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vynegar · 10 months

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chapter nine analysis/discussion

I found an interesting discussion/analysis post on chapter 9, so I figured I’d post about it in the same vein as my previous post about a fan theory. This will be more paraphrasing and summarizing rather than a full translation. First is the bilibili post, then below that will be my own thoughts on it and the chapter.

my usual disclaimers; I’m not fluent, there will be mistakes and especially with this type of post I won’t be agonizing over precise word choice, just the overall argument. check my masterlist for more translation and analysis.

[Tears of Themis | Main Story Chapter 9 “Grey Frontier” Plot Discussion and Analysis by 日和风物诗. Originally posted to bilibili on July 5, 2022.]

Chapter 9 feels like the calm before the storm. Even though MC doesn't have all the information and the writers haven't given us an omniscient POV, we still learned a lot. This chapter is probably a transition chapter, but still plays an important role that is worth analyzing.

1. Why the atmosphere among the NXX members has changed

This chapter feels strange right from the start when Luke and Marius are outside Tyson Turner's hospital room. Although everyone argued with other before, it's unusual for them to be so direct and to bring up "rich people" so often. Them deliberately talking like this feels deeply disconcerting.

And then there's Artem, whose attitude as changed the most. He was indifferent at NXX HQ when telling Luke he was busy, then at the police station he was aggressive and overbearing and even suddenly became Harper's attorney. He's like a completely different person from when he warmly encouraged MC over the phone, confusing both the audience and MC.

Now let's sort out some relevant details. First is the night before Artem's attitude changed, when he hesitated over the phone, paused, then said "I believe you can handle all of this well." This sentence seems normal, but MC (who has a sharp intuition) feels the deeper meaning behind it. Clearly he was referring to something more dangerous than just the online harassment.

The next day in the HQ, Artem deliberately picked the farthest chair, rejected MC's offer to help, avoided her gaze, and was extremely distant when leaving, as if afraid that MC would persist in trying to work with him and get involved in something dangerous.

As for Artem becoming Harper's defense attorney, his confrontation with Luke and MC at the police station actually reminded me of "Day and Night" when Artem pretended to be part of the enemy to obtain key information – similar aggression, similar scene opening – so this time he's probably doing something similar. That is, he is "acting", and under some scrutiny, we can see some clues toward that.

For example, he shook his head at MC to stop her when she was about to hold Luke back from questioning Harper, and he didn't do anything when Harper looked to him for help. On the surface, Artem is protecting his client's rights, but in reality, he's helping Luke obtain key info from Harper, the source of the drugs.

This feels familiar. Think back to the "standoff" between Marius and Luke in the hospital. On the surface Luke is mocking Marius, but in reality he's reminding Marius about his button and returns it to him.

Everyone in NXX is in a different position with their own things to protect, so it's natural for the occasional conflict to occur like between Marius and Artem over Neil Hume's disappearance. However, this apparent hostility and indifference really seems disconcerting and deliberate, and the timing of everyone's estrangement clearly isn't mature. Thus, Vyn and Marius are absent from routine meetings for the first time, and the sudden confrontation between members seems even more abnormal. However, looking at the notes on the case files [in the NXX HQ in the game], we can find that everyone is still getting along like before.

So with that, it's not hard to conclude that everyone is acting. Now the question is, who is the act for?

The biggest suspect is NSB.

At HQ, Artem told us that part of access to the Big Data Lab was transferred to the NSB's special investigation group. They locked all the cases related to NXX and even had Luke investigate any abnormalities in Pax. One important thing is that Luke wasn't even previously informed about the NSB investigation team, which he thinks is because he had gotten "too close" to NXX members. NSB might think that Luke isn't on the same side as them anymore and is wary of him, and this could just be the reason that everyone is acting. Luke is also meant to investigate Pax, so he shouldn't be too close to the object of his investigation in order to remain impartial. And if Artem is truly trying to infiltrate the enemy, then it's even more necessary for him to distance himself from us, both NXX and NSB.

Second is the mastermind represented by Jerome Adams and Wilson Sorge. NXX has already been exposed to them, and feigning internal conflict may confuse their focus. At the same time, because NXX is unsure of how much they know about NXX's members, they can use smokescreens to avoid any unnecessary involvements. But Jerome said that he works at Gladiolus Valley Research Center, which is run by the city government. Unless he and Wilson are working behind the back of the research center, the conspiracy may have to do with the city government. This leads to an even scarier idea.

What if the NSB, Jerome, and Wilson are all connected? What if there's a mole in the NSB?

Then that incident Luke was involved in where a group of people died from contaminated drugs could also have something to do with this.

2. The Identity of Oedipus

My initial guess was Jerome Adams. First, he has the pharmaceutical resources, and second, he is often in that hospital, so it would be easy for him to give Harper the drugs and note. Finally, he also has the motive: if the drugs he gave Luke were really the antidote, then his purpose could be using Luke as a "test subject" to study the effects of the drug. And when Luke met with Aaron, his feeling that there was someone watching him could be from being watched. Or they could be wanting to control Luke and use him for their purposes. Either possibility is frightening.

3. The Problem of MC's Participation

I saw many people saying that they didn't feel a sense of participation in chapter 9, that MC was in the dark the whole time, far away from the truth and core of the case, like she was being "protected" by everyone. Although this is true to some extent, this "outsider" perspective is uncomfortable.

But think back to how we joined NXX in the first place. The three existing members of NXX all had different viewpoints on Neil Hume's disappearance, so they had to bring in someone else in order to be impartial.

So from the start, we've always been in this position – we can't become overly involved in any one side, just like how Themis must independently and impartially make judgments.

Our personal background is also less complicated than the other members. We have fewer restrictions so we can deal with the matters as they are, without getting too caught up in external forces. As the saying goes, sometimes you're too close to something to be able to see it clearly, and as an observer who hasn't fully become involved, we'll be able to clearly see the things they can't and more objectively analyze each side's interests.

In short, just like Artem told us that night before the meeting: "I believe you can handle all of this well." They trust you enough to let you play such a crucial role.

[end of post]

This is pretty long as I comment on the points that are discussed, but also just talk about things that I thought of during the chapter. Tl;dr I agree that it’s probably an act, and the likeliest reason is some combination of Jerome’s side and NSB. But lots of other details and tangents are discussed.

1. Why the atmosphere among the NXX members has changed

I agree that the antagonism between the members is probably just an act. Despite their disagreements and small quips at each other, they calm down and cooperate peacefully when it comes to the important things. Therefore, when we see them being so openly aggressive while protecting each other almost secretively (Marius’s button and Luke questioning Harper), it’s a signal that something is going on.

The post makes an apt connection to “Day and Night” SSR when Artem works for a suspect in order to lure them out and advance the investigation. In one scene he also acts cold, arrogant, and aggressive in order when up against MC, in order to seem fully on the enemy’s side. The events in this card can pretty much be read in the exact same way.

(I also initially thought that this might not even be him trying to proactively obtain more information on the enemy, but just maintain what control that NXX has already. With the NSB locking out their access to other NXX-related cases and poised to take over investigation, Artem may be involving himself just to make sure they still have eyes on this case. That way he’ll be present for any leads that may appear, and he can ensure nothing suspicious happens like destruction/suppression of clues or evidence. Possibly he discovered Harper’s possible connection to NXX drugs through his own independent investigation and began to act.)

In addition to “Day and Night” being a prior example of acting aggressive, Chapter 9 itself also has an examples. Luke’s behavior at the juvenile correctional facility shows us that unusual aggression from one of the characters can be because they have a hidden purpose that is rooted in trying to help the other.

It is interesting that while Artem appeared indifferent to MC in public, Marius was able to switch back into his usual playful self towards her at the NSB questioning. However, Marius is still just representing Pax’s interests and his connection to MC is probably publicly documented from his trial, whereas Artem is supposed to be representing Harper now.

This connects with a very astute point made in the post, that NXX does not know how much their enemy knows. MC is clearly aware of this too when speaking with Jerome in the hospital. Since she’s not sure if Jerome saw what happened, and the NXX members’ identities are quite sensitive, she decides to hide the others’ involvement and say that she and Vyn evacuated on a boat, since Jerome had already seen Vyn during the normal course of the cruise.

It may explain why some relationships can seem quite normal (if they’ve already been exposed), while others may have to keep up the hostile act. For example, anyone who knows about Luke’s personal life would know that he’s close with MC, and Jerome already saw Vyn and MC together so she can mention him when talking about that night. However, whoever’s watching NXX might not know how close Artem and MC are beyond work partners, or may not know the relationship between the NXX men. For possible unknown relationships, NXX may be keeping their distance as much as possible.

One thing this chapter has showed, though, is that Jerome already seems to know quite a bit about Marius and how he operates, to the point that he knows how to manipulate Marius into paying someone’s medical fees. It’s definitely possible that Jerome’s side is keeping a close eye on Maruis and that Marius and Vincent’s communications are somehow compromised, since paying those medical fees was something Marius had Vincent handle privately.

