#nor are they completely irredeemable

[hazmatmaid]

Long post incoming!

If you think about it, Spade King and Cyber Queen have a lot in common with their arcs and goals, though some of their key differences lie in their methods, and the way in which they each handle them:

Lightners (also goals):

Spade King feels wronged by Lightners because they haven't interacted with him or his subjects for what's likely years (and this kind of neglect appears to take a serious toll on Darkners' mental health), so of course he doesn't want his kingdom (his son especially, who has apparently never met one prior to Chapter 1) to experience that same pain. Problem is, said kingdom doesn't appear to care whatsoever about this, and in their eyes he's just forcing more work on them, or replacing them with incompetent morons after he fires or imprisons them (more on this later!).

On the other hand, Cyber Queen seems familiar enough with Lightners to at least try trapping them in a prison of their own interests (if not locked cages and rooms), and she wants to be their savior (though this appears to have some roots in a need to be worshiped herself).

She seems to care about the happiness of Noelle in particular, though for much of Chapter 2, Noelle wants nothing to do with her.

Subjects:

Spade King's subjects don't appear to be huge fans of him, largely because he makes them babysit his son, or he fired or imprisoned (and subsequently replaced) anyone that dared oppose him, so logically, they wouldn't be happy with him as a ruler or boss (not including Rouxls, who still was quick to talk shit about him once he felt like he was going to lose).

If you didn't attack anyone in Chapter 1, you gain the support of every Darkner in the kingdom, simply because you were nice to them. Though on the flipside, deplete the HP of just one, and they'll all be frantically trying to save their King (so they probably don't want him dead).

Cyber Queen's subjects are more of a mixed bag: they either don't know or care what she's doing (the Addisons and most of the enemies, from what I gather), or they know and oppose it (Sweet Cap'n Cakes and that one aspiring rebel trying to join them), or they're in full support of her actions (all of the butlers and a select few others).

I'm not quite sure how much of the in-universe support of her is genuine, and how much is the mind control (or the fear of it).

Methods:

As previously mentioned, Spade King's main method of carrying out his plans throughout Chapter 1 involved firing or imprisoning dissenters (including his fellow kings), which left them more displeased with him than they previously might have been, which obviously did him no favors.

He also sent Lancer after you, who seemed quite determined to stop the heroes until he formed a friendship with them (which Spade King didn't appear to anticipate would derail things).

In her introduction, Cyber Queen mind controls two people/turns them into Werewires right in front of you, and everyone else before them is cowering in fear that they'll be next (although some of them don't appear to be bothered by it, and some that haven't been assimilated even wondering if they're missing out).

As Parents: I'm sure people were anticipating this one.

While Spade King's treatment of Lancer is honestly concerning (to put it lightly), there's some tidbits prior to Chapter 2 that might suggest he's not a complete asshole of a dad.

He always has someone looking after Lancer, whether that's Rouxls "Lesser Dad" Kaard (who seems to be Lancer's favorite if the moniker is any indication), or any other random Darkners he's the boss of. Even then, Lancer still has a sort of capable independence about him.

The fact that he sent Lancer to stop the heroes already might indicate he trusted he would be able to do it, though arguably there wasn't anyone better available (or willing) to take up that mission.

The way Lancer speaks of him suggests his dad wasn't always a tyrant, and he's genuinely concerned that his new friends and his father might kill each other, and he doesn't want to lose either of them that way. I think it was mentioned on the Undertale 6th Anniversary Stream that the Fountain might have been messing with his head, so he likely wasn't in his right mind during Chapter 1 (which Lancer seems to acknowledge as him being "cranky" if you get the "bad ending" of that chapter).

In Chapter 2, Spade King appears to want Lancer to be happy in his absence (as he tells both the heroes and Queen herself to take good care of him and how), which I know is kind of the bare minimum, but it deserves a mention.

Cyber Queen seems to be some sort of all-adopting motherly figure to anyone she deems "Foolish Children," which appears to be....everyone, basically. It kind of makes sense then that she'd want to take the whole world as her own in that sense.

Here's the caveat though: "god i wish that were me" aside, let's explore her intentions with Noelle. Queen's mothering was unwanted by Noelle, who largely wouldn't have minded Cyber World if it wasn't for Queen being overbearing, and insisting that being her peon would be cool & fun. Though ultimately she understood this when Noelle called her out, and backed down almost immediately.

It's sort of an interesting parallel to Spade King telling people to take good care of his son in his absence; both of them are respecting the wishes of their children (or people they treat as such) after learning a hard-taught lesson in parenting.

just some thoughts, really.

#deltarune #deltarune analysis #spade king #king deltarune #deltarune king #queen deltarune #deltarune queen #cyber queen #long post #haz says a thing #not sure who's interested #i probably missed some bits #this isn't really about which one is my favorite #it's more about acknowledging neither is particularly a basket of roses #nor are they completely irredeemable #so please no calling of 'total asshole' in any further discussion

[nonuggetshere]

GOD I HAD AN IDEA AS I WAS FALLING ASLEEP TODAY

About FaaF naturally

A sad one, TW fir near child death and harm

Involves Xero's attempt at an assassination, or it could be literally just any guard controlled by the Radiance

PK and WL need to talk about something private, and WL looks at the tiny vessel tagging along by her wyrm's side

"Should it be here?"

"It wouldn't understand anything anyway."

"Still, it's...a little..."

He sighs lightly, "Yeah, I get where you're coming from... Vessel, come here."

He kneels down and orders them to sit by the door and wait for them while they talk, says he'll come pick them up once they're done and not to move, then the two go to talk on the balcony and close the door behind them

At some point, Xero/the guard bursts in and attacks PK in the middle of the conversation, managing to take them by surprise and so gets one good swing in before PK darts away and retaliates, pinning them down with soul blades, though he has to keep his wife from killing them on the spot - he doesn't want to be so hasty, knowing they're infected and not themself. He pulls out the sword from his chest and that's when they realise, it's covered in void...

Child harm/near death TW beyond this point

After a moment of shock White Lady, who's closest to the doors, runs out and all her husband can hear is a horrified, heartbroken scream. He feels nauseous, his stomach twisting into knots and feeling like his heart is in his throat as he runs out after her. He sees her in tears, cradling a tiny bundle soaked in void. There's- there's so much void. It covers the floor where he left their child vessel and soaks through his lady's shawl and clothes as she cradles them in her arms.

For a moment he's paralysed, before he just snaps. He flies back onto the balcony, screaming at the possessed guard that he'll kill her, he'll make her pay for this, and he slays them in his rage (something he'll regret and feel ashamed of later), still hitting and screaming at Her well after the possessed person is dead and she can't hear him anymore.

He collapses, panting, near tears, and just gets himself up and stumbles out the door and towards the two, he wants to see how bad it is for himself.

Flower survives, but just barely. They had multiple stab wounds and lost their left arm, if not for their parents immediately healing them they'd be dead. They're barely older than 5, still so very little and defenceless, PK is horrified at how could anyone hurt a baby this young and helpless (hypocrite), even if they're not alive.

