#seriously some of you guys need to look up what abuse apologist is

[sharonisthebettercarter]

you dehumanized madelyn stilwell without a problem

you should look into why you’re so much more likely to hate women and give men a pass for evil behavior

criticizing a character's action's =/= dehumanization/misogyny

being grossed out by the type a person stillwell was doesn't mean i thought she deserved to die or hate her for any reason beyond her actions, hell i don't even think shetty deserved to die and she was a bigger, genocidal piece of shit.

it means i felt more sympathy for her INNOCENT BABY SON and the guy and kids she helped FUCKING GROOM, along with all the RAPES she swept under the rug ( because of the deep) AND the way she treated STARLIGHT, and more than likely maeve as well, two other women that you just casually seemed to forget about. (and newsflash, she helped ENABLE and directly groomed homelander!!! she's partially fucking responsible for the way he turned out AND helped cover up some fo the shit he (and others) did!)

and madelyin doesn't have the reasoning of being tortured forever as a kid, it's implied she was well off and had a reasonably decent upbringing, yet she contributed to the grooming and torture of children (including her own child) and you're asking why i'd be disgusted by that while claiming i'd give men a pass?? seriously??

why, because i haven't made a rant about vogelbaum who's also fucking disgusting but at least showed some level of remorse for his actions apart from never on screen repeatedly sexually abusing someone?

or did you just miss how i'm constantly calling both homelander and billy giant pieces of shit? or the rants i've made about rape apologism in fandom and how people need to not fucking do that?

maybe you should look into why you'd give a woman a bunch of passes regardless of how many victims she had or people she hurt when she is criticized or ranted about ONCE as opposed to giving a shit about a single one of her victims (including other women)

oh, no wait, i'll answer it for you.

if you'd give a special pass to an abuser *because* she's a woman, you're a misogynist. possibly a misandrist too, if not just a general rape and grooming apologist, but *only* for women. so back to the selective sexism for ya.

the men don't get a pass, neither does she. she was a child abuser. so was vogelbaum. i just ain't the kind to sit around and play whataboutism and i certainly ain't fittin' to defend a rich white wasp woman because she succeeded at capitalism.

what the actual fuck is wrong with you anon.

#misogyny #madelyn stillwell #the boys #whataboutism #tw sa #rape #tw grooming #gross #anon bullshit #seriously #homelander #the deep #starlight #indira shetty #gen v #abuse apologism #child abuse #do not test me anon

[love-too-believe]

The amount of fanon Hawks Antis have to rely on to try and make him seem like this evil “abuse apologist” ( again not sure some of ya’ll even know what that means ) is just further testament to his in canon character.

#seriously some of you guys need to look up what abuse apologist is #then go back and re read the manga #keigo takami #takami keigo #bnha 303 #bnha leaks #hawks #bnha hawks #bnha manga

[dimonds456]

Okay, listen:

You know what? I am going to say this right here, right now. People aren’t reading the tags I write on things I reblog, and I am clearing the air. 

I WISH DEATH ON NO ONE.

NO ONE deserves to die because of something their group or circle is doing. NO ONE deserves to die because they said something racist, transphobic, aphobic, ableist, ect. NO ONE deserves to die because of another death related to them, on purpose or otherwise. NO ONE deserves to die because they have some kind of mental illness, or they’re struggling emotionally/physically. NO ONE deserves to die because of the way they were raised.

Yes, people do bad things. THAT DOES NOT MEAN IT’S SUDDENLY OKAY TO TAKE MORE LIFE. All you’re doing is brewing more violence. There are other punishments for all offenses, and the chance to let these people see that what they did was wrong.

Am I saying to forgive people who do terrible things? NO. It’s up to you if you want to forgive anyone for things like that. 

It’s not your place to play with people’s lives and lifespans like that. A lot of the time, isn’t that why you’re mad at the person in the first place? Because they took a life?

I am NOT an apologist. I am NOT forgiving people who do bad things. I am NOT defending people from consequence. What I am doing is putting my foot down. Death isn’t a good punishment, EVER. You can’t learn if you’re dead. You can’t see the ignorance you held onto if you’re dead. You can’t pull your life together because you wouldn’t have one anymore.

I get it. Some actions are inexcusable. I am going to stop being general and specify that I’m referring specifically to the whole “kill the cops” thing going around right now. YOUR PROFESSION DOES NOT DETERMINE WHETHER YOU ARE GOOD OR BAD. Just because someone is a cop, why does that automatically make them a bad person?

To everyone who knows me: I wanted to be a cop for the longest time when I was little. They were so cool and caring to us. I live in a rural area, and not a diverse one either, but my point is the same. If I decided to become a cop, does that make me bad? Or am I just trying to pursue a career that seemed healthy? Helpful? Protecting people, stopping bad guys- that’s what cops are to me. Yes, that can be abused, and as we’re seeing now, IT IS. But that doesn’t make all cops bad.

If you decided to become a police officer right now, are you suddenly a bad person?

By wishing death on someone, okay. I get it. That person did some really messed-up things. I don’t agree with you- I wish death on no one- but I’m not going to argue unless I seriously think they don’t deserve it. However,

WISHING DEATH ON AN ENTIRE GROUP BECAUSE OF THE ACTIONS OF A SELECT FEW INDIVIDUALS IS CHILDISH, IGNORANT, AND IGNORING A HUGE CHUNK OF THE PROBLEM. YOU ARE CREATING MORE ISSUES BY DOING THIS. 

If you have a problem with what I am saying here, please leave my blog. I WISH DEATH ON NO ONE, and I certainly don’t believe an ENTIRE GROUP should be killed off because of the horrible actions of a select few. You know who else has those mindsets? Genocidal people. WHICH IS AN INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIME. FOR A REASON.

To any cop reading this that is just trying to get by: thank you. Thank you for trying to keep this world safe. Your peers are making you look bad just by deciding to pursue this career, and I hope it gets better. This blog is a safe space for you.

If you are a cop reading this who has done any of those racist things, like arresting black children for petty crimes or automatically assuming violence when dealing with a non-white person, this blog is NOT for you. People are people, and that’s final. Treat everyone with equal respect and fairness, don’t be an asshole, and I hope you can understand why your actions are wrong one day, before it’s too late. I hope you can maybe one day rise up and stand with us to stop racism, and these violent acts on the street for the smallest things that while people wouldn’t even need to get out of their cars for. Until then, leave this blog and don’t come back until you understand- well and truly- what I’ve said here today.

Black children shouldn’t have to be taught to fear cops. They shouldn’t have to be arrested for being suspected of theft with no evidence, then getting screwed over because of it. Black adults shouldn’t have to deal with obeying every law to the letter 24/7 all the time, because even the slightest tiny error may result in their deaths. That shit needs to stop. But it doesn’t end with police officer’s deaths; it ends when the bad cops get their badges taken away forever, and good people replace them. That way, we can arrest the bad people, as it was supposed to be from the very beginning.

I WISH DEATH ON NO ONE. If you can’t agree with this simple statement, get off my blog.

#this goes for any group of people too not just cops #like that 'eat the rich' thing #yes MOST billionaires are bad adn I'm not arguing that #but I don't want them to die #dimond speaks #tw cops #tw police #tw death mention #important

[tokusashi]

Why I like Endeavor? Well...

So, kids here are screaming right now that people who like Endeavor are "abuser apologist", without even trying to understand Why people like such character like Enji Todoroki in the first place.

And somehow, which is even funnier, Horikoshi is suddenly one of "abuser apologist" because his world and characters are not white and black only, and he DARED to show that Enji Todoroki didn't started his family life as a monster, but became It through the time. And people are saying that this is "bAd WrItInG". I mean, because yeah, "he was born with the murder in his eyes and sole will to abuse his family when he will get one". Yes, that's 10/10 writing. Totally believable and natural. Grab my Rowling tears.

I do not support abuse. And to be honest, my family situation wasn't exactly that cheerfull as well, but I don't search for therapy in manga (last time I've checked Horikoshi-sensei wasn't my psychiatrist, and I also never paid him a coin for such a job, weird imr?), nor compared the situation from my real life to "bnha's"  story and it's characters. I can easily say which one is which. 

We have a very weird age right now. People are offended by EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE, and they're taking everything so personally, that my jaw sometimes drops on the floor. 

But let me say this: People like me do like Enji's character not because he's abuser, but because he's well written CHARACTER.

He's really terrifying to be honest, especially when we look at the recent chapters of the manga. Now we are 100% sure that he wasn't always greedy with his own abitions, that he actually cared about Touya and Fuyumi, and there was a short time where people could have called him a good father. And that's terrifying, because later on, after he figured out that Touya's body is too weak for his own quirk, he jumped into this whole "plan" with Shoto, and in just few years, he became a monster, and no one expected that.

And that's cold. That's brutal, and out of a criminal. That's situation that EXIST in thousands of homes and families. And we can understand Enji's ambitions to become nr. 1, because at one side it's amazing that he was the only person that took this seriously, when All Might was around, but it doesn't mean I approve that, what he started to do, and what he did to his family through the years. 

It was actually amazing to see how he changed from the sports festival arc till now. Because we could see his reaction to rejection from Shoto, how he acted as a hero outside his family, how his family reacts to him (hatred from Natsuo is perfect and natural). We've seen him crushed with realization of who All Might is, and we saw him suddenly jumping into the role of Number One hero, and how it worked like a waterfall of cold water on him, because after this he realized, that he's really fucked up man.

Because yes. Enji is a total mess. And it was great (and controversial) to see, how he decided to change. To be good to his family, his attempt to atonement for what he have done.

And the truth is, that it's not an easy path. Because it's not easy "to forgive", especially for something like That. And that's why I'm glad that Todoroki siblings show that in three (well, four) different ways. Natsuo's is pure rage and rejection, Fuyumi's is relieved and she just wants a family, Shoto wants to forgive him after years of rejecting him, but is not ready yet, and there's Touya, with pure hatred and grief.

At the same time we can see how Enji became "symbol of Hope", even if it's just for a short time.

Because now, with Touya's dance off, everything came back to him, punched him in the guts and we'll see What Happens NOW. Does he needs to be punished for what he have done?: YES. Do his family needs to suffer (even more) for what he have done: NO. Will his family suffer after this medial announcement?: YUP. Was it all needed?: OOOOOOH TOTALLY.

Enji is a great example of totally messed up man, but GREAT character, that is interesting to watch. He's complex just like everything around him. I like him for that, not because "I approve of his abusive shit", because NOT AT ALL. I don't know why some people here wanted and want him a a caricature, that was born evil, and always will be evil, with no feeling, and only with scream "SHOOOOTOOOOOO!" and with evil laugh. 

Guys, guys: that's not how a great character works.

Knowing that Enji Is a human, and also have a feelings, is amazing. It's putting the whole abuser-thing way above the average. It makes your guts twitching and it's way more interesting to follow than just a one-dimensional character with no... character.

And this is it. If someone want to add something: please feel free to do so! I feel like I didn't mentioned everything, but I'm writing this post like an hour or something like that.

Also, thank you all for reading this, I've needed to write this.

#enji todoroki #endeavor #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha #mha #complex characters are great #great characters don't have to be crystal pure #enjoying the character =/= enjoying his abusive sht

[caseyscartwright]

My thoughts on 13RW Season 4 (SPOILERS)

So I originally wasn’t going to write a review, because if I’m completely honest, I’m still in shock by that finale... but here we go...

Overall, I enjoyed this season a lot more than season 3. This time, we didn’t have Ani’s annoying narration, that weird crap that was Bryce/Ani and that Bryce “redemption” bullshit that the writers shoved down our throats last season, so kudos for that. Too bad the ending fucked everything up.

Now, let’s go character by character:

Jessica: Jessica has always been my favorite character (besides Hannah), so I was really disappointed by her arc this season... if we can call it that. Her reaction to Justin breaking up with her was really immature. I understand that she was hurt, but Justin was right, he wasn’t in a position to be in a relationship and needed to focus on his recovery, so for Jessica to go after the first guy she could find (Diego) to get back at him... it was shitty. Also, what the hell, Jessica? Diego spent the whole season tormenting Clay and defending Tyler’s rapist. Aren’t Clay and Tyler your friends? Why are you sleeping with someone who is messing with people you claim to care about? And please don’t say it’s for “information”, because you clearly liked him, even tho he was an asshole. Once again, the writers made Jessica’s storylines all about boys, first it was Alex and Justin, now it was Justin and Diego. And to give one final “fuck you” to her character, they implied she ended up with Diego. “Ask me in a month”, um, so it’s going to take you a month to get over Justin? Okay, cool.