Marius being watched also explained some parts that made me question the “acting” theory. His sarcasm when saying that he and NSB are on “the same side” seems to show genuine displeasure, but could be explained by frustration at NSB taking over the investigation and not really toward Luke. What stood out more was when Marius said that the “kind soul” (Luke) only gave back the button because it could no longer be used against him, making it sound like Luke was keeping leverage against Marius. However, it could also be read as them keeping so much distance that this was the first opportunity Luke had to return the button, and Marius just put his own spin on the situation to suit the “act.” In that case, it seems like Marius still maintains the act even alone with Vincent, as if he suspects that they are under surveillance. (Vincent as a mole is a possibility that has often crossed my mind, since he has access to so much information, but I just don’t think he is.)

Finally, checking the case files is a very clever idea. They seem mostly normal, except Vyn has one sharp comment on Gerard Boone’s file (“Think less and do more.”), though honestly I’m not sure who or what exactly he’s referring to. It could just also be Vyn being Vyn (see Rio’s personnel file, “…you didn’t just give me an order, right? at Artem). On Harper’s case though, Vyn is also surprised that Artem took her case.

I joked that Vyn actually comes out of this chapter looking pretty normal. Mainly because he appeared only in one short scene, where he was also in a private setting and mostly spoke with MC, and partially because he’s normally Like That (affectionate). His surprised comment about Artem really shows how independently the NXX members are currently operating though, and it almost feels like Vyn is less involved in the hostile performance than the others. This makes sense, seeing as any interests that Vyn might be representing (like Svart) haven’t come into play (…yet?) and as Adjudicator of NXX, impartiality would also be important for him.

As for NSB or Jerome being the ones watching their “act”, I don’t have much to add. NSB has been pressuring Pax, wary of Luke, and taking over the investigation; it’s not a stretch to imagine them taking that suspicion one step further. Jerome already seems to be watching them to some extent, as discussed earlier about Marius. I think any connection between the two is still firmly in speculation territory, and it may just be that Jerome’s role in the research center allows him access to the resources he needs. However, I do like how OP looked into the BDL entry for extra clues, like in the case files too. It reminds me of how Svart is noted to have a well-developed pharmaceutical industry in its BDL entry, relevant in that first fan theory I posted about.

Just one possibility for whoever might be watching them: Irene Burke revealed in the Inspection Chapter (8.5) that Tyson Turner gave her photos of Vyn and instructed her to get rid of him as the last member of the original NXX investigation team. Although Turner is dead now, this is still a line of thinking that we can consider, as NXX has clearly been surveilled before.

2. Identity of Oedipus

I think Jerome (or someone related to his side) is our best guess for this so far. I’ll go on a little tangent in this section since we’ve actually seen another Oedipus before in the story, in Luke’s personal story. In Greek mythology, Oedipus solved the Sphinx’s riddle, making the Sphinx kill herself. The Oedipus in Luke’s personal story also went up against Sphynx, though there, the Sphynx was victorious. However, it seems like these two Oedipuses are probably completely different people in completely separate storylines, seeing as their purposes don’t seem to have anything in common.

This chapter is our clearest confirmation that the personal storylines are completely separate from the main storylines, which is painfully demonstrated by MC not knowing about Aaron or Luke’s illness. It’s necessary considering the romance in the personal stories, but I had privately considered the non-romantic events of the blossom chapters as canon. Seeing almost two years of character development being undone in the main story, especially with Luke still trying to push away MC, is… so sad. I can’t help but wonder how the other LIs are doing – is imperfection still unacceptable to Vyn, is Marius still considering letting go of his identity as Z, has Artem learned how to balance his work with pursuing his own emotions?

3. The Problem of MC's Participation

Honestly, I dislike it when all the LIs are trying to shelter MC to keep her “safe,” but this post made me think of it in a different way. Yes, she’s excluded from some key aspects of the investigation and also kept in the dark. However, because she is genuinely not involved in the tricky balance of representing different interests, she’ll be the last one remaining if NSB (or some other entity) do start trying to impede the members from investigating due to the interests they each represent. If NXX specifically agreed to keep MC safe in this way, then they’re protecting her because they trust her to save the investigation if they’re ever besieged from all sides. Time will tell if this is the direction the writers intended, but this is a somber enough explanation for Artem’s phone call encouragement, and I would really love to see this kind of development.

#tears of themis #marius von hagen #artem wing #luke pearce #vyn richter #tears of themis analysis #tot translation #thoughts of themis

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galactica7071 · 5 months

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let's diagnose the Irish guy from punch-out

disclaimer: I am but a lass with ADD, so while I do know a lot from both my own experiences and research, you should still take my ramblings with a few grains of salt. I encourage anyone reading to form their own headcanons, and would love to hear them!

So, the Punch-Out wiki (in its current state) implies that Aran Ryan has some sort of mental disorder, so I projected onto dissected him like a deep sea specimen, and may have found out what's going on in his very empty and screwed up head

🎉congrats! it's attention deficit hyperactivity disorder! (probably)🎉

ADHD has a bunch of characteristics that go with it, but I'll only be going over the ones that apply to Aran and are displayed in canon. Of course, I'll insert some speculation here and there to further support and reason through some of my points. For more reading, I suggest checking out organizations like Mayo Clinic and the National Institute of Mental Health, as well as any self-reports and blogs by people with ADHD (the latter tends to be more personal and far less clinical-sounding, but are just as helpful). Wikipedia is also a good place to go for anything, and you might even find yourself down a few rabbit holes!

Hyperactivity and restlessness

Aran exhibits this in PO Wii heavily. He has a high-stamina fighting style with lots of shuffling around, always bouncing around Little Mac. He can only be stunned through counter-punches and being faster than him (During round breaks, Doc Louis literally says "beat Aran Ryan to the punch"). It is extremely difficult to KO or TKO Aran without intercepting him due to this mechanic. During round breaks, regardless of how beaten and bruised he is, Aran will bounce his leg constantly in Contender and harass the audience in Title Defense.

Impulsivity and recklessness

This one's consistent between his two appearances, surprisingly. In Wii, Aran is portrayed as a dirty cheater who would "do anything to win", according to supplementary comics. He has the most rule infractions in the Punch-Out series, at 32 combined. He stuffs his gloves with horseshoes before his Contender fight and brings a homemade flail made from a broken boxing glove to his bout with Little Mac in Title Defense. During matches, he makes use of headbutts and elbows quite frequently. These are both illegal and very stupid moves, due to the potential of self-inflicted trauma. His flail in Title Defense could be a sign of creativity by thinking outside the box, which is often seen in people with ADHD. In supplementary material for Super Punch-Out!!, it's implied that a fight usually broke out whenever Aran was made fun of in school, showing that he was reckless during his childhood as well.

Emotional dysregulation

In Super Punch-Out!!, Aran Ryan is rather grumpy, and is one of two characters in the entire game to never smile in any of his sprites (the other being Nick Bruiser). Compared to his Wii portrayal, Aran is as clean as it gets in this game, even complimenting the player during the credits. Supplementary material attributes his lower mood to the teasing he endured during his childhood, and that he got into boxing to channel some of his pent-up anger. Depending on how you view it, him being so angry over his peers making fun of his name could be an overblown reaction. This hot-headedness is retained in PO Wii (which could be a sign of impulsivity), but he's essentially the inverse of how he was in Super. He's boisterous, reckless, dishonest, and smiles even while he's stunned. Many of Aran's reactions to being hit are him laughing, which might imply masochism on some level, but is nonetheless seen as an inappropriate response to being hit. He displays some antisocial traits, even, as seen when he throws aside the referee in Title Defense. This is likely caused by a low tolerance of authority, but is still an extreme reaction to the referee just trying to maintain order in the ring (good luck with that, ref...).

Difficulty starting tasks

This is a sign of executive dysfunction, which is closely linked to inattention in people with ADHD. It's exhibited in his Contender intro, where he spends the first three frames of the cutscene messing around. For this one, I'm going to compare Aran's behavior in his Contender intro to all the other boxers that spend their entire intro cutscene in a gym/dojo/training environment, spend the majority of their cutscene explicitly training, or are in several training environments. Here's a neat little chart, where the numbers represent how many slides they spent being "off-task":

can you tell that graphic design is my passion

I've counted any activity that builds strength and endurance (like eating, running, lifting, or practicing magic in Tiger's case), or requires a large amount of work put in to do (like chopping trees or playing hockey, for Bear Hugger). Some of you might be wondering why I didn't include certain characters, but that's because they're either in a combat setting, switch from training to non-training settings, or are doing unrelated things in what could be a training setting.

If Aran has 3 instances of being off-task, he ties with TD Kaiser, Don, and Macho in terms of how long they're off-task for. If "gearing up" is being counted as being on-task, he only ties with TD Kaiser and himself. Of course, context matters heavily. TD Kaiser, Don, and Macho aren't off-task purely for the sake of slacking off, but show developments of their story throughout Career Mode. TD Aran is off-task for storytelling as well, but it's not motivated by a grudge towards Mac like the other three and falls under the normal definition of "slacking off". Speaking of cutscenes,

Inattention and distractibility

Aran shows this several times in Title Defense. In his intro, he notices a rope in the trash can and gets the idea of making his flail, seemingly forgetting all about training for his match with Little Mac. During round intermissions, he's distracted by the audience throwing objects at him, and threatens them instead of spending the break resting or strategizing.

