if i see one more person say 3l!flower husbands wasnt abusive and then go on to describe an abusive relationship im goinf to gnaw my leg off . oh hey fireworks outside

sorry im emotonal and going off of the other asks sent about machete and just i need to stress how beautiful it is to me that machete sees himself so undeserving of love and affection and feeling as if vasco's too good for him but despite all that he is so incredibly devoted to vasco and loving towards him (in his own way) but is so incredibly clear to anyone with eyes that just how in love he is with vasco. like it's not done out of a "oh god please never realize that you're too good for me here here let me overdo it with the affection" its done with the "i love you, and will always love you, no matter what happens to us or separates us, and i will give it to you as long as i am able, and if you ever leave, i won't be okay, but will still love you, and want you happy". like he doesn't use his own feelings of being undeserving taint his love or the way he loves for vasco, and it's so, so beautiful

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saw a take on twitter that's like "toxic yaoi means an imperfect relationship, not abuse" and I

I wish I could put into words the sensation I feel when I think about or see content of König. It's a very special kind of joy. I love that fanon in general holds that he's this big brutal military man who yells "HA! YOU MISSED ME!" as he smashes someone's brains in with a hammer, yet simultaneously an anxious sweating mess of a feral animal at his core. A real damp wet cat of a man breathing hard as he tries not to lose his shit because he's sitting in a debrief feeling like he needs to peel his skin off. I love the idea that he craves sex and intimacy in a painfully vulnerable way, but he can only express it or pursue it in a wildly deranged manner.

I've seen a lot of people wondering why people like König so much when the only canonical content we have is a short bio and a handful of voice lines. Obviously, a lot of people think he's hot and want to freak him nasty, which is incredibly valid. I also think some of the appeal is the fact that there's so little go on, that we can just take him and make whatever interpretation that we want.

But I think at the core of it is that the seeds of a really good concept have been sown. Even though he's a dysfunctional wreck, anxious and unable to fit in, ostracized for things he can't control, he's so powerful. His violence is frightening and harsh, but it occupies a grey area where it's a good thing that helps him.

I hope a lot of other people can relate to this, but the only way I can describe it is the urge to be a werewolf? To be able to become some wild, untamed thing who can not only defend itself, but tear to shreds anything that would try to harm it. The best way I've seen this concept embodied is the Tumblr-famous I Am A Bride comic, which is very near and dear to my heart. I love König as a character because he embodies this ideal of despite my fragile vulnerable insides, I am powerful and ruthless and strong. Why shouldn't I go apeshit? When the world has been so unfair? When all people have done is hurt and disappoint me?

And, too, I love König fans' answer to the question. Of course you should. Of course you can. This is your right. And I will love you despite this, despite your anger and your violence, despite your anxiety and your dysfunctionality. You are something worthy of being loved, without having to be changed.

The whole framing of Lestat as the sole symbol of patriarchy that fandom is so desperate to put him in doesn't work unless you deliberately ignore how he was also a victim of rape and abuse before he was turned. People want him to be fit into this strict role of "father figure/violent husband/perpetrator" that is only that and not even a whole person, and in doing so they need to push aside the fact that despite being his family's provider, he was also pushed into that role when his father forbid him from joining a monastery or gaining an education that he wanted. Lestat wanted to run away with a theater group as a kid, and actually managed to do so once Gabrielle gave him her blessing and monetary support in order to go to Paris. He didn't always want to be the provider, he was forced into that role and became despondent when he thought he would never get a chance to leave his home.

His new life prior to being turned is pretty much the antithesis to the whole "Lestat is a manly man who would sooner throw up than be compared to a woman" spiel: he lived with another man in Paris while also being an actor, having left his family and "responsibility" to them. The only family member he was ever close to was his mother, all the other male members shunned or ridiculed him. Add onto that the fact that his turning firmly placed him within the role of the damsel/victim: he's kidnapped from his bed by a stranger, taken into a tower and left to rot while being fed on for a week, before then being raped and violently turned all while never even being asked if he would consent to it in any normal circumstance. But you of course have to ignore all of this if you want him to only represent the aggressor/patriarch while Louis is the helpless unhappy matriarch of the family.

