#fandom character with own choices

[flying---castle]

Howell Jenkins / Howl Pentragon / Hauro Jenkins Zauberer, Engländer 29 Jahre alt lebt in einem wandelnden Schloss

Though [Wizard Howl] did not seem to want to leave the hills, he was known to amuse himself by collecting young girls and sucking the souls from them. Or some people said he ate their hearts. He was an utterly cold-blooded and heartless wizard and no young girl was safe from him if he caught her on her own.“

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The pitying look made Sophie utterly ashamed. He was such a dashing specimen too, with a bony, sophisticated face—really quite old, well into his twenties—and elaborate blonde hair. His sleeves trailed longer than any in the Square all scalloped edges and silver insets.“

„He's the best wizard in Ingary or anywhere else. If he'd only had time, he would have defeated that djinn. And he's sly and selfish and vain as a peacock and cowardly, and you can't pin him down to anything.“

Hyazinthen verfolgten den dunkelblau gekleideten Mann mit jedem Schritt. Von den Ärmel gingen silberne Faden aus und dekorierten ihn noch ein wenig mehr. Es wirkte magisch. Man könnte meinen, er stach in jedem Etablissement heraus; selbst unter adrett gekleideten Leuten konnte man seine Person ausfindig machen. Manchmal sogar mit einem passenden Zylinder versehen. Die hellgrünen Augen, die wie Murmeln wirkten, waren meist in Neugier oder Langeweile gestimmt. Selten erblickte wahre Freude oder Aufregung seine Züge. Mit einer Gitarre in der Hand, die er selten zu spielen vermag und einem charmanten Lächeln, saß der Zauberer gerne im Grünen um seiner Lieblingsbeschäftigung nachzugehen: Herzen zu brechen. Das Gefühl der Liebe beflügelte ihn immer wieder aufs Neue. Man munkelte, dass er nur dann nicht gestylt aus dem Haus ging, wenn er sich aufrichtig verliebte. Doch das war in all den 18 Jahren, die er mit dem wandelnden Schloss umherreiste, noch nicht passiert. Ungern ließ er sich auf etwas festnageln, wollte lieber die Freiheiten der Welt genießen und konnte ein dramatischen Auftreten des puren Egoismus' ausleben, wenn er wollte. Geduldige Menschen (und ebenso willensstarke) wurden gebraucht, damit der Zauberer sich breitschlagen ließ.

— charismatischer, flirtender und oftmals exzentrischer freiheitsliebender Zauberer

(Nebenblog)

#userfakevz #fakevz #he-him #fandom character #fandom character with own choices #modern setting #period setting #deutsch #r: kein interesse #F: howls moving castle

[pawthorn]

So I hope people recognize the work Erika is doing with Dusk, because it’s soooo frickin good.

Beyond the amazing change in demeanor we saw during their dream, they’ve also been pushing the party’s buttons in all the right ways. And this party? This party needs that. They came together to work for Eshteross, they need something to keep them together once that job is over.

And Dusk is already doing that! Without doing anything outright villainous. Just by crossing boundaries. Asking out the two people least ready for romance back to back. Pushing a little too hard for FCG to fly. Letting their annoyance slip through when the Hells pushed back on their plans. And their plans are good! They’re too good, too focused on success without consideration of the feelings and safety of individuals.

I don’t know if the cast yet knows that Dusk has ulterior moments, but Erika is doing a fantastic job of laying enough groundwork to raise the party’s suspicions, to unite them in a way other villainous characters have yet to do. Orym, Ashton, and Imogen stand together to say, no, FCG shouldn’t fly. Chetney and Ashton both refuse to choose seconds— to dictate which of their friends will risk their lives.

The entire time Erika is at that table, she’s watching and listening and looking for opportunities to exploit. The questions they swoop in to ask, the way they poke and imply things about the party… it’s a thing of beauty. She and Darin De Paul really leaned into the unique opportunities of playing a guest character. So much about Dusk and Sprigg is specifically crafted to provoke the party, one way or another.

The Bassuras arc has been my favorite so far, I can’t wait to see the race, infiltrating the Seat of Distain, and the arrival of Fearne’s parents. I really hope Dusk doesn’t die, they’d be a great recurring character if Erika can make the time. Anyway, I love this character and all the work Erika is doing with them, it’s a pleasure to watch.

#critical role #cr spoilers #dusk cr #erika ishii #campaign 3 #bell’s hells #oh and if you think everything dusk is doing is just what erika wants to do f*ck you #people in this fandom will really see a non-white woman making strong character choices #and say wow what a b*tch i can’t believe they’d act like that #go watch other erika ishii characters if you’re not smart enough to figure out what acting looks like on your own

[hephaestuscrew]

"With a goddamn harpoon": The significance of Minkowski's weapon of choice within the narrative and characterisation of Wolf 359

TL;DR: Despite its initial comic role, the harpoon becomes a important symbol of Minkowski as a character; it is particularly associated with her desperate need for control, her desire to keep her crew safe, her stubborn determination, and her occasional unpredictability. These associations add to the narrative significance when Minkowski kills Cutter with the harpoon. 

