#so i suppose it isn't completely irredeemable

[moonlight]

JOSH HARTNETT AS DANNY WALKER

Pearl Harbour (2001) dir. Michael Bay

#pearl harbor #filmedit #perioddramaedit #fyeahmovies #dailyflicks #mancandykings #mine #uservee #useravalone #userkraina #underbetelgeuse #userk8 #crueltether #userkd #usersugar #this movie was horrible #but kate beckinsale and josh hartnett looked hot in it #so i suppose it isn't completely irredeemable

[sky-fire-forever]

To the people who say that Ed never harmed the Kraken Crew:

I am genuinely so confused by this take. First of all: Ed is shown to be violent even if that's not directed at the Kraken Crew specifically. He threw Lucius overboard and thinks he killed him in cold blood and he tortures Izzy by mutilating him. Even IF he never physically harms Jim, Frenchie, Fang, or Ivan directly, he is still behaving violently. He is killing people and taking out his depression on both Izzy and the innocent people (ish, they're still naval officers) that they are raiding.

Even if Izzy (and Lucius, remember) are the only direct victims of his physical abuse... they are still victims of that abuse? No matter what Izzy has done, be it threaten him, verbally lashing out at him, or even abuse of his own if you interpret it that way justifies how Ed physically takes him apart and makes him EAT parts of himself. That is beyond abuse. That is both physical and mental literal torture

And remember, Lucius was entirely innocent. He was actively trying to HELP Ed and that did not stop Ed from behaving violently towards him.

If you say since we see no signs of Ed abusing the Kraken Crew, I will remind you that the way Ed led the Kraken Crew got Ivan killed. Ivan DIED due to decisions made during Ed's time as captain of The Revenge, likely due to the constant raids making them exhausted and weakening their ability to fight.

We don't know enough about Ivan's death for me to really say that for certain, so it's speculation. But if Ivan died during a raid, the responsibility still falls on Ed's shoulders. He is their captain, it is his job to protect and defend his crew and we are explicitly told that he did not bat an eye when Ivan went down. We even see Ed kill a member of his own crew during his suicide attempt. A crew member falls overboard and we see Fang reach for them. This is directly caused by Ed sailing into that storm.

He points a gun at his crewmates and they have NO IDEA if he's going to shoot him. They're clearly afraid that he might. Fang starts crying and they all tense up. Frenchie expects Ed to kill him when he finds out that he's been hiding Izzy. They are afraid of their captain, they believe he does not care about their lives and that he could kill them at any moment.

This is abuse. I genuinely do not care if it is physical towards anyone but Izzy or not, it is abuse plain and simple. Ed behaves in an abusive manner towards his crew. That abuse actively puts their lives in danger. Constantly forcing them to go on raid after raid after raid for no reward (because he makes them dump the treasure that they believe they are earning for themselves, as Frenchie flat out asks Izzy if they're receiving "their cut") and exhausting them in the process makes them more likely to be killed on the field. Fighting while exhausted and demoralized is fucking difficult!

And before anyone says that's just life aboard a pirate ship, isn't Ed supposed to be better? Isn't he supposed to be better than Hornigold? Even Ed remembers having good times on Hornigold's ship with Jack. And the Kraken Crew appear constantly exhausted and terrified, carving out their own moments of joy just like Ed had to while under Hornigold

I have seen posts claiming that Izzy fans have a disconnect between interpretation of a character and their actual actions, but the lengths I have seen (certain, not all) Ed fans go to to completely absolve Ed of his cruelest actions absolutely baffles me. Like... Ed made Fang kill his dog and that's BEFORE he became the Kraken.

Ed is a dark character. He does twisted shit. Is that not INTERESTING to you? Does it not fascinate you that a man perfectly capable of torturing his crew and driving them harder and harder and harder until some of them die fueled by his own desire to make himself irredeemable STILL at his core is a man who wants nothing more than to be loved? Do you not find it somewhat beautiful and that this man with so much blood on his hands is still told "someone will love you. You are not a monster, but a person despite your cruelty"? Do you not think the story of a man so completely consumed by all he has done realizing that he can not erase the damage of what he did isn't a good tale to tell? Do you think there is a fundamental difference between the man who tells Stede not to kill and the man who has killed for himself?

I feel like stripping him of his horror takes away so much of who he is. So much of what makes him interesting. He CHOOSES to leave Stede's crew on an island to die of exposure or starvation. He CHOOSES to basically kidnap Frenchie and Jim. He CHOOSES to hurt those closest to him in horrible ways

And he chooses to come back from that. Chooses to try to do better. To learn. To grow. To love.

I have issues with season two, but if we had more time to watch Ed come back from this, to see him make amends with the crew he so horribly damaged, I would have thought this was the best arc ever. Redemption stories are my favorite because it shows that everyone is capable of both good and evil. Ed is capable of both too. I really wish people would see his growth for what it is: a man so entrenched in violence with a nonlinear recovery that hurts people and still keeps trying anyway. Rather than someone who never hurts anyone at all

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd meta #our flag means death meta #edward teach #izzy hands #the kraken crew #kraken crew #queue-no steel

[ineffable-endearments]

I keep going back and forth on how much I think Aziraphale understood the Metatron's offer as an implicit threat right off the bat. How much of 'Heaven is the side of Good' was sincere, felt-it-in-his-marrow sentiment, and how much of it was a desperate lie, or a desperate attempt to convince himself that he and Crowley were about to be given what he wanted, or a desperate attempt to harness Heaven's power for his own purposes.

I have kind of shifted to believe, though, that maybe Aziraphale's character development doesn't have to be exactly "learning that Heaven is bad." Maybe it's OK, from a character development standpoint, if he already knows that, at least 75% of the way.

Because I actually think there's something deeper than just "Heaven isn't good" that Aziraphale has to go through: "You can't violate free will even if your intentions for people are one thousand percent good and pure and kind." This is the core reason why Heaven is "irredeemable," so to speak: its whole purpose is to "mess people around," as Adam Young would say. Even if Aziraphale could walk in there, instantly dominate the Metatron, stop the Second Coming, and dedicate all of Heaven's operations to Making Humanity Good, it still wouldn't be okay.

Like, Aziraphale needs to value free will for its own sake, rather than as a means to a Good end. This feels more all-encompassing of both the philosophical conflict between Aziraphale and Crowley and the alarming behavior we've seen from Aziraphale this past season (controlling people's mood and behavior at the ball, for example).

