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thranduel · 2 years

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we’ve had a heart-to-heart scene with karen and mike, joyce and will, jonathan and will but not nancy and mike…

i think the perfect thing would be a parallel to jonathan’s scene with will and how he told him he’ll always love him no matter what. it would be such a beautiful moment and it would be even more emotional because we don’t see scenes like that with nancy and mike. also, they’re both older and more mature now and they’ve experienced so many struggles so they’ll be able to understand each other more. back when they were young, they didn’t have anything in common and they just bickered all the time. it’ll also be nice to see something new and refreshing for once instead of the same old boring things. we’ll find out about mike’s struggles and his repressed feelings for will and why he has been acting a certain way for so long, and then nancy can be there to support him and tell him she loves him and that everything will be okay, just like jonathan did for will.

she can also remind him that they don’t have to live the same life as their parents. they don’t need to conform and get married and start a nuclear family like everyone else. it’s okay to be different and it’s okay to do things that people don’t expect. and obviously there’s nothing wrong with getting married and having kids if that’s what people truly want, but the sad truth is that so many people only do it because it’s expected of them and they feel automatically pressured into it, and then they don’t end up as happy as they could’ve been. that’s the big difference here. and that’s exactly what nancy and mike’s parents did, so obviously they don’t want to follow in their footsteps.

and the reason i love stranger things so much is because the target audience was always supposed to be people that are “different” or don’t fit into what society considers “the norm”. i mean, the show is literally called stranger things! and i think it’s great to see them calling out forced conformity and society’s expectations and having characters that just don’t fit in like everyone else. the quiet kids, the queer kids, the nerdy kids, the kids that have been outcasted and struggle to find a place where they belong. i love how it shows that it’s okay to be different and there’s always people out there that will love and accept you for who you are. will and robin have jonathan and steve who love and support them so much even if there’s people out there who don’t, el has a found family that took her in and cared for her after all the trauma she went through in the lab, eddie had hellfire club that loved him and admired him while the rest of society hated him and looked down on him, and many more things.

i just think it would be such a beautiful message and it would fit the theme of the show if we end up with a beautiful slowburn queer relationship between two of the main characters that have been best friends for most of their lives and understand each other better than anyone else. it would perfectly fit the queer slowburn childhood best friends to lovers trope AND the “it’s always been you” trope and i think that’s so incredibly beautiful. and no, i’m not saying “everything has to be gay” or “we can’t have straight couples” lol. that’s not the point. i just think that mike and will fit together better than anyone else and it would also make the most sense narratively, because it would explain mike’s behaviour and make him so much more loveable, realistic and people would actually understand him and what he’s been struggling with. also, will has been in love with mike from the very beginning and he has suffered every single season and has barely had a moment of happiness. he deserves to finally be with the boy he loves more than anything and i think mike deserves to be with the person he can be his true self around too. it would be one of the most beautiful and powerful endings to a show.

#byler #mike wheeler #will byers #stranger things #they have the opportunity to do this so beautifully and i really hope they do #there’s so much potential here

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calronhunt · 1 year

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WITH THE MEME. theron with 1, 6, 7, 29, dominic with 11, 19 32

THERON

Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?

Theron's an only child for one, and possibly? His father doesn't have any siblings so he doesn't have any cousins on that side of the family, but I think his mother has some? so it's possibly he has some cousins around his age in India that he is just barely in contact with. No one he was particularly close to though (Out of anyone, Theron was closest to his father). probably just some cousins he saw every couple of years for a weekend or so.

and as for friends, uhhhhh he sees Dominic as a kind of brother figure. Not in a "you are actually my brother" kind of way, but in a like "You have been with me through a lot and i feel like i can trust you with anything" kinda way. which is clearly a good thing for him to believe and doesn't hurt him at all.

6/7. Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams/nightmares?

combining these two to save some space. Mmmmmaybe?? Theron dreams about his dad a lot though. Having dreams where his dad accepts him for being gay and on the flipside, having nightmares where his dad DOESN'T and bad stuff happens. Theron's dad was a very important person in Theron's life. and even though Theron knows his father's view on homosexuality (he was very vocal about not liking the Consul being a gay man) Theron still holds out hope that his dad would've accepted HIM. but he will never know that answer because his dad died before Theron had figured out his sexuality. and it really haunts Theron and his dreams.

29. What did your character dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?

Shadowhunters, sadly, don't have many options than going into the demon killing business. Killing demons is their job, and every shadowhunter child is put forth into this occupation. The only other option for Theron would be to become a Silent Brother (shadowhunter doctors, who have their eyes and mouths sealed shut with runes and also deal with shadowhunter funerals and births), or he could always be deruned and become a mundane. Which is painful and shameful process.

So yeah Theron from early childhood really wanted to be the best shadowhunter he could be, because he didn't have many other options. did he achieve that dream? possibly! He is considered one of the best shadowhunters in his generation (only second to dominic)

DOMINIC

11. In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?

If i'm going to be completely honest it's the situation the he was in the prologue of Crushed Olive Branch. Imagine being 5 years old, not remembering anything except your mom, she's not there, AND you're in a place you've never been before. Terrifying. There are other part of his childhood that weren't GREAT but i wouldn't describe them as him being "afraid." sadly. Dominic doesn't really scare easily.

19. What is your character’s biggest relationship flaw? Has this flaw destroyed relationships for them before?

lol. lol. lol. If we're talking Academy age Dominic, honestly he's a big people pleaser. He WANTS people to like him, so he goes along with things most people say. He had a couple girlfriends in academy, none of them lasted very long tho (because of his repressed homosexuality or his severe people pleaser attitude, you decide). He eventually stopped trying to do the whole "Girlfriend" thing and just started having casual hookups.

if we're talking CURRENT Dominic, than this bitch is such a selfish asshole. He's not a people pleaser anymore, he's wants people to please HIM. He got such a fucking ego that he thinks everyone needs to conform to his ideals and worldview and that everything would be easier if people just listened to him. will that ruin relationships for him? well luckily i am making a comic about just that thing.

32. Describe a scenario in which your character feels most uncomfortable.

when things are not about him.

was very tempted to just leave it at that, but i should probably give a like. GENUINE answer.

Honestly i think Dominic is the most uncomfortable when he's receiving some pushback. He's very used to people just going along with what he says, that if someone gives him genuine pushback he doesn't totally know how to respond except by saying some shit about he knows best and all that shit. He's such a shitty dude man.

#ask

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justbeingoceana · 4 years

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What happens when you haven’t listen to Shawn’s music in months, when you finally start back you have 12 million conspiracy theories about every song.

#this is why you don’t listen to music late at night #one song though was written specifically for these last 8 months #it fits way to well with everything #paints the love sick puppy #still a good song tho #or it’s just conformation that everything they’ve been saying is true #in which case they are both just dumb #if it takes you years to get with someone you claim to like there is actually a deeper problem #more than just being scared of feelings #it means you know you’re not right for each other #at least that’s my thought #if you know why wait especially if you are both single #okay im done now time to wrap up this rant

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wodrueckts · 2 years

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i’m actually kinda sad how acceptable it’s become in the fandom to hate on lou or at least to consider her character useless and annoying and that she shouldn’t have existed. and that is for the most part definitely due to the writing because it really didn’t do her any favours by involving her in a strange love triangle and basically pit her against the very easily likable and “uncontoversial” sascha (and let’s not even start about the robin of the hoods thing...) but i also think some people don’t really know how to take a character like her so she would’ve had a difficult time to get accepted either way. i mean people already said they don’t like her or don’t like her “vibes” or whatever in the first clip she appeared in when she had literally done nothing wrong yet. so of course something like robin of the hoods then is the perfect excuse to feel justified in the initial bias and not feel the need to examine why exactly they didn’t like her from the start.

and i’ve seen people accuse others of fatphobia for not liking her and yeah, i think that can definitely be part of it but i feel like that’s also a bit too reductive of an explanation. i think a reason for the bias against her is also that generally there aren’t a lot of characters like her in media that aren’t complete stereotypes or made into jokes. and by “like her” i mean female characters who aren’t very traditionally feminine both in appearance and behavior. there certainly aren’t any other characters like her in druck or really any of the other skams. and the skams are shows that are predominantly about girls and yet we barely have any characters that break out of traditional femininity beyond some little quirks here and there. and even lou isn’t really super masc or anything. at least when it comes to the way she dresses, i mean she wears crop tops most of the time and wears make up and skirts sometimes. but apart from her appearance she also doesn’t behave how women are traditionally supposed to behave and she certainly isn’t “ladylike”. she’s brash, unapologetic, outspoken, a bit abrasive, confident, tough (though she also has soft moments), stays true to herself and doesn’t bend to other people’s expectations of her and yeah, she’s also probably a bit obnoxious at times (but i mean, who isn’t). and of course every good feminist is gonna say that every woman has the right to behave like that and that those aren’t or shouldn’t be “unfeminine” qualities, but in praxis, turns out, people still tend to be a little uncomfortable with women or female fictional characters who behave like that. as seen with lou. and of course lou wasn’t perfect this season, she’s made mistakes and again, the writing often made her look even worse, but i still find the “hate” she got a bit disproportional to her actual actions.

however, i’m not here to accuse everyone who doesn’t like lou - or anyone in general - of anything. i’m generally not in the business of telling people what they should or shouldn’t like. i guess i’m just sad that characters like lou still have to fight an uphill battle when it comes to viewer perception and often get dismissed before they’ve even done anything. and i’m also sad that the writing this season even exacerbated that instead of trying to combat it.

and how all that led people to just completely disregard everything positive lou brought to the table. i mean, it seems like the consensus in the fandom by now is that her character was useless and didn’t add anything to the season and could’ve easily been replaced by any of the previously established characters. and honestly, i disagree.

for one, simply the representation of a more gender non-conforming female character is a first for the skams but something that is sorely needed and i’ll honestly be really disappointed if lou just disappears after this season (though that is very likely) so we even lose that representation.

and also her role in isi’s story was important, i think. unfortunately her impact, especially on isi’s gender journey, got kinda lost in the sauce due to the weak and wishy washy writing and how it was overshadowed by the whole love triangle drama. but i think isi meeting another person with a more untraditional gender expression was a great move and something that was needed and, again, i just wish the writing had been more effective in really establishing how she impacted that part of the story since ultimately it ended up being more tell than show, but in the end it WAS established that she was important for isi’s journey. so even if the writing of it wasn’t the best, doesn’t mean that that part of the story was useless or didn’t have any positive effect at all. and it definitely couldn’t have been fulfilled by any other preestablished character.

and also just personally, despite the things that annoy me about her/how she was written, i do like lou as a character and what she brought to the show and i like her friendship with isi and i’ll be sad if we never get to see her again.

#druck #not sure what this is #my lou apologist manifesto i guess

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hxneydreamers · 3 years

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i genuinely don’t understand why would people manifest their sp to turn “good” and be a better person with them even after they cheated or were overall not a good person to them. like no!! you deserve someone who is naturally not a fucking asshole!! please run!! i promise you’ll find better!!!

SHOULD I MOVE ON FROM MY SP?

Hey! Let me begin by saying that you have made a great point that I would love to cover in full here, not just to answer your question, but for anyone else who is reading this and is feeling doubtful and like they should move on.

So sorry that this is long, but it's a very important topic to cover and I'm very thankful that you prompted me to discuss it. I'm not trying to force you to believe this is true, you may not want to believe the law of assumption and that's ok because it's your life, I'm simply trying to explain why people do decide to manifest a specific person back because you said that you genuinely didn't understand why they would do that.

Before I go into this, I'll state that I PERSONALLY DO NOT ADVISE YOU TO MOVE ON OR DROP YOUR SP UNLESS THAT'S GENUINELY WHAT YOU WANT! I am definitely NOT encouraging people to drop their manifestations here and I will never limit anyone's belief. HERE IS WHY:

Would you tell someone that wants to improve their self-esteem to run away from the idea, because they've never had good self-esteem before? Would you tell someone who wants $1 000 000 to run away from the idea that this could be good for them because they've never had this much money before? Would you tell someone who wants to improve the health of a family member and cannot afford the healthcare or surgery they need for this to be 'possible' to just give up and move on, because things just are the way they are?

With the law of assumption, NOTHING is set in stone and NOTHING just 'is the way it is'. EVERYTHING is mailable. You should not succumb to the 3D and surrender to your circumstances, because you are the one controlling them, and by allowing yourself to just let things be, you are just giving those circumstances more power.

With regards to your message, I completely understand where you're coming from and I get that you only want to encourage people to accept 100% from people at all times, which I agree with. However, the difference is that your definition of only accepting 100% from people stems from the idea that people just naturally are the way they are and the only way to find what you want is to walk away from your SP and find someone who gives you this right off the bat. MY opinion, however, stems from my knowledge of the law of assumption, which means that all versions of people exist at the same time and you have the power to tap into the version of your SP who DOES give you 100% right off the bat.

I appreciate that you only want to empower people by telling them to walk away from those who have hurt them, I completely get it and I love that you are trying to help people by getting them to move forward onto someone 'better', but this is unfortunately the kind of limiting belief that we have to ignore if we really want to manifest someone specific. If someone still wants to be with an SP who has cheated, as per your example, they can, not only simply because they want to, but because (and this is what I would like you to try to understand) if they do manifest being in a loyal and loving relationship with their SP, they are not going to be with the same SP who cheated on them. THIS IS THEM MOVING FORWARD TO SOMETHING BETTER, only it's the same SP, just the version of them from a different reality that IS naturally inclined to treat them amazingly in order to reflect their new and stronger self-concept.

The whole idea is that multiple versions of people exist at the same time, they aren't manifesting the person who cheated on them to change, they're manifesting the version of themself who does not experience bad treatment from their partners, or anyone else for that matter.

In my posts about SP's, I have stated that when you manifest a specific person, you are not CHANGING anyone else, you are changing YOURSELF. You are simply improving your self-concept and self-esteem in order to step into your power and become the version of yourself that no one would dare to hurt. You become the version of yourself that is treasured and treated like a king/queen/ruler.

With all due respect, what you are saying is coming from too logical a perspective for the law of assumption, and the thing is that if you want to start to make the law work in your favour, you need to let go of logic and every limiting belief you have ever been taught that tells you that some things are just 'out of your control'.