[Tagging people who said they wanted to be tagged: @browncoatparadox @captain-lovelace @goblincaveofvibes ]

~~~

Ep21 Minkowski Commanding

First appearance 

We first encounter the harpoon in Minkowski Commanding, which is a significant episode for Minkowski's characterisation because it's the first big departure from Eiffel's point-of-view into Minkowski's. It's arguably the most Minkowski-centred episode in the whole show, so it stands out when we think about her as a character.

EIFFEL (over comm) Um, Minkowski? Why is the armory wide open, and also, apparently, robbed? Where's the tactical knives kit? MINKOWSKI Don't worry. I've got that. EIFFEL Oh. And the M4 carbine? The, like, really-dangerous-in-space, select-fire M4 carbine? MINKOWSKI Yeah, I've got that too. EIFFEL And this empty rack I'm looking at right now with a label that says "harpoon" suggests that... MINKOWSKI Yes. I have it, Eiffel.

The harpoon is introduced as part of a list of over-the-top weapons that Minkowski takes on her plant-monster-hunting mission. It's initially just a funny moment to emphasise how seriously she's taking this mission. The weapons arguably increase in unlikeliness as Eiffel lists them, and it's a comic image to think of Eiffel deducing the situation from the empty rack labeled 'harpoon'. It could have been an entirely throw-away joke that was never brought up again. The M4 carbine never comes up again. The tactical knives kit is mentioned in Knock, Knock, but not in a plot-significant or symbolic way. 

'Goddamn harpoon' speech

So why does the harpoon become such an iconic part of Minkowski's brand (and I'm pretty certain it was seen as significant by fans long before the finale)? It's got to be because of the next time it's mentioned, when Minkowski talks to the plant monster in the same episode:

MINKOWSKI (getting psyched up) You wanna play with me, huh? You wanna run rings around me? The joyless, boring, predictable old Minkowski? She can't stop you, right? Not someone as smart and powerful as you. You've got her pegged. Good. Get complacent. Get smug. That's right when you'll find me waiting for you. With a goddamn harpoon.

There's so much to say about this speech and what it reveals her character. For one thing, it's all projection - we have no real indication of what (if anything) the plant monster thinks of Minkowski. We don't even really know how much understanding it has when listening to her talk. She imagines that this silent adversary would call her "joyless, boring, predictable". I suspect that these are all things that she's been called a fair bit in the past. (To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if they are all things that Eiffel called her at one point.)

But the harpoon is proof against - if not the accusation of joylessness - the idea that Minkowski is boring and predictable. Boring and predictable people don't opt for a harpoon for fighting on a spaceship when plenty of more conventional weapons available. A harpoon is unexpected, and there's a kind of power in that.

Another interesting thing about that speech is that the whole thing would make at least as much sense - if not more - if it was directed at Cutter. In Sarah Shachat's episode commentary on Minkowski Commanding (part of the bonus material available to buy here), she says that Minkowski "is really speaking to Cutter in this moment". It's made clear that Minkowski's behaviour in Minkowski Commanding is not just about the plant monster itself. She tells Eiffel, "I have to take it seriously! If I can eliminate one threat, just one, then we are that much closer to going home!" 

The specifics of the plant monster's location, abilities, and origin are mysterious, but - unlike many of the other forces threatening the safety of Minkowski's crew - it is at least tangible and harpoon-able and not light years away. Hunting the plant monster is a way for Minkowski to assert control when so much is outside of her control. It's an attempt to demonstrate that she is - as she puts it - "in charge of this disaster". Minkowski treats the plant monster as a physical symbol of all the threats her crew are facing, and so the harpoon becomes a physical symbol of her fierce (if sometimes misguided) determination to take control of the situation and fight back against those threats to protect her crew.

The line "you'll find me waiting for you. With a goddamn harpoon" is one that sticks in the mind, especially since - with one notable exception - 'goddamn' is about as potent as swearwords get on this show. And it's the harpoon that she uses to give specificity to the threat. 

Absurdity

A harpoon is powerful and threatening, which is exactly what Minkowski is trying to convey to the plant monster, but in this context - not only on dry land but on a spaceship - it's also kind of absurd. From the way we hear it fire in the finale, we can tell that it's more like a speargun than a hand-thrown harpoon spear, but it's still an out-of-place weapon for space-based combat. Minkowski's already been shown to have a penchant for archaic weaponry, after her drunken enthusiasm over the cannon during the talent show incident, which is largely played for laughs. Similarly, in the episode commentary for Minkowski Commanding, Sarah Shachat says that the harpoon was introduced mostly just because it was funny; "[including a harpoon] was me sort of embracing the Moby Dick of it all. And I had no idea at the time how much importance that silly harpoon would take on." 

