#misha is the obvious choice

[atw2006]

I am fancinated by the people who responded to Misha calling the network that made Supernatural (CW) homophobic by basically being like why did he work at a homophobic network then. It's a small segment of fans, but I just can't wrap my head around the sort of geographical and chronological and economic privilege that implies they've just always been able to walk away from any group, or job they didn't morally agree with.

Not only that, but the "why" he did it is so obvious to me. It's similar to the reasons why I get out of bed in a broken world every day. He worked at that homophobic company to make it less homophobic. So the queer writers would feel safer coming to work, with a good chunk of the homophobia aimed at him, the ally, instead of them. So he could have a 50% success rate at helping his costars unlearn the homophobia they were raised in. So he cold post "You're not crazy" on Twitter when fans were being gaslight by creators about whether things had been on purpose. So he (and others in cohots with him) could literally sneak a queer love confession of his character past the network sensors. So when the network tried to make him take that queer confession back he could say, "I'm supposed to say you interpret it anyway you want, but I as the actor who did the scene think it's a homosexual declaration of love." So when they tried to stop someone at cons from asking a question about the cannon queer character he intervened saying, "No. I want to hear her question. Let her ask it." So, he could call the network homophobic 20 years later and get in trouble for it too.

He stayed with the homophobic network, because when Supernatural started only 1% of people on tv were queer and now we're up to 11% which is much closer to in line with the population. He was a small part of that change. Almost all change happens by fighting within the system, and it absolutely alarms me that some people fear tainting their moral purity by association so much that they are going to take themselves out of the fight all together. A lot of us don't have a choice but to live within the broken system, but I'd do it either way, because I think looking bigotry in the face and demanding change is where the real morality lies.

#spn #misha fucking collins #the actor man

[neversetyoufree]

Christ okay, so for AGES now, ever since I first got into trying to track all the references in VnC, Mikhail's name has been haunting me.

Just about every major VnC character name is a reference to something from literature and/or history, and most of those references are pretty obvious. It's not just some of them; it's pretty much a universal thing for any character of note.

However, for a while now, Misha has seemed frustratingly like an exception. There is a serious dearth of characters named Misha or Mikhail in the historical eras and literary canons that Mochijun tends to pull from. I've been failing to find anything for a while, and I haven't seen any other fans picking out things he could be in reference to either. He's just this apparent weird exception, despite the fact that he's an important and extremely thematically relevant character.

But today I finally realized something. The spelling is different, but there is one decently famous literary character named Misha that works as a decent parallel to VnC's Mikhail—Mischa Lecter from the Hannibal series.

For those unfamiliar, in the book version of Hannibal, Mischa Lecter's entire narrative purpose is to be the younger sibling whose horrific death motivates Hannibal Lecter's violent revenge quest. The rest of the Lecter family is killed before the children, leaving Hannibal and Mischa alone in the world together with nobody else to rely on. Then Mischa is killed and cannibalized, and thus begins her brother's career as a killer cannibal.

It's not exactly a one to one parallel, but "desperate young siblings are trapped together in a horrible situation, and then the younger sibling Mischa dies, leaving the older brother alone and vengeful" does sound rather familiar, doesn't it? As remember, according to Vanitas, our Mikhail is supposed to be dead.

It's a weird and obscure enough comparison that I'm not about to declare I've solved the mystery for certain, but personally I've yet to find a better explanation for our Misha's name. After all, the French version of Michael is usually Michel, so Mochijun choosing specifically the Russian version of the name, then having Mikhail insist on going by "Misha" is a rather conspicuous choice. There has to be a reason for what's going on there.

#I realize I'm the girl that has made multiple posts comparing vnc to nbc hannibal for funzies #but I promise that isn't what prompted this #this is genuinely the result of me digging through a bunch of misc search results for any well-known characters named mikhail/misha/mischa #and seeing a reference to Mischa Lecter in that pile #and my brain exploding a little bit when I realized the reference fit #so anyway weigh in. y'all think this holds water? #vnc #vanitas no carte #the case study of vanitas #vnc mikhail #misha my beloved #english major hours #comparison

[irenespring]

House MD Characters and Their Mentors

Oh look it's more of this very niche character analysis. This time I'm looking at which of @lorata's District Two Victors would be good mentors for House characters. House fans reading this: you would really like Lorata's writing. Only limited Hunger Games knowledge required (basically you need to know the premise); lots of messed up people making the best of things, found family shenanigans, emotional angst, and queerness.

Anyway, time for mentors!

James Wilson: Devon. The essence of a Devon tribute. Really wants to make the world better. Fairly messed up and depressed, but does genuinely care about the district, and even the kid he volunteers for. The one bit of really key information we are provided about Devon's tributes is that Devon's dreamers burn bright, but flame out as the reality of the Games shatters their world view. This reminds me a lot of how House says that "Wilson thinks that if he cares enough he'll never have to die" contrasted with Wilson's feelings of betrayal and devastation that he, a oncologist who gave his life to treating cancer, is dying of cancer. He served the Capitol, believed everything the Center told him, and the truth of the Games ---the pain and the guilt and the injustice of it all--- is a sudden betrayal that completely unbalances him. The only way he wins is through temporary Arena madness, the kind of desperation that caused him to double his dose of chemo in a last ditch effort to survive and make the world make sense again during canon. Devon's main challenge post-Arena is helping him rebuild his shattered sense of self: Wilson thought he was a good person, but you can only win the Hunger Games by being vicious. Devon, as someone who had a similar break, is the best choice to help him form a cohesive identity. Devon can see him for who he actually is, all of it, and still say he cares. Devon can cite his own struggles with accepting care without "enough work" in return to get Victor!Wilson to step back from compulsively ignoring his needs to "earn" affection. Devon can pull him out of spirals about how his mental state is worse than his brother's now and show him how there is a way forward. The Victory Tour almost kills him, all those people hate him even though he only ever did what was asked of him and what he thought was right. Along with Devon, there is probably only one other person who could help him embrace that he does not need to be perfect or liked by everyone, which brings us to...