Anxiety

ADHD is highly comorbid with anxiety, due to executive dysfunction (mainly sensory processing), and the risk of overthinking. I admit that this one is a bit of a stretch, since general restlessness and anxiety are linked in many mood disorders, but it's shared between both of his appearances. Super's version of Aran being caught up in his own past can be a sign of social anxiety as well as falling victim to overthinking. In PO Wii, the leg bouncing can be a sign of anxiety for various reasons, whether it be physiological (ex. outside stimuli being unpleasant) or psychological (ex. overthinking the match). His stance in Exhibition's menu for his Contender match is also a little shaky, which is common in fight-or-flight reactions, though it could also be plain hyperactivity.

Pressured speech

In PO Wii. Aran usually talks very quickly, which can be caused by the classic ADHD experience of "having a lot to say, and feeling like there's no time to say it". It's very likely that it's just be a characteristic of his accent, though.

🍀🌠🌈this is a cool section break🌈🌠🍀

There's plenty more symptoms you could make arguments for, but these were some of his more prominent traits. ADHD shares symptoms with a lot of other disorders, though, so let's see some other possibilities...

Counter-Diagnosis #1: Bipolar II Disorder

Bipolar II, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, is characterized by a a pattern of depressive states and hypomanic states (notice the hypo- prefix). We can attribute Aran's demeanor in Super to a depressive state, and his demeanor in Wii to a hypomanic state. I've chosen bipolar II instead of I due to the specifications of a "manic state" not fitting his Wii portrayal as closely.

Hypomania (literally meaning "less than mania") shares many characteristics with full-blown mania, but is more toned-down. People who have experienced genuine hypomanic states usually describe it as helpful towards their productivity, while manic states are notoriously more harmful and often directly affect productivity. Symptoms of mania include restlessness, racing thoughts, pressured speech, overconfidence, increased agitation, impulsiveness, a disconnect from one's surroundings, extreme anxiousness, and many others. Already, we can observe many of these symptoms in Aran's Wii portrayal that are shared with the ADHD diagnosis. However, hypomania tends to lack the "reality disconnect", and we can see that Aran is very aware of his surroundings. Him being in the World Circuit in both Super and Wii can be interpreted as a sign of the hypomanic states being more helpful than detrimental (maybe less so in Super because of the existence of the Special Circuit, but I digress).

I think this take has a lot of ground, maybe more than the ADHD hypothesis. A lot of my earlier points in favor of him having ADHD can also apply to him being bipolar (specifically hyperactivity, recklessness, and especially emotional dysregulation) as well, which blurs the line in some places, but it's still a very strong argument.

Counter-Diagnosis #2: Oppositional Defiant Disorder

According to Mayo Clinic, ODD is "a frequent and ongoing pattern of anger, irritability, arguing and defiance towards parents and other authority figures". The characteristics of ODD can be observed in both SPO's and Wii's Aran.

I think this one's weaker, for a few reasons. First, ODD is considered clinically relevant only during childhood; from then, it can "evolve" into a number of other conditions, including but not limited to borderline personality disorder and the aforementioned bipolar disorder. Obviously, Aran isn't a child, but he could have had this disorder in the past and "grew out of it" from a clinical standpoint.

You could make an argument for the anger issues due to a few of his behaviors, as well as his voice lines in Wii having a sort of "growl" to them, but his irritability is infrequent and mild enough to where it can be attributed back to emotional dysregulation, and the "growl" could just be how the character or his voice actor naturally sounds (I haven't found any clips of Stephen Webster speaking out-of-character, but if anyone has any, I'd love to hear them).

Counter-Diagnosis #3: Antisocial Personality Disorder

The DSM-5 defines APD as consistent displays of deceitfulness, issues with authority, impulsivity, irritability, recklessness, and a diminished capacity for remorse after hurting someone. Again, a few of these symptoms are shared with ADHD, so there's a significant grey area here. Yet, I believe it's stronger than the ODD argument, since his cheating can be a sign of deceitfulness and his apparent antisocial traits in Wii. However, boxing as a combat sport doesn't leave much room for feeling remorse, since doing so can result in throwing or forfeiting a match. I'm not going to count the lack of remorse due to the nature of the sport, but you as a reader can interpret it how you like.

Counter-Diagnosis #4: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Because of how broad the autism spectrum is, you could easily go crazy in-depth with this. I'll do a miniature version of the ADHD symptom setup, which includes traits observed in canon. I won't be including every shared trait, but do keep in mind that ADHD is comorbid with a bunch of different spectrum disorders, and misdiagnoses, especially in women, are fairly common in the real world because of it. I know I'm going to fail to list certain symptoms due to just how many ASD traits there are, so if anyone reading has any more connections to make, be my guest! This "counter-diagnosis" section is for provoking further discussion, after all, and I'm happy to learn from you all.

Hyposensitivity

In PO Wii. To wind up for his right uppercut, Aran hits himself in the side of the head, and after round breaks in Contender, he hits himself repeatedly. Considering his gloves are confirmed to be loaded in his Contender fight, his relative indifference might be a sign of this. People with autism have reported tuning out various stimuli if they become overwhelmed by a bunch of them (sometimes related to meltdown or shutdown), and it's possible that that's what Aran is doing here. The bright lights of the venue combined with the crowd noise and the feeling of being sweaty could be overstimulating, and the supposed hyposensitivity towards being hit is caused by this "tuning out" to avoid a shutdown mid-bout.

Stimming (repetitive movements)

In PO Wii. The leg bounce in his Contender round break can be interpreted as a stim, as well as the wind-ups for his right uppercut (bopping himself in the head) and headbutt (choosing to wind up on the ropes). His bouncing around Mac could also be stimming.

Pathological demand avoidance

This phenomenon can also be comorbid with anxiety, which happens to be a risk factor for ADHD, so we're looping back around with this one. PDA is characterized by a person exhibiting an intense aversion to something that is asked of them, even if they wanted to do it beforehand. It can be associated with feelings of unfairness and like they don't have any control, so someone with PDA may "break the rules" to feel as though they have some control over what happens to them. Aran's high infraction count in Wii could be a sign of a more obsessive form of this. Avoiding the process of carrying out the demand can be conflated with executive dysfunction as well.

TL;DR get this man into a psychiatrist's office ASAP

#punch out!!#punch out wii #super punch out #aran ryan #punch out headcanons #your honor he's screwed up in the head /lh #neurodivergent #adhd #it's canon I'm sorry I don't make the rules

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tuherrus · 8 months

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Could you do a TL;DR of the whole Kino thing, please?

i can't promise that this will be much shorter but i'll do my very best for you anon!

DISCLAIMER ONCE AGAIN DO NOT HARASS KINO OR DO ANYTHING STUPID, i'm not your dad but use some common sense

i'm pulling info from the doc currently available here and asks and messages i've received which are available in the tag kinodraws on my blog, everything is alleged, use your own brain and make your own judgement on whether you wish to support kino

kino (they/them), current account kinodraws on most platforms, is a fairly popular online artist and now tattoo artist who has for years on various accounts scammed people out of money via unfulfilled commissions, fundraisers and recently even a charity zine (the doc mentions a bunch of other allegations of bad behavior and random stuff like ghosting webcomic companies etc but i'll try to keep this brief and focus on what i feel is most relevant)

some of kino's previous accounts and their scamming related to them:

PAISELEY, currently permabanned on furaffinity, here's a livejournal of a bunch of people corroborating their experiences being scammed by kino through unfulfilled commissions

CAPONE, also permabanned on furaffinity for the same reasons

RIVETS, permabanned once again on furaffinity for scamming

ARTIST BEWARE PAGE, the user got a refund after nearly an entire year of messaging kino about the subject

RUN ME THROUGH ZINE, all pages of which kino deleted, the proceeds of which were supposed to go to charity, you can find a lot of the things related to this on my tag and pinned post it was an ofmd zine and was very badly managed (missing artists and pieces etc etc) that ended up never being released kino ghosts the zine, deletes the pages and pockets the money made (allegedly $1300 but we have no real way of knowing how much the proceeds actually were), posts a falsified receipt only after people pressure them to speak on the matter after months of silence, people contact the charity and the charity reports kino donated just $1 kino once again goes silent and only after a giant uproar they FINALLY donate the money to the charity, but not before they blame someone else for not posting receipts about it (it was kino's responsibility) and guilt tripping people about how they've been harassed (again i do not condone harassment but people literally wanted them to just donate the money where it was supposed to go in the first place and they refused to even address that nor why they forged the first receipt)

kino also has a tendency to make expensive frivolous purchases (electronics, a hot tub, tattoos, a custom chair....) time and time again once they've scammed money out of people via whatever method they've chosen (they often post about these purchases too after deleting whatever emergency commissions post or a post asking for donations), and while far be it from me to tell someone what to do with their finances, they can't seem to stop scamming in order to get money

so i'd strongly suggest not supporting kino! they manipulate, lie and steal and claim they're a victim of some mass bullying campaign when in reality they've spent seventeen years scamming people out of money and people are getting rightfully angry! they also will likely continue to do so as long as people give them money

again use your own brain when reading people's testimonies about kino, a lot of them in the tag on my blog, but i believe these people and that their experiences are real considering the number of messages i've received (some of which people wished to remain private)

kino's made their bed and i want them to finally lie in it, so even if one person is convinced not to support kino via all this information then i'll be satisfied

i'm sorry this still got so long!