It's also a compelling philosophical conflict because accepting free will for what it really is is frightening. Sometimes you will watch people be self-destructive. Sometimes you will make yourself vulnerable to other people's choices and they could hurt you or your loved ones. Heck, when Crowley had a chance to give a bunch of humans the ability to kill each other to prove a point about human nature, he protected them from themselves!

But on the scale of the whole universe, for free will to work like it's "supposed to," like Aziraphale says out loud it's supposed to (just before Armageddon), it has to be absolute. Having humanity pushed into the middle of a cosmic battle between Above and Below doesn't actually enable free will or any of the other qualities Aziraphale admires in the world of humanity (and Crowley).

Forcing people to choose between two sides isn't really free will.

Heck, even if the Final Fifteen of Season 2 was merely one big miscommunication, a failed bullet catch trick, that in itself could be part of the lesson. Trying to use your power (relationship) to push your loved ones (Crowley) into doing things (becoming an angel again) you believe are For Their Own Good WILL hurt them, no matter how pure your intentions are.

Evil/cruelty in Heaven will be an important part of the main conflict, I think we can say that's obvious, but Heaven's whole...thing is moving people, humans and angels and probably Hell's demons too, around like pieces on a chessboard. The entire mission of the organization would be wrong even if everyone was perfectly well-intended and nobody ever engaged in intentional cruelty and Heaven decided not to destroy Earth after all.

So, while I really can't say I'm confident in making predictions about it, I would find it narratively satisfying for Aziraphale to go up there, immediately know what's going on, and make real trouble for Heaven while still finding lots of compelling ways to grow as a character.

And lots of ways to bumble around charmingly, too. Remember that Aziraphale very smartly figured out something he was never supposed to figure out, the location of the Antichrist, and looked like a complete ding dong (I am saying this in the most loving tone imaginable) the whole time.

[etincelleart]

Okay so, just so you know: DIllon Goo is friends with one of THE biggest RWDEs on the internet, the one who came up with the "Monty's Vision" creed so many people spout.

If he got his hands on the show, there'd be no Bumbleby, no Nuts and Dolts, nothing like that. It would be COMPLETELY unrecognizeable.

If he doesn't just reboot the show, everyone would hate Team RWBY for "betraying" Ironwood, Robyn Hill and the Happy Huntresses would be treated as irredeemable villains, and Team RWBY's arcs would be based around having to "accept that they were wrong to defy Ironwood" and then "learning to obey authority".

It would not be RWBY anymore.

I appreciate people for telling me because I wasn't aware of this story. I should also say that a lot of people in the fandom should understand that not everyone know about every detail and event that happened in the RWBY history, especially for people like me who discovered the series way later. Just thought I might say it just in case because I saw some people talk about it as if we're supposed to know when that's not the case.

If I can tell my honest opinion it's that at the moment it's too early to confirm anything. This might not happen, this might happen, we don't know, and I don't want to jump to any conclusions or fast opinions with only a few infos I got yesterday and today about that. From what I know this behavior came from Shane, but even if he's friend with Dillon this guy cannot call the shots alone. I think the best thing would be for current CRWBY to be able to finish the story like THEY wanted, like they first imagined it with Monty, and how they imagined it so far. I honestly don't know what good option could be because at the moment it's probably the only interested buyer and the one that fits the best for the show's style. If CRWBY express discomfort and refuse to go for that way for the reasons people told me about, then let respect that because they'll be the one to decide in the end.

I like Dillon Goo and their animations, that's why I supported the idea, but in the end it's for CRWBY to decide and no one else. If they think there might be a problem and they might ruin everything, that's for them to decide.

I should also mention that people's behaviors using events for their arguments is their responsability. On this aspect I'm not aware of everything so I only speak with what I know. But there will always be people who will also distort stuff to be able to use it their favor.

As for the ships, Bumbleby is canon already, undoing that would be really stupid and would sign the end of the story. And Nuts and Dolts isn't canon, it's the fantasy of a lot of people included mine but we don't even think if this was planned to be canon or not at some point, from what I know that's not the case. I understand what you mean because this is not just about ships here, but I'm not gonna jump to conclusions with how little infos I got at the moment

With all of that said, I just hope for a good conclusion for everyone.

#rwby #rooster teeth #dillon goo

[genericpuff]

Do you know "Eggnoid"? It's a rather old webtoon about a girl being put into circumstances on taking care of a robot guy who hatched from an egg (hence the title) the robot guy appears to be a grown man, but he has mental capabilities of a toddler and even acts like one. So, it's like those types of "born sexy yesterday" tropes but the gender reversed. The girl also repeatedly shown crushing over the robot guy and at some point, she called him her boyfriend despite she's supposed to be his caretaker.

I haven't read it, but I can definitely attest that there's a double standard when it comes to gender roles and age gaps / situations of grooming / etc. in literature but especially in webtoons. And by that I mean I've legit seen people hold comics like Lore Olympus accountable for their gross dynamics between a young teenage girl and the much older and richer love interest, but then turn around and say it's "couple goals" for a teenage boy to hook up with a much older woman. At the end of the day there's still a power imbalance due to the age gap and the massive differences in life experiences between the two, gender doesn't really change that.

Big ole' sip of hot tea as a take, but speaking as an AFAB, a lot of women are just as capable of grooming and taking advantage of younger men in the same way as men towards young women, it's just that on the surface people tend to get skittish about addressing that because they don't want to sound like they're going "yeah well actually women though-" and dismissing the notion of toxic masculinity. Which yes, that's a fair thing to worry about, some people do use that as a way to dismiss the arguments made regarding patterns of grooming behavior in men towards young girls (among many other problems in which men and toxic masculinity are held accountable), but like any topic of this nature, it's not always a cut and dry black and white thing. Toxic masculinity and the grooming of teenage girls by adult men is a very real problem! But just like how we can understand the nuance that being a man by default doesn't immediately make you a predator, we should be able to understand the nuance that being a woman doesn't give you a free pass to do the same things we call out men for doing without consequences. It's like the double standard in LO that it's okay for Persephone to do the same things - if not worse - than what Leuce and Minthe and Thetis do, because she's the main character and she's not some scummy "mud-sucking" lower class person, she's rich and a Queen and she's wearing a giant hat so it makes it okay /s

Unfortunately the saying of "I support women's rights and women's wrongs" is being used in a completely tone deaf "literally excusing the main character of her crimes and wrongdoings against others because she happens to be a woman" kind of way, while missing the real point of the saying - supporting women's wrongs doesn't mean you celebrate their abuse towards others, it just means women shouldn't automatically be viewed as irredeemable "crazy bitches" for making mistakes like any other human does, and like any other human, they should be given the opportunity to grow and heal and learn from their wrongs.

