interesting to me here how Stain offers the information from Tartarus.

He doesn't care anymore about his life. It's evident. He disagrees with what the LoV is doing, but believes enough in Deku to think that it's time for him to retire the mantle of 'Stain'. Unless this is another test, it's very odd for me to hear that Stain is offering a blade and his life to someone he isn't even sure is All Might.

But the impact of this action reads loud and clear.

This is Stain taking pity on All Might. This is him realizing that All Might too is a person behind the hero. That Toshinori Yagi is incapable of doing anything past the image he had already created. By offering that knife and information on Tartarus, Stain is giving control back to Toshinori. He is giving AM the chance to do something big again to help society's reconstruction. To be a part of the revolution that he so badly deserves to see. That knife is essentially an exit ticket from the sidelines, and one last chance for All Might to be able to see what his image has done for people.

I personally think that the main reason Stain is willing to die then and there by Toshinori's hand, despite not being sure that he is All Might to begin with, is because of the final impact it creates that it isn't about Toshinori Yagi's true power as a person, but the image of All Might. It is because he looks like the symbol of peace, that Stain (the literal HERO KILLER) feels comfortable laying his life in his hands and giving away valuable information.

If that isn't a great testament to the power of AM's image, I don't know WHAT is.

I guess all I have to say is I absolutely love what Stain did in this chapter. Everything felt so incredibly symbolic and emotional and as someone who absolutely ADORES All Might and what he stands for in the story, this felt like a cool balm after seeing Deku tragically reject his bento box a good few chapters ago. I have a few more opinions about symbolism, and how I think Deku's generation of heroes is going to stray from the old gen, but I think that's a discussion for another time.

Thanks for reading 'til the end!

#asks #anon #bnha meta #mha meta #all might #toshinori yagi #yagi toshinori #stain #mha stain #mha #bnha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha spoilers #bnha spoilers #mha 326 #bnha 326

252 notes · View notes

masterthespianduchovny · 3 years

Text

I’m curious as to how Nate’s redemption arc will be handled, esp because I often see him compared to Rebecca and what she did.

For a while I tried to understand why this comparison fell flat for me. Why, despite disliking what Rebecca was doing and wanting her to fail, I wasn’t as bothered by her actions than I am Nate’s.

Don’t get me wrong, what Rebecca did was fucked up. She hired Ted under false pretenses and undermined him every step of the way. However, it wasn’t personal. Well, not to those employed by or connected to the club. Her actions was very much about hurting Rupert. Again, not to say that that isn’t fucked up and even some would argue that’s worse. However, despite her ill intent, Rebecca didn’t actively berate or threaten anyone under her outside of Higgins. This is why players and other people feel comfortable around her, she was nice to them, listened, and helped when she could, despite it being all to maintain her image initially.

Despite Higgins being employed by her and her wielding that power, that dynamic is vastly different. They were friends of sorts for years and he had standing lunches with her, which he knew and may have even been instructed to set those up so Rupert could cheat. Rebecca thought she was laughing and smiling with a friend who enjoyed her, he was and he did, who was helping her husband cheat even though it was under threat.

Part of the reason Higgins endures that is because he genuinely cared for Rebecca and he felt guilty about what he helped put her through.

During this entire time, Rebecca isn’t rude, abusive, or threatens any under her. Even when she’s negatively reacting to something they’re doing, she pauses and finds a productive way to address the issue or ignores it.

Hell, she even brushes off Nate insulting her to her face and, in the second season, when Will grabs the boots without saying excuse me, she just moves and looks at him funny.

So even when Rebecca was at her lowest, she wasn’t being a raging asshole to everyone despite her act. And we see that her not mistreating those under her is on brand for her because 2. No one notes the change in behavior from one season to the next 2. How she treats others doesn’t change because she largely treated them well on a person to person basis.

Where as even before Nate got power, he was quick to yell at, put down, or insult people who he deemed as beneath him. Or, when he was especially angry, insulted his boss directly to her face because he thought she fired him. Keep in mind, Rebecca didn’t disrespect Nate at all AND he didn’t know about her scheme. So why was his first reaction to be rude? And he switched up so quickly as well? He didn’t even wait to see what was going on, just jumped to conclusions and immediately attacked.

We remember how he treated Ted and Beard before he found out who they were. Again, rude and to complete strangers at that.

Before Nate became a coach, it wasn’t that he was nice, he wasn’t. Nate was meek because he was beaten down, however, in a situation where he felt he had power, he was and an asshole. It’s not that Nate finally wants power over those who harmed him, he wants to wield power and it may not simply be because he’s always been powerless. To treat strangers how Nate did, to lash out at someone who has never harmed him, despite her power over him?

