#sometimes good people do bad things it doesn’t make them irredeemable

[literaryspinster]

I don’t know who needs to hear this but

Sky dying was Viktor’s fault and him covering it up was bad actually.

#anti viktor arcane #i like him but the way y’all coddle that man is a LOT #arcane #arcane league of legends #sky young #you can tell me something bad that one of my faves did but I already know #it’s HIS fans that seem to think he’s above any criticism #literally no one is #and having to see over and over again how this Brown woman dying horribly wasn’t on him… #it’s white boy stanning at its most insidious #that would be like me saying jayce killing that boy wasn’t his fault and he shouldn’t feel bad when it was and he should #they were clear parallels #even happened in the same episode #come on now #sometimes good people do bad things it doesn’t make them irredeemable #but they do need to be held accountable

[thousandyearphantombunker]

“The titan said Belos is evil tho! Are you stupid the show said he was evil!”“Masha said lil’ bro just got jelly that his brother got a girlfriend! He doesn’t have depth and his ending was supposed to be unsatisfying!”“But James Ironwood losing his arm is supposed to represent him losing his humanity”“Jason Rose said that James could’ve always become evil and sided with Salem”“They literally called him genocide general!”“But in this Q&A they said the puppies survived they just lost their laser powers! And in the tie-in material, they showed everyone was fine! You just hate Starco!”“The show/tie-in material/a fucking Q&A said blah blah blah!”These arguments are shit. TOH- “God says witches are evil so it is his duty to kill them!” is a pretty horrible justification for killing someone except when the titan says it to Luz. I don’t think Luz is in the wrong for killing Belos, he was a genocidal maniac and child abuser and genuinely irredeemable- nobody who hates the ending of The Owl House complains about Belos being irredeemable, they complain about the show flopping the cult critical message, how hunter’s possession felt like needless shock value, the show not properly setting up the collector or how the coven system/conformitorium’s writing is a mess or how Eda becoming a teacher makes as much sense as Toph becoming a cop and you can go ‘but the show said-’ what the show said had unfortunate implications, was uncomfortable to abuse survivors, and I can’t forgive the ass-pullery of the trailer-bait nightmare sequence or how in the hexside crew became irrelevant! When people complain about how Belos was handled nobody complains about him not getting a redemption arc- they complain that hunter should’ve been there to see belos die or how they hate Luz’s power up. RWBY -James Ironwood’s and Penny’s character arcs and deaths felt so ableist it’s actually uncomfortable to watch, I have ASD my sister, and like half of the people I know have PTSD, I don’t know any amputees but I’ve seen plenty making noise about how shit the writing was. Good, they should be mad! The show’s message about prosthetics/amputations was toxic! Not mention for all the hopeful messages Team RWBY screams at the top of their lungs about trust they knowingly broke Ironwood’s trust for very poorly defined reasons! while I do think ruthless pragmatism is a bad thing, team RWBY offered no alternatives, he wasn’t a villain- he was facing an ethical dilemma and got fucked over. And SVTFOE- I shouldn’t have to buy tie-in materials to understand the show- tie-in material should be a bonus not a supplement or requirement, I Don’t have to buy the ATLA comics inorder to understand the show, I don’t have to read all of Lord Of The Rings to understand the movies. It doesn’t matter how the show was supposed to be interpreted or how the audience is supposed to feel, and It’s perfectly valid for the audience not to care about damage control spinoffs (cough cough Steven Universe) or Q&A’s or whatever. I’ll admit sometimes the audience is fucking stupid and completely media illiterate but can we stop acting like anyone who doesn’t blindly consume product and go with what the writers said are stupid? I know im not articulating this well but I’m pissy rn and I’m having trouble deconstructing whats wrong with those kind of arguments but god there is so much wrong with these arguements

#fuck rt #Rwde #toh critical #svtfoe critical #I promise I'm not anti TOH I wrote a whole ass essay on the show because I love its depiction of disability for college #Also svtfoe is a comfort show #But can we admit that the writing is a mess #I used to love rwby but God the show fell from grace #As did rooster teeth as a whole #For such a woke show it sure was ableist! #ableism #Rant #Nerd rage

[firecrackerhh]

I sometimes wonder if the reason (if not at least one of many reasons) why antis are so against Hazbin Hotel as a show (besides the obvious anti viv bullshit) is because the very concept of redemption is anathema to them.

They do not believe people can change, and thus the entire premise of hazbin, (and frankly helluva too) is something they literally cannot understand. Refuse to understand at the least.

They don’t care about other people, they do not care if their actions in the name of their own twisted form of justice causes undue suffering, they simply want to be seen as a “good person” without putting in any actual effort to be good.

Sure, it’s easy to find a shitty person online and rake them over the coals for things they’ve said or done years ago. Effortless. But it takes real patience, compassion, perhaps slight firmness but certainly no undue cruelty to convince people they need to change, and even then, that’s a personal journey that others can at most try to influence, but they can’t make people change.

And even if the person they’re bitching about does, it’ll never be good enough.

There’s nothing Viv can do to change these peoples minds, nothing we can do. No matter how many apologies she gives they will never accept it. No matter what we say they will never accept that Viv is not fucking Satan incarnate.

Engaging with these people is a waste of time. Always has been. If Viv is so irredeemable to them, they likely look at us the same way.

I wonder what skeletons people like this must hide, anyone who acts holier than thou about being a “better” person while engaging in reprehensible behavior themselves is a rather irritating form of hypocrisy that boggles my mind.

I am no saint, god knows I’m no fucking saint, but I know what’s right and wrong and antis are wrong every. Single. Time. Any evidence they claim to have of Viv’s awful behavior is either nearly a decade old and thus clearly irrelevant given the people who vouch for her in the present, doctored discord messages (which even if they were real, shows no dates, so we have no idea how old those are to begin with) or the ‘evidence’ is so flimsy that if a lawyer looked at it he would say you’re wasting his time.

I think these people don’t like Viv’s shows because they are morally incompatible with it. They do not believe in redemption. They believe once you’ve fucked up in life, that’s it, no second chances.

I fear what they must think of our current prison population. I fear what they might say.

These people have no moral high ground whatsoever.

They dare to talk shit about the fandom, Viv, anyone else associated with the show, pretending that they’re saying what they’re saying in the name of justice, as if attacking people with their past when they have clearly changed and made apologies is in any way a justifiable thing to do.

They don’t have to like Viv, they really don’t, but calling her irredeemable, calling us irredeemable, is fucking bullshit.

None of us are irredeemable.

The fucking conceit. The fucking gall. The fucking balls on these people.

Everyone has the capacity to make good and bad choices in this life. Yes, many people don’t make the best choices, but that doesn’t mean that they should be stoned to death for the most minor of offenses. For shit that’s long been in the past and apologized for.