Gregory House: Adessa. I went through multiple avenues with this one. First I thought Callista, because viciousness and unapologetic attitude. Then I thought Lyme, because abusive childhood, resentment of the rules, and attachment issues. So we had option A and option B...and we somehow landed around option L. I dismissed Callista because of the reasons I thought Lyme. I moved away from Lyme because she works best with tributes who want to open up but can't until after they win. Claudius wants a family, Misha wants affection, etc. House wouldn't want to open up--- he would want respect, validation, and someone to make everything make sense. The reasons Adessa wasn't a good fit for Nero would make her a great fit for Victor!House. Nero wanted to be told Adessa loves him, but House wouldn't trust any obvious display of affection---instead perceiving his mentor's care for him through nonverbal actions she takes: exactly what Adessa expected to be true of Nero. Adessa can make recovery and all the chaotic, swirling feelings fit within a reasonable framework. She can answer his questions and treat him like someone with a rational mind. She knows that if he opens up, he probably doesn't want to be touched. She understands why he doesn't want the cuddly relationship that Victor!Wilson would have with Devon. She wouldn't pressure him to talk about feelings before he was ready and would give him space when he was ready. She understands his intellectual curiosity. She's probably the only one who could get him to invest in therapy. He wouldn't go based on "I've been there" talks or "I care about you" talks, he would go because "after a significant trauma the logical course of action is to seek medical care, so that one can be assigned medications to regulate neurotransmitters, and to remove unwanted chaos so one can better focus on more important matters." Oh, and also if John House every showed up to take credit for shaping his son into a Victor, Adessa has a briefcase full of knives and decades of fantasizing about taking revenge on behalf of her Victors. They would find his body in pieces...probably. If Adessa was feeling nice and wanted Blythe to have closure.

Devon is terrified when Adessa requests a meeting with him. Misha asks him what he did like fifty times and he doesn't know. He almost calls his mentor, but doesn't because he's a mentor too now, dammit and Adessa totally shouldn't scare him anymore. When he shows up she opens with: "Our Victors appear to have significant romantic attraction to each other. Shall we hasten their union via jointly planned manipulation, culminating in an arranged one-on-one meal over candlelight, perhaps involving the exchange of flowers?"

Lisa Cuddy: Nero. This one is hard. Cuddy is a lot more difficult to analyze than House and Wilson even though I actually prefer her over House (Wilson is my favorite, he just has so many problems, weird habits, and hidden depression). She has a lot of contradictions. She's manipulative, but empathetic. She genuinely advocates for the rules, but allows for crazy ass things to take place. She seems to argue for the rules because she has to, but is inherently drawn to the more chaotic, vigilante tendencies of House. She puts on a show of obeying regulations set by those above her, but seeks power so that she can facilitate what she thinks is right (she repeatedly says she's the only one who would employ House). This is reflective of a Nero tribute. She doesn't know why she is drawn to violence and competition of the Centre, but she is. She completes her kill tests with the highest scores in her year, but she mainly only feels guilty for not feeling guilty. She doesn't have a rationalization for why she is like this the way someone with House's history has. She should want to join the Peacekeepers or be a medic. But the more time passes in the Centre, the more she wants to win the Hunger Games. She goes into the Games a year early, the youngest District Two volunteer in history, and even though she knows the killing is wrong she still wants to win because why shouldn't it be her? She's better at this than the others. However, the inner conflict causes problems post-Games, as the criticisms from other districts actually hurt her, because she agrees. She knows there's something wrong, she fears she might secretly be evil. Nero, with a lifetime of dealing with conflicted, crazy tributes, knows how to reassure her that even if that something is actually wrong, she still has people who love her.

Bonus! Ducklings:

Foreman: Brutus. He's just here to do his job. He knows he's better than his Centre rivals, so his job is the Games. Trying to make it right or wrong will only drive you crazy.

Chase: Lyme. Daddy issues, alcoholism in the family history, wants the authority to like him. Lots of weird hidden triggers.

Cameron: Emory. Wants to be a decent person, just kept going in the Centre because she figured no one would pick her and she owed it to her district to keep trying. She had a baby Victor crush on House and Adessa had to take Emory aside and be like "the baby is making my Victor uncomfortable, tell her to calm down."

Thirteen: Misha. Rules are for suckers, enjoy your life while you have it, desperately try to find meaning in the world while pretending you don't give a shit.

Kutner: Lyme. Wants to find a place to belong, shoves his emotional issues down because he thinks nobody cares. Thinks outside the box, but still responds well around authority he respects.

Taub: I have no fucking idea. Seriously, the more I try to think about this the more I have no thoughts, head empty. Maybe Odin? Odin has a "do what you're supposed to do no matter what, no matter the cost" ideology that would cause a mentor mismatch like Adessa and Nero but at least that mismatch is something.

Anyway if one (1) person requests a Victors!House/Wilson I will write scenes so you have been warned.

#house md #gregory house #james wilson #lisa cuddy #the ducklings #the hunger games #district two #lorataverse #we must be killers: tales from District Two #mentor meme #character analysis #like really niche character analysis #a longwinded piece of character analysis that will make no sense to anyone? me? you must be mistaken #but anyway I have Thoughts and I'm making it everyone else's problem

[dotthings]

First there was the surprise JenMish referencing (yes Jensen is the obvious OBVIOUS CHOICE)

And then the surprise Pedro Pascal is what actually knocked me over OH LOOK IT'S MISHA TALKING ABOUT PEDRO PASCAL.

Listen.