Clay: I’ve always loved Clay. Always. He’s flawed, he’s stupid, he’s too stubborn... but he cares. I’ll say this tho, he was a complete ASSHOLE towards Justin during that party, and he should have apologized for all those awful things he said, because that shit was NOT okay. I appreciate that he got help, and Dr. Ellman was a fantastic character, but his arc got old real fast. Clay has some fucked up hallucinations, Clay has a breakdown and makes a scene in front of people, Clay claims everything is fine when clearly it’s not. We get it, he thinks he’s Batman and can handle all this shit alone. Well, clearly, he can’t.

Ani: I’ll admit, I actually liked Ani this season. I think it’s because her screentime was reduced (she missed big moments like the camping trip and the shooting drill), and she wasn’t inserting herself in everyone’s business like last season. I appreciate her standing up for her friends against Winston and apologizing to Jessica for sleeping with Bryce, but that NEVER should have happened. It was weird as hell how she kept defending Bryce in s3, insisting he wasn’t a monster (he was a serial rapist who raped your friend, how is that not a monster). Her “explanation” as to why she slept with Bryce was crap. “I was lonely and stupid”, well, aww!! Lots of people are lonely and stupid, but that isn’t an excuse to defend a serial rapist and sleep with him multiple times. And even before she slept with him, she kept hanging out with him, playing poker and laughing like nothing was wrong. Weird as hell. At the end of the day, I still don’t know who Ani is, other than “the girl who liked Bryce and then liked Clay.” I’m 100% grateful that she and Clay broke up, that was never going to work, so I’ll drink to that. It was also annoying how she and Clay took their sweet time to tell the others about Winston. STOP KEEPING SECRETS. I still insist that the writers should have kept Sheri and Ani shouldn’t have existed.

Zach: Seriously, where the hell was Zach’s mom to check on her son? The whole season was basically “oh, look, Zach’s drunk!!” He was a hot mess and all his friends didn’t do shit to help him until the last minute. I know Winston manipulated him, but seriously, telling the enemy that you beat up Bryce?? Not cool, dude. And don’t get me started on that scene where they “implied” he was going to assault that drunk girl. Zach has flaws, sure, but he ISN’T a rapist, and neither is Clay (I’m talking about that weird scene where he hallucinates Bryce encouraging him to assault that girl at the frat house). The writers clearly didn’t give a fuck about Zach. Remember in s2 when he told his mom he had suicidal thoughts?? What happened to that?? I’m glad he came to his senses in the end, but he obviously needed help with his addiction.

Tyler: I felt bad for Tyler because his friends didn’t trust him, but I also sorta get it. He was acting hella shady and I get that the cops told him not to say anything, but... dude, you scared the living hell out of Clay with those guns at the end of s2, how are your friends not going to be suspicious? Like in 13RW fashion, his storyline got dragged for too long, but I think he was right when he called out Clay and Tony about their friendship. I liked his friendship with Estela, that was sweet. But overall Tyler didn’t get that much to do this season. I didn’t like how they made him feel bad about Monty. Monty raped him and belonged in jail, it isn’t Tyler’s fault someone decided to kill him.

Alex: GAY KING. The only character who didn’t annoy me this season (besides Charlie). Bryce and Monty apologists, how are you feeling?? My boy didn’t go to jail like y’all wanted it!! No “justice” for the rapists!! Beautiful, amazing, brilliant. In all seriousness, I wish his crush on Zach had been explained a bit more. I don’t think it came out of nowhere, but it would have been nice to spend more time with it. I don’t know how I feel about the whole thing with Winston, he was a Monty apologist so I didn’t want to see another one of my faves sleeping with a rape apologist, so I’m glad he found out the truth in time. Charlie and Alex were so cute together, I wanted him with Zach, but I can’t bring myself to complain because ALEX GOT A HAPPY ENDING, YAY!! He regretted killing Bryce, but it’s like Zach said “maybe he didn’t deserve to die, but NEITHER DO WE”, and he was right. Alex didn’t deserve to have his whole life ruined over a fucking rapist, so I’m glad he got happiness. I just wish his recovery arc after his suicide attempt had been done better, he’s the only character in the show who is a suicide survivor and they never focused on that. Shame, tbh.

Tony: I don’t have much to say about Tony. He was being hella stubborn about not going to college and staying in town, so I’m glad his dad knocked some sense into him. He got a happy ending and got to see his sister again, so that was nice. Tony always had to deal with so much crap, so I’m happy he ended up happy.

Winston: Now this dude didn’t annoy me as much as I thought he would, but... he was weird. He became obsessed with Monty after meeting him twice, and then obsessed with Alex after dating him for two weeks. What was his reason?? Why did he fall in love so quickly?? I thought we were going to get some backstory to explain his behavior, but we didn’t get shit, except that scene in the first episode with his mom where he seemed like some lonely rich kid. I’m glad he let go of Monty in the end and didn’t ruin Alex’s life, but other than making a bunch of passive-aggressive comments and staring at people, he didn’t do much. The trailer made him seem like some mastermind villain, and in the end... he wasn’t.

Diego: How are you going to spend the whole season calling Clay a psycho/crazy, when you’re out there pulling pranks, beating people up, and defending a rapist?? Check yourself first, Diego. He was so annoying with his “I miss Monty” crap, like how are you going to give a big speech about how great Monty was when Tyler, the guy he raped, was sitting right in front of you??!!  I wish he had faced some consequences for all the shit he did to Clay, like “omg, you brought a knife!!, dude YOU left the knife in there. I’m glad he let things go in the end, but JFC, he was annoying. When Zach told him to suck his dick, I cheered so hard.

Justin: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... HA. I’m laughing because I don’t wanna start crying again. Are the writers fucking serious?? After EVERYTHING they did with Justin, turning him into a better person, making him Clay’s brother, getting him back together with Jessica, EVERYTHING...and he dies?? And even before his death, they needed to torture him one last time and kill off his mom, have Clay and Jessica treat him like shit, and make him feel like nobody wanted him. Wow, what a brilliant idea. The series finale would have been perfect if they hadn’t killed off Justin. He deserved to graduate and live a long, happy life. I think the writers just wanted to have one final tragedy and controversial storyline, so they did this cruel and unnecessary crap. I’m disgusted, tbh.

Bryce and Monty: I’m so, so happy we got ZERO Bryce flashbacks and ZERO Monty flashbacks. FUCK these two rapists. I didn’t feel sorry for either of them, and I hope future shows do better and the humanizing of rapists stops. We already know rapists are human, they aren’t aliens who come from another planet, but the focus needs to be on the VICTIMS. I know they weren’t going to bring back Katherine Langford and Brandon Larracuente for a 5-second cameo, but hallucination!Justin should have been hanging out with Hannah and Jeff, not Bryce. Bryce wasn’t Justin’s brother, he treated him like shit and raped his girlfriend, and the whole “it’s okay to love people who do bad shit” is bullshit. There’s nothing wrong with hating rapists/abusers and bad people in general (like racists, homophobes, etc). Well, at least the two rapists are dead and can never hurt anyone again.

Say whatever you want about Hannah Baker, but this show suffered a HUGE loss when Katherine walked out of that door during her final scene.

They should have sent Bryce’s ass to jail at the end of s2, and the last two seasons should have been about ALL the character’s recoveries, with everyone getting proper characterization, good storylines, and focus on the friendships and family dynamics. The murder mystery and cover-up stuff ended up being really stupid and pointless. The writers prioritized shock value over proper storytelling, and that’s a shame because the cast is really talented, and the characters had the potential to be better than what they actually were.

Goodbye, 13 Reasons Why. I’ll check out the cast’s future projects, but the writers/producers can GTFO.

#13 reasons why #13 reasons why spoilers #13rw spoilers #13rw #jessica davis #clay jensen #ani achola #zach dempsey #tyler down #alex standall #tony padilla #winston williams #diego torres #justin foley #bryce walker #montgomery de la cruz #hannah baker #rape mention // #death mention // #suicide mention // #long post // #my post

[cr0wnthewitch]

I feel like I should apologize to my followers and anyone else that's dealt with the drama that's come from my call out post towards the l*li/sh*tac*n p*doph*les. As you'd expect, I practically got swarmed by the p*dos and p*do apologists alike that are more than likely friends of the BNHA p*dos that I called out. They're even going as far as to reach out to other people and plain flat out making up shit about me. No proof, no anything. Just making shit up just to make me look bad, which I'm okay with. If you want to make up lies about me, go ahead because you don't have any proof of anything you're saying about me and I know it's just to save face.

It's absolutely disgusting to me just how many people are willing to defend p*doph*les and people who like l*li/sh*tac*n. It's sick and you should seriously question your morals if you think it's okay in any capacity. And the excuse of it's your "coping mechanism" is a really shitty one. Get a better coping mechanism and seek therapy. If your therapist is telling you this is okay, you need to find a better fucking therapist because no sane medical professional will tell you that this is okay. It's not just harmful because there's a risk of fantasy becoming reality, it’s also the fact that it makes people more accepting of people who commit these horrible acts. Around every abuser, there are dozens of witnesses and enablers or worse, it makes children more likely to accept their abuse if they happen to stumble across people like this.

Glorifying things like p*doph*lia is incredibly fucking dangerous even if a small portion of them don’t act upon their disgusting desires; there’s still a large portion of those who do. The people who don’t do anything IRL enable/encourage these twisted individuals with these fantasies. These people create an environment where getting off to ruining children for the rest of their lives is normal and that's not a society that I want to live in. I wanted to explain that in my original post, however I was much too angry and I wanted to get the call out post out of the way as quickly as possible. I've been wanting to call these people out for a while, but I didn't because some of my friends were still friends with some of these people and didn't want any problems to come from that.

I also want to address that I'm not making fun of their trauma or belittling it whatsoever, despite the fact that they've actively made fun of me for coming out as a victim of CSA because I won’t accept them. I refuse to sink that low. What happened to these people was tragic and I don't think they deserved what happened to them. I just believe that if you get sexually aroused to l*li/sh*ta and you're a victim, then sorry, you're sick too and you need to be locked away whether it's in a prison cell or a psyche ward.

To close this off, I'm not even going to respond to these p*do apologists anymore. I'm honestly starting to get annoyed with all the replies either blatantly lying to my face or telling me how horrible of a person I am. So don't even bother because you're just going to get blocked anyway.

Now, it's back to your regularly scheduled Shiggy content. Thank you to everyone that's stuck by me during this and to all the newcomers here, hey, hi, hello I love you guys! <3

#tw: csa #tw: abuse #bnha #last post I make #seriously though I will block you if you try arguing #there's no point in arguing if all you're going to get is blocked

[letbarbieshavedragons]

What's up with the Rheagar hate in general? I never got that. Rhaegar seems to be hated across the fandoms?! Hats off for accomplished THAT Grrm, never have seen something like that😂. But no seriously, why? Like sure, prophecy-driven, reckless running of with a pregnant teenager, leaving his wife&children, starting a war etc... its shit, but i have seen way worse. WE ALL HAVE, i mean look at Tywin, Caster, the Mountain, Euron (and thats are only the fuckers in the same story!!)

And that while the worst villians ever have apologists, because they have a sad backstory?! Wouldn't Rhaegar fit in perfectly in that? Him being emo, beautiful, loner, having a abusive father, making one mistake after anothery even tho he should have known better etc. Don't get me wrong, i feel indifference towards him, like to ALL pre-asoiaf. Since i dont get how you can stan or hate a 'character' where we only have like 5 lines about?! But how?

