I'm literally at the point now where I just have to mass block anyone who fills character tags w/ "y/n x character" or "character x reader."

It's literally impossible to look up certain characters without having an endless wall of y/n that I have to wade through.

Trying to filter the tags doesn't even work the majority of the time because people just don't bother to tag their posts properly.

the only part about legacy i liked is the scene where bronte is heavily implied to want sophie to become a councillor. other than that the entire experience was MISERABLE that book was. not fun

Correct! Bronte has been an absolute gem this book, between his you should become a councillor/not distract yourself with romance hints and saying he'd be proud if she was his daughter, he's the lone firefly keeping me light in this pitch black hell.

I will say I've also enjoyed Stina; she's not my favorite, but I can really appreciate her development and place in the story here--which makes it even more unfortunate when she gets undeveloped in Stellarlune for the sake of drama. Oh and Tam! He's been a delight, though unfortunately he is currently kidnapped so we're not seeing a lot of him.

Aside from that...I don't think there's anything else I'm enjoying. Smeyer once said that the further you get into a story, the more the possibilities of what it could be narrows into what it is, and the more people you lose who were attached to other possibilities that didn't come to fruition (paraphrased). Which I think might be happened here for me a little.

Because there is just so much talk about matchmaking and finding her parents and how she deserves this etc. etc. And about how difficult its turning out to be to be in a relationship. It's such a central part to the book and I simply do not give a shit! Both about how much its being focused on and how the characters are acting/being written. Yeah, Sophie, I'm sorry you're having relationship troubles, but you literally acknowledged what the mature, reasonable way to proceed was and then didn't do it. Twice. I'm not sympathetic to that

Also the way both Biana and Sophie are like..."would Fitz wait?" in terms of matchmaking when he has canonically said! twice!! that he would go at her pace, however long she needed. Like. Tell me you're being unfair to him and the issue is being forced without telling me you're being unfair to him and the issue is being forced. The whole book is just so unfair to Fitz. He's characterized and attentive and willing to go slow, even though matchmaking is important to him, and then the narrative turns around and makes a bio parent search necessary in connection to him? Rude. He's consistently trying to communicate and be supportive and Sophie's just doubting him and not returning the effort!! So I'm really not sympathetic to her plight. No, Fitz isn't perfect, but I'm upset about all this more

And when Sophie said she was getting really bad at juggling everything she was very very right. Her priorities are all out of order and she keeps ignoring other people, and I understand she's a busy person who deserves a break. But she's letting everything else slack for matchmaking? I cannot find it in me to care.

Listen. I know. I know that Sophie's only ever wanted to be normal and she hoped that's what matchmaking would be for her, one part of her life that was normal. It's just not a sentiment I resonate with so it doesn't really add to the book for me. It was important to her, I get it, and I'm sorry she doesn't get to be normal like she wants. But there are people relying on her, responsibilities she has agreed to and is failing to deliver on--which also brings me to Team Valiant and all that. They're reaching a stage where they're like "we need to work alongside the council, the black swan has always wanted to work with them" and maybe this is because I grew up with a shit government, but whenever I read that I roll my eyes. because like. fuck the council. they have total control and have consistently fucked up in the past, and overestimate their importance as naturally chosen to lead this world, while also wanting us to sympathize with the burden. it is under the council and their choices that these problems have come to pass, so if it were me I don't know if I'd make the same choices as the characters. and I don't think working alongside the council would've ever been my goal. like hooray if they want to do something that benefits our goals to fix everything in the end, I won't stop them, but also. that doesn't make them wonderful and reliable and mean we shouldn't continue to critique and fix things outside of them. like marx said

I think I could stand it more if there was a balance between all her matchmaking/parentage woes and everything else going on in the series, but it just feels overwhelming. And I really don't care. And I don't like how it's being explored and written. So this book has been very painful to read through.

This isn't everything, but its some of it. Fortunately I do quite like unlocked, so I'll have a brief reprieve of enjoyment before I dive into Stellarlune :)

Thoughts upon finishing Master and Apprentice! A good double read with Padawan; the ending of that leaving Obi-Wan slightly hopeful about his relationship to Qui-Gon makes for a very sad yet hilarious ‘Local Padawan loses last little bit of hope he didn’t even know he still had’ sort of vibe to the beginning of this one, which is set one (1) year later and Obi-Wan is So Done with Qui-Gon’s whole deal by this point (correctly btw). Also if you can’t tell already I will not be objective or free from bias in this because I love Obi-Wan so much and some of the stuff Qui-Gon pulled made me incandescent with rage on his behalf <3 let’s go

- 'oh obi-wan, you're so mature for your age, I keep forgetting you're only seventeen years old,' qui-gon says, word for word, repeatedly, in master and apprentice, apparently willfully deaf to the industrial-sized warning bells about their relationship dynamic that should probably be setting off in his head. qui-gon believes in vibing with the living force and being in the moment right up until the moment requires him to pay attention to the kid he's raising for more than oh, one and a half minutes of self-effacing inner monologue and then he's like 'well unfortunately there is simply no time for that right now there are prophecies to be pondered'. (the fact that the admission that obi-wan has essentially been left to raise himself emotionally and the resigned reframing of that as 'and maybe that is a good thing!' is part of the olive branch they extend to each other towards the end... will my sadness never end)

- most of all it's so heartbreaking to me that qui-gon seemingly never understands just how much obi-wan as a person is rooted deeply in shame. I don't think that's a feeling that's particularly prevalent in qui-gon's own inner world so he doesn't recognize how central it is in obi-wan's psychology and completely misunderstands and misaligns with him again and again and again and then gets annoyed with obi-wan for that, thus making the shame even deeper. doubly painful because he does see the way rael lives so much of his life out of shame now and feels sad about it, but can't see the way he's contributing to obi-wan doing so. this is what fucks me up so bad about the generational trauma in star wars -- no one here meant to be cruel. for all his faults I do think qui-gon does love obi-wan and doesn't mean to hurt him. but the original sin of the prequels as far as I'm concerned is qui-gon tenderly drying away obi-wan's tears as he's dying even while completely failing to see him, his eyes too fixed on anakin's future to actually be with obi-wan, who's there right now and needs him.

these are simply very different people trying and failing to understand each other, and the harm that can still happen in that… 'if you love me, you don't love me in a way I understand', all the way through the disaster line, even when the love is there, it is there, that’s what hurts the most, it just doesn’t reach where it’s needed, there’s a connection that doesn’t happen. (ironically I think ahsoka doesn't doubt that anakin loves her, it's just uh everything else that went down. so y'know family curse broken! new even more fucked up curse achieved now with more child murder. I mean there already was some child murder in this family but anakin upped the game exponentially) 