If Pedro and Jensen or Pedro and Misha or Pedro and Jensen and Misha ever work together on a thing--

PLS

(Thanks Natalie Abrams, I'll be ruined for several days now)

#Misha Collins #Jensen Ackles #Pedro Pascal #the zaddies are taking over

[fandom-hoarder]

You're right and you should say so. Honestly there haven't really been any Jared scenes that make me cringe away because of how bad the acting was, but some of the choices Misha made in later seasons really had me questioning my sanity (see: the empty, the weird German Castiel version, whatever he was doing as Casifer, the confession). Like were Jared or Jensen on point all of the time? No, and some of their performances were average at best. But no one can be expected to be 100%, 100% of the time. Meanwhile some of Mishas scenes give me the urge to fast forward upon rewatch because I can't take them seriously or they make my uncomfortable with how /eeeeeh/ the acting is

100% !!!

And you're right that no one can be expected to be 100% all the time in their acting. With a long running weekly show, I'm not looking for award winning performances; I'm looking for character consistency, and performances that don't pull me out of my immersion!!

Frankly, Misha's late seasons characters misunderstood the assignment, and for some reason no one reined him in. It does give me an ick reaction to see and hear them, and I almost always skip casifer and AU castiel in particular on my rewatches.

Castiel himself doesn't usually make me cringe, because most of the time it is just regular ass run of the mill acting. Like as long as I'm not thrown out of the scene by how obvious the acting is, it's whatever. There ARE still moments where I'm like...what was misha doing here? Why? But the bits I CAN'T WATCH are casifer and AU castiel, and to a lesser degree the empty.

Jensen's spn Dean, while sometimes feeling a little like a caricatured version of early dean, never really threw me off the way he did in The Winchesters. His not!Dean characters have never really been that distinct, but they were serviceable to good. I mean, even with AU Michael, I'd still take that boring portrayal over some stupid accent that didn't make sense. And demon Dean was also alright, with some good moments; better writing would've helped immensely.

Jared is the one that seems the most consistent in his attention to Sam's character and motivations. The thought he puts into Sam and all the not!Sams is a GIFT. He doesn't even DO voices really, but his characters are still all distinct without feeling spoofy. He has a physicality to his acting that also helps make them distinct, and that goes into Sam as well! Jared fucking ACTED OUT PTSD as a consistent character trait, ffs!

With Misha, everyone besides Jimmy and regular ass Castiel feels like a caricature, not a character.

#asks #anon ask #fandom wank #ACTING! #anti jared hate #related posts #misha critical

[xplrvibes]

In your opinion, what are the top 5 most emotional Sam and Colby videos? Not including the cancer video cos that one would defo be no 1 on all lists lol.

Well shit, taking the cancer video out of the running really threw this list for a loop, lol.

Ok, so I actually included videos from their personal channels on here as well, simply because I honestly don't know if I could come up with 5 from the main channel lol. I don't know how often they get emotional while hunting ghosts.

This list is the best I could get without using the obvious choice:

1, The Chernobyl Series

I mean, the babushkas. They live all alone in a radioactive warzone and are just starving for visitors. They talk about how they don't even see their kids or grandkids that often, and you know these strangers who go there to essentially gawk at them are their only source of human interaction.

They got so excited for the boys to come that they prepared a veritable homemade feast for them, then apologized for it not being good enough. They got the boys drunk and made them (namely Sam) cry. It was just all around emotional. Every ounce of their interaction with the babushkas was emotional on a level that you don't really see too often with snc.

That alone would've guaranteed this series a spot in the top 5. But the actual story of Chernobyl, the way snc went about presenting it, interviewing the liquidator and their tour guide, Misha, who survived it all...it was just wonderfully done and very, very emotional.

2, Best Friend Gives Me First Tattoo (25x25)

I mean, come on. Colby decides to go and apprentice to be a tattoo artist so he can give Sam, who has always expressed fear about getting tattoos, his first ever one. Sam trusts him with this terrible idea so much, that he allows Colby to choose the design and agrees to be blindfolded while Colby is tattooing him.

Mind you, Sam went into this with 0 tattoos, and is allowing his first one to be done by his non-professional friend while he is blindfolded.

When its done, Colby tells Sam that he wants to match him, and that he (Colby) wants Sam to tattoo him as well. Now, Sam has done 0 training and is a little drunk by this point.

But that's the trust Colby has in Sam.

So, now they have matching 25's, and they get their actual professional tattoo artist friend to up the ante and give them a second set of matching tattoos - the ripple of water, which symbolizes them living in the moment.

This whole video, while out of the norm as far as their editing and production style goes, really just highlights the absolute trust they have in each other and this friendship standing the test of time.

3, (tie) "A Video to Future Colby Brock, my Best Friend | Sam Golbach (2017)" and "A Video to My Future Best Friend, Sam Golbach | Colby Brock (2017)"

These two go hand in hand, really, even though they are two different videos on two different channels, so I am including them as one. (If you've never seen them before, watch Sam's first, then Colby's).

Now, full disclosure, I have not watched either one of these in a long time, so I don't remember all the details of what's said in them. But, I know that when I read this ask, these were actually the first videos that popped into my mind, so they definitely must have made an impression in my subconsious, if nothing else lol.

The gist of these is that Sam made a video directed towards a Colby twently years in the future, telling him what future Colby means to him. Colby then responded with a video of his own, telling present day Sam what he means to him.

It's a love fest, lol.

4, Our Terrifying Shipwreck Experience (25x25)

Honestly, the first several 25x25 episodes before they gave up and got discouraged are a good look into snc's psyche, and follow a general theme, which is facing your fears and anxieties, and doing those things you've always wanted to do.

But this one has some suspense and intrigue and near death to it (which actually would've made it a good candidate for the intense videos list, had I included 25x25 stuff on there lol), and because of that, there are a lot of earnest moments of reflection, fear, and triumph over anxiety to it.

It's not a tear jerker, perse, but it is a good emotional story if the emotion you are looking for is nearly dying doing the thing you're most scared to do...and then doing it AGAIN.

