My views of jamikali (from someone who doesnt ship it but also doesn’t judge those who do)

im at the point where I don’t like or ship jamikali because i think its toxic (that is my opinion btw, if you don’t think it is then that’s alr because opinions are not facts ^^) but also I want them to be friends. Like. I want them to work on themselves for a bit and then begin working on their friendship again. At the same time though, I don’t think I can ever see them in a romantic relationship simply because of the trauma inflicted on both ends from both ends. Even if it was unintentional, it’s there.

i accidentally went crazy in the tags so if you want more feel free to read those 😭

I've come to the conclusion that being assigned the fandom-mandated "sunshine character" is the worst possible fate a character could face

What are you most controversial/unpopular OP opinions??? Sorry if it was answered before

You want me to get canceled so bad-- If I speak-- But idk, I guess I'll say the controversial opinions I can say publicly without a bunch of people coming at me!

Zo$an is a bit... Overrated? And by overrated I mean extremely/annoyingly overrated. I like the ship and its canon dynamic but I think at least 80% of the fandom portrays them in a very mischaracterized way. Not to say that... The ship is literally everywhere and the shippers always look for every little thing to prove they're canon, even if the "proof" has literally nothing to do with them. It's not that I don't enjoy the ship (although I must admit I prefer other dynamics a lot more) I just can't stand shippers that go to extremes. It's funny because I think Zo$an's dynamic is way more interesting and romantic in canon than it will ever be in the fandom. It's a bit sad, ngl. I liked them a lot at first but it got so tiring and now I am pretty exhausted from seeing it everywhere. The people force it to be more than it is when the canon is already pretty fucking great.

Adding to the Zo$san thing. I think that relationship would only work if Luffy is there somehow but it wouldn't last a day without him in the relationship. Unless there's like, a ton of character development most of these people don't make them go through.

One Piece Film Z is my worst enemy. It's such a boring movie. The only good thing is the soundtrack and maybe the suits but God watching that was torture.

Boa hate is uhhhh weird. I mean, I get why the joke about her being in love with Luffy might be annoying, but I think most of you need to learn to understand that Oda's sense of humor is sometimes a bit too exaggerated (and not funny) and it has basically nothing to do with the actual canon dynamics between characters. Boa likes Luffy because he's one of the first men who has ever treated her right, so of course she confuses that feeling with love. And of course, yeah, it isn't canon. Whatever. Just read between the lines, maybe? And also, stop using words like "pedo" to describe her because using that term so lightly about 1) a fictional character and 2) somebody who's clearly not a pedo is fucked up. Lmao. Do you even know what that word means???

Once again complaining about Pudding hate and saying that it's stupid. I won't overanalyze because I always do it with her, but the only reason people hate her is for misogynistic reasons and because they're babying Sanji. Evil male characters are okay and hot and very traumatized but the second it's a woman she's the most evilest person ever! Because God forbid they make mistakes! Suddenly their character development isn't valid because they hurt their babygirl!

Now that we're talking about my dearest Pudding. Not tagging anybody of course, but I saw this post with so many interactions of people agreeing about Sanji considering violence as a sign of love which??? Doesn't make sense at all?? OP said it was because he couldn't tell the difference between love/abuse because of his family, but that's just... Not accurate. That could only happen if they had manipulated him into thinking abuse is a type of love, but he had healthy love growing up. Even when he was with the Vinsmokes (Sora and Reiju, I love you). And yet OP said Sanji considered Pudding's behavior flirting (wrong) and that's why he let her attack him (nope) and that it was proof of Zo$an. And okay, it's not a hugely popular theory, but a lot of people agreed with it and it bothered me a lot because it's both out of character and also using Pudding (complex female character) once again to try and prove the canon of a ship (that doesn't have anything to do with WCI either???). It just bothers me. People can perceive the story however they want but... Y'know.

OPLA isn't that good. Or good at all? I only like it because I like the cast and it's funny seeing my blorbos irl. But the script is simple and dull and just stupid most of the time. The characters are either simplified, mischaracterized, or forgotten. And tbh most of the shots are very awful and could be a lot better. The directing is also nonexistent. It's 6/10 and 3 of those points are because both the Zolu and the cast.

Apparently this is a very common theory about Nami's origins, but, uh, I don't think we need to know? What else do you need to know about her? People say she's a lost princess or something like that as if we didn't have a lost princess already (Sanji ily). Repeating the same plot would be boring and underwhelming, but also? It'd be extremely useless for the plot and it'd go against everything about Nami's story and the way Luffy reacts to it.

Luffy isn't canon aroace. In fact, the reasoning people use for him being "coded" is the same Oda uses for Zoro too and Zoro is almost never portrayed as the "idiot who doesn't know what sex is" the way Luffy often is. If you're calling Luffy canon aroace for what Oda said about him being focused on adventures, the same goes for Zoro being focused on his dream. They could be coded arospec but there's nothing confirmed and the constant discourse about it is stupid. Attacking others because of their ships just because you don't agree with them and saying it's wrong using our identity to do it is very fucked up. Especially since most of the time people complaining aren't even aroace. The only reason people do it (attacking others saying they can't ship Luffy and that it's "weird" and "wrong") is that they infantilize Luffy/Don't want him getting in between their ships (<- aroace person writing this) (also, it's very ableist since people agree on Luffy also being neurodivergent coded and treating him like a kid bc of that but this isn't about that now).

Somehow this is very common. Some fucking how. I can't believe I have to say this. I'm tired of people blaming Usopp for what happened in Water 7. Or in general hating Usopp. Actually, he's one of the best-written characters in the whole show and he's so underappreciated it's so frustrating.

Sanji's perv jokes are annoying af and we all know that, but people who hate the character and consider him a red flag for that are missing the point completely. The point being "Oda exaggerates jokes to an annoying extent and most of the time they don't even reflect the character". I understand they can make you uncomfortable (same here tbh) but reducing Sanji to only those jokes is a waste of his character. You need to take jokes less seriously.

If I see one of these "red flag OP boys" TikToks adding Law/Ace/Zoro/Sanji next to fucking Doffy I will riot. Also, stop adding Crocodile there. He's a mafioso, there's NO way he won't be a sweetheart to his lover.

Baron Omatsuri's artstyle and animation is amazing and it fits the plot and aesthetic of the movie perfectly and people saying it's ugly will forever bother me.

"Usopp is suddenly hot after timeskip!" He has always been hot what the fuck are you talking about.

People reduce Nami to her "mean"/"sarcastic" personality a lot when she's quite literally one of the most kind-hearted characters of all. That being said, morally speaking she's probably one of the worst. I could explain how that works but I don't want to do it now, the point is-- Let the girl be sweet instead of making her mean all the time. And also, let her be mean and selfish without making it her entire personality. There's something called "balance".

Film Red was kind of bad. Like, the songs are amazing (thanks, Ado) but the ending is awful and the plot is very meh. I'm only here for Uta and Shanks but the rest of the characters are just useless. I do appreciate Sanji's hair in the movie, though.