They're still on bed rest because that was so much damage and their mother doesn't leave their side and their father only leaves when necessary. They still don't realise Flower's alive and they know they shouldn't be so attached but it still feels like their baby and they can't just leave them. WL spends the entire day by their side, gently stroking their hair and horns with her now permanently void stained hands and softly coos and sings to them

Of course, they quickly realise they ARE alive because no way in hell a toddler is getting this hurt and NOT crying and screaming the second they wake up <3

Which just makes this situation so much worse

#thylacines can talk #faaf au #mentions of child harm and near death in tags too btw #so dont read further if its something youre sensitive to or cant handle rn #i like to write him as more sympathetic in faaf but i cant state enough what a gigantic hypocrite he is #pk: How can you hurt a child?! they're FIVE! #child harm cw #radi: ...dude. #dont make your kid a child soldier but also you cant 'all fair's in war' your way out of stabbing a toddler radi #unrelated tangent but they both suck and god i need to focus some more on FaaF Radi. Ik this AU at times feels like sympathetic PK and evil #villain Radi AU but it's really not. They're both morally grey and while Radi is a bit more. questionable and less sympathetic imo. doesnt #mean shes completely evil. they're both meant to be morally grey and both did equally horrible irredeemable shit that they come to regret #and wish to fix. ik it doesnt come off this way at times because i have my things i prefer to write at times and this AU was always a #relationship dynamic exploration between Flower and all different characters. but neither PK nor WL are by no means forgiven. Most of their #kids range from ''i literally dont care about you you are not my parents dont contact me again'' to ''i hate your guts'' #with sometimes an added flavour of ''And I WILL murder your ass if I see you again'' for some of them #(Razor my beutiful wife with unchecked anger issues <3) #sorry if the tags are incomprehensible it is 5 am and i instantly forget anything i write the second i cant read it fully #once i finish writing a tag and it collapses the contents of it instantly leave my short term memory. im not being dramatic btw the amount #of times i have to back out from editing tags to read them back bc i forgot what i wrote is annoying

[godsfavoritescientist]

Actual photo of me whenever I try to think of a Bill Redemption Arc that I could write without making it the angstiest plotline ever known to man

#gods bill doodles #bill moment #pain and suffering :] :'] #'does bill deserve redemption' well you see. I dont believe anyone is irredeemable. but. #projecting onto the fictional character means it is easy for me to go 'it could never work out </3 he can never be redeemed' #im in my little corner like 'If Bill can be fixed then so can I-' #oversharing in the tags. but hey. at least it clarifies where im coming from when i go 'idk how to redeem this guy' #completely opposite place than people are usually coming from when they say that #and directly contradicting what I believe logically #that redeemability isnt a useful concept in the first place. people can always always become better #and other characters choosing to forgive is a very personal choice which is never impossible nor required #and being forgiven has nothing to do with some mythical idea of Being Done Atoning For One's Crimes. #assuming that redeemability is an Obviously True Moral Framework Everyone Should Subscribe To makes talking about villains very difficult #gotta start with goddamn Philosophy About The Nature of Morality before we can even Start to unpack thoughts on villain characters #idk i could talk about this for forever. but im really just here to overshare in the tags so i'll stop talking about philosophy now #oh also. pls ignore bills weird hands. i did not draw good hands here. thats just the way it is sometimes #gods art #my art highlights

[bogkeep]

being in aroace education mode has me all fired up...... one thing i talk about a lot when given the opportunity is Deconstructing How We Think About Relationships - in short, if we put all of our relationships with other people into a pie chart the 'romantic partner' slice is likely to be a very small slice but gets a disproportionate amount of Relationship Infrastructure compared to other categories, such as vocabulary, rituals, attention and narrative scaffolding - entire systems such as dating / finding "the one" / break-ups / the relationship escalator, etc. on the flipside, 'friend' is such a vast category consisting of a plethora of different relationship, all ranging from Friendly Acquantaince to Extremely Close Childhood Friend You Share Everything With, but we have a lot less language and structure for how we think about these relationships even though many of them can be deeply important and intense to us.

the line between romance and friendship is really blurry, maybe even non-existent, but it feels like the way we think about these categories is that Romantic Partner is this one very specific, formalised box of a category, while Friend is a vast and vague landscape where anything can happen - and it's on this free real estate we have built structures like Queerplatonic Partner. the concept has probably existed since forever, along with many other different types of relationships throughout time and cultures, but it's our current attempt at having a Word for it.

are you with me so far? i want to write a blog post about Deconstructing Intimacy.

just putting a CW here that i'm going to say the word sex a lot and touch on the topic of sexual trauma.

one of the very thorny things about This Whole Topic is that sex and sexuality is extremely political. we just do not live in a world where there's any neutral ground to stand on regarding sex. every demographic comes with a lot of assumptions and expectations and moral judgement tied to sexuality. some demographics are desexualised, some are hypersexualised, some are Both At Once, and in addition to that there's lots of stigma, moralizing, pathologizing, and lawmaking. just a whole mess.

so all of That makes it kind of impossible to fully Dethrone Sex. and by dethroning sex i mean stripping it of the baggage it's accumulated in our cultures. Sex Is A Thing You Can Do With Your Body (And Your Mind?). this does not have to make it any less or more meaningful to you than what it already is. what each person considers intimate is very individual. many people find hugging completely inconsequential and will hug anyone at any time, and for some people a hug is A Lot. For some people, sex is a very fun and casual activity, and for others it's Sacred and carries a lot of meaning and a very close bond. sex is intimate - it requires trust and vulnerability.

it is not the only way to achieve trust and closeness, nor the only thing that requires it.

whenever i take the bus somewhere, i trust the bus driver to take me there safely. i put my literal life in a stranger's hands, but it's a very casual affair i don't think about too much. it's not an act of intimacy, just someone doing their job.

i think the way we talk about sexual assault as the evillest most horribly irredeemably worse-than-death thing, and sexual trauma as a unique kind of trauma amongst traumas, is... indicative. and please do not get me wrong, SA is a horrible thing in every way. it's a violation of trust, vulnerability and personal space. it's an abuse of power. those are the things that make it so horrific - but it's not unique.

an abuse of power, a violation of trust and vulnerability, can happen in so many different forms. emotional abuse, non-sexual violence, medical abuse, et cetera - i don't think it's possible to place trauma into a hierarchy from least to most bad. trauma can be incredibly complex and it's different for everyone. if one day the bus driver on a whim decided to drive off a cliff, i think that would severely fuck up my ability to trust other people to drive me around. if i trusted someone with my innermost thoughts that i have never shared with anyone else, and they used them to be cruel to me, that would severely impede my ability to connect with others.

i just... don't think it does anyone any favours to separate sexual trauma from all other trauma - making it seem like sexual trauma is The Worst Trauma Possible You Can Never Heal From, and on the flipside, make it seem like Well Your Non-Sexual Trauma Cannot Possibly Be That Bad.

TRAUMA TOPIC ASIDE, i think the concept of intimacy has a tendency to get flattened into just the one kind. there are many, Many ways for people to be intimate, many activities that require some form of mutual vulnerability or physical contact, but it seems like we're just very used to placing Acts of Intimacy into the Sexual category. kind of like a venn diagram where the two circles are Sexual Intimacy and Non-sexual Intimacy that are largely overlapping. but what if, instead, it's more that Intimacy is a really big circle, and sex is just one of the circles within it?

the way i think this slots into the whole Relationship Infrastructure thing is that We Like To Categorize Things. if we see two people being very intimate in a way that's not explicitly sexual, it's tempting to think ah yes they are in love AND they're having sex, OBVIOUSLY, because they are clearly capable of having that level of trust and vulnerability together. but what if they're not? does that devalue their relationship? does it make them any less close? these are very chewy questions to ask even without bringing shipping discourse into it, and i would prefer Not To because sexuality is political and there is no right answer.

another way this flattening can be frustrating is all the times non-sexual intimacy is treated as Sexual By Proxy. let's say, for example, you're telling a story, and all forms of intimacy within that story get read as metaphors for sex, despite your actual intentions. there's nothing wrong with using metaphors for sex, especially since Sex Is Political and sometimes we gotta be clever about the storytelling - but it can get very messy if people read sexuality between characters who don't have that, especially characters between which it would be very problematic to portray that. we gotta be able to tell stories about all kinds of close relationships, and surely it should be possible without bringing freud into it at every turn.

intimacy is context-dependent, i would say. a moment of vulnerability can be platonic or romantic or sexual or maybe something else depending on a situation and all the factors involved. human connection is an boundless spectrum, not just a couple boxes.

did any of this make sense? they're just my Thoughts, i'm not a scholar on this i just

#too long for twitter #aro ace tag #asexuality #aromantic #and look. i too am a proponent of calling things gay (complimentary) without it being Explicitly Gay in a sexuality sense.