When it comes to Persephone specifically, it can't even be chalked up to a "one time mistake" anymore, she's literally been showing patterns of abusive behavior for years now and refusing to take accountability, and now even Rachel is meme'ing on it knowing fully well it's what people are calling Persephone out for in the critical spaces. That's not "supporting women's wrongs", that's enabling the wrongs of a person because they happen to be a woman, and that's not okay. Persephone isn't a "girl boss", she's a bully.

I think the double standard in these age gap romances also speaks to the idolization and fixation on women as being nothing more than conquests for men as well. People who romanticize age gaps between a young woman and an older man think, "Wow, that woman is so mature for her age, enough that an older richer man would choose HER to be his wife! So romantic!" when in reality those who know those dynamics are unhealthy and toxic recognize it as an older man taking advantage of a young woman who's being love-bombed into believing she's "mature for her age" so that she'll sleep with him. Meanwhile, on the other side of it, those who romanticize young men getting with older women tend to come at it from the angle of "well she's so old and washed up, no man could ever love her, her chance for love and a happily ever after is gone now! it's so wonderful of that young man to give that sad and lonely old woman love and attention!" and yet fail to see it from the same perspective of an older person manipulating a young person with zero life experience, because there's still this deeply-rooted ideology that women are "used up" by age 30 and any man who gives her attention beyond that age range is a hero. Completely neglecting the fact that relationships aren't off the table at all for older single people and they don't need to involve robbing the cradle.

I blame the lack of older couple representation in media tbh, so many mainstream romance stories are basically just this:

To pull it out of the perspective of LO and webtoons for a second (sorry, I'm going on a hell of a tangent here), remember how gross it was when it was revealed in Fifty Shades Darker that Christian had been introduced to the concept of BDSM at age 15 through one of his mom's friends (i.e. an older woman!) who Anastasia calls "Mrs. Robinson"? And they had that relationship until he was 21? And they never really did anything about that, it was pretty much just there to explain why Christian was fucked up but he still got married to Anastasia, an innocent woman who he was repeating the cycle of abuse with, and lived happily ever after anyways?

Yeah. That was pretty fucked up.

#we all need to do better to hold ourselves accountable for shitty behavior #there are def societal issues at play that predispose people to have certain opinions or react differently based on concepts like gender #but true feminism means making a better world for women *and* men *and* everyone within and outside of that binary #it's not “rich and powerful women can do whatever they want because they're boss babes and deserve to be mean" #that's literally more along the lines of white feminism which we've definitely talked about here before #and just gender supremacy as a whole which isn't helpful for anyone #always remember to ask yourself: “is it feminism or is it misandry?” #because a lot of legit misandrists try to moonlight as feminists and really just hurt the cause as a whole

[spidersmiceandeverythingnice]

Oooo anyway I just remember why I Hate and Loathe the big High Lord meeting in ACOWAR and why it fully cements SJM in my Worst Authors category for like a billion reasons

1. Feyre refuses to bow to the Dawn Court. Weird choice and completely fucking awkward to read - I guess this is meant as some kind of Girlboss Moment - like "no, I won't bow to the stinky old fashioned MEN!!!! who run this world. My super hot boyfriend gave me this title and I'm the master of the universe now." But it's... childish. Also? Way to disrespect Thesan but this is going to become a pattern because of course the gay Asian High Lord has no special powers apart from super good healing that literally every other character can accomplish, and of course he's gentle, and passive (ultimately willing to "bow [to Rhysand] if the other [High Lords] will") and of course his lover has no name and never speaks. Great! Hate it.

2. Morrigan and Vivian. On paper this seems interesting as far as a relationship goes like - what kind of interesting Court relations did Night have pre Amarantha and can those bonds be salvaged? But instead of asking those questions the scene decides to immediately undercut Vivian's character as a badass general and warrior who defended Winter in her childhood friend/future husband's absence by making her squeal like a literal 13 year old when the Night Court - who is suspected of murdering 24 children - shows up. Vivian proceeds to throw a fit and snarks about wanting to be a High Lady. Rip Vivian we hardly knew ye.

3. Do I even need to talk about Helion being the worst bisexual rep. Do I even need to say it. Good lord.

4. Do I even need to talk about Fantasy China and Helion being allied with the Faerie Confederates. Do I even need to explain this. It gets worse, somehow!

5. Tamlin and Tarquin actually have a case against allying with the Night Court given literally everything that happened in the last two books but this isn't painted as reasonable distrust of a group of lying backstabbing sycophants who purposefully play up their cruelty and keep secrets from the other Courts. No, of course not. Tarquin immediately forgives the Night Court because he has no backbone whatsoever apparently. Tamlin is considered unreasonable for not trusting Feyre and Rhys, who have continuously tried to hurt him and his people and undermine his authority as High Lord.

6. Everyone immediately forgets that Rhysand worked for Amarantha for 50 years and distrusts Tamlin, who has worked for Hybern for all of five minutes and also brings tons of information on their troop movements and positions, confirming that all of his so called alliance was a fraud and he's been spying on them the whole time.

7. Literally the whole fucking deal with the Winter Court. Like I'm sorry that Rhys is so sexual traumatized by Amarantha but children fucking died in a horrible, gruesome way that now, nobody can be accountable for. This is on my top 3 of most egregious SJM retcons because I'm supposed to believe that some daemati we've never heard of before, is never mentioned or seen again, is supposedly the missing link to absolve Rhysand of the fact that he murdered 24 children in book one and devastated the Winter Court. Give me a fucking break. And Feyre gets so SAD and hurt when Rhys says he was confined to Amarantha’s bedroom, but I guess dead kids in Winter and Spring are just the price you pay for loving a morally gray bryonic hero uwu. I'd say, "Get fucked," but i think Rhys and Feyre would enjoy that too much.

8. When the Autumn Court says mean things it makes them irredeemable, but when Azriel and Feyre break all the rules of magic and physically retaliate and hurt other people, it's a-okay, and totally justified! Oh, the Lady of Autumn (another unnamed, sad silent [white] victim who only exists for Helion to angst over) gets hurt by virtue of being a bystander? Totally cool and normal, and since she's been a victim of domestic violence before, it means that she's a secret good guy who will totally understand and forgive Feyre for her totally justifiable outburst. Fuck off.