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

uhm yes!!! i love asks like this 🩵 thank you for asking. i’ll probably just do anime cause i haven’t watched anything else in awhile but black widow,loki and spider-man would be honorable mentions. also sorry this took sooooo long. also sorry i didn’t do 10 my brain doesn’t work the last few months.

levi ackerman- i love levi obviously. but one of my favorite things about him is the juxtaposition of his personality being that he’s incredibly kind-hearted && cares about doing what’s right while also being gruff and rude and cold. i think both sides of his personality being kind of opposite but also so truly who he is is really cool and way more interesting that a cookie cutter golden retriever hero. i also just love the way he carries himself and his overall demeanor, plus him being humanities strongest and although he’s confident in his abilities and doesn’t deny them he’s never arrogant.

megumi fushiguro- of course my top 3 boys are in this. megumi is similar to levi in the sense he has this more aloof demeanor while maintaining such a kind heart. megumi is interesting in the way he holds his values, saving people selfishly. i think he’s a bit morally grey in the sense that he makes decisions based on what he thinks is right rather than what everyone else thinks is right. but he also has this kind heart, and deeply cares for his friends.

satoru gojo- satoru is really such a complex character and people kind of see him as one note which i don’t think is true at all. satoru is the strongest, i think what immediately drew me to him is most characters in media i see like that are kind of like the opposite of his carefree/goofy personality and i found that cool to see right off the bat. he clearly cares about his students and wants what’s best for them, wanting to create a better society for them so that what happened to his best friend doesn’t happen again. that said, he’s also arrogant and cocky and doesn’t take shit. he’s very complex, i think he’s often mischaracterized because of his goofiness when i just think he has many layers and attributes and when looking at them all together he’s an extremely amazing character.

armin arlert- i’ve spoken about this before but armin is my second favorite aot character. i don’t talk about him often cause i don’t like simp for him. but from a purely character standpoint i love armin. his growth throughout the series and the way he sticks to his values throughout while also coming to be a leader is amazing to see. he was always loyal, kind, empathetic and genuinely cared about doing the right thing. plus that brain of his is fascinating.

rishe (7th time loop)- i know this is a romance anime, and it only just started but damn if i don’t wanna be her so bad. one of my favorite things about her is how absolutely badass she is while retaining her femininity. i often find that people are unable to write strong/capable female characters without making them masculine which isn’t a bad thing for woman to masculine but the implication that one is only strong because of masculinity is misogynistic. so i love rishe, she can do so much, she’s never afraid to stand up for what she believes in, and she can fight on her own yet she still likes to dress up and gets excited over jewelry and things.

zuko- idk if people consider atla anime but i love zuko and his entire arc throughout the show is probably one of my favorite arcs of any character. you could always tell from the very beginning that underneath that anger was just a kid who wanted to prove himself to his dad. i don’t think he was ever a bad person, and thank god he had iroh (honorable mention cause who tf doesn’t love iroh?) to remind him of that. but yeah, seeing his journey from villian to hero AND the journey of acceptance of himself was just amazing to me.

eren yeager- controversial probably but i think that eren was an extremely well written character from the very beginning. i won’t go into much detail for him but i think his arc from beginning to end is one of the best written arcs in fiction that i have yet to see. isayama did a great job of turning him into a villian.

other honorable mentions that i didn’t wanna write paragraphs for lol : hange, light yagami, vash, suki and sasha.

Preliminary Poll

Lavernious Tucker

Submission reason:

They tried to give him a character arc in season 16 but joe nicolsi (s16 writer) fundamentally misunderstoood his character and it was. bad. Ask any rvb fan abt season 16 tucker and they will likely become upset. they did him so dirty.

He had an ENTIRE ARC (mostly s11-13) about how he was becoming a better person and a good leader and improving from the person he was since season 1 and then season 14 and 15 just completely butchered it to make jokes that werent even funny and not accurate to how he was previously portrayed! There were awful jokes about him not paying child support, which is complete bullshit because when he was impregnated by an alien in like, one of the first 5 seasons (i dont remember which) and had to raise an alien baby, he DID! He put in the work and was so proud of him! He literally showed other people a picture of junior on the basketball team, it was adorable! And its just annoying since he was my favorite character and it was awful to see him mischaracterized like that. To be fair, s15 screwed over a lot of the characters, as although it was more coherent then s16 or the zero thing, the way it was set up was just flat and unsatisfying, tying off too many threads while also introducing too many new charaters and elements to the story that made it feel unnatural and set a precedent that s16 followed and flopped as a result of (im mostly annoyed because of how s15 handled the freelancers, as so much more could have been done with them, and s15 could have legitimately worked if it was allowed to progress theough a multiple season storyline instead of pushing new characters and rushing any development, making that 'betrayal' feel cheap and unimportant, because there was no reason to get attached to such shallow characters in the first place.). It was also stupid when the zero season spinoff thing happened, since in the main series, tucker had a sword, which was very important to his character and storyline in general, and this sword would only function when used by the owner of it. To transfer ownership, the owner had to die, and the next to pick it up would have control of it. Beasically, they killed him off (sorta but not permanantly i dont think? Probably so that they didnt piss off fans (i dont the details of the spinoff i didnt watch it but did read a lot of critical reviews)) just to give his signature sword to some other character. I think the writer probably thought that the fans thought the sword was cool, but didnt realize that it was TUCKER holding the sword that people found cool.

Propaganda:

Photo of junior on basketball team: https://i.redd.it/omy0g4kwa7251.png

❤️&💔 for the unpopular opinions?

❤: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, but there's a consistent tendency to flatten Martha's character into either perfect competent girlboss or cruelly rejected love interest, both of which does a huge disservice to her character. A recurring theme in her character arc is how she, again and again, is expected to be a perfect competent girlboss, navigating whatever challenges are thrown at her with innate capability. And she tries her best again and again to meet these overwhelming situations that get thrust upon her, until at the end, she realizes that she has the power and the right to say no. That yes, she's good at what she does and she is capable of more than she thought, but she can choose for herself what she wants to do. She's allowed to have boundaries, she's allowed to define her own boundaries, and importantly, she doesn't have to be alone within those boundaries. She can ask for help when she needs it, she can invite people in on her terms, she can decide what types of relationships she wants to have with others.

