#you can tell I come from the disabled community but this really goes for everyone

[justin-chapmanswers]

Hello Mr.Chapman!

I wanted to bring this to your attention with the newest episode! I loved it, it was very good! however, there was this one scene that rubbed me and a bunch of other disabled people in the community the wrong way.

The scene with bot and telling Cabby the wrong information about them and then asking Cabby to not write anything down felt very off,, as someone who suffers bad memory loss from amnesia and such and tends to write things down to remember really threw me and a bunch of others off! i’m really hoping you and the team can bring this up and talk about it and listen to us on this topic! it would mean a lot to me and the other disabled people in the community ❤️

Hello!

Sorry for the delayed response to this conversation, we've all been traveling and I just arrived back home. But yes! Received a lot of questions regarding this here on Tumblr (as well as positive messages that I super-appreciate but of course this deserves to be addressed first), and I definitely want to hit on it before I get swept away again.

Thank you (and everyone!) for all of your messages regarding this topic. I have been reading and ingesting so much of this conversation and am very glad for everyone who's spoken up on the topic. I understand there had been debate regarding what's right and what's wrong with this angle of the Bot-Cabby story, and Cabby's depiction as a whole, but I'd like to put all the comments on the side of "I don't see it that way because xyz" to the side for the purpose of this post (although I appreciate your perspective as well, especially those who personally connect to the material).

I do want to start the dive-in with a sorry to who felt overwhelmed by this conversation as a whole, because clearly elements within the writing could have been tweaked and we wouldn't be needing to have this conversation. But absolutely a good one to have, anyway, because the show's history has been far from perfect in this regard. And, even more-so, want to say sorry to anyone who felt personally hurt by anything in the episode that read as ableist. While this was far from any intention, it certainly lead to plenty of hurt.

I figure I'll try to lay out as much of this conversation as I can, so it's clean and transparent all in one place, but of course feel free to keep the conversation going. It shouldn't end with me, whether that's more asks here or in your own circles.

I'll start with intentions within the writing regarding the more common talking points of the episode, and then hit on where things could have been corrected in execution. As Anonymous noted earlier, there's the segment where Bot presents Cabby with incorrect information. Understandably, leading a lot of people to feel uncomfortable with how this affects Cabby, who has difficulty with information. On my end, this was never really desired for this to come across as good normal healthy behavior. With the queer narrative in mind, Bot is insecure and uses this as a device to cope with their stress over being put under a microscope while they're still learning to feel confident. And have a Bow file in front of them. Hence Bot rejecting open-communication about Test Tube, offered by Cabby early on, to continuing to make outlandish claims about themself, as well as opening up authentically with true statements once they felt that safety and connection that they've needed. Starting the two off in a really rough place, and eventually getting the two to hear each other a little better and start communicating more healthily.

But does that make it any more comfortable to watch when you have Cabby's history in mind? Probably not. Perhaps out of all criticisms that had been laid out, this is the only one that I had not considered coming up in the many months since this episode's been written, until episode release. No excuse, that's on me. I think a lot of it was softened in my head by the fact that Bot had been completely unaware of all Cabby goes through, and that when Bot finally gains some insight, they soften up towards Cabby. I've seen others levy that note in these discussions, but ultimately it's not my place to say. I completely see now why this can be discomforting, especially in its presentation as being doing in such a light playful manner, no matter whether or not it was intended to be seen as a flaw that is fixed in the context of the episode.

There's also the other note that Anonymous mentioned here, regarding Bot telling Cabby to not write anything down. Intentions aren't too different are exciting, all very similar to last time regarding queer insecurity, Bot not understanding Cabby's situation, and the goal for the episode being to show they start in an unhealthy place and land in a good one. I think where a lot of that falters, were that to be the right starting place for the story at all (and understandable if you argue that it shouldn't have been) is not giving Cabby more support before the end of the episode to show that Bot understands them as much as Cabby gets to prove she's gotten to understand Bot.

There was initially space given to that in the episode but to try to tighten things a bit, we figured it'd be okay to hold onto that since there's still time to explore that. But I've given the advice before, even within the II team, to make sure that these types of issues conclude within the context of the episode as to not give any wrong ideas as-to what the takeaway should be. Unfortunately, I overlooked my own advice this time around. I do like the moments given to Bot and Cabby to show that they have learned to support one-another after learning about each other on an intimate level, but I think it's important to vocalize what these understandings are more explicitly.

Aaaaand also in general I've been wishing that I had made that moment a little softer, were it to be there at all. Between script completion and episode release I'm always poking holes in what I've written, especially as I watch it go from page to screen and things may get adapted in ways I didn't (but often should have) anticipated. That line in particular I've found to be pretty harsh in vibe for a while now, so we're on the same page. If it had to be a beat, I think something softer and more communicative could have been helpful. I do think it's fair for Bot to want to put up boundaries, but it could have been an open dialogue on the subject.

The thought then was that while Bot has discomfort with Cabby, due to their difficult history, they would offer Cabby an alternative accommodation via a more healthy form of communication and repetition that could then work as a compromise. But yeah, completely see why that's also a point of iffiness too, as the files are the intended accommodation. This was all less intended to be another finger-wag at Cabby's files in the way that was presented before Cabby returned to the game, but more-so to highlight how difficult the subject is for Bot. But the way that this could ignite both side of the coin should've been accounted for.

On a similar note, there was another point brought up in a separate ask-

"did she really have to us her file as a ramp? i hope that this isn’t going to go into the direction of ‘oh she’s cured now!’"

Similar to above, it's another case of me mentally prioritizing the story of Bot for their concluding-ish episode and their bond with Cabby, as opposed to Cabby as an individual. I had a visual in mind for a very long time of the Bow file crushed at the end of Bot's journey without any intention of it reflecting on how Cabby uses files, but rather about Bot feeling more comfortable in their robotic skin and others understanding them as an individual.

That is to say, no, there was never any intention that this would indicate that Cabby is done with using her files to collect information for better-navigating their life, and for her broader love of information-gathering. it is just to say, whether correct or not to implement, that they understand Bot's boundaries and see why having a Bow file for Bot can be seen as distasteful, now that they better understand who Bot is. Cabby still has the files, and there's always been every desire to continue to shed light on her story and perspective in the future. And now, with more consideration.

An aside, I suppose, but I do love Cabby. One of my favorites, always has been. In every episode I've written with her in which she is a notable character so far (10, 11, 14), I've wanted to lean into exploring how Cabby navigates difficult social scenarios in which, no matter how strained it may be at the start, we land in a place of others learning to see the plentiful good in her and/or show that they're willing to stick by her side wholeheartedly. With the Indefinite Islanders, Yin-Yang, Bot, etc. I say all of this to try to clarify that I've never had any intention of vilifying Cabby, and I'm really sorry to all of those who connect closely to her who feel as though I was trying to make her out to be a bad person. Again, although the intention was never negative, it's the outcome that matters most- so I am sorry.

And I'm not looking for anyone to write to me "great, all good now, all forgiven" or anything. I'm just looking to continue an important conversation. I know even before the episode's release, there's been plenty of this discussion here on Tumblr, which I am appreciative to have been able to look through and analyze as thoroughly as I can to understand every angle.

But yes, thanks for bearing through this long block of text. If anything comes across as messy, apologies, running on two or three or so hours of sleep, but I am happy to hit on anything that needs clarification or other elements later after work. I don't see myself making any big posts like this again soon, but at the very very least I'll read over what's sent in the ask box as always.

While I'm good with any and all continued conversation, my only request is that you all please just go easy on the rest of the crew. It's been a very emotionally-intense last few weeks, and a lot of the team is just in an overwhelmed state at the moment for a thousand different reasons. They're all trying their best to do and handle everything. But it can be a lot, especially when it's dealing with the Internet, and when it's thousands of voices screaming in your direction all at once. Thank you!

[threadsun]

Anonymous Asks: "Hello sorry if this is stupid and weird but i want to see how everyone reacts (including Bo) if MC has angioedema because i suffer from it myself and it's fucking awful and painful

(Angioedema is type of allergic reaction)"

Not stupid or weird at all!! I get edema from my dysautonomia so I can only imagine how much more it would suck as part of an allergic reaction <3

Content: general chronic illness stuff

Bo:

He's terrified the first time it happens around him. He doesn't really understand how humans work anyway, so anything out of the ordinary freaks him out a bit. Especially when you're clearly in pain. He might not really understand what it is or how it's triggered, but he'll do his best to care for you when it happens.

Jack:

Seeing you in pain absolutely breaks his heart. He loves you more than anything, and if he could take all the pain from you then he would. But he'll hold you, and listen to you if you need to vent or even just tell him what it feels like. And if there's anything that can help you, he'll make sure it gets done.

Ian:

Because he's known you since childhood, he's sort of used to it. That doesn't mean he doesn't feel bad that you're in pain and uncomfortable though. He learns all the best ways to help you when it happens. He'll gently massage or rub ice on anywhere that's swollen and painful.

Shaun:

When you tell him about it, he goes and researches everything he can about it. He comes back to you with loads of suggestions for ways to make it easier and less painful. If it's bad enough that you also need an epipen, he knows how to use one. Otherwise, he makes sure to keep up with the latest research on it and everything!

Nick:

Listen I live and die by my chronically ill/disabled Nick headcanon. He knows what it's like to live with a painful chronic condition, so he's absolutely full of sympathy for you. He helps you find doctors who are actually competent, hooks you up with good painkillers, and points you towards communities of people with the same condition.

Joseph:

He doesn't really understand all the clinical words or anything, but he understands that you're in pain. He can't stand to see you hurting, and he wishes there was more he could do to help you. He tries all sorts of things, and if you find anything that works to ease the pain and discomfort, then he'll make sure to keep doing it.

Jean:

The best part about having an insanely rich and famous boyfriend is that he can afford all the best doctors. Seriously, the moment he finds out something's wrong, he's calling in every doctor he knows to help figure it out. He'll get you experimental treatments and medicine if you want. And if you don't, he'll just hold and care for you.

#swwsdj #something's wrong with sunny day jack #dachabo #sdj jack #sdj ian #sdj shaun #sdj nick #sdj joseph #sdj jean #bo x reader #sunny day jack x reader #ian duff x reader #shaun durand cofer x reader #nick herraras x reader #joseph haberdae x reader #jean laurent x reader #gn!reader #sdj headcanons #dachabo headcanons #18+ only #sunshine

[cy-cyborg]

Sometimes think I had a normal childhood for someone growing up in the Aussie country (you know, when you ignore the disability and trans stuff lol) Then I talk to my sister and remember the absolutely ridiculous things that happened back home...