9. Feyre speaking to and ordering Azriel around like a literal rabid dog. Do I even need to explain this and why its bad. Do I even need to say it.

10. This scene was a joke and everything about it was a stinking trash fire.

#anti sjm #anti acowar #like.... do i need to explain the racism and homophobia?? the misogyny???? i hope not

[bloodpen-to-paper]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[pythagoras180]

Why I Hate Adrien

So a few people have asked me why I hate Adrien so much. I've given it some thought, and I've realized that my hatred comes from 3 sources:

1. Adrien is a passive, useless character and a waste of screentime.

Adrien is a very passive character. He doesn't really have goals that he works towards outside of romance. He doesn't feel like a real person with a real life. He's just an object for the actual main characters to fight over. And to be clear, not every character needs to be active or well developed, but thei screentime should correspond to this. Adrien takes up a massive amount of screentime in the show. And since he ended up being worthless, I feel like he personally wasted my time by appearing so much. His screentime could have instead been used to develop the other characters.

2. Adrien is a creator's pet.

While Adrien doesn't really do anything in the show, I think I still may have felt bad for the character if I felt like this was because the writers didn't like him or something. Thing is, Adrien is the complete opposite, as the writers are clearly biases *for* him at every turn. He's almost always portrayed as right, even in situations where he clearly isn't. "Chameleon" clearly portrayed his "advice" about Lila as good, even though anyone with basic respect for their peers wouldn't be okay with letting them be lied to. There's episodes like "Kuro Neko", where Adrien is very clearly in the wrong amd being unreasonable, yet he's still clearly framed like we're supposed to feel bad for him. Part of the reason he has so much screentime is because the writers love to insert him in every situation they can. Even his status as a passive character can be considered as the writers favoring him. They think he shouldn't have to do anything because he's such a precious boy, so everyone should just do everything for him. I'm not inclined to like a character that I feel is getting special treatment just because of who they are.

3. Adrien does horrible things.

Those last 2 points definitely provide potential for me to dislike a character, but I don't think it's possible for me to actually do so if that character hasn't done anything wrong. Well, despite what the writers want you to believe, Adrien has absolutely done a lot of horrendous things. There's the fact that he continued being friends with Chloé despite her remorseless bullying of Adrien's "friends". He keeps trying to date Ladybug despite her repeatedly rejecting him, to the point where it's straight up harassment. This culminates in "Kuro Neko", where he quits his job of protecting the city because he keeps getting rejected (again, this is portrayed as symptomatic). Like I mentioned before, he tells Marinette to let Lila continue lying to everyone else. And why does he do this? I honestly don't know, and neither does anybody else. There's no rationalization for this moment. But the point is, Adrien put Lila above everyone else for some reason. He also emotionally cheated on Kagami, hurt her feelings, and barely cared afterward. He didn't have to do anything to make up with her, that just worked out on its own. He tried to Cataclysm multiple people despite knowing that it can be fatal, and the only time he displays real remorse over it is when Monarch is on the receiving end. Oh, but he only feels bad for like a minute, then he's fine (I believe that that was just to make Ladybug's exposition about not being able to fix it fee more natural, he wouldn't have shown any remorse if that wasn't necessary). Oh, and then there's that one moment in "Passion" where he pretends not to know what the consequences of making a wish is and tried to convince Ladybug to let him make one. If she said yes, he would have sacrificed somebody else to heal Nathalie. The show has made it clear that this is morally wrong. To me, this is the moment where Adrien became irredeemable. Also, in the Paris Special we find out that Adrien became a mass murdering supervillain in an alternate universe because he's sad that his mom died. He didn't have any grander plan, not scheme to bring her back like Gabriel did. Nope, he just killed people because he was sad, that's how they presented it. I know that this is technically a different person, but the alternate characters from tbe special are meant to be pretty close to the originals, just with different circumstances. So I think this shows who Adrien really is deep down. So yeah, I think Adrien is one of the most despicable "good guy" characters ever.

So that's the reason I hate Adrien, in 3 parts. I wouldn't hate him nearly as much if it wasn't for all 3 components. Kind of a perfect storm really, and I don't think I'll ever hate another character this much, for this reason.

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #adrien salt #ml salt #ml writers salt

[scullysflannel]

Howdy, hope this finds you well :)

Just dropping in to ask, as someone who’s only up to season 5 of txf, what exactly is it about season 9 that makes it as irredeemable as it is? I plan to go up to season 8 as this show has consumed my life and I’ve done nothing but think about it since I started, but unlike every other season including the revival and second movie, I’m yet to find so much as a good word about season 9 and am morbidly curious as to how they managed to screw the pouch so completely?

Feel free to ignore this one though I appreciate it’s not always fun to talk about the worst of something you adore.

So the thing about season 9 is just that it's not supposed to exist and you can tell. I think there was some pressure from Fox to keep the show going (I tried finding primary sources on this, but googling anything involving "Fox" and "X-Files" and expecting to get info on the studio is a lost cause), even though the season 8 finale was written to work as a series finale, and even though David Duchovny had already made it clear he was not coming back for season 9. The writers' hands were tied in some ways, because they had to work around not having Duchovny after they'd already used up the best excuse for his absence in the books.

But (a) I don't think that's an excuse for the way Mulder's absence in season 9 is handled, which is vague at best and out of character for him and Scully at worst. It's very "out of sight, out of mind" in a way that especially stands out considering how present he feels in season 8. If it's possible to make a version of The X-Files that isn't driven by Mulder (either in his presence or his absence), they didn't find it in season 9.

And (b) the writers also seemed to be writing like their hands were tied when they weren't. The vibe of some of the choices made in season 9, especially when it comes to Scully's story, is very Eric André holding a smoking gun saying "why would Fox do this." It's like, "well we weren't planning on this, but now we have to do it to keep the story going." And the thing is that they actually did not have to do it. There's a bizarre desperation to the way Scully's story is written in season 9. Almost everything they throw at her is traumatic, but also inconsistent and confusing, which makes it all come across as kind of soulless. And it all builds to the most egregious example of "Chris Carter tries to erase the consequences of a story he wrote, thereby creating even more devastating consequences, which he will also ignore" in the history of the show. He didn't have to do that! Scully could have spent a lot of season 9 just being Doggett and Reyes' deadpan pal who does autopsies and it would have been fine.