5, I Got Robbed - Part of my 2021 Story | Colby Brock

I just plain old feel bad for him on this one, lol. His little journal entries that he wrote to try and remember the journal entries that he lost...epsecially knowing that he got into journaling in the first place as a way to combat his anxiety, only for that to be taken away...this is emotional in that "oh damnit, now I feel bad" kind of way lol.

(Disclaimer: I did not include the first episode of the new Conjuring series on here, partially because I feel that would've been as obvious a choice as the cancer vid, and partially because I plain forgot about it until I wrote all these up and didn't want to change anything lol. Sorry 'bout that)

#asks #sam and colby #colby brock #sam golbach #snc video review

[eisforeidolon]

Thank God for schedule conflict, Jensen really dodged a bullet playing Batman on Gotham Knights. They would have wasted his talents.

Three things.

Misha lies a lot. You really can't trust anything he says unless someone else confirms it. The most obvious proof of this is how his stories change. When the leviathan exploded the angel, oh they told me I was coming back from the beginning changed to well gosh I just didn't know and was sooo sad about it. Back in the Carver era, oh yeah Jensen and I play into D/C all the time and the writers are putting it in there (Meanwhile, Jensen and Singer: Uh, no, wtf.) changed into I totally started playing Castiel as in love with Dean in season 15. At the end of the show, I'm so proud of the finality of Castiel's death to really make it tragic so of course he wasn't coming back but Jimmy was going to be in the finale became Castiel was totally going to be in the finale. Then there's how he used to claim he shipped wincest during panels, but as time wore on and his fanbase shrunk to be mostly just the crazies, he had to quickly retract a more recent joke about it by claiming he 'didn't know that was a thing' and acting disgusted to appease them. Even without the contradiction, some of his lies are really obvious, like how the network totally wanted to do a spin-off centered on Castiel starring him after SPN ended (the guy whose q score they stopped measuring ages ago because it was too low, whose salary they cut trying to get rid of him off the mothership), but he didn't want to because he was just soooo worn out from doing a tiny fraction of the work J2 do.

Misha queerbaits a lot. He knows that most of his supposed fans don't give a shit about him unless they can fantasize about him together with Jensen sexually, and they project that onto not just Dean and Castiel, but them as real-life actors, and the characters they've moved on from SPN doing. He frequently makes weird sexual comments about Jensen and his characters on his social media and in panels. He adopts weird fan theories to tell more lies about (Oh, yeah, one of the songs on Jensen's album is totally about Castiel! Which one? Uhh, I haven't actually heard any of them, tell me which one it is?) He kept trying to hint to his fans that he was bisexual, first with the poetry book and then with the notorious joke, until people outside SPN fandom noticed and he panicked that it might actually affect his career and he had to come out as straight. Right now, unsurprisingly, he's trying to convince those fans to tune into GK, even if just to get fodder for their bad fanfic.

I won't say it's impossible that Jensen would have considered doing it because he clearly has A Thing for Batman, but it would have been a massive step down for him. At most, the role is a corpse and a handful of flashbacks. Not only would that be a waste of his talents, it would be a waste of his time, since if it was more than literally a one episode cameo? Trying to schedule that around other projects could turn into a fairly big headache for basically no payoff (at least for Jensen). Misha's fans buy this as a completely reasonable choice because they've spent so much time insisting a Misha-level role is equivalent to a lead one, though.

#askboxery #anonymous #anti misha #mention of wincest

[cassandragemini]

oc birdsonas list (Subject to change)

misha- blakiston's fish owl

while i generally try to associate characters with animals whos native ranges overlap with where theyre from im gonna give a little leeway on this one (misha is from northern mongolia in whats now khovsgol, these live in eastern china eastern siberia and hokkaido) cause it seems like it fits misha really really well. they share a big imposing frame and permanent death glare. these are the largest owls in the world and misha is 6'10 so like. i feel like that one makes sense

tseren - golden eagle

this one was probably the most obvious choice tbh. theyre a big assertive guy with a great sense of aim so the association with a big bird of prey thats a very precise hunter made sense for them

adelita - up in the air rn but im thinking Maybe a burrowing owl. all of my fairies are pretty explicitly tied to birds especially owls and adelita canonically grew up in a burrowing owl den. look at how round these things are

jacinta - elf owl or possibly a costa's hummingbird. elf owls are cactus dwellers and thery served as the initial inspiration for my desert fairies and back when i was originally writing her i initially considered giving her a elf owl form as a magic disguise. the costa's hummingbird was a option just cause she ourple

tadai - roadrunner

tadai is literally just the o'odham word for roadrunner i feel like i aint need to put much thought into this one

tulipán - verdin

originally i was thinking either a very disheveled little owl chick (this isnt meant to be mean to her. owls just kinda looked fucked up for the first few months of life) or a anna's hummingbird But i recently learned that the o'odham word for verdin (gi:sobï) is used as a petname for children which i thought was very cute. theyre little cactus dwelling birds and theyre very cute so it fits her

lou - remains undecided but a sandhill crane is probably my best guess for the moment since theyre really tall and lanky like him

#crow.txt #ocposting #and with the completion of this post i will stop procrastinating on my essays #misha #tseren #tulip #lou #adelita #jacinta

[panvani]

i’ll be real i did expect hello charlotte to be pulled on me but regardless. i do understand noé feels no *desire* towards children but the majority of the characters who commit acts of sexual violence don’t feel attraction for their victims, but they are still portrayed as vile for it, and noé feels really exempt from this? for example, i sincerely doubt ruthven is attracted to jeanne, but he is still portrayed as despicable for sexually abusing her. similarly, i doubt luna felt such inclinations towards their children, or even had any desire to hurt them, but i have no choice but to call them a pedophile seeing as they definitely sexually abused both vanitas and mikhail. i get the feeling that the author is concerned that fans may dislike noé, and is just running herself frantic telling us he is a nice person. which i don’t really think is a cause of concern since i’m pretty sure people love vanitas despite what he’s done. i guess i’m just not a fan of how the story is handling noé.

