#only to see others either erase their flaws or call it ooc and bad writing

[butwhatifidothis]

Hi!

When I first got onto your page, it was for anti-edelgard reasons, because I was so sick of looking at other posts that blatantly ignores Edelgard’s main faults, and ignores that she’s straight up the villain

But then I saw your posts about Captain’s fanfic, and I was intrigued, I had to scroll a bit through your archives trying to find the name. When I found it, I read it and-

I couldn’t even get through three paragraphs, it was so bad. I also felt SO embarrassed because how UTTERLY ooc it was. Like sure, I read fanfics that are sometimes ooc, but Captain’s fanfic was something else. Plus, the whole fanfic was just??? Terrible writing, I couldn’t believe that people that read through it willingly and enjoyed it.

So I wanted to thank you for still reading the fanfic, and telling the rest of Tumblr what’s happening, because I’m still intrigued by Captain’s fic, but refuse to have my eyes look at it again.

You have so much willpower, god bless

Hello!

My blog started off as a place for me to just rant about the fandom's insistence on erasing all of Edelgard's flaws and wrongdoings just to push some "if they only talked!!" message. She wanted to kill them before ever getting to know them. Then she wanted to kill them after getting to somewhat know them in the academy. They did not want to kill her... ever, really (edit: outside of the OBVIOUS point with Dimitri lmao). Dimitri literally does try talking to her and gave her two different chances to call for peace, and she flat out rejected both - the second time through a sucker punch knife throw. Claude literally tells her that he doesn't want to fight her; she responds by saying that if she doesn't kill him she can't get what she wants. This, along with a shit ton of other things, were just completely ignored by the fandom in favor of making Rhea Bad, shit get on my nerves, made some vent posts, one two skip a few now I'm here lol.

So I hear about a fic made by one of the bigger influencers of the 3H fandom - Mr. Teacher Theory, Edelgard has C-PTSD, Rhea is a Tyrant, Faerghus Toxic Masculinity himself - and I see multiple people recommend this fic as a must-read for (mostly) Edelgard's character, and I was like "hey what if I actually read it." And. Well. Yeah lmao. Even if we completely separate it from 3H and we judge it as strictly an AU with no regards for canon, the fic falls flat.

Woobiegard repeats herself constantly in the prose, going over again and again and again how Sad she is - and a good part of that is her making other people's pain all about her and how Sad she is or once was. Characters Just Like Woobiegard - no real reason for it, they just kinda do even though she never does anything for or with them. Marianne is a prime example of this - Woobiegard speaks words to Marianne twice before the Holy Mausoleum, but Marianne nevertheless comes to admire her for literally no reason and spills the beans about her deep-seated trauma in front of complete strangers because of it. Her relationship with Byleth is entirely built on fate and is the reason she and Byleth ever become happy ever at all in any timeline ever, but we're supposed to ignore 1) how they shits on the fic's supposed narrative of Fate Bad, and 2) how extremely unhealthy their relationship actually is. If you don't like Woobiegard, you will either die or become a villain/get demonized. Or both. The only way to redeem yourself if you have ever not liked Woobiegard is if you completely bow to her whims and accept all blame she and her pack of dogs with throw at you. Byleth can reverse time, but only when it's convenient - otherwise, something will happen to where she "just can't do it" (see: Hilda's leg). And just. A billion other things.

Like, there are so many flaws that are completely self-contained and do not relate whatsoever to 3H. If we add on the fact that this is supposed to be a culmination of Cap'n's actual meta? That people will unironically say that this fic fits in with actual meta pieces? You then open so many cans of worms that build on top of each other and ruin the fic even further.

I'm glad to hear you enjoy the notes! Making them and reading through this fic is certainly an experience lol, so I'm glad they're entertaining!

