Ruby's entire depression arc is "resolved" by a one sentence exchange wherein she just... decides she's better now? 'Is this the message?' Ruby asks, on her knees in front of a not at all subtle broken piece of glass. 'That I'm just supposed to give up?' and then literally the next moment she sees Crescent Rose, the weapon she's been flinching from because it represents all the failures she hasn't actually grappled with this season, and decides that depression and suicidal ideation are for losers. Let's go fight a randomly evolved cat!
The group still doesn't care about Ruby's Volume-long struggle. What are you talking about, evil kitty? Ruby's never been confused, or weak, or feeling like she's broken. We're oblivious to all that. That's why we follow her, because we can easily ignore everything that's going on in her life and instead just focus on ourselves. Didn't she have a breakdown a couple of hours ago about having to lead all the time? Should we really be announcing the moment she steps out of the tree that we expect her to be in charge again? ... nah, it's fine!
I guess the overall message is that any and every horrific act is excusable because you're just being yourself? Sorry we doomed a Kingdom and have actively helped Salem in trying to take over the world. The horrors we've enacted are good things though because it means we're being ourselves.
Ruby is conveniently the only Ascended who retains all her memories. Can't have the protagonist undergoing any kind of actual change, after all.
Neo throws herself into the tree despite that going against every iota of her characterization. Will we ever see her again? Who knows.
Is the blacksmith lady Alyx? I still have no idea.
Jaune is made young again, because of course he is. Love that they act like this is some curse he's suffered from - "It's been so long..." - and not an actual life lived across several decades. If I got stuck somewhere for twenty-ish years and then someone tried to magic me back to my 18 year old self I'd be like wtf? No? I'm not a teenager??? Will the show ever acknowledge that Jaune is actually an old man in a de-aged body now? I doubt it, considering this plot-line had no impact on his personality, skill, or outlook.
Also love that the brothers' story is treated like this wonderful tale of growth and exploration. The blacksmith is going on about how amazing it is that you don't know what you'll get when you create something, tone all fond for the demi-gods that have left her world to toy with new ones, and I just wanted one of the characters to start screaming about all the horrors they've caused. They killed an entire population in one fell swoop and have cursed two individuals for funsies, with the entirety of Remanent permanently under threat of annihilation if they don't meet the Gods' ambiguous standards of unity. Oscar didn't fall into the void because if Ozpin had been there he would have gone feral and attacked the blacksmith with his bare hands.
We're heading back to Remnant and Ruby still doesn't know that Jaune killed Penny! Ruby didn't even get her sword back. Or consider her in the tree therapy session. Why was killing her off necessary again? Oh yeah, Jaune angst🙃
We got a "when you're needed" from the blacksmith, so expect that time-skip in Volume 10. Can't wait to see how much important stuff the story skips over...
Also, this is so minor in the grand scheme of everything else, but I YELLED when Summer admitted that she'd lied about the mission. For nine Volumes these characters have been dragging Ozpin for every problem under the sun including, in Volume 7, for the mysterious disappearance of Summer, only for it to turn out that she LIED about where she was going and on whose orders, setting him up to take the fall when she doesn't come back. Who's going to have Qrow apologize to Ozpin for blaming him for years? Who's going to have Ruby unpack that her whole family is made up of liars and she was foolish to think that anyone, including Ozpin, could survive this war with a completely clean record? Hell, who's going to have Ruby simply tell anyone - including her sister - what she now knows about her mother's death? Not the RT writers, I'd wager.
Especially when they gave us a scene of Summer leaving on what she recognizes may be a suicide mission and leaves a token of affection for one daughter but not the other. Summer is Yang's mom too! Yeeeeeaaah the story is really bad about actually writing that.
Overall this Volume just feels like a colossal waste to me. The story ignored most of what was set up in Volume 8, introduced a world it didn't have time to flesh out, threw in an unnecessarily shocking story line about the hero trying to kill herself, 100% dismissed the ramifications of that, reset everyone so that none of the characters have to actually grow or change, and has now implied that all the plot important stuff - the Atlesians' survival in the desert, trying to ally with Theodore, Salem's next attack on Remnant, the development of most of our B Team, etc. - has occurred off screen.
The only thing this Volume accomplished was getting the bees together, which was something we should have had years ago. That admission hasn't changed their dynamic in any way, or introduced new conflicts (remember, no one cares about Ruby's breakdown, including her correct accusation that Yang has cared more about her girlfriend than her struggling little sister). It's just... there, not queerbaiting anymore, thankfully, but that feels like a very low bar to meet.
the average person doesn't expect you to be a perfect ethical consumer, that's not possible for the vast majority of us. but what youre saying is it's better to do nothing at all and choose the worst possible options (sweat shops, overseas shipping waste, idea/product theft, all wrapped up in SHEIN) than to put even the tiniest effort in where you can.
[they are referring to this post]
What I said was "some people are doing literally everything they can to survive and have no extra bandwidth to spend extra time and money on their purchases, and it is cruel and therefore un-punk to gatekeep punkness and add additional shame to these people's lives based on that fact."