Meanwhile, the other end of the spectrum, the helpless love interest, is also an incredibly reductive interpretation of Martha's actual relationship with Ten. Yes, Martha had feelings for Ten which he doesn't return. Yes, Ten was often incredibly thoughtless about how his actions could be understood by others. Yes, Martha's unreturned feelings were explicitly acknowledged by her several times, including in her leaving speech to Ten. But leaving aside the fact that both of them knew from the beginning that Ten wasn't interested in pursuing a romantic relationship, there's simply so much more to their dynamic than unrequited feelings. They are very similar people, both highly intelligent, observant and curious, with a methodical puzzle-like approach to problem solving - they take all the little bits and pieces and work out conclusions or solutions based on what they know. Both of them are generous people with an instinct to help, both enjoy an intrepid impulse for thrill and risk, both have a natural authoritative streak that helps them to take charge in a crisis, and both have gotten used to (even comfortable with) living as a martyr. Notably, both are inherently reticent individuals who keep their deeper feelings hidden behind the personas expected of them, but at the same time, both have an irrepressible desire for others to recognize their intelligence. They will play the part of the underdog to get the job done, but they enjoy their aha! moment of reveal/moment in the sun when the time comes. These similarities in character create a fascinating understated relationship where they don't often openly push each other to be better, but they do show each other that they can be and they have to be better, like looking into a mirror of what you could be (both the good things and the bad). Also, even without the romantic feelings, they just really clicked from the beginning. Whatever your stance on the romantic elements of Ten/Martha, I think you have to admit that they are good mates who get along (which far from excluding the potential of romance, encourages it because you should be really good friends with the person you love).

💔: If you had to remove one major character from the series, who would you choose?

I don't think there's any major character that are truly out of place in the narrative (although there are certainly major characters that are so underdeveloped that they may as well not have a place in the narrative *coughChibnalleracough*). So going by sheer pettiness, I'm sorry, it's going to have to be the War Doctor. I've come around a lot on the War Doctor, I respect that Moffat tried his hardest to get Christopher Eccleston to sign on for the 50th and it didn't happen so he had to come up with an alternative, and I do think each showrunner is entitled to one big regeneration-fuckery freebie. That being said, Paul McGann. That being said, the anniversary didn't have to be about the Time War, especially if you couldn't get either Eccleston or McGann. Ten years later, I accept the necessary role of the War Doctor for the script that Moffat wrote, I just reject the premise of the script itself

Tired of every single day seeing 29583995 posts about how you are supposed to engage in fandom and how everyone who engages differently is wrong and bad and not allowed to do this and that.

Literally do not understand why people are so pressed about what other people are doing for fun.

Do I find the way people interpret/misinterpret some characters to be annoying and baffling at times? Yes! I think everyone does. But that doesn't mean the person who is over there having a fun time not hurting anyone is at fault for it. You can block them and move on and say nothing.

This was inspired by a screenshot of someone saying something to the tune of "normalize mischaracterizing your comfort characters. I dont care whether or not they would canonically do something." And someone retweeted (to a seemingly large audience) telling them that they must not actually like the character. Which feels pretty mean-spirited to an innocuous post about how someone chooses to engage with something that comforts them.

And I honestly think the original person had a point. Normalizing it does not mean YOU have to do it or YOU have to like people's interpretations, it means that people will be allowed to engage in harmless fun without everyone getting up and arms and making assumptions about them or QRTing their post to thousands of people calling them a fake fan.

Everyone has a different idea of what fun and comfort is and for some people that's making wacky AUs or exaggerating traits and playing dollhouse and for others that meticulously researching and nailing down every canon detail in their works. Some people like tiktok and incorrect quote edits and some like meta and deepdives into and it's all okay and fine!

Someone doesn't HAVE to make an OC. If they want their quick fix of comfort and catharsis by just tacking traits on to a pre-made character that they don't have to expend extra energy on then who cares?

Also lots of neurodivergent people (like myself) and kids get caught in the crossfire as well, but really I think EVERYONE should have the right to do what they want. This feels like another extension if cringe culture which should be dead an buried by now.

And I say all this as a person who PREFERS to engage in fandom in a canon-compliant, lore-friendly way and yet has also been the victim of this.

I have had bad/mean fandom experiences over presenting evidenced, well-sourced, and canon compliant material that just happens to contradict popular fanon. I have also received backlash for putting a character through 10+ years of canon-compliant, well researched, and carefully constructed character development which led them to do things differently in the future than they did in canon.

But I don't always feel like giving a 20+ paragraph disclaimer on every single doodle, edit, or short fic to prove to you exactly how they got here and why it's canon compliant (although I unfortunately DO tend to do this to avoid repeats of past hate :/) because it really shouldn't matter. Blocking me outright or blocking my tags should suffice.

I will never understand this mentality of "Only I do things correctly, everyone else is wrong and bad and ruining everything and I have to shame people doing harmless things so everyone sees how right I am" and I feel like I've been seeing it more and more every day lately and it's frustrating. This is a big part of why I left twitter but it's getting popular here too now.

This is honestly a big part of why I don't post the majority of my fanart and fics anymore. I no longer post meta or silly edits, I no longer reach out to people to discuss ideas, I rarely share my thoughts on any characters publicly, etc.

I live a very stressful life and I engage in fandom to relax and have fun but that has been very difficult for me due to people who always feel the need to be hateful over innocuous things. I feel more and more like I need to walk on eggshells so I do not accidentally incite another ✨️incident✨️ because I dared to post a silly headcanon or edit. And that sort of hate and "umm, actually..." response STILL happens to me, even in recent days because god forbid I post an AU I enjoyed and wished to share with people who might also enjoy it!! It's so frustrating.

And this, of course, is NOT referring to people who try to force/shame others into their interpretations (regardless of if they are compliant or not). This is also NOT about bigoted material. Turning characters into harmful stereotypes (making a black woman who is not sassy sassy, for example), using them to spread hateful messages, and erasing their identities/whitewashed their designs. That is a separate issue. But someone making a character you like say something they wouldn't say in canon? Making them act a little silly? Ignoring parts of canon to make an idea they have work? It's not hurting anyone!!!

002 Alina

how I feel about this character: I adore her! and also grieve for her. she had so much taken from her, and she is stripped of so much agency throughout the books, and all she experiences is tragedy after tragedy and the endless shaming from her peers as well as the narrative for a part of herself she should be growing to learn and love. I grieve the potential arc for her that was lost, and I think often of the tragedy in her character. I find her humor fun, and her full personality engaging and interesting. I like that she's so flawed and I like that she's so selfish and vindictive, in the same way that I like how loving and protective she can be, and how strong she is inside. my favorite part about her character is how conflicted she is about everything. the ways she struggles with knowing herself, and struggles with the leftover emotions from her time at the little palace and other traumas. she deserves the world.

all the people I ship romantically with this character: everyone! genya, mal, aleksander, zoya. even nikolai. I even like the crossover ships for her with the crows, although I'm not as fond of them. plus of course any poly combination of any of these.

my non-romantic OTP for this character: alina & genya is the ultimate brotp. I mean I ship them but their friendship is so good. I love it.

my unpopular opinion about this character: I have as many unpopular opinions about her as I do any other character for sab lol. I think that she's not some stalwart moral paladin and I don't get why people say she is. people also make her out to be more helpless or more vulnerable than she is, not to mention that they often mischaracterize her relationship with survival, trauma, and privilege. her ending was also tragic, and her arc was regressive, and imo fandom likes to use her to hate the characters around her more than they actually like or understand her as a character.

one thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: that she got the ending she deserved in the books - that the loss of her powers was either given a better narrative message, or that she didn't lose her powers at all. that she actually got to have any depth at all in the show, instead of all of her complexity and conflict and "bad" traits getting sanded down into nothing but performative bullshit.