I’m assuming these are the same asks lol, since they seem to flow together, but sorry if it’s a coincidence and I just happened to get three asks about Rhaegar in a row lol

Also sorry in advance for the long reply, this topic has always made me curious as well lol

Anyhoo, I agree. it definitely surprised me as well how strongly some people feel about Rhaegar. and I say that as someone who doesnt really like Rhaegar all that much either . Tho, I’m in the same boat. I can’t say I hate him, when I really don’t know/haven’t seen enough of him for me to form any strong emotional connection to him. The show pretty much glossed over him so no insights there and the books still have a lot of explaining to do on that front. Although, That being said, I don’t really expect my opinion of him will improve if as the books continue

From what I’ve seen tho there are a lot of reason why people dislike him (I’ve got a list myself), but like you said in the grand scheme of asoiaf, he’s really not that bad. So why is there more anti Rhaegar discourse than anti-the Mountain (who is unquestionably worse) or less love for Rhaegar then Cersei (who has done also done worse)

My best guess is (and this is just my personal speculation), it has a lot in common with the reason people got so mad at Sansa in s8 (myself included) when she too really didn’t do anything that bad by GoT standards. In fact, it’s funny, you see a lot of people compare her to Cersei or Littlefinger in a derogatory light but those same people will actually like Cersei/Littlefinger. (I say those people when I maysled do this lol) Which I think, reveals it perfectly. Its about perception. It’s about how everyone else in the show reacts and how we the audience are supposed to “view” it.

People liked Cersei when she did dubious shit bc there was recognition that it was wrong. From other the characters, the narrative and the fans. Cersei did villainous shit and was a villain for it. Same with Joeffrey, the mountain, Littlefinger etc... Sansa on the other hand did villainous shit and... was rewarded for it? Got QiTN? Like it felt like we were supposed to view her coronation like Robb’s or Jon’s when it was really more like Cersei’s. And I know that pissed me off. If your going to have a good guy act like the villain, talk like the villain and dress like the villain then you need to recognize they aren’t a good guy anymore (sorry small tangent)

And I think Rhaegar falls into a somewhat similar situation. His reputation is surprising positive considering all the shit he’s pulled and I think that frustrates a lot of people. Especially when they hear people like Ser Barristan and Daenerys speak highly of him. It can certainly feel like his faults get glossed over for the image of the perfectly chivalrous prince, when just on the little we know, that can’t be right. And then the show glamorizing it probably just frustrates people even more.

And I would argue that not all the fans hate Rhaegar, I just think his haters tend to be surprisingly vocal about it. Like I know a lot of casual fans that love him bc they never bothered/cared to actually look closely at his behavior and just see a tragic “forbidden love” story. And then some that just don’t care or view him like you said as a sad tragic emo boy that needs love. But all that really does I think it as fuel to the discourse fire bc now not only do the characters not realize how dubious he was, but a good chunk of fans don’t know or don’t care either which can feel like he gets away with literally everythubg and can be a hero so long as he keeps the dashing prince vibes going.

Although I will say I think the narrative does at least recognize the truth, and as the series continue I think we’ll see a perspective shift as we’ll, but who knows when that will be.

Plus there’s the fact that despite being dead, Rhaegar still has so much impact on the story. And it’s pretty easy to hold the repercussions of his actions against him when you don’t actually get to understand him or see what he’s like. It’s hard to empathize with a character you never get to meet.

But Like I said, that’s just my conjecture. I’m in the same boat. I think Rhaegar’s kind of a dick but 🤷‍♀️ it’s GoT, who ain’t?

#my asks are always open 😉 #my asks #rhaegar #anti got #asoiaf #lyanna

[piracytheorist]

How do you think they assassinated Emma’s character in s6? I thought Emma was very true to character in s6. She fought for the people she loved and to protect innocents. She fought for Killian, Belle, and even was willing to sacrifice her own life rather than kill Gideon, because she knew the Black Fairy had his heart and was controlling him. I thought Emma was very heroic in s6.

Oh well, I guess you’re one of those who think that just because she was a good person, she was also well written. I mean okay, if you love her and felt inclined to see all the good in her, great, but since you asked me, and I don’t think I’ve made a complete post with all my problems with Emma’s writing in s6, here goes.

Note that it’s not my intention to hate on Emma here. But because up until the end of s5, I loved what Emma had grown into, I was so, so disappointed by the writing choices. So remember, I’m criticizing the writing choices, not the character. (though I’m sure I’ll get nervous nellies coming at me and calling me a hater either way)

1. Her whole (and I mean, whole) development from s5 was completely ignored. Seriously, even from the first episodes from s6, it felt as if the writers had completely forgotten everything they wrote in s5. 

Season 5 Emma started scared, insecure, with the Darkness pushing her buttons and making her not trust in her family. By the end of 5A, she learned to trust them to help her - hence, she let them follow her in the Underworld. She did feel guilty, at times, but her growth was shown by her accepting that help.

S6? The first thing she does is hide from her family the fact that she has high chances of dying soon. She’s brought to re-learn the lesson of trusting her family, all over again, and play again the “you’re right I should’ve trusted you yadda yadda”.

Now, yes, in real life, people don’t drop such bad habits that easily. But OUAT wasn’t real life. And when you fucking trust your family to protect themselves and your underage child from whatever the Underworld may bring, I don’t know, hiding a potential death threat from them later sounds kinda illogical.

Point is, Emma had already gone through the process of learning to trust her family. S6 was just a complete re-do of s5. Hence, the writing “killed” the progess she did in s5.

2. The Captain Swan stuff. Oh boy, where do I fucking begin?

- She outright ignored Killian’s very obvious turmoil in 6x13 because she was oh so excited to get engaged. That was selfish, not a nice development.

- In s4, when she suspected Killian had a past with Ursula he wasn’t being truthful about, she confronted him in a very mature way, telling him what upset her and what she expected of him as her boyfriend without rocking their relationship at all.She trusted him to deal with the issue and let her in when/if he needed her. And that was awesome. But the moment Killian is having an issue in s6? She shouts at him, demands that he trust her, and breaks off (even if it was shown as a temporary break-off) their engagement. Which she had pretty much forced, btw. Certainly not a good development, especially since we saw her handle the relationship stuff very positively and carefully in s4, long before they had even exchanged “I love you”s, let alone get engaged.

- Talking about the trust stuff… she shouted at Killian about how he should have trusted her, when not ten episodes ago she’d done the exact same thing to him. Instead of looking inward and realizing that he only did what he did out of fear, like she had done before, the writers had her blame him. No support, no understanding, barely even a chance for him to explain himself. The scene where they fight about the dreamcatcher looks like it’s straight out of a cheesy soap opera and I simply cannot describe how much I hate it. And you know what’s even more ridiculous? When in 6x06 he comes clear to her about not throwing away the shears, she’s immediately understanding. Yes, she looks shaken by him having lied to her, but she does look inward and says “I would have done the exact same thing” - which, though it was beautiful, was another proof the writers had forgotten about s5, where she did that exact same thing by turning him into the Dark One, ignoring his wishes not to. So truly, the line should have been “I have done the exact same thing”. But anyway. Yet, when the same thing happens with the dreamcatcher, she shouts at him. What’s the logic there?

- Her first reaction in whateverthefuckepisodeitwasIdon’tcare, when Killian doesn’t come back after she broke off the engagement, is to assume he’d straight up abandoned her. Sure, abandonment issues yadda yadda. We’re talking about the guy who gave up his home for her happiness, endagered his life and even lost it twice for her, opened up to her in a way he hadn’t opened up to anyone in centuries, yet her first reaction is to think the most dedicated guy in the world gave up on her. That’s, again, a negative development from the woman who went to the fucking Underworld because she knew Killian would want to be back with her. Like, what else should Killian have done to prove to her that he won’t give up on her like that? I mean, even when he was shaken and wanted to leave with Nemo, it was with the aim to come back once he’d found himself. Instead Emma was written to immediately think he’d dumped her forever - so no understanding of her almost fiancee’s character and devotion to her. And it wasn’t even that she felt guilty over forcing the engagement on him and then abruptly breaking it off. She literally packed up his stuff and was about to go put them away. If she had felt guilty she would’ve kept them, but no, guess he’s gone forever now bye.

This was not the development Emma Swan deserved. Sure, she did heroic stuff. But the writing owed to her (and other characters too) to stay true to her. 

3. General stuff

- Getting rid of the shears was stupid and illogical from the get-go. There were two (or more? I don’t remember) openly evil magic users out there. She had a magical object that could change her life and have an impact on virtually everyone. Her solution? Throw it away and hope the expert magic users won’t find it. Though mentioning that feels like cheating because it was a collectively stupid idea. Hide them outside the town border, perhaps? Were all their brain cells burnt while in the Underworld?

- The wedding. Look, I’m not gonna go into detail here. Whether you liked it or not, her dress was 100% not Emma. It was nothing that represented her. The whole wedding was not about her and Killian, it was about the whole town - and if you like Adam’s quotes as much as my other anon did, even he said that the wedding was about the town (or was it Eddie who said that?), and what the fuck, marriage should be about the ones involved. Marriages for the communities usually signify some lack of consent (I’m thinking of matchmaking where the couple doesn’t even know each other before getting married, because they live in a regressive community or something). The super conservative dressthat we never found out why she would even like wearing doesn’t help, either.

- Saying that she was happy she grew up unloved because that made her strong. If you don’t realize how problematic that is just by itself, I don’t think any arguments I may present will convince you.

All those things cheapened her character. Combined, they outright destroyed her. I didn’t watch six seasons of the show, to see the woman who blew on a lonely cupcake on her birthday find people she loves and go through all kinds of turmoil for them and to be with them, only to a) continue to not trust her family, b) be a bad girlfriend c) doubt the devotion of the guy who literally died for her, d) be stupid, e) get married “for the community” in a super conservative dress and worst of all, f) pretty much become an abuse apologist.

Yes, Emma Swan still did good things and “savior stuff”. But that was pretty much the only good thing left in her character by the end. Everything else, considering her positive development, flew out the window. And all for the sake of drama. 

And that’s how Emma’s character was assassinated.

#tell me again why s7 sucked #ouat criticism #Anonymous #ask and ye shall receive

[saintnesryn]

short daenerys meta for @aelinbitch

ok so I AM NOT A GOT/ASOIAF BLOGGER so pls no one take this too seriously

(j@nsas and northern/stark apologists do not fucking interact)

anyways lovely bella, who has never seen nor read the series, asked me if i could share my thoughts on daenerys targaryen + white saviorism (btw there will be some spoilers, sorry)

TW for racism, rape, slavery, abuse, misogyny, child abuse, suicide

so i’d like start by just saying that i do understand why some people believe dany is a white savior. the scene you referenced (the scene where dany is being held up by a bunch of brown ppl who’re calling her mother🙃) was done in such poor taste in my opinion. as a poc, it did make me uncomfortable and i wish that the writers had done something different. there’s also a lot of criticism on her character for basically interfering with other societies and trying to ‘fix’ them. believe me, i get it, i really do.

that being said, i personally do not see her as a white savior or a racist or a colonizer or anything like that. from my understanding, colonizers go to different countries and kill citizens and force the remaining citizens to follow their beliefs and practices, and basically annihilate whole societies (colonization is way more complicated and serious of course than this really condensed summary but you get the picture). dany has done NONE of that.

firstly if you look at historical imperialists, you’ll notice that they basically come from wealth and privilege. dany is an exiled, penniless, abused child at the very beginning of the series. she has absolutely no power, no authority, and no money. her brother, the only family she knows physically, emotionally, and sexually abuses her. she has no allies, no one who to protect her. while she eventually does make a name for herself, the hopelessness and loneliness that came from being so neglected doesn’t leave her. she unlike these historical imperialists understands what it is like to be poor and hungry and homeless and thus her intentions are vastly different from theirs. also she never tries to destroy people’s culture? she learns the languages and customs and tries to assimilate more than anything so...

next, daenerys herself is a victim of the very crimes that she vows to end. for instance, when she goes to cities and bans slavery, it’s not coming from a White Man’s Burden type of place. dany herself is a former slave, having been sold off to a warlord at the age of 13. while being this man’s wife granted her a bit of power (great, she could give a few commands -__-) she was still a child bride and was not treated like a real person. she is also a rape victim, having been raped every night by her husband to the point she was suicidal. so when she is so vehemently against rape, it’s not bc she thinks she’s better or bc she looks down on these ppl it’s bc she’s literally a victim and doesn’t want others to have to go through it. and i also have to add that if dany’s problem was something like religion or cuisine or music or something petty, i would understand why ppl would be mad at her. but like, i shouldn’t have to explain why rape and slavery are bad????? regardless of if you’re a victim of it or not, you should know that those are really bad things and we should all actually try to end those things?.?.?