- a lil guy who's basically tarzan except the gorillas are replaced with protocol droids and then he becomes a jewel thief is one of the funniest star wars concepts I've ever heard and I hope pax and rahara get to pop up in more star wars media, they’re great fun. (also an idea I think would be super fun to make a character/campaign around in Edge of the Empire or something, everyone playing different droids and then one person being robo-parented lol) 

- was not prepared to have rael posit a theory of what essentially seems to be the jedi version of predestination in his despair, but I do love to see it haha. especially interesting since he, qui-gon and dooku must be among the people alive who've studied the prophecies in most depth, and they've all reached different conclusions -- dooku decides to join the war of light and dark on the side of dark for some reason, qui-gon (possibly the stubbornest fucker the jedi order ever produced) 'turns towards the light not to win some great cosmic game, but because it is the light', and rael in the middle falls into the depressed apathy of 'it doesn't matter what we do here, the outcome is already decided; for there to be true balance there has to be as much dark as light in the world so we're fucked'. but in the end he does take qui-gon's words to heart and turns towards the light rather than accepting dooku's offer, even if he might not believe it makes a difference in the long run. man I love rael. hobo-looking sonofabitch living in a castle for eight years will just suddenly fling out some deep jedi theology huh

- master rael 'I'm gonna make up for the big terrible mistake I made on accident by making an even bigger more premeditated mistake on purpose' averross (affectionate)

- the added layer to dooku’s fascination with prophecy after reading dooku: jedi lost — that his best friend in the world was a seer who couldn’t turn it off and it destroyed him……….. dooku you’re not getting him back if you just understand what he saw you know that right

- the more I read of master and apprentice the more I realize that the reason yoda and qui-gon don't get along is that they're two of the judgiest bitches the jedi order ever produced. They’re like two cats scowling judgmentally at each other from opposite sides of the room pretending to live and let live while going ‘you’re wrong tho’ internally. 

- I dunk on him constantly (not entirely without affection, however grudging), but Qui-Gon is genuinely a really interesting character. He’s so… he’s so. He’s infuriating but he’s infuriating in an equidistant sort of way. You feel me. He’s pissing everyone off equally and he just doesn’t care because again, he’s the stubbornest judgiest bitch around and thinks he’s right all the time. I would be free to just enjoy his ornery ‘no actually I’m right about this’ ass and the chaos he wreaks so much more if Obi-Wan didn’t have to live with the emotional consequences of it lol. 

- poor rael closing in on fifty with his puriteen middle-aged little brother clutching pearls about his getting laid once in a blue moon fhdskjahfas. again a really interesting insight into different ways of interpreting the jedi code, though, I love seeing the jedi not be an ideological monolith. to be fair to rael, having sex sometimes does seem to be the indulgence he has that causes the least conflict with his principles or loyalties so you know what honestly force speed you my friend why not. (and then there's qui-gon 'noooo sex is only okay if you're In Love (implied: like I was)!!!' jinn lmao. I wonder what he'd think of anakin and padme's relationship, would that pass the 'being sufficiently purely in love' test for him) I do like how consistently it’s shown that rael doesn’t mean to be cruel or unkind in anything he says, he always notices something landing too close to home and then pulls carefully back from it instead of pushing on. He seems to be the emotional intelligence powerhouse in this lineage (as long as he doesn’t have his feelings too tangled up in something, at least). 

Dooku: jedi lost also shows us that dooku absolutely knows rael is out there in the galaxy laying pipe and is, at worst, softly amused by it. So in this little family unit it’s only qui-gon losing his mind over it fjsdkafa I’m so used to having qui-gon be the wild card maverick compared to obi-wan ‘*in tears* but what are the RULES master’ kenobi, it’s so fucking funny that within the context that raised him he’s the stick in the mud 

I guess. the book also had a plot and it was not bad! some interesting insights about how the republic interacted with the big corporations and just how fucked everything already was by this point. I'm a pretty character-driven reader so that's what sticks with me for the most part

- obi-wan’s big teenage rebellion here being that sometimes. Occasionally. When he really loses his temper and gets hot under the collar. He’ll say something slightly passive aggressive out loud instead of keeping it contained inside his head. And qui-gon still can’t handle that gracefully AT ALL he snaps right back fdjskfhas. (I guess he also snitches on qui-gon to the council but well, you know, qui-gon was breaking republic law pretty brazenly at that point I think that moves beyond teenage angst and into ‘...master that’s a wholeass felony’ territory). Obi-Wan does go for a couple of low blows, but like. Nothing that’s not actually true, is the thing. And mostly he blames himself for not being good enough, because surely if he were qui gon wouldn’t treat him like this. Augh. hngh. Pain. suffering. 

- I am not one of the people who think everything would have automatically been just hunky-dory if only qui-gon lived and could have been anakin's master (in fact I would have given it a 50/50 chance of going exponentially worse way faster; being more similar as people is not always a guarantee that a relationship will go smoother and qui-gon is an incredibly difficult man to be close to for any length of time), but the way this book basically presents how the dynamic between dooku, rael and qui-gon could have gone on in the next generation too... it would have been incredibly unfair to obi-wan (as always I think that's just an universal constant lmao) but I think the odds of it turning out okay would have been better if you had him in the mix to run crisis control for both qui-gon and anakin, as he does for each of them individually as best he can anyway. at least he could have been free to be anakin's brother and friend purely in that scenario, without all the added mess of grief and having to take on a parental role there so young. he does basically fill that role in ahsoka's apprenticeship, after all.

- qui-gon finally hugging rael before he leaves the planet (and especially since when they were younger he wanted to, but held himself back from it)... that's still his big brother even with all the shit that's happened since ;_____; when someone teaches you how to swim (literally and symbolically) that shit stays with you I suppose

Relatedly: DOOKU getting hugged, and gladly. What the fuck. Are you all seeing this shit. I’m gonna cry or laugh I’m not sure which one why am I emotionally invested in the galaxy's most problematic grandpa now this sucks

So, do you think Whitley should've acted more as an antagonist, corrupted by his father's morals and environment before Weiss could get through to him and help him?

I believe Whitley is great, and that's the problem.

Hmm, I'm not sure whether I'd say I want Whitley to have acted as more of an antagonist, but I would say that I wish that the level of antagonism he did have had been explored a little bit more.