my OTP: malarklina!! 💕

my cross over ship: alina/buffy sounds fun I'm ngl

a headcanon fact: alina is always burning hot to the touch. she knows the time of day based on the light around her. she can sustain small balls of light for long periods of time while not being around them. she's nonbinary with she/they pronouns and she's extremely bisexual. that she spends her time with mal after the books recovering from what should be acknowledged as a sudden and painful disability. that she sees the ghost of the darkling even after he's dead. that she's schizophrenic and has chronic fatigue. that she operates at some level on inhuman instincts tied to the nature of light & shadow. that she's not very good with kids because she struggles to convey empathy, but her protective instincts make her the safest person they trust to go to whenever they're afraid.

give me a character (x)

Okay so I listened to The Creed of the Kromon. Um. That was definitely an audio that existed. There were some good things, but they're outweighed by a general sense that the story doesn't know what it's doing, and a lot of mischaracterization, mainly on Charley's part. If you want to see C'rizz then listen to Part 1 and maybe Part 2, everything after is not handled well.

Good things first: I do like the situational irony that this supposedly chaotic universe actually just runs on its own rules. It makes sense that the Time Lords would think of anything different from their own world as wrong, and it also aligns with what we learn in Scherzo, that there are intelligent entities out there running experiments that are also cruel enough to run them like that. The scene where the Doctor's laughing at his interrogators is fairly fun, although it's like 1.5 minutes that really don't justify listening to the rest. Some parts of the soundtrack were pretty nice? And I'm not super attached to C'rizz yet, but he seems interesting and I do want to see where he goes next. The Kro'ka seems like a fun antagonist as well.

Unfortunately, the rest of it is just... not good. I think the main problem is how Charley was written. They did her so bad. She's portrayed as either helpless or reckless, with little say in her actual fate, and she's constantly crying out for help from the Doctor or C'rizz in a way that really doesn't align with her previous behaviour. Is this "the bravest person in the room" Charley? "Take my hand anyway" Charley, who is just as strong as the Doctor, albeit in different ways? Edwardian Adventuress Charlotte Pollard? Sure, she needs help, she gets scared and desperate, but not at every single moment something vaguely challenging happens. That's not consistent with her behaviour. Scherzo literally just happened. And she doesn't even remember what happens to her at the end. It's like the writers realized that they didn't have much of a story to tell and nothing they did here had any impact on character development, so they decided to erase the story from the overarching plot as much as they could. (Also, despite what should be fairly high personal stakes at any given point, the plot still somehow manages to feel boring.)

I feel like the general disgustingness and clumsiness of everything in Parts 3 and 4 is fairly self-evident, so not much comment there. I was listening to this audio while doing something else, so at least I wasn't focusing on those parts as much.

Despite being a story about a Zone running on bureaucracy, there are a lot of little gaps in internal consistency - Charley introduces herself as Charlotte but the Kromon alternate between calling her Charlotte and Charley; the Kromon all have some kind of shared spirit influencing them but they're also all controlled by the queens, which themselves are controlled by that spirit which can't even do anything to stop their destruction; most notably, the Kromon don't know what time is, but C'rizz frequently asks about the length of duration, even referring to "minutes" and "hours." I know that when the Time Lords referred to "a universe without time" they meant that there was no structure that could manipulate and shape time, so subjectively time would still pass, but only in a linear and consistent way. But the Kromon clearly still have a sense of before and after that aligns with the passage of time, so why don't they have anything to describe it?

It just doesn't feel like there was a purpose to this story. Ironically, it felt scattered; the plot made sense, but only if you just accept everything and don't think about the weird characterization. I think this is the first audio that I kind of regret listening to.

(last anon= me, was a bit anxious it might not go over well for some reason- off now bc changing the capitalization was a pain)

i agree on the human aus! love their flexibility, the sorta "yeah, may as well happen" you get clicking on something (with love) completely ridiculous. it's also so much fun to see what people do with crowley's eyes and his relationship to the glasses.

i'm very very early in planning this, but i want a&c to be as close to theirshow characterizations as i can possibly get them (book boys are amazing but i want the drama). i don't know that i'll do a very good job at justifying it with their backstories, but i'm gonna try. (idk. people have different opinions on personality being nature vs nurture. i can claim majority nature if it's more convenient)

i'm thinking here that crowley, personally, would have had to kill somebody or a couple somebodies, in an absolute (it at least appeared so, still does), life or death, them or him scenario (only his life saved). said somebody or somebodies would have attacked first, and out of desperation-- not totally their choice either. i'm assuming for the sake of the fic that he'd be able to do it at all, and then survive a couple decades after, so there's... something.

i just can't figure out exactly how he'd have coped with it, and whether he'd, later, think of it as justified, like how much guilt there would be. don't know what's even plausible.

my biggest problem is that framing him as 100% Good and Pure (and weirdly helpless?) like ppl do sometimes is literally my biggest fear writing this (huge mischaracterization in general). i don't want to go for the exact same indifference as in the show, for reasons you mentioned (and also that level of apathy would fuck up the entire rest of the fic), but not too far in the opposite direction, either.

tysm for the first response and considering a second, this seems a whole lot more solvable- and sorry if it's a lot to ask to go over all this (although your ability to hold a shit ton of information at once and then respond eloquently is impressive asf, looking at like every chain with LWA), i just drew a bit of a blank. also my bad if it's got a little heavy for your blog, just realized looking at the tags 😭

oh @aq-uatic you silly goose!!!✨ im absolutely fine with asks like that, please feel free to sling them my way anytime!!! ultimately tho, that's what the tw was for; just in case it was a bit heavy for someone else, but for me, personally? there's not a lot of themes that i feel uncomfortable discussing, almost all topics are welcome and i'll soon say if they aren't!!!💕

ooooh okay, so a self-defence angle!!! i think that that could be interesting to explore, because - well, you could take it from the perspective that crowley is initially very righteous in defending himself, rightly thinking that he deserved to protect himself, and the use of force was proportionate. he could initially come across as quite dispassionate and apathetic about it, "me vs. them? well of course it was going to be me!", and ultimately not want to address the whole concept of having committed murder because, on face value, it was justified. and maybe he privately doesn't want to examine it bc he's apprehensive about what he'd find?

but then as plot (and character) develops, turns out that because the whole thing was so fast, fuelled by adrenaline and the instinct to survive, crowley ends up... not being able to remember much of it? and as details start to come back, i think that's where the cognitive dissonance element would play - that he then has to reconcile himself as being someone who he feels is morally sound, 'would never harm another human being', a good person... but then is starting to remember his fear in the situation, confronting his own mortality, and what it says about him to be able to take another life with little thought other than his own self-preservation? as well as remember the specific physical details of what happened? the sounds, the smells? looks in the mirror afterwards and sees a different person looking back?