[revui]

I'm still mad about the bastardization of psychological terms, and I saw a post earlier that inspired me to expand upon it. Here's a quick guide on what certain psychological terms do and do not mean, from someone with an education in psychology, not that you need one to know and understand this. I am open to additions and corrections.

Important note for if this post gets noticed: I am making blanket statements. I do not care if your abuser was "actually a diagnosed narcissist." That is irrelevant and meaningless to the purpose of this post, which is to help prevent the spread of misunderstandings, negative stigma, and the watering-down of important terms.

Psychotic refers to a person who has delusions or hallucinations, or otherwise is in a state of mind where they cannot determine reality. Psychotic does NOT mean: dangerous, emotionless, unkind, nonsensical. Someone who is mean or callous is not psychotic. A person you find strange is not psychotic.

Delusions are beliefs that either have no evidence of being true or actively contradict reality. A delusion can be believing you are under constant surveillance, that you have died, that you never existed at all, that you are a powerful or religious figure, etc. Delusional does not mean: wrong, strange, unintelligent. Someone who likes something you think is bad is not delusional. A person who holds a belief you don't understand is not delusional.

Unprofessional Aside: Stop saying "delulu." It's embarrassing.

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder generally characterized by repeated episodes of psychosis. Schizophrenia is more complicated than I can responsibly describe in the space of this post. People are schizophrenic. Objects and concepts cannot be schizophrenic. Disorganized, chaotic, and hard to understand are not the same as schizophrenic. People with schizophrenia are not: dangerous, inhuman, completely incoherent, unable to function*.

Narcissism is a personality disorder generally characterized by an exaggerated sense of uniqueness and a need for external validation or admiration. Narcissists may have little or no empathy. There is no such thing as narcissistic abuse. Abuse performed by a diagnosed narcissist is still normal abuse**. Someone who is mean, selfish, or unaware is not a narcissist. Someone who wants attention is not a narcissist. Someone who takes pride in their achievements or appearance is not a narcissist.

Empathy is the ability to feel other people's emotions. Empathy is not the same thing as kindness, nor is it a prerequisite for kindness. People with diminished empathy are not: callous, emotionless, selfish. Diminished empathy is not a flaw. It does not make someone incapable of understanding people or forming relationships.

ASPD is a personality disorder generally characterized by diminished empathy and disregard for others. People with ASPD may display reckless behavior or aggression. This does not mean they are: dangerous, irredeemable, uniquely awful, deserving death.

Psychopathy and sociopathy are contested terms. They are sometimes used to mean ASPD, but they are not diagnoses. Definitions vary wildly. Sometimes they are used as synonyms of each other, sometimes they are distinguished. I do not know if there is a consensus on what these words mean and would appreciate further input.

Intrusive thoughts are unpleasant, uncontrollable thoughts that can revolve around violence, murder, self-harm, suicide, sex, bigotry, and any other subjects the thinker finds taboo or unwelcome. An intrusive thought is something you don't WANT to do or don't WANT to think about. Getting angry and wanting to express your anger by punching the wall is not an intrusive thought. Wanting to dye your hair a weird color is not an intrusive thought. The key factor of an intrusive thought is that one has no desire to think or act upon it. An intrusive thought can sometimes develop into an obsession.

OCD or obsessive-compulsive disorder is characterized by obsessions (persistent, unpleasant thoughts, such as getting sick, loved ones dying, making sexual advances on someone, etc.) and compulsions (routines usually meant to cope with or "prevent" the subject of the obsession, such as skin-picking, repeating actions, hand washing, etc.). People with OCD may be aware of the irrationality but awareness does not automatically lead to prevention; telling someone with OCD that they are irrational is not helpful. A desire for completeness, satisfaction, organization, or cleanliness is not the same thing as OCD.

If you are not an educated psychologist or psychiatrist acting in a clinical setting from an objective perspective, you cannot diagnose anyone. If you have any interest at all in helping mentally ill people, you will learn what words mean and use them correctly. I'm tired and angry so if I've made mistakes I am BEGGING people to let me know.

*As I said at the beginning, these are all blanket statements. This statement is referencing the idea of the "padded cell," or that all schizophrenics are fundamentally incapable of having a place in society and must be locked away. There do exist schizophrenics who need high levels of support, and that is not what I was referring to. They and all other people who depend on external support for any reason are not lazy or worthless.

**People argue that symptoms of NPD influence the way in which an abuser hurts people. That does not mean narcissistic abuse exists. The disorder doesn't matter; the person would still be abusive without it.

#levi rambles #actually psychotic #psychosis #schizophrenia #npd #aspd #ocd #long post

[violentvioletsky]

Advice for Young Black Goths/Alts:

— Know who you are!

I won't lie to you. Being Black and also a Goth is tough road to walk. The Black community will call you all sorts of names. On the other hand, there will be people in the Goth scene that will nitpick and bully everything about you. As your Big Sistah Goth, here's my advice (that I learned the HARD way). You have to know yourself. You must be concrete in who you are.

I remember hearing this advice and feeling confused. I wondered what that meant and how to do this? In retrospect, I was completely overthinking the concept (I wish I could go back to young me and just pat her on the head gently). It's simple, really (I say to Teen!Me). You know what you like and what you don't like. Lean into this! DON'T LET ANYONE TAKE THIS AWAY FROM YOU. And there will be a lot that will try, Goth and Non-Goth.

If you encounter someone online that says you're a poseur because you like Motionless in White or Deftones, BLOCK them instantly. Don't argue with them. Just ignore them.

— There's nothing you can do that will stop you from being Black.

When your family and friends call you 'white washed', ignore them. Being Black isn't something you can take on or off. It's in your DNA. Just focus on honoring the sacrifices of our ancestors and ignore everyone else that criticizes you.

— You can embrace your culture AND your subculture.

As a teen I was put into a double-bind where I couldn't bring all myself to the Goth scene nor my local community. This caused me to feel as though I had to hide aspects of myself to fit in. NEVER DO THIS. You have every right to be proud of your ancestry and heritage as well as your unique spooky style. Incorporate your heritage into your Goth lifestyle! Wear your braids and Afro with pride! This applies to all BIPOC Goths/Alt folk. Maybe you're Samoan? Wear your ie lavalava in your outfit.

— Stop fighting for acceptance and create your own circle.

I fought so hard trying to win over the acceptance of the Black community and the Goth community. I learned the hard way, that some people will never change. The Black community will never accept us. And, sometimes the local Goth scene is toxic and irredeemable. And sometimes calling out predators and abusive people in the scene will do nothing but paint a target on your back. In retrospect, I wasted time trying to make toxic people love and accept me. I should've spent my time creating my own circle consisting of people that rock with my entire vibe, no conditions.