I’m not going to say I think very highly of humanity as a whole, I’m a fucking misanthrope through-and-through, but I don’t think we’re incapable of being good, or doing good things, we just…choose not to, a lot of the time.

I also do not deny that there are some crimes so horrible that redemption isn’t even on the table, nowhere near it. But I feel like antis treat every perceived fault of Viv as some most grievous sin that must be met with full penance by…doing what exactly?

Apologize? Again, they won’t accept it.

Donate to charities or causes? She gets shit on for it, say she’s “flaunting her wealth.”

Get off the internet entirely? In an anti’s wet dreams maybe.

Her very existence makes them so mad. It would be funny if it wasn’t so fucking pathetic.

These people twist her words in every way imaginable to make her look like some horrible person undeserving of her success, without realizing they make themselves look far worse than her by several measures.

They claim she’s racist and queerphobic, but if anything acting as if BIPOC and queer people shouldn’t ever be shown doing awful things because “bad queer/ BIPOC rep” or whatever I think is just as racist and queerphobic. Minorities are human beings, and as such they are just as capable of being shitty. I already made a post about this before, so I’ll keep this paragraph short.

They claim she’s abusive to her coworkers when it seems the one person bitching about it has no problem putting other past co workers under the bus for their personal gain. Antis claim she’s abusive while engaging in downright emotionally abusive behavior (I know that sounds kinda dramatic but I’m making a point) themselves as they shit on us for the stupidest reason imaginable: liking a cartoon.

They cry about ableism while ignoring their own.

Not that I’m all that offended if I’m honest, it’s just more evidence that antis aren’t any better than the people they bitch about.

I could go on about this for a while but you get the point.

I repeat, these people have no moral high ground whatsoever.

Frankly, as much as it bothers me that they leak patreon shit and whatnot, many fans are actively warning against them, and I think the idea of someone actively choosing to give money to someone they hate just so they have more content to shit on is fucking pathetic and getting upset about it is exactly what they want.

They want you to be just as miserable as they are. They just want to suck all the fun out of this fandom, I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, these people are tar pits, trying to drown us in their muck. It’s pathetic and sad. No use in having sympathy, they don’t deserve any.

It’s funny how antis scream and cry about how awful we are as they ignore their own sins and mistakes, hypocrites.

If anything, their behavior is far more irredeemable than Viv’s has ever been.

I wonder when they will realize that, if they ever do. I can only hope some of them grow the fuck up and realize what the fuck they’ve done. If the ensuing guilt eats them alive, I can’t say I have pity for them.

Wonder how many of us would accept their apologies, if they chose to make one.

Alright it’s almost 7 am I gotta get to bed. Peace.

🔥🧨~Firecracker out~🧨🔥

#tis i the werebitch #vivziepop #hazbin hotel #helluva boss #btw to my followers #sorry I’ve been so extra negative lately #I just have way too much to say about this shit

[alliumdykes]

Shaking people to remind them that they are not a bad person. No one is inherently a bad person. We all have room to grow, no one does one bad thing and is forced to he bad forever. Humans are complex creatures and we are neither good nor bad. We just exist in this fucked up world. All we can do is do our best to be kind and get better. We are all allowed to fuck up. We are all allowed to make a mistake. No one’s perfect, we can never be. But we just need to try and get better. We can all be a dick for no reason sometimes. That doesn’t mean we are cruel irredeemable monsters. We all just have to try our best to be kind even when its so hard.

[taylortruther]

Feel free to disregard this if you would like to move on from this conversation but this whole conversation is borne from people being so uncomfortable with nuance and desperately wanting a set of hard and fast rules that they can follow that will define them as a good person. They are searching for moral certitude that doesn’t exist

As your last anon referenced there are so many degrees here

Some people are very certain that the actions in guilty as sin? are cheating because they were texting and know each other and she got off thinking about it and to them this is completely black and white to make her “bad/wrong/horrible”. Ok. So let’s follow that thought down then. Let’s assume they are right and that makes you “bad”. What about getting off thinking about an ex you aren’t in contact with anymore? Are you written off the good people island? How about if you’re not trying to think about them but it happens anyways? What if you don’t know them and it’s a celebrity? What if it’s a tv or movie character? What if it’s a book character? What if it’s porn?

I agree that partners should talk about these things but also we just need to have some nuance here and also not rush to label someone as unredeemable. And Taylor expected this moralization “say that I’m a cheat I guess it must be true.” “Tell me I’m despicable/Say it’s unforgivable”

i can talk about this all day!

personally, i don't think cheating makes someone irredeemable (and a few truthie regulars might recall i think couples can work through cheating sometimes!) - and i think any listener who's been in a similar experience can relate, too. so imo you can call it "cheating," i'm inclined to agree, but i don't think that makes her an irredeemable or evil figure. she's just a person who was doing things she knew felt wrong because she couldn't figure out how to get out. how many times have we talked about that being soooo normal in relationships?

i've said it once and i'll say it a hundred times: "clean breaks" in relationships are REALLY rare. more often than not, i'd say there's something fishy or untoward happening. sometimes it's full-blown boinking other people; sometimes it's sending some flirty, questionable dms; sometimes it's emotionally moving on, without telling your partner. often it's something in between those options.

anyway, all that to say: i agreeeeeeeeeeee!

#gas?

[rebouks]

Previous | Next

Transcript:

Ivan: What’s with the cold shoulder? I know I was a bit of a bellend, but I think ignorin’ me for a week is a bit excessive. Ain’t we supposed-… Bruno: I dealt with it on my own.

Ivan: Oh. Uh, did you ki-… Bruno: Why would you instantly assume that? Ivan: Uhm.. you’ve done it before, n’ if Artie asked y’to…

Bruno: I didn’t. Ivan: Okay. Bruno: I’ve only killed two people, Ivan. Two! Both of ‘em were absolute cunts, but that doesn’t mean I don’t regret it!

Ivan: I mean; I don’t know, so I’m not judgin’. Bruno: You are though! You think I’m just as bad as them, don’t you? Cold, greedy, irredeemable; a murderer?! Ivan: I don’t think that…

Bruno: It would’ve been easier for everyone if you were still a jumped-up street dealer with an attitude. But no, you.. you wind up here with your heart on your fucking sleeve, and your empathy-.. making me second guess the shit I bury for a fucking reason! Ivan: I ain’t doin’ it on purpose, I-…

Bruno: That’s the problem! You are what you are, you don’t play any games; at least I thought you didn’t… Ivan: Leah told-… Bruno: Yeah, she did… Please, please tell me it isn’t true?!

Ivan: Sorry Bruno… Y’can’t blame me for not sayin’ anything, you-… Bruno: I’m one of them, I get it. Ivan: This is a good thing, y’know..?