#kinodraws

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tedrailmi · 1 year

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sorry for the long post, but I felt like I really needed to post this, as a disclaimer kinda

(don’t read if you don’t want to hear again about the Ted drama...)

yesterday I was sluggishly scrolling through the Ted tag on tiktok, and I did also notice the minor girl’s reply to the recent accusations.

I usually don’t post about drama here - especially when it’s baseless - but if what she’s saying is true, and people really did start contacting her family... this is just unacceptable. and I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised it really happened after seeing people on twitter sharing everywhere her selfies and tagging CA prevention accounts on their posts.

I’m sure these people thought they were doing the right thing, but this type of behavior is just straight out crossing the line. and although the girl’s post quite settles the drama here, I’m afraid they’ll probably find in the future other things to try to cancel Ted with, and repeat once again this online harassment... which I believe is still driven by some kind of unhealthy obsession with Ted (although they’ll never admit it).

did you notice that the people who were publicly oversharing their explicit fantasies with Ted were also the first ones to change sides and start harassing Ted, the girl and anyone who disagreed with them? 🙃

and one could say, pot, meet kettle - coming from a literal Travis/Ted simp blog with an stupidly explicit username.

but the thing is, this is just a tumblr sideblog that I use for my own entertainment - nothing more. I've never tried to contact Ted or comment anything explicit under his posts. I don’t know him personally, and I never will - I’m just here living a very quiet life with my bf in the european countryside :’) I know how easy it is to fall into obsessive behavior, but let’s remember that it’s not healthy, in any way.

we should all remain fully aware that in the end, he’s just a regular guy - a middle-aged white guy. I’m sure we could find questionable things to reproach him for according to cancel culture (again, he’s a regular, middle-aged white guy), but for now, as nothing concrete was found, I’d rather believe the people who actually know him - and who, it turns out, only have good things to say about him -, than the obsessed folks online who are digging through his past likes and the accounts he follows.

I mean, have you heard The Quarry cast talk about Ted? Zach Tinker said: “he’s the kind of guy that you can sit with at the bar and have a beer with him and he’ll just make eye contact with you the whole time and be actually present the way no one else is.”

sounds just like a regular friendly guy to me :’)

so yeah, for now, I’ll just keep posting stupid things on this stupid blorbo blog - and for those who are still on the brainrot bandwagon with me, let’s continue enjoying the ride... peacefully.

#debated whether to tag this with the ted tag but since it's pretty settled now....#ted raimi #just ignore this if you're not interested #ted drama #my post

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i-am-neutral-on-pear-aib · 1 year

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The entire scene with Pitchfork in AIB 5 may have been brief, but the glimpse it gives us into her and her psyche is wonderfully done and I NEED to talk about it.

(essay under the cut, aib spoilers)

(just a quick disclaimer, I apologize if any of my writing is incoherent or biased. Pitchfork is a comfort character of mine and I've been doing quite poorly mental health wise. Nevertheless I do hope you enjoy this essay! Writing about characters brings me a lot of comfort and I'm glad I've got to share it through this little Pear blog :])

From what I've seen when looking across the AIB fandom, there's a large split in-between opinions on characters like Glowstick and Pitchfork. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, I find that the majority of viewers on the younger side of the audience seem to dislike "mean" characters without really getting to know them all too well. One of AIB's major assets is the idea that no-one is truly black or white, despite whatever your opinion on them may be. Characters like Alef, Pear, and Pitchfork are characters that you feel like you already have an understanding of when you first meet them, but as the episodes progress you begin to see more complex sides to them, seeing how they truly are the more that you get to know them. One wonderful example of this is in the latest episode (at least of writing this) AIB 5, where we get a quick scene of Pitchfork on her own, ranting to a plush of Glowstick.

At this point in the story, Domino has pretty much taken the leadership role of Team 5, and Pitchfork has been on her own for...canonically days, in fact. They've already made themselves clear that they want nothing to do with Pitchfork anymore, not after she broke the claw machine in AIB 3 during a fit of overwhelming anger. It's almost ironic (and probably purposefully done) how as soon as Bone starts to rise among the ranks in his team, Pitchfork falls out of favor with hers, and is now being treated exactly how Bone was before. She has no-one, not that she's aware of, and so what does she do?

She goes to the only person she knew cared about her.

One of the important themes in dissecting how Pitchfork talks to herself and the Glowstick plush itself vs her actions and what she does, and how they seem to actively contradict each other as she continues. I don't necessarily believe that Pitchfork actually cares about Glowstick- considering that would (in my opinion) be a huge botch of her character and arc, but the act of even getting the Glowstick plush in the first place to talk to shows that Pitchfork is...getting lonely. Although she would adamantly try to say otherwise. She has literally no-one else to talk to! And even when she does talk to this plush she tries to convince herself that she doesn't need to, doesn't want to! Even when she actively betrays with her actions what she's trying to build up as this "I don't need anyone" attitude, she's still trying to convince herself more than anyone else.

There would be absolutely no reason for her to even do this in the first place if she was telling the truth to herself, and her internal struggle with her guilty conscience quite literally manifests itself later in the physical form of all her internal conflict.

Another thing to note here is that Pitchfork is right about one thing: it isn't her fault that Glowstick was eliminated. Although her way of letting down Glowstick was about as gentle as 28 consecutive stab wounds in the chest, she had every right to be that rude when Glowstick was continually harassing her, and she shouldn't be to blame for Team 1 failing and losing a member. No means no, and the fact that Pitchfork had to be even blunter than "I DON'T LIKE YOU" (from AIB 1) in order to get it to set in is a fault on Glowstick more than anything. Despite this, Pitchfork is beginning to feel some form of guilt for just how harshly she's treated people, even though her actions towards Glowstick were justified.

Apologies if I once again sound like a broken record, but what this entire scene seems to be doing is hammering home that her own justifications are falling apart. Having to try and reassure herself that "none of it is her fault" despite her thoughts leading elsewhere...and back to Glowstick, who's kind of becoming a symbol of when everything fell apart. I don't believe that Pitchfork was 100% at fault during the AIB 3 fight, as one of AIB's wonderful strengths is that no-one is truly in the right and wrong. In fact I'd say that a lot of the team did unfairly gang up on her when she seemed to genuinely forget about the operating rules (Also Creamy blaming her for Chip Bag's death still makes absolutely no sense to me). Nevertheless, she tries to bury herself in denial, but it seems to be leaving her frustrated more than anything. Why can't she just say and believe that it's all their fault? Why does she keep thinking about Glowstick, the only person who seemed to ever care, when she keeps saying she doesn't need anyone?

OH I need to stop myself from just aggressively keysmashing here I have SO many emotions about this scene OH MY GOD I AM SHAKING AS I TYPE THIS HOLY SHIT I AM SO SORRY

The fact that this entire scene is Pitchfork's own mind, personified through the physical manifestation of her own internal conflict, means that this entire thing is her mind battling against itself. My interpretation of this conflict is Pitchfork's battle of "I did nothing wrong" versus "I did/do everything wrong". Both sides of which have their own flaws attached to them, but they're both portrayed in a realistic manner. It's a common thing for many of us to be unable to realize that accepting that you did something wrong doesn't make you a horrible person. Pitchfork is starting to realize that the things she may have done may have been wrong, and that she can't blame her team (that she DOES feel regret for) for everything that happened. But at the same time, that regret begins to pour over into the other extreme which manifests into Glowstick, harshly jabbing at her almost in the same blunt way that she had acted before.

I find it interesting that throughout the hallucination scene, Glowstick's hallucination seemed to go between first-person and third-person when referring to Glowstick himself, and usually seems to go with whatever will hurt Pitchfork the most. From "Poor Glowstick's heart" to later "That's what I loved about you", Pitchfork's mind is not being kind to her right now, and it goes from bitter truths at best to practically self loathing at worst.

Another thing about this scene specifically is that it confirms to me that Pitchfork really does care about her teammates. She wants to be a good leader for them, and the fact that it was mentioned with everything else tends to prove it for me. Even if she can't seem to trust them to pull their own weight sometimes, she wants to be a trusted leader. And the fact that she can't do that is causing her enough internal anguish for "Glowstick" to mention it. She regrets her outbursts of anger and the destruction they cause, she doesn't mean to break anything. And yet she does, and the almost powerless feeling when you feel like you break whatever you touch is something that I know from a personal experience.

Pitchfork couldn't get herself to look at the votes back in AIB 4. She wanted to believe that Pear got the most votes, that it wasn't her fault that they lost the game. But this scene right here really shows that everything that "Glowstick" is saying is things Pitchfork already knew, but didn't want to believe. She already felt guilty, but wanted to pretend she didn't. Because if she didn't, it wouldn't hurt her as much that her team no longer wanted her, right?