Everyone is, and has always been manifesting, whether it's on purpose or not. Manifestation is not magic or a technique that you just decide to try, it is called the LAW of assumption for a reason. It is a law- it's the way things work. Everyone and everything operates under the law of assumption at all times, that's the whole point. Human consciousness and imagination have the power, and whatever they believe and focus on will always reflect back to you somehow, and it has always been doing this your whole life, you just weren't doing it on purpose.

Making people aware of the law of assumption is simply alerting people to the fact that this is how we have always operated without knowing, and to help people learn to use this to their advantage and start making specific things happen for them on purpose so that they can experience what they want! Since the law will always exist and always reflect our thoughts back to us anyway, we may as well make it work FOR us, right?

There really is no room for logic in the law of assumption, because manifestation is not really logical in that it is not in line with anything that we have been taught. Manifestations unfold in a way that may seem logical in the 3D, because in order for your reality to shift from one to the other, certain things must unfold to cause the domino effect that brings about your manifestation (this is called the 'bridge of incidents'), but that happens because our minds wouldn't be able to comprehend it otherwise, and if things manifested instantly, the world would be chaotic.

Also, (this is the most important part here), if you say that people should choose someone who is not 'NATURALLY an asshole', you should know this. You may not understand the law of assumption, so I understand your point from that perspective, but the thing is that nothing in your reality is final or naturally going to be/act a certain way because they are not acting of their own free will, they are only reflecting your inner assumptions, because you are in the reality where you are someone who believes this can happen.

If you first meet someone and they are an asshole to you, this does not mean they are naturally an asshole, it means that you have the belief that there is a possibility that people can be an asshole to you, whether you think that you deserve it or not. Following this first encounter with the person, you will now have the belief that they just are an asshole, and this is why you will continue to only experience them that way. Your 3D reality literally has NO CHOICE but to conform to your assumptions and dominant beliefs and thoughts, because this is the law!

People that want to manifest an SP need to recognise and understand that their SP's actions are only reflective of the way that they have been describing/constructing them in their mind and imagination, but what's MORE, is that their SP's actions towards them are also a reflection of the way they think of themselves as well.

If I were to have experienced being in a relationship with an SP who didn't prioritise me, then this is likely a reflection of the fact that I don't prioritise myself and do not see myself as important enough for others to prioritise, in turn. I may have insecurities that caused this, or I may simply believe that it is just possible for me to be treated like this by someone, because 'that's just how the world works. There are good people and bad people.' False. None of these circumstances matter and all of this can literally stop existing if I were to work on my self-concept and step into the version of myself that is always ALWAYS TREATED LIKE A GODDESS! This completely eliminates the possibility of ANYONE treating me like I'm less than number one, INCLUDING AN SP! Your SP is as easy to manifest as any person or thing, the only reason it may seem like a bigger deal is because of emotional attachment to the situation.

I would honestly never advise someone to just give up on an SP and move on to someone new, and this is why:

1. If they give up on their SP then they are basically surrendering to the 3D and giving the SP power. I would never encourage someone to do this, as this implies that their circumstances are just too hard to overcome, but the fact of the matter is that CIRCUMSTANCES DO NOT MATTER! THIS is why they can manifest an SP, regardless of what 'has happened' or not.

2. If they give up on their SP and move on to someone new in hopes of 'finding someone better' without having changed their beliefs and assumptions first, this could result in them repeating the same cycle all over again with the new person, because they still have the same negative beliefs and have not improved their self-concept! Let's say for example I am manifesting an SP who cheated on me and didn't prioritise me and then I decide to just pick a new SP. More than likely, the new SP is also not going to treat me how I deserve to be treated because I still haven't done anything to address the issue at hand, which is NOT that the SP is a dickhead, it's that I have the assumption that I'm not prioritised in my relationships. Sooner or later, you'll have to deal with your self-concept, because you'll just end up going through the same shit with a different SP. There is no running away from this, moving on to someone new is not going to magically make it all better, moving on to a new way of thinking is what will help.

3. The past is not even real. The past feels real and exists because we experienced it once and we have emotions attached to it, but after it has 'happened' in the 3D, it only exists in your memories- aka your IMAGINATION. If you want to keep living in the reality where this stuff has happened to you and you keep feeling the ripple effects of this event, then go on and keep feeding that memory energy by thinking about it and giving it life, but if you make the decision to revise it or just completely abandon the notion that this bad thing has happened to you and you move forward with new beliefs and change your thinking for the better, you can literally change the past and how you feel as a result. Think of life as a choose your own adventure novel, however literally EVERY POSSIBILITY YOU CAN IMAGINE EXISTS! You can select any reality you want and if you really want it, you should put in the work, and then it will manifest. This means that there is a reality where this past event did not even happen, this is how people can change their appearance and health, and this is how people can recover a relationship from past 'cheating' instances, by not giving any power to the past and choosing the reality where this has never happened to them and never could because they are the prize!

4. When you are manifesting an SP, you obviously affirm for yourself and your self-concept and you begin to change into a more confident and powerful version of yourself, yes? When this happens, you take the SP off the pedestal and put yourself on it, which actually in some cases can result in you losing attachment to your SP and deciding to go for someone/something new. So some people do end up moving on to a new person, but only because they might feel liberated by losing emotional attachment to their person. It is ultimately a personal choice if people decide to continue with their SP or move on, but there is no right or wrong here. There is nothing wrong with you staying with the same person or choosing someone new. It's your reality and you have the power and you have the right to decide for yourself.

You can advise people to move on with the best intentions, but nothing you say or do is really going to change the fact that people still have feelings for an SP and want to fix their circumstances with them. Ultimately, people want what they want, and if they still have feelings for their SP and want to be with a better version of them, despite their 'past actions', they have the right to do it, because it is THEIR reality. If you really think its best for people to just move on, then you should know that if they choose to go down the path of consciously manifesting a better version of their SP back, they ARE moving on to someone new - and lucky them, because they get the specific person that they love, and they get to experience them in an incredible, healthy and loving way! <3

You do you - and if you believe for yourself that it's better to move on to a completely new person, that's absolutely fine and you should do that for yourself if you're ever faced with the situation because that's what will be true in your reality. It is your reality after all and you make the rules, but when it comes to other people manifesting a specific person for themselves, they have the choice and they have the right to decide what's best for them, no one else. <3

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geekgirles · 3 years

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Mirrors

Disclaimer: This was originally going to be much longer (and it is very long already) but since I might have overdone it, I will be cutting it in two. The second part will feature the similarities and differences between Marinette and Kagami and some final thoughts.

Part 2

Kagami’s name means ‘mirror’ in Japanese, and according to Thomas Astruc, that’s not a coincidence. Indeed, she’s supposed to be a reflection of the main characters. This trait is best seen through her role as an alternative love interest for Adrien, but she is also a reflection of Marinette’s own character; more specifically, her own relationship with Adrien.

However, the way Kagami works as a mirror changes from one character to the other. For Adrien, she’s a direct parallel to many of the traits that make him who he is, only that she adds more nuance to them. For Marinette, despite their many similarities, they are also opposites.

In this analysis I will reflect (pun not-intended) on the way Kagami works as Adrien’s mirror, how she does the same for Marinette, and the way that affects her relationship with both of them.

Adrien and Kagami:

As Adrien’s alternative love interest over Ladybug, it is to be expected that Kagami would have enough things in common with him for Adrien to be able to relate to her and see her as something other than a friend.

And this is one of the reasons why Adrien has considered Kagami as his girlfriend and not Marinette; her proximity to his own situation.

Kagami’s introductory episode, Riposte, already focused a lot of its attention in highlighting how similar the two are. Aside from sharing a common interest in fencing (which allows them later on to spend time together outside of school or business-related occasions), Riposte already showed enough of Kagami’s background to make us understand why Adrien would bond with her. Their respective parents are both strict, expect nothing but the best from their kids’ performance in everything they do and, most importantly, they’re both very absent in their lives while simultaneously being present in every aspect of them.

We all know how Gabriel controls every single aspect of Adrien’s life while never spending time with his son at the same time, but Tomoe is just as controlling and overprotective. In Ikari Gozen she considered her daughter having friends should be at the bottom of her priority list, even hinting some trust issues with the sole idea.

And, despite that, in Riposte Kagami was all alone in the car, calling her mother to let her know that she had failed, but not showing any signs of expecting any sort of comfort from her. After all, she said it herself:

“There's no such thing as a second chance in my family.”

Another parallel between Adrien and Kagami is precisely the fact that Tomoe relies on someone else to look after her daughter, just like Gabriel tends to shove his responsibilities with Adrien onto Nathalie and Gorizilla. Except that in Tomoe’s case it’s even worse; she entrusts her daughter to Tatsu, an artificial intelligence, not a human being.

Of course, the similarities between them don’t end there. Adrien and Kagami are pretty much birds of a feather in the sense that both of them are very inexperienced with socialising. They’re both lonely, rich kids with a difficult home life who just want to be able to do things most kids their age do.

That’s why Adrien connected so well with Kagami; they’re on the same boat.

As I said earlier, Kagami acts as a mirror to Adrien, not only because of the similarities that have already been discussed, but also because her personality is very much like Adrien’s, except she either takes things to the extreme, or isn’t as similar to Adrien as she should.

Facing their parents:

Believe it or not, when it comes to calling out their parents for their behaviour, Adrien is more willing to face his father than Kagami her mother.

Ever since his mother disappeared, Adrien’s been trying to be there for his father. Pretty much everything he does that isn’t related to his friends or his life as Chat Noir he does it for Gabriel. He studies Chinese, goes to photoshoots, fences, plays the piano, and any other extracurricular activity I might have forgotten about because he thinks that’s what will make his father happy. Deep down, Adrien knows it’s unfair that he’s forced to live like that, he just sucks it up because he knows his father’s hurting and wants to alleviate that burden.

But whenever Gabriel’s behaviour becomes too unreasonable for even Adrien to excuse, he’s always ready to rebel against him in some way. In Origins he tried and succeeded in going to school instead of staying at home like his father wished. In Santa Claws he ran away from home because of Gabriel’s cold and distant attitude despite being the first Christmas without Emilie for the both of them. In Simon Says, as Chat Noir, he called his father out on his stubbornness and refusal to get help despite being an akuma’s main target. And in Feast he showed his disappointment and disapproval of the way Gabriel brushed Nathalie’s condition off.

And he did all that on his own, either for himself or for the sake of others.

Kagami, on the other hand, still relies on others to face her mother. In Ikari Gozen, despite going against her mother’s wishes, it wasn’t until Marinette had the guts to try and stand up to Tomoe that Kagami managed to put her foot down in her request to spend some time with her new friend. And unlike Adrien as Chat Noir in Simon Says where, despite having some help from the confidence his secret identity gives him, he confronted his father on his behaviour, Ryuuko confronted Ikari Gozen, not Tomoe. In other words, she stood her ground against an exaggeration of her mother’s flaws, not against her mother’s true self.

Moving on:

While the show has shown Adrien having difficulties letting go of Ladybug, the main difference between him and Kagami is that he has at least considered it. Since Frozer, Kagami has shown she will fight for Adrien until the very end.

In fact, of the four teens romantically involved with each other, Kagami is the only one who hasn’t expressed any sort of conformity with the idea of her love interest not choosing her in the end. Even Marinette and Adrien, despite hurting immensely, had considered letting go of their respective crushes and pursuing somebody else when it looked like they were getting nowhere.

In Frozer, despite acting nonchalant about it, Kagami was very clear to Adrien: “The day you realize you've got the wrong target, I'll be here.”

With that she makes it very obvious that she’s willing to wait for Adrien, no matter how long it takes him to realise his feelings for her. That’s Kagami’s approach: she prefers to wait before accepting defeat.

In a way, this makes her a foil to Luka as well.

Ever since Frozer, Luka has shown he will support Marinette if she chooses to go after Adrien instead of him in the end, whereas Kagami, while never outright declaring she won’t be there for Adrien if he weren’t to choose her, she never really hinted she would move on from him if he did, either.

The best example of this would, in a way, be what she said as Oni-Chan: “He's the only one who's worthy of me! And the only one I will ever love!”

If I’m being perfectly honest, this sentence doesn’t do Kagami’s character and her feelings for Adrien justice. The way it was written, it just makes her look unreasonable and like a yandere. And you might say it’s because she was akumatised. And you would be right, if it weren’t because Luka’s confession to Marinette also doubled as a declaration of protection and wasn’t painted in nowhere near the same negative light.

But back to the point.

Summing up, the kind of trouble Adrien has moving on he inherited from his father (in a, thankfully, less worrisome way), Kagami has too, but hers seems to be more severe. And there’s a high chance this will play an important role in Lies, or at least in season 4...

Making friends:

Now, as stated above, this is one of the points they have the most in common but also have the most differences in; their issues with socialising.

What makes the two of them so similar is that they’re both kids who’ve been sheltered their whole life, kids who long to have some friends of their own, and who, as a result, struggle greatly with reading social cues.

However, their respective personalities are what really makes the difference.

Adrien is kind, honest, and approachable, both on a superficial and deep level. Kagami, on the other hand, is all those things, but once you get to know her; at first glance she might seem cold, honest to the point of brutality, and difficult to connect with.

Unlike Lila, who got the class’ attention for her supposed life and high status, these two really are the children of influential people, and yet that’s not why the class appreciates Adrien, or even pretends to get along with Kagami for what it could give them. They’re not that shallow.

The class likes Adrien because he’s a cinnamon roll. And, judging by the girls’ reactions to Kagami in both Frozer and Desperada, they aren’t close to her because they only know her on a superficial, non-flattering level.

They’ve both been sheltered and yet, Adrien manages to connect with others better. While Kagami had to rely on an app to try and get along with Marinette, with rather awkward results. And, let’s not forget, it wasn’t until Marinette got to see Kagami was just like Adrien at the beginning that she realised that she’d misjudged her and actively tried to be her friend.

And now the three of them are close friends! (Leaving shipping drama aside…)

The main difference between the two is that, at first sight, Adrien is more approachable than Kagami.

Recklessness:

As the series progressed, we’ve seen little by little how these two tend to be reckless at times. Especially when handling their miraculouses.

Now, it is true that Marinette has made her fair share of mistakes as well because she was impulsive, but most of the time that flaw shone through as Marinette, not Ladybug. Whereas Adrien and Kagami appeared to be far more composed as their civilian selves (because they have to be due to their parents’ strictness) than their superhero selves.

When they both received their miraculouses they both made the same mistake: they transformed before learning everything they needed to in order to be effective users. In Adrien’s case, he didn’t listen to Plagg when he was about to tell him about the Cataclysm’s time limit. And in Kagami’s she transformed just as Longg was about to tell her about Ladybug’s plan.