#ask #exqueuese me princess #o captain my captain #anti edelgard #anti-edelgard #edelgard critical #edelgard discourse #just to be safe #if this fic has done anything it's let me appreciate Edelgard's character more #like yo cool an ambitious villain - get rid of the blatant player-pandering and BOOM a LOT of her flaws are gone like that #And Byleth! Like I still can't stand their ass but at the very least I can now recognize that there IS a LITTLE character there #not MUCH character mind. but they're fuckin'. more than just a cheerleader for Edelgard like Edelstans think they are lol

[arsenicandfinelace]

Anon submitted:

I just saw you reblogged that post on abusive Gendry, and I totally get you and @baratheonarya. Like, I don’t mind people writing what they want, for whatever reason they want, it doesn’t hurt anyone, as long as it’s tagged and easy to filter out. But when they don’t tag…even after several people ask them to…

Like, back in the days, there was this big name Gendrya writer (they later moved on to Jo*sa, so that explained a lot), and they had this thing for manly man, dominant Gendry, which was fine and all if they got it right. But they rarely got it right, there was this fic (and I saw it still being recced earlier this year, so ugh), where Arya is being forced by Jon to marry Gendry, (it was a very OOC Jon as well, he claimed the Targ name, but also decided to keep reforged Ice for house Targaryen instead of returning it to Bran, because he was an ableist shit), and is guilted into it after refusing several times. Gendry had fought with Jon against the Others, (while Arya was still in Braavos, and I think she was blamed for that as well), and demanded Arya as his bride. Gendry was portrayed as possessive, controlling and sexist, but that was never acknowledged as a fault, he was also written as being better than Arya at things she prided herself at, like horseriding and swordfighting. He also forced her to marry in a sept instead of the godswood. I think there even was a scene where Gendry decided to punish Arya by spanking her against her will, and saying Ned should have done it to her as a child (conveniently forgetting how Yoren and Weese would cane her, Weese to the point where blood ran down her thighs) but somehow, even after all of that, the author refused to admit they were writing an abusive relationship, and refused to tag it no matter how many people asked it of them. They even implied that Arya being so scared of Gendry that she pulled Needle on him, somehow made her the abusive one. Oh, and I think I remember the fic lowkey bashing Arya, calling her selfish and childish, and they also made her say Gendry was too good for her, even after she was treated like shit by him and everyone. Sorry for unloading on you, I still have so much anger about that fic even years later, and I never really got the opportunity to rant about it until now. 

So yeah, I totally get you, those fics should be tagged (at least the author did the bare minimum and tagged it as “Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings”, because at least that implies there’s something in there to be wary about)

Oh god, I know exactly what fic you’re talking about. I’m ngl, it had some good sex scenes, but the actual text was horrific. You’re right, it showed such contempt for Arya, to the point that I wondered why the author was writing for her if they so clearly disdained everything about her. She was bloody-minded, capricious, immature, spoiled (!!!), and basically all of her defining characteristics were either erased or warped into flaws to be corrected. I mean, Jon (Jon!) viewed her with suspicion because she was too damaged for them, and the only person she was close with was Sansa (*eyeroll*). And the spanking scene. The spanking scene. Gendry spanked her against her will, while she tried to force herself to endure it despite her discomfort with the situation, and he only felt bad about when he found out she was pregnant because it’s fine to use corporal punishment on your wife so long as she’s not pregnant. The whole thing was basically The Taming of the Shrew, in a situation where I did not sign up to read Taming of the Shrew. (I never would, by the way; fuck that play.)

And yeah, I think that one, much like that other hotly debated fic, was emblematic of a really disturbing thing you sometimes see in the Gendrya fandom, where Gendry is propped up as this pure-hearted hero and Arya needs to fix herself (or forcibly be fixed) until she’s worthy of him. And when I see that I’m baffled because to me, the thing that makes Gendrya amazing isn’t the “rebellious rich girl/guy from the wrong side of the tracks” dynamic. It’s their partnership. It’s how much they respect each other’s beliefs and talents, even when they’re pissing each other the hell off. I don’t want fics where Gendry is a spineless little victim or fics where he’s a bullying He-Man because they both ruin the chemistry between them, which is based on them struggling to maintain an equilibrium in a society that desperately wants to stratify them.

And you know, some people do want that. I’m not going to pretend I’ve never enjoyed dubcon before in other fandoms/ships; that would be a lie. But the crucial thing is that people reading Gendrya are going to assume that they’re in for a relationship between consenting equals. Some people think they can still claim that’s exactly what they’re offering when they write fics about Gendry holding Arya down to have sex with her while she says no or hitting her because he’s mad at her. They can’t. They can either switch to a fandom/ship more accustomed to that unequal power dynamic, or they can tag their shit.