As much as Pitchfork wants to block it out, she can't anymore. Not when her thoughts that she pushed to the back of her mind had finally spilled out, represented by the symbol of her conflict itself. She...really does have nothing. I mean, she was talking to a plush of the person she hates, for crying out loud. And once again, whenever Pitchfork gets into a stressful situation, she lashes out with anger and attacks the Glowstick plushie, effectively ending the hallucination. But that doesn't mean what happened won't have an effect on her, and we can only see what happens with her character as more episodes release.

And I find it awfully interesting how they hint at someone else watching it all unfold.

#it's 1am as i publish this...i hope this makes sense #animated inanimate battle #aib #pitchfork aib #SECOND ESSAY PUBLISHED!! WOOHOOOOO *passes out on my desk*#Sorry that this isn't pear related i just needed to get this out there #i will write more essays i prommy

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the-wolfstar-cupboard · 1 year

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Hello! Welcome to the Wolfstar Cupboard, an active wolfstar fanfiction library!

GUIDELINES:

As of right now, I am only recommending fics off of AO3 (Archive of Our Own) because that is the site I prefer. That does not mean I won't check out some other popular sites in the future, but at the moment, I'd like to stick with the one I know best(:

I will NOT read fics containing:

Rape/Non-Con

M-Preg or A/B/O

Ageplay

Beastiality

Pedophila

Glorification of Cheating

WIPs

Please do not harass me over the fics I like or recommend! These are just some of my favorites, and not everyone has the same taste. Let's please keep everything positive<33 (Except for the fics. We love some good angst.)

FIC REQUESTS

If you look at my pages (in the blog description on mobile) you will find a Request a fic! page. There, you can recommend ME a fic to read, or request a category for a rec list! They can be as niche as you want, but if I can't find anything, I'll still post it so anyone else can recommend you a fic. I'll try my best to provide for your request, though!

I will do my best answer all asks within a timely manner(:

REC LISTS

Every rec list I will make will be organized by niche categories, such as "Raising Harry" fics or "College AUs." You can request categories, which I will go over in the next little paragraph!

If you look at my pages (in the blog description on mobile) you will find a Request a fic! page. There, you can recommend ME a fic to read and add to a rec list, or request a category for a rec list! They can be as niche as you want, but if I can't find anything, I'll still post it so anyone else can recommend you a fic. I'll try my best to provide for your request, though!

MY MASTERLIST

My masterlist will be a complete catalogue of all the fics in my rec lists. It will start out very small, and grow gradually as this library grows. I can't wait to see it full!

FEATURED SHIPS

(This is a list of ships that I personally enjoy and will definitely be featured in some of the fics I recommend. Obviously, not all the ships listed above will be in all the fics I recommend. Ships like Jegulus are found less often in fics, while ships like Jily are found more often. I try to be as fair to each ship as I can but it’s just not an equal fight.)

Jily (James Potter/Lily Evans)

Dorlene (Dorcas Meadowes/Marlene McKinnon)

Jegulus (James Potter/Regulus Black)

Fralice (Frank Longbottom/Alice [insert maiden name I have yet to figure out])

(minor) Drarry (Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter)

SHIPS I WILL NOT FEATURE

(This will probably be a growing list, since I discover odd ships I personally do not enjoy almost every day! AO3 tags are really something.)

Lily Evans/Severus Snape

James Potter/Severus Snape

Remus Lupin/Severus Snape

Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Literally any variation of wolfstar and Snape or wolfstar and James as a threesome foursome whatever. If you enjoy those ships, that's great! But I personally don't and would prefer not to read fics with them.

ANY MORE QUESTIONS?

Send me an ask or private message! I'll respond as quickly as I can(:

DISCLAIMER: My rec lists are ever-changing! I spend an alarming amount of my day reading and discovering new fics, and might add any new favorites to old lists if they fit under a category I already covered. If a rec list changes a lot after its original posting, I may remove the link to the old post and link it to a repost of the updated list.

Thank you for taking the time to read over this introductory post! If you like what you see, you can boost this post by reblogging or giving it notes. That way, this account can spread and reach a larger audience(:

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hellfireconfessions · 4 months

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Princess Tarble's | aka "Hookfang" | Experience on HF Staff

Disclaimer!

I do not condone the harassment of Hellfire Staff, Old or New. And if you’re looking for anything you can use to shit talk people with please leave. This is just a Document with my experience. Thank you.

And to any HF Higher-Ups who know me. It isn’t a dig at y’all. It’s just me getting feelings out there.

I have a section on MODS as I was the main Staff Member pushing for MODS like Skins and Remodels to be allowed on the server. Just scroll down past the Promotions part.

Forcing Promotions:

The Hellfire Staff and Admin team was HIGHLY come and go. Like people joined and quit literally every single week, so the Higher-Ups were ALWAYS pushing for people to be Promoted. Most Mentors [Staff/Mintys/GreenBeans] were highly pressured into either getting promoted or dropping out of the Staff Team completely. If not directly then indirectly with the way we were passively treated.

I personally never wanted to be anything Higher than a Mentor. As it was honestly the perfect spot in the server staff team for me. Answering questions and interacting with the community was all I ever wanted to do. But the higher-ups at the time, mainly Kanna, would constantly remind us that we could get promoted.

By the time I left the Hellfire Staff team I was Mentor the oldest at like 6 months of being a Mentor.

I feel that people were promoted WAY too fast in the Staff Team.

I also was not a fan of Minors being on the Staff Team. I understand some kids may “seem mature” but I was not a fan of there being Minors who got on power trips because they were in spots higher-up than adults.

SCROLL DOWN FOR MY SECTION ON MODS

REMODELS On Hellfire Realism:

Most of the people who know me personally know that, at the same time I was a Staff Member on Hellfire I was also a Trial Admin/Admin on the Isle Legacy Modding Server OPEN DINOS.

So when Mods like Remodels, and Map Textures were starting to become REALLY REALLY popular in the Legacy Community I immediately started a Staff Suggestion thread where I would talk about adding mods to the server.

I don’t have any screenshots of the Thread as it was almost a year ago that it was made and I had left the Staff Team almost a year ago as well.

Phen was the main Higher-Up I was dealing with when it came to talking about Remodels and other Mods. And they had asked that I make lists of Remodels, that I felt should be allowed and not allowed on the server. So when I finished the Google Docs of the 3 lists I made (as I had some that were a lil iffy due to them being Species Replacements) immediately the lists started being picked apart and ruined. Everything that was not “accurate” or was deemed “too unnatural” was immediately thrown into not being allowed.

I had to fight for ages for them to allow Remodels into the server. The thread had been open and active for at least 2 or 3 months before the steps to actually allowing Remodels and the like would actually start to take action.

That was mainly due to them trying to get in contact with Isle Devs on the matter and was told we were gonna get a “Dev Blog on the issue” but to my knowledge that STILL hasn’t come. The only response on the matter I was able to find was from Anthomnia’s Server Isla Nycta where the Devs kinda just shrugged it off (surprisingly). Like there were some statements made that Dondi was all like “Don’t Mod MY game” and all that but since no actions were taken against Open Dinos or any of the other modding servers I’d assume Mods don’t care at this point.

But back to Hellfire Talk. —v

I had worked almost 4 to 5 months on trying to get Remodels allowed on Hellfire. And when the first announcement went through that a HUGE chunk of Community Favorite mods were not gonna be allowed on the server I was crushed. I had worked hard on the rules and suggestions for Mods. It was only after complete community backlash and the threat of Hellfire gonna shut down due to mods not being allowed that the Higher-Ups decided to go with the original stuff that I proposed.

Getting remodels allowed on Hellfire was a very sticky job for me that really drained my motivation to stay on the Staff Team and even active on the server as a whole. As it showed me the blatant favoritism that was within the Staff. Basically if you were anything below a Moderator or Admin your suggestions basically were ignored. And you had to fight for talking rights. They preached about treating Mentors with the same respect as other Staff to the community when they really didn’t themselves.

Basic Experience

The only thing that made being Staff on Hellfire fun was being able to get discounts on Injects and interacting with the community. Other than that they basically expected you to drop everything and only work on Hellfire.

Please do NOT harass Hellfire Staff. It doesn’t solve ANYTHING.

TY For telling me about Bigger Submit. I don’t use Tumblr much lol

#tarble #remodels

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starrbar · 1 year

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The insidious nature of fantis

DISCLAIMER: Awhile back, I privated my Twitter to feel safer, but it still had some things on it that I don't want to cut off people's access to. And while the Wayback Machine is absolutely incredible for what it does, I find it so agonizingly tedious to load up even one page to read. It's even worse if there's images attached, each of which I have to manually open in a new tab to see, if they load at all. So I'm taking some of my old posts and reformatting them for Tumblr. This is STRICTLY FOR DOCUMENTATION PURPOSES. Do not assume these are recent events and do not EVER harass anyone!!!

This is an oldie, but a goodie. I wrote it shortly after covering the Amphibia Attacks, and the archive in the Wayback Machine can be found here.

SUMMARY: In this thread, I dissect a single Tweet that perfectly encapsulates the way fantis often move the goal post in order to continue their façade of a moral high ground, when in reality, they are simply doing whatever they can to hurt their target of the week and maintain the vitriol against that target.

Everything below the Read More is a direct paste of that thread.

Honestly, this Tweet is a microcosm of the insidious nature of fantis and other types of control freaks.