The thing that "works" "best" about season 9 is that it's theoretically a fresh start, with Doggett and Reyes running the X-Files office: two characters who weren't totally new faces but whose dynamic was mostly unexplored. And to be clear, I think John Doggett rules. The concept of assigning the X-Files to Just a Guy Who's a Very Good Person but Would Rather Be Watching NASCAR is hilarious. I don't think the writers had the same handle on Reyes, but the two of them are interesting together. I will also say I think some of the monster-of-the-week episodes in season 9 (the ones that focus on Doggett and Reyes) are cooler in theory than the motw episodes in season 8.

But it's so rare for those episodes to actually spark. Maybe part of the problem is that, again, the writers made the totally unforced error to focus so much of the mythology on Stressing Scully Out when they could have been deepening Doggett and Reyes' investment in the X-Files outside Scully, which would also liven up their characterization and their dynamic. Season 8 (which has a lot going for it) can skate by on uninteresting motw episodes because Scully's arc in that season is so all-consuming it drives the story forward and makes it meaningful. Season 9 doesn't have that same emotional clarity, so even the motw episodes that have promise feel lacking. (There's also the fact that even if the writers had given Doggett and Reyes better material, they wouldn't be Mulder and Scully. But better material would have helped.)

There's also literally 9/11. I'm this far down on the list of problems with season 9 and I'm just now getting to 9/11. The X-Files gets its edge from its mistrust of the government, but they sanded that down in season 9 because it was so out of step with the mainstream American audience. Until they finally recommitted to critiquing the government in the (original) series finale, the show didn't feel like itself.

It's not even like the problem is the way season 9 ends. The finale is a mixed bag (it's part clip show lol), but I love the final scene, and in most ways it's a more fitting send-off for the show than the final scene of season 8 is. It's just that getting there feels cursed at every step. No one made it out unscathed. There's an episode directed by Michelle MacLaren (her tv directorial debut!) and written by Vince Gilligan, a Breaking Bad partnership for the ages, and even that's bad. Better Call Saul's own Tom Schnauz wrote an episode featuring Aaron Paul and I will never ever watch it again. There's something in the water in season 9. It's just not supposed to be there.

#queerrocket #xf thoughts #@ everyone it's cool I got the okay to include spoilers #anyway enjoy season 5 and my personal favorite season 6!!

[cosmics-beings]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[figurativepieceoftrash]

I would love to read the fic about mental stuff you mentioned btw 👉👈

Jffjhfgj like I said I'm not sure I did the best job with the conceptual side of things regarding that fic bc,,, iirc you already have read it? A lot of Sympathy for the Devil was obviously me exploring cycles of abuse, self-hatred expressed via hatred of your own perceived flaws reflected in your parents, and the ethical implications of how we socially view inherited mental illness/genetic predisposition but I was also pretty heavy-handed in questioning afo's lack of redemption and the circumstances that surround it.

Plenty of readers seemed to take a pretty black and white approach to the conflict presented à la blindly sympathizing with Yagi and condemning afo, but I did intend for him to be somewhat sympathetic in the way he obviously craves comprehension and understanding that society blatantly refuses to grant him.

He gets a lot of indirect characterization in that fic through Izuku's thoughts and actions and I think readers tended to assume that the feelings Izuku grappled with throughout were limited to him when I intended them to be simultaneously indicative of afo's adolescent anxieties regarding alienation and his own status as "monstrous."

Afo DEFINITELY isn't in the right in the context of the story, but if you recall my tags on one of your posts a good bit ago, I interpret afo's desire for consumption and control partially as a fear response, and I genuinely think his goal to achieve widespread influence and power is a manifestation of his desire to be understood and accepted as he is.

He calls his followers his family members (think back to him referring to Aoyama as his nephew), regularly attempts to relate to them (his convos with Dabi and Tomura come to mind), constantly asserts that he understands them because he has an evident desire to, and goes out of his way to justify his actions and the power dynamics he perpetuates by recreating them in miniature (he projects onto Tomura to an ridiculous degree).

Readers were intended to question what exactly it was that made afo irredeemable, and Yagi's answer wasn't supposed to be definitive. He and Izuku's disgust with afo originates from a place of extreme bias and the fic intends to acknowledge that. There WASN'T necessarily anything that completely justified afo's murder, which is partially why Izuku runs away as part of the fic's conclusion.

If he really is like afo, then he won't receive sympathy, and exactly why is left to the audience to parse (though I did intend for it to be a metaphor for the stigmatization of mental illness, yeah hdfhfj). So while I'm not entirely certain that I did the best job conveying it, all this was supposed to be explored in sympathy. I may need to make a clearer rewrite in the future :P

#ask tag #trash talking #my writing #not sure I even explained it all well here I'm tired as hell and have a migrane but yk #I've had a rough week cut me some slack #😭😭😭

[ilikelookingatthings]

Thoughts on Miraculous Ladybug : A Comment from YouTube I'm proud of about themes and Chloe

The thing that confuses me is theme wise Akumas are people who are hurt/have been wronged. who feel alone or like that hurt isn't being seen, who then lash out to try to make that hurt seen or help themselves...often in ways that don't make sense logically to us but makes sense to them in the heat of the negative emotions. but the point is these 'villains' are in fact victims. they are people who are hurting and who need help and when you find the core of their problem (represented by an item that often is connected to their problem) and acknowledge it/break it open. then your able to have a chance to actually talk to them/calm them down and give them the help they need.

the show has been pointing to the fact that the 'villains' are victims where in these cases we blame the ones who act like they understand or are there for the victims and who encourage them down bad paths(in this case hawkmoth).

but the show has used Chloe in particular to both have Marinette stand up to someone bad and not let them get away with stuff and shows if your firm about it they aren't unbeatable or that strong. and the show has used Chloe in particular to show as well that people are complex. that even if Mari personally doesn't like someone it doesn't mean they don't have problems and that they might need help seeing how to be better. Marinette went from seeing Chloe as simply evil to seeing how complex Chloe was (and honestly kind of pitiful).

so what I don't understand is if they make chloe completely unredeemable..... If we are supposed to take that at face value...why the HELL should I believe Mari would give Gabriel /hawkmoth a chance or any understanding when Gabe has been terrible all season and been terrible as hawkmoth?

if they invalidate the arc of Chloe which they had been using to teach Mari to reach out to the bad guy because they might be hurting and need help like the victims...why would I believe Mari would reach out to hawkmoth?

even more when WE the audience know that Chloe's downward spiral was a direct plan by Gabriel. hawkmoth isolated Chloe on a rooftop, cut of her line to signal to ladybug literally by cutting the wire to the signal, told her that her parents were targeted because of her, implying that he might keep doing so when she had no way to protect herself since she had understood ladybug saying she couldn't be a hero anymore for her and pollen's safety...just for Chloe to be targeted anyway and for pollen and the other Kwami being stolen and not been properly protected.

like I get why Mari and others think Chloe was just being her entitled self, upset about not being the bee....but WE the audience knows that Chloe only agreed to side with hawkmoth to free her parents who were hostages and because if she didn't he would have kept pollen and the rest...and she had no idea how he'd react if she rejected his offer when she literally couldn't protect herself AND the literally master at manipulating emotions dug directly into her insecurities that he set up with this scenario.