#anon #submitted #submission

[ladymoonveil]

Looking for Stony/Tony blogs to follow that don’t actively vilify Steve or the rest of the Avengers

If you are/know a Stony/Tony blog that treats the other Avengers fairly, and don’t reblog material that hides character bashing behind supposed movie analysis, please leave me a comment or reblog.  I’m looking to do an overhaul of the Marvel blogs I follow because enough is enough. 

You’d think that people who claim to love Stony would actually, you know, like 100% of the pairing and not just half the people involved, but I guess that’s what the MCU fandom has turned this ship into.  I mean we’ve had Civil War in the comics and it’s never gotten this bad.  I remember reading very interesting meta and fics that explored both sides of the SHRA issue, as well as balanced takes on both Steve and Tony’s perspectives that added some real complexity to their relationship.  That’s pretty much gone out the window in the past few years with the influx of MCU Tony stans. 

People are basically hiding their Steve/Avengers bashing behind the Stony relationship tag, which is fucking awful. Of course, this doesn’t apply to all MCU Tony stans, but wow there sure are a lot of toxic ones out there.  Discussing why Tony shouldn’t be played as The Victim all the time causes them to fucking explode all over the place.

I have had it with people turning Steve and the rest of the Avengers into doormats and downplaying their contributions in order to make Tony Stark the sufferer of ~bad teammates~.  Woobifying Tony is not interesting to me, and ignoring the trauma of every other character in order to make it seem like Tony is winning some competition on Character Who Suffered The Most And Therefore Should Be Apologized To By Everyone Else is not what I’m here for.

Yes, Tony’s childhood was not the best.  But compared to Natasha, an orphan who was literally experimented on and brainwashed to assassinate people from a young age?  Compared to Steve, who grew up with an abusive father, ill mother, no money, and a list of ailments longer than my shopping list while WWII raged on???  If you want to make “terrible childhoods” into a competition and try to trash the rest of the Avengers because Tony somehow had it worse, you better not be ignoring or minimizing what those other characters have gone through to get to where they are today.  

Fucking fuck I love Tony Stark.  He’s half the reason why Stony is my Marvel OTP in the first place.  But holy shit, people are making it hard to continue loving him with the way they write Tony post-MCU Civil War.  (And honestly, I blame the writers for this more than anything, because they did a horrible job presenting both sides of the Accords in the movie.  Tony talks about signing first and amending after, but how much can they amend?  How fast will it be amended?  Can it even be amended at all if the UN doesn’t agree?  What are the actual terms of the Accords?  Will heroes have to reveal their secret identities like Peter did in the comics?  These are all questions that Steve should have brought up in his conversation with Tony in the MCU but he never did.  You look at the struggle for the US to amend even gun laws and it’s easy to see why half the Avengers are hesitant to sign the Accords.  I can’t believe the writers turned one of the most interesting arcs in the comics into a flaming pile of garbage with no intricacies.)

Every single one of the Avengers is suffering from PTSD, that’s not exclusive to Tony.  Just because they didn’t get their own solo movie exploring that doesn’t mean it’s not there.  Somehow none of that matters to the toxic stans because “everyone has wronged Tony”, and “Tony’s the only one who did anything of worth”.  Like miss me with that shit, I don’t want to see these important characters demeaned to grovelling for Tony’s forgiveness, as if they have no priorities in their life beyond being friends with Tony Stark.  Natasha Romanoff is important on her own.  Thor is important on his own.  Bruce is important on his own, etc etc.

Communication is a two-way street, and Tony doesn’t need people erasing/defending his mistakes, (or the fact that he didn’t call Steve either when he had the chance), in order to tear down other characters by purposely mischaracterizing them or minimizing their contributions. 

Tony is great because he’s a flawed character.  He can be arrogant and proud and make mistakes, but it’s offset by his heart and compassion and will to make the future a better place, even if it leads him to make questionable decisions at times.  Same goes for Steve and Nat and Thor and all the other Avengers.  It’s so disheartening to see these characters that I love being twisted into something ugly so that Tony can be placed on a pedestal.  It’s not fair to Tony either, and he deserves better.