The thing about V8 Whiltey is that it's a fine characterization! Whitley is a child and isn't set in his ways yet, the idea that once Jacques is out of the picture, Whitley adjusts to that newfound freedom by dropping some of the emulation of his father he'd picked up (as a means of survival) and letting himself be more kind and do what he thought was right is a great concept and honestly is a much smaller leap in characterization than people sometimes act. After all, Whitley is hardly Emerald, Mercury, Adam, Ilia, Cardin or any other villain teen we see in the show. Whitley's biggest crime was not seeming to like Weiss and Winter and acting pleased about Weiss being removed from a position he wanted. He was less of a jerk than V1 Weiss was with her incredibly anti-faunus ranting. There was no reason to believe that Whitley was really like his father, no reason to believe that Whitley wanted to hurt anyone, no reason to believe that he wouldn't be better when separated from his bad environment and isolation.

However, because I think that Weiss needed a lot more focus in the Atlas arc especially concerning her connection to her family, I do think that her and Whitley's strained relationship should've been more prevalent and garnered more attention from the team (who should have varied reactions to Whitley.) And I also think that the change from V7 to V8 did deserve a little more focus because of that too. Not only do the RWBY writers need better time management, but they also need to give their characters more time, and also need to pack way less into their show so that the story beats they do introduce have more time to breathe, and Whitley is no exception to that. Him being this annoying roadblock that Weiss is clearly frustrated with that's acting like he wants nothing more than to be the socialite eventual CEO that his father wants him to be is more than good enough for me and I don't need him to be some evil conniving mini Jacques. And him then turning out to be at heart a kinder and braver person than Weiss had assumed once Jacques was out of the picture is also great. I just wish that it all had been more explored and gone into - specifically in how it makes Weiss feel and what lessons and growth she can get from it and how it'll impact her own personal arcs from here on in (with care towards Whitley becoming a primary motivation.) Like most things in RWBY, the problem is the execution, not the idea.

Also, equally important is that Whitley's characterization of conforming to what Jacques wants and his ambition to take over the SDC... That feels like it was meant to be a threat to Weiss because the writers wanted us the audience to think that the role of CEO and heading the Schnee Dust Company was something Weiss deserved and should get. If Weiss was everything she should've been and deserved to be as a character, she would either already be on her way to no longer wanting that sort of thing and re-thinking her idea of the homelife she'd had and her rich billionaire mentalities, or V4 should've kickstarted that. So by the time V7 rolled around, although Whitley still should've been an annoyance and a frustration for Weiss... I think also that Weiss should've been more aware of Whitley being in an unsafe position and how that affects him and Weiss should've been at least thinking about whether or not she can help Whitley. So I guess if anything I would've wanted him to be less of an antagonist in V7. XP

I mentioned in another recent Whitley post that he and Weiss's opposite ways of reacting to their abusive and controlling household were fascinating and should've been gone into, used as a way to speak to the fact that abuse victims don't all react to their abuse in the same way and still deserve help and sympathy. And imo it would've been really good as a way to help establish Weiss as a considerate and compassionate person, learning and growing and able to put aside her own hurt feelings. Idk, I just think that it would've been good.

I have been binge-watching SCP Foundation videos on youtube, and it got my noggin a’workin on an Eldritch Euclid-type SCP monster known simply as “Dream”, a being that is capable of making and controlling dreams. He is sometimes referred to as Morpheus but it’s unclear whether this is simply a reference to the Greek god of the same name, or perhaps a name from a time when he was still human.

Okay, so I’m going to stop there, as I am actually incapable of writing the really scientific prose that is prevalent in SCP videos LOL But essentially, SCP Dream still has all the powers of our Dream, and is also capable of traversing to the waking world.

I’m torn between 2 possible aus here. One, an au where Hob meets Dream when he’s still a kid and befriends the eldritch being unknowingly in his dreams. There actually exists a fic with this same concept, only friendlier cause Dream was Hob’s imaginary friend, but I’d like to go a darker route where Dream becomes possessive of Hob, which is funny because he thought of the kid as a nuisance at first, amusing but annoying, so Dream doesn’t break Hob’s mind immediately. Yay. Instead he allows the child to visit him at night when he’s asleep. I’m imagining Dream making up dreams to keep Hob occupied, finding Hob’s reactions to be really entertaining. Oh and a possible scene where Hob laments to his dream friend about his trouble with bullies at school, and Dream acts dismissive to his plight as always, but miraculously his bullies all had mysterious medical emergencies and won’t be coming to school for awhile. And as the years go by, Dream grows more and more attached to Hob, to the point where he refuses to let Hob wake up, and he starts tempting Hob with sweeter dreams. Maybe some sexy dreams too, cause Hob is such a beautiful young man now, and Dream can't help but notice the way Hob has grown in certain places. COUGH HOBOOOBIES COUGH. I like to think Hob will refuse, maybe he bulk orders coffee or something, which will anger Dream and cue the dubcon/noncon scene huehuehueheuhuehue

The other au is where Hob is a SCP foundation researcher assigned to Dream, and of course our favorite eldritch being grows scarily attached and the same dubcon/noncon shenanigans occur.

I’d love to your thoughts and prayers (lol) on this.

-Love Yan Anon <3

Oh hot!!! Very hot!!! I'm gonna expand on that second option since you filled out the first one so wonderfully!!!

So Hob is a young researcher who's been assigned one of his first SCPs, and he's super excited. Only he just wishes that Dream wasn't quite as excited about him, too... he's being held onsite in a containment chamber, and he always insists that Hob come inside to do his research "properly". Dream is classed as Euclid, so he's complex to contain but not impossible, and he honestly just lets Hob come and go as he pleases. In containment he has plenty of things to keep him entertained, because the Foundation isn't cruel, but he's just so much more interested in Hob. His vivid daydreams and nightmares, his wandering thoughts. Dream eats it all up hungrily. He's relying on Hob to give his contact with dreaming, and Hob does that so wonderfully. How can Dream help but adore him? He's a perfect vessel for Dream’s love.

He wants to be inside Hob, like he's been inside his subconscious. Wants to explore his body and see what reactions he can elicit. He will inspire new dreams, new nightmares. The dream of being worshipped, the horror of being consumed. Dream wants to see it played out in the flesh of Hob’s body. The sweet little human thinks that he has Dream contained but oh no, Dream can't be contained. Not really, not while he has access to Hob’s mind. It's Dream who's doing the research and the sweet man doesn't even know it.