So when you get to the second season and see Nate being an asshole because he can? Being a complete and utter dick? Like, it would be easier to swallow if he was only rude to those who bullied him. We can get that. But those aren’t his only casualties in his mission for power and dominance. Even then, before beard spoke to him, he targeted players he felt he could get away with making rude comments to. He wouldn’t have ever said that shit to Jamie or Roy if he was still a player. Nate only respects people just as powerful or more powerful than him and that’s not okay.

The way Nate is behaving is antithetical to not only their current clubhouse culture, but also how ted coaches. He’s completely undermining Ted and the growth the players and team has made at large.

And it’s what makes his treatment of Will esp gross. Will is the most powerless person there and Nate knows that. The power imbalance is even more skewed than when Jamie and the others were bullying him. Nate is constantly on will’s ass about the smallest things, perceived or real, and treating him lack complete shit. He’s even gone so far as flat out ignoring him because he’s just the kitman. Will delivers the pens Nate orders and Nate does not acknowledge his presence, and then Colin walks in and Nate acknowledges his presence.

Will does a nice thing for Nate and because someone called him a loser online, he verbally abuses Will and threatens him. That’s fucking wild.

Again, outside of Higgins which is a different story, who has Rebecca treated like that? I’d even argue that Rebecca treated Higgins better than Nate is treating Will and others in general.

Rebecca did learn Nate’s name (or already knew it), supported his promotion, and participated in the surprise announcement. She never treated him or others like they were less than because she owns the club.

Even when you consider his relationship with his dad and how he’s treated, the bullying, and other shit, although those things adds context, it doesn’t explain all of his behavior nor does it erase the active harm he’s doing.

Because what I struggle with is: did Nate mean his apology?

No.

Nate didn’t apologize due to remorse, he apologized because he got caught and is learned how to be a better bully and silence his victim from getting help. Admittedly, part of this falls on ted, beard, and now roy, however, this is largely on Nate.

Nate didn’t suddenly become power hunger and an asshole, he always was. He just didn’t have the power.

Although I do believe he’ll get a redemption arc, I honestly hope they nail this. Because what he’s doing won’t be solved with a “do better” and apology. He also needs therapy, maybe to be demoted for a while, and some other shit I can’t think of.

I also think the other difference between Rebecca and Nate is that she did feel guilt. And I’m not saying guilt is enough to excuse fucked up shit, but it makes a difference when one feels remorse and the other doesn’t.

So you have Rebecca who wasn’t mistreating her subordinates, forming relationships with them, felt remorse, and became accountable when called out (other things happened too). Nate is mistreating his subordinates, not forming relationships with anyone, doesn’t feel remorse, and isn’t accountable when called out. I’ll admit, his story is in progress, however, we’ve seen glimpses of the nasty side of Nate even before he became a coach.

Because of this, we’re reassessing everything we thought we knew about him because most of his behavior isn’t new. He just now how power to wield, which plays into why we’re so unsettled by his development and some actively dislike him.

#ted lasso #rebecca welton #nate shelley #if you read all of this thanks #lol

222 notes · View notes

army-of-mai-lovers · 3 years

Text

in which I get progressively angrier at the various tropes of atla fandom misogyny

tbh I think it would serve all of us to have a larger conversation about the specific ways misogyny manifests in this fandom, because I’ve seen a lot of people who characterize themselves as feminists, many of whom are women themselves, discuss the female characters of atla/lok in misogynistic ways, and people don’t talk about it enough.

disclaimer before I start: I’m not a woman, I’m an afab nonbinary person who is semi-closeted and thus often read as a woman. I’m speaking to things that I’ve seen that have made me uncomfy, but if any women (esp women existing along other axes of oppression, e.g. trans women, women of color, disabled women, etc) want to add onto this post, please do!

“This female character is a total badass but I’m not even a little bit interested in exploring her as a human being.”

I’ve seen a lot of people say of various female characters in atla/lok, “I love her! She’s such a badass!” now, this statement on its own isn’t misogynistic, but it represents a pretty pervasive form of misogyny that I’ve seen leveled in large part toward the canon female love interests of one or both of the members of a popular gay ship (*cough* zukka *cough*) I’m going to use Suki as an example of this because I see it with her most often, but it can honestly be applied to nearly every female character in atla/lok. Basically, people will say that they stan Suki, but when it comes time to engage with her as an actual character, they refuse to do it. I’ve seen meta after meta about Zuko’s redemption arc, but I so rarely see people engage with Suki on any level beyond “look at this cool fight scene!” and yeah, I love a cool Suki fight scene as much as anybody else, but I’m also interested in meta and headcanons and fics about who she is as a person, when she isn’t an accessory to Sokka’s development or doing something cool. of course, the material for this kind of engagement with Suki is scant considering she doesn’t have a canon backstory (yet) (don’t let me down Faith Erin Hicks counting on you girl) but with the way I’ve seen people in this fandom expand upon canon to flesh out male characters, I know y’all have it in you to do more with Suki, and with all the female characters, than you currently do. frankly, the most engagement I’ve seen with Suki in mainstream fandom is justifying either zukki (which again, is characterizing her in relation to male characters, one of whom she barely interacts with in canon) or one of the Suki wlw pairings. which brings me to--