(Like I’ve literally read two MCU Stony fics where halfway through, Bucky Barnes turns into the author’s mouthpiece for lecturing Steve and anyone who dared to go against Tony’s wishes.  Bucky.  Barnes.  Bucky Barnes!!  And of course, it ends happily after much grovelling from everyone for Saint Tony’s forgiveness.  Every character was so two dimensional, other than Tony, who was incredibly well developed in comparison, that I couldn’t believe what I was reading.  There’s like no way to even filter that out on AO3 either because people don’t tag the OOC-ness or character bashing in most cases.  The Stony tag is such a minefield that I actually started reading Stucky because at least the rest of the characters are treated with respect for the most part.) 

TLDR please PLEASE recommend me some quality Stony/Tony blogs that don’t unfairly bash other characters in order to build up Tony Stark.  I’d like to come out of this still liking the character, which is getting harder and harder with some of the things that come across my dash.

#stony #avengers #steve rogers #natasha romanoff #tony stark #help an old school Stony shipper out

[roominthecastle]

I can't help but think you're being a bit too hard on Eleanor because of ship bias. I mean, why would you called her 'her worst self' and 'selfish' when she's always been one to throw stuff to get in heaven (even with the character development)? But suddenly she's being sappy and depending on someone who isn't Michael and the whole M/E fandom is at her throat. I'm as unconfortable as the next shipper with all the C/E scenes but is it really Eleanor and her characterization that's at fault?

Yes, of course I am biased (to a certain degree). When the show caters to my preferences, I’m more docile and much less likely to nitpick and complain, when it doesn’t and it drops the ball to boot, I get grumpy. So I’m your garden variety fan, basically. But I don’t believe I’m “at Eleanor’s throat”. Her and Chidi being together doesn’t make me uncomfortable bc it’s her and Chidi and not her and Michael (+ I often see things popping up in the C/E dynamic that can have potentially interesting implications for Michael’s development and for M/E, too. Generally speaking, the three of them make up a curious whole for me).

I know the chances of (2-sided) M/E happening are somewhere btw zero and never, so I’m not exactly eyeballing C/E as some kind of obstacle to my personal shipper nirvana, jumping at any chance to “punish” Eleanor for choosing the “wrong” partner. But I do feel uncomfortable with the way the C/E romance is written this season. “They are sidelining my no. 1 dynamic”, while frustrating, is not the reason for this, it’s not why I’m not crazy about Eleanor’s behavior and Chidi’s OOC-ness.

Eleanor + character development always resulted in stuff like her being emotional and vulnerable w/o getting aggressive and demanding, her accepting it when Chidi turned her down w/ dignity despite feeling heartbroken, and her being considerate of others to the point of volunteering to go to the Bad Place to save them. This is where she was a year ago and the year before that at the end of each season. This is not where she is now. I’m not saying being selfish and throwing stuff is not in her character make up or her problem-solving toolbox. Her overcoming these impulses, however, is the very point of her character development (made blindingly obvious last season when she lied about passing the Judge’s test and refused to go through the portal to TGP). What we have (currently! so it can change any time) in S3 is the opposite (see the in-your-face door to TGP that won’t open for her), it’s her completely giving in to these impulses to the point of seriously endangering everyone, meaning that she has, in fact, regressed. I suspect it is a point the show is trying to make but we’ll have to wait and see.

In “Janets”, all Janet asks is that they stay put until she and Michael deal w/ accounting. Eleanor works herself into a state over Chidi not opening up to her on command, putting Janet through hell and almost erasing her friends from existence while her own self is also disintegrating. Despite the serious consequences, this harmful behavior carries right over into the next ep where all Michael asks is that they lay low bc folks in TGP are so rule obsessed, they can send all of them right back to TBP. Eleanor immediately smashes stuff at the door to TGP bc it doesn’t open up for her when she demands it. It’s her bullying of Chidi from the previous ep all over again, only in a vase-meets-door form. Even Chidi has to be all about her now as he magically turns into a grossly idealized version of himself (see in S2 how she rejected a similar “fake Chidi”), spending the entire ep trying to prevent her from blowing up again while the rest of the team is cleaning up the mess in the mail room and Michael is away trying to fix the calculation issue. Despite the crazy-intense circumstances, everybody is trying to do something for somebody else except her - she is still hyper-focused on herself and it stands out to me bc this is a version of her I’ve never seen before and it’s def not the best one.