It's not until Hob finds himself face down on the floor with dreamstuff keeping him bound at his wrists and ankles that he realises that perhaps Dream is a little more complicated than he might have initially appeared. Hard to deny it now when Dream is fucking him joyously into the concrete, nuzzling into the back of Hob’s head and moaning like he's having the time of his life. The more Hob whines and shivers, the more his mind spirals, the more Dream seems to like it.

But then. This is going to be a truly amazing addition to his report. So Hob should maybe just keep trying to make it as good as possible for Dream. The more data the better, right?

There's yet another annoying push against multi shipping in some fannish areas, and gosh it's annoying. I've seen it, and am sure others have, before, and it's more prevalent in some and I can't understand it.

An author I follow posts a lot of things and ships: the main canon ship for the fandom, gen content with no ships, a ship that's only recently become popular (partly due to them and how much they write for it) and a few ships that barely have anything on AO3. Overall, the fandom hasn't really cared, and this person's writing is *good* and they have a lot of it. From what I can tell, they've not received any harassment over their ships. I'm in a couple of servers with them, and follow them here, and while they very easily could delete any shit and talk about it privately, there hasn't been anything obvious. No callouts, no weird tumblr posts, etc.

What there has, very recently been, is people in anther server bitching. Not about how this person writes "the bad ship/s" or writes content that has a lot of nuance and explores darker themes, but because they write more than one ship. I've seen this type of thing in fandom before, but it's newer in this particular fandom (it may have been a thing years back as it's an older fandom, but I haven't seen it since joining in 2020) and getting to be downright mean.

I have commented in the server it's come up in, reminding people that multi shipping is a thing, but it doesn't seem to matter. Some people have "justified" this author as they explore different themes with different ships, but a lot of people are just mad they ship more than one thing.

I left that server, and am debating on mentioning it to the author, but overall it's all just leaving a sour taste in my mouth. People need to stop caring so much about what people ship, and focus on what they do enjoy.

--

The Gym Membership - Part 19 (Crosshair)

Summary: Crosshair thinks back to the reason he visits the hospital.

A/N: Hello lovelies,

Another part to Crosshair's story. I always want to let you guys know I will begin uploading the second story to the Razor Crest Ranch at the end of the month, I know I said four weeks. But I'm sorry, things got a little hectic lately.

Love oo.

Italics - flashback

Warnings: Anger, angst, mentions of medical procedures, coma, blaming someone for another's injury, grief, crying, fear, mentions of being shot at, kidnapped and blown up, I think that's it, if I miss anything please let me know.

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“I thought you only came here Wednesdays and Sundays” Crosshair stated as he tried to ignore the woman beside him, when she didn’t answer his question. 

His voice grated on my nerves, I did my best to ignore him. Ever since he stepped into my sister’s life, he’d become an annoying presence. Having him sit beside me, with his ridiculous long legs stretched out in front of him, his lanky arms crossed and his breathing … ugh! How could a man be so infuriating? 

Crosshair shifted in his seat doing his best to ignore the woman beside him, he never liked her. She didn’t exactly leave the best impression, when he first met her. Granted, the situation was tenuous, their emotions were all over the place, and they both were extremely sensitive after the loss of sleep. Didn't help that he was already freaking out about Avery, the last thing he needed was her sister asking a million and one questions for which he didn't have answers. 

The noise on the tarmac, the orders being shouted out among the ground crew were all drowned out, as she walked up to Crosshair, anger clearly prevalent in her face at seeing him standing there.

“Your Crosshair?” She didn’t bother introducing herself, she just wanted answers. 

“Yes, ma’am”

Her fist clenched by her side, as she poked him in the chest, “Explain! Explain to me how you made it back under your own power? While my sister has to be carried out on a stretcher.” 

The woman whose face was tear stained, was standing her ground blocking his way as she stood watching the stretcher being loaded on to the ambulance from the aircraft. Cross wanted to say a whole lot, he wanted to tell her she wasn’t the only one in pain, that for now her sister was alive; but nothing came out of his mouth. He couldn’t even tell her why he was allowed to be by her sister’s side. No matter how hard he tried to open his mouth, it refused to listen to him. 

She wiped her face as she moved closer to the ambulance, her anger growing with each step she took. She turned to look at him, “Why are you even here? Just to make sure you can hand over your responsibility? Don’t worry, I’ve got her. You can go back and do whatever the hell you do.” She shook her head as she looked at him, “Avery would rave on and on about you, and I don’t understand…. I don’t understand how you … why are you here? Why isn’t she here standing where you are!”

Before Cross could answer, one of the medics walked over to the two of them, “Excuse me, Captain Crosshair, ma’am” he tipped his head towards the two of them, “Your wife is all set, Captain. They’ll be taking her straight to the Army Hospital, sir.”

“Thanks. We’ll be on our way.”

Her eyes widened as she looked back at him, “I’m sorry” she pointed to the medic “Did… did he just …” She took a deep shaky breath, “Did he just call her, your wife?”

Crosshair didn’t respond, Avery had wanted to tell her sister first, and he wasn’t going to rob her of that joy. Even if she was in a coma right now, when she woke up she was going to be excited to tell her sister everything. 

The anger and frustration building within her was clearly evident, it was like a volcano getting ready to erupt. She was done. Done with the lack of information she received from the Army. Done with the man who apparently had married her sister. She ran her hand through her hair letting out a frustrated choked sob.

“Fine. Don’t answer, but once Avery’s settled and we know what’s going on, you and I are going to sit and you’re going to tell me exactly what happened in detail, and once that’s done, you’re going to get the hell out of her life for good. Since you stepped into her life, she’s been shot at, kidnapped, and now she’s been blown up. She was a desk clerk! An analyst for … she NEVER went into the field before you came into her life!” 

Crosshair could still remember that moment as though it was yesterday, ever since that day they never really talked to each other. There was barely any acknowledgement of existence between the two of them, they just argued with each other whenever they did attempt to talk. The only time they agreed and were somewhat civil to each other was when it came to Avery’s medical procedures. 

His eyes focused on Avery’s face, all the tubes going in and coming out of her. The breathing tube that was currently keeping her alive. The various wires connected to her heart and brain, monitoring her every second. 

Once the doctors had been able to examine Avery, they were informed, the brain injury she sustained was severe. They needed to prepare themselves with the possibility that the chances of her waking up were slim.