I'm genuinely thankful they worded it this way because their true intentions come through perfectly.

A thread~ 🧵

Disclaimer: I'm white and totally uninformed about what historical stereotype or caricature this Tweet could be referring to. But I don't need to talk about that, because that's not REALLY what this Tweet is about.

Normally, I would try to see if this claim has merit, but the foundation behind it is already disingenuous.

Raebits was being attacked entirely because they were accused of drawing nsfw of minor characters. Ofc some people dismissed the notion that aging them up matters at all. But OP acknowledged the difference specifically so they could move the goal post, because while some people are okay with aged up nsfw, those same people are still generally NOT okay with racism.

OP had to look for a new, more severe reason that Alex is "problematic". Because even considering that there's some stereotype against Taiwanese people that involves servitude, it's MUCH more likely that the cause of this combination in the artwork was, uh, I don't know,,,,

the fact that maid outfits and master/slave dynamics are VERY COMMON KINKS! 🙀

To take a vague lewd drawing of a cartoon character in a maid outfit, even if she's "serving her master", and immediately assume malice from the artist, is ridiculous given these circumstances and how VAGUE these kinks are.

If Alex had, say, a pattern of taking specifically Taiwanese or even just Asian girl characters and putting them in subservient positions like that, then yeah, I would completely understand calling them out for possibly having some unchecked degrading views about those women. But instead, OP took one drawing of really basic kinks applied to one of what, three main characters? I dunno, y'all call them the "trio". That isn't evidence of ANYTHING on its own! It's just a big reach, because the true goal of bringing it up NOW is to move the goal post.

People like OP are so desperate for their self-imposed delusions to be true, and they need to drag everyone down with them. They need to control the narrative and keep people from doubting the seriousness of their "concerns".

And I mean, that should be obvious considering how many people are blaming the artists directly for "exposing people to triggering artwork" when the ONLY person who did that was phibbyburner, the one playing "hero" for the fantis.

This is not what starting a discussion looks like. OP doesn't actually want an explanation. They want to keep the blind hatred for Alex going. And it won't stop at Alex, whether they're successfully driven entirely off Twitter or not. These people will move right on to the next target of their misdirected vitriol.

"But they were drawn as their canonical adult selves.."

"Oh. Uh.. w-well… Alex is also RACIST!! Ever think about that??"

We have to be vigilant in spotting actual progressive criticism vs. bullying cloaked in its aesthetic.

OP didn't even bother to fact-check what Alex drew and settled for an "and apparently", further showing that this is less about holding someone accountable for real actions and more about already having made up their mind that the person is bad and should be shunned. I'm willing to bet OP doesn't even care whether the characters are aged up or not. They wouldn't be creating more reasons to hate Alex if they were okay with them drawing post-timeskip nsfw. But they know "they were only adults for 3 mins!" is a less effective talking point. :/ So yeah.

TL;DR: I do not buy for one second that the person who made this Tweet did it out of any genuine concern for racism, but instead as a way to keep people rallying against the person they hate this week. And this is usually what fantis do. Keep an eye out for it.

#amphibia attacks #adjacent at least #analysis #faux progressivism #fake activism #antis being antis #proship #pro ship #pro-ship #proshipping #profic #profiction #pro-fiction #pro fiction #comship #comshipping #anti harassment #anti anti #anti vs. pro stuff

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kyra45 · 1 year

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This is kind of sad but I think I know what's going on. You posted some harassing anons, and people blocked you maybe because they didn't want to see things like that (based on how somesone said not to post that content untagged,) then someone sent rude asks and now you're attributing it to one person who blocked you. Do you know how many other people blocked you? What evidence do you even actually have that proves they're connected to the asks? I blocked you too! You say you're trying to avoid drama or smearing other people but you're just making passive aggressive remarks trying to smear them like a concern troll, truly despicable, rethink your life.

I’m not attributing all rude asks to one person. I stated that for personal reasons that I would not elaborate on what happened and said not to harass the person. I have not specified their username, nor am I directing anyone towards them. You are the one assuming I am trying anything over here. And borderline harassing me with that ask, technically.

You are the one whose on anon when my messages here are always open. I state my disclaimer that anyone with concerns can privately contact me as that would be preferred as opposed to what you have done right here.

If you have me blocked, why are you sending me asks and checking my blog…? That’s kinda..Weird, tbh. If you block someone generally you don’t come back and speak to them.

And why should I care for how many people have blocked me? If they want to block me, that is none of my business and I hope they can find other methods of locating scam information resources. I do not really dwell too much on getting blocked because most blocked me due to posts I blazed or my main blogs checkmarks.

#Keys drama stuff #Keys rude anons #answer #anonymous

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my-mt-heart · 2 years

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(This is mostly addressed to various commenters and anons, not actually MT, just to be clear I'm not trying to yell at you!)

I'm usually a fandom lurker, but man, some of y'all are infantilizing Mel and Angela as powerless damsels in distress and it is... yikes.

If AMC screwed Mel over, it WILL leak. There is no world where her agency lets AMC paint her as a demanding, inconsistent leading lady who quit an announced show, post-contract, for something as vague as she "needed a break."

It's obvious that "needed a break" isn't the whole story, but it's also 100% in keeping with Mel's history to stay quiet and vague about her personal life. I really hope I'm wrong, but my bet is a medical situation for her or someone close to her. It would explain why AMC is talking about Carol's return but with zero concrete details, and it explains why they aren't burning bridges with Mel after she blew up an announced project (which is a big fucking deal and does not actually happen often on this level of production).

On that note, you all are nuts if you think AMC would burn that development money, piss off fans who were excited about the spinoff, and make vast changes in location and story (plus probably scrambling to get other talent and crew on board) so late in the game just to save Norman a few transatlantic flights. Sure, Norman would have the clout to demand a specific location during contract negotiations. The period of time where he had enough power to make demands like that was long gone by the time Mel left the project. (And yes, this 100% would have been addressed before signing or announcing anything, he and Mel are union so AMC is on the hook for significant travel, housing, and other compensation if it makes them film outside of LA or NY.)

The cringiest part of all of this is when people try to make Angela Kang out as a hapless victim of the big, bad lead actor and/or studio. It's easy for the fandom to see the actors every week and think they make the entire show, but the industry looks at Angela and sees a potential Shonda Rhimes. She 100% had more power over the spinoff's story and location than Norman. He could not have forced her out any more than she could have forced him out.

Anyway. I'm not going to try to pull industry credentials since no one will believe the random internet stranger anyway, but I had to get this off my chest. I think maybe we're all so heartbroken that we *feel* like an injustice has been done, and some people found a way to see it as an injustice. I really thought it was just going to be a couple of the rabid Diane Kruger haters, but man, it seems like everyone has gone nuts with speculation, harassing the cast and crew "demanding answers." It's bumming me out almost as much as the spinoff changes, honestly.

(I will also start with the disclaimer that none of my responses are spewing anger at you directly)

1.Could be an eventual possibility? Most actors/actresses who get screwed over don't come out and say so until much later, right? Unless she signed something that prevents her from doing so or if new terms are going to be arranged (i.e. Carol returning at some point). I guess it depends on what we're thinking in terms of being screwed over. Just because it isn't an explicit or conscious effort doesn't mean it isn't happening. Also, maybe she won't be the leak herself. For example, and I'm not saying I do, but one could count some of the crew gossip as a leak despite certain embellishments.

2. I hope you're wrong too. One because I obviously don't want Melissa/her loved ones to be suffering any physical ailment, but also...though AMC might not be saying anything definitive, NR literally is. He's saying in interviews that Daryl and Carol will "definitely" come back together. Obviously that's above his paygrade and I don't take it as gospel, but if he already "definitely" knows that's not possible for MMB, I would find his insistence otherwise troubling. It sets her up to "blow things up" again for fans and it makes him look like a bad friend who’s only using her to take the heat off himself.

3. I think we're in agreement that Norman did not push Mel out due to demanding a location change. Like you said, none of that would have been decided last minute anyway, though for reasons I'll explain below, it's worth mentioning that Europe couldn't have been the original plan when they first signed on whenever that happened or when it was first announced back in 2020.

4. Are people holding Norman accountable for Angela's exit too? I haven't seen that anywhere. You're right that Angela has far more power over story and location than the actors, but she does not outrank Gimple or anyone at AMC. If she did, the Caryl spinoff would have remained a lighthearted (presumably cross country) road show instead of morphing into outrunning variant walkers in France. You will never convince me that’s what Angela wanted her show to become.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like what you're responding to mainly is some people's perception of Norman's responsibility in all this. For me and many other Carylers, the injustice is institutional. For one thing, the announcement of the Caryl spinoff may have been a dream come true in and of itself, but what really sparked excitement was the idea of that lighthearted road show because it promised light at the end of the tunnel for two characters who have had long, grueling journeys. We talked about it for two years, getting our hopes up. Little did we know the concept we all loved was being changed.

AMC and co. may pretend that Europe was always the plan, but absolutely nothing about it lines up with what was initially said in interviews about the project or even what was implied onscreen. However early on after the announcement and press junkets, it changed. To something that in fact does not honor their emotional arc or even fit into the canon of the walking dead that we know. Yes, fine, [insert business reason here]. But as someone who is both in the industry and a big fan of the show/characters, that doesn't reduce the feeling of being strung along, lied to, and robbed of a story I was looking forward to, nor should it.