“I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”

now, I will admit, two of my favorite atla ships are yueki and mailee, and so I totally understand being interested in these characters’ dynamics, even if, as is the case with yueki, they’ve never interacted canonically. however, it becomes a problem for me when these ships are always in the background of a zukka fic. at some point, it becomes obvious that you like this ship because it gets either Zuko or Sokka’s female love interests out of the way, not because you actually think the characters would mesh well together. It’s bad form to dislike a female character because she gets in the way of your gay ship, so instead, you find another girl to pair her off with and call it a day. to be clear, I’m not saying that everybody who ships either mailee or yueki (or tysuki or maisuki or yumai or whatever other wlw rarepair involving Zuko or Sokka’s canon love interests) is nefariously trying to sideline a female character while acting publicly as if she’s is one of their faves--far from it--but it is noteworthy to me how difficult it is to find content that centers wlw ships, while it’s incredibly easy to find content that centers zukka in which mailee and/or yueki plays a background role.

also, notice how little traction wlw Katara ships gain in this fandom. when’s the last time you saw yuetara on your dash? there’s no reason for wlw Katara ships to gain traction in a fandom that is so focused on Zuko and Sokka getting together, bc she doesn’t present an immediate obstacle to that goal (at least, not an obstacle that can be overcome by pairing her up with a woman). if you are primarily interested in Zuko and Sokka’s relationship, and your queer readings of other female characters are motivated by a desire to get them out of the way for zukka, then Katara’s canon m/f relationship isn’t a threat to you, and thus, there’s no reason to read her as potentially queer. Or even, really, to think about her at all.

“Katara’s here but she’s not actually going to do anything, because deep down, I’m not interested in her as a person.”

the show has an enormous amount of textual evidence to support the claim that Sokka and Katara are integral parts of each other’s lives. so, she typically makes some kind of appearance in zukka content. sometimes, her presence in the story is as an actual character with layers and nuance, someone whom Sokka cares about and who cares about Sokka in return, but also has her own life and goals outside of her brother (or other male characters, for that matter.) sometimes, however, she’s just there because halfway through writing the author remembered that Sokka actually has a sister who’s a huge part of the show they’re writing fanfiction for, and then they proceed to show her having a meetcute with Aang or helping Sokka through an emotional problem, without expressing wants or desires outside of those characters. I’m honestly really surprised that I haven’t seen more people calling out the fact that so much of Katara’s personality in fanon revolves around her connections to men? she’s Aang’s girlfriend, she’s Sokka’s sister, she’s Zuko’s bestie. never mind that in canon she spends an enormous amount of time fighting against (anachronistic, Westernized) sexism to establish herself as a person in her own right, outside of these connections. and that in canon she has such interesting complex relationships with other female characters (e.g. Toph, Kanna, Hama, Korra if you want to write lok content) or that there are a plethora of characters with whom she could have interesting relationships with in fanon (Mai, Suki, Ty Lee, Yue, Smellerbee, and if you want to write lok content, Kya II, Lin, Asami, Senna, etc). to me, the lack of fandom material exploring Katara’s relationships with other women or with herself speak to a profound indifference to Katara as a character. I’m not saying you have to like Katara or include her in everything you write, but I am asking you to consider why you don’t find her interesting outside of her relationships with men.

“I hate Katara because she talks about her mother dying too often.”

this is something I’ve seen addressed by people far more qualified than I to address it, but I want to mention it here in part because when I asked people which fandom tropes they wanted me to talk about, this came up often, but also because I find it really disgusting that this is a thing that needs to be addressed at all. Y’all see a little girl who watched her mother be killed by the forces of an imperialist nation and say that she talks about it too much??? That is a formational, foundational event in a child’s life. Of course she’s going to talk about it. I’ve seen people say that she doesn’t talk about it that often, or that she only talks about it to connect with other victims of fn imperialism e.g. Jet and Haru, but frankly, she could speak about it every episode for no plot-significant reason whatsoever and I would still be angry to see people say she talks about it too much. And before you even bring up the Sokka comparison, people deal with grief in different ways. Sokka repressed a lot of his grief/channeled it into being the “man” of his village because he knew that they would come for Katara next if he gave them the opportunity. he probably would talk about his mother more if a) he didn’t feel massive guilt at not being able to remember what she looked like, and b) he was allowed to be a child processing the loss of his mother instead of having to become a tiny adult when Hakoda had to leave to help fight the fn. And this gets into an intersection with fandom racism, in that white fans (esp white American fans) are incapable of relating to the structural trauma that both Sokka and Katara experience and thus can’t see the ways in which structural trauma colors every single aspect of both of their characters, leading them to flatten nuance and to have some really bad takes. And you know what, speaking of bad fandom takes--