In fact, the only thing keeping her going for the last year was the ventilator she was currently on. He wanted to let her go the moment they put her on it, he wanted to let her be at rest, but Avery’s sister, Layla, was not willing to let her go. He understood what she was feeling, but the truth was there wasn’t a chance she could wake up now. And even if, by some miracle she did, she’d never recover. She’d never be the same Avery, he got to know and love. Looking at her sleeping form, coming here week after week knowing there was nothing he could do for his wife was torturous. He had to admit however, he admired Layla’s determination and having faith Avery would wake up and come back to them. 

“Do you think she’ll ever wake up?”

Cross looked over to Layla, shocked by the fact she was actually speaking to him, but for the first time in years, there was doubt in her voice. Yet, he couldn’t actually acknowledge her question outright, “Oh, you’re speaking to me now?”

I put my book down on my lap, resisting the biggest eye roll I wanted to give him. How could he just irritate me so easily? I let out a sigh, as I turned and looked at him.

“Crosshair, could you please just answer the question, do you honestly think she’ll ever wake up?”

Crosshair turned in his chair, focusing on Layla’s face, he hadn’t noticed before, mainly because he avoided looking at her. But now that he was, he observed how puffy and slightly red her eyes were, the tip of her nose was flushed as well, like she’d been crying for a while. His eyes narrowed as he took in her form, her hand was clenched against her knee. Her face looked paler than usual. 

“Layla, what happened?”

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Hey! Still talking about Charles: I think the fandom vilainizes Charles for being in the closet, or at least focus on that, because the author herself does that. Cassandra is terrible writing and dealing with closet characters since Alec. There's absolutely no nuance. Before Alec come out he was writing like kind of a dick and heard he was ashamed and a coward. She follow the same Pattern with Charles and with Ari, I still didn't forget how CC made Ari "worthy" of Anna when she come out. Both Alec and Ari were only treated better by the narrative after they "redeemed" by coming out. Charles wasn't, and I still think the scene where Alastair, Thomas and Matthew talk like coming out in that time, specially with Charles aspirations, wasn't a big deal.

Also, the fandom doesn't Focus on the grooming and abuse in Charles and Alastair because, again, Cassandra herself NEVER touches on that properly. She made about Charles not giving Alastair enough love and attention and not being ashamed and afraid of being with him, not about how everything about the relationship was wrong.

Tldr; I just hated how CC wrote Charles character and closed characters in general.

I do agree with your general point about how Cassie treats closeted characters. In the case of Alec, though, I'd like to defend her and say that it was basically uncharted territory to write a gay character in 2007, and that the "coming out" story that is so prevalent in literature now was basically a new thing then. I'm not going to split hairs over Alec's portrayal because I think she was trying to tell the story of a young gay man struggling to come out to loved ones while grappling with the shame that so many young gay people cope with. We may have a lot of books about that now, but we didn't at the time.

In TLH, I do find the way that she treated both Charles and Ari kind of... bad, not going to lie. Ari's becoming "worthy" of Anna through coming out always rubbed me wrong, and it's a big reason that I struggle to ship AriAnna. I felt like Anna brushed Ari's justified fear for her physical safety under the rug, and it really annoyed me how Cassie and her narrative treated Anna as a wronged party because of Ari coming out. This is a very valid criticism and Cassie done goofed.

In the case of Charles, I also agree to a point. I think that Charles was villainized in the narrative for being closeted, which is bad, but the issue is that we could see what Cassie was going for with him. She just brushed the surface of what he could be, and he does realize his potential in the backdrop of the story. But she never manages to bring it front and center, which is irritating considering how important it is to Alastair's character. I'm left to wonder if this is because the books were published as YA and Charles was too old to really include, or if it simply was that Cassie didn't know how to write a closeted character. Probably both.

I also, while we're on the subject, want to talk a little bit about Alastair in ChoT. I find it somewhat appalling that he was also outed in Idris and no one in the book makes a mention of it besides once in passing. I don't even think I've seen the fandom talk about it. To be fair, I do think Alastair would have come out on his own, and I think it was the right thing for him.

I do not think it was the right thing for Charles, but I think Cassie kind of homogenously seems to believe in The Power of Coming Out without acknowledging that it's perhaps not the path for everyone.

I wish that Charles the character was given the leave to really be terrible, explicitly. We see it in the text - it's in every interaction he has with Alastair, and Alastair does address it a couple of times. But we don't really see a full-on assessment of it, and Cassie never calls it what it is - abuse and probable statutory rape. That's why when writing my fics, I always give Charles the leave to be... gross. Awful. And not because he's closeted, because being closeted is not a moral failing.

However, on a positive note, I do want to mention "the scene where Alastair, Thomas and Matthew talk like coming out in that time wasn't a big deal." I actually disagree with this - I think Thomas, whose PoV the scene is in, definitely acts like it's a big deal and explicitly acknowledges this. It's also clear in both Alastair's and Matthew's demeanors, especially Alastair's, that this is hella difficult to watch unfold. I love that scene, unabashedly. It's one of my favourites in the trilogy, because it's such a huge show of solidarity. None of these men like Charles; they all dislike him. But they're fighting the good fight together, and in the end, that's what matters.

Adding to what that other anon said, it's obvious that the only reason they basically won't let Amy or other characters not loudly bring up her card """hyperfixation""" is because when they did it the first time, all the fans went "no way sega remembered something??? finally consistent lore oh my god???". It's just cheap fanservice repackaged as "staying true to the character". And the fandom won't be shutting up about it either now because that trait was already really prevalent in most fanworks once they caught wind of it, so sega "doing a good" here only serves as further validation.

Yeah, I'm really starting to suspect that people view Amy through a lens of Girl(tm), much like how folks reduce Shadow to a trauma receptacle.

She's not an individual; she has to represent something more than just herself. Much of the discourse surrounding her heavily suggests people believe she is inadequate on her own.

She always needs to be more or less of something depending on fandom zeitgeist. Less Sonic-crazy. Less "stalker"-ish. More feminist. More neurodivergent. More tomboy. Less tomboy. Girlier. Tougher. Softer. More Power of Heart. More Stronk. More level-headed. More tarot-reading.

Amy's traits can't just be incidental, occasional, or unique to her, and people tend to be weirdly extremist when it comes to her character. She can't just read tarot for fun in the same vein that Sonic simply likes to read books sometimes, it has to Say Something about her as a character.

Someone got a little irate with me for pointing out that, even though Frontiers pushing the whole tarot thing in our faces is annoying, Amy did use her cards once in Battle to find Sonic. There is canonical precedent for her using them, and therefore saying she never used them in the games is just as erroneous as pushing them as her obsession. But as usual, folks are eager to blow this stuff way out of proportion. I often notice as well that Amy is not allowed the multiplicity seen in male characters like Sonic and Shadow. What I mean by that is that her traits cannot be contradictory, conditional, incidental, or nuanced, since she can only represent one platonic ideal at a time. She can't be a girly bruiser and a straw feminist a la Boom!Amy any more than she can read tarot cards and still crush on Sonic.