But even bigger than that, Caryl Abroad took all the hard work, thought, and care that a female showrunner put into developing what was supposed to be her show and put it in the hands of someone who consciously or not wants a male driven story to maintain a male audience. As for Angela's and Mel's exits, everything is speculative, but how can you not speculate when there are so many different narratives being put out there -- location, break, creative decision -- instead of one consistent explanation, however it needs to be phrased to give Melissa the privacy she's entitled to.

Chalk it up to misdirected anger/heartbreak if you want, but the way I see it, it ought to be acknowledged how bad it looks to not only lose two extremely vital women on the project, but to then replace them with two men. To then put all the responsibility on the women everywhere in the media and to do so without any sincere show of compassion or understanding i.e. "We know this was a really difficult decision for her, we love working with her, we're sorry we won't be able to this time around, but we understand why she needs this time." To then manipulate the fans into thinking it was our fault for expecting the road show we were promised. To jump to the defense of their male star after YEARS of ignoring the hate Melissa and other women received.

I am deeply sorry for all the stress Norman, Melissa, and Angela have been put under for all of this and I would never demand answers to anything personal I'm not entitled to. But I am not sorry for having questions or believing in the possibility that a studio could make terrible decisions resulting in their actors, EPs, and fans getting screwed over (again, to whatever degree).

#caryl #caryl deserved better #carol peletier #carol peletier deserved better #melissa mcbride #melissa mcbride deserved better #darylneedscarol #daryl dixon deserved better #angela kang #angela kang deserved better

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anti-dazai-blog · 2 years

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3.1- Any game involving Dazai is rigged (and other complaints)

Me, looking at 6 major unfinished school assignments: haha I could do that later :)

Me, looking at chapter 3 of the BSD manga: I Must Bring Justice To The World Via Anti-Dazai Posts.

[DISCLAIMER: I use a fan translation of the manga for this, so any quotes may not be exactly the same as the official translation]

Chapter 3 is the first chapter in which the majority of Dazai’s crimes are not against Atsushi. However, he still makes sure to do a lot of asshole-ery, so there’s much to write about.

Let’s start off with a small and petty complaint before getting to the bigger issues— Dazai’s first slight offense comes in the form of mocking Kunikida’s act during the entrance exam. Of course lightheartedly roasting your friends is normal. I wouldn’t complain about that alone. Even taking into account Kunikida’s reaction (clear annoyance, not finding it funny), I wouldn’t be complaining about such a small thing. However, it’s the fact that he’s doing this in front of Atsushi— someone who’s practically a stranger to them both— that bothers me.

Possibly I’m judging by personal standards, but then again, what other standards should I judge by, if not my own? If it were me, I’d be fine with my close friends lightheartedly making fun of me, but if they try to do that when there’s a new person that I don’t know involved in the conversation, I’d be significantly less ok with it. I’m sure many, many people feel the same way. Additionally, Kunikida follows up Dazai’s teasing with “I was told to do that!!”— and he’s right- he was just following his script. A script that, need I remind you, Dazai probably played a significant part in writing.

But Dazai’s just like that. He gets people to act according to his whims, and then mocks them for actually going through with whatever form of humiliation he allotted to them. [That may be a bit dramatic, but. If the shoe fits.., y’know. It’s a commonly occurring thing for him to do, and if the first example is a bit petty, that won’t stop me from pointing it out.]

After that brief exchange, Kunikida asks Dazai to confirm his commitment to looking after Atsushi (something he promised to do in the previous chapter). Dazai ignores him in favor of getting distracted by a waitress, who he’d like to invite to join him in his quest to end his life.

Now, how many times shall I call out all his sexual harassment? Every time he asks a woman to commit double suicide with him? Since Dazai doesn’t actually go through with this, and doesn’t ask the waitress anything, I’ll let him off with only being guilty of Planned Sexual Harrassment. Maybe in some future chapter a woman will finally call the cops on him. That would be great. I would love that. That would be the funniest chapter in BSD. Just imagine it— Dazai asks some lady to commit double suicide, and the woman promptly takes out her phone and calls the police.

Dazai’s not done harassing Kunikida. Obviously not- he’s never done with that. So when Atsushi asks what everyone’s previous jobs were, Dazai insists that they turn it into a game. They’ll go around the table and he’ll get to guess everyone’s prior profession. The people sitting at this table are Tanizaki, Naomi, Kunikida, and Dazai (and Atsushi of course, but he doesn’t count since he’s the one guessing). Keep that in mind— there are only four non-Atsushis here. This will come up later.

So Atsushi starts with the obvious: Tanizaki and Naomi must both be students. They’re around his age (18), so it’s most likely they have not had a past job prior to joining the agency.

Of course this leaves Kunikida and Dazai still un-guessed. Dazai prompts Atsushi to guess Kunikida’s job next- which, by the way, is skipping over him [Dazai] in the order of the table. He does this for two reasons: one, to make sure that he gets guessed last, as a sort of dramatic non-reveal, because he likes the attention and likes coming off as mysterious. And two, to make Kunikida uncomfortable. The anime doesn’t show how adamantly against this game Kunikida is, but he truly and genuinely does not want to be playing this. When Dazai prompts Atsushi to guess Kunikida’s old job, Kunikida responds immediately with “STOP, even my former job—”

Atsushi guesses incorrectly and Dazai’s quick to reveal that he was a math teacher. Atsushi is momentarily surprised by this, but Kunikida shuts down any possible questions with “It’s in the past, I don’t want to remember it.”

Does it get any more straightforward than that? He says outright that it’s something he wants to put behind him. From his facial expression and body language he’s clearly very uncomfortable with the conversation. Any decent human being would never purposely bring up a topic that makes their friend this uncomfortable, especially not just for the fun of seeing their friend’s reaction.

And to make matters worse: let me remind you that there are only four people at this table—- two of which are obvious students (Naomi’s even wearing her uniform!), and therefore there’s nothing to guess with them. One of which is Dazai himself, who has no plans of revealing his prior job. And the last? The last is Kunikida himself. So let me make this clear:

1- There was only one (1) guessable person in the Prior Jobs Guessing Game

2- That person is Kunikida

3- Kunikida is uncomfortable talking about his past

4- Dazai is aware of this

5- Dazai suggested The Game solely for the sake of exploiting this, for his own entertainment.

And as for guessing his own past job— that was an impossible task from the start. Not because he was a mafia executive and people wouldn’t expect that from him— on the contrary, Kunikida says outright that he “already guessed that he was a type of criminal, but he said [Kunikida] was wrong”. The reason no one would guess it is because Dazai’s a liar. That’s it. He already lied about not being a criminal, which eliminates any possibility of him being a mafia executive. It’s impossible to guess because the correct answer has already been ruled incorrect by Dazai himself.

Dazai says the cash prize for the winner is 700,000 yen. Kunikida clearly won when he guessed that Dazai’s a criminal. Dazai owes Kunikida (at least) 700,000 yen. He better pay up.

The scene ends with Dazai saying “I’ll leave the bill to you”- I’m not sure if he’s talking to Atsushi or Kunikida, but given the context I’ll guess Atsushi. Regardless of who he’s really leaving the bill to, he should probably start paying for his own meals, like the mature adult he’s supposed to be (@ anyone who’s 22+ and reading this— it’s ok, you don’t have to be a mature adult. Only Dazai does. I’m holding Dazai to standards that I’m not holding you to, mainly because when I eventually turn 22 I doubt I’d want to be a mature adult. But Dazai is well aware of how to be a mature adult- after all he was a mafia executive. So he has no excuses for not doing something as basic as paying for his own food with all that mafia money he undeniably has stored away somewhere.)

In conclusion, Dazai is a terror and a menance to society.

Join me next week after finals when I’ll tell you all about how Dazai causes way more problems than he solves, and if Bungo Stray Dogs was set in a realistic world, he would have been fired a hundred times by now.

<Prev.

#This series is on hiatus until after June 15 #Fun Fact: Did You Know That Dazai’s Only Goal In Life Is To Bother People #It’s true guys trust me #It’s legit #Bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #dazai #atsushi bsd #kunikida bsd #tanizaki bsd #Naomi bsd #Anti dazai #anti dazai series

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shinydixon · 2 years

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I need to post a disclaimer saying that Grace should not be receiving death or rape threats or whatever that fake tumblr posts debacle was. People who are doing that are nasty and wrong. And also that any criticism of Chrissy as a character, the ship or Graces behavior is not “jealous antis”, “misogyny” or “hate”.

But this behavior is very questionable. I find that even majority of her content and content from shippers have been just “trolling” and “clapping back at antis”. People not liking her or the ship is bound to happen. But what is there to gain by trying to “rile” them up?

Why is someone pointing out that chrissy has very little screen time being called hate or jealous anti behavior? It’s a fact that she had a very small role in the show in regards to her appearance in it. That shouldn’t be interpreted as an attack to Grace or chrissy. Idk why she and others are so happy that the ST Twitter responded to that person with a girl and interpreted it as “defending or fighting back against antis”.