As a result, Chat Noir wasted his power when facing off against Stone Heart, and Ryuuko allowed Ikari Gozen to capture Chat Noir.

Moreover, in both cases they viewed their newfound powers as a chance to escape their parents and their lifestyles, both literally and figuratively. Therefore, judging by these similarities as well as the others we have already discussed, I’m going to dub this impulsiveness they display as superheroes as the “Sheltered Rich Kid Syndrome.”

Even so, there is a difference between the two: Kagami was actually more reckless than Adrien when she first transformed.

In Origins, Chat Noir acted on his own not because he wanted to, but because Ladybug was still doubting herself to be of assistance. But, the moment she stepped in and took charge of the situation, Chat followed her plans without hesitation.

Kagami, on the other hand, fuelled by her own issues with her mother, her impulsiveness, and her newfound liberty, insisted on taking on Ikari Gozen by herself without a plan or even Ladybug and Chat Noir’s assistance (despite them being the seasoned heroes of Paris). And this decision lacked forethought because 1) she had no experience fighting akumas, 2) despite her experience fighting her mother, Kagami always loses (and that is when Tomoe has no superpowers), and 3) she obviously had no strategy.

It wasn’t until she ultimately failed and made things more complicated for the heroes that she realised her mistake.

In other words, while both Adrien and Kagami use their alter egos as an escape from their proverbial prisons, Adrien takes his responsibilities as Chat Noir and his loyalty to Ladybug more seriously than Kagami.

Honesty:

I did say earlier that Adrien and Kagami are both honest people. Even so, saying they’re at the same level of honesty would be a lie.

Adrien’s sincerity is what warmed Marinette up to him, just like it did for Kagami, but he’s nowhere near as honest as Kagami.

As @miraculouslycool and @flightfoot pointed out not long ago, Lila is actually what Adrien would have turned into if it weren’t for his redeeming qualities and the use he gives to his abilities. Because both are kids who have learned to be sneaky in order to get what they want. Adrien can’t afford to have his father finding out about the things he hides from him because it would lead to disastrous consequences, like when he pulled him out of school over the grimoire.

True, Adrien chooses to be honest, kind to others, and the best person he can possibly be. Major kudos for that. But he’s still not above lying or using relatively underhanded tactics to get the results he wants. The best example being his lie to Théo about being an item with Ladybug just to get him to back off.

In a way, that could be a reason why he’s so disgusted by Lila’s behaviour. Unlike him, she doesn’t use her lies and manipulation as a last resort, she uses them with everyone regardless of her interactions with them and the consequences of her actions just because she can.

But I’m getting off topic.

As stated above, Adrien chooses to be honest, but is perfectly capable of being sly and sneaky. He knows how to operate in the shadows.

Kagami doesn’t.

And that is probably because in her case not being honest is what can get her in serious trouble, let alone if she misbehaves or not. So, fear of the consequences tied with a natural disdain for lies have made Kagami to be honest to a fault.

And this wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if it weren’t for the fact that she’s so honest, she becomes brutally honest; coming off as rude to others. To put it simply, Kagami doesn’t know how to sugarcoat things, for one reason or another. Which is why her assessment on Marinette’s personality based on her deduction of her blood type and a single question about her favourite season can be seen as rude or impolite. And it is perfectly fine to see it like that! After all, that is the conclusion many of us would arrive at if we were in Marinette’s situation and had no context on why the other person is acting like that.

Honestly, if I’d been in Marinette’s shoes, I would’ve been like, “Joke’s on you. I’m type A.”

Basically, while Adrien is used to working in the shadows, Kagami is forthright and prefers to face things head on, and both are mindsets and strategies with strengths and weaknesses.

The rings:

Now this is another delicious parallel between the two, just like Marinette and Luka both have earrings.

As we’ve been saying all along, Adrien and Kagami both have a lot on their plate. They have many responsibilities that can become a burden in the long run, especially when we keep in mind that they are still children. Just like Marinette is exhausted from having to be level-headed and responsible in so many scenarios.

However, the rings Adrien and Kagami wear are both parallels and opposites from one another. They both represent some kind of responsibility at their core, but the effects of said responsibility vary.

In Adrien’s case, he wields the black cat miraculous. Needless to say, this ties him with the duties that come from being Chat Noir and having the power of destruction by his side. A power that, as seen in Miraculer and the New York Special, can be disastrous if handled poorly. And yet, his miraculous actually represents the best part of his life, because it gives him freedom. Being Chat Noir has allowed him to be himself, without the restraint from his father’s presence. It gave him the chance to meet Ladybug who, aside from being the girl he loves, is also his best friend. The miraculous has just… given him a chance to live.

Adrien’s ring is his saving grace.

On the contrary, Kagami’s ring represents the kind of duties she’s far more familiar with. Her ring ties her to her family.

That ring is a constant reminder of the pressure she’s under, of her family’s expectations, of the person she’s been raised to believe she should be. Which is symbolised by her family’s kanji being engraved on the ring.

As seen in Riposte, when Kagami loses any kind of challenge she’s supposed to have been prepared for, she believes she has let her family down.

Kagami’s ring is the lock of her golden cage.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

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linkspooky · 4 years

Text

Can I Be a Hero?

Shigaraki and Hawks are two children who started with the exact same dream, to become a hero only to take completely opposite paths in life. One raised from childhood to be a hero by the hero association, and the other raised by AFO to become a villain.

These two characters are written in parallel, as intentional hero-villain foils. They’re destined to meet in canon one day and just keep barely missing one another so until then let’s explore more of their relationship under the cut.

1. The Same

First, there are several similarities in both their characters and their origins.

They both come from abusive households. In Hawks’ case it’s only implied but, one he lives in trash and squalor with a beer bottle in the background. The dysfucntion in Hawks’ household life from an early age is obvious, to the point where having his life uprooted by the hero commission is considered a privilege because they promised to pay for everything.

Shigaraki came from what seemed on the surface to be a healthy household. His father was a succesful businessman, the family owned the house, even the in-laws were happily invited to live in the house. Hawks is implied to have grown up in isolation, whereas Shigaraki grew up surrounded by people. However, Tenko suffered from a quieter, and subtler more insidious form of domestic abuse where he was the scapegoated child of an otherwise “Happy home.” Tenko was treated as the problem child and made constantly to feel bad for suffering his father’s abuse like he provoked it by breaking the rules.

They both were born into a sort of lineage. Hawks is most likely related to the Great Theif Takami who Endeavor captured, and Shigaraki is the grandson of Nana Shimura.

They’re both adversely affected by the circumstances they were born into. Hawks’ household was probably in that condition because his father was a villain, or his father was captured and he was living on his own. Shigaraki was targeted by AFO because he was Nana’s descendant, and Kotaro carried his feelings of Nana’s abandonment with him for life and this eventually turned him into Tenko’s abuser.

They both have an event that sets them on their life course.

Tenko’s quirk activates on accident killing his whole family.

Tenko sees a truck accident and uses his quirk to save several people.

As a result of these incidents they are “saved” from their abusive households. It’s important to notice the difference, Hawks conforms by being offered a chance at education and a better life if he decides to become a hero. However, Shigaraki destroyed the household that demanded conformity from him in the first place. He becomes outcasted as a result to the point where nobody even notices him suffering on the street.

They’re both saved by predatory people who take their original names away:

Takami’s name is suppressed and he’s given a hero name instead. He’s literally renamed as a hero.

Tenko is renamed with AFO’s last name. He’s literally renamed as a villain.

On a third note they are both children who you would never look for if they went missing: Hawks was poor, Tenko was literally neglected in the middle of the street in broad daylight allowing AFO to kidnap him.

That’s even literally brought up by All Might and Gran Torino. If they had ignored Nana’s request, and actually monitored her child Kotaro and his family then Shigaraki never would have happened.

They’re both defined by their quirk, to the extent that their whole lives have been defined by it.

Shigaraki was born with a quirk suited for destruction, and this is what several characters insist that’s all he’s capable of. Shigaraki is then raised to be a symbol of fear who lusts only for destruction.

Hawks was called a genius for his quirk, and raised as a prodigy hero. His quirk is ideally suited for saving people and he’s done so his entire life. His own wish was to become a shining light that inspires everyone the same way Endeavor inspired him.

This is where they start to diverge. There’s more details I could go on about with all the differences, but I’ll summarize it like this. They present themselves as literal opposites. That is, the character they show to others. Their image. Etc.

Shigaraki is regarded by everyone he meets as a man child. He has visible scarring on his face that he hides. He’s frank and honest, and always tells everyone exactly how he’s feeling.

Hawks’ thing is being “The Man who goes too fast.” If Shigaraki never grew up, then Hawks grew up far too fast. Hawks is deceiptful, never shows his true face even though he doesn’t wear a mask. He’s considered traditionally attractive, does modeling, and is extremely popular and well liked.

2. But Different

If there’s one way to summarize the main difference between Hawks and Shigaraki it’s this. Shigaraki externalizes everything, every feeling, every little bit of trauma he has, instead of holding it all inside of him he pushes everything out. Hawks internalizes he has a rich inner world, but everything on the surface is vapid, it’s shallow, it’s just a performance for him. All of his trauma is inside of him, and he keeps it there. His real self is hidden somewhere in a cage deep within.

The reason they rely on these different strategies of expression is entirely to do with how they were raised. Hawks was raised inside of the system, and was taught confromity. Shigaraki was raised outside of the system. He was taught the exact opposite, to never conform to anybody’s standards.

They both grew up inside of an assigned role. Shigaraki was told it was his job to destroy whatever he likes, Hawks was told it was his job to save people. However, Hawks is not a better person, or a better victim than Shigaraki. Interanlization is just as bad of a coping strategy as externalization, and just as unhealthy. They are both characters who are barely coping with a lifetime worth of the trauma as being raised as literal child soldiers and exposed to so much violence a young age they’re both desensitized and numb to it. They’re hurting all the time, but also they’re numb.

They’re so similiar down to the fact that they both have the same internal desire. Shigaraki longs to be free from all of his trauma, and Hawks longs to be free from the weight of his responsibility, but it’s still the same longing.

But they are different.

It would be easy to say that Hawks is the more selfless character because he devotes himself to saving others, whereas Shigaraki is the more selfish because he lashes out at the world from his trauma. However, there’s no such thing as a perfectly selfless person. Hawks is capable of shockingly great feats of selfishness. Shigaraki is someone who can be selfless and do things for other people.

Hawks will go out of his way to destroy people too, just like Shigaraki. Hawks will destroy his own friends.

There’s a marked difference in the way Hawks and Shigaraki both treat Twice, someone who is a victim with many things in common with the both of them. Twice is someone who did not get saved and fell through the cracks like Shigaraki. Twice is someone who grew up in abject poverty and had to rely on his quirk to survive like Hawks.

Twice is constantly more of a burden to the league than an asset. He’s the reason Magne died, because his too trusting nature had him invite someone like Chisaki without knowing the risk. A normal villain would throw Twice out for his incompetent mistake, but instead he’s comforted.

Shigaraki says the two of them can work together to fix his mistake. Instead of being thrown out, he’s told he’s needed. He’s asked to stay together with the league for everyone’s sake. Twice at this point is still too traumatized to use his quirk properly. Afterwards, he fails even to duplicate Chisaki’s special bullets. However, Twice has value to the league no matter what his quirk can do. He’s valued as a person.

He’s humanized, both by Shigaraki’s and Toga’s actions together.

However, Hawks reacts differently. He dehumanizes the people who need his saving the most. When he’s at his most vulnerable, Hawks corners him and rutlessly mocks him.

Look at the opposite way they show their faces. Shigaraki shows his full face for the first time to Twice when Twice, whereas when Hawks reveals his true intentions his face is almost completely obscured.

Hawks dehuamnizes twice in two regards. One, he insists that Twice conform to his black and white standards. Hawks divides people into good people worthy of saving and bad people who are not. Every member of the league is a victim like Twice. However, Hawks only considers one of them a good person, and one of them is worth saving. Even when Twice says they’re all his friends, Hawks demands Twice betray all of them for the sake of himself. Of course Hawks would, Hawks doesn’t even know what it means to have friends.

The second way Twice is dehumanized is that Hawks only sees him as the potential damage his quirk can do. Twice is not a three dimmensional person, with reasons for what he’s doing, thoughts, and feelings. Hawks only sees him as a time bomb about to go off. This also relates how Hawks sees people in general, he always, always, always strips them down to their worth to him. Endeavor is someone he can position to be the next number one hero. Twice is someone to use to get closer to the league, and then destroy because he’s too trusting. Hawks only got close to Tokoyami because he wanted information about Class A, even though he did grow a little bit more fond of him.

Twice makes mistakes over and over again for the league, but he’s never thrown out. Even when Twice is the reason the raid is happening, Dabi rushes as fast as he can to save him, Toga almost loses herself avenging him. Twice’s life had value.

Except to Hawks.

Here we strike upon the difference between them and it’s almost entirely in how they treat the people closest between them. They’ve been raised all of their lives as tools, but Shigaraki doesn’t treat other people as tools. Shigaraki accepts people and gives them shelter, Hawks throws them out.

Shigaraki also used to be like this. He used to throw away all the recruits that AFO gave him and waste them on stunts like the UA Invasion. However, it’s something he grew past.

Which is one more difference between them. Shigaraki has this great capacity for change that Hawks has not shown us so far. They both long to be free, but Shigaraki is the only one of the two of them that actually fights against something for that freedom.

Shigaraki will always choose to make his own decisions, to be his own person.

However, Hawks is given that same choice and chooses the opposite. He wants his decisions made for him. He wants to remain inside the cage because it’s safer there.

It’s not just that though - it also extends to how they treat other people. Shigaraki liberates those he interacts with. Twice, Himiko, Dabi, Magne, Spinner, Mr. Compress (whatever his issues are) are all given a place of belonging within the league.

However, Hawks will take away the freedom of other people too. He does so to Twice. He possibly did so to Best Jeanist. He pushes others to conformity, believing that is what saves them because it saved him.

Utlimately what’s different about them is the choices they make despite their circumstances. Hawks was given a choice to be free. He’s given the oppurtunity to get better but doesn’t. Every time Shigaraki fails he learns from his lesson. Shigaraki is rising up, and Hawks is spiraling downward entirely because of the choices they made. Shigaraki has friends, Hawks has none. (Because he murdered the only real friend he did have).