That's why I think the whole "Amy's crush on Sonic is a prominent part of her character/Amy is defined by other things" debate is a false dichotomy, even when folks pretend to have some sort of enlightened centrist take and say "both are good." Because like, you're still playing into the underlying idea of the dichotomy's existence to begin with. You wouldn't need to say "both are good" if you believed her character had the potential to be more than that.

Add the fact that, as the fourth ranger of Team Sonic, whatever she does is considered emblematic of how the Sonic series views girls as a whole, and the whole discourse surrounding her character quickly becomes cumbersome. It's so transparent that people are desperate to slap any old stereotypical Girl Trait onto her, because it's not coming from a place of "How can we flesh Amy out as a character?" so much as "SEE, SHE'S NOT SONIC-CRAZY."

Personally, I think a more useful litmus test would be:

A.) Does she have a conversation with Tails? B.) Do they talk about something other than Sonic? Note how I specify Tails here, not Knuckles or Cream. That's deliberate. Both Amy and Tails are typically defined via their relationship to Sonic, even when their character arcs center around striking out on their own.

It stands to reason, then, that as two of the series' most senior and prominent deuteragonists, they ought to be able to have one (1) conversation about something that isn't Sonic.

That is to say, at this point in the series, they ought to have enough substance of character to be able to sustain an organic conversation together without falling back on their relationships with Sonic as a talking point.

You'd think that'd be an incredibly low bar to clear, but even the games fail to hurdle it most of the time.

Ngl the prevalence of the new genre of posts that're like "ough i just thought about doing [activity they like to do] for [thing they like], I'm sick, I'm ill, i should be [weirdly specific way to be killed]" is becoming a little concerning

It's just like. Preemptively bullying yourself for liking something. Calling yourself cringe before others can. Heaven forbid you have a genuine emotion that isn't indignation about how problematic something is. Better imply you're slightly ashamed about your enjoyment. Better not enjoy it Too Much just in case it's flawed or others find it annoying.

Idk it's wierd!! It's wierd and probably unhealthy in the long run tbh.

Annon-Guy: Slightly off topic, but how do you feel about slapstick scenes in manga and anime in general (same gender, male on female and female on male).

I ask this because Train and Svene get into a LOT of comedic beatdowns with each other and recover in the next scene compared to when they get hurt for REAL. Even when Eve clocks people in the head, with criminals they get knocked out, but with the doctor after she was injured by that gunslinger, he just gets a lump on his head. Even when Kyoko tries to kiss Train, he clocks her on the head for even attempting to do so. Granted, this is mostly in the manga, but still.

You see, people take it too seriously, calling it full on abuse and saying it normalizes it, regardless if the relationship is platonic or romantic.

This is especially prevalent with Harsh Tsundere characters, mostly female ones who attack the male love for perverted reasons or out of jealousy, whether intentional or not for comedy purposes. In that case, it's a Double Standard as they're called.

Ultimately, I know we're not supposed to take it seriously, but I wanted to know your thoughts regardless.

I think it based on the context and the frequency of the action. In case of Train and Sven, it’s part of how their dynamic, like how siblings often fight. In case of Eve, it’s because she was having a nightmare and suddenly saw a foreign face when she opened her eyes, so she reacted reflexively. There was even a scene where she apologized about it. In short, they have a rightful reason to do it, and readers know that it would be acceptable to a certain extent if applied to real life.

In the case of Tsundere, it often stems from jealousy or is purely an expression. It can be cute if used for a reasonable number of times, but it’s obviously the opposite. It’s eventually become a cliché that no longer has the desired effect, and people grow annoyed about it. While we all get that it’s for comedy, watching it is tiresome. It’s like you have to watch the same youtube ad for 10 minutes in order to finish an episode. And since people cannot relate to the main character putting up with it despite doing nothing wrong, they tend to be more critical about it.

Unfortunately, this type of behavior is usually meant for female characters. Therefore, you gonna see hate aimed at female character more than male ones. It’s not entirely double standard, but rather a consequence of a stereotype in writing. Adding to the flaws, these tsundere characters are not commonly very well written. They are mostly flat, overly dependent on the male characters or take him as the only purpose to do whatever. With prominent traits of a tsundere be considered annoying, if they lacked redeeming quality, it would make it easier for people to hate them.

A good example of Tsundere is Rin Tohsaka from Fate series. While she might have been physical/harsh at some point to Emiya, she has other things about her as a character that make people love to see her on screen. I usually avoid series with this type of characters, so I can't recall any bad examples, but I'm sure that there are plenty. I have seen much backlash in this topic. Sometimes they are justified, sometimes they are just another thing for haters to bash about the character in question. But as I have said, if the writing were good in general, people would not be so against it. Even when the series is just the type for recreational purposes, the one with barely any plot at all, there are still certain standards.

Good character writing is also a reason I really love Black Cat, despite its simple, typical shonen plot. Eve could have easily been written as those Tsundere commonly seen in anime or been used for fanservice, but the author chose not to and built her character neatly.

🔥 ask game: 4, 8, 16

Hi Sindi! Thanks for sending me an ask 😎

Since you're all things TOG I hope it's alright to assume these questions for that fandom, so that's through the lens I'll be answering with 🤗

4. What was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

I have "I block liberally" in my bio for a reason lol.

I mean, I strive not to label anyone by adjectives as if that's all they are - and lol, plenty of people find me annoying, too! - but looking at my blocked list, the majority overall theme (keeping in mind there's individual circumstances too, so not a general commentary on every single person blocked) but yeah, the majority? People who stalk and harass people across platforms - over nothing more than what they ship, kinks, etc.

Like I'm not talking about someone who sends their friend a post and wants to discuss to process or something - but like coordinated campaigns, spite events, efforts of several people across platforms, not only against one person but anyone associates with them, and/or telling people what public spaces they're allowed to be in, what ship positions they should or should not write, events they engage in, who to talk to, etc etc.

It's one thing to write on your own personal blog what you're into, and would love to see more of (I do that, too!) - but once it slides into one on one hounding, name calling, harassment, yeah, bye.