Bruno: Do you value your life at all? Ivan: Help us. Bruno: I can’t, I-…

Ivan: You’re not one of them, Bruno. You pretend t’be, but you’re not. I can see past it… You’re quiet, shy n’ intuitive; you prefer being outdoors n’ you hate the city, especially this apartment. You care about your family; about Mack n’ Kobe. You-… Bruno: Ivan-…

Ivan: You can’t hide from who you really are… When I asked what y’wanted if y’could have anythin’, y’said a garden. You don’t want money, power or control like the rest of ‘em.. ‘cause you’re different. So why d’you keep actin’ like you belong? Bruno: I’m just as bad…

Ivan: No, you’re not. I know it’s hard t’confront the shit you’re not proud of, but sometimes.. maybe it’s worth it. Bruno: You shouldn’t be saying any of this, Ivan… Ivan: Is that it then.. you won’t help? Am I wastin’ my breath?

Bruno: … Ivan: Y’know, I actually do value my life; it’s a shame no one else seems to. I’ve thought about leavin’ so many times, but I-… Bruno: You should. There’s nothing here for you.

Ivan: Nothin’..? Bruno: … Ivan: I don’t know why I fuckin’ bother.

#somnium #sims 4 #storytelling #ts4 story #sims story #simblr #ivan harper #bruno clarke #asdhkdkahiahdi

[tamelee]

Hello, I wondered what you think of the proshipping/anti shipping debate, and maybe where you position yourself?

From what I’ve seen, pro-shipping is usually people saying that you can ship everything you want since you have to "separate reality and fiction"… and most of the time it sounds like an excuse to create/consume incest fanfictions or child porn without guilt

On the other hand, in the anti-shipping side you have people who are treating some media as "irredeemable" for literally nothing… Like, "oh, this story is saying directly into your face that what thing one character has done is bad? So that means the story is not spreading awareness of this harmful behavior"

I think there are wrongs on both sides, but in general I disagree more with the proshipping community, because most proshippers I’ve interacted with are just people who don’t want to accept that there can be consequences to their actions, what they create, and what they consume. I’ve seen a lot of them saying that fiction has no impact on reality, which isn’t true at all. Most of the times proshippers handle sensitive and "problematic" subjects carelessly, sometimes even while spreading misplaced ideas, but don’t want people calling them out on the matter… (by calling out I don’t mean harassment of course, harassment isn’t and never will be a good solution to those problems)

The subject can be pretty complex, I’m curious to hear your thoughts about it! If you want of course, I would understand you not wanting to talk about it… And I’m sorry if expressed myself badly, since I don’t speak english very well

Take care, you’re doing amazing art pieces💙

Hi ^^ it is expressed very well, dw!  And thankyou so much 🧡!!

↓🍵;

Well, you specifically talk about shipping, which I think is completely fine. But the debate itself claims so often to be more than just that, using ‘shipping’ for something much too broad to define through these two terms which meaning is questionable. 

The debate is only interesting to me because of the whole fiction=/=reality aspect (at least I personally think that is an enjoyable debate, especially reading the arguments.) The most famous and skilled literary theorists and scholars can’t agree on this matter even today because there are too many variables and barriers like culture for example. A lot of opposites are both deemed true and false at the same time and it often lands on a slightly disappointing “it depends”. You say it yourself also. As well as you “leaning more toward one side” because it’s impossible to put a term on it unless someone would write down a bunch of guidelines to which they then commit to. But then you’re more defined by that than by your own thinking or even preferences. 

It isn’t so black and white that you can just.. idk, simply throw it all into two terms to define a preference that includes your entire life-experience and gain a Universal agreement by what it even means in the first place with everyone else on the internet, as if that’s how it works with this topic y’know? As if suddenly a shipping-filter will shame our literary masters out of any logic “because a fan/shipper wants ‘x’ to molest ‘y’ through non-con sex in fanwork’ and to say whether that’s okay or not in general depends on which of the two terms you used to define yourself in your bio and literally nothing else. And I don’t see how that logic connects when it is used like that and so often in this case. 

I know, this is an exaggeration, but I hope you know what I mean regarding the debate. This isn’t about your ask directly. The “it depends” is kinda frustrating for me too, because I’m always searching for an answer that makes sense for anything >< But what doesn’t here is as I said before, that people don’t even agree with each other either about the meaning of ‘pro/anti’-shipping’. Even the general definition is (or used to?) different and has literally nothing to do with reality/fiction just.. shipping. Whenever another popular post shows up people share that as ‘the next truth’ or even I receive it for clarification for an older post, but then another says something along the lines of “maybe that’s true for them, but to me it means....” 

So, where would I position myself? Well, “it depends” on who asks and what it means to them. Nah, I don’t think a single term about shipping can define how I think about the relationship between fiction and reality, what is right/wrong/acceptable/etc which you’re right- is very complex. At least, I refuse to do that if I can help it. I’ve seen enough misunderstandings and the harassment that you’re talking about to think that this isn’t going about it the most efficient way despite some parts being interesting and definitely topics worth talking about whether it is about shipping or something much broader.

“On the other hand, in the anti-shipping side you have people who are treating some media as "irredeemable" for literally nothing… Like, "oh, this story is saying directly into your face that what thing one character has done is bad? So that means the story is not spreading awareness of this harmful behavior"

And you’re completely right about people using ‘whatever/however/whomever’ as an excuse to justify anything, but that itself is kind of common human behavior and I genuinely don’t know what to say about it. Though you bring up something that (and similar extreme views) is why I would definitely lean more towards a separation of fiction and reality. Not to justify anything, but if anything else... I’ve always rooted for the freedom of expression/creativity whether I agree with it or not because censorship has always been tricky and sometimes outright dangerous. Who's going to decide what exactly? The fact that no one will agree with each other remains regardless. (And yes, I think there are definitely things I don’t want to see either of course, but discussing all that is a whole different topic.) 

However,

“I’ve seen a lot of them saying that fiction has no impact on reality, which isn’t true at all.”

You’re right again, but to quickly note; fiction=/=reality or fiction having impact on reality isn’t the same thing. Storytelling has always shaped beliefs and perspectives all over the world. In fiction especially, morals and ethics are often explored. Almost always a story is a problem in some form or another that needs to be solved because that’s satisfying, but how are you going to do that? And how will you write it in a way that people root for your character? And how else can you do that than involving the encouragement of a readers’ own reflection of their values and beliefs while simultaneously sharing and possibly influence them with your own? 

No one can deny this though? And if they do I wonder about the argument tbh. 

If a story can inspire it can also do the opposite. It’s not one or the other. 

Storytelling is such a powerful tool and imo it should be used wisely which means something else in every case because... aaahhh “it depends” >< 

#asktamelee #fandom talk #cw sensitive topics #cw sensitive topic

[thatgirlonstage]

I am so very possibly kicking a hornet’s nest with this and may regret posting it immediately but

For being The Fandoms Website it’s kind of shocking to me how often posts here advocating for indie art *over and instead of* mainstream/big budget stuff just ignore the fact that part of the draw of art is that it’s communal.