When I acknowledged this, I realized that I didn't need their acceptance. Neither do you. You know who you are and that's enough. There are people that will love you as you are! If those folks haven't come, just wait.

“As you get older you will gain a bit more control over everything. Don't let anyone, even your parents, break you. Find good people who care about you and surround yourself with just them. If you can't find them at first, find good music and fall into it, let it hold you until they come.” — Davey Havok of AFI

— Surround yourself with things that bring you joy.

In college my art professor said to me, "The way to be a successful artist is to surround yourself with things that bring you joy". I'd make a small change to that statement and say that's the way to be healthy human being! You honestly, DO NOT need the Goth scene to be a Goth. You don't need the Goth scene to validate your clothing, accept you, befriend you, tell you what music to like, nor how to live your lifestyle in order to be authentically YOU. Actually, you don't even need to label yourself Goth! Be you. That is enough.

#gothgoth #90s goth #black goths #goth club #goth subculture #black rockers #black alt #black alt girl #black goth #black people #BIPOC #people of color #black girl magic #black women #black men

[morlock-holmes]

The Last Psychiatrist's book came out, which led me to two reviews, both of which call him out for saying stuff that is obviously crazy but both of which also contain incredibly bizarre statements just tossed out there with seemingly no self-consciousness about whether they are just as odd as anything TLP has written:

I'm just going to ignore those parts of Scott Alexander's review that are like that to focus on a pet peeve:

(The Bible describes very clearly what angels look like. Everyone agrees the Bible is the authority on angels, maybe the only primary source for them at all. All Western culture for 1500 years has been based around the Bible. There are hundreds of millions of people who take the Bible completely literally and read it every day. The Bible says - Revelations 22:18 - that if anyone changes the Bible in any way even by a single word they will be punished with eternal torture. And yet nobody’s mental image of an angel, nor any popular artistic depiction of an angel, has anything in common with the Biblical description. This is the highest-grade antimeme I feel comfortable using as an example; if you don’t see the fnords they can’t eat you.)

I mean that's... that's just definitely not the case.

Alexander links to this review by Zero HP Lovecraft (Whom I am unfamiliar with) who says,

I want to explain some things to you now that you probably feel deep in your bones but probably haven’t found the time to articulate. Whenever someone talks about “capitalism” like it’s a hostile alien living among us, they are either wittingly or unwittingly agitating for communism. They may not even realize it. Everyone feels some measure of discontent in their life and the lazy, fashionable scapegoat for this in current year america is “capitalism.” If you blame capitalism for your problems, no one will take it personally, and many of the other monkeys around you will make agreeable noises. But there is exactly one group of people who blames all their problems on capitalism, and that is communists. If you blame your problems on capitalism, you are a communist. If you talk about “late capitalism” or “late stage capitalism” you are (possibly unwittingly) claiming that the return of Christ glorious worker’s uprising is nigh, repent repent, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Georgius Christ is Floyd. There are two ways you can try to get out of this: the first is “yes, and” and the other is “no, but”. If you’re part of the first group, you’re irredeemable. Communism, much like being a woman, is a congenital condition, and it can’t be cured, though sometimes you can treat the symptoms. If you aren’t a communist, but you scapegoat or criticize capitalism, then you are at the least participating in communism, but it may not be your essential nature. The slur for these people is “neoliberal” — a word that means someone who likes communism in theory but is just slightly too pragmatic to ever get past second base with her. You’re the ones I’m trying to help. We can tell TLP is in this second group because although he talks about capitalism, he saves his worst vitriol for “the media,” which is a right wing dog whistle, just like talking about capitalism is left-wing dog whistle. When a man is sending you mixed signals, it means he himself is confused.

This is more batshit than anything that he quotes from TLP.

I'm trying to figure out if this means:

"Capitalism" is a word that refers to every possible human economic system other than communism, such that by definition the only possible alternative is communism;

"Capitalism" and particularly "Communism" are not specific historical economic systems, but in fact names for the exactly two economic systems that can exist;

Current technological or political realities ensure that it is literally impossible to create any economic systems other than capitalism or communism at this particular moment, such that opposition to one is de facto support of the other

The first two would be bizarre, and even the last is, uh, contentious but reading further this guy wasn't pulling a schtick, he's just a depressing John Bircher who knows that if he pretends that he's giving you some secret post-normie secret insight we'll just forget everything about American history. Guys, did you know that blacks are inferior to whites, and more criminal, that only super insightful insight porn writers have ever come up with such an out-of-left field crazy idea that no american normie could ever actually believe?

Honestly, fuck this depressing fascist. His ilk are going to be running the country soon, complaining about how hamstrung they are as they march people into camps. It's amazing how good he is at selling the most normie American bullshit as, like, forbidden knowledge that only the most enlightened masters have cued into.

Honestly his opinions seem to be:

Men have been feminized, and that's bad;

White racial pride has been atenuated, and that's bad;

Trans people are mutilating themselves, and need to be stopped;

Blacks are more criminal than whites, and need to be controlled

But sold as, like, this forbidden knowledge that only somebody as smart as him could come up with. It's amazing how these people will see a finger-wagging leftist and then decide that said leftist must be running American politics.

I am poorer for having read this dumb bitch.

[nekropsii]

VERY IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: I am saying this as someone who has Vriska as one of my favorite characters. She is a deeply complicated, very well written character who, yes, has done a lot of fucked up things... But she was ultimately a severely troubled 13 year old girl who grew up on Alternia who, in being completely disabled from the ability to heal from abuse and trauma, perpetuated the cycle of abuse because it was all she ever knew. I love how she is written. I think she is a very good character.

With that out of the way...

A major reason why the position of "Vriska did nothing wrong" provoked such a harsh reaction from fans back in the day doesn't just have to do with how controversial she was as a character. It doesn't just have to do with people already hating her, or thinking she's irredeemable. It's not irrelevant by any means, but there's a lot more to the reaction than just "Vriska Bad, and I disagree with you" than I think a lot of younger fans especially do not realize. The online culture in and around the 2000's and 2010's was rife with extremism and bigotry. Yes, it still is, but it's genuinely hard to compare how things are in the online political landscape right now to how they were in the 2000's and 2010's. It was fucking severe. Naziism was a substantially more open and honest part of meme culture, and shockingly bigoted phrases were parroted left and right like it was a serviceable punchline. A major part of what contributed to this culture was 4Chan, particularly /pol/- these were back in "the glory days," when 4Chan was considered an internet giant that wasn't to be trifled with, rather than just... A bunch of anonymous nerds on an imageboard.

This exposition is necessary, but I won't keep you here all day. Onto the main point.

"Vriska did nothing wrong" is a troll position. It has a lot of... Political charge behind it. Intentional political charge.

A part of why it invoked such a nasty response was that it was directly and intentionally echoing an oft-repeated phrase at the time, born directly from 4Chan's /pol/: "Hitler did nothing wrong."

Again, I need to stress this: This parallel is intentional. It was literally part of the bit. That was the entire meme, that's why people said it- it was extremely shocking to say, not just because of how contrarian it was, but because it was literally parroting Neonazi Rhetoric. I see a lot of people using that phrase as a defense still, or saying it as a joke, but from the way people talk about it, it seems like the history behind it has been forgotten.

This post is a reminder. This is not an attempt to stir the pot, this is not an invitation to start more Vriscourse, nor is this post Vriscourse in itself. I am reminding everyone that this phrase is loaded for reasons that have nothing to do with Vriska being controversial. Tread a little more carefully. At the very least, be aware of what joke you're making.