That’s not to judge on whether they’re good or bad people. It’s just the direction their arcs are taking them. Shigaraki has always been on a self improvement kick, getting better with every failure. Hawks tragically is consumed by his failures and gets worse and worse, hence why there are so many references to Icarus in his character.

It’s been built up for a long time now that Hawks is going to meet Shigaraki at some point. In fact his desire to meet Shigaraki is what caused the hero raid on the PLF in the first place.

Those two are destined to meet in a Javert / Jean Valjean fashion. However, the question is what will Shigaraki do now? Hawks is someone who at least had a chance of Shigaraki sympathizing with him before because Shiga takes in all kinds of strays. However, now with Hawks chosen action to kill Twice who genuinely sympathized with him - he must have murdered off any chance of that.

Either way the two have so much in common that they have to meet. At which point Hawks’ fate will be left in Shigaraki’s hands. It’s likely even if Hawks is to be saved, it will be Shigaraki’s job to do it, because Shigaraki is the character with the most in common with him.

Either way their meeting has been building for a long time, and when they do finally meet something will change about both of them. That’s how integral both of their parallel stories are about one another.

#hawks #takami keigo #shigaraki tomura #shigahawks #the shigahawks agenda lol #tomura shigaraki #tenko shimura #lov meta #league of villains meta #league of villains friendship #mha meta #my hero academia meta #my hero academia theory

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sukirichi · 3 years

Note

hi suki! wanted to tell you this bc i have no one else to talk about it with ><

( you can answer this when the English chapter releases! i was able to read it because my friend bought the WSJ issue)

I was trying to udnerstand Naoy's character, so I was reding everything from CH138-151 again. I'm kinda sad at how people just calls Naoya a Toji fanboy (though true LMAO) and not realizing how Toji really influenced his persona. Like the admiration Naoya held for Toji is so deeply engraved in him that he, who was called a genius sorcerer as a child, looks up to a man who was called a failure. Toji is probably the only man in the clan that he respected, that's why toji's level of strength became his "picture" to follow. And I think a lot of who Naoya has become is because the Zen'ins literally groomed the decency out of him. Still, though groomed to be everything he is, he himself chose not to change anything about it.

(wait but also?? little naoya looks cute like he would guide old ladies on the ped xing so what the fuck happened after that)

I guess one major reason why he does not respect anyone else in the clan (besides his superiority complex) is because of the Zen'in's concept of what is marked as strong. Like, the way they see and treated him as if he's the best sorcerer in the making, yet failing to see Toji's powers and rejecting him fully. It's something similar to Mai when she said "Maki has talent that I don't. And the clan rejected that; that talent that I lacked", except Naoya is raised to be a confident (arrogant?) child, thus he takes it as a challenge instead and works to achieve it.

So, when Maki reached the level of Toji, I think his reaction wasn't simply stemmed on his "fanboy" antics, but his desperation of being part of that level of strength. I think he's more irritated in the fact that Maki, someone who he does not see anywhere near as strong as he is (though he does say Maki is strong in chapter 138), reached a level of strength that he hasn't; that he is trying hard to achieve. It's also the same with having your favorite superhero getting defeated. And Naoya's in denial that there is someone else who could be the same as Toji.

I like how he's an antagonist that was not build under the foundation of a sob backstory (though it was a v small sneak peak of his background and was mainly centered with his admiration for toji, plus I think people forget that Naoya is an antagonist), how he acknowledges that he has not reached that level of strength. Of course, I'm angsty about his misogynistic ideals. I get that he's from a very traditionalist clan so... yeah. I mean, no child is born evil. Children learn from those around them (I've seen many people say he's trash since he was a kid when he said that "i wonder what miserable face he has", but like he's a kid, he doesn't know what he's saying AHSJFJWJQ8QR he was either taught that or he just learned it from others. Funnily enough, he does say toji has a pretty face now LMAO). Maybe it stems from something else, maybe it didn't.

I'm not saying him trying to kill Megumi is forgotten (Though, the Jujutsu Society is a place where teens get executed for the simple fact that they are too strong, so im not surprised. Just like Noritoshi said, age does not matter in Jujutsu Society). I see now why he was really pissed about Megumi being the head, since Naoya has been promised the position since he was young, only to loose of a 15 year old who is the son of the man he admires :')) However, still, none of it excuses the shit he did. He still has a shitty personality, but it's nice to know a bit of a background.

Anyway, that's all for now. My English is bad so that might be all over the place •`,`• That's just my take on it so I could be wrong or maybe seeing him wrong since we still don't know much abt him. I'm always scared to talk about naoya because the last time i did (on twt) i got a backlash of hate (ppl really do get hate just from admiring someone's characterization). Your blog is like a safe haven for naoya stans, so i thank you for that hehe.

Have a nice day suki!! kisses~

(also this is a PSPSPSPS to a naoya childhood friends au fic pls 👁👁)

bestie omg I am so sorry, I found this deep in my inbox and I am *shakes* and yes yes let’s talk about naoya, I would be more than glad to and I’m sorry I didn’t see this any sooner!! more rants and simping under the cut

I'm kinda sad at how people just calls Naoya a Toji fanboy (though true LMAO) and not realizing how Toji really influenced his persona. Like the admiration Naoya held for Toji is so deeply engraved in him that he, who was called a genius sorcerer as a child, looks up to a man who was called a failure. Toji is probably the only man in the clan that he respected, that's why toji's level of strength became his "picture" to follow. And I think a lot of who Naoya has become is because the Zen'ins literally groomed the decency out of him. Still, though groomed to be everything he is, he himself chose not to change anything about it.

omg for this…I’m actually like…like I love the detail that naoya admires toji? as we can see from the panel of little naoya, it’s like people have already planted in his head that no cursed energy = loser, yet he ended up admiring him and I am,,,my heart is just soft! exactly! just think of naoya born as a genius sorcerer yet his admiration for toji, who is painted as the clan’s failure, helped shape him into who he is! idk but I just really love the fact that naoya, who is like born with the pressure and role of being clan leader, somewhat strays from tradition and ends up finding strength into toji and even strives to follow him or “stand by him” someday. for me, it just shows that perhaps naoya isn’t really half as bad as he should be in an honest sense, meaning that he’s evil or morally corrupt because he was born that way or because he chose to be that way. I do agree that perhaps he is the way he is now because he’s groomed to be like that, but of course, I’m not going to disregard the fact that somewhere along the way, Naoya could’ve matured to choose himself to not embody the misogynistic tradition of the zen’in clan.

This could just be me, but my interpretation of it is that Naoya seems more like the perfect product or embodiment of how the clan shaped him to be, blinded him with false morals and the patriarchy presiding into them. Rather than Naoya being just “a misogynistic arrogant man” in my perspective and my opinion, I see him more into the bigger picture of his toxic upbringing to begin with. Like, no child is born evil unless there’s like a predetermined curse deciding their fate for them, so its partly the Zen’in clan’s fault he’s that way. But Gege showing that Naoya admiring someone the Zen’in clan disregarded, it shows that he is capable of being himself without the clause of his clan enforcing things to him once again, like the whole “he’s gonna be the future clan leader” thing, though that is still heavily embedded within him.

(wait but also?? little naoya looks cute like he would guide old ladies on the ped xing so what the fuck happened after that)

OMGGGG PLEASE THAT’S SO CUTE, HE LOOKED SO INNOCENT AND ADORABLE BUT EVEN AS A CHILD HE WAS ALREADY CALLING PEOPLE A LOSER LIKE EYE

I guess one major reason why he does not respect anyone else in the clan (besides his superiority complex) is because of the Zen'in's concept of what is marked as strong. Like, the way they see and treated him as if he's the best sorcerer in the making, yet failing to see Toji's powers and rejecting him fully. It's something similar to Mai when she said "Maki has talent that I don't. And the clan rejected that; that talent that I lacked",except Naoya is raised to be a confident (arrogant?) child, thus he takes it as a challenge instead and works to achieve it.

Anon, is it just me or like…was his superiority complex also enforced on him by the Zen’in clan as well? Again this could just be me going all psychologist mode on Naoya but the nature of superiority complex is quite interesting, you know! As a psych student, I perfectly understand that superiority complex either stems from several things like a) wanting to live up to one’s or others expectations, b) masking it with a deep stem of insecurity, or c) it’s a coping mechanism. See, I could go on and on about but then I’d have to link all my past studies lmao so let’s just put it on layman’s terms that my interpretation of Naoya’s superiority complex is once again, influenced by the clan. Imagine being a kid born into a clan where people remind you again and again that you’re the future leader, that you would be the one to guide them or protect them or discuss the clan’s future and status once you grow, and you’re quite groomed for it.

For such pressure to be put on a child’s shoulders, it kind of strips off his youth and instead of him enjoying his youth, I can imagine that it took a toll on little Naoya, and the reason he grew his superiority complex is his way to cope and reach the standards and expectations that is given to him. Of course, he’s a kid, he might start to wonder, “Can I even do all of that?” but seeing as the Zen’in clan highly measures strength and growth based on abilities, cursed energy, and overall just to conform into the image they’ve held for years, it’s quite obvious that Naoya can’t exactly voice out his worries over this, so instead, he masks it with a superiority complex that absolutely boosts him to a higher level, thus giving him the confidence he needed to carry out his tasks and the reassurance that, “Yes, I am worthy and I will be the clan leader.” As for your theory that he takes it as a challenge, I can see where you’re coming from! I think Naoya is the type of person who definitely likes to challenge himself, but one of the reasons I love his character so much is because he’s not completely a brainless “head on straight to war” type of person too.

He knows his limits and knows which side he should be in, as showed when Yuuta came and mans surrendered easily. Idk why but to me, Naoya, who is such an arrogant confident man who has high trust in abilities, but at the same time can admit when someone is stronger than him (like him admiring Toji and Gojo) just makes him more human and a little more beautifully flawed. Like, he’s not perfect and he’s most definitely an irritating character, but the way he was written is just *chef’s kiss*

Yes, ah I really do love this theory that he’s more irritated because in his mind, he’s like, “I’m a genius sorcerer! I was meant to be clan leader! This is my rightful spot to be a strong one, so how come Maki, who is a woman, with no zero cursed energy has reached the level of the person I looked up most to?” again, Naoya didn’t say that and those are just my opinions and brainrot so don’t come at me for it uwu, but yeah I do think that he’s very aggravated that he didn’t react that level first. Because I guess you could say, he’s probably alluding that Maki reaching Toji’s strength = them being equals, and ofc Naoya wanted to be the one standing beside them. It probably hit his superiority complex that he wasn’t the one in Maki’s spot especially when he tried so hard to achieve it, and considering the gifts he was given (same cursed technique as his dad and him having cursed energy) it threw him off.

Yeah, Naoya is most likely in denial and becomes aggressive over it, although I don’t really mean physically aggressive because Naoya is actually quite calm and ‘composed.’ If ever he did go on a rampage, he does it in such a suave, calculated manner with this silent confidence that he will win. It kind of makes you root for him because he even fools the audience (by audience I mean ME) that he’s going to OWN that fight but whoop, he got his ass kicked. Plus ten points for confidence and a bonus thousand points for being sexy though!!! Yeah, omg he’s probably in disbelief that a woman of all people could be like the person he admired most.

OMG YESSSS ANON YES YES YES *slams down simping button angrily* That’s what I like about him too! Even though Naoya is cocky and wayyyy too arrogant for his own good, I also like that he acknowledges he’s not quite in a level he wants to be in yet. And hah, his backstory, it wasn’t totally sob because it’s obvious he was much too doted on, but I still hate how they made him like that. True, if he’s still carrying the same misogynistic ideals as he is now in an age where he has the mental capacity to improve and be different, then the belief has become more of a choice than something engraved into him, which I am really disappointed and not really into because of course, he’d be much better if he wasn’t like that in the first place. LOLOLOLOL yes yes he’s a kid, it sure as hell doesn’t excuse the way he is now but like just think !!

if a kid was spouting out such mean words and CLEARLY no one is correcting him, who really is the problem here? A child has a harder time deciphering what is right and wrong by himself without proper guidance. And he didn’t have proper guidance, they really just let him be like that and it’s because the clan!! sucks !! ass !! YEAH he probably called toji with a miserable face because he hasn’t seen him before but after seeing the iconic dilf, Naoya gone be like, “anyways, I lied, moving on—”

I'm not saying him trying to kill Megumi is forgotten (Though, the Jujutsu Society isa place where teens get executed for the simple fact that they are too strong, so im not surprised. Just like Noritoshi said, age does not matter in Jujutsu Society). I see now why he was really pissed about Megumi being the head, since Naoya has been promised the position since he was young, only to loose of a 15 year old who is the son of the man he admires :')) However, still, none of it excuses the shit he did. He still has a shitty personality, but it's nice to know a bit of a background.

yeah no of course, no worries! even as a hardcore naoya stan, I can admit this dude is TERRIBLE for so many reasons! yeah I mean that could be pretty irritating because he was born for it, raised to be clan leader, groomed and expected he’d have that role, but nah someone else took his throne. yeah I’m with you on that, naoya has a shitty personality and I would totally smack him if he was real because he makes my eyes roll to the back of my head, but knowing his background and theorizing (read: me going all psychologist mode because he’s the only character I ever cared about to apply my studies into) his character is quite fun. I wish we had more scenes with Naoya though, I really hoped he’d play a bigger role but he just…died, I guess, though I’m starting to believe that maybe he really isn’t dead! Gege did him dirty omg I’ll cry again if it’s really GENUINELY confirmed my baby is gone.

ah no worries about your English, I didn’t really notice anything wrong with it tbh! And I understand, these are all just our opinions/theories/perspectives, we could be wrong or not, we don’t really know because we’re not Gege (⋟﹏⋞) NOOOO PEOPLE HATED YOU ON THAT? ISTG I’VE NEVER SEEN A FANDOM CANCEL SOMEONE AS MUCH AS JJK FANDOM CANCELS NAOYA AND NAOYA STANS LIKE – he’s just a fictional character omg, cancelling naoya is understandable because I would too but attacking his fans? or generally anyone who talks about him in a neutral or not in a way that goes, “yeah I would punch this mfer” is just?? doesn’t make sense to me bestie, people really choose to do that with their time yikes.