I think this is all a very reasonable response to the story and the way it's presented and I in large part agree. The last few chapters especially have, I think, been pretty odd and tonally discordant with the series as a whole. I have a few ideas as to why this might be (including that the author... is evidently having some personal issues right now) but for now I'm treating what has been presented recently in good faith and assuming the story will generally continue with its established themes.

All that being said, I think a very important thing you're missing in this analysis is that Noé is the narrator. Every moral judgement made explicitly by the narrative is, in fact, Noé's judgement, and the thing that makes Noé interesting to me is how effectively this fact is erased, despite his being the narrator having been explicit since the first chapter and repeatedly brought to attention since.

You're in fact completely correct that the story exhibits a lot of inconsistencies in its moral judgement specifically when it comes to Noé; it's also made clear that Noé is an unreliable narrator and extremely inconsistent in his moral judgement. In a particularly obvious example, the chapter immediately prior to VnC's year long hiatus has Noé dismiss his own sexual assault on the basis that Chloé and Jean Jacques are "nice people," which multiple characters immediately acknowledge as disturbing.

The arc in which Noé assaults Misha is by far most overt about emphasizing that Noé is both morally inconsistent and an unreliable narrator. The arc is framed by Domi's account of Louis's death and how it differs drastically from that which Noé previously gave, and its conflict, in contrast to previous arcs, mostly relies on Noé's failures to appreciate his relationships and the effects he has on others. He loves Domi, but is ignorant to the abuse she faces and her feelings toward suicide. He's obsessed with Vanitas, but as repeatedly pointed out, he knows almost nothing of substance about him, and is particularly blind to Vanitas' feelings towards him. In this arc, Noé (who is being presented as 'neutral' narration) contradicts his own account of his first meeting with Vanitas, then acknowledges that he ignored his own capacity to cause Vanitas harm. In this arc, a third party explicitly states that Noé's capacity for violence stems mostly from Noé's self-assurance when it comes to his own morality; Noé understands himself as a good person with strong principles, and so Noé assumes any action he perpetuates is morally righteous or at least neutral, regardless of its effective violence. I do not think it was an accident that all of this happened in the same arc!

I think it's also important to point out that all of this is a very long time coming in terms of Noé's character development. Noé's driving conflict as a character is mostly that he is very principled and very strong willed, but that these principles were developed were developed in effective isolation, and quickly break down when applied in real moral quandaries. Noé is a very good person in the abstract (he clearly has a real understanding of sexual consent, unlike Vanitas and Jeanne!) but has no way of resolving moral problems in material conditions. Thus when he is sexually assaulted during the Gévaudan arc he makes no effort to actually morally analyze this, regarding Chloé and Jean Jacques not as generally well intentioned people who are nonetheless clearly capable of great harm, but instead ontologically Good People, and thus not real perpetrators of sexual assault, even when Noé was perfectly willing to acknowledge their actions as such before getting to know them. Similarly, when Noé struggles in his conflict with Astolfo on the basis that the latter is the child, Vanitas' assurances during the conflict are evidently taken not with respect to the actual conditions, but as an assurance that Astolfo has been removed from an ontological Good category but is now Deserving Of Violence. Noé is incredibly distressed at the idea of hurting Astolfo until he is given permission to ignore the conditions of their fight, at which point he attacks Astolfo with near-lethal force and does no further moral reflection on the matter! And while we are led to believe that in Astolfo's case this force was necessary, it's still, in my opinion important to acknowledge that Noé's conflict with Misha was immediately preceded with Noé being told that he is "allowed" to commit violence against children.

All that being said, I do understand if you think that Noé's behavior surrounding Astolfo does not necessarily precipitate his behavior surrounding Misha, and I do agree that it is a severe escalation. I think another important factor to bring up when I say that Noé's apparent moral degeneration has been very heavily foreshadowed is that Noé is a very clear foil to Ruthven who, as you point out, is clearly morally condemned by the story as a rapist. There honestly isn't much to analyze on this one, it's just kind of true! Specifically, Noé is shown to have the same or very similar ideals to that of Ruthven in his youth, and it's strongly implied that Ruthven's assault of Noé immediately prior to the Gévaudan arc was in some way instigated by Ruthven recognizing Noé as very similar to himself. It's not hard to see what is being foreshadowed in comparing Noé, a scholarly, intellectual idealist whose conflict centers on his attempts to apply his ideals to the real world to Ruthven, a former idealist intellectual-activist who grows into a violent and cynical politician after years of disgrace. Take this also with Ruthven's assault of Chloé and Jeanne, then with Vanitas as foil to Astolfo and Misha, and Noé's patterns of violence begin to strongly cohere.

Sort of the nail in the coffin, however, is evident from the conceit of the story itself: Vanitas' motivation throughout the entirety of the story has been to die and disappear. He wants to hide his past trauma and especially that related to Luna (which, we agree, is that he had been sexually abused by his adoptive parent) and is apparently so scared of having this being revealed that he attempts to kill Noé and risks his own life in his efforts to conceal it.

And we fucking know that Luna raped Vanitas, because Noé killed him then made the fucking Case Study of Vanitas!!!!!!!!!!

#logxx #I tried to limit the scope of this response to the text of VnC itself #But if you are still not sure about the intent of Noé's character #I think what I say here goes from 'what is apparently being set up' to 'virtually text' if you know who Gilbert Nightray is LOL #Sorry for long post #csa ment #rape ment #It is a long post about VnC. #incest ment #Anyway tl;dr you're completely correct the way the story treats Noé is totally different from the way it treats anyone else #Because Noé is the one telling the story #And Noé fundamentally cannot reconcile his self image with his past and his actions

[wormytoast]

charts for 2.2! chart for 2.1 here

this post is leak free! (although i do talk about leaks on this blog, all tagged)

Trailblazer will not be considered in these stats because they are essentially a null character.