obviously without knowing the full motive of the person attacking him, who they are, what their story is etc.,... i think crowley could end up dealing with it in a way that he accepts that he cannot control others' actions, only his own. that that person chose to put him in the position of having to defend himself, and whilst, yes, that person may have had a family, friends, potential... when he's in a position of ensuring his own survival, he may have actually made the best decision he could have at the time. idk if you're planning to explore the attacker's circumstances in any depth, but if - for example - they were trying to rob him out of their own desperation (e.g. homelessness/austerity, fund addiction, peer pressured/gang context, mental health), maybe crowley would deal with that by exploring charitable work, or good causes, that seek to alleviate that very desperation? and that's how he heals from the experience?

again, hoping this might be some food for thought!!!✨💕 please do link me your fic when you've posted anything, i really admire how you're exploring this concept and it sounds really interesting and promising!!! i'll reiterate that i love getting asks, especially when they explore topics like this; i feel the LWA ones are a little bit of an anomaly, for being really analysis-heavy (which i love, let me clear), but getting to be a bit creative is exciting for me too!!!✨

"There is so much hostility toward the Eruri fandom by Levi stans" Excuse me but Wtf. Dear Anon, have you ever thought about why this happened? From your other colleagues lynching Levi saying they are homophobic for shiping with someone else, especially a woman, to the fact that Levi has a life outside of Erwin and his own character, you are always bullying people for saying it doesn't revolve around Erwin and then you play the victim card and say "they are so touchy" "we only presented (vague and mistranslated) canon evidence". "E L has a faithful and loving relationship and they are jealous that it's not on their ship"Saying and somehow you manage to get rid of your own messes. While Erwin and Levi have a well-crafted relationship in canon, in your fandom you make Levi ugly, a sewer rat, a spoiled who is always angry, but who is calm and knows his place next to Erwin, and you make Erwin radiant, clean, a god. And you write about a dynamic that follows Erwin as if this is the ideology of his life, that he follows every order, that every action he takes is only about Erwin, and that he is ready to drag everything, including humanity, to hell if his countryside is harmed. Yours say it's a Canon, not an Hc, and to those who say it's not, you do what you do best and gather all your friends and bully them. There are so many dramas that you have been doing for years that if I count these things, there will be at most 3 full pages, but I will mention a few of them here as an example;

A month ago, when the Bad Boy spin-off was announced, and it was mentioned that some guys were making Levi do "the same job as his mom" and it was implied that Levi was being sexually harassed in some way, some Eruris were happy and fetishized it… Because it meant that Levi would have a sub and that he would probably be gay… It's so vile and disgusting.

At least one-two years ago, an artist on Twitter said that Levi has no romantic feelings for anyone and that no ships are canon. While some shippers and people agreed with this, only the Eruris didn't accept it and harassed the artist. Some time after that the artist's account was hacked in a strange way. Luckily she was able to get her account back.

Last but not least, this just happened. 2 weeks ago a Lh shipper who was known (both by her toxicity and by her Lh friends and artists she loved) died of her illness. While most of her friends were mourning, someone who was known for bullying and harassing those people and people who didn't ship Eruri for years with her friends because of the ship she didn't like on Twitter, and who got rid of all the shit she did, made fun of the death of that person and said that she faked her death because her ship was not canon in the anime. Although she did not seem to regret what she said, she wrote an apology post because she lost a few followers. The silent followers who supported her and bullied her are just as guilty as this person. Fortunately, someone on Twitter created a post exposing the toxicity of this person over the years for awareness and I am leaving the link here for other people who are not aware to read it. [update:Unfortunately, I can't post because of the link..]

I know you'll say that there are toxic people in every fandom, but there are also normal people. Yes, there are. I've seen various toxicities in other levi shippers. But when I see the sewer rat comments about Levi being ugly and the fetishization of his abuse, when I see the misogynistic comments about him being selfish and hating women and the mischaracterization of his character, these discourses come out of Eruris the most. As much as I see a lot of toxic eruri, I also have Eruri friends who understand the difference between canon and fanon, who appreciate the two characters separately and love and ship the dynamics of both. I used to have them. Now, after seeing the toxicity of Eruri and their views on Levi, they stopped posting. All they do is art appreciation.

So Anon, I hope I was able to explain why they have so much hostility towards Eruri. Half of your fandom is busy twisting Levi's character for a ship and proving that even if the ship is not canon, Isayama is still trying to say that it is canon through subtexts. And your are trying to convince those who do not accept it under the name of 'discussion'.

Do you argue that Isayama, who focuses on subject-oriented the series rather than romantic relationships and is cold-blooded on these issues, is actually resorting to fanservice by drawing a heart on Levi's cheek and silently shouting that it is canon? If we are going to start from subtexts, why only Eruri? Lh and RivaPet, they also had subtexts that resembled romance.

And that's pretty much it in a nutshell. A certain sect of the eruri fandom just can't let it go, and harass anyone who denies their ship, over and over and over again. The whole reason I was so blunt and short in my initial replies to this person, because they just never stop, and they never accept your opinion, and they just keep pressing. Their passive-aggressive BS is blatant, hiding behind a facade of friendliness, only to expose themselves for the raging psychos they are when they don't get what they want.

Strange new worlds made me really angry at first too because of how many inaccuracies there were regarding what was to happen in the original series, but I've learned that if you just accept this series as a fun little show that takes place in an alternate universe, or isn't even canon at all, it gets easier to watch. To be honest, I've only watched three episodes (the one with Kirk and La'an in Canada, the one with Uhura's hallucinations, and the Lower decks crossover) and those were kind of nice by themselves. You kind of have to pick and choose the episodes though since there are some really bad ones (the one where Spock eats bacon, erasing the legacy Nimoy intended) but other than that, although it's inaccurate, if you consider it not to be a real prequel to the original series, I guess some episodes are watchable.

see i totally agree with that, i’d be able to enjoy it so much more if it were actually confirmed to be an alternate timeline. as it is though it hasn’t been confirmed (as far as i know) but everything i’ve seen implies that it’s really just supposed to be a prequel. seeing it as a prequel any time i watch it all i can think about is inconsistencies and mischaracterization. i’d be able to get into it so much more if i could be sure it was a different timeline.

i’m really glad so many people like it. i feel like a lot of people misunderstand a lot of criticism of snw as like, people trying to say it should be canceled or that others shouldn’t like it, and at least for me that isn’t the case. it seems like a very enjoyable show from what i’ve watched of it but unfortunately my obsession with tos makes it extremely unenjoyable for me.

also, not really the point, but i can’t stand the way hardcore snw fans react to any criticism of it. like you point out that for spock’s character it makes no sense when they put him up with random women that in tos it specifically shows him having no interest in, or how chapels character acts nothing like she does in tos (seriously it seems like they just decided tos chapel was boring so they wrote a whole new character and gave her the same name) and (at least in my experience) rather than having any explanation or wanting to have a discussion about it, the only response i get is along the lines of “well it’s a fun show just let people enjoy it” or they act like i’m the biggest hater in the world just because i want the prequel to make sense as a story that’s meant to lead up to the source material.

so because of all that, like you said, i really really think it should be either an alternate timeline or something more like the animated series, where it’s kinda just accepted that it’s just for fun and doesn’t contribute to canon. idk if i’ll like it then but i’d definitely be able to enjoy it a lot more if it were confirmed that it isn’t canon but as it is now it really seems like they’re still pushing it as a direct prequel and that just rubs me the wrong way.