It’s all very offputting to me and it’s definitely being overshadowed by people who took shit too far

Exactly, I don't stress enough that all the harassment towards her was so wrong and she doesn't deserve all of that because she didn't do anything wrong!

However, I agree that this behaviour is really weird and, as i already said, trolling only fuel the harassment and hate towards her.

I also agree about the fact that saying that she had a small role and little screentime IS NOT AN ANTI BEHAVIOUR BUT A FACT.

I mean, nobody got riled up when people said the same things about Barb.

And finally, what I'm starting to find annoying is her and her fans calling antis all the people that don't like Eddissy, because both Joseph and her said that Chrissy and Eddie might have a crush on eachother...(even though, as anon previously said, Joseph also improved all those flirty scenes with Steve so yeah, Eddie bisexual king you can't change my mind) they only had 2 scenes together my dudes, calm your tits

Honestly all of this is weird and annoying

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ardynoctlovers · 1 year

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Rules of Our Discord Server

Disclaimer: We know people are likely tired of having to read through another set of rules when joining a server, but we want this to be a safe space for everyone. That means that some rules that should not have to be mentioned, because they are common sense, need to be addressed anyway. Not everyone that is using the internet and off age knows how to behave. That being said:

Please be sure to read through the rules thoroughly. If there are any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to bring them up.

Our Server is only for people 18+ because of its sensitive nature. It is no longer invite only, but I hope that anyone that reads till the end of this rule page will respect our wishes of only joining if they are of age in their respective countries.

What happens in the server, stays in the server. Not everyone wants it to be known that they are an Ardynoct fan or feel comfortable in other ways sharing it outside. So please respect that.

Don't spread or give out any personal information that's been said inside the server, **including** the member list. Always ask permission first if you intend to share something from inside this server that has not been put out yet.

Be respectful. Everyone is here to have a good time talking about Ardynoct. Any forms of harassment, racism, homophobia, transphobia, bigotry and the likes thereof will not be tolerated.

Be mindful of where you're posting. Please keep your posts to the appropriate channels, especially when it comes to NSFW and sensitive content as we have specific channels in place for this type of content. If you are unsure where to put something, please ask.

If the conversation begins to shift into territory you don't like, sometimes it's best to agree to disagree and walk away from said conversation. That means no fandom shaming. We all have different likes, dislikes, OTPs, NOTPs, HCs, etc.

Suggestions are welcome! If you have any suggestions for the server as a whole, like a new channel, or have a question about something, please let me know in a Dm or otherwise.

Please don't leave and come back into the server multiple times. Perhaps life has you a little stressed out and you need to step away. This is fine, but making a habit of it can send the wrong message that this behavior is okay, and can make it difficult for people to want to reach out to you to chat. We recommend muting the server as a whole.

What belongs where?

We all know that this ship is often anything but sunshine and roses so there is more than one nsfw channel here. Confusing, right? First of all, no one's gonna chop your head off when you accidently post in the wrong nsfw channel but please move it to the appropriate one if asked to do so.

We expect people to use their own judgment most of the time for what goes where, but for a general rule of thumb:

Is it hornier than 50 shades of gray? ABO? Furries? tentacles? into -> extra spicy

There's blood? Maybe even gore? into -> dark

We're also highly encouraging the use of spoilers and content warning on sensitive topics. Some things are more upsetting than others for different people.

Art. Please use links to the original art and repost art because it is easier. It is not enough to add the name of the artist. We want to get as much exposure as possible! If you found the art reposted on another site and weren’t able to find the original post, it is okay to post, asking others for help in finding the source. We’d only ask that it gets deleted after the right link has been found and posted. It won’t always be possible, because some art has been deleted by the original artists but please try to honor the work they put into giving us amazing and FREE art by putting some effort into finding the source.

Promotion. Everyone is allowed to promote any channel, social media, art, zines, whatever really.

What we do ask is that if you intend to post about the same thing more than once, delete the older posts and not promote the same thing more than once a week. Aka don't spam.

No, nonono NO! We are all aware that liking something does not mean participating in it or glorifying a subject. Here comes the big BUT

In this server there will be no sharing or discussing of any kind and form of minors being sexualised. That is where we draw the line.

Please do not moderate the server. While a gentle nudge to move a conversation from one channel to another is fine, it doesn't have to happen all the time. Please reach out to me if you feel something needs to be addressed.

If an issues arise between you and another member, and you do not feel comfortable speaking to them directly about it, please contact us directly. We cannot promise to be a mediator for you, but we will try to help where we can.

If behavior is brought to our attention that is disturbing multiple members it may result in a ban.

#ardynoct #rules

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skrunklowumbo64 · 29 days

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DISCLAIMER: Don't engage with a toxic user that's being called out, just block, report, ignore, & move one.

Remember when I made a public apology for making a callout tweet about a certain Tumblr group of IDW Sonic critics (a certain fox was one of them) on Twitter like roughly 2 years ago?

Yeah, I was in good terms afterwards, but a year later, when I randomly saw the edgy sadist fox man wishing death on a comic book writer showing up in my personal Twitter timeline, I took my apology back (Well, just him in particular anyway. Can't decide if I should take it back for the rest or not, even tho some of them blocked me & probably hate me forever on here.) & gave my two cents about it.

The reason why he wished death on a comic book writer was because the satanically evil boogiestans were harassing & doxing his friend who had cancer. You know the old saying, 2 wrongs don't make it right. This isn't the only toxicity thing he has done & I got several evidence to show below.

CW/TW: Excessive Slurs, Bigotry, SH, & SA

(Uncompressed Image Link)

There are way more than what are shown in the images & I can't expect to find them all. Several or so of them are from a few years or nearly a decade ago, but his behavior hasn't changed since then, but it does prove that he's always been an heartless irredeemable sadist, even before IDW Sonic existed.

What do I think about him?

He's overly smugged, to a point of being arrogant.

He gets overly insecure whenever, for example, any Sonic game gets any criticism &/or negative opinions from people who're either fans of Sonic or not.

He has extreme accusatory behavior (I.E. He accuses people of hating Sonic & not playing the games for daring to like anything non-game Sonic related, getting things about Sonic wrong, & making AU fan fics that differs from the games).

He has a habit of blocking anyone over the most pettiest things (I.E. Anyone using the term, Mobius, being told to calm down, people liking transgender Bridget, liking SnapCube & Team 4 Star, etc.).

He constantly relies on ad-hominem attacks & vulgar insults whenever he talks to anyone he doesn't agree with, either directly or behind their backs or both.

He's got this obnoxious Anti-WokeTuber (& a hypocritical wokescold to extant) vibes going on.

He gets easily butthurt over people enjoying any non-gaming media or anything in general of not just Sonic, but also Kirby, Castlevania, Dragon Ball, TMNT, & more as well.

He's a massive hypocrite, like for example, he hates anyone making & enjoying non-canon Sonic material while he's faving/making rule 34 fan art & fan fics involving sonic characters voring each other or any other fetishy things (which is also non-canon material).

etc.

If you're wondering if I'm aware about his certain questionable fan fics & favs, I knew already cuz I was the one that caused a chain-reaction on Twitter in the first place by randomly DMing some one rando about it & I honestly wish they shouldn't bring it up whenever they argue with said fox. If you want me to talk about what I think of this Dwai guy nowadays, maybe, but not right now.

How do you think I found out? I just googled the username, checkout their account on some furry site, & went to their profile from some controversial bunny site that's publicly shown on their profile bio out of morbid curiosity. Before you ask, I don't have an account on that controversial bunny site & never will.

My reaction to said content on there was disgust & uncomfortable. I hardly engage with those UCP addict types cuz they're not the most pleasant people to talk to & they're always predictable.

Did you know that he was banned on Twitter seven times, plus all tweets made before 2023 are deleted & apparently his first 6 bans had something to do with involvement with you know what? If you're morbidly curious about it, examples here. Remember, don't waste your time trying to argue about it.

The more I see toxicity from him, the more I having trust issues increased & regret making an apology to him, to a point where I think he's too FUBAR to deal with.

If he sees this, he's gonna be like, "TWEEGARD ZNOHVWEHK!", "MUH VWEE ZPEECH/VWEE KONTWEE!", "DOT TEEL MEE WAT 2 DOO!", "PEEOHWEETON!", "VWEEN/EYEDEEDUBBAHEW STAEN!", "YOO CHUHZT HEHT SAWNIK GEHMZ!", "YOO HEHT MEE CUZ MEYE OHPEENIONZ DEEFRZ VROOM YOORZ!", "CHUHZT PLEH DA GEHMZ!" the no you card, strawmanning, "At least I don't (Insert whatever bad thing the stans did)!", ad-hominem attacks, the "Stans are being mean to me!" sob stories, the whataboutisms, screenshotting then whine &/or being smugged about me in his clique-ish echo chamber, & more, guaranteed.

If you're saying I made this because of that one argument or whatever, I always had issues with him before it & not everything's about Sonic discourses.

For those who're about to ask me to make more callout posts about the people associated with him, I'm not interested & please don't beg me into making them.

If you also have issues with him, share your thoughts here, it also doesn't just have to be about IDW Sonic or Sonic general.

#callout post #serious subject matter warning

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