I recognize and agree with the fact that by far some of the most interesting, boundary-pushing, insightful and incisive and bold art comes out of the indie scene. I think socially we ought to give indie artists more support and incentives, culturally we ought to be unafraid of sharing and talking about and recommending and creating transformative work of the weird niche indie projects that we find. I am all for support of indie artists in every way we can give it to them.

But if you accompany your pitch for indie art with “delete your Netflix and Amazon prime and never go to a major Hollywood movie ever again or you’re a bad person who doesn’t actually support indie artists at all” that’s… not helpful. Because while sometimes you may watch or read or listen to something purely for your own enjoyment and artistic fulfillment, it’s so often also about how art is a Fun Thing To Do With Your Friends Who Also Like The Thing. And yes, sometimes you can get your friends into the niche indie thing too, and that’s awesome!! But sometimes you don’t have friends who are into the subject matter of the niche indie thing, or the one friend you have who would be into it is in the middle of law school and isn’t going to be able to read anything for fun for the next two years, or they have brainworms and The Time Isn’t Right To Try This Thing, or… there’s a lot of ways that you end up the only person you know who’s read or watched The Thing, and trying to dig for fellow fans online nets you two pieces of fanart from five years ago and a single total stranger who you don’t really vibe with or want to talk to. If this is the only way you experience art, it will get so lonely so fast.

In contrast, if you’re watching The New Hit Show on HBO or Amazon or wherever, that’s water cooler talk. That gives you something in common with your coworkers or classmates or the guy at the front desk. If you’re watching the season’s most popular anime or reading the Hugo-sweeping new fantasy series, that might be less well known to random people in your life, but it’s very very easy to find communities online with your choice of people to talk to and hang out with and make new friends with.

I’m not saying you should engage with all popular media with no sense of comparison or scale. If something pushes particularly heinous messaging or had exceptionally bad labor practices or something else that crosses a line, by all means stay away from it and encourage others to do so. And please believe me when I say I am entirely and furiously aware that artists have been getting fucked over by corporations since forever and—particularly with everything happening with AI—it’s only getting worse. I don’t think our current state of affairs is good. I just don’t think acting like someone is irredeemably soulless because they still watch every MCU movie in theaters is helping it get better.

Support and pitch indie artists everywhere, always. Just please also have some compassion for the fact that people wanting to read/watch the popular thing isn’t just FOMO or boot-licking devotion to a corporation—it’s about wanting to share joy and excitement and fun through art with other people. Which is truly about the most human desire I can think of.

[kideternity]

maxwell mfin dillon

Mister lightning himself….

-Overall opinion of them: Completely unironically one of the most important characters in the history of planet earths existence to me. Ive liked him since I was 7 years old for over 10 years and I will keep liking him for over 10 years! Extremely under-utilised and under appreciated spider man villain. Literally cream of the crop to me. My oldest friend. Sometimes I get a little embarrassed that I care so much but when I remember there are people who like characters that are 100000000000000x times more embarrassing and I don’t feel bad anymore and who cares anyways. He's my guy!

– Gender/sexuality headcanons: Like Noriko Admittedly I think Max across any version can also just like encompass basically every queer identity imaginable (Insert here Gayle saying “Characters who are gay men and lesbians”) BUT to me- Bisexual because he like, already basically is lol or at least heavily implied to be in comics and nonbinary trans man + arospec

– Favorite moment in canon: SOOO many so once again like Shroud I will just list them off in a like greatest hits sort of way but- That one time he crashed Peter's tv interview to call him a bitch ass motherfucker cunt on live tv and walk away from it unscathed laughing. All of the interactions and fights with Daredevil but especially the issue where Max amidst having a mental breakdown keeps calling Matt shit like baby and cute. W@id is a cunt bitch irredeemable asshole but I also did genuinely the stuff about Max REALLY passionately getting into socialism. UHMM that one story where Fucking Magneto comes up to Max and asks him to join the brotherhood of evil mutants and Max said NO 😭😭😭😭 also Basically all of Max's scenes in “Light the night!” From 90s Spider-man #38-40. Even more so all of Max's scenes in ASM1964 issues 422-423 and ESPECIALLY 425. Okay im good

-Favorite moment in a fanwork: UHMMMMMMMM Im blanking on specific people but I've liked a lot of fan art I've seen over the years especially some of the redesigns…… Some of the fics were pretty good too and that i've enjoyed… yeah

–Favorite line, in canon or otherwise: “SO RESPONSIBILITY IS YOUR THING, HUH? THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE HUNG UP ON, RIGHT? WELL, YOU CAN TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS!”

– Characters I love seeing them interact with: IDK if I necessarily actually LIKE seeing Max and Peter interact usually but they like absolutely drive me fucking crazy insane bonkers batshit when I DO think about them. Literally on my hands and my knees asking for any writer ever to actually further their relationship in a meaningful way. I think I’m the only person with this take too but I actually fucking love the Daredevil vs Electro issues I think they have a hilarious dynamic HHRFUHFDUDJD Max uhmmm doesn’t have really positive relationships with other villains but I like it when he gets along with Sandman Flint and they should do more with that (: also IDC IDC but they should have done morewith the Magneto connection it woulda been funny. Also Noriko + Max should be besties and so should Max + Eric ant man

-Last thing before sleeping headcanons: man's made of electricity he don’t need to godamn sleep

– Sleeping habits headcanons: okay well to contradict my last point I think he doesn’t need to sleep but he does sleep anyways. Because it makes him feel less existential over his state of existence

– First thing after waking up headcanons: eat batteries and smoke cigarettes

– Favorite locations headcanon: honest to god don’t think Max has ever actually liked anywhere he's ever been in canon but if I were to wager a guess probably just anywhere with strong electrical currents running about- like concerts, power plants, clubs, arcades, etc. I don’t think he's picky but he’s just never one to get attached either

#max dillion #electro #spider man #marvel #dinu yells in the void #chek's post #thank you ^_^ i have one left to do snd then ill stop but I appreciate the asks from yesterday night ty ty #cigarette mention #cigarette tw #ask meme #asks answered

[s0urfangs]

I could hand you Tai for the match up thing but he's horrifically undate-able (a challenge)

Necromancer, deep in his studies, knows too much (literally been around since pre searing) technically an eligible bachelor through being a widower but has a few horrible literal skeletons in his closet regarding that

Only really interested in people if they bring something new to the table that interests him

(also he has a little nightmare courtier assistant who's smitten for him who he barely gives the time of day who may or may not try to sabotage any attempts lol)

A CHALLENGE? ALRIGHT. I have bad taste and so does Fedsy.