(the lower decks crossover looked really fun to me so whenever i get around to watching lower decks i’m definitely gonna watch that one)

anyways sorry for the long ass response i have a lot of thoughts on this

okay putting this under a cut bc it’s a kid with a bad lore take not the end of the world but i need to pick this apart so badly and it was left on My post so i think that’s within my right alright here we go. for context it was a comment on my post about how essential it is to understand the way cq’s behavior stems from his trauma

the entire point of what i was saying was that cquackity’s spiral of corruption happened because of his experiences with powerful, violent people (well aside from the fiances, but it was just fuel to the fire at that point). those are not good traits, and certainly not things to look for in a romantic partner, they’re trauma responses! (also putting aside the blatant mischaracterization of cwilbur for now, since the focus is cq i’ll just pretend he really is like that).

the part about cschlatt is fine, but the fiances… huh?? “sugar sweet”? a good point is almost made here where they highlight ksq’s issue of Not Talking about stuff and just hoping it works out, but are you really trying to say Mr Repression the Chronic Liar would be better in the communication department? mans is about two weeks from being on the ledge himself, i don’t think he’s equipped to help quackity deal with his issues. (also the fiances not communicating has actively been set up as a problem to overcome complete with narrative consequences, it’s not just a character incompatibility, but i digress). and regarding “confusing feeling”, i don’t wanna throw terms around but that leaves kind of a bad taste in my mouth? cquackity wasn’t confused in their relationship (aside from the dancing around each other before agreeing to be poly but it was mutual so i don’t think it counts), he loved them and felt comfortable despite his own insecurities which is why it hurt so much when they left! it was a “my worst fears came true” moment, not an “i always knew this would happen” moment! i also don’t like how it implies cq was less than an active and equal participant in the relationship and sort of decreases his agency (a huge part of his arc) but that feels a little nitpicky so i won’t harp on it

not much to say here just a weird personal anecdote that doesn’t really contribute anything but in the interest of transparency i wanted to include it. although now that i think about it they’re clearly referring to the fiances with “jokes and trying to make me feel better”, and just.. [gestures to jo’s post about how they almost started a war to help legitimize el rapids to the point of ckarl being willing to die for it]

okay where do i start. it’s absolutely true that cwilbur wants to push and challenge cq, but the sense of inferiority is a VITAL element of that dynamic! they’re both trying to make the other feel inferior and they both feel inferior to the other, that’s the whole point of ctnt, that push and pull of power over each other! did we read the same conversation in ho16? <- is what i would have said if you read it, BUT I KNOW YOU DIDNT! you admitted to not actually knowing the material and when talking about one of the most complex dynamics on the smp i PROMISE it shows. cquackity doesn’t need cwilbur’s encouragement to make himself better— by the time they meet again in las nevadas, that part of his arc has already happened! he’s at the peak! (a false peak, but still) which is exactly WHY their dynamic is so interesting, because they’re on equal ground now but both feel like they’re not. i don’t know how you’re missing this key component of what is apparently your favorite relationship in the whole thing!

but when we get to the last point, where “wilbur is trying to make quackity better”, that’s where this all starts to make sense. this person’s entire argument hinges on the fundamental misunderstanding that ln!quackity is the best version of himself. and that’s…… ?!!!?!!?! THATS WRONG? everything about everything that’s happened during las nevadas tells us that’s wrong. (also everything in my original post? we’re on like layer 7 right now) yes cquackity is ruthless, that’s a trait he adopted from people who hurt him to help him survive. it’s not a good thing, and shouldn’t be the final stage of his character. i don’t even know where to begin with calling las nevadas where cq is his most controlled and mentally stable but honestly i don’t think i need to say anything

in conclusion: i think this comment is a classic example of what i’m gonna call the Revived Trap: girlbossifying the performance characters put on for others as some sort of narrative growth instead of the trauma-born tragedy it really is, with no interest in examining why or how that performance came to be. this person doesn’t actually want cq OR cwilbur to be healthy happy people, they want an enemies to lovers villain couple where they can continue to enable each other’s worst selves. at least unlike derivikat and cg5, i know why they fell into this trap: because they’ve never actually seen the dream smp.

Salty comics ask: 2,3,5,7, 11, 21, 38. If you feel like it. Character(s) of your choice.

2. What character death for the sake of drama was the worst?

Everett's is pretty bad. They announce that he's dead, then proceed to do an entire 4 issue arc that has nothing to do with him before even explaining what happened. Then, after the explainer, they barely mention him. And I think actually the fact that (similar to the Hellions), his resurrection on Krakoa hasn't featured any of that angst or drama because it's not the direction they want to go with Emma..

But yeah. Transparently done for the drama, to raise the stakes. And, much like with Thunderbird or Darwin in the First Class film, it's a tired racist trope.

3. Who is your most hated comics writer?

Gezza D.

Although, there's definitely overall worse writers out there. There are some attrocious comics that I've struggled through. But in general, I'm not one for going out of my way to look up who the writers and artists are for everything I look at. If I remember their name, I remember their name.

And I genuinely think it's not good to get too fixated on these figures, especially when you don't like their work. I've been hyper aware of how fucked up even the valid criticism can get, when it's relentless, large scale and directed at a single person.

So, I guess I'm saying that I hope Gerry doesn't have tumblr.

5. Who mischaracterized [x] the worst?

Monet? Cullen Bunn wrote Uncanny X-Men (2016) so fuck that guy I guess.

Bobby? Whoever had the idea to pair him up with Mystique.

7. What “throwaway” character could they have done more with?

Ooh, there's a lot of good answers to this.

I'll put forward Mel from that first Cap storyline with Nightshade. No reason why they couldn't bring that back and make more out of it, even if he's dead.

Mindmeld. Interestingly, the new character of Escapade is also a trans woman with similar conciousness transfering powers. But they're hardly similar outside of that; there's plenty of room. Bring back Mindmeld.

11. What’s the worst art you’ve seen?

I saw your post with the Greg Land examples. Seconded.

A lot of Liefeld options, obviously.

Sometimes it feels pretty mean to harp on art for not being so good. I get the "they're professionals, they got paid for this" argument, but whatever. Hell, sometimes I like it when the art looks kind of shitty because it gives me hope for my own lol.

But I will say that, for me, when it's that more realistic and hyper-smooth style that was big in the 2005-2015 era, that's when I have the least sympathy. There's so much technical competence on display and yet so often, really poor compositions of the panels and just a sub zero taste level. So yeah, Greg Land.

21. Who’s the most overhyped villain excluding the Joker?

Thanos was more entertaining in his early days when he was goofier.

I think it makes sense that the MCU used him as their first Big Bad, but I personally do not care about him or take him seriously as an existential threat in the slightest lol.