“Shitting on Mai because she gets in the way of my favorite Zuko ship is actually totally okay because she’s ~abusive~”

y’all WHAT.

ok listen, I get not liking maiko. I didn’t like it when I first got into fandom, and later I realized that while bryke cannot write romance to save their lives, fans who like maiko sure can, so I changed my tune. but if you still don’t like it, that’s fine. no skin off my back.

what IS skin off my back is taking instances in which Mai had justified anger toward Zuko, and turning it into “Mai abused Zuko.” do you not realize how ridiculous you sound? this is another thing where I get so angry about it that I don’t know how useful my analysis is actually going to be, but I’ll do my best. numerous people have noted how analysis of Mai and Zuko’s breakup in “The Beach” or Mai being justifiably angry with him at Boiling Rock or her asking for FUCKING FRUIT in “Nightmares and Daydreams” that says that all of these events were her trying to gain control over him is....ahhh...lacking in reading comprehension, but I’d like to go a step further and talk about why y’all are so intent on taking down a girl who doesn’t show emotion in normative ways. obviously, there’s a “Zuko can do no wrong” aspect to Mai criticism (which is super weird considering how his whole arc is about how he can do lots of wrong and he has to atone for the wrong that he’s done--but that’s a separate post.) But I also see slandering Mai for not expressing her emotions normatively and not putting up with Zuko’s shit and slandering Katara for “talking about her mother too often” as two sides of the same coin. In both cases, a female character expresses emotions that make you, the viewer, uncomfortable, and so instead of attempting to understand where those emotions may have come from and why they might be manifesting the way they are, y’all just throw the whole character away. this is another instance of people in the fandom being fundamentally disinterested in engaging with the female characters of atla in a real way, except instead of shallowly “stanning” Mai, y’all hate her. so we get to this point where female characters are flattened into one of two things: perfect queens who can do no wrong, or bitches. and that’s not who they are. that’s not who anyone is. but while we as a fandom are pretty good at understanding b1 Zuko’s actions as layered and multifaceted even though he’s essentially an asshole then, few are willing to lend the same grace to any female character, least of all Mai.

and what’s funny is sometimes this trope will intersect with “I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”, so you’ll have someone actively calling Mai toxic/problematic/abusive, and at the same time ship her with Ty Lee? make it make sense! but then again, maybe that’s happening because y’all are fundamentally disinterested in Ty Lee as a character too.

“I love Ty Lee so much that I’m going to treat her like an infantilized hypersexual airhead!”

there are so many things happening in y’alls characterization of Ty Lee that I struggled to synthesize it into one quippy section header. on one hand, you have the hypersexualization, and on the other hand, you have the infantilization, which just makes the hypersexualization that much worse.

(of course, sexualizing or hypersexualizing ANY atla character is really not the move, considering that these are child characters in a children’s show, but then again, that’s a separate post.)

now, I understand how, from a very, very surface reading of the text, you could come to the conclusion that Ty Lee is an uncomplicated bimbo. if you grew up on Western media the way I did, you’ll know that Ty Lee has a lot of the character traits we associate with bimbos: the form-fitting pink crop top, the general conventional attractiveness, the ditzy dialogue. but if you think about it for more than three seconds, you’ll understand that Ty Lee has spent her whole life walking a tightrope, trying to please Azula and the rest of the royal family while also staying true to herself. Ty Lee and Azula’s relationship is a really complex and interesting topic that I don’t really have time to explore at the moment given how long this post is, but I’d argue that Ty Lee’s constant, vocal adulation is at least partially a product of learning to survive at court at an early age. Like Mai, she has been forced to regulate her emotions as a member of fn nobility, but unlike Mai, she also has six sisters who look exactly like her, so she has a motivation to be more peppy and more affectionate to stand out.