AND AWWW THANK YOU YES I PROTECT ALL MY FELLOW NAOYA STANS HERE, I respect who people simp for because if it’s what you enjoy and as long as you’re not hurting anybody, then it really doesn’t matter and it’s not a big deal! and you’re always welcome here uwu. have an even nicer day bestie and I’m sorry I didn’t see this sooner AAAA I really loved talking about this tho HEHEHEH I’m not actually too much of a JJK theorist since I’m not smart enough to pay attention or infer from all the details but NAOYA HMMMMM also childhood friends fic? hmu let’s hear it!! also ahh hmm idk but i get really happy whenever people talk to me freely about naoya bcos even tho i have been a naoya simp for like three months, it was not until recently that people came to me about him and i have just been simping alone (bcos people MADDDD) spsppsps okay rant over thank you anon i love you kith kith <3

#asks with naoya's trophy wife #jjk: manga spoilers #tw: misogyny

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ilikedetectives · 3 years

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Thanks for saying it. As a trans woman I was side-eyeing that hashtag the moment I read the “movement explained” post last year saying this:

That wording (from the most prominent voice!) directly implies that there’s an acceptable criteria for womanhood and women outside those criteria don’t count. This kind of thinking always ends up targeting gnc cis women too because they’re not the “right” women, no surprise it happened here. (Apparently a gay cis man is more worth defending to them than gnc and sapphic women too?)

Plus a quick google search would easily tell them Kassandra and Eivor were envisioned as “masculine” as they are now even before the male options were designed? Official ACV concept art for Eivor’s character design even states lady Eivor was designed first and that male Eivor was based off of HER. But sure they’re “shells” based on men 🙄

Looks like they’ve chosen to “highlight, appreciate and support” the fact that queer, gnc women aren’t real women because these women are simply men’s “shells” for being masculine and queer.

Oh I’m so glad that you see this and stay tf away. Aren’t these the same breed that were sooooo outraged after reading and citing that Forbes article by Jason Schreier last year, “OMG Kassandra and Aya/Amunet originally were supposed to be the protagonist, I’m so oUTraGEd and feel rOBbeD that Ubisoft took this from us”? You’d think with all the devs that they are good friends with, they should know by now that Kassandra and f!Eivor were designed first in mind, then the male counterparts were added AFTER being forced by higher-ups and marketing. The Montreal writers keep having to reassure people that everything about Eivor is intentional and they have always intended that Eivor is a female. The first name alone, Eivor, is a female name. I think the devs already know they’d have to deal with idiots, so they added Varinsdottir in her last name (dottir means “daughter”), but I think the devs still underestimate their level of stupidity. They sure are attentive to plot details when it involves their brotherhood though, but women? *wheeze* They love AC2 sfm but it didn’t take them until last year to realize how dirty Aya/Amunet treated. Nobody paused when Origins was announced to say, but Amunet statue? Pleaseeee *wheeze* For them to go around saying that Kass and f!Eivor are just “shells” based on men and now, practically calling the devs lazy because making them masculine to save time/effort in development time really shows their true colors. If a woman isn’t slim-af-and-only-attracted-to-cishet men, then they’re not women. gnc, queer, trans women? I don’t need to take a guess to see what they view these women as. These fake feminists don’t find it disrespectful that Kass and f!Eivor are pushed aside for the male shells to take the spotlight, but they find Kass and f!Eivor being masculine and queer disrespectful. Someone please turn on “Send in the Clowns'' for me, I prefer the Judi Dench version.

You know what I find hypocritical about these fake feminist breeds? When they call for more female assassins content, they never once invalidate their beloved male protags, “We’re not here to cancel m!Eivor/Alexios/Bayek/Jacob/Arno, we just want more of f!Eivor/Kassandra/Amunet/Evie/Elise/Aveline”, but now that they have more backers, they immediately turn around and dismiss the only two AAA female protags as women because they’re “too masculine, like men.” That’s right! f!Eivor walking like a man and both Kass and f!Eivor wear male armors and are attracted to women automatically dismiss their existence as gnc, queer women. Being a masculine, queer woman somehow exempt them both from sexism because these two are just “men’s shells”? What kinda Isu drugs are they on? Now I wish f!Eivor had a true buff Viking body in her vanilla state (I know there’s muscles mod by amisthiosintraining and I, but still), because what else are these fake feminists gonna trash her on? f!Eivor is a shell for m!Eivor? *wheeze* What could’ve been said was, “I want a female-protag-only game because then the devs can focus all their time and effort on her story, for her” or “Ubisoft should give the devs more time, resources, and creative freedom to give players more historical context of the struggles the female protags have to deal with, compared to male protags”. For example: a side quest with Aspasia as she deals with how sexist people (surprise, women can be sexist too) were towards her as perhaps the most educated, influential woman in Athens at the time. Or how Kassandra had to fight her way to be allowed to compete in the Olympics. That’s all that’s needed to be said. There’s nothing wrong with asking/wanting a feminine female protag who is gender-conforming, but it says a lot about their true view of women when they drag gnc and queer women down to parade their idea of a superior woman.

But what did these fake feminists choose to “highlight, appreciate and support” instead? Oh that’s right, disregarding both Kassandra and f!Eivor as inferior women, because them fakers don’t deemed masculinity and queerness as the aUThenTIc female experience they want to play as. You know what’s worse? Pitting these female characters together to rate how “feminine” each of them are to deem which ones are more “real” as a woman. Can you imagine them doing that to the male protags? Knowing full well that the devs’ hands were tied when it comes to creative freedom when making Kassandra and f!Eivor, but still go around and shit on the devs for being “lazy”, while dismissing Kassandra f!Eivor experience as women because of their gnc and queerness. What kinda Beta Sigma (BS) is this? Oh I think I know the answer: reinforcing their ideas of what they find acceptable for their version of a woman. Honestly, it’s not the first time gnc, queer women are shit on in AC, remember that cursed DLC from Odyssey? Yea. I expect nothing more from Ubisoft-certified fans. Watch, if we somehow get a female-lead AAA game next installment and she happens to be queer, gnc, and godforbid to their fEMinISt standards, she happens to be trans as well, these fakers would most likely scream, “We support women. We want the REAL woman experience”. But if she happens to conform into their fEMinISt standards, you’ll get to hear how she’s their most favorite protag since Ezio cuz she’s a “real woman”. Again, nothing wrong with gender-conforming, feminine women, but using them as THE superior example, this fuckery/fakery reeks.

One last general tip from Doctor Who, “Goodness is not goodness that seeks advantage. Good is good in the final hour, in the deepest pit, without hope, without witness, without reward.” Look closely and you’ll see what those advantages and rewards are.

p/s: Didn’t Ubisoft CEO just appoint his family member(s) to be in charge, while there were also discussion on how the new directors are no better than the sexist, racist ones that were fired/let-go? Sounds to me like it’s business as usual again. Or us Vietnamese have a saying, “It’s easier for rivers and mountains to change than human’s nature to even budge” (giang sơn dễ đổi, bản tính khó dời). I find it so ironic that “gaslight gatekeep girlboss” is trending on my dash.

#I'm no Pythia but I saw this light years away #handsomejaclyn #f!Eivor #Eivor #Kassandra #ac valhalla #ac odyssey #aya #amunet #evie frye #elise #ac origins #ac syndicate #aveline #ac liberation #ac unity #Cisterhood #misogynistic feminists

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digitalzombie · 3 years

Text

On (the updated) Chapter 139.

This is not necessarily a rant. Instead, these are some thoughts I had after reading (the new) Chapter 139 of Shingeki no Kyojin, or Attack on Titan. I also briefly talk about the Rumbling and Ymir’s characterization. Of course, this is not spoiler-free, so beware if you are not caught up with the latest updates on the series/chapter!

Spoilers below:

First and foremost, I enjoyed the series. I wouldn’t call it “perfect,” nor “the absolute best,” but it was entertaining and, dare I say, awe-inspiring. Isayama presented something that not many shōnen mangaka do, which is a realistic take on war and the irreparable actions of humanity. To say that this is a story about mankind fighting monsters is not entirely wrong; in fictional stories, “man is the true monster” tends to be a reoccurring theme, and Attack on Titan, Shingeki no Kyojin, is no exception. I’ve said the following in a previous post I made, and I’ll say it here again:

This is mostly a reflection of humanity and the terrible things people are capable of doing when they’re given too much power, and when they’ve been stripped from having any of it. (alienated.zombie)

Was it all for nothing?

All characters are victims of corruption. We saw that with Eldians who were persecuted in Marley and the Eldians on Paradis. The Rumbling was Eren’s desperate attempt to protect his friends more than to protect the island. It is apparent when he refuses the Founding Titan to any of his closest comrades in the flashback in Chapter 108…

By the end of the series, we see time-skip after time-skip of the Island’s growth and eventual destruction. We see a boy encountering the tree where, presumably, Eren was buried. It is different from the other trees, as it is the largest (probably the oldest, too), and bears a huge resemblance to the tree Ymir, the Founder, had fallen into. This seems to tease that everything will begin again—the rebirth of the titans and, potentially, more war.

So, did Eren commit mass genocide for nothing in the end? My answer is no.

Eren fulfilled what he wanted/needed to do, which was to protect his friends (or at least those who survived the battles leading up to the Rumbling). He aided in freeing Ymir. And just as he had hoped, his surviving friends lived for a long time, as suggested in the final panels. Eren’s motives are questionable, and it begs the question: Is Eren selfish? And my answer is yes, although he does not openly show it as he lived his whole life living and fighting for other people’s sakes. Eren is a paradoxical character: he is selfish for choosing his friends over the world but selfless for putting his friends ahead of himself.

Isayama gave us a bleak ending, one that makes sense since something as unforgivable as the Rumbling would be a justifiable reason to start a war--at least in the eyes of the world leaders. We are only given a small glimpse of the attack, so there is no saying if The Rumbling truly was the motivation, or if Paradis acted first. What is true is that the cycle of hate continues. Historia's reign, as well as the rise of the Yeagerists, prove that as time passes, ideals and people in power change. Truly, history repeats itself.

The Rumbling

Side note: Of course, The Rumbling wouldn’t be the absolute best solution to end a war in reality. (I didn’t support it either.) However, I read the manga with the idea that there really was no other way to end the war between Paradis and Marley because the whole world was dead-set on destroying the island, as suggested in chapter 123:

Not to mention that the Association in this part of the series reacted with cheers to the speaker’s sentiment. Even the displaced Eldians were brainwashed to abhor the so-called “Devils” of Paradis Island. We can assume (based on what we know about the views that Marley, the Eldians in Marley, and the advocates for “displaced Eldians” have) that Paradis was the so-called enemy of the world (at least to the public outside of Paradis). Armin and Hange’s approach to the situation, the diplomatic way, was not wrong either; however, given the other nations’ resolve to decimate the island, this strategy would not have worked.

This is where Eren’s plan to wipe out the rest of the world, save the island, comes into play. He did not want to conform to the original plan and repeat the same cycle the Royals have for hundreds of years, which was to sacrifice Historia and her descendants, and the future hosts of the Coordinate. He was only meant to scare the world— to dare them to attack—by waking some of the dormant Colossal Titans. Of course, he chose a different path. The Rumbling, Eren’s Rumbling, was meant to buy time for Paradis’ restoration, to secure their safety, to expand their military forces, and to eventually end the Titans’ curse… which did happen.

Ymir, the Founder

Ymir is the most mysterious character in the series. Due to her lack of speech (as her tongue was cut off), she is easily the most misunderstood. She was abused and used for power; Ymir was a slave—both literally and metaphorically—to Fritz and the following Coordinate hosts. My understanding is that she had some kind of attachment to Fritz and his ideals. Chapter 139 introduces the idea that Ymir did, in fact, love Karl Fritz. I doubt that this is really the case, given that Eren’s words contradict the art on the panel (surely, purposely done by Isayama):

In this panel (chapter 139), she is unhappy: her marriage is a joke, given that her husband flirts with other women (they were most likely his mistresses) while she tended to his needs and continued to have his children. Her “love” for Fritz is not real. Ymir was attached to the idea of love and desired it all the more.

I believe that Mikasa did not necessarily free Ymir; rather, Ymir was inspired by Mikasa’s unwavering love for Eren. Mikasa loved Eren and was able to let go of him despite how much it hurt her. In turn, Ymir finally let go to of her abuser by realizing that what she felt was not truly love. Mikasa suggests Ymir’s true feelings when she says: “Your love must have felt like a never-ending nightmare.”

I should also mention that the panel above does not necessarily mean that Ymir let Fritz die, although this is open to interpretation. I thought that this clearly expressed Ymir’s regrets. Should he have died in her stead, Ymir would have been able to live the rest of her life with her daughters in peace. This might have also avoided future wars, aka, the war on Paradis. However, Mikasa’s words ring true: “It’s only because you brought your children into this world that I stand here today.” There is no way to undo the past. It is true that Eren could have rewritten the past by letting her live and letting Fritz die; however, that would completely change everything: Eren and his friends would have probably never existed, and Ymir would have been trapped in Paths forever, as the Founder would go to a random newborn child.

Another interesting point I’d like to add is Ymir’s appearance. In Paths, she presents herself as a child but finally shows herself as an adult in front of Mikasa. She expresses her fragility via regression, or appearing as her less developed stage in life (childhood) as a coping mechanism. (This can also be said about Eren’s child-like appearance at the start of the Rumbling.) Only after freeing herself from Paths does she take on the appearance of a grown woman. We cannot say that she completely healed from her trauma, but we can say that she was ready to move on.

Why wait 2000 years?

My take on this question is that Eren was Ymir’s answer as he did not bear royal blood and therefore could not command her to do anything for him. Recall that nearly all previous hosts of the Coordinate were of Royal blood. No one understood Ymir, nor seemed to care to communicate with her. Grisha was at the end of his life when he stole the Coordinate and then passed it to Eren.

Potential sequel?

As for the final panels of the chapter, I don’t think that this sets up a potential sequel. Unlike Eren, Armin, and Mikasa during their childhoods, this boy has the freedom to explore the world as is his birthright. He does not have to think or worry about being confined behind tall walls, nor worry about a government's restrictions to question the mysteries of the world. He is free to explore. I think that this is Isayama’s way to tie the story back to that simple dream Eren had as a child. Despite the obvious attack on Paradis in the previous panels, there is reason to believe that not all of Paradis was destroyed. This boy should be proof of that. For now, whether he becomes the new Founder or not is strictly based on our own interpretations.

That’s all I have to say about Chapter 139. Let me know if you’d like me to delve deeper into anything else from AoT! I was thinking about taking a closer look at other characters later on, but I’ll be happy to add my take on anything AoT-related.