now she gets criticized a lot bc she burns ppl alive sometimes but like- SLAVE MASTERS AND RAPISTS DESERVE TO BE BURNT ALIVE FOR FUCKS SAKE. and here’s where it gets interesting ok bc daenerys was basically punished by the narrative for being a revolutionary. instead of being wishy washy and lenient, she takes radical steps to ensure that these practices end. so if that means killing every slave master or rapist, she will do it. it’s honestly such a breath of fresh air from the stupid idea that if you kill a bad guy you’re just as bad as the bad guy. she unlike any character in the series and most characters in the media is not afraid to take down systems of oppression.

and throughout all of this dany is literally such a sweetheart. the show at least tried to convince us that she was EViL and mAd aLL ALong but there’s no one in the series who continuously gives a shit like dany does. like she actually listens to her people and advisors and considers their needs as well as her own. she goes as far as to lock up her dragons (who she sees as her children after her own human child was sacrificed and she was made barren) to ensure the safety of her ppl. the show really tries to squander these behaviors and attitudes of hers. in the book for instance, there’s a scene where one of her handmaidens is dying of a fever(?) while they’re all like stranded in the middle of nowhere (she’s poor again in this scene btw so much for her ‘privilege’) and everyone tries to convince her to leave the girl to die. daenerys- too kind for this world- targaryen instead gives the girl her water and stays with her until she dies. in the show however, the handmaiden actually ends up betraying daenerys leading to this whole revenge plot 🙃.

and finally for now ;) daenerys allies herself with multiple women and poc. it’s funny how the most marginalized folks in the series rally around her out of their own volition yet somehow she’s the racist woman hating asshole of this series 🤡

TLDR : DRACARYS

#racism / #abuse / #child abuse / #rape / #misogyny / #slavery / #suicide / #ask to tag #pro daenerys #blood of my blood

[battlestar-royco]

Just so you know, there’s a SJM account that’s saying you guys worship grrm and like the way he wrote about dany’s rape scene. To elaborate, this user wrote that you guys unfairly critique SJM for including sex scenes in her novels because she’s a woman but then worship grrm anyways because he’s a man. I don’t know if you guys get a lot of anon hate but I thought I would warn you in case because she made it seem as if you guys are abuse apologists instead of just people who don’t like sjm

Okay so I sat down to answer this ask and it kind of unintentionally became an anti SJ/M manifesto. So before I begin, thanks anon for sending me this and giving me an excuse to write it. Here is an obnoxiously long answer about the nature of the anti community. TL;DR, critiquing Mess is valid for many reasons, and there are many further reasons why the “antis should critique GRRM more”/painting SJ/M antis as GRRM apologists/stans arguments don’t really hold water.

I think we’ve run into that essay and maybe actually butted heads with the author. From what I remember, the account in question took us out of context by implying that because we critique SJ/M more and for the most part believe Martin is technically a better writer than Mess, we inherently excuse his horrific depiction of rape and women. I try not to read stan tags or specific accounts except for the rare occasion that someone directs me to a blog, so the only time I see their posts is when an anti quotes or screenshots an SJ/M blog post. I also try not to take stan critics too seriously because every time they critique us they just further clarify that they have no idea what the anti community is about–specifically, our reasons for critiquing SJ/M (rather than Martin), how diverse our approaches to critique are, the kind of action we intend to inspire with our posts, and what we actually post about. The main argument against anti blogs is that we’re too hard on SJ/M in favor of GRRM, which is a strawman argument for many reasons. So even though I shouldn’t have to explain the reasons for our community existing, and specifically not focusing on Martin, this seems a better opportunity than any to do so:

Just because we have more critique of SJ/M on our blogs than we do of Martin doesn’t mean that the critiques of SJ/M are invalid. In fact, we critique SJ/M because her books are written such that people (specifically teen girls and young women, more often white and cishet) are able to reject Martin’s books due to their problematic nature. They can then turn to the hollow feminism of SJ/M’s work and say that she is better–at worldbuilding, at craft, whatever may have you, but specifically at writing women and progressive/feminist narratives. Though I disagree with all of these things, the former aspects don’t bother me as much as the last one. I take great issue with this last takeaway and I think it’s very privileged and even further problematic to maintain it in the grand context of fantasy literature, so that’s why I focus my blog on SJ/M. Additionally, for as long as I’ve been in the community–a little over a year now! :D–I have never witnessed an anti praise GRRM’s diversity and representation of women in a positive light compared to SJ/M. This is in large part because aside from my and Marta’s accounts, GRRM rarely comes up, and if he does it is not in the context of critiquing SJ/M. Additionally, he does not have the Martin equivalent of “Messisms”–AKA repeated and inaccurate claims of progressive sentiments in his books, as SJ/M does. As someone who has read copious feminist/activist and radical gender/postcolonial etc theory, it is very important to me to unpack the implications of Mess’s frequent and frankly careless ascriptions of “feminist” to her books which are being marketed to girls and women. (To be fair, I don’t pay as much attention to Martin’s interviews as I do Mess; his books, writing style, and persona fail to inspire me to research his writing advice and meta commentary.)

Another main reason why GRRM is not discussed as much in the anti corner is that most of our blogs are YA lit-oriented, which necessarily means that many of us mostly or only read and critique women writing fantasy for other women. As Martin is a male adult fantasy author, bringing him up in respect to SJ/M is often inorganic–in fact, probably as inorganic as critique would be on an SJ/M-oriented blog, which is maybe part of the reason why they don’t critique him themselves. For me, there is incredible power in doing the work I see in the anti community–marginalized people coming at the same text with completely different perspectives, using our different knowledge and reactions to the books to spread awareness for other upcoming marginalized readers and writers in the hopes that the YA community at large (again, a community created/maintained by and for mostly women, non-binary people, and girls) will improve. This simply could not be done if our community was GRRM-focused or equally critiquing GRRM as we do SJ/M and other YA authors.

I also find it odd that though SJ/M blogs have expressed interest in seeing more critique of GRRM, they 1). hold anti SJ/M blogs responsible for doing that work (which some of us in fact do) instead of doing it within in their own community and 2). do not seem to seek out the plentiful and diverse ASOIAF/GOT blogs that also critique Martin. I regularly read plenty of ASOIAF/GOT meta blogs that both extensively praise and theorize about his books and offer intricate and harsh critique of his books. Almost all of these are run by women. The existence of such blogs evidences another main reason why GRRM doesn’t come up in anti SJ/M circles as much: the ASOIAF fandom doesn’t need antis because they know how to critique Martin. There is nuance in their conversations that I did not see in SJ/M’s fandom in the years that I was present. That being said, there definitely are Martin stans out there, and in my experience they come in two forms: white edgelord men who love grimdark and violence against marginalized characters, and white women who claim against all contrary evidence that Martin is a wonderful writer who knows exactly what he’s doing and deserves the benefit of the doubt because his books are ultimately progressive and feminist. Neither of these types of stans are anywhere to be found in the anti SJ/M community. This may be because I don’t check SJ/M stan blogs, but I’ve seen way more critique of anti SJ/M bloggers–who were hurt by both Mess’s and GRRM’s books–from stans than I have ever seen of Martin or Mess themselves, and it is often justified with the specific panem-et-circenses argument you mention, anon (ie, ridiculing antis for discussing Mess more than Martin instead of calling out who actually needs to be called out: MESS AND MARTIN). The situation is a lot more complex than “antis have double standards against Mess because Martin is a man.” At this point in my anti tenure, ASOIAF/GOT is the second most-discussed topic on my blog, closely followed by the likes of Casserole Eclair, JKR, YA drama, and random TV shows I’m watching. Seeing as I have been affected (often negatively) by many of these authors, I want to talk about it. I like talking about it. It’s how I engage with most literature, and I don’t see why that’s something stans look down upon.

#anti sjm #anti tog #anti acotar #stans being stans

[derpyslurpy-da-derp-master]

The Great Ship War (Chapter 1)

Basically the FNDM towards the end of Volume 6 but imagined as an actual war with the personifications of ships as combatants. I thought of this in the shower and I couldn’t just NOT write it I mean common. Also Ad*m stands dni

It was getting closer to that fated time. January 19. It was early in the morning, so early the episode hadn’t aired quite yet. Two camps set on opposite sides of the valley, one much larger and sat alight by the rising sun while the other much smaller camp was still set in darkness. Clouds crowded the sky above it, drowning all sunlight out. Two small figures were perched on a nearby ridge and watching the sky through binoculars. 

“Any movement Freezerburn?” The shorter of the two, a cat Faunus with white hair, asked. The other glanced over at their companion, icy lilac eyes filled with tiredness.

“Not yet Monochrome...” Freezerburn sighed, running a hair through their platinum blonde mane. They’d been at it all night, waiting for the next episode to drop. 

“You sure you don’t want to head back and get some rest?” Monochrome tilted their head inquisitively. Freezerburn responded with a huff.

“I’ve been waiting all night, I’m not going to sleep now. Besides, I’m not leaving you here to get swarmed by those goats. Or worse, the Anti’s.” Freezerburn cast a nervous glance at the camp covered in darkness. Even without the binoculars it was easy to spot all of the T*uradonna’s. Even without the long lanky limbs and horns of him and onyx black hair, the sheer sickness of them was almost tangible. Monochrome sighed shakily and gave in. After all, they had double the reason to disdain them, they were composed of two abuse victims after all. 

“I hope everyone else is ready... I don’t know how long we can hold those guys at bay, definitely not long enough for everyone to see the entire episode.” Monochrome sighed, glancing towards the sky again.

“I really hope Bumbleby and BlackSun know what they’re doing...” Freezerburn mumbled, returning to scanning for the new episode.

Meanwhile at the camp, a handful of figures stood around a screen, a countdown displayed in big black letters. It was slowly ticking down.

“Um, uh, question? Why we have FB and MC up there if we’ve got a countdown?” A small cat Faunus donned in a red cape covered in black spots asked the other two at the table. The lilac-eyed cat Faunus dressed in yellow stripes sighed a bit in response to the question.

“Because sometimes the countdown is delayed, Ladybug. We don’t want to rush into battle until the SECOND the next episode airs. We could get enough ammo to finally finish them off for good.” Bumbleby explained, pointing to the middle of the battlefield where each episode had landed previously.

“You really think we can do it BB?” The onyx-haired monkey Faunus asked. Bumbleby glanced up at BlackSun and gave a quick nod.

“There’s a chance that Ad*m’s gonna die next episode, if Ad*m dies they have no one and nothing to stan anymore. There’s gonna be stragglers but it’ll be a massive blow against those abuse apologists.” Bumbleby explained further, gesturing to the large black ‘X’ on the map that signified the other camp.

“You seriously underestimate people who defend and fetishize abuse.” Piped up another of the figures, this one the shortest of the bunch donned in a red cloak tipped with frost, white hair dusted with black, and eyes a discolored icy blue.

“What are you talking about WhiteRose?” BlackSun raised a brow at that, looking down at said ship.

“There’s some of my ranks who are abuse victims themselves, some of them have been helping to fight this fight for awhile and you wouldn’t believe the things those monsters say to actual abuse victims telling them to stop.They’ll probably just throw a tantrum, maybe even threaten the CRWBY again, who knows.” WhiteRose sighed sadly, glancing over at their ‘ranks’ which was almost entirely composed of younger wlw. 

“...I...Didn’t even think of that.” BlackSun blinked a bit in shock then frowned a bit in revulsion.

“Wait, they don’t even care that actual abuse victims are telling them to stop?!” BlackSun questioned a bit frantically. Bumbleby and WhiteRose just shared a look.

“That’s about the size of it, yeah. The same happened to a lot of my ranks too.” Bumbleby nodded towards their own group, almost entirely composed of older WLW and other LGBT+ members.

“...We need to take these guys down.” BlackSun’s eyes hardened a bit. Their own ranks weren’t as large as they could have been, there were a few of their own that didn’t want to work with the other Ships before them due to disagreements in opinions. And that was entirely fine, said opinions hurt no one so it wasn’t a big deal. 

“You can say that again..” Bumbleby sighed, glancing at the countdown again then towards their scouts. Suddenly a light started flashing from the ridge. The signal! Bumbleby turned towards the large crowds that had gathered, cupping their hands around their mouth.