fandom does not do the work to understand Ty Lee. as is a theme with this post, fandom is actively disinterested in investigating female characters beyond a very surface level reading of them. Thus, fandom takes Ty Lee’s surface level qualities--her love of the color pink, her revealing standard outfit, and the fact that once she found a boy attractive and also once a lot of boys found her attractive--and they stretch this into “Ty Lee is basically Karen Smith from Mean Girls.” thus, Ty Lee is painted as a bimbo, or more specifically, as not smart, uncritically adoring of Azula (did y’all forget all the non-zukka bits of Boiling Rock?), and attractive to the point of hypersexualization. I saw somebody make a post that was like “I wish mailee was more popular but I’m also glad it isn’t because otherwise people would write it as Mai having to put up with her dumb gf” and honestly I have to agree!! this is one instance in which I’m glad that fandom doesn’t discuss one of my favorite characters that often because I hate the fanon interpretation of Ty Lee, I think it’s rooted in misogyny (particularly misogyny against East Asian women, which often takes the form of fetishizing them and viewing them only through a Western white male gaze)

(side note: here at army-of-mai-lovers, we stan bimbos. bimbos are fucking awesome. I personally don’t read Ty Lee as a bimbo, but if that’s you, that’s fucking awesome. keep doing what you’re doing, queen <3 or king or monarch, it’s 2021, anyone can be a bimbo, bitches <3)

“Toph can and will destroy everyone here with her bare hands because she’s a meathead who likes to murder people and that’s it!”

Toph is, and always has been, one of my favorite ATLA characters. My very first fic in fandom was about her, and she appears prominently in a lot of my other work as well. One thing that I am always struck by with Toph is how big a heart she has. She’s independent, yes, snarky, yes, but she cares about people--even the family that forced her to make herself smaller because they didn’t believe that their blind daughter could be powerful and strong. Her storyline is powerful and emotionally resonant, her bending is cool precisely because it’s based in a “wait and listen” approach instead of just smashing things indiscriminately, she’s great disabled rep, and overall one of the best characters in the show.

And in fandom, she gets flattened into “snarky murder child.”

So where does this come from? Well, as we all know, Toph was originally conceived of as a male character, and retained a lot of androgyny (or as the kids call it, Gender) when she was rewritten as a female character. There are a lot of cultural ideas about androgynous/butch women being violent, and people in fandom seem to connect that larger cultural narrative with some of Toph’s more violent moments in the show to create the meathead murder child trope, erasing her canon emotionality, softness, heart, and femininity in the process.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t write or characterize Toph as being violent or snarky at all ever, because yeah, Toph definitely did do Earth Rumbles a lot before joining the gaang, and yeah, Toph is definitely a sarcastic person who makes fun of her friends a lot. What I am saying is that people take these traits, sans the emotional logic, marry them to their conception of androgynous/butch women as violent/unemotional/uncaring, and thus create a caricature of Toph that is not at all up to snuff. When I see Toph as a side character in a fic (because yeah, Toph never gets to be a main character, because why would a fandom obsessed with one male character in particular ever make Toph a protagonist in her own right?) she’s making fun of people, killing people, pranking people, etc, etc. She’s never talking to people about her emotions, or palling around with her found family, or showing that she cares about her friends. Everything about her relationship with her parents, her disability, her relationship to Gender, and her love of her friends is shoved aside to focus on a version of Toph that is mean and uncaring because people have gotten it into their heads that androgynous/butch women are mean and uncaring.

again, we see a female character who does not emote normatively or in a way that makes you, the viewer, comfortable, and so you warp her character until she’s completely unrecognizable and flat. and for what?

Azula

no, I didn’t come up with a snappy name for this section, mainly because fanon interpretations of Azula and my own feelings toward the character are...complicated. I know there were some people who wanted me to write about Azula and the intersection of misogyny and ableism in fanon interpretations of her character, but I don’t think I can deliver on that because I personally am in a period of transition with how I see Azula. that is to say, while I still like her and believe that she can be redeemed, there is a lot of merit to disliking her. the whole point of this post is that the female characters of ATLA are complex people whom the fandom flattens into stereotypes that don’t hold up to scrutiny, or dislike for reasons that don’t make sense. Azula, however, is a different case. the rise of Azula defenders and Azula stans has led to this sentiment that Azula is a 14 y/o abuse victim who shouldn’t be held accountable for her actions. it seems to me that people are reacting to a long, horrible legacy of male ATLA fans armchair diagnosing Azula with various personality disorders (and suggesting that people with those personality disorders are inherently monstrous and unlovable which ahhhh....yikes) and then saying that those personality disorders make her unlovable, which is quite obviously bad. and hey, I get loving a character that everyone else hates and maybe getting so swept up in that love that you forget that your fave is complicated and has made some unsavory choices. it sucks that fanon takes these well-written, complex villains/antiheroes and turns them into monsters with no critical thought whatsoever. but the attitude among Azula stans that her redemption shouldn’t be hard, that her being a child excuses all of the bad things that she’s done, that she is owed redemption....all of that rubs me the wrong way. I might make another post about this in the future that discusses this in more depth, but as it stands now: while I understand that there is a legacy of misogynistic, ableist, unnuanced takes on Azula, the backlash to that does not take into account the people she hurt or the fact that in ATLA she does not make the choice to pursue redemption. and yes, Zuko had help in making that choice that Azula didn’t, and yes, Azula is a victim of abuse, but in a show about children who have gone through untold horrors and still work to better the lives of the people around them, that is not enough for me to uncritically stan her.