#snk 139 #aot 139 #analyses and discussions #attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #spoilers #aot spoilers #snk spoilers #Ymir #eren yeager #thoughts #mikasa ackerman #armin arlert #hange zöe #snk analysis #snk discussions #aot discussions #aot analysis

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kitkatopinions · 3 years

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I’m probably over thinking/over complicating things but Ironwood and Penny have been really bothering me. It because prior to the moment that destroyed Penny’s arc the show and Ruby were really pushing that Penny not matter her body was human and that’s a very positive I like that especially when it comes to characters of Penny’s nature.

So my problem kicks in when I think of Ironwood. Namely this part in his song:

“What if it's true as they say

That I don't have a heart

That I'm more a machine than a man?”

Like wtf. I mean I “get it” especially with that dumbass line of Winter. But when it’s talked about Ironwood it was always in reference to the fact that his body is half robotic and there for we are meant to see the correlation between his body and his character.?

Put next to Penny’s message that really bothers me. Even more so since Penny gets a “reward” of becoming human, but the writers push that Ironwood sacrificing his arm to stop Watts and replacing it (a medical decision that could be debated given that he wanted to be up and able immediately to handle things not to mention that fact that nerves and muscle are severely fucked up) with a new (uncharacteristically uncovered) prosthetic means that he’s moving away from humanity. This thought has been driving nuts for a week.

I don’t think you’re overthinking at all. The writers have been pretty blatant about what they think of disabled people.

On the topic of James, 1. They wrote their triple amputee character to be coded as losing his humanity. This is suspect from the get go, but writers imo need to be especially careful and sensitive when they display things like villains with prosthetics. CRWBY is not careful and sensitive. 2. They specifically connected the loss of his limb to the loss of his humanity outside of the show, and as you said, his new prosthetic is uncharacteristically uncovered as well, and there were some pointed shots showcasing his arm and emphasizing it before showing Ironwood doing something wrong as well as a shot that particularly bothered me of them having James fall to Winter when his aura broke and then them immediately flashing to a fallen, broken robotic soldier. Tying the loss of someone’s humanity to them losing a limb / gaining a prosthetic in any way is wrong imo. There are better ways to display someone’s loss of humanity than villainizing the loss of his arm, and I don’t care what justifications people have for ‘they just meant to say that he was too impatient to-’ Idc. Tying the loss of humanity to the gaining of a prosthetic is wrong. 3. They never once treated Ironwood’s clear PTSD, history of mental health problems, and trauma with any sympathy, instead spending their time ragging on him for not wanting to feel his pain anymore and condemning him for... Trying to control his emotions. 4. CRWBY also gave him a semblance and explained how it worked by saying he hyper focused, talking about how James’ passive semblance that he can’t control forces him to focus on one single goal and fixate. I’m not disabled, but I do hyper fixate. It’s not something I can control, and to see it used as a justification for evil (in one of my favorite characters in the series who reminded me of my father lol) and being treated as something bad... It doesn’t feel good. I can’t imagine how other people must feel who are much more affected by this than I am. 5. As you say, the writers go out of their way to reference his metal body as being more ‘machine than man’ and make lines about him being heartless. And yeah, I get that he’s an allegory for the ‘Tin Man’ from Wizard of Oz but ffs the Tin Man had always had a heart and I honestly thought that was what they were going for in V3 with Qrow commenting that sometimes he thought James didn’t have a heart and the audience seeing Ironwood’s actions as questionable, only for the entire show to tell us repeatedly that he actually is a caring and good person who’s willing to destroy all the forces he was proud to show off if it means saving lives and was actually pretty freaking blameless in the Fall of Beacon and was super kind to the kids and when the chips were down, Qrow and Glynda both absolutely knew without even questioning that James would never ever willingly hurt the world or fully betray them and had absolutely no hand in the Beacon attack. Like, I’m sorry, but between Penny and Ironwood, season eight is the season of taking well done character allusions and throwing them out the window for the exact opposite moral done incredibly poorly. And anyway, getting off of that rant, making a ‘more machine than man’ sentiment tied around a triple amputee character is incredibly harmful and hurtful to people with disabilities and only propagates the real world stereotypes against people like James.

So, yes, their treatment of Ironwood, his mental health, and specifically his disabilities was so badly done, harmful, incredibly insensitive, and frankly, appalling that it came from grown adult writers in 2019-2021! But, as you point out, it’s not just Ironwood. And here’s where things really get bad for CRWBY. Because Ironwood alone is enough for me to say they were ableist - unintentionally or otherwise - and ought to apologize for the hurt they’ve caused their fans. But when you get into the rest of their treatment of characters with metal prosthetics or non-flesh elements to their body, it becomes a pattern.

Penny’s entire body is removed from her on threat of death, with the justification that it’s hurting her and that her body is just a machine and not part of who she is, contradicting Penny’s earlier themes of self-acceptance and validating her humanity in the body she already had. She then dies by assisted suicide in a way that feels unneeded, after having asked to be killed earlier in the narrative. So many people have talked about how destructive her story became in V8 and how it personally hurt them, especially non-binary people, trans people, autistic people, or disabled people who saw themselves in Penny or saw in her arc something that they could relate to, only to have Penny’s differences stripped away from her, having her conform to normal body standards and have her previous body type invalidated by her friends, and then they had her killed via assisted suicide in an unbelievable way, insisting as well that she never made a choice before she was a flesh-person and couldn’t feel things right. It’s all horribly done, but it’s important to remember that while Ironwood is accused of losing his humanity as he loses a third limb and gets a third prosthetic, Penny’s earlier validation is taken away and is instead only granted and she is only justified as a person when she loses all her ‘nuts and bolts’ and becomes a flesh person. And then she’s killed anyway.

Yang’s prosthetic is the least ill handled, but it is still dismissed as ‘just extra’ despite her former fairly strong arc of coming to terms with her disability and making it a part of her. She casually justifies what’s happening with Penny despite Penny not being in a position of adequate consent. Yang’s trauma and PTSD also vanished when Adam died at the end of season six and in my opinion, that situation was handled very badly.

Maria and Pietro, two other disabled characters, disappeared, left when Amity fell and were not even mentioned iirc since. Not even when Penny is awake, not even when they’re evacuating, not even when Penny is choosing to die. She never brings up her father. And Ruby’s supposed ‘mentor’ who never had an actual narrative role that couldn’t have been filled by Qrow and has had nothing to do since season six even past that is also forgotten out in the tundra and not mentioned again.

The writers go out of their way to have Winter say that because she was just following orders (a statement that contradicts her previous character imo) and pushing down her emotions, she was the real machine, whereas Penny had been human underneath her apparently easily tossed aside and destructive previous metal body. And I don’t know if this means anything, but in that scene where she and Penny meet when Penny is dying and transferring the maiden powers to Winter, Winter is in her V7 character design, instead of wearing her assistive brace. Like I said, I don’t know if I’m reading into that, but with everything else, it feels like an iffy choice.

So yeah. In the past season CRWBY specifically cultivated a pattern of disrespect, dismissal, and villainization of any non-flesh attributes in my opinion. It seems pretty intentional and clear to me, but I’m willing to accept that maybe this was just a wildly bad uneducated mistake. Here’s the thing about that, though, after the Faunus/Racism allegory, the CRWBY writers should’ve learned their lesson and not touched on any real world topics that they weren’t willing to do the research on and treat with the sensitivity and care and respect the topics needed. Their Faunus/Racism allegory was harmful and hurtful and frankly could’ve sunk them in the water, they should’ve learned to put much more care and effort into their work or stayed the hell away from anything that could further spread the negative stereotypes surrounding real world people. But they didn’t learn their lesson and they’ve continued to push harmful narratives with no awareness or sensitivity. I don’t think you’re over-reacting at all, I think this is something that - intentionally written or otherwise - the writers should be called out on, or they’re just going to continue writing harmful narratives.

Also, I am not disabled, many of my opinions on the treatment of these characters comes from posts I’ve seen from many disabled or neurodivergent RWBY fans (or former RWBY fans,) or other people more affected by these narratives - minus the thing I said about Winter appearing without her brace when she talks to Penny, as it was something I just noticed while typing out this post. Since I’m not disabled, I’m not the best person to talk about these things, so if I got anything wrong in this, anyone more affected, please know you can let me know and I can edit and fix.

#rwde #rwby bashing #anti rwby #anti crwby #anti MKEK #rwby hate #if anyone comes in the comments invalidating or justifying I'll block #pro james ironwood #pro Ironwood #ironwood defense

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rebamacncheese · 3 years

Text

THSR Designer’s Notes: Villain!

Alright, so this will be the first in a series of posts where I break down the design choices I made in my illustrated Frozen 3 fan-script, True Hans Soul Rebel. Link here if you haven’t read it: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27113293/chapters/66207733

I put a lot of thought into this, and I just want to show it off...

First up is the Villain!Hans look.

At the start of THSR, Hans has fully embraced their role as a villain, to the point where they are trying a bit too hard with it. Obvious dastardly fashion choices are the black top hat, taken from Ratigan, evil eye-shadow, and the black gloves, which invert Hans’ white gloves from Frozen 1.

It’s a well analyzed aspect of Frozen’s design language that fitted gloves correspond to some kind of concealment or falseness - Elsa’s teal gloves, famously, being how she concealed her powers, and Hans’ white gloves allude to how he pretended to the pure “white” prince for Anna. With that in mind, the black gloves in THSR are meant to show the reverse - that Hans’ posturing as a cartoonish black-hearted villain is just as much a façade as the flawless hero was.

On the vein of color, something amazing I discovered is that Hans’ coat in the original movie - the one he wears when he is attacking Elsa - used the same colors as Elsa’s Ice Queen dress. Aqua-blue and cerulean, but muted and desaturated.

Given everything Elsa’s dress represents about reclaiming deviancy, having Hans in mirrored coloring when he gives into his own strikes me as important to say the least. Furthermore, Hans’ version of the palette echoes the dark waves, the stormy sea, that took the sister’s parents. Chef’s kiss.

So, for the Villain!Hans look, I had to lean into that palette - applying different shades of that aqua-blue to the rest of their suit underneath - but tweaked the silhouette. The giant flared lapels of the long coat makes for a more classic villain look - lines pointing out and up the chest to project power - and the long coat’s fabulous flowing tails echoe the cape of Elsa’s famous ice dress.

Here’s an earlier draft, when the coat was more cape-like.

I did that before I saw clips from The Great Comet of 1812 musical and Anatole Kuragin.

The minute I saw this coat, I had to steal it for Hans. And the characters have a kind of kinship to me, as subversions of the charming prince archetype. The coat is a bit out of date on Hans - Frozen is set in a fantasy 1830s-1840s (depending on who you ask). But if you are a villain, no longer bound by polite society, I think a shamelessly dated artifact like this would be a kind of chaotic power move on its own. Just rolling up, wearing giant 80s shoulder pads to a 00s party, because taste is for cops.

I suppose I should also talk about Villain!Hans’ hair - since that is a pretty striking alteration from F1 - but it’s really more important to Marie’s design, if that makes sense. Hans has long hair because the character is about to be transitioned with magic HRT, and the plot will depend on her ability to pass as cisgender around the people who hate her former identity. But there are proper in-story character driven reasons for this change. The long hair shows passage of time - Hans has lived almost four years since we last saw them, and they’ve developed as a person as much as the rest of the Frozen cast has. Long hair also shows gender non-conformity on a man, and a kind of wildness - the reverse of the slick prince cut.

In all, the goal of this design was to give Hans a Queer Villain makeover. Charismatic, over the top, something to strut around in while belting out a wicked banger you can taste the vintage Disney on. Honestly, I was a bit worried that this look might be too cool, since its destroyed after the first sequence.

But if you know what’s coming next, I really shouldn’t have been. Watch this space :)

#frozen #frozen fanart #frozen fanfiction #true hans soul rebel #frozen hans #disney villain #illustration design #THSR #l have an animation degree and i will use it #costume design #character design

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libermachinae · 3 years

Note

For the directors cut meme, I would love to hear anything at all about chapter 5 of We Forget the Names Not Written Down. (That preface by Rewind, btw, has stuck with me so much, gosh.)

Thank youuu ;u; I was really hoping someone would ask about that one. Under the cut because *spoilers*. (here's a link to the fic in case anyone hasn't checked it out yet)

Okay, so, to start with, the name: "Preface" is the last chapter of the fic, as a final nod to the fact that the fic really doesn't conform to a linear sense of time. Even the chapter itself is spread across different time periods: the dedication was a collaboration between Rewind and Prowl, the Forward was written by Prowl after Rewind's death, the Preface was written while Chromedome was still alive, and the chapter as a whole is being read at some point in the future, after The Complete History has been published. My purpose there was to pull the audience into the story: there is no present but that of the person reading it. Each section represents a crystalized version of who its author/s was/were when they wrote it, and then these disparate moments link up to form a single cohesive text.

The other reason I put "Preface" at the end of the fic is because it is an end, for both Rewind and Prowl. For Rewind, it's the last chance he has to "write" (and I'll go more into that in a bit) and say exactly what he's thinking. It's the last opportunity he has with his own voice, and he uses it to say goodbye to the world and wish it well with a future he won't get to see. And for Prowl, it's the last step he takes before sending the manuscript, anonymously, to the publisher. They're his last words, too, before he disappears to the unnamed planet mentioned in the fic's summary. "Preface" is a series of goodbyes.

The other structural thing I would want to mention in this chapter is authorship. The definition of an author is a theme that I was exploring throughout the fic, and chapter 5 is where Rewind has a chance to address it head on by talking about the assistance he's receiving from Chromedome.

Now I’m a writer, and even that’s in only the barest sense of the word. I can get most of the important words down, but I need Chromedome to connect the dots for me.

The idea that Rewind is the author of The Complete History is never brought into question, because I personally think it's more interesting to consider how this then affects our definition of authorship. Delta's Malady has started to degrade his ability to generate and interpret language. It's not necessarily deleting words, but it's becoming more effort than it's worth for Rewind to come up with every single one. Before Chromedome's work, I imagine these two sentences read more like this:

Writer barely. I important words, Chromedome connect.

It's possible to understand Rewind's intention, but there is a lot of space that needs to be filled to make it read correctly. If someone other than Chromedome (like, for example, Prowl) were to take a stab at interpreting it, they might come up with the following:

I barely write. I generate important words, and Chromedome makes the connections.