So while I get Mari misunderstanding Chloe at irredeemable.....WE the audience knows better and more about the situation.

it feels even weirder because Chloe's spiraling had a direct parallel to both Adrien and Marinette who relied on old behaviors to cope and distract from their real issues and semi pushed people away to not face those issues. Chloe being worse could work as relying on being mean to cope because THAT is what she knows and is good at. its familiar and she thinks (the literal biggest fan of ladybug) that she probably does feel guilty for what she did...but she can't take it back and burnt that bridge...so Chloe relying on being mean to try to feel a sense of control.

Pretending like she chose to be mean again on her own makes sense.

even more as a contrasting cry for help because Mari had others who would try to reach out to her where we got to see she was covering up her really issues and stress of her guilt of the loss of master fu. while Chloe was able to push everyone away and no one realized Chloe's actions were a cry for help.....

like, on one hand people have to face consequences for their choices...but on the other the show has spent the whole time reminding us that the people acting out are victims and the true villains are the ones who take advantage of their hurt to lead them into further bad actions...which could lead to people not seeing they need help.

why the hell is the show expecting me to hate Chloe and see her as irredeemable when her downfall was a direct plan by Gabriel/hawkmoth and Lila?! like I can understand believing she should know better but she KNOWS no one likes her which means she is vulnerable to emotional manipulation! and she was cornered into that big downfall she thinks she can't come back from since she failed the one person who had given her a chance.

she literally got replaced by her sister Zoey who everyone liked better and who found being nice easy to understand compared to Chloe who struggled and who's best progress came from trying to not disappointed Adrien and her teddy bear!

even more her father was the worst! he's racist, spoils Chloe but never gives her real attention/guidance and her mother literally hates her, thinks she's useless, forgets her name and bad talks her all the time and they going to stick Chloe with her mom who was the literally worst?

what's even more frustrating is while I could understand it being a 'this is what happens if you don't take the chances to change since it's not other people's jobs to fix you' it undercuts alot of lessons in previous episodes if Chloe is completely unredeemable!

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous adventures of ladybug and chat noir #ladybug #chloe #queen bee #redemption #themes #adrien #marinette #chat noir #hawkmoth #gabriel #pollen #final #unredeemable #akumas #akuma victims #villians #villains #akuma villains #akuma #butterfly #bees #zoey

[lyril]

i think a lot of people who talk about gristol's lack of a "redemption" miss a very important tie between gristol and the themes of the game -- both those who think he doesn't have the capacity to change, and those few who actually feel like it is an injustice that he wasn't given one. take a read through this post by babycharmander to get a head start on what i mean.

gristol is not irredeemable, in the narrative, solely because of actions. in a series like psychonauts, i think if that were so, it would actually feel out of place. what has gristol done as a character that is worse than oleander, or loboto, or ford cruller? aside from regular psychonauts shenanigans like causing trouble by infiltrating the psychonuats, taking truman's brain, and putting everyone in danger, i would say none of you feel like that's actually "irredeemable" behavior compared to others, no? and so we might turn to his personality -- but, unfortunately, being a shitty person is not "irredeemable" behavior either. psychonauts has dealt with plenty of troublesome people like this. where you start to get somewhere is examining his goals -- gristol has nationalist and facist ideas floating around in his head, but they still are not realized. they are dangerous, yes, but there is a still difference between a child being fed propaganda and a false narrative of those ideas his entire life, now as an adult who still has not had a realization about the entire reality of it, and his adult father that has committed actual crimes resulting in many deaths, as well as other atrocities as the gzar of a country all while teaching his son this is what he should aim to emulate. as such, much of gristol's character is only "what if"s -- "when" he'll be gzar of grulovia. there's a lot he'll say he do, but gristol has not done those things. he might have the potential to, in... well, in his hypothetical world where he even can back to grulovia. but, it has not happened, and will not happen. and that's vital. his mindset is very important to this discussion, especially when it mirrors real world troubles, but what kind of message would it send if you were to say "there is no stopping these harmful seeds of ideas from sprouting, we can only suppress and punish these people". obviously that isn't true! dicussion of paralells to real life harmful ideology is relevant, but i would also say that for gristol as a character, it is much less about all that, and more about himself, in his childish and selfish fantasies of getting everything he wants, and essentially dipping his foot in those things along the way to getting there.

the entire point of that post i linked, that is almost exclusively why gristol is not redeemed at the end of the story. gristol is selfish, and a dangerous individual. but most of all, at this point in time, he does not allow himself to grow and change, and there is only the smallest bit of hope that he's starting to take a step. this specifically contrasts against the other characters in the series who have decided to turn over a new leaf when helped by raz.

gristol is absolutely portrayed as less sympathetic than many characters, because there is truth to it. he's still rich, even now. despite his entire mind being a pity party for himself, you, the player, and raz, see through it. the problems he does have are extremely rich people's problems for the most part, but honestly, where it leaves him makes me pity him quite a bit. regardless of whether or not other things in his past could be considered traumatic (nearly being attacked by soldiers, having to flee his home as a child -- and i would say they are in his eyes, considering that panic attack room), like every other psychonauts character, his past still has an iron grip on his present and future and shapes every single little detail about his character. for the most part, you are absolutely supposed to look at this and go "are you kidding? this is his tragic backstory?!" and it is completely fair to do so. but, to say he went through nothing is not true. because, to gristol, all of that was the end of the world, and that's all it needs to be as a character motivation.