“EVERYONE! IT’S TIME!” Bumbleby’s voice boomed across the camp, turning every head. The camp composed of almost every healthy ship in RWBY and the shippers themselves trailing behind.

“I KNOW THAT WE ALL HAVE OUR DIFFERENCES, BUT WE’RE ALL HERE TO TAKE DOWN A COMMON ENEMY!” Bumbleby shouted, this shout being greeted by a cheer.

"FOR BLAKE!” BlackSun boomed into the crowd.

“FOR BLAKE!” Shouted back almost everyone in the massive crowd.

“FOR THE LGBT COMMUNITY!” Bumbleby called out once more.

“FOR THE LGBT COMMUNITY!” Shouted back the LGBT+ ships.

“FOR ABUSE VICTIMS EVERYWHERE!” WhiteRose yelled as loud as they could.

“FOR ABUSE VICTIMS EVERYWHERE!” The Crowd shouted back.

“LET’S GO GO GO!” Bumbleby barked out and almost immediately the crowds brandished their weapons (Combo’s of their OTP’s weapons) and got in formation for battle. 

Meanwhile Freezerburn and Monochrome scrambled to try and get back to camp as the sounds of heavy marching echoed from the darker camp, FB struggling not to trip in their tired state.

“Hold on FB!” Monochrome grabbed their combo weapon and quickly summoned white glyphs on their path. Grabbing Freezerburn’s arm, the two started to practically shoot across the field and reached their own army in no time.

“You guys okay?” Ladybug asked worriedly. The two just gave a thumbs up while trying to catch their breath.

“We’ve got almost 14 minutes this time, we just need to defend long enough for the episode to be over or until Ad*m dies.” Freezerburn informed both Ladybug and the three generals.

“Alright, be careful guys, we don’t want to lose any of you.” BlackSun ordered before a large impact shook the landscape. The episode had dropped.

As if someone had shot the starting pistol, both parties rushed into action. The closer they got to the episode, the louder the Ad*m Stans and Anti’s got. And what they had to say wasn’t exactly pleasant.

“AD*M’S GONNA KILL YANG AND HE AND BLAKE WILL GET BACK TOGETHER!”

“IT’S BLAKE’S FAULT HE’S THIS WAY!”

“IF THEY KILL HIM THEY’RE AS BAD AS HE IS!”

Despite the ludicrous shouts, the other army didn’t slow down one bit. Soon all that stood between the two parties was the episode itself.

“DOWN WITH THE GOAT MAN!” Cried the larger army.

“DOWN WITH THE GAY PANDERING!” Cried the smaller army.

And then the fighting began.

With Bumbleby and BlackSun leading the charge, the Armies clashed. Dust rounds went flying, the clanging of melee weapons echoed throughout the landscape, the shouting nearly drowning it all out. The fighting raged on for several minutes, then suddenly everyone stopped. They looked at the Episode. 

Ad*m had lost his sword. Blake has punched him. The three were all dashing to get the halves of Gambol Shroud. The crowd watched with bated breath before the two girls grabbed the two halves, driving them through Ad*m’s torso. Everything went dead quiet. Not a peep from any of the fighters as Ad*m’s spine broke on the cliffside on the way down. 

And then all hell broke loose.

The bigger army was cheering in triumph while the smaller was screaming in hatred, many of them turning on their heel and running away, vanishing back into the shadows of the FNDM. Very few remained and when they went to rise complaint they were immediately drowned out by the sound of excited cheering.

Finally the goat and his kin were no more. 

#RWBY Fanfiction #RWBY Oneshot #Original

[tumblunni]

Man, god, im just suddenly thinking about "ak/ur/oku" and like.. How the fuck did that even become such a huge thing in early 2000s fandom? Dear god so much early gay shipping in fandom was super unhealthy "sinful" bullshit made by straight people for fetishy purposes rather than genuine representation. But a/kurok/u was such a weird one because it was like.. Just globally accepted and never aknowledged to be problematic?? Man i still remember how lil 13 year old me didnt know there was anything wrong with it, like seriously when stuff like this becomes popularized it ends up sending bad messages to actual queer youth. Learning about your sexuality via the internet cos there's no sex ed irl for you, abd you end up stumbling into toxic fandoms before you have the critical thinking skills necessary to know that this stuff is bad and shouldnt be imitated. Like seriously one of the things i worry about EVERY NIGHT AT 2AM THAT KEEPS ME FROM SLEEPING is that stupid lil 15 year old me made a post on deviantart going like "are pedophiles really all bad? I mean it sounds like an illness. I mean maybe theyre just scared and they want help." Like im terrified constantly that someone will find that old thing and judge me as if i still believe that apologist crap, or as if it was actually an opinion i formed from a fully developed mind, rather than from a kid who (as far as i knew) had never met a pedophile, thinking about pedophiles in the abstract, while being influenced by fuckin pedophile-dominated fandoms and having NO IDEA. and of cooooourse i wanted to believe that i was mature for my age, i thought that was a compliment.. Uuuuugh...

Sorry, going a little offtopic there.

But anyway isnt it kinda weird how akur/oku was just.. Not even regarded as pedophilia? And when i was a kid it wasnt just me not understanding the gross parts of the fandom, i legit never thought axel was that much older than roxas. And it was one of the more popular gay ships cos at that point as far as we knew it was the only person axel had any sort of backstory with, and he cared so much about this guy that he was willing to sacrifice his life to help sora even when he knew roxas would never come back. At the time without further context it seemed like a reasonable assumption to make? And it wasnt until Days that i realized axel was intended to be an adult rather than a teenager, and even worse A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO MADE THAT SHIPPING ART KNEW THAT. Uuugh it was so gross in retrospect to go back and see all the clues i missed that these people were fetishizing roxas's inexperience and veey much writing him as underage. AAAAAAA!

Anyway im glad that shit is now recognized as shit and now we have canon evidence of this dude being old as balls. And honestly i love the relationship of him as a big brother/dad to roxas and xion a lot more, even though as a kid i was desperate for any kind of queer representation in kh. Like.. I never really actually liked the ship that much or felt any chemistry? I just latched onto a few bad writing flubs that could potentially be interpreted as Gay Evidence because i was SO damn desperate! Like i felt like i had to support all these gross abusive ships in fandom cos if i wasnt then i was being 'homophobic', i mean they were THE ONLY AVAILABLE OPTIONS, right? :( Its only now ive grown up i can see how wrong that was, and how people just used it as an excuse to make gross shit and get away with it. Like how in Black Butler all these 'yaoi fangirls' kept erasing the rarest of rare things, a canon trans woman, because 'its sexier if its gay'. Ughhhh. And seriously that discourse still exists for poor Grell, and there's still a lot of these shitty bigoted people pretending to be allies, but like seriously this was EVERYWHERE in 2005! And lgbt rights and even lgbt communities at all were way smaller and less available to the poor teenagers who really needed that positive influence while they were figuring out who they are. So man the abusive side of yaoi fandom was WAY more powerful, and wya more.mainstream, with barely any criticism. And the whole content of this fandom was creepy fuckin adults making pedo porn, and kids who just discovered they were queer and tried to headcanon their favourote characters as being like them. Fucking predator heaven! So yeh that ruined KH for me and definately made me scared of returning to Black Butler for almost a decade. And then i found out that the manga itself has none of that pedo shit and that one of the fandom's biggest abusive gay man archetypes was actually a trans woman this entire time, and just gahhhhh....

Also like seriously this is a tad offtopic but can we kill the anime trope of either everyone looking young or everyone looking old? Or creepy things where just one character looks the wrong age in order to fetishize pedophilia? I dont think kingdom hearts was one of those intentional ones, like i mean there's super bad shit where its like 'this 5 year old looking person is really 9000 years old/actually 18 and just hasnt had their growth spurt yet' (somehow its even more insulting when theres not even a magical excuse) Or the other way around and we have a character thats canonically underage but drawn looking sexually mature with big ol knockers so its somehow okay. The existence of those horrible things is why i end up feeling uncomfortable even seeing ambiguous ages as just a trope in completely innocent anime, yknow? Like in pokemon and digimon all the 10 year old protagonists are exactly the same height as all the adults, and all the female love interests for ash have to be early bloomers in terms of chest and hips, while notably Iris is the only one who actually looks her age and also the first non love interest. Its another reason why i prefer the new art style for the latest season, they make everyone look like kids and Lillie continues to look like a kid even though she's the main girl and has all the cute scenes with Ash. The girls even got very normal looking kiddy swimsuits in the beach episode! Why is that so uncommon, to find the bare minimum thing of underage kids not being sexualized at the beach??

Soooooo yeah, thats at least part of why kid me thought axel and roxas were within a similar age range. Like i thought roxas was maybe 16 and axel was 18?? Somehow?? I dont even know, kingdom hearts isnt even SUPER bad with the 'kids look like older teens,all adults look like age 20 at the most' anime syndrome. Its probably more because id been raised on games and anime that followed that trope, before i played kh. And as a kid you just dont really know the exact differences between 'old', like i mean i knew teenagers were tall and boys get a growth spurt, so somehow it made sense to me that axel could be the same age as roxas?? And man even if i knew he wasnt, i was barely educated at all about pedophilia and i didnt know the nuances of it. I just knew 'its bad for adults to marry kids' like man i was really behind the curve in general learning due to my undiagnosed autism and abusive parenting so like HERE'S 12 YEAR OLD ME NOT EVEN THINKING ABOUT THE SEX ASPECT. And i didnt know that adults in relationships with teenagers was bad too, or like 16/17 year old teens dating kids... I was so fuckin dumb... I really cant believe that not only did i believe stupid adults saying 'pedophilia isnt bad if you're non offending, its okay to make cartoon child porn as long as you dont physically abuse real kids' but also i somehow just DID NOT EVER REALIZE that axel was an adult and roxas wasnt even a goddamn older teen...

So yeh im making a lot of excuses for why my stupid younger self was blindly parroting bullshit, but im not trying to excuse how goddamn wrong and bad it was. I still wake up ashamed in the middle of the night for crapoy decisions i made as a dumb kid, and in terrified that some shreds of it might still exist out there on the internet and maybe someone else could read it?! Gahhhh! Seriously could i have accidentally helped spread that bullshit brainwashing to other kids? And seriously when people say this shit is harmless they just need to look at this, look at how being into problematic yaoi is such a common 'phase' for ACTUAL CHILDREN. Like its not fuckin NATURAL for kids to fall into this stuff, they do it because they dont know any better but the people making the goddamn founding blocks of the fandom are fuckin grown women fetishizing gay men or grown men fetishing lesbians. There's people who do know better who actually conciously decide that a/kurok/u is a good ship while knowing all the goddamn details of what it actually is and exactly what theyre supporting by shipping it. Ughhhhh!

So yeh fuckin Please Stay Safe In Fandom, Kids

And pedophiles have absolutely none of my sympathy, please ignore that goddamn shit i wrote as a little kid being fuckin groomed by a fandom without even knowing it.

This also applies a lot to the rest of LGBT+ aside from just gay shipping, like seriously it took me til age 18 to find any positive representation of trans people or even a proper explanation of what being trans is, yet before i was even 8 years old i'd seen a million 'lol gross man in a dress who gets sexual gratification from wearing women's underwear' jokes in kids shows. And when i was 12 i'd already been exposed to the fuckin hell of m/pre/g thanks to its prevelance of untagged n/sf/w shit in the kh fandom. And by age 15 i'd been exposed to pedophile apologists arguing whether child porn was okay if they only got off to that and didnt personally abuse that kid with their own hands. All of that shit but actually learning about homosexuality and gender in sex ed would have been 'too much' for someone my age...

God what a fuckin mess. Fuck im really really fuckin worried that any of my ignorant comments at those ages could have been read by other ignorant kids and contributed to that disgusting fandom atmosphere. Fuck i think about this so damn often im so damn ashamed of how ignorant i used to be yet i know the adult fuckfaces making pedo shit never reel one lick of shame any damn day of their life. I used to excuse their shit as an actual kid cos i just ASSUMED they would be ashamed and want to seek help! Gahhhh..

[aliceviceroy]

1. Spirituality for dummies.

If your thinking is mired in shame and guilt (with perhaps a twist of drug abuse or suicidal thinking), then subscribing to a religion can help you climb to a higher level of awareness. Your mindset, however, still remains incredibly dysfunctional; you’ve merely swapped one form of erroneous thinking for another.