And specifically, I think the effort to rebrand him as a serious, universe destroying, massive big serious scary, manly man scary villain, makes him less fun. And because of the movies, they're going to keep him as the biggest of big bads forever now. Boo.

38. What character that was reduced to a love interest deserves so much better?

Honestly the phrase "reduced to a love interest" is not one I associate with good faith arguments (see: MCU Sharon hate), but there's something to it sometimes.

Most of the examples I can think of are temporary (e.g. Monet is a love interest in Weapon X-Force, Rachel is basically just a love interest in Captain Britain - The former was awful and the latter is... fine). It's not always an issue when it's temporary and done well, but is a problem if it's a rut the character gets stuck in when they're only "so-and-so's partner", or if they're really ooc or the writing is insulting etc... It also doesn't count if they were only ever conceived of as a love interest.

Weirdly, the only character I can think of that this has definitely happened to is Layla Miller, who hasn't been a character outside of Jamie's wife and a mother to their kid for like a decade.

I'm sure there are better examples, I'm just drawing a blank.

c!Tommy is annoying (and that’s important)

I have... a lot of feelings about c!Tommy in s2, from the start of the exile conflict through the Green Festival. I also think the fandom tends to mischaracterize him--I know I’m guilty of this, and as a c!Tommy lover I’ll be mostly addressing a thing that I and other people who love his character don’t focus on as much--which makes me sad because the aspects of his character that tend to get glossed over are also some of the ones that are most personally meaningful to me. (rest of the post is /rp, because “c!” gets annoying to type.)

Specifically: Tommy is loud. He’s abrasive. He’s annoying. He threatens, he griefs, he steals. He lies, blatantly, all the time. He tends to be self-centered (despite being deeply selfless). He lashes out at people who are trying to help him.

He is, in short, a bad victim.

And this is precisely what makes him vulnerable. 

Some people on the server were opposed to and sad about exile, sure. But a lot of people? Thought it was funny, that it was natural consequences, that it was deserved. Sapnap came and laughed, Technoblade came and laughed, Lazar came and laughed, Quackity came and laughed. Now, we don’t know what would have happened if Ranboo was the one being isolated and abused; maybe it would be the same. But I don’t think it would have been. A lot of characters have issues with Tommy or simply find him unpleasant to be around, and I would imagine that a significant number of them were probably, on some level, kind of relieved that he wasn’t their problem anymore. To be clear, I don’t entirely blame them for this! Tommy is... a lot, and they (mostly) didn’t know the full extent of what Tommy was going through. Even those of them that tried to visit with good intentions often got their gifts burned and called “pity gifts”, got insulted or yelled at by Tommy, etc.--or in Jack Manifold’s case, actually killed! The first time I watched the leadup to exile arc, I found Tommy difficult to sympathize with at first--he lied to L’Manberg before his trial; he refused to cooperate with probation while he was on it, even though Tubbo was pushing for it as an alternative to exile; at the beginning of exile, he would sometimes log on to visitors, drive them away, and then complain that he was lonely. As much as it’s obviously ultimately Dream’s fault, it’s easy to look at Tommy and not feel much sympathy for his position or feel that it’s partially self-made. It’s easy for outsiders to look at a Tommy who isn’t stealing, isn’t griefing, who is comparatively quieter, who isn’t their problem anymore, and be relieved rather than concerned. 

Exile arc makes it obvious that they’re wrong.

(Incidentally, I have a lot of sympathy for what Dream’s going through in the prison.)

And not only are they wrong, but exile makes the consequences of this painfully, horrifyingly clear: the abuse gets worse, Tommy gets more and more depressed, and at the climax of it all Tommy attempts suicide. 

(Although notably to me, he’s not the stereotypical victim during exile arc, either--he doesn’t cry on stream, he’s still trying to make dumb jokes, he’s not strategic, he refuses to listen to people, he switches wildly between fight and fawn responses without much correlation with who he’s talking to or how he’s being treated.)

Tommy’s recovery arc, after all of this, starts with him stealing valuables from Technoblade, building a secret basement underneath the existing basements, and then loudly asserting that it’s his house and Technoblade is trespassing.

I could talk about how these things are rooted in trauma. I could talk about how his constant eating of golden apples comes after a period of food insecurity, appetite/disordered eating problems, and physical abuse. I could talk about how he’s regained some of his energy after a period of depression but has nowhere to let it out in a small basement room. I could talk about how he repeatedly annoys Technoblade--quite probably the best PVPer on the server--perhaps in part as a test of how far he can go before he gets abused again, and in part as a sign that he feels safe enough to be annoying without being abused.

But that’s... not the heart of it, at least not to me. The heart of it is that before exile, Tommy would have stolen from Technoblade without a second’s thought, and during exile, Tommy didn’t steal from Technoblade because “Dream wouldn’t like it”, and afterwards, he steals from Technoblade again. 

Sure, he’s being annoying. But more importantly, he’s being himself again. Before exile, I might have rolled my eyes, because Technoblade worked for those potions and golden apples and armor and so on, and Tommy’s totally ruining his chest organization system. After exile? I cheered. Tommy’s being Tommy again. And, yeah, that means that he’s being annoying, he’s stealing, he’s ruining dramatic moments. So what? None of that stuff is actually all that bad, in the grand scheme of things. He’s not depressed, he’s not suicidal, he’s not being abused. He’s a teenager and he’s having fun. Technoblade will tease him for it, but he won’t hit Tommy, won’t take his stuff, won’t threaten him, won’t isolate him any further. That’s what a proportionate response to finding Tommy annoying looks like: teasing. 

I’d also like to address one more thing, which... I couldn’t figure out how to fit in the rest of the post, but it felt incomplete without it. Right before the meeting that ends with Tommy pulling out Spirit, Tommy asks everyone what the plan is, and is basically told that the plan is for him to be quiet. He says “you guys, please, for the love of God, you know I’ve watched for this long, I’m not going to be quiet.” He reiterates this throughout the conversation: he can try to be quiet, but it is not, ultimately, as easy for him as “be quiet”. This is also the source of Tubbo’s anger at him-- Tommy can’t do “one simple thing” for him. I’m not claiming Tommy is neurodivergent, but... as a neurodivergent person, Tommy repeatedly saying “I cannot do this thing that is simple for you, I can’t, empirically every time we have tried this in the past it has failed, if you make more plans based on that then they will also fail, have you met me” and having this seen as evidence of me not caring or trying... resonated with me. Which isn’t to say it’s not a flaw--almost all character traits can be flaws in the right (or, well, wrong) situations--but it does show that Tommy has some level of self-awareness about his flaws, which is something I appreciate about him, and it frustrates me when that goes unacknowledged. Tommy knows he’s annoying. He jokes about it. But he can’t actually... turn it off. Whether or not he should (and I would argue that he shouldn’t have to) isn’t even in question: he can’t. This is who he is. The only time we see him less loud and more capable of being obedient is exile, when he’s severely depressed and being abused. That’s fascinating to me, as a character trait!