TYPES

Fire: 6

Ice: 8

Lightning: 7

Wind: 6

Physical: 8

Quantum: 7

Imaginary: 6 (it looks like tumblr has changed its text colors so imaginary is orange for now 😭)

Physical is now tied for first place with ice thanks to the introduction of Robin and Boothill. Neither units fulfilled any new type-path combinations.

PATHS

Destruction: 8

Erudition: 6

The Hunt: 7

Harmony: 8

Nihility: 9

Preservation: 4

Abundance: 6

Harmony is now inching closer to the top, tying for second place with Destruction (8 units each) and just one unit less than the top path of Nihility (9 units). We finally got a new Hunt unit with Boothill! I also made a post about the current state of the Hunt unit archetype here (disclaimer this was before leaks released). It's not great but I think it sums up my feelings on the path and how I think it should progress.

RARITY

Limited 5-Star: 21

Standard 5-Star: 7; Overall 5-Star: 28

4-Star: 21

Because we did not receive a new 4-star, the amount of limited 5-stars has reached the same number of units in this patch (2.2) rather than 2.3, which is when the amount of limited 5-stars would've overtaken the amount of 4-stars if Hoyo had stuck to their pattern of 2 limited 5-stars and 1 4-star per patch.

OVERLAP

There are now 7 overlaps of unit path/type combinations. Neither Robin nor Boothill are new type/path combinations.

Physical/Harmony- Hanya & Robin

Physical/The Hunt- Sushang & Boothill

Ice/Preservation- March 7th & Gepard

Ice/Destruction- Jingliu & Misha

Lightning/Erudition- Serval & Jing Yuan

Lightning/Nihility- Kafka & Acheron

Wind/Nihility- Sampo & Black Swan

Unfulfilled combinations:

Erudition- Wind & Imaginary

The Hunt- Lightning

Preservation- Fire, Wind, Lightning, & Physical

Abundance- Ice

MODELS

F child: 2

F short: 9

F med: 10

F tall: 10

M short: 3

M med: 4

M tall: 10

No surprise here. F med is now tied with F tall for most populous F model while M tall has gained another member of their legion. Our poor short kings... (and still no F child since launch but what's new)

Going to try to not repeat myself, but notable statistics: the Harmony path and the Quantum type are completely comprised of only women. The Imaginary type is comprised entirely of men except for Yukong. As of right now, male Abundance units are offensive sustains (scale on atk%, Break%, and have AoE ults) compared to the female Abundance units who all scale off hp%. I think these observations actually provide a pretty interesting look into Hoyo's view of their female characters versus their male ones but that would become a pretty large tangent I think.

OVERALL + OTHER THOUGHTS

tbh this seems like a pretty straightforward patch. there isn't a lot to talk about that I haven't already said in previous posts

we're due for an Erudition unit since there hasn't been a new Erudition unit since 1.5 (Argenti). not sure which type since we've gotten pretty decent type coverage the past few patches. Wind and Imaginary are the obvious choices, but Fire, Ice, and Quantum are all type-path combos from launch so I wouldn't put it past the devs to use those as well. The only ones we can be sure WON'T be used are Lightning and Physical since those are the only two types that have been used for limited 5-stars.

The units for 2.3 could be anything, really. I wouldn't put it past them to introduce another Nihility or Destruction unit since they seem very keen on doing so. I also wouldn't completely rule out two dps limited 5-star units in a single patch since, while not common, has happened before.

thanks for reading til this far! its completely free labor lol

#hsr #honkai star rail

[sailorsally]

Context and the past knowledge of who Misha is as a person — a good ally who has always shown genuine support for the community — seem to get thrown away as soon as there’s a chance to cling to hatred. A moment of logic (and thus reading comprehension) should tell everyone his intentions were well-meaning, and certainly not to speak over or for queer people, nor to police our feelings.

Perhaps he could’ve worded his tweet better, or expanded upon his thoughts to clarify, and maybe he still will. I’m not saying he’s without fault, but there’s a difference between acknowledging how the impact of his choice of words is currently outweighing the intent for some people, and defaulting to a bad faith reading and deciding he’s The Worst™️.

Some of the things people are saying make it very obvious it’s not about the core issue, but rather the chance to gain online clout or to seemingly justify their own negativity towards Misha specifically.

I’m also so tired of some people ignoring or downplaying Misha’s history with the queer community. He’s always been very personally involved, regardless of his own orientation. His ex wife (the person who he said intrinsically helped shape who he is) is bisexual, his best friend’s child was trans; he has many good friends of his own who are queer. He sat at a table with us and was welcomed, and now folks seem to determined to push him out and away.

Ngl it really feels like people are on that app (and on most sm tbh) just waiting for the opportunity to attack. And if they won't get one they will create it. And of course Misha is an easy target becaus he is nice. I have said it before - almost all of his problems could have been avoided if he'd been a douchebag.

I didn't scroll thru much but I'm glad someone tweeted this:

I agree with you and I agree with this tweet. Queerness for me is beyond sexuality. And even if we disregard that as you mentioned he is very close to queer community and has done nothing but good so people calling him homophobic is ridiculous. But then again as you mentioned, none of this is about Misha's goodness or evilness, it's about saying something clever and getting likes. And if they have to point fingers at someone who doesn't deserve it, so be it, they couldn't care less.

What sucks in all this is that Misha will definitely be upset about this and blame himself (again) when none of it is his fault.

#misha collins #ask sally

[cocklesinc]

Oh, you poor stupid soul. I never said he won’t/doesn’t do it. I pointed out that HE SAID destiel shippers ask for poses that make him (AND MISHA) uncomfortable, but he got worn down and gave up saying no because his boundaries weren’t being respected anyway. Like, it’s not even an extrapolation or inference in my part, homeboy SAID IT. So… congrats on effective harassment and abuse, I guess?

p.s. come here, come closer. Ew. Not THAT close. Listen, I don’t actually care, never have. I think that he deserves every weird photo op he does with that dehydrated man and his unwashed, musty trench coated fans. I’ve been saying such for like seven years, bro. Zero sympathy, only cackling laughter.