despite everything he's done, gristol is far from a monster. as babycharmander discusses, another theme touched upon is this idea that anyone has the capacity to do harm, which leads into the familiar discussion of "good" vs "evil" people. dehumanizing people who are less than agreeablse, have done otherwise harmful things, and even are abusers, only adds to the inability to self reflect. the struggles of this character at his core are human. they are something i'm sure if you thought about it, you could understand. he was a child who never grew up. things change. he wants his perfect, childhood life back, one where he had no responsibilities, where he could have anything he ever wanted. to go back to when everything was perfect, and nothing was wrong. the epitome of peter pan syndrome. he wants attention and adoration, and things he genuinely had been led to believe that he's entitled to. and who doesn't? it manifests in him being incredibly out of touch and dangerously ambitious, but at it's core, it stems from very common, and very human emotions. gristol is still a child at heart. he's mostly preoccupied with fantasies of being waited on hand and foot, his ponies, and his cotton candy maker and caviar, rather than anything actually ruling a country would entail. he doesn't know anything about nor actually cares for his country and its citizens, only the idealized, rose tinted memories he had of the place, nor what his father has actually done, still believing he took his family and fled because he was a coward, and not because his actions were literally causing the destruction of grulovia and had they had to get out before they were the ones killed. after being isolated from his peers (and likely not actually having any, as royalty) for the first decade of his life, likely detached from his family as well, then once again shut up for years alone in a luxury hotel, it's clear that gristol has a very limited perspective of anyone else's life. gristol does not have a grasp on how to actually interact with people without a royal touch, form relationships, or practice empathy outside of a persona he puts on. i don't think this guy knows how to be a person.

i absolutely love the phrasing of "but there’s one person in this game we could not help" in that post. it's not about redemption, or being capable of it, or whether or not he even deserves it. but, that raz couldn't help him. a big thing about psychonauts 2 is helping people, not fixing them. i don't think gristol is irredeemable as a person. but i do think he's irredeemable for the purpose of this story and what its trying to tell, and rightfully so. because, most of all, raz doesn't have to deal with this. and neither do you, in our reflections of people like this in real life. raz has played his role here. if gristol is not willing to work towards change at this point in time, raz is not going to knock around in his brain until he does. it will not help, especially with how in deep he is. this doesn't mean as a character he is fully incapable of ever coming to terms with his reality. but it means, in the eyes of the narrative, it is not a story that will be told. he is going to have to have a big hand in that himself. and i think that's a very interesting thing to talk about and a great conclusion for what the game discusses. 

#talk #video games #psychonauts #my gristol essay #not because i DON'T think he's a selfish prick (HE IS) but because i love his character very much #all of this is so obvious to me at this point but it seems it might not be to some people? idk #anyway. even if you hate him you know i'm right. #i think a lot of peoppe who aren't as invested in his character as i am tend to approach this with not a lot of nuance #but i think there's so much here and in every single thing he says #i wish they put him back in the mailroom #i think i might be out shopping when this posts so i am very scared and embarrassed to return to this so be niceys to me #long post

[maya-matlin]

What common Degrassi takes do you most disagree with, ie Zig being cocky and smooth, etc!

1.) Obviously, that one LOL. If someone legitimately tries to argue that Zig "I'm terrible at pretty much everything" "But is it good enough for you?" Novak is confident.. they're objectively wrong. They're getting stuck on him looking the part of the confident, bad boy and ignoring half of what comes out of his mouth.

2.) Darcy isn't irredeemable or a bad person because she falsely accused Snake of being inappropriate with her. She was a scared, traumatized child who panicked because she was thrown into a situation where she would be forced to talk about her rape before she was ready. Snake handled all of that completely wrong, even though he meant well. It didn't come from a heartless, malicious place. She immediately tried to take it all back and openly supported his return to the school. His career wasn't ruined. He eventually became the principal. I genuinely don't understand where people's compassion is when it comes to this story line. Darcy wasn't the ideal victim. She was never supposed to be.

3.) None of the canonically lesbian characters should have been bisexual. Based on what we saw from each one introduced to us with the assumption that they were straight (Alex, Fiona, Zoe), their eventual coming out journeys made sense. Could they have been written with more care with an actual explanation as to how they came to identify this way? Absolutely. But I feel like the Degrassi fandom constantly invalidates their sexualities, especially with Zoe, because they're upset they no longer get to justify shipping them with men.

4.) Don't kill me, but Eli calling Clare a whore wasn't out of character. It was cruel and he had zero excuse, but based on the number of times Eli lashed out at Clare and other people, it makes total sense that he'd say the worst possible thing he could think to say under the mistaken impression that he'd been wronged. He was hurt and angry, and he wanted her to feel bad. He behaved in a similar way after their first breakup.

5.) Jimmy wasn't the perfect boyfriend. In fact, Jimmy never gets enough shit for being so passive aggressive in relationships, particularly when he's ready to end it and emotionally invested in another girl. But because he's cowardly, something we saw pretty consistently over the years, he waits for his girlfriends to notice so that he doesn't have to be the bad guy and can play innocent. Overall, there are little things about Jimmy that bug me, such as calling Ashley a slut. And on that note, this fandom is way too comfortable openly enjoying slut shaming when they feel like the character is unlikable or irritating enough to "deserve it" (Clare and Ashley).

6.) Obligatory reminder that Zig didn't murder Cam due to his depression leading to his suicide and multiple things over the course of a couple of days playing a role in the headspace Cam was in when he ended his life

7.) Liberty was completely fucked over during her pregnancy arc. Excuse me. JT's pregnancy arc. It was blatantly racist how the show chose to be revolutionary by focusing on the black pregnant girl's white boyfriend for the entirety of her pregnancy. Liberty was the villain in her own story line because the writers really wanted us to understand how much pressure JT was under due to expecting a child, worrying about finances, his life changing drastically, etc. Things must have been rough for Liberty as well, but meh. She's just a bitter, controlling, bitch who never deserved JT. Seriously, I see that take a lot. In my opinion, they both could have handled things better, but neither was getting the help or support they needed. Liberty seemed to be in denial and couldn't cope with the fact she'd allowed herself to become pregnant due to carelessness when she's supposed to be so responsible. A lot must have been going on with her, both mentally and emotionally, but we never hear about it or see any of it.

8.) Clare and Drew were actually a good (no, great) ship. Many fans just weren't prepared or happy to see either with someone else due to the popularity of the Eli/Clare and Drew/Bianca relationships. It also wasn't random, out of character, or even all that forced based on how their characters had grown through the years. It's funny to see Clare described as being not Drew's type when he's pretty consistently into smart, ambitious women who can put him in his place. And in the case of Clare, her preferences are all over the place with Drew not being all that different physically or personality wise from KC or Jake. Their emotional connection grew and deepened for almost the entirety of season 13, including the summer between school years and for the majority of their senior year. Even though their decision to sleep together was impulsive and surprising, in reality they'd been circling each other for months. It was bound to happen, and then it did.