#homestuck #homestuck meta #homestuck analysis #homestuck fandom #beta trolls #vriska serket #vriscourse #cw antisemitism #vriska.pdf #homestuck.pdf #nekro.pdf #nekro.txt

[gettiregretti]

I think once we start seeing fictional characters as equal to real people who are oppressed or perpetuate oppression, then we place a morality onus on creators that isn’t their responsibility. “You have to write it like this or your work is problematic. And you have done something ethically wrong by writing it or enjoying engaging with it. You have to get better.”

I disagree entirely.

Kallus isn’t real. The Lasat aren’t real. If you want to make him a sweet little baby boy who never did anything wrong in his life, that’s completely fine. If you want to make the villain of his story (Saw and his merc) completely irredeemable, that’s also fine. The empathy we extend to living victims of oppression is not appropriate when using a character and can be put aside; they are a dead thing. They are a stick of wood or a Barbie doll. They have not oppressed nor been oppressed.

If you hate reading that, that’s also okay. If you don’t like that interpretation of Kallus or the merc, that’s fine. We all encounter things in fics we find distasteful or upsetting. It’s completely fine to think it’s a case of bad writing or misunderstanding a character. It’s okay to leave the fic and never read the author again.

But it’s not okay to suggest there was anything ethically dubious about that fic in a public forum. If you want something more in line with your preferences, you need to write it yourself or commission someone you trust to write it the way you want it to be written. Suggesting anyone has to create in only one way requires more control than you have over other people. No one should have that control. And I’d argue that guilting people into complying is worse than writing the most depraved little story man can think of.

Creators have no responsibility to create things in ways that cater to you, or don’t upset you. You have to be in control of what you consume and your reactions to that yourself. It’s a you thing. You can’t grasp for a morality club to beat people with just because something makes you uncomfortable or disappointed.

And, because ‘say you like waffles must mean you hate pancakes’ is the rule of the internet: This is not the same as discussion about how, for example, Black characters are treated in fandom, or cases where marginalised creators are ignored. This is about the fictional content you are creating/consuming for fun not being capable of telegraphing or morphing your personal morals.

Brought to you mostly by people yelling at me on Twitter and people having a discussion on how to write this pairing here on tumblr. My respect to you all but I deeply disagree with these takes. Example below.

#kalluzeb #alexsandr kallus #fandom wank #it always makes me uncomfortable to post stuff like this but I think it’s important #no one is a bad person for the fic they write #or the ships they enjoy #or the k i n k s they have #I do think you’re all very chill but please think about it a little more critically #except the people on Twitter they were Not Chill #TheEthicsOfKallus

[abimess]

Consequences

Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Summary: Some mistakes have irredeemable consequences. Wanda will learn about it the hard way.  [Requested]

Word count: 1.250 || Pronouns: not used 

Warnings: cheating, angst

A/N: So... I listened to Midnights... That's all I'm going to say. Enjoy the pain!

You do NOT have permission to repost or translate my work on any platforms (even with credit)

Halloween Special | Masterlist | Be notified of my stories

───── ⋅ ✮ ⋅ ─────

It’s funny how some habits grow out to have completely different meanings than they had before. It’s bittersweet. 

One of Wanda’s favorite activities of all time was spending time with you, just the two of you in silence. Hearing your heartbeat as she laid on your chest; hearing the rustle of the leaves outside as the both of you read a book - by yourselves, but still together. 

The two of you appreciated the silence, that was one of the many things you found out you had in common in the early stages of your relationship. The lack of words that said way more than enough. 

But now it was all different. Your silence doesn't have the same meaning it once did. In fact, Wanda finds herself thinking quite often, it doesn’t have any meaning at all. And the worst part was that there was no one to blame but herself. 

It’s a windy day today. And neither you nor Wanda were able to postpone the promise you’d made to Billy and Tommy of taking them to the city park so they could play on the fallen leaves. 

So here you are, sitting on a park bench, watching as your sons play with some other kids from the neighborhood, laughing and running around as you and the redhead stay there, in silence. An excruciating silence. 

A few minutes before, a kind woman offered to take a picture of the four of you, after she saw you were taking pictures of the twins making angels on the sea of leaves on the floor. Wanda’s heart stopped when you agreed, thanking the stranger with the kind smile you last offered your wife a long time ago. 

The four of you got together in front of a big tree, your hand resting on Tommy’s shoulder as Wanda did the same with Billy. Following her instincts, she slipped her free arm around your middle. It took her just a second to realize what she’s done, and she was about to pull away if you hadn’t slipped your own over her shoulders. 

Wanda wanted to cry right there, the lump in her throat making it hard to breathe. But she took a deep breath, blinking rapidly to push her tears away as she forced a smile at your phone that the unknown woman held in front of her face, hiding half of the smile she was giving at the cute family on the screen. Looks really can be deceiving.

When the stranger announced the picture was taken, you pulled away faster than you’d ever done before, rubbing your nose in the way you always did when you were uncomfortable. You thanked the woman before taking your phone back, checking the picture just enough not to be rude at her kind offer. Wanda ruffled the boys' hair before thanking her as well, and as soon as the woman was gone, the perfect family facade fell apart, the two of you back on the bench, in silence.

There, the redhead thinks about making some conversation - meaningless topics she’s become accustomed to choosing to fill the void whenever it was only the two of you. It hurts, it always does. But, still, it hurt less than talking about nothing at all.

However, the moment she looks at you, she loses her nerve. Even if you weren’t looking at her, she could see the pain behind your eyes. The eyes she loves so deeply; that she could never wish to be gone from her life. 

And, in moments like that one, Wanda hated how well she knew you; how she was able to read you like the back of her hand. 

Because, right now, she knows exactly what’s going through your mind. That night, a few weeks ago, when you found out about her affair with one of her coworkers in the worst possible way. 

She didn’t mean it, nothing of it. She was dissatisfied with her job and with not being able to achieve her professional dreams. None of that was an excuse, of course, and she hadn't been able to convince you of it in the long fight you had about her cheating. You and she knew about the redhead's self-destructive behavior of sabotaging herself whenever a small detail of her life went wrong. But that was too much to forgive. 

At first, Wanda thought there was nothing worse than making you cry like that - loud sobs of pain and anger, mingled in accusations and hurtful words. But she was proved wrong the moment your tears subsided, your jaw clenched tightly. The moment you said it was over, but that you wouldn't file for divorce yet because the boys were too young and they didn't deserve it. It broke her, but there was nothing she could do about it since she broke you first. 

So here you are. An unhappy marriage with two six-year-olds to take care of and for whom you have to pretend that everything was fine.

Later that night - long after the four of you went back home and not many minutes after you put the boys to sleep -, Wanda was taking the dinner dishes out of the dishwasher and putting them back in their respective drawers and cabinets. Her heart tightened a little when she heard your footsteps approaching. 

“Wanda?” Your voice took her by surprise, her eyes wide as she turned to look at you. “Yes?” The redhead’s voice was a mere whisper, looking at you intently as your gaze rested on the floor for a moment in which you gathered the strength to look at her before you did so. 

“There’s going to be a parent-teacher conference on Tuesday morning at the boys’ school. But I’ll be working, can you go?” Your voice is almost robotic, devoid of feelings, wanting to end that conversation as quickly as possible, and Wanda's shoulders drop slightly, nodding slowly. “Sure.” A humorless chuckle escaped her lips before she found herself saying, “for a moment I thought you wanted to talk about us.”

Your response is a loud gulp that the redhead can see in your throat the moment before you avert your gaze from hers. Suddenly feeling very vulnerable, Wanda spins on her heels, hiding her tears as she busies herself tidying the glasses more than it would be necessary. 