Did he or I say he didn’t have a choice? No. He made a choice. He literally said as much. Doesn’t mean it’s the preferred choice, doesn’t mean he’s secretly now a destiel or cockles shipper. It means he decided money and not getting called a homophobe after every con was easier than having fans who’ve never met a bottle of body wash whine online. We all make choices everyday, for example, you chose to be a moron.

Oh my gosh you all are so desperate and insecure and angry! 😂

I mean name-calling and insulting someone you don’t know on the internet because it’s obvious your ship doesn’t exist is JP level buffoonery.

Have a great day 😉

#cockles #I hate to put this in the cockles tag but it’s so stupid I have to put it somewhere! #maybe… #anti-J*2

[lorata]

What do the victors think of fight/f*ck/mentor? And do you know if any of them are popular choices for a certain choice?

as yet nobody has been brave / stupid enough to say it to a victor themselves, but obviously they all know it's a thing. I'm not sure when it started though!

I think there are occasional arguments at barbecues or the monthly signing party over who would be the most popular for various categories that get fairly heated. the younger ones definitely played it THEMSELVES before winning so like, they know the trends for their years at least and will bring that up as evidence

Brutus and Callista officially hold "Panem's Hottest Killer" at least once, Devon was the Kissing Killer, and Misha and Petra killed someone they made out with, so they probably are pretty obvious choices for the sexy answer. Ronan is the one Julia picks postwar when the kids are playing and ask her to join in, because it's a safe choice and you can't argue with that. It's Ronan! all the other choices are down to personal taste, I think -- like Lyme is obviously super duper hot but she's definitely a very particular type, you're either very into her or you're not.

I think there are dark horses in every category and there will always be arguments and that's what makes it fun? and part of it is like ... mixing things up or choosing the match-ups (is it by decade, by gender, by Games type -- aka all honour victors, all wild victors, all showmance, etc) so fighting about it and justifying your choices and shrieking about someone else's sacrilege is half the fun, really.

Claudius thinks it's boring because he's like eh he's obviously just going to be fight, the people who want to have sex with him are Not Great and he's not cut out to mentor and that's fine, whatever, AND THEN TURNS OUT a whole bunch of kids postwar LIKE him as a mentor figure! who knew! so that's actually ... actually fine? huh.

(the funniest part about the divergence universe is that when the trio plays Selene chooses Claudius for mentor, Enobaria for fight, and Misha for sex, which BREAKS MY BRAIN, mostly she does it to troll Claudius but it's so incredibly funny given what happens in the Victor Lene AU)

#randomfacter #lorata answers #we must be killers: tales from district 2

[dean-winchesters-adhd]

hi i just wanna say I love your url and that I am a dean has adhd truther so it's nice to see that other people share my opinions

Thank you!! Oh man I could go on for days about Dean having ADHD especially now that Jensen said he has it (Misha too!) I was like...some quirky acting choices really make sense now.

I also have HEADCANONS I'm sorry you didn't ask for this:

I think Dean's issues with staying still/fidgeting as a grounding/focus technique are an obvious example. I think it shows in his hyperfixations and intense passions, and his anxiety, rejection sensitivity/fawn response (maybe from childhood too) and the way he communicates with nonverbal cues it's like, that's my boy!!

I have ADHD too and Regarding Dean is personal to me because that's like straight up unmedicated ADHD behavior. Light stick come on 😭 Car in the wrong gear, just remembering he can't read lips I was like 😂 Even the memory issues! That shit is what happens when you're burnt out!

Dean's impulsive and takes the lead/runs toward danger, but freezes up when things are too much. He's gone through nonverbal periods before. His self-medication. Just so many ADHD truths in there 🥲 thank you for truthing with me 🤟🏻

[eisforeidolon]

It will never not be funny to me how some people like " Jensen didn't like the finale, he thinks Dean deserves to live" and then Jensen went ahead and Said he didn't like that Sam and Dean didn't die together or that Sam wasn't the martyr and Dean died mourning his loss. Jensen is a bibro it's time for some people to accept that and accept that he didn't want a hallmark ending.

Seriously.

To an extent, whenever we're fans of a celebrity, we're fans of our idea of that person, because we don't actually know them beyond the fraction of themselves they share publicly. Even still, there are a lot of supposed Jensen fans who take it that extra step further to not just convince themselves they know him, but who pointedly ignore things he's been very clear about to pretend he agrees with them instead. They're not even fans of his public persona, they're fans of their detached-from-reality fantasy of what they'd rather it was.

The Jensen in their heads has said he hates the filmed finale many times, is still angry Dean died, finds barn scene photo ops traumatic, and has totally changed his mind and sees D/C is the real story of SPN now and is going to make it canon in the prequel/reboot!!!

Meanwhile, actual Jensen? Not only has said repeatedly how proud he is of the finale they made, he is responsible for some of the bits they hate most. Not only got over his initial reservations about Dean dying, but admitted he wanted a Butch & Sundance ending and that he thought it would be Sam if only one died because of course Sam would be the final hero making the big sacrifice. Except he realized that if only one of them died, he didn't see any life for Dean without Sam beyond pining away in the back of a bar somewhere. Not only never said anything about disliking those ops, he's actively chosen that pose himself when fans gave them options to do what they wanted in J2 ops. Not only has repeatedly shot down the ship as a thing that exists in the canon in the past, not only largely stopped talking about even Dean and the angel's friendship years ago unless specifically prompted, but has continued to pointedly make it clear Castiel's death scene was all on Misha's choices with Dean as a spectator and who even knows if angels understand love like humans do anyway. Not only hasn't mentioned Castiel in terms of continuing Dean's story, but has explicitly talked about it being him and Jared as Sam and Dean when they do a continuation of the main show.