For reasonably intelligent people who aren’t suffering from major issues with low self-esteem, religion is ridiculously consciousness-lowering. While some religious beliefs can be empowering, on the whole the decision to formally participate in a religion will merely burden your mind with a hefty load of false notions.

When you subscribe to a religion, you substitute nebulous group-think for focused, independent thought.

3. Engineered obedience training.

Religions are authoritarian hierarchies designed to dominate your free will. They’re power structures that aim to convince you to give away your power for the benefit of those who enjoy dominating people. Religions don’t market themselves as such, but this is essentially how they operate.

Religions are very effective at turning human beings into sheep. They’re among the most powerful instruments of social conditioning. They operate by eroding your trust in your own intellect, gradually convincing you to put your trust into some external entity, such as a deity, prominent figure, or great book...Simply by convincing you to give your power away to something outside yourself, religion will condition you to be weaker, more docile, and easier to control. Religions actively promote this weakening process as if it were beneficial, commonly branding it with the word faith. What they’re actually promoting is submission.

Religions strive to fill your head with so much nonsense that your only recourse is to bow your head in submission, often quite literally. Get used to spending a lot of time on your knees because acts of submission such as bowing and kneeling are frequently incorporated into religious practice. Canine obedience training uses similar tactics.

Have you ever wondered why religious teachings are invariably mysterious, confusing, and internally incongruent? This is no accident by the way — it’s quite intentional.

By putting forth confusing and internally conflicting information, your logical mind (i.e. your neocortex) is overwhelmed. You try in vain to integrate such contradictory beliefs, but it can’t be done. The net effect is that your logical mind disengages because it can’t find a pattern of core truth beneath all the nonsense, so without the help of your neocortex, you devolve to a more primitive (i.e. limbic) mode of thinking. You’re taught that this faith-based approach is a more spiritual and conscious way to live, but in reality it’s precisely the opposite. Getting you to distrust your own cerebral cortex actually makes you dumber and easier to manipulate and control. Karl Marx was right when he said, “Religion is the opiate of the people.”

For example, the Old Testament and the New Testament in the Bible frequently contradict each other with various rules of conduct, yet both are quoted during mass. Church leaders also behave in direct violation of the Church’s teachings, such as by covering up criminal and immoral activities by their own priests. Those who try to mentally process such glaring contradictions as coherent truth invariably suffer for it. A highly conscious person would reject membership in such an organization as patently ridiculous. So-called divine mysteries are engineered to be incomprehensible. You aren’t meant to ever make sense of them since that would defeat the whole purpose. When you finally wake up and realize it’s all B.S., you’ve taken the first step towards freedom from this oppressive system.

The truth is that so-called religious authorities don’t know any more about spirituality than you do. However, they know how to manipulate your fear and uncertainty for their own benefit.

Although the most popular religions are very old, L. Ron Hubbard proved the process can be replicated from scratch in modern times. As long as there are large numbers of people who fear the responsibility of their own power, religions will continue to dominate the landscape of human development.

If you want to talk to God, then communicate directly instead of using third-party intermediaries. Surely God has no need of an interpreter.

5. Support your local pedophile.

In addition to being a serious waste of time, religious practice can also be a huge waste of money.

For starters when you donate to a major religion, you support its expansion, which means you’re facilitating the enslavement of your fellow humans. That isn’t very nice, now is it? If you feel the urge to donate money, give it to a real and honorable cause, not a fabricated one.

Religions offer a suite of special services to generate additional income. They’ll spout some gibberish while feeding you a crusty wafer, pronounce you bonded to a fellow human being, snip some of your excess skin, pour water on your head, proclaim your manhood, cast out your demons, pronounce your transgressions forgiven, and so on. When they can’t think of anything else, they make up some drivel like confirming you’re still loyal to them. The bill may read “suggested donation,” but it’s still a bill.

When you donate money to a religious organization, you’re doing much worse than throwing your money away. You’re actively funding evil. If you think that spending a billion dollars to defend pedophiles and rapists is a good use of your hard-earned cash, perhaps you should run for Pope. You could hardly do worse. At least Wall Street is honest about its greed and lust.

One of my Catholic high school teachers was later revealed to be a repeat child molester… written up in the newspaper and everything. I didn’t see any suspicious behavior at the time, and to be totally honest, I actually liked that teacher and was shocked to learn of his extracurricular activities. He was shuffled from one location to another by those who knew about his appetite for young flesh. I’m glad I wasn’t on the menu, but I feel sad for those who were. Methinks God should raise his standards… just a tad.

Why aren’t Catholic priests allowed to marry? This has nothing to do with what’s written in the Bible or with any benefits of celibacy. This rule was invented by the Church to prevent their priests from producing heirs. When the priests died, their property would go back to the Church, thereby enriching the rich even more. Apparently God needed more cash. It was a very effective policy, as the Church is now among the richest and most powerful organizations on earth. It’s hard to fail when you have a loyal force of lifetime indentured servants who work cheaply and then yield their life savings to you when they die.

Lay religious people (i.e. non-clergy), on the other hand, are encouraged to have lots of babies because that means more people are born into the religion, which means more money and a bigger power base. Condoms are a big no-no; they’re bad for business. Marriage is a big yes; it means more brainwashed babies will be made.

Would you seriously consider this sort of structure a “good cause” worthy of your hard-earned cash?

7. Idiocy or hypocrisy – pick one.

When you subscribe to an established religion, you have only two options. You can become an idiot, or you can become a hypocrite. If you’ve already chosen the former, I’ll explain why, and I’ll use small words so that you’re sure to understand.

First, there’s the idiocy route. You can willingly swallow all of the contrived, man-made drivel that’s fed to you. Accept that the earth is only 10,000 years old. Believe stories about dead bodies coming back to life. Learn about various deities and such. Put your trust in someone who thinks they know what they’re talking about. Eat your dogma. Good boy!

Congratulations! You’re a moron believer. You’ll be saved, enlightened, and greeted with tremendous fanfare when you die… unless of course all the stuff you were taught turns out not to be true. Nah… if the guy in the robe says it’s true, it must be true. Ya gotta have faith, right?

Next, we have the hypocrisy option. In this case your neocortex is strong enough to identify various bits of utter nonsense in the religious teachings that others are trying to ram down your throat. You have a working B.S. detector, but it’s slightly damaged. You’re smart enough to realize that earth is probably a lot older than 10,000 years and that pre-marital (or non-marital) sex is a lot of fun, but some B.S. still gets through. You don’t swallow all the bull, but you still identify yourself as a follower of a particular religion, most likely because you were raised in it and never actually chose it to begin with.

To you it’s just a casual pursuit. You’re certainly not a die-hard fundamentalist, but you figure that if you drink the wine and chew the wafer now and then, it’s good enough to get you a free ride into a half-decent afterlife. You belong to the pro-God club. Surely there’s safety in numbers. Two people can’t be wrong… although 4-1/2 billion supposedly can.

In this case you become an apologist for your own religion. You don’t want to be identified with the extreme fanatics, nor do you want to be associated with the non-believers. You figure you can straddle both sides. On earth you’ll basically live as a non-practitioner (or a very sloppy and inconsistent practitioner), but when you eventually die, you’ve still got the membership card to show God.

Do you realize how deluded you are?

Perhaps if you have to throw out so much of the nonsense to make your chosen belief system palatable, you shouldn’t be drinking the Kool Aid in the first place. Free yourself from the mental baggage, stop looking to others for permission to live, and start thinking on your own. If your God exists, he’s smart enough to see through your fake ID.

8. Inherited falsehood.

Is your religion based on the inspired word of God? No more than this article. Just because someone says their text is divinely inspired doesn’t mean it is. Anyone can claim divine inspiration. The top religions are decided by popularity, not by truth.

Even the central figures in major religions didn’t follow the religions that were spawned in their names. If they didn’t swallow the prevailing “wisdom” about gods and spiritual leaders and such, why should you?

9. Compassion in chains.

Religious rules and laws invariably hamper the development of conscience. When you externalize compassion into a set of rules and laws, what you’re left with isn’t compassion at all. True compassion is a matter of conscious choice, and that requires the absence of force-backed rules and laws.

The more we collectively abandon all religion, the better off this planet will be. This doesn’t mean we have to abandon all spiritual pursuits. It just means we must stop turning spirituality into something it isn’t.

10. Faith is fear.

Religion is the systematic marketing of fear.

Blessed are the poor (donate heavily). Blessed are the meek (obey). Blessed are the humble (don’t question authority). Blessed are the hungry (make us rich while you starve). Blessed are the merciful (if you catch us doing something wrong, let it go). Blessed are the pure of heart (switch off your brain). Blessed are the timid, the cowardly, the fearful. Blessed are those who give us their power and become our slaves.

That’s the kind of nonsense religion pushes on people. They train you to turn your back on courage, strength, and conscious living. This is stupidity, not divinity.

Religion will teach you to fear being different, to fear standing up for yourself, and to fear being an independent thinker. It will erode your self-trust by explaining why you’re unable to successfully manage life on your own terms: You are unworthy. You’re a sinner. You’re unclean. You belong to a lesser caste. You are not enlightened. Of course the solution is always the same — submit to the will of an external authority. Believe that you’re inadequate. Give away your power. Follow their rules and procedures. Live in fear for the rest of your life, and hope it will all turn out okay in the end.

When you practice faith instead of conscious living, you live under a cloak of fear. Eventually that cloak becomes so habitual you forget it’s even there. It’s very sad when you reach the point where you can’t even remember what it feels like to wield creative freedom over your own life, independent of what you’ve been conditioned to believe.

Fear in one part of your life invariably spreads to all other parts — you can’t compartmentalize it. If you find yourself frustrated because you’re too afraid to follow your dreams, to talk to members of the opposite sex, to speak up for yourself, etc., then a good place to start is to rid your life of all religious nonsense. Don’t let fear get a foothold in your consciousness.

Stop trying to comfort yourself by swallowing religious rubbish. If you really need something to believe in, then believe in your own potential. Put your trust in your own intellect. Stop giving away your power.

Dump the safety-in-numbers silliness. Just because a lot of people believe stupid stuff doesn’t mean it isn’t stupid. It just means that stupidity is popular on this planet. When people are in a state of fear, they’ll swallow just about anything to comfort themselves, including the bastion of stupidity known as religion.

*slightly edited*

#religion #ex christian #atheism #secular thinking #harsh tone but not untrue

[coldtomyflash]

Things I would Do Different if I Re-Wrote AATJS

This is random but while getting job apps done this week I’ve been rereading AATJS (because why not - I’ve never actually read it after it was done) and thinking back on conversations I’ve had about it, reading comments on it, and I’ve come to a few conclusions.

So eh, dumping my thoughts here for any interested parties :)

(major spoilers for the end of the fic under the cut!)

Big Changes

There’s only a few broad / large scale changes I would make, I think, and they all feed into one another.

There’s some stuff with how the climax occurs that isn’t well foreshadowed within the fic. Or if it’s foreshadowed, the narrative still doesn’t build up to it properly.

A main thing I would change would be to introduce the notion of metagenes much sooner and talk about it as something Caitlin is researching actively. Bring it up early in the fic and leave it there. When Barry is searching for metas to warn about the military, maybe have them discuss using a search based on genetics but toss it aside as too much of a violation of privacy and too danger to have a list like that. Have him actually get to interact with the meta he goes searching for at the circus (when he and Len run into James Jesse in the fic) to make the theme of metas more prominent throughout. In this way, I’d also introduce the military element a little sooner / stronger, and Dr. Eilias.

Feeding into that, I have serious changes I would make to the Hartley / James storyline. Right now, it’s uncomfortable to me. I did my damn best not to make it abuse-apologist after I wrote James’ behavior as totally deplorable, but at the end of the day, the narrative still advocates: “if you think they’ve changed, take them back”. It’s not a narrative I want to advocate, regardless of how sincere James’s changes are in the fic. And there are reasons I wrote that storyline the way I did that deal with people in my life, but honestly, it’s bullshit and I kind of hate how it fell out.