A loud gasp of surprise makes its way past her lips a few moments later, when she feels your hand resting on her shoulder. The redhead dares not move, certain that the slightest movement would make you pull away. But out of the corner of her eye, Wanda can see that your arm is outstretched, putting as much distance between the two of you as you can as you touch her. She doesn't know how to feel about the whole thing. 

“Goodnight.” You say it the next moment, a whisper so low that it is almost drowned out by the low rumble of the refrigerator's motor. The redhead, too astonished to be able to say anything, remains silent, and you take your hand off her shoulder, and make your way with quick steps out of the kitchen, towards the guest room that was slowly becoming your bedroom. 

Even though the touch lasted only a few seconds, Wanda could still feel it burning her skin under her pajama top. And, laying her face on her own shoulder, your wife finally allows the tears to fall, wishing there was a less painful punishment for all of her mistakes.

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff au #wanda maximoff x you #wanda x reader #wanda maximoff imagine #elizabeth olsen x you #elizabeth olsen x reader #elizabeth olsen fanfic #elizabeth olsen imagine #elizabeth olsen fanfiction

[bloodpen-to-paper]

PSA regarding cultural exchange and internet culture. Its a rant but its something that needs to be said

I'm already seeing the Qsmp admins calling for understanding and patience with the announcement of the Korean CCs that will be joining, and it frustrates the hell out of me that any of it needs to be said because people on the internet are so poisoned by cancel culture that this opportunity to engage with Korean culture is beginning with stress.

Its an issue that extends far past this server unfortunately, the modern standard for morality on the internet is insanely unrealistic and honestly very anti-human. So many people, most people actually, do problematic things in life and make mistakes, which is completely normal. Its how we are and how we're supposed to be, its how we learn and grow. But having someone get dogpiled/harassed online and potentially even risk losing a career for saying or doing something vaguely problematic that they should be encouraged to learn from is so incredibly harmful and makes the online place more toxic than communal.

There's a legitimate line to draw between something we should encourage someone to reflect upon and a genuinely irredeemable act, and if you can't tell the difference you then shouldn't be speaking about it online. To all the people who dramatize an easily fixable situation, you're part of the problem of people not knowing how the fuck to act when there's miscommunication, differences of opinion or people doing/having done something problematic but not ill-intentioned. Genuinely good people are being either pressured off the online space or terrified to ever make a mistake because people who don't touch enough goddamn grass are so drama-addicted that they make a situation negative when it literally never needed to be. You're toxic and you're making everyone else toxic, the problem is not the person who accidentally said something offensive in ignorance but is willing to learn from that, nor the person who misunderstood a situation and could be convinced to reflect on their actions, the problem is you, adding unnecessary fuel to the fire and blowing shit out of proportion when it could be resolved so much easier. If you're someone who does this, I hate to sound like a boomer but holy shit you should be ashamed of yourself. There's enough bad in the world as is, stop posting and do better.

And here's the funny part, and I don't care how many people this pisses off: current online cancel culture is xenophobic as fuck. People in different cultures have different ways of life, and though that doesn't necessarily excuse some of what goes on in other nations, the current standard for "dealing" with culture clashing takes no account to how someone's culture can make them act differently than you, and they shouldn't be demonized for it even if some of what they do isn't the best. People from multi-ethnic backgrounds, especially children of immigrants, understand that some of our parents say the most cancellable shit imaginable but are still good people at heart. Strangers online wouldn't understand that at all, and their need to complain about everything online with such hostility and lack of nuance would and is doing the exact opposite of what it should be doing; instead of getting people to see different perspectives and learn why their behavior can be harmful to others, thus encouraging them to do better, online witch hunting either drives them away from wanting to interact with anyone, and/or actively pushes them further down problematic avenues where they aren't demonized for harmful behavior.

I am so sick and tired of everything thinking cancel culture is normal, because it is so incredibly not. Its exhausting seeing the same thing play out over and over as someone who's actually interacted with people of different ages, gender and ethnicities, and who knows what these people are like in their hearts, while also knowing the internet would eat them alive without a second thought to who they are or why they act the way they do.

People say and do problematic things, it doesn't mean they're bad people. It means they're human. I encourage everyone to remember that.

#psa #discourse #culture clash #cancel culture #mcyt #qsmp

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Trimax Thoughts Vol. 12 Pt. 3

[ID: A panel from Trigun Maximum Volume 12. Knives is shown with eyes narrowed and a slight smile as he asks "What's your name?" End ID.]

"What's your name?" A name is an identifier, and to ask for it is to acknowledge an individual's identity.

We see this with Vash and his strong memory for the names of all the people from his Home. But interestingly, even with this memory for individuals, and the way Vash clearly never forgets a single person who has impacted him, he very rarely calls people by name, and this goes doubly the closer he is to them. Meryl and Milly are just "the insurance girls" most of the time. Wolfwood was referred to by Nicholas only once (though to be fair, this may just be typical use of a surname). I need to go back and check when I have more energy but I'm pretty sure the only name Vash uses with any regularity is Rem's. Vash loves them, but he won't stick around, nor will he use their names. Maybe if he doesn't use them... he can avoid getting too attached. (Mission failed...)

But it's more than that. Vash's guilt and desire to keep people safe prevents attachment that's true... but so does his philosophy. By necessity, Vash has to refuse to prioritize anyone's life over another's. Getting attached, becoming close enough to want to do anything to protect that person... Vash can't have that, because Vash knows himself well. He is far from impartial. We all remember his "diablo" moment at the beginning of the manga, and his outright murderous anger towards Knives over Rem and July - and that's still with him distanced. Here's his reactions to Wolfwood being in danger in Volume 10, after Vash realized both how much he meant to him and that he was dying:

[ID: Two screenshots from Trigun Maximum Volume 10. In the first, Vash's face is shadowed before he whirls around to show his eyes - wide and pale and furious. His face is shaded with dark lines for dramatic emphasis. In the second, Vash shoves two men onto the ground by the barrels of his two guns. He is hunched over them, again, furious. His face is shadowed completely. End ID.]

To love someone in a personal way is to prioritize them. It is that prioritization that could lead someone to kill another. Vash cannot have that, yet another reason why he self-imposes that distance from people.

You can't be impartial about others' lives... if some are more important to you than others.

Knives meanwhile uses Legato's name a lot! Legato, or Bluesummers, but either way, he is using his name. And I really think that Knives cares (?) in some way for Legato. He asked Elendira for Legato to be brought back instead of killed. Kind of just lets Legato do what he wants (except kill Vash, obviously). He entrusts him to keep hold of Vash for months on end. Legato doesn't have a number like the rest of Knives' followers; just a name!!! I feel certain that Knives used to share a lot more with Legato before Fifth Moon - Legato seems shocked that Knives would withhold info from him, and he knew Rem's name! There was clearly some point of understanding between them at the moment of their meeting. At the very least, Knives appreciates Legato far more than he lets on.

...And he will never let on. Knives treats Legato cruelly... probably because if he were to treat him on fairer terms, it would be a compromise to his principle that "all humans are bad and need to die", that the time for communication is over, that there is no "making friends" anymore. Knives cannot treat Legato with respect.

You can't push the narrative that an entire group is irredeemable and beneath you... if you've grown attached to one of them.

Knives uses names but treats the people as inferior. Vash treats people with respect but rarely uses names and distances himself. Both of them are severely hampered by their strict ideologies that they will not waver from - which guarantees their loneliness will never end.