Conclusion

misogyny in this fandom runs rampant. while there are some tropes of fandom misogyny that are well-documented and have been debunked numerous times, there are other, subtler forms of misogyny that as far as I know have gone completely unchecked.

what I find so interesting about misogyny in atla fandom is that it’s clear that it’s perpetrated by people who are aware of fandom misogyny who are actively trying not to be misogynistic. when I first joined atla fandom last summer, memes about how zukka fandom was better than every other fandom because they didn’t hate the female characters who got in the way of their gay ship were extremely prevalent, and there was this sense that *this* fandom was going to model respectful, fun, feminist online fandom. not all of the topes I’ve outlined are exclusive to or even largely utilized in zukka fandom, but a lot of them are. I’ve been in and out of fandom since I was eleven years old, and most of the fandom spaces I’ve been in have been majority-female, and all of them have been incredibly misogynistic. and I always want to know why. why, in these communities created in large part by women, in large part for women, does misogyny run wild? what I realize now is that there’s never going to be a one-size fits all answer to that question. what’s true for 1D fandom on Wattpad in 2012 is absolutely not true for atla fandom on tumblr in 2021. the answers that I’ve cobbled together for previous fandoms don’t work here.

so, why is atla fandom like this? why did the dream of a feminist fandom almost entirely focused on the romantic relationship between two male characters fall apart? honestly, I think the notion that zukka fandom ever was this way was horrifically ignorant to begin with. from my very first moment in the fandom, I was seeing racism, widespread sexualization of minors, and yes, misogyny. these aspects of the fandom weren’t talked about as much as the crocverse or other, much more fun aspects. further, atla (specifically zukka) fandom misogyny often doesn’t look like the fandom misogyny we’ve become familiar with from like, Sherlock fandom or what have you. for the most part, people don’t actively hate Suki, they just “stan” without actually caring about her. they hate Mai because they believe in treating male victims of abuse equally. they’re not characterizing Toph poorly, they’re writing her as a “strong woman.” in short, people are misogynistic, and then invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of feminist theory to shield themselves from accusations of misogyny. it’s not unlike the way some people will invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of critical race theory to shield themselves from accusations of racism, or how they’ll talk about “freedom of speech” and “the suppression of women’s sexuality” to justify sexualizing minors. the performance of feminism and antiracism is what’s important, not the actual practice.

if you’ve made it this far, first off, hi, thanks so much for reading, I know this was a lot. second, I would seriously encourage you to be aware of these fandom tropes and to call them out when you see them. elevate the voices of fans who do the work of bringing the female characters of atla to life. invest in the wlw ships in this fandom. drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic (please, drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic). read some yuetara. let’s all be honest about where we are now, and try to do better in the future. I believe in us.

817 notes · View notes

asexual-society · 3 years

Text

part 2 - “is the whole ‘pro-kink at pride’ argument aphobic?”

(spoilers: it’s not.)

(link to part 1, where I addressed the ‘sex scenes in fiction’ debate)

(deep sigh) Okay, so here’s the thing with the whole ‘kink at pride’ discourse. I, as a fairly genital-repulsed ace (meaning that while I am not really sex-repulsed, I do have very adverse reactions to seeing people’s junk) had been going to my city’s local pride, which has kink-themed floats and random kinky paraders, for many years pre-covid. I’ve had fun moments, sad moments, and okay-averting-my-eyes-now moments.

I, personally, have nothing wrong with seeing kink at pride, for the same reason I have nothing wrong with people blaring loud music, or going out with little else but jean shorts and nipple tape.

Here’s that reason: because I myself chose to be there. I put myself in that space, knowing what I might see, knowing that I might get sensory overload, and went anyway.

And also, every kinkster I’ve seen at Pride was incredibly tame. I live on a almost-no-heavy-kink side of the internet, and I see or hear about more weird, more “wtf” things all the time. People aren’t roleplaying their favorite fantasies in the midday sun like they do in the comments of Tumblr posts. For the most part, Pride is already very child-friendly. I say this as someone who was brought to Pride parades at the ripe age of 9, and had a lot of fun.