Ok. so. First things first. We are going to have a problem with that nightmare court assistant. They’re the lot that gave Feds what he colloquially calls vampirism and he will indiscriminately kill them. They either have to die, or Tai has to be interesting enough for Fedsy to ignore it. 

Despite the fact he’s having a time. Fedsy does feel/is quite lonely, at least during the start of HoT. He’s a little vulnerable. Bad combination! I simply do not think he would be able to resist harassing Tai about magic and such, but would be sure to keep his facade up. No vulnerability. None. You get the full bratty little bastard. Maybe he only noticed him at first after inflicting violence upon his assistant and was like hm, interesting. Anyway. Things that could interest him from Tai? Necromancer. Came back from the dead. Doesn’t have a connection to the pale tree. 

WHY? Well. Fedsys dream is fucked up. He has vampirism. He wants it GONE. He will commit a few crimes for this to happen. He figures it’s for the greater good. Also… he’s just curious about anything and everything he can use, especially to further either his mesmer magic or alchemy. 

So. bullies him into helping him cure the vampirism. (Or at least, that’s what he’s telling himself.) Fedsy is good with people, so I do believe he’d recognise how Tai works. Hi. I killed an entire dragon. Not interested? Not interested in how a little guy murders an entire dragon? Man. your loss. I’m literally in the pact. Also I’ve got this disease and it's kind of cool. Bite people sometimes. Do you ever just wanna see a guy go apeshit? Bet your little shit of an assistant can’t do THAT. I can almost imagine him trying to latch onto him for some form of protection in that godsforsaken jungle. Hey. hey. You wouldn't wanna lose a valid specimen right. RIGHT? PLEASE. PLEASE I HATE IT HERE. I’LL DO ANYTHING PLE

He would not mention the egg. No way. He’s not an irredeemable villain. As long as it only hurts himself that's fine. 

EERM. ARGUABLY, I WENT OFF TOPIC. DATING HIM? Yes, if the manipulation for information doesn’t work, he would try flirting. Hell, he might do it anyway just to entertain himself and make him feel a bit more in control. You have to approach him like a nervous dog with genuine feelings but if you just want a fling AND it’d help him get info? AND he doesn’t have to be alone in the hell jungle? Yeah, sure, it is not difficult. You can bully him. It's fine he’s got no self preservation. He likes it a little. He thinks it's hot and he needs and craves validation in that way all the time. Sighs. Fedsy, babe. Stop it.

.... Also he's got a little bit of a thing for nerds. And just more composed/quieter people in general. Likes to try break that composure. watch out watch out watch ou-

#excuse the fact theres not much romantically in there #id have had to start guessing and didnt wanna ANNHIALATE ur guy so #just BLURTED whatever came to mind #god. maybe i should use readmores #anyway feds is going to provoke tai until he gets what he wants or gets killed probably #u kno how it is. its fine #i hope you all know me for my ridiculously long ask responses by now >:3 #ocposting #Tai #ask game #silvpost #oc:fedsy

[hellguarded-moved]

What does a person have to do to become 'irredeemable' or 'unforgivable' in Ig's eyes, if that's even possible to do?

What is Ig's favourite creature comfort? What simple little things bring him the most joy in life?

hc asks.

oh i love that question.  i love exploring morals.  for the most part, ig struggles to find anyone  irredeemable.  honestly such a belief often backfires at him, but it’s like he never learns and just keep believing in ppl.  he doesn’t hold grudges, and you know what, good for him.  that’s gotta be a very burden-free life in that regard.  there’s certainly things he considers  unforgivable,  though:  careless and mindless murder would be high on the list.  lots of other criminal behavior too, and i don’t say that just because he’s in law enforcement.  i suppose it’s more of an umbrella term for the  ‘bad things’  people might usually do.  although petty crimes and small stuff like that is much easier to omit, but if the person just keeps on with it, it sort of piles up and paints them as a  ‘bad person.’  even then, even if he were put next to a serial murderer, he’d find a way to forgive them.  it’s certainly something he personally finds unforgivable, but even then, he just cannot stay mad at someone, despite thoroughly despising the idea of taking another’s life, especially without a good reason.  sometimes he understands it—  self-defense, usually.  or defending a loved one.  on ocassion he can certainly understand why it would have to happen, as he is no exception.

when he was younger, it wasn’t something he paid much emphasis on, but as he became older he really fell in love with the idea of settling down somewhere—  someplace that is just his, and preferrably shared with a mate.  the idea of a private house makes him feel all intimate, so he couldn’t really live in an apartment complex.  and he tends to look for spatious living conditions, which might stem from the fact that his hellhound form is  massive.  a boy needs a lot of room, although ofc thorough the years he’s lived in a variety of different homes.  i guess it comes from that experience, that he knows what he likes.  besides that, he always makes sure to have some sorts of flowers and plants at his place.  i would probably say that would be his favorite.  he loves growing his own herbs at the very least, and if he has access to a garden, then also various fruits and vegetables, and decorative flowers are always a nice bonus.  he’s not neccessarily insistent on a lot of funishings, but even then he couldn’t just live in something plain and barren.  that simply doesn’t feel very home-like to him.

#comms. ( “OUTGOING” ); #ERROR ( ); #notes. ( “CERBERUS” ); #lykaiia #// ty for the ask! this felt very thorough #// altho i gotta admit i had to google what creature comforts were. i've never heard that phrase in my life #// so i hope i got that right! gfkkgfhk

[aerial-ace97]

No way to say this without spoiling things so spoilers under the cut for my biggest issue with the Owl House finale.

I don’t know man I just don’t know that we should be cool with a 14 year old carrying out the death penalty.  I’m gonna be honest, a lot of what I’m about to say centers on my personal political perspective but I still think their is a lot of validity of it.  Well... of course I do otherwise I wouldn’t choose it as my philosophy about politics which is, of course, deeply important to all aspects of life.  I think from a brief glance of other people’s reactions that I’m in the minority on this one but ah well.

I am extremely anti-death penalty in general, but that doesn’t mean that in general I have an issue with killing people in all regards in television.  I mean I don’t know what I could properly enjoy if I just resolutely drew the line at ‘No one can kill anyone.’  I do however deeply believe that media is important and while I don’t expect for it to hold the same values as me, I think that all media should recognize the influence that it can have.

Most television shows I watch there is going to be death.  Owl House is no exception and I think that showing death in children’s media is over all a good thing.  I don’t really have a huge issue with Belos dying but the sudden reasoning behind straight up murdering the guy is not the way I think it should have gone.

When characters kill the bad guys in media I like it is for two very distinct reason.  In one they are doing it out of a reaction to oppression or in self-defense or even in a war zone.  Or two, they are a flawed but grown human beings.  Sometimes media does something else and I dislike those moments while still liking the media (let me make clear now how much I love Owl House, please don’t immediately assume I hate this show.  I probably wouldn’t have survived this year if not for Thanks to Them.)