In my experience, there’s a specific archetype of abuse victims in fiction that is... overrepresented. I can’t quite find the words to talk about it in a way that doesn’t technically include Tommy, but... the ways Tommy is important to me is the ways that (a) he doesn’t fit that archetype (b) not fitting that archetype makes him more vulnerable to abuse. He’s not always easy for other characters to talk to or sympathize with... which makes him uniquely easy to isolate and victim blame. That’s important. I think I tend to downplay Tommy’s annoying tendencies because I want to emphasize his sympathetic traits, and that’s fine, but it’s important to me that... Tommy’s a victim, and he’s annoying. Annoying people can be victims just as much as shy rule-followers can. Not only that: Tommy’s a victim in part because he’s annoying. Him being annoying is a risk factor for abuse, not an excuse for it.

Vil Rant: Why His Overblot was Valid

So I’ve seen a lot of not so hot takes on Vil’s overblot. Some people believe that his reason for overblot wasn’t good enough in comparison to the others. Most of the others overblotted due to some trauma from their childhood that never really got resolved to sum it up very vaguely. Vil on the other hand, it seemingly wasn’t like that. Vil’s overblot was due to envy. Pure envy. 

Or was it?

It wasn’t. So as the resident Vil stan, I am going to take my time to explain why Vil’s overblot made sense and it isn’t as petty as some people think it is. 

Vil himself is a very mischaracterized character, so it’s no surprise that people are not seeing the full picture. 

Vil’s whole character is based on hard work. Most people would assume it’s beauty but it isn’t, at least not fully. For Vil, beauty isn’t his end goal but a tool to achieve his end goal, this is made clear in his overblot flashback. Now some people might not be convinced, but this isn’t a character analysis, so I’m not going to delve too deep into his values and why they’re his values for now. 

So the reason he overblotted, for the people who take Vil at face value anyway instead of learning his motives, is because he was jealous Neige was more beautiful than him. He overblotted out of envy because he couldn’t stand being second best. 

Now this isn’t wrong, but it isn’t the full picture. Too see the full thing playout I’m gonna run through a little Vil timeline with you. And “because I am so kind” and I know not everyone out there is a fan of Vil, so probably wouldn’t take the time to read his personal stories, I will stick to things mentioned in chapter 5. 

So starting from Vil’s childhood. We see this part in his overblot flashback but even as a child Vil would always get villain roles and because of this he is ostracized by the other children, apart from Jack (Just as a reference this is also mentioned in his robes sr personal story).  This didn’t really bother Vil much from what we saw, but it showed us that Vil was a bit more mature for his age, as being in the industry he probably had to be. 

Next thing we see is how Neige always gets the main parts while Vil is always the villain. So this is where Vil’s envy of Neige starts. However, at this stage in his life it’s not about his beauty, it’s because he gets the roles Vil wants. Vil then goes on to talk about how all he wants is to be the heroine for once, yet he knows this will never happen. He is mature enough to realise that life doesn't work that way, no matter how hard you work something can never be achieved, hence his frustration begins.

So throughout Chapter 5 we can see Neige be mentioned and Vil’s vows to defeat him. He constantly asks Mira about the beauty rankings only to see Neige be number one. Which doesn’t seem such a big deal at first, until you think about how much hard work Vil puts in. Although, if you think about it, it’s still a bit petty at this stage, which is why it doesn’t cause overblot just yet. However, it does make his previous childhood frustration towards Neige grow. 

Another thing that I feel I should mention quickly, is that Vil personally doesn’t really have anything against Neige himself per say, if it was someone else in Neige’s place he would be salty towards them. He really just hates the situation and circumstances, not Neige as a person. 

Anyway back to the timeline. This is where it starts to go wrong. The VDC rehearsal. Vil put effort into the performance. We saw how strict he was, how dedicated he was to make sure everything was perfect. He put his all into it. He even made the song and dance himself, and played a key role in the actual performance. He made that performance to perfection. He even was number one on the search results for the word “beauty”! Only for everyone to fuss over Neige. Neige did a remix of a nursery rhyme and it is mentioned that the choreo wasn’t in sync.When Vil checked Mira again, Neige was back to number one. This is what tipped Vil over the edge. 

I have seen some people claim that his actions were uncalled for and petty, because music isn’t just about being perfect, it’s for having fun and making everyone else enjoy your performance too! You don’t need to be perfect to perform well and make the audience love you! Vil should hold himself to lesser standards and realise it’s not a competition, everyone is beautiful and talented in their own way!

I see your point. I really do. But, I think you need to change your perspective a little to see what really is going on. 

Put yourself in Vil’s shoes for example. Imagine you worked really hard on something, like an art project. You slaved weeks over it, making sure it was the best quality it can be. Finally you put it into a competition. Only to be beat out with a drawing that is half complete and was finished the night before. Could you manage to tell yourself to just let it go? There’s value in all art right? So shouldn’t you just be happy for the winner? It might be the right thing to do, but can you honestly say that you wouldn’t be absolutely seething inside? After all you went through? All that effort? I know for a fact I would be fuming with rage. Maybe I’m just a bad, selfish person but it's true. Although I think most people would at least be a little upset at this outcome. And Vil was.

Now you may agree with my point above, but how does that justify Vil trying to KILL Neige? That’s the beauty of it. It doesn’t. Just like Riddle, all of Vil’s views came crashing down before him the moment people started to fawn over Neige. 

He always thought that hard work would get you to where you need to be, but he worked as hard as he could yet he still failed. Instead someone who hasn’t worked hard, someone who didn’t take the VDC seriously, someone who was only there for fun, beat him out. It didn’t help that he was given hope by being number one, only to have that hope snatched from him right after Neige performed. What is he supposed to do now? If he can’t beat Neige with talent, if he can’t beat Neige with hard work, how will he beat Neige? Easy. All he has to do is get rid of Neige. 

So yes, trying to kill Neige was extreme, but to Vil, that was the only way he thought he could beat him. 

You might be wondering why is it a competition in the first place? Simply because that’s the type of person Vil is. He doesn’t want to be second best, he’s a perfectionist so the only number that matters is being number one. 

But this doesn’t cause his overblot. This isn’t the snapping point for Vil. The snapping point was him realising what he had done, what he was about to do. He was about to do something ugly. He even mentions that it doesn’t matter if everyone forgives him, he can’t forgive himself. Then, he overblots. 

So, Vil’s overblot was a combination of frustration, high expectations and just all together feeling like he isn’t good enough. It’s probably the most relatable overblot so far, as I’m sure we’ve all been in a position where we’ve snapped because something seems hopeless no matter how hard we try. It’s easy to tell someone to stop holding themselves to such high standards, but as the saying goes, it’s easier said than done.

In terms of his after overblot, I don’t see Vil lessinging his normal standards, he will still try his best and make sure everyone around him does the same. He just maybe won’t compare himself to others as much. 

In conclusion, Vil’s overblot wasn’t uncalled for or petty, it actually made perfect sense. Thanks for listening or should I say reading my Ted Talk.