But let’s be honest: you’re not here for my personal experiences. So let’s get to evaluating how the presence of kink at pride may, or may not be, aphobic.

Potential complaint #1: By logic of “I didn’t consent to be in your kink scene,” doesn’t their presence violate the consent of others present?

Well, no. As I said above, attending Pride is not mandatory, and most festivals are divided into parts (particularly along underage/18+ lines), Pride celebrations included. Not all spaces will suit all people. That’s ok. I personally don’t go to the after-dark Pride celebrations in my city, because there’s a lot of alcohol and I dislike being around drunk people. Should alcohol be banned so I can attend in comfort? Of course not.

Potential complaint #2: Isn’t this unfairly excluding ace people? Shouldn’t we be making Pride as inclusive and accessible as possible?

If this concerns you, I would recommend petitioning your local city council to hold or help fund more Pride events, so all of us aren’t jostling each other for such limited space to celebrate our identities.

(I’m not kidding. Get your friends together and create a local ace activism group in your area; see if you can get in contact with local LGBTQIA organizations. Submit funding grants. Make your dream Pride events real!)

Yes, we should make Pride accessible. Yes, we should keep Pride inclusive. But ultimately, different groups under the LGBTQIA umbrella have different needs, and while we should push to make our existing spaces as inclusive as we can (and you should support pushes for physical accessibility!), inevitably there will be some people who need one thing, and others who need the opposite.

Does that mean there couldn’t be new Pride spaces more tailored to the needs of ace & aro people, that are more tailored to the needs of sex-repulsed people, or noise-sensitive people, or recovering alcoholics? Of course not! The more spaces, the more variants of queer people we can include!

Following that line of inclusivity, what are we gaining by pushing out kink? Like it or not, kink circles have overlapped with queer circles since their inception. Pride isn’t Noah’s Arc; there isn’t space for only aces or kink (and there are kinky aces, besides!). For many queer people, kink is not just endemic to queer subculture, but a crucial part of identity and community formation. It’s a bit like aromanticism and asexuality—they don’t overlap for some, they do for others, and for many in that overlap, the two are intimately connected.

Potential complaint #3: Why should kink be prioritized over aces? Kink is just a preference!

It’s true, kink is ultimately a set of sexual preferences. In this sense, it can be easy to fall into the mindset of seeing it as “of lesser importance” or “not worth protecting.” But we need to avoid this mindset, for several reasons. For one: the impulse to push for a more “pure,” or more “clean” version of Pride is a VERY dangerous impulse. For the same reason that we need to resist gatekeeping who is “queer enough,” we need to push against gatekeeping who is “child-friendly enough,” or “desexualized enough,” or “decent enough.”

It’s not about “kink versus aces.” The “kink at Pride” debates are ultimately about redefining what it means to be queer, and as an ace person, the ac/e “dis/cour/se” is a little too recent in my memory for me to feel comfortable drawing those hard lines.

When we start telling some of our fellows that they don’t meet our standards, we reproduce the systems of oppression that led to Pride in the first place. Is that an acceptable cost for the token of ace inclusivity? Is it really?

I want a Pride that is asexual, a Pride that makes space for the asexual. But I do not want, under any circumstances, to enforce a Pride that pushes out the sexual, that tries to deny or repress others’ sexuality, that draws lines between “acceptable queer” and “unacceptable queer.” Queer Pride is about breaking lines of acceptability—I will not allow for my name as an asexual person to be co-opted for our collective oppression.

-- mod banshee

#asks #mod banshee #inclusivity #puts my head in my hands #I'm going to bed now.

194 notes · View notes

botwstoriesandsuch · 2 years

Text

Actually wait though, cause quick rant as a writing nerd, I think that last ask has finally made my brain click into what I really dislike about the Age of Calamity DLC as a whole. The main problem I had with that flashback scene was that it was not a developed “romantic situation” but rather, it’s just the bare bones of a cliche. In fact, I would argue that there is not a single scene, or “situation” happening in any of the cut-scenes in Age of Calamity: Guardian of Remembrance, rather every “scene” only centers around trope.

See when you say “situation,” what you actual mean is “trope,” and tropes, inherently aren’t bad. A trope, down to its most basic fundamentals, is just a set of circumstances. A chosen one, love at first sight, an impossible riddle--or perhaps if I’m better to cater to the audience, other examples would be rivals to lovers, “there was only one bed,” soulmates and soul marks, and of course, “guy saving the girl from danger and then they fall in love.” Trope is set-up, trope is circumstance, trope is used by every writer, director, and storyteller on the planet and it’s impossible to avoid or ignore it. And the reason why trope isn’t bad, is because trope is the building blocks of a story or scene that is meant to be developed upon.