Nobody has to like his opinions on any of it, but pretending he hasn't been waving a big, obvious bibro flag all along is just daft and delusional.

#askboxery #anonymous #Jensen is not your blow up doll #destihellers

[bentosandbox]

Some thoughts on Chen and the summer event story (TL)

(Sees event discourse on TL) oh yeah there was this blog post I translated a while back about Chen’s characterisation in Dossoles and the writer let me share it sooo (you can read a summary here)

Overall the story feels average, there are parts that I like very much and parts that I think could be better. Lungmen group interaction is the biggest bright colour in summer! From their casual clothing to their beauty to dialogue... It's all so cute!

But the failure of Chen's characterisation is obvious. Maybe it doesn't matter to a non-chef(someone who doesn't make fanwork), but I can clearly recognise that the character I like and love is not the Chen here. From the very first time I looked at her file: "When an idealist finds out the world may not be so black and white, "Chen doesn't know? Chen wouldn't know? Chen Hui Chieh, Chen Sir, Chief Lungmen guard Department Special Inspection Unit wouldn't know?! even if you want to express this kind of meaning you shouldn't be using such silly words (not saying hoshiguma but the [copywriting]) you make her look like a hot blooded fool who has yet to experience the world.

And then the event is like this, the art(the whole chen art sucks debacle) made a group of people quit, and the story probably made another group do so. Is Chen's character that hard to grasp, or has HG given up on shaping her character just to make her seem like she's grown?

I remember the Chen from the main story, she clearly knows plenty of evil exists but is not afraid to stain herself with the blood of others, is aware of the blood on her hands, and will adhere to her own bottom line and sense of justice. Her justice is never false and empty. She will treat the infected harshly, while going to the slums to leave them some hope, she will resort to covert operations to achieve her goal, but never involve the innocent. She will firmly enforce the laws of lungmen and procedures that she approves of, and will put up a resistance when wei yanwu does more than what should be done.

"It's because I am like this, that I should see, and must see."

She will not run away or back down.

Which is why I was so dumbfounded when she rebuked Lin for sending people into the residential areas to steal bombs for the fun of it. I felt so powerless in my anger as she repeatedly emphasised her confusion and lack of understanding. I just wanted to sneer when her voice and file implied that she wasn't so sharp anymore.

I'd be disappointed if her epiphany and dissimilarity stemmed from the things she couldn't change in this strange city...were all the cases she worked on before absolutely black? Is lungmen that peaceful? No class conflict at all? Did the conflict between the infected and non infected not cause any tiny ripples in her psyche? If she was really incapable of empathy, how could she have said this line when Amiya faced Misha:

"If you want to hate, then hate me."

She will bear it and take responsibility.

"Fate is unfair."

"Everyone has to bear the consequences of the choices they make.

Infected or not, it makes no difference."

"Make your choice and bear the consequences of it."

Her incisiveness isn't reckless from not understanding the cost, it's not that she has never been in pain and does not know the severity of things, but that she understands she will be bruised and may even be betrayed, but she still wants to reach out to those who ask for help.

She will bear the consequences of her own choice.

Kindness requires a price, she understands this, but she still chooses to be kind.

Return my incisive Chen to me HG.

About the conflict between Chen and Lin. Procedural justice presupposes recognition of the process, and Chen also recognizes Lungmen's system of regulations to work there, but when it comes to Dossoles, these do not apply. They both need to re-adapt, although because of the different positions Yuxia will adapt faster, but their essential conflict has no place to stand, they just want to prop up their biases and give them a reason to be angry at each other. You could say they were trying to explore the concept of "don't follow the ways of the ones before you" But if it's just because of this that they fight, it's really easy to make Chen look quite reckless and unreasonable......

When a modern person meets a feudal society, will they sincerely recognise and adhere to their rules? Will they not live to rebel against the revolutionaries who rise up to say "bloodshed is injustice"? Even if the insurgents may not know what a right path is, or that history proves they won't improve things, it doesn't prevent the rulers from being wrong. Criticism can be more grounded in reality, such as the consequences of resorting to foreign forces, rather than saying that there should not be bloodshed and resistance.

But another thing I appreciate in the story is the portrayal of Candela, who "entertains everything and is under her own rules" (not that I agree with her philosophy), like when DDD woke up and thought it was worth writing a song about their "conversation". Candela is not crazy or absolutely evil, she does it because she believes it is the only way - the way shaped by money and desire. This is her limitation, but instead of giving in to her desire, she wants to control it completely - just as she would not compare herself to the sun. The sun is 'great', and the ideal in her heart is as well, but she maps it out perfectly. From this point of view, she and Wei Yanwu are indeed characters who can stand side by side.

Both of them have a lot to live up to. Young people have to progress and question, but that shouldn't stop us from offering applause for the previous generation that had flawed but worked hard to build the paths that brought us to where we are today. But after the applause, you'll still have to find your own way.

From this point of view, it is not inappropriate to say that this is a supplement to the (Lungmen crew's) main story, the core is very similar and a dedicated event that is not easily dispersed by the huge amount of information. It also puts several of them in a more unfamiliar environment, pulling them out to re-examine their choices and thoughts.

The subject matter and intention is well chosen, but unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, the characters can not stand on their own, the conflict is not sharp enough, a determined but also entitled and powerful person (Candela) versus a confused person (actually tequila's character is written really well), a person who only wants to fight (Pancho), and a person who just wants to follow her dad (la pluma)... and then the outsider (Chen) blanks out for a few times, and then everything is over... (is it not) too much of a farce? How could a combination like this depict a serious ideological tragedy?

My two most favourite lines in the story is what appears to be a hoshiswire interaction on the outside:

"You know what Chen would do."

"Then my answer is the same as hers."

They're the same (kind of) person after all. I love them so much. I love Lungmen.

#i should tag all these tl posts under something #arknights