Again, it’s not because she is w/ Chidi but the issues become especially apparent within that dynamic since the second Michael showed her those memories, she just latched onto Chidi, expecting him to fill the void left by her screwed up upbringing that’s been freshly dredged up thanks to her not-dead mother. They made her lurch from “I’m incapable of love” to “I’m madly in love and nothing else matters”, hand-waving determinism while failing to provide any other reason why these 2 are suddenly together again. They are trying to play it as romantic/funny but it’s not romantic when someone’s whole identity has to be propped up by another person and it’s not funny how that other person has to repress his own identity/issues to be able to do this. It’s a suffocating, unsustainable interplay. Or if it’s meant to be interpreted as “love cures mental illness and erases every character flaw in 5 minutes, so you can finally be the proper romantic partner”, then it’s even worse. You don’t have to be a shipper of another ship or look too deep into this story to see these (imo) legitimate problems (but it helps, yes, since it’s natural to be more critical of sth you’re not emotionally invested in and gloss over stuff to preserve the fun potential when it’s your OTP or sth, I do give you that).

Eleanor having to coerce love and attention out of Chidi will never be cute, either, or proof that those feelings were there all along. People pushed some quotes from WJH into my face about how Chidi calms down bc he finally has what he always wanted - interesting choice of words, btw, given the pin Michael gave Eleanor - but 1) an actor’s opinion will not automatically replace my own (no, not even if it’s Ted’s or some other big fave’s) and 2) how exactly were we supposed to glean that Chidi wanted to be with her so much in this reboot? Was it when he went steady w/ another woman despite Eleanor being an option all along? was it when he refused to give private lessons to her bc he was just too busy? or was it when he - despite witnessing her meltdown - sent her packing bc they already had enough material for his study? For some reason the writers missed every opportunity to build this up properly and make this extremely syrupy display stick, but I’ve already said everything about that in another post.

This whole idea of “he felt this way all along, he just didn’t actually show it, so we can skip actual development” is a lazy, corner-cutting approach which reminds me of the worst kind of fanservice attempts I’ve had the misfortune of experiencing with several of my favorite shows recently. I have very low tolerance for that stuff now bc it never ends well. I did not expect to see this particular brand on this particular show, but here we are, I guess. Or if it’s a case of creative exhaustion/boredom where this billion times rebooted couple is concerned, then maybe it’s time to park them and give a not yet over-explored dynamic some attention instead to keep things fresh and fluid as opposed to stale and forced - again, not an unreasonable request, even if it comes from someone who is invested in another dynamic, given the lack of care that was apparently put into developing C/E this season.

I don’t like not liking things on this show (and it’s not Eleanor I don’t like, it’s the way they deconstructed her in order to write her back into a relationship as if she couldn’t exist w/o it), and I am sorry if I disappointed or offended bc it was not my intention. I hope they flip things or introduce a new angle that will make me re-evaluate. I am always open to that whenever new material arrives and I honestly hope they will make me eat my words soon. I will merrily absorb the suckerpuches. But for now, this is my opinion and “you just don’t like that she is not with your fave” - while a natural factor - is not the main reason why I made my comments.

#lewyn-martell #michael x eleanor #long post #musings

[cosmic-herbal-tea]

Yo like, I must be one of the few people here on this site that can’t stand how people infantilize the Bat-family in the fandom and how they treat certain issues in general.

Like really; y'all celebrate Jason Todd being a “feminist” when he’s written to be attacking his own family and their allies (including Catwoman the Birds of Prey iirc) and shot at Damian, a 12 year old. Like no qualms about killing a child? I guess respect for women is better? Even if he’s trying to kill people who genuinely care? Mistakes were made but I’m not sure killing them is appropriate.

Speaking of Damian, y'all absolve him of ALL things cause he’s a cute jackass and can do some pretty stretching things and fans will defend him. It’s stretching, really. Like him recently weakening OG Wally West’s heart! Oh but he’s cute and Super Sons! Yeah. Doesn’t stop him doing it in canon and how there’s a percentage in which thinks it’s “okay”.

With Dick Grayson, y'all want this super nice guy and sexy guy but get mad at canon for “sexualizing” him. Like anyone can see your sexy fan art of said character. You can preach that but think “I’m a fan” excuses your end? And some go on rants about bisexual Dick Grayson but then act like Dick has never exclusively dated women for all his character life and that the actual robin that was seemingly bi was actually Jason Todd (I mean, Judd Winick was asked this and he couldn’t give a straight answer). And no, HES NOT NICE.