8. Common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Okrrr I'm hesitant to call it "wrong" because well, in life there's always exceptions, so maybe uh, let's reframe as ill-informed? And really, this isn't fandom's fault when the one effin piece of marketing Netflix did was string together a few random bullet points of "facts" for our Immortal Family and then a chunk of people have been dissecting the conflicting comic, movie, and now blink-and-you'll-miss-it marketing of said movie ever since (including, but certainly not limited to: where is Joe from, and why was he in Jerusalem?)

But as someone who's background and studies involve Church history, I'll admit I've been a bit 🫠 at some of the things stated as "facts" in regard to Nicky’s background. I'm not suggesting that someone should have to study up on any given subject in order to write fic (like, it's free fic, not a thesis), but I'm surprised how prevalent it is?

Just this narrative that Nicky *had* to be of noble birth, *and* automatically be more learned than Joe, *and* was a virgin *and* essentially wore his cassock right under the armor onto the battlefield (I'm having a little fun with that last one to lighten the mood lol).

Since I know I like to be informed when someone presents historical facts - I'll link a few articles and links below:

@qqueenofhades wrote an excellent post about the why a priest would not be wielding a weapon - and here's a book about how the Church forbade it, though (ironically, out of the Crusades) thoughts shifted about the Church being actively involved in the sense of authorizing and even directing military campaigns - but again, the average priest maybe had a weapon in the 1200s, and solely for the sake of self protection while traveling. But no, your average parish priest wasn't swinging a long sword onto the battlefield in his cassock.

Here's some information about how non nobles could become priests, or heck, even illegitimate children of priests could become priests.

And yes, 100% there was a social hierarchy within the Church and often to climb it you were likely educated and noble etc etc etc - and yet our Church history does include having illiterate popes, too (and really, just because someone is illiterate doesn't mean they are unlearned or stupid or incapable of learning it at any time. It doesn't have to be an either/or).

And though of course celibacy was encouraged from the beginning, the Church did not make an official decree about it until the 1100s. Priests had families and children - though not often - and yes, there were definitely clergy and religious who were not interested in making, much less, upholding vows of chastity around Nicky’s mortal timeline.

All that to say, that though it's not impossible that a random priest (perhaps a military chaplain ministering to soldiers?) found himself needing to grab a sword on the battlefield in the chaos around him (because perhaps he had a few years of training with a sword as a kid before being sent to a monastary?) - I don't think it was the given I've seen some people declare it as?

But here's the sad truth: Nicky is just a fictional character with conflicting canon sources. So, there will always be discourse. Sigh.

However, for anyone reading along and looking for more resources for their Crusades fic, I've written one up here, and linked not only other sources, but from @actualmermaid resource post as well as the old guard hub resource doc.

16. You can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Hmmmm I'm not sure if I'm like deeply offended by any particular tropes/canon as much as I filter out certain tags due to personal reasons, etc - I mean even the whole Nicky priest discourse is (for some) potentially rooted in priest kink love lol, so I mean, to each his own?

I definitely filter out the noncon that has happened between Joe and Nicky, but again, that has more to do with personal reasons vs say, a judgment on content (though please pleaseeeee tag it properly).

If you've made it down to here, bless ~ I know this was potentially a heavier reply than what the game was looking for 👀

I was wondering if you like the emphasis on the relationship between macaque n wukong. In which it seem its more prevalent in lmk? We dont know what happened but considering how much its push towards us the audience then say the actual messy relationship wukong has w dbk.

Like in the novel we see so much of wukong interesting relationship with dbk n his family yet its seem greatly downplay in lmk?? Lmk sure do a lot of liberty w jttw but it does seem the brotherhood of dbk n swk is not as important. Especially when dbk n the other sages was basically swk first found family swk had besides his monkey fam n puti.

Like even dbk has his version of a giant monster form (just a giant white bull w sharp teeth) i cant recall but very few characters has that ability in the novel..it just well kinda off putting to see it b well put on a back burner when it can b put as like sort of foil for mk n red boy. Sorry if this became a little bit of ramble

No worries about rambling anon it's always fun to hear people's opinions about monkeys both mythological, real, and lego :). And sadfasdfsa I have joked before about how it seems Macaque wasn't content with stealing Sun Wukong's entire identity so he snatched the Demon Bull King's backstory too. But in all honestly (HATER OPINIONS AHOY SO AVERT THINE EYES IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ SUCH THINGS) I'm getting increasingly annoyed at the way Flying Bark & the fandom keeps shoving the relationship between Sun Wukong & the Six Eared Macaque to the forefront to the exclusion of like literally everything else in the lego show, especially with the way it keeps getting framed as yet another example of why SWK is a horrible person (monkey king is pretty relentlessly characterized as the guy who ruins Everything) even with this weird insistence that the two monkeys HAVE to completely reconcile and they HAVE to become each other's most important person ever even though SWK in all honestly doesn't seem to care that much about LEMH unless he's going out of his way to hurt SWK's actual loved ones & LEMH seems to have been so violently obsessed with SWK that he has literally no identity outside of his burning hatred to get one over on the monkey king. I've said this elsewhere, but one of the things that I really liked about the relationship between SWK and the Demon Bull King in the og classic is that even while they were obviously very important to each other and even though the shattering of their once rock-strong friendship is presented as a tragedy they BOTH have a lot of stuff defining them as unique individuals outside of each other. As you noted anon, Monkie Kid may have started with the Demon Bull Family as the central villains but it's been pulling away from that more and more & putting more and more emphasis on the Six Eared Macaque and strangely enough that does mirror some elements of JTTW in a weird way because og classic DBK and Princess Iron Fan wouldn't have even started anything with the pilgrim group if they hadn't had put out that fire with PIF's magical palm leaf fan; they're two yao who seem to have been pretty content to rule over their corners of the earth & not get super involved with everyone else's drama. Hell, DBK even calls time-out on one of his fights with SWK because he wants to go attend a party hosted by his dragon friends! That really doesn't speak to a yao who's all that concerned with killing SWK no matter what because of feelings of betrayal. Red Boy is of course a completely different story because he deliberately went after the Tang monk, & then everything that went down with him gave his parents even more of a reason to go after SWK when he asks for the palm leaf fan. But either way DBK was SWK's closest sworn brother and he does indeed get captured by heaven because he allows his newly-formed burning hatred against the monkey king to completely overtake him, but all signs point to him having a very rich and involved life outside of his relationship to the monkey king, and even in Monkie Kid he now seems much more interested in spending time with his family and improving his relationship with his son than in conquering anything or getting revenge on SWK. Personally I think that could make DBK a pretty interesting foil to LEMH in a kind of "dude who ruined his life because he can't/won't move forward vs. dude who almost ruined his life for the same reason but he's trying to live more in the present and is much happier for it" kind of way. And YEA hard agree anon I would love an arc starring SWK, Qi Xiaotian, Red Boy, and DBK that ends with something like "maybe we'll never forgive each other my once-dearest friend. But at least our kids can be happy in each other's company the way we once were."