Eiffel makes a Moby Dick reference himself ("10 days of Captain Ahab's Space Walkabout"). I haven't read Moby Dick so I can't properly analyse the significance of this reference, but the initial prominence of the harpoon (traditionally a whaling tool) enables that connection. It feels like a good example of the classic Wolf 359 thing where something comedic has the potential to take on a deeper significance. It conjures an image of Minkowski as a Captain with the potential to be consumed by a single-minded mission to destroy... A potential that she resists in the conclusion to Minkowski Commanding when she chooses to leave the plant monster alone. The harpoon also fits with the sprinkling of nautical imagery and language in Wolf 359 (e.g. the repeated use of the word 'boat'), as well as the retro-futuristic feel of the Hephaestus.

We never learn why there's a harpoon on the Hephaestus. It seems like yet another of those bizarre unexplained quirks of the station, like the items in the storage room where Eiffel finds Box 953. Even when the weird mysterious features of the Hephaestus are depicted in a comedic way, these features are still a demonstration of the fact that the characters are in an environment that they don't understand and that their surroundings have been shaped according to the whims of Command.

I think we can assume none of the members of the Hephaestus crew brought a harpoon up with them. For whatever reason, someone at Goddard Futuristics must have decided to put a harpoon in that armory. Like most things in the crew's lives, the harpoon is owned by Goddard Futuristics. So the way Minkowski uses the harpoon could be seen as an instance of reclaiming something from Goddard and their control over her surroundings (in a similar way to how her crew are able to utilise the maze-like structure of the Hephaestus to their advantage when hiding first from the SI-5 and later from Cutter and the crew of the Sol).

Other mentions of the harpoon

The harpoon doesn't actually make another physical appearance until the finale, when it truly comes into its own. But there are a couple of little hints before then that it has become a part of Minkowski's brand amongst the other characters as well as to the listeners. These mentions remind the listener about the harpoon, so we don't forget about it before its big comeback in the finale.

Ep27 Knock, Knock

EIFFEL [to Minkowski] Like getting rid of all the weapons, for a start. We should gather up all the guns, the tactical knives, your harpoon. Put it all in the arms locker, seal that sucker up, and put the key in one of Hera's service canisters.

In this quote, Eiffel refers to it as "your harpoon" - the only weapon he ascribes ownership to here. He sees it as something she's laid claim to. He also thinks the harpoon is worth mentioning specifically, which suggests that he thinks that Minkowski would reach for it first if she was feeling particularly violent. This reinforces the idea that the harpoon has become a symbol of Minkowski's character. This connection is also strengthened by the fact that the harpoon is also never mentioned in relation to anyone other than Minkowski using it.

Ep45 Desperate Measures

LOVELACE [to Kepler] Yeah, right. Nobody knows this station like Alexander Hilbert. He knows every nook, cranny, hidden room - everything. And as back up he's got the only woman's who's ever turned outer space monster hunting into a recreational sport. You'll never see them coming... until all of a sudden there's a harpoon in your face, and you end up on the operating table of the finest medical sadist that Goddard Futuristics ever produced.

Lovelace mentions the harpoon and specifically refers to Minkowski's plant-hunting exploits, even though she didn't witness them. So we know that someone has told her that story. And what she's taken away from hearing the story is an emphasis on Minkowski's harpoon and an admiration for her determination. I don't think Minkowski was the one to tell Lovelace about her plant-monster-hunting mission, because I don't think she's necessarily proud of it. I suspect it was Eiffel who told her - he's the most natural storyteller of the group. In Mutually Assured Destruction, soon after meeting Lovelace for the first time, he says "Nobody's told you about the Plant Monster yet? So, funny story..." And I believe  Eiffel would have told the story of Minkowski's plant monster hunt in a way that conveyed both the ridiculousness of her behaviour but also a kind of awe at her boldness and persistence.

The tone of "all of a sudden there's a harpoon in your face" is pretty similar to "That's right when you'll find me waiting for you. With a goddamn harpoon". Once again, the harpoon is portrayed as something that the Hephaestus crew's adversary won't expect, something that will play a key role in that adversary's defeat. You might almost think something was being foreshadowed here…

Characterisation through Weaponry

When we think of the harpoon as a symbol of Minkowski as a character, it seems worth drawing a comparison with the only other Wolf 359 character who I think has a form of weaponry as a big part of their brand: Jacobi and his explosives. While a harpoon certainly has a lot of potential for violence (a potential which Minkowski utilises), it is targeted and intentional in a way that bombs don't tend to be. It's harder to have collateral damage with a harpoon, and I think that reflects a difference between Minkowski and Jacobi's approach to conflict.

A harpoon isn't really designed for combat - it's for hunting whales and other marine animals. It feels significant that Minkowski's key weapon of choice - the one she threatens the plant monster with and kills Cutter with - isn't the weapon of a soldier. She took an assault rifle with her to hunt the plant monster, but that wasn't the weapon she held onto. She's not a natural soldier, even if she'd sometimes like to think she is. 