My issue isn't that I think Louis isn't a victim, it's that it's not unrealistic for Lestat to be an aggressor/abuser while also displaying traits that aren't regularly assigned to stereotypical depictions of male characters. He's abusive to Claudia while also having been a victim of abuse from his own family. He's not a good maker/teacher, but he also didn't even have one when he was turned. He's the provider/attempted protector of the family and seemed to like being that, while also having run away from his own family prior to this to act in a theater in Paris. He's a rich white man while also being obviously effeminate in public spaces, even to Tom's own bigoted humor.

Like Louis' own complicated story with being his family's benefactor and provider, you can't firmly place Lestat as being one thing or another in terms of gender ideals without deliberately ignoring parts about him that don't fit this. And I don't think it's an absolute necessity, when even in Louis' own story, Lestat isn't stripped of his effeminate mannerisms or behavior while also being the abusive maker/father/lover.

i love how fraught and complicated discourse around various utena characters ‘dying’ is when anthy is literally stabbed to death eternally by a million swords imbued with human hatred. and then utena gets stabbed to death by them also. like. ‘death’ is incredibly interesting in rgu because most of the time it’s this ambiguous figurative thing that has interesting implications re: ohtori as a closed-off world one can escape. we are all trapped in our coffins. mamiya is the only named character with a grave. nemuro memorial hall functions as one all the same. ruka is implied to have died in the hospital— was he dead all along? who was the boy we saw for these two episodes? is this dead boy the same boy, or is this just another coincidence from the shadow girls, cutting like a knife? it’s heavily implied that akio and anthy murder kanae by poisoning her, adding to the previous implication that they were poisoning mr ohtori too, but there are no perceptible consequences of this. kanae’s absence is not felt. she’s fed an apple slice. what happens to the bodies? we know what happened to the 100 boys, but what about everyone else? and so on and so forth. ‘death’ is a tricky thing in utena, i think it’s constantly functioning on figurative and literal levels in very different ways for very different purposes. dios died. dios was dying. dios didn’t die. he grew up. etc etc

TOMMY: Arthur, Frances was right. Linda was here today.

the way stans expect adora to be catra's caretaker (or older sister) reminds me of how some ppl demand zuko to take care of azula post-atla, despite the fact she abused and manipulated him. like yeah, it would be nice if zuko and azula could be siblings without their father pitting them against each other, but there's so much baggage here, zuko doesn't owe azula anything. and that also counts for adora and catra.

I watched Shubble's vod talking about abuse a few days ago and she said something that stuck with me. She told a story where her abuser bit her really hard in front of their friends. She yelped in pain and they laughed.

Men, when we see our friends make jokes about hurting women, don't laugh. Make it uncomfortable. It's not funny. This isn't a joke. You may not think your brothers and friends are abusers, but it doesn't mean that any of this is funny.

I'm certain their friends didn't think there was anything going on behind the scenes, but they should have. I could never even imagine joking about bringing harm to my partner. I'm sure most of them couldn't either. We need to stay vigilant and critical of the ways we carry ourselves around others. What does our laughter signal to the women around us?

My brothers, hurting women is not a joke. Don't laugh.

Batman is not "pro-police" and is sure as hell not a Republican

Some people are under the impression that Batman is pro-police, but that is literally so inaccurate. Batman is for police reform and accountability, and he will personally do it himself if he has to. He is anti-gun and believes a police officer should never shoot unless absolutely necessary. He wouldn't have become Batman if he thought the police were competent. He only works with Jim Gordon, because he thinks most of the police are incompetent. He would and has fist fought with dirty cops. He thinks that getting rid of corrupt cops (and politicians) is an important part of making Gotham a better place. He prefers giving petty criminals jobs and social resources rather than having them arrested.

He is not just for police reform but also prison reform, because he believes the point of prisons should be about rehabilitating inmates. He believes that no one is beyond rehabilitation. That is borderline one of his character flaws. He hires former inmates so they can make a living without turning back to crime. He even has a halfway house that former convicts can stay in until they get figuratively back on their feet. He prefers eradicating crime by addressing the root cause, which is often poverty and a lack of social resources.