My school's cross country course (a sporting event where you walk/run several kilometres on dirt tracks) passed through a park that had a helicopter landing pad. During cross country one year, there was a helicopter parked there. Someone in my sister's year group stole it... or tried to. I don't think he was successful, but that depends on who you're talking to lol.

A guy stole a bulldozer from a roadwork site and used it to steal a coin machine at the car wash by just scooping the machine up in the little tray thing. The theft was caught on camera, as was his escape back into the closest thing we had to a busy suburb and yet, the coin machine, nor the bulldozer were ever seen again.

There was a ghost who lived at the showground, or so the story goes. Everyone greets her when we use the hall for community events. This makes the church across the road very angry. So much so a pastor used to go to the primary school to tell the kids not to talk to the ghost. Now I'm pretty sure everyone in my generation at least does it out of spite. From what I know about the ghost, I think she'd approve lol.

During my time in high school, 3 bodies were found on the beach. One was found by our school's beach walking class (also we had a beach walking class, it was an elective sport). Things continued as normal.

My high school had an elective marine biology class and part of the course was to get your scuba licence. I learned after graduation this is not normal, most schools don't have this class as an option. Did some digging and learned that it's whole reason for it being included was to make it easier to teach kids to scuba dive because people keep throwing things in the lakes around town/the ocean and they literally can not hire divers fast enough to clean it up. The class got cancelled after my year group because a girl in my class tried to fight a shark (this shark would approach divers but was known by the instructor to be really placid, so they just let her be, but this apparently spooked the school. Fair).

Our geography teacher was a conspiracy theorist and dooms day prepper that believed the whole 2012 thing. His approach to giving us tests was "we're all going to be dead in a few years and it's ridiculous they're even making you come to school so here's the answers so you don't have to waste time studying" - we had to re-take our year 10 final exam because of him...

#aussie #I thought all this was normal #life in the country #rural #rural australia #weird shit happens in the bush

[selectivechaos]

different ways people describe sm

“feels like a coma that you’re fully conscious for. You know what you want to do and how to do it, but you just can’t make yourself do it. It’s like you just freeze in time, while still being aware of your surroundings/what’s going on, but you have no response to it at all.”

“I know right then and there what might happen if I don’t respond, but I still can’t. I’d say it’s worse in the moment I can’t speak with a feeling of frustration about not being able to speak.”

“feels like there’s a gun to my head and if I say a word I die. Like I want to say whatever it is, and I can comprehend what is being said around me but physically I’m frozen. It’s like I can’t move or even look around, but I can hear and I’m replying in my head.” this, but other times my mind goes Blank; like really fucking blank. like the thoughts don’t connect together or to anything real (dissociation). othertimes it’s midway between blank and ‘replying in head’: im telling myself in my head the process of speaking, such as what it would sound like, what are the risks, will the sound actually come out, or im telling myself to find something to say but my mind is not communicating with me.

“If I move I’m afraid it’ll be some sort of communication to them, so I just stay perfectly still” sometimes i can’t move because im frozen and don’t know why; other times i can’t move because my mind is terrified they’ll judge any movement as abrasive or stuck-up. especially when you can’t speak, the fear that people will judge any communication you do make is amplified. in such cases for me it’s fear of confrontation or conflict.

“The feeling of detachment I felt from everyone around me was suffocating. Looking back to when I had SM,(recovered), specifically when someone asked me a question and my voice couldnt escape, its terrifying. Strangely.. it almost feels like I was in a coffin, buried alive. Trying to talk but no one can hear you. Trying to tell them whats wrong with you but they dont see it.” like im invisible or like ive literally Lost my voice, i’ve never felt trapped but i have felt like im on another plane, like a hollogram and so there’s no point speaking because i have no voice that they would hear.

“It feels like theres a psychological barrier in mind that I cannot cross, no matter what and I don't know why.” for me it’s like i go to speak and my body goes ‘we don’t do that’, like turning a tap and no water comes out.

“is fear the unknown and due to my speech and language disability. I stopped talking when I was 3, then started talking again at 10. It's the feeling of panic when I was put under pressure and struggling to say something. Also, if I don't understand what was said, I get mute and having an anxiety attack. I'm still scared to ask of what things I don't understand.”

“It feels like the nerves and discomfort of asking someone a serious important question or breaking bad news but amplified and all the time” for me, talking feels like a big thing All the time; like public speaking but even when it’s to someone next to me. 🌹🌹

source

#situational mutism #selectively mute #selective mutism #mentalheathawareness #mental health awareness #actually mentally ill #actually socially anxious #sm tag

[mystery-moose]

Someone in my life posed some interesting questions about stories recently! In considering them I figured I'd keep a record of my thoughts here on my tumblr web log, because what void should I holler into if not this one?

First, how I think about stories. I try to avoid thinking about them as morality plays or parables (mostly because this can keep me from engaging with challenging art) but I also don't like thinking about them purely as escapism. Each story has a reason it exists, whether that's entertainment, communication, or contemplation. They're designed to draw out our empathy, communicate a feeling, create a mood. Sometimes that's in service of something important to the author. Other times, it's something meant to distract. I don't judge a story based on its pretensions, or on its naked commercialism -- I try to judge based on its execution, how it's doing what it's doing, and how well it succeeds. There are great artists right now working solely with other people's licenses, doing work-for-hire gigs, and their skills are just as worthy of praise and appreciation as the latest semi-original high-concept novel hanging in the middle of the New York Times bestseller list.

Basically, I think about stories like stories! Or, if I absolutely have to be metaphorical, like buildings. Are the foundations strong? Is it doing anything special? Can I navigate it easily? How accessible is it? That last matters a lot to me, because it doesn't matter how cool the interior is if most people can't find their way inside.

Second, what do I need a story to do to recommend it to someone else? I'm gonna go with "accessibility" at the top, not in the disability sense but the populist one. Yeah, playing to the cheap seats can hurt a story a lot, and you obviously can't please everyone, but ignoring your audience doesn't make me appreciate your story much myself, let alone get me to recommend it to anyone else. You have to find a balance where what you're communicating isn't absolute nonsense to most of your audience. Not all! Just most. Effective communication of your thoughts, feelings, and ideas to a layman is something I think a lot of storytellers could stand to care about more when it comes to honing their craft, and that goes for folks outside of the arts especially. So if I find a story with a big concept, beautiful craft, intense emotion, and it's not too esoteric or inaccessibly written? That's great art in my book, and I'll tell everyone about it.

Next, what do I look for in stories? Now that is a tough one... I guess, beyond sheer execution (if your prose is good enough you can take me almost anywhere) I look for something that makes me care about its characters as it introduces me to their world, and does so without me feeling like I'm being told why I should care about the characters or what their world is like. This goes for everything from period pieces to stories set in places or communities I'm unfamiliar with, just as much as it goes for fantasy or science-fiction. I do generally have to care about the characters in a piece to really devote a significant amount of time to a story, though. If I don't, the other elements of the work (craft, originality, feeling) have to carry a whole lot more of the weight in order to get me to finish something.

What are red flags for me? Honestly, a big one is feeling either preached or condescended to. Even if it's politics or perspectives I agree with, if I feel like I'm being told what to think rather than thinking it on my own, or if I simply think the author doesn't trust me to understand what they're trying to say? I check out. Beyond that, when a story excuses terrible behavior in the interests of forcing me to sympathize with a character the author clearly favors, I also check out. There's other stuff too -- I don't much care for certain tropes when they feel obvious or sufficiently undisguised (at least try to put some kind of spin on it!) -- but those are the big ones I think. If I see those, my desire to continue drops real sharp.

A recent example of a story I really loved, because I try to stay positive: earlier this year I finished a book called A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, which almost instantly became one of my favorite stories. I had to sit with my feelings for days before I really settled on that, too! I worry about recency bias sometimes, that an impact will dull with time, but Empire has lived in my head since I read it. It's a well-told and compelling yarn that dips into a number of my favorite genres (science-fiction, murder-mystery, political intrigue, thriller) told from one of my favorite POVs (first-person) that also happens to dig into concepts that I find super cool and interesting! Things like history, how it's recorded, who makes it, what matters versus what historians only think matters. Things like the colonialism, cultural imperialism, and the politics of empire -- the pressure of being a small community being subsumed by a larger, more dominant one, the complicated nature of being a person from two worlds, whether by choice or by birth, and so on. It's got a lot of thoughts about that stuff, and it can't touch on all of them with the depth that they deserve, but it knows enough to know there's no easy answer for a lot of its questions, and it manages to make that feel like a natural conclusion rather than a copout. A great novel, and one I recommend to most everyone I know!

One I'm still in the middle of that I need to get back to: Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. That's a work that I think is a bit inaccessible, with characters that I don't necessarily love (the protagonist is a professional torturer, if that tells you anything) but the sheer craft on display... my god. There are whole sections I've read, passages that describe a feeling that I've had before but never put to words, and it expresses them so effectively and with such excellent language that it carries me forward on those passages even when I'm unsure what this person's quest is or whether or not I even like them. And that's to say nothing of the depth of the text itself -- Ursula K. Le Guin famously called Gene Wolfe genre fiction's Herman Melville, and that's been borne out in what I've read so far. I've been listening to the Shelved by Genre podcast as I've been reading the book, and their own insights and analysis illuminate whole sections of the text that I would never have noticed otherwise, or would have without knowing exactly why! Awesome stuff.

#moose blogs #on storytelling #i think about stories a lot #like i think about history a lot #that venn diagram is a circle in my mind #so when i find a story that thinks about the same stuff? #that's the best babyyy

[truetealtears]

Another thing that I realised about why the how to train your dragon finale doesn’t make sense, and this one really annoys me; is that apparently, Toothless is such a main character specialist little boy ever that when he becomes a simp and goes underground with his flock, all of the dragons in existence everywhere just follow him???

Which I mean, no??? Ignoring the fact that he just automatically becomes the alpha of the underworld (which is total bs in its own right), him deciding to stay there somehow sent a broadcast to all dragons to come join him? Did he @ everyone in the dragon discord or what?

Also for a character so smart how did Hiccup think that sending all of Berk’s dragons away would get rid of all dragons. And since it apparently did, how did he think that would be a good idea? They’re a well established and key part of the ecosystem (nvm his society but that’s different), do you know what happens when you remove, not just a species, but an entire fucking Order of animals from the environment??? I’ll give you a hint: it’s bad, really bad.

There must be other colonies around the world, with other alphas. Like that’s literally the plot of the previous two films; we had the red death as a sort of queen bee, and then the big guy as the ‘king’ but called the alpha cuz the 2nd film was where they coined the term and made it into a whole thing. These colonies are scattered all over the place but somehow the Berk colony (not even the only group of domesticated dragons, as the 3rd film likes to show, but not tell, us. What happened to those societies?) packing up and leaving made them all decide to leave too (again how tf would they even know, pheromones and broadcast calls and what ever else don’t travel across the entire planet).