By changing "writer" to a verb, the focus of the first sentence shifts from being about Rewind's identity and onto a task he struggles to perform. The latter instance could also be interpreted as Rewind simply not writing often, rather than his ability to do so being poor. The focus is further shifted from Rewind's perspective by going from "the important words," which imply personal stakes, to "important words," which is a more general sense.

The point I'm trying to make with all this is that even if all Chromedome is doing is connecting the dots, it still matters a lot and affects how Rewind's final goodbye will be read. Even if Chromedome knows Rewind better than anyone else, the fact that he participates this way at all impacts the way readers interact with the text. Rewind is still considered the author, but authorship doesn't guarantee that he intended everything exactly as it was written.

Which, to be fair, is true for everyone. I'm constantly using words that don't quite fit but are close enough to replace the ones I want but can't remember. Reading itself is an interpretive act; it's impossible to write something that will be interpreted the same way by everyone. But I'm getting super off track now oops :P

Within the Preface itself, I knew I had to talk about Functionist Cybertron (or, as Rewind calls it, Cybertron) because the fic would have been incomplete without it. Not only is Rewind dying because of it, but it's his creation as much as the manuscript is: just as complicated, but still important. He feels a sense of responsibility to it, the same way he feels a responsibility to finish The Complete History, so it can be passed down to future generations. Another ending represented in "Preface": the transition of one generation of Cybertronians to the next. The two Cybertronians cited in chapter 2 were an MTO and a spark forged within Trypticon, neither of who were present for the start of the war. The galaxy is trying to heal from the effects of the Great War, and that means moving on from the people who helped start it (even if only tangentially, as in Rewind's case).

After spending a few paragraphs talking about that Cybertron, though, Rewind intentionally switches back to talking about his Cybertron and the war he was part of. As with the text as a whole, it's a final act of rebellion, Rewind fighting for control over his narrative even as it's drawing to a close. The important note here is that it's out of a sense of responsibility, not of pride.

It is not a proud story. I don’t think anyone walked away from it without some amount of shame, despair, or rage. But it is ours, for as long as there are Cybertronians left to remember it.

Rewind is trying to take ownership of something he has little claim to, because someone has to and he's in a position to do so. It's this same reasoning that Prowl struggles to articulate in his letter to Bumblebee in chapter 4. Both of them see something that must be done and decide that they're going to do it.

And the thing is, they do it poorly.

Rewind can't write on his own. His databanks are being corrupted by Delta's Malady (in chapter 1, Prowl concludes the corruption is so widespread Rewind is no longer capable of making meaningful contributions to the text) and he struggles even to find the way to his memories, if they still exist at all. And Prowl is a terrible editor. There is only one section that he writes without any prior input from Chromedome, and he struggles so much that he ends up reusing Chromedome's wording anyway, to the detriment of the text. Neither is in an ideal position to perform the task they set out to do, but they choose to do it anyway. Because someone needs to.

The last paragraph was kind of where I figured out what I wanted this fic to be and how I was going to get it there.

Because that’s all any of us end up becoming: the words and the stories we leave behind. I spent my whole life trying to capture as many as possible, even as I watched so many fall through the cracks. So, a final dedication: to those who exist in echoes. Though we forget the names not written down, they form the spaces between every word, every letter. It was their collective story that I aimed to tell, and if I’m left with any regret, it’s that I still failed to catch them all.

To be completely, entirely transparent: in regards to the title, I was trying to pull a "Without Love." It starts off by saying that we lose the things we don't intentionally record, and then finally Rewind reveals that actually, they've been there all along. Prowl's name only appears once in the fic, as the last word of chapter 4, where I meant to imply that it had been deleted before he sent his letter to Bumblebee (not sure if that idea actually got across). Prowl's is the name not written down, but he's everywhere in the fic, constantly influencing both the text and the story of its creation. Though I still consider Rewind the sole author of The Complete History, in the context of the story, he and Prowl are partners, working to create something that will outlast them both.

#can you tell i've been eager to talk about this one #ask #towardsmorning

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the-autisticats · 4 years

Text

Autism and authenticity

I was reading through @/ theautisticlife’s Instagram stories earlier and was really struck by her writing on authenticity. Many autistic people feel the need to mask, and hide parts of themselves that are incongruent with dominant social norms. This makes it easier to be accepted by neurotypicals, but it comes at a great cost to their mental health.

On the other hand, some autistic people never really mask that much. We’re true to ourselves in the majority of scenarios, regardless of what other people might think. I fall into this category, and it made my life harder throughout elementary, middle, and high school.

My authenticity was off-putting and disorienting to many classmates, who weren’t used to their peers being so sure of themselves and what they believed. As a result, I was informed many times that certain people “didn’t like me,” but they were never able to pinpoint specific reasons. I never did anything particularly mean, rude, or insulting to others. I wasn’t selfish, or manipulative, or aggressive. I just did things that I felt like doing, wore things I felt like wearing, and said things without worrying too much about what others would think. And for some reason, that scared people.

Sometimes peers would make comments about my appearance, mannerisms, etc. Or they would ask me why I was doing something. For example, I stopped shaving my legs and armpits in freshman year of high school, because the only reason AFAB people are taught to is because of a capitalist ploy by razor companies. There’s nothing “unhygienic” about it at all. So once I learned that, I just stopped shaving, because it didn’t make sense and I didn’t want to. But when I changed for gym class in the locker room, sometimes people would make comments: “Your legs are hairy,” and “Your armpits aren’t shaved.” My reply was always, “I know.”

Funnily enough, some of those people followed suit in later years, once they realized the same things I had realized prior, and decided that they also didn’t care much for capitalist beauty standards. I was just ahead of the curve.

I’ve always been myself. I don’t compromise my values for the acceptance of others. If something doesn’t feel right, I don’t do it. If something is morally wrong, I tell people what I think about it. This is what has caused people to dislike me in the past: my authenticity threatens the validity of their conformity.

People follow along with the crowd because it’s safer, because they know they’ll be protected by their peers. But what if the crowd is doing something wrong? What if the crowd is harming others? People don’t want to know, because it calls into question their reasons for following along with the group in the first place. It makes them feel like their safety net might collapse. It forces them to challenge their worldview.

One of the most interesting stories I’ve ever experienced because of this, started with a fraught invitation to a Christmas party in 8th grade.

I was friends with two people in the group, and friendly acquaintances with most. One of the people I was friends with invited me to the group’s annual Christmas party, but apparently didn’t tell the others that she had invited me until about two weeks beforehand. When she informed the rest of the group that she had invited me, all hell broke loose in their groupchat.

Most people were neutral on the subject, but two people in particular were vehemently opposed to my presence. One of them even went so far as to say that she hated me. Reasons cited by the two of them were that I was weird, that I didn’t get along with other people (which was a strange thing to say, given that they barely knew me), that I would ruin the party, and that I didn’t deserve to come.

You can imagine how I felt when the people I was friends with sent me screenshots of that conversation. It was deeply confusing and hurtful to me, and it only exacerbated my already prevalent anxiety about what others were saying about me behind my back. I spent the night crying about it to my mom, and she let me stay home from school the next day.

After school on the following day, I started to get texts from people in that friend group. They were worried about me, and wanted to make sure I was okay. I told them I was fine, that I took the day off. Then, I got a text from the girl who had said she hated me only 24 hours prior.

She apologized for everything she had said, and told me she had been worried sick all day when she realized I wasn’t at school. Then, she said something interesting. She told me that she didn’t actually dislike me, but rather that she felt threatened by me because I’m always so true to who I am. She said, “You’re a better person than me,” and explained that because of that she felt insecure, and lashed out. I told her that I understood, and wouldn’t hold the incident against her. And I thanked her for being honest with me.

I think that’s one of the most important, illuminating conversations I’ve ever had in my life. And it fits in perfectly with everything I’ve discussed so far in this post. One of the main reasons autistic people are bullied, ostracized, excluded, etc. is because we amplify other people’s own insecurities. Our honest, unassuming demeanor puts a mirror in their faces and forces them to confront who they are, what they think, and how they truly feel. It makes people call into question the things they’ve been taught to think and feel, and opens up the possibility for more authentic ways of relating to others. To neurotypical middle schoolers especially, that prospect is frightening.

I think that’s why, as my peers have gotten older and started developing a stronger sense of who they are, it’s gotten much easier for me to interact with them. Because now that they’re secure in themselves, they have a much greater capacity to understand that my existence isn’t a threat to their personal lives. And they can actually appreciate my personality, without being scared off by my strong passions and interests.

I’m sure I’ll always face some challenges of this sort, given that social cohesion is an important aspect of the way neurotypicals operate in the world. But luckily I’ve been able to make friends with other autistic and neurodivergent people, who understand me and support me in all my endeavors. I used to wonder if I’d ever be able to make lasting friendships, where the other people truly care about me and love me for exactly who I am. Now I know the answer: yes.

~Eden🐢

#actually autistic #autism #autistic #ableism #autismacceptance #autism acceptance #autism awareness #authencity #neurodivergent #neurodiversity

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luluxa · 4 years

Photo

Drifter

Something I wanted to do for ages - an illustration to one of my original worlds. And I’m using James as a character because of reasons :D

Edit: the reasons :)

An intro for an AU fic set in one of my original worlds. Written a while ago and by now I honestly don't know when (if) I'm gonna finish it, and as a standalone bit it doesn't make much sense, but I guess it can provide some context for the art.

Guide You

Summary: Jeremy and Richard are set to have an adventure in the lands they know very little about, and of course, for that they will need a guide.

So it would appear they were going in the entirely wrong direction.

Hammond glares at Jeremy, weariness and anger on his little mug underlined poignantly by a ratty beard.

“You are a bellend, Clarkson,” he says very politely due to their new company, a nice change to all the abuse that was hurled at Jeremy for the last three days.

Their – well, Jeremy doesn’t want to say ‘saviour’, since they weren’t dying or anything – their finder inclines his head at Hammond’s expressiveness. An inclined hand is all the emotion that can be read off him, since he doesn’t remove his scarf or goggles, remaining mysteriously faceless and nameless.

“You could turn around and go in whichever direction you wished,” Jeremy retorts testily. He really doesn’t fancy appearing incompetent and pathetic in front of strangers.

“And then explain to your wife and children I just left you in the desert for the wild goats to feast on your flesh?”

Jeremy huffs, gesturing at his face. “Of course, the wild goats wouldn’t do you any harm since you look so much like one they’d accept you in their ranks immediately.”

Hammons scratches at his beard. “I look like Rob Dawny Jr and you know it. Don’t be jealous of my good looks.”

Jeremy lets out a massively sarcastic snort and the mystery man sighs and switches off the engine of his Falcon.

“Would you prefer to continue with this admittedly entertaining comedy double act or shall we make a camp?”

Jeremy and Hammond both grin at the comment and agree that the camp would be great.

“I’m Ainnay,” the man introduces himself at last, as they all dismount. “You, I gather, are from Ktider.”

“We are,” Jeremy nods, “I’m Clarkson, the midget is Hammond, and we were supposed to make a documentary about the desert but he’d challenged me to a race and then we got into the sandstorm and lost all our bearings.”

“You lost our bearings!” Hammond starts again, jabbing a finger at him. “I told you were going the wrong way!”

“Oh sure, because the direction you had proposed wouldn’t have lead us to the mountains a thousand miles from where we’ve started!”

“Yeah, where there’s at least some civilisation and not endless dunes with just an occasional goat skeleton stuck in a dried bush!”

“Gentlemen, please,” Ainnay interrupts them suddenly, holding his palms up. “It’s very easy to get lost in the desert, especially for someone who’s never been here before. Experienced Freemen sometimes get lost in sandstorms. I wouldn’t fight about it on your place. Of course, going for a race in the desert is another matter entirely,” he adds smoothly.

Jeremy gapes at him for a second, exchanges a glace with Hammond, and they both smirk.

“The race was definitely not my fault,” Jeremy says easily.

“You agreed to that!”

“And you agreed to follow me around! Five years ago, in fact!”

At last, Hammond gives up. “Yeah, all right, that was my biggest mistake and I have no choice but to concede it,” he says with as much sarcasm as he can muster.

While they were arguing, Ainnay managed to start a fire and somehow task semi-distracted Hammond with erecting a canopy, so Jeremy can celebrate his victory by sitting down and taking off his incredibly annoying itchy scarf.

“Ohh, I swear, it only cumulates the sand in your hair and does nothing to protect you from it!” he groans, scratching at his head vigorously, while Hammond nods along. “This is rubbish!”

Having brought all his pots and little bags under the canopy, Ainnay sits down as well. “It’s cos you’d put it on all wrong,” he comments. “I’ll show you later how it’s done, but one of the main things is that you put your goggles on it, not under it.”

Jeremy shrugs sheepishly and then has to spend a while ignoring Hammond’s speculations about the comfort of goggles-wearing, because Ainnay takes all his head-gear off as well and appears to be immensely pleasurable to look at.

Swallowing and averting his eyes with an effort from the sinfully pretty bow of pink lips, Jeremy hopes his blush will be mistaken for a heat rash. Will he ever be past this stupid and perverse notion of finding men attractive?

“Are you a Nahan, then?” he hears Hammond ask cautiously and looks up to see a red vertical stripe on Ainnay’s forehead, revealed now when he’s flicked the curls away from his face.

“I am. Couldn’t you tell that by me name?” he asks, looking confused, his accent very slight but audible now when Jeremy thinks about it.

Jeremy glances at Hammond, both of them shrugging.

“Not really. Should we?” Jeremy scowls. “Are we being massively ignorant and rude somehow, by any chance? In which case, please excuse us, we’ve literally came over here a week ago and know close to nothing about the local customs.”

Ainnay smiles, eyes squinted and sparkly, making Jeremy’s insides quiver. “No, not so far, although I can tell already you have a potential.”

Jeremy finds it in himself to snort and Hammond grins ruefully – well, he could get away with a lot, being stupidly charming when he wants to, but Jeremy has nothing to counterbalance his bellendism. He rather hopes he won’t offend Ainnay terribly at some point, as he does, indeed, has a lot of potential – and experience – in this area.

“Nahan people have pretty distinct names,” Ainnay explains calmly, making tea. “A Nahan man will always give you just one, it’s our ‘Amma namet’, a tribe’s name, given to us by someone from the tribe we live in. Those names are Ruisk in origin and usually descriptive – mine, for example, is two words: Ain – soft and Nay – hard.” Ainnay glances up from the tea, looking very soft and lovely indeed, and although Jeremy has known him for twenty minutes, he can tell the ‘hard’ part is there as well.