And apparently, Tim Drake is just smart dude. Like as if that’s all to him. I don’t have much to say because Tim seems constantly patronize to awkward, nerd kid that love hates Damian and….that’s about it. I don’t have much on him though.

And don’t get me started on the female Batfamily characters. It’s arguably worse just because try addressing it and it’ll be a social issue. Since the people above are guys, criticizing them won’t land you in as deep doo doo.

I don’t really get Steph so I won’t go in-depth but there has to be more to this character than snarky one liners, waffles, and “kick-butt”. With the exception of waffles, you’re describing how fictional media tends to depict females who’re strong and independent and needs no man in general if they’re not being damsel in distress or playing a role where they’re not really characters per-say.

And Cassandra Cain…it’s almost like you want a Mary-Sue ish character. Like no; she really can’t be beating everyone like it’s nothing. Male or female. Like no, her being “90 pounds” is not the problem. In a universe where there’s powerful metahumans of varying degrees and other character with fair skill too, going all Bruce lee can’t seriously be the only thing. Also, it’s like everyone fighting her H2H with gear forgets to use it. Some fans just wanna prop her up. Be fucking honest: you want Cassandra Cain beating ALL THE ASS because favorite character! It’s can’t be “because diversity” because she’s beating characters who’re considered diverse too and being shrilled over diverse characters too.

And with these two characters, why must people constantly argue who’s worthy of being the more “interesting” Batgirl? People act as If Barbara being paralyze was a legit attempt at diversity in disabled character, ignoring how it saddled a character unnecessarily of her own popularity with a problem because a writer wrote a AU that became canon. Like I get the passion behind Oracle but you cannot convince me that people should prefer a character sticking to being a major supporting character at best for your favorite. It’s fair to say she equally deserves to cash in her popularity or acknowledge that there’s a huge amount of fans perfectly okay with her mobility given she is the most recognized Batgirl.

Speaking of Barbara, when is anyone ever going to speak up about how she’s written to invalidate Dick’s feelings or written as If she must have a say so in his love life? And also, how is it that Dick is the sole bad guy in their relationship but writing doesn’t acknowledge her ridiculous expectations? And even worse, most people are unaware/side-swipe stark problems in her characterization. Take your Pre-52 I purposely don’t let my apparent “equal” in on a plan and rather make him feel he’ll have to do it all because I’m Barbara fucking Gordon. Or your New 52 I think Dick Grayson should drop finding LADY SHIVA to fight Joker because he’s supposed to be my friend? Or how about the time she’s written to use Canary’s garage without her consent and BURNED her dojo after a gadget malfunction? She isn’t perfect either even if writing pretends otherwise.

Like this apparent treatment in which the females must be “queens” or worshipped even with the Robins falls flat on its face anyway! Nobody talks about Betty Kane! Not many defended New 52 Helena Bertinelli and wants to talk how her Pre-52, bless her coolness, was strictly drawn like every other “attractive, black haired woman with blue eyes” and how that’s “iconic” and making her BI-RACIAL doesn’t erase her Italian heritage nor does it really take away from the character given she should of been distinct from Helena Wayne in the beginning! Nobody talks about how in-canon, Barbara is Dick’s one true love and Helena is told this after she kissed Dick and his body was hijacked by a super villain and being a black character, it may come off terrible that the white character is expressed as a preference over the black character however unintentionally (given the character is literally a nazi) and then said relationship is called a ship passing in the night by Tim Seeley.

Now I can’t possibly address all the Batfam characters but here’s my point; YES, your favorite character has flaws, other fans of characters like myself WILL call them out, and be fucking honest whatever spectrum you fall in; You want your favs respected because they’re your favs!

Like the level of denial and the pretending of inflating the character’s positive traits to ignore the bad and using social topics to defend from it has to stop! And no, depending on the instance and said flaw, it’s not just “bad writing”/“OOC” although it’s always subjective anyway given people will ride with one’s negative character trait if it enhances their perception of their fav!

#dc comics #batfamily #nightwing #batgirls #robins #red hood #red robin #spoiler #black bat #orphan