What I’d do instead is make Hartley’s Soulmate someone else. Some abusive asshole who had serious internalized homophobia and never really dealt with it. And I’d have Hartley as having left him, except they’d stay separated. I would use Hartley both as a cautionary tale (”soulmates don’t always end up together”) but also give him a better ending with a more beautiful theme to it: he’d end up with James anyway, except James would be Unmarked. He’d be someone else that Hartley falls in love with, maybe someone from the circus or else an additional Rogue struggling to come to terms with his identity as he starts to fall for Hartley from the sidelines while Hartley’s busy flirting with Len. Maybe I’d make him a meta (and not use James Jesse, idk) to fit with that theme. But he wouldn’t be Hartley’s Soulmate, and the lesson would be: “you can fall in love with someone else and never see your Soulmate again and still be happy and fulfilled.” Because honestly, that to me is a much more powerful storyline.

This would also allow me to introduce the notions of NAB Blockers and Breaking Bonds much sooner and in a much bigger way. Hartley would be contemplating Breaking his Bond with his Soulmate, but he hasn’t been able to go through with it yet. Sometime in the middle of the fic’s narrative, or at least after things with him and Len shake out and after he becomes a Rogue, Hartley would Break his Bond. Then we would know it’s possible and would learn about Dr. Elias’s research here.

(For the record, all of this would up the “consequences” element for Barry and Len sorting their shit out, though that’s not the sole reason for doing it, of course).

Speaking of Barry and Len, there’s a few things I would change there. For one, I would make it clearer up front some of the extra stuff Barry is dealing with which only gets revealed later in the fic. I might drop the “there’s an alternate future / timeline where he married Iris, a la season 1 newspaper″ storyline altogether because it’s... bumpy. But I’d acknowledge that he’s still getting over his love for Iris and watching her and Eddie be together and have that life and have a kid is tough on him. I’d acknowledge up front and quick that it’s only been about a month since Len’s betrayal at Ferris Air, and that’s a huge part of why Barry is struggling to trust Len and worried at the outset. I’d make it clearer that he’s still re-grieving his mother and conflicted over how things shook out with Eobard and laboring to get his life in order.

And I’d make it clear very quickly that Barry is struggling to protect everyone. I think I would use Joe a lot more in the fic for this (a lot more in the first half in general). Have scenes after Joe’s leg got injured where Barry is wracked with guilt over how things went at the gala. Show more of Barry’s fear that he can’t protect Len from the rest of the shit in his life, including maybe a nightmare about Joe shooting Len (because if the cold field hadn’t been in place, well, that pretty much almost happened). Just... give more evidence of Barry’s motives and not play up the self-deception and repression stuff so much, or else make better use of the perspectives of those around him to showcase his conflict if he himself isn’t understanding what’s going on in his own head.

Minor Changes

Some people won’t think this is a minor change, but I think it ultimately is: I’d give Barry and Len back their bleed at the end, after a fashion.

I always intended for it to break. For Barry to tell Len he loves him only after there’s nothing in place that Len could possibly ‘blame’ for keeping Barry at his side or for distorting how Barry feels about him. I actually think that’s important, and kind of stand by that decision still. It seriously wasn’t done for shock value or to hurt the reader. Subverting the soulmate tropes? Yes. But with a lot of forethought.

But. I think I���d give it back. I’d make their Mark turn into a Widow Mark (it’s not specified in the fic currently but it never does go black, and I’d change that) but like Caitlin and Ronnie, I’d have some measure of the bleed return to them, after a bit. I’d give a bit more space at the end to flesh that out, I think, too. The end was a bit rushed. I was just so ready to be done with the long fucking thing that AATJS is and I write very quick resolutions post-climax as a general rule, but I think it needed a bit more than I gave it.

So yeah, I’d have it start to flutter and return. Maybe not as strong, maybe stunted. “A little scarred and jagged, just like us.” It would be nice, right? And I’d do it even maybe just shortly after the love confession, even. Because while it’s sort of a picture-perfect happy ending... after all the complete and utter bullshit and heaviness of the fic, they sort of deserve that? (i.e., you can tell I was pretty depressed when I first started writing this, I think....)

Another minor change I’d make is about their discussions on kids. I wouldn’t change much except to make Len’s issues on it clearer, him seriously wanting kids, always wanting kids, but not letting himself want them. I’d introduce that to his cognitions before Barry ever bringing it up, I think, but make it clear that Len’s in total denial about it.

I’d also change... something about Kane. I’m not sure what, exactly. Because there’s a serious issue in the fic with the whole “lesbians always die” trope. Because there’s Pam and Angie, who lived a long and happy life but ultimately are both dead by the end of the fic, even if they died of old age. And there’s Bette and Kane, who never even got to be together before Bette died. And that’s... so shitty I hate it. I don’t know what I’d fix about it because I love Pam and Angie so much and I like what Pam’s existence brings to the story via Mick, and I love Kane and her motivations help humanize her and what she’s been through at Eiling and Elias’s hand but... I’m still somewhat dissatisfied. So I’d fix something in there.

And the most minor of changes: I’d never in a million years include such cringe-worthy attempts to use random words from other languages from both Hartley and James’ PoVs, especially swear words. Like wtf, why. Just why. That’s a trope I learned from fic and while showcasing bilingualism is great, or having Hartley spout off random Latin phrases when appropriate is in character, I really went about it so poorly. So sorry, guys. It’s just... cringeworthy.

Conclusion

That’s all of them off the top of my head. Some of these came about just due to hindsight (the Hartley and James stuff, the making motives and mindsets clearer) and some came about because they’re Bad Tropes I became aware of either during or after writing it. Some are because I knew more or less that, for instance, the military was going to abduct Len and do something with his Bond/NAB to mess with Barry’s head and ultimately the Bond would break, but I didn’t actually have the military’s motives pinned down until right before I worked on that arc of the fic. So there’s a lot of meandering and not a lot of proper build into the specifics there, with a lot of details introduced right at that arc toward the end. That’s just something that happens that means things inherently will improve on re-writing.

Not that I ever intend to re-write that monster (omg I would never have the time or energy) but it’s always good to take an honest look at your writing, and I figured it might even help other writers out there if I candidly shared some major changes my fic could use to improve :) Because we can all always improve.

And hey, if I ever decide to take this fic and turn it into an original work (probably dropping the metahuman element but supplanting it with something else... I’ve genuinely mapped out how I’d write it as an original work), then at least I know what the structure would look like :

#aatjs #redhead vs. writing #it's 1:15am #this is my life these are my choices #anyhoo #long post #long post for ts #written at 1am so dubiously edited and probably full of typos #coldflash #technically #i feel like i had more things to list but eh this is plenty comprehensive

[mentaldisordercartooncharac-blog]

The trickiest thing about tumblr is its level of anonymity, and the ability it gives a person to not be entirely truthful about who they are. You can be whoever you want to be! Nobody will know. You can roleplay anyone and no one can question you. In most cases, this is a good thing. Protecting one’s privacy is important, especially online. But in a lot of cases, it creates awkward situations where you might need to question the legitimacy of someone’s claim because they’re dropping red flags that they’re lying just to have an excuse to be abusive and avoid criticism, but in doing so you risk being labeled -phobic or -ist or a horrible person in general for daring to invalidate someone’s experience or abuse.

so when I see someone throwing a tantrum all over ship tags and equating shippers with pedophiles, while blatantly misusing that word in the same sentence as claiming to be CSA survivors themselves, that really makes me doubt that they’re being entirely truthful about their trauma, and that they’re likely just making up some story out of the mistaken assumption it will add some legitimacy to their false accusations. If you were really a victim of child sexual abuse, you wouldn’t belittle it so candidly just for a cheap attempt at policing strangers on the internet, you wouldn’t exploit it as a manipulation tactic, and you’d have a little more respect for the term (and actual survivors of it) and use it appropriately.

that goes for the transtrender thing too. Believe it or not, I dislike transphobes and terfs as much as the next guy, but when it seems like being a trans guy is the new iteration of last decade’s empty boast of “not like other girls”, and then seeing so many teenagers on here who have clearly never experienced dysphoria in their lives and are solely using that identity as a means to shit on girls for shipping the wrong ship and backing up their reasoning with “well AS A GAY MAN~~ I’M TELLING YOU HOW STUPID YOU ARE BECAUSE I’M TOTALLY A GAY MAN THEREFORE I’M THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY ON GAY MEN,” you’ll see why I’m so doubtful of a lot of people about who they claim to be. I doubt actual trans men would dedicate such a large portion of their leisure time to yelling at strangers on the internet over inane trivia, because I’m assuming they’d have bigger fish to fry, and actual real life problems to worry about. And probably also a considerable level of empathy on the subject of bullying and harassment, so…needless to say, that sort of behavior would likely be, erm…beneath them. Also, maybe let’s not appropriate that identity, because I imagine it’s demeaning to actual trans guys and the shit they’ve had to go through when all you’ve done is tapped off a hasty afterthought of pronouns in your bio and then assume to speak for them.

There’s also the implication it carries that it’s apparently a lot more beneficial on this site to be othergendered than it is to be female, that we’re still stuck in this shitty online culture where being female is still considered unfashionable and the Absolute Worst Possible Thing a person can be and that claiming to be anything but female is ideal, but that’s a conversation for another time. It’s just, illuminating, I suppose. 

Don’t think I don’t feel bad for pointing this out. I really don’t intend to invalidate anyone’s identity or past abuse, but when it seems like most of you are simply using those labels as weapons for the lone purpose of being huge steaming shitbags to people in fan spaces, you’ll understand why I can’t really take anyone seriously, and why my knee-jerk reaction on this site is to immediately disbelieve that anyone is really who they say they are and not just catfishing for catfishing’s sake. It’s a red flag that goes up whenever someone makes claims as to their identity or education or general worldly experience, when everything about their personality and claims suggest otherwise. Like CSA survivors misusing the word pedophilia, presumed law students making serious accusations of federal crimes with absolutely no evidence to corroborate it, trans people whose only motivation to be on this site is bullying and harassment. 

Pardon if I’m way off base here, I don’t mean to assume what might be considered “normal” behavior for any of these groups of people, but these traits seem a little out of character for those identities, so you’ll forgive me for my skepticism. I think a lot of people here are exaggerating a little about who they say they are. I know it must have been unpleasant, but accidentally stumbling across your parents’ porn stash doesn’t make you a CSA survivor. Occasionally attending a paralegal night class at your local community college for burnouts and recent divorcees doesn’t make you a law student. If you really want to make a convincing case for any of these things that you kids are impersonating, you need to start…well, playing the part a little more convincingly. You’re too obvious in your lie. 

So just a little litmus test the next time you find yourself arrogantly opening any rebuttal with “As a _______, I’m telling you with unassailable authority that you’re wrong/immoral/harmful for liking this thing”, perhaps delete that and try again with something a little more substantial. Because for any of you that haven’t yet made it to sophomore-level debate class, that is a fallacy called “Appeal to Authority,” and it fails from the start because it assumes an individual’s dubious claim on an identity/experience gives them justification to speak for all people in that group. 

This is flawed because it doesn’t rule out the imperfections of personal bias or intersectionality. Instead of using your identity to condescendingly explain why you’re right, try using factual evidence or actual statistics from reliable sources and studies rather than anecdotal evidence. We’re in a post-truth world now (in case any of you haven’t peeked out from under the tumblr-echo-chamber-induced rock you all obviously like to hide under and haven’t noticed), and you’d do best to not contribute to it if you want anyone to take you even remotely seriously when you claim to represent the rights of all those innocents and Others that make up the downtrodden minority of society. Just remember, anecdotal evidence cannot be proven, and it’s useless because literally anyone can just make up some bullshit and apply it to a situation to make themselves look right. 

You know who else does this? Donald Trump. Donald Trump and his lackeys. This little missive is directed mostly at fandom antis, but this can apply to anyone on here who claims to be of any left-leaning persuasion: maybe don’t do that, because you start looking like the very people you claim to oppose, and it weakens every argument you’ll ever make. And I have faith in all of you, that you’re better than that. That you’re smarter than that. Even if your anecdotal evidence is true, it’s inadmissible because it can’t be proven. And it shouldn’t be, for that matter, because you don’t owe that to anyone. All it’s going to do is result in some asshole at some point coming out with their own anecdotal data that’s made up or highly embellished for the sole purpose of belittling yours, and then you’re at an impasse because A) you just spilled your most painful, humiliating memories in vain and B) you either have to acknowledge both accounts or acknowledge neither, and everybody loses. You’ve achieved nothing.