So even if that did happen, you’re telling me Toothless just walks in with his little prosthetic tail (which will eventually decay, causing his death because he is a disabled dragon that would not survive without it) and new gf (my issues with the light fury are worthy of their own post someday), comes face to face with the other colonies alphas, (aka the equivalents of other red deaths, big dudes, etc) and just wins??? A red death alone would, and nearly did, eat him alive. He survived that fight (chase sequence honestly) due to Hiccup’s brains, allowing them to exploit the previously established (but then never mentioned again) weaknesses of dragons. Not Toothless’ strength and certainly not his brains, because he is a dragon, but then ofc the third film had to make him disturbingly smart.

Like that’s not a dragon anymore that’s a guy in a fursuit. He becomes far too humanised over the course of the series. Take the first film; where he was a surprisingly clever animal, but still an animal, and compare that to the 3rd. Like the jokes in the first are that he’s a big goofy animal trying to imitate Hiccup/ communicate with him in his own dragon way, in the third he’s literally acting and emoting like a human (which he shouldn’t be full stop). There’s a difference between an intelligent animal picking up on some of the behaviours they see constantly (spending all those years with Hiccup) and him straight up acquiring a human brain. That scene w the bird dancing can be funny but why tf is Hiccup gesturing and communicating with him in a way that would only work with a person. Try that shit with the original toothless, or literally any other dragon, and see how that goes.

In fact, put toothless (and the light fury) next to any of the other main dragons in the 3rd film and watch the difference in behaviour. The 2nd film started to push it with him and cloud jumper, but it was still somewhat at a level where it was believable that some dragon species were smarter like that, eg the intelligence of corvids vs other birds. The best example of being well trained and in tune w their human without becoming an almost uncanny valley human/dragon abomination is stormfly (cloud jumper is close but like I said they’re pushing it)

Honestly even at the end of the second film they were starting to main character-ify toothless; that scene could’ve still played out the same without making him glow, it annoyed me then and it just got worse in the third. Night-furies went from a unique but still plausible species (as in still an animal) in the context of this world to almost mythical beings who keep coming up w new bs powers.

The way the conflict was resolved in the first film was plausible and believable for the creatures they just spent the entire run time analysing (fire proof on the outside, not so much inside. Plus all the other stuff the kids were doing. Ik it might have felt a bit cliche and childish like ‘look we’re all using the tactics we told you about earlier!’ But that’s literally why they were taught them, to fight dragons). The second wasn’t totally far off, it explored dragon social dynamics and explained the concept of alphas and how they work (also clearly intending for you to look back and realise the red death was the alpha, they even play basically the same buzzing noise for when they’re under control) but then they made him glow at the end. It would’ve been so easy and plausible to say something like ‘oh most of these guys were part of the red death colony, which they watched toothless kill so they already accept him as their alpha’ but instead he had to have a mc power up moment. The third just went ‘fuck it he’s an anime character now’. Like think about it, basically none of the tactics and things we were told/shown were facts about dragons in the first, come up in the later movies. Like yeah ‘they don’t need to explain all that to us again’ but there’s a difference between that and just completely erasing it from the world building.

Night-furies are the equivalent of like some deep sea species we didn’t know much about back in the day because they were only seen when they came up to the surface on rare occasions, then we got a hold of one and everything checked out when compared to related species but unlike them it’s capable of bioluminescence which is like ‘oh cool, interesting.’ But then a couple years later it turns out if you stress it out it can somehow become a superconductor for some fucking reason. A couple more years later and it seems it’s capable of fucking teleportation. Can you see what I’m getting at here?

Ik the films were always going to end with the dragons leaving. Like in both book and film the first line is: ‘ONCE, there WERE dragons…’ I just hate how it ended up being done. As a Zoologist it has me screaming, crying and throwing up.

‘Oh well of course it’s bad to you, you’re putting a kids movie under professional scrutiny’ NO BECAUSE THEY DID IT SO WELL IN THE FIRST FILM. Watching it told me they knew how to do this right and then the sequels were worse instead of better. I’m not even saying they had to go further in-depth and stuff for the sequels to be good, what I’m saying is I was at least expecting them to keep to the same standard instead of letting it fucking plummet.

Idk man the first film was so good at establishing the dragons as actual animals and exploring them as different species but then it felt like with each consecutive film they fired more and more of whatever zoologists they had on the writers team for the first.

#httyd fandom #httyd #httyd 2 #httyd 3 #httyd critical #httyd toothless #httyd the hidden world

[kushimarutentacles]

So Raiga is my favorite swordsman, then Kisame, then Kushimaru, and then zabuza and the Hozuki brothers.

I think that for the time before Raiga met Ranmaru when he felt empty inside, he tried everything to fill that void. Killed people in different ways, tried different hobbies, did drugs, drank, and had sex.

I think this is how we got Buntan. While I can’t imagine him r@ping someone, I can imagine him having a one night stand or visiting a brothel. Which would be why he didn’t know about Buntan. I can see him having sex with this lady, and being like “hmm this isn’t working. On to the next thing!”

I get the image of him being really awkward, too, adding to why Bun’s mom hates him. Picture it: Raiga’s in a bar, drunk, moping to another random drunk dude about how he feels like he’s dead inside. Dude says something like “well, get yourself a woman! A good shag will fix you right up!” And raiga’s like “no cap??” And the next day attempts to seduce the first woman he sees. She probably is either thinking he’s so awkward and strange he’s cute or recognizes that he’s got the swords and agrees to sleep with him bc she doesn’t want to get zapped or stabbed. Either way, they get to a room and he’s like “okay, I’m a guy and you’re a girl and we’re naked… now what?” And she rolls her eyes and is like “ugh fine I’ll do it” and then after she falls asleep post frickle frackle he’s lying awake, staring at the ceiling like “well that didn’t work.” And just leaves. I doubt the ninja schools have a good sex Ed program so it’s possible he wasn’t even thinking about a child being a consequence.

(I know someone who was part of the Amish community that when she was 15 a boy convinced her that women couldn’t get pregnant their first time and she got pregnant and was tossed out of the community. So I think it’s a situation where he knew where babies come from but didn’t connect all the dots.)

Anyway, this man found an ailing child and, while having no experience in child care, was like “well shit I can’t NOT take you with me, can I?” And they figured out a dynamic that worked. I was a special Ed teaching assistant. Caring for children (and adults) with mobility disabilities is difficult. You add that Raiga didn’t have any classes like I did on how to care for someone like that, and it’s impressive to me that he successfully managed to not only keep Ranmaru alive, but he was THRIVING and loving life! Being a parent brought Raiga deep fulfillment, so I know DAMN WELL that if he knew Buntan existed at all, let alone that her mother at the very least mentally abused her by telling her she was worthless etc, he would have grabbed her up SO FAST and been like “look, a boy and a girl, I have a matching set!”

And as everyone knows, caring for children is expensive. Raiga figured that out pretty quickly I think. He knew he needed money, a stable place to live, and that usual Anbu level ninja work was extremely dangerous. It’s probably the only work he knew, and bc he was raised to be a murdering machine, he doesn’t think “oh well I could be a cashier at a ramen shop” like a normal person. He saw the opportunity to take over the gold mine and took it. It not only gave him the means to care for Ranmaru properly, he could safely keep him on his back at all times, and do his funerals.

I think if Tsunade would have come to the mine herself, she could’ve been like “okay, if you come the Konoha, work for me and stop the funerals, we’ll let you and Ranmaru stay together in the village.” And everything would have been fine.

TLDR: LIGHTNING MAN MAKE BRAIN GO BRRR

this is gonna be a long response so under the cut it goes!

i can't believe i've never CONCEIVED of sad drunk/druggie raiga. mix a sad boy with hallucinogens, oh noooo

i am very onboard with him not knowing the first thing about sex (him knowing it happens naked HKSNCBVNKJNGKJF that's such a good image)

IMO kiri did have sex ed, like people knew about sex and pregnancy because replacing the population was a BIG DEAL, but even so completely ignorant raiga is important to me. maybe it doesn't make sense but raiga's mind is a mess in so many ways.

imagining raiga trying TO SEDUCE A WOMAN IS SO FUNNY HDKFNGJHN he checks out a book from the library and learns about pickup lines. hey girl, nice eyes, he says. the girl just stares and he stares back because he figures she's got to say something at some point, he did the thing!

his relationship with ranmaru was a trainwreck but he did take care of that boy!!! he cooked food for him, which it didn't seem like people were doing beforehand! (it's amazing ranmaru survived long enough for raiga to pick him up--the villagers who were just like here's some cold potatoes and carrots young lad! ough the iron deficiency) so i love the thought of the mom, instead of keeping her a secret, gave buntan to raiga to raise bc she didn't care to. i feel like he would have been forced to be too responsible to go around holding funerals.

"he could safely keep him on his back at all times" you're making me think about how weird it must have been for people to see him before and after ranmaru--hey buddy? you uh. you got a little something on your back there. do you think you need to go to the doctor?

i couldn't imagine konoha taking in a rouge nin at that point, because the protocol for rogue nin was pretty hard set, but i love the thought of them being around more >W<

and for the record, here's how I think Buntan's conception happened: her mom was a prostitute around Katabami, and Raiga's little clanmates were going to her brothel all the time so he decided to check it out. he only went once and cried afterwards, sex was so unpleasant for both him and the lady. she already hated him for being the leader of all these obnoxious men who keep coming around, but when she got wind of the funerals she was horrified. and then she found out she was pregnant and it was a no-win situation whoever the father was, but then the baby came out with the double-ringed blue eyes and it was such an oh no. she drank, she kept everything about raiga a secret other than that he was worthless because she was afraid if bun knew anything more she would really turn out like him. unfortunately this opened the door for shizuma to bamboozle her with talks about what a hero her dad secretly was and how she's carrying on his legacy. it was a trick! it was bait! run, buntan!!

Another really interesting theory to me is one made i think by forgivememadre, that raiga was in an unhappy arranged marriage in kiri!!! AGHH i conceptualize him as literally having lightning god ancestry, bc i love kiri nin being descended from spirits and other creatures, and kiri wanting to continue that lineage makes sense to me. ough.

he makes my brain go brrr too. he has a permanent apartment in there -w-

#raiga kurosuki #buntan kurosuki #the seven swordsmen of the mist #kirigakure #naruto meta #kiri meta #pregnancy tw #forced pregnancy tw #rape tw

[dropintomanga]

From Manga to IRL: Found Family

I got a chance to catch the latest Manga in Libraries webinar on YouTube, which was titled Disability Visibility in Manga. It was a really good discussion about what the manga industry and anyone promoting manga can do better to promote better disability representation and access.