He nods. “Got it. Why is it always just one name?”

Ainnay offers them cups with tea and switches to making some sort of heavily spiced sandwiches that Hammond eyes with deep distrust.

“Do you believe in any sort of higher power – gods, fate, anything at all?”

Jeremy scowls at the sudden subject swerve. “No,” he says categorically, and Hammond shrugs with indifference. The little fussy moron sips the tea and tries very hard to not make a face – Jeremy thinks the tea is perfectly fine, but then again, Hammond is known to make faces at water. “I mean, we have organised religion in Ktider but it’s no more than a collection of fairy tales and a list of ridiculously strict rules and improbable threats of post-mortem punishment to make an illiterate peasant behave.”

Ainnay frowns fleetingly at that. “How odd. Well, here people do believe in higher powers, although no one’s imposing it on them. I would guess it’s because living somewhere as unpredictable and dangerous as a desert makes you invoke anything at all to ease your struggle with the world around.”

Jeremy contemplates it and nods. “Maybe. The seamen are like that as well – every sea-going man I’ve ever known was superstitious as hell, regarding the seas to be well, almost a deity of its own.”

Ainnay nods. “Yes, so is the desert – you know these lands as Tensah, I think, but it’s really the name of the goddess that is supposedly looking over us.”

Jeremy notes that Ainnay doesn’t seem to be very religious himself, wondering, why doesn’t he conform to the beliefs of his people.

“So what does it have to do with names?” Hammond asks, ever impatient and probably annoyed with the non-promising dinner.

Ainnay doesn’t look bothered with the rudeness, remaining serenely calm and immersed in the food making. “Our tribe names are designed to hide us from the goddess who’s known to not like men very much. Women go by the first name always, as they’ve nothing to fear.”

Men fearing a goddess sounds pretty entertaining – Jeremy’s heard about ancient people worshipping Earth like the ultimate Mother, and it was proposed by some historians in those ancient times women were the rulers – he wonders, whether it was or hell, still is, true for the local desert people.

“I think we have something similar to your Amma namet thing – nicknames,” Jeremy says on an afterthought. “His is Hamster,” he points at Hammond, making the latter glare.

Ainnay hums. “Yeah, we have nicknames too, but it’s not the same thing. Amma namet is absolutely formal and ritualistic rather than amusing and affectionate. It’s for permanent use, since our first name has to be hidden. The first name can only be used one on one, and only your mother can use it, or a person to whom you give that name – usually a life partner. So, if a Nahan man ever gave you his first name he would be actually saying ‘I love you and I want to spend my life with you’.”

“I hope to never hear that one,” Hammond says immediately, and Jeremy immediately and ridiculously wonders what is Ainnay’s first name.

Bad thought, he tells himself angrily. Incredibly bad and out of order.

They receive their plates with the sandwiches and Jeremy makes a point to declare it very tasty – which it is – to counterbalance Hammond’s politely concealed but still evident disgust.

“Don’t mind him. Hammond hates everything that isn’t eggs and gin,” Jeremy explains, talking away his portion to not waste anything.

Hammond lets him with relief. “I don’t hate everything. I’m just not used to foreign food, sorry. I have some crackers on me, I’ll be fine with those.”

Ainnay shrugs. “All right. What’s gin?”

They spend another hour discussing alcoholic beverages and food, Hammond increasingly horrified with Ainnay’s descriptions of the local drinks that seem to include snake bile and scorpions, until Jeremy realises that while remaining perfectly deadpan, Ainnay is having a lot of fun making Hammond queasy, and sits back to be entertained.

“There’s no such thing as rotten shark soup!” Hammond cries eventually, riled up and red in the face. “You’re having me on!”

Ainnay looks at him with clear-eyed sincerity. “Why would I be having you on? It’s a delicacy, I’ve had some, they serve it with fried whale intestines – it’s actually delicious, as long as you don’t breath in.”

On that, Jeremy gives up, giggling and pointing helplessly at Hammond’s constipated mug. “Your stupid tiny face, all scandalised,” he manages at last. “Ainnay, you’ve got to stop or Hammond will be sick.”

Looking pleased with himself, Ainnay nods. “As you wish. Although everything I said was the truth.”

“You’re worse than Clarkson,” Hammond says, looking hurt. “I hoped to meet someone nice on this journey.”

Ainnay’s expression remains as kindly and innocent as it was. “Tough luck.”

Jeremy dissolves in giggles again, delighted beyond words, and Hammond turns away pointedly, sulking.

“And here I thought we’ll be stuck with just the scenes of the dunes and Hammond moaning,” Jeremy says, pleased, patting his absorber under the coat. He’ll have to sort the stream soon, to not spend hours and days editing the raw material. “That would’ve made a boring show.”

Noticing Ainnay’s confusion, Jeremy produces the absorber disc from under the layers of his dusty robes. “We have them on us 24/7, basically. Bit difficult to make a comprehensive story out of the uninterrupted stream, but we resolved it by embracing a lot of the randomness. People like it, oddly enough.”

Ainnay just looks more confused. “Hold on. I did not understand a word. What is that thing?”

Hammond turns around from his sulking and his crackers to gape at Ainnay along with Jeremy. “You don’t know what it is?”

Ainnay shrugs. “Should I?”

Jeremy looks at his absorber. “Well, yeah, since it came from your part of the world. It’s black niurite, it absorbs the perception of a person connected to it.”

Still blank, Ainnay reaches for the absorber but thinks better of it. “Could you be more specific, please?”

“It absorbs your perception, things you see, or hear, or smell, or what you feel by touch – it stores it as a stream of uh, sensory experience. People then can duplicate it to their absorbers and tune in. It’s a bit like dreaming,” Jeremy tries to explain, “only it’s not your dreaming and everything is real. Well, you could tune into your own stream, which would be like remembering something, but you know, with full presence in the moment. So what Hammond and I are doing here is making a stream – after editing it’ll be his and mine streams in turn combined into one. There should be also a third-person perspective of our discmen, but since we’ve lost them right after coming here, it’ll be just our points of view, so to speak.”

Ainnay listens with his mouth open. “Whoa,” he manages at last. “That’s amazing!”

Bemused, Jeremy exchanges a glance with Hammond again. “Are you saying you have nothing like that in your lands?”

Still transfixed with the absorber, Ainnay shakes his head. “No. We don’t really know what to do with black niurite – your lot likes it enough to buy it, so we sell it to you. We just thought you use it for jewellery or something else decorative. Can you show me how it works?”

Luckily, Hammond has a spare absorber, so he gives it to Ainnay, tying his scarf around his eyes securely and explaining how to connect to it, which takes Ainnay a while but eventually, he lets out a startled yelp and waives his hands about, reacting to something Hammond has on it.

“Bloody Norah!”

Filing away the unfamiliar curse, Jeremy watches Ainnay go from flaily amazement to the stillness of intent concentration – he always loves to watch kids do it, but a grown man discovering streaming is especially endearing.

#james may #james-may #top gear #the grand tour

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rametarin · 3 years

Text

TERFs are wrong. But, so are social constructionist Gender Theorists

You know it is not a question of one extreme or the other. As much as both like to think they are morally right and have “the science” on their side, they don’t. Both are god damned annoying, totalitarian, and are interpreting reality and what that means in order to browbeat and push others, both socially and legally, towards doing things based on what those mean.

Both are trying to control the parameters of all things based on the fundamentals by their interpretation of reality, not by the objective facts. Both are wrong.

TERFs are not wrong in that someone that is born with XY chromosomes and a standard male sex conforming body is male, and you need dysphoria in order to be trans. They are not wrong that your gender is not just a wily nily purely social construct.

They are, however, wrong about absolutely everything else regarding what those genders MEAN, where they’re derived from and why they were derived that way.

And the social constructionists aren’t wrong in that we should make exceptions to the biological rule for people with transgenderist disorders of the mind and brain. But, they are wrong in that so many are totalitarian. They do not want these exceptions to be exceptions, they want the very basis and fundamental understanding, how we define gender and sex, to change to be based not on biological empiricism, facts or truth, but by legal and social oughts and things they argue “should be held true else it demoralizes and oppresses a minority.”

There are not, “millions of genders.” There’s your basic standard assed functioning, and then there’s a disorder we otherwise can’t do anything with or about right now where it’d simply more healthy for everybody around if we let them live with the identity that is in their minds and body.

Furthermore, the nonbinarist movement needs to stop being such a cowardly little bitch and argue for itself outside the umbrella of trans rights, because it sits there demanding changes and exceptions and validations be made for it on the basis of bowing to trans rights, when it itself hasn’t stepped out of its parasitic sphere to fight for any on its own. Strategically using trans rights as a platform for both offensive and defensive purposes.

TERFs, up to now, have been virtually unchallengable because, “you must be a horrible right wing fundamentalist religious monster to oppose EQUALITY for WOMEN!” And they’ve just skirted on that since the 60s. Which was absolute hell trying to convince anybody that radical feminism was nonsense and harbored deep, authoritarian bends on takes with social ramifications. Yall were in their corner when they were talking about how, “society” needed to give women, exclusively, help to go to college because of past oppressions. But when someone tried to tell you they had weird obsessions with vaginas and using them as rubber stamps for whom gets special treatment and privileges and exceptions to defaults that make men do dirty work and women get clean pay? Deafening silence.

But the minute TERFs don’t want transwomen in their magical witch girl’s clubs, fucking with the cosmology? Ohho they’re visible now. You can see their bullshit now. They’re weirdos drawing female symbols and self-portraits with menstrual blood and making hacky poems about their uterus, now. They’re bad people now. You can actually see they weren’t, “being hyperbolic” or “just venting about the evil MEN around them” now. Hahahahaa. Hilarious.

TERFs are wrong. Point blank. But so are the social constructionist extremists and postmodernists behind the appropriated bandwagon of what calls itself the trans rights and nonbinarist rights movement in the west. The basis for which they’ve defined their norms is not one of reality, but “oughts” and “should be’s” and “must bes” and “or else”s. To the point where they invented a slur specifically to denounce those that do not share their view. “Bioessentialist.”

That makes as much sense as calling someone a dirty, “bioessentialist” because they say you need to be an elephant, to be an elephant. Yes, you do need the physical, biological characteristics to really BE that which you aspire to be. No, you don’t get to redefine what an elephant is to force the elephant to “identify” as an elephant so something that is not an elephant can also be an elephant.

If misgendering someone is triggering for a minority, it’s just as triggering when you deny someone’s sexuality or gender when they’re hetero and cis. And many are repulsed by the idea that the reason they’re compatible with their sex and gender conformation is because they, “made a choice.” For that matter, if you’re actually transgendered and not some bandwagoneering asshole, being trans isn’t a choice either. It’s a psychological and neurological impossibility to be anything else, not a lifestyle, not a hobby, not a “preferred state of mind.” Arguing anything else is arguing not for trans rights, but for psycho-social dominance in law.

And if you think misgendering someone that’s transgendered is bad, people that make up at MOST, 0.7% of the human species, and some say as few as 0.3% of the human species (people with cleft lips, born missing limbs and more are born more often) then what the FUCK do you think it is, redefining the identities and realities of 99.3% to 99.7% of the human animal, not to mention how every other animal works? (not counting some exceptions like clownfish.)

Gender is not, wholly, a social construct. It’s a derivative and pluto’s shadow from SEX. SEX is not psychological. Sex is not negotiable. Sex is biological and disease can make it express incorrectly or correctly to function as intended by natural selection. Gender is only a social construct in that some cultures have assigned thoughts and characteristics and responsibilities for people on the basis of said sexual role. That’s it.

But people that try to live purely in the psychological sphere or argue that sphere belongs in the dominant position for mankind try to argue it’s the only one that really matters, and while we’re at it, lets let the minority dictate what is normal and rational and good. So their believe gender as feelings supersedes sex as reality.

And why would they argue this? Because they’re, “just such big fans of trans rights?” No. Because they hate disparity and immutable, biological difference. And so want to use the arbitration of human law and culture to marginalize it and pretend it doesn’t exist- to where using technology to circumvent it and the penal system to enforce that view seems like a reasonable, moral thing to strive for. Trans rights for these people have always just been a nice coat of paint to put their real activism under.

And the biggest bitch of it all is, Radical Feminists and Trans Inclusive Radical Feminists and Social Constructionists all receive their marching orders from the same ideology. The same stupid take that says bugger reality, live in a communal fantasy and enforce everybody else to live in it, too. Else they’re a bad person. Else they’re a fascist. They merely differ in the rules and the fundamental parameters.

Know the difference between, “this person is bad and they should be shamed for their beliefs because they are bad,” and, “This person is bad because they’re sitting on a throne that I want to sit on as is rightfully mine.” TIRFs don’t hate TERFs because they’re wrong, they hate them because they’re in the middle of a power grab.

But we have the opportunity to end this “Critical Lens” shitshow forever. Both sides are exposed and showing their true colors as terrible ideologies and people. Both sides are showing their totalitarianism in the form of competitive propaganda and using the legal system to get their way based on past manipulations and exploitations they got from lying to a public that didn’t want to be misogynistic or prejudiced against the transgender.

All it takes is connecting the dots and understanding just how and why it’s not a matter of “bitter evil borderline-conservative Karens Vs. noble oppressed transgenders.”

TERFs are fucking NOT conservatives. They’re typically the same far-left assholes as the TIRFs. They differ ONLY in that they believe critical theory fucking STOPS at the immutable reality of biological sex, because they stand to lose dominance if it’s not immutable- so they demand it be CONSIDERED immutable. Their status as oppressed inherently, hinges on it.

So that’s it then. You’re left with no real heroes in this fight. But if you take anything away from what I’m telling you today, it’s that you can argue legally for trans rights. Just, on the basis as exception to the biological basis, as has been proven. Asterisks. Hyphens. Acknowledging the reality that the existence of the transgendered does not negate the reality of biological sex, nor those whose genders are a direct result of their biological sex as the norm.

It’s not bigotry to sexually discriminate to some degrees. When dealing with subjectives, it’s a matter of argument. When dealing with biological realities and imperatives, opinion is irrelevant to the self-evident realities, and interpretation matters less than the reality.

But to those that believe any discrimination based on physical differences or state is inherently wrong, just the idea of male and female being two different, named things, (”classes”, if you will) with different, “unequal” functions and capacity, fills them with rage.

Your moralism stops where nature begins. Period.

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