And that brings me to what a cliche is, which is, essentially, a trope that is never developed upon, never expanded upon. Cliche is when you are given a familiar set of circumstances, and you never do anything with it. Or at the very least, you never do anything unique with it.

So a hero pulling out a sword to become something greater is a trope, something you see across many works of fiction. But Link pulling out the Master Sword is not a cliche, because the bare bones of that trope are built over with interesting and unique lore, story, and character.

So long story short: Trope = pretty good Cliche = bad

Now, can you guess which of these two techniques the Age of Calamity likes to use more?

Cute kid is saved at the last moment by their personal hero Evil cult wants to raise a dark lord and harbor destruction Mysterious traveler from the future warns the protagonist of something

Wow Nintendo! Those are some neat tropes you’ve got there! I am so glad that you uniquely developed every single one them into something interesting and fulfilling--

Oh WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAITTTTT...

And this isn’t to say that none of the plot lines in hwaoc were developed. There IS absolutely some amazing content developed with characters like Zelda and Mipha, or Revali and Sidon, which are achieved through means of both trope set up and subtext. However, I argue that the content that the game is actually providing you is far less than you think. Subtext and “unspoken narratives” certainly are valid literary techniques, but such things can often be mistaken for something else, something that’s just a fabrication of fandom. See, subtext is not fan service.

Fan service is making your fans happy. Sounds innocent on its surface, I mean who wouldn’t want to make their consumers happy? However the majority of the time (at least speaking on the perspective as a someone who studies storytelling) a lot of the time, the existence of fan service comes at the detriment of the fans, because instead of including fan service in a story for fun, fan service often replaces story.

Quick example: Literally any recent 21st century animated TV show that has had ships. Writers plan their thing, fandom is like “actually don’t do that thing, do the thing WE want.” Writers comply. The show’s quality crashes. *cough* Star vs the forces of evil I’m looking at you *cough*

Age of Calamity is guilty of the practice. Baby Sidon, Tulin, Terrako--Cute little shits that exist to distract you from the bad writing. Sooga, Urbosa, Zelda on a motorcycle--badass character moments that distract you from the fact that there are barely any character arcs in this game. You CANNOT argue to me that their cutscenes were included to further enhance the story, because nothing else happened, other than these ideas existing.

Hell, even the fun gameplay technically exists to distract you from it, but I suppose at that point it’s no longer a criticism, but rather an acknowledgement of the development process and the developers’ priorities. Nonetheless, the elements of fanservice in Age of Calamity, especially highlighted in its DLCs, far outweighs its actual substance, and the developers are able to get away with it, because our happiness as fans blind us to its valid faults, our excitement fills in the blanks and holes, and tricks us into thinking there is more than actually is.

“Ohhhh but Kip!! Not every element of a story has to have a specific, thoroughly planned purpose. Sometimes things can just exist for fuuun!” Yes, this is true. But it’s still important to remember that this mindset is a slippery slope, because the more you become compliant in it, the more incentive corporations have to get lazier and lazier with their products. Take all of Marvel Studios for example. So just remember that you can still enjoy and have fun with a game, while still demanding better, and criticizing its faults

So getting back on track, the fact remains that a large, dare I say majority, of the story presented in the Age of Calamity DLC (or arguably the whole game, that’s up to opinion) is made up of an *idea* of development, rather than actual development. AKA underdevloped tropes. AKA cliche.

The *idea* of the main antagonist being part of a mysterious cult is cool. The *idea* of a guardian eggbot time traveling around and altering events is intriguing. The IDEA of a guardsman devoting their life to repaying a debt to the kindness of their master Does Have Potential! It is not inherently bad, it is not inherently homophobic, it is not, inherently, a determent to the story.

But when you leave the trope, the setup, the idea as it is, and do nothing more to expanded upon it, and do nothing more than acknowledge its existence, it leads me to the conclusion that either you are a lazy writer, or you had an ulterior motive, that your goal was not to tell a unique story. Perhaps, it is a combination of both.

And it PHYSICALLY PAINS ME to see shit like this happen, because this is the same company that made one of the most subtext filled, well written,anti-cliche open world RPGs in existence! Shit like this does not happen per a lack of skill. It’s flat out inexcusable.

And this is also a good moment to remind you all to NOT be like me. Do NOT pre-order Triple A games. Let games come out, and assess if the content is quality, or worth your while. You wanna do that because it gives YOU more power. Preordering from large companies simply gives them the power to give whatever shit on a stick they want to you, while hiding behind the veil of brand loyalty.

Anyhow, long story short, the REAL tragedy of the game is still Sooga being white.

#hwaoc #age of calamity #hyrule warriors age of calamity #writing

75 notes · View notes