Maxwell's Death

When Minkowski kills Maxwell, it's with a gun, not a harpoon. She's trying to be a soldier there. She's trying to do what she has to. I don't know much about how a harpoon is fired, but I've a feeling that there's less uncertainty about whether a harpoon was fired deliberately than a gun; the ambiguity around Minkowski's agency in Maxwell's death is a key part of the story that wouldn't work with a harpoon. But perhaps more importantly, I don't think there's meant to be a sense of victory or relief in Maxwell's death, unlike Cutter's. The harpoon - as a weapon that has become strongly identified with Minkowski as a character - is saved for moments when Minkowski is asserting her power in an active way that she isn't conflicted about. 

Ep61 Brave New World

About a third of the way into the finale, there's another indirect mention of the harpoon:

RACHEL Y-yes, sir… Umm, we also picked up some chatter on their weaponry supplies… Firearms, explosives, something about a harpoon…

This is a nice little reference which reminds the listener of the harpoon in anticipation of its big moment later on in this episode, while once again playing with its incongruity in a list of more typical combat weapons. Given that Minkowski and co. have guessed that they are being listened in on here, their choice to talk about the harpoon might be seen as their way of having a bit of fun, or it might be seen as their way to imply the same threat that Minkowski made to the plant monster. Cutter had warning, but he didn't heed it.

Which brings us, of course, to the harpoon's most significant moment:

Cutter frowns. Then he hears it: CLA-CLUNK! His eyes widen.  MINKOWSKI Let's see you catch this.  FWUUUMP! An ENORMOUS THING IS SHOT. A moment later, Cutter COLLIDES AGAINST THE WALL, IMPALED.  MR. CUTTER ... a... harpoon? That's not... how this is... supposed... to... He struggles for a few more moments...and then he stops.

This scene is a classic instance of Wolf 359 utilizing the audio medium to leave a significant element of the situation unknown to the listener until the right moment. We don't know that Minkowski is carrying the harpoon. We don't know that she's readying it as Lovelace talks. When we hear something fire, there's a moment where a listener might or might not have realised exactly what just fired. It's Cutter who delivers the glorious revelation. It gives the moment an additional burst of triumph that Cutter's final words are an expression of shock, not just that he has been defeated but at the weapon with which the killing blow was struck.

Human unpredictability 

It's not just that Minkowski kills Cutter with a harpoon; it's also that she wouldn't have been able to kill him without it. He can catch bullets after all, so Minkowski and Lovelace's guns are basically useless. Cutter thinks he's therefore invincible, but he hasn't accounted for the possibility that Minkowski might have a less conventional weapon on hand, one which fires larger projectiles that he can't catch so easily. The fact that she's carrying an unexpected weapon - a weapon that might have seemed ridiculous - is what allows her to defeat Cutter and therefore to survive. 

It's a repeated theme in Wolf 359 that the protagonists' strength is not that they are the most powerful or they behave in the most logical ways, but that they are complicated and human and unpredictable and very much themselves - all of the things that Cutter and Pryce don't want in their 'ideal humanity'. When Minkowski kills Cutter with the harpoon, it's a victory for human unpredictability and individual idiosyncrasies.

Making good on her promise

Thinking back to Minkowski Commanding, we can see that the threat Minkowski made to the plant monster absolutely came true with Cutter. He got complacent. He got smug. (I'd argue that smugness has always been one of his key attributes.) And he found her waiting for him, with a goddamn harpoon. The return of the harpoon for this moment suggests the defeat of Cutter is a culmination of some of the motivations and traits that Minkowski showed when hunting the plant monster, now channeled in a more suitable direction. She continued trying to get them "that much closer to going home". Her - sometimes absurd - determination provides a throughline from an episode that was mostly comedic (Minkowski Commanding) to a dramatic emotionally powerful finale. As Sarah Shachat put it in her audio commentary, Minkowski "makes good on her promise [that she makes in her harpoon speech in Minkowski Commanding]. That's why she's a hero."

It's significant that Cutter dies from an unlikely weapon that is so strongly identified with Minkowski. It makes that moment feel like truly hers (although she is of course right that she couldn't have done it without Lovelace - that's called being part of a crew). 

As the Commander, it feels apt that Minkowski is the one to kill the long-standing 'big bad'. Pryce is arguably the same level of antagonist as Cutter, but he's the one that we've been aware of since we became aware of larger sinister forces at work in this narrative. 

And if Minkowski has a personal nemesis, it's Cutter. He's the one who recruited her into the hellscape that is the Hephaestus. He played on her ambitions to get her where he wanted her. She trusted him the way she trusted the official chain of authority at the start of the mission. And that trust was extremely misplaced.

The significance of Minkowski being the one to kill Cutter is highlighted by the fact that she kills him with a weapon that only she uses, a weapon that links us back to her behaviour 40 episodes earlier. The sense of control that she was desperately seeking in Minkowski Commanding might not be completely within her grasp by the end of the finale, but she's reclaimed a piece of it by defeating the man who has been exerting control over her life for so long. And she did it with that goddamn harpoon.