There was one question that host Jillian Rudes asked that prompted an answer from one of her panelists that made me think about how important it is for fans to look for communities that aren’t made up of blood-related family members.

Jillian asked the question “Have you seen your own lived experiences (re: disability) reflected in manga? If so, what manga? If not, what would you like to see?” The panelist in question, Nico Meyering, the Business Administrator of the University of Pennsylvania’s Orphan Disease Center and Gene Therapy Program, chimed in saying that he couldn’t find any manga relating to his experiences as he has a really rare disability. He then goes on to say he experienced a common trope - the “found family” trope.

“But I do solidly identify with a trope that we find a lot in manga and other pop culture that we consume. And that is like, the “found family” trope or really identifying with your friends, identifying with a group of people who might not be related to you genetically, but who form very strong bonds with you based out of shared experience, shared interest, or shared background. And this is something I found true in my own life.”

Nico goes on to say that as a lonely person, he never understood why people have strong attachments to their high school/college/graduate school. Nico then goes on to say he found his place with the disabled community and that he’s really working hard to make sure that his generation’s ceiling will be the next generation’s floor. Nico preaches community-based disability mentorship and coming up with guidelines and best practices to help improve disabled spaces for decades to come. It leads to a short wonderful response from another panelist, Bridget MacCormack (a cosplayer who’s also a mental health and disability advocate), about the “found family” trope being present in manga. She used One Piece and Monkey D. Luffy having a “found family” at his side as an example.

Like Nico, I never had strong attachments to any of the educational institutions I attended in my life. I used to have friends who I thought were great, but they slowly fell out of my life. Yet I didn’t really interact with anyone with the same interests as me until I was in my late ‘20s. Part of my late bloom into fandom was my fault and some of it could be blamed on other people.

With that said, I think it’s important to find people who aren’t blood-related to be around. Some of you may be fortunate to have wonderful parents/siblings/relatives (i.e. I’m one of them), but they aren’t enough. There’s things that they might never get about you. We all have our own idiosyncrasies that don’t necessarily vibe well with others. The beauty of being around similar folks with different backgrounds is that you get to see different ways of how to live life in a meaningful way. We’re often so stuck in our heads to the point of possible rumination. When you’re in a safe space with those with shared experiences, everyone in that setting is able to share knowledge that helps and prevents rumination from happening. 

I do want to stress that it’s important to find a “family” that is NOT rooted in hatred since it’s easy to meet the kinds of people that promote it when one is lonely and full of despair. Those individuals do not genuinely care about their members when they do not serve their best interests.

I asked myself if I found some kind of family just like how it happens in manga. I think back to the early days of reading/watching Gintama, where Gintoki Sakata finds out his then-newfound friends, Shinpachi Shimura and Kagura, were kidnapped by the Harusame space pirates during a Yorozuya mission. His old friend, Katsura Kotaro, tells him that it’s dangerous to rescue them. But Gintoki talks about how he didn’t want to carry the weight of other people in his life after experiencing so much loss during the Amanto War. Yet by bringing in Shinpachi and Kagura into his life, Gintoki unexpectedly wanted to be around people and take on the burden of life again. He says life would be boring if they weren’t around.

I think for me, I’m starting to find some kind of found family in the unlikeliest of places just like in manga. I realize like Gintoki, life wouldn’t be fun if there weren’t people I can form some sort of familial bond with. I hope you guys have/had the same experiences as me. Kabi Nagata once said that to feel a true sense of independence, you have to be able to rely on and trust other people that aren’t your immediate family. Take in as many experiences with those who you find a genuine bond with as you can because not only you may find some kind of family, but you might also find a sense of communal peace and purpose that’s much-needed in a world that doesn’t always seem to care about such things.

#found family #mental health #manga #communities #fandom #tropes #families

[they-are-a-prolife-autist]

hey the autistic, disabled trans man from yesterdays ask here: there is an absolutely astounding amount of misogyny in the “pro-life” community, but let’s not forget about the transphobia. i’ve had some people (randomly, in a conversation about abortion and bodily autonomy) tell me that the reason that i’ve been assaulted (or that THEY would assault me) is to turn me back into a woman.. holy fuck-

people like that just always make me wonder how women and AFAB people in general can be on the side of the “pro-life” “movement”. because i honestly wonder out of pure genuine confusion, how people don’t want people to have the right to choose what people do with their body. and i know that’s somewhat oversimplified, but in some cases, it’s not.

i just wish that when i speak up about how i desperately want to be able to choose what happens with my body, i get misgendered endlessly and, often times when it’s another man on the other end, get treated like a piece of meat.

the next thing that bothers me is that y’all are only focusing on overturning roe, but you’re not thinking about what will happen AFTER roe.. if it gets overturned, what supreme court case is next? what is stopping them from overturning obergefell v hodges, which also was passed under the due process clause of the 14th amendment (as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th).

i’m terrified if they overturn roe, because it starts a slippery slope. it can help prevent access to birth control (which, until i get on testosterone, i rely on to prevent my period and all the side affects of a period) and it can eventually be twisted to prevent my access to the medical care i need to transition (which will save my life), even though it’s already being restricted.

i just hope that if roe gets overturned, it doesn’t start us down a slope of overturning any and all landmark supreme court cases that conservatives simply don’t like. it’s terrifying. i hate living my life in fear but this is the point it’s come to living in america

Hey good to hear from you again ♥️

1: Oh my God that’s so fucking disgusting that someone would say that to you. Literally one of the most disturbing things I will ever hear is someone trying to justify assault ESPECIALLY using r4p3 to attack someone’s identity. It’s sick. It’s psychotic. And I am so so sorry people have said this to you. Again I am genuinely convinced that in every group, the loudest people (and thereby the most obvious and interacted with) are the least qualified to represent the community and the most hateful/wrong/obnoxious. I’ve found it to be true over and over again and I think that’s where the divide comes from. Each group as a whole is only interacting with the most disgusting narcissistic extremists on either side. Again. I’m so so sorry you e experienced that behavior. My heart goes out to you.

2: As far as overturning roe I do believe you’re correct. Little to no thought is typically put into “what next.” Only in the past couple of weeks I have started receiving emails from the groups I’m in or the organizations I’m affiliated with saying things along the lines of “the battles not over. NOW we can put effort into XYZ other issues.” In all honestly my reaction was “why weren’t we doing this before?” Why is it only now we’re actually considering how to handle the aftermath? Doesn’t any good plan include the follow through / clean up after?

I was raised super ultra conservative. (Think hair down to your ass and exclusively wearing blue jean skirts 😂🤮) The mindset that I was fed was “because the fetus is a member of the human species that is being killed, our urgency to stop that comes first and foremost before any other efforts are made.” Which… to a point makes sense? Right up until you get to the part where not everyone has your worldview and you’re fighting with a brick wall if you expect radical change to happen based on the foundation of a mindset held exclusively by the minority. If you really want change “God says so” isn’t gonna cut it. “They’re babies” isn’t gonna fly. I think the most difficult thing for both sides of this argument is setting aside those preexisting worldviews for five seconds to try to find the common ground and actually advocate for the real change. That’s why I’ve found secular Prolife and Prolife feminist groups so refreshing.

I definitely agree on that slippery slope though. I think if more people don’t start advocating for societal improvements and equality instead of arguing for abortion as some sort of “last resort” or “cure all” for these problems. 🤷‍♀️

[language-fox]

You don’t have to be fluent in a language

I’ve heard a ton of people tell me “why should I bother learning a language, I have X, I’ll never be fluent.” This X can be anything from social anxiety to speech impediments or hearing issues.

And... it makes me so sad. Fluency is cool but language is more than learning to speak in a certain way or to hear some sounds differently. It’s culture, it’s history, it’s the stored memory of an entire group of humans.

You don’t have to aim for fluency when you start a language. It doesn’t matter if there’s a disability that will likely prevent perfect fluency or if you just wanna start the language and check it out because it sounds cool.

The idea that we can only start things when we aim for perfection is so harmful and prevents people from engaging in things they might enjoy. If you want to learn a language, do it! Whether you’ll be fluent or just know a few words, go and do it if you want to! Life is supposed to be fun, after all.

#motivation #positivity #langblr #languages #studying #you can tell I come from the disabled community but this really goes for everyone #this is the same as "why do you learn this language it's useless nah if I'm having fun it's really not

[recappers-delight]

I AM INFURIATED!!!!

But not for the reasons you think.

How many of you watched the She-Ra panel tonight? ACTUALLY WATCHED IT?! Because I did and here's what I saw:

1. "_____ called someone the D slur"

He DID NOT call anyone that word. He used it in the context of announcing a panelist to the show. The word is IN THE TITLE of her podcast. He was literally just stating the title. That's it.

2. "Noelle said Double Trouble would be creepy around kids."

What Noelle said was that to get the inspiration for Flutterina, Double Trouble would have gone to a coffee shop, found a girl to imitate, and stare at her until they got her mannerisms down. Because of the implications here irt trans people and the stereotypes of "creeping on children", this could have been worded better. BUT this whole headcanon was in response to Noelle DEFENDING Double Trouble against the rest of the crew thinking they straight up murdered the real Flutterina. And again, problematic because of larger implications, but on the show Double Trouble IS A VILLAIN. Just because we think they're awesome doesn't mean they're not capable of shady shit. I saw very few people having a problem with this before. Other things they said about DT?

They specifically searched for a non-binary trans activist to voice the role.

Double Trouble was the whole cast's favorite character.

Everyone had a crush on them.

They support DT x Peekablue headcanon and think they should date.

3. "Noelle said Entrapta and Hordak are great representation."

Literally just did not say this. This comment was made by a fan writing in. A fan who, by the way, IS DISABLED THEMSELVES, and was writing in to thank the crew for the rep THEY saw in these characters. Noelle didn't agree or disagree at all. She goes on to give a character analysis about them both, and that's it.

4. "They made Bow's brothers slaves."

No. They didn't. It's a crew inside joke that all of Bow's brother's have pun names that rhyme with "Bow". The brother in question came from one of the other male creators making the joke "which one of Bow's brothers tills the field? Sow." Here's a pic from Noelle about the rest of the brothers.

Because of the complicated history between black people and "farm work" it's best to not make any joke at all like this. It was tasteless and misguided, but hardly a reason to grab pitchforks. Black people have the phrase "whites gonna white" for a REASON. We know there's no such thing as an unproblematic person. Creator or otherwise. Is it still wrong? Yes. Should people strive to do and be better? Absolutely. Should allies listen when POC talk about things that make us uncomfortable, and support us when WE call it out? Please, for the love of God!!! But I do not think the level of backlash the crew-ra is getting is at all warranted.