I think it's still a good thing to try to ethically consume; I literally never said it wasn't. I had never even heard of SHEIN before. Rather, I am much more concerned about what I saw as arbitrary gatekeeping based on ability and income.
And frankly how dare you claim that I am supporting sweatshops and abuse by saying that this additional work you are demanding (in this case, presumably, vetting every clothing company you buy from) is not always possible for people. It is not a light accusation to accuse me of supporting abuse.
"How dare you say we piss on the poor", Etc. 🙄 this isn't Twitter. You are determined to enforce moral purity, but you are failing to see the nuance.
Because when I say "no extra bandwidth," I mean no extra bandwidth. This is not the "car shows it's on E but actually secretly it has a lot of gas left" situation that abled people constantly assume disabled people mean when they say they are at their limit.
This is "at a certain point, people will hit a wall in terms of money and time and energy, and any energy spent after that comes directly out of their life force."
So the argument "okay but just spend a little more time money and energy actually" is not a valid one.
And the argument "if you are not able to do this specific task, then it means you're not doing anything else to make the world a better place" doesn't exactly impress me either. You said yourself that it is impossible to be a perfectly ethical consumer for most people.
How do you know what else people are doing to resist oppression? How many hours per week until your standards are met?What if someone works 3 jobs? Does that mean it's harder to be a good person if you're poor?? Why do you get to decide what specific avenue of bettering the world is the most morally repugnant or acceptable? What kind of proof of goodness and effort would make you satisfied enough to lay off on the shame?? Who are you helping??
Clothing is a fundamental human need, and some of us have to buy cheap fucking clothes quickly. Billionaires are buying their seventh yacht this month. The people who own fast fashion companies are abusing their workers and putting local affordable clothing stores out of business - and this applies for basically every company with price points that low because governments are failing to regulate corporations to enforce basic human rights.
I have $300 to spend on a new wardrobe as my old clothes have fallen apart or become too small. Do you have a way for me to get a new winter coat, 3 flannels, 10 shirts, 3 dress shirts, new sandals, 10 pairs of pants, 5 bras, 12 pairs of socks, and 10 pairs of underwear within that budget and also definitely 100% ethically sourced, with free returns in case it doesn't fit? Or will I simply have to use the cheap stores?
I have about an hour to spend on this per week. Should I continue to wear small and tattered clothing until I have the time, money, and energy to meet your standards? Did you know there are more empty homes in this country than homeless people? If I decide to splurge on only 100% ethically-produced products, and I can't make rent, and I become homeless, are YOU going to be there for me?? Or are you busy litigating the endless tiny shames of poverty in your own community?
So I ask you again, are you sure this is where you want to direct your punk energy? Because energy and time, as it turns out, are limited resources. And I would never expect you to secretly have more than you claim to have.
....So I mightve read @niobiumao3 s Ao3 fic "Obliquity". Again. And I mightve gotten a bit inspired. What can I say, I see a powercouple and I suddenly cant be normal about them anymore. The "Phee is an ex-jedi in hiding" concept? The cherry on top.
EVERYONE GO READ IT. ESPECIALLY IF YOURE STILL IN DENIAL ABOUT THE SEASON 2 FINALE.
What gets me about certain people being so fucking pissy about Bob not writing much about Eilistraee (until the last fucking trilogy where EIlistraeans featured heavily) is that
a) Bob basically built drow culture up from almost nothing, and Eilistraee came after he started writing Drizzt
b) no you guys really don't understand. I own the first 4 modules drow appeared in. There's... not much there. And it hasn't aged well.
c) and the Big One: he has a specific vision for his specific characters when it comes to the narrative he wants to explore, from sexual abuse to religious trauma, both of which are fucking complicated and for most people just switching deities isn't enough to fix that.
I have religious trauma that I still struggle with to this day and probably will for the rest of my life to some extent, and it's fundamentally different in nature from what most people would probably expect, and the thing is even though I am happily polytheistic and very enthusiastically into it, I still struggle a lot with certain things because every time I get into my religious practice I have to actively force myself into (or out of) certain things because my whole relationship to religion and spirituality is complicated and messy.
It would be easy and frankly incredibly superficial for Bob to decide to just have them all convert to half-assed Neowiccan ~woo~ drow Jesus Eilistraee to *~*save their souls*~* and call it a day
BUT HE DIDN'T DO THAT
Partly because she wasn't his creation and other authors were writing her at the time so he really couldn't, and partly because it's a shitty message to send.
Sometimes people benefit from converting to a new religion or following a new deity. Sometimes people don't.
I benefited from gradually converting to my religion, but it's come with a whole different set of complications and hasn't been a smooth journey for me.
Just going from extensive religious trauma to switching deities does not fix your problems, and for a lot of people it realistically can make them much worse.
but also
you don't have to be saved by a deity in order to have value as a person
Just sayin, if teachers stopped taking the side of the aggressor, schools wouldn't be so hostile. If they stopped enabling aggressors, it wouldn't be so hostile, when kids aren't pushed up against a wall and ya'll didn't help push them further up, schools wouldn't be as aggressive.