#It's harpoon time!! #Honestly I think there's probably still lots more to say #but this is plenty to be getting on with #Feel free to share your own thoughts #Wolf 359 #w359 #Renée Minkowski #The stuff about human unpredictability was inspired a lot by conversations with my friend @commsroom #so she'd be in my bibliography if I had one #Something that didn't really fit in here but feels relevant is the way that fans #(particularly podcast fans who don't have canon appearances to go off) #will use certain characteristics/ objects/ clothing choices to make a character identifiable in art #Like if I see art of a Wolf 359 character with some combination of cigarette/ headphones/ Star Wars t-shirt #I know it's Eiffel even if it doesn't look like my mental idea of him #And the harpoon is definitely part of that shorthand for Minkowski #because no one else would have it #so lots of Minkowski art features the harpoon #which strengthens the associations that I'm talking about in this post #And that's interesting to me #because it's an unintended way in which fandom has the potential to influence how people perceive a character #but I think in this case it just adds further value to things that are already implied in canon #Renee Minkowski #Commander Minkowski #w359 spoilers #wolf 359 spoilers #the empty man posteth

[hootgrowlbears]

Friendly reminder that Fabian Aramais Seacaster IS black, AND he has straight hair. He is MIXED, and part of his journey in sophomore year is exploring the elven side of his family and how it relates to himself, whereas before he had expressed mixed feelings about looking more like his mother than his father. Fabian's appearance is a deliberate choice on Lou's part.

Draw Fabian however you want! I love seeing people's interpretations of Fabian with locs and afros, but it's also okay to draw him with the straight hair and light brown skin that he canonically has because he will still be black even then.

#fantasy high #there are absolutely too many people gatekeeping blackness in this fandom #im sorry that you don't like the choices that lou wilson made for his own damn character #but fabian is already a black boy and its not his fault that you have a narrow idea of what all black people are 'supposed' to look like #fabian aramais seacaster #fabian seacaster #dimension 20 #d20

[whoblewboobear]

If I’m not mistaken, didn’t Emily fully want to play a new character this season? That would explain a lot of why she wanted Fig to drop out. Solace is a big world and Fig the character who had never even set foot into bard class from day one would most likely WANT to drop out of school and kick around to see what else the world has to offer.

She loves her friends and does a lot in support of them but fig has always liked doing some shit off to the side. It’s why we have bits like the doctor/hospital soap opera thing and Hilda Hilda. It’s also not a stretch for her to drop whatever shit she was gonna do to help her friends succeed as a whole. Yall couldn’t handle the podcast episode “Complicated Women: Fig Faeth” and it shows.

#also holy shit yall need to leave this woman alone about her choices for her own character #I haven’t seen the fandom tear someone apart like this since Siobhan in crown of candy #leave these women alone fr it’s a game and a tv show it’s not deep enough to harass pcs or fans that truly don’t care #Emily has always played like this idk why everyone is up in arms about it #I’m heavily protective of the d20 women #dimension 20 #emily axford #fig faeth #fhjy

[theerurishipper]

Oh… I just saw someone say Adricat is a male power fantasy and I’m just like… WHAT??? Are we watching the same show lmao

Lmao @ anyone thinking Adrien is a male power fantasy. The boy literally got reduced to being the stereotypical damsel in distress for Marinette and only exists to be her prize once she defeats the big bad. His emotions are always invalidated, and no one treats him with basic respect for his autonomy and agency, as evidenced by all the secret keeping. Everyone in the show makes his decisions for him, and all he does is cater to their needs while invalidating his own. He gets kicked out of his own story and his girlfriend completes his arc for him while he spends the confrontation with his father locked up in a white room. His ending is him being gaslit into loving his abuser and ending up with the girl who is siding with the aforementioned abuser and denying him basic information about his very existence. He's not allowed to know shit about his own life, and he's not allowed to do anything or feel anything if it inconveniences the other characters. He is literally just a love interest. Power fantasy my ass, he has no power at all.

#Meta #My meta #Asks #ML Salt #ML Writers Salt #ML Fandom Salt #Marinette Salt #I would write about how Adrien is a “female coded” character #And how he is told that he is too emotional to be able to make his own choices #But others have done that better than me #It's a double whammy of both misogyny and abuse apologia fr

[kanrix]

LITERALLY THOUGH!! a nice design wasted on such a disgusting character 😭😭 — person from the last anon btw :3

Yeahg