Vash is doomed to lose everyone he cares for without ever giving himself the chance to love them, or them to love him. Knives is doomed to lose all his connections, past or possible future, and exist as an eternal lonely child who will never make all those friends he once craved. All because neither of them can afford to back down.

And now they really are gearing up to lose each other, for good this time. Both of them, doomed to lose, right from the start.

There are really no victors in a fight like this.

#storyrambles #please show up in the tags please show up in the tags #trigun #trimax #trigunbookclub #trigun meta #millions knives #vash the stampede #the inherent tragedy of your biggest enemy being your own twin sibling... #call me ace detective the way i am ace. and also a detective.

[sokkastyles]

Oh no, the 14 indoctrinated year old teenager stayed loyal to her father, her absolute monarch, and her country to the end and didn't commit high treason. Look how irredeemably evil she is.

A 14 year old being very loyal to her father is not unusual at all.

Also Azula constantly mentions completing takes for The Fire Nation, while Zuko wants to capture The Avatar so he can go back to an abusive household

She stayed loyal to the country committing evil acts because she also wanted to commit evil acts. I didn't say she was irredeemably evil, I said that being loyal to her country benefitted her and enabled her to do what she wanted to do, which was hurt others. We should not be disputing that this is a bad thing.

She also didn't so much have loyalty to her country vs loyalty to herself, considering that she is the top 1% of her country. She very much did not care about the fire nation people under her, and consistently treated them badly.

What I said in that other post is that given her other characterization, and how she says trust is for fools and controlling people through fear is the only way, I do not think she would be loyal to nor her country nor her father if they didn't enable her. When she talks about conquering cities "for the fire nation," she is talking about herself, because she's the princess of the fire nation. Meanwhile she treats her soldiers and servants like shit.

And once Ozai no longer enables her, she screams at him that he can't treat her that way, and being fire lord becomes all about proving him wrong.

Zuko actually uses the word loyal, but I don't think his loyalty to Ozai is a good thing, either, since it's really dependence upon an abuser. But he actually does show loyalty towards Iroh, his crew, and the gaang after he joins them, and goes through an arc of learning the difference between real loyalty and control through fear. Azula does not do that.

I also never said that Azula's loyalty (or lack thereof) made her NOT redeemable, just that it's not, by itself, a redeemable trait, and that she isn't particularly loyal anyway to anything other than herself and the idea of gaining glory and power. Loyalty and love for others that actually makes you a better person, like the kind Zuko learns to embrace, is what actually makes someone redeemable.

#zuko #azula #ozai

[blocksgame]

Drive-by thoughts on forever situation:

Re: c!Forever:

The sacred principle tells us: characters are not content creators. As such I’ll probably continue to write or reblog stuff about c!Forever. I usually tag my posts/reblogs with characters (“forever” for reblogs, “qsmp forever” for original posts); although I don’t always do this on reblogs for forgetting or blog organization reasons, so if you want to completely blacklist, you may also wish to blacklist "self reblog".

Re: cc!forever:

My thoughts are more complicated. I only know English. I read that big ol’ google doc of translated material and it looked pretty bad. But all the stuff in it was also, like, 7 years ago? He said stuff that made it seem like he realized that it was shitty and stupid and that he’s changed. I don’t know how long he’s held that opinion for. But if he hasn’t tried to date minors since then, then I think I believe him!

I don’t really believe in retributive justice. I especially don’t believe in, like, an unbounded court-of-the-Internet-opinion kind of retributive justice. I don’t believe in unforgivable crimes, or irredeemability. No, for real! Actually! I don't! I care about A) is it going to happen again? And then, B) How do we get the victim’s needs justly met?

B is a sensitive process that probably neither I nor most internet randos can meaningfully participate in or facilitate in this situation, given that we don’t know the people involved. I’m not sure the victims want to be identified. I guess I’ll see if more from them comes out. (That said, if I remember correctly, it wasn’t a victim or someone who knew the victim(s?) making the callouts, though, right? It was some random other person? Aw man! Yikes!)

And if we're good on A, then I think it's good to not treat a person like they are a shitty thing they did once, and fine and well to appreciate their art and so on.

This is just some early thoughts. They might change with time or with more info, especially if more recent allegations come out.

#forever situation #qsmp discourse #csa // #<- uh I don't know that that's completely accurate but as a catchall for blacklisting purposes #blog meta

[cosmics-beings]

So i re-evulated a lot of Megatron and Starscream thoughts I had regarding episode 21, especially regarding continuing and ending the cycle of abuse. So I wanted to share those!

So I had initially come into episode 21 of Earthspark thinking that Megatron's writing was rushed and inconsistent but after taking some time and re-evulating, not only do i think it made sense but I also think it showed actual change in his character while also respecting Starscreams' narrative and character as well (and agency).

earthspark megatron is ever changing, that is something that i realized. what i thought of as inconsistency is well, him changing and going through character growth, because we don't really know the character if that makes sense. earthspark gives us bits and pieces of him and it's hard to tie together. before this episode, we didn't fully know how megatron was during his past. there was that one snippet of bee asking him how he trained troops and megatron outwardly admitted to using violence. it is a complete contrast to the megatron that is over all shown to be peaceful and remorseful and that is what confused me to begin with. i didn't understand how a megatron that was presented ad redeemed and changed, could still be outwarldy violent and still have traits of abuse. but then it dawned on me that, this is all apart of his development. just because you're 'good' and accepted by others does not automatically mean you are no longer abusive, especially if you haven't done the work to change that - and more importantly if you haven't been called out on it.

megatron being redeemed/reformed isn't supposed to be a simple thing. IDW was like that as well. IDW megatron struggled with violence and trusting the lost light crew. While TF ES Megatron is already accepted in the Malto family and is seen as an autobot, that doesn't mean he doesn't struggle. That doesn't mean there aren't still toxic/abusive aspects of his past that might conflict with the Megatron that we see as peaceful and loving. Megatron being redeemed and kind around some people, does not mean that he is the same around everyone, especially in the case of Starscream, whom we know he abused. And that is something that is canon, something that despite so many contiuums making it a joke and shaming Starscream for it, is finally indisuptably canon in a way that respects Starscream's agency and trauma.

At the same time, how Megatron acted in the cave doesn't cancel out the fact that he is still redeemed, it actually shows the opposite, it shows that he is changing. I think my and other people's biggest fear is how Megatron slipped back into violence meant that he was irredeemable, but that's not the point (and not, it's not about us caring about his narrative more than starscream's. to me , it didn't make sense if they're setting him up to be a good guy, just from a writer's standpoint) . It shows that even if he's a 'good' guy, he still has a LOT to work on. The moment he saw Starscream he reacted with violence. He automatically assumed that he was a threat and that he was hurting Hashtag, he was unable to see him as anything but a dangerous criminal. He still hadn't seen nor understood that Starscream had changed because he litearlly didn't know him. More importantly, it showed that he hadn't moved from his past. Not his past with Decepticons, his past with Starscream.

However, the SECOND Hashtag stood in front of Starscream and defended him, Megatron changed. He lowered his weapon, and believed her. And at the end of it all, he let Starscream go free. He didn't think that he was a bad, dangerous person, he let him go free and actually understood and accepted that Starscream didn't feel safe around him. He didn't continue that pattern of abuse that he used to. That is character change and it shows growth. And even though i believed it to be inconsistent at first, I see how it made sense now. Now it's something Megatron can work on, now it's something he can change.