I understand I do not speak for all black people or lesbians, and I don't speak for ANY of those other groups mentioned and possibly offended, because I am not one of them. However, I felt the need to speak for myself. I am SO SICK of everyone knee-jerk reacting to every little thing that could possibly offend someone. Noelle is not perfect, but she has done a SHIT TON of work for representation and the progression of normalizing queer, inclusive stories to younger audiences. She also went to bat for a diverse cast of characters to be voiced by a diverse cast of VA.

The truly fucked up thing? There was a question someone wrote in about how a cis, straight, white person can respectfully tell the stories of underrepresented and marginalized communities. Noelle then goes on for 5 minutes about how it's difficult, and how it's more important to hold doors open for creators who actually come from those communities to be able to have their own voices heard. And this is the woman you throw flames at? Ridiculous. Our true enemies are able to so easily conquer us, because we so easily divide ourselves.

No one owes allegiance to any one fandom or creator. But we have got to start picking our battles more carefully. If we don't, people will become desensitized to our cries when REAL threats and offenses happen. And white people? PLEASE stop being so outraged at every little "off-color" remark someone makes YOU think might offend ME. I appreciate you wanting to be an ally, but you are drowning out our voices over things that really matter. That's why we get shit like musicians and sports teams changing their "racially insensitive" names, while police are STILL killing unarmed black peple in the streets without repercussions. It shouldn't be an either/or thing, but it often is, so please focus your attention on "canceling" THAT.

TL;DR: Don't just retweet and reblog everything you see without doing your own research and forming your own opinion. Speak out against bigotry, but understand when it's time attack, and when it's time to educate. Stop holding people on so high a pedestal they have no room to grow, and can only fall. Do not speak for, or louder, than the people you say you are standing up for. We can speak for ourselves. Help amplify our voices; DO NOT BECOME OUR VOICES. And finally, because we really do just have so much bigger fish to fry:

#i said what i said #she ra #she-ra #she ra panel #noelle stevenson #double trouble #entrapdak #entrapta #hordak #wlw #spop

[kai-writes-fan-fiction]

Sharing Secrets

Hi guys! This is my first post, so I’m completely open to criticism. If there's something wrong with my grammar or spelling, it's always helpful is someone points it out. This post was based off of an ask, (by @fayhar ) which I can't attach because I don't know how to use this app lol. Also please, please, PLEASE send in requests!!!!!

This is a one-shot with 853 words

Pairings: Avengers x GN!Platonic!Reader, Clint Barton x GN!Platonic!Reader, Natasha Romonoff x GN!Platonic!Reader

Warnings: Fluff, angst if you look close, and talk about disability

Synopsis: Reader is deaf and doesn't speak to the team, because they don’t know the reader is deaf. Natasha and Clint persuade reader into sharing their secret.

You were the newest recruit of the Avengers. Your powers; the ability to create vibrations, and you were very sensitive to them, too. Your powers aided in depth-perception, and you were always aware of your surroundings, which was very important because, subsequently, you were deaf.

Everyone just wrote you off as mute because you didn’t talk. You only really spoke to one person, Clint Barton, Hawkeye, because he knew sign language.

Everyone was curious about you, especially Natasha. Your lack of speech and the special shoes you always wore-which were very thin so you could feel vibrations-were noticed by everyone.

She was sitting in the kitchen when she observed Clint sneaking off from training. Intrigued, she followed him and stopped when she saw you speaking, or rather, signing, with Clint. Confused, she stealthy approached the two of you, careful not to make noise.

You, however, can feel her vibrations and smile in her direction, ushering her over. She peeks out from behind a desk and smiles and signs to you: “Are you deaf? Is that why you never speak?” to which you sign, “Yeah, I guess I should have told everyone.”

Clint turns to Natasha and whispers, “They were afraid that if you all found out they were deaf, you'd kick them off.”

Natasha frowns and quickly turns back to you, signing, “Obviously, being deaf doesn't cause any major problems, so I see no reason for kicking you off.”

You smile and sign to Clint and Natasha, “Maybe I should tell the whole team?”

The two of them nod and lead you into the common room, where they call a meeting. Clint supplies you with a whiteboard and marker he ran and got from the lab to write out what you need to say.

After about 5 minutes, everyone is piled into the common room, and for some reason, looking pretty annoyed.

“I was getting a lot of work done at the lab. What's so important, Nat?” Tony inquires.

“(Y/N) has something they wanted to tell the team,” Natasha replies.

“I’ve always wondered what they sound like!” Exclaims Wanda.

“Me too!” Smiles Peter.

“Oooh! They're finally going to speak?” Steve asks

“Not quite.” Says Clint, turning to smile at you.

The team turns to you; confusion etched in their faces.

“You're sure this was a good idea?” You sign to Clint and Natasha

“(Y/N), at some point, they were bound to ask why you're so quiet and distant!” Natasha replies worry on her face. “You have to tell them, (Y/N).” she signs after brushing a piece of (Y/H/C) from your face.

“You got this kid!” Clint signs with a smile.

“Kid, get on with it. I've got things to do, places to be.” Tony hisses, agitation residing in his typically nonchalant features.

Turning to Tony, Natasha narrows her eyes and whisper-yells, “Shut up, Tony, and let them take their time.”

Tony sticks up his hands in defense, and Clint motions to you to finally share your deepest secret. You grab a marker and write in thick letters, “I’m deaf.”

The team looks confused at first and then smiles at you.

“So that's why they're so distant!” Bucky says.

“Yep, they were afraid they'd be kicked off the team, so they kept it a secret. (Y/N) was sad they were so distanced, but theymeant no harm in being that way.” Clint adds.

“Well, good to know. (Y/N), you know you shouldn't keep secrets like this.” Steve frowns.

“What he meant was that you Don't need to keep secrets from us; we're your friends, and you are ours. We’ll love you no matter what! Don't do anything illegal, and you won't be removed.” Wanda chuckles.

You grin and turn to hug Clint and Natasha, who gestures to the team to come and join. Tony rolls his eyes but can't help but smile. Everyone wraps you in a warm hug.

Finally pulling away after what seemed to be hours, the team dismisses themselves, and everything goes back to normal. You turn to Clint and Natasha, thanking them for the courage to share your secret. They remind you how much the team loves you and how they’d do anything for you and head on their ways. You head to your room, smiling the whole way. One of the enormous weights has finally been lifted off your shoulders, and you feel light as ever.

A few days later, you are approached by Tony. In his hand is a small device.

“Since you can't hear us, and most of us can't sign, I created a portable speech to text and sign to speech device to help us communicate with one another.”

Luckily you can read lips, so you smile and nod. He hands you the little device. It's a bracelet, and when someone talks to you, the text will hover via hologram above it. When you sign, the bracelet announces what you're saying. You thank him and wrap him in a hug. He's taken aback, as you usually stay away from people, but after a few seconds, he accepts, hugging you back.

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff #clint barton #clint barton x natasha romanoff #clint barton x reader #natasha romanoff x you #clint barton x you #avengers x platonic reader #avengers x teen!reader #avengers x reader #avengers x you #avengers x fem!reader #avengers x plus size reader #the avengers #tony stark x reader #tony stark x stark!reader #tony stark #tony stark x teen!reader #tony stark x natasha romanoff #bucky x enhanced!reader #bucky barnes x female reader #tony stark x you

[percabethfeelsfandom]

Writing Prompt AU: Childhood Best Friends to Lover

PART 3: Age 12

Percy waves until the car and truck disappear into the intersection. There’s no way that Luke can still see him and his friends, but the four of them continue waving until all that is left of him is their memories from the past couple of years. They all live within the same neighbourhood, so they’re heading the same way, but it’s quiet without Luke’s loud presence.

“I can���t believe he actually moved,” Annabeth says in class the next day when their group of five becomes a group of four.

“Me too,” Thalia echoes with a frown, her eyes are glassy and Annabeth wraps her arm around her comfortingly. Percy wants to reach out too, but Annabeth slightly shakes her head, telling him no and he backs down.

At this point, the two of them can communicate better with actions and their facial expressions than they can with words.

Percy doesn’t like seeing his friends sad, so he spends the day cracking jokes, and forcing a smile on his face as they play games in the playground and attempt to ignore the obvious space that Luke used to occupy.

“We can always visit him on special days,” Percy tries, as they all lay on the ground later at the park after school, staring up at the clouds. He’s wedged between Grover and Annabeth so he feels when Annabeth stiffens by his side.

“Connecticut is pretty far from New York Perce, you know our parents won’t let us visit him all the time.” She says. Percy sits up and sighs, resting his arms against his knees as he looks down at Annabeth who is still laying down.

“It doesn’t need to be all the time, it can just be some of the time. We don’t have to be so sad about it.”

“I’m not sad,” Thalia snaps and stands up abruptly, grabbing her bag from the tree where they’ve thrown all their stuff.

“Thalia,” he calls, but she ignores him and starts to walk to where they’ve stashed their bikes.

Thalia is breathing heavily and roughly handling her bike when Percy catches up to her. She shoulders her bag and sits down not looking at him as he stands in front of the bike to stop her from leaving.

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” he says softly and places his hands on the handle of her bike to steady her when she tries to get away again.

“I’m not upset Percy. Just leave me alone.”

Despite this, Percy can see how her eyes have grown brighter, and her pale cheeks and nose are dusted with pink from rubbing them.

“Thalia-”

“No Percy. You don’t get it. He wasn’t your best friend, he was mine. You have Grover and Annabeth.”

She pushes his hands off the bike and turns it away from him, pedalling away like her life depends on it.

He stares off after her with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He doesn’t like seeing his friends sad.

“Hey.”

Percy turns around and sees Annabeth giving him a small smile.

“Hey.”

“She’s not angry at you, I swear,” she says and tugs on his arm so that they can go back to where Grover.

As they’re about to lie down, he sits up, glancing at his watch.

“I should probably go too, my Mum said to come home early, I’ll see you at school?”

They both wave goodbye to him, and Percy holds out a fist for Grover to bump against. Moments later, Grover is grabbing his scooter and riding it to the exit.

Annabeth lays down and pulls him down with her so that they can look up at the clouds again.

Percy doesn’t answer, choosing instead to try and find shapes and patterns in the bright sky.

“That one looks like a trident,” he says pointing up. Annabeth follows his line of vision and nods when she sees it.

“Remember that one time we were in the school performance and you were” she starts.

“Poseidon? Yeah, that was cool.” Percy grins and closes his eyes remembering the night they performed. He hadn’t needed to do much, just sit on his blue throne and hold a trident while other students were famous greek heroes with actual lines. “Who were you again? Aphrodite?”

“Athena,” Annabeth corrects, “Goddess of Wisdom.”

“Because you’re so wise?” He says with a laugh.

“Why is that funny?” She asks, but her lips are tilted up in a half-smile.