#ask #anyway. I'm probably gonna stop posting hazbin hotel #MAYBE I'll draw alastor again but lord knows #anonymous #I'm giving it a 6/10 #very poor choices #the music rocks #character designs are boring #on their own they are fun #everything is paced poorly #humor is also trash #and done poorly too #did not feel attached to any of the characters. ever #only alastor but he's super corny #but that fits i guess #not everything about this show is bad. but a lot of it is #ya me abri los ojos. el fandom de esta cosa es horrible y todos deben morir. nomas porque yo lo digo #yo fui el idiota que decidió meterse a un fandom grande. mejor me hubiera quedado con mis fandoms poco conocidos #maybe I'll answer the hazbin asks/request i still have

[y-rhywbeth2]

This isn't aimed at anyone individually, but; I always regret opening the box that is ascended vs non-ascended Astarion fans and "who is actually the pathetic eternally broken one".

#Death of the Author etc #Do not attempt to bring me into the discourse: I Do Not Agree With Your Interpretation and I Do Not Care and That is Fine We Can Disagree #It Does Not Require Discussion #When you have fundamentally different readings and desires for the same text there's... really nothing to be said? #Apples and Oranges #You have fun with your own playthrough choices and leave me out of the larger fandom drama #I will not have this flavour of arguing on my lore posts #Also “every single personality trait he has that I don't like is Trauma (TM)” arguments #I love the character and the fans I've met are fine but god I hate this fandom do you know how many posts I've muted and deleted. #griping

[autism-alley]

if any of y’all know of a pjo/pjo show crit friendly discord server hit me up or so help me i might make one myself

#maybe. i’m not sure i’m in the place to run one but it would be rly fun and if i had mods i think i would be ok #rly been enjoying growing my collection of mutuals and i wanna be able to talk to y’all more freely y’know? #community is my favorite part of this fandom truly #and it wouldn’t be pure criticism either like. #a section for show crit obviously #and book crit. the books r not perfect even if i love em #but also things we like #and general book and character analysis #mayhaps cosplay and crafts bc i go to cons as annabeth every year and pjo crafts are nostalgic #pjo music choices. at least one mutual has already listened 2 my analysis of 50+ songs on my pjo playlist bb i know u see this ur a saint #idkkk the more i think abt it the more i am very tempted!!! #like its work but god it would be so fun. i miss being a mod sometimes maybe i should graduate 2 running my own server #that one time one was made for me against my will doesnt count. #ok. bed. but lemme know y’all’s thoughts if you know a server or if you would be down to join mine if i made one #i am very very tempted. like not a huge server but y’know. community<3 #also it would be 18+ ik this is a series for kids but i am not gonna be liable lmao my blog is 18+ my server would be 18+ #ris raves #pjo show crit #pjo #percy jackson #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson tv show

[evilkitten3]

the absolute worst thing in fanfics is when itachi betrays the akatsuki and kills kisame. like my man did not spend three-eight years politely babysitting itachi's 5'7" emo ass for this kind of disrespect

#naruto #naruto shippuden #akatsuki #hoshigaki kisame #uchiha itachi #also. and i understand that i'm biased. i genuinely don't think itachi would be able to defeat kisame in a fight #at least not nearly as easily as some of y'all seem to think #kinda insane how itachi is overhyped in the fandom to the point where people seem to think he could wipe the floor with anybody #like no in fact he could not do that #yes he has incredible natural talent and is a terrifying opponent in his own right #but a character's strength can only truly be measured by one thing: how long they'd last in a fight against gai #and kisame would last longer than itachi #mainly bc gai would need exactly one kick to actually connect and itachi's ribcage would turn into powder #sorry but it’s true #gai showed up and itachi fucked off so fast you'd think shisui had come back from the dead to question his life choices #nah if you're gonna kill off kisame you gotta give him a better death than that alright he fucking deserves it

[tigergendermoved]

Remembering the toxic hellscape that was 2015-2019ish SU fandom and just how much hate the show got is really insane when you rewatch the show after it's been a while. Like the show is good what the hell were any of these people talking about

#do NOT quote me on those numbers i pulled them straight out of my ass #like the ending was rushed and the diamonds didnt get to be fully developed but liek #the whole reason that was the case is there was an entire 6th season planned #and then the show got axed early because rebecca sugar and crew refused the back down on the rupphire wedding. #and even rushedness aside like the point of the show was never that you should hug fascists and forgive people no matter what #the diamond were rose's (and his) dysfunctional family whose personal suffering became the basis for the cruelty of gem society #bismuth in The Real World would have been right to want to kill the diamonds as a force of revolution #but the point of the show is that even the most complicated people are still people who can change. even if you dont forgive them #even steven quartz universe the most loving boy in the world very obviously does not like being around the diamonds. but that is how it is #it was a children's show that emphasized compassion and communication and family as themes. of course steven didnt kill the diamonds lol #i really fully believe the stevenbomb format (which was not the crew's choice or fault) cooked peoples' brains #you had months between major arcs so every wrongdoing by a character had months to be warped and misinterpreted and so no resolution could #ever satisfy fans who were festering