My only complaint is that I wish we got to have a conversation between them. I want them to talk, I want there to be some closure because they're both my faves. But I know that will come later on. There are tons of pointers showing that their paths are not nearly done being crossed, I mean at the end of the season we see the two together and I think that's intentional. And I think there is going to be more time to not just explore their relationship but also their dynamic. Both of them are victims of abuse, Starscream is a victim and so is Megatron.

Both Starscream and Megatron have gone through and perpetrated the cycle of abuse but in that moment, in that episode, the both ended it. And I think that's important. I think both of them being survivors of abusive relationship/dynamics but learning how to end the cycle right then in there is something that is going to be focused on.

And I think more importantly we're going to see both of them change. Starscream also has a lot of changing and making up to do to his trine mates, and also to the other decepticons. Starscream was a shity person, he literally physically kicked/hurt Skywarp and Nova - and we don't know how far the extent of that is. And Megatron, even if he is redeemed, has to show us that he realizes how he treated Starscream is wrong and that he's ready to change and I can't wait to see that. They are both healing because if Megatron gets to heal, so does Starscream. But they are both being held accountable.

That said, I don't think there's anything wrong with having different views or opinions on this, especially when it comes to the writing. Because the cybertronians are not the main characters of Earthspark, there is not as much focus on them as the terrans. So to many, because of the snippets and bits we get of Megatron's character, this could've been read as inconsistent. And for me, with such a heavy subject like abuse, i WOULD HAVE LOVED them to mention it before, I would have loved to have a warning regarding it. I think it would've made sense. But i understand that the writing direction is not supposed to be focused on these specific characters if they aren't connected to a terran.

but at the end of the day, i'm glad that starscream is given respect, but i also can't wait to see how their path crosses and how things grow. and as a victim of abuse myself, i do like the direction they're going with two other survivors of abuse and i hope things continue to go well.

#starscream #megatron #transformers earthspark #earthspark #i feel the need to clear up some things i've said because i know that a lot of people saw my earlier posts and got upset #so i just wanted to put this out there

[winns-stuff]

LO RANT:

I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that Persephone really got intimate with someone despite her sexual trauma and we just glossed over it like it did not matter. I don’t see how anyone could be satisfied or okay with this shit since the situation was a huge plot point for years, not months, YEARS. Yet the time when it finally came up to it everything was rushed and never spoken about again, like Persephone’s trauma is important and I don’t can’t understand how no one ever questioned that.

Like I keep saying in these damn rants, Hades has a plethora of explanations for his trauma and whole dedicated chapters towards Kronos and being eaten. Everything he does ties back to it and it’s clear that this affected him in a major way since we were able to actually see how different he was after the fact. We know so much shit about the Kronos situation yet we barely know bits and pieces about Persephone’s trauma and that gets on my fucking nerves, am I asking anyone to be descriptive? No. Am I asking anyone to speak on it every other chapter? No, but what I am asking is why didn’t it actually matter. The assault felt like it was only there to establish a bad guy, it also felt like it was only there to make Hades a knight in shining armor to save Persephone mainly because nothing she did up until then made any fucking sense. Something terribly traumatic happened to you and you’re telling me you’re going to tell that very personal and vulnerable piece of information to a guy from a party you got absolutely wasted at, ended up in his home, almost got attacked by his dog, and was offered to have sex with him over the slightest bit of shoulders revealing themselves. That’s absolutely manufactured, it doesn’t even make sense in the story at all which makes me feel like it was set up just so Persephone would have a reason to talk to Hades.

Which I personally feel is really fucked up, why did anyone think it was a good idea to have her assault be the reason why they’re made for each other? Persephone could’ve called him for literally anything else to build their friendship since she already was under the impression that they were friends, I don’t understand why she would trust him of all people when he was literally trying to get in her pants out of nowhere. And then every single thing tied to Apollo and her trauma in later chapters always somehow involved Hades, FOR NO REASON. It’s been established that she has a completely different support team that doesn’t even include Hades yet he’s the main one always there whenever she “needs to be rescued”, there’s no way that this wasn’t used as a fucking ploy to push these two together. It’s obvious that Hades isn’t a great person at all, like genuinely fuck the whole “he’s not perfect but he’s trying :(“ thing he’s just irredeemably bad, and by the looks of it he would never be a good husband or partner for Persephone so Rachel had to do something to cover that up and like everything with Hades it was ultimately the bare minimum.

It’s just so fucked up to me. You can’t even deny it either because there are dozens of stories (romance) where the main character has something absolutely traumatic done to them and the love interest just so happens to be there to “fix” them or “save” in this case. It’s very popular and I’m not saying that it’s always all bad, the way that you execute the trauma and the way that your characters interact with it are what makes it either really bad or really good. With Lore Olympus though, it had to be the worst case of this honestly because not only did you rush the healing process just so they could screw each other smoothly but you also made a complete mockery of it. I’m sure there’s a bunch of people who relate to Persephone’s story and I don’t want to knock them nor am I criticizing them and I understand that not all survivors are going to react the same, there’s millions of people on this Earth and since we’re not clones of each other we’re always going to share major differences, but this is just so incredibly bad. You have Persephone literally resting in the bed that she got assaulted in with a man, you have this man touching her and invading her personal space multiple times without asking days after this happened, and you have a man that you need to comfort while you tell him your own trauma. You see how none of this makes sense? I know not all survivors react the same I know it and I feel bad for even pointing this out but at the same time you’re going to be affected by stuff like this.

This was days after it happened everyone, days. Not weeks, not months, not years, not decades, and not even centuries. Days after Persephone experienced a huge violation of her body in her own room and she does not worry or think about it once when she’s with Hades. This stuff does not just go away, trauma never goes away because what’s done is done sadly your brain and body has already been affected and you may not be able to revert back to the person you were before. Of course there’s ways to make your trauma less prominent and less of a problem for your everyday life whether it be medically assigned pills, therapy visits, and other supportive resources that specialize in things such as that but it’s never just going to disappear from your life entirely. It’s going to follow you like a dark cloud and it’s going to control your every move especially when it’s just happened, it’s a massive impact on a person no matter how big or small which is why stuff like this needs to be taken more seriously. So many people expect you to get over it and forget about it but you can’t because it’s not something that you can forget so easily, it’s draining and it’s consuming and sometimes it’s very isolating. Which is why I appreciated the therapist episode since it really does showcase just how daily it can be and how it just molds itself apart of your everyday life but sadly I know it’s very clearly just trying to appease readers’ concerns about Persephone’s trauma being forgotten which makes me have another problem to talk about.

How am I supposed to believe that Persephone was struggling with this stuff almost everyday when there’s nothing alluding to that fact. Persephone rarely has any symptoms or experiences the effects of trauma unless Hades can be involved somehow, her trauma is only important and valid when the story can use it for romance and I think that’s again, very fucked up. You don’t see Hades’ trauma only being brought up so Persephone can fix them, he just says them and we can see how even though it’s been centuries he’s still dealing with the long term affects but you don’t see the story using it as a ploy to get them together (mainly), no one’s using Hades being swallowed up by his own father as a kid as some cute moment for Persephone to take him to dinner or something this treatment only happens to Persephone. If her trauma can’t be cute in some way then it’s not going to be shown and it’s again, very insulting.

Anyways, I will end this rant here yet I will never not be upset at the fact that Rachel only made Persephone “heal” just so she could give us the most unnatural intimate scenes ever. Endgame for them was just having sex and I think it’s so incredibly mind boggling that we’re supposed to look at this in a romantic sense, nothing about this is romantic and it’s very obvious that this was just used as “drama” which should’ve never been the case in the first place.

#lo critical #anti lore olympus #anti lo #lo hades #lo persephone