“Aren’t wise people old?” He answers, holding back another laugh. Annabeth scoffs and rolls her eyes.

“Per-cyyyy.”

“I think Athena fits. You’re so wise, like if you were a superhero or something you’d be Wise Girl, and your superhero weapon would be like a pen.” The joke isn’t even that funny, but Percy is gasping for breath and rolling in the grass. Annabeth is staring at him like he’s grown three heads, but she’s biting down on her lip, holding back a laugh. He rolls onto his stomach so he can face her and starts playing with blades of grass, pulling them and throwing them at her.

“It’s not that funny.”

“It’s kinda funny, Wise Girl.” She finally gives in and smiles, but Percy pokes her leg, trying to get her to laugh.

“Shut up.”

“Nope.” He throws a handful of grass at her and giggles when she sputters, trying to get it out of her face and hair.

“You’re so dumb, Seaweed Brain.”

“Then we match. I’m dumb and you’re wise.” This time she lets out a small laugh and Percy finally lies back, satisfied.

They fall into a comfortable silence and Percy almost feels himself falling asleep when he feels Annabeth shift a bit closer to him, pressing their arms together. All his attention goes straight to her familiar warmth and he almost doesn’t catch her next words.

“Do you think Luke will forget about us?”

“W-What?”

“Luke. Do you think he’ll forget about us when he makes new friends at his school? He said he’s always been good at making friends. What if he forgets about us and never visits.”

Percy turns and looks Annabeth straight in the eye.

“I think we’re pretty unforgettable.”

Annabeth blinks, and then her cheeks slowly turn pink.

“Do you think that’s what Luke thinks?”

Percy swallows and slowly nods, realising that their faces are quite close.

“I think Luke would be dumb to forget us. We’re awesome friends, and even if he doesn’t visit. You don’t have to see people every day to be their friends. You don’t live with your cousin but he’s still one of your best friends, right?”

“Luke’s not dumb,” Annabeth says quickly, “But yeah you’re right. I only see Magnus a couple of times a year but it always feels like we never spent any time apart.”

“See, maybe I’m the wise one,” he says smugly. Annabeth rolls her eyes and elbows him in the side.

“Hey Annabeth, Thalia said something to me and I wanted to ask-”

“She was just a bit upset, don’t take what she says seriously. My Dad always says mean things when he’s upset, but he never means it, not truly.” Annabeth says a matter-of-factly.

“No it didn’t upset me, but she said that Luke wasn’t my best friend, that he was her best friend…”

“Well, she’s kinda right. Luke is mine and Thalia’s best friend.” Percy feels a weight drop into his stomach and has to sit up again to relieve some of the pressure. Annabeth mirrors his actions and casually ties up her hair.

“I thought I was your best friend.” He doesn’t try to hide the hurt in his voice, and Annabeth doesn’t even hear it.

“You are. So is Thalia and Luke.” She says it like it’s obvious but it’s news to Percy and he gives her a blank stare, trying to understand what she’s saying.

“What about Grover?”

“He’s more your best friend than he is mine.” She answers with a shrug.

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“It does to me.” The weight feels like it’s growing in size and it pins him to the ground, disabling all his efforts of moving.

“So you have three best friends?”

“Mhmm.”

“Well, who’s you’re number one best friend?” Percy is kind of scared of what her answer will be, but he needs to know. For some reason, he really needs to know.

“I can’t answer that. That’s not fair.” Annabeth says frowning and folds her arms across her chest.

“But you tell me everything.”

“Not this.” Then she mimes locking her lips and then throwing away the key, signalling that the conversation is over.

“Annabeth-”

“No, I’m not saying. Come on Percy, let’s go home, the sun is going to set soon. I don’t want you to get in trouble with Smelly Gabe.”

She pulls herself up and then grabs his outstretched hand, hauling him to his feet. He’s unsteady when he stands, still feeling the weight in his stomach like someone is pushing him into the ground.

Almost blindly, he follows Annabeth to where her bike is parked and grabs his skateboard and backpack.

She starts talking about something they learnt about in class but he’s only half-listening, still thinking about their conversation from the park.

“Percy?”

“Hmm oh sorry, what did you say?”

Annabeth lets out a huff and blows a piece of hair from her face.

“Don’t worry. Were you listening to anything I said, at all?”

Percy stutters over an answer.

“Something about architecture?”

“I talk about other things than architecture Percy. I was saying maybe we could do a group call with Luke this weekend. Do you think your Mum and Gabe would let you use the phone?”

He thinks about it for a moment, mentally counting how many extra chores he’d have to do so that Gabe would allow him an hour of phone time.

“I could figure it out.” He says after a moment of silence and ignores Annabeth’s worried look.

“If it’s too much don’t worry, we can-” She says in a hurry.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll talk to him.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Her face breaks into a smile and she throws her arms around him for a hug before walking up the steps to her family’s apartment. She gives him a wave before closing the door behind her.

He lives a couple of minutes away from Annabeth, but he’s the furthest from everyone because they don’t live in the expensive part of the city. The beautiful brownstone apartments turn to crumbly apartments until Percy rolls to a stop in front of his crumbly apartment and winces as he picks up his skateboard.

Gabe isn’t home (thankfully), so he’s able to get the TV to himself for a few precious minutes before he hears the keys jingling in the door.

He leaps off the couch and hurries to clean the small mess he’s made and jumps into bed grabbing a comic book from the floor and opening it to a random page.

“Percy honey can you help me please?”

Percy’s chest lightens at the sound of his Mom’s voice and he races to the front door, smiling widely.

“Hey Mom, you’re home early.”

She smiles and nods, handing him a bag, and presses a kiss on top of his head.

“Yeah, my boss said he didn’t need me to stay back too late today. Wanna help me cook tonight? I’m making Gabe’s favourite.”

Percy scrunches his nose. They only make Gabe’s favourite when something important has happened.

“Yeah sure.” He says slowly. His Mom hears his uncertainty and leads them into the kitchen, beginning to unpack the groceries she’s bought.

“Nothing to worry about sweetie, I just need Gabe to be in a good mood tonight.”

Percy’s jaw tightens.

“Mom.”

“It’s nothing Percy. Don’t worry about me. Tell me about your day.”

He still has a sick sneaking suspicion that his Mom isn’t telling him the whole truth but he recounts her day. Every little detail, from the moment he skateboarded through the school gates, to the moment he said goodbye to Annabeth. His Mom is the easiest person in his life to talk to (Annabeth and Grover are equal seconds) and he feels lighter once he finishes.

They’re more than halfway done with dinner so Sally leans against the kitchen counter and eyes Percy who has set the table and is sitting down, fiddling with the cutlery, trying to keep his hands busy.

“Can you have multiple number one best friend’s Mom?” He asks, looking down at the fork he’s playing with.

“Of course, I think when you have a big heart it means that you have a lot of love to share, which means that you can care about as many people as you want, as much as you want.” Slowly she approaches him and takes the fork from his hand, setting it down.

“Who do you think is my number one best friend?” He asks.

“Well I can’t answer that question, Percy, that’s one for you.”

“What if I’m not my number one’s, number one?”

His Mom sighs and runs a hand through his dark hair, before cupping his face.

“That doesn’t mean they love you any less Perce.” She answers, “But they are missing out.”

“I don’t think I’m Annabeth’s number one.” He finally says and frowns when he feels his stomach do an uncomfortable flip. “Does this mean I have to change my number one?”

Sally smiles sadly at him and gives him a squeeze.

“You can’t know for sure unless you ask. You can do whatever you want with your heart Percy, the best advice I can give you is that you trust it.”

PART 1

PART 2

#percy jackson #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #rick riordan #annabeth chase #percabeth #luke castellan #thalia grace #grover underwood #sally jackson #gabe ugliano #writing #writing prompt #alternate universe #childhood best friends to lovers #fanfic #fanfiction #one shot #series #mortal au #poseidon #athena

[unwhitewashthebadbatch]

Disney Email Draft 2

(going under a cut because it's much longer. Here is the Google Doc link for anyone who would like to comment directly)

Reminder that we are encouraging critiques and comments regarding this email!

To Bob Iger, Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, Jennifer Corbett, and the creative team of Star Wars: The Bad Batch:

We hope this email finds you all well. We are fans of color, disabled fans, neurodivergent fans, and Jewish fans writing out of concern for the portrayal of our communities in the Disney+ series Star Wars: The Bad Batch. For several months now, we have been campaigning on social media to spread awareness about these concerns through #UnwhitewashTBB, a movement we began to raise awareness about the ways in which the series has poorly represented several minoritized groups of people.

Just like the creators of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, all of the creators of #UnwhitewashTBB grew up with Star Wars as the backbones of their childhoods, and for many of us, Star Wars: The Clone Wars was crucial to our development as artists, writers, creators, and lifelong Star Wars fans. We are all firm believers in the phrase “Star Wars is for everyone”, and we would like to see Disney support that message by hearing our plea.

As fans of color, as disabled fans, as neurodivergent fans, and as Jewish fans, we’ve seen ourselves on screen in both good and bad ways, but recently it has been more the latter than the former. One such reason is Star Wars: The Bad Batch, a show whose premise piqued many fans’ interest, but whose main cast has left an increasingly sour taste in the mouths of those who watched.

The series follows an elite squad of clone troopers who have named themselves The Bad Batch, due in part to their series of mutations that gives them an edge over regular clones on the battlefield. These mutations drastically altered the appearance of each of the members to a generally lighter, more Caucasian appearance--one that is inconsistent with how the original Jango Fett actor Temuera Morisson looks. Fans take issue with the implications in the writing and design of The Bad Batch: that in order to be elite, special, and better than one’s contemporaries--in order to have a story worth telling--one must also be white or as close as possible.

Merriam-Webster defines whitewashing as “to alter (something) in a way that favors, features, or caters to white people: such as to alter (an original story) by casting a white performer in a role based on a nonwhite person or fictional character” The #UnwhitewashTBB movement comes with two carrds explaining the grievances of the fans. A summary for each character is given below:

Sergeant Hunter, the leader, closely resembles Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo character, despite being a clone of a man of color. The importance of his character, the fatherliness he has with Omega, and his centrality to both their Season 7 appearance in The Clone Wars and the series itself sends the message that important people look

Wrecker is the demolitions expert, and he’s the only member of The Bad Batch with features similar to that of a Maori man’s, like Temuera Morrison/Jango Fett. He’s large with broad features, brown skin, and is a stereotype of men of color. His personality as first introduced to the audience was that of a loud, aggressive, impatient, slow man who called frequently for violence/destruction. He falls into the “Loveable Brute” trope, an observation that is supported by statements from supervising director Brad Rau and voice actor Dee Bradely Baker that Wrecker is like a little boy and has a heart of gold.