with their own opinions for way too long #like these arcs looking back are not that long and they resolve in fairly reasonable manners but they took fuckin forever in real time to #wrap up #and ppl on the internet with no other hobbies than arguing made the fandom suck to be in and gave su a bad name #even if you dont like steven universe i think the amount of vitriol thrown at the show is/was fucking INSANE for what it is lmaooo #people were so so jolly to accuse rebecca sugar (a jewish lady) of being a fascist/fash sympathizer and paint every writing shortcoming or #morally dubious character action as a sign of pure fuckin evil #ok that was a long ass fuckin rant in the tags i am so sorry i'm just kind of opinionated on this matter as i am all matters #i've been rewatching su with my dad lately and this very normal and well paced and fun watchthrough experience has been illuminating #just how insane and uncalled for the hellish discourse sphere around su was/is #i say was/is i have no idea what su discourse is like nowadays. i'm too scareds to look in the su crit tag

[lobpoints]

Angela in LC, consistently telling the manager that she felt trapped and helpless and considerably miserable working in LC because she is denied of her individuality and personal choice and personhood and is also denied of any meaningful interactions whether with the sephirot or her own creator, lc hokma saying that what they have done and are still doing toward Angela was inherently cruel, even A at some point knee down to apologize to Angela because he also recognized what he was doing to her is inherently cruel in one of the loop (day 40), Angela in the epilogue straight up saying that she felt abandoned since her birth to the end for nothing hence she wanted to live her own life now, the lines in the dark in between day 47-50 are literally her begging to be noticed one last time:

LC essayist: but we literally can't know Angela's personal motivation until ruina she has never once showed her motivation and she was supposed to be hated by the narrative always and forever in LC

#i think this is less the case of narrative trickery but more case of the fandom being blatantly misogynistic hope this help #also people dont know how to read #absurd with people saying that LC trying to tell us A is good because LC only worked because A is a horrible person #even in his narration he portrayed himself as some sort of monster #and every characters in LC have beef with him pre and even AFTER their personal suppressions #the only difference is that LC made clear that LC cycle is supppsed to be a symbolic cycle of A tried to escape being a harmful person #and kept fall back into pattern because of his uncertaincy and fear and many other things #people who are aware of the loop (Hokma Angela Binah) literally made this very obvious analog toward the players #and literally guys in his head that he must overcome all tell him that kept perpetuating the loop or destroy everything #would be the most comfortable and easy choice for him to make because changing is suffering changing is dying for them #and the reason why day 50 is GOOD is because it is when A decided to move pass those mindset and break the pattern once and for all #when lor binah said that ''the cycle was broken once'' and in the end lor Angela repeated day 50 to break her own cycle of misery #what do yall think it was suppposed to mean #i hate lc essayist i hate lc essayist

[laufire]

stupid clarke stans in season 6: raven is TOO SOFT she couldn't POSSIBLY understand clarke because she NEVER had to make HARD CHOICES to save people.

raven in 1x07: jumps straight to torture and electrocution when finn's life is on the line.

#you just can't understand that raven would dislike someone who hurt HER. #because you don't consider raven a character entitled to her own feelings and perspective #and also. a key difference is that raven didn't try to pat herself in the back about this #SHE didn't try to put a nice face in front of lincoln later #SHE doesn't try to pretend she's making Moral Choices TM when she's being selfish about her loved ones #(WHICH IS WHAT CLARKE DID IN SEASON 5 SHE WAS *NOT* WORKING FOR SOMETHING GREATER) #for example raven didn't try to make MURPHY accept she'd have him killed for finn #meanwhile remember clarke's attitude in 4x08. lol. lmao even. #hell just look at clarke's attitude after ordering lincoln's torture #both towards lincoln AND inside her own head in the next episode iirc #she was nothing but useless excuses #stacked100 #talking to the void #my thoughts #the 100 #t100 thoughts #the 100 1x07 #raven reyes #fandom nonsense

[hella1975]

i feel like rei todoroki is interpreted by fandom as this very soft, broken down victim and it's like yes. that's true. that's canonically handed to us in very plain terms. but then the fandom sort of stops her characterisation there as if she wasn't also abusive and neglectful. and i never understand why people are SO against hearing that bc imo it makes her that much more compelling and realistic, bc irl a lot of if not most abusers were first victims themselves. her being a victim of abuse can and should exist simultaneously with the fact she neglected her children and her mental break directly caused the mutilation of her youngest. making out abusers are always these evil, monsterous people that you can pick out of a line up is a very harmful way of thinking, and pretending that feeling sympathy and understanding for an abuser while also condemning their actions is the Wrong Response is just dumb and ostracises irl experiences with abuse that come with complicated, nuanced feelings and responses