It's real easy too, you see, when a kid says another kid is bullying them, you do something? Not put them in the same room to talk, like a fucking absolute baffoon, not tell the victim to get over it, not take the side of the aggressor.
Because that's when all options were exhausted. And you. You enabled this. When students do all they can with their limited resources and you throw them back to the sharks, they Will Defend Themselves while you aided in their assault.
Don't deny it gives you a boner to see kids suffer, I know how you enablers think. Why else take such a shit paying job if not to torture kids? Don't answer that, the alternative is far, far worse.
Schools should be held accountable for shit like this. Forced to make a paper trail, and when they punish the victim, the victim can go to court and show the receipts. No fucking reason to aid in assaulting bullied kids. Absolutely none.
Schools Need To Stop Enabling Violence.
That's all they do. That's how they're set up. That's their purpose. Until they fix themselves, schools are, literally, combat zones. And, literally, schools enabled it worse than any politician, loooong before any modern political discourse.
Better education, higher pay, and no lunch debt is one thing, but the enviroment of school is Active Combat. Teachers put kids up to assault and harrass other kids all the time out of seemingly boredom.
That is a decision they have made loooong before shootings were so frequent. Can't blame them for that, but you can blame them for the enviroment being so open and casual to such.
To ever make it a last resort, to ever Make It To A Last Resort.
Like instead of teaching kids empathy, being there for them in times of crisis, teachers really pushed kids to be even more aggressive. It's sickening we don't put any blame on all aggressors involved because of a fuckin' title. Blame teachers and school for being bully enablers.
Honestly, wouldn't surprise me if Kidz4Kash was still around to "collect troubled youth" the school system forced them into. Mine tried before the scandal was exposed. School is just not remotely safe. Hard to say School as a concept will ever work given the people that work it.
Seriously don't put your kids in public school. It was worth it for communication skills, but life long problems come either way, I'd rather a sheltered moron than a combative experienced child turned adult too soon, or dead, more than likely dead, probably suicide or shooting. Either way, schools enable it.
Just saying, school has more issues than money. It's the people. Blame Schools. If they wanted to be better, they'd have tried. If they wanted teacher pay better, they'd have tried, if they wanted school shootings to stop...
They'd be better people. Not working that job. Because no Chef works Mcdonalds, just teenagers and crackheads. Raising pay will help, but you Have To Fire the Aggressors for it to even matter. Otherwise you reward the systems in place that have caused such aggressions to rise.
Schools need to fix themselves, fire aggressors, stand up for victims, be held accountable when they actively choose to fail, and then, only then, raise pay.
As of now? Pffft. Ya'll fuckers putting kids in jail, therapy, or the grave. Only one of those is socially acceptable. Fuck off.
i hope yer happy with yourself YURI CAUSE CROSS HERE MUSTVE HAD HER SPEAR AND STABBED MY HEART AND THEN PULLED IT OUT TO KEEP IN HER TROPHY ROOM OF HEARTS SHE HAD STOLEN /LHJ
overall, tiddies rating 10/10
DAMN ten outta ten??? she wouldn't know what to do with all this flattery dude cmoon HHGFSHGF fr fr waaa thank youuuu >:'D <333333
also coming out to teachers sucks and is embarrassing ☹️ ALSO THE FACT I HAVE TO TELL THEM TO NOT CALL ME MY NAME AROUND MY PARENTS SUCKS HARDER ☹️☹️☹️
augh i need to get a new phone, and i need to give my doctor a form so i can get accommodations for the GRE, and i need to contact people for letters of recommendation, and i need to get my car smogged, and i need to make an appointment for a sleep study, and i need to get a livescan done like three months ago, and i need to fill out a thing for my master gardener project, and i need to scout out areas that are safe and legal to shoot some arrows and also maybe make a lesson with the local range to clean up my form, and i need to reach out to some local falconers so i can flush game for them and whatever and be best friends forever, and also get ear drops again for my recurring double ear infections lmao, and probably about 400 other things.
"Toriel letting Frisk leave the ruins is her giving up on saving Frisk's life and giving up on preventing war between humans and monsters."
(sarcastically) Yeah I wonder why she didn't go with Frisk out of the Ruins or why she let Frisk leave the Ruins at all! It's almost like she's done this before, knows Frisk won't be happy, and is trapped in traumatic cycle in which she is forced to let kids go again and again. But that would be crazy, amirite? I mean, even if she was trapped by her trauma, why would she just let Frisk out of the Ruins like that?! At least she'd be protecting them even if it would be kidnapping!! She clearly didn't try very hard to keep Frisk there in the Ruins. All she did was tell Frisk about how if they leave they're going to die, try and destroy the one way out of the Ruins, offer to try and give them a happy life, and fight Frisk so they could prove to her that they are strong enough to survive. That's not a lot AT ALL! She should've at least set up a safety measure or something for if they did leave the Ruins like having someone promise to watch over and protect them aNd ShE nEvEr DiD aNyThiNg LiKe tHaT!!1!!