Crosshair is the sniper on the team, and he’s the most derisive of the “regs”--the regular clone troopers. Taken in conjunction with his appearance (inspired by Clint Eastwood), the various messages being sent by the writing and appearance of the other team members, and his comment about the regular troopers--the he and the Batch are superior and thus should join the Empire--his character pushes forth a message that there is superiority inherent in whitened or fully white features.

Tech, the technology specialist, has incredibly light skin and hair compared to the regular clones. His mutation made him a genius, with an IQ that outpaces that of any other clone in the Republic. Fans of color are upset that Tech’s genius mutation apparently also affected his skin color, as now this creates a direct link between intelligence and appearance/race. Contrast Tech with Wrecker, who is the exact opposite in every way, and this harm becomes only more apparent. In addition to this, many Autistic fans of The Bad Batch have noted that Tech, being “on the spectrum” (according to Dee Bradley Baker) is a popular stereotype of Autistic people: a nerdy-looking white man with a formal way of speaking who’s a genius but dismissive of others’ feelings. Baker also plays Tech with a British accent, further cementing the harmful message that intelligence is in some way connected to ethnicity.

Omega is the newest member of The Bad Batch. Despite being a pure Jango clone, she’s come out looking nothing like Boba Fett--she has lighter skin than he does, as well as blonde hair. Fans are concerned about the connection between genetic purity and light skin/blonde hair, as this is directly harmful to the people of color who don’t sport those features.

Echo is the ARC Trooper of the team, but many fans--disabled fans especially--fear that his series of disabilities have reduced him to the “droid sidekick”. Echo does not have a prosthetic, instead sporting a scomp-arm attachment that allows him to plug into computers but would otherwise hinder him greatly in daily tasks. He rarely is the focus of an episode, and the series has not given him as much attention as it has given characters like Hunter and Omega. Disabled fans worry about the lack of attention given to his medical trauma, and fans of color note that his skin color goes beyond what a brown man who’s been without sunlight for a few months would look like.

The issues do not stop here. Asian fans noticed and were harmed by a Tiananmen Square parallel in 1x10, “Common Ground”--a recreation that was led by an Eastern Asian-coded woman. Jewish fans are hurt by the antisemitic stereotype in Cid the broker, a greedy lizard woman who speaks with an accent commonly associated with New York Jews--and who is played by Jewish actress Rhea Perlman. Black fans were harmed by the whitewashing in Saw Gererra and the one other Black character in The Bad Batch being a Black woman who works for the Empire and burns civilians alive.

The full analyses can be found in the official #UnwhitewashTBB carrd: unwhitewashthebadbatch.carrd.co. We respectfully ask that you read this carrd and give a public statement in response to these criticisms.

Our movement has only gained traction since its inception on March 30th, 2021. A few months later, we wrote and released an open letter on Change.org to be signed by supporters of #UnwhitewashTBB, and every day it gains new signatures and draws nearer to the next milestone. A survey we released over a month ago has received over 1,100 responses and also continues to climb. The latter displays a range of opinions regarding The Bad Batch, but one sentiment stands out: Hunter, Crosshair, Tech, Wrecker, Omega, and Echo are written in stereotypical and actively harmful ways. Respondents were shocked at outdated portrayals of Autism, sickened by antisemitic stereotypes, and confused at how, in this current social and political climate, a family-friendly corporation like Disney could greenlight a series that sends a message that is the complete opposite of “Star Wars is for Everyone”. Some sample responses are below:

“I would just like to elaborate on the ableism aspect. As a amputee myself, I don’t like how Echo’s trauma has been ignored. The whole reason he is with the BB is because of what he went through. Losing one limb, never mind multiple, it’s extremely difficult. They made it seem like just because his prosthetic can be of use on missions, that means he isn’t grieving the loss of his actual hand. There is no healing or evolution. It also feels wrong to only address the fact that echo uses prosthetics for the sake of hacking into machinery. Prosthetics are so personal and become a real part of who you are as a person.” - Respondent 130

“...I can't believe Star Wars is still doing this, and that an entire team of animators with a huge budget can't get skin tone right. I didn't even know the clones were supposed to have a NZ Māori accent until a friend told me. That's a big deal, since I live in NZ and hear it every day…” - Respondent 209

“As someone who is neurodivergent myself, Tech and Wrecker just. sting, you know? in a “is that really what you think of us” kind of way. I grew up in an environment where intersectional equality was heavily discussed, and I can still miss things. Having Jewish friends does not mean that Cid’s antisemitic implications can’t go right over my head until someone points them out (thank you).” - Respondent 87

“As a fan of color, its irritating and painful to watch and be brushed off as "lighting issues" and see justifications made by white fans and producers...It also feels very bad to me that TCW spent 7 seasons with several arcs emphasizing that the clones were all as individual as a 'normal' person, but then undo all that with TBB, which centers a group of "special" clones (who are suspiciously white) and have them treat the "regs" as a homogeneous group who are lesser than them, and then expect us to find it within ourselves to put that aside to enjoy the MCs. The way the treat "regs" is very offputting and it made me dislike them since their introduction...Star Wars is no stranger to racist and antisemitic media, but I must say, the blantancy of Sid, a greedy lizard who essentially financially enslaves the protaganists, being Jewish-coded and being protrayed by a Jewish voice actress is really next-level even for Star Wars. As a Jewish fan, it really grates on me.” - Respondent 40

“I’m disabled and autistic, and the ableism is appalling to watch. Watching Echo be treated as subhuman for needing machinery to survive makes me feel like having implants to keep my spine from breaking itself would have me be the pitied member of any group. I am disgusted by the blatant antisemitism, as a fair number of my friends are Jewish and it hurts me to think that people can so easily hate others based on internalized stereotypes. Me and my friends have also critically analyzed the fact that, despite being clones of a character portrayed by Temuera Morrison, for some reason the bad batch look nothing like him in any way. No resemblance in any way: just a bunch of someone’s badly worked characters fraught with disgusting writing decisions and design choices that make no sense. It makes me angry to think that the writers for this show, and to an extent any modern writer, would believe that using harmful tropes to make a story is acceptable and someone brings in profit. I tried to watch it out of fact that my family likes Star Wars and we all grew up watching it, but all of these unhealthy assumptions and terrible choices in terms of writing and design leave a bitter and nauseating feeling.” - Respondent 605

In the survey, various questions were asked about fans’ feelings about The Bad Batch. Before reading the carrd, 34.7% of fans answered that writing was their least favorite aspect of the series, with the next being the main characters. Elaborations in the following free write made clear that the whitewashing and stereotypical writing were huge factors of these opinions. One a 1 to 5 satisfaction scale, 68.1% of respondents rated their satisfaction at a 3 or lower--again, due to the whitewashing and other issues respondents perceived in The Bad Batch. When asked to analyze pre-post carrd-reading feelings regarding the above issues, every category saw a marked increase in awareness of the issue at hand. The perceived prominence of the whitewashing went from 81.3% to 91.4% in respondents. The awareness of ableism jumped almost 30%, from 52.6% to 84.4%. The majority of respondents (59%) were not aware of the antisemitism in the series, but after reading the carrd, that statistic flipped to 80.5%, a near 60% increase from the original 26.7%. Regarding the other racist issues, the respondents went from 63.1% to 83.7%.

Fans of color, neurodivergent fans, disabled fans, and Jewish fans have been waiting for the day where we can see ourselves on screen a level of attention and care that makes us feel even more at home in the Star Wars community . If Disney’s message is truly family-friendly, if Star Wars is for everyone, then Disney needs to support these views with not just words, but with actions. Resolve the racism in Star Wars: The Bad Batch, take out the antisemitism, and treat your nonwhite, disabled, and neurodivergent characters--and fans--with the respect and dignity they deserve.

This will not be a benefit solely to the fans who are asking to be represented properly. In today’s time, popular media is facing a reckoning; media that is inclusive of and respectful towards minoritized groups ends up with leagues more popularity, high ratings, and good reviews than those that don’t. A recent and prominent example is Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, a movie for which the inclusion of Asian-Americans at nearly all levels of production boosted its image and aided in its successful box office release. Black Panther is another prominent example--a movie spearheaded by Black people that completed its box office run at more than five times its initial budget in total revenue. The proper representation of people of color is a two-fold benefit.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch already has beautiful animation that reminds many longtime Star Wars: The Clone Wars fans of their childhood.

It is our hope that you will take our concerns as well as the concerns of others into account, and address the issues that we have outlined in order to better reflect the Walt Disney Company’s commitment to inclusive, diverse entertainment for audiences of all ages. Thank you for your attention to this issue.

Respectfully,

Fans of The Bad Batch

#mod CH #email #disney #star wars #the clone wars #the bad batch #unwhitewashtbb #swtbb #racism #antisemitism

[lochnessies]

ok here’s a dissection of a post an anon sent me the link to and bc i have the worst time management possible and i completely forgot i had it lol so sorry anon here you go ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

I am constantly thinking about how Edelgard just doesn’t seem designed to appeal to cishet men.

i hate to be the one to break this news to you op but just because a character doesn’t show skin like charlotte fire emblem doesn’t mean she isn’t designed to pander to men. she’s very much designed to pander to the (majority straight male) player base with her ‘uwu i only trust you professor omg did u see that rat? pls don’t look at my painting of you uwu’.

then there’s the whole edelgard c support in japanese where byleth makes reference to having come to her room for ‘yobi’ which is

there’s also the scene where byleth can make an unsolicited comment about edelgard’s breast size. which is… uhh… gross.

edelgard also has cipher cards that go from slightly fanserviceie to full on suggestive

and also her breast armor that my sister relentlessly mocked lol

and here’s a chart from the 3h subreddit about gender/sexually in regards to edelgard and edeleth. it’s extremely straight male. op might have just overlooked this since they probably don’t go on reddit and stay on tumblr (which unlike reddit is mostly female and has a high lgbt demographic).

Like the joke is that Bleagles is the Gay House, but everything about her feels deliberately non-hetero.

i don’t like where this is going…

She’s dressed in sharp outfits covering her upper body, with proportions that don’t seem exaggerated.

so women who cover up must be lgbt because straight women are naturally more revealing? oh y i k e s

Her poise and the way she effortlessly flourishes her axe exhibits an air of coolness. While titties out =/= character of no substance, Edelgard being dressed more modestly suggests that she wasn’t designed with male-centred fanservice in mind.