#like everyone ADORES rei and i dont think that's necessarily a bad thing #but it's very odd to me how wholesale the outright refusal to acknowledge her part in it all is #the mha fandom are truly so fucking stupid tho it literally is 'shouto is my favourite character and he likes his mum so i do too' #as if he is not a character existing as a tool in the plot and also the direct victim of abuse making his own choices about his abusers #his opinion AS A CHARACTER is not supposed to unquestioningly reflect your opinion AS THE VIEWER #and in our next class we will tackle the alphabet #mha #todoroki rei

[greensaplinggrace]

hate it when people say alina didn’t choose anything in the series as if she wasn’t out here making choices based directly on her own wants and as if she wasn’t out here wanting so many things and as if she wasn’t out here pushing towards a destination she was determined to reach.

she’s forced into many situations but she finds her way out of them, she acts with her own intentions, and she isn’t some wallflower poor helpless victim you can claim is blameless in her own actions. throughout the books, she suffers from writing choices that constantly have her reacting to things instead of taking the initiative. but that doesn’t mean she never does, and that doesn’t mean that when she does, her actions aren’t her own. stop erasing her character to make her more of a helpless victim. 

this is the girl who used the cut on the skiff and abandoned people to die. this is the girl who brought a chapel down on the darkling’s head. this is the girl who looked the apparat in the face and turned the tables of power on him in an instant. why is everyone in this fandom obsessed with making the female characters one dimensional victims whose only character trait is that they’ve been hurt?! it’s obscene.

one of the only things she didn’t choose was having her powers stripped from her in the end. but the people who are ready to strip her of all agency throughout the narrative are suddenly ready to claim this was her intentional sacrifice all along when it textually wasn’t just because it serves their ‘pure victim’ image of her in their minds. please.

#she's an unwilling savior but she still makes her own choices #sab salt #myramblings #shadow and bone #sab #grishaverse #alina starkov #this is the way people talk about genya too #as if everything that defines her is her trauma #as if she can't make any choices #this fandom is infuriating because it says its on the side of the victims and all it does #is erase all of their complexity to serve a made up perfect victim narrative in their head #sab negativity #fandomcourse #'everything's the darkling's fault' #if everything is the darkling's fault then he is the only three dimensional complex character #if he is the only one who's actions have an impact on the story then you've got some problems

[takaraphoenix]

The wildest part about ship wars really is seeing what people pick to pit against your ship though.

Like, not liking a ship is one thing. A normal thing. Because tastes differ. But having to go on endless rants about why a ship sucks, that's already next level.

The choice to make that about another ship though? To go and say "actually this ship sucks, but that ship!!! that ship is So So So Great!!" like what that has nothing to do with that, that's like if we started doing movie reviews by randomly gushing about a totally different movie? Why? These are two separate things.

But then, then you are confronted with that. And you look at your own ship, which you love for various reasons obviously, and you look over at their ship, which for whatever bonkers reason they picked to pit against your ship - and you go "that? that's your choice? really? that?".

Like, you didn't have to do that. You didn't have to make your dislike of one ship about your liking of another ship. You can dislike strawberry ice-cream without going on a long-ass rant on why vanilla ice-cream is the worst actually. You could just separate these two things, you could dislike one thing, and like another, and these two emotions don't have to have anything to do with each other.

I mean, I do understand that this fully roots in a mentality of putting others down to elevate yourself; shit-talking the ships you don't like to make your own ship look better.

But that is just... not how shipping works? You shitting on another ship isn't gonna make your ship look better? If anything, it makes people think of your shitty behavior whenever they look at your ship and your ship will become a flagship of embarrassment and cringe.

Also, it's just always the wildest choices. It's just always a ship where you could write a five page essay pointing out all of that ship's flaws - and not even just by your own standard of what you like and dislike but by their standard, pointing out all of the double-standard, pointing out every "moral failure" that they criticize in your ship but that is just glaringly obvious in their own ship.

Like, they didn't even pick a "morally superior" ship (which, do exist. bland-ass vanilla ships who have never ever even had a disagreement, a unhealthy reaction, a weird dynamic or anything else that is not the peak of Good Healthy Relationship in canon do exist) to go into that war and that's the wildest and most ridiculous part.

#Shipping #Ship Wars #Fandom Discourse #I have no fucking clue how these two ships #even ended up on the same battle #like. there are more 'obvious' choices #when the mono-shippers see someone ship their blorbo #with Not Their Own OTP and SOMEHOW feel threatened by that #but these ships have no overlap in character and it's like lol what #gods I am not gonna sleep well tonight #I am having 'had to see an anti post' anger in my BELLY now