Also yea it would really and truly be a massive L for everyone is Flying Bark doesn't take advantage of the fact that both SWK & DBK canonically have gigantic war forms that seem to be just as powerful as each other. Like come ON give us the gargantuan white bull with swords for teeth & the 3-headed six-armed monkey colossus!!!

things your muse will notice about mine. ( repost, don't reblog. )

what they look like:

João is considered to be quite handsome; almond eyes with irises that bleed from warm brown to green, high cheekbones and a strong jaw peppered with stubble. His hair is long and curly, reaching roughly to the middle of his shoulder blades, most commonly pulled back in a loose ponytail or bun. If one looked at his hair (facial hair included) they would be able to spy the occasional white/gray hair hidden amidst the locks.

When his face is at rest he can appear quite intimidating with intense eyes, though a smile softens his face right up immediately. Each smile is accompanied by slight crows feet around downturned eyes, apples of his cheeks high and showing off the beauty mark below his eye with every laugh. His teeth are relatively straight save for the slight crookedness of his two front teeth.

His body type truly follows his mental health and relationships, swinging between quite fit and muscular to a bit chubby but still with a healthy amount of muscle below. His thighs, chest and arms are the most muscular parts of him and are fairly easy to draw the eye, with a waist that's fairly small for a man of his stature. Truly he is hairy from head to toe, though he does do some minor manscaping to keep it under control IE trimming and shaving.

what they smell like:

The sea (high tide), mint, lavender, tobacco, freshly turned earth, spices (any that he used to trade though most commonly clove, nutmeg, or cinnamon), citrus, goats milk and shitty shampoo/conditioner.

What they taste like:

Pineapple (azorian), wine (port), tobacco, mint, tea. His skin commonly has a slight salt taste due to his connection to the sea.

what they sound like:

Soft spoken if it's a one on one conversation, though in a group setting has the potential to become loud ("I'm not yelling it's how I talk" vibes). Baritone, though in singing has quite the range. Due to cigarettes he can sometimes have a hoarse voice if he has been smoking a lot, and sometimes his breathing can also be a bit rough from it. Slight smokers cough, it's more prevalent the more he's partaken. More of a chuckle than a full blown laughter, unless it's at the expense of another. Speaks fairly politely and modestly, even if it's a rouse. Commonly heard complaining, and sighs a lot. When speaking English he has a lot of fillers in his sentences (eh's, hm's, mhm's, erm's, um's etc).

what they feel like:

Physically he is quite warm. His hands are rough from hard labor and his skin is littered with scars of all types. Rarely does he feel smooth unless he's just had a fresh shave. His face is prickly from a constant 12 o clock shadow, though he is quite comfortable to lounge on/with. He commonly gives off the feeling of a grandparent figure, both in words and presence, something that causes people to flock to his home. He can feel intimidating if angry or annoyed, with the resting face of a killer, but once past his looks he is quite comforting. Has the feel of the eye of the storm; either a blessing or a curse depending on where the storm is (or in his case, what the storm is about).

tagged by: @dietrologie

tagging: @pulpopatata @regardviolet @ehrendame

What are some of your least favorite character(s) from both Sentai and Kamen Rider?

Here's bonus picture of Hiromi and Lovekov:

I still find it a loss that Hiromi never found out how happy Lovekov was for his return... he would've been overwhelmed by her support XD

I'm not counting villains here btw because I tend to dislike them on principle

For Sentai, I've never made it a secret that I disliked Lucky and Takaharu, mostly because their catchphrases grated on my nerves a lot. When I was watching Kyouryuger, King's catchphrase did irritate me as well, but that was mitigated by me also watching a lot of other, older Sentai at the time, none of which had Rangers who had a catchphrase of a similar fashion. By the time Kyuuranger rolled around though, I stopped watching past Sentai... and well, maybe I shouldn't have, because while I could just barely tolerate Takaharu's yelling, Lucky's just exasperated me. It actually killed my interest in Sentai, just in time for Kamen Rider (Build) to take its place.

As far as Rider goes, I've made my dislike for George pretty clear, though these days it less about him per se, and more about a rather annoying trope that's become more prevalent in recent Rider series. Former antagonists are immediately just welcomed back into the fold as though nothing happened, just because some other threat showed up.

In this case, it was Ikki's memory loss- but I was particularly vexed by how the others treated him so well (Hiromi treating him to parfait, the Igarashi fam still letting him come to the bathhouse) even though Ikki's memory loss was exacerbated by their fight. A fight he only started because he decided his friends were an appropriate outlet for his unresolved daddy issues. And we're not even getting into the other stuff he hasn't fully owned up to.

Dude why is everyone mad at Nikki? Idk what’s going on

Personally, I'm not mad. Annoyed would be a more appropriate word. He basically made a tweet saying that women are starting to look the same because of all the plastic surgery and that women should embrace their imperfections.

On one hand, I think his intentions were good. There is a lot to be said about how rampant plastic surgery has become and how many women are alternating their individual features in order to achieve a specific aesthetic.

I think what Nikki seems to fail to acknowledge is why many women feel the need to get cosmetic surgery. There's a lot more to it than women wanting to look like plastic dolls for sake of pleasing men. When you're a woman who is taught at a young age that your self worth is tied to your beauty and when beauty standards are near unattainable for many, the idea that we are not good enough as we are is a very real and valid one. Beauty is social capital, and as a woman, it can impact how people treat you in every aspect of life. The pressure to alter your appearance to achieve whatever beauty standard is prevalent, yet we're mocked and called shallow for caring about it. It's a paradox that many women are sadly familiar with. It feels like we can't win no matter what we choose.

What makes things all the more egregious is the fact that this man has married exclusively models who have all had plastic surgery to some extent. He and the band have also said pretty terrible things about women they deemed unattractive (using codes to refer to women as "pigs with lipstick" comes to mind). This is why many people (including myself) can't help but feel that his tweet was a tad hypocritical.

I think it's just one example of a larger pattern that I've noticed with Nikki. While I appreciate that he can call out problematic systems, he seems to be pretty blind to his own contributions to those systems. While he's certainly come a long way from where he was, he could benefit from some more self-awareness.