Luz is in neither of those conditions though.  She’s a 14 year old kid who is presented as for the most part a good guy and the decision is presented as almost unequivocally the right move.  She also is not in a situation where she is at all in danger.  Maybe Belos could have done something to the others?  Maybe?  But with Luz being juiced up with Titan power, she is essentially at demigod status.  It’s like the difference of danger between a bazooka and a pistol.

And yeah, she was trying to murder him.  It wasn’t just a... oh I’m just not gonna help you.  She had GOD powers.  The boiling rain is a product of the Titan.  She summoned the rain to kill him.  And sure Eda comes up to curb stomp him and save Luz from the crime of actually having to murder a dude, but that doesn’t change that she was definitely going to do it.

Does Belos deserve it?  For sure.  As a certain cricket might say, he’s an irredeemable monster.  But that shouldn’t be the line for if we should have a kid execute him.  Don’t take this as any kind of belief in pacifism across all spectrums.  You fundamentally cannot be tolerant of all beliefs and ideologies when some of those ideologies advocate the death of others.  I’m not someone who thinks you can cure a Nazi just with love and hugs.  Nah, you should punch a Nazi square in the fucking nose.  But there is a big leap between, a good solid kick to the cranium and a bullet between the eyes when you are of no threat to me and you’re asking for your life.  Similarly if a Nazi is trying to kill you, that would also be a good opportunity for you to do likewise.  Belos is an abusive, narcissistic giga-Hitler who deserved no redemption in the eyes of our characters.  But just... if you wanna kill him then make him attack her?

There are quite a few ways that you could’ve had him killed if you really had to do it.  Like... a lot.  He was already on his last legs before taking over the titan.  You could’ve just had his essence crumble away with that final failure.  Or have his essence reform in a place where someone less innocent could have done the deed, like just had Eda off somewhere else and have her do it.  Or better yet have Lilith, someone who was also manipulated directly by him, do it.  I’d still have some issues with these choices but at least we wouldn’t put it up to a 14 year old.  Or just have him be killed in defense in some way.

As a tangent, I find the final battle to be somewhat thematically flat in general.  Especially when we have Gravity Falls conclusion of how do you kill god and having to be clever about the way it happens and get everyone involved.  It makes the ‘let’s just shoot nondescript lazars and spells at each other until one of us folds’ conclusion feel a lot like a step down.  Many of the characters really didn’t have a lot to do and when you have the incredibly beautiful final battle from Thanks to Them you know that it could have been so much more interesting.  I can’t get too annoyed about it because that’s what happens when DIsney cuts your show off at the knees though.  And also I think the much more impressive achievement that Luz makes in this episode is not defeating Belos but bridging the gap with the Collector, particularly since it is far more thanks to her own talents.  But ah... sorry.. back to my point

I don’t know the full extent of Dana’s political stance.  I would like to think she’s a leftist and not a liberal based on what I’ve seen but I don’t know for sure.  My guess is she would see herself that way.  But a core principle of leftism is the belief in ‘Rehabilitation for all,’ which is why I strongly believe that if you are pro-death penalty, you don’t get to call yourself a leftist.  Rehabilitation is not the same as redemption.  It doesn’t mean ‘Oh well we’re just going to forgive Belos now and move on.’  What it does mean is confronting the root of people’s bigotries and flaws instead of the surface issues.  Like talking to Belos about what happened with his brother and how it has effected him or how being entirely stripped of his old world may have influenced his negative perspective on the Boiling Isles.  You know hard stuff and just very baby steps in the long run but important for everyone.  I mean as awful as Belos was, we never really even give him a chance to try and change at any point of the show.  So how can we really be certain that it isn’t possible or at least something we should strive for.  With him entirely cut off from any power source of course.  I’m not saying be stupid about it.

I generally liked the turn that the conversation between Luz and the titan had where they discussed how her goals and motivations were different from Belos.  It kinda came out of nowhere but again I’m gonna chalk that up to time that was cut from Disney being Disney.  But to follow that line of thinking through to justifying the murder of Belos leaves it with kind of a bad taste in my mouth.  So the difference between Luz and Belos is that his intentions were never good?  Ok I guess the audience knows that but I think Belos certainly thinks his intentions were good.  I think telling kids that if you feel your heart is in the right place than you’re means are justified is not the play here.  Especially since there are numerous other ways in which they are different.  Maybe Belos’ motivations are bad because they actually infringe unnecessarily on the rights of others.  Or because he did it all without any question whereas Luz has some introspection and input for others.  I don’t think the line we should draw is, oh my intentions were the good ones.  Because that is impossible to measure.

I know the show is trying to go for this idea that Belos can’t be redeemed and not all villains can.  And that’s fine.  You can have that and still not kill him.  While some people have issues with the final episode, Avatar the Last Airbender does this just fine with their giga-Hitler.  Kipo manages it too.  You can make it clear that the characters aren’t capable of meaningfully changing the villain and still put the villain in a position where they can’t do any harm to anyone anymore.

Come to think of it, in a similar vein to Avatar, doesn’t Belos not even really have his powers in the end.  With the Titan fading away, he would have to learn the whole new glyph magic as well in order to cast again.  Also isn’t he already very much dying.  I don’t know.  The more and more I think about it the more I feel like killing him seems kinda unnecessary.

I also know that this played a lot into the theme of trust the Owl House has been going for, especially with Luz.  But they still once again could have just had one of these things happen instead.  Belos attacks Luz and Luz is ready for it and easily blasts him OR she just cuts him off mid-monologue and imprisons him without hearing him out.  Or neither.  Honestly her face communicated enough.  I get that she was never gonna trust him.  I don’t need for her to also kill him to drive that home.

I did like how Belos tries to throw shade by saying Luz is just as bad as him in his final moments.  It is of course extremely laughable and a tactic often used by the oppressor to condemn those who try to fight them.  ‘Actually revolution is bad and makes you like us.’  I’m not at all some sort of milquetoast liberal who thinks that socialism and the annihilation of capitalism can ever be attained by anything less than some sort of revolution.  Of course Luz and the rest could not have won without righteous anger and violence.  But being not as bad as Belos doesn’t immediately mean that it is right either.  And there is a big difference between an oppressor dying as the result of revolution or self-defense and it happening as a result of street justice.

I don’t know.  I love The Owl House.  Don’t get me wrong.  My icon is Hunter because he is my son and my real life rat daughter is named Luz.  But call me soft I just don’t think that letting our 14 year old protagonist kill the bad guy just because she’s the good guy was the right move.

#Owl House spoilers #toh luz #Toh Belos #Just leftist media thoughts

[frankterranella]

Facing our flaws is the first step toward redemption

Bing Crosby appeared in blackface in the film “Holiday Inn.”