So we’re not here to play oppression olympics or win edgiest blogger award. There’s this really gross thing about tumblr where people are pressured into exposing their traumatic histories and deeply personal information in order to validate enjoyment of their fucking hobbies, and in turn it inspires the children harassing them to “beat the score” or whatever, and that’s when you have them firing back with really dubious accounts of their own, more seriouser trauma that makes them totally righter than you!!! (and is in actuality just a regurgitation of a Law & Order episode they saw once, and very obviously never fucking happened). Fake Tumblr Stories are everywhere, we all know this, we’ve all encountered plenty, but you’re not allowed to question the veracity of any of them or you risk being labeled an abuse apologist or victim blamer or something.

That’s fucking psychotic. Someone shouldn’t have to bleed their darkest moments to some snot-nosed 16 year old brat just to keep from being harassed or falsely reported as a pedophile, and some asshole who arrogantly self-identifies as the fucking moral police shouldn’t be so obsessed with getting the last word on trivial nonsense that they feel obligated to play this woker-than-thou pissing contest with people who have experienced *actual* trauma. I mean, do you kids not see how completely unhinged this behavior is? You children need to be fucking sedated. You’re goddamn nuts. I fear for the day we have to rely on you assholes in the job market, because you’re just gunna fuck everything up. You’ll always be failures. You’ll make a trainwreck of everything.

For lack of a better word,

Yikes. 

Anyway, the point is just a reminder that your identity shouldn’t be relevant when you’re trying to prove a logical point or have any of your arguments taken seriously, if you really are right or justified in your stance. If your argument has any basis in sustainable fact, then your gender/orientation/mental illness/personal history will have no impact whatsoever. So lying about them really isn’t worth it and gains nothing. Just be yourself! I know at the tender ages of ~14-20 you’re desperate to be recognized for how unique you are and you’re struggling to be celebrated as a special individual when you’ve done absolutely nothing, but realistically…that’s a pretty tall order, there are like 7 billion people on the planet, so nothing you can make up about yourself will ever really be that impressive. Stop trying so hard and enjoy your fucking childhood.

And if you find you can’t make a stable argument without using a desperate appeal to authority like that, then maybe you should reassess your stance on things because chances are, it’s because you’re wrong. 

#fandom wank #antis #sjw logic #purity politics #transtrenders #ship discourse #tumblr is not your safe space

[sarcastic-doodle]

When the antis for KC come calling...

So, @morleybell got an ask on the above topic, and I wanted to reply to it,but it got too long so I thought I’d make it into its own post. So the question was what to reply to antis who claim Klaroline is abusive.

Here goes :

Not even in the fandom since s5(never in tumblr!tvd fandom like ever) but I do skim the tag every once in a while. Came across your post, loved the general gist of it, but would like to add some and clear up some stuff you passionately stated in bulk😆, if you don’t mind. I’ve been wanting to get this out for a long time.

I think the crux of this whole matter is an element which is called a ‘morally grey character’ ; you know the ones - not entirely a villian but too twisted to be a traditional hero. Obviously there are naysayers who say Klaus doesn’t fit into the mold of someone w/ grey morality, hey haters gonna hate but the jury’s still out on that one apparently even though it’s obvious. Moving On. More on this later.

• agree with the SC part. If one looks at the whole picture from the start, Caroline got shitted upon and shoved to side by the writers and her supposed ‘friends’ right from the start in favour of Elena even by stefan. The afterthought. The girl every new male addition to the cast(not all but close) hooked up with. The secondary character whose romantic plot usually has their fan going “uhmmm not exactly the one I’d choose for her. This is just settling” because hey!one needs to fill up the episode, right? Who cares if she was a second choice?

For me, Klaroline came in at that part of the plot, where I was just about tearing my hair apart because the MF gang were really pissing me off. Caroline was never a priority, everyone was willing to let her be collateral damage in this ever revolving war against elena, she was just supposed to accept that her best friend is dating her assaulter. I mean I get that she is the cornucopia of giving, but thats what friends are for! To make these givers realise that enough is enough, now think about yourself, make yourself a priority. The Caroline I fell in love with initially, the one with the big dreams, the one who wanted to live live to the fullest, explore the entire world because yes embracing vampirism gave her that opportunity….That Girl was entirely diminished by the end. There’s growing up and having responsibilities and then there’s having to grow up because of not-their-doing responsibilities. Klaus had come in a AT THAT CRUCIAL POINT. I remember thinking ‘yesss, she’s a priority for once’ also ‘idc if this relationship works out or not, but this one can be her ticket and reason to move out of that soul-sucking selfish town and friends’

• IT’S A SUPERNATURAL SHOW. This. Funny and irritating why people forget this. The show depicts them as these all encompassing, good in combat and strategy, well versed in lore of the centuries, sensual, blood-drinking vampires…I’m afraid that goes hand in hand with blood and sex and murder and deceit. If you want a century old virgin goody two shoes, I believe you’re in the wrong franchise. For this show, its not about who is good and who is bad, it’s about who is evil and who is more evil, and that too is relative on how you define evil/what you consider evil. Also what’s blatant in this fandom, is the hypocrisy. This is what I wanted to especially expound upon :

So what irritates me about the fans the most is their hypocrisy. Also the puritan fanaticism some have embraced and loudly preached. I wont even include DE and Damon in my arguments, i think they’ve been discussed at length by all (like it deserves to be) this is better explained with Stefan. When people say Klaus is a mass murderer and has killed soooo many people over the years, ergo klaus is evil but stefan is my innocent bae(not verbatim but the intent is obvious)…. conveniently forgetting the fact that stefan killed so many people too, went ripper twice, in his 300(?) yrs…had he lived as long as klaus lived…who know whether the number would have risen or not (hint : it will)Imagine living on and on for so many years, the world around you changing, civilisations changing,people you loved dying, but you’re set in stone. Immortality has been romanticised like all get go, but realistically I can’t imagine someone not going absolute nutters every once in a while whether or not you have a reason to keep living on. The show has shown only the positive sides of Stefan and his dealing with vampirism which in turn makes him appealing, but I can’t imagine someone with Stefan’s characterisation - the broodiness and the guilt - would live a long innocent life. Psychologically, something will always make him crack. I know I’m coming across as someone who hates Stefan which is simply not true. S1-3 Stefan and S1-4 Caroline were my absolute faves. Believe me, I only watched the show until then for these two. But I realised we do excuse his murders w/ - he didn’t want to, he feels guilty, he repented, it’s out of his control. But ultimately clinically speaking(with my inner stefan fan supressed)…There were dead bodies. Families mourned. Lives were taken. Stefan regretted it yes, but it doesn’t give them their life back. None of these vampire’s victims (Salvatore’s, Mikaelsons’,Forbes’) are coming back. Why do we not still hate stefan or any 'good side’ vampires for that, but love to do it to the Mikaelsons?

Second thing I mentioned was puritanism. Simply put, this goes in the good box ; this goes in the baaaad box. Some people differentiate characters like - this is a good person(can do no wrong) and this is a bad person(be suspicious of this one’s dealings ) from the initial interactions and context of the show. Characters on the 'Good’ side in the start, are reveled for doing 'a thing’ ; but if a potentially grey character from the 'Bad’ side does the same 'thing’ they are jeered upon for doing it. Am I saying don’t point out and jeer evil wrongdoings of evil characters? NO. I’m not trying to be apologist for villains, most deserve what we throw at them. BUT But but, in this case, on this show, is the line differentiating them really that clear? Are these 'good’ and 'bad’ characters exclusively on those sides? Like you mentioned, Kol is killed, Klaus retaliates. Had a sibling from the 'good ’ side been killed by the Mikaelsons, pretty sure they’d have retaliated the same way. We cheer one but jeer the other? Why? The deed is the same, cruel and inhuman on both accounts, yet we celebrate one and mourn other?

What people instantly think when I say this, 'you’re probably a person who excuses abuse in real life too’'you believe this…you must be horrid in real life’….*shrugging* A. There is a clear divide between fiction and reality. one I have to actually live in and the other is entertainment. Damn sure I can differentiate between them. B. There is an actual sense is not automatically trusting the NiceGuy, everyone has flaws if you look hard enough, they’re gonna come out eventually I’d rather not be lulled in a false sense of security. I’m not saying The Mikaelsons are good people and they just need some lurrvvve and understanding. What I’m saying is the Mikaelsons are shitty. But so are the Salvatores. So is Elena. And sometimes so is Caroline. If its just fiction, isn’t it hypocritical thay we only hold few accountable, but excuse the behaviour of the rest?

When people say KC is 'abusive’ I always take in with the idea that it’s because Klaus is heartless mass murderer. Which he is. There’s no going around that. He IS NOT a good guy. That stabbing didn’t really make sense to me…why did he do it? But tyler’s mum yeah…if you can excuse the council for their behaviour, don’t be a hypocrite please when the favor is returned. On a completely different but still related note, this is similar to the bullying topic in HP. When it comes to being bullies for whatever reason, people easily excuse the marauders because ultimately they were on the 'light’ side. But draco is held accountable even though he was technically younger than james. But back on the topic at hand.

But KC? Like you provided the lines and to anyone who watched the show….Caroline was not impressed by him. Attracted to him?Sure. But she never acted on it at all until 5×11. She kept questioning his motives, was suspicious of his moves, never defended his actions, brought up his misdeeds to him when he tried to pretend to be a good guy, tried to sneakily gain favours from him utilising his interest in her, it goes on and on. You never hear a single praise for him from her lips (as far as I can remember) All she did was that she gave him a benefit of doubt. Try to understand his motives rather than just IDENTIFY. EVIL. KILL. Try to understand that someone who has lived this long, what goes on thay ancient head, did he ever want to be human? , how does he justify his misdeeds? But Was it enough? Well canonically, apparatently not.

And I get it. I’m not saying excuse the murders by the Mikaelson’s too. NO. I’m saying hold all of them responsible. Caroline. Stefan. Damon. Klaus. And then critic the characters after that. Don’t claim some sort of moral high ground when there isn’t any.

This show, these writers…when given enough screen time, they could redeem an irredeemable villain of their choosing. Seriously, for real. (Damon gets it but Katherine or Kai(this one would need toooo much work) doesnt) and people lap it up. Basically, it’s on the writers on who they choose to get to be the GoodGuy, which villian gets forgiveness for the misdeeds even though the other villains did the same thing. I don’t watch TO but I’m sure they gave 'reasons’ and 'backstory’ on why Klaus behaves the way he does. I mean if you think in a critical analysis sort of way, that is how a redemption arc works. You get to know the inner workings and history of the protag and what experiences made them the person they are, then it’s upto the audience whether or not they forgive them.

But I digress. What is the main point of this entirely too long rant, is that saying KC is abusive is just absurd. Not on this show, not in this context. If its klaus that is your problem, you better have a problem w/ the rest of the lot too. Also he is the one guy who was the only one who asked Caroline whether she would like the cure instead, didn’t use her solely to get to elena, prioritised her, didn’t think Caroline’s love to plan and shop and everything that does not scream stereotypical intelligent girl as shallow and superficial, gave her plenty opportunities to make something more out of her life if she wanted with or WITHOUT HIM. If she wanted to fly free alone for a decade or even a century or two, go for it as long she came back to him when she’s had her fill. Yeah, that just screams abusive and controlling to me😒

Bottom line anti kcs, I’m sorry you wanted this to be a black and white clear issue so you justify your hate. But it’s simply not. I’m not saying KC IS an angelic done-no-evil ship, but when ships all around are pirates, what’s another one,eh.

Also, might as well reiterate, I haven’t seen the show after 4×22, just kept up w/ the show from a lot of different shipper’s (SE, KC and SC shippers too unfortunately) blogs and my sister who watches the show, so I might be off w/ some of the facts. If any of them are blatantly obvious and it’s because I missed something crucial in the remaining seasons I’m tagging the people I’ve seen answering KC qs or were active in their KC defense so this post is refined @my-ownfairytale @klarolinedrabbles @jonsnowbitch

#klaroline #tvd #klaroline meta #anti defense #sorry guys it's not sherlock #for a show like tvd you can't judge ships based on the characters #bcos they're all shitty #judge the ships on their interactions w/ each other and the rest