9.) Another thing I disagree with is that Maya should have talked about Cam more or told ___ about his suicide. It was very obvious to me that Maya was extremely triggered by Cam's death and struggled to move past it. It makes perfect sense that she'd struggle to even talk about it. It was extremely painful and personal to Maya. Miles was never going to be the one she opened up to. He just wasn't. This isn't even necessarily a pro Zaya thing. But the fact Zig was around for Cam's death and understood most of Maya's pain meant that Maya opening up to Zig about the way she was feeling and acknowledging her ex's existence was far more likely than Maya opening up to Miles, someone she struggled to open up to emotionally or relate to beyond what he was willing to share. At a certain point, it starts to feel like Maya bringing up Cam for the sake of bringing up Cam. Not because it's actually helping Maya or moving her story forward in any way.

10.) Tristan's biphobia towards Miles didn't happen in a vacuum. While Tristan's character was extremely flawed and he wasn't always the most likable person, it honestly came across to me that his biphobia got so out of control because it took the writers a long time to catch on to the fact that Tristan invalidating his boyfriend's sexual orientation was inappropriate, dehumanizing, and shouldn't have been written off as catty comments not meant to be taken seriously. Degrassi overall didn't handle polysexual identities very well. Paige's attraction to women was downplayed aside from her relationship with Alex. Imogen was also never labeled, eventually being referred to multiple times during her final season as a lesbian.

11.) Lola got the right endgame, and she definitely shouldn't have kept Miles's baby.

#mayamatlinscello #Long post #I tried to come up with some good ones LOL

[mineshaftss]

I love Cartman as a character but hate him as a person. I know a lot of people in the fandom find him annoying but I honestly find him hilarious.

He's a part of the show’s humor so I don't completely get people who like South Park but genuinely dislike Cartman. Makes me question if they actually enjoy the show or if they only watch it for their favorite ships/characters which is never Cartman because he's toxic even though that's literally the point of his character.

Cartman is supposed to be irredeemable and evil, it's okay if you don't you don't find him funny but don't be rude to people who do. Since all of the absurd shit he does is supposed to be funny and it isn't morally wrong on your part to enjoy morally bad characters as long as you don't like them BECAUSE of their wrong doings. I can't speak for every Cartman fan but I like to think most of us don't like him because he's a bigot, at least I don't. The way his hatred for (pretty much) everyone is betrayed is really funny to me and I'm surprised more newer South Park fans don't see it this way.

I’m all for fandom culture but I feel like a lot of South Park fans either ignore or have forgotten what the show is actually about. It's okay to care about the characters but remember that at its core, this show is a comedy satire. It's not supposed to do much else then get a laugh out of you using shock humor (especially with Cartman). This kind of humor falls flat with a lot of new South Park fans. I feel like people are mostly okay with the show but get nervous when it comes to Cartman because of how bsd he is. Which is fair but like I said, liking a bad character does not inherently mean you agree with any of choices or decisions at all. It JUST means you like them for whatever reason.

Maybe people assume Cartman enjoyers only like him because they're bad people because they ONLY see Cartman as nothing but evil. He's a funny character as well though and while this an opinion, it's an opinion a lot of older fans share. I feeel like there is always a war going on between the new and old fans of any fandom, but I promise not all old SP fans are assholes (same as not all the new SP fans are like this).

I know Cartman is the worst but people act like the rest of town are saints. They are all supposed to be flawed characters and that's supposed to be funny! I feel like a broken record at this point but I really don't understand how people like South Park but not its overboard humor, which is what it's known for???

#south park #eric cartman #honestly this is more directed at tiktok because a lot of people on their HATE cartman #i get loving to hate him but some sp fans on tiktok will deadass ignore his character #its okay to want to focus on other characters but its absurd how many ppl just want him out south park... #maybe find another show to watch if you hate the character thay literally carries it 💀 #this is so stupid but i wanted to talk about it anyway #mineshaftss talks

[gloomforrestrunes]

man I could write a whole essay about how runes reminds me of the saying "blood is thicker than water" because at first you hear that and think this is about blood relations and how that's the most important, however in reality the "water" in the saying is the water of the womb, meaning family bonds. the full saying is "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb" meaning that chosen bonds are more significant then birth ones. the whole journey of the misconception is really what reminds me of runes. how the characters think to put so much power on who is related to who, and what that relation can give to you. the characters in runes who have bled with each other cried with each other will always be more important then you biologically gave birth to you. because those who you've bled with are really who birthed you not just your body.

YES YESSS YOU GET IT YOU UNDERSTAND ME

such a big thing in runes is how important those chosen bonds are, especially when relations that are inherently tied to you at birth are abusive and cruel. the concept that blood relation is more important than chosen bonds is a belief so ingrained in light realm society specifically. the ancestors just cannot stand the fact that laxo is worth a million times more to kane than the generations that came before him and the royal bloodline he's supposed to continue. which makes it extremely hard for him to willingly reach out and pick the roses, because what if they're right? what if the thorns do prick him, and he was foolish all along for listening to his heart rather than the all-powerful voice of the gods?

in the other cast's cases, while blood relation may not be as important as it is to kane's arc there's still an element of the character's being able to choose their own bonds and be independent being looked down upon

kenta isn't supposed to know anything other than her training, anything other than the war ahead of her, and how dare she think about her days away from the dark realm wistfully and with yearning

maya's conflict is largely internal but i think this still applies. she doesn't trust herself to forge new bonds due to things that happened in her past. she sees herself as inherently unlovable and irredeemable and forces herself to choose isolation, no matter how miserable it makes her and how much she desperately yearns connection

and of course there's laxo. how can he expect to act normally with someone else when all he's known for so long is nex? he's so used to being in such a hostile environment that anything other than that is scarier. it hurts, but its predictable. its routine. how can he trust himself to choose anything different? how can he trust anyone else to not be the same as nex?

and yet... despite everything, they all find each other. in one way or another, they find each other and laugh and cry and love so fully and so completely. of course it isnt easy, they're all complicated people with flaws and issues that cannot go unresolved. but that hope is there, and they can see it in every smile, longing glance, shoulder touch, and stargaze. and the most important part is that, ultimately, they allowed themselves to choose.

#feeling sentimental on the runes blog this morning fellas (almost 1 am) #ask #analysis #kane aera #kenta paxon #maya silvia #laxo paxon #sopjies