      Good people sometimes make bad choices. It’s part of being human. Sometimes the choices are horrific such as choosing to shoot up a school. Sometimes the choices are simply hurtful such as painting swastikas on a synagogue. But in every case, we are taught to hate the sin and love the sinner. No one should be judged by their worst day. There should always be a chance of redemption.       This is why cancel culture strikes me as wrongheaded. I don’t believe that every mistake is irredeemable. I particularly don’t believe that societal mistakes are irredeemable. We make progress by acknowledging our bad choices and then making better ones. So the misogynist world of the Mad Men era has been redeemed into a world where the equality of women is more respected in the workplace. And the racial inequities of the Jim Crow era have been redeemed into greater racial equality. I am not saying that the redemption is complete, just that progress has been made.       But we will never complete the redemption if we deny that the bad choice was ever made. We can’t whitewash the past. Slavery happened. Native Americans were victims of genocide. Women once were considered subservient to men. We don’t make the problem go away by making the history disappear. So any story set in the antebellum South must show the horror of slavery. Any story set in the 19th century or earlier must show women being treated as less than men and Native Americans being treated as less than human. The more we sweep these things under the historical carpet, the longer it will take to redeem them.       The rush to sanitize our history simply puts a bandage on the wound. It does not lead to redemption until we rip off the bandage and face the truth that we made bad choices. That doesn’t make us bad people; it simply makes us flawed human beings.       So when we tell the story of the Founding Fathers, we cannot omit the inconvenient truth that most of them owned slaves. We have to face that fact head on, and perhaps get some satisfaction from the fact that our country has wiped away this evil practice. When we tell the story of the settlement of the Old West, we cannot omit the suffering of the people who were displaced by that westward expansion.       There is such a thing as truth and facts. And sometimes we can’t handle the truth. But we have to do it anyway. Doing that does not turn our ancestors into monsters. It just makes them human. We can simultaneously love them and hate the bad choices they made.       And that goes for art as well. The landmark 1915 film “Birth of a Nation” chronicles the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the Reconstruction era. It’s tough for many people to watch. “Schindler’s List” tells the story of the Nazi concentration camps in World War II. It also is tough to watch. But unless we continually watch films like these, the evil will never be redeemed. Instead it will make a comeback.       We should never cancel art that faithfully shows the evil accepted at the time it was created. A good example is minstrel shows. These shows, which plainly portrayed African Americans as witless vagabonds or happy-go-lucky children, were the most popular form of entertainment in the second half of the 19th century, and still existed as late as the 1950s. No less an entertainer than Bing Crosby used minstrel show elements (including blackface) in the famous 1942 film “Holiday Inn.” That scene is now routinely cut when the movie is shown on television. But should it? Shouldn’t we be forced to be uncomfortable? How does deleting this bad decision work toward making the world less racist? I think it simply delays having that uncomfortable conversation about race that is necessary if we are to become a colorblind society.       Recently, I watched a biography of early 20th century entertainer Al Jolson. Jolson started out in minstrel shows and so naturally “The Jolson Story” features a few scenes featuring blackfaced performers in minstrel shows. As a result, this otherwise fabulous film is rarely shown anymore. Should the screenwriter have simply skipped over Jolson’s work in minstrels?       I think we have to face the fact that we are all flawed. Sweeping the evidence under the carpet or denying that it ever existed doesn’t make us a better society. Facing the truth of our history head-on is always the best choice.

[matt-the-radar-techncian]

You know something is kind of bothering me since I saw that reblogged post you responded through about this View Rose was better off dead. Why did they even scrap the amethyst flashback episode? I don't really know if it was really for og SU or SUF but if it was for future I kind of feel like the reason might involve that the episode wouldn't have really fit what's going on it'll be out of place and acknowledging the good is kind of awkward in a show where steven is very negative about...... pretty much everything in his life but at the same time..... the focus on the bad decisions rose made it look like she is like Chris Benoit or some shit

Like yeah I get that they're trying to acknowledge/remind people that she did made some fucked up decisions that may or may not have ruin people's lives but the focus on that and the negatives kind of make it seem like the good is being ignored and it's like the bad overshadows the good kind of situation even it's sometimes make it look like the diamonds were in the right to punish her.

I'm not really sure. is it valid to feel like they kind of done something wrong with Rose? I feel like this may be a controversial thing to say because I kind of feel like this sort of thinking about rose would get people to jump on you and treat people who are defending rose or have some kind of problem with how things are written, being labeled as toxic rose fans defending the character by shifting the blame on another character. in this case would be Greg based on some comments I saw a while ago on Reddit

First of all I don’t know for sure if that part about the Amethyst flashback is true or not, but either way what you said does make sense. They probably wanted to keep with the tone in SUF of Steven feeling bad about himself and his situation

I’m sure the showrunners didn’t want people to come to the conclusion that “Rose is irredeemable,” they probably just figured that people would be able to tell that she’s not all bad, that the Rose who everyone remembers at the beginning of the series is a very different person than when she started out on Homeworld

But yeah, I can definitely see why people fail to grasp that. There’s more and more focus on deconstructing her persona later in the series, and by the end you’re not ever even hearing about things that “Rose” did, but “Pink Diamond” instead. It’s almost as if the good person you were introduced to at the beginning of the series doesn’t actually exist. I guess the audience of this show needs everything spelled out for them, and since there’s no recap or final poignant send-off for her, people think the show must want you to remember her as an abuser and a liar

Again, this more than likely isn’t what the crew wanted people to think, (like I’ve said multiple times before, SU doesn’t encourage this kind of black-and-white thinking) they probably just didn’t have time to do anything differently when making SUF. If the original series had had less of a rushed ending they may have tried to address this, possibly tying into her relationship with Pearl (maybe even adding a song for the two of them? 🥺🥺)

#steven universe #steven universe future #su #suf #rose quartz #pink diamond

[voidfuldreams]

T minus two weeks until i move in to my new place. i got the job i wanted, and it’s going great!

i’m still a little on the lonelier side, but i’m trying to work on it. it’s just hard. i’m mainly just really tired of not knowing if i am actually the problem, or if everyone else coincidentally is. i have so many questions and i can never seem to get any answers.

i also have a strong suspicion i might have both autism and bpd, but i won’t say i have them until i’ve got it on paper. it’s not looking good though. i’m going to try and get some kind of diagnosis of whatever is wrong in my head because it’s definitely not right up there, no matter how much i think it is. something isn’t ticking the way it should be , because there’s no way that regular people think like this if everyone keeps telling me that the way i think and act is absurd. i don’t know. it’s tiring not having answers though, and i’m still raw dogging the depression so i can’t exactly fix that with some exercise and a sandwich anyway.