“titties don’t equal no substance but here’s my post on how she has more substance because she doesn’t show titties” ok

And she still looks absolutely stunning in her more modest attire (like seriously, I haven’t felt the need to return to cosplay in years but I want to do her academy look so bad). 

yes she does. amazing design 10/10. i have a feeling this is the only part i’m going to agree with

Edelgard is intense. She does not mince her words and she is constantly evaluating you. Though she tries, she has a difficult time understanding her peers initially. Early on, she talks about how she would sacrifice herself and others in the name of some greater good. She is terrible at communicating with her peers. She has to be seen as infallible. Her heart has been hardened for years and she assumes she has to stay that way. She also assumes everyone mourns the same way she does - which is why she (kind of insensitively) insists you move on when Jeralt dies. Because to her, grief has to be channeled towards action, or else you’ll get lost in it. This attitude is demonstrated time and time again as she presses on. It can make her come off as cold and unfeeling - but look closer, and she’s anything but.

don’t really have anything to say at this part. it is pretty on the nose though i would slightly disagree with that last sentence a bit. i wouldn’t say she’s as i feeling as hubert is but all of her talks of the war boil down to how she feels and never her victims.

Her story is ultimately about her realizing that to achieve her goals, she needs to let people in and allow herself to want things like cakes and tea parties and lazy days in peace. 

????? what ????? her goals include imperialism, ethnic and religious targeting. her story is about having a set of beliefs and mowing down anybody who stands in her way. that has nothing to do with tea, friends, and lazy days. also am i supposed to be sad that she has to get up everyday and work? i do that and i didn’t start a war and only throw a pity party for myself

The game leaves the player guessing as to how involved the Flame Emperor was in each Part I event, makes you feel hurt by her betrayal, and leaves you with a choice: do you follow the orders of the woman who tried to make you a god without your consent, or a young girl with questionable morals about to throw the world into upheaval?

this isn’t an ideal situation but i think i’m going to stick with the woman who tried to make me a god since i’m not selfish and i know it’s not only my desires and life at stake here. plus the green hair slaps ngl

Choosing her of your own volition (not for completionist reasons) requires the basic ability to sympathize with a woman’s pain. It also requires the player to read beyond her unwavering will and dubious methods to get a sense of how deep that pain goes and how the theme of humanity relates to her differently in each route.

i’m not going to touch this since @nilsh13 made a post on it that i’ll link here. i agree with everything he said so to repeat it would be redundant.

The player must be able to see a young woman’s desperate resolve to change the world so it stops exploiting people and ruining lives. They must be able to accept the fact that women can make the same morally wrong and ambivalent decisions that complicated male characters get to make all the time and still be the one to root for.

literally the same reason i love rhea lol her goddess experiments are dubious at best but her reasons are the same you mentioned. i would say that i like this quality in edelgard too if her ending, while bloody, actually ended in a good outcome for fodlan.

This is not unique to LGBT+ people, but this population is likely to understand why Edelgard feels so strongly about why she has to change the system. 

i understand wanting to change a system, i really do. like edelgard, i’m an opinionated bisexual woman (who’s also physically disabled) so yeah i get it. and change can be good but it can also be terrible. even if the church was the boogeyman edelgard treats it as she still replaces it with her own shit regime. so it’s the same circus just with a new conductor.

I don’t think “Edelgard gets undue criticism because she’s a woman” captures the full picture. An important aspect of her treatment by certain parts of the fandom is that she’s a radical woman.

or maybe she does some pretty fucked up shit and it goes unacknowledged in her own route. and yeah she’s radical but in all the worst ways.

Her hatred of the Church and the Crest system resonates way harder with people who have been hurt by institutions that are deeply engrained in our society. 

and what about people who have been hurt by systems where their ‘merit’ didn’t measure up and they were left behind? what about people from nations that experienced imperialism?

Siding with her means siding against the Church - which, while different from real world religious institutions, still invokes language about “sin” and “punishment.

yeah the ‘sins’ and ‘punishments’ are used in relation to attempted murders which i think everybody can agree is a bad thing that needs to be condemned.

Choosing Edelgard will likely hit different if homophobic and transphobic Christians used that rhetoric against you.

it has literally nothing to do with ‘sins’ and ‘punishments’ in regards to being gay or trans. that’s you projecting. especially since the church has 2 canon gay characters and two coded ones.

like i can understand why having a church condemn you can be uncomfortable but i’m begging you to please look at the context of what’s happening.

I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that the reason F/F Edeleth is the more popular iteration of that ship because most people who would choose to S-support Edelgard are LGBT+ themselves. This is not a revelation. To anyone in the community, it’s fairly obvious. 

i was talking to nilish and he said

so yeah… while there is definitely sapphic femleth shippers out there, there’s still a whole lot of weird fetishizing going on from straight men about edelgard.

Crimson Flower was my first route. I went into the game knowing absolutely nothing. I played it during the last week of 2020 and hoo boy was it cathartic. 

i can tell. this wasn’t supposed to be a dig but it came out that way and i’m not taking it out.

I felt like I was living out a gay revolution power fantasy, where I could truly change systems of oppression while fighting alongside a group of troubled students I’d shaped the lives of.

so a gay revolution power fantasy (cringe) goes hand in hand with imperialism and installing a dictatorship? also the war had nothing to do with sexuality.

Through your unwavering support, Edelgard learns that she needs to be human, that she must listen to her friends, and that she’s allowed to enjoy the world she’s creating.

edelgard gets to learn how to be human all while hunting those who don’t. and she doesn’t listen fo her friends. she doesn’t even trust them. she’s willing to talk to byleth but keep the people who’s been by her side for five years in the dark about everything. and yeah she gets to enjoy her new words since she’s on top. hate to be a commoner under her rule after she burned down my village in her war.

I love this character so much.

clearly. and i honestly don’t care if somebody likes her. i do as well even if my sometimes scathing words can make it seem otherwise.

It has been six months since I first played and I am still analyzing her,

me too. please help me escape i’m losing my mind

because there’s so much depth. Yet so many people fail to see that depth and dismiss her as evil,

i mean, she does some fucked up shit that goes beyond any of the less than desirable actions of the other main characters and does an extremely poor job in trying to make herself seem innocent. i personally don’t think she’s pure evil but i completely understand where the people who say she is are coming from.

because they never had the will to understand complicated women in the first place. 

that’s big talk from somebody who implies that a gay pope is comparable to homophobic and transphobic irl religions and that leads an oppressive regime all because she uses the vague terms of sin and punishments that you have to gay power fantasy your way out of

#i finished this at 1am so sorry if i’m incoherent #mine

[justice4sasuke]

Sasuke's journey was meant for him to become a chauvinistic lapdog, though. I could get why people wouldn't be satisfied with and care about Sasuke.

Oh honey you came in here on the wrong day let me tell you what.

First of all I don’t think Kishimoto intended on pretty much every character becoming complicit in this fucked up ninja system, or for it to be as fucked up as it is, he just accidentally made Konoha the bad guy when he didn’t want that and tried to sweep it under the rug. It didn’t work.

Second of all you’re really going to come into my inbox with that language after Sasuke spent the ENTIRE MANGA 

Feeling worthless because Itachi got more attention than him

Was traumatized by his beloved older brother

Had his entire community murdered

Spent the beginning of the series having his talents and accomplishments downplayed because Kishimoto is weird about people having natural talents

Was retraumatized by his brother

Was preyed on by Orochimaru and spent two years dealing with him to get stronger

Had the teacher he looked up to tell him to get over his trauma and be with his friends

Friends who are a girl who is constantly harassing him to date her and a boy who is attention starved and takes his inferiority complex out on Sasuke 

Literally no one in Sasuke’s life actually cares about or recognizes him as a person and he is constantly objectified by everyone around him

When Sasuke finally completes his goal to kill Itachi he immediately finds out Itachi killed everyone on orders from THE GOVERNMENT

Has a mental breakdown which Kishimoto frames as him “falling to the darkness” like he didn’t just find out the government sanctioned a genocide on his clan

Forces himself to continue reliving that information by confirming with multiple parties including Itachi himself that Itachi killed the clan on Konoha’s orders

Joins the war to save the fucking world while FUCKING EVERYONE gets in his way like Kakashi kill stealing when he goes to kill Obito which gives Minato enough time to show up and be sympathetic to the guy that put bombs on his infant giving Madara enough time to snatch his eyes AND having to listen to Naruto whining about watching out for Kakashi and Sakura when they are getting themselves in danger and Sasuke is TRYING TO SAVE THE WORLD

Does his best to come up with a fucking PLAN to actually change things that involves holding people accountable only to have Naruto whine some more about it and they beat the shit out of each other until they are both disabled (but not really because Naruto gets a new arm and this was always about PUNISHING SASUKE, the victim of genocide) and Sasuke is so beaten down by trauma and no one caring about him or the wrongs he and his community were dealt that he gives up and does what Naruto wants, framed as Sasuke magically cared about Naruto all along

Spends the rest of his life married to a woman who treats him like absolute shit that he avoids constantly and has to wander around aimlessly to repent for his “sins” or whatever even though his whole life has just been a trauma train and two of the elders responsible for most of it are still there helping Naruto as hokage

And you want to tell me I should take EVERYTHING SASUKE GOES THROUGH in the series and throw it out because Kishimoto pulls some bullshit at the end and completely throws Sasuke’s character out the window for the sake of glorifying the military state and heterosexuality. 

But I guess some people just want to take everything at face value. Okay, let’s look at Naruto on face value:

Can only manage to care about people if he sees himself in them

Treats Sasuke like complete shit for their entire relationship. Threatens to cripple him for not doing what he wants, doesn’t know anything about him or try to, only cares about Sasuke for what he can do for Naruto’s ego, always goes on about how Sasuke is popular even though Sasuke doesn’t care about that

Literally only wants to be hokage for the attention. Does not give a shit about doing the actual work.

Doesn’t have to address the Hyuuga shit because Neji died

Is fine with hiding the Uchiha massacre

DOESN’T EVEN CARE about the Uchiha massacre since when he finds out his first question is if the Uchiha were really going to attempt a coup like they’re not the VICTIMS here

Let’s Orochimaru roam freely because he says he won’t do anything even though he had imprisoned probably thousands of people in his life, did human experiments, a lot of which were children

Still employs the two remaining elders responsible for pushing the Uchiha massacre with no punishment or consequences

Let’s Kabuto run an orphanage because he was sorry enough even though he abetted Orochimaru in all his crimes.

Basically everyone in this series is complicit in the culture that Kishimoto created. Don’t fucking come to ME and tell me “...but Sasuke...” when he is one of the biggest VICTIMS of the Naruto universe. How dare you try to bring up SASUKE of all characters in this fucking series with this “chauvinist lapdog” shit. Stop blaming the fucking worst hurt of the victims and look at the people who were better off and didn’t even TRY to question a damn thing in their society. Actually fuck off with that shit and try to shut up and consume media more thoughtfully before trying this shit with me.

#wasting an hour and a half of my goddamn fucking time with this shit #Anonymous