AND ANOTHER THING- There's this idea that Gotham is a shithole because Bruce isn't doing enough with his wealth, but that doesn't take into account that he is nowhere near the only billionaire in Gotham. He's up against the Court of Owl elites, and a lot of them are board members for Wayne Enterprises and have a say in what the company can and can not do. The Court of Owls plays a heavy roll in politics and most politicians are puppets of the Court and mobs. Politicians that aren't corrupt get killed by the bad guys for refusing to obey. Look at what happened to Harvey Dent. Look at how much money he has funneled into Arkham to no avail. Bruce can not own and control every aspect of every major business in Gotham. No person should have a monopoly on an entire city.

MAPPA WHEN I SAY WE’RE COMING FOR YOU

Sigh, Bruce isn't a bad parent because of the genre conventions. He's a bad parent because the genre conventions have established what a good hero/sidekick relationship should relatively look like and Bruce isn't like that with his kids

Aro culture is wanting to scream at your friend to just dump their hateful racist asshole boyfriend, while at the same time knowing that they won't listen to you because they are in love and apparently, that erases their ability for critical thinking

While also not saying any of that because it would be rude

A "hateful racist asshole boyfriend" sounds ripe for a situation in which your friend could be dating someone actively grooming them for domestic abuse.

In those cases, individuals often already have poor boundary control, and it's not the critical thinking actually missing: it's the security that creating boundaries doesn't mean losing someone who they feel cares about them. Judgements on their ability to "think clearly" are both misplaced and encouraged by the abusers, as worsening self esteem leads to an abuse victim seeking comfort... often from the abuser.

I think it's very, very important to recognize that the best thing you can do for them is to be there, continually reaffirm that they can always tell you anything, and rather than pressure them to break up... ask them to tell you about the relationship. You can guide them to red flags, but also try to present possible communication elements. There are guides online by great resources talking about how to best support these conversations.

And, of course, it's always possible it is simply that your friend actually is racist and they put up with the behavior because of that. It's not hard for some bigots to find an in through less overt bigotry. But I strongly encourage folks to realize that "in love with no capacity for critical thought" is a very dangerous warning sign that someone may be unable to recognize healthy boundaries, and worse - to recognize unhealthy boundaries.

“one day im going to have to make like a three hour long video essay that's just called In Defense of Helluva Boss” Please do. I see more anti videos than I do with defense ones. Like the ones that say season 2 is terrible even though it’s barely completed and the ones that say Stolitz is a bad despite them barely having a relationship.

no literally i am sick of seeing more anti content than actual appreciation videos but the anti talking point i see most that drives me up the fucking walls is that it's "bAd RePrEsEnTaTiOn," as if that is all that queer people are allowed to have; just the vague nebulous concept of "Rep(TM)." the fact that if a straight character is a bad person then it's just that This Character is a bad person, but if a queer character is a bad person then This Is Bad Representation Of The Community And Is Homophobic. can we not just HAVE characters?? vehicles to tell a story??? tools to craft a compelling narrative??? this is part of why Helluva/Hazbin being adult shows is such a THING because i see this get shut down a lot under the guise of "uhh well just because it's an adult show doesn't mean that it can handle whatever topic it wants however it wants" and like. yeah buddy! that's true! and that's not what this is fucking about!! when people say "it's an adult show" what they mean is that it's made to be engaged with under the assumption that you would know better than to take information to shape your worldview and perception of other real life people from a fucking cartoon! the show doesn't NEED to tell you that Um Hey Guys Just So You Know This Isn't Actually Meant To Reflect How All Real Life Gay Relationships Are because you are an adult who should already be able to discern this.

"bad rep" doesn't mean "characters that are nuanced, morally gray, or just bad people." "bad rep" would be if helluva boss was a show that said "the REASON these characters are in toxic relationships / are bad people is BECAUSE they are queer, or at least directly correlated to that fact." which is. you know. very fucking different than "these characters are in toxic relationships / are bad people because they 1) live in a classist society that actively encourages them to be their worst selves and 2) are extremely traumatized."

thinking about how akio sees his younger self in utena and wondering if there's any fondness there. doesn't change the horror of what he does to her obviously but i do wonder

Avatar: The Last Airbender

s3 ep 09, Nightmares and Daydreams