i’m getting better slowly, making myself eat greens instead of just eating a burger every couple days and sleeping off the hunger every other day. i don’t know what that was about, but wow it sucked. it’s still kind of difficult, especially because i don’t know why i’m doing it. it’s not a control thing, and it’s mostly not a weight thing, but it was like a mental block that just forbid me from eating like a normal fucking person. it’s not that i’m unhealthy, it’s just that i just physically couldn’t eat. and the “”safer foods”” that i was making myself eat were usually foods easiest attainable, so mcdonald’s. mostly. sometimes pizza or the mac and cheese that pizza hut makes. that shit was highkey good i’m ngl to u.

still having a rocky relationship with showering, but i’m a lot better than i was two years ago. now it’s every couple days, then it was every couple weeks.

i guess what i came here to write about was just - letting go of things? i wanted to mention something about people from your past coming to haunt you. i’ve had plenty of friends and family that ended . . sourly. friends are easier to let go of than family, but in the end they still hurt just as bad for a long while. i find when someone leaves you, you just go through a phase of confusion before the phase of disappointment. after that, after they’ve found reasons to hate you that you aren’t even aware of (and of course nobody likes to give context, so you’re left clueless about whether it’s your fault, or if it’s genuinely just a coincidence that everyone leaves you) and after they’ve blocked you, or found new people to replace you with, or just straight up just disappeared from the internet as a whole, you still end up being confused. but months, or years later you get over it. because they’re random people on the internet. or they’re random friends from your past.

i’m not sure where i was going with that.

i’m struggling, i guess. i don’t know. with family it tends to be harder to let them go, because even though you can say you get over them and you can cut contact, it just feels like a massive betrayal. like you made me hate you, because you didn’t think you would be held accountable for all the things you’ve said and done , just because we share blood? no. you’re getting blocked. i’m never seeing you again. but it doesn’t hurt less, because family is supposed to be there for you. you were ten and they were fighting with you like you were twenty. you were twelve and they were choosing everyone except for you. you were sixteen and you were holding the door shut with both hands and a foot as they pounded on it and threatened to kill themselves. you were sixteen that night that he kicked you out. you were sixteen that night that he proved to you that no matter how hard you try, some people are irredeemable. some people can’t be trusted. some people can’t have children without needing the comfort of seven beers and five shots by two pm on a friday. some people can’t afford to care about their kids.

can you tell i’m fatherless LMFAO

anyway. that happened a while ago now. but i still fight the urge to message him all the curse words i know, calling him out and telling him the consequences of his actions. i don’t, in favour of him causing issues for my sister who still has contact with him.

only now, after finally having a way out of this fucking family, do i realise how fucked up it’s been. i had a good childhood, sans the dad stuff. but some things i can’t forget. even writing this, i’m realising that most of my childhood was NOT in fact good. my dad was the obvious choice for hating my parents, because he was a fucking cunt and it was clear to everyone. but in recent years i’ve realised he wasn’t the only one. i’ll keep the details off the net for now , but it’s something i’ve been chewing on for a while. something im still coming to terms with.

two weeks before i move out, and about two weeks ago things went to shit. these fifteen days couldn’t come any faster. i’m so, so close. then, once i’m out and in my own space, in my own suburb, i might be finally allowed to heal and cope in my own ways. sure, i’m going to have to find time to fit it around my diploma and my new job, but isn’t that what the middle of the night is for?

i think i mainly use this blog as a journal for a lack of therapy currently. not that therapy ever really helped, i just talked for an hour and got told “right okay” at the end and was sent on my way. shit kinda blows tbh.

anyway, im running out of things to write. i mainly came here tonight to stop myself from looking up ex friends’ accounts and seeing what they were up to and to stop myself from sending a very shitty message to my dad.

thanks for being a great place to vent, void of tumblr that nobody goes to. it’s fantastic

i’ll see you next time i don’t know how to regulate emotions

#being dramatic i guess #voidfuldreams #vent

[cinderstorm]

So I was trawling through the Essek tag when I came across a great post by @tarydarrington (here’s the link if you want to read it), and roughly three paragraphs into commenting, I realized I was writing a whole meta and should probably just make my own post. So here we go: 

Throughout Campaign 2, there have been a few themes that have been repeatedly reinforced, one of which is that love and compassion are what changes people. We’ve seen it with the Mighty Nein in how they came together as a bunch of liars and con artists, then slowly learned to trust each other and chose to be better because of that trust. We’ve seen it in Matt’s NPCs: not just in Essek, but in Astrid and Eadwulf, in the Gentleman, even in Artagan, who will always be kind of a shit but who was ready to sacrifice himself at Rumblecusp to honor the love of a girl who had been so faithful to him it opened a path to divine power. Compassion is the alchemy that transforms people into better versions of themselves, and we see this play out again and again in the Mighty Nein’s journey.

And it doesn’t always work, because sometimes the people to whom you would offer your compassion are dealing in bad faith. Sometimes you find yourself facing the man who abused and manipulated you, and you know there is no kindness you can offer that he wouldn’t twist to his own ends, no mercy that wouldn’t end with more innocents hurt. Sometimes you find yourself staring into the face of the friend who sacrificed his life saving you, only to realize that they aren’t the same person anymore, that the kindness they held in their heart has gone brittle and cold.

But then, every so often, you find someone who by all rights should be irredeemable. Someone who has done terrible things for selfish reasons, without regret. Someone for whom mere kindness shouldn’t be enough to make them change... except it is, and they do, not because compassion alone can redeem them, but because, having experienced compassion, they find themselves wanting to be worthy of it.

There’s a quote from The Good Place that really captures what I’m saying here: “Why choose to be good every day if there is no guaranteed reward we can count on [...]? I argue that we choose to be good because of our bonds with other people. Simply put, we are not in this alone.” This, I think, is why Essek’s arc resonates so strongly with me (and with others). Because Essek is proof that love can change a person, so long as that person is willing to change in response. And yes, it’s a long journey. Yes, he’s still learning. But he’s trying, and he wants to be worthy of the trust the Mighty Nein have offered him.

And then I think about Caleb, who was also changed by the Mighty Nein. Caleb, who loves fiercely and deeply, even when he cannot bring himself to turn that love inward. For so long, Caleb’s goal was to bend reality to his will--not to redeem himself, but to unravel his past so that it never happened at all. A part of him still wants that, as he admitted to Essek in the tower in episode 133. The temptation of being able to rewrite the past still tugs at him, and probably always will. 

But what Caleb hasn’t fully realized--and what I think the overall narrative is pointing towards--is that that isn’t how you bend reality. You don’t change the world by seeking power. You change the world by changing people, and you change people through kindness and mercy and love. That’s what I love about Essek, and what I love about Critical Role: the fact that I can point to this show and say, “This. This is what I believe the world could be, if only we could extend our compassion a little further, if only we could bring ourselves to acknowledge the strength that comes from loving and being loved. The world may be full of terrible things, may even be full of terrible people, but we were not born with venom in our veins. We can choose to leave the world better than we found it.” And I think that’s beautiful. 

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